Tsikbal: from my perspective

As the 2012 comes to a close, we have a new year full of promise with 2013. There many projects that hold great promise, and some treats that hover over the horizon that can still be avoided. Then again, I hope that people will come together to make the world a far better place than it is today. Building such a place is everyones responsibility, and a choice that we all have to take. In many ways, computer and information technology can help us to bring the better world we want to fruition. We must understand that all technology is just a tool, and as such all the results that comes from the usage will depend entirely from the users. Now more than ever, we have a better chance to build a better world together. The people have at their disposal more power than ever before, and we only have to make use of it to build the better world together. We need to make take it on to ourselves to build that world. At the end, we have to do our best with the tools at our disposal. A...

While there is some truth that technology can be dehumanizing, the opposite can be also true. All depends on the use we give technology, is the people who decide how and what use to give the technology they use. If we give priority to use the technology that bring us together, the end result will be that technology will enable a closer and united communities. Yet, there is a need to understand that unless we use technology that way it won't help us to construct such communities. We get out of the technology we use, whatever we put into it. Blaming technology about how people being individualistic, or not caring about others, is shortsighted. The people use technology that way because it makes it easier for them to be like that, not because it turned into that. Shunning human interaction in many cases is a question of choice, that technology facilitates taking into action. Instead of concentrating on technology, lets also work on the people so that they have the tools t...

It's sad and angering how our data is handled by social media, and other sites, on the Internet. Most of those companies are interested on monetize our data, with no interest on our privacy or what how we want our data to be handled. There is a real need to be on the lookout in order to protect our data and privacy, if we don't do so companies have enough incentives to use our data in violation of our privacy to make money. What's worse, they will be making money with our data not only without consent while not having to share their earnings with the people who's data belongs to. The tools to control the privacy levels should be clearly visible, and easy to use, in every site that handles private data. That data should always be owned by the people, and no company has any right to use it without permission by the users. In many ways, the Internet is a platform that helps people to come together to interact. These makes the Internet a public forum that belon...

Open and free file formats are something that's sourly missing on our digital lives. Most of the file formats used on the most popular software are neither free nor open, which ties the fate of our file to the fate of whoever owns the format used to format our files. There is no underestimating the dangers of depending on closed non-free file formats, since using we depend on what the owners of the format gives to us and it's continued existence. If the owner of the format goes down, and no one else picks it up, unless people can change the format of their files to another they will those all the data stored using that format. Not only that, closed non-free formats are an effective tool to lock people to a particular software, and also to regulate what content users can have. In effect, it's a way to take away control of their files from the users. Open and free file format are just the opposite, they give the user the real choice of software to use. Users can ...

It's a shame that many companies don't really know how to use the power of social networking sites, specially small to medium sized ones. People seem to have a better understanding on how these sites can help them to influence companies, at times with great success. Social networking sites are a great place not for companies not just giving information to their costumers, but to actually strike a relationship with them that generates loyalty to the company. In many ways, companies need to understand that social networking is about making a connection with the people that use, or buy, what they offer. Plain all information can be found in others ways a lot easier, social networking sites give users the chance to know more about the company they like in ways that other media can't. In many ways is about giving people a way to contact companies in a more personal way, making it a more emotional for the user. Unlike other ways that users interact with a company, li...

I find it rather irksome, not to say almost unethical, for tech companies to corral users to their platforms. To make matters worse, in some cases they seem to make their devices as incompatible to others as they can just to make it close to impossible for their users to leave the ecosystem the company created for them. As users, we are better served by having products built around a single, and open, standard. This way we can have the freedom to move to another companies products if we choose to do so, while not having to worry if what we have will work on those other products. We have the right to use whatever products we want, and companies have no right to lock us to their devices. When it comes to competing standards, users must have a bigger say on on which one they prefer. Once the standard becomes the reference point, it should be open and free for all to use. Standards shouldn't be used as a tool to keep competition out, and users locked in whatever walled garden ...

