A review of the book by John D. Kasarda and Greg Lindsay
Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next is a book with a stark premise: historically, cities have developed and thrived around transportation technologies. The present age is that of the airplane, and cities will be built for and around them. What seaports were to the eighteenth century, railroads to the nineteenth, and highways to the twentieth, so airports will be to… read more
Audio Proceedings of the Object-Oriented Ontology Symposium
Did you miss last month’s Object-Oriented Ontology Symposium? Lament no more. Recordings of the talks are now online at the conference website. You can download them individually as MP3 files or get an archive of all the talks in one fell swoop. Total running time is 5 hours 49 minutes. Perfect for your next flight from Chesapeake, Virginia to Reykjavik.… read more
It’s a very busy week. I just got back from a quick trip to Los Angeles, and now I’m making the final preparations for the Object-Oriented Ontology Symposium this Friday at Georgia Tech. I hope to see you there. Despite some very reasonable concerns about the volcanic ash mess disrupting his travel, I see that Graham Harman’s flight has successfully… read more
On check-in mechanics and games as loyalty programs. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.
I am one of those frequent flyer freaks. I count my elite qualifying miles and plan trips to maximize their accrual. I orchestrate complex bookings based on the class of service available and my ability to upgrade it. I can tell you which seats are optimal on a Delta 767-300 versus a 767-400. I can explain the intricacies of award… read more
On games as drills for banal tasks. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.
When we talk about the unique power of video games, we often cite their ability to engage us in thorny challenges, to envelop our attention and commitment, to overwhelm our senses and intellects as we strive to master physical trials of a battle or work out the optimal strategy for an economy. Usually we’re right when we think this, no… read more
The Insane Japanese Response to Swine Flu
A week ago, I wrote about the irrationality surrounding so-called swine flu, in the context of Killer Flu, a videogame Persuasive Games created about seasonal and pandemic flu. This week, I received an unexpected email from the organizers of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, which is scheduled to take place in Tokyo next week. Apparently the Japanese… read more
This week has witnessed much talk about Amazon’s possible release of a new, larger Kindle eReader designed for newspapers and textbooks, culminating in an article in the New York Times that claims confirmation of such an impending announcement. That’s on top of talk from magazine publisher Hearst’s announcement that it intends to produce its own reader, not to mention the… read more
A Review of the Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer
For years now, it has been necessary to remove laptops from carry-on bags for inspection at airport security here in the States. The TSA imposes this requirement to insure a clear view of the internal components of some electronics. Scanning a laptop separately allows security personnel to insure that a laptop not an improvised electronic device, a process made more… read more
More TSA Brow-Furrowing
As a frequent traveler I pay close attention to the caprices of the Transportation Security Administration. Recently, the TSA has announced a program to support and encourage manufacturers’ creation of “checkpoint friendly” laptop bags. The idea is this: if companies make bags that allow unobstructed x-ray views of the laptop from within the bag, then it will no longer be… read more
I use Apple Mail instead of competing products like Microsoft Entourage or Google Gmail. I don’t use Entourage because I try not to use Microsoft products if I can help it, not just as conscientious objection but also because they are bloated. I refuse to use Gmail because I try not to use Google products if I can help it,… read more