Brad Rourke

Category: internet

  • Timeline Of A Frictionless Life

    Today I came across a relatively new (month-old) feature in Facebook Messenger: you can hail an Uber from within the app. Both Facebook and Uber act as (and have aspirations to be) interesting “front door” or “gateway” apps. For instance, for more and more people Facebook is not a page on the World Wide Web: it…

  • New Issue Guide From National Issues Forums: What Should Go On The Internet?

    I’m delighted to announce that the latest issue guide from the National Issues Forums is now available. “What Should Go on the Internet? Privacy, Freedom, and Security Online” is freshly updated for 2013 and includes new data as well as stories to illustrate key points. (Order.) An excerpt from the introduction: The same Internet that has…

  • Why Does YouTube Have Comments?

    YouTube has, no question, revolutionized the way we interact online. It opened the door for video sharing and now when something new is going on in our lives, one of our first questions is: “Should I take a photo or a video?” It’s also a great avenue for getting ideas out there — the solo…

  • Many Agencies Miss Obama's Deadline For Openness

    According to Doug Ward’s excellent OpenGovBlog, the first deadline under President Obama’s “Open Government Directive” has come and gone with 26 agencies failing to meet the Directive’s requirements. Here’s what Obama is requiring: “Within 45 days, each agency shall identify and publish online in an open format at least three high-value data sets and register…

  • Facebook Analyzes User Diversity Data

    The Facebook data analysis team recently finished taking a hard look at the diversity statistics for the more than 94 million users who live in the United States. (Fun fact: There are more than 350 million users worldwide, making Facebook a larger “country” than the U.S.) Ethnic Makeup Of Facebook Users The data team dove…

  • Personal And Public Security — What's The Answer?

    By now, most users of Twitter know of what’s come to be called “Twitfail” — French hackers gained access to the personal email accounts and passwords of top executives at Twitter. To prove it, they emailed a large cache of internal strategy documents to the widely-read Silicon Valley blog TechCrunch. After agonizing over it for…

  • Internet Radio, The Next Plastics

    According to MinOnline, a little noticed phenomenon began to coalesce last year. While everyone was watching social networking and video sites soaring in popularity — Internet Audio was quietly taking off too. It may be one of the Big Things of 2009 — indeed, it may already be. Says Arbitron: 33 million Americans listen to…

  • Taxonomy of Hotel Internet

    I’ve been travelling again. It’s got me thinking about different kinds of hotel internet access: I see four basic kinds: Just plain on — This is great, but unusual. Walk into the hotel room, flip on your laptop, find wireless network, connect, go. Free but signup — Courtyard by Marriott has this. It’s quite good.…