EU says Google map images could be a problem “BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The ability of Google Inc’s map service to put detailed street-level images on the Internet could raise concerns in Europe if it was introduced there, the EU’s data protection agency said on Thursday.” (tags: maps mobile google privacy [...]

Thanks, Microsoft Word, for all the (muscle) memories | Technology | The Guardian “muscle memory – a far more important element of software than many designers realise. If you don’t use keyboard shortcuts, then you’re wasting precious hours every week (if not day) fiddling with the mouse, moving around the screen when you could [...]

BBC NEWS | UK | Hi-tech tool spots child drinkers “The supermarket chain Budgens has installed face recognition cameras in one of its stores to stop children buying alcohol and cigarettes.”
“Charlie Willetts, managing director of Charton Ltd, which is supplying the software, said about 1,500 images were (tags: identity politics [...]

Kevin Kelly — The Technium “On this site I aim to investigate the Technium. What does it want? Why do we embrace it? Is it possible to reject it? How does it relate to God, if at all? What kind of control do we really have on the pace and future path of the [...]

We’ll be able to sign up for ID cards at Tesco – Telegraph “Almost unnoticed last week, the Government announced it had shaved another £1 billion off the cost of its proposed identity card scheme… It did so by deciding to let the “open market” capture citizens’ biometrics, effectively outsourcing the cost of e [...]

IBM Research Drinking water everywhere? Self-healing spinal cords? An embedded super PDA that remembers all you hear or say? Lifespans stretching well past the century mark? Sounds like science fiction, but IBM scientists say that projects incubating in labs today mig (tags: futurism futurology anticipation technology)

Situated Technologies: Toward the Sentient City “Situated Technologies: Toward the Sentient City – An exhibition critically exploring the evolving relationship between ubiquitous/pervasive computing and urban architecture” (tags: architecture urbancomputing urban ubicomp art design) Conflux Festival | About Conflux “Conflux is the annual New York festival for contemporary [...]

A world of witnesses | Economist.com An economist journo does a reasonable job linking ‘smart mobs’ to citizen science via Eric Paulos’ “Ergo” air quality sensing project and the broader urban atmospheres work. (tags: mobile urbancomputing trends ubicomp intel anticipation collaboration participatory_media media) Common [...]

Cause Caller » Welcome A Masters student’s project: “I came up with the idea of automating call queues for phone banks while trying to organize one for myself, it was a total hassle to find everyone’s phone number on a particular committee, so I built CommitteeCaller last sem (tags: democracy internet