Monthly Archives: January 2011

This Day In Information: The Birth of the Photography Industry

Posted on January 7, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1839, the Daguerreotype process was presented to the French Academy of Sciences by Francois Arago, a physicist and politician. Arago told the Academy that it was “…indispensable that the Government should compensate M. Daguerre, and that France should … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography, This day in information | 4 Comments

Cloud Computing is Bad for Your Creativity and Freedom

Posted on January 6, 2011 by GilPress

“A mobile phone-cum-computer might be very useful, but we still need our PCs to run our programs, and these PCs will preserve all the possibilities of social creativity. Things could evolve differently, though, due to the possible diffusion of Web … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Web, PCs | Leave a comment

This Day In Information: Cloud Computing, 1976

Posted on January 6, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1976, IBM introduced Virtual Storage Personal Computing, “a new program product to allow people with little or no data processing experience to use a computer terminal to solve problems.” The terminals were connected to remote IBM mainframes via … Continue reading →

Posted in This day in information | Leave a comment

This Day In Information: Scientific Journals

Posted on January 5, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1665, the first issue of the Journal des sçavans (later renamed Journal des savants), was published in Paris.

Posted in Information diffusion, Libraries, This day in information | Leave a comment

Internet Up, TV Down as Main News Source for Under 30

Posted on January 4, 2011 by GilPress

Pew Research Center: In 2010, for the first time, the internet has surpassed television as the main source of national and international news for people younger than 30. Another 2 years for 30-49 year-olds?

Posted in News, Social Impact, Television | Leave a comment

InfoStory Quotes: IT Jobs Forecasts

Posted on January 3, 2011 by GilPress

“As the rate of technological change in computing slows, the number of jobs for IT specialists will decelerate, then actually turn down; ten years from now, the phrase information economy will sound silly.” —Paul Krugman, 1998 “Between 1998 and 2008, … Continue reading →

Posted in Forecasts, Predictions, Quotes | Leave a comment

This Day in Information: Machine of the Year

Posted on January 3, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1983, Time magazine put on its cover the PC, calling it “machine of the year.” Roger Rosenblatt wrote:

Posted in PCs, This day in information | Leave a comment

Groupon Changes Everything?

Posted on January 3, 2011 by GilPress

It turns out Groupon is indeed worth at least $6 billion. But Leo Laporte and Jeff Jarvis “don’t get it” (they think it’s because they are men and don’t understand shopping). Paul Kedrosky insists Groupon cannot scale. John Battelle gets … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Economy, World Wide Web | Leave a comment

Lost and Found and Digitally Preserved: The Cairo Genizah

Posted on January 1, 2011 by GilPress

A hundred years ago today, The New York Times Sunday Magazine published an article titled “Important Jewish Manuscript Older than Gospel.” It tells of the debate between two scholars regarding the meaning of a fragment of a Hebrew manuscript:

Posted in Libraries, Lost and Found, Preservation | 1 Comment