U.S. Wants to Make it Easier to Wiretap the Internet

This morning I was reading an article in the Times telling us why we should support the government, allowing them a back door to the internet to eavesdrop on private citizens at their whim. Even if I trusted the government, I would do everything I could to discourage this kind of policy. As it is, it's almost impossible to believe what i read in newspapers without considering political and corporate minipulation. It's been the decentralized nature of the internet that has allowed information from inside China and Iran to find a public forum to post a different perspective of reality than their administration's agenda would allow. With the publishing of wikileaks, Americans for the first time are seeing what is going on in Afganistan — and the federal government has gone bullshit at having these facts surface. And how did we all hear about Haliburton defrauding the American public (in Iraq) for billions of dollars without any investigation? Was it because our vice-president was CEO of that company before he took office. Torture — we don't believe in it in the U.S., right? And do we know any congressman who hasn't taken political and/or corporate contributions with no strings attached. Personally, I think we should clean house—representatives shouldn't be on the take. How can congress look after our interests, when the thrust of their job is to simply be re-elected. The internet is the only non-political channel available, and I am personally reluctant after the Bush administration to trust that the government does anything in the people's interest. Especially in light of the TARP which financed Wall Street bonuses and a Healthcare bill that still permits wholesale rape by the healthcare sector and now demands that every citizen pay for health insurance or pay a fine — all increasing the insurance industry's market at public expense. Based on these policy changes, do you really think the fed is capable of honoring privacy? Fight this proposal for all you're worth, I plan to.

Seth Rule('s)

Scanning through BusinessWeek.com, I came across a small post from an attendee of one of Seth Godin's seminars entitled Seth Godin on being indespensable. Over the course of the seminar, he delivered his secret to sucess — in four simple rules. Consider these:

1. “If there is a map or a set of rules, reject it. You will not get paid fairly if all you do is follow the rules.”

2. “What you must do is [create] generous art, gifts that change people, connect with people, lead with people, make change that matters.”

3. “Ship it.”

[This referred to the tendency we all have to talk ourselves out of doing something, instead convincing ourselves that it’s too soon/not ready/not a good time/we’ll be laughed out of town if we try it now, clearly we should delay. The idea of shipping something that might not be perfect isn’t just creatively liberating, it’s really the only way to exist in a world where if you don’t launch your great idea, you’ll miss your moment altogether.]

4. “Treat the platform as an opportunity to give gifts and make change, not something to survive to get to tomorrow.”

I thought they were good guidelines.

Brand Platform Color Palette

from stuff to platforms

A blog post on Panopticon was talking about how working with 'future scenarios' provides a contextual source of inspiration in developing new concepts for products/services/experiences. The article suggests that recent insights indicate a shift in thinking from designers who now seem more inclined to build upon existing infrastructure or platforms for solutions. This is 180 degrees from when innovation and creativity were solely associated with the building of new stuff. Designers concerned with sustainability have taken a more critical stance on building new objects/products — instead, think apps, modular components, open source. Future challenges will be more complex and deal more with behavioral change — shifting focus from object-based, to people-based. As I say, it's all about me.

The unfolding of Context: Augmented Reality

"Context awareness is regarded as an enabling technology for ubiquitous computing that can learn and make assumptions about the users current situation. Characterized by having access to information wherever you are and whenever you need it — its like having the ultimate personal assistant."

A Tech World That Centers on the User

In a Times article adapted from Nick Bilton's (NYT tech blog Bits) recently published book "I Live in the Future & Here's How it Works", Mr. Bilton describes how a user centered internet is changing how we access information. The internet generation is looking for "personalized" experiences, and it's the quality of the experience that makes the difference.

If you pull out your smartphone and click the button that says “locate me” on your mapping application, you will see a small dot appear in the middle of your screen.

That’s you.

If you start walking down the street in any direction, the whole screen will move right along with you, no matter where you go.

This is a dramatic change from the print world. Now we are always in the center of the map. It's all about me, my interests, my convenience, my immediate needs.

For instance, if I am reading the newspaper at 4 p.m. in Brooklyn, the content I see should reflect the time of day (near dinner), the place (what’s nearby) and more.

...and most importantly, these systems should do this without my having to instruct them. Maybe this is why they're called 'smart" devices.

Clinical diagnosis in the palm of your hand

 

A revolutionary hand-held diagnostic instrument is being developed by Cambridge Consultants. The inexpensive device (under $100) senses telltale fluorescent glow from specific disease markers.

AIGA —The designer of 2015

In my first post on this blog, "Well, we're not in Kansas anymore...", commenting on Steve Baty's post, you may have detected a note ambivalence about yet one more post extolling the need for designer's to re-examine their professional roles. Perhaps that's because i recently re-read AIGA's commentary on "The designer of 2015" which also had little meat to chew on. Maybe it's because i read a post in 2003 by Clement Mok, then president of AIGA, entitled "Time for Change", which did actually have some meat and meaning. In my personal opinion, it's a worthy read for anyone aspiring to work in the 'graphic' design profession. It's worth a few minutes, even if it just articulates what we think we already know.

Check-in, Chicken

In a short post by the same name, Seth Godin (sethgodin.typepad.com) prods us to verbalize what it is that we're afraid of.

"Two kinds of afraid, actually. Things that might fail and things that might work."

He suggests acknowledging your fears and looking at possible outcomes and worse case senarios — and ask "Would that take us down?"

On the other hand, what are you afraid of that might work? — back into the scary unknown...opening into yet more unknowns.

So, how can we make peace with unknowing and develop a healthy curiosity for what is?

Well, we're not in Kansas anymore...

Steve Baty's post on Core 77, "The strategic arc of interaction design", joins the choir in singing that the role of the designer needs to broaden beyond designing components and products, and begin to think more holistically about designing interacting systems or communities. The future role of design is less about crafting objects and increasingly about designing tools and systems. This starts with thinking about the people for whom we design as participants in the design process — that we need to be able to synthesize diverse needs in order to produce workable and actionable solutions.