While working, I’m one of those single display users. It helps me to focus on the task at hand. Despite that, I’ve been musing about how to use my Macbook display in a way that makes sense. Meaning: how can it display information that is a) not distracting me from what I do and b) is not completely arbitrary.
Say hello to pua (thanks to Boris for showing it to me). Created by the magnificent Aaron Straup Cope of Stamen Design. It’s not exactly hard to understand what pua does, but here’s Aaron’s take on it:
pua is a simple web application that shows you new photos from your contacts from Flickr as they are uploaded and older photos when they are updated. It can also show you new photos that your contacts have faved.
After receiving my invite, I started running it in Chrome – my secondary browser – on my Macbook display. In full screen mode. It looks somethings like this:
With that, and on an almost subconscious level, I can aggregate what my flickr contacts are up to without diverging a bigger portion of my attention to the task. It’s one of those ambient intimacy solutions and it’s a good proof of concept for secondary display usage.
P.S.: Panda tickles unicorn. You will know what I mean as soon as you start using the service.
While this lecture is from 1989, I promise that it – with NOTW evolving into something that might end up being mentioned in one breath with Watergate – will be totally worth your time.
(Started digging into this after reading this excellent BBC article on how the network defeated hierarchy once again.)
((P.S.: I don’t know about you, but I do find it kind of charming to find this kind of gems on Google Video (as in not-youtube).))
That’s the second time in one week that I’m writing a blog post after posting and engaging in a discussion on Google+. Whatever the future of this particular social networking attempt by Google is, I have to admit that I like how it evolves so far. At least from a very egoistic point of view.
Compared to the “last post”, this one is going to be a short one. In the discussion about (software) patents, copyright and the creation of value, Dannie – who is the most qualified (professionally) person on this matter that I know personally – pointed me to this good read. Here is the crucial part of the document to the discussion:
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone:
a: To take part in cultural life;
b: To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications;
c: To benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture.
3. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.
4. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.
Obviously this is written by lawyers, but those are the documents that are the foundation of how our system works and it is good to sometimes dive into this stuff. You know, just to show some interest in the real thing. I will try to do that more often.