The Internet must remain neutral, no government or central organism should have control over all of or any part of it. At most, bodies should be set up to add and maintain standards that run the Internet, not what to regulate the Internet itself. With the Internet becoming an integral part of our daily lives, there is a real need to keep it neutral so we all can make use of it as we need to. Just as city streets, and other public infrastructure, where only basic standards are placed to make use of them, so that everyone that needs to can make use of them freely with no discrimination other that not engaging on illegal activities. The only part that needs some kind of regulation on the Internet, are the standards on which it runs. Those standards should be open for all, built and maintained on a transparent way so that any one interested in studying them, or making a contribution, can do so without any impediment. Most importantly, those standards should be freely available...

It's sad to see that the current state of the technology field tends to be pro business, not pro users. The users are losing ground, giving up their freedom to use their devices as best they seem. In many cases, companies still own the devices we buy. Companies have a lot of say on how we can use our devices, and what we can run on them, in many cases having the right to punish users that don't use their devices as envisioned by the company who made it. Even though illegal behavior must be punished, taking users rights over their devices can't be approved or done in name of cracking on such behavior. User should be able to modify their own devices as they want, and to share how to make such modifications, freely while they are not engaging in any illegal activity. The problem is that, in several cases, innocent people are being punished because of behavior that isn't illegal. They only engaged on activities that weren't approved by the big businesses, y...

It's interesting to see how many people don't really understand that the results given back by any software, are only as good as the data entered into it to compute. In many cases the problem is not the software itself, but how people chooses the data to work with. No matter how good the software is, if the right data sets aren't selected to begin with the results are just not going to be the ones expected. It's important to understand what data sets are meaningful to your problem, in order to make sure that those are the ones that are picked up. If not, all the hard work will be for nothing. The problem that's being targeted needs to be correctly stated, so that the right parameters to be measured and the right data is collected to be studied. Armed with that information, the software can be better selected to the problems needed to be solved. I've seen a lot of times, how a great piece of software selected to be used in a way it wasn't intende...

We are at a point in human history, where modern computer technology can empower people in ways never imagined. The advent of laptops, tablets and smartphones, have fundamentally changed how people can access information and the way they share it with each other. When we add the Internet into the mix, we have a platform where people from around can have a common place to come to access and share all that interested in. Now people have a real chance to go to the source of the information, and have a better chance to get it without filters applied to it. Not only that, that information can be verified and compared among several portals. Add that it can be shared in an instant with family and friends, it becomes harder to try to hide things from the people. People are getting more control over how the information flows, with who they share it with, and the time and place they access it. We need to keep our ability to do so intact, since the control over it means that we can also ...

As with many other things, I want a clean and minimalist design on my software. I don't want any other than the necessary at hand, so I can concentrate at the task I'm working on. Yet, I've found that designing anything to be like this is a hard feat to get correctly. It's incredibly easy to over or under do it, for the have the right tools at hand while arranging them just the right way. Not only that, it irks me when I'm not allowed to take features in or out so I can get it to be as I want it to be. I can understand that any software comes with the features most uses as default. In any case, the user needs to be able to make any change to the configuration to make it work better for him or her. Making the design clean and minimalist doesn't equate to taking away functionalities, it just means that there is a need to better need to understand how those functionalities are used. This way they can be better placed, so that those most commonly used c...

It's interesting to see how traditional media tries to control how information flows, trying to control the perception, only to be foiled by how people share events among themselves. The thing is, that many times the information gets distorted too by the people. Not that many people wants to distorted, but it gets distorted because it loses context. Mainly because people tends to focus on a single part of the information, losing the context that brings knowing the background on which events are happening. At the end, we need to get our information from both traditional outlets and from social media. The traditional outlets are useful to get the big picture, to get the context surrounding the story we are interested in. From the social media we can get a better sense on how people that are directly affected, or involved, by the issue think and feel about what's happening. In a way traditional media gives us the context, and social media gives us the finer details to...

