:: Netwoman ::

:: Monday, November 29, 2004 ::

Smart Home Hacks

Beyond Mere Automation - O'Reilly Releases "Smart Home Hacks"

Sebastopol, CA--Even George Jetson would suffer gadget envy today. So much of what is now commonplace was once considered impossible, or at least the stuff of far-fetched futuristic cartoons: laser beams in the operating room, cars with built-in guidance systems, cell phones with email access. There's just no getting around the fact that technology always has been, and always will be, very cool.

Technology isn't just cool, it's also very smart. That's why one of the hottest technological trends nowadays is the creation of smart homes. People are turning their homes into state-of-the-art machines, complete with more switches, sensors, and actuators than you can shake a stick at. If you want to equip your home with motion detectors for added security, install computer-controlled lights for optimum convenience, or mount an in-home web cam or two purely for entertainment, everything you need is easily available.

But some people--and they know who they are--just can't leave automated alone. It's not enough that their sprinklers are automated; they want their sprinklers tailored to the weekly forecast so they stop watering in storms. They want to motorize their window blinds. Or heat their toilet seat. And while their neighbors are cursing the teenagers TP-ing the neighborhood, these George Jetson wannabes are rigging camcorders to monitor their mailbox--even when they're not home.

According to Gordon Meyer, author of "Smart Home Hacks" (O'Reilly, US $24.95), such things are not just possible, but with a little effort, ingenuity, and elbow grease, they're even relatively cheap. "We're at a nice junction between software, hardware, and the Internet," says Meyer. "These pieces are sitting there, readily available, and can be combined to put together something that's actually useful. You don't need a new house, you don't need to rewire your house--you can get started for less than $200 and grow your system from there as your needs dictate."

Today, the ingenuity--like the equipment--is here. Meyer's book captures some of the most useful, clever, and practical (and perhaps most importantly, thoroughly tested) methods that do-it-yourself home automators are using turn a loose collection of sensors and switches into a well-automated and well-functioning home. Readers will learn how to:

-Turn on lights automatically upon entering a room, or when the sun sets, or only when needed
-Send reminders of important events to cell phones, email accounts, or pagers
-Alert everyone in the house with chimes or voice announcements
-Monitor the driveway, mailbox, refrigerator door, or litter box for activity
-Automate the sprinkler system, tailor its schedule to the weekly forecast, and make it stop watering during rainstorms
-Monitor the home when nobody is there
-Control the entire house from a web browser

"Smart Home Hacks" leaves no stone unturned. From what to purchase to how to use your remote control, it's the ultimate guide to understanding and implementing complete or partial home automation.

Additional Resources:

Several sample hacks, including, "Turn on the Lights When You Enter a
Room," "Simulate a Sunrise," "Monitor Your Driveway," and "Bark Like a
Dog," are available online

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index,
author bio, and samples, see: here

Smart Home Hacks
By Gordon Meyer
ISBN: 0-596-00722-1, 400 pages, $24.95 US, $36.95 CA
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
http://www.oreilly.com

I will have to take a closer look at this for research work. I wonder about calling tech smart though..hmm. The topic of the book is interesting assuming that people would want to implement this type of tech in their homes. What would the reasons be I wonder.

:: Netwoman 6:48 PM [+] ::
...

Female Video Game Characters Baring All

Sigh. What next?

Playboy goes after grown-up gamers with pixilated pinups.

By ANTHONY BREZNICAN - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Playboy is taking a chance on silicon instead of silicone.

The October issue of the men's magazine features several video game characters posing in the nude -- images created by the game companies through detailed computer illustration.

"Hopefully, the purists won't get too bent out of shape. This is just the next version of the pinup," said Playboy senior editor Scott Alexander, who developed the project.

The computerized models are part of the magazine's video game preview, titled "Gaming Grows Up." The five-page section starts with a topless image of the half-vampire, half-human title character from "BloodRayne," a leather-clad woman who fights with 3-foot blades attached to her arms.

The next image is a full-frontal, two-page foldout of a character named Luba Licious from the upcoming mature-rated comedy game "Leisure Suit Larry," which is about a shrimpy guy who travels to a college campus courting impossibly buxom coeds.

The images even feature the signature Playboy centerfold-style bio.

"We treated these women just like they are celebrities," Alexander said. "We treated them real, as if they had turn-ons and turnoffs."

In between are short articles about upcoming games such as "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," racing games like "Need for Speed: Underground 2" and "Gran Turismo 4" and battle games like "Men of Valor," "Full Spectrum Warrior" and "Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault."

"Part of the thrust of the piece is that gaming is not just for kids," Alexander said. "We want to establish the way Playboy's going to be covering video games. We want to cover them from the perspective of an adult who has a life. ... We're writing for the grown-up who may play five hours a week, if that much."

Digital women could become a regular feature if readers approve.


Great, not only do women have to compete with airbrushed pin ups, but now the perfect digital woman - who I am sure will be slender/athletic with a large chest - and no cellulite (and I bet she will often be white!)

:: Netwoman 11:57 AM [+] ::
...

Women Technology Entrepreneurs

The Center for Women and Information Technology is partnering with several UMBC offices to develop a program for women technology entrepreneurs. The job posting for the individual interested in coordinating this initiative can be found on the UMBC web site. This is an NSF-funded project, funded for three years. Please follow the directions provided in the application to submit your resume. If interested in
knowing more about the program, please go here.

