AltWeeklies Wire
Three Internet Myths That Won't Dienew
The internet is free, accessible, and dangerous? Hardly.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
06-18-2008 |
Tech
The Kindle and the iPhone Aren't Changing the Worldnew
They are just putting a new interface on yesterday's innovations. When you want to evaluate whether a piece of tech really is "revolutionary," just put it to the simple singularity acid test. Ask yourself if you could explain it in a few sentences to people living 100 years ago. So let's sit down with your typical resident of San Francisco in 1908, and explain Kindle and iPhone to her.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
06-11-2008 |
Tech
Human-Animal Hybrids Could be Stem Cell Goldminesnew
Last week the British Parliament began the process of legalizing human-animal hybrid embryo cloning. While not explicitly illegal in the US, the process has been so criticized that most researchers have stayed away from it.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
05-28-2008 |
Tech
Inside the Internet Dystopianew
Increasing constraints on freedom to innovate with technology cloud the web's future, as Jonathan Zittrain points out his the new book The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
05-14-2008 |
Tech
The Obligatory Video Game Outrage Over 'Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City'new
If it were a movie, it would have been directed by Martin Scorsese or David O. Russell, and we'd all be ooohing and aaahhing over its dark, ironic vision of immigrant life in a world at war with itself. But because Liberty City is a video game, where players are in the driver's seat, so to speak, it freaks people out.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
05-08-2008 |
Video Games
It's Easy for Mobs to Crush Free Expression On the Webnew
Thanks to new, collaborative, social media networks, it's easier than ever for people to get together and destroy freedom of expression. They're going DIY from the bottom up -- instead of the way old-school censors used to do it, from the top down. Call it user-generated censorship.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
04-30-2008 |
Tech
How the Web Has Changed Writingnew
Back in the 1990s, I taught writing using books and movies -- there was only one possible kind of output: linear narratives written on sheets of paper. When I recently returned to teaching writing, I couldn't imagine teaching writing using books and linear narratives. I taught writing by showing my students how different software applications could help them structure their writing.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
04-23-2008 |
Tech
No Room for the Little Guy in Big Web?new
If Microsoft buys Yahoo to create what we'll call Microhoo, it means we'll have fewer options when it comes to online searches, using web mail, and just plain goofing around online.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
04-16-2008 |
Tech
Thomas Beattie is Not the First Pregnant Mannew
So why's he getting all the credit, and why now?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
04-09-2008 |
Sex
English is Deadnew
My glee in the destruction of my own spoken language isn't entirely inspired by knowing language history.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
04-02-2008 |
Tech
Tags: computers & technology
Color Wars Onlinenew
Why divide a gregarious social space into meaningless factions?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
03-26-2008 |
Tech
Tags: computers & technology
Hooker Sciencenew
Are we still so Victorian that we think it's bad to pay large amounts for a few hours of skin-time?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
03-19-2008 |
Commentary
Your Computer is Doomednew
In the future, your infamy will not be remembered. Is that comforting?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
03-05-2008 |
Tech
Tags: computers & technology
The War on Sciencenew
Science is crucial to the management of the nation, and without it we're no better than a medieval kingdom.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
02-28-2008 |
Commentary
You Cannot Afford Marsnew
Sure, we know it's not packed with cool aliens, but we haven't realized that hunkering down on another planet isn't going to solve our basic problems as humans
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Annalee Newitz |
02-20-2008 |
Tech
Tags: computers & technology
