Your kids are not so smart after all

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A prevailing assumption of the past several years holds that young internet users are very computer and search savvy, but  recent study of children and internet in the UK suggests otherwise.    ARS Technica Reports

The study of young searchers found they preferred visual over text information, liked to cut and paste, and tended to do simple searches.

My own observations of how kids use computers lead me to think this study is correctly characterizing use and also offers some profound insights into the future of computing – a future that is *less*, not more intellectually sophisticated in terms of how people interact with the internet and with each other.

Several forces are conspiring to make the average internet user “dumber” than in the past:

* Entertainment usually trumps education, and as entertainment value of online environments becomes increasingly compelling kids (and adults) will increasingly spend time “playing” rather than “learning”.   

* Short attention spans now rule everywhere, and this trend is unlikely to see any reversal.    We are replacing contemplation and reflection about experiences with … more experiences.

* Human nature.   We are not designed for personal enlightenment and long term planning – rather for short term gain and satisfaction which until very recently was a better survival strategy.

So, strap in and watch out, because things are going to get a lot …. dumber!

Social Networking = Facebook? Myspace is more likely to be an average person’s social space.

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Marshall’s at Read Write Web is right to question some of the prevailing social networking wisdom. 

He notes that the ongoing Facebook frenzy is driven in part by folks who are infatuated with Facebook while they keep foolishly thinking Myspace is of little long term significance.   The numbers show how Myspace remains *the* key social media player, and trends suggest this will be the case for some time.

Flickr and Library of Congress – the Founders would be pleased

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Yahoo’s Flickr is teaming up with the Library of Congress to bring a lot more public photos to light, and perhaps as importantly use community comments to help categorize the pictures.    The US Government has an almost incomprehensible amount of information in various places and formats, and we need to applaud all efforts to get that data online for all to experience or use in research.

Matt at the Library’s blog says the project hopes to:  

… ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity.

Great work!     In a decade or so one can imagine that the web will be a respository for hundreds of billions of photos covering most of the earth, and tagged with data to help identify even many historical and geographic nuances that can only be understood through community input.    Will this bring world peace?  Nope, but it’ll be cool.

Gizmodo on CES blogger ban

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Brian at Gizmodo has a thoughtful, pointed piece today about why he thinks people were way too hard on Gizmodo for pranking Motorola at CES, turning off screens during a presentation.     

He hasn’t changed my mind yet because next year I think every booth staff person is going to be more skeptical than they were this year of the legitimacy of those with  “blogger” badges (Gizmodo folks probably had press badges – but this was all reported as a blogging stunt).  

More importantly CES’s great treatment of bloggers has been rewarded with stunts.

Brian’s case would be stronger if Gizmodo’s buzz machine had focused on negatives at CES – such as some of the press payoffs he mentions in his article, rather than simply sabotaging a presentation for cheap YouTube thrills and views.

But, ultimately I suppose the community and those affected more directly than me must define the appropriateness of this kind of activity and if there is little outrage by Motorola or CES than maybe I was the one who overreacted.

Blodget: US Economy is Screwed

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Market watcher Henry Blodget is not optimistic about the US Economy.   He notes that advertising spending already appears to be threatened by the slowdown, and he seems to think this will hit everybody from mainstream media companies to technology/media stocks like Google.  As the subprime mortgage timebombs keep ticking away I think it makes sense that we are in for worse conditions before we see happy days again.   In fact I expect it will be at least 5 years before housing prices return to the highs of 1-2 years back.   It may be time to hunker down and settle in for a long and cold economic winter.

Gizmodo blogger banned from CES for life

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The Consumer Electronics Association, reports Portfolio.com, will ban the Gizmodo blogger (I assume Blakely) who used a hacking device to turn off TVs, some in the middle of CES tech presentations by Motorola.     They are reviewing taking more actions against Gizmodo.

Unfortunately for those of us who blogged the show “responsibly”, the Gizmodo prank has set back bloggers and blogging at least a few notches.     CES treated the blogging community very well with excellent credentials and two well stocked comfortable blogger lounges.    This hospitality was repaid, in the case of Gizmodo, with information vandalism against fellow tech enthusiasts.        

CES: SONY Pirates of the Burning Sea Party

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SONY Pirates of the Burning Sea Party
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

Thanks to SONY Online and Flying Lab software for a very nice party showcasing the Pirates of the Burning Sea, a new Massively Multiplayer online game or “MMO”.   I’ve been researching the MMORPG topic for the past few weeks and it was great to get a chance to talk to one of the game developers and Flying Lab PR about MMOs in general as well as their experiences with this game.

Also really fun was playing some poker with professional dealers who were very helpful to the many Texas Holdem novices.   One of my dealers has dealt in the world series of Poker, which was cool.  Very nice guy who could track the fast action in remarkable form.    Interestingly, when asked a different dealer said that he makes about $100,000 per year dealing at one of the top casinos here.  I think most of this is from tips.

One Laptop Per Child Project and Intel’s departure

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One Laptop Per Child Project
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

For a project of this scope it was very disappointing to see Intel’s departure, only a few days before CES.   I agree with CNET that this was handled poorly on both sides, and I’m especially concerned that Negroponte’s brilliant vision may ultimately get undermined by his in ability to compromise with the market forces that drive consumer electronics much more than altruism or societal need.

That said it appeared that AMD remains solidly behind the project and many countries are buying in, so hopefully this will bring to pass the grand vision of technology to those who have the least chance of getting it otherwise – poor children in developing countries.

My favorite project of CES remains the Meraki mesh networking concept.   It’s a great example of leveraging existing technologies in new and clever ways while keeping common sense, profitability, and global citizenship in mind.

Scoble on Donny Deutsch’s “The Big Idea”

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OK, so I’m not getting to meet Donny Deutsch here at CES (because he’s not here). But glad to report that Scoble and the Bloghaus Bus o’ Bloggers will be on “The Big Idea” the show tonight on MSNBC.

Blogging is a pretty big story here at CES and I’m hoping to get some comments next week from CES CEO Shapiro about his decisions to bring bloggers in as a “separate but equal” press category. In fact the second hand stories I’ve heard indicate that the press actually was complaining they couldn’t get in the blogging lounges which were generally less crowded and more comfortable than the press rooms (they are allowed them in now).

I just talked to Plantronics who is sponsoring the lounges. She said last year they did have a blogger lounge but it was out in a tent and not as comfortable as this year’s lounges. Thank you Plantronics.

Another blogger upgrade are all the “blogger only” parties here. Intel sponsored the one yesterday at the Atomic Testing Museum, and Monster the night before at a Paris Hotel Suite. Hey Silicon Valley – YOU could learn a lesson on how to treat bloggers from the CES sponsors, though CES has the advantage of filtering folks via the cost to get to Las Vegas. This effectively reduces the number of folks who, for example, might just start writing the day before they got here. I’m hoping to ask CES if they did any screening for eligible tech bloggers. I understand there are about 200 registered here as “bloggers”, but most of the blog folks are here as Press because they are with other media outlets.

FastMoney with … Scoble!