It bothers me than more often than not, women are either under or miss represented in science and technology. The same thing could be argued on the geek culture at large. There is the perception that women that have a keen on interest on science and technology aren't all that feminine at all. Like if femininity and these fields are mutually excluded. Almost always women that have a strong interest, or good, on these fields are portrayed as socially awkward or not even remotely feminine. To make things works, the ones who are feminine or attractive are there there to take advantage of the geeky men that have no defense from their charms. At times woman are totally dependent on the technical abilities, or knowledge, of a man to save the day. We need to change this perception, since it's costing society to lose a large number of women that have the interest to be on working on science and technology that get deterred because of that those aren't places for women. ...

It's sad to see social media used to attack and insult opponents, widening divides while making anger make any mutually beneficial resolution less likely. Now more than ever, we need to take social media not only as a tool to share what we think and what we care with those we care or agree with. Social media is also a tool that needs to be used to engage in true debate with those who oppose, or not share, our views. Only by doing both, communicating with those that agree and with those who disagree with us, can social media can become the powerful tool needed to build a better world. Social media isn't here to end disagreements, or to widen the divides that already exist. Social media is here so that we can actually work together to take the common goals we all have, so that we can build a better world where all our views are represented. In many ways, social media is a way to give people a way to make their views and opinions known. With the help of social media, ...

There is a need to make technology more inclusive, not only to be used, but also in its creation, development and adaptation for different needs. If people can't have ample access to technology to do all of these things, no matter how useful or innovative at the beginning, it'll soon be obsolete or irrelevant. If any technology is made so as much people can do more than just work with it, chances are the technology will reach its full potential. And it's more than likely than that potential is far beyond anyone can foresee. To take technology there, it needs to let everyone in and let them modify it or add to it openly. Closing it to the general public is the best way to ensure a short life for it. Inclusive technology is the best way to make out present, while at the same time ensuring our future. Technology gives us the best tools to do both, and the best way to do so is to have technology that is work on and developed in an open and transparent manner. Peopl...

Another of the reasons that I love FLOSS is the way it works, and the culture that surrounds it, is the fact it allows people work and form communities around it as they would normally do. The best software that come out from FLOSS is one where people can claim as their own, and work on it as they can. In many ways, FLOSS represents people working together in order to produce what they need in they way that best suits them. It really it's the software of the people, for the people and by the people. This is the way software needs to be made, and worked on in order to make it the best possible for use it's intended. People should be able to come together to work on the software they need, to develop it and share it with others freely. Others should also be able to take the source code of any software to be used and modified to suit their needs, with the only condition that they give credit to the original developers and share those modifications back to the community so...

All and every technology should be open sourced, free to be modified by users to better suit their needs and redistributed. What's more, those new modifications need to be easily redistributed to others that find it appealing to their needs. The need to have technology behave this way, is because we need to have the benefits of it to be as widespread as possible. There are far too many cases where the technology to save lives, or communities, existed but couldn't be used to do so because it was to expensive or there was no way to put it to work because it wasn't in the interest of who owned the technology. Technology can't be captive by the interests of the few, and it's more powerful to improve people lives when it's freely available to be worked and redistributed without barriers that impede users to do so in an artificial way do to vested interest in avoiding it. We could be progressing a lot faster if all technology was open to all to study and ...

As with the Internet, software running on your computer should be made in a transparent way and its source code should be available to studied and modified as needed. Not only that, the author of the modifications made to the source code should be able to distribute those modifications freely, along with the source code for it. Also, you should have the freedom to redistribute the software you have freely or share it with others. Just as we share books, and other media, with our friends and family, we should be able to share the software we have with others that might find it useful. And if you find that the software you have needs to be modified to better suit your needs, you should be able to do so independently and be able to share those modifications. FLOSS offers everyone these things, along with communities that share the same goals that you have. Not only that, FLOSS gives people a common framework to work around so that all work around a single standard. This way u...

It's sad to see that now the UN is on the road to try to take control over the Internet. Instead to let the Internet to grow organically, in an open and transparent way in every aspect, it seem that there are special interests groups that want to take Internet behind closed doors. The Internet belongs to the people, all development that affects its inner workings is to be made on the open. Those working on the Internet, whether on its inner workings or developing its standards, should work on a transparent way so that we all know what they are doing and how their contributions work. Not a single part of how the Internet works, or how it's developed, should ever be behind closed door. All activity should be on the open, so that any interested party on a certain aspect of the Internet, can have full access to it and the rest of us to know what that party is doing. Any attempt to take the Internet's control behind closed door, should be opposed by everyone as a qu...

