Global POV: At the Intersection of Technology and Culture

YouTube on boob tube

by David Holtzman

Apple TV is going to be featuring YouTube videos starting next month. This is very cool because it is the first commercially viable fistula in the blood-brain barrier between television and the Internet. Depending on how they implement this (ie; filter the content), something topical posted on the 'Net could pop up on televisions all across the world.. Sure, the tv is lit up by broadbrand connections, not satellite signals, onair broadcasts or cable, but who cares?

I wonder what they will do with slanderous material? Say funny Hillary Clinton videos? Damned if they do, damned if they don't. Censorship is a never-ending process. So is litigation.

Posted on May 31, 2007

Technology adoption--turtle or hare?

by David Holtzman

I am generally surprised at how pervasive information technology is across the world. Internet cafes are ubiquitious, you can buy flash cards almost everywhere and the sheer reach of gsm phones is remarkable. For instance, I was able to use GPRS to get my email while floating in a ship off the Galapagos Islands.

I'm surprised because technology spread to the so-called 3rd World was a much harder proposition because it required a supportive infrastructure. What good was having a large TV if there were no stations broadcasting within your viewing range?

Many people have written about the "leapfrog effect", whereby a country can skip over an expensive technology and go right to something newer and easier to deploy. A good example is India skipping over copper telecommunication lines and going directly to cellular and satellite. The leapfrog effect is happening in spades all over the world. Countries like America, Japan and Germany provide the infrastructure and smaller countries provide the consumption. Internet power users do not require a PhD to use the Web nor must live in a high-rise condo and drive a SUV to be able to afford to purchase entry to the technology. Anyone can use a web browser. Anyone can insert a SIM card into a GSM phone.

Posted on May 30, 2007

Back and blogging

by David Holtzman

After a 2 1/2 week hiatus, I am back from my honeymoon in Ecuador.

Posted on May 30, 2007

Taking a vacation

by David Holtzman

Globalpov will resume in two weeks.

Posted on May 04, 2007

The danger of reality tv

by David Holtzman

I have never liked reality TV, other than a mild fascination with the first Survivor--probably as a curiousity. I think that the reason is because it desensitizes us to having our privacy invaded. Perhaps the first step in getting people used to something appalling is to portray it as entertainment. It makes me think of the Joel Gray character in Cabaret, making anti-semititism amusing. Perhaps that kind of beer-hall shtick prepared the German people for what was to come.

Posted on May 04, 2007

What to do about electronic billboards...

by David Holtzman

The Washington Post has an article about the big electronic billboards that you see in a lot of cities these days. DC, where I live, hasn't been hit that hard yet, but I've seen them elsewhere.

It's a technology problem. LCD screens have gotten cheap enough to use as advertising media. Originally static, these boards are now anything but. With wi-fi hookups, they can be updated from across the country with new ads and they can be time-sliced, increasing the potential revenue for the board owner.

Of course, from the consumer point of view, they're annoying as hell. From a driver's point of view, they're distracting. From an aesthetic point of view, they're troublesome.

I have an idea (and this is just an idea, not a suggestion)--what if people were to, say, I don't know---break the screens? If enough of these LCD panels had to be replaced (you can't repair them), then maybe we'd get our skylines back again without watching flourescent marketing pap.

Posted on May 03, 2007

Digg 'em

by David Holtzman

An interesting sound can be heard at Digg this week--a monster ripping noise as thousands of denizens of the Matrix rip those electrodes out of their chests. There has been an open rebellion by many Digg users in retalation of an apparent censoring by Digg moderators of a recently cracked HD key. The hexadecimal key, when fed into the right program unlocks all HD-DVDs released up until now.

The protests are taking the form of using their votes to point the front page of Digg to stories containing the hex number and other clever ways to force the forbidden number to the forefront.

There is no perpetual motion machine and every form of energy has a price. The seemingly free power supply of Web 2.0 sites, driven by the combined will of the great unwashed, can also be used to express displeasure. I predict that we will see more of the same in the very near future.

Posted on May 02, 2007