Messaging is the next big platform, and Facebook gets it. With 800 million Messenger users, Facebook is looking at the rise of messaging globally, and doubling down with new features. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is Google’s solution to slow-loading web pages on mobile devices. AMP goes live in a few weeks, and this post explains how publishers are coming …
Digital world and humanity
It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters. We cannot live apart, closed in on ourselves. … Media strategies do not ensure beauty, goodness and truth in communication. The world of media also has to be concerned with humanity, it too is called …
Two must-read pieces on social media
This month, two articles explored real-life examples of some of the unintended consequences of popular social media services and the kinds of behaviors they engender. What does it mean for the presentation of self in everyday life if the technology ensures the public audience is getting larger, and everyone is tuned in? First, in Vanity …
Friday 5 — 09.06.2013
We know almost everything about the iPhone 5C except the most critical one: price. Mobile pro Benedict Evans breaks it down. Price point for the new iPhone is highly correlated to its global #2 performance in the face of Android’s dominance. Market share stakes are high with an estimated total of 1.8B mobile phones shipping this …
Coming to terms with tech proliferation
The virtuality of the debate has made it difficult for us to grapple with the consequences of the proliferation of the world outside of this bubble …Now that the effects of the tech world invade the physical environment, we have to figure out the necessary philosophical and intellectual framework to deal with it. — Evgeny …
Morning Prayers @ Memorial Church
Today I was lucky enough to speak at the morning prayers service, a Harvard tradition since its founding in 1636 (more here). Many thanks to Jonathan Walton, who is the Pusey Minister of Harvard’s Memorial Church and the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in the Faculty of Arts & Sciences — and a true proponent …
Techonomy recap: digital reach and repercussions
Am just beginning to digest last week’s Techonomy conference – three days packed with discussions of the impact of digital technology’s acceleration and reach. Sessions focused on technology’s transformative effects on our daily habits, our society, and even our brains themselves. There were plenty of truly remarkable examples of the improvements – from predicting elections to curing cancer …
Facebook, individuality & loneliness
Just re-read this thoughtful Stephen Marche essay in The Atlantic Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? about social networking in the current American social context. Facebook arrived at a time when Americans were more alone that ever before. The article points out that in 1950 fewer than 10% of U.S. households contained only one person, and that number …