Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 791

Spime Watch: Pachube feeds

http://community.pachube.com/node/225

“We now have Pachube feeds and users from every continent on the planet - but we’ve been wondering just how much cross-planet traffic we’re generating. We know we’re getting many 10s of thousands of API requests per hour, but are Pachube feeds localised (requesting each other from geographically close neighbourhoods)? Or are we really doing what we set out to do: facilitate ‘patching the planet’?”

(((Lotta New Zealand action. Hello Webstock.)))

(((”What the he

WiReD FOUND Photoshop contest

*Get your design-fiction on.

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/found/found_1706

“For six years, Wired magazine’s Found page has shown our best guess at what lies over the horizon, from touchscreen windshields to organ farming. Now, we’re inviting readers to help create Found pages: What do you think our world will look like in 10, 20 or 100 years?
Each month, we’ll propose a scenario, and present some initial ideas and concepts. Then it’s up you: Sketch out your vision, and uploa

Web Semantics: Google Wave Jargon

*They claim that Google Wave can *auto-translate on the fly.* Eerie. Maybe it can

auto-translate microsyntax!

http://mashable.com/2009/05/28/google-wave-guide/

“Google Wave actually has its own lingo - yes, you have to learn a few definitions if you’re going to really understand this new communication platform. Having knowledge of these terms will help you understand more about Google’s newest project.

“- Wave: A wave, specifically, refers to a specific threaded conversation. It can include just

Green Technology Through The Ages

*For ages, they didn’t work. Not too hard to see why.

*Maybe we’re lucky that we’re not even MORE dependent on brown

technologies than we already are. Like, we clearly can’t eat with oil;

but imagine a situation where we couldn’t have sex without

consuming two tons of coal.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/may/21/copenhagen-climate-change-manchester-report?pic

Contemporary pop music

*Right. Okay, no detectable business model, maybe. But it’s not like pop music has turned into dust.

*People sometimes write in: Good lord, do you actually “like” (exotic underground genre xyz that you just blogged about)? No, no, that’s not my point. I’m *particularly interested* in music that I don’t like. This piece of “grime” has got like, three, four distinct moments when it does something musically that I don’t understand and have never seen. That’s exciting.

The Best Videogame Review I’ve Ever Seen

http://futurismic.com/2009/05/27/grand-theft-auto-iv-exploring-the-mundane/#more-7597

(…)

“Since its inception, the GTA series has shared the same conflicted attitude towards the real world that afflicts most games. Early titles largely avoided the problem by being aesthetically framed in a primarily cartoonish manner with crime and then cyberpunk tropes being exaggerated largely for comic effect.

“However, with the release of GTA III, the series embraced a less cartoonish 3D look that has seen an

Prada nongoth

*You know, Miuccia has kind of got it going on. I mean, yes, Ms. Prada is in the upscale couture biz, but she’s also genuine European intelligentsia. Almost coming across like an Italian ’70s radical-architect here.

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/05/miuccia_prada_explains_what_wa.html

The blog here is migrating to a new platform

*Hold the phone. Back later when the bugs are swatted.

@bruces on twitter

http://www.kk.org/cooltools

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brucesterling/

Good-looking open-source robot garden here

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2009/04/27/peter-sands-plant-fasting/

*I don't much believe in urban agriculture, because normal gardening is
slow, patient, caring work that quickly bores most people.

*Robot windowbox gardens with net-links, those I almost believe in.
A commercial packaged version of one of these, I might go for that.
A lot of people would pay for automaton gardens. They might even
pay for themselves, unlike most hobby gardening.

Microsoft's Home of Future

*Lined with internet-of-surfaces.

*One idly wonders how many women really truly
want to dress and undress in front of an interactive Microsoft mirror.