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30 years of the World Wide Web

The web….where would we be without it?

The World Wide Web is 30 years old (12 March) and Tim Berners-Lee wants to help us fix it

In his open letter of 12 March 2019, he describes 3 sources of dysfunction affecting the web:

  1. ‘Deliberate, malicious intent, such as state-sponsored hacking and attacks, criminal behaviour, and online harassment.
  2. System design that creates perverse incentives where user value is sacrificed, such as ad-based revenue models that commercially reward clickbait and the viral spread of misinformation.
  3. Unintended negative consequences of benevolent design, such as the outraged and polarised tone and quality of online discourse.’

Berners-Lee believes laws and codes can be developed to minimize malicious intent and systems can be redesigned to change incentives. Existing flawed systems can also be changed.

His letter: https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2019/03/tim-berners-lee-wants-help-us-fix-internet-even-possible

 

A new Contract for the Web

Half the world is now online and the Web Foundation is working with governments, companies and citizens to build a new Contract for the Web, with clear norms, laws and standards. Results will be made available later in 2019. Berners-Lee: ‘Most important of all, citizens must hold companies and governments accountable for the commitments they make, and demand that both respect the web as a global community with citizens at its heart.’ He also stresses that the half of the world who are not online must not be left behind and that everyone should contribute to ‘a web that drives equality, opportunity and creativity.’ The Contract for the Web will not be a list of quick fixes, but a ‘journey from digital adolescence to a more mature, responsible and inclusive future.’

https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/

 

#ForTheWeb

The independent World Wide Web Foundation was set up by Tim Berners-Lee and exists to advance his vision of a web for everyone. ‘The free and open web faces real challenges. More than half the world’s population still can’t get online. For the other half, the web’s benefits come with too many risks: to our privacy, our democracy, our rights.’

https://webfoundation.org/

 

The Case for the Web Report

Examines what the web has allowed humanity to accomplish, examines current trends that threaten its future and outlines actions to ensure the web remains free and open for everyone. ‘Over half the world’s population is still offline, and the growth of people coming online is slowing dramatically. The distributed power of the web has shifted to lay in the hands of just a few, online abuse is on the rise, and the content we see is increasingly susceptible to manipulation. Over 1.2 billion internet users live in countries where net neutrality is not protected, and more than 1.5 billion people live in countries with no comprehensive law on personal data protection, leaving them particularly vulnerable to increasingly common incidents involving breaches of personal data.’

https://webfoundation.org/research/the-case-for-the-web/

 

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books censorship ed tech future Games and gaming Google human rights internet literature Mental health mobile phones popular culture Science resources sociology websites

Social credit in China, ICT and book news

Social credit in China

You may have seen the intriguing Foreign Correspondent program on ABC 18 Sept. China is undertaking the most ambitious social engineering program the world has ever seen. Their ‘social credit’ system is designed to engineer better individual behaviour. By 2020 China’s 1.4 billion citizens will get a personal digital scorecard, with good behaviour rewarded and bad behaviour punished. Some say it is the world’s first digital dictatorship.

Excellent article with video. Looks at a young woman with a good social credit score and a journalist who lost his social credit and had his access to various services disabled: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278

Foreign Correspondent ABC 18 Sept: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/foreign-correspondent

Black Mirror in China?: https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/2018/04/no-china-isn-t-black-mirror-social-credit-scores-are-more-complex-and-sinister

 

Women in physics

The new HSC physics syllabus for NSW will contain no mention of the contributions of female physicists to the field. The syllabus has 25 scientists mentioned 56 times and focuses completely on male physicists and their work. It is also believed that the gender gap in the science workforce will persist for generations, particularly in surgery, computer science, physics and maths. The gender gap was measured using data on 36 million authors of 10 million articles in 6000 scientific journals published since 2003. Globally in science and medicine, women make up 40% of the workforce, but some fields will take many years before the gender gap disappears.

https://theconversation.com/year-11-and-12-students-in-nsw-will-no-longer-learn-about-womens-contributions-to-physics-102988

https://theconversation.com/new-study-says-the-gender-gap-in-science-could-take-generations-to-fix-95150

 

URLs – is it time for something new?

Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee regrets developing the double slash after ‘http’. A growing group now think the URL is increasingly complicated and too easily compromised. Google said they are rethinking URLs as they are hard to read and hard to know if they can be trusted. Even the ‘https with a padlock symbol’ doesn’t mean much as both good and bad sites can be encrypted.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-09-16/google-time-to-reinvent-the-url-web-browser/10238296

 

Phenomenal success of Fortnite

Launched in Sept 2017, the online video game Fortnite now has over 125 million players and has made $1.6 billion for Epic Games. It has also been linked to 200 divorces. Fortnite’s success is due to 3 principles: accessibility (it’s free with in-app purchases, on all platforms and simple to play); sociality (players can express themselves and play with others) and spectacle (failure is fun and a spectator sport). Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, a gamer on YouTube and Twitch, has made up to $500 000 a month streaming Fortnite sessions from his bedroom.

https://theconversation.com/stay-alive-and-if-something-moves-shoot-it-one-year-of-phenomenal-success-for-fortnite-103528

Could playing Fortnite lead to ‘gaming disorder’ (video game addiction)? The World Health Organisation says yes, others disagree.

https://theconversation.com/could-playing-fortnite-lead-to-video-game-addiction-the-world-health-organisation-says-yes-but-others-disagree-98458

 

3 things we can learn from people who don’t use smartphones or social media

They spent more face-to-face time with others – connecting, talking, touching and supporting. They know that switching off is not missing out – it is exhausting to sustain numerous online connections, endless exchanges of trivial information and keep up with the overwhelming flow of information and tasks. They enjoyed new-found vitality because they connected with the world around them, helping them to reset and relax. They also had more free time.

https://theconversation.com/three-things-we-can-all-learn-from-people-who-dont-use-smartphones-or-social-media-103468

 

Man Booker Prize Shortlist 2018

Winner announced 16 Oct 2018. Includes previous winners.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Man-Booker-Prize?utm_source=NL-Body&utm_medium=email-Newsletter&utm_term=button&utm_content=MANBOOKER&utm_campaign=20180920_MANBOOKER_SHORTLIST

 

Man Booker Prize – best of the rest

The bestselling shortlisted titles that didn’t win from 50 years of the Booker Prize. Includes The handmaid’s tale; A fine balance; Cloud atlas; The secret river; Atonement; Empire of the sun; Dirt music; Notes on a scandal….

https://www.bookdepository.com/dealsAndOffers/promo/id/1876

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ed tech films Games and gaming geography and global resources internet media popular culture Science resources sociology websites

Webby Awards 2018 and AFTRS free media resources

Interesting to see what’s acclaimed on the web…..

 

The Webby Awards

Winners were announced recently for the’ Oscars of the internet’. Lots of categories, including People’s Voice in each section – Web; Online Film & Video; Advertsing; Mobile sites & apps; Social; Podcasts; Games. Winners include:

 

Happiness (4 min. animated film – loved it!) https://vimeo.com/244405542

Dianna Cowern: physics girl (entertaining YouTube channel – physics, astronomy, science) https://www.youtube.com/physicsgirl

Time is the cosmic rhythm http://cosmic-watch.com/how-it-works/

Atlas obscura (travel site) https://www.atlasobscura.com/destinations

Exoplanet exploration: planets beyond our solar system https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/

Solar system exploration https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/

Global climate change: vital signs of the planet (nominee) https://climate.nasa.gov/

TED-ED: build a lesson around  any TED Talk or YouTube video https://ed.ted.com/

Speak a language in 10 minutes a day (nominee) https://www.busuu.com/

Storybots (songs, stories, educational for 4 to 8 yr olds) https://www.storybots.com/

