This is not about terrorist propaganda, this is not about free speech, this is not about radicalizing the public - it’s about the truth.

American politicians, American media and most parts of the so called American public simply "sanitize" reality to they don’t have to face the ugly truth: their own soldiers and mostly innocent people die in this stupid war on terror.

Don’t look away! This is your war. You decided to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - now stand up to it and face the blood.

This is the 21st century - you won’t be able to hide such videos and censor images - like the return of your own dead soldiers.

But America has learned from the Vietnam experience - and all side are making HUGE efforts to keep the TV screens clean. Because shocking images can make people change their minds - but cool 3D animations with heroic videos - but no blood or gut hanging out - do not offend …

In the Age of TV families shared quality moments together in front of the screen. In the Internet Age we sit quietly in our rooms and maybe chat via AIM together. Computer screens don’t provide the same social glue as TV screens.

Several people fighting for the remote control was bad enough - but a consensus could be reached which show to watch for an hour or two. But you can’t have four people controlling a computer and surf different websites at the same time.

TV serves as the radio today - it provides the noise to our life, but it is the computer with it’s highly individualized interaction that grabs our FULL attention.

So our media experience is more and more individualistic - and all these digital toys and gadgets (especially cell phones and instant messaging) keep us “busy” and distracted all the time.

In front of the TV the whole family could switch off - today that switch has been lost. We are always “ON” …

Gee, is it already over ten years ago that these oversized pocket calculators achieved the final breakthrough of the PDA? Together with the mainstream revolution of the WWW suddenly cell phones and personal digital assistants exploded everywhere.

Palm created 1996 a huge market that was invented by Apple with it’s Newton 1992. But the original Newton was a brick compared to the slender Palm (which would appear huge compared to today’s machines). And it played nicely with a Mac and a PC. Something Apple always hated until they finally ‘got it’ with the iPod.

Suddenly everyone wanted to have one of these organizers - in every meeting people would try to take notes with Graffiti - a special sign language to make the computer better understand human handwriting. Most people ended up using the keyboard map instead.

Today the PDA’s are slowly disappearing - or better say evolving into the smart phones. Today almost any cell phone offers an extended address book and scheduler. If you need more power - you simply use a notebook or small laptop. Especially since PDAs from Palm and Windows CE are bloody expensive.

The whole PDA market will be killed by smart phones. There is no need to have a small computer if you cell phone can organize your life as well.

More? Palm Pilot @ Wikipedia

After many years if waiting and technical development video is finally sweeping the Internets. It’s not just download little bits here and there, but massive streaming, downloading complete movies and ‘blogcasting’. We are used to get small video clips in our emails or watch important as well as ‘funny’ stuff via Websites like Crooks & Liars as well as YouTube.

The BlogCasting is a sort of Clip-O-Mania which has also grabbed the mainstream media’s attention: news shows include Internet clips as well as those many funny video shows. Videos of people torturing each other were cell phone videos, a lot of ‘funny’ stuff is from cheap camcorders. The video revolution is in full swing.

Since the medium is still part of the message those short clips will only ‘deepen’ the short attention deficit disorder of modern people. Since the introduction of mass media in form of TV and radio the speed and visual presentation of ‘content’ has increased. If you watch a newscast or report from the 1960’s you be surprised how slow and static it is. Today’s presentation hardly leaves any space for thinking. Everything is presented in ever faster image sequences, booming voices and action music. This is no longer just the stupid idea of edutainment, but actiontainment.

The faster, the more impressive and the shorter - the better.

A new generation of clones taking over the world!

Similar to the inability of many modern students to understand or write complex texts this will Clip-O-Mania will contribute to the ignorance of complexity. Contrary to popular believe I say that modern youngsters are NOT stupid, but they simply lack the training and challenges to train their brains to ’solve’ complex mental tasks as well to train patience.

As much as I like gaming myself almost ALL digital adventures only train a very limited set of challenges, which only get harder with every level but not more diversified or complex. The effects of hours of videogaming are very similar to brainwashing, because the same mental paths / messages are hammered deeper and deeper into the brain. Playing is meant to explore different approaches and experiment with different combinations. Videogames lack the variety - they present a very limited set of elements and solutions - under a huge pressure to proceed and win. Similar to the speedculture of actiontainment and videoclubs there is little time and mental space left to develop your own ideas and grow at your own pace.

