Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

Saturday, March 31, 2001

Bookmarklets are the best browsing

Bookmarklets are the best browsing tools I've ever found. They are fiendishly clever. You also don't need to download anything and they work cross-platform. Thank you Bookmarklets! Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:36:19 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

I worked in a comic

I worked in a comic book store from age 12-16. Back then, comic readers were in one of two camps: Jack Kirby fans or Neal Adams fans. You couldn't like both artists at the same time. (And if you said you did, it was a dead giveaway that you really didn't understand comics). I was a Kirby fan. Still am. So I was gratified to read this long Wired article about Neal Adams, who has just published his own science book with his crackpot theory about the origins of matter in the universe. It gives me yet another reason to ridicule him. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 08:52:26 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Friday, March 30, 2001

bOING bOING buddy Terre Thaemlitz

bOING bOING buddy Terre Thaemlitz just finished a new video based on his latest electroacoustic music album, Interstices. Link "Candidly investigate the interstices between genders, sexual orientations, and other identity constructs." And don't forget to buy a complete set of Terre's revolutionary and fashionable Sanriot t-shirts! Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:05:37 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Here's my article for The

Here's my article for The Industry Standard about writer Harlan Ellison's attempts to stop people from trading his stories online. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:53:41 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Nice little bio on Albert

Nice little bio on Albert Frey, an amazing architect from Switzerland who moved to Palm Springs in the 1930s and designed 250 buildings there. He was generally disparaged and later forgotton until a few years before his death at the age of 95. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:24:20 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

"Turns on a dime and

"Turns on a dime and parks on a nickel." This new microbot developed at Sandia is only 1/4 cubic inch in size! Link It reminds me of UC Berkeley telerobotics pioneer John Canny's idea that thousands of microbots gobbling up dust particles would make a more practical and efficient "robot maid" than Rosie from the Jetsons!

posted by David Pescovitz at 03:42:40 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

My new sigfile: The information

My new sigfile:

The information contained in this communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed[1] and others authorized to receive it[2]. It may[3] contain confidential or legally privileged[4] information. If you are not the intended recipient[5] you are hereby notified that any disclosure[6], copying[7], distribution[8] or taking any action in reliance on the contents[9] of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful[10]. If you have received this communication in error[11], please notify us immediately by responding to this email[12] and then delete it from your system[13]. OpenCola is neither liable for the proper and complete transmission of the information contained in this communication[14] nor for any delay in its receipt.[15]

[1] Unless it's something funny that I found on a blog and I'm just forwarding it

[2] I.e. Just about anyone

[3] Or not

[4] IANAL. But I *am* an ordained Minister of the Universal Life Church. So while you don't get no attorney privilege with me, you may be able to claim some kind of confessor confidentiality. Step into the box and tell me your sins!

[5] I.e., Just about anyone

[6] Except to your SMTP host

[7] Except to your hard-drive as part of your mail-spool

[8] Except from your SMTP host to your mail-spool

[9] I.e., Helping Nigerian generals launder their fortunes, sending postcards to possibly fictitious dying British children, or forwarding bogus but terribly urgent virus warnings

[10] Hey, everything's illegal somewhere!

[11] In other words, if *I* made a mistake, I plan on somehow coercing *you* into doing something about it

[12] Send all such notice to our special "oops" account: diaper-fetish-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

[13] Also, please write random bits to every sector on your drive seven times, dissolve your RAM with sulfuric acid, gouge your eyes out and get a prefrontal lobotomy

[14] Our server has been having problems with overlong .sigs lately

[15] There is no fifteenth footnote

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:09:49 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Great consipiracy theories about the

Great consipiracy theories about the failure of keyless remotes and US battleships. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:00:41 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

What would the ancient Greeks

What would the ancient Greeks have thougt of Rosie O'Donnell and guest Mary Stuart Masterson's opinion on the foolishiness of teaching math in schools? Rosie: "I think there's no way they should have to teach it, now. We have computers. We no longer need to know why 3X equals 2Y over 4. Or if a bus leaves Utah at 4 pm, how many blonde-haired people [are] on it? I mean, how the hell do you figure that out?" Masterson: "And why? Why would you want to know? Leave some things up to chance, you know?" (From the March 23, 2001 Rosie O'Donnell show.)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:20:06 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

