Andre

Member since: Dec 4th, 2005

Andre's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
Joystiq	1 Comment
TUAW.com	2 Comments
Engadget	2 Comments
Download Squad	6 Comments
Engadget Mobile	4 Comments

Recent Comments:

HazeOver dims background windows to help you focus (TUAW.com)

Apr 25th 2011 1:06PM This is a slick piece of kit, but i prefer Spirited Away (which has been covered here before). Hides all inactive windows after a set period of time. Still free from http://drikin.com/2010/11/spirited-away.html

Fugly Friday: Can better design help your cause? (Download Squad)

Mar 28th 2009 4:36PM The atom is actually a really good example. The scientists who developed the atom bomb at the manhattan project were deeply divided over the warlike and the peaceful possibilities of their work. Some argued that the bomb should NEVER be used because of the cost to human life and the ecosphere, while others argued that scientific progress would go on and that they were just "doing it for the science" .

i understand what you're saying, Victor, but at some point you have to hold people responsible for the uses to which their product is put. Weapons are easy to moralize about. Unfortunately, information and communication technologies are not as easy to analyze with respect to intentions of the designers...but the clues are there when you see how people utilize the programs and platforms to do harmful things.

sorry - didn't mean to threadjack your original post. I'm suffering from SxSW induced technophilic fatigue, so i'm a little cranky.

Fugly Friday: Can better design help your cause? (Download Squad)

Mar 28th 2009 1:05PM just a comment on your opening statement:
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The thing about technology is that it isn't inherently good or bad, it's how we choose to use it that makes it so. This has been true since the first humans picked up a bone and fashioned a hammer. Some used it to build, and others to kill.
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you can't separate the tech artifact (the material piece) from the practices that enable it or the beliefs that empower it. doing so encourages a kind of ethical equivocation that absolves the designers (and even users) from the consequences of using that artifact.

Joyswag: Samsung 22" widescreen LCD monitor (Joystiq)

Aug 18th 2008 2:51AM A picture of a police lineup from the mid-50's by the great Pittsburgh photographer "Teenie Harris"

Two posters by Justin Bua - The Piano Man and The DJ

A piece of signed art by one of my favorite poets - Terrance Hayes

Black Friday Giveaways (part 16): T-Mobile Shadow (Engadget Mobile)

Nov 25th 2007 4:22PM pick me pick me pick me

When MySpace isn't black enough: BlackPlanet.com (Download Squad)

Nov 25th 2007 3:44PM so...why isn't this post in the "most commented on (60 days)" list? and don't give me the "technology is just goofy sometimes" excuse either.

When MySpace isn't black enough: BlackPlanet.com (Download Squad)

Nov 17th 2007 7:49PM gee, i dunno, mysterius.

maybe you could define racism for me? since you don't see it by empathizing with my personal feelings, let me offer you an empirically based, discourse analytic approach.

maybe you can read an article about a nearly 10-year old website featuring content by and for african americans, which is considered the 5th largest SNS networks in the US, which is one of the stickiest sites on the web (as of Nielsen Feb 2007) and not see any discriminatory intent.

Instead of the above information, the site is described pejoratively in relation to myspace - "when myspace isn't black enough". according to the author, BPs approach is limited/dictated by its similarity to BET's audience approach. finally, BP has "cute" innovations. faint praise, indeed.

maybe you think racism is outright bludgeoning, crass profanity, or physical abuse. maybe you could consider that shoddy scholarship, dismissive rhetoric, and lack of proper contextual information can, in their way, be discriminatory as well.

When MySpace isn't black enough: BlackPlanet.com (Download Squad)

Nov 17th 2007 3:25PM i'm not sure how exactly to explain my reaction to the title AND the content of this piece. The title is condescending, if not outright racist in intent. The content of the article is WOEFULLY uninformed and didn't even seem to have any other basis than to bash BlackPlanet. I was by turns appalled, angry, and incredulous and that was BEFORE i read the comments.

with the exception of karsh's comment (and maybe ernie and kj), the comments reflect and even magnify the intent of this article (niggaspace.com? REALLY?) .

Ted (and the editors of DS), you owe ALL of the DS readers an apology (not just the Black ones, but a specific apology to the largely-unnoticed Black readers would be nice as well). This is thinly-disguised bigotry in the guise of technological discourse. is it racism? since i consider racism to be an institutionally sanctioned activity, well, let's see how the editors (and weblogs, inc) respond.

Engadget Mobile relaunch giveaways - Helio Ocean (Engadget Mobile)

May 24th 2007 4:32PM I REFUSE to write a suck-up comment just to win that phone. Reward me for my lack of conformity, dammit!

Win yourself some Shure headphones! (Engadget)

May 24th 2007 4:30PM Writing music: International Players Anthem by UGK/OutKast, Shottas by T-Pain/Kardinall Offishall/Viper, and Baby I'm Scared of You by Womack and Womack

(gotta finish this dissertation no matter what...but this is a worthy distraction)