Let the new knowledge in
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Comment is free: Annalisa Barbieri: Once a person has been announced as an expert, they lose the impetus to use wisdom wisely
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When everything gets an API then everything you can imagine will be possible if you can write a script.  And sometimes, to give you an idea, all that has to happen is that a wall come down. The latest, most intriguing such wall was the paywall at the NY Times. Now all of a sudden we find the wealth of information published by the NY Times over many decades is available without tariff. More important, we can point into the archive. We've gotten so accustomed to the wall, that you actually have to think when it may be possible to go in there, as if it left behind a wall in our minds, even after the wall on the web is gone. For example, the first episode of Ken Burns's The War, an epic series about World War II from the American perspective, cited several NY Times articles. If you looked carefully you could see the dates, and the actual headlines, and then if you have a browser handy, as I do (I have an iPhone) you can actually read the article while the narrative continues. Today this is mostly a gimick, but I suspect as we get used to having history so available (like having a library microfilm machine, which I used to spend whole days playing with when I was a kid) it will change our sense of information, perhaps as much as anything else that's ever been on the web. Take movie reviews for example. What a thrill to be able to read a review of a movie that I love that came out in 1932! The reviewers back then were more forgiving, less sarcasting, more enthusiastic. Consider their review of the Hollywood Revue of 1929, a favorite of mine that I've only seen once (I'd pay for a DVD, if it were available). They loved audible movies (that's what they called them) as if the term "talkie" was as elusive as "podcast" was in the summer of 2004. Again, we've just scratched the surface. Wouldn't you like to have NY Times movie reviews integrated with Netflix? Or have Yahoo's movie rating service available on the NY Times site. And I have to wonder whether they really have gone all the way. You can't see the reviews unless you're logged in. Can Google's robots, therefore, see the movie reviews? Unless the've made some special arrangements, it seems not.  It would be helpful to get a technical guide to the newly hatched NY Times on the Web, or (as in the old days of software) a reviewer's guide, so we get some ideas of what to look at. Clearly a lot of work went into opening up the Times archive. I'm going to be in NY the week of October 8 and will have some time toward the end of the week. If anyone at the Times would be willing to spend some time with me reviewing what's now open, that would be helpful. In any case, at least the Times today is somewhat more available to be integrated into the fabric of the web. That's some progress. How much, remains to be seen. Postscript: Kottke did a great job of skimming the surface of the newly opened Times when it first came online, just one week ago today.
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This book attempts to demolish the notion that ''new is better.&quot; For the most part, it succeeds. Sergio Zyman and coauthor Armin A. Brott build a solid foundation for their argument that innovation can be disastrous for the bottom line. Innovation is like a sugar high, they say -- a quick fix that just doesn't work.
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Interactive, detailed maps of the human brain and genome will spur new discoveries.
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Shake that hand and move on to the next one.
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Comment is free: Jonathan Freedland: Our progressive past can offer a new idea of what the state is for, and how it can help neighbourhood organisations to thrive.
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It's time to add new money to your portfolio. What will you do?
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Take a crash course in genome research: It may not be what you think it is.
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By Deborah Johnson  A REPORT strengtheni
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New publications, experiments and breakthroughs in biotechnology--and what they mean.
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Know the difference before you make your pick.
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Timing is the bane of those who would be innovators. Get it right and youâll be toasted. Get it wrong and youâre just plain toast.
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Get the basics, and then stretch your mind to the limits. That's how you get in shape for breaking the rules.
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An open mind makes more money. Here's your mind opener.
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Basic knowledge can help you comprehend releases of economic data.
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By Emma D. Sapong, The Buffalo News, N.Y.  Feb.
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Rewrite the book and rule the pages -- take a souvenir.