March 2010 desktop calendar

Posted on March 1, 02010 | Leave a Comment
Filed Under Journal

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released under the UK Creative Commons Attribution licence

Stewart Brand at the ICA

Posted on February 3, 02010 | Leave a Comment
Filed Under Inspiration, Journal

Stewart Brand is a remarkable individual. In the late 60's he campaigned NASA to release the now iconic image of earth from space. This photo then graced the cover of his Whole Earth Catalog, a sort of Loot magazine for hippie communes. At the same time his interest in technology led to a job as cameraman on Doug Engelbart's seminal 'Mother of All Demos'. In later years he co-founded the WELL, the Global Business Network and the Long Now Foundation.

Brand is currently on tour promoting his sixth book, Whole Earth Discipline. On Saturday he stopped by the ICA in London for a presentation and short Q&A.

As a lifelong environmentalist and a founder of the green movement, Stewart Brand's opinions on climate change carry some weight. What's interesting though, is that those opinions are informed by a comprehensive understanding of modern technology. His approach is pragmatic (the book's subtitle is An Ecopragmatist Manfesto) and some of his conclusions are surprising.

If you follow the Seminars About Long Term thinking (and you should, they're great) you'll know this pragmatic approach has led him to take controversial positions on a number of green issues. For one he's pro nuclear power: citing the work of Saul Griffith, who has researched the real cost and scalability of green energy provision, nuclear power seems the only viable option. His roundup of new reactor designs was very enlightening, one of which is even powered by the waste generated by our current reactors.

Re-thinking green in light of new technology he comes down in favour of genetically modified food. Again, a controversial position he backs up with real world examples. He makes a speculative case for geo-engineering and also for sustainable urbanism. The resourcefulness of slum dwellers wonderfully illustrated in the video above.

After the presentation was over Stewart was joined on stage by Alexander Rose, Executive Director of Long Now, for a short Q&A. After this Long Now London met for an informal meet and greet. This was a great chance to talk to like-minded individuals and I'm happy to report that my rather battered copy of The Clock of The Long Now now bears the signature of it's author.

February 2010 desktop calendar

Posted on February 1, 02010 | Leave a Comment
Filed Under Journal

Download: 1024 x 768 / 1680 x 1050 / 1920 x 1200 / original image
released under the UK Creative Commons Attribution licence

Don’t be evil

Posted on January 14, 02010 | 2 Comments
Filed Under Development

photo by Tom Dalziel

New year is traditionally a time for introspection. Thoughtful consideration of the year ahead; the fruits of which become a new year's resolution - a course correction for how you live your life. Interestingly, this soul searching is not restricted to individuals. A few days ago one of the biggest companies in the world made an ethical stand. Google famously follow a credo of don't be evil. Maybe more infamously they censored their search results to gain a foothold in China. This hear no evil, see no evil approach brought them considerable criticism and seriously dented their good-guy image.

I've written before that organisations have a personality. As a web developer I engage with a number of companies on a daily basis and my perception of those companies affect the technologies I choose to offer my clients. Actions like this matter. They have a long term effect on the bottom line.

Take Google as an example. I have a lot of goodwill towards them (more so since the China decision). They create innovative and powerful services, and offer them free to anyone. To me their personality is smart, nerdy and humorous. They are welcoming and since last week maybe even [gulp] trustworthy. What's not to like.

Now, take Microsoft (please). My experience of them has often been unfriendly and at times even bullying. They have abused their ubiquity with bug ridden browsers, misinformation and shady tactics over standards. That says a lot about personality. The consequence being I don't want to play with them anymore (okay maybe XBox) and have slowly removed their products from my toolset.

So let's look at Apple. Just about every web developer I know has a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. They're just the best products around, and beautiful to. The price you pay with Apple is proprietary lock-in - they have you by your short and curly braces.

Apple has Steve, and by inheritance a personality that is immensely charming, yet secretive and controlling. They don't play well with others and for developers a life with Apple can feel like an abusive relationship. We adore them but they don't treat us with respect. For a few of my friends at least, their famous distortion field is weakening.

Lastly then we have Adobe, a company with which I've become intimately familiar. As a Flash Developer I accept that I work with a proprietary technology. Decisions regarding it's future (and therefore mine) are made by by them so we have to get along. We don't always see eye to eye <cough>European pricing</cough> but on the whole I trust the guys steering the ship.

The upside of a proprietary technology is that unilateral decisions are made quickly and the platform has benefited enormously from this agility. The other thing I like is that Adobe is not in the operating system business. When the web is the platform, openness and cooperation are a good thing, and any involvement with open source and web standards feels genuine. It's in their interests to play well with others.

And I know I haven't gotten into standards bodies and other non-commercial web institutions but I think it's commercial entities who's integrity is most at risk. That said this isn't about money - all these companies make plenty of it. This is about the long term effects of corporate responsibility. Just know that your actions matter, and we're watching you.