DPL Reading List – December 15, 2017
Here are some of the articles we’ve been reading around this office this week.
AOL Instant Messenger Taught Us How To Communicate in a Modern World – “As AIM shuts down at the end of 2017, the program can fairly call itself a success. It provided the earliest widespread platform for real-time text-based chat, honing users’ skills for the eventual adoption of smartphone-based texting and microblogs like Twitter. Indeed, as AOL’s own statement about the shutdown says, “The way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed” – in large part because of AIM.”
How Google’s Quantum Computer Could Change the World – “The ultra-powerful machine has the potential to disrupt everything from science and medicine to national security-assuming it works.”
Page Not Found: A Brief History of the 404 Error – “That the 404 should have crossover appeal seems fitting. It is near-universal and inherently emotional: pure disappointment, the announcement of an unanticipated problem. It’s also a reminder that technology, and the web in particular, is made by humans, and therefore fallible.”
Color Matters. 6 Tips on Choosing UI Colors. – “The success of a digital product depends largely upon the colors chosen for its UI. The right colors help users feel comfortable with a product. Designers can put people in the frame of mind that compels them to take action just by applying the appropriate color palette.”
9 Technology Mega Trends That Will Change The World In 2018 – “Some tech trends fizzle out and die a quiet death, while others are so significant that they transform our world and how we live in it.”
AI is now so complex its creators can’t trust why it makes decisions – “AI might tag your friends in photos on Facebook or choose what you see on Instagram, but materials scientists and NASA researchers are also beginning to use the technology for scientific discovery and space exploration. But there’s a core problem with this technology, whether it’s being used in social media or for the Mars rover: The programmers that built it don’t know why AI makes one decision over another.”
The Future Of Creativity & A New Challenge – “Creativity is the world’s most human craft and, despite countless new devices and mediums, creative people remain at the center. The more the world changes, the more important creativity becomes.”