Seeing theory: a visual introduction to probability and statistics http://students.brown.edu/seeing-theory/

National Geographic: pristine seas https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/pristine-seas

National Geographic Kids https://www.natgeokids.com/

Welcome to Hogwarts https://my.pottermore.com/hogwarts

Winners and nominees: https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2018/

 

Special Achievement: Steven Soderbergh – Film & Video Person of the Year

Most online films are available via streaming, but Soderbergh has redefined the boundaries of digital storytelling with his app Mosaic, where people choose how to interact with and follow the gripping murder mystery about a children’s book author, on their phones. Viewers can view the plot via different perspectives and access extra details such as background documents, emails and police reports.  Mosaic was also released as 6 episode TV series. Soderbergh has 2 more interactive storytelling projects underway. His recent film Unsane was shot entirely on an iPhone.

Is Mosaic the future of entertainment?: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2018/01/19/review-steven-soderbergh-mosaic-hbo-app-sharon-stone/1041754001/

https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2018/special-achievement/webby-film-video-person-of-the-year/steven-soderbergh/

 

Free resources from AFTRS (Australian Film Television and Radio School)

Free media arts resources are now available for primary and secondary teachers and students. It is predicted that video content will account for 80% of global internet traffic by next year, so screen literacy, creativity and storytelling capabilities will be highly valued in many fields. Resources include lesson plans, worksheets, video content, filmmaking, documentary, podcasting, stop motion and screenwriting.

https://medialab.aftrs.edu.au/

 

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Wootube maths tutorials and ICT news

Eddy Woo and Wootube maths tutorials

Head Teacher Mathematics at Cherrybrook High in Sydney, young and enthusiastic Mr Woo has been uploading his maths lesson videos to YouTube since 2012. He has attracted 4 million views and many grateful students. He featured on Australian Story this week – Channelling Mr Woo (iView until 24 May).

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-01/teacher-eddie-woo-changing-the-face-of-maths/8472522

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/australian-story/NC1701Q012S00

https://misterwootube.com/

 

Google moves to demote fake news

Following increasing incidents of fake news and other flaws, Google is updating its algorithms and demoting misleading and offensive content in its search results. Algorithms will prioritise more “authoritative” content eg. affiliation with a university or verified news site and the quality of sites that link to the site in question. Users can now use a feedback button to report offensive and false results, including offensive autocomplete results that appear as you type in the search box.

https://www.recode.net/2017/4/25/15415428/google-updating-search-flagging-fake-news

 

China is creating an online encyclopedia

Known as the ‘Chinese Encyclopedia’, the national encyclopedia will go online in 2018. Twenty thousand scholars from universities and research institutes will contribute articles in more than 100 disciplines with 300,000 entries of 1 000 words each. These will showcase China’s science and technology developments, promote historical and cultural heritage and strengthen the core values of socialism.  The goal isn’t to mimic Wikipedia, which is blocked in China (though internet giant Baidu has its own online encyclopedia). “We have the biggest, most high-quality author team in the world. Our goal is not to catch up, but overtake” (Yang Muzhi, editor). China has the world’s largest internet population (720 million users) and some of the world’s most restrictive internet laws. The ‘Great Firewall of China’ is the world’s most most sophisticated censorship tool, blocking ‘unsavoury’ parts of the internet.

https://news.vice.com/story/china-is-recruiting-20000-people-to-write-its-own-wikipedia

 

Facebook ramps up its response to violent videos

Facebook will hire 3000 more people  to review violent videos and other posts (4 500 employees already identify questionable material for removal). Since introducing the live video feature Facebook Live in April 2016, many unacceptable videos have been uploaded. Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook wants to respond quickly when someone needs help or when an unacceptable post needs taking down.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/facebook-hire-3000-review-videos-crime-suicide-47178911

 

