by Rob Cottingham | Sep 23, 2009 | Cartoons, Noise to Signal, Social Media, Social Signal, Technology
If you’re visiting from PC World – or just happened to stumble onto us – we’re glad you could come by. Pull up a chair. Lemonade?
Your timing’s terrific: I was just about to start the slide show. Oh, no, don’t get up – the holiday pictures aren’t until later. No, this is all about Noise to Signal, my cartoon about the intersection of technology, communications and life. Sit back and make yourself comfortable.
Let me just plug the remote… into the projector… dim the lights… and here we go.
Here’s the cartoon that launched Noise to Signal (although I didn’t call it that yet) waaaay back in the spring of 2007. It was a simpler time (at least in the Oval Office, ba-dump-bump!)…
This is a tribute to the famous New Yorker cartoon, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” (I’ve come back to this theme once or twice.)
This one is probably the first one I published under the name “Noise to Signal”.
And now, as measured by raw hits, here are the top 10 Noise to Signal cartoons of all time:
Number 10, sadly a little timelier now than when I drew it:
Number 9, a cartoon the PC World folks (and Amazon customers) will recognize:
Number 8, for everyone who obsesses about their Twitter follower count:
Number 7 is for my fellow gadget freaks out there whose spirituality glands may be underperforming:
Number 6 goes to a pie chart. Somewhere, my grade 6 math teacher’s ears just pricked up.
Coming up to number 5, a reminder that it’s probably a good thing Alex and I didn’t have iPhones yet when we got married:
Number 4 promotes both privacy awareness and good dental hygiene. Hard to do in one cartoon, but we’re committed to value here at Noise to Signal industries:
Third place – bronze! – is the closest I come to a religion: typography.
Number 2 – ooh, so close – makes that case that, while Flooz may have flopped, alternative currencies for the online world are still alive and well:
And the number one Noise to Signal cartoon of all time…
Thanks for checking us out! You can also find Noise to Signal on Facebook… and if you’re hankering for the RSS feed, it’s right here.
by Rob Cottingham | Sep 23, 2009 | Cartoons, Social Signal
When I was a young ‘un still trying to wrap my mind around personal computers, modems, desktop publishing and stuff, I had only a few trusted sources to turn to: my very few friends who shared my interest… whatever I could glean at 300 baud from Ottawa’s various computer bulletin boards… and magazines.
Two magazines in particular gave me the education I was looking for: PC Magazine and PC World. For me, neither übergeek or total n00b, they were the holders of the keys to the tech kingdom of the mid-to-late 1980s and early 90s.
So I’m especially delighted that, all day today, PC World’s web site has as its lead feature “a dozen of the best tech-related cartoons the Web has to offer“… and among those exalted 12, you’ll find Noise to Signal.
Head on over – and check out the other 11 cartoons as well, along with editor JR Raphael’s lively commentary. (Want to read more JR Raphael? Then head to his site eSarcasm – billed, wisely, as “not for the easily offended”.)
by Rob Cottingham | Sep 22, 2009 | Everything Else
Amazon Vancouver Public Library Linky for Greasemonkey at userscripts.org A few days ago, David Eaves posted an idea to his blog (actually, one of several ideas): wouldn’t it be great to have a Greasemonkey script that would let you find a book on Amazon, then... by Rob Cottingham | Sep 22, 2009 | Everything Else
via shop.lumadessa.com This is one lovely collection of highly stylized bird illustrations. A cardinal, pileated woodpecker (pictured), ruby-throated hummingbird and more. If there’s someone on your gift list who sits at the intersection of Peterson’s... by Rob Cottingham | Sep 22, 2009 | Social Signal
Over the past few years, as broadband reaches more and more communities and mobile Internet access extends its reach, the digital divide has receded into the background. Issues like net neutrality and intellectual property have taken centre stage and taken on new urgency.
But equal access to digital technologies is as important as ever. And this year, the folks behind OneWebDay want to remind us:
Right now, governments, corporate entities and technical elites decide the fate of the most powerful, inclusive communications platform ever created. They’re making decisions about who will have access, at what speeds, and at what price. They’re deciding how to invest in training and education in 21st century communications.
Even the principles that make the Web an open platform for the creativity of every user are in question. The global economy is in crisis, and the open Internet is a pathway to economic opportunity. Everyone should have access, and everyone should help in deciding the future of the Web.
Drop by OneWebDay to find out about events near you.
Updated: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is celebrating OneWebDay – whether by coincidence or intention – with the launch of OpenInternet.gov, a site to promote and discuss a free and open Internet – one of the keystones of equal access to the online world:
