Twitter or Facebook?

Could Twitter be turning us into birdbrains?GORDON FARRER
September 12, 2009
THIS just in from the Department of the Sky is Falling: Twitter makes you dumber. Dr Tracy Alloway, cognitive psychologist and director of the Centre for Memory and Learning in the Lifespan at the University of Stirling, in Scotland, says that the ''instant'' nature of texting, Twitter and YouTube is not healthy for working memory.

In a talk at the British Science Festival last week, she said working memory - the ability to recall and apply information - was the real basis of learning and more important to success and happiness in life than IQ.

''On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information [that is] very succinct,'' said Alloway. ''You don't have to process that information. Your attention span is being reduced and you're not engaging your brain and improving your nerve connections.''

It was a revelation shadow treasurer Joe Hockey might not have wanted to hear. Hockey sent five messages to his followers on the micro-blogging social networking tool during question time this week.

On Tuesday he opened his foray into digital democracy with ''sitting in question time wondering if tanner will actually answer a question''. A minute later he followed up with ''now the pm is coaching tanner with answers … get real guys''.

In her comments about Twitter, Dr Alloway noted evidence suggesting that extensive texting has been associated with low IQ scores. (Whether it causes them or reflects them was not clear.)

She also argued that the ''tyranny of technology'' - with aids such as speed dial meaning we no longer have to remember phone numbers - was generally making us dumber.

On the other hand, keeping up with friends on Facebook, doing Sudoku puzzles and playing video games that involved strategy - she cited the Total War series - might improve working memory.

''I'm not saying they're good for your socialisation skills, but they do make you use your working memory,'' she said.

So, ditch Twitter and jump on to Facebook. Smarten up. Except …

According to Dr Aric Sigman, fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, the news on Facebook is not good, either. Dr Sigman argues that online social networking may be displacing face-to-face contact and that lack of social connection can be associated with physiological changes, increased illness and higher premature mortality.

And leading neuroscientist Dr Susan Greenfield, professor of synaptic pharmacology at Oxford University, has made the case that social networking behaviour infantilises the mind, shortens attention spans, makes users susceptible to sensationalism and damages their sense of identity. Shoot-'em-up computer games, she has said, reduce players' ability to empathise.

The technology-is-bad-for-you camp is not new. Experts in brain plasticity have warned for years of the potential detrimental effects of fast-motion electronics and behaviours on brain development and function.

''Any technology that we use rewires our brains - pencil and paper rewire our brains,'' says Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself. ''The problem with electronic technologies,'' he warns, ''is that they're extremely compatible with the brain because the brain uses them as prosthetic extensions very easily and takes on the characteristics of those technologies.''

The result, he says, is that if people aren't inundated with novelty, they get bored and are unable to pay attention.

Putting aside such concerns, technology evangelists suspect there is an element of the Luddite in any knee-jerk reaction that says technology must be bad if it changes the way our brains work.

Could it also be possible, they suggest, that we are at the start of a process in which the human brain will evolve from an organ confused by the cacophony and activity around it into one that is sped up, sharpened, able to multi-task in ways we can't imagine?

There's bad news on that front, too.

Research from Stanford University published last month found that good multi-tasking is a myth; the brain can effectively perform only one task or process one piece of information at a time.

Chronic multi-taskers find it impossible to ignore irrelevant information, reducing their efficiency at completing tasks.

They might appear better at juggling tasks but, the Stanford research showed, their performance is considerably weaker than those who concentrate on a single task.

Which puts the kybosh on Joe Hockey's response to suggestions that tweeting from the frontbench could distract him from debate in the chamber.

''I know it's hard to believe that males can do this,'' said Hockey, ''but we can walk and chew gum at the same time.''

Gordon Farrer is technology editor.

First Look: The Beatles: Rock Band
September 3, 2009

The Beatles: Rock Band trailer

The trailer for the upcoming release of the much-anticipated game The Beatles: Rock Band.



Sing along with the Liverpool lads, writes Andrew Murfett.

