TheWorld

(TheWorld) Mobile blogging, church and rummie

in

The connections implied in the title is pretty shocking but really striking. This is what I thought after reading many2many. Clay Shirky's point is the following:

Once the Church lost the ability to control the direct perception of scripture, thanks to the printing of (relatively) cheap bibles in languages other than Latin, their loss of political hegemony followed.

This is what we are seeing now relative to the military’s control of information. A year or so ago, someone in the DoD told me that the thing that would most affect the prosecution of the war in Iraq would be images of DAB’s — Dead American Bodies. The unplanned spread of photos of coffins, and now of torture victims, means that control of this part of the war is outside the military’s hands.

[TheWorld] About seller reputation on ebay

in

The Dynamics of Seller Reputation: Theory and Evidence from eBay (.pdf) by Luis Cabral and Ali HortacsuNBER Working Paper No. w10363 Issued in March 2004

We propose a basic theoretical model of eBay's reputation mechanism, derive a series of implications and empirically test their validity. Our theoretical model features both adverse selection and moral hazard. We show that when a seller receives a negative rating for the first time his reputation decreases and so does his effort level. This implies a decline in sales and price; and an increase in the rate of arrival of subsequent negative feedback. Our model also suggests that sellers with worse records are more likely to exit (and possibly re-enter under a new identity), whereas better sellers have more to gain from buying a reputation' by building up a record of favorable feedback through purchases rather than sales. Our empirical evidence, based on a panel data set of seller feedback histories and cross-sectional data on transaction prices collected from eBay is broadly consistent with all of these predictions. An important conclusion of our results is that eBay's reputation system gives way to strategic responses from both buyers and sellers.

(TheWorld) French Statistics about mobile phone use

in

Parc total des mobiles: 41 940 800 (March 2004) and 38 895 200 (March 2003): +7.9% Parc forfait: 25 007 200

Taux de pénétration: 69,5%

Dans le classement par région, l'Ile-de-France, la Corse et la Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur présentent les scores de pénétration les plus significatifs (respectivement 99,5 %, 93,9 % et 88,7 %). Impressionnants, ces chiffres doivent toutefois être nuancés par le fait qu'il s'agit d'un moyenne (certains individus possèdent plusieurs portables, professionnels et personnels par exemple). Parmi les "lanternes rouges", on trouve l'Auvergne (49,7 %), la Franche-Comté (50,6 %) et la Bretagne (51 %). Les départements d'Outre-Mer, Mayotte et Saint-Pierre et Miquelon affichent quant à eux un taux de pénétration légèrement supérieur à la moyenne nationale : 72,5 %.

Trafic SMS sortants trimestriel: 2,5 milliards

Trafic SMS mensuel par client actif moyen: 20,5

(Source: ART, 2004)

(TheWorld) Mobile Phones and Drugs

in

“Sort Drugs, Make Mates”: The use and meanings of mobiles in club culture, a talk by Karenza Moorepresented at the Digiplay seminar convened by Dr Nicola Green at University of Surrey

This paper presents the preliminary findings of work on the place of the mobile phone within club culture in the North-West of England. As a popular leisure pursuit, clubbing acts as an empirical probe with which to think about social and cultural aspects of the mobile phone as a leisure and leisure-organising technology. This paper draws on extensive observational work and interviews with young people who define themselves as ‘clubbers’, focusing on the use of mobiles within various clubbing spaces and clubbing ‘times’ (pre-club, in-club, post-club and ‘real-life’).

As a mundane artefact in people’s everyday lives in contemporary times, it can be difficult to ‘make strange’ the use of the mobile in specific spheres of socio-cultural life. Clearly young people involved in club culture use mobiles, but exactly how and why do they use them? And what significance or otherwise do particular patterns of usage have for them? Here the focus is on the ways in which ‘clubbers’ infuse their mobiles with certain meanings through their contemporary consumption practices. The mobile in this context becomes a technology with various meanings specific to the localised contexts of clubbers.

I concentrate on the use of mobiles to arrange clubbing nights out, to obtain (illegal) substances, to initiate contact with ‘randoms’ and to sustain clubbing friendships. Within club culture the mobile is viewed as an essential artefact in the clubbers’ socio-technical repertoire, just as decks and an I-Pod may be. The mobile is an artefact imbued with shifting meanings (enhancing or undermining personal safety for example) and deployed to strengthen and demonstrate the user’s sense of ‘belonging’ to the clubbing community.

(TheWorld) After murphy's law, the pottery barn's law

in

Via st petersburg times:

Could invading Iraq really have anything in common with sending a wine glass crashing to the floor while browsing at Pottery Barn?

