Bakari Akil II, Ph.D.

In a proactive move against Apple, Netflix is allowing certain members to view unlimited amounts of movies, tv shows, etc., from their website. (Members who have the $4.99 a month deal are limited to only two hours a month. ) The Los Angeles Times cites that only 6000 titles are available out of the total 90,000 they have available through the mail. Further, the Times stated that Netflix does not have the best selection. 

However, to a Netflix subscriber like me, it is a golden deal. I received a free upgrade for absolutely nothing. It is not about whether or not I will buy the Apple TV or the “set top box” that will be offered by LG for Netflix. It is about choices. As much freedom to choose media I enjoy is what I am interested in.

I use Netflix and the iTunes store along with my iPod. Each has its own benefits and I will continue to use both. It’s not an either or issue, it is a matter of what do I feel like using today and who has what available. Although the Los Angeles Times stated that the selection is not that great, they have to realize that tastes differ. Sometimes people are at odd locations and wouldn’t mind having 6000 choices to choose from. Additionally, not everyone wants to pay 3.99 for a movie download that will ’self-destruct’ in 30 days.

I applaud Netflix’s efforts and I will continue my subscription with them because their business model seems to be built on a fair exchange. Even if their motive was to protect their market niche, I am on the receiving end having to spend nothing in the  process.

Are the climate conditions in your area destroying your once pristine ecological environment? Are you affected by the lack of rains, flash frosts, increasing hurricanes or just any environmental change that destroys how things have always been where you live? Well according to the research of Australian philosopher, Glenn Albrecht, we might be affected by it more than we think.

Clive Thompson, who covered this issue in Wired Magazine, discusses Albrecht’s research where he interviewed hundreds of Australians to find out how environmental conditions influenced their psyche. Albrecht discovered that as Australians begin to notice that crops did not grow, forests or gardens began to die out and animals left and did not return they became depressed.

Albrecht labels this condition as Solastagia, which is simply depression caused by longing for an environmental condition that existed in a not too distant past. He describes it to be similar (but not quite as dreadful) as the displacement of “indigenous” people from their ancestral lands.

Albrecht states that even though many of us have become huge technology buffs and even “pride” ourselves on our possessions that keep us indoors and busy, we still have ties to the land that we haven’t lost yet.

Twenty five hundred dollars is what it costs. According to Simon Robinson, of Time Magazine, it is a decent price for middle class families (lower middle) in India who earn around $200 a month. The car is called the Tata Nano and although small by North American standards, Robinson claims it is perfect for driving conditions in India, especially rural areas.

The developers of the car states that it meets emission standards of India and Europe; can reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour and gets 50 miles for each gallon of gas.

How will this affect India’s infrastructure, air pollution and other poorer developing nations with congested roadways? No one is sure. The most important question raised in this article is whether or not concerns of air pollution and traffic issues should keep poor individuals from owning a car?

Are you “Affluent Surburbia or Upscale America, Small-town Contentment or Blue-collar Backbone, Aspiring Contemporary or Metro-Fringe, Urban Essence or Varying Lifestyle?”

Experian, which is a “information services company,” created “Mosaic” which uses demographic information from the U.S. census in order to categorize nearly 300,ooo,ooo million U.S. citizens into groups. This data can be used in a multitude of ways to help decision makers in business, government, non-governmental organizations, etc., make effective decisions.

For example here is a small description of Small-town Contentment -  “C03 Surburban Optimists: With it’s concentration of Asian, Hawaiian and White residents, Surburban Optimists presents a potrait of middle-class diversity….There’s an even distribution of residents who have graduated from high school or completed some college, resulting in a job market for blue-collar and white collar positions…They frequently watch cable TV networks such as MTV, VH1 and Spike TV….” 

You get the picture….

What type are you or is it too vague for you to be sure?

http://www.appliedgeographic.com/MosaicUSA_06_definitions.pdf

Amazon is offering a great new “wireless reading device.” It offers New York Times bestsellers, web blogs, top newspapers and has the ability to carry word documents as well. It uses the same mode of delivery that “advanced cell phones” use so you don’t have to worry about searching for hot spots or purchasing ‘net cards.’

For people who love read or catch up on news or blogs on the internet, this is a way to do it without having to use the annoyingly small screens found on a cell phone, PDA, etc. It also eliminates the need to carry around a bunch of books or paper documents.

It will be interesting to see how this device will sell and how it will change our the our societal landscape. Will it become a new status symbol with it’s relative hefty price of $399 (no monthly fees) like the iPhone and iPod? Or, will it revolutionize the way our society processes information. Or both? Only time will tell…..

In all of my years of using the internet, I have never fallen victim to an email hoax or scam.  Well thanks to YouTube and their “Featured Videos,” I can no longer make that claim. Last night, while scanning their “Featured Videos” section, a page I normally bypass, I noticed a video labled, “How to YouTube Podcast.” It immediately captured my attention. In the blurb section it stated:

“Learn how your YouTube subscriptions can work seamlessly with iTunes! Get automatic updates to sync to your iPod!”