The Beatles: Rock Band, arguably the most anticipated game of the year, should satisfy the diehard gamers and older music fans who do not own a console.

The stakes are high. Harmonix, a music-based gaming group formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by two MIT graduates in the mid-1990s, developed the million-selling Guitar Hero franchise in 2005. The group splintered when the game's publisher sold the Guitar Hero brand to Activision.
Paul McCartney is a playable character in The Beatles: Rock Band.

Paul McCartney is a playable character in The Beatles: Rock Band.

Harmonix was itself bought by MTV in September 2006. It developed the Rock Band game, which added vocals and drums to the Guitar Hero blueprint. The company is now the chief competitor of the game it originally produced.

Rock Band has sold 10.1 million copies, about half of Guitar Hero's sales.

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Do the Beatles remasters capture the Fab Four sound?
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Dhani Harrison, the gaming-fanatic son of late Beatle George Harrison, met Harmonix co-founder and chief executive Alex Rigopulos and convinced Apple Corps, which controls the Beatles' back catalogue, to consider a game based on Beatles music.

Harmonix began developing demos of Beatles songs set to Rock Band and pitched a game chronicling the Beatles' career.

"It was a year-and-a-half before we started working on art," Mr Rigopulos says.

"Nobody here exhaled until we finished the game."

After several months of negotiations, they cut a deal ensuring "the shareholders" — the Beatles' estates — would be proactive members of the creative process.

Giles Martin, the 39-year-old son of Beatles producer Sir George Martin, was enlisted to administer the painstaking process of separating the instruments on to individual tracks. He was also entrusted to scour the archives for rare audio sources that could also be used.

"My concern was we would provide them with the music and they would just make the game without collaboration," Mr Martin says. "It wasn't like that at all."

Mr Martin had digitised the Beatles' master tapes recently during his work producing the Love project, the group's collaboration with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.

A list of 45 songs was compiled in consultation with Harmonix and "the shareholders". Giles and his engineer, Paul Hicks, began mixing the multi-tracks.

As Harmonix's sound engineers worked at Abbey Road on audio content for the game, company artists in Cambridge, near Boston, developed a narrative and designed illustrations.

Rock Band is inherently based on simulating live music play.

Long before they finished recording, the Beatles stopped playing live, so the game is broken up chronologically via Beatles live-music high points and "dreamscapes" of the band playing in the famous Abbey Road studios.

The dreamscape sequences, which simulate the chemical influences of the band or images inspired by the lyrics, are arguably the most impressive aspect of the game.

"We'd make a drawing or painting and talk the shareholders through each idea," creative director Josh Randall says.

"They would tell us how each band member moved."

In the past, Harmonix had not attempted to emulate real people. Rock Band simply used generic caricatures.

Not this time.

The game begins with a stunning animated introduction that condenses the Beatles' career into 2 minutes.

The player is then led to a menu offering the choice of an individual song or beginning a Beatles "career".

As each track loads, previously unheard audio clips of in-studio chatter play, delivering a more immersive feel to the game.

As the game progresses, the player unlocks previously photo-based archival material.

In a nod to new players, at its "easy" level, general gameplay is undoubtedly less complex than previous music video games. Still, to pacify hardcore gamers, expert levels have also been retained, as well as familiar Rock Band modes "rock duel" and "tug-of-war".

The writer travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a guest of Harmonix.

GPS directs drivers right to the wall

RACHEL BROWN
August 30, 2009

DASHBOARD satellite navigation systems may have resolved arguments about the best way around town but they are driving us to distraction.

Road safety experts warn that a GPS can increase the risk of having an accident because they distract the driver from the road.

A study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that reaching for an electronic device, such as a GPS, increased the risk of collision about six times. A study by the University of Utah showed that distraction from in-vehicle technology could be the equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol level of .08.

Andry Rakotonirainy, an associate professor at the centre for accident research and road safety at Queensland University of Technology, said accidents happened when drivers took their eyes off the road to look at or adjust their GPS.

''Some GPS devices require lots of visual attention and they are the ones which are potentially dangerous. Any device in your car which requires you to take your eyes off the road to operate it significantly increases your risk of having an accident.''