It's sad to see that technology advances faster on times of war, than it does in times of peace. There is a urgent need to change it so the reverse becomes the norm, so that peace time becomes where science and technology advances faster. Not only that, we need to have the benefits from new scientific discoveries, and the technologies that develop from them, get to a larger part of society faster. There must be a way to make peace the norm, by making war at any level undesirable. All conflicts need to be resolved without relying to violence, and people's needs are to be meet as they come. We need to make it so that conflicts that drive the advancement of science and technology, don't result on violence that ends in bloodshed. Science and technology need to be instruments of peace and understanding, not those of war and violence. If wars and violence are common place, it many ways society at large has failed to do what's needed to keep peace. Science, an...

I would like to see science research and technology development being something that brings the world together. Instead of being done in secret, by single individuals, corporations, or countries, they should be conducted in collaboration by anyone interested in the subject. Not only that, it should be done in the open in full view of the world. The education to be able to conduct science research, or technology development, should be given as a priority at any stage of life. Most importantly, people should graduate from basic education with the ability to at least understand the basis science and how it's applied on the technology we use everyday. Even if end goal of an individual isn't getting a degree on a science or engineering area in college, they should have a functional understanding of science. The same goes the other way around, every part of the human knowledge important. In the science and technology areas, it's becoming ever more important not o...

The more I use Ubuntu, the less likely I'm to switch back to Windows or even make the move to Apple. If I ever change my OS, it would be to another Linux distro that's Debian based as Ubuntu. I simply have found that Ubuntu works for me far better than Windows ever did, and I don't agree how Apple manages it's software. Also because as a matter of principle, FLOSS strikes a core with what I believe in. Mainly that software should be free in the sense that anyone should be able to see it's source core, modify it, and to redistribute any improvement made to the code. The freedoms that come with FLOSS gives the users the control over the software they install on their machines. Not only in the way it works and its configuration, but in order to make customizations to the software independently of the source. This makes FLOSS a lot more flexible to the end user, while it benefits the community of users as a whole since those modifications can be shared back. ...

Even though I believe that the diversity on ways to do your work, or have your fun, is one of the strengths of FOSS it means nothing if they aren't built on common ground in order to achieve interoperability. That interoperability should be made through open standards, so that everyone who want to work with them knows that they can so so without fear of being locked into using software from a single vendor. Closed standards are to be avoided at all costs, since they mean that the future of that standard is tied to the whatever happens to whoever holds it or unilateral choices by the vendor. Standards should be considered a common good, and as such they should be keep open for to use or contribute to it with freedom. No single entity should have a position to totally control any standard, all standards should be in the hands of a governing body made up by all those who have a stake on the future of those standard. Not only that, that governing body should work openly an...

I've been doing some checking around for a new smartphone, and I'm convinced that it'll be an Android device. There are a several options out there at my price range, from several manufactures. Not only that, for me it's important my next smartphone to run Android, since it's open source software. In a sense it's a matter of buying a smartphone that runs software that is compatible with what I believe, and the only Android manage to do so. The fact that I can choose from a wide range of manufactures, and several models they offer, calls me even more. It means that I can choose the experience I get from Android, looking for the smartphone thats form and design is what I'm looking for. I'm not tied to a single manufacturer, giving me whatever they think I want. Android gives me the level of freedom I want, letting me choose the handset that better suits my needs and what I like. All this while being a modern a robust mobile operating system, t...

It's interesting to see how technology seems to be consolidating several devices into one, which means that as a whole people will need fewer devices to do more. The idea that with a couple of devices you could replace most of the ones you have now. Not only that, those devices will be portable enough to be taken with you everywhere. And with modern connectivity technology you'll be on line most of the time, with all the implications it brings along. Today we are connected to the Internet almost 24/7, and almost from anywhere, thanks to laptops and smartphones. In many ways, both laptops and smartphones are points of access that grant humanity to share all what they want in an instant. So much so, that nowadays the question is no longer if we could share our daily routine with our friends and family. The real question has become what should be sharing, and how much privacy we want for ourselves. This is why is so important have a complete control on our informa...

