Professor Michael Wesch from Kansas State University recently posted this video commenting on the way we are using technology to develop, analyze, find and utilize information. Interestingly, it seems the more tools we create to manage information, the more information we ultimately create.

Information R/evolution, New Media

From PC World:

“The organization that oversees the Internet address system is launching an evaluation of International Domain Names (IDN) that will allow Internet users to test top-level domains in 11 languages.

Currently, only the ASCII characters A through Z are available for use in the portions of the domain before the top-level domains, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said in a statement.

…

Beginning Monday, Internet users around the globe will be able to access wiki pages with the domain name example.test in 11 test languages: Arabic, Persian, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Russian, Hindi, Greek, Korean, Yiddish, Japanese and Tamil. The languages were selected based on the Internet communities that had the most interest in moving the project forward.”

Read the full story here.

Global Communications, International Domain Names, PC World

“If you are thinking a year ahead, sow a seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking one hundred years ahead, educate the people.”

An elementary school organized a fundraiser to collect change that would go to purchasing areas of the rainforest that were being cut down for farmland. It was 1990. I remember a sense of urgency as kids ran out of the door on the first day, collecting shiny pieces of metal to send to a far off continent none of us had ever been to with statistics like “one and a half acres are lost every second” fresh in our minds.

Now, as we sit back, watching our prime real estate appreciate, another environmental issue is sending people, young and old, into a state of anxiety. Global warming has captured the world’s attention and people are running for their activist flags. Global warming is a serious issue that warrants our attention, but as any well-qualified geologist will tell you, the world goes through natural heating and cooling trends. Neither do I dispute that we and the generations before us have taken liberties with the environment, causing serious harm.

My point is this: we are still here. The environment is one of our most important resources. But so are the people inhabiting the Earth. I am all for taking whatever measures possible to help protect the Earth, but I am also all for not acting like the world could collapse at any minute and taking the time to actually enjoy the environment we are trying to change.

Let’s get well-informed. Let’s find better ways of producing energy and not wasting. Let’s coexist in the beautiful places that we live. Let’s be good to the environment and each other. Let’s teach our young people to do the same.

Just for good measure.

Blog Action Day, Captain Planet, environment, Global Warming, rainforest

Quote of the week:

“It appears the website has come alive. This happens to computers and robots sometimes.”

- Dwight K. Schrute

The web’s most visited map site, AOL’s MapQuest, launched its new beta today today, aptly named MapQuest Beta, which will continuously roll-out new features until it takes over as the new face of MapQuest towards the end of the year. The search has been simplified, plus you can now save and share routes with people. And you get to customize your personal settings. I know. Pretty, pretty sweet.

But before you work yourself into a state of delirium something should be brought to your attention. There is another map site that has similar features, including street view shots of the coolest city on Earth.

” Where?” The twenty million or so of you that are still using MapQuest over its competitor say.

Well, its no further than you local Google page. Yes, that’s right Google Maps has been helping people get from Point A to Point Q and everything in-between for quite some time now. In all fairness there are some other new features expected to be added to the new MapQuest like embeddable maps and live traffic updates.

Despite Google’s best efforts MapQuest has been able to hold on to the majority of online map users and it is hoping that this new launch will keep it that way. It will be interesting to see if people respond to the change. Google has had local search and mapping for a little over two years now but hasn’t managed to take the number one spot like it seems to do all the time. Maybe they’ll be stepping their game up with real-time weather samples and randomly selected destinations.

Sweet view. I wonder who gets to live there.

AOL, Dwight K. Schrute, Google, Google Maps, MapQuest, MapQuest Beta, New Media