I want to learn more

I want to learn more about Memory Palaces, the ancient Greek method of remembering things by "placing" information inside specific rooms of huge buildings you construct in your mind. This article talks a bit about the Memory Palace metaphor as it applies to the Network. Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:49:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Thursday, March 29, 2001

The stuff urban legends are

The stuff urban legends are made of: A guy misses out on a kidney transplant when a courier delivers an empty box instead of the organ. Link (Thanks, Dave G!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 11:40:30 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Q is a keychain containing

Q is a keychain containing 64MB of Flash memory! Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:29:55 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Hoof-and-mouth causes Disneyland Paris to

Hoof-and-mouth causes Disneyland Paris to quarantine its animals. Link (Thanks, Jonl!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:24:35 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Gobler Toys is a fictional

Gobler Toys is a fictional toy-company from the golden age of toydom. The site has all of these eerily plausible but utterly crazed toys, including TV commercials for 'em! Link (Thanks, Stefan!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:12:50 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cool piece on complexity, flocking

Cool piece on complexity, flocking behaviour and cellular automata. Link (Thanks, Jonl!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:06:47 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Bojemoi! Eric Raymond (Open Source

Bojemoi! Eric Raymond (Open Source guru, liberatarian, gun-nut, sf fan, author, and maintainer of the Fetchmail project) has posted his Sex Tips for Geeks. Link (Another thanks to Joey!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:35:46 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Groovy sci-fi USB peripheral for

Groovy sci-fi USB peripheral for your laptop. A clip on, eerie-blue reading lamp that plugs into your USB and draws minimal juice off your laptop. PDF link (Thanks, Joey!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:23:28 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

In 2002, the World Science

In 2002, the World Science Fiction Convention will award the first-ever Hugo Award for best Web-site. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:13:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Wednesday, March 28, 2001

Porsche's long-awaited SUV, the Cayenne,

Porsche's long-awaited SUV, the Cayenne, is stylistically miles ahead of the urban tanks on the road today. Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 05:52:10 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

This fucking thing popped up

This fucking thing popped up in my browser window and I don't know where it came from. Can such a thing be set to pop up a certain amount of time after you visit a site? Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:02:16 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Custom sneakers on demand! Up

Custom sneakers on demand! Up to 3,420,833,472,000,000,300,000 combinations of colors, graphics, logos, and materials! Link (Found on Puce, one of the original Web journals)

posted by David Pescovitz at 01:34:19 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

"You want fries with that?"

"You want fries with that?" A new study forecasts that "80% of the remaining dot-com companies in the Bay area will collapse in the next year, wiping out some 30,000 jobs." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:05:09 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Check out my new favorite

Check out my new favorite visual artist Yoshitomo Nara's gleefully twisted illustrations where children play happily in the land of cultural nihilism. "The children in my works are not aggressive. [With] the knives-[the kids] can generate power over their lives. I'm not making art to give the viewer hope. I'm creating this generation that has no power. I'm articulating or producing a scream for them." Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 11:03:57 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Talk about a niche market.

Talk about a niche market. This software, called Pawsense, is designed to tell the difference between a human typing on a keyboard and a cat walking across one. It will block the cat's keypresses. It'll also emit a shrill harmonica or hissing sound to scare the cat away. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 08:26:26 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tuesday, March 27, 2001

In the tradition of the

In the tradition of the great whorehouse piano players of New Orleans was James Booker, the Bayou Maharajah: "When he played the piano, any and all songs could come from the notes. Everything from the Godfather theme to the works of Ernesto Lecuona to Beethoven to the rawest, gutbucket, junker blues of back o' town New Orleans, many times all in the same song." Link "This is the same guy who studied yoga while he was in Angola State Prison on a dope charge. When a guard spied him doing a head stand, Booker told him he was proving that he could do his time standing on his head." Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:34:53 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

I'm not a fan of

I'm not a fan of professional sports, and I don't like it when animals are killed for no good reason, but I am fascinated by this video clip of a bird that explodes when it flies in the path of a baseball pitcher's fastball. (Thanks, Gil!) Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:10:20 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Excellent paranoid's site full of

Excellent paranoid's site full of subliminal advertising images, backwards music messages, and Freemason and Microsoft conspiracy symbols. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 08:34:34 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Monday, March 26, 2001

Sasquatch Butt Print! (Thanks Pesco).

