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Wednesday, November 30, 2005

How the next version of the GPL will be drafted

The Free Software Foundation -- publishers of the GPL, the Free/Open Source Software license that governs such technologies as the GIMP and the GNU/Linux operating system -- are proposing the third major revision to the GPL.

They've initiated a public process of comment on GPL3, soliciting feedback on the license draft and defining the way that comments and concerns will be addressed as the drafting proceeds. The new GPL is pretty controversial, but it could plug some major holes, like the one that allows people to use trusted computing to technically comply with the license by publishing their code, but to subvert its purpose by keeping your computer from running the code if you change it.

They're also having a public launch event at MIT on Jan 16/17, which sounds like a blast! Link (Thanks, John!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:57:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Shaun of the Dead re-enacted with knitted dollies

Back in October, I blogged about a completely genius Flickr set showing miniature knitted zombies that reenacted the original Dawn of the Dead.

Now the same knitters have created a knitted re-enactment of the convulsively funny British zombie spoof Shaun of the Dead. What is it about zombies and knitting? They just go awesomely well together. Link (Thanks, Widgett)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:28:14 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

No Xmas for Sony protest badge

Gisela sez, "I got tired of waiting for someone else to start the 'No Xmas for Sony' thing, so I opted to do it myself. There is an image that I have taken up using in my sig files around the Internet, linking it to Mark Russinovich's blog on the Sony rootkit debacle. So far, in less than 1 hour of it being live, it convinced someone not to buy a Vaio, so I am quite pleased with it." Link (Thanks, Gisela!)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:21:13 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

HOWTO defeat Apple's anti-DVD-screenshot DRM

Apple disables the OS X screenshot capability while a DVD is playing (this is a giant pain in the ass if you've got a little DVD playing in the corner of the screen while blogging and you have to quit the player when you want to take a screenshot of your browser). There's a work-around, though, for those times when you want to make a (generally speaking, perfectly lawful) screenshot of your DVD player:

1) Put your DVD in your computer and open DVD Player (Applications -> DVD Player) if it does not open automatically. Go to Video -> Maximum Size, or hit Command-3. Fast forward to the frame you want to capture, or select the scene to start at.

2) Open the Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal). Type this, or copy / paste it right in the Terminal:

screencapture -i ~/Desktop/dvd.jpg

Your mouse should turn into crosshairs. Now hit the space bar. Your mouse should now be a camera. Click the window the DVD is playing in. A file called "dvd.jpg" will appear on your desktop.

Link (via Digg)

Update: Kirk sez, "This is not entirely correct. screencapture's default image format is PNG; adding a .jpg extension does not change this. There's a flag in the man page for screencapture, but the format codes are not documented (and the man page even admits this...). (And I can't get it to work.)

You can change the default format with a simple command - see this article on Mac OS X Hints.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:16:35 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Photos from NYC anti-DRM demonstration, with Richard Stallman

Fred sez, "Free Culture @ NYU wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out to our second DRM demonstration at Tower Records. We handed out over 700 flyers and met tons of interested and grateful consumers. We even had a little chat with the manager of store who wasn't aware that Sony's XCP CDs were still on the shelves of his store. He was a good sport about it and told us he'd have them removed "immediately." Anyway, check out the full Flickr set here."

Free Software movement founder Richard Stallman, who had been at NYU to give a talk, tagged along and wore a sandwich board. Link, Link to announcement of the DRM demonstration (Thanks, Fred and Michael!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:13:22 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

EFF: DMCA exemption process is completely scr0d

EFF has published a great critique of the "safety valve" in America's digital copyright law, which is supposed to protect "consumer rights" by allowing for hearings every three years at the Copyright Office to reform the statute.

The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, 1998) makes it a crime to break a digital lock that controls access to copyrighted works, even if you do so to enable a lawful activity. For example, you might want to break the DRM on a DVD that you bought in Europe so that you can watch it on your the DVD drive in your American laptop. No copyright law protects DVDs from being watched outside the place where they were purchased, but the cartel the controls DVD-player licensing requires manufacturers to prevent you from doing this. The DMCA makes it illegal to break the protection and do something that is perfectly lawful.

Every three years, the Copyright Office holds hearings to determine whether they should allow some exceptions to this law. But the process is so tortured and the criteria are so absurd that this process practically never grants an exemption:

* No Tools. You can get an exemption for acts of circumvention, but the Copyright Office lacks the power to legalize circumvention tools. So, unless you are an engineer, a computer scientists, or can afford to hire them, you're not likely to be able to take advantage of any exemptions granted.

* Impenetrable Complexity, Impossible Burdens. In order to effectively participate in the rulemaking, you need to wade through >200 pages of bureaucratic legalese and have graduate level understanding of copyright law. You have to persuade the Copyright Office that your activity is noninfringing and gather evidence that demonstrates a "substantially adverse effect" on noninfringing uses beyond “mere inconveniences or individual cases."

* "Mere Inconvenience" = Ignoring Consumers. Where consumers are concerned, the Copyright Office discounts their concerns as "mere inconveniences." So region coding is no problem, according to the Copyright Office, because you could just buy a separate DVD player from every region. Copy-protected CDs are no problem because you can play them on CD players, even if they won't work in your computer. Where the copyright industries are concerned, in contrast, the Copyright Office presumes that DRM is the only thing that stands between them and financial ruin.

Link (Thanks, Seth!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:06:30 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Grateful Dead recordings to be reinstated to Internet Archive?

Grateful Dead fan-recordings may return to the Internet Archive, following disavowals by surviving band members of the threats that caused them to be taken down. Last week, I blogged about how the Internet Archive had taken down their repository of fan-recordings of Grateful Dead shows after a set-to with one of Jerry Garcia's widows, and Xeni followed up with a saddened statement from GD lyricist John Perry Barlow.

Now there's an open letter from Phil Lesh, former bassist for the band endorsing the Internet Archive's repository, saying "I was not part of this decision making process...I have enjoyed using Archive.org and found it invaluable during the writing of my book."

A spokesman for the Grateful Dead has attributed the takedown of the recordings to a "communications SNAFU" and promised that they would be reinstated shortly: "It is my understanding that by the end of the day, the audience tapes will be restored to archive.org" Link to article, Link to Lesh letter (Thanks, Breon and Dan!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:58:05 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Homebrew MarioWeen game blends Mario canon

Super Mario: Blue Twilight (MarioWeen for short) is a homebrew, Hallowe'en themed Super Mario game that combines elements of various Mario 2D and 3D games into a new, noncommercial game that includes such niceties as a "text-based directors' commentary" and "date-activated secrets." Link (via Digg)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:47:18 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Scratchless CD blanks keep data from touching your desk

Scratchless Discs are blank CDs with small raised bumps around their perimiters that keep the disc's data from coming into contact with your desk when you set it down, reducing the likelihood of scratches that render discs unreadable. The discs have some other clever features, like a bevelled edge to make it easier to lift them off of flat surfaces. The manufacturer claims compatibility with 99 percent of CD burners and says that the remaining one percent (PDF merely have some problems ejecting the discs. Link, Link to Manufacturer's Page (via Gizmodo)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:41:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Nose cells may repair spinal injuries

It may be that previously inoperablee nerve damage can be repaired with cells taken from the patient's nose. Nerve fibers in the nose are in constant growth, and because they are from the patient's own body, they don't get rejected by the patient's immune-system.

At least ten operations will be carried out to test in humans a technique pioneered in animals by the neuroscientist Geoffrey Raisman, who heads the spinal repair unit of University College, London. He discovered 20 years ago that cells from the lining of the nose constantly regenerate themselves. Professor Raisman's team believes that if those cells were implanted at the site of the damage they would build a bridge across the break, allowing the nerve fibres to knit back together.

Link (via /.)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:34:35 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pesco's Salon article on big ideas in technology

As part of their Big Idea series, Salon asked me to describe several tech developments that I find intriguing. I had a lot of fun writing the article, but of course the real credit goes to the amazing people who are actually doing the research! The Big Ideas I cover include:

1. Robugs: Swarms of tiny robotic insects.

2. Hacking DNA: Creating life one BioBrick at a time

3. Location, location, location: The GeoWeb

4. Maker mindset: DIY technology

5. Biology as art: Genetic creativity

6. Desktop manufacturing: 3D printing and inkjet electronics

Link (Thanks, Jeanne Carstensen!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 07:07:57 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tiki mug to benefit Katrina victim

A talented tiki designer, Purple Jade, lost her house and everything in it when it was hit by Hurricane Katrina. The kind folks at Tiki Farm are donating 100% of the profits from the sale of this cool mug (designed by Purple Jade herself) to Purple Jade. It costs $25 and will be on sale for only 48 hours beginning 6pm Pacific time.

The mug is inspired by the Comedy/Tragedy masks aesthetic. It is a 3-tone mug in purple, gold & green which are the official colors of the Mardi Gras. One side of the mug features the Remember frowning face, and the othe side features the Rebuild smiling face. The nose design on the mug is the Fleur de Lis, the official symbol of New Orleans. Also, notice the general contours of the mug… it is shaped like a Hurricane glass.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:16:37 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Amateur photographer's bad online experience with a NYC camera shop

Thomas Hawk, a dedicated amateur photographer, thought he was getting a good deal on a Canon EOS 5D camera when he ordered it online for $3000. But Hawk says the owner "went ballistic" when hawk refused to buy a bunch of accessories, and that the owner refused to sell him the camera as promised.

Alex Ravenel says: "[Hawk's] post is currently in the 'Popular' list on del.icio.us, has hundreds of comments, and upwards of 4300 Diggs. The scammer has been reported to the NYAG office and the BBB, negative feedback has been listed on every review site the author could find, and the the scammer's office has been flooded with phonecalls and emails."

"I will make sure you will never be able to place an order on the internet again." "I'm an attorney, I will sue you." "I will call the CEO of your company and play him the tape of this phone call." "I'm going to call your local police and have two officers come over and arrest you." "You'd better get this through your thick skull." "You have no idea who you are dealing with."

These are all direct threats that I received today from an individual who identified himself as Steve Phillips, the manager of PriceRitePhoto in Brooklyn, New York when I called to inquire about my order with them. My crime? Telling him that I planned to write an article about my unfortunate experience with his company regarding the camera order I had placed with him yesterday.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:08:15 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Unlimited 3G services are... eh, not so much.

Recently here on BoingBoing, I've posted threads in which Glenn Fleishman and others analyze the surprisingly restrictive legalese that accompanies some cellular data service agreements. Glenn has a great piece in CMP's Mobile Pipeline newsletter summing up the issues:

If you're tempted by what some cellular operators are calling "unlimited" 3G cellular data service, read the fine print.

Three U.S. cellular operators that currently offer fixed-price 3G service -- Verizon Wireless, Cingular and Sprint -- typically use terms like "unlimited" in their marketing material to describe the nature of your access. However, a close look at the fine print makes it clear that the cellular operators are putting significant limits on their so-called unlimited service.

These limits are stated in the terms of use documents that the operators apply to their 3G service, documents that strictly spell out what you can -- and can't -- use 3G service for. Reading those documents, it is obvious that the operators are imposing these limitations to make sure you don't use too much 3G service or use 3G to replace existing wired broadband and Wi-Fi hotspot services.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:18:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Study reveals security holes for evading wiretaps

In the NYT, John Markoff and John Schwartz report:

The technology used for decades by law enforcement agents to wiretap telephones has a security flaw that allows the person being wiretapped to stop the recorder remotely, according to research by computer security experts who studied the system. It is also possible to falsify the numbers dialed, they said.

Someone being wiretapped can easily employ these "devastating countermeasures" with off-the-shelf equipment, said the lead researcher, Matt Blaze, an associate professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania.

"This has implications not only for the accuracy of the intelligence that can be obtained from these taps, but also for the acceptability and weight of legal evidence derived from it," Mr. Blaze and his colleagues wrote in a paper that will be published today in Security & Privacy, a journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:16:21 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

New Orleans to get free WiFi (no word yet on housing)

"Hurricane-ravaged New Orleans will deploy the nation's first municipally owned wireless Internet system that will be free for all users, part of an effort to jump-start recovery by making living and doing business in the city as attractive as possible." Link (Thanks, Siege)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:14:24 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Michael Robertson launches Oboe "music locker" service

MP3Tunes, Michael Robertson's post-MP3.com venture, today launched a music locker service called Oboe. Michael tells Boing Boing:

You can store all of your own music, making your entire music collection playable from any browser in the world. Plus you can also sync that entire music collection and playlists to multiple computers with a single mouse click. Oboe is the jukebox in the sky that can store all library for safety, playback and move your music to any location for offline playback as well.

Here's some things which I think make Oboe interesting.

- Oboe is the only online music locker. There are photo lockers, email lockers, general purpose storage, even video lockers but no music lockers and music is ideal for lockers because it's used repeatedly from multiple locations.
- $39.95 per year for unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth. No per gb billing for either storage or bandwidth.
- Works on Mac/Win/Lin with MP3, AAC, WMA and Ogg files.
- First of its kind iTunes plug-in so iTunes users will be able to sync their entire music collection from within iTunes with one mouse click. This makes it ideal if the user just wants a simple backup of their music. When they realize they can now access their music from any website or zap it to other computers they will be amazed.
- Last time I launched a locker system called my.mp3 it triggered a hailstorm of lawsuits. Hopefully we can avoid them this time, but you just can never tell with the music industry.
- I'm personally a big advocate of open formats and open APIs which Oboe has. So today we're announcing syncing to PCs of all flavors, but tomorrow those same APIs will let you sync your music collection to any phone, PDA, car, tablet, etc.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:11:15 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Slowing traffic by setting up living rooms in the street

Ted Dewan was tired of cars zooming down the residential street in front of his house, so he designed a series of "DIY traffic-calming happenings," including living room furniture sets in the middle of the road.

These type of "DIY traffic-calming happenings" are described by their creator as "roadwitches" and have included an 11-feet high rabbit, a big bed (for a sleeping policeman), a Casualty-style fake crash scene for Halloween and the setting up of a living room in the middle of the road.

"There's an element of fun and mischief, but underneath is the ambition to encourage people to re-examine how roads are used," says Mr Dewan.

"With the living room, it was the most direct way of saying 'We live here. This is our living space.'"

And he says that residents really enjoyed the strangeness of being able to relax outside in their own street, rather than feel it was a place only belonging to the cars that race up and down it.

Link (thanks, Dale!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:21:37 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Brain scans to predict behavior

Neuroscientists at Washington University can use a brain scan to predict if a subject will succeed or fail at a simple videogame. Basically, the scan reveals whether the subject glimpsed a quick hint that might help them "win" the game. The scientists had a success rate of 70 percent. From a press release:

Eleven seconds before volunteers played the game — discriminating the direction of a field of moving dots — scientists showed them a hint: an arrow pointing to where the moving dots were likely to appear. The dots were visible only for one-fifth of a second and therefore were easy to miss if a subject was not paying attention to the right area.

After the hint and prior to the appearance of the moving dots, researchers scanned the volunteers with functional brain imaging, which reveals increases in blood flow to different brain areas indicative of increased activity in those regions. Based on brain activity patterns that reflected whether the subjects used the hint or not, scientists found they could frequently predict whether a volunteer's response would be right or wrong before the volunteers even had a chance to try to see the dots.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:55:15 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Gallery of sketches by Spumco bigshot Vincent Waller

Stephen Worth, director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, says: "You might be interested in the artwork we digitized today at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive... It's a collection of drawings by Spumco 'Bigshot,' Vincent Waller. Vincent directed the classic Ren & Stimpy episode, 'Rubber Nipple Salesmen,' and boy can he draw!"
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 08:52:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Anti-teenager sound weapon

Today's New York Times profiles an invention that emits a high-frequency sound designed to annoy people younger than 20. Apparently, people older than 30 can't hear it. Howard Stapleton of Barry, Wales invented the device, called the Mosquito, to drive away teenagers loitering around storefronts. From the NYT:

A trip to Spar here in Barry confirmed the strange truth of the phenomenon. The Mosquito is positioned just outside the door. Although this reporter could not hear anything, being too old, several young people attested to the fact that yes, there was a noise, and yes, it was extremely annoying.

"It's loud and squeaky and it just goes through you," said Jodie Evans, 15, who was shopping at the store even though she was supposed to be in school. "It gets inside you..."

Stapleton, a security consultant whose experience in installing store alarms and the like alerted him to the gravity of the loitering problem, studied other teenage-repellents as part of his research. Some shops, for example, use "zit lamps," which drive teenagers away by casting a blue light onto their spotty skin, accentuating any whiteheads and other blemishes.

Using his children as guinea pigs, he tried a number of different noise and frequency levels, testing a single-toned unit before settling on a pulsating tone which, he said, is more unbearable, and which can be broadcast at 75 decibels, within government auditory-safety limits. "I didn't want to make it hurt," Stapleton said. "It just has to nag at them."

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:39:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Bad business metaphors

In the new issue of Smithsonian, author Richard Conniff has a funny and informative article about why business metaphors involving animals and animal behavior (like "800-pound gorillas" and ostriches burying their heads in the sand) are, from a zoological perspective, wrong. From the article:

You don't want to be an 800-pound gorilla. No such animal has ever existed. The average big daddy silverback tops out at about half that weight. And gorillas are not predators, but vegans, with an almost unlimited appetite for fruit and bamboo shoots. I once worked on a TV documentary about lowland gorillas; on an average day the dramatic episodes consisted of the alpha male passing gas, picking his nose and yawning. Then he did the same things, the other way around. Over and over. This is probably not the image a hard-charging executive wants to present to the public.

