Aug 29

Aug 29 Using Ubuntu Linux Instead of a Windows 8 Upgrade

Earlier this year I started thinking about what to do about my aging desktop machine and it’s Windows 7 install. My trusty Sony VAIO laptop running Windows 7 Professional had finally died. I cannibalized its hard drive for external storage. Should I now upgrade my workhorse HP desktop machine to Windows 8?

Aug 27

Aug 27 Paywalls, Online Publishing, and Link Sharing

Dennis D. McDonald

Accessibility, Magazines, Media, Publishing

Being paid to publish an article in a payment-required indie magazine such as The Magazine sounds like a great idea if that’s the business you’re in. But for me, I have have to balance such opportunities against the loss of potential sharable links both for my own articles and those written by others I want to link to.

Aug 5

Aug 5 Have We Already Entered a "Post-Smartphone" Era?

Dennis D. McDonald

Innovation, Mainstream, Marketing, Media, Mobile, Mobile Tech, Post-smartphone, Smartphone

In the world I live in there are still a lot of people who are satisfied with having “just a phone.” Still, what passes for “just a phone” these days is more powerful than the combined computing power devoted to the Manhattan Project, the Air Force/NASA X-15 program, and the early Space Shuttle Orbiter’s primitive onboard computers.

Jul 28

Jul 28 Perspectives on the NSA and PRISM: What Dyson Missed

Dennis D. McDonald

Accountability, Analytics, Data, Data Access, Democracy, Media, Memory, NSA, PRISM, Privacy, Semantic Web, Snowden, Transparency, Cold War

In NSA: The Decision Problem George Dyson lays out a credible historical view on why he thinks what Snowden revealed about the NSA and PRISM was inevitable. While it’s certainly a pleasure to read a discussion of these issues that is so thoughtful, I think he misses one major theme that helps us understand our current predicament over what to do about Snowden.

Jul 22

Jul 22 On Reading the Digital Edition of the Washington Post on the iPad Mini

Dennis D. McDonald

Advertising, E-book, Media, Newspapers, Publishing, User Interface

I learned recently that home subscribers to the Washington Post newspaper also receive the digital edition, so I added it to my wife’s iPad Mini. What follows is a description of my initial reactions as a reader.

Jul 15

Jul 15 The Internet and the Realities of Managing Human Memories

Dennis D. McDonald

Artificial Intelligence, Augmented reality, Cognitive Enhancement, Internet, Media, Memory, Web

Reading Oliver Sacks’ New York Review of Books article Speak, Memory got me thinking about how the Internet augments how humans relate to their memories, the world, and each other.

Jul 12

Jul 12 How I Speed Up Writing & Editing

Dennis D. McDonald

Blogging, Cursive, Media, Paper, Pens, Publishing, Writing, iPhone

Kelly Griffin’s “11 Tips For Editing Your Own Writing” is a great list. As she says, “… editing your own writing is downright painful.”

Jul 9

Jul 9 A Progress Report on Reading Electronic Books, Especially Kindle

Dennis D. McDonald

Apple, Books, Crossplatform, Libraries, Mobile, Mobile Tech, Publishing, Software, iOS, iPhone, Media

I remember being a bit surprised at how easy it had been to “weed” the collection of harcover and paperback book we had built up over the years. Now I’m reading a book — a “real book” printed on paper — in amongst the books and various documents I’m also reading via my Kindle devices and software. Reading this physical book is a pleasure so I thought I would put some of my thoughts about the experience in writing.

Jun 12
Jun 12 Apple's Product Design Philosophy

Dennis D. McDonald

Apple, Media, Video

What I find inspiring about this short video by Apple is the message it conveys about one’ company’s focus on user experience.

May 16

May 16 Whom Do You Trust to Augment YOUR Reality?

Dennis D. McDonald

Anonymity, Apple, Augmented reality, Cognitive Enhancement, Glass, Google, Media, Siri, Smartphone, Technological Literacy, Usability

There’s no doubt in my mind the cloud-based services can help us deal with the major events, but I think we will have to wait a lot longer for the butterfly wings.

May 7

May 7 Has Google Lost Control of Glass?

Dennis D. McDonald

Change, Glass, Google, Media, Mobile, Mobile Tech, Privacy

What drives me crazy about the debates around Google Glass is the groups of people who keep on saying, “Society will adjust. People will get used to it. It’s no different than what we have now with omnipresent security cameras and smartphones in every pocket.”

May 6

May 6 Utilities and Cable Companies: What's a Monopoly To Do?

Dennis D. McDonald

Cable TV, Innovation, Internet, Monopolies, Television, Media

For me to bottom line is simple: government regulation, initially implemented to protect public interest, is now viewed by many as protecting special interests instead. This needs to change.

Apr 17
Apr 17 Should Local Governments Rely on Facebook for Public Communications?

Dennis D. McDonald

Facebook, Media, Privacy, , Transparency, eGovernment

Am I being overly sensitive since I gave up using Facebook myself and don’t recommend it to others? Or should the fact that so many people use Facebook be the real deciding factor?

Apr 16
Apr 16 Keep Your Eyeballs to Yourself, Chathead

Dennis D. McDonald

Advertising, Chathead, Facebook, Google, Media, Privacy, , User Interface

Oh, I know you are supposed to be able to fine-tune all the all this via Facebook settings. But I have more important things to do than to constantly rejigger confusing Facebook notification and privacy settings.

Apr 9

Apr 9 Comcast Must Die

Dennis D. McDonald

Cable TV, Customer Support, Media, Monopolies, Television

I feel sorry for Comcast customer support staff. I really do.

Mar 27
Mar 27 Is Jeff Jarvis Having a "Technopanic" Attack?

Dennis D. McDonald

Glass, Google, Google+, Jeff Jarvis, Media, Technopanic

Problem is, when it comes to Glass, Jarvis might be throwing the bathwater out with the baby.

Mar 23
Mar 23 Google's "Trust" Problem Isn't Going Away

Dennis D. McDonald

Glass, Google, Media, Reader, Transparency, Trust

Who wants to give over free access to every scrap of online behavior to a single company that “can’t be relied upon” to maintain the key value-generators of their infrastructure, especially since so much of their product offerings are subsidized through advertising sales?

Mar 15

Mar 15 Google Reader: Act First, Apologize Later

Dennis D. McDonald

Customer Support, Google, Jeff Jarvis, Media, Transparency, Trust

Mar 12

Mar 12 Who Knows What Google Should Do With Glass?

Dennis D. McDonald

Glass, Google, Innovation, Media, Mobile

What if Glass is an expensive and embarrassing failure involved in some awful disastrous accident? Will Google’s Board demand a shake up in its upper management — or its business model that covers giving away services? I hope nothing like this happens because we all benefit from Google’s success.

Mar 1

Mar 1 Quitting Facebook Is Not Just About Privacy

Dennis D. McDonald

Facebook, Media, , , Trust

While on Google+ I ran across a link to what I thought was another one of those “Why I Left Facebook” posts, this time one by author Douglas Rushkoff called Why I’m Quitting Facebook on CNN’s website. His reasons go beyond privacy exploits and appear to me at least to be much more serious and profound.