Dan Hendry's Blog

Shutting Down

danhendry — Sat, 01 May 2010 16:58:41 +0000

Well, I think I am going to be shutting this blog down. Check out my new site at

www.dustbunnytycoon.com

Audi’s Robotic Car Drives Better Than You Do | Autopia | Wired.com

danhendry — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:56:20 +0000

Audi’s Robotic Car Drives Better Than You Do | Autopia | Wired.com.

Wow, this is a serious robotic car.

Audi is working with the same guys that, wouldnt you know, won the first DARPA vehicle challenge (Stanford). As I understand it, the original cost on the order of $25 million to build.

iPad

danhendry — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:35:21 +0000

Another One:

Ph.D.

danhendry — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:29:12 +0000

Originally from http://horas-perdidas.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-post_26.html

TechPost2

danhendry — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:24:52 +0000

The development of the modern electronic book (known as an ebook) may be traced through three distinct, important and deceptively obvious technological developments.

Writing

The oldest and most important technology associated with the ebook is writing itself. It may seem redundant to state, but an ebook at a fundamental level would be inconceivable without the written word. Granted, without writing we would all still probably be living in huts and be professional subsistence farmers; an argument could be made that written language is the most important historical requirement for any modern technology. Despite the importance of writing in development of the modern world and nearly all technology we use in our daily lives, its direct significance for ebooks is greater than most.

Modern writing and the concept of an alphabet can be traced to the Greeks who invented in in 730 BC [Rowland, 2006]. Writing was a critical aspect of an age rich is science, philosophy and logic. It lead directly to the development of the first democracies and the modern concept of politics [Brown, 2009]. Writing, specifically alphabetized writing as opposed to earlier hieroglyphs, was the first flexible way individuals could communicate without meeting physically. It was also the first way an individuals ideas could be reliably transmitted through time [Rowland, 2006]. Writing, lacking the feedback of face-to-face, communication forced individuals to structure and edit their thoughts in such a way as to be understandable to a remote reader. This is an important characteristic of books and consequently ebooks. The ebook is just the latest in a long line of technological developments of presenting us the written words of another.

The Printing Press – Industrial Revolution of Books

The invention of the printing press and the mass manufacturing of books may be considered the ‘‘industrial revolution’’ of the written word [Eisenstein, 1997]. Invented in 1440 [Febvre and Martin, 1997] the printing press is considered by many to be the most important invention of the last millennium [A&E, 1999]. It is nearly impossible to understate the historical importance of the book considering its impact on nearly every aspect of society, religion, science, culture, language, and politics just to name a few [Febvre and Martin, 1997].

The printing press was invented near the beginning of the renaissance, similar in may ways to the era following the invention of writing. Societies experienced a massive resurgence of art and science with vastly increased literacy rates [Febvre and Martin, 1997]. The book was a driving factor behind many of these changes. Unlike earlier eras a single individual could disseminate their ideas and thoughts to a huge number of people.

One feature of a technology as it moves through its ‘modern’ phase to its ‘post modern’ phase its ubiquitous adoption; it no longer becomes new or special and is simply another feature of daily life. Uses of the technology which were once considered wasteful or ‘beneath it’, become acceptable. For books, this is seen clearly in the adoption of recreational reading and fictional literature. With the significantly lower cost of books, a much larger portion of the population was able to read for pleasure. Reading became an activity for the working class, not just the highly educated [Cavallo et al., 1999]. This is a precedence which continues in ebooks.

Information Age

The advent of the information age including computers and the Internet is the final technological evolution which has lead to the ebook. Of specific importance in this very broad topic is the freeing of information from a physical form. The modern information age has been characterized by a massive increase in the amount of information which is available to an individual. Perhaps most significantly it has increased the accessibility of obscure topics and esoteric knowledge. [Max, 1994]

With all the information one could possibly want without having to leave a computer, the role and importance of physical books is arguably diminished. Unlike earlier ages which required significant effort to obtain information, we have become complacent. One of the key differences between a significant portion of information available on the Internet and a typical book is flow, structure and editing. When using the Internet it is typically the users responsibility to examine multiple snippets of information, evaluate them and put them together to reach some conclusion or general understanding. A book however, typically presents the information it contains in a form which assists the reader in understanding the main ideas [Suderman, 2010]. As such a book is more conducive to developing knowledge, not just obtaining information, as the author is able to impart their experience as it relates holistically to the topic.

