To mark the publication of the paperback edition of my book The Big Switch, which The Independent last week called “simultaneously lucid and mind-boggling,” I’m giving away five signed copies. I will mail a copy to each of the first five people who correctly answer the following three lucid but mind-boggling questions:
1. What fruit was implicated in the death of Alan Turing?
2. Last week, Google attributed its glitch that labeled the entire Web as hazardous to “human error.” What famous movie character, describing another computer snafu, said, “It can only be attributable to human error”?
3. What flavor of soft drink is mentioned in the third verse of the final track on Werner Vogels’ favorite album of 1969?
The contest is over! Thanks for participating. The answers are:
1. Apple
2. HAL
3. Cherry red
You may have already seen this interview in Wired from a few days ago, but the book being discussed might make interesting reading:
Digital Overload Is Frying Our Brains
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/02/attentionlost.html
…and I missed it. I really would have liked a copy. I am currently reading Grown Up Digital, wherein you are mentioned. I really liked your interview/panel guest on TVO’s “The Agenda” on Cloud Computing. You certainly were right on the mark and could not be disputed. Well done Nicholas.
gregory west – writer/webmaster/instructor