Blackboards and chalk replaced by digital whiteboards

It looks like blackboards and chalk will soon become a thing of the past, at least here in Australia.

"The State Government will install 200 high-tech digital whiteboards in NSW public schools, which it says will "transform the way education is delivered", over the next year. The interactive whiteboards, along with video-conferencing technology and e-learning tools, will take up $28 million of tomorrow's 2007-08 state budget.

The digital whiteboards are essentially touch-sensitive screens connected to a regular computer and data projector.
Students and teachers can interact with data displayed on the boards - such as text documents, images and rich video - using a finger or stylus. The boards can also display websites and other internet content."

Sydney Morning Herald

the urge to be connected - those leading the way and those left behind

The exponential increase of internet usage worldwide is no news, but it may be surprising to know that, in countries like the UK, the internet is now catching up to the TV, as favourite pasttime in our spare time. In practical terms this means that we're coming back from work, where we've most likely spent hours staring at a computer screen, hungry for more ...

Findings on British stats from contentagenda.com:
While more than six in 10 households claim they could not live without their computer, nearly half now spend more
than three hours a day on the internet and a similar period watching television. The study of 2,500 households by
telecom giant Orange found that it is now as common to come in from work and log on to a website as it is to flop down
in front of the TV.

Paradoxically, in places and communities where the broadband revolution has been slow to occur, like rural America and outback Australia, some citizens have decided to take action and wire-up the town themselves... is this how addicted we've become to the WWW?

Tired of waiting, the town of Sullivan plans to start its own high-speed Internet network this summer, using a
combination of fiber-optic cable, wireless transmitters mounted on water towers, and Internet signals sent over power
lines... The gap in broadband Internet usage between rural America and the rest of the country remains wide. A survey
last year found that 29 percent of rural Americans had broadband at home compared with 48 percent of urban and
suburban residents (CSB news)

Linda Stones, former Microsoft and Apple startegist, explains the phenomenon: '[We are]... motivated by a desire to be a live nod on the network ... to be busy, to be connected is to be alive, to be recognized and to matter.' (from a study by The Future Laboratory)

The richest city in the world?

You think Dubai looks rich and opulent... take a look at its next door neighbour, Abu Dhabi, and you'll be blinded by all the glitter! I was there a few months ago, I had afternoon tea at the Emirates Palace hotel amongst the local rich and famous... whilst Dubai is projected into a future of tourism, real estate and trading, Abu Dhabi relies aboundance of natural resorses, which result in a kind of wealth and opulence much related to local and traditional values.

Here's an extract from Fortune Magazine:

Welcome to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates and the richest city in the world. The emirate's 420,000 citizens, who sit on one-tenth of the planet's oil and have almost $1 trillion invested abroad, are worth about $17 million apiece. (A million foreign workers don't share in the wealth.) Yet most people couldn't find Abu Dhabi on a map.

On the surface, what's happening in Abu Dhabi mirrors Dubai. But what's driving growth here is different. Dubai is a story of survival - how one small city running out of oil saved itself with a mixture of tourism, commercialism, and pizzazz. Abu Dhabi doesn't need to do anything. It has the oil reserves and the financial cushion to sit back and watch the Dubai experiment. But the leaders of a new generation want more. And they want it on their terms, with all the splendor and none of the crassness that has afflicted Dubai.

photos by Benjamin Lowy

China's imposing yet another censure

Here we go again... yet another ban comes from Chinese officials, this time targeting Flickr.com, one of the world's most popular online photo-sharing sites and owned by Yahoo. When will these censure policies, undermining personal freedom of speech, information and human rights come to an end in what is now called "world power" China? Unless China learns how to cleverly enpower its masses and it acknowledges its duties towards its people's growth and commitments, will there be a future for China, as a nation, on the world stage?

Reuters reports:

Flickr - popular among a growing class of digital photo enthusiasts in the world's second-largest Internet market - has not shown photos to users in mainland China since last week, amid rumours Beijing took action after images of the Tiananmen massacre in early June 1989 were posted.

The Communist Party has banned references to the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in state media, the Internet and books as part of a whitewash campaign, meaning most young Chinese are ignorant of the events.

Public discussion of the massacre is still taboo in China and the government has rejected calls to overturn the verdict that the student-led protests were subversive. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed when the army crushed the democracy movement.

