5typos.net

On recent weeks, three related items have caught my attention:

1. My girlfriend asked me about the best Blackberry Twitter client
2. Hugo Chavéz called Twitter a terrorist tool
3. Twitter Co-founder said they are looking at ways to bypass country blocks

I know what you’re thinking, a Blackberry? Still, two of the above items are no big surprise.

The fact that a President, obsessed with controlling media, calls the easiest publishing/communication tool terrorist, was bound to happen as adoption grew.

On the same lines, after last year’s events in Iran, it makes sense that Twitter establishes the idea of global freedom of its service, over regional censorship. If they plan to be the pulse of the internet, they need to make it clear that real and uncensored tweets are all getting through.

However, my girlfriend installing Twitter on her Blackberry? Just amazing. I mean, this is the same person who uses Facebook as a photo sharing site, and still untags herself if the photos are public. She deletes - deletes! - email in Gmail. Even after a long conversation regarding the whole concept of an infinite expanding disk space.

So why would a person, whose default status in all chat services is invisible, be asking about Twitter?

Simple; uncensored news.

Many venezuelans don’t trust what they hear, or more importantly, what they don’t hear in the news.

Visit Twitter on a weekday and you can usually see a flurry of #FreeMediaVE, #FreeVenezuela and #TASPONCHAO tweets going by. Reporting protests and clashes with police and the national guards. With no mention whatsoever about it on local radio or TV.

All of this has lots of interesting internet usage implications. Sadly, the only one I keep thinking about, is that in Venezuela the internet will the next expropriation.

Every time Apple has an event in which they announce a new product, I need about a week to get out of Jobs reality distortion field¹ and be able to process information on my own again.

Mind you, the post-event week is not easy on us geeks. It’s an emotional and intellectual roller coaster. You go through euphoria, disappointment, hope, financial analysis and inner-discovery in a short period of time. Then you open Google Reader, and it starts all over again.

So, the iPad. It’s here. If you have followed some of the news you may have heard the following:

1. The iPad is just a large iPhone/iPod touch
2. You should wait for version 2
3. It’s probably better to buy a netbook

To which I say: No, yes, not really.

iPad and iPhone

There is no question that the iPad shares most of the same DNA as the iPhone. But so does a dolphin with an orca. Point is, the fact that something so different looks like it works in such a similar way, speaks volumes of the detail that went into making this device.

The similarities of the iPad with the iPhone are not because of laziness on Apple’s part. Most likely, it’s the results of a strict design restriction. If you own an iPhonesOS device (like other 75 million people) you needed to be able to know how to use the iPad. Which you do.

iPad and you:

Should you run out and get it? Probably not. Am I getting one? Of course. -“But,”- you say -“it doesn’t have a camera!”- I know. -“And it doesn’t even support multitasking!”- Very true. -“What about your new Kindle?”- Would you shut up and hear me out?

Ok, I got nothing. However, this is about you, not me.

There are couple reasons why should wait a little. For starters, if the iPhone and iPod touch are any indication, it’s likely Apple will update the storage sizes and maybe the prices around November. Also, unlike with the iPhone, it looks like Google “& partners” will be able to quickly deliver their own answer for this segment in the same timeframe.

iPad and laptops:

Obviously, all of this assumes that the hoopla around the tablet form-factor has legs. Which I believe it does.

If you typically turn on your TV and immediately open you laptop, you’ll eventually feel the need for the iPad. If do the same with your iPhone or mobile phone, it would happen even sooner.

Try not to dismiss the iPad (or the whole tablet category for that matter) because you feel perfectly fine with your laptop or netbook. Most people where perfectly fine with CD player six years ago, and with a basic Nokia phone even more recently.

iPad and me:

With the iPad, Apple has clearly signaled where they think personal computing is going. Or at least, where they are going to stubbornly pull it towards. Make no mistake about it, the iPhoneOS is the future of the Mac.

In desktop OSes, all complexity is staring back at you every time you use an application. My Mom can always find a way to change something once, and never be able to get back to the same place ever again. I call this UI dead-ends.

On good touch UI’s, this isn’t as common. The iPhoneOS has a great UI.

