Quoting from a link on dzone.com Cloud computing at this point means giving up freedom over your own data in exchange for the ability to access the cloud from any web browser. GroundOS provides the exact same benefits, except without the sacrifice of losing control of your data, because you are able to setup and… Continue reading
Date archives "April 2009"
The operator-centric mobile model is over
There is no such thing as the mobile Internet. There is just the Internet. In his talk, Pogue refers to the “completed marriage of the Internet and the mobile.” That is, in fact, exactly what we are witnessing. The mobile device is rapidly evolving into just another window onto the web. Whether we are talking… Continue reading
Saskia Sassen on the meltdown, and the way out
One of the best and simple explanations of the crisis that I’ve read. For Saskia Sassen, financialization is dead, period, which opens the opportunity for alternatives. Excerpts from a more extensive article in Open Democracy. Saskia Sassen: “A defining feature of the period that begins in the 1980s is the use of extremely complex instruments… Continue reading
Peer to peer and libraries are not that different
Josep M. Ganyet posted this on his blog Peer to peer and libraries are not that different by Josep M. Ganyet Posted in Internet, Politics I’m reading about the ongoing Pirate Bay trial, the recent appointment of González-Sinde as the new Spanish minister of culture (and her particular views about p2p) and the bill against… Continue reading
Ronja: case study of a failed open hardware project
Christian Siefkes continues his summary of the presentations at Oekonux 4. Here, he discusses the presentation by Johan Soderbergh, of Hacking Capitalism fame, on the Ronja project, which failed both because a commercial fork, because issues in open hardware licensing, and I would argue, for introducing forced reciprocity into peer production. Christian Siefkes: “Johan Söderberg… Continue reading
The decentralized intelligence of plants
From a very beautiful essay by Kevin Kelly at the Technium, which covers the intelligence of both plants and insects. An excerpt on plant intelligence: “Plants, too, posses a decentralized type of intelligence. As Anthony Trewavas argues in his remarkable paper, “Aspects of Plant Intelligence,” plants demonstrate a slow version of problem solving that fit… Continue reading
The philosophy of the meta-currency project
Eric Harris-Braun gives details on the meta-currency project and its underlying philosophy of what exactly currencies are. See also the accompagnying meditation on value. Eric Harris-Braun: “What we are claiming in the meta-currency project, is that the seemingly different social phenomena of monetary exchange, eBay reputation points, grades, coupons, airline-miles, etc.., are similarly expressions of… Continue reading
For a P2P-based taxation reform based on unearned income
The architecture of a rational and consensual 21st Century Peer to Peer financial architecture -and a new Economics of Common Sense – may perhaps be based upon a new set of assumptions and definitions, and a new generation of partnership-based protocols linking together a networked society. I find this a very convincing proposal by Chris… Continue reading
Indian Theatre Resists Copyright
Excerpt from a much longer article by theatre activist Sudhanva Deshpande which appeared in the Economic & Political Weekly, april 4, 2009 vol xliv no 14-19. Excerpt: “Copyright disputes are cropping up in the field of theatre as well. Last year, a Mumbai-based theatre group was rehearsing their translation of Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera,… Continue reading
IT Conversations | Emerging Communications | Michel Bauwens
IT Conversations recently posted this recording of Michel Bauwens speaking at the Emerging Communications Conference 2008 Middle Way Between Open and Closed Michel Bauwens The openness of the digital commons has created abundant and freely available social value but not a way to monetize it. In the talk from the 2008 Emerging Communications Conference, Michel… Continue reading
Why I’m throwing down the gauntlet to our councils over RSS feeds « Mash the State
We are republishing this post by Adrian Short / Mash the State under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK licence Why I’m throwing down the gauntlet to our councils over RSS feeds 14 April 2009 You’re free to republish this article under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK licence with credit and a link to… Continue reading
Google Sticks Up for Privacy, Disables Uploads on YouTube Korea
Sarah Perez reports on ReadWriteWeb Google Sticks Up for Privacy, Disables Uploads on YouTube Korea Google has disabled both uploads of videos and comments on the Korean version of YouTube after the South Korean government tried to enforce a new law which requires web sites with at least 100,000 users to verify the person’s real… Continue reading
Online coverage of Thailand’s Red Shirt Crisis
Via Sunil Shestra: “As there many international news agency might have limitations on news sources on situation in Thailand as many news only concentrate on how the military crack down the protesters as well as Thaksin’s messages plus the Prime minister replies. Therefore, to bring more completeness to the various news agencies and interested bloggers… Continue reading
Rebooting the Russian heartland through Global Villages
A recent letter by Franz Nahrada to the governor of Archangelsk, sparked a flurry of republications in various Russian newspapers, showing great interest in the potential of globally interconnected villages. Here are some details. Franz Nahrada: “Just four or five months ago, I had a Skype Conversation with Russian journalist and village rejuvenation activist in… Continue reading
Transitional P2P-housing for rebuilding Abbruzzo communities
On our p2p-research list, Eric Hunting responded to a query by Marco Fioretti about housing solutions to the earthquake in Italy. Here’s the interesting response, with lots of resources as well: Eric Hunting: “To start with, I’d like to point out the Fab-Prefab web site as a good resource; http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/home.htm There seem to be some… Continue reading
ChangeCamp Edmonton
From the ChangeCamp wiki: ChangeCamp Edmonton Interested in making ChangeCamp Edmonton a reality? Please register and let us know how you’d like to help. If required, you can contact me directly about ChangeCamp Edmonton here: walter[at]fusedlogic.com or follow me on twitter @fusedlogic and send a DM if you prefer. This wiki is designed to help… Continue reading