Welcome to Marco Fioretti's website! on Stop at Zona-M

On this day, October 14

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Interesting stuff that happened on this day, between 2009 and 2023.

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On this day, September 14

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Interesting stuff that happened on this day, between 1995 and 2023.

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On this day, August 29

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On this day, August 28

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 01:00:00 +0000

Interesting stuff that happened on this day, between 2010 and 2023.

If Fediverse remains just like Free Software...

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 23:59:00 +0000

THAT may be what dooms it.

The seven lean years are here, at last (no, not THOSE ones)

Sun, 09 Apr 2023 18:00:00 +0000

I found them, at last!!

Immensely stupid fragility, March 2023

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Is it bad if a bank crash makes the right companies fail?

It's my 11th Twitter Birthday, and Elon just gave me a GREAT gift

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:00:00 +0000

I was moved. Literally.

I just started a newsletter, and it's all your fault

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 16:00:00 +0000

But it’s OK, really.

Enough with calls for personal blogging

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 02:00:00 +0000

It never disappeared, damn it. Just demand it’s PACKAGED right.

TikTok dangers explained, as shortly as possible

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 02:00:00 +0000

TikTok is dangerous because it’s simple. Too simple.

The devil is not China, it's closed source.

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Everywhere, not just in that one school.

You too need a dumbphone

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 23:00:00 +0000

And maybe you already have one.

Software is eating EV charging? OK, but what for?

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 23:00:00 +0000

What if EV charging software finds nothing to charge?

Algorethics? Here we are!

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 02:00:00 +0000

We are here too, and would LOVE to help.

The OTHER face of recruiters and job seekers going bonkers

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 04:00:00 +0000

is being unable to get jobs that are just scams.

We are just 2 generations away from this

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 17:00:00 +0000

If that report is right, of course.

If CES tolerates this stuff, it DESERVES to die

Fri, 13 Jan 2023 03:00:00 +0000

Seriously. Don’t cry for it.

CES gives great consumer advice

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Of what NOT to buy, of course.

Remember to do this next April

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 23:40:00 +0000

Do it, to make ALL social media suck less.

The danger in ALL "era of mathematician" claims

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 18:00:00 +0000

It’s in plain sight, really. Just look around you.

What is really Lost in Translation?

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 23:00:00 +0000

Maybe it’s the ignorance. EVERYBODY’s ignorance.

Please help me share my NEXT million words in 2023

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Because EVERYBODY needs to understand for real what “digital” is, these days.

Here is an example of AI euphemisms

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Murphy’s law really applies to AI.

The problem with some Artificial Intelligence is NOT discrimination

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 18:00:00 +0000

It’s that it simply does not work.

Hey Alexa, you are a failure

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 18:00:00 +0000

And that’s really sad… Nah, it isn’t.

House of future, full of DUMB ideas and GOOD sensors

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Future homes can be smart. The problem is how.

Should groceries come by drone, EVERYWHERE?

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Nah. Ship them with common sense, instead (*).

Hey makers: can you help all of us to become IMMORTAL?

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

In the RIGHT way, of course.

Since YOU asked MY take on Twitter...

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

No, of course you didn’t. But this is short, and you’d better read it anyway.

What is "not evenly distributed" these days?

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 04:00:00 +0000

It’s complicated. Or maybe it isn’t.

Driverless continues driving nowhere

Sat, 29 Oct 2022 17:00:00 +0000

This should drive nuts everybody.

Being frugal was ALWAYS expensive

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

It may just be harder to see the REAL reasons.

Smart voice assistants for dumber children

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

From the “things that should leave NOBODY speechless” department…

What's the point of GENERIC, HUMANOID robots?

Sun, 02 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Robots, OK. But really human-like robots?

What if every smartphone had a Peak Carbon app?

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 18:00:00 +0000

And what if it became mandatory?

New Zealand is a bit less good today

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 23:50:00 +0000

Censorship can indeed come from every side.

My own thoughts on why trashware's time has passed, part 2

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 18:00:00 +0000

You can do good even without coding, that’s the problem.

My own thoughts on why trashware's time has passed

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Trashware started losing relevance WAY before COVID.

Apple airtags as stalker tools

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Apple. Stalk different.

Great news from NextCloud and the EU

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 23:00:00 +0000

Not visible, but great. Seriously.

What's missing in this future of drone-based deliveries?

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 23:50:00 +0000

Awareness of the bigger picture, of course.

Castes are still castes in Silicon Valley

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000

But things are progressing. Hopefully.

Gmail will soon give its users what they REALLY deserve

Sat, 13 Aug 2022 23:50:00 +0000

And I’m SO happy.

What if climate REALLY becomes cooler than Silicon Valley?

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 17:00:00 +0000

That may be good. If it does not turn bad.

Recruiters and job seekers are all going bonkers, and algorithms make everything worst

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 03:00:00 +0000

Human or artificial I don’t know: but “intelligence”, this is not.

The last changes to WhatsApp are HUGE

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 23:00:00 +0000

It’s hard to understate them. Really.

Parenting tech is booming, watch out

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 23:00:00 +0000

Thinking with their OWN brain has never been more important for parents.

Blockchain has no place in Land Registries

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Seriously. It would just make it more cumbersome.

The road to driverless remains undrivable

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 23:50:00 +0000

Surprising? Not at all.

Here is who spies on your smartphone, thanks to your smart car

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 23:50:00 +0000

Same old, same (depressingly) old. Just with more names.

Trashware, a practice whose time has passed?

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 18:00:00 +0000

“Nobody wants computers anymore”.

Online countries are not countries

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 18:00:00 +0000

No matter how cool their residents are.

Is "no grid" the smartest grid of all?

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 18:00:00 +0000

And if it is, what is the MAIN reason?

A new, overcomplicated step towards road safety

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

ISA, a.k.a. car safety made complicated. And fragile.

Certain grocery stores should become DRONES, not trucks

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

But even that would be a partial solution.

The immense stupidity of uselessly wireless tools

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 21:43:00 +0000

Seriously: why do we MUST buy so stupidly?

Review of the Truly Ergonomic Cleave Keyboard

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Just that: a review of a nice piece of hardware.

1500 experts dislike blockchain, and so should you

Sat, 04 Jun 2022 18:00:00 +0000

NOT always, mind you. But quite often.

Again on the dangers of coworking coming soon to a mountain village near you

Thu, 12 May 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Bandwidth and unintended consequences included.

Here is software that should NOT exist

Tue, 10 May 2022 23:00:00 +0000

And it’s all your fault, because YOU let Facebook impose it.

Happy Birthday, Open Know-Where!

Thu, 05 May 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Don’t you LOVE when people use tech to solve REAL problems?

Eight years later, people are still offended when asked not to use Facebook

Sat, 30 Apr 2022 22:10:00 +0000

No progress, really.

Artificial Intelligence makes supply chains more vulnerable

Sat, 16 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Just as it does with everything else, of course.

Smart watches won't replace smartphones? Really?

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Maybe you meant “Smart watches ALONE”?

Dear "Computer Professionals", this is for YOU

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Can you recognize THIS call?

Why "data ownership" may not really matter

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Just ask the Leopard.

Here's a wireless charging that MAY make sense

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Because buses are not phones.

Why "Video first/only" is often wrong

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

And why this won’t change for a long time.

What I really don't get about digital nomads

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

It’s just two or three little things, really.

Mothers + smartphones = normal birth weight?

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Is this the whole story, really?

Faster Internet makes bad citizens?

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

It would explain many things…

Democracy must be where our BODIES are

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Not in any “metaverse” or “cyberspace”.

There are 10 Biggest Problems With Electric Cars...

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

But the first alone would be enough

Web3, or people "NOT wanting their own servers"?

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, history does repeat.

Suicide, 3D printed and AI-monitored

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Heck, why didn’t anybody think this before?

Did Facebook shadow profile you?

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, but it’s your friends' fault!

Bravo, Louvre!

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

All hail museums that do the Right Thing!

Mapping catholic properties is great. It should also be open

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

“Then you will have OPEN maps, and they shall set you free”.

You need something like email, not MANY social networks

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Enough of ARTIFICIAL distinctions, made only to capture people!

Clean ocean shipping comes from the past

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 23:50:00 +0000

With a vengeance, I hope.

Algorithm PRODUCERS are hard to regulate

Sat, 19 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Because algorithm USERS are hard to educate.

The real dangers of Augmented Reality are the LEGITIMATE ones

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, the road to hell is virtually augmented by good intentions

Wanted: more Pink-like parents

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Seriously. Pink is great as digital parent too.

The problem with automation is not "losing your job"

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000

The problem is after that. Or sometimes before.

OF COURSE, personal clouds should be offered as-a-service

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

That’s the WHOLE point, really. And the only way out too.

Public search engines may fragment the internet

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Whether that’s good or not, nobody really knows.

Empowerment has gone bad

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

But sadly, noticing it may take too much effort.

The ONLY way to reduce pollution with electric cars...

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 23:50:00 +0000

It’s simple,really.

How to make The Linux Desktop irrelevant

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Just make it REAL popular… in the wrong way.

Points worth noting in the Estonia i-voting report

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Richard Pryor would really LOVE online voting.

Digital contributions to soft secession in America

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

There is definitely some connection here…

On the myth of data portability

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 23:00:00 +0000

An address book is useless without a compatible phone.

The incredible stupidity of capitalism

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

is just amplified by digital tech.

Really smart dishwashers, were are you?

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Necessary things should NEVER be this difficult.

Service announcement about reading

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 23:50:00 +0000

Keep reading..

The deeper meaning of EVERY data

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Maybe is that we must learn to “get” data.

Should hackers destroy communication?

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

It’s complicated.Really.

An Open Source FPGA ASIC??? GREAT!

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 23:00:00 +0000

This is IMPORTANT. Really.

Postulate on Digital Money

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

It took me years of study to get there, but it was worth it…

One password cover to track you all

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

I can’t believe this stuff exists…

Your pictures can be a distraction, and they are not yours anyway

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Not if you use certain services, at least.

Another IoT declaration that misses the point

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, worrying about “trust” is unnecessary.

Can we have INTERESTS, instead of "SOCIALIZATION"?

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Why is it so hard to choose between online INTERESTS and online “friends”?

Web3, decentralization done wrong

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000

And for the wrong reasons, too.

Soulbound NFTs, one more problem we may not need to have

Sat, 19 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Not before a LOT of thinking, that is.

Thanks heaven my sister's dishwasher is NOT smart

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Not in the wrong way, that is.

The not-so hidden pollution of online advertising

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000

It’s big, and (also) inside every browser.

In case you forgot it, five years ago a Facebook study...

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

…confirmed what was already obvious.

The REAL purpose of NFTs: beam hikikomoris up in the metaverse

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

It wouldn’t work, of course. But it WOULD explain a lot.

Your next wine may be 3D printed

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

WHO makes it and WHERE, though, is another issue.

What's wrong with "vinyl being good for artists"

Sat, 12 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

A lot. Really.

Say no to predictive policing in European law enforcement

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Especially when it could become retroactive…

New music is dying, killed by its own defenders

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Ah, the sad, totally unsurprising irony.

Regional, OPEN microprocessors keep getting closer

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

You aren’t happy? You really should.

Meta's threats are a huge opportunity. The EU must NOT waste them

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

I mean, what would Clint say?

Vaccines hesitancy is also due to paywalls

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

As is ignorance, in general.

The millionth reason to NEVER buy "your" next car

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

At least if it’s a new one.

India goes RISC, hooray!

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 16:00:00 +0000

And here are five reasons to say so.

Police robodogs are all called ToldYa

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

ToldYa as in “I tould you so”, of course.

Battery-powered locomotives, coming to real railroads

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

All Aboard!, says Sheldon.

Your smartphone should be like your stove

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Your NOT-smart stove, of course.

This is NOT a flock of sheep. It's a BOAT

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

And not just that!

Wanna go to a public school? Tell Google!

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Even if you don’t want to, of course. At least in Italy.

From FLoC to Google Topics? No thanks

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Here is why, in plain language.

On the imbalances in the sexual marketplace

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

The problem is well BEFORE the imbalances.

The sorry, sorry state of Linux packaging

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Some Linux things have changed a lot since the 90s…

When data favour the rich

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Lies, damn lies and socioeconomical indicators.

The unsustainable dumbness of "smart" recycling

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Because innovation, of course.

Reclaim your face! Now

Sat, 22 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

If you don’t, it will be used against you. Maybe already it is.

Study gives more evidence that certain high-tech utopias are utopias

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Nothing new, probably. But it’s good when more data prove certain things

Electric cars are not middle class? That's bad, IF...

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

and only IF, certain assumptions remain possible.

The first four words you see are...

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 19:00:00 +0000

“Profile yourself gratis. NOW”.

Dubmphones are smartphones, again

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 11:00:00 +0000

Never mind Djokovic. What you don’t want to enter Australia is your smartphone.

The web of power that has less masters every year

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Is the one that you are using right now.

All hail this electric charging standards. Even if...

Sat, 15 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Even if it’s mutilated (not its fault).

Filter bubbles are out, echo chambers are in

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

But in practice, they all continue to suck.

AI will never give you driverless cars

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Unless it DOES become like the human brain, that is.

Parents, stop schools that turn your children into data

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Or, at least, get PAID for them (just joking…).

Colors in movies are disappeared

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:00:00 +0000

Even if tickets have NOT become cheaper…

No normality, nowhere

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 23:43:00 +0000

The “normal world” is shrinking.

Not much sex in the city? Of course

Sat, 08 Jan 2022 23:50:00 +0000

Color me surprised. Not.

Please get better at reading

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 23:43:00 +0000

If there is one advice almost always valid, is this.

The 60-years old link between prison camps and social media

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 21:43:00 +0000

It’s shorter than you may think.

Web3, a reality check

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

This is not the next web you were looking for..

Kazakhstan dispels a big myth behind Bitcoin

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

We did not have to wait for Kazakhstan to do that, of course.

You have a BIG cognitive degradation problem...

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

And merely turning off your smartphone won’t solve it.

Wishing you all a SLOW 2022

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Here’s a New Year post that found itself already written.

Big Tech, so bad that even Big Tech dislikes it

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

We truly live in interesting times.

Certain biometric troubles in India...

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Are nothing new, really.

New US Act about chipmaking is important for EVERYBODY

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Meanwhile, Europe and China…

Self-hosted email MUST remain "practical"

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

You want your very own email server. Trust me on this.

Drones, bringing MAD to every neighborhood

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

and the only protection may be to bring sanity to the same neighborhoods.

The best food delivery programs for the digital age...

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Are the LEAST digital of all.

Sherlock Holmes would love rationing

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

As he said, when you have eliminated all which is impossible…

Data cooperatives would not give EVERYBODY more power

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Just ask Kim Kardashian.

Autonomous cars will kill the car industry

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Stay away from their stocks. Seriously.

Would you like to have just one monthly bill... but like THIS?

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 11:50:00 +0000

Me, I think it would be dangerous.

Why Google is rapidly losing publishers' trust

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

“Don’t be evil” my foot.

Digital transformation in Eastern Europe

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Tell me more about it!

All those millions of online meetings are WASTED...

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

…if they don’t bring about LASTING changes in HUMANS.

Device neutrality coming to Europe?

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Yay. Partially, that is.

Why you want labels for software, just like for food

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Even more, possibly.

Certain "fact checks" are nothing more than opinion

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 23:50:00 +0000

At least on Facebook, that is.

Link rot, explained with just one post

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000

One post, and 45 images. Missing images.

Analog or digital, prepping makes no sense

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Not that it ever did, of course

Nudification is for women NEAR you

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 17:00:00 +0000

And that is its worst part.

Your cautionary tale before purchasing any "smart home" stuff

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 13:50:00 +0000

DO listen to these words of wisdom:

On the, er... limits of tiny houses

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 23:50:00 +0000

When fools meet sustainability fads, bad things ensue.

From porch cameras to police states

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 23:50:00 +0000

It’s just a short step.

Constitution DAO, thanks for a good laugh

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Let’s just hope it brings more wisdom, too.

Conspirituality is pervasive, but why?

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Because the Web is too fast, of course.

Certain risks of drones were wildly exhagerated

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000

But only because we were looking the wrong way.

The job of regulation is to make decentralization work

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Especially in a digitally networked age.

An incoming risk from Google, Apple, Twitter etc.. is coming

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Trouble is, WHEN?

Math may be just math, but algorithms are written by people

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

And people have biases. Just ask Safiya Noble.

The meditation that keeps capitalism happy...

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

…would have never happened without social media.

Your Smart Car may spy on your smartphone

Sat, 27 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

But how can it be smart, if it spies?

Renewables are not THE solution

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

THE ONE solution, that is. Obvious, but never said often enough.

The best Arduino projects are those that look like OLD Legos

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

And I mean OLD Legos.

The big paradox of green, recyclable batteries

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 18:00:00 +0000

More exactly, of green AND recyclable batteries.

Equality needs rituals, NOT flattening

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

If you care about equality, beware of what flattens society.Especially…

NEVER mix your employer and your smartphone

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Seriously. Never, ever mix them.

Please support every "Polar Bear" like this

Sat, 20 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Because we need Open Hardware manufacturing. A lot.

Where I hope to go (just NOT with SubStack)

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Uncomfortable center, yes. Substack and friends, no.

Our URGENT need for simplicity, summarized

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s high time to listen to Einstein, really.

The epic notability battle between pornstars and scientists

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 16:00:00 +0000

I wonder if it still going on…

Watching the World Bank must become easier

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Especially because now it IS much easier.

Of course, even NATO is doing Artificial Intelligence

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Trouble is, with whom?

We HAD been warned about coming digital stupidity

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Another of those obvious things that are never repeated too much.

Living longer with THESE social media? NOT good

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 18:00:00 +0000

I mean, just look at the Spacers.

An idea whose time may be close: battery-powered TRAINS

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Even better than electric cars, I’d say.

Why did Facebook really shut down face recognition?

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Probably because they have better replacement for it.

Incoherence of cryptoassets, the best parts

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Some things are just too good to not synthesize them.

"Websites are dead" is NOT the whole picture

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Websites may look dead if you only look at them SHORTLY enough.

There is only one problem with these electrification strategies

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

… it’s their “Business as Usual” foundation.

Never buy a flying car...

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Unless it’s not for you only.

Why buy toys if you can 3d print them?

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Here are a few reasons

Facebook ends face recognition. What does that REALLY mean?

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Nothing definitive, in the long run.

Unstructured data are BAD for everybody

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Not just for “Materials Scientists”!

Never trash READABLE data!

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 23:50:00 +0000

NEVER. I mean it.

All you need to know about the metaverse, in two posts

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Plus another one, about a movie

No girl software freedom here

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Really?

All reject our pointless fridge overlords

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 23:50:00 +0000

More nannies, than overlords, actually. But pointless, they are.

Hitler can now dine in italian restaurants

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0000

But never mind him: worry about trust in COVID19 management, instead.

Is 3D printing good only if it's active?

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Could age verified phones for kids work? SHOULD they?

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0000

If they have the right technology yes. Wait…

Help me share my NEXT million words

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 04:00:00 +0000

We live in a digital age. We’d better understand for real how it works. All of us.

A steering wheel for fake autonomous cars

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 03:40:00 +0000

Cool it’s cool. Driverless, not really.

Censorship or... EFFICIENT slowness?

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

Let’s talk about it. Slowly, please.

IVOW fights biases in artificial intelligence

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Good, but maybe also another “way paved with good intentions”.

Eager to know more about Einride pods

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

Some of my driverless visions keep getting closer. Maybe.

Malay manuscripts show the right way to digitize culture

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

First digitize, then TELL everybody.

Venezuela, the unlikely leader of digital payments

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

Not so unlikely, when you think about it.

Why didn't the web disrupt mobile, you ask?

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

Here is my answer.

Armed robodogs are just like smart rifles

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

Just as dumb, that is.

The real advantage of broadband via laser links

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

It’s not the speed, or the reliability. It’s the people.

Algorithm bias, again. This time, in mortgages

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

But the problem is not algorithms, of course.

Surveillance cameras are just more social media

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

They have the same defects, that is.

In memory of Paolo Brunello

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Good deeds should not be forgotten.

Facebook down gave people a glimp of a better world

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

“The news”. Think about that!

Your "21st century banking" is sixty years old

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

And not just banking. But not for software.

The difference between Instagram and TikTok, and why it matters

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s about equal opportunities. At least in India.

The unsurprising digital challenges of agritourism

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

Nothing new in the [digitized] country.

Pandemics, kicking cars out of the stone age

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 23:40:00 +0000

The semiconductor stone age, that is.

COVID-19, a lost opportunity for italian administrations

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Like tears in the rain, really.

Why is mobile game development big in Turkey?

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 23:00:00 +0000

All jobs are glamourous, until they are not.

Undercover political campaigners are arrived

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

But handling them will not be easy.

Profiling for USA 2024 is already happening

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

On some websites, there are no innocent questions.

Confusion and conflicts around Open Source in Italy

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 23:50:00 +0000

What happens when lots of funding comes to digitize a country?

Urban air travel, this is not

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Even if there were enough air to do it.

Networks are in for light-out factories

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Lights can go off, and so can responsibility.

Is a school backpack app bad, or good?

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 23:00:00 +0000

It’s obvious, but not SO obvious as it may seem..

Enough of batteries, already!

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 23:00:00 +0000

But is it bad, or good?

We focus too much on the low ends

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Because we feel our status wrongly.

Facebook knows Instagram is dangerous. Who else should?

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 23:50:00 +0000

It’s an easy answer, really.

Digital murder? We knew it was coming

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Don’t say you were not warned.

Negative impacts of land digitization

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

“Land is political, not technical”. Like all life, that is.

Of supply chains, or why global is personal these days

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 04:50:00 +0000

Global is personal. It really is.

Why and how Amazon Counter could be good for the world

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 05:50:00 +0000

If it re-done right, that is. Back in early 2020 (*), a friend of mine asked online what people thought about Amazon Counter. My first reply greatly surprised him, because he knows my opinions about Amazon, and that reply started with: “This really sounds like a consumer’s dream, and a green one too." The conversation continued as follows (edited for clarity). Friend: Did you call it green because it would enable ‘cosmo-local’ production, that is small-scale manufacturing of products designed once and then reused globally?

This is not the toilet I was looking for

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Never mind FACE recognition. Ass recognition is where it’s at.

Facebook does opposite of what I said

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 23:50:00 +0000

But hey, why should you bother? It works, does it not?

Something meaningful about driverless, for a change

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

This is refreshing, really.

No, THESE 9/11 losses are not Adobe's fault

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 23:50:00 +0000

No way they are. They are YOUR fault.

Graphene is the new plastic

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Not necessarily in the good ways.

One more proof that cyberspace does not exist? Great!

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 08:00:00 +0000

So we can solve REAL problems, instead.

Promising news for right to repair from Germany

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

New rules say something obvious, but never said enough.

If reskilling is not quick enough, it's not COVID's fault

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It cannot be. It just can’t.

Hey Google, Siri, Alexa... tell me how this ends

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Another serious issue that should be settled for good. Will ANYBODY listen, this time?

Peak car is just one face of peak complexity

Sat, 04 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

We are too “smart” for our own good.

Decentralization will never be enough. Even if it is digital

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 23:50:00 +0000

And no amount of tech is going to change this fact.

Pandemics, pension funds, and cheap money

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 23:50:00 +0000

How long can they coexist?

China's heist, and why it may be good

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 23:00:00 +0000

With any luck, even microprocessors heists may have silver linings.

The madness of strategic desk ornaments

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Strategic. Seriously.

Speaking of electric cars powering the grid...

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Possible, it’s possible. Worthwhile, is another issue.

What if the city were bad for brain?

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It would explain a few things, for sure.

The next cyber attack that will hit Italy was just announced

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Not explicitly, of course. But it WAS officially announced.

Data shows the true productivity GAIN of the city exodus

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 08:30:00 +0000

What is productivity, again?

Nine posts that changed lives

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Hoping that you too will read them.

Artificial Intelligence just made Dungeons and Dragons too predictable

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Almost boring, that is. Without easy way out.

Good news about women and ID cards in Afghanistan

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

“Good” in the worst way, of course.

In praise of serendipity, again

Sat, 21 Aug 2021 05:50:00 +0000

Many praised it, but apparently not enough. Hence, this post.

Ten years ago, software was eating the world. Now...

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Now, it could get worse. Just faster. Or…

Mark Zuckerberg is Nolan Sorrento

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 23:50:00 +0000

He sure is, isn’t he?

Big Tech is the new Walmart

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Is this Iowa? No, it’s Google.

The interesting Chinese crackdown on Big (Ed) Tech

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 23:50:00 +0000

What makes it interesting is not “WHAT”. It’s “WHY”.

Your private communications can (and will) be spied on

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s official. And it’s not good, even if it is “for the children”.

Why e-scooters, not Segways, are innovative

Sat, 14 Aug 2021 17:00:00 +0000

It’s so obvious, it hurts. Really.

Do you know where your Phone Maid is?

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 23:50:00 +0000

And what they are DOING with her?

Who owns what chips know about THEMSELVES?

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Our chips have complex lives, but nobody knows who could know them.

We are dooming our own files, part two

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Nothing new in this new story. Sadly.

Targeted ads ALWAYS divide

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Why wasn’t this more obvious..

Two records Italy cannot be proud of

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Or, how COVID made digital ignorance visible AGAIN.

Houses should be homes, not gold mines

Sat, 07 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

But that exactly what they become on opaque digital platforms.

What is Google tensor, and why you want to know

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Here is a phone chip that may have a very interesting effect.

WhatsApp still struggling to catch up with the 1990s

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Will that app ever live in THIS century?

Reminder of who really rules Facebook

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s easy. It’s just one person.

Just refuse books that expire

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 23:59:00 +0000

You just don’t want them, for you or anybody else.

Email as only way to cope with productivity madness

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

One more proof that we can’t make it. Not for long, surely.

If self-help books are a scam, what else is?

Sat, 10 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

That’s easy to see. REALLY easy, actually.

Chinese corporation surrogates parents

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 23:30:00 +0000

No, not like you are thinking. But it’s bad all the same.

Nah, we are not postmodern. We are just hypermodern

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Is that good or bad? You judge.

Foodinho and Glovo get a slap on the wrist

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Hopefully, it will matter. Eventually.

A quick portrait of techno-feudalism

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

“After 2008, everything changed.”

On erasing Palestinians. Or everybody else

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Almost everywhere. surveillance and ensorship come from far away.

The REAL case for "BIG nuclear batteries"

Sat, 03 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

As always, it’s not technical, nor environmental.

How civilizations can collapse

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s simpler than you may think. Ditto for AVOIDING collapse.

Windows 11? Another wave of pollution

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Just like the previous versions, but in a worst moment.

Interpersonal Victimhood is digital

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Or, at least, digitally enhanced. A lot.

Beware sociopathic innovation

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Learn to recognize REAL innovation, instead.

Westerners did not get only the Arab Spring wrong

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

And themselves too. They still do.

The easiest policy against negative impacts of Artificial Intelligence on children

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It is much closer to children than most people think.

Facebook can ban you for two hundred, Fifty THOUSANDS years

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

No, not really that long. But it’s too stupid anyway.

Tech is the new oil in Saudi Arabia

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

As in “Follow the money, especially when it looks smart”.

Nothing new about online voting

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Of course.

Why Immuni failed

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Contact tracing failed in Italy, and it’s important to know WHY.

Stop silencing the world

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

No matter how great it feels, it’s bad.

Fake circuits. Fake circuits everywhere

Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

There is only one thing worst than waiting months for a shiny new computer.

Migrants test new surveillance schemes for Europe

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

And they do it for free! Aren’t they great?

Less e-waste would be good. If it happened in the right way

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Which is exactly what is happening now.