Nor do you want to be lionized. Once, in Botswana, I saw a male lion rouse himself to court a female, with lots of growling and nipping. Finally, grudgingly, she assumed the sphinx position and he mounted her. One of my companions, a National Geographic photographer, began whirring and clicking (with his camera, I mean). The big moment of leonine love lasted all of ten seconds. "Definitely a motor-drive picture," the photographer muttered. Think about this the next time the preening CEOs at an awards banquet liken one another to lions.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:32:05 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Possible "love molecule" identified

Psychiatrists from Pavia University have associated early romantic love with a biochemical known as nerve growth factor (NGF). Apparently, levels of NGF in the bloodstream were significantly higher in subjects who were in the early stages of romance than individuals not in a relationship. Interestingly, "subjects in love who—after 12–24 months—maintained the same relationship but were no longer in the same mental state to which they had referred during the initial evaluation" did not have elevated NGF levels. Link to the paper summary in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, Link to Reuters article (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 07:50:37 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Buy tanks and guns to be melted down for African farm-implements

A charitable Christian retailer in the UK invite you to purchase AK-47s, tanks, and rocket-launchers that will then be donated to blacksmiths in Sierra Leone to be converted to farm-implements.

Peace is paying dividends in Sierra Leone. The same civil war that depleted the country of tools and work is now providing ample raw material for recovery: weapons. Enterprising blacksmiths and metal workers convert them into farm implements so that a Kalashnikov becomes hoes and axe heads and a rocket launcher transforms into pickaxes, sickles and even school bells.

The indisputable heavyweight champ is a tank (or a heavy duty 16 wheeler) that can provide a year's work for 5 blacksmiths, turning it into 3,000 items vital to equip a farming village of 100 families. Jobs, tools, agriculture. It isn't everyday that what you long for comes true.

Link (via WorldChanging)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:07:46 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Better visual working memory stems from ignoring stuff

People who have better "visual working memory" (correlated with performing well on many cognitive tests) aren't better at remembering things -- they're better at ignoring unimportant things. Researchers at the University of Oregon used new brain-measurement techniques to determine that high scorers for visual working memory tests aren't cramming more material into their brains, but rather are ignoring lots of items.

Most of what I do from day to day is ignore stuff -- quickly deleting emails that I won't be able to answer or don't need to read, skipping through RSS to get at the good stuff, separating small quanta of wheat from mountains of chaff. I can totally believe that the key to survival in the information age is not paying attention to unimportant stuff.

The findings turn upside down the popular concept that a person's memory capacity, which is strongly related to intelligence, is solely dependent upon the amount of information you can cram into your head at one time. These results have broad implications and may lead to developing more effective ways to optimize memory as well as improved diagnosis and treatment of cognitive deficits associated with attention deficit disorder and schizophrenia...

"People differed systematically, and dramatically, in their ability to keep irrelevant items out of awareness," Vogel said. "This doesn't mean people with low capacity are cognitively impaired. There may be advantages to having a lot of seemingly irrelevant information coming to mind. Being a bit scattered tends to be a trait of highly imaginative people."

Link (via Collision Detection)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:01:32 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Firefox 1.5 came out today

Firefox 1.5 came out earlier today. I've been using it for an hour now, and boy is it nice. If you're still using Microsoft's Explorer or Safari, now's a great time to switch -- better ad-blocking, better usability, better security, and better standards-compliance. And it's free of charge and free to hack! Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:56:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Warners censors mashup album, fight back!

Earlier this month, blogged about "American Edit," a noncommercial mashup album that combined Green Day's American Idiot with sources as varied as Dr Who.

Now a record company has shut down the American Edit site -- I was privately sent a copy of the takedown notice, which was signed by Warner Bros -- and internet activists are calling for a reprise of Grey Tuesday when websites all over the Internet mirrored DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album mashup, which was censored off the Internet by EMI.

As I wrote earlier this week, fighting mashups has nothing to do with reducing "piracy." No one who listens to American Edit will shrug her shoulders and say, "Well, heck, now that I've heard that, who needs to buy the Green Day album?" Censoring this art is tantamount to saying, "This music must go because it displeases us."

I presented this view to an EMI representative at the Creative Economies conference in London earlier this autumn and she responded by saying that DJ Danger Mouse had a happy ending, because they subsequently hired him to produce lawful mashups for them (while still maintaining legal censorship of the Grey Album).

Copyright maximalists like to contrast copyright with the old system of patronage, when you could only make art if you could convince the Pope or a duke or a king that your art was worthy. Patronage really distorted creative expression, and copyright did indeed promise to decentralize authority over what kind of art was permitted.

But the EMI rep's answer to the Grey Album is patronage. "You must not make this art unless we permit it." If you work for one of a few big record companies, you can use their legal apparatus to clear the material you want to use in a mashup. Otherwise, your art is illegal and will be censored.

I think patronage is wrong -- I agree with the maximalists here. Let's end it. Let's share these mashups, make samples without permission, and continue to produce art without permission from the latter-day aristocracy of creativity.

Only 10 days after its release, the mash-up album American Edit, which pays tribute to the acclaimed Green Day album American Idiot through some of the best mash-up productions of 2005, was shut down reportedly after received a cease & desist order from Green Day's label, Warner records, despite the fact that it was released as an internet only release with no commercial gain for the team of mash-up artists involved. In fact, the only possible profit to be made from the release was a plea from the creators of the album (known only by the shared alias Dean Gray) for fans who enjoyed the creation to donate to one of three possible charities that Green Day have been known to support. Furthermore, the mash-up versions were such fantastic productions that they were truly a departure from the standard Green Day performances and would not compete for consumptive dollars.

We hope to mobilize the online Mash-Up community by organizing a simple one-day organized event. Participants would be asked to post the American Edit album online for 24 hours only starting on Tuesday, December 13, at 12:00AM. Doing so is not intended to be a mass organization of music piracy but, rather, one single display of the consumptive power of the mash-up and home remix community in the hopes of encouraging the labels, publishers and artists who are curious about the mash-up community to consider giving the high quality productions of "illegitimate" music a legitimate consideration as a promotional avenue for all music.

Link (Thanks, Kael!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:54:11 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Free, ad-supported PCs for the developing world?

AsiaTotal is offering free computers called IT PCs to the developing world, with a catch: the machines' keyboards are lined with hotkeys that take their users to sponsors' retail websites. Unlike the One Laptop Per Child program, the machines are proprietary, running WindowsCE instead of GNU/Linux, and they plug into the wall instead of running on hand-crank power. It has no WiFi (it uses a modem line) and therefore no way of providing mesh networking either.

It's an interesting service, but the land-line, mains power, and proprietary OS all make this less valuable as a development tool than the One Laptop Per Child device. The OLPC people talk about their device as something that will not only bring computing to poor and rural people in the developing world, but as something that will provide a platform for users to learn to program and improve on their tools -- a "teach a man to fish" technology. This goes hand in hand with the WiFi and the power designs in OLPC, which allow ad-hoc groups to gather, collaborate, and work together. By sacrificing these three elements, the IT PC undermines these knock-on benefits.

The OLPC is intended as a platform for instruction and exploration of computers themselves, as an opportunity to put the means of production into the hands of users -- as well as a tool for delivering and sharing information. The IT PC is just a tool for doing the latter; and for delivering users to merchants.

Jamais at WorldChanging has some good commentary on this, too. Link (Thanks, Pablo!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:42:24 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

HOWTO convert Atari joystick into a vibrator

Homemade Sex Toys has posted a guide to converting a classic Atari 2600 joystick into, well, a joystick. From the HOWTO:

There's something about an Atari 2600 that makes you feel warm and tingly all over. If you want to bring those feelings to the ultimate climax, follow these instructions to make a vibrator out of your Atari controller.

We found a small, inexpensive and self-contained bullet vibrator that fit perfectly inside the case and whose switch happened to be very compatible with the button on the Atari 2600 controller. With a little wire, solder, and basic materials, you can build one of these units yourself and put even more joy in your joystick.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 04:58:22 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony knew about rootkits 28 days before the story broke

BusinessWeek reports that Sony knew on Oct 4 that its DRM system was built on rootkits and exposed its customers to danger of opportunistic infections from other malicious programs. The story wasn't made public until Oct 31, and Sony didn't recall its infected CDs until 11 -- five and half weeks later. Many new infections occurred during the gap, while Sony sat mum. Sony claims that it had intended all along to go public with the news that it had endangered its customers' PCs, identities, and data, but not until it managed to produce a patch.

Sony BMG officials insist that they acted as quickly as they could, and that they expected to be able to go public and offer a software patch at the same time. However, Russinovich posted his blog item first, forcing Sony BMG to scramble to contain the crisis. It recalled millions of CDs recorded by 52 artists, including Van Zant, Celine Dion, and Neil Diamond. Plus, it offered exchanges to customers. "We're very, very sorry for the disruption and inconvenience that this has caused to music consumers," says Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's Global Digital Business.

Link (via /.)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:29:59 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Mathematics of surprise

Scientists have modeled surprise in the form of a mathematical theory. The computational model is capable of predicting what stimuli an individual will pay attention to amidst the flood of sensory of data. In their experiments, the researchers from the University of Southern California and UC Irvine's Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics used their theory to identify the most "surprising" features in a video. Then, they observed the eye movements of humans watching the same video. Apparently, the subjects' responses matched the predictions of the computational model. According to the scientists, "efficient and rapid attentional allocation is key to predation, escape, and mating -- in short, to survival." Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 11:14:10 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Will NY sue Sony, too?

New York Attorney General is making threatening noises over Sony's rootkit DRM. There are still CDs infected with the malicious software in his jurisdiction and a spokesperson for his office says that he is "looking into" a lawsuit against Sony. The Texas AG has already announced a lawsuit under his state's anti-spyware law, seeking $100K per CD.

Spitzer's office dispatched investigators who, disguised as customers, were able to purchase affected CDs in New York music retail outlets -- and to do so more than a week after Sony BMG recalled the disks. The investigators bought CDs at stores including Wal-Mart (WMT), BestBuy (BBY), Sam Goody, Circuit City (CC), FYE, and Virgin Megastore, according to a Nov. 23 statement from Spitzer's office...

"It is unacceptable that more than three weeks after this serious vulnerability was revealed, these same CDs are still on shelves, during the busiest shopping days of the year," Spitzer said in a written statement. "I strongly urge all retailers to heed the warnings issued about these products, pull them from distribution immediately, and ship them back to Sony."

LInk (Thanks, Danilo!)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:11:54 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Radiohead remix redux: Me and This Army from Panzah Zandahz

Perhaps you missed this news over the holiday weekend? Don't. DJ Panzah Zandahz's "Me and This Army" is a collection of 16 Radiohead tracks remixed with snippets of artists such as MF Doom, Jurassic 5, De La Soul, and more.
Link to info, tracklisting, and torrent. (Thanks, Sevaan)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:41:45 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Miami police plan random ID checks of citizens

Snip from AP story:

Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant. Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats.

Link (Thanks, Mike F.)

Update: a revised version of the story here says no random ID checks are planned. (Thanks, Dave F. and Kevin Poulsen)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:38:11 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

What Hollywood can learn from anime

Daniel Roth has an interesting piece in the current issue of Fortune about the lessons Hollywood might learn from Mangawood. He tells Boing Boing, "The story analyzes how the niche worlds of anime and manga manage to pull off something increasingly rare in showbiz: they court their customers instead of alienating them, encouraging fansubbers (explained in detail in the piece), showing up at all fan shows, and pursuing whatever cutting edge technology their viewers are buying."

Snip from the piece:

Anime and manga firms have taken on forms very different from Hollywood studios or publishing houses. They more closely resemble the constantly updating startups of Silicon Valley. Their ethos is to get the product out to the right people -- whether it's on a DVD or over a mobile phone or downloadable -- and see what happens. If it succeeds, milk it; if not, try something different. And if the fans are into file sharing (which they are), keep the lawyers leashed and find a way to make piracy work for you.

(...)Female fans now make up about half the attendees at the conferences. Responding to the interest, CosmoGirl last summer began running its own manga strip on the back page of every issue. 'We started hearing girls say their favorite books and favorite things to read were manga,' says Ann Shoket, the magazine's executive editor. 'The girls have drawn their own manga for us. Not just one weird girl -- a lot of girls.')

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:32:34 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Barlow on death of Grateful Dead music sharing, fans protest

Recently, Cory blogged this news:

"Archive.org has been forced to take down over 1000 soundboard recordings of the Grateful Dead by Jerry's wife and a few (perhaps one) remaining member of the band."

John Perry Barlow, EFF co-founder and former Grateful Dead lyricist, tells Boing Boing:

You have no idea how sad I am about this. I fought it hammer and tong, but the drummers had inoperable bricks in their head about it.

What's worse is that they now want to remove all Dead music from the Web. They might as easily put a teaspoon of food coloring in a swimming pool and then tell the pool owner to get it back to them.

It's like finding out that your brother is a child molester. And then, worse, having everyone then assume that you're a child molester too. I've been called a hypocrite in three languages already.

How magnificently counter-productive of them. It's as if the goose who laid the golden egg had decided to commit suicide so that he could get more golden eggs.

This is just the beginning of the backlash, I promise you.

This is worse than the RIAA suing their customers.

Here's Barlow's blog. Today, news that Deadheads are boycotting the Dead, according to this Rolling Stone article:

All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members.

Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM -- including CDs and concert tickets -- until the decision is reversed. (The band itself broke up in the wake of leader Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, but in recent years guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured simply as "the Dead.")

Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:18:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Identify the mystery fish

At Cryptomundo, Loren Coleman asks if anyone can identify this mystery fish found on an old postcard? (Please don't email your responses to me. Instead, post them in the Cryptomundo comments.)

From the blog:

The men in the picture look like military servicemen. The surroundings look like this photograph was taken on a beach or island. The fish appears to be about six feet long (notice the yard or meter stick lying next to it). But where are the fins on this cryptid (or even a tail)? What is it?

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 07:32:38 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

CS Lewis: Don't let Disney make Narnia! Live action Aslan is "blasphemy"

CS Lewis wrote a letter insiting that Narnia should never be adapted with live actors, calling it "blasphemy" and saying that he'd consider a cartoon (but not from Disney), but never allow human actors to portray his Narniacs. Now, from the letter he's talking about human actors in animal costumes, but it's clear he's also skeptical about the whole live action thing in general.

Dear Sieveking

(Why do you 'Dr' me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things worked out, I wasn't free to hear a single instalment of our serial [The Magician's Nephew] except the first. What I did hear, I approved. I shd. be glad for the series to be given abroad. But I am absolutely opposed - adamant isn't in it! - to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare. At least, with photography. Cartoons (if only Disney did not combine so much vulgarity with his genius!) wld. be another matter. A human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy.

All the best,
yours
C. S. Lewis

[Letter to BBC producer Lance Sieveking (1896-1972), who has written at the top: 'The Magician's Nephew' and, after the address, the phone number "62963".]

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:26:43 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Monday, November 28, 2005

Man gets 5,000+ channels on 12 dishes

Al Jessup of Beckley, West Virginia, has 12 cheap satellite dishes stuck to his house, which pull in over 5,000 free-to-air channels from satellites all over the sky. He is retired, and delights in odd and foreign programming.

Because the programming is free, it changes regularly, he noted. Sometimes, a program he likes will disappear and something he dislikes will be put in its place, or vice versa. For example, he once had three ABC stations from Wyoming only to have it reduced to one.

"One day it may be here, the next day it may be gone, the next day it may be back," he said. "You never know."

Jessup said some programming includes things he likes, like racing or music, and some of it is, well, "weird."

Soon, he plans to add a 13th dish to his collection, he said. He may later get a "fancy" satellite dish that is basically like 16 dishes in one. This could eliminate some of the dishes outside his house -- or enable him to get even more channels.

"I could point them toward the east where there's a bunch of satellites running around," he said. "I don't know what I would get there."

Link (Thanks, mattyohe!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:59:40 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Fantasy tabletop game built out of legos

BrickQuest is a tabletop fantasy game that is built out of legos, both official and custom -- the "BrickMaster" snaps together elaborate dungeons, and then little legomen move around the board, fighting monsters, finding secret doors, etc. Link (Thanks, Mark!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:56:55 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Vacuum-bag dust houses sculpted by former house-cleaner

Maria Adelaida Lopez, a Colombian-born artist, covers doll-houses with vacuum-cleaner lint in tribute to her days working as a house-cleaner while taking her Master's in Philiadelphia, and in tribute to the "other Marias" who still clean house. She collects full vacuum bags from others to continue with her art. Link, Link to artist's site (via Geisha Asobi)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:47:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Custom M&Ms: just don't mention the war, your hometown, or nouns

M&Ms will print you custom candies with two (short) lines of text -- a cool idea, but too bad they let the lawyers at it. The terms prohibit your using the names of places and events on your custom, personal-use candies, and a clearly embarrassed marketing department has come up with several hilariously bad workarounds, like substituting "Thar she blows" for "Mr St Helens" and "Marry a Doctor" for "Johns Hopkins."

Custom printed M&M'S Candies are for personal use only. No business names, product names, celebrity names, specific sports teams, major events, landmarks, names of schools or institutions. You're smart...use your creativity and work around these specifics.

Link

Update: Kevin remixed the M&M maker to let you sub in your own messages, such as Impeach Bush, War Criminal.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:34:44 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony CD spyware installs and can run permanently, even if you click "Decline"

Many Sony CDs install a piece of spyware on listeners' PCs. The program, called MediaMax, from SunComm, has received less attention than the rootkit that made headlines on Hallowe'en, but it is even sneakier, in some ways, than the rootkit was.

Previously, Princeton researchers revealed that the MediaMax software installed itself even if you declined the EULA (the pop-up license agreement). However, the researchers concluded that if you declined the EULA, the software was only active until you restarted Windows.

Now Princeton's Alex Halderman reports that if you insert another MediaMax-infected CD (or the same CD again) and decline the EULA a second time, the software can activate itself permanently.

