Steven Levy: Inside Google: The Myths, the Culture and the Secret Sauce

Posted on July 18, 2011 by RichardPrins

Via ABC/Fora.tv, a look inside the internet’s powerhouse, currently rolling out Google+, by Steven Levy:

Is it the five-star chefs, free laundry and on-site masseuses that are the secret to Google’s success? Perhaps its unique management style and innovative team? Either way, the revolutionary search engine has so deeply impacted our work and culture that we have turned the company name into a verb.

Despite being one of the most successful and celebrated companies in history, Google maintains an air of mystery, and cultural myths abound. How has Google stayed innovative and cutting edge while making the transition to tech giant? What exactly happens inside the elusive Google campus? Levy took a deep dive into Google management, its products and its company culture. Join us as he shares untold stories and unpacks the mythology behind Google.

Steven Levy is an American journalist who has written several books on computers, technology, cryptography, the Internet, cybersecurity, and privacy. Levy is a senior writer for Wired. Previously, he was chief technology writer and a senior editor for Newsweek. Levy has had articles published in Harper’s, Macworld, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Premiere, and Rolling Stone. He is regarded (along with Walter Mossberg) as a prominent and respected critic of Apple Inc.

Levy has won several awards, including the “Computer Press Association Award” for a report he co-wrote in 1998 on the Year 2000 problem. In 1984, he wrote a book called Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, in which he described a “hacker ethic”, which became a guideline to understanding how computers have advanced into the machines that we know and use today. He identified this Hacker Ethic to consist of key points such as that all information is free, and that this information should be used to “change life for the better”.

Length: 62 minutes 46 seconds

A few more videos on YouTube of similar talks on the book (and Google): Authors@Google 1, Authors@Google 2, Computer History Museum, and The Churchill Club.

Update 20110729: How Google Dominates Us (James Gleick reviews four books on Google for The New York Review of Books)

James Gleick: Bits and Bytes

Posted on July 17, 2011 by RichardPrins

Another one from ABC/Fora.tv:

Former ‘New York Times’ writer James Gleick (the man who popularised “the butterfly effect” in ‘Chaos’) has produced the definitive history of the age in which we live, ‘The Information’.

In Gleick’s book ‘The Information’ he speaks about the information “flood”. He talks with Robyn Williams, presenter of ABC Science and ABC Radio National.

We are in a predicament where we have the ability to reach out and get facts easily. Although we may have access this does not necessarily bring with it knowledge. The gatekeepers of information are more important than ever, due to our reliance on these authorities for truth.

This event was presented by Sydney Writer’s Festival 2011

James Gleick is an author, journalist and biographer whose books explore the cultural ramifications of science and technology. His books have popularised concepts such as “The Butterfly Effect” and sold bucketloads around the world. His most recent book, “The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood”, is being hailed as his crowning work. Gleick is also the author of the bestselling books “Chaos”, ‘Genius’, ‘Faster’ and a biography of Isaac Newton. Three of these books have been Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists, and have been translated into more than 20 languages. James divides his time between New York City and Florida.

Robyn Williams has presented science programs on ABC radio and television since 1972. He is the first journalist to be elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, was a visiting fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and is a visiting professor at the University of NSW.

Length: 52 minutes 35 seconds.

Also see the Authors@Google talk.

NPR: Voyager 1 Probing Solar System’s Distant Edge

Posted on June 17, 2011 by RichardPrins

The amazing Voyager spacecraft have been in the news again recently as they are about to leave the solar system. NPR’s Science Friday today had an interview with former Voyager chief scientist Ed Stone:

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is now 11 billion miles from Earth, speeding along at 38,000 miles per hour towards the edge of the heliosphere, the bubble that surrounds the solar system. Voyager chief scientist Ed Stone discusses the craft’s discoveries about the environment at the edge of the solar bubble.

The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schön

Posted on June 17, 2011 by RichardPrins

A BBC documentary from the Horizon series:

Imagine a world where disease could be eradicated by an injection of tiny robots the size of molecules. That is the hope offered by nanotechnology – the science of microscopically small machines. But others fear nanotechnology could lead to a non-biological cancer – where swarms of tiny nanobots come together and literally devour human flesh.

Sounds like science fiction? It certainly did until a brilliant young scientist called Hendrik Schön seemed to bring it a step closer.

Schön’s great breakthrough was to make a computer transistor out of a single organic molecule. It was an achievement of almost incalculable brilliance. Some speculated this technology could spell the end of the entire silicon chip industry.

Crucially, Schön’s transistor was organic. Suddenly, this seemed to be the first step towards true nanotechnology, where minute computers could grow as living cells.

Scientists speculated about how these tiny machines could be used to target diseases with astonishing precision. Others wondered – could the military use them as a new weapon? Others, including Prince Charles, were terrified. If these machines can grow by themselves, how do we stop them from growing?

“The amazing thing about Hendrik was that everything he touched seemed to work.”
~ Professor Paul McEeun, Cornell University

What happened next would destroy reputations and shatter lives – because there was more to Hendrik Schön’s discovery than anyone knew.