Best of the Moment
technology-media
europe
David Gelernter | Edge | 4 March 2010
Computer scientist argues that the internet is evolving, not as a tool nor as a universe of answers, but as a giant thought process. Soon, everything will be structured as part of a lifestream
Gabriel Sherman | New York | 28 February 2010
Big, gossipy profile of News Corp boss, combative in old age. Main elements: WSJ prepares to take on NYT, spat with Google, paid content, James Murdoch's struggle to succeed
Nathan Yau | Flowing Data | 8 February 2010
A lesson for site administrators on how not to structure an email list, unless you want to drive all of its members mad. Courtesy of Caltrans, which did just that. Excellent visualisation
P.W. Singer | Foreign Policy | March 2010
Distinctions blur between commercial war video-games, professional training simulations, and real electronic warfare. Best-selling combat video-game, "America's Army", is a US army product
Ian Daly | New York Times | 23 February 2010
Fun report on use of robots to cook restaurant food and wait tables. They can also cadge drinks, smoke cigarettes, spar with knives, and stamp their feet while mixing mojitos
Kurt Bollacker | American Scientist | March 2010
Detailed, pessimistic account of problems in making data secure, legible for centuries to come. Do the obvious things—back up, print out—but they won't be enough
Steven Levy | Wired | 22 February 2010
Magnificent piece of tech journalism. Old subject made fresh. Wonky but still compelling account of how search giant has taken a great product and kept on improving it
Jay Rosen | Press Think | 21 February 2010
American journalists go too far in their wish to appear impartial. They give equal time to the wise and the foolish, report absurd propositions without comment, especially in political reporting
Nate Blakeslee | Texas Monthly | 18 February 2010
Energetic young Texas talk-radio host traffics in conspiracy theories, captures Tea-Party zeitgeist, attracts huge and growing national audience for crazy ideas
Joseph White | WSJ | 17 February 2010
New technology means that your next car may not turn on, brake or shift like the cars you've owned before, especially if it's a hybrid. Should you be driving it?