GPS devices can also distract drivers with alarms, beeps or chimes to signal things such as traffic lights, speed cameras or places of interest.

The impact on the road toll of increasing numbers of electronic distractions - GPS, mobile phones and BlackBerries - in vehicles has prompted the US Transport Secretary, Ray LaHood, to organise a summit of transport safety experts, police and legislators next month.

The RTA advises drivers to always set their GPS before setting off and to pull over if they need to adjust it.

In 2002 about 10,000 portable devices were sold in Australia. Last year this figure grew to more than 1 million.

However, Dr Rakotonirainy said: ''Listening to a GPS is obviously a lot safer than trying to read a street map while driving.''

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Patients to get self check in

Patients to get self check-in
Article from: The Advertiser


CALLIE WATSON

August 29, 2009 12:01am

A DO-IT-YOURSELF check-in kiosk for hospitals and doctors' clinics, similar to those used by airline passengers, should be considered, a U.S. expert says.

Dr Erica Drazen, a Massachusetts-based partner at IT services firm CSC, this week spoke to SA Health officials about how technology could further help patients take care of themselves and improve customer service.

She said the kiosk system, first used in U.S. clinics before spreading to hospitals, had been a success.

"It's basically the airline kiosk system translated into health care," Dr Drazen said.

"Patients come up and insert some sort of ID card, for example a driver's licence or credit card, and their appointment details come out. It can even print a map telling them where to go within a building or book their next appointment."

The cost of buying, installing and maintaining an Australian kiosk model was still being developed, Dr Drazen said.

SA Health chief executive Dr Tony Sherbon said the new Royal Adelaide Hospital would provide an opportunity to introduce "21st Century" technology to patient care.

"We are interested in what's going on internationally in electronic health reform," he said.

"However, it is premature at this stage to comment on what that technology might be."

Australian Medical Association state president Dr Andrew Lavender said kiosks should not replace face-to-face interaction.

"I think cutting out that initial interaction . . . is not necessarily the best idea," he said.

Classics of tomorrow

Adam's Olympus trip: how the iPod got classical
The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.

The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.
* Atlas carries the weight of a giant iPod on his shoulders.
* Pan, the Greek god of nature, jives to the tunes of his iPod.
* The king of the gods, Zeus, calls down the thunder using his iPhone.
* The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.

Asher Moses
August 21, 2009

What if Zeus called down the thunder using his iPhone, or Pan, the Greek god of nature, serenaded his nymphs with an iPod instead of a flute?

These are the questions that inspired Californian sculptor Adam Reeder, whose latest project, Socio-Technic Evolution, puts a high-tech spin on classical sculpture to examine the way technology has changed how Western culture interacts with the world.

The collection of four life-size sculptures - Pan with His iPod, Zeus with His iPhone, Atlas and The Sleeping Gamer - has already won Reeder several awards and helped him graduate with a master of fine arts from San Francisco's Academy of Art University.

Reeder, 33, said he came up with the idea after his daughter turned six and, instead of asking for a Barbie, wanted an iPod.

It highlighted for him how much technology had changed childhood and our lives.

"The Greek sculptures are my symbol for Western culture ... the Greek god Pan, he would've been dancing in the woods playing his flute, so in my sculpture he's still dancing but the music is being created from a different source," he said in a phone interview.

"So the nature of it stays the same but the context changes, and technology is facilitating that change."

One interpretation of the works is that the Greek gods represent rulers from the old world, while the gadgets are our new overlords.

Reeder's Sleeping Gamer work is a play on the Sleeping Satyr, a follower of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, who represents unrestrained revelry.

By putting a video game controller in the satyr's hand, Reeder makes a value statement, warning people against playing too many video games.

Reeder recently sold the Sleeping Gamer to Cliff Bleszinski, the creator of the Gears of War video game franchise, for $US7900.

In his sculpture of Atlas, the figure is bearing the weight of a giant iPod, not the world, on his shoulders, symbolising how ubiquitous Apple's iconic music player has become.

