Masters of Media

A few days ago Google launched its new way of search that promised to be ‘faster than the speed of type’. Instant Search, the new way name, is sort of similar to the earlier search predictions, but this one is on steroids. It is designed to cut off a lot of time users spend on searching, allowing them…

For a couple of years now scientists and new media enthusiasts have been talking about the merging of television and personal computers. Nowadays there are a couple of examples through which this merging takes place and last week almighty Google announced it will also launch its Web-based television this fall. Google TV will let you combine the internet with your television. I could explain here exactly how it works but like always Google made a nice animated introduction.

Is Google the always-on, silent recorder of global zeitgeist? There’s Google Trends, which lists most searched-for sites and topics in the last week, month or year around the globe. This has been a useful tool for digital publishers to gauge popularity and areas of growth and/or interest on the web.
But Google’s autocomplete has also become a…

As I’m reading Vanity Fair online this morning I realize that I have two separate articles pulled up next to each other on my browser that are essentially telling the same story only with different characters.  Yes, it happens but in this instance it’s Sean Parker vs. Joaquin Phoenix.  Both Parker and Phoenix have new films being released…

Paradiso is a church building on Weteringschans that serves as a concert hall, club and cultural center since 1968.

The “Night of the unexpected” is an one-day music festival which Paradiso hosts for the last 8 years in Amsterdam. Not only the music attractions and visual arts but also the atmosphere and the…

Last tuesday I discovered the following news bulletin on NU.nl ‘Mogelijk tijdslot voor internet- uitzendingen publieke omroep’ in which is explained that resigning minister of Education, Culture and Science André Rouvoet plans to use a timelock on adult televison programs published on Uitzending Gemist(wiki) , an online televisionprogram archive of…

The project, titled “Multimedia City,” began operations in the Nowy Sącz national center of innovation and focused on multimedia and information systems. The Multimedia City's strategic goal is to become one of the tenth most innovative centers in the world, which are working on the application of multimedia in education, business and entertainment.

Blogging, Ikea

“From 2007 – 2009, I coordinated website content and online initiatives for a community television station. In this time I was able to experience first hand the fear traditional television stations have of losing viewership to the internet.”The traditional television business model generates revenue through commercials and advertisements. This revenue is in turn used to finance production and generate profit.…

The cyber arena has the highest level of freedom for expressing news, even though they don’t have verified source; and makes for a situation for Iranians to break the strict rules and in some cases provides an area to put desires into gossip.

On September 5th, 2010, an unverified story showed up on Abolhassan Banisadr’s Website, former dismissed President of…

On the mythical algorithm that determines the selection of the 6 friends in your personal Facebook page.

For a while now I’ve noticed that two of my Facebook friends were always being listed in my personal page. Now, I can assure you that they are so-called pseudofriends of mine and I hardly post anything on their walls, so why are…

The recent debate about the proposed use of military-style surveillance drones in the United Kingdom, and further afield, has fuelled fears and given rise to concern over the continual erosion of the individual’s right to privacy and safety. The very name ‘drone’ seems to evoke a particularly menacing connotation, especially given the current use of drones in conflict. So when the French company Parrot launched their new augmented reality (AR) gaming device called AR.Drone the immediate association was surveillance related.

Meet Proto. This little green man appeared on my hand today when I was about to write this blog post. Off course he didn’t ‘just’ appear to me like the virgin Mary. His arrival was caused by an almost magic collaboration between my webcam, Flash, and the use of a symbol printed on ordinairy paper. If you like Proto enough,…

Since there have been inventions for the use of communication amongst the human race there have been institutions, governments and corporations trying to control them. As Noam Chomsky cites: 'Unless people are controlled, they are going to challenge power'. The same goes for media in my opinion: unless it's controlled, it's going to challenge the established power.

The video game industry has come a long way lately; what with the recent example of Sony Playstation celebrating 15 years and announcing the debut of their new smart multimedia console. A device that is clearly competitive to Nintendo Wii, featuring among its other futuristic characteristics censors, wireless controls and…

I am from the generation who wasn’t born with the chip installed; in fact when I studied Journalism I had to bring with me a heavy type writer and the Pentax to classes. The video camera wasn’t as affordable at it is now, so we had to share with the other students, only few had a personal one; the local…

It’s 2001 and while me and my friends are still discussing which is the better portable audio devie, a discman or a minidisc player, we could bury the hatchet. The was was over. An atomic weapon arrived at the scene where we were pinching eachother with toothpicks and chopsticks. Mp3-players were the future.

Apple was back on the scene! The…

Even though it was just a simple interactive installation with video, music, the artist and a few special effects, in 15 minutes you will get an impressive one-to-one experience. Beyond the impressive meeting with a stranger and all the questions and emotions he leaves you, it's a nice evening out, to go alone to an unknown world.

Contemporary mass media shares a very distinct role in the production of social values and norms in today s globalised societies, as we are surrounded and constantly fed information from a multitude of media sources. Internet users, television viewers, radio listeners, magazine readers or even anyone remotely attentive to posters and billboards on public transports and other public areas,…

Technology is advancing FAST and it’s only getting bigger, better and faster. Information that was once readable for the few became reachable for the masses, and the reachable became searchable for the whole world.

As we’re all aware, our current and future experiences are becoming ever more mobile, connected and interactive — in real-time and all the time. We’re simply…