An engaging article about the ability of humans, rather than machines (eg. regular Google searches), to track down and then amplify interesting or especially incriminating finds. I have been trying to help introduce the concept of “human search engine” (actually “human flesh search engine” in the original Chinese) to the English-language discourse: it arose a few […]
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Category Archives: Technology
Friday Fun Link – Find Out What Your Name Would Be If You Were Born Today
This site uses census data to match your name’s popularity the year you were born (Jason = #3 in 1973) with the same ranked name from this year (Mason = #3 in 2015) as well as some other years as well. For the record… Shea would be Amaya Pace would be Abriel Sasha would be Zara […]
You Can’t Defend Public Libraries and Oppose File Sharing
Libraries and file-sharing do not differ in principle. The purpose of libraries was – is – to make culture and knowledge available to as many as possible, as efficiently as possible, for free – simply because of the greater socioeconomic benefit of an educated and cultural populace. How is this not file-sharing? Great article that […]
Friday Fun Link – How-Old.net
Microsoft recently launched a new site called How-Old.net that went viral due to its use of fancy math algorithms to guess the ages of people in pictures you upload. (Full warning – Shea read some article on Facebook saying the site has fine print that Microsoft obtains rights to re-use your photos or something so […]
How Popular Are The Various Netflix Original Series?
On the recommendation of a co-worker, Shea and I are working through “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, a Netflix original series. (That link will go to Wikiwand.com – a site I recently discovered that presents Wikipedia pages in a more visually appealing, readable format.) Watching that series led me to this article which discusses how a company that’s […]
Monica Lewinsky: The Price of Shame
This TED talk has been making the rounds since being posted a week ago and is approaching one million views on YouTube. It’s very interesting for Lewinsky’s observations on being at the epi-centre of our now common social media world where everyone can voice opinions on the news of the day, often reaching huge audiences, […]
Friday Fun Link – Play Cards Against Humanity Online
Fittingly you can play the hugely popular independent party game on a site called Cards Against Originality.
Q&A With the Selfie Stick’s Unsung Canadian Inventor
These things (presumably some originals and some knock-offs) were fairly common sights in Punta Cana though not ubiquitous by any measure either.
Travel Planning, Coincidence and (Another) Once In A Lifetime Experience
Recently, at my library, I delivered a program called “Trip Planning 2.0: How To Research Your Vacation Online” where I gave registrants a “guided tour” of some the most useful sites for trip planning, both well-known (Google, TripAdvisor) and lesser-known (Reddit, FourSquare). (The program was basically an expanded version of a blog post I did […]
Friday Fun Link – AllTheMinutes (Twitter Clock)
You may want to turn your Mute button but otherwise, the site AllTheMinutes.com is pretty cool. It shows a clock comprised of live tweets (one per second) from people around the world who have mentioned the current time. Great insight into the boring everyday lives of humanity (at least those who use Twitter!)