Amazon is coming….look busy

‘The everything store – fast, vast and low-priced’ – it will shake up Australian retail. Amazon is the fastest company in history to hit $US100 billion in annual sales and leading businesses such as Harvey Norman, Myer and JB Hi-Fi could lose half their earnings to Amazon. Amazon will offer “extreme convenience” and goods could be delivered within an hour of ordering online. Amazon Marketplace, for third-party retailers, will launch this year. Amazon is currently searching for a huge logistics facility.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/fast-vast-and-lowpriced-amazon-to-shake-up-australian-retail/news-story/026ace527679086657bc156735863dc8

 

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ebooks internet libraries popular culture websites

National Library now collecting everything

National Library makes digital history

On 17 Feb Thomas Keneally’s latest novel Napoleon’s last island became the first ebook to be collected by the NLA under Australia’s new legal deposit legislation. The novel tells the story of Napoleon’s exile on St Helena through the eyes of 13 year old Betsy.

New amendments to the Copyright Act allow the NLA to collect everything – ebooks, blogs, websites, social media etc The digital record will be protected in the same way as print. Publishers and authors can now upload ebooks, journals, magazines and newsletters through the NLA’s website. The collection of digital publications will be available later this year.

https://www.nla.gov.au/media-releases/2016/02/17/nla-make-digital-history-today

https://www.nla.gov.au/media-releases/2015/07/02/library-captures-the-internet

 

National Library Digital Classroom

Important cultural items from the Treasures Gallery are brought into the classroom, with teacher resources aligned to the Australian Curriculum. Through an inquiry approach, students analyse sources, develop historical skills and draw their own conclusions. Currently resources are available for Years 3 to 6 – more will be added. Resources include: Edward Koiki Mabo, First peoples, Communication, Designing the Sydney Opera House, A national identity.

https://www.nla.gov.au/digital-classroom

 

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ed tech Facebook future Google internet websites YouTube

Wayback Machine, AI, YouTube Red and emojis

The Wayback Machine gets an update

An important part of the world’s cultural heritage now resides only on the web. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is used by millions to access 19 years of the web’s history – offering access to over 439 billion web captures including old web pages, video and images (1 billion pages captured each week). The Wayback Machine will soon be updated. When completed in 2017, it will have more higher quality webpages that are easier to find. “Taking the Wayback Machine to the next level will make the entire web more reliable, transparent and accessible for everyone.”

Update features: http://blog.archive.org/2015/10/21/grant-to-develop-the-next-generation-wayback-machine/

 

Google is letting Artificial Intelligence run search

Artificial intelligence (AI) is developing a prominent role in search. For the past few months, a “very large fraction” of the millions of search queries per second typed into Google have been interpreted by an artificial intelligence system, nicknamed RankBrain. RankBrain uses AI to embed vast amounts of written language into vectors that the the computer can understand. If RankBrain sees a word or phrase it isn’t familiar with, the machine can make a guess as to what words have similar meanings and filter the result accordingly. This helps Google deal with the 15% of queries a day which it has never seen before. Google aims to embed AI into every aspect of its business. Facebook uses AI to filter our newsfeeds and Microsoft is using AI to increase the capabilities of Bing.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-26/google-turning-its-lucrative-web-search-over-to-ai-machines

 

YouTube Red

YouTube Red is a new $10 per month subscription service, starting in the US this week before going international. All ads are removed from all videos, everywhere you watch (however, this does not apply to paid content, such as paid channels or movie purchases). YouTube Red will be available for YouTube, YouTube Gaming apps, Chromecast, Android TV, Apple TV, gaming consoles. You can download YouTube videos to your phone or tablet and watch them for up to 30 days without a connection. You can also isten to videos on your phone when your screen is off (good for music). Subscribers will also get a free monthly Google Play Music subscription and access to members-only original shows and movies from top YouTubers. The YouTube Music app will start soon as a dedicated place to listen to music on YouTube.

http://www.cnet.com/how-to/youtube-red-details/?ftag=CAD3c77551&bhid=23787909704659446143753669728655

 

Will you heart Facebook’s new emojis?

Facebook is adding 6 more symbols to help 1.5 billion Facebook users express themselves. Along with the Like button, we will be getting Yay, Angry, Haha, Wow, Sad and Love. Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook did not want to add the negativity of a Dislike button. The new emojis are currently being tested in Ireland and Spain. Emojis originated in ancient Japan and Japanese cell phone makers were using them in texting apps in the 1990s. “e” means picture and “moji” means character.

http://www.cnet.com/news/will-you-heart-facebooks-new-emojis/?ftag=CAD1c318f6&bhid=23787909704659446143753669728655

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ed tech Facebook Google internet mobile phones popular culture TV websites

Online viewing habits in Australia

Interesting data about our devices and viewing habits….

 

Australian Online Landscape Review (Nielsen Report: data for Jan 2015)

18 011 000 people online; 50+ age group = 33.5% of online Australians; 2-34 yr olds = 38.2%; users spent an average 36 hours online in January; 3.2 billion streams watched; 63% of daily browses came from portable devices (smartphones more than tablets).

http://www.iabaustralia.com.au/uploads/uploads/2015-02/1424642400_d9371e6886fcee7b6731413517a15ecb.pdf

 

Top sites in Australia (March 2015)

1.Google.com.au 2. Google.com 3. Facebook 4. YouTube 5. Yahoo 6. eBay 7. Wikipedia 8. Linkedin 9. Twitter 10. Live.com 11. Amazon 12. news.com.au 13. Paypal 14. Bing 15. Gumtree 16. Commbank 17. smh.com.au 18. abc.net.au 19. realestate.com.au 20. Reddit 21. Pinterest 22. Instagram 23. bom.gov.au 24. imdb.com 25. Westpac

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/AU

 

Australian Multi-Screen Report Q3 2015 (Nielsen Report Dec 2014)

TV is still the centrepiece of viewing; Australians watch nearly 97 hrs per month of TV; internet is in 80% of homes; smartphones are the most common internet-connected devices in homes (91%) – tablets (60%); 74% of people aged 16+ own a smartphone; 45% of homes own tablets; 13.377 million watch some video on the internet each month (7h30m per month).

http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/reports/2014/multi-screen-report-q3-20141.html

 

Australian e-Generation Report (Nielsen Report Feb 2015)

2-15 yr olds spend av. 11h12m online each week; 13-15 yr olds = 18.7 hrs/wk; children go online at an increasingly younger age due to tablets, apps and smartphones; younger children use tablets; teens have all devices; 9 in 10 homes own laptops; 6 in 10 have wifi; 7 in 10 own tablets.

http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/news/2015/childs-play-connected-aussie-kids-spend-up-to-equivalent-of-three-school-days-online.html

 

Password reset

Web security firm SplashData analyses several million leaked passwords each year. Most popular in 2014 and 2013 was  ‘123456’ (in 2012, ‘password’ won). Other favourites; ‘qwerty’; ‘trustno1’; ‘letmein’; ‘abc123’. If ‘123456’ is too short, just add ‘78’. Eventually we’ll see the end of passwords. The Fujitsu Purse Wallet identifies the vein patterns on your hand and the Bionym Nymi wristband uses your heartbeat as a password.

http://splashdata.com/press/worst-passwords-of-2014.htm

 

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ed tech Facebook Games and gaming Google internet iPads mobile phones popular culture sociology websites Wikipedia

Aussie Teens Online Report

ACMA (Aust. Communications and Media Authority) recently released a research snapshot: Aussie teens online (14-17 year olds).

