Politics / Tech / The Future / World , , 0 Comments

What to Make of the Metaverse?

Why it’s likely that the metaverse won’t be good for humanity.

In October of 2021, social media giant Facebook announced that it had changed its name to Meta. The ancient Greeks gave us the word Meta, who used it to mean ‘after’, ‘beyond’ or even to transcend. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly chose this name for that very reason since he is looking far ahead into the future of his company, far beyond today’s two-dimensional experience of posting photos and text on Facebook. He wants to evolve Facebook into an entirely new experience, where we interact and socialize in a virtual 3D world.

There is great promise and potentially great value in this next epoch of humanity but will the metaverse usher in a golden age, or is it all what the Roman’s called bread and circuses?

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Entertaiment / Reviews , 1 Comment

A Review of Dune (2021)

Why I only want to go through this desert once.

The film Dune’s (2021) $165 million dollar budget, sci-fi bona-fides, and impressive cast of bankable Hollywood stars lead by Timothee Chalamet should have guaranteed a decent weekend opening. And it didn’t disappoint, bringing in $41 million in the US and $87.5 million worldwide, and topping the box-office the following weekend to boot. Which is why I cannot understand how I have come to the opposite conclusion, that the Dune experience is not built on solid foundations, but shifting sand.

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Reviews / Tech / Uncategorized , , 0 Comments

Kobo Sage Note-Taking Review

Does the Kobo Sage offer a better note-taking experience than the Kobo Elipsa?

Kobo’s newest-reader, the Sage, is only their second e-reader that features note-taking. But how does the Kobo Sage stack up against the flagship Elipsa in note-taking and annotation capabilities? Those looking for a mobile, waterproof e-reader and who take light notes should consider the Sage. Since the Sage’s capabilities are identical to the Elipsa in four categories, I will demonstrate it’s note-taking capabilities using the two criteria in bold. See my Elipsa review for a demonstration of the other four.

  1. Likelihood to lose the pen <–
  2. Boot speed to ‘write-ready’ state
  3. Note-Taking experience <–
  4. Handwriting conversion effectiveness
  5. Ease of transfer to computer
  6. Annotations of documents

CLICK FOR MY DETAILED VIDEO REVIEW OF THE KOBO SAGE

Tech / The Future / World , 0 Comments

Why you should love your products again

How an encounter with a turn-table can reorient your world view

Source : “‘Broken Heart'” by ImNotQuiteJack is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Remember Fonzie hitting the juke box? Or the Tardis landing in the wrong place (or time)? What about the Millennium Falcon’s warp drive going kaput? All are symbolic of our past experiences we’ve had with technology, and more specifically, the products we used to own.  But times have changed, and so too have the products that we buy. They are different than they used to be, so much so, that we now all but ignore them. And this indifference comes at a great expense to our civilization, and we need to look into the past to understand how we’ve got it all wrong.

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Politics / The Future / World , 1 Comment

What will inspire you?

What Pillars of the Earth tells us about our species and our future

“Star” by Kiwi Tom is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Recently, I finished the book ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follet. It’s about the fictional village of Kingsbridge that undertakes the building of a cathedral in 1100’s England. Truthfully, such a subject isn’t one I normally would be curious about, but Pillars is really a tale about the ruthlessness of politics, the will to power, the technical challenges of the age and the perseverance to overcome these. And it made me think about the architecture of today. Our modern society has significantly more resources, technology and materials to create buildings of such magnificence. But we rarely do. So how is it that a village of half-starving peasants managed to create something so grand, and we, with all our abundance choose not to? It’s because we lack something they had, something humans need, and without it, our future on this planet will be very bleak.

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Entertaiment / Tech / The Future 0 Comments

Why Technology Won’t Save Us

How the Star Wars vs Star Trek debate has now officially been settled.

Source: “Science Worship” by jurvetson is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The camera pans around to Captain Kirk, his gaze stoic – yet – genial, as he negotiates with an alien, whose face fills the massive video screen at the forefront of the Enterprise’s bridge. Kirk receives the alien’s outrageous demands with a smirk as he stiffens his back slightly as he readies himself to dismiss them. He will tell the eight-eyed creature how things are really going to go, with a confidence that comes not only from experience, but from something greater. And you’d be forgiven if you thought it was the technological might of the Federation’s armies. For all their impressiveness, it is not what that fortifies Kirk’s nerve. It’s something much mightier than photon torpedoes.

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Reviews / Tech / Writing 0 Comments

Kobo Elipsa : In-depth note-taking review

Kobo’s flagship e-reader, the Elipsa, comes with a second act – note-taking. But does the Kobo Elipsa’s note-taking and annotation capabilities justify it’s steep price? Students, authors, editors and anyone who writes should take note of this imperfect device with a lot of promise. I demonstrate it’s note-taking capabilities using these size criteria:

  1. Likelihood to lose the pen
  2. Boot speed to ‘write-ready’ state
  3. Note-Taking experience
  4. Handwriting conversion effectiveness
  5. Ease of transfer to computer
  6. Annotations of documents

CLICK FOR MY DETAILED VIDEO REVIEW OF THE KOBO ELIPSA

Politics / Tech / The Future / Uncategorized0 Comments

What the Unabomber Can Teach Us About the Perils of AI

In my novel, The 13th Vote, Albert, a developing AI plays a central role as it comes to grips with it’s place in a society of good but flawed humans. Us humans are familiar with the journey, emerging from childhood ignorance into increasing levels of maturity and awareness throughout adulthood. And with enough time, vigilance and experience, we’re blessed with the gift of wisdom. But what of AI? Can it ever gain wisdom? And if not, can we trust it to make big decisions that affect our lives? I’d say we cannot and the Unabomber’s manifesto proves it.

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The Future / World0 Comments

The Future of Funerals

Social distancing. Mandatory masks. The vaccine arms race. These are some of the new realities brought forth by Covid.  Another is the online funeral. Recently, I attended my first. I logged on early, eyes closed in quiet contemplation, and for the next twenty minutes, touching songs by Cohen, Sinatra, and Groban, accompanied me while I waited for the service to start. If you’ve ever sat like this, you’ve experienced how the mind drifts, and at some point, my thoughts went to the funerals of the future, and before long I concluded something with such certainty and wondered how a brilliant mind like Gene Roddenberry didn’t. The conclusion? Read on.

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Business / Entertaiment / Politics / Tech / The Future / World0 Comments

The Case for NTF’s

Beeple’s collage, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sold at Christie’s

Why (and why not) NFT’s are here to stay

NFT’s or Non-Fungible Tokens are the new ‘thing’, the cool kid on the blockchain, for reasons I can’t completely understand but am nonetheless convinced of. And if that’s nonsensical enough to convince you to stop reading, then don’t. Let’s try to find out together and enjoy the process, since the art is in the telling.

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