Jenn’s Other Blog

Mashable featured a great new site today, called LiveNewsCameras.com:

On the whole, LiveNewsCameras is a simple invention, but something that a number of news junkies will find appealing, particular when away from the television set. Furthermore, those interested in viewing news from time zones or regions unique from their own can make some use of the broad selection of channels delivered through the new site. In addition to a broad swath of US-bases news channels, LiveNewsCameras provides viewers with one-click access to videos streams, including regular weather reports as well as international broadcasters like BBC World, Sky News, France 24, Al Jazeera, and NHK Japan.

I checked it out, and it is incredible. There are over 200 feeds already. I watched live from the Pentagon, as Bush greeted the atheletes and fans at the Wounded Warriors Bike ride. There are news and weather channels all over the U.S., and about 16 abroad. This is a news junkie’s dream. Check it out.

The only thing that could make this better is a way to embed this on a blog.

NewsFutures: Prediction Markets is a new social news sites, which boasts “delivering the wisdom of crowds”. To see how it works, go here, and create an account. No real money is exchanged, although winners are able to bid on real prizes such as upgrades, or Amazon.com gift certificates.

According to an ABC report:

While the money earned on NewsFutures isn’t real, Servan-Schreiber [the creator of NewsFutures] argues that prediction markets are an incredibly valuable tool.

“I think of them as a brain,” he said. “You take a bunch of individually stupid neurons and put them together. Through massive interaction emerges intelligence. It’s the same thing with the market.”

“The market really is smarter than the average player in there, and sometimes smarter than anyone in there, even the best player,” he said. This aggregation of many people’s opinions, Servan-Schreiber argued, produces an “incredible probability that the market prices really corresponds to the probability [of the event occurring].”

Here is a CBS video about the site.

Question: How, if at all, do you think this type of technology and social networking will affect American politics?