Throwing the WRONG kitchen sink at Big Tech

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

“If they make you ask the wrong questions, answers don’t matter”.

Italian farms may benefit a lot from digitization...

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

If they do not transform themselves in offices, that is.

Lamps are too smart if they can do this

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Seriously. Why can’t they be just lamps?

Google FLoc is just another bag of cookies

Sat, 12 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Toldya…

Digital Santería in Cuba

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

And what we may learn from it.

COVID exposes incompetence of digital natives

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Exposes? “Reminds”, more like.

Software will extinguish cars

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

If they continue to be made outside reality, that is.

Copyright madness, barbecued

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Forget “rare, well done or medium”: “CRAZY done” is the new barbecue standard.

Sergeant Hartmann chips are coming

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 23:59:00 +0000

And they will motivate you, Pvt Pyle!!! (cit.)

Gig workers of the world...

Sat, 05 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Unite. But with whom?

Lithium from oceans may be great...

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 23:50:00 +0000

But not for the reasons you think.

Mindfulness, or work. Pick one

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

What do YOU want to do after a relaxing nap?

Save the Pirate Bay of Science

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s important. Really.

The problem with high-tech corporations. And geeks

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Technology is never the problem. Or the solution.

On "anti Facebook" platforms, in Europe and beyond

Mon, 31 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Quick! How would you feel about these events:

A popular comic character just escaped from control freaks

Sat, 29 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

This time, at least.

Digital discrimination in Uganda

Fri, 28 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It is the same as in any other place. Or maybe not?

The solar panel factory that may solve all problems...

Thu, 27 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Except one, maybe.

Big Tech does NOT need to listen to you

Wed, 26 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Why should they? There are far better ways to know what you do.

Open Insurance is coming to Italy

Tue, 25 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

And this is why this is good for EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE.

Poor in Tech, and why it is important

Mon, 24 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Here is a post (not mine) that you MUST read.

Blockchain? OK, but not for property

Sat, 22 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Even Leonardo da Vinci would agree.

You want a Stolp in every restaurant

Fri, 21 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

And every home too.

The worst argument against UBI

Thu, 20 May 2021 13:00:00 +0000

“Let’s not fight for social progress because it could be taken away at a later point.”

If dreams make and keep us smarter...

Wed, 19 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Using stuff that makes us dream less is bad. No?

Digital pacification WILL end, that is sure

Tue, 18 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

The problem is, how pacifically.

Shortage of metals worsens climate change

Mon, 17 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

But only if we use them in the wrong amounts.

Where does Big Pharma find Big Numbers of sick customers?

Sat, 15 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Easy: in the same places where YOU find lots of “friends”.

Financial digital sustainability is not important

Fri, 14 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

When something ELSE is present, that is.

The interesting story of a big art "transaction"

Thu, 13 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

“Transaction”, in quotes. They matter here.

If this is the effect of debunking...

Wed, 12 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

There is only one way out, really.

Be VERY careful with coworking in villages

Tue, 11 May 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Seriously. Please.

Should digital protocols be legally enforced?

Mon, 10 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Long answer: hell, yes! For longer answer, keep reading.

THIS is what public data are for

Sat, 08 May 2021 23:00:00 +0000

It always was.

The good side of stuff like Clubhouse

Fri, 07 May 2021 23:50:00 +0000

It’s a great way to revitalize certain communities.

Here is a COVID effect that we won't fully see for years

Thu, 06 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

And it’s about porn, of course.

We have too many few data centers. And too few too

Wed, 05 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

A big issue, this is.

This F**K is for the rich only

Tue, 04 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Including many rich like YOU, of course.

Learning to be digital from the Amish

Mon, 03 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, from the Amish. THOSE Amish.

EU is doing a bad move against online terrorism

Sat, 01 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

From now on, you may have only one hour to read lots of online stuff.

Indonesia's discrimination by database

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Digitization makes things more efficient. Including bad things.

Facebook's WhatsApp "Business Plan"? Same old, same old

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Nothing to see here. Just continue to provide data.

A primer on digital land grabbing

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 17:00:00 +0000

THIS stuff should be studied in schools.

Solar energy, from one dependence to another

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Solar energy is sustainable only if expanded sustainably. Therefore…

5G outsourcing elephant

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 17:00:00 +0000

It’s so obvious, it hurts. Really.

Who said this? Elon Musk, or James Sullivan?

Sat, 24 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

These two guys are too similar, aren’t they?

High-quality maps for driverless cars would be wonderful

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Possible, is another issue.

Anumeracy is bad, and I just met it

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s everywhere, really. Please learn to recognize it.

Social media is the new commuting

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Just as wasteful, that is.

IF semiconductor startups are back...

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 04:50:00 +0000

Let’s hope it’s for the right reasons.

It's FAST social media that makes lifestyle porn BIG

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Already time to remember again something obvious?

Snow White or Frozen, it's all the same

Sat, 17 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

And we never say it enough.

"Data portability" is almost useless

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

At least when what is needed is communication.

Free news make extremists

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Free as in “gratis”, of course.

On Richard Stallman ousted from FSF

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Hoping to not have to say this again.

Again, what we need is slowness

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Seriously.

Would poisoning YOUR data work?

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Sure it would. At least in one… “collateral” way, that is.

Why judges should NEVER START from algorithms...

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

and even less END with them.

Of newspapers hiding what OTHER newspapers wrote

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Serious question: is this good journalism practice?

How software made a political party easily scalable

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Or, more exactly, human naiveté about software.

I live in two worlds that do not talk to each other

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

A very, very bizarre world.

What is power, again?

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Power to move matter, bits or people… is always the same power, eventually.

5G and 6G reality check, part 2

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Reality, where are you?

Social media is not like drugs

Sat, 03 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

May it be it is only a symptom of something else.

5G and 6G status check, part 1

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Ah, the beauty of solving EXISTING problems…

What's good in Libra Shrugged? Arrogance, exposed.

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Facebook’s arrogance, that is. Or immaturity. Or both.

How can driverless cars expand their territory?

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Easy: just use them as I proposed.

NFT have big problems

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 23:58:00 +0000

And that makes me happy.

About the triangle that will power your next car

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 23:50:00 +0000

Do you already know where it is?

Just a reminder of some COVID effects on women

Sat, 27 Mar 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Least we forget.

Should your fridge have its own PHONE?

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 23:50:00 +0000

No. No way, of course. Still…

How much can we afford to forget?

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 18:00:00 +0000

The problem is to WHOM you leave the burden to forget.

What both USA and Japan seem to miss about electric cars

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s something big. Potentially very big.

A cloud without Google and Microsoft for all italian schools

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 23:00:00 +0000

A noble plan. How it will end, is another matter.

Toyota's Woven City has a lot of things I imagined in a real Smart City

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

What may go wrong? Just one thing, of course.

That time that Facebook made Turkey happy

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Business as usual, really.

Women vs (white-only) Big Tech and activism in Brazil

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

From the “Things You Need To Know About” department.

Watch out! A splintered view of reality is coming

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

I wonder what it will look like…

Something everybody should demand: Datasheets for datasets

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Why should data be less transparent than food?

Making electric cars "affordable" is wrong

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Or, at least, quite misleading.

Europe... "going alone at microchips"? Finally!

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Late, but never too late.

Schools keep using algorithms they don't understand

Sat, 13 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Because, money, of course. Or lack thereof.

History rhymes. First physically, then digitally

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Even with privatization.

On loss of languages

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

It depends on ALL OF US, not on the Internet.

Face Recognition makes EVERYBODY happy

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Really everybody.

I've lived twelve months in lockdowns. What now?

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

The end of the tunnel seems in sight. Problem is, what’s there?

Say NO to Big Tech deciding Global Governance of Big Tech

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

“Hey Google, check and tell me if you are evil or not”.

Why I won't join ClubHouse, and the real problem with it

Sat, 06 Mar 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Let’s talk somewhere else, please. And take notes.

Google's new idea is a self-checkout store

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Hey Google, let me do even more of YOUR work for free.

More copyright nonsense. From COPS, this time

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Please, no. Not from cops too.

Copyright Idiocy is strong with these ones

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Lego and Twitch, how could you???

What's good and what's bad in ClubHouse

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Seven things are good and bad in ClubHouse (but one is half false).

Silicon Valley ran on Saudi

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

And likely still does. Because, innovation, of course.

Finally, a real laptop that makes sense

Sat, 27 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

What if everybody could buy a laptop and…

Even the blockchain can be imperialist

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Of course. Why not?

Electric cars will save the world. If only...

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 07:00:00 +0000

… there will be FEW of them.

Email spies you

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Like it or not, email is not going away. You better know how it works.

Five good reasons to try NextCloud in 2021

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 07:00:00 +0000

What? You still don’t know what NextCloud is?

Help! Italy has too many types of digital trials

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 23:00:00 +0000

And Italian Courts are having too much of a good thing.

What's happening with Ethics in Artificial Intelligence?

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Don’t you dare to REALLY watch the watchmen. Especially “ethic” ones.

Italian judge punishes Lenovo for not reimbursing Windows license

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

A Microsoft Windows story with an absurd beginning, but a really happy ending.

Freedom to map depends on WHO delivers it

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

In India, or anywhere else.

Happy Birthday, Open Bank Project!

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 23:30:00 +0000

Why isn’t YOUR bank part of this project?

Should anyone go to prison based on secret SOFTWARE?

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 23:40:00 +0000

Yes, as dumb as it is, that is a question that NEEDED asking.

Gamestop: WHY, really, did it happen?

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 06:00:00 +0000

There are at least a couple of reasons. But only one surely matters.

Gamestop summary: what happened, and who REALLY won

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Where I try to REALLY understand a (maybe) watershed attack to stock markets.

What you want to know about GPT-3

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Typewriters that write by themselves still are typewriter.

Browsers and websites should be PUBLIC, not private roads

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Some websites are more equal than others…

6G brings hype to the next level. Or the PREVIOUS one

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Deja-vu is strong with these mobile networks.

Word processing, we are doing it SO WRONG

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Why can’t we all be just as advanced as the Bible?

What deserves firing? Asking for Excel, or ignoring the alternatives?

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

It’s 2021, and you can still have problems for not using Microsoft.

The "snob RSS" Hall of (constructive!) Shame

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

WHY do even tech-savvy folks snob RSS? WHY???

No reality czars, please

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Reality CZARS, no. Plain reality, yes. As long as it doesn’t suck.

Project Economy? Count me perplexed

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

What is a “project”, in THIS economy?

What do YOU see, if you search "rich" or "poor" people?

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

It depends. Maybe. What’s your “LANGUAGE”?

What on Earth are CBDCs? Money, of course

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 15:00:00 +0000

Almost like good, old, CASH money, that is.

Why you must care that ".ORG was saved"

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Because the weakness that endangered it is still there.

Of children dead "because" of social media

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 22:00:00 +0000

There is no shame in NOT being an astronaut TODAY.

My "Two Minutes of Hate" would PROTECT Human Rights

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:10:00 +0000

Should INSTANTANEOUS AMPLIFICATION of speech be a Human Right? Why?

Italian data and ICT agency? Left for grab by Big Tech

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Public data on foreign-controlled, private clouds? Yay!

Full fintech ahead, privacy be damned

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Seriously. Because, what on Earth could go wrong?

Embrace Inbox Zero. Especially with Gmail

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

The worst your email software, the stronger YOU must be.

Phylly means never leave real nerds ALONE.

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Nerds MUST always participate. But pilot the ship alone? Almost never.

Here is a WONDERFUL consequence of the Parler shutdown

Sat, 30 Jan 2021 15:00:00 +0000

And no, it’s not what you probably think.

The way out for Google Maps? Supporting OPENStreetMap

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

The Google Maps fleet is mighty, but may be slowly sinking. Unless…

The chargers that should not exist

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, real innovation is the COURAGE to refuse fake innovation.

Immensely stupid fragility, January 2021

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 06:00:00 +0000

It’s always embarrassing. It really is.

Your money, your public software. And router too

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 10:00:00 +0000

It’s as simple as that, really.

One more little, BIG reason why Facebook REALLY sucks

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:00:00 +0000

It erases YOUR memory, inside “YOUR” diary.

I have seen the laptop of the future

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 10:00:00 +0000

And I want one for YOU. With matching glasses, of course.

When healthcare is reduced to a single number

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Not all numbers are the same.

Uganda shows that there are elections, and there are elections

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 10:00:00 +0000

While you were looking at riots in Washington…

Boeing 737 MAX is a reminder of the REAL problem with software

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

And that problem almost never is software.

Certain things are too good to leave them to journalists

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:00:00 +0000

Somebody else should use them.

What's the difference between bad students and cops?

Mon, 18 Jan 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Probably none anymore, as far as face recognition is concerned.

With "smart" apps and media, YOU are the product. Even...

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Even in places you really don’t want to.

The age of DELIBERATELY delayed reckonings

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 08:00:00 +0000

It’s here, and is worrying.

How do you make ALL mother tongues digital?

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Language is much more than a tool, and we think too little about it.

The OTHER thing we should never accept by ANY political leader

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Besides fomenting riots, of course.

The unneeded shortage of semiconductors for cars

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

When cars become so smart that they starve themselves.

PhD-level education: a hamster wheel, mounted facing the wrong way

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Nothing to change in Academia. Please move along.

From robots to dance, sex and back

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Maybe the best thing I’ve read about robots in 2020.

The pros and cons of ocean digitization

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 05:00:00 +0000

From oceans of data to data about oceans, and what could go Smaug.

The glasses that the planet and your wallet need

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Forget “a computer on every desktop”. Put the right glasses on every nose, instead.

What Jimmy Kimmel, and others, did NOT say about scented candles and COVID19

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:00:00 +0000

Spoiler: It’s NOT about COVID19. Not at all.

We really need Two Minutes of Hate, every day

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Just two, that is. For everybody.

On #Trumpbanned from (one) Cuckoo Clock

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 03:00:00 +0000

And the “ambivalence” of it all.

What Fonio, or any other food, should share with serious digital standards

Sat, 09 Jan 2021 05:00:00 +0000

It is something as simple, as it is important.

WHAT stopped in 1996? Software innovation, or priorities?

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Innovation. The devil is in where you look for it.

Georgia's runoff: an answer from the US

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

From mob-thinking worldwide, to touring Venice.

Some comments I'm seeing on Georgia's runoff...

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

…just confirm one thing I’ve always thought of Americans.

Forget Amazon Prime. Demand Singapore shipping, instead

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 05:00:00 +0000

Wherever you live, you need “Singapore-like” shipping.

I do not see Artificial intelligence here

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Those are not the movie shots I was looking for.

Check out this batteries kickstarter!

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Check it out, and let’s hope it “opens”.

This year, let's talk electric, not driverless

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, you just need to add your voice to the choir…

Sex workers must go POSSE

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 05:00:00 +0000

And no, I don’t mean “a large group often with a common… interest”.

Financialization of Big Tech is BIG

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It really seems Too Big To Remain.

The globalization of evil autocompletion

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Beware of cliche' search engines!

Horrors and errors of SOME independent book sellers

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 05:00:00 +0000

And what they tell us, of course.

What went wrong with software for prisons

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 07:00:00 +0000

It became just another business, in one more market.

Our need for rituals, and one thing that really upsets it

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Guess what that thing is?

Nanoscale is where chipmaking must go

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 13:54:00 +0000

This is important. Really.

Big Tech = Feudalism + Animal Farm, digitized. Via tax havens

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because, INNOVATION!!!!, of course.

Software will eat Hollywood, bringing two risks with it

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Not everybody’s software, by the way. Not if things remain as today.

NO proprietary formats in Italy, please!

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 16:00:00 +0000

It’s so sad that this is still necessary…

Sad follow-up on that small problem with e-voting in Italy

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 23:00:00 +0000

Sad news, indeed.

The Big Tech Model

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Knowing exactly how they harm you is the first step of liberation.

What THIS "Google Down" put in full view

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Google is like the One Ring of Sauron.

A key finding from OSOR's report on Open Source

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here is a curve that must not flatten!

The Stop! 2020-2021 fundraiser

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Important request/Public Service Announcement:

Five critical things for our oceans

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

and their “digital” implications.

The immensely stupid fragility of our "high-tech" way of living

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It’s embarrassing. It really is.

Something to monitor about e-voting in Europe

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

A compendium of inherently wrong things…

When algorithms meet debt...

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Everyone must be aware of four (no, five) problems. Especially lawyers.

The planet is obese

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

No, not humans. The WHOLE planet. We just take the merit.

Really smart cities help their stores to go Dark

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

The digital dark side or retailing is more smart than dark.

You are losing easy publishing, consuming and remixing

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Where? Right here on the web, of course.

Lessons from Sweden about going cashless

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

The most interesting ones are about the MEANING of money.

Sometimes the best data are those that do not exist

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Or, what you can learn about privacy from Soviet weapon’s philosophy.

Web Scraping Is Vital

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Seriously. Even if you have NO idea what it is. Keep reading:

What is more important, reading or job prospects?

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Lies, damn lies, international agencies and priorities.

Please promote ODF with these posters!

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

You really have no more excuse to not use and PROMOTE ODF.

A small problem with e-voting in Italy

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Some Italians may e-vote soon. Says WHO?

When you make digital archives in the wrong way...

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Sooner or later they rot. But only in that case.

Don't boycott Amazon. Free it, instead.

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Something to think about, on this and all future Black Fridays.

Racially biased pulsimeters

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

More of the depressing same.

What is more short-sighted? UBI, or certain critics of it?

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

What is the PURPOSE of life, again?

Starlink? All will be well

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

If they only answer SOME people.

Artificial Intelligence is like Jessica Rabbit

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It’s not bad. WE just draw it that way.

Not ALL COVID-related "state interventions" are the same

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

There are interventions, and then there are interventions…

The political threat of WhatsApp

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

As if WhatsApp wasn’t already bad enough…

Of Google, enforcing a false sense of democracy

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because the web should not be steered by ANY single company.

OpenStreetMap is now Too Big To Stay Pure

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

But is that a problem, or just a warning? And of what?

It seems we need four more Asimov's laws

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

OK, but… for whom? Robots, or something else?

Online direct democracy? No, thanks

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because the world is not what is used to be.

The second half of MANY chessboards

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

I’ts just where we ALL are, right now. And it’s dangerous.

The opaqueness of "Be Not Evil"

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It is annoyingly hard to understand how to break up Google.

Contact tracing failures, again

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Nobody cares. But it still HAS value.

Why you want OPEN System-on-Chips

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because microelectronics is what makes the world go round.

Watch out! Vokenization is coming!

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Computers are learning the colour of sheeps. Here is why it matters.

The coming, dangerous hyper-segmentation of "news"

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 16:00:00 +0000

It’s bad, and it is on ALL sides.

De-mainstream YouTube? Bad idea

Sat, 07 Nov 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Seriously. Bad idea. In good faith, but bad.

The Hidden Cost of Streaming Music: is it really IN music?

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Me, I am not sure.

Just because it isn't Closed, Doesn't Mean It Is Socialism

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Is it so hard to see it, with software or anything else?

Let's read Libra Shrugged

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

This seems like the next book I (and you too) should read.

A quick portrait of digital gerrymandering

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Why TODAY? Well, why NOT?

Here is my hippocratic oath

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000

You should take one too. It’s NOT about medicine.

Robotic Blacksmiths? Yeah!

Sat, 31 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

When hammer and anvil meet bits. Possibly, everywhere.

Project Cybersin

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

We rarely look to older technologies for inspiration. That’s bad.

COVID19 accelerates dispersion of private health data

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Here is something unsuprising, but NEVER repeated enough.

Horizon Europe does the right thing

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Who says the EU is always bad???

How free is the internet in 2020?

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Less than before. Don’t let the pandemic hide that.

Nextdoor is not messy. It's just too fast

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 23:50:00 +0000

It is. Trust me.

Culture wars:for minorities, but still relevant

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 23:54:00 +0000

Point is: do you know WHY they are relevant?

Angrynomics, and my two cents to fix it

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Don’t know angrynomics yet? You really should.

Rewilding half the planet? OK, if WE do it

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Where “WE” means ALL humans, of course.

Internet centralization is inevitable, and may even be good

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Here is something about the “logic” of the Internet that we should not ignore.

Medical Artificial Intelligence depends on where you live

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Especially if you live in the right places.

Advertising is broken, and stock market-like regulations won't fix it

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Just like “breaking up Facebook”. It can’t work.

Yahoo groups is finally closing, and I am SO happy

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Why? Because it may (just may) help many people see the light.

Always beware of mathwashing!

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

You still don’t know how mathwashing may hurt you? Keep reading, then.

Websoft giants are doing great

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Do you know HOW great?

A foreigner's opinion on Walt Disney's debts, or bailouts

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Disney is too big for something else, not failure.

Car design will improve forever

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

But only if it has those two features.

Another Amazon problem: its returns do not return

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

But it’s not only Amazon.

Which word is missing in "The Internet of Plastic Things"?

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

The same word that is missing in the Internet of NON-plastic things, of course.

Crowdsourced fact checking? Hmm...

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Why not look at pandemics, instead?

What makerspaces REALLY (should) make

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Spoiler: it’s not objects.

Contact Tracing remains irrelevant

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Never start from software…

Castes will be castes. So...

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Applies to ALL castes, of course.

An unexpected analysis of our digital economy

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, truth is in the strangest places (and times).

The Apple parable, from creativity to hoarding

Sat, 03 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

No (more) innovation here. Please move along.

Beware the fascist driverless car

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Old problems have an annoying habits to return, wearing different hats.

Do you realize that you are socially cooling?

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 18:00:00 +0000

“[Theoretically] well behaved, surely less human”.

How to handle fights in almost any Facebook group

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Have you been fighting over the purpose and content of a Facebook group? Get real!

What Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court would REALLY mean for the future of tech

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Let’s put things in perspective, please.

Why did you choose Microsoft? Sorry, don't know

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

A sad, sadly unsurprising story about an italian Ministry.

Some evergreen insights from a survey on makers in Italy

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Spoiler: they are not about technology.

Against possessionsless utopias

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

How can you distinguish utopias from dystopias?

For non-westerners, it's harder to write in Wikipedia

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Did you already know that?

Even if tech is addictive, abstinence is no solution

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Especially (but not only) for kids?

Reading algorithms make your world smaller

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Of course. Why should you care of what happens elsewhere?

How is FOIA doing in Italy?

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Freedom of Information Act, you say? It could be more usable if…

About too much work being pointless

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Is it still work, if it damages society?

An optimistic description of the Network Economy...

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000

…with just a few weak spots.

The future of farming looks more and more like Star Wars

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000

May the Force of the Right Hardware be with you.

Bicycle delivery, or SLOW delivery?

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000

Where are the bigger gains?

The unbearable US-ness of online discourse

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000

My apologies in advance to all my US friends. But…

Coronavirus, Italian schizophrenia

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Unsurprising, yes. But very weird to live in.

You do not have a Right To KEEP Buying (*)

Sat, 12 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And that is BAD.

Is Open Data for everybody, or not?

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It is a challenging and urgent task to innovate democracy…

Automatic Wildness Creators?

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

What problem do we want to solve here?

What is the Value of Open Source Hardware Development?

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, the value is in what you do NOT waste.

The first thing to know about Artificial Intelligence? Its myths

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Of course. What else?

NO CONSPIRACIES NEEDED HERE

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Focus on change, instead.

Now is the winter of our post-lockdown life...

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 09:00:00 +0000

…looking more uncertain than ever.

Which company wants to make it easier to punish researchers...

Sat, 05 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

…for finding flaws in its software?

No ARM sale, please

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because microelectronics make all your world work.

A reminder of what to do with fossil fuels

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Make them obsolete, of course. Because physics.

Tech giants: maximum damage with minimum effort

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And, which is even more impressive, in good faith, so far.

Hooray for nuclear batteries...

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Seriously. As long as…

The wastefulness of wireless

Sat, 29 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Wireless CHARGING, that is.

Algorithmic Colonization of Africa, part 2

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Some “Global North” things to avoid in Africa… and in the Global North too!

Yes, computing belongs within social sciences, but...

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

WHO should study WHAT first, exactly?

A critique of data unions

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Are YOU ready to “retail your data”?

Smartphones destroying a generation? No, but...

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Nothing new, really. But well said.

On Work, Money and PURPOSE, Part 4

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

What next, when ANY theory of “work” becomes less relevant and applicable every year?

What Producerism gets surely wrong

Sat, 22 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Go back to analog tech? WHY?

The WRONG way to mix self driving cars and city planning

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

What comes first? Cities that exist, or cars that don’t, and maybe shouldn’t?

Sicily tries an old solution to fight old work problems

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

COVID19 may have made work smarter, but it is surely making taxes harder.

On Work, Money and PURPOSE, Part 3

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Time to talk about money.

Here is a NICE electronic design service!

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

What is 1-click BOM, and why it is important.

Algorithmic Colonization of Africa, part 1

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Even if we may all have the same problems worldwide, we cannot just import, or export, “solutions”.

On Work, Money and PURPOSE, Part 2

Sat, 15 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Employment, WORK and p-work are very different things…

No more chips for you

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

But WHO is “you” here?

Maybe it is time to stay away from Ancestry.com

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 08:00:00 +0000

On the other hand… what could possibly go wrong now?

More news from CloudHaven

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 23:00:00 +0000

More interesting news from your “Sovereign Home in the Cloud”.

On Work, Money and PURPOSE, Part 1

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

What do we REALLY mean by “work”?

Restarting after a COVID-full spring, and summer

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 18:00:00 +0000

One post at a time. Please help.

Against guaranteed services, and jobs

Sat, 11 Jul 2020 08:00:00 +0000

(just a collage of things already said…)

Obstacles to Open Data in and out of Public Administrations

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Nothing new (sadly), but well said.

What is heterarchy, and why you want it

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Not alone, of course. But you want heterarchy. Trust me.

From Irrigation Canals to Linux...

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

What is missing here?

Italian public schools surrender email to Microsoft

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because it costs less, of course. But…

Innovation in Clean Tech is still needed

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

SORELY needed…

A simple primer on Modern Monetary Theory

Sat, 04 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

… and my own main objection to it.

Why complete abolition of cash is BAD

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

(because it can forbid you spending YOUR money)

Video tutorials considered harmful

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, 1000 words are worth much more than their video.

Of manels, and neutrality of technology

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Where do manels really come from (or start)?

The first thing Twitter would really need

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

If Twitter DID really work for its users, that is…

The silent change in the nature of design

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 23:49:00 +0000

Who are designers? Are they ALWAYS designers?

Some more coronavirus facts and feelings from Italy

Sat, 27 Jun 2020 04:00:00 +0000

just a small update, six weeks after the end of #ItalyLockdown

COVID19 brings more proprietary software to italian public schools

Thu, 25 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because it costs less, of course. But…

On the meaningless reporting on COVID19

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Or many other topics, of course.

5000 concepts for Europe: update 2020/06/23

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 03:30:00 +0000

Back in 2017, I launched the idea of a book listing the “5000 concepts that EVERY European should know”…

On Australia and others defunding humanities

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 09:15:26 +0000

What happens when citizens cannot think and speak clearly?

Save forests, not tigers... 2020 edition!

Sat, 20 Jun 2020 11:28:14 +0000

Some animals are important because they are termometers.

Italian lawmakers still don't know how the Internet works

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Some things just never change.

Italian Administration collapsing soon, without reforms and people

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

In THAT order, please.

The 2020 USA elections are safe

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 13:50:00 +0000

Seriously. We can relax now.

COVID19 is flattening the curve of teaching

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

In Italy, and surely elsewhere.

Talking about Facebook is strictly prohibited

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Relax. It’s not what you think. Yet.

Less responsibilities for algorithm-driven civil servants?

Sat, 13 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Why have such servants, then?

On real radicals, and polarization

Fri, 12 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

I ’ve just come across something I first heard in the mid 90’s…

The scam of flying taxis is back

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Flying to defeat traffic? Really?