Absolutely not, say the folks at Pottery Barn, who are miffed by a metaphor attributed to Secretary of State Colin Powell in a new book by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. The book debuts in bookstores today.

Supposedly Powell warned Bush that if he sent U.S. troops to Iraq, "you're going to be owning this place." That was based on what Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage called "the Pottery Barn rule" of "you break it, you own it."

It happened that Pottery Barns protested that they have no such rule...

[TheWorld] A privatized War

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The International Herald Tribune today tackled the issue of privatizing the war in Iraq.

It's one thing for the U.S. military to outsource food and laundry services to private firms, as it started doing aggressively in the 1990s, but it's quite another to outsource the actual fighting. (...) Increasingly relying on these loosely accountable contractors is bound to backfire. As the United States prepares to hand the sovereignty of Iraq back to its people, the fact that the Iraqi army and police force are now being trained by a private company risks sending the message that loyalty is owed not to one's country, but to whoever gets the contract. It is difficult to coordinate the dozen or so private firms in Iraq, and there is little regulation of their training and recruitment.

There is a nice blog about this topic maintainted by Kathryn Cramer

in

Via le monde:

Le fait de fermer les volets d'une maison - chose étrange aux yeux des Anglo-Saxons - serait un réflexe qui date de la taille, un impôt prélevé sous l'Ancien Régime. En effet, les envoyés du percepteur évaluaient son montant en regardant par les fenêtres…

[TheWorld] French controversy still

in

... read here (Droits et nouvelles technologies:

La loi Toubon est-elle applicable aux NTIC ? L’article 2 de la loi du 4 août 1994, dite « loi Toubon » impose l’usage obligatoire de la langue française « dans la désignation, l’offre, la présentation, la description de l’étendue et des conditions de garantie d’un bien, d’un produit ou d’un service, ainsi que dans les factures et quittances (...) ».

La loi Toubon est-elle applicable à l’internet ? (...) Hormis une décision du tribunal de police de Paris aux enseignements très limités, la jurisprudence est inexistante en matière d’application de la loi Toubon aux réseaux numériques tels qu’internet. Pour la doctrine, la réponse affirmative s’impose, dans la mesure où toute publicité sur l’internet pourra être qualifiée soit d’écrite soit d’audiovisuelle. (...) "L'honorable parlementaire a attiré l'attention du ministre de la culture et de la communication sur l'utilisation de la langue anglaise dans les messages délivrés automatiquement, en cas d'erreur, aux internautes clients de Wanadoo. L'article 2 de la loi du 4 août 1994 relative à l'emploi de la langue française précise que l'emploi du français est obligatoire dans le mode d'emploi ou d'utilisation d'un bien, d'un produit ou d'un service." (...) La loi Toubon est-elle applicable aux sites étrangers ? La question la plus délicate demeure sans conteste celle de l’application de la loi Toubon aux sites web conçus en langues étrangères, tous par nature accessibles à partir du territoire français. Toute publicité est en effet susceptible d’être reçue et lue par les Français, quel que soit son lieu d’origine, ce qui impliquerait l’usage systématique du français !

Unbelievable

[VideoGames] Buying and selling of virtual currencies

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According to Wired News, "The buying and selling of virtual currencies, weapons and other goods from massively multiplayer online games like EverQuest and Ultima Online may be off most people's radar, but it is truly big business.".

Internet Gaming Entertainment, or IGE, has more than 100 full-time employees in Hong Kong and the United States who do nothing but process its customers' hundreds of thousands of annual orders for virtual goods, the lion's share of which average nearly a hundred dollars each. And demand is so strong, says IGE CEO Brock Pierce, that the company is hiring about five new people a week.

[TheWorld] Social ghost, lots of noise and multiphrenia

in

Interesting take from Kenneth Gergen of Swarthmore about the "saturated self," that we are so bombarded by images (TV, Advertising, popups, etc.) that we have little "self" left to define for ourselves. Gergen states that a century ago, most social relationships were confined to the distance of a short walk, centered around small congregations of family, neighbors, and community. But as a result of technological developments, contemporary life has become an ocean of social relations. All our relationships create a kind of noise full of social ghosts.

[Prospective] new rose hotel ! nice scifi without seeing lots of etch/actions

in

Plot summary taken from imdb:

Maas and Hosaka are two large Corporations in the future world. They are fighting to get control over the best minds of the world. The best is Hiroshi and at the moment he is working for the Maas Corporation. Fox has accepted an offer to persuade Hiroshi to go over to the Hosaka Corporation. Sandii is a little Italian girl from Japan and she should be the way to get to Hiroshi. X is the man who should train Sandii to break Hiroshi's Heart. But if X falls in love with Sandii? And if the Hosaka Corporation breaks the agreement? And if Sandii is not a little Italian girl?

