I just finished Vernor Vinge’s latest, Rainbows End. I could try to summarize the plot, but it would be more in the spirit of the book to suggest that you Google it yourself.

And I guess that’s what bothered me most about the book — I thought Vernor was trying to walk too fine a line between showing a world 20 years closer to the Singularity and making it comprehensible to his audience in 2006. That, and the clear need for a sequel or two to wrap up the loose ends.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it, but I didn’t think it was his best work — that still has to be True Names, which blows me away every time I reread it.

My trip to Banff last week was to attend the conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), and, in particular, to attend and participate in the workshop on “Online Trust”. One of the organizers of that workshop was Dr. Dianne Cyr, who’s doing research on loyalty in online business environments — she mentioned that she needs more US participants, and I offered to publicize her project on my blog…like so:

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Win $US 250 for completing an online survey!

You are invited to participate in a survey conducted in 10 countries by Dr. Dianne Cyr at Simon Fraser University in Canada. The study is about how to build loyalty in online business environments. You are required to view and navigate the SonyStyle website, and then answer a survey about that experience. After you complete the survey, if you like, you can enter your name for a draw for a $US 250 gift certificate for Amazon.com.

To complete a survey, you must be 18 years or older, and be from the United States. Further, you will have grown up and lived most of your life in that country, and will not have lived in any other country for the last 2 years. Click on the link, and all the information you need will be presented. Please feel free to circulate the survey to friends, family or others.

http://eloyalty.elinc.ca/eloyalty/eng/usa/index.php

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I took the survey, and it was painless. :-)