Month: May 2006
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Junk science – the oil of the new web
There’s a case to made that James Surowecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds is the most influential book of the decade – The Selfish Gene for the noughties. Both have something else in common: the title of each book is profoundly misleading. Crowds aren’t wise, nor can genes be selfish – as one critic famously wrote,…
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Digital music nirvana isn’t impossible, it just takes longer
An early look at on-demand streaming of your own music. The cloud buzzword hadn’t caught on back then… The idea of being able to play your music anywhere, on any device, has become a cliche without quite coming to pass. Viewed from a distance, this looks like one of technology’s greatest failures. If you’re acquainted…
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Justice Dept slams ‘Machiavellian’ Microsoft
Vista’s fate foretold… by Machiavelli. A prophetic quote. trust settlement, and quoted Machiavelli to support its case for an extension to the monitoring program. As of 1 February, over 700 issues remained outstanding out of over 1,000 submitted to the monitoring committee, which was set up to ensure Microsoft keeps to its word in the…
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The worse Google gets, the more money it makes?
Microsoft today is barely acquainted with how its software is produced. Now Google’s search results look similarly out of whack. It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when the mainstream press was barely acquainted with the genius and foresight of today’s technology leaders. Fifteen years ago Bill Gates appeared on the BBC’s…