Technology Review Feed - Guest Blog

Why 3-D Printing Isn't Like Virtual Reality

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:35:00 GMT

Before you dismiss it as a fad, consider the evolution of 2-D printing.

Kurzweil Responds: Don't Underestimate the Singularity

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:48:00 GMT

Last week, Paul Allen and a colleague challenged the prediction that computers will soon exceed human intelligence. Now Ray Kurzweil, the leading proponent of the "Singularity," offers a rebuttal.

Paul Allen: The Singularity Isn't Near

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:18:00 GMT

The Singularity Summit approaches this weekend in New York. But the Microsoft cofounder and a colleague say the singularity itself is a long way off.

Maker Faire 2011

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:15:00 GMT

A walk through the 2nd Annual World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science.

A walk through the 2nd Annual World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science is like a walk through a collective brain belonging to visionary, techy, and (mostly) benevolent inventors. "Collective" because much of the work on display at the annual DIY exhibit relies on shared hardware, shared software, or interdisciplinary collaboration.

Beyond Streetbook

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

On-the-ground reporting of the Arab Spring revolutions will foster a more nuanced discussion of how digital tools matter, and how they don't.

Half a year out, we're still learning how revolutionaries took hold of Facebook and Twitter to assist in overthrowing not one but two regimes.

The Voice of Libya

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

An inspiring story of citizen journalism.

"I'm Not Afraid to Die, I'm Afraid to Lose the Battle"

New Media and the People-Powered Uprisings

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:05:00 GMT

Social media is a potent tool for change, one that upends the collective action dynamics that, until now, have constrained Arab citizens.

Zeynep Tufekci is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill at the School of Information and Library Science with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Sociology. She is also a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Her research revolves around the interaction between technology and social, cultural and political dynamics, and she is particularly interested in collective action and social movements, complex systems, surveillance, privacy, and sociality. She blogs at http://www.technosociology.org.

The Middle Ground between Technology and Revolutions

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Social media didn't cause the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, but it did achieve unique visibility.

Is there still a debate on whether social media can cause revolutions? If this was ever a serious question, it was mainly an argument between straw men: on the one hand, wild idealists who saw the internet as an all-encompassing force for freedom and on the other, the crusty curmudgeons who fear technology and pooh-pooh the idea that social media is good for anything but posting pictures of cats. NYU professor Jay Rosen characterized the debate as "Wildly overdrawn claims about social media, often made with weaselly question marks (like: 'Tunisia's Twitter revolution?') and the derisive debunking that follows from those claims ('It's not that simple!')" and argued that these "only appear to be opposite perspectives. In fact, they are two modes in which the same weightless discourse is conducted."

Out of Touch with Typing

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Many schools aren't teaching typing anymore because they figure students already are proficient at using keyboards. That's a wasted opportunity.

A Red Carpet Premiere for Robot-kind

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:54:00 GMT

New York film festival celebrates movies about every aspect of robotics.

How to Make Google+ Friends with Facebook and Twitter

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

A browser plug-in shows how easily the "big three" social networks could coexist.

New Format Adds Computing Power to Documents

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:45:00 GMT

Publishing information in the new CDF format allows readers to interact with your data.

Play it Again, King Mohammed

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:56:00 GMT

Oldest Arab monarchy uses classical tactics to stifle latest protests.

Watching a Digital "Jasmine Revolution" Unfold

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Using Facebook and Twitter to track trouble on the streets of Tunisia.

There's an irony in going to Tunisia to research a Technology Review story, on the role of social media in the Arab Spring, and suddenly relying on Facebook and Twitter to guess the risk-level of leaving your hotel.

The Kindle Swindle

Mon, 30 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

What is and isn't good about reading on a device

Glimpse Our Robotic Future in China

Mon, 16 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Disembodied robots arms, miniature humanoids, and a robotic conga line at the ICRA 2011 conference.

Why Windows 7 May be Microsoft's Last PC Operating System

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Sneak peeks suggest the next edition of Microsoft's PC operating system will also have to work well on mobile devices.

Microsoft, the largest and richest software company in the world, has to play catch-up in the exploding mobile device market presently dominated by Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS for iPhones and iPads. But the first glimpses of programming code for the next version of Windows give some clues as to how Microsoft will try to deal with the mobile transition: by making its new PC operating system able to run on everything from smart phones to server clusters.

Iran's Answer to Stuxnet

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Might a "halal Internet" be in the wings?

Despite all of the talk that the Web fueled revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, it remains clear that social media, or even increased Internet access, does not necessarily make revolution more likely. Even so, Iran would seem primed for an upheaval of the Islamic theocracy that has ruled the country since 1979. After all, Iran has one of the youngest, most educated and most wired populations in the Middle East. Some 70 percent of the country is under the age of 30, and the overwhelming majority of Iranians are literate. In fact, within the last several years, women have overtaken men in Iranian universities. Meanwhile, Iran's Internet penetration rate—the percentage of the population that is online—hovers around 35 percent, the highest percentage in the Middle East behind Israel. It made sense that the June 2009 uprising in Iran was thought to have been helped along by postings on Twitter, before it became more apparent that it wasn't significantly so.

How to Rebuild Japan

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

What will coastal cities around the world learn from what happened?

Review: Transcendent Man

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

A documentary explores the life and work of Ray Kurzweil.