For more information, contact Mary Shacka at 410-455-8432 or cwit AT umbc DOT edu

:: Netwoman 11:52 AM [+] ::
...

Oxford Internet Institute

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII), in association with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, plans to hold its 2005 Summer Doctoral Programme (SDP) in Beijing from 7-21 July.

The SDP is designed to support advanced doctoral students engaged in dissertation research on the economic, political, legal and other social aspects of the Internet and related information and communication technologies. The Beijing SDP will not only be of greater value to students from Asia, but also students from around the world who wish to better understand the growing role of Asia, and China in particular, in shaping the development of the Internet and its social implications.

The programme will be conducted in partnership with: The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School; the Center for the Digital Future at the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California; the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology; the School of Informatics at SUNY Buffalo; the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of
Hong Kong; and the Singapore Internet Research Centre at Nanyang Technological University. All of these institutions will contribute to the teaching faculty.

More information about the OII’s SDP and this year's programme in Beijing is available here.

I would encourage doctoral students who are interested in this programme to e-mail the OII at sdp AT oii.ox.ac.uk to register their interest and to begin speaking with their advisors about the potential value of this programme to the successful completion of their dissertations.

Thanks to the support of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and OII's collaborating partners, a limited number of bursaries (scholarships) will be available. I would greatly appreciate your help in bringing this opportunity to the attention of doctoral students who might benefit from working with other advanced doctoral students and researchers in the field of Internet studies.

:: Netwoman 11:49 AM [+] ::
...

Technology and Collective Action

I have always been interested in the potential of the internet for collective action and activism. Torill blogs about Rheingold's talk:

"Rheingold speaks about technology and collective action. It is pretty familiar stuff, but still interesting, particularly as he points out some of the practical advantages connectedness gives groups of people who we would not think of as typical digital technology users. Examples are fishermen, migrant workers and part-time working mothers in the Fillipines - at least as interesting as the flocking of mobile-connected youths in Finland and Japan.

Wisely, Rheingold also points out the aspect of the flocking, smart mobs which ought to be considered by the potentially overly eager fan of the modern technology: Smart mobs are not always wise mobs - so although cooperative action supported by technology can work for democratic action, it can also work, for instance, to instigate non-democratic riots."

Jill has notes from the conference.

:: Netwoman 8:42 PM [+] ::
...

Women and Blogging

Gina raises some interesting questions:

1. Are women not already using weblogs to express themselves and to communicate?
2. If Top 100 "ego lists" of the most "influential" blogs don't include many women (and they don't), does that matter?
3. If it does matter, is a workshop like this the best way to get women to be more visible in the weblog world?
4. What if being visible isn't the value that weblog authors (especially women) glean from their sites?

Something for me to think about, particularly the last question. Do some women (and men) really care if they only have 10 readers?

:: Netwoman 8:37 PM [+] ::
...

Ablogs

No, Netwoman has not disappeared. It has been an incredibly busy time in the term, and my grandfather just passed away. November is always a strange time of the year.

I found this site called "Aboriginal People's Television Network" (APTN), and they list some blogs by Aboriginals.

They call them "Ablogs"

"Many Aboriginal people in Canada, the US, and around the world maintain their own blogs. Such blogs — we've nicknamed them "abologs" — can provide a fascinating view into the personal lives and differing political and social realities of Aboriginal people. APTN has compiled a blog list (or blogroll) of just some of the Aboriginal blogs available on the web."

:: Netwoman 7:29 PM [+] ::
...

Call for Papers - CSAA - Digital Domestics

I am putting a panel together for the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association - May 31 - June 3. 2005. The conference is being held in London, Ontario at Western University. Here is my call: please send me an abstract of your paper via email, tkennedy AT netwomen DOT ca if you are interested in this session. Deadline is December 31, 2004. Please forward this to anyone who might be interested.

Digital Domestics

The intention of this session is to examine the implications of the Internet in the home. Papers in this session might discuss how the notion of 'home' has changed with public/private convergences of space with the Internet, the implications of the Internet on the domestic division of labour, how households utilize the Internet in their domestic routines, the reorganization of household spaces to accommodate the Internet,css contentions and negotiations that may surface in the household around the Internet or the implications of tele-work on the household. Empirical research using quantitative or qualitative methods, in addition to theoretical papers concerning the Internet in the household are welcome.

:: Netwoman 2:06 PM [+] ::
...

Doing IT

Publication of new book, Doing IT: Women Working in Information Technology - Krista Scott-Dixon, published by Sumach Press.

The book addresses issues of women, technology, and paid/unpaid work. It was written
to be an accessible introduction to the field as well as a contribution to scholarship on gender and the emerging IT industries/occupations in North
America. The book's central argument is that although IT and "knowledge work" is said to represent a new form of work, and although it provides many exciting opportunities for women, IT jobs also replicate existing forms of gendered and racialized inequalities and segregation in the workplace.

Issues addressed include women's struggles to balance paid and unpaid work, the gendered nature of home-based telework, how skills are evaluated and rewarded (particularly for highly educated immigrant women), lack of stability and increased contingency in IT occupations, and the workplace/social culture of IT work. The book draws on interview subject data, policy analysis, secondary literature, and quantitative data to tell the stories of diverse women's experiences in the field. It would be appropriate for courses on gender and technology, gender and work, or even a general women's studies course.

More information here

:: Netwoman 1:10 AM [+] ::
...