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September 3, 2006
A new study indicates that people's interest in using their cell phones as music players is already dwindling.
In light of the release of Google Image Labeler, Tim O'Reilly gets excited about "the idea of harnessing humans to work as program components via games."
The Economist describes how the pioneers of synthetic biology are trying to take the kludginess out of life.
Writing on a Salesforce.com developer blog, Purpleprose argues that Web 2.0 represents an anarchic postmodernist rebellion against the formal modernism of Web 1.0. As with the postmodernist movement in art, the Web 2.0 movement is doomed, he says. The new will be coopted by the old, with "the rebellious quality of Web 2.0 [becoming] merely a useful marketing gimmick." At the same time, "there will be a backlash against the more anarchic, freewheeling, serendipitous aspects of Web 2.0, typified by the attitude you seen thrown around about the 'permanent beta.' Instead, users will seek a return to a more 'grounded' and 'determined' experience of the Web." He draws a practical lesson for tech firms: "Web 2.0 represents a great set of ideas and ideals, but it should never allow vendors to take their eye off the ball when it comes to quality." In a gloss on Purpleprose's post, Paddy Byers points out that Web 2.0's postmodernist ethic is in conflict with its collectivist leanings: "Much of the discussion of Web 2.0 confuses these two philosophies, swept up in the excitement of the power of collectivism and failing to spot that the postmodernist idea has been changing the landscape for a lot longer."
Designing user interfaces has long been the Achilles heel of open source software. Gervase Markham believes that may be changing.
Posted by nick at September 3, 2006 12:39 AM