In some ways, this is unsurprising -- we know that non-negotiated "contracts" like DRM EULAs aren't really agreements. No one even expects them to be read, and no one allows you to negotiate the terms if you disagree with them. They contain abusive clauses that no one would ever willingly consent to. They're a comb-over that does little to disguise the glistening, liver-spotted bald pate of bad business-practices that underpin the entertainment industry.

So it's hard to get a lot of spit in your mouth over the revelation that they don't particularly care if you agree to the terms or not -- they'll impose them anyway. This is illegal, and EFF is suing them for it. Can't wait for them to get their comeuppance.

In the comments to our last MediaMax story, reader free980211 pointed out that the driver sometimes becomes permanently activated if the same protected CD is used more than once, even if the user never agrees to the EULA. This wasn't apparent from my earlier tests because they were conducted under tightly controlled conditions, with each trial beginning from a fresh Windows installation and involving only carefully scripted operations. I've performed further tests and can now confirm that MediaMax is permanently activated in several common situations in spite of explicitly withheld consent.

Link

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:25:45 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Political film comments on French riots using video-game animation

The French Democracy is a political film about France's riots, made in machinima (a filmmaking technique that uses video-games as animation engines) with the new video game The Movies -- a game whose objective is to make machinima films.

The French Democracy is a little rough around the edges, unashamedly political and one-sided, and could use some work on the pacing, but it's also a stirring piece of political filmmaking, created using a $50 piece of software intended to enable its users to become one-person animation auteurs.

Most machnima is silly, or porny, or violent -- but this is real political stuff, the kind of thing the First Amendment was invented for. It's a real milestone in machinima history. Link (Thanks, Hugh!)

Update: Tony sez, "I think it's important to know that movies made with 'The Movies' are subject to Activision's EULA, which asserts Activision's exclusive copyrights in all of its original content. Since user-created movies seem to require at least *some* of Activision's copyrights (3D character models and/or environments at minimum), the DCMA could probably be used to take down movies. This might be of note if Activision doesn't agree with the content of political machinima made with 'The Movies.'"

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:33:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

UK tech rights group needs 33 signups in the next 24h

Sam sez, "The UK's new Open Rights group set a target of 1000 people to support them. They have a launch event in 23 hours, and need 33 people to sign up to support the organisation. If you are interested in digital rights in the UK and you've not yet pledged to join, now is the time to show your support." www.pledgebank.com/rights">Link (Thanks, Sam) (Disclosure: I am a proud member of ORG's Advisory Board)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:15:46 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Johnny Ryan's Comic Book Holocaust 2

Rude, crude, and damn funny cartoonist Johnny Ryan (Angry Youth Comix) has self-published his second issue of Comic Book Holocaust. (Previous Johnny Ryan posts here and here.) The first Comic Book Holocaust was filled with brilliant parodies of underground comix by the likes of R. Crumb, Dan Clowes, and Adrian Tomine. The limited edition CBH #2 is available for $10 from Johnny's site.

CBH collects 24 comic book parody strips Johnny has drawn into one gorgeous package, with a display-worthy three-color wraparound letterpress cover produced by Buenaventura Press. Only 200 copies were produced, we have limited quantities available. Each copy is signed and numbered.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 01:13:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Programmers on Sony's spyware DRM asked for newsgroup help too

Programmers on Sony's less-known DRM, a piece of spyware called MediaMax from a company called Suncomm, posted messages to newsgroups asking for help with their technology. Earlier today I blogged two other exchanges from the authors of the Sony rootkit DRM, First4Internet.

Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsmedia.drm
From: "Ken Fagan" - Find messages by this author
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 13:22:16 -0700
Local: Tues, May 1 2001 12:22 pm
Subject: How to download a licensed WM DRM file
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show original | Report Abuse

Here is our big problem!

We have found the same feature in the SDK files but what we WANT to do is EXACTLY what you describe as well as what is described below from the link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/wm7/drm.asp#works

We want to DOWNLOAD (and not stream) the files to the end user WITH A license to Play or Delete or Transfer to an SDMI Compliant Portable Device BUT NOT TO TARNSFER TO A PEER PC...

We want to do all of this WITHOUT having to require the user to re-validate a license with an online licensing server again!

It seems like you have figured it out!

Can you help???

Link 1, Link 2 (Thanks, Jason!)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:12:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Witch doctor refuses DUI blood test

From News.com.au:

Nyararia Mukandiwa, 33, was stopped after driving erratically in the West Yorkshire town of Huddersfield last year, but refused to give officers a blood sample on the grounds that as a witch doctor it was likely to send him into a zombie-like state.

Link (via Fark)

posted by David Pescovitz at 12:56:23 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Family Circus meets Cthulhu

Joey Devilla found a trove of Family Circus cartoons mashed up with captions from HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:46:25 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Dolphins play at least 317 different games

Two researchers in Mississippi observed dolphins at play and cataloged 317 different game-like behaviors:

The captive dolphins "produced 317 distinct forms of play behavior during the five years that they were observed," they wrote.

One calf became adept at "blowing bubbles while swimming upside-down near the bottom of the pool and then chasing and biting each bubble before it reached the surface," the researchers continued. "She then began to release bubbles while swimming closer and closer to the surface, eventually being so close that she could not catch a single bubble."

"During all of this, the number of bubbles released was varied, the end result being that the dolphin learned to produce different numbers of bubbles from different depths, the apparent goal being to catch the last bubble right before it reached the surface of the water."

"She also modified her swimming style while releasing bubbles, one variation involving a fast spin-swim. This made it more difficult for her to catch all of the bubbles she released, but she persisted in this behavior until she was able to almost all of the bubbles she released. Curiously, the dolphin never released three or fewer bubbles, a number which she was able to catch and bite following the spin-swim release."

The dolphin may have been keeping her play interesting by blowing more bubbles than she could easily catch and bite, the researchers wrote.

Link (via Collision Detection)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:06:36 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

RIAA targets mashups

MashupTown, a site that hosts and distributes mashups (two or more songs ingeniously mixed together to make a third) has taken down all of its files after complaints from the RIAA to its hosting partner.

Mashups are a really dumb target for the RIAA. There's just no universe in which someone who downloads a mashup of Prince's 1999 and the Benny Goodman orchestra performing "In the Mood" thinks, Well, now I've heard that, I have no need to buy the CDs those songs originated on.

In other words, if the RIAA genuinely only goes after its customers because it wants to keep from losing sales, attacking mashups won't and can't accomplish that. This action amounts to the RIAA saying, "This art is illegal because it displeases us." Link (Thanks, Karl!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:54:39 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Homestar Runner papercraft

The Homestar Runner folks have put up four little papercraft playsets to download, print and assemble. Link (Thanks, Dan!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:43:55 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Aerial signposts point to Scientology's sacred text storage facility

There are symbols in northern New Mexico that mark a Church of Scientology vault built in a mountainside. The facility contains founder L. Ron Hubbard's writings etched into stainless steel tablets that are stored in titanium capsules. The Church of Scientology apparently asked Albuquerque TV station KRQE not to air its report last week about the markings in the desert. From the Washington Post:

The church offered a tour of the underground facility if KRQE would kill the piece, the station said in its newscast. Scientology also called KRQE's owner, Emmis Communications, and "sought the help of a powerful New Mexican lawmaker" to lobby against airing the piece, the station reported on its Web site...

What do the markings mean? For starters, the interlocking circles and diamonds match the logo of the Church of Spiritual Technology, which had the vault constructed in a mesa in the late 1980s. The $2.5 million construction job was done by Denman and Associates of Santa Fe, but company Vice President Sally Butler said of the circles, "If there is anything like that out there, it had nothing to do with us."

Perhaps the signs are just a proud expression of the Scientology brand. But there are other, more intriguing theories.

Former Scientologists familiar with Hubbard's teachings on reincarnation say the symbol marks a "return point" so loyal staff members know where they can find the founder's works when they travel here in the future from other places in the universe.

Link to Washington Post article, Link to .wmv of a KRQE follow-up story

UPDATE: BB reader Tim Pozar points us to the Google Satellite Maps image of the symbols. Link

UPDATE: And from Matt Pierce, a link to an even more striking image from Terraserver. Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 11:10:44 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Clifford Pickover's Gods blog

Psychedelic mathematician and author Clifford Pickover, who maintains the excellent Reality Carnival blog, has launched a new mind-tweaking blog called Godlorica. The site relays "breaking news on God and other higher beings in this world and the world to come." Recent posts are about the Rapture Index, Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study, and a game that models heaven and hell. From the blog:

United States Patent Application
20050212207

Edward Gilhooly patents a "game board apparatus" having a game board horizontally divided into two sectors representing heaven and hell. The start position is at the bottom of the hell and the finish winning position is situated at the top of the heaven. The players use playing pieces to traverse spaces in the heaven and hell sectors, the amount of advancement being dictated by indicia provided on decks of question cards and answer cards.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:15:06 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Rushkoff's Thought Virus #4

BB pal Douglas Rushkoff has posted the fourth excerpt from his forthcoming book "Get Back In The Box: Innovation From The Inside Out." From the excerpt:

In a renaissance society driven by the need to forge connections, play is the ultimate system for social currency. It's a way to try on new roles without committing to them for life. It's a way to test strategies of engagement without being defined by them forever. It’s a way to rise above the seemingly high stakes of almost any situation and see it as the game it probably is. It’s a way to make one’s enterprise a form of social currency from the beginning, and to guarantee a collaborative, playful, and altogether more productive path toward continual innovation.

And this play begins at work....

In their crude efforts to make work more fun, however, most companies are missing the point. Employers are busy installing foosball tables, hiring chefs, and building gyms for their increasingly disgruntled employees, but these are just ways of trying to make a bad situation more tolerable. (or to coax employees into spending long hours away from home) A foosball table is not the sign of a fun place to work; it's a glaring symbol that work is not fun and employees need a break. Why would they rather be playing foosball than doing whatever it is they've been hired to do?

Many have argued that it’s immature and idealistic to believe that everyone,or even a majority of people,should be allowed to enjoy their jobs. In the words of one dark New York TimesOpEd piece, "We're still just means of production....Work is often more bearable when we don’t, in addition to money, expect it always to deliver happiness." The same might be said for life itself, particularly when our duty to perform an economic function extends from what we can produce to what we can consume. Both work and life should be much more than "bearable."

Luckily, renaissances celebrate immaturity and idealism.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:03:58 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Champagne cork parachute

The Champichute is a reusable parachute for champagne bottle corks. Just £2.99. From Hawkin's Bazaar:

Half the fun of drinking bubbly is seeing what damage you can do with the exploding cork. Now you can add to the fun by clipping the 9cm Champichute onto the neck of the bottle and carefully pushing the 'pin' at the end of the parachute into the cork. The parachute is taken along with the cork which drifts down slowly and harmlessly.

Link (via MobHappy)

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:53:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

HOWTO make a wall-sized poster out of an ebook

Here's a HOWTO with instructions for taking the text of your favorite ebook and laying it out as a wall-sized, multicolored polyhedron poster, so it can be read or admired. This is a great idea for the bathroom -- never run out of reading in the bog again! Link (via Make Blog)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:44:14 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ten (sensible) startup rules

Ev Williams, co-founder of Blogger and Odeo, has posted ten (really eleven) eminently sensible rules for startups. I think these are great -- they're the kind of thing I wish I'd known back when I was starting a company.

#3: Be Casual
We're moving into what I call the era of the "Casual Web" (and casual content creation). This is much bigger than the hobbyist web or the professional web. Why? Because people have lives. And now, people with lives also have broadband. If you want to hit the really big home runs, create services that fit in with—and, indeed, help—people's everyday lives without requiring lots of commitment or identity change. Flickr enables personal publishing among millions of folks who would never consider themselves personal publishers—they're just sharing pictures with friends and family, a casual activity. Casual games are huge. Skype enables casual conversations.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:29:44 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Bosnian town unveils Bruce Lee statue of peace

A Bosnian city has erected a statue of Bruce Lee to commemorate his 65th birthday, as a symbol of universal peace -- Bruce was apparently equally popular on all sides of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

"We will always be Muslims, Serbs or Croats," said Veselin Gatalo of the youth group Urban Movement Mostar.

"But one thing we all have in common is Bruce Lee."

Link (Thanks, Dave!)

Update Erik sez, "Someone stole Bruce Lee's nunchucks! Apparently it happened a few hours after the statue was unveiled in Mostar. According to this article, several dozen citizens gathered in the park where the statue was unveiled to 'express their disgust.' 'Once again we've shown what Balkan savageness is!,' says one." (Thanks, Erik, Marion and Sinisa!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:52:07 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony rootkit author asked for free code to lock up music

First4Internet ripped off code from at least two free/open source software projects for the malicious rootkit program they supplied to Sony. Yesterday, I posted some old mailing list and newsgroup messages from First4Internet programmers where they were seeking advice on breaking peoples' computers.

Now, Baz and Alexander have found this old newsgroup post from a First4Internet programmer offering cash if someone will do his homework for him. Later, code from the free/open source software project LAME (which does some of what this programmer was trying to do) showed up in a First4Internet product.

I know it sounds like I am just after some free code due to my laziness but I really dont have the time and I am serious about the cash - I really need this functionality!

Link (Thanks, Alexander and Baz!)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:44:14 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Jane Siberry opens best artist's digital music store EVAR

Canadian chanteuse Jane Siberry has created an online music store that's a model of how artists can capitalize on the goodwill of their fans to line their pocketbooks and disseminate their music. Her store sells non-DRMed MP3s and encourages fans to spread the word.

EFF's Fred von Lohmann has a sterling review of Siberry's store:

Her new download store, recently unveiled at her site, is a model of what the music downloading world could be. All of her songs are available as plain MP3s, which means they will play on your iPod and are not loaded with DRM restrictions (much less evil rootkits).

And you pay whatever you like for them. Yes, you set whatever price you like. Options include:

* free ("gift from Jane");
* a standard price (CAN$0.99);
* self-determined price - pay now; or
* self-determined price - pay later (to facilitate try-before-you-buy).

When you purchase the song, moreover, you can select up to 5 people to whom you can email a link to the song.

I just saw her perform in concert here in SF, and she summed it up this way: "I want to treat people the way I'd like to be treated. I don't like being treated like a child, so I won't be doing that to other people."

Siberry doesn't have rights in all jurisdictions -- in some parts of the world, she can't sell this stuff. But rather than tying your location to your credit-card billing address (I live in London, am presently in Uganda, pay taxes in Canada and have several cards billed in San Francisco), Jane lets her fans simply state where they reside. This is really stupendous -- the gold standard for a digital artist's business. Link

Update: Pete sez, "Kudos to Jane for following the lead of former [Canadian 90s indie greats] The Inbreds drummer Dave Ullrich and his zunior.com label, which has been doing a booming business for several years now. In addition to providing plain-Jane (pun intended) mp3s they allow you to download a full sized CD ISO file for your burning pleasure. Beat that! Plus if someone wants a CD, they can pay a bit extra to cover shipping, and get both."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:11:56 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sunday, November 27, 2005

How telcos and others could wreck the net

Doc Searls wrote a wonderful editorial about keeping the net free that I've only just gotten round to reading -- "Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes" is 12 days old, but it's well worth a read. Doc coherently and comprehensively lays out the urgent risk to the Internet arising from incumbents' bad views of how the net worls and what it's for, and a program for addressing it.

Advocating and saving the Net is not a partisan issue. Lawmakers and regulators aren't screwing up the Net because they're "Friends of Bush" or "Friends of Hollywood" or liberals or conservatives. They're doing it because one way of framing the Net--as a transport system for content--is winning over another way of framing the Net--as a place where markets and business and culture and governance can all thrive. Otherwise helpful documents, including Ernest Partridge's "After the Internet" fail because they blame "Bush-friendly conservative corporations" and appeal only to one political constituency, in this case, progressives. Freedom, independence, the sovereignty of the individual, private rights and open frontiers are a few among many values shared by progressives and conservatives. All are better supported, in obvious ways, by the Net as a place rather than as a transport system.

Link (via EFF Mini Links)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:19:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Singapore's executioner gets fired

Singapore's chief exectioner has been fired, days before he was scheduled to murder an Australian youth who was arrested for drug-smuggling at Singapore's Changi airport.

Earlier this month, I blogged a story about Singapore's chief executioner, whose identity was outed in the Aussie press after more than 50 years and more than 850 executions.

"They called me a few days ago and said I don't have to hang Nguyen and that I don't have to work anymore," Mr Singh told Reuters news agency.

"I think [the prison authorities] must be mad after seeing my pictures in the newspapers."

Link

Update: According to an article from an Aussie news-source, the hangman still has his job: "'There is no change to his status,' added the spokesman, but he would not confirm whether Singh would be the executioner in Nguyen's case. An Australian sheetmetal worker on Monday reportedly offered his services to Singapore to replace Singh as hangman." (Thanks, IZ Reloaded!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:13:00 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Drop hundreds of arrows on old mine fields to clear them

Raytheon has developed a technology for safely detonating all the landmines in disused landmine fields -- they drop a shell containing many hundreds of steel arrows into the field, which sets off all the old mines:

Each rod has a flared rear end, like the feathers of an arrow, and hundreds can be packed into a single cylindrical shell. This shell can be lobbed into a mined area and just before impact a charge behind the arrows will fire them downwards. The metal flights will keep the arrows on a straight course so that they pepper the area at high velocity and at regular spaces.

Tests show that a shell containing hundreds of arrows can wipe out every mine in an area several metres square, even when the mines are buried under sand or under nearly a metre of water. GPS can also be used to guide the shells into overlapping patches in order to safely clear a wide area.