That’s why there will be an iPad in your wish-list someday. Maybe not this year, but sooner or later you’ll see how effortlessly something is done on it. A task that usually takes more than a couple clicks on your computer will be done with a few gestures.

Then you’ll know. Just like I do now. That you need one.

I like desktop applications. I like how fast they feel compared to Web apps, even when you have a really fast connection. Yet, there is no denying that the convenience of having your information in “the cloud” can’t be beat. Especially when you have a multi-computer and multi-phone environment, as I do.

Read More

ll the recent talk about the different new eReaders misses one crucial point: it is not about the devices, it is about the future of books.

Consider for a second that books haven’t basically changed in the last few hundred years. Even things we take for granted online, like hyperlinks or recommendations do not remotely exist on books today. We use this concepts up until we purchase a book, but as soon as we open it, it’s back to the the 19th century. No wonder millennials don’t read as many books as their parents.

Of course the literary purist in me believes that incorporating technology into books affects the essence of reading. The ability to think, imagine, and contemplate in silence a story, a phrase and, most important of all: an idea. Nevertheless we need to recognize that clinging to the “good old way” is the easiest route to drive that “way” to obsolesce. If you don’t believe me, ask Polaroid and Kodak how the film business is doing.

The new direction digital books will be able to take the reader should be as exciting and unpredictable as the Web browsing ride over the past 15 years. Imagine margin notes that are easily shared with twitter or Facebook, allowing you to experience a book in a social way. All the insights of a book club without the inconveniences. Or maybe being able to jump from the fictional book you’re reading to references of that historical era, or the character’s inspiration or just facts about the author during the the period the book was being written.

Do you think DVD extras are great? Now imagine what authors could package-in with the books. From commentaries to deleted chapters chapters, giving them (and their publishers) the ability to complement a book with whatever they feel will make the content more value, is likely to result in more good than bad.

If you don’t feel compelled to buy any of the current eBook readers, don’t worry. The device that will make your bookshelf look like a vinyl record collection in the eyes of your children is not out yet. The Kindle is not the iPod of ebook readers. It’s the Rio.

The device that is going to bring digital books to the masses is not the one that better recreates the analog experience. It will be the one that remixes sequential printed pages into something made of bits and pixels and gives authors more tools to tell a story.

One Friday, when I was about 12, I attempted to escape from my school by jumping over a fence. My school had recently changed the rules for picking students up, and I couldn’t just walk outside to wait for my parents. This meant that they would have to endure a 45 minute car-queue to pick me up. Which meant that picking up my little sister at her school would take even longer. All of this snowballed into a situation where our monthly trip to the beach had absolutely no margin for error with regards to time. This was unacceptable to my Mom.

That day, as the final bell rang, I followed some older kids on their escape/smoking route. As we arrived behind the gym it became obvious that the final hurdle was a 3 meter fence. I should mention that my sport of preference is swimming, mainly because the only athletics required is a jump into the water. Hence, my climbing was painfully slow. The other kids must have never heard about the “leave no man behind” doctrine, because a minute later I was alone. That’s when Brother Ignacio uttered -“Mr. Mateu?”- from below. I was sure my mortal life was going to be over soon. Not only was my Mom going to kill me over being late, but she was going to do it again when she found out I was expelled.

Surprisingly, Brother Ignacio just told me to get down and wrote my name down on a pad. He then turned and walked briskly away. It seemed that the new rule had driven most of the high schoolers to exploit all the known escape routes, and a massive “prison-break” was taking place.

Let me assure you that Brother Ignacio didn’t have any issues with me spending the rest of the afternoon on detention. Yet, the total chaos taking place in different parts of the schoolyard made it impossible for him to concentrate on any one case. He was simply trying to monitor the situation as best he could.

Censuring the internet is similar. It’s very hard to do. You have to block keywords, URLs, IP addresses and do hackie things to pollute DNS server connections. In a way, it’s much more difficult to censure half-way than to completely lock it down.

The upcoming chain-link fence of Venezuela

Over the past two weeks I’ve being trying to write a post about tools that get around an Iran-style Web lockdown of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and news sites. The recent #FreemediaVe circus on Twitter and its response by the government only reinforced my belief that some sort of Web censorship is on the horizon. However, the more I researched about the technical aspects of blocking traffic on the Web, the more I began to appreciate the political implications it would have internally and externally.

