Prepare for the cyborg bloggers

Justin Kan, cyborg videoblogger

(Credit: CNET Networks)

At the Stirr event last night, I met Justin Kan, who was walking around the event with a camera strapped to his head. Kan is making himself into a cyborg for his new streaming service, Justin.TV, on which he will make available a real-time, Justin's-eye view of the world. In his backback is a laptop with an EV-DO card. A future setup, he says, will have four EV-DO cards that he'll link together in order to deliver live high-definition video over the Net.

But that's just the technology. Will people pay attention? I asked Kan, "What makes your life so interesting that people will want to watch?"

"I'm going to go to a lot of cool parties and talk to interesting people," he said.

Before my inner editor could intervene, my inner narcissist took control. "Are you recording me?"

Kan smiled, but didn't answer.

Look for the launch soon.

[sendao]

Cyborg or Gargoyle?

Justin has not incorporated any of his equipment into his body, meaning that 'cyborg' is completely the wrong word. Anyway, the term for a cyborg linked up to a broadcasting 'net site is 'gargoyle', according to cyberpunk lit.

[rafe]

There's physical and conceptual "incorporation"

Point taken, although to my mind, Justin becomes the camera with his rig. He may not have had surgery to implant the lens, but when he's on the job, if he does it right, he will be a walking Webcam. Cyborg-esque, perhaps.

[curt_doolittle]

It's Gargoyle, not Cyborg

A Cyborg is someone who has been mechanically modified.

A Gargoyle is someone who walks around carrying equipment and functions as a virtual spy, memory, intelligence gatherer. (snow crash by stephenson)

So, he is a gargoyle not a cyborg.

If you have technology wired into your body, you're a cyborg, if not you're a gargoyle.

There isn't any room in the definitions for flexibility and it's just ignorance, illiteracy or an error, not a difference of interpretation, to describe it otherwise.

You could say "Cyborg Wanna Be" but that's about it.