Link (via Worldchanging)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:51:36 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Obedience To Authority at fast food joints

I missed this news report when it first came out last month but it's absolutely insane. Apparently, a wannabe cop allegedly called dozens of fast food restaurants over the last decade pretending to be a police officer. He would tell the store manager that a particular employee was stealing and instruct the manager to strip search the accused and do other just plain wrong acts. Amazingly, the managers obeyed "Officer Scott's" instructions. Their "obedience to authority" would certainly be of interest to controversial social psychologist Stanley Milgram who conducted similar experiments in the 1960s. From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

On May 29, 2002, a girl celebrating her 18th birthday -- in her first hour of her first day on the job at the McDonald's in Roosevelt, Iowa -- was forced to strip, jog naked and assume a series of embarrassing poses, all at the direction of a caller on the phone, according to court and news accounts.

On Jan. 26, 2003, according a police report in Davenport, Iowa, an assistant manager at an Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar conducted a degrading 90-minute search of a waitress at the behest of a caller who said he was a regional manager -- even though the man had called collect, and despite the fact the assistant manager had read a company memo warning about hoax calls just a month earlier. He later told police he'd forgotten about the memo.

On June 3, 2003, according to a city police spokesman in Juneau, Alaska, a caller to a Taco Bell there said he was working with the company to investigate drug abuse at the store, and had a manager pick out a 14-year-old customer -- and then strip her and force her to perform lewd acts...

Across the United States, at least 13 people who executed strip-searches ordered by the caller were charged with crimes, and seven were convicted.

But most of the duped managers were treated as victims — just like the people they searched and humiliated. They all "fell under the spell of a voice on the telephone," wrote a judge in Zanesville, Ohio, in an order acquitting Scott Winsor, 35, who'd been charged with unlawfully restraining and imposing himself on two women who worked for him at a McDonald's.

Chicago lawyer Craig Annunziata, who has defended 30 franchises sued after hoaxes, said every manager he interviewed genuinely believed they were helping police.

"They weren't trying to get their own jollies," he said.

Link (Thanks, Eric Paulos!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:14:17 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Marc Siegel's False Alarm: The Truth About The Epidemic of Fear

The new issue of Scientific American Mind has an excerpt from a new book called "False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear" by Dr. Marc Siegel. The excerpt available online surveys some early research on chemicals that might "prevent excess fear." This looks like an interesting book! From SciAm Mind:

...My mother-in-law has a severe case of multiple sclerosis and has been conned to a wheelchair for almost 20 years. Six years ago my brother-in-law developed a mild case of MS, and my wife, a neurologist, then confided in me her fear, practically a conviction, that she would be next. Every time she brings up her perception that MS is her destiny, I try to counter it with the bald statistic that only 4 percent of close relatives are at risk for the disease. "There is a 96 percent chance that you won't get it," I say. But for my wife, as for many others, the perception rests with the 4 percent. Empathy for her mother and a natural tendency to personalize her experience create the fear and the conviction, despite her neurologist's knowledge of the disease.

Recurrent or unremitting fear has the same deleterious effects on the human body that running persistently at 80 to 100 miles per hour has on a car. Many illnesses are more likely to occur as a result, including heart disease, stroke and depression. Thus, we should focus our efforts on avoiding the ordinary killers such as heart attacks that develop as a result of our unremitting worries rather than extraordinary occurrences or exotic diseases. Consider: in 2001 terrorists killed 2,978 people in the U.S., including five from anthrax attacks. That same year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease killed 700,142; cancer, 553,768; accidents, 101,537; and suicide, 30,622. Murders (not including 9/11) accounted for only 17,330 deaths.

So what can be done about irrational fear? There is no one standard treatment in part because symptoms vary from one individual to the next. A person may feel destined to a given bad outcome and have a greater sense of foreboding because of a certain family tendency. Some people's bodies more easily release the ght-or-ight hormones than others. Time-consuming therapy and the resulting reeducation, to avoid triggering our fears, have been the chief solution to date. Now research also suggests therapy could be supplemented by a simple pill that blocks the reception or production of fear signals or even by a fear "vaccine." The fear research does not seek a traditional vaccine--in which the immune system develops protective capabilities in response to the presence of an injected (inert) disease agent. Rather the immune system might be chemically primed with a shot so that it is as healthy as possible--making the body less susceptible to hyperreacting to threats.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:27:13 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Enamel machine guard sign on eBay

eBay oddity scout Michael-Anne Rauback spotted this curious enamel sign up for auction. Starting bid is GBP 9.50. The only information provided:

ORIGINAL USED ENAMEL SIGN ,MACHINE MUST NOT BE WORKED UNLESS GUARDS ARE IN POSITION.

COLOUR: WHITE BACKGROUND ,BLACK LETTERS .

SIZE 1 FT 4 INCH'S X 1 FT 2INCH'S.

WEIGHT ,APPROX 4 LBS.

Link

UPDATE: OK, I *know* that the "guards" that the sign refers to are protective coverings, but if you don't spend much time in machine shops, it's still funny to read aloud.

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:57:57 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

New York Times on Lynn Hershman Leeson

Today's New York Times has a profile of pioneering media artist Lynn Hersman Leeson. Hershman Leeson has an exhibit opening this month at New York City's Bitforms gallery. There's also a retrospective of her work on right now at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle and a photo exhibition at San Francisco's Gallery Paule Anglim. Hershman Leeson's art has taken the form of laserdiscs, feature films, virtual environments, artificial intelligences, and, before immersing herself in digital technology, durational performance art. From the NYT (image titled "Seduction," 1986):

While completing her master's in art at San Francisco State in the early 1970's, Ms. Hershman Leeson was frustrated by her lack of recognition. So she began writing reviews of her own work and publishing them, under pseudonyms in local newspapers. Another early project involved taking a room at the Dante Hotel in San Francisco and spreading out personal items - books, cosmetics, clothes - to create portraits of imaginary inhabitants.

Then she conjured up Roberta Breitmore, her most sustained character study. From 1974 to 1978, while Ms. Hershman Leeson was a wife and mother trying to make it in San Francisco as an artist, Roberta was a divorced woman new to town, trying to make it on her own. The artist brought her to life by wearing a blond wig, applying heavy makeup and adopting a set of rather depressive tendencies.

Other performance artists in the 1970's were also creating characters to untangle the knots of identity and gender, but Roberta was no one-act wonder. She had her own slumped posture, slow gait, colorful outfit, loopy handwriting, odd jobs and romantic encounters. In time, Roberta acquired a driver's license, two credit cards and her own apartment.

"Everyone thought I was crazy," the artist said. "But I rented Roberta an apartment across the street from my house. I just didn't feel her life would be complete without her own space."

Still, being Roberta was not easy. She went to Weight Watchers and gained weight. She met a man through a personal ad who tried to recruit her into a prostitution ring. Ms. Hershman Leeson also found it hard to sit through psychoanalysis as someone else when "my marriage was ending and I had so much going on that I could have really used the therapy myself."

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:52:28 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pre-history of the Sony rootkit

An old email thread shows the early efforts of the authors of Sony's infamous rootkit. In 2003, Ceri Coburn (to whom first4internet.com is registered) appeared as a novice programmer in a technical mailing list, asking questions about how to cripple CD drives.

Subject: CDAUDIO Filter Driver Dynamic Load
ThreadID: 42117
From: ntfsd member (xxxxxx@first4internet.co.uk)
next msg
Date:Fri, 28 Mar 2003 10:06:30 -0000 (quoted)

Hi,

Is there a way that I can get the CDAUDIO filter driver example in the DDK to load and unload dynamically? I have used the addfilter app in the DDK to install it but the driver does not load until the next reboot.

Thanks
Ceri

Link (Thanks, Quality!)

Update: More "how do I break computers?" newsgroup postings from First4Internet programmers are available through Google Groups. (Thanks, Jason!) (More here)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:04:26 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Cube made from rubber bands

This Flickr user has meticulously documented the creation of a 7"-on-a-side cube made form rubber bands -- never seen a rubber-band cube before -- though balls are common enough. Link (Thanks, Chris!)

Update: Here's video of the cube's maker bouncing it around his basement. (Thanks, Chris!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:09:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

TSA makes flier remove body jewelry

The Transport Security Agency in Pittsburgh required a passenger to remove her body jewelry before allowing her to board a flight. I don't think that banning nipple rings makes airplanes safer, do you? What the hell are these dorks doing, wasting our time and tax-dollars to enforce petty, abusive, made-up policies like this? The 2006 elections can't come too soon for me.

At least one passenger who traveled through Pittsburgh learned this the hard way. She had to remove her piercings in a restroom after airport security told her she couldn't get on a plane with her hardware intact.

The pierced passenger filed a complaint with the Transportation Security Administration, which logs all claims against its personnel at airports across the country.

Link (via Fark)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:03:16 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Giant freestanding letters with bookshelves inside

This site sells giant, standing sans-serif letters with bookshelves hidden behind them -- you can spell out freestanding words and store your books around back. These remind me of the giant words painted on the walls of the Kotters' apartment in Welcome Back, Kotter. Link (via Cribcandy)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:59:18 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Microsoft caught subverting UN process, censoring FOSS references

Microsoft censored a document that was presented to the United Nations's World Summit on the Information Society, purging references to Free and Open Source Software. They did so by pressuring the drafting committee to remove references to the software and the movement, which threatens their business-model. Subsequently, Thomas Lutz, the Austrian Microsoft mouthpiece, has gone on record with several outright lies justifying his company's cooking of the international political process:

"Increasingly, revenue is generated not by selling content and digital works, as they can be freely distributed at almost no cost, but by offering services on top of them. The success of the free software model is one example," stated the original document, according to the FSFE.

But the final version of the document contains no reference to free software. "Increasingly, revenue is generated by offering services on top of contents," states the final version of the document.

Thomas Lutz, the manager of public affairs at Microsoft Austria, asked for this section to be deleted as "it contains only a one-sided perspective on the ICT industry."

"The rationale for this is, that the aim of free software is not to enable a healthy business on software but rather to make it even impossible to make any income on software as a commercial product," he added.

Link (Thanks, Living Dead Girl!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:54:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Greedy Grateful Dead widow burns down online show-library

A reader writes,

Archive.org has been forced to take down over 1000 soundboard recordings of the Grateful Dead by Jerry's wife and a few (perhaps one) remaining member of the band.

"For years, Archive.org has served as the repository for the Grateful Deads copious electronic recordings. Now, the site will be limited to streaming "audience-recorded" shows.

"The reaction from the very large global Deadhead community has been very interesting, sociologically. People are confused, angry, depressed, grateful for the time they had, and more."

This is pretty disappointing. Deadheads made the Grateful Dead some pretty substantial fortunes over the years by acting as unpaid, volunteer evangelists for their commercial offerings. This is a genuine betrayal of the audience from a couple of greedy people who would line their pockets at the expense of the memory of the generous, mutually beneficial relationship between the band and its supporters. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:49:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Body hacks

Men's Health has a great selection of 14 little body-hacks that use little-known relationships between different parts of your body to cause it to bend to your will.

11. Stanch blood with a single finger!
Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed -- if you don't mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums -- just behind that small dent below your nose -- and press against it, hard. "Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose," says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. "Pressing here helps stop them."

12. Make your heart stand still!
Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical- services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It'll get your heart rate back to normal.

Link (via Digg)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:42:18 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Crips co-founder may be spared by Schwarzenegger

Stanley "Tookie" Williams is co-founder of the Crips gang. He was sentenced to death on a murder rap in 1981, and faces lethal injection on December 13. While in prison, Williams has become an anti-gang activist and has received a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for his work.

After receiving more than 30,000 letters pleading his case, Governator Schwarzenegger is considering commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Supporters, including rapper Snoop Dogg and Ras Baraka, the deputy mayor of Newark, New Jersey, have urged Schwarzenegger to spare Williams' life so he can continue his work with young people as an anti-gang activist...

In prison, however, Williams gained international acclaim for co-writing children's books about the dangers of gang life. An award-winning television movie starring Jamie Foxx, "Redemption," was based on his life.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:39:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Time-lapse video of Panama Canal locks -- hypnotic

This hypnotic video is made with time-lapse frames from seven days' worth of the webcam at the Panama Canal's Miraflores canal. Watching the stately dance of the giant ships, day and night, passing through the locks, is like watching ogres waltz -- their grace is perfectly offset by their hulking, container-stacked brutal unloveliness. Link (Thanks, Bob!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:32:48 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Open access blog

Open Access News has comprehensive coverage of the open access science publishing movement. Lots more detail on the Royal Society's shameful condemnation of open access. Link (Thanks, Peter!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:43:19 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Friday, November 25, 2005

Washington Post asks readers to remix it

Chris sez, "The Washington Post has created a blog for highlighting mash-ups of Post content. Current remixes include: a news keyword cloud viewer, a world map interface to Post stories, and a dynamic news quiz. Although a bit skimpy on implementation details (or implementations, for that matter), the idea's surprisingly hip." Link (Thanks, Chris!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:43:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Coffee table with integrated book-shelves like hanging files

This Turkish coffee table has integrated bookshelves beneath sliding surfaces; the books slot into vertical slots, like hanging files. Ingenious! Link (via Cribcandy)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:21:42 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Royal Society: rent-seeking is more important than science -- UPDATED

Update: Man, did I ever screw up. I confused the Royal Society with the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA). The RSA is and continues to be a sterling organization that does good works -- the Royal Society is the villain here. I've edited my post below. My sincere apologies to the RSA for blackening its good name -- I should have known that it was wiser than that. Thanks, Ian Brown, for pointing this out.

The Royal Society has issued a call for restricting access to scientific publishing. They claim that free journals, such as the ground-breaking, field-leading Public Library of Science will undermine the ability of nonprofit societies to publish their own journals.

The Public Library of Science and other open access journals have proven a new model for science publishing, one that is both commercially sustainable and that delivers more science to more researchers who do better science as a result.

Arguing the need to sustain the Royal Society's now-outmoded publishing model despite its inferiority at advancing science relative to PLOS and others (like BioMed Central) is an embarrassment to the Royal Society.

The five-hundred-year Dark Ages were a period when alchemists labored in secret. Every alchemist jealously guarded his research outcomes, so whenever an alchemist discovered the hard way that drinking mercury was poison, that knowledge died with him (literally). The Enlightenment accomplished real alchemy: converting research into knowledge through the application of full disclosure. Once alchemists began to share their research outcomes, they became true scientists, and the hundred years that followed made more progress than the half-millennium that preceded it.

Open Access science publishing is the latest installment in the saga of the Enlightenment: the evolution of a sustainable publishing model that makes research outcomes available to every single researcher in the world, gratis, without prejudice or burden.

The Royal Society should respond to this by adopting the Open Access publishing model, not by fearmongering.

The Royal Society fears it could lead to the demise of journals published by not-for-profit societies, which put out about a third of all journals. "Funders should remember that the primary aims should be to improve the exchange of knowledge between researchers and wider society," The Royal Society said...

A spokesman for the Royal Society said: "We think it conceivable that the journals in some disciplines might suffer. Why would you pay to subscribe to a journal if the papers appear free of charge?"

Link (via /.) (Disclosure: I am a proud member of the RSA))

Update: Dr Paul Camp of Spelman college sez,

In physics, at least, all recent communication has been by way of the arXiv server. It is way faster than the traditional publication cycle, which we value, but has had no noticeable effect on paper journals, including the important ones published by not-for-profit societies such as Physical Review (American Physical Society). I think there are a few reasons for this. For one, everything eventually ends up in a peer-reviewed journal because that is what counts for tenure and promotion. For another, peer review produces a distinct improvement in the quality of published arguments and we value that. And for a third, we personally value the process (painful though it is) of pushing our ideas past our peers. And, in fact, prior release on the arXiv server helps in that regard.

Open access is alive and well in the world of physics. It has done no damage to any published journals. And even if it did, to a scientist this is irrelevant. What we want is valid, peer-checked information. What does it matter if that occurred by means of an editor farming an article out for review, or by direct feedback from the community of people interested in a topic by email in response to your preprint on arXiv? It amounts to the same thing.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:17:29 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pong clock plays one round of Pong every 60 secs

The Pong Clock from Buro Vormkrijgers plays games of Pong that last for exactly one minute each, with alternating sides winning. The clock in the middle keeps time/score. Link (Buro Vormkrijgers site, 10MB Quicktime video) (via Digg)

Update: Hijinx Comics sez, "It actually scores the time, with the left side only scoring once per hour and the right scoring every minute."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:59:57 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Free 1200-page physics textbook

Motionmountain has a free, 1,200-page physics textbook that loads of great examples. I haven't had a chance to do more than skim, but this looks like a great basic text, and it's fully searchable, which makes it perfect to dip into when you have a particular subject you want to get up to speed on. Link (via Digg)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:53:40 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

If hackers ruled the Earth photoshopping contest

Today on the Worth 1000 photoshopping contest: hackerish versions of everyday objects. I love the Vegas sign (pictured here) and especially the ASCII Bits cereal. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:40:53 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Bat Bombs on BBC Radio

BB pal Paul Saffo is quoted in this excellent BBC Radio 4 piece about a batty idea during World War II to attach explosives to one million bats and have them dive-bomb Japanese cities. (The story of Project X-Ray is also documented in Jack Couffer's book "Bat Bomb: World War II's Other Secret Weapon.") From the BBC site:

The programme treks deep in to the wonders of the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, where every evening, hundreds of thousands of bats emerge from deep in the caves to forage for insects over the surrounding countryside.

This awesome sight was the inspiration for Dr Adam's project. Adams happened to be a friend of President Franklin Roosevelt's wife Eleanor. Adams wrote to the President suggesting that bringing the war with Japan to an early halt was exactly what bats had been created to do.