I really like this movie :)

[TheWorld] Oil Crises and Climate Challenges: 30 Years of Energy Use: stop using cars!

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New report of the International Energy Agency about Oil Crises & Climate Challenges.

This new publication examines how energy efficiency and factors such as economic structure, income, lifestyle, climate, prices and fuel mix have shaped developments in energy use and CO2 emissions in IEA countries since the organisation was founded 30 years ago.

One of the major findings of the report is that IEA countries have significantly reduced the need for energy to fuel economic growth. Compared to 1973, it now takes one-third less energy to produce a unit of GDP in IEA economies. An important reason for this development is the considerable energy savings that have taken place in the various branches of manufacturing, in different end-uses in households and commercial buildings, and for different modes of passenger and freight transportation.

The decline in oil demand was offset by the growth in transport oil demand, so that IEA oil demand levels in 2001 were comparable to those in 1973. The most important reason behind the growth in transport demand is the increased use of cars for passenger travel. Car ownership levels have risen by 100% or more in many countries since 1973, and while car engines have become more efficient over the years, cars have also become bigger, heavier and more powerful. This has served to limit improvements in average fuel efficiency. As a consequence, oil use for cars grew almost 50% between 1973 and 1998.

(Games) Use foaf to se what/when/where your friends are playing !

in

xfire is a foaf-based social software that allow you to :

-see WHEN your friends are playing online games - See WHAT game they are playing - See WHERE they are playing - JOIN their game with just one click! - unlike existing Instant Messengers, Xfire lets you receive IM's without disrupting your game!

Games supported by Xfire currently include: America's Army, Battlefield 1942, Counter-Strike, EverQuest, Halo, Lineage, Quake III, Starcraft, Unreal Tournament 2003, Warcraft III, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy XI, and over 50 m

(TheWorld) How to be an Amazon reviewer

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The way it works is interested in terms of social network building. According to many to many, this is a kind of smart social game: you ‘win this game’ by publishing reviews that other people find useful. How does it work:

1. What is the Top Reviewers list? The Top Reviewers list is a collection of Amazon.com's leading customer review writers. Who decides who becomes a Top Reviewer? You do. Each time you read a review on the site, you're asked whether the information was helpful or not. Your vote is tabulated. And the customers who write the most helpful reviews are deemed Top Reviewers.

2. How are Top Reviewers selected? Each time a customer reads a review on the site, he/she gets to vote on whether or not he/she found the review helpful. The votes are tabulated. And the people whose reviews are voted most helpful most often are selected as Top Reviewers.

3. I've noticed badges next to reviewers' names. What do they represent? The icon you see alongside some reviewer's names is just an at-a-glance way to see how helpful a reviewer is. The lower the number on the icon, the more helpful votes the reviewer has received.

Here's how it breaks down:

If your badge has... Top 1000 Reviewer = You're one of the top 1000 reviewers at Amazon.com Top 500 Reviewer = You're one of the top 500 reviewers at Amazon.com Top 100 Reviewer = You're one of the top 100 reviewers at Amazon.com Top 50 Reviewer = You're one of the top 50 reviewers at Amazon.com Top 10 Reviewer = You're one of the top 10 reviewers at Amazon.com #1 Reviewer = You're the top reviewer at Amazon.com

*If a reader gives the reviewer a Not Helpful vote, it detracts from the totals above.

4. So how do I become a Top Reviewer? The answer's simple--just write lots of helpful, informative product reviews! Your peers will then decide your place on the Top Reviewer list.

[TheWorld] Hard Times: Man Accused of Stealing .25 Cents of Power

in

Via Yahoo News:

BERLIN - German prosecutors said Thursday they are investigating a student for stealing electricity after he plugged his laptop into a train station electrical socket and used 0.2 euro cents, or a quarter of a U.S. cent's worth, of power.

The 23-year-old man, whose identity wasn't released, was seen by police officers connecting the computer at the station in the central city of Kassel late one evening last November. Suspecting that he had stolen the laptop, officers arrested him after he boarded a tram outside.

He proved the computer was his own, but prosecutors still opened an investigation on suspicion of "removing electrical energy."

"The officers had no choice. They must investigate if there is suspicion of an offense," said Kassel prosecutor Manfred Jung. "However, these proceedings will most certainly be stopped."