Listen to SeroTalk Podcast 115: Thunderburst Supreme
This week, Lisa Salinger and Buddy Brannan join Jamie Pauls to discuss the top news stories of the week. Enjoy!
AT
the death of skype talking: a bend in the rode.
Braille, Relevance of Literacy, And Double Standards
Captcha solving lives on, though at a small cost
Will the Americans with Disabilities Act tear a hole in Internet law?
Freedom Scientific Announces Scanning and Reading Desktop Video Magnifier
General Tech
T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm quits to ‘join rival firm’
Amazon could slash Kindle Fire price to $149 as a new model approaches
Apple
Gmail iOS app gets push notification, finally
Apple wins ban on Samsung Galaxy Tab 10 .1
iOS 6 Beta 2 roundup: Here’s what’s new
Bye-bye, downloads: Apple’s new Podcasts app enables better streaming
Mountain Lion to phone home daily looking for security updates
Speak for Yourself app might make iPad comeback, report says
World’s smallest iPhone charger fits on your keychain
Apple’s iPhone’s Siri Does Not Call 911
What’s New in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Google unveils Nexus Q, the ‘Tiny Android computer’
Brin: Google Glass lands for consumers in 2014
Google announces Chrome for iPhone & iPad, coming to App Store today
Google Launches Offline Editing for Google Docs, Google Drive Apps for iOS and Chrome OS
Mailbag
Hi Guys,
Firstly, I should like to thank you for providing an informative and brilliantly presented series of podcasts to keep us up-to-date with the general tech world as well as assistive technology. As a trainer and consultant of AT myself, I find your podcasts an invaluable resource. I am also a big fan of That Android Show.
There is so much I could comment on arising from your podcasts in general and #113 in particular, but I was particularly struck by Ricky’s views in relation to the effects on independence of will and thinking by the sharing of articles, news and information using social networking.
The awareness of information overload caused by inefficient use of IT and the internet has been around for a couple of decades and it has always been thought that the way to counteract this is precisely to be more selective and independently minded in order to avoid endless distraction.
In my view, it seems that the social networking obsession is promoting distraction, information overload and a herd mentality which could well be socially disadvantageous. Not only is it observable that some office workers cannot concentrate on their work for any length of time without being distracted by texts, tweats, Facebook updates and the like, it seems that some friends with whom one was formerly able to chat for hours now rudely break off in mid-sentence in order to respond to messages on their phones. Also, I like a good blether on any subject under the sun, but not necessarily a fragmented whistle-stop tour around irrelevant global trivia shared on social networking which has little impact on my life or that of my companion. Following on Joe’s comments on the Skype ads as being conversation starters, it is easy to take the view that friends should not need ads to get them started on a conversation, but what about friends obsessively referring to other irrelevances sponsored by mindless sharing on social networks?
Thankfully, the SPN podcasts present a good balance of information and opinion which I value – using my own independence of will and thought, of course! I would hope that my own podcasts will be considered useful to others interested in assistive technology. If you wish to check them out, my podcast page is:
http://www.vict-consultancy.co.uk/content/podcasts.html
Kind regards,
Paul
Paul Warner
VICT Consultancy
Roundabout
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