Multitsking Virus, part 2- May 28, 2008 Part 2 of Josh Waitzkin's "Multitasking Virus" piece is more about creative learning. His chess career ended because he worked with a coach who tried to force him into a particular mold, rather than cultivating Josh's unique energy and approach. I see myself in the eyes of so many kids today. Too many primary, elementary, and high schoolers are being boxed into the mold of conformity required by big classes, competition for grades, tests with multiple-choice questions.The first grader who leaps.http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/multitsking_virus_part_2.html David Brooks on "Neural Buddhists"- May 27, 2008 I've seen many links to David Brooks' New York Times op-ed piece, "The Neural Buddhists," since it appeared a couple weeks ago. I've circled back to it 3-4 times, given it some thought, resisted writing about it because I had to think about it some more. I'm still thinking about it... but writing about it might help. Brooks starts by considering science-driven materialism and rational atheism vs "defenders of the faith," and the argument "about whether it is reasonable to conceive of a soul...http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/david_brooks_on_neural_buddhis.html The Multitasking Virus- May 26, 2008 In my Buddhist practice, I've been cultivating attention. As so often happens, I ran into an article this morning that clearly related to weekend reading and thinking about mindfulness. For years I took pride in my ability to "multitask," which really means that I've been able to slice my time and plug in one chore while another is lagging. I let myself believe that I was doing multiple tasks at once, but that's impossible: rather, in multitasking you move attention from one focus to another,..http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/the_multitasking_virus.html "Jon Lebkowsky of Polycot Talks about the Early Days of Web 2.0"- May 26, 2008 In March I had coffee with Hall Martin of the Central Texas Angel Network. He blogged our conversation based on his notes. His version is here. I sent him this revision, which I think is a little clearer: Jon Lebkowsky talks about the early days of Web 2.0, how Austin is evolving in the digital media space, and what he proposes to grow it. So you were one of the early pioneers of Web 2.0. What was it like in the early days We didnt call it Web 2.0. In the early 2000s, we started...http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/jon_lebkowsky_of_polycot_talks.html Smart grids: home energy management- May 19, 2008 Coming soon: better tools for monitoring and regulating power consumption in the home. "Power companies will be able to cue us...to make choices about when and how we consume power. And most likely, we'll have our computers and appliances carry out those decisions for us." It's not just that we're managing power efficiency with smart tools, but we're doing it interactively with feedback to and from the energy provider. Link These approaches are in early stages of development and testing; the...http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/smart_grids_home_energy_manage.html Adam Fisk: P2P in Flash 10- May 19, 2008 Adam Fisk says that p2p in Flash 10 beta will bring down players from YouTube to Skype.Using P2P, Flash sites will be able to serve higher quality video than YouTube at a fraction of the cost. Meanwhile, the combination of the Speex audio codec and the Real Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP) will enable sites to seamlessly integrate VoIP without requiring a Skype install. The impact of this change is hard to fathom. Were talking about a fundamental shift in what is possible on the Internet, with..http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/adam_fisk_p2p_in_flash_10.html Listening to noise- May 18, 2008 Robert Scoble makes the distinction between news and noise. Journalists listen to the noise, sort it out, and produce news. Scoble says "I used to be a news junkie, but Ive hung out with the worlds top journalists enough now to see that the good ones are noise junkies," so he's gone there, too, and by going there, he's watching stories emerge before they're "news." It's like unfiltered awareness before discrimination sets in. Discrimination is what journalists do to be useful, but the...http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/listening_to_noise.html Karma chameleon- May 18, 2008 The Independent explores the Dalai Lama's fascinating complexity as a figure both political and spiritual. Link...paradox seems not to trouble Tenzin Gyatso. This is, after all, the man who claims to be addicted to newspapers, magazines and the BBC World Service, yet who rises at 4am to spend the first four hours of every day in silent meditation. He is a religious leader who warns against being needlessly distracted by religion. He represents one of the world's most underdeveloped and isolated.http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/karma_chameleon.html Cognitive recycling- May 15, 2008 From Clay Shirky: As we move online, we're recycling cognitive energy formerly invested in passive consumption of television, and applying it to active effort online. This is something that people in the media world don't understand. Media in the 20th century was run as a single race--consumption. How much can we produce How much can you consume Can we produce more and you'll consume more And the answer to that question has generally been yes. But media is actually a triathlon, it 's three...http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/cognitive_recycling.html Austin350- May 5, 2008 I've been blogging at the new Austin350 web site. We're looking for more bloggers for that site - if you're interested, contact me.http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/austin350.html |