Betulkah Internet bikin Bodoh ?

Sulit mengingat kapan terakhir kali tim bulutangkis nasional meraih emas dalam Olimpiade? No problem. Cari saja data itu di google. Hampir semua pertanyaan bisa dicari jawabannya di sana. Masalahnya adalah kemudahan ini mengurangi kebiasaan kita untuk mengingat.
Orang yang akrab dengan internet dan sering googling (mencari di google), cenderung lebih malas untuk mencoba mengingat informasi karena yakin semua informasi itu dapat dengan mudah ditemukan kembali di internet.
"Informasi yang masuk ke otak bisa terus menerus diingat dengan cara mengetahui dimana informasi itu bisa dicari. Dan kita lebih memprioritaskan dari pada mengingat secara detil mengenai informasi itu," kata Betsy Sparrow, PhD, dari Universitas Columbia yang melakukan studi ini.
Dalam dunia psikologi, hal itu disebut juga dengan memori transaktif. Kemampuan ini sudah ada sejak manusia mampu berkomunikasi. Kita juga selalu mengandalkan orang yang paling pintar dalam komunitas, kemudian setelah berkembangnya media cetak, kita mengandalkan buku.
Dengan kata lain, saat ini manusia beradaptasi untuk tidak benar-benar mengingat suatu hal, kita hanya mengingat dimana mencari atau siapa yang memiliki informasi itu.

Business models

Business models are perhaps the most discussed and least understood aspect of the web. There is so much talk about how the web changes traditional business models. But there is little clear-cut evidence of exactly what this means.

In the most basic sense, a business model is the method of doing business by which a company can sustain itself -- that is, generate revenue. The business model spells-out how a company makes money by specifying where it is positioned in the value chain.

Some models are quite simple. A company produces a good or service and sells it to customers. If all goes well, the revenues from sales exceed the cost of operation and the company realizes a profit. Other models can be more intricately woven. Broadcasting is a good example. Radio and later television programming has been broadcasted over the airwaves free to anyone with a receiver for much of the past century. The broadcaster is part of a complex network of distributors, content creators, advertisers (and their agencies), and listeners or viewers. Who makes money and how much is not always clear at the outset. The bottom line depends on many competing factors.

Rio draw pits Spain against France

The road to the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ shifted firmly into focus as 166 countries around the globe discovered the challenges ahead at the Preliminary Draw in Rio de Janeiro.

Eighty-one years to the day since Uruguay became the first team to win the Jules Rimet Trophy on home soil in Montevideo, world football’s biggest prize was in the limelight once more and if FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, in his introductory speech, described football as Brazil’s “beating heart”, there were pulses accelerating inside the Marina da Gloria and far beyond as the draw unfolded.
Some of the greats of Brazilian football helped FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke in conducting the draw – including Bebeto, Cafu, Ronaldo, Mario Zagallo and Zico – and it threw up some intriguing contests, not least in the European Zone where holders Spain were drawn against France, winners in 1998, in Group I. These rivals last met in the second round of the 2006 finals in Germany where France won 3-1 en route to the final. The third seeds in Group I are Belarus who have taken four points off France in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying.