Status-Q

[Original Link] John Naughton's blog had a link to this interesting article by Philip Greenspun about the MIT Media Lab's mode of operation, which in turn was a response to this Wired article about its current funding crisis and likely future.

When I visited the Lab a few years back, I, like many others, thought, "this is fun, but who pays for it?" I was a student at the time, and so I didn't worry too much about these things. But I was working on similar stuff, and so was glad that somebody, or some bodies, had the vision to fund the wacky stuff.

The Media Lab is a bit like manned spaceflight. It probably doesn't make sense, the funders seldom get their money back, there are more efficient ways to use resources, and so on. But the world would be a much less interesting place to live in without it. I hope it survives. Or that something more exciting, rather than just more practical, rises up to replace it.

Just back from the Lake District, which was as beautiful as ever.

This time, however, we had a week of the best weather I can remember ever having in many many visits. A real joy.

[Original Link] Some bits of software are really elegant in their simplicity. Imagewell is brilliant - small, simple, useful, and with great online help. Congrats to Xtralean and thanks to John Naughton and John Robb for the link.

[Original Link] I guess it's only a matter of time before the 'Iraq War' computer games start appearing, but this does feel a bit as if CNN is trying to get there first...

[Original Link] Got a Linux box and an OS X box? Michael Dales' handy utility may save you desk space.

[Original Link] As camera phones become more popular, lots of organisations are restricting how they can be used. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

There are going to be some interesting socialogical issues here. Cameras will soon be common in everything from keyrings to pens to watches. What sort of new etiquette will evolve for dealing with them?