As it has come to be the norm, the new phone that caught my eye was the Nexus just released by Google and LG. Personally, I've always preferred Android powered smartphones over the iPhone. Since I prefer open source software over closed source one, Android has always been the option for me. And the Nexus line has been the one I prefer over other Android powered smartphones because it gives the clean and unadulterated Android. Better yet, the new Nexus comes with the most recent version of Android. Which is great, since the I've been looking forward to replace my current smartphone with one that runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, and not having to wait to be able to upgrade it. I now pretty sure that the new Nexus 4 will be the smartphone I want, and the one I'll get.

Society has gotten to the point where technology is accepted as is, and few people pays any attention on how it affects our lives. It seems that we just take all technology without even an after thought. In many ways, many people don't seem to realize the real life consequences that any technology has within it. And as we embrace more advanced technology, specially that which enables to share personal information with others, those consequences have a bigger impact. That's why we need to be more conscious about how we use technology, and what we share with others. There is a need to understand that it's equally important with who we are sharing what, since sharing something with the wrong person can have the same impact than doing so in the real world. The real and virtual worlds are no longer two separate spheres, and they will only become even more intertwined as time goes on. In order to keep our private lives private, we need to keep technology from taking ...

The purpose of technology should always be enhancing humanity, not being its substitute. If any new technology doesn't enhance our life in a positive way, it isn't worth developing. Technology shouldn't be something that to be feared, but it should be something useful for people. All technological development should put peoples needs and interests first, so that it makes their lives better and enjoyable. It should be adding value to our lives, not subtracting from it. People should be at the center of every technological development. There should be clear commitment to make the world a better, and how it'll meet that commitment. There shouldn't be any development just for the sake of doing so, just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done. The purpose of all and every technology is to be at the service of society. There should be no need to question this, and it should be the basis for all technological development. It doesn'...

The Internet, and other communication technologies, won't bring revolutionary change by themselves. These are just tools, and the contributions they bring are dependent on how people use them. At the end of the end, people are the ones who make change happen. If they don't act, that change they want won't come at all. What the Internet and other technologies bring to the table, is a way by which people can inform themselves and organize to act to do what they believe it must be done. People are the ones that must act in order to bring change, and technology is the tool that can help us to make that change a reality. And the Internet, mobile phones, among other technologies, give us a real chance to organize ourselves to bring the change we want. More than ever, people can have the control over how they interact with each other in order do what's needed to make a difference. Now more than ever people building the society they want is no longer a dream, but s...

The possibilities that modern technology are almost limitless, and any limitation that currently exists can be made mute by giving it enough though and effort to make it through. It's easy to say that this or that isn't possible, but history shows that where theres a will theres a way. It comes down to asking the right questions, and to face the problem with the right mind set. More often that not, when we fail to see how we can solve a problem it isn't because the problem is unsolvable. It's because we aren't able to see beyond what we have right in front of us. The answer might be where we least expect it to be, but we have to be able to see it by not closing our minds to it. Just because something hasn't been done before, it means that it can't be done. Quite often the main limitation to solve a problem is not it's difficulty, but that we can't seem to be able to think on ways to solve it. We limit our possibilities to what we know, n...

Technology can be as humanizing, or dehumanizing, as each user wants it to be. All comes down on how the user handles technology, and what use is made out of technology on daily basis. It's true that technology is a double-edged sword, since it can be used to enhance social interaction or thwart it. Yet this is not the fault of technology itself, since technology can not make choices for the user. At the end the one making choices on how it's used is the user, technology is just the medium that facilitates the action that derives from the choices made by the user. The argument that technology is the origin, and end, of all what's wrong with society is shortsighted to say the least. It doesn't take into account a host of other factors that make people use the technology they use they way they do. Or how we can give people the tools to avoid the pitfalls that comes with any technology. At the other hand, technology by itself wont solve all the problems that h...