THIS... is Italy (*)

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 04:00:00 +0000

and not just Italy, of course.

Surprise, surprise: Smart Appliances are a stupid idea

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Really, who could have imagined it?

Smart cities "fighting" coronavirus?

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 13:50:00 +0000

Wait a moment….

On real (digital?) convenience and real community

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 23:49:00 +0000

There is convenience that we cannot afford to refuse anymore.

Why and how to avoid slow Internet Access Networks

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

We may learn from North Dakota (if we ask all the right questions)

Mark Zuckerberg may have just realized he is Prof. Falken

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because everybody grows up, at last. Hopefully.

Not impossible prosthetics

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

here is a project that you want to know about.

On Frugal Innovation, again

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Where to look for REAL innovation? In large companies, or “at the bottom of the pyramid”?

Anxiety rules...

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

but most of it is NOT Coronavirus' fault.

Pandemics intensify robotization of people

Sat, 30 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Too bad we already knew that…

Quick: who was banned from Wikipedia 11 years ago?

Fri, 29 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Which church banned which?

An electric motor in EVERY vehicle!

Thu, 28 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Like “a computer on every desktop”, but probably better. Much better.

What the Trump vs Twitter row REALLY means

Wed, 27 May 2020 15:55:00 +0000

Spoiler: it means we are ALL dumb, but not for the reason you think.

Four things that the current Internet makes harder

Tue, 26 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And one wrong level to fix them.

What is Mattereum, anyway? (part 2)

Mon, 25 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Something complicated, but potentially REALLY important.

In praise of Frugal Innovation

Sat, 23 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Just a few words on what REAL innovation should mean.

Manipulated fablabs in China

Fri, 22 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

More on fablabs pushed by much more than a bunch of hackers.

Don't friend your students until after they graduate

Thu, 21 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

and other little gems of digital literacy.

3D Printing Will Be Able to Mature in Places Where Production Infrastructure Is Broken

Tue, 19 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Whatever broke it. Including pandemics, hopefully.

Ten years ago, (digital) life was just like today

Mon, 18 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Look what I found in my bookmarks.

Post-lockdown Italy is a soccer match begging for live audience

Sun, 17 May 2020 08:00:00 +0000

“If we reopen, they will come”.

What is Mattereum, anyway?

Sat, 16 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Trying to understand something that may be VERY powerful.

Manipulated fablabs in Ireland

Fri, 15 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, above fablabs and makerspaces there is much more than a bunch of hackers.

When Italy's lockdown means... Windows-only exams

Thu, 14 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Just a little University-in-lockdown story.

When (Big) Data Fails...

Wed, 13 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

unintended consequences explode. Or remain.

Which country has the highest DQL?

Tue, 12 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And how do you increase DQL to REALLY live better?

Facebook self regulation. Yeah, right.

Mon, 11 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

The problem with Facebook is Facebook.

Hey look, robodogs used just as I said

Sat, 09 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

How do you calm a robotic dog?

#Italylockdown is over. Lack of meaning continues

Fri, 08 May 2020 23:00:00 +0000

I have a depressing feeling about this…

Opportunities and limits of DGML homes

Thu, 07 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Short version: homes are not furniture.

What on Earth is DGML?

Wed, 06 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Answer: something you should really know, and support.

Some articles of some Chinese laws that interest everybody

Tue, 05 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Some internal laws of China may conflict with…

The biggest Digital DIY revolution should be invisible

Mon, 04 May 2020 04:00:00 +0000

and we could use one or two of them right now…

#Italylockdown is ending. Yay?

Sun, 03 May 2020 22:00:00 +0000

Just when we were starting to get the hang of this lockdown thing…

On Internet of Things Fantasies, nine years later

Fri, 01 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Large scale natural WHAT?

All hail Open Spending, and Data

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

(especially Frictionless Data!)

Comments to a view from India of the Future of Work

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It really seems (almost) like Italy. Or Europe. Or…

Where is YOUR Digital Culture Heritage?

Tue, 28 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here is an important charter that I missed last year.

Hidden messages in the European Strategy For Data

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Not really hidden, actually.

The necessity to be lazy

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 23:49:00 +0000

for a good cause, of course. Seriously.

In a sane world, I would not need to repeat this...

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:49:00 +0000

but this is not a sane world, especially when voting is concerned.

Responsibility and artificial intelligence

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 23:49:00 +0000

Where and when it should start? By whom?

Tomorrow is a crucial COVID19 day. In Italy and beyond

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 10:00:00 +0000

It really is.

On the Undertaker of Silicon Valley, again

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

and what “Innovation” really means.

Feedback about the Tiranny of Openness? Here!

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 23:49:00 +0000

I did not realize it immediately, but I had already done that.

The Culture War in Open Source may just be irrelevant

Sat, 18 Apr 2020 11:52:40 +0000

Choosing where and what to fight can be the hardest part of a war.

Apple products, or repairable products. Take one

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 23:49:00 +0000

Can certain purchases still make sense? CAN they?

Did COVID19 come one year too late?

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 20:00:00 +0000

Where I worry about POST pandemic stupidity, and a lost, great opportunity.

One way to give new life to struggling cities

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 04:00:00 +0000

.. is Digital DIY, of course.

Fear superstupidity, not (artificial) superintelligence

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0000

Just a few things already said, but WELL said.

A guilty pleasure of mine, during Italy's lockdown

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It’s about (some) students, and their parents.

The Right to Have and Repair Cool Products

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And I mean cool, not “smart” products.

The italian blogosphere, in 2011 and today

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

“It’s complicated”.

The Increvable washer needs YOU!

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

THIS is the washing machine I want! (*)

COVID19 in Italy, I've almost had enough

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 05:00:00 +0000

(but not of the lockdown, mind you)

COVID19, and family quarantine

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 05:00:00 +0000

Or, more exactly, “quarantine inside quarantine”.

Please change the way you think about protest

Sat, 04 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

How? Learning from churches, of course.

The Marauder's map exists, and feels bad

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Oops, Marriott did it again.

In case you thought you may protest with a mask...

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

think again.

Takeaway from a ridiculous YouTube copyright case

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Automatic content filtering does not work. Period.

COVID19 in Italy, or making things as simple as possible

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 23:50:00 +0000

NOT simpler, of course. But as simple as possible yes, please.

An Internet Report from ten years ago

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 04:00:00 +0000

How the Internet has changed institutions by 2020… explained in 2010.

Something you may have missed about ride-hailing

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Especially bottom-up, COOPERATIVE ride-hailing.

No self-driving cars yet. Please move along

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 04:00:00 +0000

how unexpected…

The leapfrogging value of Digital DIY

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 11:31:01 +0000

What is a “developing economy” anyway?

Let's talk of our digital infantilization

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Ever wondered WHY your digital services look the way they look?

One month of COVID19, two weeks of lockdown

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 06:00:00 +0000

What next? AFTER the pandemics, that is.

Visualcad is how law should be visualized

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Laws should be easy to SEE, and so should their EVOLUTION.

The Web and Web browsers are OSCENELY complex...

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 04:00:00 +0000

… and this is bad for YOU. Real bad

Life, the Universe and Everything look closer from #italylockdown

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 10:00:00 +0000

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.

It's time to write laws like software

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 11:31:01 +0000

Italian elected representatives write and discuss laws with an idiotic system (***)

On people as status-seeking monkeys

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:00:00 +0000

Because it would explain so many things…

In praise of Appropedia

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 18:00:00 +0000

If you had never heard of Appropedia before, you really missed something.

Coronavirus in Italy, another snapshot of YOUR future

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 23:00:00 +0000

The future is already here. It is just not evenly distributed.

Circular electronics economy, or pandemics?

Sat, 14 Mar 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Both, of course.

A new cloud haven for you and your data

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 23:00:00 +0000

Tired of today’s Web 2.0? Here is a new project I want you to look at.

Coronavirus in Italy, more lockdown

Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:05:00 +0000

Main points from PM Giuseppe Conte’s last communicate.

Coronavirus in Italy, and what it should mean for everybody

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Just some notes from lockdown country, and a request.

5G is antisocial

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 23:00:00 +0000

Or so I heard. For at least five reasons.

Coronavirus is a digital issue

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 23:00:00 +0000

and is NOT the cause of recession in 2020.

Of telecom networks and Free Markets

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Market competition for telecom access services is great. When it exists, that is.

A proof that Facebook is right to refuse bans of political ads

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, I too can approve some Facebook move.

Supplies of the WRONG smartphones may run out

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 23:40:00 +0000

Is that a bad thing? Please decide.

All hail the REGIONAL microprocessors

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 23:00:00 +0000

Microprocessors make the world go round. Never forget it.

Vatican calls for ethics: only for corporations?

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 23:00:00 +0000

Really? Why?

How to take advantage of Coronavirus

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 23:00:00 +0000

And above all: WHY we should ALL do it.

Two implications of the end of the Moore's Law

Sat, 29 Feb 2020 23:00:00 +0000

What do we do when computers stop being more powerful every year?

Social tipping points for climate won't go anywhere

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:00:00 +0000

Priorities, priorities…

Nine european data spaces to keep an eye on

Thu, 27 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Further EU integration will happen through data. Lots of data.

About

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 15:17:53 +0000

Welcome to the Stop! I am Marco Fioretti, independent author, researcher, consultant and a few other things. I study, and try to explain, how your own civil rights and the quality of all areas of your life heavily depend on how software and digital technologies are used around you. My talks, publications, ebooks, course offering and other projects are on my main website. The Stop, instead, is my main blog. I started it around 2007, in order to (as its logo tries to convey) give everybody a place where they can stop to refill their brains with things that matter, offered in deliberately short posts, with the simplest possible language.

Solitary ride "sharing" is bad

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 23:30:00 +0000

Real bad. And now we have (further) proofs that it is.

The problem with 5G is 5G

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Forget Huawei and China.

Say no to misleading titles on digital tecnologies

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

We can’t afford that, in an age when most people stop to titles.

It's a crucial time for charting Europe's future

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 23:30:00 +0000

And you WANT to check what the European Union is doing now.

Ten examples of algorithmic discrimination

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Little horror stories that everybody should know.

A certain dataset of objects is still online...

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:00:00 +0000

and you want to use it, while it lasts

Digital social innovation: Recommendations

Tue, 18 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Give Digital Social Innovation some love!

The web service that warned about the WRONG burglars

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Burglars using the web to rob our houses? Those were the days!

Of religious faith, and non-neutral technology

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

When it’s faith time, are all digital devices the same?

Digital Social Innovation: executive summary

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Impact is still low, but there is hope!

Your next smart car will have an expiration date

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 23:40:00 +0000

IF you are so dumb to buy a car so “smart”, of course.

Why you MUST care more than ever about file formats

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because you must. Trust me on this

Never ask "Why we can't develop working voting software that works"!

Tue, 11 Feb 2020 23:40:00 +0000

Ask yourself “WHY on Earth should we do it?”, instead.

Is technology killing globalization...

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

or is it the other way around?

The West's obsession with text

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

The root cause of what makes us believe what we read online?

Open Source grid management solves ONE of the problems of "smart" grids

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 23:00:00 +0000

And a crucial one. But NOT the main one, in the long term.

Five critiques of the circular economy

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 23:30:00 +0000

and my own attempt to answer some of them.

Open Data for Open Water, ten years later

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Less water, more data: Open or not?

Facebook 2020... explained in 2012

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Don’t say we weren’t warned.

The way to achieve decoupling is simple

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 23:40:00 +0000

And that is why it’s hard to take it.

Cashless restaurants are racist. And delay driverless cars too

Sat, 01 Feb 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, they do.

Open Source is unsustainably funded

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

and this is very bad for YOU.

Italian Public Administration is collapsing

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And I still dare dream it happens in the right way.

From decentralized Twitter to basic truths

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Like, you know, “who is REALLY in charge?”

EU and China must help the world to do the RIGHT thing

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because, as someone said, “We live in interesting times”.

Don't break up Big Tech? Of course

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

It’s always nice to see somebody get it. Even if partially.

Escaping the Digital Dark Ages. Ten years later

Sat, 25 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

No escape yet, sorry.

Cruise Origin is my On-Demand Train

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And if it isn’t, it’s already pretty close.

How (and where) NOT to make YOUR Memex

Thu, 23 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

On somebody else’s computer, of course.

Record consumption of materials... Or of stupidity?

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 23:00:00 +0000

The latter, of course.

The Field of Dreams of self driving cars

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Who started building THIS particular “field of dreams”?

Who is really to blame for clickworkers?

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

The clickers, or whoever made them click? (*)

Spying is over. But why, exactly?

Sat, 18 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And what could come next?

BuckyBox: food delivery as it should be?

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here is a venture that you should probably support. Or reuse.

People "predisposed to online hostility", and how to contain them

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Are social media worst than real life? It’s complicated.

Join the personal websiteverse!

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Please do. It will never be too early.

Full self-driving cars may never happen???

Tue, 14 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Gee, color me surprised. Not.

Finance, and the fake innovation of today's Silicon Valley

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Because that is what “data rentiership” means.

Another "switch to Linux" piece that misses the point

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

If you want to avoid Windows 10…

From Agricultural Extension to (missing?) Cities of Workshops

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And social makers, of course.

Google is Microsoft 2.0

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Who would have thought, back then?

Old tractors are the REAL modern ones

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

And this makes me very happy.

Inequality data dark (and closed) ages

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

We badly need good inequality statistics. But not closed ones.

Expanding horizons in Lesotho

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

a guest post about a promising “Computer Lab in the Sky”.

Maybe the real problem of Silicon Valley...

Sat, 21 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

is not fake innovation, or surveillance.

Fintech report highlights importance of open standards

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

And access to fintech data… to everybody who needs it.

Computers are slower than in the 80s

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

He said that “almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983”. I agree.

Artificial Intelligence has been with us for centuries

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

It just had another name.

Open Letter to EU on Open Banking

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Who needs to benefit from it? Only banks and companies?

Wackier services from 5G? Wait a moment...

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

5G. Right.

Denmark vs Cyberspace, 1:0

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Cyberspace? Which Cyberspace?

Ring Camera exposes Big (Bad) Parenting

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

“It’s Santa”, said the unknown voice. But who had let him in, and above all: WHY?

Where has all the e-waste gone?

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Next door, of course.

Superheroes with super riduculous sexuality

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

How the Internet makes it easier to see the super-ridiculous.

Five small reminders on Human Rights Day...

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

…that your life depends on how software is used AROUND you.

Who train first? Humans or machines?

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

From artificial mistifications to real priorities.

Spotify wants to be Soma

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

“Christianity without tears: that’s what Soma is”. Or was it Spotify?

The most absurd, less believable thing of superheroes

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Their copyright, of course.

Who needs democracy when you have data? It depends

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

It depends on WHO is “you”, and WHERE.

Relational organising is here to help you vote. Yay!

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“Your voter registration and phone book, please”

Time to measure something else in the world

Sat, 30 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, answers don’t matter.”

The real problem with smart package delivery systems

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

is the same thing that makes them so popular.

If life without Facebook conversations is impossible...

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

We have to look for solutions in the right directions.

RISC-V moving to Switzerland. Will Europe notice?

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

About the most important “Made in EU” product that does not exist yet.

Scouts encourage to do good with tech? Of course

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

But WHICH tech?

Yes, let's "slow down" social media

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Just not like Sacha Baron Cohen says.

Automatic DiDIY Farming, three years later

Sat, 23 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

There is still a lot to do, but things look pretty good.

Which wind turbines are the best?

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

The ones built with the best and most appropriate technology, of course.

Digital bans on 3D printed guns, four years later

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

Banning FILES? How? Why?

The real reason for electric cars?

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Their longevity. Especially if they are done the right way.

Adversarial interoperability. Of course.

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

What is, EXACTLY, that makes Facebook “hard to replace”?

Venezuela and Bolivia: do they make a clue, or already a pattern?

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 06:00:00 +0000

May what Bolivia and Venezuela have in common be… high-tech?

Accurate stats in 48 months are useless, unless...

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

they are published properly, of course.

Big Tech like Big Banks

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

As in “too big to (not spectacularly) fail”. Eventually.

"Year of Linux desktop" still misses crucial issue

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

No surprise, here. Sadly.

What if Artificial Intelligence is leveling off?

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

What would this mean for all the other IT buzzwords?

Farming 2.0 may produce more food, but who will own it?

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Is there still any REAL difference between seeds and DVDs?

The BEST part of "No YouTube for not commercially viable YOU"

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Nothing to SEE here (Pun intended). Except one, crucial thing.

It should be completely illegal to sell stuff NOT like this

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Have you noticed what’s new in new laptops?

Huh? 6G? 6G, already?

Sat, 09 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

What are we going to do with 5G then?

Do we have too many political ads?

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 15:06:25 +0000

or just too many DIFFERENT political ads?

Panem et Circenses 2.0...

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

is fast and furiously streamed. But only from the top.

From Arab Spring to Internet not freedom in nine years

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Remember the Arab Spring?

Why Facebook Won't Fact-Check Political Ads, and what to do about it

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 15:06:25 +0000

It’s complicated. No, it’s not.

Smart pods are driverless cars done right

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

And a great confirmation of a proposal of mine.

Artificial Intelligence summing the demons? WHICH demons?

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Look in the wrong place, and you’ll get the wrong answers.

What's REALLY wrong in kids with personal smartphones..

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 23:50:00 +0000

Very often is not the smartphone. It’s another word.

Comments to a New Digital Manifesto...

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 11:06:25 +0000

that claims crucial rights, including some we already have.

If YOUR files are really doomed, it will be only YOUR fault

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Digital files are your life. Why should you give them up?

More random internet humour

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Just more random fun from my bookmarks.

Some effects of MILITARY drones...

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

that maybe are less considered than others.

How to kill an ant with a face recognition sledgehammer

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 23:50:00 +0000

Let’s talk AIO (Artificial Intelligence Overkill). In a bar. But not THAT bar.

What happened to Helios RTH?

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 23:50:00 +0000

In memory (I hope not) of a great open hardware project for stratospheric research.

Facebook, neutral protector of elections? No way

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 23:50:00 +0000

I mean, could Facebook be anything different?

Answering a cloud computing question from 2009

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

…and finding out that the answer is still the same.

Seven years ago: outlawed by Amazon DRM

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

But is “outlawed” the right word?

Perspectives of Free Software as a Social Movement, 11 years later

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Some worries and suggestions from 2009, still (sadly) valid today.

Beyond the drone bubble, part 1

Sat, 19 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Eight reasons to hope in drones, and two to not be fooled by them.

e-rosary? No, thanks

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

The one device that every Catholic needs. Not.

The 5G strategy of the USA is worrying

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Or maybe it isn’t.

The real smartphone of the future

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

is the one that is really future-proof.

Collapse OS, a great project with a too small goal

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Winter is coming and Collapse OS aims to soften the blow.

There is no artificial intelligence

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

And there is no control either.

Google tries new ways to devour the Web?

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 10:06:25 +0000

An evil experiment to embed the whole Web inside Google?

Trivialities about digital data, explained

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Something you should really, really already know, by now.

New Compact on Data? Or New RULES and LESS Data?

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

What is a compact, again?

Ahavel, the elusive entrepreneur

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 04:00:00 +0000

This morning, I found on the Web someone quite strange. Or maybe not.

The problem with iPhones is not China. It's us

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

And is not in WHERE we make things.

How to make slums (or any other place) really smart

Mon, 07 Oct 2019 23:50:00 +0000

Just a few pills of evergreen wisdom from five years ago.

Wiretapping and the first law of robotics

Sat, 05 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Online communications should be handled like robots.

Just some random internet humour

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

(retrieved from my bookmarks. Sometimes it’s needed)

Technology fixes are the Dark Side

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

A great Twitter thread on the REAL innovation: APPROPRIATE technology.

What the Internet has is a speeding problem

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, maybe it’s that simple. At least part of it.

Hardwired to want more FAKE innovation

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 23:50:00 +0000

What are today’s FIRST limits on innovation? Ethical or practical?

Thoughts on electric highways

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 11:52:00 +0000

Back to the future of electric transportation? Maybe.

Open chairs, worms and hands, four years later

Sat, 28 Sep 2019 03:50:00 +0000

What happened to four great Open projects I met in 2015?

Let self-driving cars kill pedestrians. Or not?

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 13:50:00 +0000

They made a survey about driverless cars and found… basic biology. What does this mean?

Please help free millions of books

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 23:50:00 +0000

This is great. REALLY.

The wishcycling illusion, and what will worsen it

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 23:50:00 +0000

Spoiler: one of the greatest buzzwords of the moment.

The long term, political outcome of children data surveillance

Tue, 24 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“Datafication of childhood is an extraordinary complex and messy process…”

Flawed algorithms grading students told to cheat to get in college

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 23:50:00 +0000

We’re really reaching Peak College Bubble here…

Internet lump of google

Sat, 21 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Never forget that Facebook is not the ONLY evil guy out there…

The scam of AI and Industry 4.0: not only about journalism

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 06:00:00 +0000

In August 2019, a “robot journalist” wrote a very successful article.

The real danger of (digital) advertising is LONG TERM conditioning

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Just a synthesis of a GREAT thread on the real role of advertising in society.

Shopping on Amazon is a blessing for rurals. For now

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Do rural areas need Amazon? Yes, but not the current one.

UBI seen backwards. For the millionth time

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

First things first, please.

No more difference between encryptions

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 14:10:00 +0000

And only one way ahead, apparently.

Address, or you will not be addressed, part 2

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

And possibly forget your history.

Gerrymandering 2.0 is built right into your social networks

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

There’s more online to gaslight you than mere echo chambers and filter bubbles.

Is DIY (urban) farming real or not?

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Urban farms all the way down. Or not?

Of AstroTurfing, and one-sided Electronic Frontiers around Privacy

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

My own short summary of a very interesting article.

Amazon-for-bulk-commodity is coming

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“Uber for X”? That’s so 2018. Let’s just move on. Or down. Or behind?

The problem of crowdwork remains the crowd

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

You know: those boring humans, so full of needs…

Climate change may hit just the SAME wall as Free Software

Sat, 07 Sep 2019 05:00:00 +0000

But it would be much, much worst, of course.

Have we missed something in FOSS? Of course

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Like life and human nature, for example.

Workers, consumers and depressing myths

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

More robots, enough jobs, and shame on mere “consumers”. Yay!

RSS is still great. And needed. More now than ever

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 05:00:00 +0000

RSS was great??? What do you mean “WAS”?

A Spectre is Haunting Italy: the Spectre of Quota 100

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

But it could be something very different.

Are Library of Tools and Things still missing in Europe?

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

After three years? Really?

Address, or you will not be addressed

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

And possibly forget your history.

What could Europe learn, and copy, from India's electric rickshaws?

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

There is electric life beyond cars, scooters and bikes.

Students will do the right thing, for the WRONG reason

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

And they will do it too late, for the wrong places.

What's good in this deportation story

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 06:00:00 +0000

A reminder of something that ALWAYS matters.

Taylor Swift should be digital like Zendaya!

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Thumbs up? No, no thumbs up for Taylor Swift.

Smarter guns for dumber gun control

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

The (tragically) funniest thing on gun control in a long time.

Betting addiction 2.0

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 03:00:00 +0000

We used to have poor souls who couldn’t help behave like idiots. Now…

On percloud, again

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Just an answer to some critiques received today.

The costs of percloud, vs anything else

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 05:00:00 +0000

The percloud is like email and schoolbuses. Not like Facebook.

Status of the gig economy, 2019

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

What’s wrong in the gig economy… if we want it for living as usual, at least.

Software polarizes everything. Even sex

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

It would explain lots of things,wouldn’t it?

I love that math can be touched in this way

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

and geometry, and physics, and so MUCH more.

To all "bourgeois" parents who don't get innovation

Sat, 17 Aug 2019 23:00:00 +0000

Breaking News: Bourgeoisie isn’t what it used to be.

NO, it's not maths and tech specialists who need Hippocratic Oath

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Not (WAY) before others, that is.

Which tech makes liberals believe in conspiracies?

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Deepfakes videos? Virtual Reality? Nah.

Death, the digital way

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Death, life: what’s the difference now?

The Amazons of Africa face TWO big challenges, not one

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

A quest for addresses may send Africa down the wrong path.

3D Printing or serious waste management? Both, of course

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

3D printing must minimize both the plastic not reused today, AND the one produced tomorrow.

Robots caring for the elders. Or for growth?

Sat, 10 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Robot nurses and doctors. How will they be managed?

2019 is the worst smartphone year ever. Or the BEST?

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

It’s complicated. Not.

"3d printed food" means 3 VERY different things

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

At least three, that is. Not equally realistic, or fair.

Quick! Go visit the Geocities Archive!

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Holy cow! (some) Geocities page are still online!

Could India's car crisis save her from ending like Nigeria?

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Leapfrogging: “rapid move forward, through the adoption of modern systems, without going through intermediary steps.”

What China AI-based education tells us about work

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Or, more exactly: the MEANING of education and FUTURE of work.

Startups cannot die Open Source

Sat, 03 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Do you know what lawyers tell startups that die, and why?

The concrete dangers of cement

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

An ugly title for a very serious topic.

Wanted: electric OLD cars, not new ones

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“Just buy a NEW electric car”? Duh.

Wrong question: Can Robots Fix Recycling?

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Right question: how can we recycle as little as possible?

Hey, "makerspaces under pressure to revamp business models"

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Check here, please.

Everyone moans about privacy? Of course

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Everyone moans about privacy, but…

The endangered power of forgetting

Sat, 27 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

To forget or not to forget. But what?

IoT for Sustainable Energy? Really?

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Are we sure, asks Mr. Jevons? Let’s look at the whole picture, please.

Autonomous learning, coding for all, and reality

Thu, 25 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Life is too short to learn alone, or learn the last things first.

There can never be a Smart City without...

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

The most basic stuff. Of course.

E-VOTING or... digital ELECTIONS?

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 08:00:00 +0000

The latter, of course!

Missing: LOCAL journalism linked to CRITICAL Citizen Science

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Don’t work harder. Work more connected.

There are MANY ways to get "Fewer Features, Not More"

Sat, 20 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Where did Bloom go? Why? And what does it teach us?

You can't rely on nature for "privacy" any more

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

A great summary of the next great levees of human society" that is falling.

Make art more accessible to disabled people?

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Try DiDIY then!

What a game company tells us about democracy

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Hyerarchies cannot be eliminated. With or without software.

Wokeness? The algorithms made me do it

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

WARNING: this is NOT for or against political correctness.

Two other blows to the "automation will give you better jobs" myth

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Upskill yourself! Quick! The world WANTS you!

5G is everything but real innovation

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

More exactly: real innovation of what matters the most.

Algorithms rearrange Luddites too!

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Especially if they are algorithms for (privatized) bureaucracy.

THIS is (again) why you need RSS instead of "social" media

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Short version: unlike social media, RSS feeds don’t make you [too] angry.

Driverless cars: the wrong people solving the wrong problem

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Not all disruptions are equal. Or disrupt the right things.

Where do the dangers of artificial intelligence come from?

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Is Artificial Intelligence something that should, or could be responsible?

Bringing Personal Fabrication to Jacquard-Woven Textiles

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

(from the DiDIY Project).

Food for thought on air travel and flight shaming

Sat, 06 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Why, exactly, is air travel SO bad for the environment? Is flight shaming the best way to address the problem?

Who owns the night sky?

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Everybody, or… only the people who can afford to sell broadband?

China launches MASSIVE promotion of REAL smartphones

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

You may question the implementation, but the goal is really noble.

Of course Big Tech investors don't fear governments

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

How do you fight monopolist mints? Not with fines, for sure.

The biggest mistake that more and more websites do

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

is to not put front and center their RSS feeds.

On (unbiased?) Journalism in this digital age

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Was there a time when reporters actually reported unbiased facts?

