The Semantic Web just got one step closer with Mozilla Labs latest project, Ubiquity.  If you’re a fan of contextual keyboard-based apps like Quicksilver or Growl, this will make sense to you.  If not, take a look anyway. It’s like glimpsing the future.

The computer interface experience of the not-too-distant future? Mozilla and Adaptive Path join forces for this proof-of-concept video featuring Aurora, what they describe as “one possible future user experience for the Web.” And as an added bonus, the video has a touch of drama scripted into it: two rival farmers arguing about rainfall data and subsequent crop yields (it gets pretty nasty boring).

(Sidenote: I’ve really been digging Vimeo lately—their site design is clean, load times are quick, and video quality is pretty good. Watch your back, YouTube.)

WIRED’s latest issue has pushed mightily on my nostalgia button with an oral history of one of my favorite films, WarGames. Holy acoustic coupler modems!–hard to believe this gem is 25 years old…and that Ally Sheedy has a 14-year-old daughter now. The piece also goes into the film’s influence on real-life hacker culture, for better (creating a sympathetic hacker protagonist) and for worse (the jury actually believed that Kevin Mitnick could whistle up missile launch commands from a payphone).  David Lightman forever!

WOPR/Joshua asks that immortal question…

…in large part because you know that your students’ tendency to incorporate “found” components (be they audio, images, or video) might open them up for some sort of copyright liabilities, plus you just don’t have the time or energy or inclination to police all of that stuff on your own. And if they ended up on YouTube and got in trouble for pilfering content, well, you just couldn’t live with the guilt of it all. But what if all of this anxiety kept your students from creating some *really* thought-provoking pieces that creatively re-worked existing material? And just what constitutes Fair Use anymore these days? Too many unanswered questions. Xanax, unfortunately, is not the answer.

Well, fear not: the Center for Social Media, a program out of American University’s School of Communication, recently released a helpful guide covering just those issues. “Fair Use and Online Video” offers a whole slew of resources, from white papers on best practices, links to other fair use documentation, and even a video that breaks it all down for us. This is definitely worth bookmarking. After visiting and arming yourself with this newfound knowledge, the worries will subside.

Rejoice, and remix.

(For any English 553 lurkers out there, this is one of the premiere SF writers today discussing the state of his art.)

The man who started it all, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, weighs in on what he thinks the next phase of the World Wide Web will look like in this BBC Interview (hint: kinda-sorta rhymes with “Phlegmatic Jeb”). Give it a listen—it’s under 10 minutes.

And while it’s no unicorn chaser, here’s a palate-cleansing bit of hilarity from Matthew Inman of Oat.org, a cute and witty webcomic (?) titled “The State of the Web: Summer 2008” that gives us a nice snapshot of the web as it moves towards that aforementioned next phase.

Through July, my campus library has an exhibit titled “Altered Books” featuring handmade books produced by our Kids’ College attendees.  Each of these is a darling artifact in its own right, as well as an explicit commentary on the materiality of print and its often untapped potential.  If you’re in the neighborhood and have a chance, do check it out; you can read more about the exhibit here.

Those of you looking for a good online note-taking/keeping web service might find Evernote a capable option for you—it just went into public beta, so go and get yourself an account and start clipping. There’s even a facebook app, of course.

• Several of my students have expressed interest in the craft of composing screenplays.  They also bemoan the price of dedicated scriptwriting software, which is $$$ because it’s a niche industry product.  That problem is now solved thanks to Celtx, an open-source, multi-platform application that specializes in “integrated media pre-production (scripting, storyboarding, plus cool online collaboration and sharing features).  Get busy with the downloading, people.
• TIME Magazine’s Anita Hamilton recently offered up a list of what she sees as the 10 essential sites for today–go read “Necessity Rules” and start picking those nits.
• For those interested in gussying up their presentation skills, or for those who teach others the mystical art of PowerPointery, this article from WIRED’s How-To Wiki offers up lots of useful advice for creating masterful presentations (one piece of advice: knowing when NOT to use slideshows): “Make a Presentation Like Al Gore.“
• Next up on my download schedule, from the blog of Francesco Mugnai, “37 Free Must-Have Fonts.”