Slowness has it’s own merits as well as patience and complexity.

On one side big media companies have greatly reduced their international reporter network and therefore lost ‘local competence’. On the other side a huge army of freelance photographers, reporters and cameraman has developed in the least two decades.

But the media mercenaries focus mostly on popular stuff that brings in the money. Unpopular topics are left to a few brave reporters and photo journalists. So commercial news is today mostly about ’sellable’ news. If you can’t sell a picture or a story you won’t report about it again, because you need to pay your bills.

This is why we need support alternative media outlets for journalists and a willing audience to pay these people.

We also need more institutions like the BBC and other democratic and state funded media organizations, who can afford to report unpopular causes and criticize the powerful.

Free markets for news organization is a disaster. To provide a balanced public service will always collide with the quest for higher profits. Let big media create the entertainment, let publicly funded news organizations make the news.

And screw Rupert Murdoch and all the big media tycoons.

The Internet is all about communication. It’s first great breakthroughs were eMail, Chats and Newsgroups - places and mechanism for people to talk to each other, share stories and moments. The Web - with it’s rich multimedia mix of text, images, animations videos and loads of interaction came later.

The first Internet years were pure ‘Text’ - no fancy graphics, no weird interfaces, no flash movies. It was a writers paradise - and boy did people work that keyboard. That is why all those handy acronyms were invented in the first place - because they were used a lot and people got sick and tired of typing it all out. It was intended to speed up the conversation and develop some simple forms of ‘communication blocks and codes’ to ritualize reoccurring situations like ‘ROFL’ or ‘ttyl’.

eMail and chats were already different from formal letters and meeting in the office. But people tried to keep grammar, expression and context intact. It was fascinating to exchange loads of text & context in real time or almost instantly. eMail was like a speed drug for communication and brainstorming. Communication processes that often took days and weeks could be shortened to seconds, minutes or just a few hours. Brains were on fire.

This trend was pushed even further with the cell phone revolution and the invention of the web - which brought texting and web surfing to the masses. Further down the road broadband and multimedia transformed the pure ‘text-only’ online cosmos into a ‘disney-compatible consumer experience’.

Happiness is more then just an emoticon …

Websurfers and companies alike tried to make it short and sweet. Online portals developed the art of content management and squeezing as much tiny headlines and articles on their homepages. Instant messaging and texting on cell phones was the next craze - conversations were chopped up into even smaller bits. The old text emoticons were immediately translated into graphical ones - and a flood of new acronyms and Internet ‘talk’ took over the world.

The use of acronyms and rituals become even deeper entrenched in Internet communication - and it swapped over into the mainstream. Suddenly you could see web URLs in advertising and Internet slang jumped into ‘meatspace’.

But it also ritualized the always on lifestyle and communication even further. Sending jokes, images, videos, URLs or short blurbs became a substitute for describing yourself, your emotions or what you had experienced in YOUR OWN WORDS. Instead of self expression we used ‘blocks of code’ or ‘canned emotions’ to reflect ourselves - but not EXPRESSING our own state of mind.

I love your pixelation!

Instead of encouraging someone with a personal note - we send a picture of a cute doggy. Instead of saying how we feel about a sad moment with some nuances we send a sad emoticon. Instead of describing our vacation to our friends we send them a link of our Flickr gallery of snaps without context.

In all these cases we get shorter and shorter in our self expression. By breaking up complex situations or moments into simple symbols or unrelated bits we loose the complexity. The complexity of what has happened. The complexity of what we think and feel about it. And the complexity of different layers of self expression. Instead of many colour we mix ourselves with words, sentences, long expression - we use static rubberstamps of self expression. Easy and simple to use - but limited in their emotional and mental range - and shallow compared what really might be inside of you.

When you are on MySpace Google will make sure you have no privacy … 

Especially the new world of social networking is ’shrtr’. Instead of messages you send ‘funny’ games or emoticons. Instead of telling a person you like them or you ignore them you ‘rate’ them by giving them stars or declaring them your friend. Symbolism over true friendly dedication or exchange. Instead of socializing we extend our social networks by inviting the highest ranking and rated members of the database. Instead of getting to know someone and exchanging personal stories we explore their personal links, lists of favorite websites and online galleries - plus we Google their names and see if something nasty comes up.

It is no longer about what you have to say and what you are - it’s all about the right links, ranking and cool ’statement blocks’ others can recognize as greatness. You link the right political articles on your blog or stumble, you know the funniest videos, one big celebrity is your friend on MySpace.

I have friends - therefore I am! 

The art and exploration of yourself through self expression and deep thoughts has been substituted by the cleverness of self linking and self promoting. The Google PageRank of your homepage, profile or profile has become a social indicator.

The art of making friends with your personality and what you have to say and stand for. Instead of exploring one’s own inner world and building it by thinking and expressing it - we only reflect only tiny aspects of our self via links, phrases and other people’s work like videos and images.

The modern phrase and lifestyle statement ‘express yourself’ - which can be seen in so many commercials and new age books - is a challenge. It is hard work and it is a personal and social effort to express yourself, to understand yourself, to think for yourself and define yourself.

A complex personality and emotional depth can only come from complex self expression. You are the builder of your self …

Dedicated to Judefa - who inspired me to write this.

The Walkmen Generation had one big advantage over the iPoddies: their gadgets didn’t have an imposed sound barrier. The iPod has a clear loudness limit - which can be annoying while traveling in a loud environment.

But since everybody seems to be born with an iPod in their arse and earplugs instead of ears it’s a good thing. The Generation iPod will be mostly deaf by the age of 30. So less power to your headphones and earplugs might be a good thing.

And it might be nice to actually be able to get through to you - even when you have those super expensive Sennheiser plugs in your head. Total immersion in your own sound bubble is so unsocial you iPod zombie …

Artist: Christophe Gilbert

Ppostsecret.blogspot.com is now an established fixture of the globally shared net psyche. It is amazing - it opened the floodgates for endless confessions. Lurkers come to read emotional porn, dark and funny secrets of others - while the ’sinners’ try to lighten their burden by sharing some secrets of their existence.

Good thing it has already turned in a book - so the makers can rip off so money from the social porn. Secrets are no secret today - not for the media exhibitionists and web heads all around us.

Thanks to RichM for sending this one.

So far the U2 iPod was pretty unique for some time. But now more and more Celebs discover the tech market for merchandise deals.

The J. Lo USB-Stick … sooooo coooool!

Can’t wait to see stuff like the Nokia Paris Hilton edition - silvery cell phone with gems and glitter. Sometimes celebrity endorsement is simply more then stupid.

And I hardly trust Madame J. Lo to give good support for my USB-Stick if it’s broken …

Yeah, the good old digital stoneage, when a bit of memory cost you an arm, a leg and your grandmother’s pension. Good thing that electronics getting cheaper and cheaper. Who would have thought to have 10.000 songs in your pocket - and being able to walk … those old drives were HUGE!

Thanks to Edosan for sending me that ad.

More and more deaf young people? Wired Magazine is spelling out the obvious - once again. I still can remember the same warnings when the first Walkmans hit the street and everybody went earphoned. Actually the worst thing that could happen to your ears is Techno Music and raves. Never been to any party that is really louder: base kicks so intense that they make your clothes wobble. So most modern digital devices have a loudness barrier anyway - they are not as loud as old walkmans or normal Hi-Fi equipment.

Can anyone still remember life before email? Most companies and private citizens didn’t use eMail before 1995 - so the revolution is hardly 10 years old for many people. (I got my first email address 1991)

You remember the pain of snail mail? Typing or printing your letter on paper, stuffing it into an envelope, finding the right stamp and post it into a letterbox right on time for next day delivery?

Old school mail sucked - although spam is taking the fun out of instant electronic delivery as well.

Bernie’s Better Beginner’s Guide to Photography is exactly what it says - and not a bad one! Highly recommended if you want to know a bit more about making good snaps and buying the right camera. Although his tutorial focuses on SLR cameras, most stuff applies also to small snappers like the one above.

Ah, the promise was so neat: a wireless technology for small gadgets. You simply connect your cell phone, headsets, coffee machines or vibrates with each other. Super easy and super simple. Yeah, right …

Reality check please!

Several years after the introduction of Bluetooth this technology suffers from the same stupid mistakes and problems almost all gadgets do: compatibility issues. Often Bluetooth devices from the same vendors won’t talk to each other.

And the bitch is that with wireless devices you never can ’see’ if they properly connect with each other. So searching for the real problem is hard - even for experts.

Even Bluetooth 2.0 didn’t fix the problem - it just made it worse.

I am a big wireless fan myself, but my Bluetooth headset, my Bluetooth mouse, my Bluetooth enables cell phone and my Bluetooth keyboard hate each other. Only one device at a times please.

So once again we have to update drivers, check compatibility before buying and spend hours making gadgets talk to each other.

Thank you so much Bluetooth people - please accept my thanks in form of a real hard kick in your wireless butts.

I think mass media rightfully portrays the net as full of pr0n. Usually the discussion centers around porn mongers, porn sellers, porn buyers, pedophiles and sexual predators - mostly male and eager to get the easy kick.

But who talks of webbased sluttism like ‘flickr’s finest females‘, suicidegirls.com and those many webcam whores? These - often very young girls and woman - are not forced by pimps or poverty to sell themselves. Many do it for personal kicks and some extra luxury money.

All the old concepts of pornography and prostitution fail when confronted with webbased slutism: there is no physical contact involved, the woman do it themselves, there is a lot of technology involved and so much of it is for free or very little money for the buyers. Most interesting of all is the female networking: woman recommending other ’slut friends’ or running whole networks all by themselves.

As much as I am for a liberated sexuality and female empowerment but often unlimited ‘hotness’ smells of stupidity and a very egoistic, greedy or even obsessed mindset. And you hardly can call that liberated, but rather a case for serious therapy.

Everybody can be famous with a good ‘leaked’ porn video.

I also have noticed a growing social pressure for web exhibitionism for young people (MySpace.com is only the current tip of the iceberg). Many online communities and single sites over the years have developed into ‘hot zones’ instead of ‘just’ social meeting places. I guess ‘leaked’ videos by big stars like Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton and absolute nobodies like ‘Tammy‘.

I guess the sexual revolution is not eating it’s children, but well connected grandchildren. The pressure to public slutism, to look cool and sexy and do horny stuff has risen to new levels. Slutism on the web or mass media are hard to ignore, neither are the gazillion of young girls who get plastic surgery at an alarmingly early age.

Sexuality should be explored, but it should be a personal and intimate thing. Especially when you are young. So ladies go and explore yourself and your talents, but don’t ‘bless’ the rest of the web with it.

More? Love the spoof Paris Hilton Video

What do these three items have in common?

They talk!

Sunbeds, that cell phone and new cars all have voices that explain stuff to you. And usually in a adorable and caring female voice. It’s like mother explaining you a technical gimmick and you get a boner while listening.

I find this very irritating. A machine goddess talking to me, with no way of proper interaction nor dialogue. It’s all so empty and often beside the point.

Some people say that all technology serves only one purpose: procreation. Well in this case it’s also a workaround for some cultural and religious taboos (by Markus Kison):

The CharmingBurka deals with Freud’s idea, that all clothes can be positioned between appeal and shame. I decided for the Burka, because this cloth is positioned on the very side of shame and add a digital layer to it. With this layer women can decide on their own, where they want to position themselves virtually. This means that the Burka is sending a picture, which the wearer has chosen, via Bluetooth. Every person next to her can receive her picture on his mobile and that way see her self-determined identity. The virtual appeals can not be gathered by the laws of the Koran.

Therefore the Burka is equipped with a bluetooth antenna, micro-controller and uses the OBEX protocol, already working with most mobile phones.

Thanks to Edosan for this link.

I just love this: this shirt literally shows you the good vibes around you - actually the strength of a nearby WiFi connection. God bless modern geeky consumerism. Another great gimmick from ThinkGeek.

In the good old days of consumerism you could learn a lot about other people by casually browsing through their record and book collection. But today most people don’t even have CD collections anymore - and they libraries exist only in a digital form.

But switching on someone’s computer, cell phone or iPod just to see what they have ‘on’ is rather intimate affair and not very nice.

The know you are a 21st century person when your friends show their holiday snaps on a computer instead of a slide show of photo album. As much as I love the computer screen - but it sucks as a social event.

To RGB or CMYK - that’s the Question!

You are a person with many interests and many skills? You love art, you produce art - but you also live with a huge pile of creative guilt? Welcome to the club! It’s hard to be a digital artist, since your computer enables you to run amazing tools - which have been unthinkable twenty years ago. A creative powerhouse in one small box.

Wanna make a movie? No problem use Adobe Premiere or AfterEffects. Are you a graphics person? Your choice is vast and wide - Photoshop, Illustrator, FreeHand, Painter - to name but a few. Wanna go 3D and do amazing effects or animations. Once again the list boasts absolutely amazing tools like Lightwave, Maya, 3D Max.

Oh my - you are a creative person! Wow!

You make music and love to sample and tweak sounds? A small feat these days - cool software is cheaply available, even Star Wars was remixed on a simple PowerBook using everyday digital tools and even great modern musicians use the same Samplers, Synths and Sequencer like you do.

Not to forget our good old writing tools to produce anything ranging from articles or complete books! You can go from a simple solution like Microsoft Word up to publishing powerhouses like Quark or InDesign. And how about your own web page or weblog? I am sure you want to show the world what you are capable off, let’s buy Flash, Dreamweaver or GoLive?

You had enough? Fine.

More human than human - welcome to the new 3D art universe (image: Miles Estes)

Modern designer are rapped and pushed to be digital renaissance artists - nothing is impossible. Since the DTP revolution in the late 80’s smashed the old lines between technician and artist - we creative types have to be both today a Geek and a Michelangelo in one person.

Once it used to be enough to excel as a writer, painter or photographer - know you have to be you own typesetter, reproduction expert, scanner and editor etc. as well. But since this is the analog2digital (A2D) generation we love to have multiple choice - since we know how limited we felt with our old tools: clunky typewriter, tipex, letraset letters, dirty chemicals to develop slides, dangerous cutters, slow snailmail and mechanical copy processes to name a few. No surprise: we love absolute control and absolute choice.

Welcome to a mad artists world.

But it’s driving us mad. Instead being limited to a certain area of art or projects we suddenly find ourselves doing a thousand creative things all at once: writing articles & weblogs, drawing illustrations, retouching photos, programming web sites, layouting a new CV and looking for background music for our presentations.

Did you really think one huge monitor would be enough?!

So much to do, so little time and energy. And the web as a global showcase doesn’t make things easier. There is a constant stream of competition and inspiration to cope with. Have you seen those cool Japanese animations? This great Danish photographer? These old retro covers of some weird fashion magazine?

All these choices, ideas and doors waiting to be opened drive any creator mad. The total overflow of choice makes it hard to focus on just one project, just one set of skills, just one insanely great idea. A tough decision for anyone who loves to surf in possibilities.

Modern artists still want and need to be kissed by their Muses as well.

And we feel a lot of guilt of not pursuing all those ideas that pop up in our minds. The guilt of not pursuing another great business idea or product the world desperately needs. We get paralyzed by all the doors we could jump through and enjoy another adventure in creativeland. And this guilt sucks big time.

Anything else Sir? But there is an additional problem: business. Today’s clients and employers all want a young super geeks with a Maestro’s thirty years of experience and wide ranging skill set. But just one arty farty person please. We are on a tight budget these days.

Ah, when art was simple and computers limited. (Image: Andres Becerra)

So it’s really hard to say ‘I am just an illustrator’ or ‘I can only write good articles’, since you don’t want to cut yourself out of the market. So we learn and buy many different software packages, try to stay on top of a gazillion technologies, names and gizmos. But most of all, we lose the time, energy and focus to be masters of our trade - to be simply open, productive and creative.

