Surveillance: The government isn’t spying on us; Google is spying on us, and the government is asking Google for certain results.

Mass information gathering by for profit companies and the use of that information is becoming a major issue for societies, groups and individuals who are gradually waking up to the reality that if you type it with a keyboard or upload it and hit the send key you might as well be writing graffiti on government building walls and leaving your name and address in the bottom right hand corner.

What is amazing is how innocent and lulled most of us have been about the use of computers and keyboards.  Especially allowing kids to spend hours unsupervised on the same machines we do our most important communicating with banks, friends, colleagues, you name it.

So here we are having a debate about our relationship with online entities and the use of the data we willingly share and that data they are also able to produce deductively beyond what we are willing to share.

Whether we have anything to hide or not, most of us assume we get to make that choice.

Apparently, our keyboards, desktop computers and online connection are a gateway to big business and big brother which today seem to be becoming one and the same.

“LET’S get the most contentious point out of the way first: Edward Snowden made the right call to make public the extent of the National Security Administration’s surveillance of electronic communications. The American people can now have a debate about whether or not they consent to that level of surveillance in order to prevent terrorist attacks, a debate that we were previously denied by the government’s unwillingness to disclose even the …”

via Surveillance: Should the government know less than Google? | The Economist.

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“Killer drones: Out of the shadows” or are they?

Technology is changing war but legal concepts and international law are not as mutable.  As governments and leaders enthusiastically move forward with technological efficacy, the legal morass and moral quandary caused by social, psychological and economic destruction promises to create new problems that may haunt us for generations.  But technology moves fast, corporate America knows how to package and sell it, and the American public is the last to weigh in.  Democracy is increasingly purchased in the ongoing divided American electorate and the internecine warfare election politics now represent.  Like the proverbial Pyrrhic victory, we crush and pick off our enemies as the facts of our deeds slowly leek out and we potentially stand in ubiquitous and unforgiving popular judgement at home and abroad.

We seem to be getting farther and farther away from “though shall not kill” and “violence begets violence”

At last we have a technological equivalent to hackers threatening social and economic information exchange where the government is “anonymous” and civilization itself is the victim.  It is legion, expect it…

“WHEN it comes to lethal drone strikes against foreign targets, America’s government and Congress should be aware that “what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”, says …”

via Killer drones: Out of the shadows | The Economist.

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Alibaba: The world’s greatest bazaar | The Economist

Perhaps the internet is not so “internet.”  Perhaps the worldwide web is not so wide…

The Chinese are flexing their keyboards and their massive capital and in their wake they are leaving internal and external competitors washed ashore.  New, rising, Chinese companies are weaving a web between buyers and sellers in the largest populated market on earth–China.

The result is a leading internet, already, giant like a Chinese private company called “Alibaba.”  It is peering beyond its borders as it forms relationships with such giants as Yahoo and, according to the London Economist, because of its sheer scale, it is able to keep internet “spiders” like the ones that are the life blood of giants like Google at bay.  The Policy ThinkShop recommends the following Economist article for those who want to be in the know.

“In 1999 Trudy Dai used to spend all night sending e-mails from her friend Jack Ma’s apartment, trying to answer queries from American customers without letting on that she was Chinese. Ms Dai was one of the first dozen employees of Alibaba, an online listings service Mr Ma, a teacher, had just started. It was already having some success connecting small Chinese manufacturers to …”

MORE via Alibaba: The world’s greatest bazaar | The Economist.

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No. 2: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan – Philanthropy 50 – The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

What started as your kids chit chatting and “wasting time on their computer” is now one of the largest money making business in human history and is creating resources that are challenging the wold’s elite in philanthropy…. Such is the new “WWW” world our heads are in with our feet on the ground while we look up at a world that boggles (perhaps “googles”) the mind!

 

Amount donated in 2012: about $498.8-million

Beneficiary: Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Background: Mr. Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook, and Dr. Chan is a pediatrician.

Mark Zuckerberg, 28, and Priscilla Chan, 27, gave 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at about $498.8-million, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to support education and health programs.

This is the young billionaire’s second large donation. In 2010, he pledged $100-million to establish Startup: Education, a foundation to support programs working to improve public schools in Newark, N.J.

More via No. 2: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan – Philanthropy 50 – The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas.

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6 Apps You Don’t Want To Miss

The Policy ThinkShop searches all media to keep up with and promote the latest on social and gadget media.  Checkout the following article on Apps that can help you manage information and have fun …

“It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released every week. But you’re in luck — we take care of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps.”

via 6 Apps You Don’t Want To Miss.

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Europe’s Galileo GPS Plan Limps to Crossroads – NYTimes.com

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the internet, in the words of the famous Chicago Anthropologist, Clifford Geertz, is that it is providing an important medium, “web of significance” if you will, for world culture, politics and spirituality, to name a few, to commingle as people and organizations of all kinds connect in real time and for seemingly less than pennies…  The Europeans are working hard and putting down their cash, in these times of fiscal constraint and investment scarcity, to deliver an important variable in the world wide web equation: The Europeans promise to deliver a competing satellite system to the American system which, unlike the American’s, is purely a business and free enterprise system without the government restraints and military industrial complex implications of the American satellite venture.  The NYTs provides some light on the Euro project…

“With lofty dreams of European unity increasingly grounded by economic woe and the weight of narrow national interests, an array of computer screens here in central Italy blinks with faint signs that — far away in space, at least …”

via Europe’s Galileo GPS Plan Limps to Crossroads – NYTimes.com.

