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Disney Augured a Creepy Tech Future, EFF Breaks Down the Net Neutrality Debate

by Matthew Zuras on August 11, 2010 at 07:00 PM


There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
  • This amazing video, which is called 'Magic Highway USA' and was produced by Disney in 1958, speaks of our future in glowing terms, but its eerie prescience caused Wired's Bruce Sterling to label it "sinister." Whether or not you agree (we do), you have to sigh at the fact that the researchers behind this chirpy cartoon imagined that technology would only make our lives easier -- when, in reality, more tech just leads to new problems. [From: Wired]
  • In case you haven't been following the Net neutrality debate, especially with the recent proposal by Google and Verizon for a two-tiered Internet, the Electronic Frontier Foundation breaks down the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of the tech giants' suggested plan. According to EFF's Cindy Cohn, limited FCC jurisdiction is great, but governing ill-defined "lawful" content doesn't sit so well with her at this point. [From: EFF]
  • Speaking of prescience, many nerds are aware that the iPad was prefigured by the PADD, or Personal Access Display Device, from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation.' Ars Technica got hold of the designers behind TNG's fictional interfaces, and found that user experience was just as much of a design concern on the show as it was for Apple. "[By] imagining that software could re-configure the interface as needed, the writers were able to imagine any function that needed to advance the plot...." Deja vu! [From: Ars Technica]
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Tags: bestoftherest, cartoon, disney, fcc, future, google, ipad, MagicHighwayUsa, NetNeutrality, padd, Predictions, StarTrek, top, verizon

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