media forms

I have been reading and experimenting with mixed media lately. Adding drawings to photoshop and modifying them, or scanning poloroids and digitally modifying them. Mixed media is becoming popular in all creative industries also. A fovorite musician of mine is Beck. He has been utilizing mixed media and new ideas to keep his music innovative and stimulating. I bought his new cd "the information" about a month ago. It came with stickers your could use to personalize the album and give it you own flair. He also released web videos for each of the songs on his cd onto youtube. They are low production quality and very random, but it works well with the music. In an iterview in Wired magazine he talked about creating an album where the listener can mix the tracks he provides for a totally original listening experience. I think that's its important to use the amazing technology we have now but not stray from old methods that work well. As the world of technoloy and art advances we shouldn't forget where we came from, mergeing both analog and digital for well rounded entertainment.

electric cars

I've recently been trying to increase my awareness of technology around me. I rented "Who killed the electric car" a documentary looking into the story behind the discontinuation of the procuction of the electric car. There are many reasons why it failed so you'll have to rent the dvd too learn all about it but I extracted that the technology and marketing was ahead of its time in a bad way. Sure enviromentalists will drive a zero emissions car regardless of how it looks, but the average american doesn't want to look like a liberal hippie wuss, which is how the ev1(saturns electric car) looked. Today hybrids are beginning to look like a normall car which is a great trend and will help marketing it.
Another reason the electic car failed is because of lack of infastructure and the battery life issue. Consumers were not impressed with the short 60mile per charge distance, and there weren't enough places to charge. The improved batteries that we have today as oposed to 10 years ago can go 300 miles on a charge, but mobil and exxon bought the patent too that technology so it wouldn't ruin their oil business. I suggest you do not buy gas from either for that reason. The good news is that plug in hybrids are in the near future and were even unveiled at this years detroit auto show. These hybrids rely more on electricy than gas and wil hopefully ease us into the electic car age. tesla motors is also introducing a sport electic car that is faster then a porshe, they will be on the road in the near future, in California where they can be afforded of course

intrusive technologies

A major trend in technology is surveillance, monitoring and tracking. Cell phone companies know where we are and when, even if we have nothing to hide it is weird to think that we are being watched. The world is getting smaller now that cell phones with GPS on them, maps and asking directions are soon to be a memory of the past.
Shortcuts like these are taking hold in other ways too. Such as Internet dating services. Computers and surveys can now determine who would be a good companion for you. In a mesh between the real and digital word there are “interpersonal awareness devices” that let you know when a person who you would get along with is nearby. I feel like this could be interesting in that meeting people could get so efficient and too efficient that we have too many friends to deal with.
Every person I know seems to be acquaintances with more and more people due to face book, myspace and other technological communication devices. It is important to find a group of real friends that you can physically meet. If your computer crashes you can still hang out with real people.

first post

I was confused with when to post where so this is the first blog I am posting here, I'll catch the other ones up soon. When I first started this book I didn't know what to expect. After reading a good portion of the book I realized that I should know more about my surroundings as far as technology goes. I consider myself technologically savvy and I often forget how connected we are to our devices and the information that we share on them.
Not to sound paranoid but big brother watching, listening or reading our information or the ease at which they could sets uneasy with me. I consider myself a faily legitamate person so I don’t have to much to worry about. The principle of people being able to know so much about me without or before meeting me is a new idea for the masses. Websites such as myspace or facebook generate lots of controversy. To me the solution isn’t to difficult to grasp. If you don’t want people to read or see it, don’t put it on the internet.