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Psychologists refer to the information flowing into our working memory as our cognitive load. When the load exceeds our mind’s ability to process and store it, we’re unable to retain the information or to draw connections with other memories. We can’t translate the new material into conceptual knowledge. Our ability to learn suffers, and our understanding remains weak. That’s why the extensive brain activity that Small discovered in Web searchers may be more a cause for concern than for celebration. It points to cognitive overload.
Nicholas Carr/Wired

The warm weather is here… the beginning of summer? Perhaps. In any case the vacation mind is surely awakening for some of us. If your getaway time is still well off perhaps a few brief virtual escapes might hold you over until you can set foot in some faraway land. Here are some interactive views of The Sistine Chapel, British Histories courtesy of the BBC and The Smithsonian’s current exhibits.

With the Poetry Foundation’s iPhone app, you can now take hundreds of poems by classic and contemporary poets with you wherever you go.
From William Shakespeare to César Vallejo to Heather McHugh, the Poetry Foundation’s app turns your phone into a mobile poetry library:
* Search for old favorites with memorable lines.
* Give your phone a shake to discover new poems to fit any mood.
* Save your favorite poems to read and share later—through Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail.
* Read poems by T.S. Eliot, Pablo Neruda, Lucille Clifton, Emily Dickinson, and many others.

Agatha Christie’s cleverly plotted detective stories made her the 20th century’s best-selling fiction author—she sold billions of books throughout a career that spanned the 1920s to the 1970s. But her intricate novels may reveal more about the inner workings of the human mind than she intended: according to Dr. Ian Lancashire at the University of Toronto, the Queen of Crime left behind hidden clues to the real-life mysteries of human aging.

If you missed the hurricane that was 48 HR Magazine last week, here’s a recap: On May 7th the editors of 48 HR announced a theme for the debut issue: Hustle. Interested writers and artists had 24 hours to produce and submit work. The next 24 hours were for the editorial team to “snip, mash and gild” the best submissions until they had a magazine. At the end of that period, the magazine was avaialble for purchase at MagCloud. And it’s beautiful.
Jeff Severns Guntzel/Utne Reader

When Time Magazine opened an Internet poll earlier this year to determine the “world’s most influential person,”[...] Han Han, a 27-year-old novelist, race car driver and bad boy teen heartthrob who also happens to be China’s most popular blogger, was second only to Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Given the reach Mr. Han has among China’s 400 million Internet users, it could almost be considered an upset that he didn’t win the contest outright.
Mark MacKinnon/Globe and Mail

Welcome to 48 Hour Magazine, a raucous experiment in using new tools to erase media’s old limits. As the name suggests, we’re going to write, photograph, illustrate, design, edit, and ship a magazine in two days.

Peeking through Washington Post Company’s 2009 10K is instructive, if you want to know the current state of Newsweek. Or even the future. At minimum, it is going one way: down. Here are some numbers, in excruciating detail:
Rafat Ali/Paidcontent.org