Intrigued, Roosevelt sent him a letter which became the passport to getting the military to support the amazing plan. "This man is not a nut" wrote the President, and so Project X-Ray started rolling.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:10:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Moscow wax museum's gruesome figure of a dead glue sniffer

If you sniff glue, you'll die in this undignified manner, according to the Moscow Wax Museum. Now, that's entertainment.
Link (via Neatorama)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:29:21 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Man accused of stealing vast number of Lego kits from Target stores

A 40-year-old Reno man has been arrested for stealing lots and lots of Lego bricks from Target. Authorities say his M.O. is to paste a cheaper bar code over more expensive kits and then resell them. It appears as if he's been doing this for a number of years.

Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area store November 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon set. In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars sets, valued at $99 each, as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their locations carefully plotted on a mapping software.

Records of the Lego collector's Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, said Dolyniuk.

Link (thanks, Shawn!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:28:18 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Xeni on NPR Day to Day: handheld video gadgets

For today's edition of the NPR program "Day to Day," host Madeleine Brand and I demo a bunch of gadgets for watching video on the road. The video iPod, the Sony PSP, the Palm TX, and the PocketDISH from DISH Networks.

Oh, and one more which has nothing to do with video, but which we couldn't resist: an MP3 player built in the shape of a Pez dispenser (Link).

Archived audio (in Windows and Real) is here.

In related news, Glenn Fleishman has a Seattle Times story on handheld video gizmos here: Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:13:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The Power Strip of Love (via China and Iraq)

Photographer and geek Jake Appelbaum is carrying one of these things around with him on the road: a power strip with lots of different electrical plugs for different parts of the world. And, the port of love (upper left). We don't know much else about it, other than the fact that it's made in China, and comes by way of Iraq. Link

Update: Jake tells Boing Boing,

These things are super popular in Iraq. My friend in London brought about 7 of them back from Iraq. They're made in China and they've basically every plug outlet in the world on a single strip. It's made by a company called Zhong Sheng, AFAIK. It does variable voltage depending on input and tells what it's getting. So at the moment it's showing 220v and if you plugged it into a US outlet, it'd show 110v and apparently it goes to 300v which I assume is what's used somewhere... Where I have no idea. China perhaps? I think it's like $1 or $2 in Iraq. I'm not totally sure about the price in Iraq though, that's just a fuzzy memory. Online I think you can get them here.

And that prompts the question, do you know about alibaba.com? Perhaps you'd like to buy a ship, or a "Sell Vibration Sexy." You may not be able to find that damn power outlet on there but you can get something like it I'm sure.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:12:50 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Transformers costumes that turn into cars and jets

Mark of Marksprojects has built a series of working Transformers costumes. They can transform from robots to cars/jets while you wear them. No build-logs but he sells the transformable versions for nearly four grand (!). Someone needs to deliver a set of open source plans for these! Link (Thanks, Marsolais!)

Update: To clarify -- There's an audience for these things who will pay $3,750 for this. They're cash-rich and time-poor. There's another audience who will never pay $3,750 for one of these, but might happily spend a year putting one together in their basements: time-rich and cash-poor. The time-rich people would likely never avail themselves of a set of plans for this, so a set of open plans would not displace sales of the costumes, but it would encourage a generation of cardboard hackers who'll go on to deliver new and better costumes in years to come -- it's the best of both worlds.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:07:15 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Israeli defense gizmo translates dog barks

Defensetech has an item today about odd defense gadgets developed in Israel -- including a Dog Translator (which sells for upwards of $10K). Snip from Forbes product review:

Worn on a collar or mounted on a wall, the Dog Bio Security System translates barking into alarms for police or military. Bio-Sense Technologies spent two years capturing the sound waves of woofs and arfs, encoding them to be read by a digital signal processor. All dogs emit the same type of bark when they sense trouble. The device can distinguish this bark from a dog's "Hello." A consumer version costs $100. A high-end version costs tens of thousands of dollars but is still 25% the cost of video surveillance.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:38:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Woman charged for refusing to show ID on a public bus

Bill Scannell says: "On the 9th of December 2005, a Denver woman is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court. Her crime: refusing to show ID on a public bus. At stake is nothing less than the right of Americans to travel freely in their own country.

"The woman who is fighting the good fight is named Deborah Davis. She's a 50 year-old mother of four who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Her kids are all grown-up: her middle son is a soldier fighting in Iraq.

"One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal cops, and she was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors after refusing to show ID on demand.

"She hasn't commuted by public bus since that day."
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:31:02 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Web Zen: Dining Out Zen

the chubby vegan
in-and-out burger secret menu
mcshoarma (screenshot, above)
mcdonald's worker
shameless restaurants
bitter waitress
waiter rant
our specials
waiters nauseated by food

web zen home, web zen store, (Thanks, Frank).

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:23:42 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Animated "walk-don't-walk" man on Taiwan's traffic lights

The little "walk-don't-walk" man on Taiwan's traffic lights appears in a grid of green LEDS. As the countdown timer ticks down to zero, the little man "walks faster and faster and breaks into a trot in the last seconds."
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:21:50 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

QTVR of Large Hadron Collider at CERN

Here is a QTVR photo panorama -- with sound! -- of the Large Hadron Collider ATLAS experiment, currently in construction at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland. Link. (Thanks, Will; via Wikipedia).

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:11:30 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Report: omfg, alien rootkits could use SETI@home to pwn Earth!

Boing Boing reader James says,

A scientist claims that aliens might be able to introduce a virus into Earth computers through the blocks of data distributed by SETI@home. The author of the claim works at the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, but then how much do particle physicists know about virus-writing?

Link

Reader comment: Calvin Rodo of National Research Council Canada (which is, you know, part of the Gouvernement du Canada), says:

I program for a living, and I just have to say that I seriously can’t see aliens infecting our computers. It simply doesn’t seem feasible, first they would have to somehow figure out a way to get the Seti@home program to execute the code, so they’d have to find an exploit in it somehow. They would also need to know how to write computer code that would be compatible with the OS that is running the Seti@home program, so they would need to be familiar with either Linux, Windows, or Apple computers. So unless by some freak of nature they happened to develop systems that use the same computer commands as ours here on earth this isn’t going to happen.

Whew!

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:02:56 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Moment of headline zen

Canada town to get 1,200 rim jobs. OK, actually -- 1,200 jobs from RIM, makers of the popular Blackberry mobile device, but... Link. (Thanks, Andrew)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:00:38 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

In Memoriam: Pat Morita ('Karate Kid's' Mr. Miyagi)

Actor Pat Morita, whose portrayal of Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid" inspired countless kids to take up martial arts, has passed away. Link (Thanks, IgnacioP)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:58:21 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Solar utility pole: streetlight, WiFi, CCTV and charger

The Starsight is a solar-charged utility pole that powers a WiFi access point, a streetlamp, a CCTV snitchcam, and a light-pole. Link (via Worldchanging)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:55:37 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sea of Red: Vampire pirate comic collection that kicks ass

Sea of Red is a ferocious and wonderful new comic book that's just published its first bound collection, called "No Grave But the Sea." It's a swashbuckling pirate vampire story that opens with our hero, a Spanish sailor who was bitten by a vampire and then lashed to a ship and sunk to the ocean's bottom, where, being an immortal, he lived for the next 500 years, snapping at passing blind fish and drinking their blood.

He's discovered by an American film crew piloting a mini-sub and brought on board -- where he is made the subject of a documentary about his hunt for the vampires who destroyed his life.

The book is by turns funny and savage. Kieron Dwyer's layouts and Salgood Sam's artwork are brilliant and grisly, Rick Remender's writing is punchy and tight. It's great to get in on the ground floor of a new narrative series, especially one as promising and swashbuckling as this. Link (Thanks, Matt!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:57:25 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Obligatory article about turkeys attacking people

Chicago Tribune has a lighthearted article looking back at wild turkeys attacking people.

Tom turkeys in suburban woods can be 4 feet tall, weigh 25 pounds and run 20 miles per hour for short bursts. Mr. Cardoza advises people to show the birds who's boss. One tip is to carry an umbrella to poke at the turkey. Ms. Huckery tells people to "get your broom and swat the turkey away." Other tips for discouraging turkeys include spraying them with a garden hose, yelling and banging pots and pans, and having a dog in the backyard.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:48:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Haunted Mansion wallpaper for The Sims

Haunted Mansion wallpaper for Wil Wright's game The Sims, in which you control little AI people, building them houses and decking them out with good kit. Link (via Wonderland)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:32:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

C-3PO replica from Make for sale on eBay

The 3-CPO droid seen on the cover of Make vol 2 is up for auction on eBay. Starting bid is $1700.
Link (via Random Good Stuff)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:26:19 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of "Curveball"

"Curveball" is an Iraqi informant who claimed to know all about Saddam's mobile bioweapon laboratories, which Colin Powell used to try to convince the world to attack Iraq. It turns out that not only is "Curvegball" a mentally ill liar who made the whole thing up just so he cold get a German visa, but the Bush administration knew Curveball was a liar all along and presented his testimony as the gospel truth anyway. The Los Angeles Times has a 7000 word article about it.

An investigation by The Times based on interviews since May with about 30 current and former intelligence officials in the U.S., Germany, England, Iraq and the United Nations, as well as other experts, shows that U.S. bungling in the Curveball case was worse than official reports have disclosed.

The White House, for example, ignored evidence gathered by United Nations weapons inspectors shortly before the war that disproved Curveball's account. Bush and his aides issued increasingly dire warnings about Iraq's biological weapons before the war even though intelligence from Curveball had not changed in two years.

At the Central Intelligence Agency, officials embraced Curveball's account even though they could not confirm it or interview him until a year after the invasion. They ignored multiple warnings about his reliability before the war, punished in-house critics who provided proof that he had lied and refused to admit error until May 2004, 14 months after the invasion.

After the CIA vouched for Curveball's accounts, Bush declared in his 2003 State of the Union speech that Iraq had "mobile biological weapons labs" designed to produce "germ warfare agents." Bush cited the mobile germ factories in at least four prewar speeches and statements, and other world leaders repeated the charge.

Powell also highlighted Curveball's "eyewitness" account when he warned the United Nations Security Council on the eve of war that Iraq's mobile labs could brew enough weapons-grade microbes "in a single month to kill thousands upon thousands of people."

The senior BND officer who supervised Curveball's case said he was aghast when he watched Powell misstate Curveball's claims as a justification for war.

"We were shocked," the official said. "Mein Gott! We had always told them it was not proven…. It was not hard intelligence."

In a telephone interview, Powell said that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, and his top deputies personally assured him before his U.N. speech that U.S. intelligence on the mobile labs was "solid." Since then, Powell said, the case "has totally blown up in our faces."

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:16:18 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Rootkit arms-dealer takes website down

First4Internet, the makers of the rootkit DRM that has turned Sony into an infamous villain facing tens of millions in liability, have taken down their website and replaced it with a simple landing page with some contact info. Link

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:13:26 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Rolling Stone profiles Bush's minister of propaganda, John Rendon

James Bamford, author of the book "A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies," wrote an amazing, frightening article for Rolling Stone about John Rendon, a guy who has taken untold millions of US taxpayer dollars to produce propaganda designed to sell the idea of wars in the Middle East. He's the one who fed a gusher of lies to the New York Times' Judith Miller, who uncritically used the propaganda for her stories.

[T]he Pentagon had secretly awarded [Rendon] a $16 million contract to target Iraq and other adversaries with propaganda. One of the most powerful people in Washington, Rendon is a leader in the strategic field known as "perception management," manipulating information -- and, by extension, the news media -- to achieve the desired result. His firm, the Rendon Group, has made millions off government contracts since 1991, when it was hired by the CIA to help "create the conditions for the removal of Hussein from power." Working under this extraordinary transfer of secret authority, Rendon assembled a group of anti-Saddam militants, personally gave them their name -- the Iraqi National Congress -- and served as their media guru and "senior adviser" as they set out to engineer an uprising against Saddam.

...

What the Kuwaitis wanted was help in selling a war of liberation to the American government -- and the American public. Rendon proposed a massive "perception management" campaign designed to convince the world of the need to join forces to rescue Kuwait. The Kuwaiti government in exile agreed to pay Rendon $100,000 a month for his assistance.

To coordinate the operation, Rendon opened an office in London. Once the Gulf War began, he remained extremely busy trying to prevent the American press from reporting on the dark side of the Kuwaiti government, an autocratic oil-tocracy ruled by a family of wealthy sheiks. When newspapers began reporting that many Kuwaitis were actually living it up in nightclubs in Cairo as Americans were dying in the Kuwaiti sand, the Rendon Group quickly counterattacked. Almost instantly, a wave of articles began appearing telling the story of grateful Kuwaitis mailing 20,000 personally signed valentines to American troops on the front lines, all arranged by Rendon.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:49:03 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

USB-powered keyboard vac is duck-shaped!

This USB-powered keyboard vacuum (no that's a great idea) is made even smarter because it is shaped like a duck. A duck! Link (via Shiny Shiny)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:05:59 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Free apocalyptic web-comic

Jim Munroe, the brilliant author of such sf novels as Angry Young Spaceman and Everyone in Silico (along with text adventures like Punk Points and numerous other impressive projects) has just released a wonderfully apocalyptic comic book as a free webcomic, with print editions available on demand from Lulu.

So what would you do if the Rapture, the biblical end of the world as foretold in Revelations, came to pass? Raven and Mummy go on a roadtrip!

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:02:17 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony rootkit recall makes The Onion

The news of Sony's recall of its rootkit-infected CDs goes even more mainstream and is lampooned in this week's issue of The Onion, their What Do You Think? section. Link (Thanks, Ian!)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:56:13 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Hand-built fortune-telling robot in Bangalore

Paul photographed this brilliant hand-built "fortune-telling robot" in a market in Bangalore and got the back-story from its owner:

every sunday there is a guy with fortune telling robot on the place opposite of the main entrance of russell market in Bangalore. Apparently (the guy does not really speak english) the robot is about 5 years old, was built by someone from 'down south' who also supplies the tapes with the fortunes on them. against a small contribution the robot will tell fortunes in one of four 4 different languages (hindi, tamil, kannada & telgu) through headphones that are attached to its body.

Link (Thanks, Paul!)

Update: Mark sez, "A follow-up to that fortune-telling robot in Bangalore... I found this one in Austria. He looks like a giant version of the same robot. He spoke in German and he waved his arms and turned back and forth. I don't know what he said but he sounded an awful lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:53:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Video: Richard Stallman jamming with Gilberto Gil

Markus sez, "I was participating the WSIS in Tunis. One evening there was a event, organized by the Brasilian ministry of culture. Gilberto Gil gave a prize to Richard Stallman for his work on freedoms. Later on that evening, both did a jam-session together. Richard sung and Gilberto played the guitar. I did some short videos and they are now online." 1, 2, 3, 4 (Thanks, Markus!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:15:46 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

A Thanksgiving Prayer, by William S. Burroughs

For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986

Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts

thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison —

thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger —

thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot —

thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —

thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —

thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces —

thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers —

thanks for laboratory AIDS —

thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs —

thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business —

thanks for a nation of finks — yes, thanks for all the memories... all right, let's see your arms... you always were a headache and you always were a bore —

thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

Link to .mov (movie is down at the moment)

posted by David Pescovitz at 05:01:41 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pop music videos made from recut Sherlock Holmes TV show

A woman named Mary Van Deusen creates videos for old pop songs by recutting footage from the old Sherlock Holmes Granada TV series starring Jeremy Brett. This is practically the definition of "magnificent obsession" and some of the cuts are nothing short of genius. Link (Thanks, Rusty!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:50:44 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

How I Got into Computers stories cont'd, including one from Cory

Gnat Torkington is continuing to post his series of personal reminisces from geeks about how they got into technology. He's just uploaded a whole bunch of them, written by people like Tim O'Reilly, the R0ml, Guido van Rossom, James Duncan Davidson, and even one by me.

I used to go the Ontario Institute For Studies in Education where my father was getting his teacher's certificate. I was five or six. He'd sit me down at a terminal connected to the school's PDP and set me to playing with Eliza or tinkering in BASIC. I loved typing dirty words into Eliza and having her echo them back.

At home I didn't have a computer, but I did have a CARDIAC cardboard computer simulator from Bell Labs that I *loved* to pieces (literally). I used to make elaborate paper control-panels for mainframes in my bedroom out of construction paper and cover my little desk with them.

By the end of that year, we had an acoustic coupler and a teletype terminal and a roll of brown paper like the paper towels in the bathrooms at my elementary school. I filled many miles of brown paper writing BASIC programs and playing Eliza and Hangman (and looking at the source for each, which was mystifying to my little brain).

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:43:50 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Spoon with integrated loose-tea egg

Popgadget reviews this lovely silicone hollow "tea-spoon" -- fill it with loose tea-leaves, then stir it around your hot water until your tea reaches the desired strength. A steal at $3.61! Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:13:23 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

HOWTO make a prizewinning paper airplane

A group of UK students have created a king-hell paper airplane for a competition. The Times of London covers the story, along with the team's best tips for making your own prize-winning paper airplanes.

# The nose must be heavy to ensure stable flight. A paper clip on the nose should allow the plane to fly further

# If the plane tends to nose-dive because of the heavy nose, bend the back edge of the wings upwards slightly

# The centre of gravity should be towards the front to prevent the plane from stalling

# The wings should be angled upwards to give the plane a slight “Y” shape when viewed from the front

# Winglets added to the edge of the wings will reduce drag

# Check for symmetry by looking down the nose of the plane and refold it if necessary. It will not fly smoothly if it is not entirely symmetrical

# Be patient and make small adjustments rather than radical changes to the basic design

LInk (Thanks, Phil!)

Update: Philip sez, "Though the judges lauded the Avenger's design, it actually bombed at the competition. The winner was Spruce Moose

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:01:19 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony rootkit hurts artists

Businessweek has great coverage of the Sony rootkit fiasco from the perspective of artists, who are losing sales because Sony decided to infect their fans:

"We're really upset about this," says Patrick Jordan, director of marketing for Red Light Management, which represents Trey Anastasio, former front man to jam band Phish. Anastasio's latest solo album, Shine, was released Nov. 1, just as news of Sony's rootkit was worming its way onto Internet blogs and listservs. "I'm expecting a decrease in sales," Jordan adds...