Sydney - Dalai Lama speaks out about the decimation of Tibetan culture

The Dalai Lama, currently visiting Australia, says he's likely be arrested when he returns to his Chinese-controlled homeland.
Not surprisingly the spiritual leader's visit has sparked a lively public opinion debate, after Australian political leaders have tried to avoid meeting with him not to displease China's establishment.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
"Speaking in Sydney this morning on the last leg of an 11-day tour of Australia, the 71-year-old nobel peace laureate said Tibetan culture faced decimation within 15 years unless pressure can be exerted on China to accept Tibetan autonomy.
The Dalai Lama said he was a surprisingly popular figure among some ordinary Chinese, but was considered an enemy of the state by the Chinese Government.
He accused China of distorting Tibet’s modest claims for autonomy and of mistaking it as a push for independence.
Despite decades of so far fruitless diplomatic negotiations, the Dalai Lama said he remained hopeful, even optimistic, that China would change its attitude to Tibet within his lifetime."

Giant "Cancelled" stickers to tackle illegal bill posters

Glasgow City Council has embarked on a £100,000 a year campaign to fight the ever increasing number of fly-posters appearing in their city. Instead of ripping them down, as they've been doing for years, they're adding 'cancelled' stickers to event posters and just painting out the brand names on others.
The Evening Times reports:
It can take 45 minutes to remove just one poster and often scraps of paper are left behind. But a few seconds with a paintbrush is enough to render the ad useless until a clean-up team arrives to tackle the site.
And swathes of flyposters can be obliterated faster than new ones can be put in their place... And other workers have been issued with "cancelled" stickers which make it clear the ad has been banned by the council. And they have already had an impact on some rogue promoters who have been inundated with complaints from music fans.

China's surnames shortage

With more than a billion people now sharing just 100 surnames, Chinese authorities are considering a landmark move to try to end the confusion, state media reported Tuesday.
Current Chinese law states that children are only allowed take the surname from either their mother or father, but the lack of variety means there are now 93 million people in China with the family name Wang.
Under a new draft regulation released by the ministry of public security, parents will be able to combine their surnames for their children, a move that could open up 1.28 million new possibilities, the China Daily reported. (AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)

Damien Hirst's macabre dazzling art

...to be or not to be? Damien Hirst, highly acclaimed contemporary artist, has reveiled to the public his latest work of art: a 50 mil, and I'm talking British Pounds, Hamletian inspired diamond encrusted skull. Some journalists compared the object to an "over glorified disco ball," so luminous that it was difficult to look at directly, solar style.
...anyone up for contemplation?

fancy a beat-up look?

a new Nike collection for those sneaker lover... only if you like a used, rugged look though.
Available for USD 200 from next week at Comme De Garcons stores next week.

courtesy of NY TImes

Third world country or the cradle of modern civilization?

it's Naples... the beutiful forgotten city divided between its loveliness and its squalor, where the endless crisis over trash seems once again never ending. In the mire of politics and Mafia, garbage reings on.

courtesy of NY Times

Google has done it again!

At Google they've outdone themselves again with a new "Street View" feature. Dragging a "little guy" around the map lets you view street-level panaromic photography of any location you search for.

make sure you keep a smile on your face and behave diligently ... Big Brother is watching you on the streets of the world!

courtesy of PSFK

How Topshop changed fashion

Time profiles Topshop, the UK-based innovative retailer of affordable high-fashion frocks.

read on www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625185,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

Nomenus Quarterly - the new entrant in the world of art and fashion publications

A magazine that looks like a book, this new fine art publication offers an eclectic blend of fashion, art, politics, film, and the eternal written word. In the first issue, choreographer Noémie Lafrance talks with film critic Andrew Gaultier and Francesco Patriarca's abrasively beautiful work sits alongside an understated Heck-shot spread of Gilles Rosier's latest menswear collection. These are the movers and shakers of the imaginative moment. Printed in an edition of 5,000, Nomenus discards the chains of ink-based oppression, merging genres and setting itself apart from less-refined magazines, particularly with regard to the relationship between art and fashion.

courtesy of www.nomenusquarterly.com and JC Report

10 Years Make the Hero - Beijing

An exhibition of works by Chinese artist Shen Jingdong, who started a "Hero Series" in 1997 as part of the army cultural work group, shows the interplay of the art and the public.

Imagine Gallery - Beijing
10 Years Make The Hero
April 8 throught to June 6 2007

images courtesy of Imagine Gallery, Beijing