Inventing to Survive in Cuba
September 8, 2010
In 1991, Cuba’s economy began to implode. “The Special Period in the Time of Peace” was the government’s euphemism for what was a culmination of 30 years worth of isolation. It began in the 60s, with engineers leaving Cuba for the Unites States, and continues in part today, under the longest trade embargo in modern history.
When Ernesto Oroza, a Cuban-American designer and artist, began studying the technological innovations that have been made during this period, he uncovered a trove of homespun, Frankenstein-like machines that ordinary citizens made for their survival, out of day to day objects.
Google enters music war vs. Apple
September 8, 2010
The music industry is rejoicing about the Google vs. Apple music war. Both companies are competing for control of the mobile phone market and in the digital music realm. According to Reuters, Google is currently talking to music labels regarding plans of an online music store and the ability for mobile [...]
Calling all developers! FCC releases APIs for key databases
September 7, 2010
Perhaps you've been burning to build an online feature around some interesting government data source; if so, the Federal Communications Commission just made the task simpler. The agency has released the Application Programming Interface (API) specs for four of its big repositories of information: its consumer broadband test, broadband provider database, license owner storehouse, and latitude/longitude to county converter.
"We want the FCC's Web presence to be larger than a single Web site," FCC Geographic Information Officer Michael Byrne posted on Tuesday. "We want the developer community to run with these APIs to make mash-ups and data calls connecting FCC data assets to other sources for creative and useful applications to the public."
Although the Commission has done a fine job of making its public filings much more accessible, that's only the tip of the vast data iceberg which is the FCC. The biggest challenge is figuring out where this juicy stuff actually resides at fcc.gov.
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