Good infographic: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/aussie-teens-online
Report summary: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussie-teens-online

• 69% of their mobile phones are smartphones.
• Mobile phones are increasingly used for online activities.
• 23% go online with a tablet; 74% with a laptop/computer; 56% with a smartphone.
• Wireless hotspots are increasingly used for internet access.
• 72% go online more than once a day.
• The top 5 internet domains visited (Dec 2013): Google (including Search, Chrome, Mail, Maps, Earth etc); Facebook; YouTube; Mi9 (including Skype, Xbox, ninemsn etc); Microsoft.
• 90% went online for entertainment activities – the most time spent online was at YouTube, then Facebook & Skype.
• Teenagers are not the dominant group in social media forums (other age groups outrank them) – they account for 7% of Australians who use social networking.
• Teens in Aust. and the US are moving away from Facebook (70% in 2012 to 58% 2013).
• Teens access a range of online forums – Wikipedia, WikiHow, Tumblr, Blogger, ninemsn Entertainment videos.

Not many surprises really….and 6 in 10 are going online for research and information! The internet is a natural and essential part of their (and our) lives….more support for BYOD.

Internet ethics?
You may have read about Facebook’s unethical experiment, where it secretly manipulated 700 000 users’ emotions via the Facebook news feed, in order to study “emotional contagion through social networks”. The researchers wanted to see if reading fewer positive posts made people less likely to post positive content (and the same for negative messages). They found that social networks can indeed propagate positive and negative feelings. And apparently we agreed to this “research” via the Data Use Policy when we signed up. A good article for discussion for psychology, sociology and legal studies classes.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/06/facebook_unethical_experiment_it_made_news_feeds_happier_or_sadder_to_manipulate.html

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Webby Award winners – the best of the web

Some good resources for media, art, photography, graphic design, popular culture, business studies, social sciences….

The 18th Annual Webby Awards
The Oscars of the online world have now been announced – chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. Categories include web, online film & video, interactive advertising & media, mobile & apps and social. A Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Lawrence Lessig, co-founder of Creative Commons and staunch advocate of the open, collaborative web.
http://www.webbyawards.com/
All the winners & nominees: http://webbyawards.com/winners/2014

Winners include:
Education: Coursera
Health: WebMD
Science: Nautilus
Cultural institutions: The Second World War in 100 objects
Social media: Vine (create and share beautiful looping videos)
Social media campaign: The Melbourne remote control tourist (yay Australia!)
Public service and activism: The internet must go (John Wooley)
Experimental and innovation: D-Day: as it happens
Activism: change.org
Art: Artsy
Travel: Airbnb
Best online commercial: The epic split (Jean-Claude van Damme and the Volvo trucks)
Best use of video: The Serengeti lion (National Geographic)
Best photography and graphics: GoPro
Best use of photography: Graffiti General
Best use of animation: The art of noise
Best user experience: Medium (everyone’s stories and ideas)
Reality: Google+ same sex marriage

Wow….gazillions of resources on the interwebs….and we’ve had access for maybe 18 or so years in schools. Remember the days before the web…where to next?

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books ebooks ed tech Facebook Games and gaming geography and global resources Google news popular culture sociology TEDTalks websites

ICT and popular culture news

Tis the season for lists!

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013

Always interesting to see the results of the survey by Jane Hart’s Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies (C4LPT) – as voted by 500+ learning professionals from 48 countries. 1. Twitter 2. Google Drive/Docs 3. YouTube 4. Google Search 5. PowerPoint 6. Evernote 7. Dropbox 8. WordPress 9. Facebook 10. Google + Twitter retained #1 for the 5th year running. Pinterest jumped 14 places to #22. Coursera (MOOC platform) was a new addition at #38. http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/ Analysis: http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/analysis-2013/

Yahoo Year in Review 2013

Interesting videos and images from around the world: http://news.yahoo.com/year-in-review/

Top US searches: Miley Cyrus #1; computer game Minecraft was #4 (high also in Aust). Part exploratory adventure, part creative building tool, highly valued by gamers, teachers, architecture students…watch the YouTube documentary (1 hr 40m) about its development, founder Markus “Notch” Persson and its unorthodox success.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySRgVo1X_18

