A phrase you'll probably be hearing or reading about quite a bit in the coming weeks and months is 'non-fungible tokens.' I'd not come across it until I read a Reuters report about a guy who sold a 10-second video artwork by the digital artist known as Beeple for $6.6 million at a Christies auction in Florida last month. He'd bought it last October for just $67 thousand. Nice ROI! While this in itself is an interesting tale, what makes it a notable one is two things: The video clip was … [Read more...] about Get to know ‘non-fungible tokens,’ NFT for short
FIR 204: Won’t you Join Us in our Clubhouse?
How safe is Clubhouse? asks Wired magazine in the latest critical look at the social audio service that appeared in April 2020 - less than a year ago. It's attracting huge attention globally. Alongside the hype and hyperbole that have been hallmarks of the perceived attractiveness and exclusivity of the invitation-only iOS app that passed ten million users in February - a five-fold growth since recording two million in January - there's increasing scrutiny of how the app works and how it … [Read more...] about FIR 204: Won’t you Join Us in our Clubhouse?
SDF 44: Facebook and the robber barons are at it again
Last week Facebook announced that it had decided to up the ante in its fracas with the Australian government and ban mainstream media news on its platform. The move meant that all Facebook users - not just Australians - would not be able to share or view news on Australian news Pages on Facebook. This move by Facebook was in response to the Australian government introducing a new law that would force Big Tech to pay media companies a fee to include their news in their users' news … [Read more...] about SDF 44: Facebook and the robber barons are at it again
Civilising Wikipedia
Last month, Wikipedia celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the founding of its English-language website, an online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone. Today, Wikipedia has more than 55 million articles available in over 300 languages, in addition to the original English. It says that 1.7 billion unique visitors come to its websites every month. For many people, it's the first stop on the Internet when you want the answer to "What is…?", "Who is…?", "Where is...?", "When … [Read more...] about Civilising Wikipedia
The Internet and a brighter future
Most people would agree that what we have experienced over the past 12 months has changed - in a lasting manner - the ways in which we share information and communicate with each other, whether for business or for pleasure. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated far-reaching change in ways that no one could accurately have predicted in 2019. Communications technology and the Internet are central to all of this and are at the heart of discussion I had in late January with Paul … [Read more...] about The Internet and a brighter future