We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy," Foreman wrote in a Sept. 14 post first reported by Billboard magazine. "It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat, and tears over the past two years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding new technology..."

"This is serious business," says Red Light Management's Jordan. "As managers, we've always supported trusting our fans. Copy protection has nothing to do with trust."

Link (via Wired News)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:38:07 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

HOWTO turn an iPod into a mitten-warmer

Here are instructions for knitting a mitten with an iPod slip-pocket. iPods actually can run pretty warm, so the iPod here can actually work as a hand-warmer. (The iPod fits completely in the pocket; it's shown halfway out here for illustrative purposes) Link (via Gizmodo)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:34:22 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Lamp that looks like a glowing tube-amp

At $200, this lamp that resembles an old bakelite tube-amp is a little pricey, but it sure is pretty:

With its Bakelite black box, toggle switch, mirror top, dimmer knob (a factory replacement for a Fender Telecaster guitar) and bulbs that evoke the vacuum tubes of high-end amplifiers, this lamp was designed as a tribute to high-end audio amplifiers

Link (via Cribcandy)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:31:11 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sofa converts to a bunk-bed

These sofas convert to bunk-beds by means of really ingenious design -- you don't even have to take off the sheets and blankets during conversion. Link (via Crib Candy)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:28:46 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Kids' song about genitals from Fonzie's Safe Kids video

Dylan sez, "This is a video clip of the 'Proper Words Song' from Henry Winkler's Strong Kids, Safe Kids, a video released in the mid 80's that taught kids how to be 'safe'." The song features earnest singing about the correct words for your pee-pee, nay-nay and bottie.

Penis is what boys have down in front
Penis is the word though it seems blunt
All boys have a penis
So now matter what you've heard
Remember that penis is the proper word

Vulva is what girls have down below...

Link (Thanks, Dylan!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:25:44 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony rootkit tee: "Why should people care about rootkits?"

These limited-edition tees from F-Secure bear the now infamous quote from Sony BMG president Thomas Hesse: "Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" Nice one. Link (via Copyfight)

Previous installments of the Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:21:14 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Experiment: How hard is it to shoot off a lock?

A group of marksmen decided to see how hard it was to shoot a lock off -- pistols and rifles didn't do the trick, but a shotgun tore it to pieces. Link (via Charlie Stross)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:19:59 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Firefighter tests turkey fryer

The Underwriters Laboratories will not certify that any turkey fryers are safe for public use. On their Website, they provide lots of information about why turkey fryers are dangerous, including those listed below. Far more fun though is the video of a firefighter in full gear testing out fryers. As my friend Paul Saffo says, "you gotta love the guy in turnouts dropping the turkey in with a pole..."

Here's why using a deep-fryer can be dangerous:

* Many units easily tip over, spilling the hot oil within the cooking pot.
* If the cooking pot is overfilled with oil, the oil may spill out of the unit when the turkey is placed into the cooking pot. Oil may hit the burner/flames causing a fire to engulf the entire unit.
* Partially frozen turkeys placed into the fryer can cause a spillover effect. This too, may result in an extensive fire.
* With no thermostat controls, the units also have the potential to overheat the oil to the point of combustion.

Link (via Farber's Interesting People)

posted by David Pescovitz at 06:36:20 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Radiohead, remixed: Me and This Army from Panzah Zandahz

DJ Panzah Zandahz's "Me and This Army" is a collection of 16 Radiohead tracks remixed with snippets of artists such as MF Doom, Jurassic 5, De La Soul, and more. It's as if the white label gods planted sensors inside my brain; they heard my innermost mashup prayers, and answered them here. It's delicious. Now all it needs is some remixed Stanley Donwood cover art...
Link to info, tracklisting, and torrent. (Thanks, Sevaan)

Reader comment: Panzah tells Boing Boing, "I encourage bootlegging of that album, even though I've got it on CD & a 7" single of the ghostface & doom track for sale as well from my label's site: Link."

Reader comment: Nate MC says,

TorrentSpy has the same torrent file up, as mp3nova seems to be down. But that torrent is being tracked on these trackers: Link, Another Link, Whoah still more link.

Reader comment: Andrew Stern says,

This album IS for sale. If people are going to download it then they should consider Paypal-ing (or however they want to do it) some money to the distributor. I received this album as a promo to play on my show about a month ago and loved it so much that I went out found it and paid for it. This is one of those albums worth paying for. BTW, I played most cuts from the album on my radio show "Post" which follows the media-issues show "No One's Listening" that Mark just blogged about.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 05:27:23 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

MPAA/BitTorrent post-mortem: a torrent or a trickle?

Snip from a piece I filed today for Wired News:

Hollywood's copyright police and the maker of the most potent movie piracy software of all time took the stage here Tuesday and solemnly declared détente.

It's all but certain the deal between the Motion Picture Association of America and BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen won't dent the file-swapping epidemic, let alone stop it.

No. As pronouncements droned on of an epoch-making moment in the history of digital media, the most important outcome could well turn out to be something much less significant, though equally priceless: The picture of MPAA chief Dan Glickman in a BitTorrent T-shirt.

"We don't anticipate any major effects from this announcement," declared Mark Ishikawa of file-sharing traffic-analysis firm BayTSP, one of the deal's numerous skeptics. "Pirates are transport-agnostic. They move wherever they can get and transmit content with the least interference.

"Unless you eradicate the current BitTorrent protocol and make it stop working, you can't stop people from using it for both legal and illegal purposes," he added.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 05:21:22 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Connect iPod video to your TV

O'Reilly's Mac Devcenter has a nice tutorial on how to hook your iPod video to your TV.

You don't have to fork out for an outrageously priced "proprietary" Apple video cable. You don't even have to buy an expensive dock. You can connect your Video iPod directly to a TV, and you can do it with the ordinary camcorder A/V-to-RCA cable you probably already have lying around your house.

You just have to be tricky.

Link (via Make blog)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:10:08 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

New RU Sirius Show interviews Tim Cavanaugh from Reason magazint

The RU Sirius Show has Tim Cavanaugh from Reason magazine on MondoGlobo this week, and NeoFiles interviews Daniel H. Wilson, the author of “How To Survive a Robot Uprising.” Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:44:23 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Typographers ponder ligatures for WTF, LOL

On Typophile discussion boards, typographers are considering the evolution -- in a non-digital, alternate universe -- of ligature styles for the common internet expressions "wtf" and "lol".

Link. Caution: Lame trolls inserted some grossout imagery into the forum. Oh, tubgirl, must you always weigh in on the typographic merits of ligatures?
(Thanks, Rebecca Blood)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:04:38 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Entertainment industry: Treat our customers like terrorists!

The EU is rushing to enact a "data retention" directive that will make ISPs and phone carriers wiretap every bit and call, storing it all practically forever. Supposedly this is only to be used by coppers who are chasing the mafia and/or terrorists, but a newly formed entertainment industry group wants it applied to file-sharers as well.

The newly-formed Creative and Media Business Alliance (CMBA), made up of companies such as Sony BMG, Disney, EMI, IFPI, MPA and Universal Music International, this week expressed an interest in communications traffic data so that they can more easily prosecute "intellectual property infringements".

Thanks to a combination of two fast-tracked EU directives, they may just get their wish: and allow a UK plan to limit civil liberties to turn into a privacy-invading free-for-all by the entertainment lobby.

The Open Rights Group site has instructions for emailing your MP and your MEP -- the majority of Internet users in the world are file-sharers. Under this proposal, their privacy would be stripped away under the same rubric used to hunt terrorists. Link (Thanks, Kevin!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:49:35 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Drawings banned from Flickr's 700hoboes tag

Why are Ape Lad's and other illustrators' drawing being banned from the 700hoboes tag on Flickr? A post on Jawbone radio suggests it is because some artists are submitting more than one drawing each, but that can't be the case. No one would police that. Maybe it is because drawings aren't allowed on Flickr? Link (Previous Boing Boing coverage here)

Reader comment: Aaron says: "I noticed your story on the banning of illustrations for the 700 Hobos project. I’ve had my entire photostream rendered NIPSA [Not in Public Site Areas] simply because I’ve been uploading some drawings amongst my photos. I emailed flickr and they told me that flickr is for PHOTOS ONLY. There’s more about it here.

Reader comment: A. Koford says: "The problem has been solved, however, by relegating the hoboes to their own area (or in flickr terminology: "group") located here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/700hoboes/

"The removal from public search areas stemmed from the fact that the hoboes were cartoons and not photographs. According to the Flickr Terms of Usage agreement, only photos are displayed in public search areas (or 'tag pools' as some have labeled them). Everything else is NIPSA (Not in Public Site Areas).

"Flickr does not make it a practice to actually remove anything from member accounts very often, allowing us to utilize the group loophole. I also try to keep a few mediocre photographs on my account to keep their requirement satisfied."

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:17:48 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Human faces are getting smaller

Jeff says: "Human faces have shrunk on average by 30% over the last 10,000 years, according to the Sunday Times."

Many men [10,000 years ago] would have had the shape of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s head while women might have looked more like Camilla [the Duchess of Cornwall]. By contrast, Tony Blair and George Bush are good examples of the more delicate modern form.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:10:25 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Jell-o turkey facsimile

Boing Boing pal Danielle Spencer bought a turkey-shaped (okay, actually, cornish-game-hen-iform) gelatin mold, then whipped up this uncannily realistic faux Thanksgiving spread. Link to project details, including where to buy molds shaped like human body parts. She used Jell-o and condensed milk for her gelatinous bird, but those of vegan persuasion could produce similar results with something like agar-agar (non-animal-based jelling agent) and soymilk (to create the cloudy, opaque look that fools the eye).

Why? Because you can!

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:07:15 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Flat-pack refugee housing

A design company has announced a system for "flat-pack housing" -- long-term dwellings that sleep four and take up a quarter of a shipping container.

The SHRIMP (Sustainable Housing for Refugees via Mass Production) is an attempt to bring housing and other relief to large displaced or homeless populations, especially those who have suffered in a natural disaster. Providing shelter to a family of four, it folds up into 1/4 of a shipping container for efficient deployment.

Link (via Worldchanging)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:47:53 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

"American Inventor" audition account by a Boing Boing reader

Boing Boing reader and aspiring inventor Mary Wheeler, whose enthusiasm know no bounds, gleefully exclaims:

I did a lengthy blog entry/entries about my lengthy audition experience for American Inventor in San Francisco. I describe (and illustrate!!!) my pitches for Gourmet Lipstick, the Wondue Crock, and the Super Duper Aftermarket Retrofitted Vent Window.

My blog in general is about my so-called great ideas like Scrunchi Undies, Jewelry Quality Birth Control Cases and Air Freshening Skunks. I'd really like to hear from others who auditioned! (especially the people in the bright orange jumpsuits with the poodle -- I kind of have a crush on them).

Link to "My 'American Inventor' Audition: Being a Painfully Detailed Account of My Attempt to Realize My Destiny By Waiting Outside and Inside a Hotel for Approximately 12 Hours to Petition to Appear on the Television Program 'American Inventor.'"

Previously on Boing Boing:
ABC's "American Inventor" holding invention auditions

posted by Xeni Jardin at 05:36:28 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Library won't buy Sony CDs

Edward Vielmetti reports that his local library system in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is declaring a moratorium on buying CDs from Sony:

I've passed word on to our selectors not to buy any Sony/BMG copy-protected CDs for the forseeable future. Not only is this reprehensible, but we could get into some support nightmares if people try to remove the rootkit since it's gotten so much press.

Link

Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:28:54 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Anxiety therapy by email is as effective as face-to-face

A study has concluded that being in regular email contact with a shrink does as much good for sufferers of anxiety disorders as face-to-face sessions:

Preliminary results, based on more than two years of research, showed that internet therapy was comparable with face-to-face treatment in reducing disturbing thoughts and improving stress and anxiety.

When undertaking internet-based therapy, sufferers of panic disorder have an initial face-to-face consultation with a psychologist and are then in regular email contact with the therapist.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:17:11 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Anti-game lawyer loses right to practice law in Alabama

A loathsome anti-game activist has been judicially smacked down for his legal tactics. Jack Thompson, the crazy anti-video-game lawyer, brought a suit in Alabama against a game-maker, trying to prove that a cop-shooter had been inspired by playing Grand Theft Auto (!). When he later tried to withdraw from the case, the judge instead had him barred from further practicing law in Alabama.

"Mr. Thompson's actions before this Court suggest that he is unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting practice in this state."

Thompson is a Florida lawyer, so losing the right to practice in Alabama is little more than an inconvenience, but it warms my heart to see a court acknowledge what gamers already know: Thompson is a dangerous idiot. Link (via Waxy)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:15:37 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

New Creative Commons song every day for a year

Grant says, "CC:365 is a 2006 calendar of Creative Commons music. A new song every day, no voice overs, no pay for play, no catch. Just a new song under the commons each day at 12:01am from a wide array of artists and genres." Link (Thanks, Grant!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:10:11 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Disneyland ride 3D videos as a podcast

Back in March 2004, we blogged about a guy who makes red/blue stereoscopic 3D movies of Disney rides. Now he's launched them as a video podcast feed -- get 3D Disneyland ride-throughs delivered to your desktop! Link (Thanks, Waltsentme!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:07:32 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Study: How Internet copyright law is abused

The law that allows copyright holders to take infringing materials off the Internet presents an attractive nuisance, inviting widespread abuse by those who want to censor political speech or shut down their competitors.

In 1996, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, the UN body that makes copyright, patent and trademark treaties) got suckered into making the "WIPO Copyright Treaty," which was the basis for the US's Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Europe's EUCD.

The laws under this treaty let people who claim that their copyrights have been infringed upon have the offending material quickly removed from the Internet, without forcing them to show any evidence that infringement has occurred. This is how the Church of Scientology and others censor their critics -- just trump up a bogus copyright claim and knock the site offline.

The Chilling Effects Project tracks these abuses, and now Jennifer Urban and Laura Quilter have published a roundup of the conclusions to be drawn from the project's hundreds of collected notices.

Just as you'd expect: when you take away legal oversight of a process for suppressing speech, it is widely and ferociously abused.

Nice one, WIPO. Nice one, US Congress. Nice one, EU. You've managed to convert the Internet from a venue for unfettered free speech into a lawless zone where anyone who can write a takedown notice can make speech disappear.

* Thirty percent of notices demanded takedown for claims that presented an obvious question for a court (a clear fair use argument, complaints about uncopyrightable material, and the like);

* Notices to traditional ISP’s included a substantial number of demands to remove files from peer-to-peer networks (which are not actually covered under the takedown statute, and which an OSP can only honor by terminating the target’s Internet access entirely); and

* One out of 11 included significant statutory flaws that render the notice unusable (for example, failing to adequately identify infringing material).

In addition, we found some interesting patterns that do not, by themselves, indicate concern, but which are of concern when combined with the fact that one third of the notices depended on questionable claims:

* Over half—57%—of notices sent to Google to demand removal of links in the index were sent by businesses targeting apparent competitors;

* Over a third—37%—of the notices sent to Google targeted sites apparently outside the United States

WIPO is now considering an even more sweeping version of the treaty that gave us this regime: the new proposals floating around on ISP liability could force ISPs to not only delete material, but to shut off the Internet access of those who are baselessly accused of infringement. Link (Thanks, Jen and Joe!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:04:45 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Hard-drives shaped like giant legos

LaCie is selling stackable hard-drives shaped like giant legos, color-coded by capacity. I'd love it if these were available as enclosures for all kinds of drives, including the little 2.5" drives I carry around for backup. What would be even cooler would be a range of enclosures like this that could accommodate Mini-ITX boards -- you could homebrew PCs whose peripherals literally snapped together like legos. Not only would it be cool-looking, but it would be a lot more stable than just balancing your gear in wobbly stacks on top of your CPU. Link (via Gizmodo)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:45:08 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tech business niches begging to be filled

This article, entitled "Companies I’d like to Profile (but don't exist)" contains ideas for 10 startups of varying viability that would make its author, a tech/business reporter happy. These are largely simple, good ideas, and I'd like to use many of them myself. The comments on the article list lots of companies that are trying to fill these empty niches.

1. Better and Cheaper Online File Storage

Photos, movies, music and important files take up a ton of hard drive space. I recently purchased a new desktop computer with a 250 GB hard drive, and the hard drive is full from recorded television shows that I haven't watched yet. Yeah, I can buy a network drive for my house, but they are expensive and if the house burns down I've still lost everything.

It's amazing to me that all of us aren't backing up our important files online regularly. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason is because no product has emerged to fill this tremendous demand, with the right features and at the right price.

We need a good product. Something as easy to use as the Flickr uploader on the client side, and easy web access. These tools need to go a generation or two beyond what xdrive is offering.

Link (via Dan Gillmor)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:39:43 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Aussie Senator: air security is meaningless

Amanda Vanstone is an Australian Senator who gave a stupendous speech to the Adelaide Rotarians about how meaningless airline security procedures are, arguing that they're in place to "make people feel better as opposed to actually achieve an outcome." I fly about 300,000 miles a year, and I couldn't agree more. Senator Vanstone is the first high-placed public official to say what we all know -- the crap we face at airports does squat to make us safer.

Of course, Vanstone's government isn't very happy about her pointing out its imperial nudity, and they're calling for her head on a plastic airline-safe fork. Bruce Schneier and his blog readers have an excellent discussion of her speech and the response:

"Has it ever occurred to you that you just smash your wine glass and jump at someone, grab the top of their head and put it in their carotid artery and ask anything?" Senator Vanstone told her audience of about 100 Rotarians. "And believe me, you will have their attention. I think of this every time I see more money for the security agencies."