Facebook trends 2013

Most talked about topics worldwide: 1. Pope Francis 2. Election 3. Royal baby 4. Typhoon 5. Margaret Thatcher 6. Harlem Shake 7. Miley Cyrus 8. Boston Marathon 9. Tour de France 10. Nelson Mandela Short video: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/09/here-are-facebooks-most-talked-about-topics-for-2013/

For Australia – 9 million daily users: 1. Vote 2. Princess Kate 3. Cricket 4. Kevin Rudd 5. Grand Final 6. Election 7. GST  8. Lions 9. Tony Abbott 10. Big Brother. The most checked in location was the MCG. http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/528860/20131210/facebook-trends-2013-australia-topics.htm

Top Bing searches in Aust. 2013

Various categories – from quinoa to Miranda Kerr to royal baby to Sydney Swans… http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/2013/12/02/18/46/kerr-tops-most-binged-2013-list

Top 10 ads viewed on YouTube in Aust. http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/australia-s-most-popular-youtube-ads-in-2013

One minute on the internet today compared to 2012

The interwebs just keeps on getting bigger….75% increase in Google searches; 42% increase in Amazon revenue; 233% growth in YouTube video hours; 250% increase in Twitter tweets.

http://qz.com/150861/a-snapshot-of-one-minute-on-the-internet-today-and-in-2012/#150861/a-snapshot-of-one-minute-on-the-internet-today-and-in-2012/

National Geographic shares maps via Google Maps Engine

Google Maps Engine is a public data program that lets organisations distribute maps to consumers via Google. National Geographic is now sharing 500 of their maps via the program for free. They will overlay the maps with interactive features such as articles and photos about environmental issues, expeditions and historic events.

http://google-latlong.blogspot.ca/2013/12/national-geographic-shares-rich-map_6.html

Drones

Look – up in the sky! It’s your unmanned pizza delivery! The coming drone invasion will deliver everything from pizzas to Amazon products. In the US, Amazon aims for their drones to deliver within a 10 mile range and 30 minute time frame whilst the DomiCopter will deliver 2 Domino’s pizzas. The widespread use of drones has been approved by Congress, starting in 2015. There are of course, many associated privacy and surveillance issues. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/amazon-dominos-and-big-br_b_4373867.html?ir=Technology

In Australia, a drone was (illegally) used during the NSW bushfires in October but may be used legally in the future. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/technology/drones-ready-to-fight-fires-if-allowed/story-e6frgakx-1226748464574

A textbook rental company will make deliveries by drone to customers in Sydney CBD, starting March 2014 – the first commercial use of drones in the world. The textbooks will be lowered on a cable to the customer. Short video: http://www.cnet.com.au/australian-textbook-delivery-care-of-drones-339345677.htm

“OK Google” voice search on Chrome web browser (desktop)

No need to type your search query. No need for a microphone either (currently needed in Chrome). Download the Google Voice Search Hotword plugin and say “OK Google, what is an ocelot?”. It will read out most answers. It can be used for searches, translations, reminders, setting calendar events and getting directions. The service is in beta and currently works only with google.com (not .au), but can still be downloaded in Australia. http://www.cnet.com.au/google-introduces-ok-google-voice-search-on-chrome-for-desktop-339346074.htm

Google barges

The 3 mystery barges being built in San Francisco by Google may be “interactive spaces where people learn about new technology”….or they might just be floating retail stores. They will eventually be docked in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York and will be “curious and visually stunning” exhibition centres with fish fin sails. Gotta beat those cool Apple stores somehow… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/google-barge/

TED Books

TED Books are interesting short non fiction electronic books, produced once a month by TED Conferences. The books are less than 20 000 words – “long enough to unleash a powerful narrative, but short enough to be read in a single sitting.” Most can be read in less than an hour and are available for Kindle, Nook, iBooks. Price: $1.99 each. The TED Books app is free for the iPad and has audio, video and social features embedded into each book. For a yearly subscription of $14.99, you have access to the entire TED Books archive. http://www.ted.com/pages/tedbooks