"One of the most interesting start-ups that keeps popping up on my radar screen is Crowdflower, which connects nonprofits and companies with people around the globe looking to work on crowdsourced tasks. It's a fascinating glimpse at future contract labor models and at how work relationships are becoming more distributed, global, ephemeral and efficient. Crowdflower takes simple tasks and breaks them down, using a global network of workers to determine, say, if a tweet about a brand is negative or positive, or if a piece of content violates a site's community guidelines. The person might spend 2 minutes on a task, an hour, or more. "The advantage is that the person doesn't have to drive to work, they don't even have to sign up for a website. They can just come to a job post, accomplish a task and get paid - in minutes," says Crowdflower CEO and founder Lukas Biewald."

"The Finnish government has approved the technology behind a new 'Open Ministry' platform, which will act as a hub for citizens who want new laws voted on in the country's parliament. But could that work elsewhere?"

"Les derniers iPhone et iPod ont un nouveau port qui nécessite un adaptateur pour les connecter à tous vos accessoires. Vendu 29 dollars par Apple, bien sûr..."

"We live in an age of sharing. As consumers and online, we regularly share personal information, and generate new data through our browsing or purchasing history. Businesses and government are increasingly aware of the value of this information, which can result in better and cheaper services for customers, new sources of income for businesses and improved public services. But the question of who owns this information, and how it is collected, stored and used, is becoming a major consumer rights issue. It is crucial, therefore, that people are at the heart of any new settlement. The Data Dialogue sets out the results of the largest ever poll of public attitudes on personal information and data- sharing. Based on a representative sample of 5,000 adults, the report finds a growing crisis in consumer confidence over how government and business handle personal data, and discomfort about the way in which personal information and data are currently being used. The report argues that this loss of confidence could have a knock-on effect on the economy and on the quality of services available to consumers. However, it also finds that views about sharing change when people are given more control and choice about what data is shared, and when the benefit of sharing that data is made clear to them. It therefore suggests that consumers should be engaged in an honest dialogue about how data are collected and used, and be given meaningful choice and control over the information they share. That will be good for business and consumers alike."

The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts.

"Marcin Jakubowski est le fondateur d'Open Source Ecology (évoqué la première fois ici sur notre blog) C'est l'un des projets les plus enthousiasmants qui soit : disposer d'un kit de machines pour bâtir en toute autonomie les bases d'un village, d'une communauté ou d'une… civilisation ! Et là où tout ceci devient passionnant c'est que ces machines sont libres, permettant à tout un chacun de reprendre les plans pour s'en aller poser la première pierre de sa propre future communauté. Si vous ne connaissez pas bien, nous vous suggérons de commencer par cette conférence TED de Marcin sous-titrée en français. Et pour aller plus loin, nous vous proposons ci-dessous la traduction d'un récent entretien donné par Marcin Jakubowski au blog du site TED."

"Crowdfunding is supporting inventions which might otherwise have limited economic prospects, including gadgets appealing to narrow markets, hobby kits, and a 4,000-pound spider robot that can seat two (see "10 Emerging Technologies: Crowdfunding"). Perhaps most of all, it has become a fertile outlet for self-described "makers" such as Silver, who says his goal is to create "a more democratic world where everyone modifies their own space.""

"Le récent conflit qui oppose le site FourmiSanté et l'Assurance Maladie (1) vient s'ajouter à une longue liste de confrontations liées à des données "fermées". Partout en Europe, nous assistons à la multiplication de cas similaires. Comment peut-on analyser ces conflits ? L'open data peut-il être une réponse aux défis qu'ils posent ?"

À 25 ans, Clément Delangue a créé Unishared, une plate-forme destinée à rendre le savoir accessible à tous. Un « social business » qui change la manière d'apprendre en favorisant la prise de notes collaborative.

"The mobile learning revolution is creating a lot of buzz in the education world, and the benefits undoubtedly stand out. But nothing exists as a purely positive entity. While the movement toward "m-learning" (as those totally in the know call it) marks a change in how education approaches technological developments, anyone considering the developing tools needs to research the downsides before making the leap."

Two years ago, Ars described the appointment of Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten to be the Federal Trade Commission's first chief technologist as "a decision so shockingly sane that it's still a bit hard to believe." After 20 months on the job, Felten has wrapped up his tenure at the agency and returned to Princeton. He has been succeeded by Columbia computer scientist Steve Bellovin. So what's it like to be a geek in the land of lawyers? Ars Technica interviewed Felten by phone on Tuesday to find out. First, an important disclosure: Felten was my advisor when I was in grad school at Princeton from 2008 to 2011.

"n the long run, Felten hopes to see more technologists have a formal role in the policy process. « We've had some degree of success in intervening when something big is up, but that's not a sustainable model, » he said. He'd like to see technologists become « a community that is known and engaged consistently over time. » « I've thought about how other disciplines have managed to integrate themselves into the process, » he said. « Economists are a good example. They've been very effective in convincing policymakers that their expertise is important. » It would obviously be foolish for senior government officials to make economic policy without seeking input from trained economists. Perhaps someday, it will be seen as equally foolish to make technology policy without a computer scientist in the room"

"The Raspberry Pi is a very cheap and reasonably powerful computing device but to get to work with it you have to master Linux. An easier way might be to use a Web IDE."

Le journal traditionnel est un sous-produit de l'arbre et le journaliste à l'ancienne ne se porte pas vraiment mieux que la forêt. Aux États-Unis, le nombre total d'emplois dans le secteur a chuté de plus de 40 % en une décennie. Les journaux employaient 414 000 personnes en 2001. Ils n'étaient plus que 246 000 l'an dernier.

"En repensant au passé pré-internet (cette ère qui s'estompe tel un rêve dont la véracité nous semble furtivement s'effriter au fur et à mesure qu'on s'en éloigne), on se demande «comment on pouvait faire avant»? André Gunthert apporte dans son blogue quelques réflexions (ici et ici) sur la portée de cette connexion permanente de l'esprit aux données numériques ambiant. Détaillons (Allez vous faire un café, on ne la fera pas à la Twitter)."

"Calling all fed #digitalgov entrepreneurs! We know you're pushing and pulling your agencies to open up government information and provide better services to the public. We know that you're not only looking for solutions, but have already found some. Join the movement to make 21st Century digital government."

Movi.Kanti.Revo derives its name from the Esperanto words for moving, singing, and dreaming, and it's an apt title for Google's latest Chrome Experiment. Developed by Cirque du Soleil and Subatomic Systems, Movi.Kanti.Revo is a gesture-based web experience that allows users to travel through a dreamlike landscape peppered with magic and contortionists. Users can explore the site by moving their bodies in front of a webcam or speaking into a built-in microphone, without having to download extra apps or software. That's because the entire project is built in HTML5 and CSS with 3D transitions; all you have to do is grant access to your computer's webcam and microphone.

"The use of broadband for many everyday activities has a huge cumulative impact on the economic welfare of a nation. It is difficult to get an exact read on how great the impact is. A few things are certain, however: The impact indeed is large, it is growing and nations that don't deploy broadband will be left behind."

"La montée en puissance des livres numériques aux Etats-Unis met-elle en danger les livres imprimés ? Schools.com se penche sur le sujet à travers une étude qui met en évidence la consommation d'ebooks et le taux d'équipement de readers des américains. 43% des américains de 16 ans et plus ont lu un ebook ou un livre sous une autre forme numérique en 2011. Le terme ebook englobe magazines, journaux, articles et autres lus sur readers, smartphones ou tablettes."