“Tech Stories: find ideas here” is a weekly post that aims to collect articles relevant to the future of New Media Fiction. Articles are collected from across the web and tend to focus on resources, ideas or trends that I feel may have a tangential or concrete impact on narrative fiction and the shape it may.
If It’s On The Internet, It Must Be True (via TechCrunch)
I love this story. It was too good to be true when I read about HPOA, even heard people discussing it at the office. But, it seems to me, this is a new form of story telling. The point? To drive traffic to a site, which makes sense. If the art of telling stories is to continue, someone has to get paid.
This past week, formerly unknown actress Elyse Porterfield fooled millions playing Jenny, the fired Dry Erase girl, in a clever hoax. Right now, I guarantee other pranksters are dreaming up new schemes to fool you again. And journalists, who at one time were tasked with protecting the public from such lies, no longer have the same power to block them.
Peer Index Is “Worth Watching” (via Business Insider)
I love this idea and I fucking HATE this idea. One of the few interesting things about the web is that it provides a platform for opinion and conversation. Suggesting that some are better than others creates an atmosphere in which credible opinion can be relegated (by an algorithm) to the “opinion” folder. As a teacher, I love the idea that students can get help figuring out what information on the web is, perhaps, considered relevant and guided by academic or some other discipline. Mostly, I hate the idea because it creates a hierarchy.
The idea is to use the world of social media (blogs, twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc) to determine who are the “authorities and opinion formers” on the web.
Memory Inception: Three Keys To Creating A Great User Experience For Your Product (via TechCrunch)
Just a damn good way to see things. This is good advice for stories and the type of product New Media Fiction must offer to find relevance on the web. The web is great, but mostly its for gossip and shopping. If fiction is to succed on the web, it must offer an experience like this.
Ever read a great book? What do you remember about it? Maybe a few dramatic moments, some wild story twists, and most definitely the ending. Your product is just like a book. You’re telling a story to your customers and they’ll remember only a select few moments from what you tell them. What are these moments? Can you use these moments to plant a memory in a customer’s mind?
Long Tweet Is Long: Bug Let You Go Way Over 140 (via TechCrunch)
This gets me fired up. I love it when people break the rules. I also hate it. Part of what makes Twitter interesting are its rules. What changes when they’re broken?
Japanese Twitter user @sskhybrid tweeted out the following 2,135 character tweet, which was inevitably retweeted by more than 100 people… The 140 character limit is basically the definition of Twitter. It’ll be interesting to watch what, if anything, changes now that you can go way longer . In any case I’m really looking forward toAnnotations.
The $99 Kindle – Why e-readers will soon cost less than $100. (via Slate)
The cost of entry will be insignificant soon. The great thing about e-ink based eReaders are that they do not require much in the way of horsepower and bells and whistles. However, I still believe that they promise a service they do not offer. People who read on a Kindle expect the device to do more, to behave differently than a book, which is why the next article on McSweeny’s is so funny and accurate.
Late last month, Amazon unveiled a new version of its Kindle e-book reader that, like every new Kindle, is thinner, lighter, and smaller than the previous one. It’s also the cheapest Kindle ever—the new Wi-Fi version sells for just $139.
For the past three weeks our team of engineers has analyzed the most popular e-readers on the market in order to confer our annual “Editor’s Choice” Award…
Each device had its strengths. For some it was speed; for others it was capacity. Some were better with shorter articles; others with longer works. And cost, as always, was a factor. But in the end, one e-reader stood out.
The Newspaper.
Slate’s iPad App Strives For Simplicity (via Gizmodo)
I’m fascinated by what “look” narrative fiction should take on the web, almost as much as I want to know what types of behaviors it will encourag. This then, is just a look at one option.
Web magazine Slate has rolled out their official iPad app (I heard you like slates so I put Slate on your slate, etc), featuring the publication’s blogs, videos, and articles and focusing on readability in lieu of bells and whistles.
Flattr opens to the public, now anybody can ‘Like’ a site with real money
Websites hosting narrative fiction may find a tool such as Flattr useful, as it may provide a chance for a non-traditional revenue stream.
Flattr, the micropayment startup founded by ex-Pirate Bay associates, has opened to the public today. No longer will you need an invite in order to add the Flattr button to your web site as a publisher or to give support to the sites you visit with real money.
Because it BLOWS MY MIND
University of Calgary succeeds in building a neurochip out of silicon, human brain cells
Scientists at the University of Calgary have teamed up with the National Research Council Canada to put a network of human brain cells on a microchip — in effect creating a (tiny) brain on a chip.
Tools
A ROCK-SOLID DEFAULT FOR HTML5 AWESOME.
HTML5 Boilerplate is the professional badass’s base HTML/CSS/JS template for a fast, robust and future-proof site.
After more than two years in iterative development, you get the best of the best practices baked in: cross-browser normalization, performance optimizations, even optional features like cross-domain ajax and flash. A starter apache .htaccess config file hooks you the eff up with caching rules and preps your site to serve HTML5 video, use @font-face, and get your gzip zipple on.
5 Cross-Platform Mobile Development Tools You Should Try (via Mashable)
As mobile OSes — especially iPhone and Android — wax and wane, the pressing question remains: How do you choose which mobile devices to develop for and which devices to omit from your roadmap?
New Media Fiction 