Sasquatch Butt Print! (Thanks Pesco). Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:21:29 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The URL pretty much explains

The URL pretty much explains it all. My guess it that these are the real thing. http://www.psychoexgirlfriend.com/voicemails.html

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:40:43 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Here's another Web services company,

Here's another Web services company, Internet Technologies Group, that has a wait-n-weep Flash introduction page that would keep any savvy client a million miles away from them. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:10:10 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Mercury News columnist says wait

Mercury News columnist says wait four to six months before upgrading to Mac OSX. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:36:32 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Does TiVo know what you

Does TiVo know what you watch? David Martin, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Denver, has written a paper asserting that TiVo "gathers enough information to track individual users' home viewing habits while apparently promising not to do so;�could identify the personal viewing habits of subscribers at will; and�has a much more explicit privacy policy disclosure on its Web site than in the printed material that accompanies the purchase of the product." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:33:40 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sunday, March 25, 2001

Prank letter from Will Hertes

Prank letter from Will Hertes asking for a job with the FBI, and the FBI's reply. Site has lots more joke letters to corporations. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:23:25 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Funny first-person account of a

Funny first-person account of a Disneyland vacation in the "GenX Guide to Disneyland." Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:49:11 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Saturday, March 24, 2001

Curmudgeon king P.J. O'Rourke explains

Curmudgeon king P.J. O'Rourke explains celebrity and modern trends to old people. Favorite quote: "Techno being a form of music that sounds like a combination of a skipping record, the chime when you leave the car door open, the microwave telling you it's finished with defrosting and the spin cycle on your washing machine." Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:32:25 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

A strange day to be

A strange day to be a fair-use advocate on the Internet. On the one hand, Internet laws like the International Treaty on Cybercrime seem so ill-considered that it makes you want to take away all technology-related lawmaking privileges enjoyed by governments. On the other hand, we all hate spam and love it when spammers go to jail. On the other other hand, the current anti-spam bill looks like a total debacle.

Mike Godwin on the Cybercrime treaty (found via Memepool): Link

Declan McCullagh on the anti-spam law at Wired News. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:25:43 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ew, ew, ew! The first-person

Ew, ew, ew! The first-person saga of a man who fixed his own botched circumcision while at college, using a nail-scissors and ice-cubes. Favorite quote: "You know what you must do. Eat it. It is your destiny." Ew. You have been warned. Ew. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:25:16 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Stop alien abductions! Using the

Stop alien abductions! Using the simple directions on this site, you can build a Lensman-style thought screen helmet that blocks telepathic communication between aliens and humans. Link (Thanks, Denis!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:18:14 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Further signs of the aporkalypse:

Further signs of the aporkalypse: Fox is running a new, Power-Rangers-style show based on Mexican masked wrestling, called Los Luchadores. It features an evil cyborg chihuahua that talks like the Yo-Quiero-Taco-Bell rat, and a total hottie hero called Maria Valentine, whose "trendy crop tops, stylish bell-bottoms, tattoo, and pierced belly-button are always a big hit." Modern primitivism is now officially out. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:28:02 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Postmodern essay-generator. Funny! Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:29:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Found on Xblog: Martin Amis

Found on Xblog: Martin Amis on the porn industry: Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:28:53 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Found on kottke.org: Baton-shaped, frozen,

Found on kottke.org: Baton-shaped, frozen, push-up food! Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:08:46 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

And something less ire-rousing. The

And something less ire-rousing. The way, way, way funny "Ulysses for Dummies." Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:40:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Which reminds me of this

Which reminds me of this Slashdot piece about IDG's international legal debacles in "protecting" the "For Dummies" brand. Especially noteworthy (and baseless) was their campaign against a Swede running a FAQ. Link

Also of tremendous humorosity: This letter from the Webmaster responsible for "Ulysses for Dummies" to IDG's overzealous legal department. Link

Oh, and don't miss "Corporate Standover Tactics for Dummies," a great Web resource tracking IDG's campaign against a bunch of unemployed silk-screeners in Australia. Link

Really, is there any circumstance in which such a nastygram doesn't result in the sender looking like a hypersensitive, overly litigious, bullying ~~idiot~~ Dummy®?