Conclusion

From writing itself, to the printing press and mass production of books, to the Internet revolution and transcendence of information beyond physical mediums, ebooks have been a long time coming. The information age has allowed the book to transform into the ebook which is more portable and distributable; particularly for books on obscure topics. The ebook incorporates the best aspects of modern digital technology and an edited, structured print medium.

Bibliography

[A&E, 1999] A&E (1999). Biography of the millennium. [Television Program].

[Brown, 2009] Brown, E. (2009). Platoś ethics and politics in the republic. In Zalta, E. N., editor, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fall 2009 edition.

[Cavallo et al., 1999] Cavallo, G., Chartier, R., and Cochrane, L. G. (1999). A History of Reading in the West. Blackwell Publishers.

[Eisenstein, 1997] Eisenstein, E. L. (1997). The printing press as an agent of change. Cambridge University Press.

[Febvre and Martin, 1997] Febvre, L. and Martin, H.-J. (1997). The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450-1800. Verso.

[Max, 1994] Max, D. (1994). The end of the book?. Atlantic Monthly (10727825), 274(3):61 – 71.

[Rowland, 2006] Rowland, W. (2006). Spirit of The Web. Thomas Allen Publishers, third edition.

[Suderman, 2010] Suderman, P. (2010). Don’t fear the e-reader. Reason, 41(11):64 – 65.

Chinese Internet Censorship

danhendry — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:54:39 +0000

Here is an interesting example of Chinese internet censorship I came across. Searching for “tiananmen square massacre” videos

On google.cn

and

google.com

Twitter Incites Teen Girls to Riot

danhendry — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:12:11 +0000

Justin Bieber backs manager in Twitter battle.

This is one of the most bizare things I have heard about in a LONG time.

So apparently this dude Justin Bieber (the first I have ever heard of him) was scheduled to show up at a mall to meet 3000 fans. He sent a tweet saying he was almost there inciting a riot.

The riot sent 5 “Biebettes” who I take it are ~13 year old girls to the hospital. WTF.

After the riots, the crowd refused to leave even after hearing (again via twitter) that the event was canceled. WTF.

Am I the only one that thinks this is absurd? Take a look at the comments on the article as well. WTF. Here is an example:

“Maybe he just couldn’t make it. I’m sure he felt sorry! I love you Justin Drew!! A&F <3 :]"

WTF!!!!! A riot just sent 5 people to the hospital and "maybe he just couldn't make it"!!!!

Here is another example:

"OMG. you are the sexyiest man on earth i wish i could date you and kiss you and do u lol jk but my name is mallory miller and i am from Bennington Oklahoma. You should sing at Durant Oklahoma just to let u no i love u keep up the good work ur doing and i am 15. and my number is 1-580-775-5886. lol byyyyy"

WTF!!! A 15 year old girl giving out their name, number and where they live on the ridiculously slim chance that 'Justin Bieber' will look at some random quote in some random article on the Vancouver Sun website? And there have been arguments that schools should NOT be teaching kids about the internet and privacy.

How A $500 Craigslist Car Beat $400K Rally Racers – Rallying – Jalopnik

danhendry — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:56:22 +0000

How A $500 Craigslist Car Beat $400K Rally Racers – Rallying – Jalopnik.

“Professional motorsport is a cold, hard place. If you want to run with the big dogs, you can’t just build a car in your mom’s garage and show up, right? Wrong. One guy did just that. Here’s his amazing story.”

Can you tell which is the $500 car?

Cell Phones & Driving – Laptops & Flying

danhendry — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:06:34 +0000

The Associated Press: Senate passes bill updating air traffic system.

Along similar lines as the new law banning cell phones while driving, part of this new US law bans pilots from playing on their computers while on the job (thats right: flying the airplane).

This comes in response to an incident in which pilots overflew their destination because they were playing on their computers.

Cleaning Up A Trashy City – Google grants Windsor a do-over

danhendry — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:59:09 +0000

Google grants Windsor a do-over.

Pretty short article referring to street view. I dont really know what to think about the second paragraph below

“Google will be reshooting Windsor, Ont., after a less-than-flattering view of the city taken while garbage was piling up because of a municipal strike when cameras hit the streets of that city last year.

The footage initially shot for Google’s Street View — a popular three-dimensional mapping application — also included images of a murder scene outside a Windsor strip club. Google has already removed the offending photos.”