What is a digital divide anyway?

Sat, 29 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

It’s complicated. But we all knew it years ago.

Wanted: EUROPEAN strategy for European Digital Commons

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“Currently, we Europeans have close to no control on…”

To fix insane trade we must reform software too

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

You live in a world where Trade is so Insane that…

Online resources to understand and enjoy maps

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Map or you will be mapped. But why? And where to start?

Big data about Religion. Or the religion OF Big Data?

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

and what does all this mean, eventually?

Quick! Give your kids a permanent online IDENTITY!

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Smartphones can wait. First things first, please.

On Open Source and software reuse, from Italy to India

Sat, 22 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Just what the title says.

Don't worry too much about HUMANS harming your children online

Fri, 21 Jun 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Those are by far the easiest to stop. Or ignore.

Alternatives to harmful human centred design

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Today, “human centred” design is, all too often, more harmful than human. What next?

More selective breeding, er I mean: online dating

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Darwin would be really proud here. Or not?

The real value of advertising. Behavioral or not

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Behavioral ads may be a fraud, but the real power of advertising is still there. Especially online.

The unworkable complexity of DiEM25's data ownership vision

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

The road to hell is paved with licenses and convenience.

Maps are GREAT. Online historical maps are even better

Sat, 15 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Map or you will be mapped. And so will be your past.

Digital abundance, scarce genius...

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

… and better jobs for everybody just around the corner. Yeah, right.

Open Data vs food deserts and social divides

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Food is life. Food is politics. And so information about food.

No broadband? No informed voting, sorry

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Education and jobs? What about the process to govern them?

Rationing may be the new degrowth. And it may be great

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Just much better. As long as it starts in the right places, of course.

When Everything is Software

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

too many things go bad before you can even notice them.

Just a small reminder that this is hardly democracy

Sat, 08 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Or democratic free speech, for that matter.

The future is only rural, unless cities...

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

become REALLY smart. Otherwise it will be just rural, that is not bad, but not as good as it could and should be.

No, it's not Amazon that "helps police to build surveillance networks"

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 22:00:00 +0000

Don’t look just at for-profit companies doing their job. Look at those who don’t.

Main points (and limits) of a new Digital Humanism Manifesto

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 22:00:00 +0000

“The system is failing” said the founder of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee…

On edge computing, the environment, and village life

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 22:00:00 +0000

Here is one more thing that, will you nil you already impacts your environment and quality of life

What seems missing from DiEM25's Democratisation of Technology and Innovation

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Who benefits from “democratising technology and innovation”? Answer: it’s complicated.

The myth of passive social media users, and their war on absence

Sat, 01 Jun 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Passive? Who’s passive?

WHO can AFFORD not to fly in 2020? People or companies?

Fri, 31 May 2019 22:00:00 +0000

Can you? Or your colleagues? What does your boss say?

5G influencers... or just fans and cultist?

Thu, 30 May 2019 23:00:00 +0000

Onalytica just released a list of Top 100 5G Influencers.

How many of us will die in front of a screen?

Wed, 29 May 2019 22:00:00 +0000

Thoughts on a likely way to die, coming soon to a screen near you.

DNA + online dating = self segregating castes, faster

Tue, 28 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

A.k.a “The social trends behind my most successful tweet to date”.

Who deserves welfare? It's all a matter of data

Mon, 27 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

What is poverty? Who is poor? But above all: who REALLY KNOWS who is poor?

Clegg is right, but Facebok is a tobacco company

Sat, 25 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Dismantling Facebook won’t fix what’s wrong with social media, says Facebook’s vice president for global affairs and communications.

Why We Should Stop Fetishizing Big Tech

Fri, 24 May 2019 15:00:00 +0000

They create jobs and encourage innovation for free. What’s wrong with that?

The POLITICAL reasons to support NuScale Power's Small Modular Reactors

Thu, 23 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Or any other reactor of the same type, of course.

WHEN is the right moment to cure mental illness with Artificial Intelligence?

Wed, 22 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“Overall, AI has the promise to provide critical resources we need to overcome our mental health crisis.” OK, but WHEN?

We DO need a worldwide Amazon service. We just need somebody else to run it

Tue, 21 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

The only problem with Amazon is that it is a company. One, too fast company.

FreedomBox: simple, inexpensive... and very likely ineffective

Mon, 20 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

On May 7th, 2019, Professor Eben Moglen delivered a keynote address titled “Why Freedom of Thought Requires Attention”…

The Matrix will start in 2025

Sat, 18 May 2019 08:00:00 +0000

and there is no need for you to plug into it. You already are.

Thanks Zendaya for doing the right thing on the Web

Fri, 17 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

I had no idea who Zendaya is until 5 minutes ago. Then I discovered that she is doing something good.

Two micro-comments on Universal Basic Income and bad jobs, if I may

Thu, 16 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

It seems to me that many discussions about guaranteed income or/vs guaranteed jobs keep missing a couple of points.

The deliberate production of ignorance, and a suggestion to contain it

Wed, 15 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Everybody who already knew what agnotology means, raise their hands. And then read this anyway, please.

Sometimes, mobility may use a bit less bicycles and more Open Data

Tue, 14 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Let’s look at what a non-profit discovered when it discovered data:

Porn confirms that driverless cars are fake

Mon, 13 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Fake autopilot considered harmful? Not that we did not know this already, of course.

Minority Report 2.0: Behaviour, not content

Sat, 11 May 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Behaviour, not content. Said John Anderton, Chief of Facebook PreCrime.

Two views of privacy, and consent made meaningless

Fri, 10 May 2019 14:00:00 +0000

For a great description of the Californian surveillance model, look no further.

What killed decent jobs is NOT sophistication

Thu, 09 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

“How did we decide that professors don’t deserve job security or a decent salary?”, he asked. Me: not by increasing sophistication, for sure.

Facebook's War Room is the opposite of the Fight Club. And full of elephants

Tue, 07 May 2019 10:00:00 +0000

but boy, is it going to LOOK good on TV!

A simple, great summary of the BIG issues with Machine Learning

Tue, 07 May 2019 06:00:00 +0000

The six answers you want to have about Machine Learning, all in one place.

What is worst, the Royal Baby, or beer at the Rugby World Cup?

Mon, 06 May 2019 14:00:00 +0000

I mean, seriously. Please get yourself a (virtual!) Royal Baby Beer and look at all the news:

Amazon could be (almost) OK if it just became a SLOW standard

Sat, 04 May 2019 11:00:00 +0000

Central planning works great. Not in USSR, in “capitalism”. Now, if it only were slower…

The best argument for Universal Basic Income? The laws of physics

Fri, 03 May 2019 10:00:00 +0000

What is the worst that could happen if robots actually took all jobs? Not getting a salary anymore, or getting one just to screw the world with it?

What's wrong with automatic farming STARTUPS

Thu, 02 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Easy. It’s the fact that they are startups, of course

Open Data do fight inequality and discrimination. If...

Wed, 01 May 2019 18:00:00 +0000

If they are the right data to answer the right questions, that is.

The banal evil of Big Tech, and who I wish reacted more to it

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 11:00:00 +0000

Big Tech is just banal, after all. In a way that makes me long for much more reactions to it by certain “groups”.

Data portability is useless. Hardware is a privilege

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

And no “freedom box” should make us forget these facts.

Pepsi potatoes: a preview of IP-based serfdom

Sat, 27 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

“Intellectual Property” does have some sort of place and role to play in a modern society. Hopefully not THIS one.

What we already knew about (big) data-driven inequality

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Warnings and examples of algorithms and “Big Data” that exploit or discriminate people in ways unknown to their very authors appear more and more frequently in the news. But they are not news.

Ford and others prove me right on driverless cars. Again

Thu, 25 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Last year I saw CEOs of the car industry implicitly acknowledge that the world has reached “peak car”. It happened again, just worse. For them, at least.

Yes, we got gatekeepers. We just got the wrong ones

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 06:00:00 +0000

If there is too much violence and radicalization online, it is not because of lack of gatekeepers.

What if we just outlawed INSTANTNESS in social networks?

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

To see what I mean, let’s start from some facts (emphasis mine):

Thoughts on energy (3 of 3): The political impacts of renewables or nuclear

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 06:00:00 +0000

again: on “Business as Usual”, of course.

Social media infer a lot and it's all YOUR fault

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Inference plus facial recognition are BAD, but what makes them actually toxic is you.

The "smart charger" sadly limited to solve "First" world problems

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Question: why so many Kickstarter projects are not targeting the users that would need them the most?

The latest PROOFS that Amazon Echo is a 1984 telescreen

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

The purpose of the telescreens in Orwell’s 1984 is to constantly reinforce…

The continuing, appalling idiocy of "modern", "smart" phones

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 05:00:00 +0000

…is something we all know, but do not fight enough.

The chilling effect the Notre Dame fire may have on crowdfunding

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Or I should say “an OVERDUE effect?” I am not sure, really.

Even more reasons to AVOID Google's AMP

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0000

IN January 2018 I concluded that I do not like Google’s AMP. Now I found even more reasons to dislike it, and one of them may be from Bruxelles.

Thoughts on energy (2 of 3): as time goes on, nuclear looks less and less bad

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Or, at least, more and more unavoidable.

Winston Smith has been just transferred to Wikipedia

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Winston Smith’s greatest pleasure in life was in his work. Most of it was tedious, but included in it there were also delicate pieces of forgery…

Do you REALLY want "more women in science and engineering"?

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

On April 10th, 2019, the first “photograph” of a black hole was made public. Minutes after that, another photograph has started to be used as a flag to inspire women worldwide… in what I fear is a limiting way.

In 2016, Brexit also was a failure of Open Data. Will this happen again?

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

One Brexit fact that really nobody can deny is that, so far, too many decisions and promises have been made… without enough data to back them.

Machine learning for security clearances... of a Snowden Generation?

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0000

What happens when you spend tons of money on sophisticated people-monitoring algorithms, but the people to monitor…

Thoughts on energy (1 of 3): role and limits of Renewables

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Renewables cannot solve our problems. If the goal is Business as Usual, of course.

What is worst than Russians using social networks to influence your elections?

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Answer: a privately run, for-profit social network so powerful to tell a country the rules of political campaigns.

What if who decides what you see online were your father?

Sun, 07 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0000

No, this is not a hypothetical question.

Breaking up Facebook? Einstein would not be happy

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

I have explained many times while I believe that forcing social networks to follow real interoperability standards is so much more important than “breaking them up”…

Autonomous, driverless cars need 5G? Wait a minute...

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Time for (another) reality check here.

A dangerous way to fix radicalization by video? Suggestions of opposite videos

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 03:00:00 +0000

The internet is radicalizing people (mostly men). An expert suggested a dangerous solution.

Please stop worrying that driverless cars would run over kids

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 03:00:00 +0000

I mean it.Because a few days ago I saw a discussion on Twitter (*) that ran more or less like this:

Coming soon in some EU state: Bad copyright vs Privacy?

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This stuff is really getting out of control.

The sadly wrong targeting of some "smart" outdoor gear

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Quick! Who REALLY needs an electric, smartphone-ready outdoor grill?

A dangerously misleading title about robots

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Robots? Why Robots?

The rest is organizational overhead

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 04:00:00 +0000

An insight on useless work that perfectly matches my own experience in corporate jobs.

How Facebook may neuter the EU Copyright Directive

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 07:30:00 +0000

Just a wild guess, really. Your comments are very appreciated.

The wrong reasons for edge computing: 5G and self-driving cars

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Edge computing: another big effort laid out on what may be very shaky foundations.

Six "smart" devices whose very existence seems dumb

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Please behold six of the gadgets we are supposed to rely on to keep the economy growing and generate lots of well paid jobs:

What is wrong with today's Intellectual Property, in one sentence

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Can books be “consumed”?

The problem with AI? Sometimes is humans. Human PARENTS, that is

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 12:00:00 +0000

Here is some food for thought on the consequences of handling smartphones, social networks and profiling algorithms to parents who, in 99.9999% of cases, are thoroughly unable to handle them.

What may make Warren's "break up Facebook" proposal USELESS

Sat, 09 Mar 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Everybody has been saying for a while that “it’s time to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook”, and now even a USA 2020 presidential candidate has joined that team. Is her proposal complete?

5000 concepts for Europe: update 2019/03/04

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 03:30:00 +0000

About one year ago, I launched the idea of a book listing the “5000 concepts that EVERY European should know”…

One more proof that private Peak Car is here

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 05:00:00 +0000

The car of the future will be “more like a smartphone with wheels”. And this will also be its doom.

Limits and risks of "data as money"

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 04:00:00 +0000

In May 2018 (*), while discussing alternatives to Facebook and similar services, I also criticized the whole general idea of "using one’s own data as a currency".

Fake news, and dangerous ways to detect them

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 06:00:00 +0000

“Have you ever clicked a link on Facebook, been taken to a site you’ve never heard of and wondered

Here is another IoT article that completely ignores...

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 09:00:00 +0000

…a couple of minor issues that may make IoT as advertised fall apart before it gets even halfway along the road.

What should happen when an organization dies?

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Short answer: maybe nothing bad… if you planned for that moment when you CREATED that organizations

Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram merging? A triumph of stupidity, with one upside

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Mark Zuckerberg plans to integrate Facebook’s messaging services — WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger. This has only one BIG positive outcome. And it is big only because of stupidity.

What happens in your iPhone stays...

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

in any other place where YOU sent it yourself, obviously.

The "Death of Tumblr" is nothing but proof n. 99999....

Tue, 04 Dec 2018 05:00:00 +0000

..that we MUST switch to the RIGHT kind of personal clouds NOW.

The Internet of Things? Yes, but ONLY if it is OPEN and ORGANIC

Sun, 02 Dec 2018 06:00:00 +0000

The Internet of Things as advertised today has huge security issues. But they are likely the smallest of its problems.

Brexit means Brexit... and more high-tech pollution too

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

As a consequence of Brexit, the UK will also build its own GPS-equivalent satellite system. What does this really mean?

You NEVER saw this if you are older than 27. No, 32. No...

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Global warming? “Same Young, Same Young”.

Julia exists, and works at Amazon

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 18:00:00 +0000

“Julia was twenty-six years old, and worked on the novel-writing machines in the Fiction Department…”.

Here's what a BIG gap between manufacturing and reality looks like

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a report painting a VERY incomplete picture of “what a manufacturing skills gap of more than 2 million people will look like”.

Some important, appropriate digital developments across Africa

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 08:00:00 +0000

This is “just” a short list of some digital communities and projects for sustainability and social development in Africa that I think everybody should know. I aim to follow this field much more regularly from now on.

Why do you still propose to regulate, break or clone Facebook, Google & C.?

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 08:00:00 +0000

In the last months, I have seen several experts suggest three kinds of solutions to the problems created by today’s social networks. Here I suggest, again, that those solutions are wrong, and then make a request.

Trade wars will boost digital manufacturing. But not at home

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Last summer, professor J. Pearce argued that “Trade wars will boost digital manufacturing - at consumers' own homes with personal 3D printers”. I hope that that 3D printing-enhanced boost happens, but I also believe, and hope, that it will not happen where prof. Pearce says.

Inconvenient Truth, 2018 version

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 03:00:00 +0000

Combine headlines about the economy with those about climate change, and something uncomfortable emerges.

Those little links between Climate Change, income and digital buzzwords

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 03:00:00 +0000

A report issued yesterday about climate change “paints a far more dire picture of its immediate consequences than previously thought”. It also contains, between the lines, some links and implications that I have not seen in mainstream media yet.

The embarrassing absurdity of Article 11, explained

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Article 11 of the recently approved EU Copyright Directive is going to be fun. Eventually.

Comments to "Whither Peer Production"

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 08:00:00 +0000

“Then Peer Production sat down and wept, because there were not other worlds for her to conquer”

Why I share OLD bookmarks

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 08:00:00 +0000

This month, I started sharing lots of OLD (5 or more years old) web pages. Yesterday, I discovered why.

Reason N. 999... why Sustainable Development needs good Open Data

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 18:00:00 +0000

is right behind, or above, urban population growth.

Doubts on Software Licenses, 2018 version

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Last month I found, once more, that this fundamental topic of our times keeps going through the same, decades-long doubts, and maybe errors.

The ONLY thing to "regulate" in Facebook, Google & C

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 08:00:00 +0000

There are many proposals that governments should nationalize, break up or “regulate” Facebook and similar platforms. Those proposals range from useless to dangerous. With one exception.

Software vs. your rights and quality of life, revisited

Thu, 02 Aug 2018 18:00:00 +0000

I have been saying for at least twelve years that your civil rights and the quality of your life depend on how software is used AROUND you. In July 2018, I found the same concept expressed very well by somebody else.

Better Internet service for Indigenous communities? Right. Then what?

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 18:00:00 +0000

In rural, remote and northern communities across Canada, First Nations technicians are taking on Internet connectivity challenges themselves. Then what?

Stratus Sphere: a guest post about personal clouds...

Sun, 29 Jul 2018 18:00:00 +0000

..and how host and federate (=connect) them.

Hey Silicon Valley: why don't you disrupt TOILETS?

Sat, 28 Jul 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Many millions of people still have no sensible toilets. Millions of others play with 21st century smartphones, while sitting on 19th century toilets. Progress this is not.

A "complex" economy may make all journalists blind

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 18:00:00 +0000

I found a paper about concentration of certain human activities in large cities that… maybe does not give enough coverage to some among the most important of those activities.

The good and the bad in China's "Open Source on hyperspeed"

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Is the new Shanzai, and China digitization in general, really “Open Source on hyperspeed”? Not really. But there IS lots to learn from it.

Blockchain tech VS blockchain NOW

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 05:00:00 +0000

All you need to know about blockchain is here.

Important IoT announcement

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:00:00 +0000

OK, that does it. I just discovered another incredible “Internet of Things” story, and I have something important to ask, and say, about it. Please share this as much as you can.

Our self-flying car future? Not so flying

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Self-flying cars can fly very fast… until they meet two obstacles: transport optimization and… other self-flying cars.

Internet costs 40 percent less. Aren't you happy?

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 10:00:00 +0000

“Since, 2007, the price of electricity has gone down, along with the price of clothing and wireless phone service.” Is this great or not? I mean…

EU research on digital DIY "vs" gun control becomes even more relevant

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 01:00:00 +0000

A landmark legal decision makes it possible for everybody to make their own, untraceable assault rifles at home. What now?

5000 concepts for Europe: update 2018/07/11

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 23:30:00 +0000

Below please find the over SEVEN HUNDRED suggestions received so far for my proposal of a “5000 concepts for Europe” book.

In praise of modular, "good enough" computing

Tue, 10 Jul 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Here are the key concepts of a great white paper.

THIS is the right way to build and buy computers

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Have you ever had to replace a whole computer for NO real reason? Look at this project then.

Who needs insurance when they can have a blockchain?

Sat, 07 Jul 2018 01:19:02 +0000

Almost everybody, I guess. Even if it may be a very different kind of insurance.

Agriculture innovation in India: is it looking in the right direction?

Thu, 05 Jul 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Tradition is merging with information technology in indian agriculture. Is this happening in the most sustainable way, or going backwards?

The EU copyright directive may likely destroy its main SUPPORTERS

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 04:30:00 +0000

Namely, publishers.

The EU copyright directive is a mess that may do a lot of good

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 04:00:00 +0000

The “copyright directive” that will be voted tomorrow in the EU parliament is so (words fail me here) to be, as they say, “not even wrong”. But if it is approved, it may have a wonderful, long overdue unintended consequence.

Side effects of Public Administrations using WhatsApp

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Or any other similar service, actually. Here is just one small example from Mumbai.

China court that likes blockchain shows EU how to...

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 08:00:00 +0000

A Chinese court just issued a ruling that may have huge implications for blockchain in China, and give EU lawmakers some good ideas.

Indian companies learning about file formats the hard way

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Some Indian companies recently got a lesson about file formats that the WHOLE world needs to learn. But it is a lesson that is at least ten years old.

IoT is the new plastic

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Had you noticed that marketing for the Internet of Things is about seventy years old?

Making the Internet Affordable to Everybody. OK. What now?

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 08:15:00 +0000

A great project that ended a few months ago did something essential, but it is also something that may hide a bigger problem.

If you want REALLY clean solar energy, you need Open Source lawn mowers

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, we do. Because “clean energy” from photovoltaic installation may pollute a lot without them.

Self-Flying cars instead of self-driving cars. Hmmm

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Why stop at self-DRIVING cars when we could have self FLYING ones?

Data stored by governments? No, thanks

Sat, 23 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

What is the point of replacing Facebook and Google with the same things, just with another “owner”?

A 100% cashless society would be great. Except for a couple of things

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Living without ever using any physical money is already possible in many places. But it has at least two big drawbacks, that most people do not seem to see at all.

Marriott Hotels, where "sharing" marries...

Thu, 21 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Do you need a privacy-enhanced hotel room? No problem.

Some movie broke some record. Thanks, copyright. Or not?

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

A movie just broke exactly the same record of many other movies before it, and for exactly the same reason: copyright abuse.

An explanation of tech buzzwords, and why I like it

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

On March 22nd, 2018, prof. Arvind Narayanan tweeted a great “explanation of tech-buzzwords”.

The unseen rudeness of WhatsApp and Telegram users

Mon, 18 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Actions that people would NEVER do in a non-digital world are today built into the tools they depend on every day.

Facebook and Google supporting Wikipedia. How NOT cool is that?

Sun, 17 Jun 2018 15:00:00 +0000

For-profit corporations funding the only source of information for millions of people that they still don’t control? What could possibly go wrong?

Is Wi-Fi "harmful"? No idea, but please discuss it in the right way

Sat, 16 Jun 2018 08:15:00 +0000

An paper published this year argues that Wi-Fi is harmful, in spite of previous studies claiming the contrary. Even if it is wrong, there is ONE sentence in that paper that EVERYBODY, scientist or not, should read and remember.

Guess who may be testing new payment systems in India

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 23:00:00 +0000

Two months ago I signalled that little or no regulation may leave a powerful company free to not only lock up emerging markets in Asia, but also to control, in the same areas, new payment systems or distribution of information over mobile phones. That was two months ago.

How a tuna from Fiji confirmed my "blockchain for food" doubts

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

I only saw today a post published a few weeks ago, titled “Following a Tuna from Fiji to Brooklyn—on the Blockchain”.

Dating app scandal from India proves that you DO HAVE something to hide. Yes, YOU

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 10:00:00 +0000

The popular dating app Tinder was caught charging its users as much as three times more for the same service, depending on the ages of those users. What does this mean?

The Tanzanian law lots of western politicians would love to copy

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 04:00:00 +0000

The state-run Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) just issued an order that lots of politicians in Europe, USA and generally the whole western “first world” would LOVE to be able to issue.

Two dumb ideas: abandoning encrypted email and using phone numbers as account names

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

The text below is NOT mine. But I agree with pretty much everything it says, and it says things about email, instant messaging and online identity that everybody should know, here it goes.

The stupidest EU proposal that you can and want to block NOW

Sun, 10 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Here is my own humble summary of the stupidest idea you NEED to block now in Europe, in the simplest possible terms.

The biggest, untold problem of using blockchain in agriculture

Sat, 09 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Blockchain is a promising technology that is still shock full of hype. Farming is a literally vital component of society that is in dire straits worldwide. What happens if the two try to work together?

China, Russia and California confirm urgent, worldwide need for Personal Clouds

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

“Data used to be much simpler”. Too simple, probably. Starting this year, we have one more reason to deploy personal clouds as soon as possible: peak data governance.

Teens have abandoned Facebook and it's bad

Sun, 03 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Don’t worry, I am not out of my mind. I still say we should all leave Facebook now. I still promote a way to do it that is jus a tiny bit more realistic and feasible in the short term than almost everything I’ve seen around so far. Still, the reasons and the way teens are abandoning Facebook are bad. Or, as a minimum, misreported.

Eric Schmidt's vision about AI may not be "exactly complete"

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Eric Schmidt, former Google Ceo, says that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is “exactly wrong” about Artificial Intelligence (AI). I dare suggest that Schmidt’s vision may not be “exactly complete”.

Food for thought found on Twitter about "legislation as code"

Tue, 29 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

What would happen if laws were written and maybe even “executed”, that is applied, as if they were computer software code?

Do we really need 5G mobile networks? Ask GDPR and seahorses

Mon, 28 May 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Telecom companies say that the world needs mountains of new, way faster, Fifth Generation (=5G) mobile networks to cope with the unavoidable arrival of the Internet of Things. GDPR and seahorses may disagree.

GDPR? OK, here you go

Fri, 25 May 2018 02:00:00 +0000

Hello World. GDPR has come, so I must tell you how I complied, and how your privacy will (not) suffer by visiting this website. Here I go. Please read, because this is short, but above all it’s about MORE than GDPR.

That TERRIBLE LibreOffice tip that never dies

Thu, 24 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

It is the one you keep finding scattered all over the Web. Here is another case.

Tyranny of Metrics, teaching to the test and Open Data

Tue, 22 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Professor Jerry Muller, author of The Tyranny of Metrics, argues that measuring performance by numbers backfires.

Proposal: replace online advertising with microformats for ads

Sat, 19 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a tiny proposal, albeit VERY likely NOT original, to solve a big digital issue of our time.

More proofs that I am right to not write on Medium etc..

Thu, 17 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Three weeks ago I explained why, by default, I do NOT write on Medium, LinkedIn, Patreon and similar websites. This week I found more perfect examples of how good at least two of my reasons are.

Women, you are not emancipated unless you buy Smart Appliances

Tue, 15 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

And you all knew this SIXTY YEARS AGO, as this picture proves beyond any reasonable doubt:

The cultural danger inside voice recognition by artificial intelligence

Sun, 13 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Flaws in voice recognition software like Siri may be causing more road accidents. In the long run, however, such systems will also cause, or increase, something else

Blockchain in farming? It may be incompatible with...

Fri, 11 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

your whole current lifestyle, basically.

The age of platforms

Thu, 10 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Platforms. Platforms everywhere.

What everybody can and SHOULD learn by READING about Aadhaar

Tue, 08 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Aadhaar is India’s digital identity system. By reading the right stuff about Aadhaar everybody, no matter where he or she lives, may learn a lot about crucial stuff like Free/Open Source software, Open Government and Open Data.

Yes, you may soon download a house. And that would be terrible

Sun, 06 May 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Question: “What if you could download and print a house in 24 hours for half the cost?” My answer: it would probably be a terrible thing, something to avoid, for you and everybody around, sooner or later.

From loneliness to smart cities, in one sentence

Sat, 05 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

A very interesting article from India says, among other things, something we in so-called “first world” countries already knew, but says it well:

"Making should not be anything new". But maybe it already is

Fri, 04 May 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Making shouldn’t be anything new, but the maker movement is pretending otherwise. Or so they said. Are YOU sure?

The limits of "banning discrimination through Artificial Intelligence"

Wed, 02 May 2018 18:00:00 +0000

In April 2018, the “Finnish Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal” prohibited “discriminatory use” of artificial intelligence. I am not sure they did the right thing.

Life as a Service is coming. Aren't you happy?

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Amazon is now selling… something right out of a Sci-Fi movie. Nah, even better:

Who gives Facebook data about non-Facebook users?

Sun, 29 Apr 2018 18:00:00 +0000

There is a lot of talking these days about Facebook getting data about people who are not on Facebook, but not enough on WHO gives Facebook those data.

Tesla troubles show even more limits of fake autonomous cars

Sat, 28 Apr 2018 10:00:00 +0000

There are “autonomous vehicles” and then there are “autonomous vehicles”. But some kinds of autonomous vehicles are much dumber than others, and proofs of this fact continue to come.

Why I do not write on LinkedIn. Or Medium. Or Patreon. Or...

