Being an optimist for a better post-Google, post-Facebook era

Interesting to get this perspective on ‘Big Tech’ from The Guardian, on how it’s become tempting to blame the big Silicon Valley players for some of the problems we have today. The angle Moira Weigel takes is that there needs to be more democracy in the system, where workers need to unite and respecting those […]

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Why a Google self-driving car worries me

Ford With Google and Ford announcing they will team up to make self-driving cars, I have some concerns.    I’m not in Luddite position on the idea of self-driving cars. Potentially, they can be far safer than what we have today. I see so many godawful drivers out there—New Zealand has a very high road […]

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Even on Instagram, they prefer bots to legitimate users

Instagram bans are like Facebook blackouts or Google blacklists: no matter what the company says your time-out is, it’s considerably longer.    Day 1 was Sunday, when I noticed that the likes I made via Ink 361 didn’t stick. I went back to Iconosquare (Statigram) and this message flashed up:    The wisdom online is […]

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Has Facebook admitted its servers ran out of resources?

Those of you who follow this blog know that I believe Facebook’s servers are reaching their limits. In June 2014, when there was a 69-hour outage for me—and at least 30 minutes for most other Facebook users—I noted I was recording a marked increase in Facebook bugs before the crash. And the even longer outage […]

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The flyover: every option now heard

Embarcadero Waterfront, photographed by Ricardo Martins/CC BY 2.0.   I was consistent about the Basin Reserve flyover in my campaign. Yes, I agreed we needed improvements to the area. But no, spending millions on it—it did not matter whether it was from taxes or rates at the end of the day, because that still meant […]

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Could Facebook follow Vox into the void?

Originally posted to the Vox Neighbourhood on Facebook, without links Key to the 2009 calendar. Yellow: days when Vox worked normally. Pink: days when the compose screen took minutes or hours to load. Red: days when Vox would not allow me to compose at all. I gave up on December 13, 2009, and consolidated all […]

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The Wikipedia game

The contributors or editors of Wikipedia are often quick to make changes after errors are pointed out. A recent funny one was for the suburb of Cannons Creek, in Porirua, when Wikipedia told a friend’s son: Cannons Creek is a suburb of Porirua City approximately 22km north of Wellington in New Zealand. The citizens attempted […]

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Google Plus is about to turn three: will media remember the hype?

As Google Plus nears yet another anniversary—I believe it’s its third next week—it’s interesting to reflect back on the much-hyped launch. Or, more accurately, on the number of people who drank the Google Kool-Aid and believed this would be the biggest thing since Facebook. Have a glance at the cheerleading: a handful of links I […]

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Facebook reaches its limits again: ‘Sorry, something went wrong’

Mea culpa: OK, I was wrong. Facebook got things back up in about 20 minutes for some users, who are Tweeting about it. However, as of 8.37 a.m. GMT, I am still seeing Tweeters whose Facebooks remain down.    Looks like some people do work there after hours. What a surprise!    However, I reckon […]

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Creating real value, and that’s not what Facebook and Twitter do

My forced Facebook sabbatical came to an end in the late morning. So what did I think of it all?    One of my Tweets last night was: ‘I hope [it is temporary], though I have found people out for 7–12 days now. Now it’s Monday I hope they have got over their hangovers!’ At […]

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