"Even in 30 years people are going to look at that and say, 'Hey, I remember that iPod, I know that shape - it's almost like an old Coke bottle,' " Reeder said.

He said he was tired of seeing museum and gallery visitors struggling to engage with what he says are boring classical sculptures. By adding modern technology, anyone could immediately connect with his message.

"They'll see it and I can tell they'll be like 'oh great, another Greek sculpture wannabe', and then they see the iPod and something in their eyes just sparkles, and then they smile and nudge their friend next to them and say, 'Hey, look, he's got an iPod,' " he said.

"It just breathes life into something that's been dead for all these years."

Source: smh.com.au

Wikipedia launches iphone application

August 20, 2009 - 11:25AM

Wikipedia says it has released an iPhone application as part of a drive to open the pages of its revered online encyclopedia to the booming ranks of smart phone users.

Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind Wikipedia, has made free software for iPhones available at Apple's online App Store.

"Everybody recognises with the growth of mobile tools globally that this is how people access information," said foundation spokesman Jay Walsh.

"Our mission is to spread free knowledge; we want to do everything we can to meet and embrace that audience."

Wikimedia foundation is a small operation with a staff of fewer than 30 people, so it contracted a US developer that was already working on Wikipedia software for Apple's coveted iPhones.

"Our intention is to house the source code and continue to update the application through Apple channels with subsequent releases," Walsh said.

"Then, obviously, take it to other platforms like Palm and Android. We want to take the same tool and make it work in other spaces."

Wikipedia can be reached using web browsers in iPhones and other internet-linked mobile devices, but the pages are scaled-down versions of what is accessible using desktop computers.

The Wikipedia application for iPhones is an open-source, first version that the foundation hopes to incrementally upgrade with input from software savants worldwide, according to Walsh.

"In a perfect world you would be able to do everything on a mobile you could do on a personal computer," Walsh said of using Wikipedia on smart phones.

"It is a platform we are going to build on. The sky is the limit; we can do whatever we want."

Wikipedia envisions people eventually being able to use smart phones to edit entries and upload pictures or other digital content to the website.

Trouble with twittering?

Hackers using Twitter to control infected PCs
August 17, 2009

Twitter's been having a rough couple of weeks.

A researcher looking into the attacks that knocked Twitter offline last week discovered another, unrelated security problem.

At least one criminal was using a Twitter account to control a network of a couple hundred infected personal computers, mostly in Brazil. Networks of infected PCs are referred to as "botnets" and are responsible for so much of the mayhem online, from identity theft to spamming to the types of attacks that crippled Twitter.

Jose Nazario with Arbor Networks said he found a Twitter account that was used to send out what looked like garbled messages. But they were actually commands for computers in a botnet to visit malicious websites, where they download programs that steal banking passwords.

The affected Twitter account was taken down. Twitter didn't immediately respond to e-mails for comment.

Nazario said what appeared to be the same person was doing the same thing on an account with a Google service called Jaiku, which is similar to Twitter.

Google said the affected account was shut down.

The technique Nazario described isn't sophisticated, and a couple hundred infected computers is small when some botnets contain hundreds of thousands of infected PCs.

But it shows how criminals are finding inventive ways to exploit legitimate social networking services to help with their dirty work. One reason social networks are an attractive target for crooks is because their content is hard to monitor, and because people click on lots of links inside their accounts, which is a key way computer infections are spread.

"I wouldn't call it rocket science, but it's effective," Nazario said. "This is the problem with free social media that people need to be aware of."

The revelation comes on the heels of a destructive "denial-of-service" attack that brought down Twitter at stretches last week. Those attacks appear to have targeted a lone blogger in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but affected the entire Twitter service.

Denial-of-service attacks consist of flooding a website with so much traffic that its servers buckle under the strain. That's either done by pounding it with an immense volume of traffic (which can be easy to thwart), or increasingly, hammering a site with lots of harder-to-detect computing-intensive requests, like trying to log in or do searches, which can also bring a site to its knees. Botnets, or networks of zombie computers, are the main weapon in both attacks.