I appeared on this week's Canadaland podcast (MP3) with Jesse Brown to talk about the promise of the internet 20 years ago, when it seemed that we were headed for an open, diverse internet with decentralized power and control, and how we ended up with an internet composed of five giant websites filled with screenshots from the other four. Jesse has been covering this for more than a decade (I was a columnist on his CBC podcast Search Engine, back in the 2000s) and has launched a successful independent internet business with Canadaland, but as he says, the monopolistic gentrification of the internet is heading for podcasting like a meteor.
How the diverse internet became a monoculture
Listen to starquakes, the weird vibrations on the surface of stars
The European Space Agency's Gaia mission is using a one billion pixel orbiting camera to generate a 3D map of more than a thousand million stars in our Milky Way. The researchers have just released a trove of new data and were surprised by the instrument's ability to detect starquakes—"tiny motions on the surface of… READ THE REST
Ta-da! Hear the fascinating history of the Microsoft Windows start-up sounds
The new episode of the excellent Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast is the first in a two-part series on the fascinating history of Microsoft Windows start-up sounds. Over the years, Microsoft has made at least ten iconic startup sounds for Windows—from the triumphant "Ta-da!" of Windows 3.1, to the ambient chime that Brian Eno crafted for… READ THE REST
"The Perfect Sound" is a perfect book for audio fans
Poetry professor Garret Hongo's new book The Perfect Sound [amazon] is aptly named. It's the perfect book for any fan of all things audio. It combines a personal family memoir with midcentury Hawaiian and Southern Californian culture, pop music personalities, audio recording, technology, jazz, vacuum tubes vs. transistors, surf music, steel guitars, and so much… READ THE REST
Cut out the bad meals (and prepare delicious ones) with 63% off these Japanese knives
Whether you are a professional chef or just a novice making yourself dinner in your kitchen, you should always make sure that you have the best tools at your disposal. You may ensure that you have great ingredients, frying pans, and glassware, but proper preparation doesn't end there. A complete master knife set is the perfect way to step… READ THE REST
Want to be a true globetrotter? This bundle can teach you how at a steal
If you're like most people, you probably feel a little jealous when you hear someone who's multilingual. And that's with good reason. It's an impressive and handy skill to have. Being able to travel internationally and communicate with people can be invaluable. So, if you want to become multilingual yourself but only have some basic language skills, then you're in… READ THE REST
Got a home repair project? This HD endoscope camera can give you a closer look
As much as you hate it, sometimes we have to search for things in places we never want to go, like the kitchen sink's drain, the dusty attic, or the spider-web-laden area underneath the house. Your shrieks might just bring music to their ears! But as much as we don't want to see what's in these… READ THE REST