I thought I had hit the ‘jackpot.’

Needless to say, I spent the next 30 minutes following the directions of a guy named Mark Erickson and then trying to troubleshoot to find out why it wasn’t working. Slowly it dawned on me to check the comments section to see what others were saying about this guy’s advice. Only then did I learn that it was an elaborate scheme to make the user look like a fool, in the comfort of their own home.  I was a victim of my own technological greed.

The guy who is behind it, Mark Erickson, has a YouTube moniker “InfiniteSolutions” (Don’t click on it though; at work and probably not at home) and he has produced a number of videos such as this one:

How To YouTube Podcast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNQLDgkUXvk

When is the best time to remove a web article or comment from a website? That is the question three writers at the journalism website, Poynter.org, raise. As a former editor of an online news website, I have been faced with the same question. Should older articles be removed even if they receive numerous hits? If I no longer hold the same views should I try to hide the fact that they ever existed? Further, with the explosive growth of Web 2.0 and especially blogs, how is this issue being handled?

Since I used to write a lot of commentaries on current events and other hot button issues, I had many articles that had an extremely long shelf life. It wasn’t odd to have people respond to articles written years ago as if they were written yesterday. In addition, our organization was faced with former posters who wanted to have previous comments removed due to some ‘pressing issue.’ The writers at Poynter address these questions and asks for answers in their article:

Removing Content: When to Unring the Bell?

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=129083

John Horrigan, at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, recently laid forth a solid argument concerning the need for access to broadband services, especially at home. He argued that it not only provides the obvious convenience of information, it also connects you to a broader network that influences your daily life and a multitude of others. Access to broadband lessens mass media outlets’ role as the middleman and puts you in the driver’s seat to gather information that improves and broadens your life in many areas. He discusses data that states that those with broadband service are more likely to create and upload content onto the Internet. In other words, broadband users are enriching and influencing our world.

Here’s what he had to say:  Broadband: What’s All the Fuss About?  http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/BroadBand%20Fuss.pdf

A community college, battling downward enrollment in northern Virginia, has taken an interesting approach in trying to retain students. By bringing the excitement of video games on campus, administrators are hoping to keep students on campus longer, to create cohesion among students and to get them interested in IT classes offered on campus.

Click link to see video:

http://chronicle.com/media/video/v54/i09/gaming/

By Bakari Akil II, Ph.D. 

This past summer, my brother who is a computer programmer, excitedly informed me of a website. He stated that it was replete with presentations from the “greatest thinkers” and people of action on the planet. As I never heard of this type of website or gathering of such influential people I became excited too.

This assembly of people is known as the TED Conference and can be found online at TED.com. Each year, the TED Conference assembles leaders in the fields of science, technology, entertainment, business, culture, social and global issues, architecture, the environment and much more. When I say leaders I am not just talking about people who are doing well in their field, I am referring to the biggest names on the planet that are at the top of their field or profession. Al Gore, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Malcolm Gladwell of Blink and Tipping Point fame, Tony Robbins and Dean Kamen, the inventor of Segway and other unique products, are just a few of the numerous intellectual, cultural and iconic giants who have provided presentations at this conference.

When I found out about TED I was waiting to begin my new appointment as an assistant professor so I had plenty of time on my hands. I immediately begin to investigate the website. The TED Conference has been a yearly occurrence since 1984 and they have been posting to the Internet for a few years now. Their website has phrasing such as: “TED: Ideas Worth Spreading” and “Inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers.” Each presenter is limited to 18 minutes and is asked to present something outstanding.

The value of the website hit me almost immediately. In what other circumstance would I be able to hear the heads of the biggest companies in the world give a 20 minute talk on something they would like to discuss and talk about subjects not covered in a standard TV or magazine interview? Some of the other speakers I listened to and enjoyed are:

Seth Godin: Sliced Bread and Other Marketing Delights

Jeff Skoll: Movies that Make Change

Jeff Hawkins: Brain Science is about to Fundamentally Change Computing

Richard St. John: 8 Secrets of Success

David Deustch: On Our Place in the Cosmos; and

Nicholas Negroponte: One Laptop per Child 

There are also a lot of lesser known names who also have very interesting and awe inspiring presentations:

Sir Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity

Patrick Awahu: On Educating Leaders

Juan Enriquez: Genomics and Our Future

Erin Mckean: Redefines the Dictionary

Dan Dennett: On Dangerous Memes

Dan Gilbert: Why are we Happy? and

Jeff Han: Demonstrates his Breakthrough Touch-screen

As a person who is always interested in increasing my level of knowledge, awareness and my ability to contribute to our world, the TED conference serves as a tool to keep making this ongoing aspiration a reality.  It is a constant reminder that there are many people doing exciting and fascinating things and positively influencing the way we live at the same time. For people who want to know what the next great ‘thing’ will be, how they can contribute to our world, have ambitions of helping others and of great accomplishments, the TED conference is a bright symbol for those seeking human excellence.

TED.com