Lets be clear, the Venezuelan government has the technical capability¹ to establish a fairly competent internet censorship model². Be it a complete-control model like Saudi Arabia, a more flexible version like China, or a simple site filtering system like Norway. The state controls close to 90% of all broadband traffic through the re-nationalized telecommunications company. This is helpful if they are monitoring quietly at the moment, but making other internet providers and mobile operators comply with some sort of centralized system would not be a surprise to anyone.

The tough decision the government needs to take is what type of censorship it would go forward with. However, this is a political decision and its implications are considerable on the lives of urban Venezuelans³.

NoticieroDigital and Aporrea together, on Youtube

The current media control scheme in Venezuela is incompatible with internet censorship because the “enemies of the revolution” are not as clear to pinpoint. Unlike TV signals and cable channels, you don’t eliminate NoticieroDigital’s presence online by just blocking their URL. Most of their videos are hosted on Youtube for example. But if you block Youtube, about a thousand Aporrea videos disappear too.

The democratization of media on the internet means that completely opposite political views coexist on the same services. This happens every day, on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Hi5, Blogger, Wordpress, etc. The same tools that pro-chavéz individuals prefer to use online to express their views would likely fall under the censorship wall.

This a consequence of the Cute Cat Theory:

Web 2.0 was created so that people could publish cute photos of their cats. But this same cat dissemination technology has proved extremely helpful for activists, who’ve turned these tools to their own purposes.

Barbara Streisand and Cute Cats to the rescue

All this time I have being imagining the problems activist on both sides would face with some sort of online censorship. Yet, if the political views of Venezuela’s internet users are at all similar to the real-world, then 40% of them are Ni-Ni’s. They are apolitical and don’t really care too much one way or the other. Unless you mess with how they share party pictures, funny videos, use of social networking sites, etc.

Once you start censuring, everybody is affected. Anti-Chavéz, Pro-Chavéz, Anti-Anti, Pro-Anti, Mets fans that read NYtimes, European football followers that read the BBC; there are so many permutations of non-political content that coexists with political content on the same services, that you end up affecting a lot of people. As a result, everyone tries to find a way around it.

The Streisand effect defines this situation as:

The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

Once you find a way to post your cute cats pics, you can do the same to post a picture of a National Guard shooting at crowds. By blocking something online, the government is going to push most internet users towards exploiting the system downfalls. That’s why China’s censorship model puts so much effort into trying to make foreign services comply with their censorship rules and also encourage local services.

The Boiling Blackberry

If the China system is sustainable on the long term, why then can’t Venezuela apply a similar model? I see three main reasons:

• Internet users and censorship grew up hand-in-hand in China. I’m always amazed about how Chinese individuals are mostly unaware that any censorship exists at all. It’s a typical case of the boiling frog, you only notice if it’s very sudden. They sometimes mention that some inappropriate Web sites are not allowed, but to them it doesn’t seem to be censorship, just protection.
• Although there was some important growth in local web services early on the decade, Venezuela currently lacks any real local alternatives to the basic Web2.0 services: photo sharing, blogs, social networking.
• Blackberry: The growth of Blackberry devices in Venezuela has been phenomenal⁴. It’s used by the cool kids, the opposition political parties, the local government and all journalist. By design, nobody (not even RIM in Canada) can see what goes on within the Blackberry Mail and Messenger walled garden. Any real attempt to censure communications in Venezuela needs to start by shutting down all local Blackberry Services providers.

Everything is going to be alright. Not really

Is everything is fine then? We have nothing to worry about, right? Yes we do. Remember what I said above: the government can, and probably will, establish some sort of online censorship. It will not work as expected for the reasons already mentioned. Nevertheless, they will be able to monitor a lot of traffic. And if things someday really heat up, they can disrupt most important Web sites for a considerable period of time. Next week I’ll point to some services to keep handy if Iran-style blockade happens and you want to post to Twitter, your blog, etc. But remember, just follow the cats.

Just to finish my escape-from-school story, I eventually got outside and told my parents what had happened. Without knowing what to say my mom just stammered -“Well, uh, next time …”-, and my always proper Dad just added -“don’t get caught”-. I believe that recommendation is still valid.