Reporters Without Borders has put together a great map that shows not only the insane amount of internet connections spanning the globe but also the countries where internet access is rare, restricted just plain non-existent, referred to as “black holes.” Or in the case of North Korea, vacation spot! 🙂
Even though media attention is lauded on the iPhone and the iPod, very little is made of the fact that Apple’s computers, particularly laptops, are gaining more ground than any other manufacturer (and now run Windows, too.) Fortune points out how excellent software and a growing consumer base are making the Mac a force to be reckoned with…again.
While India’s middle class is experiencing a short-term boom, without social reform and a long hard look at entrenched cultural bottlenecks, India’s future growth may be in doubt. Prospect Magazine has all the details.
Radar online has a triple play of power-broking villainy, with a feature on America’s frenemies, the most powerful people you’ve never heard of, and the degenerate ways of British lords. Good stuff.
Canada’s favorite political funsters, the Rhino Party, are back and causing trouble once again. This time they’re led by ex-Vancouverite, Terminal City honcho and gadabout Brian Salmi, who is challenging a law which requires 50 candidates at a cost of $1,000 each. I hope they win their court battle. This country needs the Rhino party, now more than ever.
While all the attention is focused on emissions, high gas prices, climate change and wars over oil, coal is quietly retaking its former place as one of the dominant forms of energy production on the planet. And just like 200 years ago, when London was a soot-covered hellhole, coal is polluting the living hell out of the environment, especially in China (though you’d think by now we’d know better.) But I’m reasonably certain if we just hold a few more giant concerts (which don’t burn much carbon, nosiree) everything will be just fine.
If the pictures (and subsequent legal yanking) of the forthcoming “Fat Nano” are to be believed, Apple is set to introduce new iPods at a special media event on September 5th. Also rumoured is a touchscreen iPod, which would essentially be an iPhone minus the phone. I’ll definitely go for that product if it has the same wifi and websurfing capabilities as the iPhone, since most of my communication is through the internet and not over the phone.
Plans were also in the works to finally start selling Beatles tunes on the iTunes Music Store, though apparently whether or not that’ll actually happen is up in the air. So much for the legendary yellow iPod.
The Third Guy returns as Chris Burgess joins us once again for our take on “The Lazurus Experiment”, a Seaon 3 time-filler redeemed by cool scorpion effects and the fact that it came right after a disastrous Dalek two-parter. We went pretty far off-topic in this one, even breaching the shores of the dreaded Coronation Street (at length), but hopefully our jib-jabber will prove somewhat entertaining nonetheless. (feed, web, direct download)
I’d go further and say that, of late, video games have made better experiences than movies, full stop. But that’s doubly true in the case of horror, since games can (and will) throw as much scariness at you as possible, as well as giving you an entire environment of spooky atmospherics instead of pre-determined “shock” moments. The author of this Wired article cites Bioshock, which I’ve been playing, and I can personally attest to the great horror quotient in the game.
Vint Cerf, one of the inventors of the Internet, predicts television is about to hit its “iPod moment” and will soon be primarily downloaded for later viewing. I can personally attest to live TV taking a backseat to downloaded content and video podcasts, along with the Xbox, taking up most of my television time. And I am nothing if not ahead of the curve. 🙂