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 18:00:00 +0000

or Wordpress.com. Or Blogger. Or… OK, you get my drift. There are several important reasons why I almost never do that, have no intention to do otherwise, and invite everybody else to do the same.

The worst thing about that girl who designed porn banners for a living is NOT porn

Thu, 26 Apr 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Maybe you had not realized it yet, but the shady industry of porn attracts some REAL professionals. As in this case of the girl who

Breaking into the SHARING economy???

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 11:27:53 +0000

I have argued for a while, making concrete examples, that it is really ridiculous, and a sign of incompetence, to call stuff like Uber or AirBnB “sharing economy”. This week one of those examples came true.

Gmail's new design will include a 'useless mode'

Sun, 22 Apr 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Does a new feature give Gmail users control over how emails are used? No. Not really, no (update 2018/05/06: and I found out is even worst than it seemed).

Experimentation in agriculture IS necessary. Just make it as diverse as possible

Sat, 21 Apr 2018 11:30:00 +0000

I recently observed that the only missing voices at a coming Summit on Agriculture seemed to be… farmers, and digital technologies that THEY could design and control. This is the answer I just received

What would United States v. Ackerman be, without AOL?

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Eight years ago, I wrote that, when it comes to email, the more interesting barrier to its proper usage may be laws that only see companies and individuals, but nothing in between. A case under appeal now in the USA shows that, indeed, this may be the case.

The bright, planetary next billion of Facebook users

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 06:30:00 +0000

Frederic Filloux argues that Facebook' future is “bright and planetary” because:

Limits, and one big side effect, of granting personhood status to "robots"

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 06:30:00 +0000

Let’s play conspiracy theories for a moment: what is the REAL reason why the European Parliament is proposing to treat robots as human beings? Even better: WHICH robots should benefit of such a recognition? WHAT is a robot, anyway?

Quick: what is the FIRST thing that should be open to democratic control, and used for the common good?

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 16:30:00 +0000

Two articles about a great issue of our time just made me a bit sad.

Everything that's wrong in Zuckerberg's hearing, in one paragraph

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 14:30:00 +0000

It’s there, in one article.

Every year fewer and fewer words...

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 06:30:00 +0000

Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. So said Mark Zuckerberg, and so far almost nobody seems to have noticed his source.

What seems missing from that agriculture summit

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 11:30:00 +0000

I discovered only this morning that next May there will be a very interesting meeting about “The Digital Revolution - Farming 4.0”. Its announcement, however, makes me wonder how complete that meeting will be.

Some questions about mangoes, blockchain and fraud

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Investors worldwide are pushing blockchain and the Internet of Things inside literally everything. Including food. This leaves many of us, including me, a bit confused and skeptical. Here is one case where a bit more of explanation may make things easier to accept.

This is what I mean by "treating driverless cars like trains"

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Six months ago, I wrote that “the REAL name of self-driving cars must become something like

How do you make fast fashion an even bigger problem than it already is?

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Easy! You just mix it with the right buzzwords.

NO, It's NOT "Time for Mark Zuckerberg to Give Up Control of Facebook"

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 08:00:00 +0000

It’s time for the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world to become irrelevant, instead. Even if they are cooperatives

The Caves of Steel are coming, and this may be good. As long as...

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 10:00:00 +0000

There are now twice as many people as 50 years ago, and they are already concentrating into cities anyway. Therefore…<!–more—>

Therefore, they say, doing more of that, until we all live in Caves of Steel leaving the planet “empty” could be the best thing we may ever do. Maybe, but only if it happens in the right way

The Internet of Things Is Coming. Inside Us. But not like you think.

Thu, 29 Mar 2018 08:00:00 +0000

John Vidal says that the plastics crisis is more urgent than you know, because plastic is “in our food, our clothes - and in us”. But it may be even worst than he says

Smart contracts, these are not

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 08:00:00 +0000

This is just an excerpt,with some comments of a very interesting article about how little lawmakers know about technology, and software developers about laws and legal systems.

The cars that drive themselves. But only if you drive them too

Mon, 26 Mar 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Have you seen that video of a driverless car that killed a cyclist, with the car “passenger” unable to do anything about it? Personally, I find that video a perfect proof of something I’ve always thought: the huge, BASIC problem with “driverless cars” with a driver that should step in when needed.

A too often forgotten problem with the Internet of Things

Sun, 25 Mar 2018 05:00:00 +0000

There is a good article at Medium about “Ethical Electronics”, that is the need for a MUCH more environmentally responsible design of the Internet of Things (IoT). The most relevant parts, which say everything but one thing, are these:

The paradoxes of journalism, and the best way to (not) DeleteFacebook

Sat, 24 Mar 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Italian newspaper Repubblica interviewed Evgeny Morozov about the Cambridge Analityca scandal, and the related #deletefacebook case. Both the printed and the online version of the interview illustrate the pervasiveness and dangers of Big Data and Big Tech in more than one way. This is the paper version:

Three ways in which IoT is NOT harming the environment

Sat, 24 Mar 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Did you know that connected devices are helping catch illegal poachers, save the bees, and more? Those appplications of the Internet of Things are explained in a great article… with a wrong title.

On paying for everything you WANT to read, and others be damned

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Does paying for almost everything you read put you at a distinct advantage? On one hand, yes, no doubt. On the other, I find certain propositions a bit troubling.

Q: Can we convert facebook into a global coop? A: WHY should we?

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 04:00:00 +0000

“Seems like Facebook is going downhill for here. Perhaps opportunity to convert it into a global coop?” When I saw this question asked online, I couldn’t help but repeat asking how to convert Facebook, Twitter and similar platforms into a global coop is not the right question. The right question is: WHY should anyone do such a thing? What good would it make?

THIS is all you need to know about Cambridge Analytica

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 15:40:00 +0000

In my humble opinion, THE one thing you should know about the Cambridge Analytica scandal is that…

5000 concepts for Europe: update 2018/03/18

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 15:30:00 +0000

Below please find the over FIVE HUNDRED suggestions received so far for my proposal of a “5000 concepts for Europe” book. With respect to the last update, there are quite interesting quotes about Europe, more entries from or about Eastern Europe, music, philosophy, economy and science. Check them out!

Ford just patented a hijacking system

Mon, 12 Mar 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Ford has applied for a patent that would let criminals attach themselves to your vehicle and hijack you and your kids wherever they want.

WITHOUT perclouds you may not do anything else right

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 05:00:00 +0000

This is an answer to a question I just received about the percloud, my proposal for really usable alternatives to centralized social networks and services like Gmail and Facebook.

Please just REFUSE the Right to Repair the Wrong Things

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 14:00:00 +0000

A new lobbying group is fighting Right to Repair laws, in a way that proves that certain things should be AVOIDED at all costs, not repaired.

On the real impact of fake news, echo chambers and filter bubbles

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Fake news, echo chambers, filter bubbles: how much do they REALLY create or influence people’s opinions on politics, or anything else?

What Linux "needs to target" is the PAST of its potential users

Sat, 03 Mar 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Ouch. Here goes another “Linux desktops” article that misses a crucial point:

ALL intelligence "needs uncertainty". Not just "Artificial Intelligence"

Sat, 03 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Here is one of the “least expected research findings” of the century:

Embraco, firing people to make in a cheaper country the SAME, WRONG appliances

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 09:32:39 +0000

Hundred of Embraco workers will very likely lose their jobs soon, because that company is moving production of its fridge compressors to Slovakia. Italian media, politicians and unions are (rightly) talking a lot of those workers. Almost nobody, however, is discussing what KIND of fridges and compressors should be produced, by Embraco or anybody else.

The question nobody asked that Ghana teacher

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 10:00:00 +0000

The Internet is going wild about a Ghana teacher who is teaching how to pass a Microsoft Word examination test using only a blackboard. As far as I can tell, however, so far nobody asked him (and the Ghana government, of course) this specific question:

The science of genetics-based dating is dubious at best. If you are lucky

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 07:08:20 +0000

Wired reports that a new dating app sends users a swab kit in order to “match potential mates based on genetic and social compatibility”.

Father of school shooting victim fights conspiracy theories with censorship

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 11:08:20 +0000

I sincerely apologize for the clickbait title, but sometimes you really can’t avoid them.

5000 concepts for Europe: update 2018/02/24

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 11:30:00 +0000

Below please find the over 300 suggestions received so far for my proposal of a “5000 concepts for Europe” book. Respect to the previous updates, the biggest news seem to be lots of suggestions for novels, and about Eastern Europe.

The intrinsic dumbness of connected cars, part 2

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Picture this: you’re driving home from work, doing something completely useless.

Please STOP demanding (self) regulation of Facebook, INSTEAD of turning it into a...

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today, a former Washington Post publisher and Facebook board member rightly opposed requests “for the regulation of big technology companies”… but omitting a crucial point.

THIS post may be copyright infringement. Yes, THIS ONE

Tue, 20 Feb 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Yes, you read that right. This is one reason:

The progress behind digital loneliness

Mon, 19 Feb 2018 14:00:00 +0000

I just read something that feels like “everything today’s tech is doing wrong, in ONE SENTENCE”. Then I realized another way to look at it.

Robot dogs opening doors. Or keeping them shut?

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0000

There’s some new dog-like robot who just “learned to open doors”. Most people are excited, or scared, by the dog itself. Maybe they should worry more about the door.

Children should build their online presence. Sure, but where?

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

There is a post about children and their online presence that is great, except for a serious omission.

The next three titles about cops with fingerprint scanners

Mon, 12 Feb 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Wired reports that “UK police are now using fingerprint scanners on the streets to identify people in less than a minute”. I have a feeling that the next three titles on the same topic may be something like these:

What's the difference between a blockchain-powered city and...?

Sat, 10 Feb 2018 11:00:00 +0000

“Blockchain-powered smart cities are more attainable than people imagine”, says this article. Cool. But so is …

A reminder from Storify to all platform cooperatives

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Storify is a very popular service to turn what people post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,,, into compelling “stories” that can be embedded in any web page. I believe that its annunced death can teach something to all platform cooperatives.

Open Source home appliances!

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 12:00:00 +0000

If you can only fund one project this year, please put this in your short list:

It's 2018, and Libre Office is still promoted in the wrong way?

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

A recent review of LibreOffice 6.0 explains well how good it is, but also presents as a feature what actually is a failure (not in LibreOffice!).

Uber "self-driving trucks" are NOT trucks. And this means that...

Sun, 04 Feb 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Uber believes that Self-Driving Trucks will result in MORE jobs for truck drivers, not less. Why, and what does this REALLY mean?

5000 concepts for Europe: update 2018/02/02

Fri, 02 Feb 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Below please find the suggestions received so far for my proposal of a “5000 concepts for Europe” book. What do you think?

The cost of five MORE years without perclouds

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 06:00:00 +0000

The percloud (“permanent/personal cloud”) is the simple, integrated alternative to Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Flickr, Dropbox… that I first proposed in 2013. Yesterday, the P2P Foundation stimulated new discusssions about the percloud,

The percloud is still only a proposal. For everybody

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 09:00:00 +0000

This morning, Michel Bauwens asked if any part of my proposals for personal clouds are actually working, or if they still are just proposals. The answer is: Yes, they still are “just proposals. Here is why, and why you should still care.

How to customize the Facebook News Feed (infographic)

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

It is possible to customize what Facebook shows you in its News Feed. Here is how to do it, and above all WHY, explained in the simplest possible manner.

Er.. No, sorry: Facebook CANNOT provide transparency

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 18:00:00 +0000

Requests that Facebook “opens up its algorithms” continue to come. Because nobody seems to realize that, no matter how surely well-meaning those proposals are, they are structurally impossible to satisfy, on any centralized platform like Facebook.

If you were worried about Russia hacking elections...

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

… just stop one moment to appreciate this article, and realize what its real title may (or should?) be:

The fix for Facebook is NOT a different PLATFORM

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

An article by Roger McNamee titled “How to Fix Facebook - Before it fixes us” does a great job of describing the problems created by Facebook or any other platforms working in the same way, but contradicts itself when it proposes certain kinds of regulatory fixes.

When news are true, but CLONED

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 16:00:00 +0000

There is fake news, that is the more or less “alternative-” facts published specifically for political propaganda, or just to make some buck. But there is also news that are true but deliberately CLONED, like animals in factory farms. Here is a real-world example from Italy (IMPORTANT UPDATE, July 17th 2018, at the bottom of the post!!)

Four BAD online habits you very likely have

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Here are four habits that make millions of people waste huge amounts of time, often without even making them feel better.

About "managing personal fabrication on a mass scale"

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 11:00:00 +0000

There is a post on the P2P blog about the (digital) Fabrication Divide which, on one point, is not entirely correct.I am talking of this specific sentence: “The key question that hasn’t been asked is how will humanity manage personal fabrication on a mass scale” That key question has been asked, by me and all the other members of the EU-funded DiDIY (Digital DIY) Project, ran from 2015 to 2017. We also provided some answers, which are listed below.

When software turns churches from sanctuary to surveillance agents

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 07:40:00 +0000

There are the churches you do NOT want to enter if you care about digital rights, or even just privacy.

More about "why no new AND successful FOSS projects..."

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 06:30:00 +0000

Answering a few comments received via Twitter to my post Why no more new AND successful FOSS projects in the last ten years?

Of high-tech companies, and fablab potential in Trivandrum

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 04:00:00 +0000

Last month I visited Trivandrum for the Swatantra17 Conference. I already wrote about that event, but I saw more in Trivandrum.

A little proposal to make Eelo more valuable

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Eelo is a project to build “Desirable, privacy-enabled smartphones & web services”. This is a proposal about the “web services” part of Eelo, as presented here.

That collapse brought by Facebook, and its Whatsapp/Telegram corollary

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 11:00:00 +0000

If the research is any indication, writes Dr Raynes-Goldie, Facebook and other social media make people “feel inadequate or maybe even a bit depressed”. Why, and how? The answer, as they say “is complicated”, but one part of it is especially fascinating, and everybody should be aware of it.

Most absurd and invasive things done by tech platforms

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 06:00:00 +0000

This is my own, personal selection of the “most absurd and invasive, but TRUE things done by tech platforms”(*):

Plans of the car industry, and my vision of driverless cars

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Two recent articles from the top of the car industry confirm my assumptions and positions on driverless cars, and the right way to call and manage them.

Are dumb smart homes also coming to India?

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

One month ago I visited Trivandrum. It was a wonderful experience, in which I learned, or found confirmations of, a lot of good things about India. I also noticed one thing that made me a bit sad, though.

Forget blockchain. THESE are smart contracts

Mon, 22 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

The blockchain is one of the two or three foundations of the business model of the century. One of its applications should be “smart contracts”. Unless another idea gets the credit it deserves.

Why no more new AND successful FOSS projects in the last ten years?

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

I’ve already reported about the main highlights of the Swatantra17 conference. Here are some more thoughts, about a very general issue, prompted by other things I heard at the same conference.

Why I do NOT like Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Sat, 20 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Here’s an explanation (*) of why I do not like the Google technology and service called AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages).

And THE business model of the year is...

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

It is already evident that THE winning Business Model for year 2018 is:

That time that Facebook declared (again) that it is a Sovereign State

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In case you missed it when it first appeared, please enjoy this interesting paragraph from Mark Zuckerberg’s “personal challenges for 2018”:

Indeed, it seems that Google IS forgetting the old Web

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

XML pioneer and early blogger Tim Bray says that Google maybe suffers of deliberate memory loss. I may have found more evidence that this is the case.

The Blackrock letter, in one sentence...

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 16:00:00 +0000

The founder of a huge investment fund just made a very important announcement, and my instintive reaction was…

You can finally have (virtual) sex with ANYONE you know. Or even...

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Yes, You Can! Just combine these two pieces of news to see how easy it is (and maybe start worrying on which end of that sex you may end up).

Update 2018/01/25: check out the “confirmation” linked below

On Facebook, it's OK to be anti-you and your beliefs

Sat, 13 Jan 2018 15:00:00 +0000

An article about Facebook published last summer is a great read, but the reason why it is great may not be immediately evident:

Unhappy the land that is in need of surgeons and firefighters. Or not?

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 14:00:00 +0000

What do young surgeons and firefighters have in common? Let’s start from a new research which found that:

5000 concepts for Europe: update 2018/1/10

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Below please find the suggestions received so far for my proposal of a “5000 concepts for Europe” book. As last month, some were expected, some much less, at least by me. What do yu think?

Swatantra'17: software freedom, and awareness of larger picture

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Swatantra'17 conference in Trivandrum, Kerala, and came back with a lot of food for thought.

Spectre, explained as if computer were banks

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 03:00:00 +0000

You too can get what Spectre is, and you really should.

The smart devices that notify you when you are dumb

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Every object, no matter how ordinary, can become smart and thus bring your life to whole new levels of joy and awareness. I just found two more proofs of this truth.

On Digital DIY, and its place in India

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk at the Swatantra17 conference in Trivandrum, Kerala, about “Open, Digital DIY manufacturing across countries and cultures” (here are abstract and slides) ). This is a guest post by Mrs Revathi Kollegala, social entrepreneur and collaborative economy advocate, containing her feedback to my slides.

Forget Net Neutrality. Think personal clouds instead

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

The FCC Net Neutrality decision on Dec. 14th, 2017 (*) has rightly caused a lot of outrage, and concrete reactions, both political (e.g. petitions) and technical ones

Transportation as a service needs better cities, not smarter cars

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

I just discovered some declarations from a former vice chairman of General Motors and a Bay Area think thank that confirm what I recently proposed about driverless cars.

5000 concepts for Europe? The first one is...

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In the first 12 hours from its actual public announcement, my proposal of a “5000 concepts for Europe” book yeld some unexpected (for me, at least) results.

5000 concepts for Europe: a book proposal

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 01:00:00 +0000

Thirty years ago (*) a Mr E. D. Hirsch Jr. wrote a book titled “Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know”

Frequently Answered Questions about: 5000 concepts for Europe

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 01:00:00 +0000

These are the Frequently Answered Questions for the book project 5000 concepts for Europe.

THE big question about the Internet of Things is...

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 04:00:00 +0000

There has recently been a MIT workshop on “Low-Latency Wireless Random-Access” which, from a report I’ve just seen, may have been focused on the wrong questions about the Internet of Things.

Repubblica: crappy journalism from The Usual Suspects

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 02:50:00 +0000

Do you remember “Who is Keyser Soze?”? That was the recurring line of a great movie, which is now related to another question: who, in the staff of italian newspaper Repubblica (and many other newspapers too, of course) still makes, or allows, crap like this?

Robots displacing humans... or humans becoming robots?

Sun, 29 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

There is lot of fear around about robots, or more exactly software-powered automation, destroying jobs by the millions. But maybe there is still not enough awareness, and concern, about software creating jobs that only a robot would be happy, and fit, to do.

Once more: online or e-voting? No. Just no

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

OK, let’s summarize this again.

Misleading advice in Europol's cybercrime page

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 08:10:34 +0000

Europol is the EU’s law enforcement agency, whose main goal is “to achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all the EU citizens”. The Europol page about public awareness and prevention mixes good advice with a few… misleading bits of information.

A suggestion for on-demand public transit, from Fiumicino to Los Angeles

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 08:10:34 +0000

Five years ago I wrote that all of precarious workers of the Fiumicino airport should partner and tell, to the many private bus companies that move tourists in and out of the same airport:

How Danish students may become savvy Internet users

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 15:00:00 +0000

It looks like Denmark is discussing a proposal “to encourages students to grant schools access to their personal laptops” in order to avoid cheating at exams. I like it because it is so DUMB that it may achieve a very positive effect anyway, albeit one totally unforeseen by its authors.

Privacy is very recent? So what?

Tue, 17 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

There’s a Medium post about “The Birth and Death of Privacy” that in my opinion is great… except for its very last paragraph.

The Internet should host ALL voices! No, wait...

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 10:00:00 +0000

The “Law of Unintended Consequences” states that “an intervention in a complex system tends to create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes”. I wonder if some 100% legitimate aspirations and well-intentioned proposals to make the internet less “white and western” may have just such consequences.

There is NO free speech inside Facebook

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 12:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, one of my Facebook contacts, whom I’ll call “Jane”, complained on her wall that Facebook had blocked one of her posts. Facebook and free speech myths ensued.

The REAL name, and value, of self-driving cars

Sun, 01 Oct 2017 17:00:00 +0000

The first issue with self-driving cars may be in how you CALL them.

Facebook and Google forcing countries to trust them

Sat, 30 Sep 2017 17:00:00 +0000

Please have a look at this scary title, just appeared on the Web:

The endless, useless CRAP in connected cars

Sat, 23 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Somebody says that it is “Time to buckle up: Why the possibilities of connected cars are endless”, because:

Red Hat Open Source Day rewards with proprietary hardware. For the fourth time

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

The “Open Source Day” by Red Hat Italia is a yearly event in which the italian branch of that corporate Open Source champion:

On male-dominated technology, and marriage

Wed, 17 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Is there a connection between male dominance in ICT, and high-tech in general, and evolution of marriage? I don’t know for sure, but these two pieces make me wonder.

New 3D printing demo opens huge market to makers

Tue, 16 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

They did “The Ultimate (3D printing) Bridge Test”. They had no idea of what may happen next.

Gucci vs the Restaurant Who Must Not Be Named

Sun, 14 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

(this is a translated excerpt of “Uno che si chiama Gucci” by Alessandro Gilioli)

Peer-to-Peer Science: The Century-Long Challenge to Respond to Fukushima

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:42:35 +0000

(this is a guest post by Layne Hartsell and Emanuel Pastreich, who are research fellow and, respectively, director of The Asia Institute. The post, originally published at Foreign Policy In Focus, in September 2013, is now reposted here on invitation of the author, to whom I am grateful, because I consider it a useful complement to my previous work on Open Data).

Individual or collective clouds? Both, of course

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, I presented what I consider a perfect confirmation of my views on “Twitter replacements”. Today, I “defend” that position from “accusations” of individualism.

Mastodon has no users, nor people. But people (can) have Mastodon

Wed, 26 Apr 2017 12:00:00 +0000

I just saw on Twitter and his “replacement”, that is Mastodon, something that in my opinion is a perfect, real-world confirmation that, as I recently said, certain worries about Mastodon flaws and alternative “platforms” are… misplaced. Please have a look at this screenshot:

Facebook and the Future of Global Governance

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 17:42:35 +0000

(this is a guest post by Emanuel Pastreich, director of The Asia Institute, and Professor at Kyung Hee University. The post, originally published at Truthout, in April 2014, is now reposted here on invitation of the author, to whom I am grateful. My own proposal for a better alternative to Facebook and similar services is here)

Mastodon is a problem only if you want it to be a platform

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 08:00:00 +0000

I just found online what is, in my opinion, another proof that certain concerns about the “Twitter replacement” called Mastodon are solid… but the solutions that get the most attention right now may be dead ends.

Nobody cares about online identities? Really?

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Reading my recent posts about “Mastodon flaws"that are NOT flaws and online identities in general, an online contact of mine replied with several comments, whose main points I believe may be synthesized as follows (any error here is mine, of course):

No, you don't need another Twitter. Or another Medium

Fri, 07 Apr 2017 23:00:00 +0000

Last year, we had the “buy Twitter” campaign. Now, the arrival of Mastodon, the last “Twitter replacement”, has caused a lot of renewed talks about what we’d need to replace this or that digital platform. I argue that many of these proposals, wishes and plans may be misplaced, or looking in the wrong directions. Two good examples of what I mean are in this post about Mastodon, and in this thread on mastodon.

On Mastodon flaws, and decentralized services

Fri, 07 Apr 2017 06:00:00 +0000

Mastodon is the latest “Twitter replacement”. Yesterday I said on Twitter that something described as its “bigger flaw” seems no big deal to me. Here I explain why. I had never heard of Mastodon until 2 days ago, when I wrote that yes, even Nazis can use it. Yesterday I found this comment on BoingBoing to a more complete article by Sean Bonner. The Boingboing comment ends with this quote:

Mastodon, or: Can Nazi use Free as in Freedom Software?

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 10:00:00 +0000

Short answer: yes, they can. Regardless of what some websites are saying. Mastodon is “an alternative to Twitter”. Mashable just wrote that: “Mastodon.. in many ways it’s like Twitter, but it is also so not like Twitter… What makes it stand out? It has better privacy controls than Twitter. Also, neo-Nazis are explicitly banned.” and then, 2 lines below: “Mastodon is a type of free and open source software (FOSS) known as “GNU social.

All the absurdity of modern copyright, in ONE removal

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 14:10:00 +0000

Today’s copyright law is ridiculous and offensive, to say the least, and this week it’s Mr Roger’s Neighborhood" turn to prove it. Andrea James writes on Boing Boing that "Over the weekend, two episodes of Mister Roger's Neighborhood "Conflict" series unexpectedly appeared on YouTube after being unavailable for three decades. YouTube quickly removed them, but to many, the timing felt related to Trump's plans to defund PBS." The full story is here, but I’m not mentioning it it because it may “be a message to Trump”.

After Yahoo, it's Amazon's turn to show why a percloud is needed

Sun, 12 Mar 2017 09:00:00 +0000

On February 28th, 2017, a “cockup at Amazon facility in Virginia, US” caused its S3 cloud storage to fail. This fault led to “major websites and services - including Imgur, Medium, Trello, Yahoo webmail, the Docker Registry Hub.. falling offline, losing images, or left running like treacle. Basically, that outage “knackered half the internet, it seems, because it all relies on S3 to store data online”. Just to stress: this is one S3 region that has become inaccessible, yet web apps are tripping up and vanishing as their backend evaporates away.

What the CIA director forgot to say about millennials

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 14:10:00 +0000

Former CIA director Michael Hayden recently said that millennials may leak secrets because they are “culturally different”. OK but.. please let me point out some of the culprits for such a difference, and the fact that those same culprits had been clearly named and described more than three years ago. Mr. Hayden said that millennials have different instincts than the people who hired them and this cultural difference may be the reason why “millennials leak secrets”:

Dumbphone is the new Smartphone. Especially for traveling

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 19:20:16 +0000

On the left: the “new” Nokia cell phone. On the right: why they may be a HUGE commercial success.

That digital divide in Fiumicino airport

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 08:10:34 +0000

(this is a translation of my Italian post of 2012 on the same issue. I’ve done it because the problem, and the need to solve it as imagined below, are still there)

The airport of Fiumicino offers a good example of the real, and really serious digital divide that afflicts many Italians. That divide is not the lack of broadband connectivity, smartphone or computers: it is the lack of knowledge and capability of using those tools for doing something that is actually, really useful for themselves. In the Fiumicino’s case, this can be seen by connecting three facts.

UK Labour "closer scrutiny of algorithms" will be useless. If you are lucky

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 20:04:11 +0000

It looks like the UK Labour party will soon call for closer scrutiny of tech firms and their algorithms. If all goes well, it just won’t work, and that will the end of it. Otherwise, it will be really bad.

William Chumley proposes "obscene content" bill on personal computers

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 09:15:26 +0000

This seems real, and if it is.. This seems real, and if it is.. I thought Italy was among the best when it comes to, huh, less than smart law proposals about computers and the Internet, but it’s not match for South Carolina. Quoting from RT America: A bill pre-filed by Republican State Representative William Chumley would require that personal computers and other devices block internet access to pornography and obscene content This “Human Trafficking Prevention Act” would fine manufacturers or sellers of electronic devices that do not install the blocks, whether they are created in factories or are at the point of sale.

POSS 2016, from Open Hardware to "Open divorce" (*) and formats

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 10:52:35 +0000

I enjoyed POSS2016 in Paris

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Last week, I presented the current status of the EU-funded research I am working on these days, that is DiDIY (Digital DIY), at the Paris Open Source Summit. I have already reported about that side of the conference on the DiDIY blog, but I found many more interesting things at POSS 2016.