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:39:34 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Potterwar! Warner's lawyers are sending

Potterwar! Warner's lawyers are sending nastygrams to teenagers running Harry Potter fansites. Remember when Viacom cease-and-desisted all of the Star Trek fansites? Buncha jackasses. Yah, yah, you gotta protect your service-marks, etc and so forth, but do law professors really teach their students that suing die-hard fans is the best way to protect a corporation's assets? Link (Link found on Jane and Richard's blog)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:58:52 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Friday, March 23, 2001

My friend Scraps is getting

My friend Scraps is getting married! And he announced it in his blog. I love living in the future! Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:59:07 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Another sign of the apocalypse:

Another sign of the apocalypse: costumed Disney World characters with TB. Given all the stories about costumed cast catching crabs, etc., from their suits, I sure wouldn't want to be wearing this costume! Link (Thanks, Amanda!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:56:38 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Thursday, March 22, 2001

Continuing this week's walk down

Continuing this week's walk down memory lane! Remember "High Noon on the Electronic Frontier?" Published in 1996 by MIT press, this collection of essays on privacy, copyright, crypto, and the like is every bit as relevant and prescient today as it was all those Internet centuries ago. Especially noteworthy is Tim May's BlackNet essay and Crypto-Anarchist Manifesto. Looks like the whole book's available online! Link (Thanks, Tony!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:27:05 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

I'm writing this from the

I'm writing this from the kitchenette of The Martini Room at the Orbit In in Palm springs. There's a DSL connection in here. And three more DSL connections coming out of the lava lamps in the poolside bar! Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:13:03 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Remember American Movie? The documentary

Remember American Movie? The documentary on the production of a way, way indie film by a gang of way, way oddball midwesterners? That film, "Coven" (pronounced CoVAN) is now available for sale online. They've sold more than 4,000 copies! Also available: Coven t-shirts, a cassette of songs performed by Mike Schank ("Songs I Know") and the soundtrack. I've ordered a copy -- I'll letcha know if it's any good once it arrives. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:36:21 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Following a link off Memepool

Following a link off Memepool this morning took me to an Australian site filled with mechanical toys you can make on your own. This, in turn, led to a variety of startling and marvellous pages detailing various home-based toy projects. You can make an ornithopter, a pop-pop boat, and learn how the World's Record for paper airplane flight was set.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:25:56 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Salon piece by a staffer

Salon piece by a staffer at Mad Dogs and Englishmen in NYC about corporate trend-hunting. Compare and contrast with The Tipping Point. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:51:19 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

An amazing, techie briefing on

An amazing, techie briefing on the physics, economics, and aesthetics of flat-panel displays. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:18:36 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

This comic, Piercing (found through

This comic, Piercing (found through PeterMe) is wonderful. Normally, I don't get much thrill out of pictures without words, but there's something about the artwork -- Mad magazine meets Charles Bukowski -- that made me pay attention. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:07:36 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

OK, this isn't really about

OK, this isn't really about All Your Base. It's really about Disneyland. I swear. Link (Thanks Joey!) (and I just wanted to point out that I did this first and better Link)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:42:36 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Wednesday, March 21, 2001

After 50 years, Mad Magazine

After 50 years, Mad Magazine starts taking ads Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:42:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Hey, look! It's a brochure

Hey, look! It's a brochure in the form of a snotty, ill-informed quiz for a bunch of Euro Web "designers" who shovel horseshit like "If you crash your users' browsers, you should be proud, because you're pushing the medium!" Requires Flash (soo-prise, soo-prise!). Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:30:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

In the summer of 1979,

In the summer of 1979, my life changed forever. My Dad, head of computer science at a high-school in a Toronto suburb, was given a free Apple ][+ to bring home for the summer. Up until then, all my computer interaction had been via a teletype VAX terminal. The Apple's graphics capabilities (remember the "Hopalong Cassidy" demo?) and easy BASIC programmability made me into a nerd-for-life.