The Immigration Minister also told of a grisly conversation with Mr Howard during a discussion on increased spending on national security.

Senator Vanstone said: "I asked him if I was able to get on a plane with an HB pencil, which you are able to, and I further asked him if I went down and came and grabbed him by the front of the head and stabbed the HB pencil into your eyeball and wiggled it around down to your brain area, do you think you'd be focusing? He's thinking, she's gone mad again..."

"If the day has come when a minister can't say what every other Australian says and that is that plastic knives drive us crazy, I think we're in desperate straits," the minister told commercial radio on Monday.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:34:32 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Imitation is the sincerest form of art-ery

Here's a neat NYT piece about a show in Chelsea (closing today) by Vienna-based art group Gelitin:

What you'll see (...) is a sealed, space-hogging wooden box, the size of a small house or a pre-1970's mainframe computer. It has two extensions; one like a cabinet, the other like a top-loading chest. You are invited to place an object, any object, into the chestlike extension. Close the hatch. A yellow light goes on. You hear a sliding sound and a clunk. Your item has temporarily disappeared into the big box, just as dozens of others have, including wallets, photographs, specially made items (artists have brought their own work) and, memorably, a 2-year-old child. (The daughter of another Koenig artist, Erik Parker, spent a few hours in the box, emerging delighted but respectfully mum about her experiences - the Gelitin team had sworn her to secrecy.)

Take a seat. Eventually - the wait can be from a few minutes to more than an hour - a light on the other extension goes on. Open the door, and you'll find your object joined by a brand-new, handmade "duplicate," or at least something that more or less resembles the original. Both items will elicit admiring responses from the other people waiting their turn. And there always are people; the show has generated an avid community of shared interest. When the ooh's and aah's have subsided, you can take your new art home.

Link to story with media slideshow, and here is the art collective's website. (image: Heidi Schumann for the Times.)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:45:16 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Soviet public-domain maps

Paul sez, "Soviets mapped the entire world at various scales between 1940 and 1990.In some areas the Russian maps are still the best available maps. Amazingly, none of the maps are copyright." Link (Thanks, Paul!)

Update: Paul's blog post contains links to libraries that have some of the maps online.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:55:58 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Irene McGee's radio show

Many of you may remember Irene McGee from the Real World Seattle. Physically sick with Lyme Disease and feeling misunderstood and misrepresented, she left the show (but not before getting smacked by one of her male roommates.) Appropriately, Irene is now a student of media literacy. Along with lecturing on the subject, she's learning the tools of personalized media like blogging and podcasting. Good for her! Irene is also hosting a radio show on KSFS called NoOne's Listening that's also archived online. BB pals V. Vale of RE/Search and Lawrence Lessig were guests on recent shows and Noam Chomsky will be on soon. Last week, I met Irene at a conference and she interviewed me a bit about the history of Boing Boing. (Webzine co-founder Eddie Codel videotaped the conversation and says it will eventually be shown as part of Geek Entertainment TV, his "emerging global media empire.")
Link to NoOne's Listening

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:33:10 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

MPAA, Bram Cohen announcement today in Hollywood (UPDATED)

The Motion Picture Association of America released an advisory yesterday that MPAA head Dan Glickman and BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen will hold a joint press conference this afternoon at the AFI in Los Angeles.

While the MPAA provided no details in advance, Glickman and Cohen are expected to announce a deal between BitTorrent and the movie industry that transforms the filesharing service into a commercial distribution channel for movies and other forms of digital entertainment.

Update: I just returned from the press conference, and the short version is: BitTorrent has set up a process with the MPAA by which DMCA takedown procedures for infringing content will be "expedited."

If an MPAA member sees their copyrighted content in the torrent search engine at BitTorrent.com, they will now be able to ask BitTorrent to contact the party responsible for the infringing content or tracker in "a more expedited manner" than previously in place. BitTorrent will also remove the offending item from search returns at BitTorrent.com.

Torrent searches on sites other than BitTorrent.com (for instance, Google) aren't controlled by BitTorrent.com, so they're unaffected. The move can't stop all traffic of potentially infringing content. And since BitTorrent isn't hosting any content anyway, the announcement doesn't mean that infringing content will neccesarily be removed. Also, there may not be a way for Cohen and company to contact uploaders or tracker hosts with takedown notices if those parties don't disclose their contact information. Anyone who's providing pirated files would not likely provide their phone number or email address, though offenders can potentially be identified by IP address.

The announcement seems primarily aimed at expressing good faith and neutrality with Hollywood, to lay ground for future paid content distribution agreements with both the motion picture and recording industries. Neither Cohen nor Glickman would estimate how soon such a deal might be in place -- but when pressed, Cohen said "soon."

Update:AP coverage here.

Update: Snip from MPAA press release:

BitTorrent Founder and CEO Bram Cohen and Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman announced today that the motion picture industry and BitTorrent, Inc. are collaborating with the goal of inhibiting film piracy. Bram Cohen developed a revolutionary technology for websites to make large content files available on the Web and that technology is often used by others illegally to distribute movies and television shows. Today Cohen confirmed BitTorrent, Inc.’s commitment to removing links that direct users to copies of pirated content owned by MPAA companies from its search engine at BitTorrent.com. The announcement today is historic in that two major forces in the technology and film industries have agreed to work together and proactively identify ways to limit access to infringing material available via search engines like the one at BitTorrent.com and to promote constructive innovation in this area.

“BitTorrent is an extremely efficient publishing tool and search engine that allows creators and rights holders to make their content available on the Internet securely,” said Cohen. “BitTorrent, Inc. discourages the use of its technology for distributing films without a license to do so. As such, we are pleased to work with the film industry to remove unauthorized content from BitTorrent.com’s search engine.”

Cohen said BitTorrent.com will remove links that direct users to pirated content owned by MPAA companies from its search engine.

Update: Here's a subscription-free link for Boing Boing readers to Ben Fritz' account at Variety. Snip:

The BitTorrent company has no control over what's traded and indexed using its technology, however. Thus, now that it has stopped referring users to illegal content, MPAA can't go after it with the law as it did other P2P networks following this summer's Supreme Court decision in Hollywood's favor in the Grokster case.

Cohen added that BitTorrent is close to finishing technology that would let movie files be protected against piracy and sold via online payment system to users of its P2P application. The main hurdle remains obtaining studio content.

Cohen said he's in talks with studios to do just that, and is also discussing a deal with the RIAA similar to the one it has with MPAA, with hopes to sell music through BitTorrent as well.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:16:19 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Crocheted Flying Spaghetti Monster dildo cozy

Link (Thanks, Jennifer)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:55:06 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ozzy writes Rasputin musical

I missed the exciting news last week that Ozzy Osbourne has been working on a piece of musical theater about "mad monk" Grigory Rasputin. Apparently, he and co-writer Mark Hudson have written enough songs for a double LP, "in styles that vary from rock to coassack folk music." I can't wait! From The Guardian:

"I always wanted to do a musical for the West End or Broadway," Osbourne said. "If it gets picked up it gets picked up, but it was a lot of fun to do anyway ... being Ozzy Osbourne is great, but if I don't sing about the fucking devil or bats or whatever, people don't really want to know."

Osbourne was inspired to write the show after watching a BBC documentary about Rasputin. Though he came from humble beginnings, the so-called "Mad Monk" became a leading figure in the Romanov dynasty during the early 20th century. Rasputin, said Osbourne, lived the rock'n'roll lifestyle before it was invented. He drank heavily, was a womaniser, disregarded personal hygiene and was linked with witchcraft and the occult. He was also famously hard to kill - his assassins had to poison, shoot and drown him.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:54:17 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Fatal Effects of Masturbation: 1844 French manual

The Fatal Consequences of Masturbation: a cautionary, illustrated HOW(not)TO from a mid-19th-century French book with no name.

Link.

(Thanks, alex)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:32:31 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Electric fish jam rivals

When an electric knifefish encounters a rival, both boost their electric field in an effort to jam the other's signal. Previous research has shown that distorting the fish's electric field screwes up its "guidance systems." The scientists who conducted the experiments, Sara Tallarovic of the University of the Incarnate Word and Harold Zakon of the University of Texas, recorded knightfish fish doing battle, including the zaps converted into audible sound. The intense videos are available as part of a Science News article about the research. From the article:

A fish of this species occasionally raises its frequency but never lowers it, Tallarovic says. She suspected signal jamming when she noticed upward frequency shifts as one fish attacked another. "Everybody just told me, 'No, it's got to be an artifact,'" she says.

So, she and Zakon monitored fishes' electric fields in several scenarios, the team reports in an upcoming Animal Behaviour. When researchers put two fish in an unfamiliar tank or used a field-emitting dummy to mimic an intruder in a fish's home tank, both males and females tended to raise their electric-field frequencies as they attacked. The changes' timing and context convinced the researchers that the attacking fish was jamming the other's signals.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:30:10 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tiny toy synthesizers for dolls

Boing Boing reader Tom of musicthing blog says,

I've been running a short and wholly unexpected series of articles about tiny doll-sized model synths: Mr Waldorf from the Muppets and his Moog Modular (Link), Barbie and same (Link), GI Joe and his Moog Theremin (Link), Rick Wakeman's entire 1970 keyboard setup, but tiny, from Japan (Link), Ditto with Yellow Magic Orchestra (Link). They just keep on coming!

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:22:09 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Google provides $3M for Library of Congress "World Digital Library"

Snip from Library of Congress press release:

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin announced today that Google is the first private-sector company to contribute to the Library’s initiative to develop a plan to begin building a World Digital Library (WDL) for use by other libraries around the globe. The effort would be supported by funds from nonexclusive, public and private partnerships, of which Google is the first.

The concept for the WDL came from a speech that Billington delivered to the newly established U.S. National Commission for UNESCO on June 6, 2005, at Georgetown University. The full text is available here.

In his speech, Billington proposed that public research institutions and libraries work with private funders to begin digitizing significant primary materials of different cultures from institutions across the globe. Billington said that the World Digital Library would bring together online “rare and unique cultural materials held in U.S. and Western repositories with those of other great cultures such as those that lie beyond Europe and involve more than 1 billion people: Chinese East Asia, Indian South Asia and the worlds of Islam stretching from Indonesia through Central and West Asia to Africa.”

Google Inc. has agreed to donate $3 million as the first partner in this public-private initiative.

Related news coverage: SJ Merc, Reuters

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:12:06 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Douglas Rushkoff's Thought Virus #3

BB pal Douglas Rushkoff has posted the third excerpt from his coming book Get Back In The Box: Innovation From The Inside Out. From Doug's post:

Thanks to the emergence of the Internet and its networked culture, a whole lot about our needs - both as consumers and as workers—has been put into perspective. Success has a variety of definitions and dimensions, and many of them are changing.

For instance, the most respected kids in the culture of computer games are not the ones who play the best; they're the ones who program the best. For they, even more than Nintendo champions, give the rest the players something to talk about, something to play with, and something through which they can connect with others. The driving force behind all of the authorship and creative energy of the networked age is the need to create what I’ve come to call social currency.

Networks are great, but until we can move through them ourselves, we’ll need proxies in the form of ideas, images, words, and other constructs that can be exchanged through our wires and screens. Even in the real, physical world, our engagements with one another are almost always predicated on something else. A party starts with a few good jokes to break the ice. "Invite Sam," we remind ourselves, "he tells good jokes."

Observe yourself the next time you’re listening to a joke. You may start by listening to the joke for the humor - because you really want the belly laugh at the end. But chances are, a few sentences in, you will find yourself not only listening, but attempting to remember its whole sequence. You’ll do this tentatively at first, until you’ve decided whether or not it's really a good joke. And if it is, you'll commit the entire thing to memory - maybe even with a personalized variation, or a mental note to yourself to fix that racist part. This is because the joke is a gift - it's a form of social currency that you’ll be able to take with you to the next party.

So is the great majority of the media we watch and even the products we buy. HBO understood this well enough to base an entire season’s advertising campaign on the "water cooler" effect. In a series of fake ads, the water cooler industry thanks HBO for giving workers something to talk about the next day at the water cooler. The message of these ads was clear: watch these shows to gain social currency.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:07:45 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pat Robertson, satanist

I love this photo of that jackass Pat Robertson flashing the devil horns during the 700 Club.
Link (via Fortean Times)

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:59:11 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Yale Law search-regulation conference, Dec 3

Yale's hosting a cool looking symposium on regulation and search on Dec 3:

Search is big business, and search functionality increasingly shapes the information society. Yet how the law treats search is still up for grabs, and with it, the power to dominate the next generation of the online world. How will this potential to wield control affect search engine companies, their advertisers, their users, or the information they index? What will search engines look like in the future, and what is the role of regulators in this emerging market?

The Information Society Project at Yale Law School is proud to present "Regulating Search?: A Symposium on Search Engines, Law, and Public Policy," the first academic conference devoted to search engines and the law. "Regulating Search?" will take place on December 3, 2005 at Yale Law School in New Haven, CT.

Link (Thanks, Eddan!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:12:09 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Giving EU air-passenger data to US DHS is illegal

The EU's top legal eagle has said that it's illegal for the EU to give passengers' personal information to the US Department of Homeland Security:

An agreement by EU governments to give the US Homeland Security Department details of all passengers flying between the EU and the US has been cast in doubt by one of the EU's top law officers.

The Advocate General, the top legal advisor of the European Court of Justice, says that last year's air passenger data agreement must be annulled because it breached EU law.

Link (THanks, Damien!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:08:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Table compares different kinds of Sony music infections

Jiri sez, "I've put together a table of what applies to which of the two Sony DRM thingies (XCP and MediaMax), in the style of a 'checklist feature comparison'. There have been quite a few reports about the two pieces of software, so I figured an 'at a glance' comparison chart might be useful to help keep things straight..." Link (Cool Sony CD image courtesy of Collapsibletank) (Thanks, Jiri!)
Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:55:23 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Monday, November 21, 2005

Double dishwasher lets you keep a dirty and a clean drawer

This two-drawer dishwasher from KitchenAid lets you run each drawer separately. You can keep a "dirty" drawer and a "clean" drawer and never empty the dishwasher -- just use the clean compartment as your current cupboard and switch when the dirty compartment gets full and you run its cycle. I wrote about this invention in Themepunks, the novel-in-progres that Salon serialized this autumn, though I don't suppose that KitchenAid got the idea from me! Link (via Popgadget)

Update: Jeremy sez, "Hey, Those dual diswashers you have just put up have been around for at least 5 years (if not longer), sold by Fisher and Paykel as DishDrawers."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:19:00 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Protest CD DRM in NYC on Nov 30!

Fred sez, "Free Culture @ NYU is doing another DRM Demonstration. We'll be handing out flyers at Tower Records to notify consumers that even though Sony is recalling their particularly malicious XCP CDs, DRM is still on the shelves and very undead -- Sony's dangerous DRM may just be the tip of the iceberg and the only way to prevent future similar fiascos is for consumers to stand up for their rights. We'll be at East 4th St. and Broadway at 7pm on Wednesday, November 30th. If we get rained (or snowed) out, we'll reschedule for December 5th, but hopefully that won't happen. See you there!" Link

Sony Rootkit Roundup: Part I, Part II, Part III

(Thanks, Fred!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:12:54 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony Rootkit DRM Roundup Part III

The Sony rootkit debacle continues to gain steam, with fresh revelations of incompetence and malice every day, and with fresh news of lawsuits too. Previously, I published two roundups of news on this leading up to Nov 17 (Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part IV, Sony Rootkit Roundup V, Sony Rootkit Roundup VI) and what with all the news, it's time for a third:

Nov 17: Sony still advising public to install rootkits

18 days after the revelation that Sony's CDs contain dangerous rootkits, Sony still has live web-pages advising its customers to go ahead and install their software (This is still the case as of Nov 22!).

Nov 17: Schneier: Why didn't anti-virus apps defend us against Sony's rootkit?

Security researcher Bruce Schneier accuses anti-spyware companies of being soft on Sony because it was released by a giant, sleazy company instead of a small, sleazy company.

Nov 17: Uninstaller for Sony's other malware screws up your PC

Some of Sony's music CDs carry a second form of malicious software, a spyware program called Suncomm Mediamax. Princeton researchers Ed Felten and Alex Halderman discover that the uninstaller provided by Suncomm leaves your computer open to complete takeover through simply looking at web-pages with malicious code in them.

Nov 17: Amazon offers refunds for all Sony rootkit CDs

Amazon sends an email to everyone who bought a rootkit-infected Sony CD from them and offers a full refund -- now that's how it's done. (On November 21, the US Army/Airforce Exchange Service followed suit).

Nov 18: I HEART Rootkit tees, list of Mediamax CDs, Mediamax installer to be fixed

Lovely "I HEART Rootkit" tee shirts for sale. A user discovers a long list of CDs infected with Suncomm's MediaMax spyware. Suncomm vows to update its Mediamax uninstaller, which presently leaves your computer wide open to total take-over simply by looking at web-pages with malicious code on them.

Nov 19: Sony offers MP3s in replacement for rootkit CDs

Sony is not only offering to replace infected CDs with CDs that are free from the rootkit DRM (no official word from Sony on whether they'll also be free of the Mediamax spyware) -- they're also offering free MP3s of any music that you bought on an infected CD!

Nov 20: RIAA prez: Lots of companies secretly install rootkits! It's no biggie!

The CEO of the RIAA kisses off all the customers who got infected by Sony's rootkit: "How many times that software applications created the same problem? Lots." Uh, really? Lots of companies install rootkits on users' PCs without permission? Apparently this guy doesn't know the difference between "companies" and "criminal organizations"

Nov 20: Latest news on Sony lawsuits

A website launches to keep track of news about the lawsuits arising from Sony's use of spyware and rootkits on its music CDs.

