Link archive: May, 2014

Powerful Ideas Need Love Too!

Alan Kay’s written remarks to a Joint Hearing of the Science Committee and the Economic and Educational and Opportunites Committee in October 1995.

How We Got To Now with Steven Johnson - YouTube

Steven Johnson’s new television series will be shown on BBC in a few months time. Looks like it’s going to be good Burkian fun.

Dystopia Tracker

Documenting depictions of dystopian futures and tracking which ideas are turning out to be predictions.

Known: taking a big bet on the #indieweb

When I’ve been banging on at conferences about digital preservation, personal publishing and the indie web, I’ve been at pains to point out that there are huge opportunities here for startups looking to build valet services to help people publish on their own domain.

Ben and Erin at Known are doing just that, with some backing from KQED, PRX and the Knight Foundation instead of the usual short-sighted Silicon Valley venture capitalism.

One of the jobs of a startup is to look at where the world is going, extrapolating from current trends and domain knowledge, and meet a future need with a product at exactly the right time. We think the time is right for an independent web that is owned by content creators and readers alike.

Indie Tech Summit - Brighton, UK - July 4th, 2014

I’ll be speaking at this event that Aral is putting on here in Brighon on the fourth of July (independence day — geddit?).

The Internet With A Human Face - Beyond Tellerrand 2014 Conference Talk

The transcript of Maciej’s talk from Beyond Tellerrand on how the web has become more and more centralised:

The degree of centralization is remarkable. Consider that Google now makes hardware, operating systems, and a browser.

It’s not just possible, but fairly common for someone to visit a Google website from a Google device, using Google DNS servers and a Google browser on the way.

This is a level of of end-to-end control that would have caused us to riot in the streets if Microsoft had attempted it in 1999. But times have changed.

Archeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication edited by Douglas A. Vakoch

A free PDF download from NASA on all things SETI, specifically the challenges of interspecies interstellar communication.

For the Love of the URL — Aaron Grando

Some URLs are ugly. Some URLs aren’t. Let’s not sacrifice them.

It’s OK not to use tools by Jonas Downey of Basecamp

Today, a basic HTML/CSS site seems almost passé. But why? Is it because our new tools are so significantly better, or because we’ve gone overboard complicating simple things?

He’s right, y’know.

Roll Your Own Podcast Feed with Huffduffer by Adam Stahr

A quick little introduction to Huffduffer.

Single Element CSS Spinners

A lovely little selection of loading indicators powered by CSS animations and transitions.

What a Misunderstanding!

A variation on “Christ, what an asshole!”

Frank Chimero – Only Openings

I guess it goes without saying at this point, but this piece from Frank is beautiful and thought-provoking.

This part in particular touched on some things I’ve been thinking about lately:

Design’s golden calf is simplicity. Speaking as someone who sees, makes, and uses design each and every day, I am tired of simple things. Simple things are weak. They are limited. They are boring. What I truly want is clarity. Give me clear and evident things over simple things. Make me things that presume and honor my intelligence. Shun seamlessness. It is another false token. Make me things that are full of seams, because if you give me a seam and I pull the thread, I get to see how the whole world is stitched together. Give me some credit. Show me you trust me.

Inexhaustible - Instapaper Fragmentions by Brian Donohue

Instapaper is going to add support for fragmentions. Seems like a match made in heaven.

Index cards | A Working Library

A truly wonderful piece by Mandy detailing why and how she writes, edits, and publishes on her own website:

No one owns this domain but me, and no one but me can take it down. I will not wake up one morning to discover that my service has been “sunsetted” and I have some days or weeks to export my data (if I have that at all). These URLs will never break.

Open-Source Projects by Filament Group

Those smart people at Filament Group have gathered their open-source code into one handy place. Useful!

Ingredients by Mark Boulton

A lovely post by Mark on the value of URLs.

Tim Bray · Pervasive Monitoring Is an Attack

The IETF have decided that network surveillance is damage to be routed around.

N’existe Pas by Bruce Sterling on The Dissident Blog

A short story set in a science-fictional future that just happens to be our present.

Singularity&Co. — Save the Scifi!

The campaign to restore out-of-print pulp sci-fi books in electronic formats.

Antisocial Networking by Tyler Finck

A decisive Indie Web move:

This site has become the place that I’m ready to host almost everything I make.

ntlk’s blog: Chrome obfuscates the URLs, Google benefits

Nat’s take on Chrome’s proposal to bury URLs:

The URLs are the cornerstone of the interconnected, decentralised web. Removing the URLs from the browser is an attempt to expand and consolidate centralised power.

Bruce Lawson’s personal site  : Happy Birthday, BASIC

Bruce’s love letter to BASIC.

The closest I’ve ever come to that “a-ha!” moment I had when I first wrote something in BASIC was when I first wrote something in HTML.

The Once and Future IndieWeb

Slides from Tantek’s recent talk at Web Directions Code about the Indie Web.

Burying the URL - Allen Pike

Right now, this move to remove URLs from the interface of Chrome is just an experiment …but the fact that Google are even experimenting with it is very disturbing.

“Who? Me? No, I was never going to actually blow the web’s brains out—I just wanted to feel the heft of the weapon as I stroked it against the face of the web.”

What Comes Next Is the Future by Matt Braun

This has the potential to be a terrific little documentary. What say we get it funded?