Development methodologies weren't taught at Cornell when I took Computer Science 1982-1986. I first remember hearing about them in the early 1990's. At CivicActions, we've talked about "agile" and "scrum" for some time. But it really took the last couple of projects for me to embrace these methods.

• Continue reading

What was AT&T's vision of the Internet? Movies on demand? Bridges without stopping to pay toll? What about he CRAZY stuff, like: Meeting without your shoes on?! Faxing from the beach? Tucking your baby in from a phone booth? Who the hell knows what a phone booth is?

Alex Iskold has written a fantastic piece on The Road to the Semantic Web "Some people think that the Semantic Web is about AI, some claim that it is more about semantics, while others say that it is about data annotation. All agree however, that we will all be wonderfully more productive and simply happier when it arrives." What is the Semantic Web?

Free Range Graphics (makers of 'The Meatrix') have produced another great video about the dangers of PVC (aka Vinyl) in the home. Did you know that PVC, the material used in shower curtains and kids’ toys, is dangerous to our health and our environment? Free Range produced the video for the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ). This new movie is part of a national campaign asking Target Stores to phase out the poison plastic and switch to safer, cost effective alternatives, as other retailers have done.

Continue reading

Today MAPLight.org unveiled a pioneering database that lays bare the connection between money and votes in California politics. http://www.maplight.org The MAPLight.org website combines information from the Official California Legislative Information website, which contains the official text of each bill and how each legislator voted, and the Institute on Money in State Politics, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to accurate, comprehensive and unbiased documentation and research on campaign finance. MAPLight.org allows journalists and citizens to answer questions such as:

• Continue reading

At first glance, the PEW report on the Future of the Internet seemed a bit juvenile. Then jumping in to it, I realized those surveyed included Internet luminaries Esther Dyson and Howard Rheingold (among others), and should be taken seriously... From the report summary: "A survey of internet leaders, activists, and analysts shows that a majority agree with predictions that by 2020: * A low-cost global network will be thriving and creating new opportunities in a “flattening� world. * Humans will remain in charge of technology, even as more activity is automated and “smart agents� proliferate. However, a significant 42% of survey respondents were pessimistic about humans’ ability to control the technology in the future. This significant majority agreed that dangers and dependencies will grow beyond our ability to stay in charge of technology. This was one of the major surprises in the survey. * Virtual reality will be compelling enough to enhance worker productivity and also spawn new addiction problems. * Tech “refuseniks� will emerge as a cultural group characterized by their choice to live off the network. Some will do this as a benign way to limit information overload, while others will commit acts of violence and terror against technology-inspired change. * People will wittingly and unwittingly disclose more about themselves, gaining some benefits in the process even as they lose some privacy. * English will be a universal language of global communications, but other languages will not be displaced. Indeed, many felt other languages such as Mandarin, would grow in prominence." Read the full PDF report.

A brief look at YouTube's most popular videos of the day, and what do you find? Cingular with the #1 video?! (391,397 views today alone!) Yep, the name of the video is "Cingular presents: YouTube Underground!" Cingular nabs the "Viral Day Action" award (VD Action) with this clever bit of marketing... a video announcing a YouTube contest for the best band, video or song on the hugely popular video social networking site. And, only a day after Warner Music signed a deal with YouTube - agreeing to a new royalty-tracking system... A good week for the 'Tube.

What type of searcher are you? Slate distinguishs the seven ways people search using the mistakenly-released AOL search logs of 650,000 members. Or go to Valleywag to search the logs yourself. Like User 1912452, "a psychiatric counselor looking for a job in Colorado, obsessed with quick weight loss. She's turned to the book of Revelation, the zodiac, psychic schools, private investigators, and Victorian poetry. She (or a patient) dreams about being drenched in blood."

Mashups

are one of my favorite things - synthetic creativity born from the creativity and generosity of open technologists whose works are available on the web to be cross-pollinated with other technologies or datasources to produce brand-new things. It is an ever-accelerating artform in the World Wide Mesh that promises endless Darwinian generative possibilities. Recently the term has been showing up in common culture and the meaning risks dilution. Let's get specific. What exactly is a mashup? Mashups: The new breed of Web app is a new IBM article that provides a great overview of the history and the categories of "mashups" - and bears reading even for Technorati who already get and even contruct mashups.

• Continue reading

Just like it says. Check out this amazing tool: http://www.scrutinizethis.com/ Submitted by Brooks Cole