Joakim Nygård Archive Linked About

TED Talks - Symmetry

10 Dec 2010 -

Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explains symmetry

WikiLeaks Coverage by The Guardian

10 Dec 2010 -

Including an interactive mirror of the already released cables

WikiLeaks vs The World

9 Dec 2010 -

Tim Bray has written an excellent post on the whole WikiLeaks affair:

Here’s a sound bite I can sign up for, from Simon Phipps: “Wikileaks is like Pirate Bay; something that I don’t like but have to defend because of the collateral damage caused by attacking it.”

Unlike Simon, there are quite a few things I like about WikiLeaks; but even where it’s open to criticism, its sins pale beside those of the rabble of wastrels, guttersnipes, nincompoops, and cowards lined up against it.

Exactly!

Taking Over The World

7 Dec 2010 -

Financial Times has an interesting article about Facebook and it looks like they are working on becoming an integral part of what we consider the web to be:

Facebook is no longer merely a social network, where users check out updates from friends, glance at photos and play some games. Rather, it is making moves to be an essential part of the entire online experience. The company is becoming people’s homepage, e-mail system and more. Much in the way Google extended its capabilities from search to include e-mail, maps and books, Facebook is becoming a part of ever more daily services on the web. The company is also making strides to achieve one thing Google has not: it is well on its way to becoming the de facto identity platform for the internet.

It used to be IBM that was the giant, then Microsoft. Today, Apple, Google and Facebook are a huge part of our lives in ways previously unknown. Unlike the open, cooperative and, partly, government funded computer and internet revolution that enabled these to grow, the future is increasingly being built and controlled by corporations. I am not sure that is a good thing.

Fortunately, brilliant things and being built and thought every day as the TED videos demonstrate. I hope there is room for them.

TED Talks - Sharing With Strangers

7 Dec 2010 -

Rachel Botsman makes a compelling argument that we are on the verge of a new way of consuming, that of collaboration. What started online is spreading to the physical world and there are now sites allowing anyone to share or borrow everything from books to cars.

Email as a Social Network

6 Dec 2010 -

Researchers at Stanford have created a social network based on the standards used every day in email. John Fontana from Ping Identity writes

The goal is to provide an open and federated social network platform, shatter the silos of personal and other data that individual sites control, and give users ultimate power over their data and relationships.

I love how it’s based on an already widespread and robust system for communicating. Email is well understood unlike setting up your own server, that most other decentralized social networks require. Read more at Stanford MobiSocial Lab

TED Talks - Teach Yourself

3 Dec 2010 -

Sugata Mitra explains his remarkable experiments with self-teaching kids. It turns out teachers are not needed – interest and persistence is.

TED Talks - Teaching Math

2 Dec 2010 -

Continuing yesterdays theme of education, Conrad Wolfram argues that we should stop teaching calculating and start teaching mathematics. Math is used in an ever increasing number of fields, from physics to music, and we would all benefit from a better understanding.

TED Talks - Don't Just Educate the Head

1 Dec 2010 -

Sir Ken Robinson talks humorously about education and how we perhaps ought to rethink it

National Geographic 2010 photography contest

25 Nov 2010 -

Absolutely stunning images selected by the always good Boston Big Picture.

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