Then, in 1984, my Mom (an early childhood educator) brought home a MacPlus with an external floppy drive, an ImageWriter and a copy of MacPaint. My pals and I spent days hunkered down in front of the little Banana Junior, printing out hundreds of weird-ass texture-drawings we made with MacPaint and the mouse (!) (another memory, of my Dad coming back from a syposium in the 70s, having just seen hypertext, mouses and light-pens demoed, and trying to communicate what all these things would mean some day).

Which brings me to today's blog entry, the Virtual MacPlus. Running this application on your Mac, *nix, or Wintel box will emulate a full-fleged MacPlus, with up to THREE virtual floppy drives. It kicks all kinds of ass.

Download vMac here. Link

Then, download a MacPlus ROM here Link

This site also has downloadable OS disk-images (ranging from OS 1 to OS 6), and downloadable MacPaint and MacDraw images. Anyone have access to other vintage Mac apps?

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:25:38 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

My friend Debbie used to

My friend Debbie used to have this really successful hobby-site with info for writers called Inkspot. She got bought out by some GOBOSH-addicted dotcom, which relocated her to Philly, ran her ragged, then shut down the site. Debbie's started recounting her adventures in dotcom land in her comic strip. Can't wait to see more. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:36:39 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tuesday, March 20, 2001

Maybe it's the painkillers, but

Maybe it's the painkillers, but I actually hardy-har laughed at this page from the Spinnwebe site (original home of the Dysfunctional Family Circus), in which the author deconstructs the world's most ego-drenched vanity site. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:06:03 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

I've been laid up since

I've been laid up since Friday with a back injury (I fell out of my loft! Don't worry, no serious damage) and I'm on gobs o' painkillers and hence lack the attention span to do anything except browse.

Yesterday, Mr. FedEx delivered a care-package from a pal in Cal (thanks, Bob!), that included the very first ish ever of Wired, from March 1993. Wow. My first exposure to Wired was issue 1.02, and I devoured it -- it was a Bible full of information on an organized movement to bring the whole BBS/Internet world to the masses. Whether such a movement existed is open to debate, but that such a movement emerged cannot be questioned.

The first ish is charming, naieve, and prescient. Simson Garfinkel writes about Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, and how the GNU project is stalled and may never produce a GPLed flavor of Unix (it did -- but it took Linus Torvalds to hack the kernel).

There's a piece on CNN's new lightweight sat uplinks, and the promising developments being made in something called "MPEG" that may revolutionize satellite transmissions.

Art Kleiner writes about the early movement towards pervasive computing and the possibility of smart, networked toasters. Stewart Brand has a charmingly goofy polemic encouraging new media artists to adopt new paradigms and not just try to repurpose their existing stuff. The only really silly bit is Kevin Kelly's optimistic piece on the emerging standards for ISDN that'll finally bring broadband to consumers.

Also notable:

A review of some 'zine called "bOING!bOING!" (with a great and goofy shot of Mark and Carla)
a Jef Pozkanzer's revolutionary new "bozofilter" app for the WELL
Homebrew, $3000 VR systems that look like the PalmOS port of Doom
A BBS of the Month section
An amazingly bang-on piece by Negroponte where he predicts the goat-fuck that is HDTV and tells us that the important thing with TV is being able to control what you watch, not how good it looks.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:50:44 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

As seen in this month's

As seen in this month's Wired, the Izek is a Singer sewing machine that can execute fancy embroidery while controlled by a GameBoy. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:11:34 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Monday, March 19, 2001

Taking a link outta Memepool

Taking a link outta Memepool -- hey, I only steal from the best! Interior Desecrators boasts hundreds of scanned pages from deee-sgusting 70s interior design manuals along with wicked-funny commentary. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:54:42 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Some favorite captions from the

Some favorite captions from the sorely missed Dysfuctional Family Circus. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:48:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sunday, March 18, 2001

OK, I know I've blogged

OK, I know I've blogged this before, but godDAMN, the FutureFeedForward guy just keeps on knockin' 'em out of the park. Check out this week's installment:

JAKARTA--Local officials today confirmed that celebrity guru Anna Kournikova died on Wednesday from injuries sustained when a satellite designed to protect intellectual property rights attempted to 'delete' her. "Ms. Kournikova was apparently struck by a powerful, focused beam of microwaves, and died almost instantly," noted Detective J. Sini of the Jakarta Police. "Our current understanding is that this beam issued from one of the MEMEye satellites and that it was an unfortunate accident. We offer our sympathy to her families and followers."