The future of ODF, XML and office suites in Public Administrations

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 10:00:31 +0000

Last week I attended the Paris Open Source Summit, were I saw things as interesting and diverse as autonomous tractors, Open Source legal support and “degooglized Internet” visions. Please read that other post to know more. Here, I am only going to describe one other moment of POSS 2016, about two other arguments I care a lot about, and on which I wouldn’t mind working again, even if these days I am mostly busy with Digital DIY.

Core values? Even software, file formats and servers transmit them

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 08:00:55 +0000

On November 4th, 2016, I was invited to attend the Conference by the Pontifical Lateran University on “Core Values - The Transmission of Values in Digital Age”.:

Things I heard at the "Core Values" conference

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 07:50:31 +0000

On November 4th, 2016, the Pontifical Lateran University held a conference on “Core Values – The Transmission of Values in Digital Age”. Radio Vaticana already published an official summary that explains how participants spent the day “posing hard questions to each other about the values that will best inform and sustain a coherent vision of integral human development in changing times” under the guide of Pope Francis' encyclical letter Laudato si'". This post, instead, is only a selection of the “quotable quotes” (from my handwritten notes, my apologies in advance for any error!) that I found most relevant, at least from the crucial point of view that

Gmail Buddy, aka "The Internet of Things we do NOT need"

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 06:42:03 +0000

an Internet of Things that we definitely don’t need

there is a project, over at Seeed, that is a good example of a really (too) large category of projects that I really do not get. At least, I don’t get why they should have anything like “smart” or “smarter” in their name. I’m talking of

Yahoo, or why geeks need to give ALL their friends a PERSONAL email server now

Wed, 05 Oct 2016 07:35:19 +0000

By now, you probably already know that Yahoo scanned customer emails for U.S. intelligence", and if you haven’t you can read all the details in the previous link, or in many other places. Here, I only want to

Light Saver, a nice project... that should be explained better

Thu, 04 Aug 2016 19:44:19 +0000

Vedant Desai is a “Smart Fifth Grader Football Player” who just invented a “Light Saver” device that…

Brexit is also a wake-up call for the Open Data movement

Sat, 25 Jun 2016 17:32:41 +0000

What is Open Data? Open Data is something with which we can…

On Brexit, young people "betrayed" by their elders, and voting

Sat, 25 Jun 2016 13:25:08 +0000

I have a strong feeling that certain headlines and assertions about the Brexit result are if not factually wrong, at least very misleading. I refer to statements that summarize charts and tables like the ones above in this way: “The U.K.’s Old Decided for the Young in the Brexit Vote” “Brexit is a middle finger from the baby boomers to young people like me” “Young screwed by older generations” “Young voters wanted Brexit the least - and will have to live with it the longest” Fact is, it was very clear, well before the vote, that opinions varied greatly across age ranges and that

Do you really need "IT controls" on the blueprints of your products? Probably not

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 07:58:29 +0000

Here are a couple of comments about the article “3D Printing: IP Vulnerability and Information Technology”, which are directly related to the EU research project DiDIY (Digital DIY) in which I am participating these days. In my opinion, THE most relevant paragraph of that article, the one that should receive more attention, is this:

Internet of things, who's right? UK or Denmark?

Sun, 13 Mar 2016 17:14:46 +0000

It’s always fun, and useful, when two or more news, that somehow go against each other, are published in the same day. Last Friday we had:

What almost nobody is telling you about the ApplevsFBI case

Tue, 23 Feb 2016 06:55:36 +0000

Screenshot source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKggZezZf2M

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FBI says that Apple must help them, because nobody else can do it, to unlock the iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter. The complete story is quite more complex than this one-sentence summary, but there is **one **part of it that, as far as I can see has received almost **zero **attention so far (*):

The Really Smart Home vs the Internet of Stupid Things

Wed, 06 Jan 2016 15:06:25 +0000

Internet of Things. Smart homes. Smart appliances. Smart everything. How smart is the result?

Bit Prepared, 12 years later? On Scouts and Free Software, again

Tue, 05 Jan 2016 16:48:45 +0000

The logo of the ScoutLinux distribution

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Almost twelve years ago, I pointed out some links between Scouting and Free as in Freedom Software, like, for example, those between B-P’s call to

Star Trek creator was clueless about computers

Tue, 05 Jan 2016 08:23:27 +0000

“Star Trek creator didn’t have a clue of how computer actually work, and how to preserve digital documents, and the curators of his estate weren’t much better”: this should be the appropriate title for the story titled “How Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s words were freed from old floppy disks”. (but see the important update below!)

The day the mobile phone took a wrong, dumb turn

Mon, 04 Jan 2016 08:48:53 +0000

A long time ago, we had really smart mobile phones:

Good Parenting, or High-Tech Cruises?

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 15:57:39 +0000

Some months ago, TechCrunch reported that, on High-Tech cruise ships like the Quantum Of The Sea, “Wi-Fi is fast and it’s everywhere” for one specific reason that I really don’t like .

Copyright, site policies and legal info

Tue, 27 Oct 2015 15:56:59 +0000

Cookie Policy Copyright and Terms of Use Privacy Policy Miscellaneous Legal Info Cookie Policy PREFACE: the European Union saw an actual and very, very serious problem, that is people continuously tracked online in many ways, including “cookies”… and “fixed” it in a terrible way. Italy, where I am based, made it worse. Instead of mandating the addition of cookie management functions in all the very few Web Browsers you may use, it decided to force every website you visit to annoy you with “cookie information” info banners as follows (see the service request below!

Forget fablabs and makerspaces! Who ELSE is promoting Digital DIY in Europe?

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 10:11:21 +0000

As some of you may already know, these days I also work in the H2020 research project “Digital DIY”, a world of which 3D printing is only the most fashionable part, but not the biggest, nor the most important. Among other things, right now we’d need to know something that is pretty hard to discover without _local (meaning: yours!) _assistance, because it is “hidden” behind many different languages and layers of burocratic structures and inertia:

final bits from fOSSa 2015, from Open Education to Ecology

Sat, 10 Oct 2015 13:48:56 +0000

fOSSa 2015 was such a great conference that I and Wouter Tebbens already wrote four other posts about it (see below). Here are the last bits that are worth sharing but did not fit elsewhere.

Citizen cloud thoughts, after fOSSa 2015

Sat, 10 Oct 2015 09:13:12 +0000

I had (at least) three big reasons to be at the fOSSa 2015 conference, a couple of weeks ago. Two already covered elsewhere and one, “Citizen Cloud: Towards a more decentralized internet?", that deserves its own separate post.

Rogue Engineers Behind Volkswagen Scandal? So what?

Fri, 09 Oct 2015 12:12:42 +0000

Some recent declarations from VW executives about the Volkswagen scandal are half unbelievable, half totally irrelevant. Seriously.

Pesaro, Microsoft and OpenOffice: the consequences

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 06:03:11 +0000

A few days ago I summarized the most questionable or uncertain points of the software odissey of the City of Pesaro, saying that I’d also post questions and consequences, both for the City and Open Source advocates, not mentioned yet in this story. For Pesaro, the road forward has little or nothing to do with the initial topic, that is Open Source Software in Public Administration. The advocates, instead, should rethink some of their strategies. Let’s start from Pesaro, but what follows applies to practically every city.

Microsoft vs OpenOffice in Pesaro: first, let's recap

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 03:38:04 +0000

Pesaro is a town of about 100 thousands people on the northern adriatic coast of Italy. Its Public Administration has been facing lots of critics from Free/Open Source software supporters because, in the last five years, it changed twice the same, important part of its ICT infrastructure. Both those changes bring consequences and open issues, both for the critics and for Pesaro, that have had little or no coverage at all so far, especially outside Italy (1). Before talking about them, however, it is necessary to summarize what happened.

What do USA special forces and Mexican drug lords have in common?

Sun, 06 Sep 2015 05:24:27 +0000

Apparently, they both don’t know enough of how the Internet and digital (meta) data work.

The Free Software icon that we need the most. Fifteen years ago

Sat, 05 Sep 2015 16:51:00 +0000

Today, while cleaning up old backups, I found a text file named as this post, which I saved on November 17th, 2000, but never used. Cannot remember what I was planning to do with it, but here it goes. A bit naive, surely dated (just look at which Free Software companies I was suggesting to go for help…) but still interesting, considering how things stand today. Here it goes, unchanged:

Hacker proves with Open Data that Microsoft license costs don't matter

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 11:09:07 +0000

(no, not really but…) In December 2014, italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi annunced soldipubblici.gov.it, a Web portal that provides official Open Data on public spending (“Soldi Pubblici”, that is) in Italy. Within a few hours, an italian Hacker,

Why you are very often wrong when you copy a full web page somewhere else online

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 17:12:54 +0000

If and when the author (including me, I routinely do that on OTHER websites I run, or contribute to!) of some web page, video etc.. tells you that you can copy it all elsewhere, by all means DO it. In all other cases, including “sharing” them on Facebook or similar networks, or sending the full thing via email, you do a serious disservice… not just to that author but, **above all, **to all the people with which you “share” that stuff.

About the Stop (original version)

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 15:17:53 +0000

Welcome to the Stop, a website by Marco Fioretti, author, teacher and a few other things. The sidebar on this website includes more news about my courses and other projects. The Stop hosts, in the four sections explained below, information and writings directly related to my work, including online versions of some of my publications. Some pieces about trekking and backpacking are at Strider, and anything else that I feel useful to share stays in my other “Tips” blog.

It's time for Open Data in and from (not "ABOUT"!) schools

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 09:19:58 +0000

Preface

This essay expands a proposal on Open Data in schools that I made in 2011, which requires very little, if any, funding and central authorization/coordination to be implemented. As of this writing, I know of no other proposal of the same kind, with the exception of this 2012 presentation from New Zealand. Also, I have not heard of any large scale implementation, or had occasion to do any real work on this topic. However, I am even more convinced now than in 2011 that the idea has a great potential.

Smart dust: coming soon to a lung near you?

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:21:04 +0000

You really can’t make this stuff up: I have just found, one after another in my RSS feed, two unrelated articles on Smart Dust that you must really read side by side: one about a wonderful future, another unintentionally exposing some of its, apparently, not-yet-considered consequences.

Catholics, Free Software and Free Knowledge, again

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 06:21:37 +0000

Almost ten years ago, I wrote about Free Software’s surprising sympathy with Catholic doctrine, noting that, albeit certain statements sound _“as if they could have been written by Richard M. Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), in fact, they come from the Vatican Report “Ethics in Internet” (EiI)”.

"many more gadgets will surely be built with FPGAs"

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 06:10:00 +0000

Three and a half years ago, I explained why it’s time to bring FPGAs to the masses. One year later, I wrote that this is the time for European microprocessors and FPGAs.. And guess what I just read today?

Can secure voting exist on the Internet?

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 16:10:00 +0000

Last week I was asked this question: “If relatively secure financial transactions can exist, relatively secure voting can exist on the internet, can it not?" My answer? No. Because…

Digital natives so smart that they do not need certificates

Thu, 12 Feb 2015 07:10:00 +0000

An interesting article at The Conversation concludes that:

Please tell ALL Facebook partners what you want to keep private

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:10:00 +0000

Here are three critical quotes from an article about DeepFace, the Facebook automatic face recognition system, followed by my explanation of what they really mean

Trip report: Open Data in Skopje

Thu, 11 Dec 2014 18:10:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was invited at the first National Open Government Partnership Forum in Skopje, Macedonia, for the panel titled “OGP-related Initiatives at the Local Level - Comparative Perspectives”. Here’s a short trip report, complete of link to my slides.

What's dying is not the Mobile Web

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 06:10:00 +0000

I didn’t have time before to comment on a tweet I saw last April: “Mobile Web is dead. It’s all about apps. Hmmm, are we sure?

Friendly reminder to people who still don't understand email

Sun, 02 Nov 2014 06:10:00 +0000

The ubiquitousness of no-brain-required social networks and mobile apps has made many people forget, or never learn, a boring truth of digital life: a LOT non-ephemeral online communication still happens via less glamorous, but much more effective tools like email and mailing list. This can have unintended consequences.

The background you should put on your smartphone

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 06:10:00 +0000

In the 80’s, we all laughed like crazy at this Pioneer commercial, thinking

I don't get Uber labeling, or Uber drivers expectations

Sat, 25 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I must be missing something. Seriously. Please explain it to me. First, I don’t get how Uber is still called or classified, or more exactly why so many people seem to continue to let Uber or anybody else get away with it. Second, I don’t get titles and posters like these about “Uber strikes” or “Uber unfairness”.

On the percloud, one year later

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 06:10:00 +0000

One year ago I launched a proposal, with related fundraiser, for an alternative to Facebook, Gmail and similar services really usable by normal people, the percloud. That fundraiser did not succeed,

Some percloud Questions I've already Frequently Answered

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 04:08:49 +0000

(please note that this was just the second part of this other post!)

On people offended when asked not to use Facebook, and who will die first

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 04:10:00 +0000

In December 2013 I came across something I still consider yet another proof of two things: first, much trust in the actual competence of many “digital savvy” Internet users is misplaced; second, many of the proposed alternatives to current social networks are trying to solve the wrong problem.

Digital innovation or Biourbanism? Both, of course!

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 06:10:00 +0000

(this is the translation of the final part of an article I published on the italian Pionero Web magazine in April 2014. The first part is available here)

Semi-random thoughts (and some motivations) about innovation and digital technology

Sun, 21 Sep 2014 06:10:00 +0000

(this is a partial translation of an article I published on the italian Pionero Web magazine in April 2014. The second part is here). _Several of my publications and projects come, among other things, from these considerations (which of course I am not the only one to have made!):

A few numbers about the European Elections in Italy

Mon, 26 May 2014 11:11:08 +0000

(just to give a bit more context for my friends who don’t speak Italian, here is the English version of a post I just published on the italian version of this blog, to help them understand what happened a bit better)

How many Christians will participate to DFD2014?

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 08:10:00 +0000

The title says it all. The Document Freedom Day “celebrates the importance of Open Standards for all electronic documents, whether public or private”. And these are the reasons why all Catholics, and all Christians in general, should promote this kind of event and take an active part in it:

You don't really own Fargo blogs either

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 15:10:00 +0000

Fargo is (I’m really simplifying here!) Open Source software by Dave Winer that lets you build a blog out of files stored on your Dropbox online storage account. Ron Chester explains very well here why he is using the Fargo Web publishing system.

Antex answers my 2013 post

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 11:10:00 +0000

(this is the complete answer, without any change, that I just received by [Mr Colagrossi, BU-IT Direttore of the FIS / Antex Group giorgio.colagrossi@antex.it], to a post I wrote last year)

When Open Data meets Show and Tell

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 06:10:00 +0000

(this is a proposal for a talk and related workshop that I submitted for a conference that took place in autumn 2013. The proposal was accepted but eventually didn’t happen due to lack of funding for travel expenses. Since the idea is not tied to that specific event in any way, here it is)

Three thoughts on the Iron Mountain tragedy

Sat, 08 Feb 2014 14:10:00 +0000

My first three thoughts after reading of the Iron Mountain fire in Buenos Aires were, in this order:

On movie studios using copyright to loot their own basements

Mon, 20 Jan 2014 08:00:00 +0000

The article titled How ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ Wrecked Hollywood explains very well one huge and ridiculous internal contradiction in today’s movie industry

Data, file formats and protocols as the first platform of network politics

Sun, 19 Jan 2014 08:00:00 +0000

This was the abstract of a talk I proposed for a Network Politics Conference in 2011. The talk wasn’t accepted, but I’d like to restart a conversation on this topic, so here it goes.

Why free trials of certain software programs are bad

Thu, 16 Jan 2014 08:00:00 +0000

(this is a reformatted/expanded version of a comment I made in November 2013 on the Libre Office mailing list)

Why 'greener' computing is coming soon to Europe

Sun, 29 Dec 2013 09:15:26 +0000

(historical note: this is an article I wrote for IT Manager’s Journal, which published it at the URL http://management.itmanagersjournal.com/management/04/12/07/2312226.shtml?tid=84 on December 14, 2004. When I rediscovered the original text on my hard drive, on December 29, 2013, I put it back here with the original date as reference, since that whole website was closed years ago) The Member States of the European Union are getting ready to follow two directives that will have a deep impact on all the electronic industry.

The power of Big Data and the failures of online advertising

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:27:57 +0000

Data is the new oil. Big data is poised to transform society. Soon everybody from individuals to government will be measuring and optimizing everything possible. In the meantime, though, lots of things may go wrong. There is an article out there on this very topic. It says that “nothing underscores the consequences of data analysis gone awry more than the story of Robert McNamara”. Maybe. As far as I’m concerned instead, nothing screams “data analysis gone awry” like the banner I found in that article and the point where it was placed:

They had copied all my articles. No problem

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 06:08:16 +0000

Saturday morning I discovered that a certain Web services company had integrally copied on their own website, without even proper attribution, most of the articles I have written for a magazine. Do they believe

The biggest lie on the Internet...

Mon, 11 Nov 2013 20:42:02 +0000

is that ridiculous disclaimer plastered over too many clueless websites

Shall we waste twelve more years promoting Free office suites instead of open office formats?

Sat, 09 Nov 2013 17:24:37 +0000

Twelve (TWELVE!!!) years ago I asked OpenOffice users “Are you advocating OO correctly”.

Thanks NSA for your great help. No, seriously!

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 09:24:00 +0000

Sometimes support comes in the most unexpected ways. Today the NSA, the super-secret spy agency that intercepts countless digital communications worldwide, greatly helped me, by providing evidence that a little project of mine is a really great idea that is sorely needed NOW.

Cozy Cloud and percloud: a comparison

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 06:19:17 +0000

Shortly after launching my proposal for a personal, p2p replacement of Facebook, Gmail and similar services I was contacted by the developers of Cozy Cloud. We had a very interesting discussion, which ended with their proposal to write a post for their blog, to explain what similarities, differences and possible synergies I see between the two projects. Here I am, looking forward to your feedback!

Percloud crowdfunding, Albanian Translation

Thu, 10 Oct 2013 07:44:38 +0000

(this is a translation in Albanian of my percloud crowdfunding call, kindly provided by Gagi Berani. An Italian translation is here. Thanks in advance to whoever may provide translations in other languages)

Permbledhje e shkurte

Unë jam një autor freelance, hulumtues, dhe aktivist që punon në çeshtjet e të drejtave digjitale dhe të Softuerit të lirë. Mund të lexoni lidhur më punën dhe background-in tim këtu.

Here is how the percloud would work, in practice

Wed, 09 Oct 2013 08:55:36 +0000

I just got an email by somebody asking how the Free Software alternative to corporate social networks that I call percloud would work. I answered that…

The real problem that the percloud wants to solve, and why it's still necessary

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:59:16 +0000

Believe it or not, I only discovered arKos last Friday, through this Slashdot announcement: a project (apparently) very similar to the percloud, which is my own proposal for a Free Software alternative to Facebook, Gmail &C.

Who will make the percloud happen? Traditional FOSS advocates, or everybody else?

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 07:33:35 +0000

A reader of my critique to the “Linux owns the Internet” slogan just made the comment integrally copied here:

"How Linux owns the Internet" is SO wrong. And bad. But luckily...

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:52:40 +0000

Have you seen that article titled “How Linux owns the Internet”?

Yes, the percloud is "just" another Gnu/Linux distro. That's why it's a good idea

Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:30:38 +0000

The percloud is my proposal for an easy to use personal cloud, that is for a feasible alternative for the masses to Facebook, Gmail, and all similar centralized Web services and their privacy and data ownership issues. Last week I put online a 10 slides summary of how the percloud should work. This post answers a specific question that I’ve been asked many times by readers of those slides

The correct way to use and advocate OO.o and the real reason to do it

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 09:57:08 +0000

(this is something I wrote in 2007. Everywhere you read “OO.o” you can (and should) replace it with “Apache OpenOffice or Libre Office”. See the bottom of the page for the origin and history of the text)

Many people, schools and small businesses use OO.o only because

The actual advantages of OpenDocument

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 09:55:32 +0000

(this is only the final part of something I wrote in 2007. Please do read the first part to understand where the text below comes from!)

A highly structured, metadata rich, application independent XML file format like OpenDocument can finally offer two huge advantages

Call to fund research on an easy and COMPLETE alternative to Gmail, Facebook etc...

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 08:50:09 +0000

Source: Ray MacLean on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/raymaclean/3548172441/

</em></u>

UPDATE 2013/09/17: THIS PROJECT NOW HAS A HOME AT per-cloud.com

I have been using my own email service and self-hosted blogs since 2006/2007. I started explaining why everybody should do the same three years ago, when I proposed Virtual Personal Email Servers to overcome the big limits of today’s email. In 2011 I repeated why it is important to find alternatives to Gmail.

Since real support for privacy, control and data ownership should be present in everything we do online, last January I also pointed out that alternatives to corporate social networks already exist and only need proper packaging.

Now the Snowden/NSA/PRISM affair has finally made evident, to an audience immensely larger than geek circles, that I (with many others of course) was right. Everybody, including non-geeks (no: starting from them) should have, as soon as possible, at least the possibility to

Why Mailpile, FreedomBox, Diaspora... aren't enough

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 06:47:38 +0000

Thoughts and Tips from the 2013 Open Data Week

Fri, 05 Jul 2013 13:06:34 +0000

I participated to the 2013 Open Data Week in Marseille to lead a workshop on an idea I had a couple years ago, one that seems to be more and more ready to seriously take off every month:

Girl Scouts, other equal opportunity employers and... software discrimination

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 15:06:14 +0000

Casual browsing (more on this below) just brought me to the website of the Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada (GSSN). As many other organizations of all kinds, in the USA and elsewhere, they are, as clearly stated in their official Application for Employment:

an equal opportunity employer. All applications for employment will be considered without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, citizenship, disability or marital status.

Urgent: help needed for a Workshop on Open Data in and from schools

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:02:24 +0000

What are the Commons anyway? Some answers and thoughts from ECC 2013 in Berlin

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:22:57 +0000

Some questions and suggestions to all commoners

Tue, 28 May 2013 16:37:59 +0000

I’m just back from the 2013 Economics and Commons Conference in Berlin. A great event, in which I took lots of general notes synthesized in another post that I’ll publish tomorrow. This one, instead, contains just questions and suggestions from me that I already shared at the conference, or I’d like to share with everybody interested in Commons. A separate post contains my critique to certain arguments against copyright I heard at the same conference.

On copyright being useless because it's recent

Tue, 28 May 2013 12:32:01 +0000

I just attended the 2013 Economics and Commons Conference in Berlin. During the Knowledge stream of that event something came up that has bothered me for a long time: the assertion that copyright is useless also because it’s just a few centuries old, and artists were doing just fine even before, thank you very much. Here is what I would have repeated, if there had been more time during those sessions.

I find this particular argument against copyright very, very weak, to say the least, and I’d really like to see it go, for at least three reasons:

Cyberbullying: how much does it change from country to country?

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:22:32 +0000

A while ago I asked Italian blogger Francesca Sanzo if she was interested to meet via Skype, to exchange ideas. The result was, if I may say so, interesting in a much more general way than I had imagined. For clarity, I’ve reformatted and synthesized our talks in two parts: the first presents Francesca’s background and work. The second sums up her answers on cyberbullying, which impressed me because, even if I had sent the questions weeks before, by pure chance the actual conversation took place only hours after the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Google Reader quits? That's wonderful, because...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:30:12 +0000

This is a WONDERFUL occasion

How to deal with websites who exist only to put ads inside copied content

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:00:09 +0000

Every now and then, I come across websites that don’t contain anything original. All their “pages” are verbatim copies of original content found online and copied automatically without permission, just to fill it with advertising banners. When I find such a website copying stuff I wrote, I send them the email you can find below, and I must say it normally works very well, and quite quickly too. You’re welcome to reuse it whenever you find a website of that kind. Actually, I strongly encourage you to do it, to help make the Web a bit more useful for everybody.

OpenStreetMap for young people: a cool game that (re)creates the real world

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:38:19 +0000

Maps are very important and serious stuff. Maps explain, and in many cases control, how the world is.

Save the forests, not the tiger!

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 11:28:14 +0000

Open Data for education in Brazil

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:30:01 +0000

The departure of Benedict XVI? Not on this computer, sorry

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:08:55 +0000

In the modern world, more and more documents and services are made available in digital format. Even if it can be a source of huge progress for all humankind, this phenomenon often happens through technologies which become obsolete in a few years, are incompatible with each other or cannot be afforded by everybody. This fact creates serious obstacles to a really free communication among people, to the preservation of the cultural and spiritual heritage of humankind and to the diffusion of the Word of God.

The paragraph above is the introduction of the Eleutheros Manifesto that I and other Catholics wrote almost seven years ago. Today, February 28th, 2013, Pope Benedict’s last meeting in Vatican provides a perfect example of those obstacles we were, and remain, worried about. Because not everybody can follow it online, not from its source at least.

The false savings of AntexWeb

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:35:02 +0000

UPDATE 2014/03/11: the information below is NOT up to date anymore. The current version of AntexWeb does not have those problems. You can read its current specifications in the answer I just received today from Antex

The best places and moments to make room for women in technology

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:55:01 +0000

A few great quotes from a piece on technology, Kenyan women and geek culture that all “first world” western people should read in full for its implications on their society:

The alternatives to Apple, Facebook & C already exist. Shall we package them?

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:19:41 +0000

What if Europe made its own Open Microelectronics (Education)?

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:53:49 +0000

Microelectronics makes all YOUR world work

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:50:21 +0000

Microelectronics and, to a much greater extent, software, are two strategic, immensely powerful technologies. Here I try to explain, in the simplest possible way, why this happens and the basic characteristics of some modern integrated circuits.

If you tell others about this page, you owe me 1000 Dollars!

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 21:22:38 +0000

A Future of Uncommunications (in 2002)

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:38:19 +0000

Background: straight from my “digital diary” vault, here is something I wrote in September 2002 (that is before smartphones, Facebook, the Internet of Things and so on), marking it with the following tagline: “there has never been so muchcommunication technology as today, yet as little communication among people”

Usability of Free Software Desktops: a rant from 2002

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:12:26 +0000

Coming soon to your smartphone: a network that everybody could turn off

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:04:16 +0000

Yes, Open Data will also destroy (certain) jobs. If we are lucky, that is

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:47:38 +0000

While I am writing this post, the third meeting of the Open Government Partnership is taking place in Rome, Italy. As you can see in the snapshot, one of the participants just tweeted: inside this building we’re talking of participation, outside people are protesting to defend their job.

The best, shortest argument ever against online voting

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:14:19 +0000

Mashable has a piece asking How Close Are We to Internet Voting?. It’s an interesting piece, even if part of it falls straight into the “self-fulfilling prophecy” category, building on statements like:

Why (for now) I am still on Facebook

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 08:07:20 +0000

It is time for European microprocessors and FPGAs

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:15:43 +0000

Why Facebook cannot really help you in your neighborhood

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:42:35 +0000

E-democracy is working on a blog post on the Top Ten Reasons Facebook (Alone) Doesn’t Cut It for Neighbors Online. This is a partial, extra-short summary of that page, expressly written in the hope that it will motivate you to join that discussion, understand what is at stake and get out of the dangerous “Facebook-only” bubble.

A little known effect of Wikipedia

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:22:23 +0000

You will not die. You will just have a hard time, forever. Unless...

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 05:37:10 +0000

John Michael Greer makes a really important provocation. He begins explaining a few things about the current world that everybody not living in a hole already knows:

Pictures of the Colosseum? Only if you buy the right shoes first

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:04:27 +0000

More meaningless concerns about ebooks, part 1

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:50:27 +0000

More meaningless concerns about ebooks, part 2

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:42:53 +0000

Three little thing to consider about the environmental impact of e-books

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 11:53:21 +0000

Yes, Open Data will not fix everything quickly. So what?

