Computers as Authors? Literary Luddites Unite!
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A computer program known as Brutus.1 is generating brief outbursts of fiction that are probably superior to what many humans could turn out.
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A cadre of unknown designers shapes everyday human-machine interactions. By Andrew Blum from Wired magazine.
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Evan Williams, the Blogger guy and Twitter co-founder, gave a talk at LeWeb3 about keeping software small, and how sometimes you can create a product by removing features from an existing product. He showed how Twitter is less than Blogger, no permalinks, titles, comments, templates, etc. It's almost nothing compared to Blogger, but we're using it and liking it. It's not a new story. When I was coming of age in computer science, the newest computers were minicomputers. They were called that because they were smaller and did less than the mainframe computers that came before. They were followed by microcomputers which did even less and were a lot more popular than minicomputers (which of course were more popular than mainframes). Scaling things down can make them more useful. But it's a paradox because once a feature is in a product you can't take it out or the users will complain so loudly that you put it back in right away. I know, I tried, a number of times to back out of features that I thought of better ways to do. You can always add features to products, it will make the existing users happy. But it often comes at a cost of making the product more complicated for first-time users, and they don't have a voice, they can't complain, they just go somewhere else, usually quietly.  So Evan has a point. Software design, if you're creating wholly new products, is like haiku. Find the smallest subset of a mature product that will attract people and ship it.  But there are certainly features they could add to Twitter that would have no impact on the steepness of the learning curve (i.e. how easy it is for a new user to get started). For example users are good at skipping over prefs they don't understand. But you have to think carefully about what the default should be, so there's no penalty for not caring.  Also features that only appear in the API have no cost in complexity of the user interface. They might make it possible for a developer to build a new product on top of the existing one. Since the user of the base product can't see the feature, it can't make it harder to learn.  Some users say they don't want new features, but I bet most of them would be very happy to use a new feature that made Twitter more fun or useful. And there are  alot of users who don't say anything about it, and don't think much about it. Most people aren't interested in theories about why products catch on, they like it or they don't, and don't know why they do or don't.  It's always good to ask questions about why things work, but if I could offer the Twitter folk any advice, I'd say don't hesitate too much to put in new features that will make users happy. Ultimately users like new features in products they use a lot. There's a reason why products tend to bloat over time, it's because users demand it. The trick is to not compromise too much on ease of learning.
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Can digital musicians, artists and other media creators free themselves from the tyranny of popular software design? Commentary by Momus.
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An ambitious new type of pen-based computer system could bridge the gap between paper and the digital world.
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By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  Sep. 20--Imagine a computer understanding everything you say, regardless  of how fast you speak or the words you use.    And while you're talking to that computer, it's also turning your words  immediately into type.
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Can a computer program generate new works from long dead legends? By Douglas McGray from Wired magazine.
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Even if they are strictly limited to the use of words, some authors conjure up virtual pictures and exploit the shorthand they provide.
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Explore the myriad of distribution points -- automated data crunchers, search engines, social networks and fellow bloggers -- a blogger's words take on their way to readers.
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How Lawrence Weiner transforms text into works of art.
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As a reporter, I'm never sure when the muse will strike or an editor will call. That's why I send copious notes and drafts of stories to myself by e-mail. As long as I'm within range of a computer with an Internet connection, I know I'll be able to tweak the latest version or do a quick fact check.
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I noted yesterday that there seems to be some media fanfare surrounding Amazon's launch of a digital book tablet. It occurred to me that the markets surrounding media such as books, music and movies bear more than a passing resemblance to financial markets, and as such, perhaps they were amenable to a similar method of analysis. Being the owner of a sizable collection of paper books, this led me to consider the drawbacks one faces when Digital Rights Management restrictions are put in place.
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Internet consultant Mary Hodder spends most of her life online. She has gone almost entirely digital. It may not be long before you do, too. Commentary by Adam L. Penenberg.
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Although the pricey gadget provides a pleasurable way to enjoy literature, don't throw away your paper books just yet. By Tom Bentley.
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A breakthrough in computer-assisted mind reading brings us closer to predicting criminality. Should the justice system adapt? Commentary by Jennifer Granick.
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People have been trying to build e-books for years. But few people have decided to become e-readers. Two technologies are improving these devices.
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Some computers can beat grandmasters at chess. Others can compose music.