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Information technology: Has Apple peaked? | The Economist

It can be said that Apple was born of Steve’s exigencies and vision and China’s ability to ruthlessly churn out product in mass and timely form.  This dual reality of visionary and mass maker may not be sustainable in the long term.

It can all be summarized, perhaps over simplified, in a few sentences–Apple’s success in market share, its quick to market technological business model, and the need for seemingly immediate mass production and delivery, forced Apple to turn to the one place that can build and turn out mass production like no other place in the history of mankind, namely “CHINA!”  This move, as if it had any other choice, forced Apple to build a market plan that may be compromised by of necessity choosing China’s ability to produce though perhaps at the cost of product quality…

Apple’s mantra and the late Steve’s DNA contribution was the pursuit of ruthless perfection and un-compromised aesthetics for its products.  This business model may now be in question because of the company’s performance and the quality of its products slowly becoming an ongoing topic and the mass production by the China based infrastructure may not keep up with Western consumer exigencies.  If Apple continues to falter on its production timelines, quality or consumer expectations, the current discussion may prove fatal for a company that can’t change either reality–Steve is gone for ever and China may be the only mass market production vehicle?

The pursuit of perfection and mass production shortcoming facts remain to be final and clear as much as the above Policy ThinkShop analysis may frame the discussion and hold…  The London Economist shares to the discussion as follows:

“TECH blogs are abuzz. Pundits are busy pumping out predictions. The company that makes the new device that is attracting so much attention is teasing reporters by being coy about its innovative features. Apple’s product launches are always like this. But this time the fuss is not about an Apple product: it is about …”

via Information technology: Has Apple peaked? | The Economist.

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State of denial | The Economist The Policy ThinkShop Proposes that there is now a “NEW AMERICAN ELECTORATE”

The London Economist provides some sober analysis on the Republican meltdown that represents the Presidential Election of 2012.  The Republican disconnect between the young, women and Latinos could spell a new era of demographic consequences that are now clearly irreversible and that will mandate Republican philosophical change that may not be possible for another generation.  Millionaire money, gerrymandering and voter suppression is clearly not enough to the blossoming diversity and generational succession that is now apparent in the “NEW AMERICAN ELECTORATE.”

“FOR conservatives casting about for comfort, there are plenty of plausible reasons to dismiss talk of a crisis. Mitt Romney could have run a better campaign. He reacted slowly when Barack Obama defined him as a heartless plutocrat, and flip-flopped on policies so frequently that even campaign allies struggled to keep …”

 

This Economist article is only one soul-searching conservative attempt to explain the current state of the Republican mind.  It may take Conservatives, Tea Party stalwarts and Right Wingers another decade to figure it out.  By then, the NEW AMERICAN ELECTORATE may have moved on.  America is moving forward right past the right, its billionaires and its antiquated vision of “a real america”.

More via Lexington: State of denial | The Economist.

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A sense of place | The Economist

Stuck in with the nasty weather outside?  Here is a nice read while you’re wondering what to do with your unexpected day off: A nice article in the London Economist about how APPs are changing the real world by allowing people to network and make choices never before possible…

 

“THERE WAS SOMETHING odd about the black car at the junction of Sutter and Hyde Streets. It was an ordinary saloon. Its windows …”

More via A sense of place | The Economist.

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Nitrogen cycle: Difference Engine: End of the electric car? | The Economist

A COUPLE of dozen electric cars with fuel cells under the bonnet (in place of the more usual flat-pack of batteries beneath the floor) have been zipping around your correspondent’s neighbourhood for the past few years. Most are FCX Clarity models from Honda, all in the …

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6 tips to prevent neck, shoulder pain when using an iPad or computer — Harvard Health Publications – Harvard Health Publications

Hours spent using an iPad or other tablet can cause neck and shoulder problems. Blame it on the viewing angle. A simple shift can change everything, reports the October 2012 Harvard Health Letter.

Holding a tablet computer too low, say on the lap, forces the neck to bend forward too much, straining and possibly even injuring muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, or spinal discs. Simply placing a tablet on a table propped at an angle in a tablet case can reduce neck strain and potential pain, according to research conducted by Dr. Jack Dennerlein and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health.

One of the best things to do, no matter what kind of computer you are using, is take a break. “Change your position every 15 minutes,” says Dr. Dennerlein, an adjunct professor of ergonomics and safety at the Harvard School of Public Health. Other tips include:

When using an iPad or tablet:

Use a case that positions the device at a comfortable viewing angle

Take a break every 15 minutes

Routinely shift hands and weight; stand up if seated, or sit down if standing …

MOre via 6 tips to prevent neck, shoulder pain when using an iPad or computer — Harvard Health Publications – Harvard Health Publications.

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Social Networking Sites Grow as a Source of News – Pew Research Center

The explosive growth of social networking sites has been a significant contributor to the online search for news, with the percentage saying they saw news or news headlines on social networking sites the previous day increasing from 9% in 2010 to 19%.

 

The other factor driving an increase in the number of Americans who get news digitally is the greater use of mobile devices in recent years.

This has changed the landscape when it comes to how news is consumed. While the percentage of Americans who regularly go online for news – those who get news online three days a week or more – has not increased, those who regularly get news on a cell phone, tablet or other mobile device has nearly doubled since 2010, from 9% to 15%, and the number seeing news on social network sites three days a week or more has almost tripled, from 7% to 20%.

via Daily Number: Social Networking Sites Grow as a Source of News – Pew Research Center.

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