One Laptop Per Child in Action

Posted by Nelson Williams | August 20, 2009

Those who know me know that I really care about connectivity. Not just the blinkenlights on my router, but getting people together and getting them online. The online world is the future of humanity, and those left behind will, in a few decades, be considered something of a different and lesser species.

Also, I believe that the most damaging aspect of poverty is a case of close horizons. That is, those growing up in disadvantaged environments cannot see past their immediate surroundings, their immediate needs. They are trapped in poverty by their own expectations; they never see that escape is possible.

One Laptop Per Child is a drive to get inexpensive, durable, connected laptops into the hands of children across the globe. With these laptops, the poor and the isolated can learn about themselves and the world, and hook up with the global …

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TED.com — Will Video Games Become Better Than Life?

Posted by Nelson Williams | November 3, 2008

It’s my belief that the future of humanity will be something like the Matrix with friendly AIs, save points, and porn. The reason why I think this will come to pass is I’m a gamer. So many people are playing games these days that the old media standbys — TV and movies — are strangling, starving for new viewers. There are enough people banging about in World of Warcraft that, if they voted together, would not only decide the presidential election but politics for decades to come. We are moving to an online world.

In this video from the TED Conference, David Perry discusses the implications of gaming and what the future may hold for those generations that grew up attached to online, social games.

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Photosynth Demo at the TED Conference

Posted by Nelson Williams | June 11, 2007

I stand before you today and hold the future in my hands. Not the mere squealings of sneak previews or rumour-mongering, but the real thing. Look up, and behold! A shining path! There are pictures!

In this demo, Blaise Aguera y Arcas introduces a program called Photosynth, a new technology capable of assembling photographs into a composite model, then diving between the model and the images which created it. That might not seem like much on the surface, but the implications and the use of this technology is huge — and the audience at the demo knows it.

If you ever wanted to find out what a paradigm shift looks like in action, then view this and see.

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