5th October 2014

1) The compelling Future of Storytelling conference, took place in New York last weekend. Sadly I couldn’t make it and if you couldn’t either here is the blog of the event.

2) Yahoo ( Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle ) has closed the Yahoo directory – the original search system that made it so successful and from which it takes its name.

In the end, the word Yahoo! did roughly describe it as a web search directory. The term “hierarchical” described how the Yahoo! database was arranged in directory layers. The term “oracle” was intended to mean “source of truth and wisdom”. And “officious” described the many office workers who would use the Yahoo! database while surfing from work.

3) From the New York Times – Why Rumours Outrace the Truth Online.

Take the bizarre but instructive example of the woman who claimed to have had an implant to add a third breast – clearly an example of an implausible story that was too good to check. Initial reports circulated widely on social networks, totalling over 188,000 shares. The story was quickly discredited after it was reported that a three breast-breast prosthesis had been previously found in the woman’s luggage, but the articles reporting that it was false never attracted even one-third as many shares as the initial false reports.

4) Interesting ( because it’s relatively rare ) positive perspective on the power of anonymous social media – Confessional in The Palm of Your Hand.

Many of us are addicted to sharing status updates on Facebook, photos on Instagram, and thoughts on Twitter. But real, raw honesty is tricky online. It’s hard to say what you really think when your true identity is attached, especially if your post could get you in trouble, either now or years down the line. 

I took a rather different view recently – Whisper and our Withering World of Communications.

5) Can’t be bothered to read the small print? Well neither could this group of Londoners who inadvertently agreed to hand over their first born child…in exchange for Internet access.

6) So, there is an app for everything right. …… ? Good2Go seeks to assist with a discussion about what constitutes consent between two adults. Not sure this sounds like a great idea and will anyone use it?

7) The Rise of Slow TV This concept has been around a while. In the nascent days of multi-channel TV in the 90’s, I used to get home after a night out and watch a narrow boat move very slowly across an aqueduct, on some fringe satellite channel ( exciting, huh?) The Slow TV of today is even less energetic.

Slow TV is not scripted or heavily edited; it is more concerned with movement than with tension, contrast, or character. The iconic slow-TV program isBergensbanen: minutt for minutt the real-time recording of a train journey, from Bergen to Oslo, in 2009. That show was nearly seven and a half hours long, and consisted mostly of footage from the train’s exterior as it moved. 

8) The growing fascination with virtual sporting action… A record 41,000,000 people play fantasy sports games in the US and Canada alone. In the car recently, when my three children were discussing the potential of a new Brazilian signing for the football team we support, my 10 year olds first comment was – ‘I wonder what his rating will be on FIFA 14’. The starting point and conversational currency for his generation is imaginary, rather than real sporting activity.

9) The latest ‘big’ virus is Shellshock. This is why it could be even worse than Heartbleed.

Heartbleed affected software used by servers to encrypt and secure communications. The flaw allowed attackers to get sensitive information such as encryption keys or passwords from vulnerable servers that could be used to secretly access the system later, for example to steal personal data. Shellshock allows an attacker much more power. They can use it to take complete control of a system even without having a username and password. Exploitation of the vulnerability is simple and doesn’t require advanced skills. 

10) Look again. There is more happening with these clever 50 logos than first appears.