From the category archives:

science and technology studies

Failure to upgrade

04.13.2011

This could be one of the more interesting technology adoption stories going forward. It’s not just that the brightest at Microsoft or Nokia or Google can’t make an upgrade stick. It’s that the upgrade is not universally beneficial to the value chain. To remedy this, licensors have to resort to contractual obligations to ensure upgrades, [...]

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Empty phone box as library

01.15.2010

Following up on my fascination with empty phone booths, it seems several British communities are using old phone boxes as lending libraries. Thanks BoingBoing.

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some random thoughts on software protection

01.15.2010

I woke up the other morning thinking about open sourced software and patents for some reason. I really don’t know why I was thinking about these topics, I’m neither a programmer or a patent attorney. Anyway in an effort to get it off my mind, here are my thoughts.

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In defense of physical media

07.02.2009

I don’t want to deride the many benefits of digital media, but I think it is worth spending a bit of time pointing to one particular aspect of physical media that is worth defending. A few months ago my grandmother passed away after a long and happy life. Included in the few things left behind [...]

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Still there 60 years later: What WWII bombs and phone booths have in common

07.01.2009

Construction workers in Hannover Germany uncovered an unstable World War II bomb. It never ceases to amaze me how the things that we create can live long past their expected life with significant consequences well into the future. The area was cleared and the bomb was safely detonated, but that’s not always the case. I [...]

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