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Wednesday, June 20, 2018

The eyes have it: Facebook to introduce a blink removal tool for online pics

An interesting piece by Sophie Werthan in Slate reports that Facebook is developing a tool to change pictures so that closed eyes appear to be open.

In technical terms, the tool employs an Artificial Intelligence technique that learns to insert realistic, open eyes where closed ones are detected in photos.  The point is to help overcome disappointment when users blink in what would otherwise be a nice picture of them.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Review: Make it new—The history of Silicon Valley design

Barry Katz, professor of Industrial and Interaction Design at California College of the Arts, has written a book that, at 200 pages, conveys a worthy and instructive history of consumer design as it has applied and evolved in the famous Silicon Valley.

The book has two objectives, to survey the development of the design business in the Valley and to explain the development of Design as a professional discipline, one with its own particular knowledge and methods. In both respects, the book is a great success.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Self-driving cars and technology solutionism?

In a recent Wired post, Aarian Marshall makes the point that there are several ways of accomplishing the goal of making roadways safer for the people in them.  Many jurisdictions have adopted "vision zero" plans to reduce traffic injuries.  That is, they aspire to reducing traffic fatalities to none through various safety measures.

Monday, March 26, 2018

Wakanda as a technotopia

I recently had the opportunity to watch the latest instalment in the Marvel movie universe, that is, The Black Panther.  The movie concerns the eponymous superhero, who hails from a hidden, high-tech kingdom in middle Africa, called Wakanda.  After the death of his father, prince T'Challa must prove that he deserves to ascend the throne and to determine the future course for the kingdom.

Monday, December 18, 2017

Telegraph boys were the first Uber drivers

I have been reading "Bike battles" by James Longhurst of the University of Wisconsin.  The book is a review of the history of cycling in the United Stastes, with particular emphasis on the cultural and legal aspects of how bicycles have been granted (or not) access to public roadways.

I may have more to say about this interesting book later.  However, a passage on telegraph boys in the early 20th century struck me (pp. 112ff). 

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Do smartphones shape people's purchase decisions?

A topic of perennial interest in technology studies is how technology shapes the way people think.  It is clear that the way people think affects technology, as in the example of how gender is encoded in architecture, recently noted in this blog.

It is less obvious that influence goes the other way too.  People tend to think that they have fixed or solid set of ideas and preferences and, then, design technology to conform to them.  This view is represented in the expression that technology is "just a tool."