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:10:41 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Friday, March 16, 2001

Hey, I like FuckedCompany as

Hey, I like FuckedCompany as much as the next guy, but I ain't payin' no $75/month for access to it. Who's gonna submit the rumors if they can't read 'em? Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:51:37 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

"Tiki Trouble" is a great

"Tiki Trouble" is a great shockwave cartoon from Cartoon Network. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:11:51 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

"Aggressive anti-spam measures by Dallas-based

"Aggressive anti-spam measures by Dallas-based ISP Verio have stripped some of the Internet's digerati of the ability to send email, and EFF co-founder John Gilmore is calling it censorship." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:25:51 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Science fiction publisher Del Ray

Science fiction publisher Del Ray has relaunched their legendary online workshop -- sort of a cross between the Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:56:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

"You Own Your Own Metadata"

"You Own Your Own Metadata" -- Will Kreth's wonderful piece on the need for portable metadata standards. I'm not totally sold on the metadata thing.

I wonder:

how it is you keep people from spamming/spoofing
how to ensure that we have a common vocabulary -- you say "Watching cartoons," and I say "Cultural Anthropology," and do we really need to come to accord on what to call it?
and how to convince people to enter, spellcheck and lint their own metadata -- you can get great bargains by searching for "Plam Pilot" on eBay; and it seems like half of the tracks on Napster have no artist/title info, despite the ease with which one can import ID3 stuff using the CDDB

Nevertheless, this article makes a compelling case for putting your metadata back into your own hands. Good stuff.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:48:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Thursday, March 15, 2001

Ads gone too far. The

Ads gone too far. The Budweiser Background Tile, courtesty of MarketWatch. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:58:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Another groovy new PalmOS device.

Another groovy new PalmOS device. In Japanese. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:55:16 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Special 1040 for laid-off Web

Special 1040 for laid-off Web workers! Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:54:20 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Spammers going to jail! Life

Spammers going to jail! Life is sweet. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:47:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

LA Times on "All Your

LA Times on "All Your Base are Belong to Us" Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:06:18 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tuesday, March 13, 2001

Retrofuture is a fun website

Retrofuture is a fun website about old-fasioned futurism. Features short articles about Disney's EPCOT, synthetic food, and online service from the early 1980s. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:26:00 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Monday, March 12, 2001

Important late-breaking news: John Ritters

Important late-breaking news: John Ritters scrotum was exposed in an episode of Three's Company. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:30:15 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Dope-sniffing dogs go you down?

Dope-sniffing dogs go you down? Want to store your stuff 200' underwater for two weeks? Tired of bears trashing your campsite? Splash Caddy's odor-free bags are just the thing. Available in custom sizes. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:48:34 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sunday, March 11, 2001

Terrific Salon piece on Norman

Terrific Salon piece on Norman Juster's "Phantom Tollboth," one of the great kids' books of all time, courtesy of Robot Wisdom. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:23:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Crazy-ass robot fashion from hot-tool.com

Crazy-ass robot fashion from hot-tool.com (thanks, jonl!) Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:57:42 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Awesome Vietnamese popcult bead-curtains from

Awesome Vietnamese popcult bead-curtains from Tesoros.com. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:56:53 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Comics guru and all-round freakazoid

Comics guru and all-round freakazoid Scott McCloud's amazing, hypertextual, audience-artist collaboration, "Choose Your Own Carl" Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:54:31 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Friday, March 9, 2001

Shittygift.com is a good site:

Shittygift.com is a good site: commentary and links to idiotic merchandise, like an "analog dial" TV remote control for morons. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:42:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Maker your own comics ColorForms

Maker your own comics ColorForms style and then let other people rate them. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:07:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Jim Leftwich told me about

Jim Leftwich told me about this amazing comic strip called "When I Am King." It reminds me of Jim Woodring's "Frank" a little bit. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:58:53 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Village Voice article about DisturbingSearchRequests.com.

