A friend of mine pointed me to youMail ...

setup up personalized recordings for the people that call you ... the ditchmail looks interesting, I can think of a few people I'd use it for ;)

I prefer not to comment on technology while posting, but here's something that just makes total sense. Imagine previewing a 3D model of the place you just visited, a model created from ordinary pictures, and then sharing this with friends and family.

Check out Photosynth from live labs, if you're into travelling and photography, this is something you just have to see.

A funny coincidence occurred these past few days. While catching up with my technical reading I came across a book published by the MIT press back in 2004. The subject of the book centered around a shift in the design paradigm for systems, from a user centric approach to a more user context based approach.

The book itself seemed very familiar, it was a technical rehash of a philosophy that I've always been interested in, the philosophy of choices and consequence.

 

If you’re into designing systems, I'd recommend you look at it.

Geri Gay: Activity-Centered Design
An Ecological Approach to Designing Smart Tools and Usable Systems (Acting with Technology)

<Geek Alert>

This book reads more like a research publication and it pulls heavily from papers published about the area of human - computer interaction.

</Geek Alert> 

 

A quote comes to mind:

"I used to think that the purpose of language was to communicate. That if we were clear enough and careful enough, we could make anyone understand anything we write, make them see anything we see. Not so, I found. The only people who can understand us are the ones who already know what we want to tell them, and then the best of our writing can merely remind, can simply whisper, 'I know that, too.'" - Richard Bach

Are we so desperate to lead a different life that we need a virtual life? Have we as a civilization become sluggish and escapists that we prefer to lead virtual lives online rather than change the ones we have? Why have MMRPGs with persistant worlds caught on? Why do sites like http://secondlife.com/ have so many subscribers?

 

PS: Thanks to a friend who pointed me to http://secondlife.com/ during a philosophical discussion about society and the human psyche.