Although art involves knowledge and craftsmanship as well, once again we should start to make distinctions between mastering expressive techniques and mastering production technologies.

There is a difference between animating something and writing a flash script. There is a difference between composing a great stream of words to entice your readers and operating a content management system. There is a difference between taking great pictures and layout an art book. Let artists be artists, technicians be technicians and geek’s … oh well …

*repost 2003-08-19*

More and more people find their favorite websites blocked by corporate firewalls. Also email filters clamp down on stupid attachments like the newest ‘funny’ video or porn.

Actually I can only recommend to anyone working in a big company not to visits websites you like in private, nor use the companies email address for mailing your friends and family. Most admin’s don’t care about your stuff - but looking at your mails and surfing habits is a gold mine for any middle management asshole to find a reason to kick your butt.

So get yourself at least a private webmail account that supports secure transmission and is hopefully not blocked by your corporate admin. Don’t surf any pr0n, funny or dating websites during work - not even during lunch break. It will be recorded - and used against you …

One professor called this generation once screenies:

We work all day in front of a screen.
We relax in front of a screen.
We educate ourselves with screens.
We socialize via our screens.
We pick out our next date on a screen.

I think he is right.

Behold the Power of the Princess Salome [make sure to read about her story before continuing]. Her innocence and tempting fertility drives the King and his Court mad. Her display of beauty, untamed sexuality and an almost childish mindset make her an explosive mixture.

While a Queen has to accept the limitations of power and responsibility - the Princess is allowed to play, tease and make mistakes. Since only her fertility mattered in the old days - nobody cared about her character, education or overall potential as a human being.

Be charming! Be fertile! Be tempting! But nothing else …

You find in almost all culture ritualized displays of female fertility (and male shows for courage etc.). It was and still is part of the ‘wedding porn’ of human culture. Picking the best DNA to breed with. The play between the young female and society is nothing else but a cow market at best and simple entertainment at worst.

The Princess shows off her wares for attention and maybe a good marriage deal. She doesn’t need any personality or any skills, just be fertile, healthy and mildly attractive - so society can project it’s desires and dirty thoughts onto you.

Hey, I used to be news …

Amanda Congdon and LonelyGirl belong to the new Cast of WebFems - who like Salome dance before the Kings behind the other side of the monitor. Give them a video stream or a blog - and they immediately attract hungry male eyeballs and curious girlies.

Dance Princess dance, maybe the Audience grants you a wish or some fame for actually doing nothing.

Uhhh, save me Knight of shining Armor … 

It seems like that anything young with breasts is able to create their own cult within minutes these days. Salome’s dance on speed with a million Kings watching.

Although most gurls (to use a web 1.0 expression) have hardly anything interesting to say or are hardly entertaining. It’s like New Orleans: flash your titts to get some simple beads [Mardi Gras].

It is called dicktionary for a reason …

My favorite piece of video mouseturbation is YouTube’s Hot for Words. She actually has something to say about words, but even without sounds she makes any healthy male hump their monitors.

She is Princess Salome with a Dictionary.

So is this the Future of Girl Power? Is this what’s left of Feminism in the Web 2.0 age? Playing Porn Princess Salome on YouTube, MySpace and all the other Mekkas for mouse clicks?

Where are the smart girly role models? An aggressive form of Sluttism seems to be the way to go. Celebs like Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton all have ‘leaked’ their Vaginas to the net. Brittney Spears and her entourage of drunken blondes compete almost daily to show their pussies to anyone with a camera.

Is that the formula and message for modern girls: show your cunt and you become a real person?

Dear Salome - you have started a terrible trend.

Since electronic components are cheap and little computers are everywhere - almost any digital gizmo offers now a built in clock: your cell phone, your iPod and even your digicam. Who still needs a huge ‘machine’ on your forearm that only can you tell the current time? In an age of multifunctional supertoys the single purpose mechanical device is slowly phased out.

I haven’t been wearing a wristwatch for over twenty years - anyone out there still using them?!