Village Voice article about DisturbingSearchRequests.com. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:45:30 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The first genetically engineered bug

The first genetically engineered bug to be released in the US is a glow-in-the-dark moth larva, called "The Terminator." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:30:54 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Is this Handspring's answer to

Is this Handspring's answer to the Palm V? Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:24:13 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

This is the coolest thing

This is the coolest thing I've ever bought on eBay, and it's finally arrived! I've got it hanging over my sofa. Link. (Mark, if you're interested, the seller is down in Van Nuys and has more)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:37:30 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Thursday, March 8, 2001

Slashdot's reporting that Bountyquest, Tim

Slashdot's reporting that Bountyquest, Tim O'Reilly, Jeff Bezos and Charles Cella's organization devoted to busting stupid patents, has busted DoubleClick's patent on serving banner ads. A porn-king stepped forward with clear evidence of his own prior art. Porn -- is there nothing it can't teach us? Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:12:41 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Just when you thought the

Just when you thought the meme had been milked for all its entertainment value, culture-jammers take on "All Your Base." Don't miss this one. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:28:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

An archive of "disturbing search

An archive of "disturbing search requests." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:17:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Important new research at Harvard:

Important new research at Harvard: this is an attempt to list how to say "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me." in as many languages as possible. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:10:16 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Wednesday, March 7, 2001

Wired News: "Descrambling DVDs just

Wired News: "Descrambling DVDs just got even easier, thanks to a pair of MIT programmers. Using only seven lines of Perl code, Keith Winstein and Marc Horowitz have created the shortest-yet method to remove the thin layer of encryption that is designed to prevent people -- including Linux users -- from watching DVDs without proper authorization." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:41:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Dean Kamen on the media's

Dean Kamen on the media's obsession with Ginger / It: "The whole thing is inappropriate, unethical, rude, and possibly illegal. I don't know why people would be prying into things that are private."Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:37:36 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The world's greatest job-seeker (and

The world's greatest job-seeker (and he's in Toronto!). Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:25:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cory Doctorow reviews Ventus for

Cory Doctorow reviews Ventus for Mindjack magazine. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:08:16 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tuesday, March 6, 2001

Dean Kamen Ginger / IT

Dean Kamen Ginger / IT update: "An article in the March 20 issue of Inside magazine claims that Ginger is indeed a two-wheeled scooter-like device and further asserts that it will run nearly emission-free using a hydrogen-based engine. In theory, the engine could power a range of devices." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:25:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Real-life Peter Pan seeks Tinkerbell.

Real-life Peter Pan seeks Tinkerbell. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:34:48 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

From The Register: "The CIA's

From The Register: "The CIA's Office of Advanced Information Technology is developing a number of data-mining enhancements to make life easy for those who would eavesdrop on electronic communications, Reuters reports. First up is a computer program called Oasis, which automatically converts audio signals into conveniently readable, and searchable, text." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 08:53:13 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Rob Zombie's newly-completed horror film,

Rob Zombie's newly-completed horror film, The House of 1000 Corpses was dropped by Universal Pictures Chairman Stacey Snider. When the LA Times asked her why Universal released Hannibal but not Zombie's flick (which stars one of my favorite actresses, Karen Black), she said: "The difference is all about tone. 'Hannibal' is clearly theatrical and based on a popular book that's part of our mainstream culture. The conceit of Rob's movie, which has no recognizable stars, is that it's not a fantasy. It could be real and that's what makes it more upsetting. I can tell 'Hannibal' is a fantasy because when I watch Tony Hopkins or Ray Liotta, I know I'm going to see them in People magazine next week. But with Rob's movie, I was concerned that there was just an uber-celebration of depravity." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 08:31:28 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Monday, March 5, 2001

Nearly 200 eyemodule photos from

Nearly 200 eyemodule photos from my weekend in Disneyland. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:19:16 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

We're back. Someone hacked the

We're back. Someone hacked the server, and it took a while to get it fixed. Many thanks to Carl Steadman and Cory Doctorow for all their help!

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:44:05 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments