The Blackberry 10 has just been unveiled, and the question returns: Blackberry, iPhone or Google-based Android smart phone? Here are some thoughts, techno-weenie talk aside. We’re talking pure functionality and ethics here, not who has the best gizmo-gadgetry whiz-bang for the buck. Google is a partner in evil, willingly collaborating
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The Canadian Progressive: Info Graphic: The Evolution Of The Job Search
By The Canadian Progressive Reporters | Jan. 30, 2013 via The Daily Muse: We recommend:Fight for Internet freedom, ditch GoDaddy nowOperation Last Resort: Anonymous Declares ‘War’ On U.S. GovernmentWelcome to #Ottawapiskat, the “Settler Nations” reserve and Canada’s capitalOn Canada’s Independence Day, #DenounceHarper & #HappyCanadaDayThis year, Ramadan has a serious
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: A Pinterest is Worth 1,000 Blogs
OK, maybe not, but let’s try this. I’ve been trying to figure out how Pinterest could complement this website. We’ve kicked it around and ended up speechless. Which is appropriate. See below. I was asking the wrong question. And since I slid into Pinterest this week I can see that
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The Black Swan’s Thanksgiving Turkey
(originally written Nov 24, 2011. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) It came to my attention that Naseem Nicholas Taleb, who authored The Black Swan (surprisingly, not about a ballet dancer, but about financial crises) discussed other avians in his book, among them the Thanksgiving turkey. Per the Wikipedia page,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Making Gasoline out of Fresh Air and Water
This article on producing gasoline the air and water caught my eye as I was reading the news at Al Jazeera. Let’s be upfront here people, get your skeptical hats on because the process described seems to be a little short on detail (and verification) at the moment. “A small
Continue readingThings Are Good: Social Media Helps Global Development
Social media can actually be useful for more than sharing pictures of your lunch! There is a whole collection of apps and web services that can be used to help development efforts around the world. They provide the ability to track how projects are coming along and their current status
Continue readingTrashy's World: I’ve wondered why…
… electronic devices like cell phones and Kindles are considered to be at the same threat level as a over-sized bottle of perfume, or an explosive thinga-ma-jiggy, and now the FAA is wondering the same. Dealing with the F.A.A. on this topic is like arguing with a stubborn teenager. The agency
Continue readingeaves.ca: eaves.ca 2012-12-14 01:54:55
Just a brief update for those interested in participating in or organizing an event for International Open Data Day on February 23rd, 2013. The Wiki The Open Data Day wiki (sans logo, so a little rough around the edges) is now live and ready for action. The wiki is where organizers
Continue readingeaves.ca: The Beneficial Impact of Newspaper Paywalls on Users
There continues to be fierce debate about the cost/benefits of newspaper paywalls, a debate Mathew Ingram has been helping drive with a great deal of depth and with excellent links. It is interesting to watch Ingram take on, and have to rebut, the problematic thinking that seems to so frequently comes out
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Solar Powered Combustion Engine May Be in Your Future
This may sound counter-intutitive, but researches have begun a project to build an internal combustion engine (a common car engine) that runs off of solar power. Instead of using gas to ignite everything they want to heat water, add a dash of oil, to create a replacement to the overused pollution producing machine that is […]
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Technology in a 21st Century Learning Inc world
Not surprisingly, technology is almost always identified as a component of 21st Century Learning. But this isn’t simply adding new technology to aid in the delivery of curriculum or to allow new teaching methods. It is not a matter of adding a few com…
Continue readingeaves.ca: Ontario’s Open Data Policy: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the (Missed?) Opportunity
Yesterday the province of Ontario launched its Open Data portal. This is great news and is the culmination of a lot of work by a number of good people. The real work behind getting open data program launched is, by and large, invisible to the public, but it is essential – and so congratulations are […]
Continue readingThings Are Good: ForestWatchers Wants You to Look at Forests
Forests around the world are in danger and a new group, ForestWatchers, is looking to the average person to save all the trees. It’s a very simple idea: use people to scan tree lines from images to help scientists focus their efforts. Citizen science for the win! We propose a
Continue readingLaw is Cool: The Innovative Advocate: Canada’s Legal Future
The way legal services are delivered in Canada is changing. Increased competition and a demand for lower prices has pressured law firms to slow hiring and deliver their services more efficiently. After finishing my first year at Queen’s Law I started thinking about how law students can help firms meet the demand. It starts
Continue readingeaves.ca: What the Quantified Self Movement Says and Tech and Gender
Over the past year or two I’ve been to a couple of unconferences sessions about how people are increasingly measuring different parts of their lives: how far they run, how they sleep, what they eat, etc… As some readers may be aware, these efforts are often referred to as part
Continue readingTrashy's World: Speaking of peeps…
… with time on their hands… I just don’t see the point of having to have the latest and “greatest” as soon as available… (5) Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingeaves.ca: Requiring Facebook for Your News Site (or website) – the Missed Opportunity
Last week I published I blog post titled Why Banning Anonymous Comments is Bad for Postmedia and Bad for Society in reaction to the fact that PostMedia’s newspapers( including the Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen, National Post, etc…) now requires readers to login with a Facebook account to make comments. The
Continue readingThings Are Good: Robots That Ride Waves for Science and Understanding
New surfboard sized robots are riding the waves and doing science! They’re autonomous robots called Wave Gliders and they are being used to monitor shipping and more importantly they are tracking information on the oceans that have traditionally been too costly to gather. Researchers are warming up to the technology
Continue readingeaves.ca: Is the Internet bringing us together or is it tearing us apart?
The other day the Vancouver Sun – via Simon Fraser University’s Public Square program – asked me to pen a piece answering the questions: Is the Internet bringing us together or is it tearing us apart? Yesterday, they published the piece. My short answer? Trying to unravel whether the Internet
Continue readingeaves.ca: Lies, Damned Lies, and Open Data
I have an article titles Lies, Damn Lies and Open Data in Slate Magazine as part of their Future Tense series. Here, for me, is the core point: On the surface, the open data movement was about who could access and use government data. It rested on the idea that
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