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:00:00 +0000

A. Swartz does not see how claims that open data will “make government transparent and accountable” are justified, because: people hide their crimes. If you install a webcam (meaning any kind of control) where they used to exchange bribes they will move ten feet away and do business as usual When you have time to prepare, it’s pretty easy to disguise the data. It’s always been investigative journalism, not data mining, that’s revealed big scandals.

Angola ghost town shows the mess that "professional media" make of copyright

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:01:43 +0000

In the afternoon of July 4th, 2012, I found in my RSS reader the link to a photographic gallery on the website of “La Repubblica”, one of the biggest italian newspapers, titled Angola: la città fantasma “made in china” (Angola, the “Made in China” ghost town): five blurry pictures, without any attribution, and a caption explaining that:

PDF version of the Family Guide to Digital Freedom now available

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 17:47:17 +0000

Following several requests, I am making available for download a PDF version of the 2007 edition of my Family Guide to Digital Freedom, with the following notes and conditions:

Some comments on the invitation to take Open Gov out of the hands of technologists

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:44:02 +0000

Reason n. 0 why the Pirate Party won in Germany

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:46:49 +0000

The German Pirate Party just won its Fourth State Election. Looking at these news, Rick Falkvinge gives his own five reasons why “Germany, of all countries, has such breakthrough success with their Pirate Party”.

With leaders like these, Free Software will never win

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:33:32 +0000

Nanni Moretti is an italian film director who caused quite a stir in the italian Left in 2002. During a public congress, and right in front of Center-Left top representatives Francesco Rutelli and Piero Fassino Moretti stepped on the podium as you see in the photograph to shout, among other things, “With leaders like these, the italian Left will never win!" That cry from Moretti came back to my mind last week, reading an interview (italian only) to Stefano Zacchiroli, the current Debian Project Leader.

Italian School, Province and Government not talking to each other show the importance of open data

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:26:15 +0000

Italian Students, please give away your ebook slogans!

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:44:03 +0000

Without Internet access, are computers any good for Sierra Leone?

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:15:27 +0000

(This is my summary of a story told me by Lucia Mazzoni. Paragraphs in bold and beginning with my name are my own comments, added later. The second part is here) In February 2012, I spent 15 days in Sierra Leone, to meet the people helped by a project launched 10 years ago. After the Civil War the people in greatest trouble were those who had suffered amputations: the project helps a group of amputeed (hands, arms, feet, legs .

Is Sierra Leone, without Internet and Free Software, just a knowledge landfill?

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:11:06 +0000

(This is the second and last part (the first is here) of the report by Lucia Mazzoni about computer science and education in Sierra Leone. Paragraphs in bold starting with my name are my own comments, added later.)

Your Harry Potter Love Affair is over because...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:29:46 +0000

In September 2011 Versha Sharma, speaking of her Harry Potter Love Affair, explained how much she loves Harry Potter.

Within one week from the launch of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (that is, 12 years ago) she had bought and finished all the first four books of the series. Immediately after, she joined all sorts of online fansites, spending “countless nights” to read fan fiction. That, until September 2011 when, she writes:

"Blog Killer" law proposal reappears in Italy

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:32:42 +0000

(this is my own synthesis of an article just published by Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano)

Reminder for everybody living in the attention economy: who should we really thank for command-line Wikipedia searches?

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:22:10 +0000

Lxer.com is an aggregator of (mostly) reader-submitted news about Linux and Free/Open Source software. On March 27th, 2012, Lxer.com published this news:

Why and How to access Facebook from the command line

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Please read the notice at the end!!! You may have already noticed that, while I surely do not refuse graphical interfaces and cool, modern Linux desktop environments, I am always looking for ways to perform every computer-related task from the command line. Sometimes it is because I actually need to automate something. In other cases it is just for the fun of it, to discover if it’s possible. This is the case of the trick I am going to explain this week: how to post to one’s Facebook wall, or read it, from a script.

Cisco gives "Society Impacting" Award to project that hasn't even started working and...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:34:53 +0000

Going to Mauritius? Remember to map breadfruit trees!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:58:07 +0000

A couple weeks ago, an unusual request on the Mauritius Linux Users Group caught my attention, one that may interest both tourists visiting Mauritius in the next months, and everybody interested in ICT for sustainable development.

Can you demand my name to give me a public link?

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:22:25 +0000

How can you sell quality olive oil online?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:00:29 +0000

Who can afford Open Source?

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:11:02 +0000

If European senior, jobless or student citizens knew that...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:53:50 +0000

(this is a reformatted version of a proposal I submitted to the Gdansk Agenda website in September 2011) According to a survey published in December 2011 from the EU statistical agency, more than 100 million EU citizens have never surfed the Web. That’s why one of the goal of the Gdansk Agenda is digital inclusion. When I put that survey side by side with the crisis Europe is going through, it seems evident to me that both simple ECDL-style teaching on how to use computers and the Internet and bringing broadband everywhere are absolutely unsufficient to achieve digital inclusion.

A partial answer to "Open Data: who profits?"

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:52:07 +0000

Andy Oram (@praxagora on Twitter) just pointed to my attention what Steven Feldman asked Friday: #OpenData - who profits?.Thanks Andy!

A few notes from the 2011 Brazilian ICT meeting

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:00:36 +0000

Groupon, 950 coupon per 7 camere?

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:11:22 +0000

Open Data for crime prevention: some food for thought from Brazil

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:32:16 +0000

Last October I was invited to the first Brazilian National Meeting on Open Data. One of the things I brought back is lots of thoughts about the potential of Open Data about crime.

Eleven Things to remember from the 2011 Open Government Data Camp

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:00:31 +0000

This year I participated to the Open Government Data Camp in Warsaw, to present a proposal about Open Data and Education. During the Camp I met many great people and heard lots of great things, but for a thousand reasons I had no possibility to put order in my notes before today. Better late than never. Since many others have already given complete reports of the Camp, I’ll only add a couple of things. The first is my very own list of the “11 Most Relevant Quotes from the 2011 OGD Camp”:

Bringing rural Europe online: what’s better, wireless or fiber?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:51:45 +0000

Open Days 2011: growth and job creation vs an ageing Europe

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:30:26 +0000

The 2011 European Open Days (*) covered a lot of very different topics, from local transportation to health, traffic, smart cities and education. Almost all these talks, however, starting from the plenary opening session had the same implicit basis, always given for granted without the smallest amount of doubt:

The European Energy SuperGrid needs education and openness

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:52:45 +0000

Not (enough) Open Data at the European Open Days?

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:38:49 +0000

Wikileaks and the Open Data movement

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:08:11 +0000

Social and political landscape

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:02:45 +0000

Open Data: Emerging trends, issues and best practices

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:58:42 +0000

Open Data emerging trends and best practices: bibliography

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:17:44 +0000

Involve NGOs, charities and business associations

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:14:39 +0000

Focus on LOCAL, specific issues to raise interest for Open Data

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:12:58 +0000

Educate citizens to understand and use data

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:10:22 +0000

Impose proper licensing and streamline procurement

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:08:49 +0000

Keep past and future separate

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:06:21 +0000

Keep political issues separated by economics ones

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:02:46 +0000

Properly define and explain both Open Data and Public Data

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:00:58 +0000

The need to better define what is Public Data

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:57:02 +0000

The privacy "problem" of Open Data

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:53:16 +0000

Unprepared Public Administrators

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:43:08 +0000

Lack of public interest

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:39:18 +0000

Lack of education to data

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:43:38 +0000

Unequal access

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:40:28 +0000

Real impact of data manipulation or misunderstanding

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:38:20 +0000

Data alterations and financial sustainability

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:28:58 +0000

The nature of Open Government and the relationship between citizens and Government

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:50:31 +0000

The price of digitization

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:46:19 +0000

Legal issues remain crucial

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:48:11 +0000

Creative, unforeseen uses of local Open Data increase

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:45:28 +0000

Cost of not opening PSI is increasing

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:42:40 +0000

Emerging trends and issues related to Open Data

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:39:54 +0000

Open Data in Latin America, Asia and Africa

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:34:51 +0000

Data Openness in EU

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:32:22 +0000

It's time to bring FPGA design to the masses

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:36:34 +0000

A quick summary of the status of programmable ICs and Open Hardware

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:30:33 +0000

Online ads show one of the differences between men and women

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:49:24 +0000

What is resilience and why it is good for you today

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 21:45:03 +0000

What is the real value of Gmail and why it's important to think about alternatives

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:07:43 +0000

Part 2 of the Open Data, Open Society report is now available online

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:14:23 +0000

In the future, nobody will THINK about what we KNOW

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:03:04 +0000

Free Software and homeschooling: reports from the trenches

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 12:07:50 +0000

Why I never contribute to Wikipedia, and probably never will

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:42:32 +0000

The day the world died of cloud computing

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:51:07 +0000

Humiliating one's ex-partner online: are men the only ones to do it?

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:22:21 +0000

Efficiency is NOT the top economics priority

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:12:19 +0000

This is why bits are better than paper

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:32:18 +0000

USA federal courts plan to destroy all records on judicial cases that did not go to trial that were filed between 1970 and 1995 and reduce the current retention time for other records from 25 to 15 years.

1997: a glimpse on globalization

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:49:58 +0000

Never mind the debt! What matters is EROI

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:53:42 +0000

Autodesk buys Instructables? Wait a moment...

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:36:39 +0000

Notes from the first Personal Democracy Forum Meetup in Rome

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:43:45 +0000

Vendola, Puglia and Free Software: communication struggles and unanswered questions

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:02:46 +0000

At the end of 2010 Nichi Vendola, leader of the Left, Ecology and Freedom party and governor of the Italian Region of Puglia became a hot topic among the Italian Free Software Community for presenting, almost in the same day, a regional law for promotion of Free Software AND a partnership between Puglia and Microsoft, a company not exactly known for loving Free Software.

AGCOM: how many Italians realize who is its real target?

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:06:43 +0000

AGCOM, the Italian Communications Authority, should issue tomorrow a new set of rules to enforce online copyright protection that has, so to speak, some minor problems. Here is a synthesis of mine from some excellent articles (in Italian, see links below) by Guido Scorza, a lawyer who closely follows these issues:

With ICT, young people become their own managers. If you tell them the whole story, that is

Fri, 20 May 2011 21:39:55 +0000

In April 2011 (1) I read an article entitled With information technology, more and more young people become their own managers, about a Forum at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome devoted to “Youth Communication in the Social Media Age”. During that forum, says the article, Mr Pier Luigi Dal Pino noted that

Final thoughts from CONSEGI 2011: get kids involved and don't be afraid of Open Data!

Fri, 20 May 2011 15:00:48 +0000

CONSEGI 2011: Digital Inclusion and Open Data

Thu, 12 May 2011 16:04:42 +0000

After the good start I already reported, CONSEGI continued well.

CONSEGI 2011, a promising start

Wed, 11 May 2011 19:54:04 +0000

Going to Vatican as a blogger: which questions and proposals should I bring with me?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:17:46 +0000

On May 2nd, 2011, there will be a meeting with bloggers in Vatican, organized by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, to foster informal exchange and contact with bloggers, that is authors of a self-managed space on the Web, and represented by the Church. The goal is to share the experiences made on the Internet and understand better the needs of the virtual community that exists around the Church.

Claimer.org tries to make it easier to claim damages by climate change

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:16:05 +0000

GNU Free Call - the freedom to call out when you really need to

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:16:01 +0000

Is there a place for computers and digital communications in degrowth?, part 2

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:53:54 +0000

(this is the second part of the translation, with some links updated, of an article I wrote in June 2007 on this topic. The first part is here). Are computers limitable? The concept that you should use a tool only if you can “limit” it, that is if you can foresee and limit its potential damage by defining and regulating in advance how it can or should be used, creates more problems.

Save as WWF? But printing creates forests, doesn't destroy them!

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:40:24 +0000

Affittopoli, an Italian scandal easily avoidable with open data

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:41:45 +0000

Among the Italian scandals of 2011 there is one called “Affittopoli”, a word translatable more or less with “rent-town scandal”. Here is a brief summary of the story.

Car sharing? It works in Rome, too!

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:23:05 +0000

Is there a place for computers and digital communications in degrowth?

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:52:18 +0000

(this is the translation, with some links updated, of an article I wrote in June 2007 for Rivista Italiana della Decrescita (Italian Degrowth Magazine). Since then, I’ve written and spoken more on the same topic, here and elsewhere.

Of Vodafone, Copyright, Fair Use and Italy

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:44:32 +0000

Why rejecting email from "certain countries" may be a bad idea

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:14:11 +0000

Even in this age of private and public organizations merrily handing out their email Gmail or some other “cloud” provider, there still are lots of organizations that run their own email server. This is better, in my opinion, for reasons I have already explained in “Wanted: Virtual Personal Email Servers”. Every now and then, however, the administrator of one of those servers goes online and asks something like “how can I automatically refuse or delete all email coming from certain countries?”

Primo Levi explains the importance (and the absence) of ebooks in Public Libraries

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:40:20 +0000

67 years ago Primo Levi was deported to Auschwitz. 64 years ago he published a book about that experience titled If this is a man. 24 years ago Primo Levi died. Today Primo Levi reminded me of the absurdity of certain laws and wastes of public money, and how the technology could help culture. Today I met a high school student who, having to read If this is a man to write a report, borrowed in the closest Public Library the copy that you see in these photos.

Italian e-gov service helps to see why Public Sector Information should be open

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:37:26 +0000

Word clouds, the images that help to see what a speech is about

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:33:31 +0000

About 25 years ago I read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. For whatever reason, one of the things that impressed me the most was the passage in which Asimov portrays the power of (automatic?) mathematical analysis to discover the real meaning of some text (1):

Does VODAFONE really ignore how copyright works? Why?

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:22:30 +0000

Louis Vuitton bags and intellectual property

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:02:44 +0000

Yesterday, by pure chance, I discovered an absurd story. Nadia Plesner is a ~~Dutch~~ Danish painter. Her last work is Darfurnica, a modern version of Picasso’s Guernica that you can see in the thumbnail here.

Tablet-based magazines, digital TV and the uniqueness of the Web

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:38:16 +0000

What are the original WWF tips on paper efficiency?

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:40:48 +0000

Courses for digital citizens

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:28:38 +0000

Today, our rights and the overall quality of our life heavily depend on how software is used around us. This is true also for people (including children) who don’t care much about computers, or don’t even have one. For this reason, I organize and run several courses, online or not, at all levels, related to the impacts of digital technologies on all aspects of our lives. The current catalog of the courses I organize personally or working for several organizations is available in the Courses section of my home page.

The Family Guide to Digital Freedom (2007 edition) is now online

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:00:48 +0000

What do alpine steinbocks and arctic crustaceans have in common? Climate Change

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:50:50 +0000

I just read on Climate Progress that:

Saab IQon and Linux: when Open Source isn't Open, and your car isn't really yours

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:28:23 +0000

Is Linus' Law still valid?

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:55:29 +0000

Groupon saves money... but only when you need something!

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:00:46 +0000

Why is it so difficult to know how long Italians really live?

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:00:53 +0000

The healthy life expectancy is the average number of years that one can statistically expect to leave before falling sick because of some serious, chronical disease. Professor Ugo Bardi, teacher of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence, recently noted an impressive decrease, starting in 2003, in the healthy life expectancy of Italians and therefore asked: how long do Italians really live? Personally, I have no specific competence to answer this question, or to validate the correctness of Bardi's starting thesis.

Why doesn't the City of Milan use Netlamps?

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:00:01 +0000

A couple of years ago I wrote about Municipalities that open their GIS systems to citizens, pointing out that what's great about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) made with Free Software, or at least based on open file formats and protocols, is the fact that not citizens can use such systems to do much more than reading maps: open GIS allow citizens to create and publish by themselves geographic data of public interest.

Schools, Healthcare, useless jobs and the Internet

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 19:48:22 +0000

Please have a look at these pictures, taken in November 2010:

Are ebooks better or worse than paper books? Do (not!) ask the experts!

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:30:54 +0000

Last month Corriere della Sera, one of the major Italian newspapers, asked several novelists and other writers if and how the age of ebooks is changing fiction and the general approach to creation of literature. It was an interesting read, because it contained both pearls of wisdom and things that are either irrelevant or simply wrong, but all said by the same “gurus”.

OpenStreetMaps to relax, study and get faster where you want to go

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:00:43 +0000

OpenStreetMap: open data that create services and jobs for everybody

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:00:59 +0000

Answer to some comments about "Software is too important to leave it to programmers"

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:35:31 +0000

Digital divide in Africa: is it really that big?

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:00:21 +0000

When does Fair Trade really make sense?

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:00:08 +0000

Garamond and Social Learning: ebooks and digital school for everybody? Yes, but only if...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:00:22 +0000

Dear Green Activists, will you please start to take file formats seriously?

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:00:30 +0000

Software is too important to leave it to programmers

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:00:24 +0000

Pirates are not hackers and software piracy is also the Government’s fault

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:00:50 +0000

In January 2011 Italian newspaper Repubblica published an article that is a nice example of how much confusion there still is, in mainstream press, about the nature of software and copyright, their relevance for all citizens and the responsibilities of Public Administrations in these fields. That article may have been written everywhere, there's nothing specifically Italian in it, so I translated my objections to it because they too may be useful outside Italy (to stimulate discussion if nothing else).

We want more Linux presentations inside shopping centers!

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:00:22 +0000

Digital colonialism: nothing new since last century?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:00:17 +0000

Google, schools, the Police and the Ministry of Youth? Don’t get lost!

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:00:20 +0000

Is copying entire articles on my own website fair use?

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:57:14 +0000

DISCLAIMER: What follows is a reformatted version of some things I posted in a Facebook discussion on this topic. I am publishing it here because it is a general interest question, for which it is important to find an answer online as simple and short as possible. I believe that what follows is also correct, but please do understand that I am not a lawyer and that, in any case, copyright law is not exactly the same in all countries (yet). So don’t bet the farm on what’s written here. If you think there are errors and have authoritative sources to prove it, you are encouraged to add corrections and details in the comments. Thank you in advance for any feedback!

No peace for the "Save As WWF" campaign

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 01:42:46 +0000

The Open Data, Open Society report

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:01:00 +0000

This report is the first output of a research project about openness of public data in EU local administrations. The full report was finished in October 2010, is released under a Creative Commons cc-by license and can be freely downloaded from the web site of the DIME project or from Sant’Anna school. The report is also integrally republished here, split in separate pages with comments open to anonymous readers, in order to facilitate as much as possible feedback and discussion on each single part (but please do check the notes to readers first!).

Notes to readers of the Open Data, Open Society report

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:00:00 +0000

What to do: Political support for Open Data, part 2

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:48:00 +0000

Open data vs optimistic assumptions about citizens data literacy

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:44:00 +0000

The social dangers of Open Data

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:43:00 +0000

Open data about waste and water management

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:42:00 +0000

Open data in Education

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:39:00 +0000

Open data about Security and legal issues

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:38:00 +0000

Aggregate health, or health-related open data

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Open Data about Real Estate

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:33:00 +0000

Open Data about Energy production and consumption

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:29:00 +0000

Open Data: Demographics and election support

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:25:00 +0000

(this page is part of my Open Data, Open Society report. Please follow that link to reach the introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to check the notes to readers!)

Open Data for Local transportation

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:24:00 +0000

(this page is part of my Open Data, Open Society report. Please follow that link to reach the introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to check the notes to readers!)

Productivity and other losses caused by car traffic amount to 40 billions Euros per year in Italy alone. Still in Italy, time wasted for the same reason amounts each year to 240 hours per person in Milan, 210 in Naples and 260 in Rome. Besides saving time and reducing stress, that is increasing productivity, public transit is also the single most effective way to cut one’s contribution to carbon dioxide pollution.

Real world examples of Open PSI at work

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:22:00 +0000

Why Start local with Open Data

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:21:00 +0000

Internal value of data openness

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:16:00 +0000

Government transparency

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:10:00 +0000

The nature of data

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:08:00 +0000

An example of local Open Data policy from outside Europe: the City of Vancouver

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:05:00 +0000

Notes on the status of Open Data in several European states

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:02:00 +0000

Current status of Open PSI support in Europe

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:01:00 +0000

Open Data, Open Society: Conclusions, next steps and contact information

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:58:00 +0000

The role of the Public Sector in an age of Open Government: quality and reliability of openly generated PSI

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:56:00 +0000

Citizens education

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:55:00 +0000

(this page is part of my Open Data, Open Society report. Please follow that link to reach the introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to check the notes to readers!)

Many citizens need education to understand raw public data, in order to put them in contest and to make informed decisions when voting or otherwise interacting with their representatives. Such education should of course start in schools and Universities. Even outside those environments, specific actions to make sure that as many citizens as possible have all the skills they need to really benefit from Open Data are necessary.

Practical advice for Public Officers promoting Open Data

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:52:00 +0000

Some short technical notes on data formats and software managing open PSI

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:50:00 +0000

What to do: Political support for Open Data

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:45:00 +0000

Open Environmental data and pollution measurements

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:34:00 +0000

(this page is part of my Open Data, Open Society report. Please follow that link to reach the introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to check the notes to readers!) A website devoted to climate change issues asked in July 2010 “What if the Public Had Perfect Climate Information 30 years ago?": “that would completely change the amount of information we have today. We would have seen that emissions reduction is inexpensive and straightforward, especially when you take a long time horizon.

Open Data about local economics activities

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:32:00 +0000

(this page is part of my Open Data, Open Society report. Please follow that link to reach the introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to check the notes to readers!) PSI (Public Sector Information) regarding local economics activities refers to all data about local businesses: their number, location, activity sector, contact info, opening hours and possibly tax and other financial or labor-related information like numbers of employees. The simplest applications of these data, which are also the ones that are most immediately useful to the greatest number of citizens, are mashups that display all of them in one view, normally on a digital map, so that users can find location and information of the closest business and public services in each category.

Open Data about Budgets and taxes

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:31:00 +0000

Open Data to restructure government

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:20:00 +0000

If Open Data are so good, why aren't all Public Data already open?

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:18:00 +0000

(this page is part of my Open Data, Open Society report. Please follow that link to reach the introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to check the notes to readers!)

Why Open Data?

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:06:00 +0000

Notes on the status of Open Data in several European states, part 2

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:03:00 +0000

Economic value of data openness

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Why data are important

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

The REAL health danger of cell phones and Wi-Fi networks

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 07:00:00 +0000

I just read yet another article discussing if cell phones are safe or not to use that, in my opinion, doesn't contain any error yet just misses the point. I don't care, or I care very little, if using a cell phone causes cancer or any other health problem to the person using it. Even if somebody proved it beyond doubt tomorrow morning, I would still care very little. To explain why, here is an edited/updated copy of an email that I wrote to a friend in February 2007.

Are iPad apps green and culture-friendly?

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 11:45:57 +0000

When DRM on ebooks works like a bewitched, terribly broken bookshelf

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 15:32:21 +0000

Personally, I believe that copyright has a reason to exist (1) and that copying and sharing online 24/7 every file you can lay your hands on, “just because I can”, makes it easier to pass things like ACTA and therefore is

The Bunga Bunga dictator? A (stupidly) Windows-only show, sorry

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 03:17:16 +0000

Tonight I wanted to watch on my computer, in streaming thanks to this wonderful worldwide Web that makes us all brothers and that all the Italian Political Parties who care about the future hail as an enabler of democracy and participation, an italian live show called the Bunga Bunga Dictator. Bunga Bunga is.. er, I’ll leave the definition to the Urban Dictionary. The dictator is Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is… er, you’ve probably heard of him already and if you haven’t, ask the Guardian.

Want to present your thesis? Please be compatible with Windows

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:10:27 +0000

Last week I had a weird experience. I went to the Department of Communications and Social Research of the Faculty of Communication Sciences of La Sapienza, the first and biggest University in Rome. The reason I went there was to attend the presentation of the Italian Manifesto for Open Government, on which I’ll report soon in another article. The promoters of the Manifesto spent the whole morning explaining in detail all its ten articles, including the fourth and fifth that strongly assert the importance of opening public data, that is publishing them without restrictions in open file formats. They explained this in a room whose entrance was right in front of a billboard on which the Faculty staff had pinned this notice (thanks to Flavia for taking the [picture):

Did you know that in Naples, in Federica Square...

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:26:10 +0000

Piazza Federica (Federica Square in Italian) is the “3D virtual square” that should constitute the innovative web-learning system of the Federico II University in Naples, Italy. I already reported in another article that Penguins can’t enter Piazza Federica, explaining why that is bad for a service of a public University. In additions to those penguin barriers, however, there are other things I don’t understand in the public service offered by Piazza Federica.

Why can't Penguins enter Federica square?

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 01:54:51 +0000

In november 2010 I discovered the existence of Federica, the tridimensional virtual square" that should be the innovative web-learning system of the Federico II University in Naples. Out of curiosity, I decided to visit it and all I got was a black screen and some perplexities. Some of them, which I described in another page are on the very sense of a website like that, others are more specific. I got a black screen because I use Linux, while (quoting from the University website):

After Umberto Eco, even Franco Debenedetti gets ebooks wrong

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:16:38 +0000

In August 2010 Umberto Eco, a great Italian intellectual and novelist wrote something very true about traditional paper books: don’t you dare to hope to get rid of all paper books just because e-books are now available. Unfortunately, Eco gave a really dumb proof for his assertion:

What I've really learned so far thanks to Wikileaks

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:08:24 +0000

Is Internet censorship keeping Rome dirty and ugly?

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:26:45 +0000

Rome is chaotic and not really efficient, but is still one of the most beautiful, visually stunning cities in the world. An act of Internet censorship just happened that may keep it ugly. Here’s what happened, and how you can help.

Wanna save trees? Don't Save As WWF. This is the really green format!

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:17:43 +0000

If banking were more Open Source, we would need less Wikileaks

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:08:23 +0000

Save as WWF? No, thanks!

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:01:31 +0000

How should we manage the Vendola-Puglia-Microsoft deal?

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:57:23 +0000

Smart meters tell the inconvenient truth to Iraq veteran (and everybody else)

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:59:00 +0000

Italian region asks for help to avoid software lock-in... to Microsoft

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 01:50:36 +0000

Today, after the initial surprise caused by knowing that Left party leader and president of the italian region of Puglia, Nichi Vendola, has just signed a Berlusconi-like deal with Microsoft offering an explanation that, alas, doesn’t really explain much, we started to know something about the content of the deal (because the bigger, problem in this whole business, much more of the presence of Microsoft, is lack of transparency).

Nichi Vendola explains (but does he?) his Berlusconi-like deal with Microsoft

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:52:03 +0000

Italian Left Leader signs Berlusconi-like deal with Microsoft

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:17:11 +0000

Nichi Vendola is president both of south-eastern italian region Puglia and of the Italian left party Sinistra Ecologia Libertà (SEL or “Left, Ecology, Freedom” in English).

Three things to not forget to make LibreOffice (and ODF) succeed

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:47:31 +0000

A proposal for effective, volunteer-friendly user support in LibreOffice

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:42:55 +0000

Non digital commons a lot more complicated than Free Software

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:22:19 +0000

Italians will die buried under a mountain of cars, but want to continue to produce them

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 19:14:13 +0000

What is Trashware? A way to save money and pollute less with computers!

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:09:46 +0000

Final Report from fOSSa 2010 in Grenoble

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:00:00 +0000

The fOSSa 2010 conference in Grenoble did a good job to prove (since it’s still sorely needed, see conclusions below) that Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) isn’t some unreliable toy for amateurs.

The connections among Education, Green ICT and Free Software

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:30:00 +0000

During the fOSSa 2010 conference in Grenoble, several speakers talked about how much Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) is important in two fields that are strictly related for the future of our society: education and environmental sustainability. This is a synthesis of the most important points that emerged in those talks (My full fOSSa report is in a separate page).

