Incredibly thought-provoking and inspiring essay about our future data-rich cities.

A really interesting app from ProPublica that analyzes data released by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. Even though it hits just a few data points it is fascinating to compare various districts and schools.

"I know there is a ton more I could post about Apple’s announcements coming out of WWDC. But I think while all of the details and features of iCloud, iOS 5, and Mac OS X Lion are interesting, there is an idea that these technologies surround and support that is far more so. In fact, it could be perhaps the most fundamental shift in the idea of what a computer is in many years.

The idea is this: Your data is the computer."

"He became increasingly consumed with what he calls “forever knowledge,” or the idea that design is meant to guide fundamental cognitive tasks and therefore is rooted in principles that apply regardless of the material being displayed and the technology used to produce it."

"We are the sharing species; the reason we can even worry about a sustainable environment is because our sharing made us so successful that seven billion of us have begun to overwhelm the natural world."

The challenges in digitizing a small Texas town's bus schedule and stop information.

An epic rundown of various analytics products, what they offer, and what they lack. Google Analytics may be the market leader but for many large sites and companies it may not be the best option.

Merlin Mann writes about the steps to send sensitive information via Dropbox.

"All this talk about a digital future, about moving journalism onto the web, about innovation and saving journalism is just talk until developers are allowed to hack at the very core of the whole product."

"Those game logs, analyzed by The New York Times, strongly indicate that gamers took their cues from the fortunes of teams and players."

"This is not to excuse Yahoo’s behavior, nor is it to say that we will be able to save everything, even if our efforts are heroic. But no civilization has ever saved everything; acknowledging that fact does not obviate the need to try and save as much as we can. The technological means to produce an archive are not beyond our skills; sadly, right now at least, the will to do so is insufficient. Let’s hope that doesn’t last forever."

"So the burning question that the World Public Opinion study leaves me with is just this: why wasn’t it a news organization that commissioned this survey?"

"Want to keep your users? Just make it easy for them to leave."

A look at Technorati's data regarding blogging in 2010.

Great video where Rosling demonstrates the power of graphs in physical space. Pretty cool demo.

h/t http://petedavies.com/wordpress/uncategorized/tufte-cant-put-this-in-a-book/

"The only difference between Wikileaks and other news organisations is that Wikileaks is doing its job properly. This is not a symptom of its greater intelligence, merely its ability to comprehend the ramifications of new technology. Wikileaks is like a symbol of globalisation."

A quick summary and look at ongoing Gov 2.0 projects.

Astounding video about the use of data in news.

Great TED talk on data and mapping information.

"People hear me whine about this and they say: Our case is different; we need to have a system that sends out seven thousand "todo" emails per day. And I grieve for the spirit of Work, killed by her evil child, Workflow."

Interesting feature on the various ways people are tracking the data of their personal lives. Could provide for a very efficient future.

"The hive mind should be thought of as a tool. Empowering the collective does not empower individuals — just the reverse is true. There can be useful feedback loops set up between individuals and the hive mind, but the hive mind is too chaotic to be fed back into itself."