Ion Enache

Ion Enache

May 4 / 10:34pm

Reshuffling Europe

The Economist presents us with a redrawn map of the old continent:

People who find their neighbours tiresome can move to another neighbourhood, whereas countries can’t. But suppose they could. Rejigging the map of Europe would make life more logical and friendlier.

Apr 16 / 10:53pm

Red Coke

More than a fizzy drink, Coca Colla has the taste of a political manifesto complied by Bolivian President Evo Morales...

A certain US soft drinks giant may disagree, but Bolivia has come up with a fizzy beverage it says is the real thing: Coca Colla. [...] It is black, sweet and comes in a bottle with a red label – but similarities to Coca-Cola end there. One is a symbol of US-led globalisation and corporate might; the other could be considered a socialist-tinged affront to western imperialism.

via The Guardian

Apr 16 / 11:10am

Now read this: Eyjafjallajoekull

We all heard by now about the volcanic ash clouds threatening air traffic in Northern Europe. Geoffrey Pullum from Language Log provides us with a funny outlook on the matter:

Eyjafjallajoekull: the name says it all, doesn't it? No, of course it doesn't. It looks like a kitten walked across your keyboard. It's the name of the glacier covering the volcano in Iceland that just woke up and remembered that its job description says "Spew hot lava ash across northwestern Europe".

 

Also, closely related to the department of linguistics, I'd like to point you to an essay written by Evan Schnittman on the various reading behaviors in today's digital world.

So today there are two successful areas of digital reading – extractive and immersive. Yet there are still frontiers to be opened – most notably in the arena that print textbooks now occupy. I call this type of reading, pedagogic reading.

Pedagogic reading is different than extractive and immersive reading even though it contains both extractive and immersive qualities. Pedagogic reading is reading that is done to explicitly train the brain using building blocks of information that can be recalled and applied to do higher levels of thinking and learning.

 

Dec 30 / 10:12pm

Recommended App... For Your Eyes Only: f.lux

f.lux is a little app which, according to the publisher's website "makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day".

f.lux helps computer users get peak performance out of their devices and claims to improve well-being (helps sore eyes and contributes to a good night's sleep). Just give it a try for a few days and most probably you'll see for yourself why I consider this app a must.

Available for download here in three flavours: Mac OS X, Windows and Linux

Nov 7 / 7:01pm

One more thing: Fortune's CEO of the decade

An excellent article in relation to Steve Job's recent nomination as CEO of the decade:

Superlatives have attached themselves to Jobs since he was a young man. Now that he's 54, merely listing his achievements is sufficient explanation of why he's Fortune's CEO of the Decade (though the superlatives continue). In the past 10 years alone he has radically and lucratively reordered three markets -- music, movies, and mobile telephones -- and his impact on his original industry, computing, has only grown.

 

The entire article can be found here

 

 

Nov 3 / 11:56am

Movie Recommendation: Objectified

Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis.

http://objectifiedfilm.com/

Nov 3 / 12:13am

Q: What did you buy?

Interested in finding more about personal buying habits? Then head for obsessiveconsumption.com.

Oct 17 / 5:22pm

Socialising in the Internet era

Of all the areas of life that computer and communications technology seems to be impacting the most is its influence on relationships. Mobile phones, texting, facebook, and Twitter are just a few of the ways in which relationships are being redefined, established, and maintained by technology. We have entered a new era of Relationships 2.0.

Original article here

Conversely,

Technology hasn’t changed the core of relationships. It’s changed the way we meet people, the ease in which we can interact and it’s expanded our pool of faces to choose from, yes. But it hasn’t changed the type of relationships people strive for.
Source here
Oct 17 / 4:54pm

Rough sketches of homo digitalis

Digital technology is now such a part of our lives that it is often difficult to imagine what life was like without it. In the space of just 10 or 15 years, the internet has radically altered the way we work, play, shop, study, keep in touch with friends and family, meet new people, express ourselves, and plan our social lives.

Introductory part of the Digital Anthropology Report

Oct 17 / 10:37am

What about a radically different way of understanding luxury?

Think about it. Isn't a straw a luxury item? You don't need it to drink a milkshake, but it does improve the experience.

 

Read the rest of Tom Asacker's take on what sets apart luxury itmes