What can all managers learn from Free, Open Source Software?

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:20:00 +0000

Nine questions for a Linux Day (or any other moment)

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:37:38 +0000

The organizers of the first Linux presentation in an Italian shopping center asked me to prepare a short list of questions to hand out to all the visitors of that shopping center. They specifically asked for

Kids traveling inside cars like rockets ready to launch or human airbags

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:44:00 +0000

If you have reached this page is probably because you followed from Facebook the URL in the photo below and then clicked on the “English” link: The italian text at that URL is an open letter in which I ask Italians to pay much more attention than they are currently doing to the security of their children while driving. I am not publishing a full translation because, as far as I know, the letter as it’s written only applies to Italy, so this is just a short explanation of what that photo is about.

Member of largest supermarket chain in Italy hosts Linux presentation

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:24:00 +0000

Note to all NGOs: please don't make a mess with Microsoft donations

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 07:46:00 +0000

How to NOT implement a website privacy policy

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 02:07:28 +0000

Yesterday, following some a link provided by a friend, I read an article recently published by the Star Online magazine. I wanted to add a comment to that article, but only found in that page the following statement (see [screenshot

): “If you’d like to post a comment on the issue, you can do so at The Star’s Facebook."

Microsoft video proves that Microsoft Office is like cocaine and has dealers inside schools

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:21:12 +0000

On October 6th, 2010 Microsoft published a short video on Youtube titled “A Few Perspectives on OpenOffice.org”. The video is about “Some thoughts from OpenOffice.org users and why they switched back to Microsoft Office” (OpenOffice.org and its offspring LibreOffice are “free-as-in-freedom” alternatives to Microsoft’s Office productivity suite. They have no license costs and natively support OpenDocument, an international standard format for office documents).

Touring the Balkans to promote Free Software

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:28:00 +0000

James Michael Dupont (Mike) is a software developer that is doing a lot to promote Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) in Kosovo and other Balkan countries. This year, Mike invited a first class team to spend a couple of weeks in the southern Balkans, to explain why and how FOSS can play a great role in the social and economic development of those countries.

Free Software solutions to Balkan problems

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:25:00 +0000

As I’ve explained in “Touring the Balkans to promote Free Software”, I’ve recently attended a conference in Albania (FreeSB) and one in Kosovo, (SFK10). Both conferences were about Free/Open Source Software (FOSS), which can play a crucial role in the cultural, educational, economic and social development of any emerging country. In this page I describe three talks from those conferences that help to prove this point.

Diversity, Freedom and Education at the Open World Forum

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:49:00 +0000

This year I have been invited to present the first results of my research about Open public data at the 2010 Open World Forum. Due to the subject of my talk, I was also invited by Glyn Moody to a panel on Open Democracy (see Glyn’s comments on that panel at CWUK).

Every day should be 10/10/10!

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 01:53:12 +0000

October 10 2010 (10/10/10) is the day chosen for a Global Work Party that nobody should miss:

Computer health certificates for surfing the Internet? Are you serious?

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:38:20 +0000

Paying attention: when a (kind of) hacker meets sociologists

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:50:00 +0000

Attention is precious and scarce like gold in this age of continuous interruptions, tweets limited to 140 characters and people for which something simply doesn’t exist if it doesn’t pop out in the first page of Google Search results. In september 2010 I have participated to a conference devoted to this theme, that is

A cultural side effect of "what happens on Facebook and Twitter when you die"

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:41:58 +0000

British Magazine Pc Pro has an interesting article about something which, they report, happens one and a half million times a year:

Free Technology Academy working to offer more Free Software online teaching

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:56:00 +0000

Are citizens ready for Open Data and Government?

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:20:00 +0000

A few days ago I was in the Menendez Pelayo International University of Santander, Spain, to give a talk for a seminar about Open and E-Government.

Political support for OLPC brings new challenges to education in Mauritius

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:29:00 +0000

In 2010 the Labour Party of Mauritius adopted the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project as a national program in their National Election Manifesto. The Labour Party is a member of Alliance de l’Avenir, the coalition that won the 2010 general elections in Mauritius. Even the Alliance program (also available on Scribd) mentions the OLPC, first in the Executive Brief (page 9):

Open Public Data are so good that it's hard to start explaining why

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:47:00 +0000

Open Data, Open Society: a research project about openness of public data in EU local administrations

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:06:00 +0000

Where is a filter to convert FrameMaker files on Linux?

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:29:23 +0000

The big limits of today's email: privacy, barriers and robustness

Sat, 29 May 2010 05:49:00 +0000

Email is one of the most useful and more widely used applications of the Internet. So far, however, I have met very few people that seem aware of how suboptimal its usage is, or of the problems that may arise when many people will start to realize it. Please note that, while the rest of this page explains these statements only in the case of email, most of it applies to any other form of direct, person-to-person communication through the Internet (chat, IM, VoIP phone calls, social networking through Facebook or Ning…).

Why Open Digital Standards Matter in Government: Conclusions

Sat, 29 May 2010 03:36:00 +0000

Cut and paste mail-bombing? No, thanks!

Fri, 21 May 2010 04:09:00 +0000

Preface: this is the translation of a post written on April 2, 2010, to explain to all italian Internet users, with a real-life example, of the complete uselessness of copying or forwarding protest email about whatever argument to politicians or any organization.

The real obstacles to personal email management: unaware users and (absent) laws

Mon, 17 May 2010 08:19:00 +0000

Email is a crucial, basic service that is almost impossible to not use these days, but the way email is normally used these days has serious limits. The most common answer I get when I try to explaine those limits is some variation of “you may be right, but… I’m not I software programmer and never will, so I have no choice but to use what’s around”. This is wrong.

Why Open Digital Standards Matter in Government

Fri, 07 May 2010 09:37:00 +0000

Preface: this is the complete essay I wrote for the Open Government Book.

The Digital Age Explained

Fri, 07 May 2010 07:51:00 +0000

Standards and the Problems with Digital Technology

Fri, 07 May 2010 07:46:00 +0000

Why Has Digital Gone Bad So Often?

Fri, 07 May 2010 07:41:00 +0000

(this page is a part of the essay I wrote for the Open Government Book. For copyright info, see the introduction) Index Why Open Digital Standards Matter in Government: Introduction The Digital Age Explained Standards and the Problems with Digital Technology Why Has Digital Gone Bad So Often? The Huge Positive Potential of Digital Technologies Free and Open Standards and Software: The Digital Basis of Open Government Conclusions Why Has Digital Gone Bad So Often?

The Huge Positive Potential of Digital Technologies

Fri, 07 May 2010 07:32:00 +0000

Free and Open Standards and Software: The Digital Basis of Open Government

Fri, 07 May 2010 07:26:00 +0000

New documentation project for blind Linux users and all the others

Sun, 02 May 2010 03:54:00 +0000

When he realized that custom documentation for Free Software is needed for vision-impaired users, Tony Baechler offered to launch a dedicated service. I asked Tony what exactly he hopes to set up and how it should work.

Notes on copying the CC licensed parts of this website

Sat, 01 May 2010 12:16:51 +0000

Proposal from OLPC Paraguay on how to manage Sugar or other educational software

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:45:00 +0000

The project to deliver One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) for educational purpose in developing countries is doing great in Paraguay. According to developer Bernie Innocenti, this success comes from a way to manage the development of the Sugar educational software that other countries (or any other similar projects, see for example the Teachermate or the italian JumpPC) could and should imitate.

Global Voices, Transparency and the need to understand technology

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 06:44:00 +0000

On April 27th, 2010, I assisted to a lecture from David Sasaki of Global Voices Online (GVO) about “Citizen Media and the Technology for Transparency Network (TNN)". This is a transcript of the notes I took that night, plus a couple of general comments about Citizen Media, Transparency in Government and related topics.

OLPC in Paraguay educates both little kids and teenagers

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 00:01:00 +0000

Sugar is an educational graphical computer environment specifically developed for collaborative learning in primary school. Initially, Sugar was developed and only used within the famous One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) launched by Nicholas Negroponte to make special laptop computers, called XO, available to the children of all developing countries. (follow the link to see an Example of the Sugar graphical interface.

Why custom documentation for Free Software is needed for vision-impaired users

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:54:00 +0000

(this is the second part of an interview to Tony Baechler about the usability of Free Software by vision-impaired users).

Linux, a very powerful but still almost unknown environment for vision-impaired users

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:50:00 +0000

Back in 2006, I wrote that the Free Software community and disabled users must learn to communicate and invited Free Software developers to do their part. Last week I interviewed Tony Baechler, an active member of the Blinux mailing list, to check how things are going in 2010, and to know more about a very interesting project for Linux vision-impaired users he’s trying to launch.

Netlive,a complete Free Software lab in the pockets of every teacher

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:51:00 +0000

Endless cuts to Public Education budgets are creating survival problems to many italian Public Schools, forcing them to ask more or less “voluntary” contributions to parents every year. How can you guarantee quality education in such conditions, especially when many teachers,

The importance of Document Freedom Day explained by Microsoft job offer

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:14:00 +0000

March 31st, 2010, is “Document Freedom Day (DFD), a global day for document liberation”. Local events have been organized all over the world to “educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general”.

What's your school project? An alternative to Microsoft Windows!

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:54:00 +0000

The final year of all Italian High Schools (18/19 years age students) ends with a formal State Exam. Depending on which category of school they attend, all students are tested in a different group of subjects and the final vote also depends on personal projects prepared for each subject. This year, among all the final year students in Italy there are two who are preparing a project that is as unusual (at least for Italy) as interesting.

Articles of regional Free Software law violate the Italian Constitution

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:34:00 +0000

Textbooks are too expensive, so Italian high school tries to produce them in house

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 06:14:00 +0000

Every year italian families must spend hundreds of Euros in textbooks for every child, while the cost limits set by the government are regularly violated in spite of denounces and warnings from consumer associations.

Cash for software clunkers? No, thanks, unless it promotes Free Software

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:42:00 +0000

The italian Information & Communications Technology (ICT) industry is in dire straits. On March 10, 2010, Assinform, the association of the bigger italian ICT companies, announced that their 2010 forecast includes an estimate of 8000 lost jobs, after the 16000 already lost in 2009. One of the solutions Assinform proposes to fight the crisis is what you may call a “cash for software clunkers” program: state-financed discounts for all companies that replace with newer applications obsolete software that isn’t working well anymore. At first sight, this looks like a dumb, or at least useless, idea, for the reasons explained below, but it could do well, after all, if implemented in the right way.

Italian Government fails to shut down one of its websites

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:39:00 +0000

Normattiva (“active norm/law”) is a new online portal from the Italian Government that “using innovative software technologies creates a reliable, free and complete information service about Italian laws”. Normattiva opened to the public in March 2010. I first heard about it on March 19th. Three days later, on March 22nd, 2010, I saw a post from Flavia Marzano that said: "(now that) Normattiva is online, normeinrete is offline".

Microsoft, where did you get those data about OpenDocument?

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:30:00 +0000

I already explained in another article that open file formats are essential to save money in Public Administrations and make them more efficient and that the right choice for office document is the OpenDocument Format (ODF).

More than 100 candidates to Italian regional elections support Free Software

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:05:00 +0000

If you read Stop!/Zona-M regularly, you already know that “free as in freedom” software and file formats are an essential tool for anybody interested in reducing expenses in Public Administrations, make them more efficient and allow all citizens to control in the best possible way what they representatives are doing (and if you don’t know this yet, it’s time to read the article linked at the bottom of this page!).

A word about online spoof stories and chain email

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:39:00 +0000

As I wrote in the Online Loser Guide, Internet is a wonderful thing, but should be used with lots of attention. Following the flow without thinking you just risk to contribute to lots of confusion, as shown in the example below (which is quite recent, even if for several reasons I was unable to publish it earlier).

Why I won't sign the "Internet For Democracy" Petition

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:59:00 +0000

The online petition of the week, at least in Europe, is called “Internet for Democracy - Shut Down the Europarliament. Now!". I will not sign it, and I recommend everybody to do the same. However, I do suggest that everybody reads it because it’s about very general issues that you should really, really think about.

When traditional media want copyright for themselves, but violate others' copyright

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:38:00 +0000

UPDATE MARCH 4TH, 2010, 20.30 GMT+1: the unauthorized copy mentioned below has been removed by the staff of the Bellunopress website, shortly after I asked them to comply with the terms of use of this website. I am happy to see such a confirmation that this incident was just a temporary slip, without (as I had said since the beginning, cfr below) any intention at all to harm anybody: This page remains online, of course, as useful resource for whoever should have the same problem in the future with other websites.

Taxing every citizen for Microsoft Windows problems? Are we insane?

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Just when you think you’ve heard everything, something new arrives (update 2010/10/07: actually, S. Charney just did it again).

Two years ago, we heard that half a million computers are infected with malicious bots every day (a “bot” is a software program that enters your computer from the Internet or inside infected files, then runs in the background to steal your data, send spam or wreak havoc in some other way).

Do we deserve traffic jams? Ask cats and dogs

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:50:33 +0000

It’s weird how things that seem completely unrelated are, in fact, more or less connected. On February 5th, 2010, just five days after the traffic ban in Milan, with caused a storm of discussions, an absolutely unusual event, that is some inches of snow falling in full winter, created even more chaos than usual on the streets of Milan and all the surrounding area.

During that afternoon, the speakers of Caterpillar (a popular talk-show on a national radio station asked to all Milan citizens who were listening inside their cars to call and tell how long they had already been blocked in the streets and how long they thought they would still remain there.

Again on public or private water (this time in Rome)

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:27:26 +0000

On February 11th, 2010 a public rally against the complete privatization of Acea took place in Rome. Acea is the partly public company that manages the water distribution system in Rome and other cities of the Lazio region. The purpose of the rally was

Junior High students in Monza build their own Ubuntu computers

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:40:00 +0000

Last November, the Confalonieri Public Junior High School in Monza, Northern Italy set up a really interesting and original optional course for its students. When I heard about it on an Italian mailing list I contacted the two teachers who run the course, Fabio Frittoli and Francesco De Gennaro (quoted below as F&F for brevity) to know something more.

Italian entrepreneur fights proprietary file formats in Public Administrations

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:43:00 +0000

As I already explained in another article file formats are extremely important: unless, at least in Public Administrations (PAs), only open file formats are used, serious amounts of public money can go to waste, important public digital documents may become unreadable and private citizens or businesses may be forced to useless expenses if they want to interact with PAs.

Why every citizen should read the Open Government book

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:15:00 +0000

Open Government - Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice is a book (DISCLAIMER: I’m one of the authors, see below) that explains how governments and local Public Administrations can use digital technologies to work more efficiently, save lots of taxpayers money and let citizens control what public officers are actually doing. Why is something like this very important for all citizens? Because, as I already explained in the Online Loser Guide, digital technologies and the Internet can be either a huge help to make real democracy happen, or just a new, more powerful system for centralized control.

File formats, alphabets and public money: did you know that...

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:08:00 +0000

File formats are the rules that define the meaning of all the sequences of bits that you can find inside a computer file.

Who cancels your email? Warning to Infostrada and Barracuda users

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:11:31 +0000

Infostrada is one of the biggest Internet Access Providers (IAP) in Italy. Barracuda is a software filter that analyzes all the email messages entering the network of an organization in order to block spam, viruses and similar.

The first question you should ask yourself during traffic bans

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:02:15 +0000

On January 31st, 2010, Milan and a few neighbor areas declared a total traffic ban to reduce air pollution. Since such measures are already used in other countries or may be adopted in the coming years, the protests and questions raised in that occasion are useful to think about the real usefulness of traffic bans in general.

A family's experience with Free Software, the Internet and autism

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 09:40:00 +0000

Ubuntu is a computer operating system alternative to Windows, but free of license costs and well suited to families and schools. When I read this message on the mailing list for Ubuntu Italian users:

When and how can Free Software really save public money?

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:16:00 +0000

A few days ago, during an email conversation about efficient public services and waste of money in Public Administrations, I had to answer a couple of questions. Since those answers may interest many other people, here they are.

After water, Australian State may open many more public data

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:21:00 +0000

Disappointed (so far) by Italian Open Legislation experiment

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:49:00 +0000

In may 2009 I announced on the P2P Foundation blog what I believe is the first collaborative law writing experiment in Italy:

Mr Label's nightmare: what really, really scares him

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:08:00 +0000

Author’s note: I wrote the short “novel” below in… June 2004. For several reasons I didn’t immediately publish it online, then it went lost on my hard drive. I found it again only some weeks ago, and I think the basic idea is still valid, so here it is.

Enough with this "Free Software is communist" myth! Please!

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:28:00 +0000

Really. It’s way paste expiration date.

A simple exercise about online privacy

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:21:00 +0000

We regularly hear from prime time news or urban legends how Internet is some sort of Big Brother (the real one…) able to track and report to some more or less hidden controllers everything we do online, to the point that what was once called privacy is dead.

If you died now, who would look after your digital YOU?

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:09:37 +0000

You’ve surely seen, at least once in your life, one of those very romantic, hearth-breaking movies in which some John or Mary die but, just one moment before passing away says to whoever is tenderly holding his or her hands something like:

Good news for all parents and teachers: it's Ubuntu User Day

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:45:00 +0000

Explaining global warming to home buyers

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:55:38 +0000

Even in this period of housing crisis (or maybe just because of it) buying a house may be a wise investment if you can afford it without a big mortgage! The task is made easier by the Internet, which lets us find the best deal with just a few clicks. As an example, let's look at the cases of three not-so-imaginary Italian average citizens, signori Rossi, Bianchi and Verdi, who are thinking about purchasing a house for their summer holidays in some Italian seaside city.

The great educational minicomputer that didn't want to exist

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:04:00 +0000

During the Assembly for Quality Basic Education in Kathmandu I had the possibility to play a bit with an interesting mini-computer designed for primary school education, the TeacherMate from Innovations for Learning (IfL), and to talk with Seth Weinberger, IfL Executive Director.

The real effect of the Internet on Catholicism (or any other religion)

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:41:29 +0000

The Online Loser Guide that I just wrote was born also as a reaction to a vision of the Internet (haven for perverted and terrorists, huge time-wasting toy or mere work tool) very limited and narrow-minded. A proof that the effects of digital technologies are much deeper is in how they are influencing the religious sphere, in ways still largely ignored by traditional, mainstream media and by many blogs. The following paragraphs contain some evidence of this trend in Catholicism, but I’d guess that the same general concept is valid for any other religion (more on this at the end).

This is a long-range thinking, highly creative website: what about yours?

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:18:50 +0000

Here’s a post a bit more frivolous than what you’d normally find here. I’ve just discovered a funny but useful online service: Typealizer analyzes a blog and classifies it according to its content. Here is what it said when I entered the Stop! internet address on that page: *The analysis indicates that the author of [http:*stop.zona-m.net](http://stop.zona-m.net) is of the type: INTJ - The Scientists* which means, according to Typealizer, that the part of me that writes these pages is:

A little known but very powerful tool for homeschooling: Free Software

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:38:00 +0000

Free Software is widely used in education due to its lower cost and huge flexibility. Homeschooling is relatively popular in the USA and other countries. One would expect Free Software to be very popular among homeschoolers, due to their own philosophy: how could an homeschooling advocate not love software that is all about being “free as in freedom” and doing things by yourself? Reality, however is quite different: compared to Windows and Mac, Free Software is still almost unknown in the homeschooling community.

The Online Loser Guide, 2010 edition

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Introduction: awareness of the immense power of the Internet is so widespread these days that it is almost impossible to look a fool by using it in the wrong way. Should that be your goal, however, follow the advice below!

[...], help me have a sane, slow Christmas

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:21:00 +0000

The short prayer which follows was inspired by participation to family discussions about next Christmas and from the discovery of the article and website mentioned below. It is a prayer which is perfect for everybody, regardless of religion. You can fill the empty square brackets with whatever you want, from the name of any God to… your own, and it will still make sense. And it’s good even if you don’t celebrate Christmas yourself and nobody celebrates it around you. All in all, it’s probably good (modern life being what it is) even at other times of the year.

If we all used computers to watch TV...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:18:00 +0000

Italy started the transition from analog to digital TV in mid 2009. Six months later, the transition is still ongoing and causing a lot of hassles, unplanned expenses and, above all, confusion. In a few months Italians found themselves in a situation where, to receive all the channels available through satellites and terrestrial digital TV providers, every TV should be equipped with nine (9!) extra digital decoders!.

Free Software, Open Data give more opportunities to young Kosovars

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:19:00 +0000

During summer of 2009 I received an invitation to explain how Free Software can help developing countries at SFK09, the first Software Freedom Conference in Kosova. Here is why and how, after SFK09, some people continue to propose “Free as in Freedom” digital technologies as an important tool to solve the serious problem of people in Kosova (or any other country, really).

What does the Stop logo mean, and who did it?

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:46:15 +0000

What should we do with FIAT cars made in Termini Imerese?

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:36:44 +0000

Some days ago I heard a radio interview to workers and Union representatives of the FIAT car manufacturing plant in Termini Imerese, Sicily. FIAT management announced this year that they plan to stop car production in that plant by the end of 2011, because it is not convenient anymore. The thing that impressed me the most in the interviews were people declaring that “in Italy we produce too few cars!”

What should we do with Free Software users who don't contribute to it in any way?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:13:24 +0000

(Notes added on 2017/12/06):

links and formatting were updated on 2017/12/06)
now you may help fix the underlying cultural and awareness problems mentioned here, also by suggesting the right concepts for this book

This page, unlike the rest of Stop!, is not written for the general public. It only addresses the community of Free/Open Source advocates. That’s why it isn’t listed in the home page: it is always related to the general theme of the website (which is how technology, especially digital could improve our lives) and it’s more convenient to publish it here, but it’s not for the usual readers of the Stop.

Digital Culture online course for parents, teachers and everybody else!

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:29:18 +0000

Here is a new online course, one teaching concepts that every parent, teacher or other educator should know. Please write me (mfioretti, at nexaima.net) or contact directly VIS if you are interested in an English edition.

Should water be public or private? Australian, of course!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:57:00 +0000

There are a lot of talks and public discussions in Italy these days about the “privatization of water” that should be soon approved by the national Parliament. Some people denounce a theft of all water that should be forbidden, period! There is also a “Save the Water” national campaign.

Reduce waste this week, next Christmas and every other day

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:26:00 +0000

The week from Nov. 22 to Nov. 29 is the European Waste Reduction Week. The reason for such an initiative is obvious from the 2008 images from Naples: many other cities worldwide risk similar crisis and it’s pointless to discuss whether one should recycle or burn waste if you don’t minimize the amount of waste in the first place.

One hour with the XO laptop in a Nepali school

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:49:00 +0000

On Nov. 5th, 2009, during the first OLE Assembly in Kathmandu, I visited a class that uses the XO laptop in the Binayak Bal School of Badal Gaun, Nepal.

Ninux Day: here's why you too may need your "neighborhood Internet"

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:26:00 +0000

According to TV commercials, a fast Internet connection turns your whole life upside down: music, movies and online games at the smallest possible cost, more news than you may ever handle and, above all, cheaper and more efficient services of all kinds. The Internet makes it possible to use a computer to stop wasting hours in lines at medical centers, banks or postal offices, or to keep your public administrators under control.

OOo4Kids, the office suite for all children... and their parents

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:03:00 +0000

OOo4Kids is a special version of OpenOffice.org (the popular, free and easy to use alternative to Microsoft Office) which is very interesting and useful not only for schools, but also for many adult users. Besides, interaction with developers seems much simpler and friendlier than in many other Free Software projects. Keep reading to know, straight from OOo4Kids developer Eric Bachard, what is that makes OOo4kids unique.

The "Respect Creativity" project from EMCA Italia: do they tell the whole story?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:37:00 +0000

In August 2009 an administrative employee of an Italian school announced on a teachers mailing list that his school had received an invitation to a European Educational Project for protection of creativity and copyright by Dott.ssa Isabella Longo, Coordinator of EMCA Italia (EMCA is the European Music Copyright Alliance).

Linux, great scenery and great Italian food... all in one day!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:16:12 +0000

Plan for Universal Basic Education discussed in Kathmandu

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:13:00 +0000

The Open Learning Exchange (OLE), a network of grassroots organizations committed to providing Quality Universal Basic Education (QUBE) worldwide by 2015, held its first global assembly in Kathmandu in November 2009.

E-Learning for Kids... and everybody else

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:53:00 +0000

E-Learning for Kids (efK) is a global nonprofit foundation whose mission is to be “the source for childhood learning on the Internet, available from anywhere and without charge”.

INGOTs: a software certification that rewards children helping other people

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:06:00 +0000

The International Grades in Office Technology (INGOTs) is a system for certifying IT capability. This article explains what is unique in the INGOTs, their current status and how to join the program, through an interview with INGOTs founder Ian Lynch.

Computers in the classroom: how JumPC helped teachers and pupils without turning the system upside down

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:12:00 +0000

Last year every child of the fifth class, A section of Don Milani School in Rivoli, Piedmont got an individual laptop computer, equipped with educational software for primary school and a custom, simplified user interface (fifth class in Italy hosts 10 years old children). The computers, called JumPC, were assigned to be used for normal schoolwork and homework, in class and at home, throughout the whole year. The same experiment was carried on for shorter periods also in the third classes (section A and B) of Borgofranco di Ivrea and in class forth, section C in Novi Ligure.

The missing accessory for your cell phone is coming

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:34:35 +0000

If you are one of the several billions people around the world who want or must use a cell phone, here are some good news: last week, instead of inventing yet another model of cell phone, industry representatives agreed to on something that will both reduce pollution and save you money!

Linux Day: why software isn't just a matter of software

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:16:00 +0000

As you already know if you read the advice of a mom about why all parents should attend a Linux Day at least once in life the Italian Linux Day is a nationwide, yearly event devoted to promote the advantages of Linux and Free Software. This year I was present at the Rome edition. I tried to explain in a few minutes something which will be one of Stop! main themes and is also the central subject of both the Family Guide to Digital Freedom and of the online course of Digital Culture for parents and teachers: how and why civil rights and quality of life heavily depend on how software is used around us. The extra-short answer is that:

Two things to remember on Oct 24: Time and Climate

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Walkability: check it before choosing your next home!

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Walkability is a characteristic of homes and apartments that all their owners, or everybody considering (even in these times) buying a new house should know and think about.

Mother explains why everybody should attend the 2009 Linux Day

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:38:00 +0000

Online contest for young people "Citizens of the World"

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Risks for Italian Public Education in Government/Microsoft deal

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:08:00 +0000

What would you do if a teacher…

Five questions about Digital Freedom for all children

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:53:00 +0000

(historical note: this short interview had been asked by a parenting blog, and should have been published there, to explain why all parents should work to protect their children Digital Freedom. Then that editor changed his mind, so I put it online myself, in March 2008, at digifreedom.net. In the following years, I reorganized my websites several times… until this piece went offline. I put it back at this new URL, with (almost) all the links updated, in February 2014)

How to turn into Free Software supporters people who couldn't care less

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 05:59:29 +0000

(Historical note: I originally published this on 2008/01/12 at digifreedom.net, the website I set up as an online counterpart to that Family Guide to Digital Freedom which later on became the basis for my basic course. I have moved it here on April 24th, 2012, because I think the advice below it’s a perfect complement to something else published on this website in the same month (With leaders like these, Free Software will never win), and because here you can add your comments)

Help everybody love Free Standards and Free Software!

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:00:00 +0000

You will never convince ENOUGH people with the GNU Manifesto.

Table of Contents of the Family Guide to Digital Freedom, 2007 Edition

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:59:59 +0000

The 2007 edition of the Family Guide to Digital Freedom consists of less than 60 chapters. Almost all of them are very short (the printed version was slightly above 200 pages). Some of the longest chapters have been divided in two parts for this online version.

A Potential Future: Dinner talks in 2030