Nov 20: Sony insider: DRM is discredited at Son

A high-placed tipster at Sony tells me that the execs who green-lighted DRM at Sony are in trouble, and that the label-heads in Sony are really pissed about the rootkit fiasco, with at least one vowing to swear off DRM forever.

Nov 21: Foxtrot cartoon on Sony's rootkit

The Foxtrot comic strip nails Sony in today's syndicated strip

Nov 21: Texas sues Sony over rootkits -- YEE-HAW!

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has brought an anti-spyware lawsuit against Sony over its rootkit DRM. He's looking for $100,000 per violation of Texas's anti-spyware laws, plus costs. Ouch. That's gonna be pretty costly.

Nov 21: EFF brings class-action against Sony!

My employer, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (a nonprofit civil liberties group) has brought a class action suit against Sony. We're gonna nail them!

Nov 21: Microsoft: Trusted Computing sucks!

A senior Microsoft exec says that computer users should never be deprived of control over their PCs; too bad that Microsoft has built so much of its current business on depriving its customers control over their PCs.

Nov 21: Why not update Sony's rootkit with a warning message?

Security researcher Ben Edelman suggests that Sony could reach all its infected users by pushing an update to the rootkit that warns them that they're compromised and gives instructions for uninstalling and getting replacement CDs.

Nov 21: Sony's Mediamax spyware gets a new uninstaller

The Suncomm Mediamax spyware on Sony's CDs caused embarrassment when it was revealed that using the uninstaller left your computer vulnerable to total compromise by web-pages with malicious code on them. Now Suncomm has issued a new uninstaller, though heavens knows if it's any better.

One more thing: remember back in 2002 when it was revealed that you could cause your computer to ignore audio-CD DRM by scribbling on the visible data-sectors on the physical disc? Turns out that a variant on this can also immunize you against Sony's current crop of malicious software.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:08:32 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Amateur band performs Super Mario theme on marimba

Monterrey sez, "In what seems to be a college/high school show, three guys (Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach) play various famous Mario Bro's tunes with a marimba. Geeky fun!" This is hilarious -- the band really gets into it, horsing around, doing all kinds of great physical comedy to the obvious delight of the audience. Link (Thanks, Monterrey!)

Update: Lane sez, "I was at this performance at Francis Howell High School's talent show in 2005. The guys are Brian (Mario), Jeff (Luigi), Liz (Peach) and Adam on drums. The first three practiced this piece all through marching band season - really worked the crowds and other bands in the parking lots!"

Update 2: Mlahumlaha sez, "After seeing the Marimba Mario Medley, I thought it was about time someone made a collection of the best of the bunch. Mario Theme on the: 11-String Bass Chapman Stick
Piano
it's in this A Cappella medley
honorable mention for trying it on Two Trumpets marching euphoniums
and of course by the London Symphony Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra

"

Update 3: Kevin sez, "The two marching baritone players are members of the Cadets drum and bugle corps, 2005 Drum Corps International world champions.  Their little duet was filmed during a break in rehearsal back in June. You can see their full show here.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:00:57 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

DRM company vows to hack iTunes DRM

A California DRM company has vowed to crack the iTunes DRM so that they can sell a product that allows other DRM companies to make songs that play on iPods.

Confused?

iTunes DRM makes it potentially illegal to make a song that is locked and yet will play on an iPod (why anyone would want a locked song is another matter -- do online music store customers actually desire technology that locks them out of their own music?).

Navio Systems promises to reverse-engineer the iTunes DRM format and offer it to Apple's competitors, who will then be able to able to lock their music with Apple's restrictive software and then offer it for use on iPods (they can presently offer music that plays on the iPod by offering the music in MP3 form, which iPods can also play).

"Typically, we embrace and want to work with the providers of the DRM," said Ray Schaaf, Navio's chief operating officer. "With respect to FairPlay, right now Apple doesn't license that, so we take the view that as RealNetworks allows users to buy FairPlay songs on Rhapsody, we would take the same approach."

In 2004, after unsuccessfully courting Apple to license FairPlay, RealNetworks introduced its Harmony technology, which allowed users to buy music from online sources other than the iTunes Music Store and transfer it to their iPod. RealNetworks' move was then denounced by Apple as adopting "the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod." In December of 2004, Apple shot back by releasing an iPod software update that disabled support for RealNetworks-purchased songs.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:33:09 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony's Mediamax spyware gets a new uninstaller

In addition to the XCP rootkit software that Sony installed on its customers' PCs without permission, Sony has also installed another malicious program called MediaMax, from Suncomm. MediaMax spies on your actions and reports on them to Sony, and the uninstaller they provided leaves your computer vulnerable to an attack where bad code on a web-page can compromise your control over your data, your Internet connection, your privacy and your PC.

Now Suncomm (whose new CEO is an ex-Sony employee who was involved with their DRM program) has issued a new uninstaller. No word on whether this one was executed any more competently than the first one. Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:26:30 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Why not update Sony's rootkit with a warning message?

Security researcher Ben Edelman has a provocative solution to the problem of notifying all the Sony customers who got infected with the company's rootkit DRM. Since the system has an auto-update feature, why not update it so that it shows all the infected users a warning message that advises them on how to uninstall the software safely and how to get their CDs replaced by Sony? Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II (Thanks, Thomas!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:17:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Microsoft: Trusted Computing sucks!

A very senior Microsoft employee has given a statement to the press disavowing Sony's use of technology that takes control away from users:

"A personal computer is called a personal computer because it's yours," said Andrew Moss, Microsoft's senior director of technical policy. "Anything that runs on that computer, you should have control over."

I could not agree more! Unfortunately, Microsoft's whole current business model is built around systems that take control away from users (See, for example, EFF's Seth Schoen's excellent four-part report on Microsoft's new trusted computing/rights management program, which treats the computer's owner as an attacker and works to shut her out of her own system).

I wonder if this is Microsoft's new official policy -- will they include owner override (a proposal to let computer owners override trusted computing) in their trusted computing plans? Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II (Thanks, Rik!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:11:15 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Daily Show clips on Commonbits

Jeff from Commonbits sez, "We've put some new clips up from last week's Daily Show as torrents:"

Cheney, Republicans and Torture
Interview with Sen. John McCain
Lewis Black on Wal Mart
Oil Executives and Gas Prices
Talk Don't Run 2008
Bush Attacks Dems on Veterans Day
Interview with Richard Clarke
Dick Cheney - Liar

Remember, you can subscribe to Commonbits's Daily Show clips as a feed in the free DTV Internet television application. Link (Thanks, Jeff!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:57:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

How to make a film, with no money, while being bombed

From Jasmina "Mrs. Bruce Sterling" Tesanovic, in the current issue of MAKE magazine:

Back in 1999, while my hometown of Belgrade was being blown up by 19 different countries, I was writing and uploading a diary. One day, a producer from German national TV phoned me. She’d been reading my online journal (Diary of a Political Idiot) and thought it might make a good film.

Unfortunately, since her country was so busy bombing mine, she couldn’t give me any practical help. However, she thought that if my film somehow got made, she could promote and distribute it, and show it at film festivals.

Immediately, I said yes! What a great occasion to make a meaningful European art film, without those tiresome commercial restrictions, backers, producers, and other artistic brakes that every true cineaste fears!

First, I found a cameraman who had somehow survived Bosnia with his equipment intact. He was a Serbian CNN stringer, which was perfect since everyone in 1999 thought that wars could only be won by and/or through CNN.

PDF Link (via Bruce Sterling's blog)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 04:11:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Four-way rubber-bands hold boxes shut

Box-Bands are four-way rubber bands intended to securely hold board-game, puzzle and similar boxen shut. They come in several sizes, at reasonable prices. Link (via Gizmodo)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:57:32 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

New, super-dupersized telescope to dwarf Hubble's abilities

Snip from Wired News story:

Astronomers are preparing to build the world's largest telescope that could be 100 times more powerful than the Hubble and will peer back to the very beginning of the universe.

The new TMT (Thirty-Meter Telescope) will be the first of a new generation of massive Earth-based telescopes that will far eclipse today's largest observatories. The TMT scope will be so large, it will be housed in an observatory the size of a football stadium resembling an eyeball.

The TMT project will be the first realization of a new breed of super-scopes, known as Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes. The National Academy of Sciences, in a report called "Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium," said these scopes are the top priority for ground-based astronomy.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 02:54:48 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Autogenerate old-time flipbooks from your digital movies

Boing Boing reader michelle says,

This software (donation-ware/freeware) let people take their movies from their digital cameras and turn them into old school style flip books. You can import the video, choose the exact scene you want to turn into a flipbook and the flipbook printer somehow magically turns the video into mini flipbook pages.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 02:39:26 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

EFF brings class-action against Sony!

EFF has launched a class-action suit against Sony over its DRM practices -- now the company is facing at least seven suits!

The suit, to be filed in Los Angeles County Superior court, alleges that the XCP and SunnComm technologies have been installed on the computers of millions of unsuspecting music customers when they used their CDs on machines running the Windows operating system. Researchers have shown that the XCP technology was designed to have many of the qualities of a "rootkit." It was written with the intent of concealing its presence and operation from the owner of the computer, and once installed, it degrades the performance of the machine, opens new security vulnerabilities, and installs updates through an Internet connection to Sony BMG's servers. The nature of a rootkit makes it extremely difficult to remove, often leaving reformatting the computer's hard drive as the only solution. When Sony BMG offered a program to uninstall the dangerous XCP software, researchers found that the installer itself opened even more security vulnerabilities in users' machines. Sony BMG has still refused to use its marketing prowess to widely publicize its recall program to reach the over 2 million XCP-infected customers, has failed to compensate users whose computers were affected and has not eliminated the outrageous terms found in its End User Licensing Agreement (EULA).

The MediaMax software installed on over 20 million CDs has different, but similarly troubling problems. It installs files on the users' computers even if they click "no" on the EULA, and it does not include a way to fully uninstall the program. The software transmits data about users to SunnComm through an Internet connection whenever purchasers listen to CDs, allowing the company to track listening habits -- even though the EULA states that the software will not be used to collect personal information and SunnComm's website says "no information is ever collected about you or your computer." If users repeatedly requested an uninstaller for the MediaMax software, they were eventually provided one, but they first had to provide more personally identifying information. Worse, security researchers recently determined that SunnComm's uninstaller creates significant security risks for users, as the XCP uninstaller did.

Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:25:07 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Report: Pentagon Skimps on IED Defense

Noah Shachtman at Defensetech tells Boing Boing, "Here's another sign of the Pentagon's nutty priorities. Despite promises of a 'Manhattan Project' to stop improvised explosives, the Defense Department is devoting about the same money to bomb-halting research as it is for giant blimp development. What's worse, only a tiny fraction of frontline troops are getting the radio frequency jammers that are one of the few proven methods for keeping bombs from going off."

Snip from blog post:

Consider this story, from Defense Technology International.

The 1940s Manhattan Project is estimated to have cost $20 billion. In Fiscal 2006, the Navy plans to spend just $15 million within ONR [Office of Naval Research] on its new drive, with another $15 million to be spread among the Navy's five affiliated research centers: Pennsylvania State University, Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, and the universities of Texas, Washington and Hawaii. [The Navy recently became the quarterback for counter-bomb research -- ed.] Another $15 million may be allocated to other universities outside the affiliate network.

Keep in mind, the Pentagon's fringe-science arm is planning to spend $38 million next year on giant blimp research, and $200 million on "cognitive" computers. So $45 million isn't all that much, in Pentagon terms.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 02:23:30 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Soviet postage stamps

This is a gorgeous gallery of hundreds of Soviet Czech Soviet postage stamps. Link (Thanks, Kevin!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:22:49 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

American Idiot mashed up

American Edit is a concept mashup album that combines American Idiot with lots of eclectic material. I love the remix with the Dr Who theme! Link (Thanks, DD8!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:17:30 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

UK service shames your MP into being transparent

HearFromYourMP is a new UK direct democracy tool in the same vein as WriteToThem.com (a service to easily send mail to your government reps from the local level to the EuroParliament) and TheyWorkForYou.com (a service to track all the things your lawmaker says and does in Parliament).

If you enter your details, we'll add you to a queue of other people in your constituency. When enough have signed up, your MP will get sent an email. It'll say "20 of your constituents would like to hear what you're up to - hit reply to let them know". If they don't reply, nothing will happen, until they get an email which says there are now 100 people; 200 people; 500 people - until it is nonsensical not to reply and start talking.

Link (Thanks, Tom!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:16:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Texas sues Sony over rootkits -- YEE-HAW!

Yee-haw! Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has brought an anti-spyware lawsuit against Sony over its rootkit DRM:

"Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," said Attorney General Abbott. "Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime..."

Because of alleged violations of the Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act of 2005, the Attorney General is seeking civil penalties of $100,000 for each violation of the law, attorneys' fees and investigative costs.

Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II (Thanks to everyone who submitted this!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:11:49 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Letter to editor in Vanity Fair about vapid Nicky Hilton comment

From Clive Thompson's blog, Collision Detection:

The current issue of [Vanity Fair] has several letters commenting on the [Paris] Hilton story, including this one, which I've typed in full:

[In the story about Paris Hilton, her sister] Nicky Hilton asked, "I'm 21 years old, I run two multi-million-dollar companies, I work my ass off. Like, what were you doing that was so fucking important at that age?" I would like to repond to that. When I was 21, I was busy working toward my Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Minnesota. I was the first to synthesize the compound okadaic acid -- shown to be the leading cause of breast cancer.
- Steven F. Sabes
Wayzata, Minnesota

Link (thanks, Cyrus!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:48:47 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Action Karate Quilts book

Brian says: "I'm an employee of AuthorHouse, a print on demand publisher, which means I'm in on some of the most bizarre books ever sent to a printer. Most of them are mind-numbingly unreadable, but every now and then one comes along which gets my full support. There aren't any images in the link, but you get the idea from the synopsis. I hope you like it.

If you're interested in other bizarre AuthorHouse books, me and other employees post them to Hotsgusting every now and then.
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:16:58 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

There are now 100 images tagged 700hoboes on flickr

There are now 100 images tagged 700hoboes on flickr. Shown here: "Number 645 -- Antlered Calvin" by Ape Lad.
Link (Previous coverage of John Hodgman's 700 hobo names here.)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:10:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Drawer pull in the shape of an angry baby's head

Agnes says: "While browsing this cabinet hardware site I encountered these really creepy knobs in the shape of a baby's head... The combination of the unhappy face with the apparent scalp veins is definitely more weird than cute... Baby hunting trophy on your pantry door, anyone?"
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:08:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Life from the perspective of a 2-litre water bottle

C. Joel says: "Neat VR shot inside a water bottle, by photographer Thomas Mottl."
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:04:29 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The Bush Escape Video

Gary Lerhaupt says: "Video of the Bush Escape incident from China on Sunday. The video was grabbed from the BBC after I spent a half hour fighting with Linux to get it to play, I decided to re-encode to make it more friendly. Be sure to watch for the smirk Bush makes as he at first thinks he's about to successfully duck out of the conference and then the 'beam me up' pose he later goes into when he doesn't know what to do." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:00:00 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Houseblingers: insane xmas decorated houses

Houseblingers are people who celebrate the holiday season by plastering the exterior of their houses with countless Christmas decorations. Show here: the Wonderful House, Lennard Road, Beckenham, UK. Link (thanks, rick random!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:54:23 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Gallery of Czech consumer goods

Large photo gallery of Soviet Union early Czech products.
Link (thanks, Ben!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:06:09 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The Fretboard Journal: debut issue

I just received issue no. 1 of The Fretboard Journal, "A magazine for musical instrument players, collectors, and builders." It's lavishly produced with full color photos throughout, and as publisher Jason Verlinde writes in the introduction, it's a magazine about stories, not gear reviews or tabulatures. This issue has a great article about A guy named Jason Lollar, who is the undisputed master of rewinding electric pickups.

"I came back up to Issaquah, [Wash.] and I started a company where we were making jewelry boxes and gun cases with a friend of mine in my mom's basement," Lollar says." I always wanted to have my own business and I tried and I failed and I tried and I failed. We were stoned on acid one day and said, 'Let's make a pickup winder!' And we made one out of Legos! We made it so it would feed the wire back and forth."

This is the most exciting magazine I've seen since, well, Make. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:15:08 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Paper V8 engine

This paper V8 engine has 5756 pieces! Link (via Paper Forest)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:14:37 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Homemade pipe-organ

Here's a great build-log for a homebrew pipe-organ, including sections on the science of pipe-organs and experiments you can do at home. Link (via Make Blog)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:11:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Economists' studies on P2P and music sales compared

Cambridge PhD Economics researcher Rufus Pollock has published an excellent summary of all the recent quantitative studies on the impact of file-sharing on music sales -- the range of conclusions is pretty amazing.

In particular, the point estimates imply that the median 'new' artist, whose weekly sales are 2,163 albums, would see a decrease in weekly sales of 101 albums per week were files shared to be reduced by 10%. A similar calculation can be made for an artist of maximum popularity. At the median level of sales for these artist, the estimate implies an increase in sales of 490 albums per week if file sharing were to be reduced by 10%. This stark contrast between the magnitudes of the effects for artists of varying levels of popularity highlights the importance of this heterogeneity in estimating the aggregate effects of file sharing.

A similar calculation can be made for estimating the total effect of file sharing on sales. To estimate the aggregate effect of a 30% reduction in file sharing across the board,33 I simply subtract out the effect of the deleted files from the second stage estimation in Table 4 and then aggregate up to market level numbers using the appropriate weights. The estimated effect of such an across-the- board reduction in file sharing is to increase aggregate sales by 15%. Again, while these calculations were useful for placing the analysis inside the framework of the previous literature, they do not take into account competition effects across albums, and so the effects of file sharing will be overstated in these estimates.

David Blackburn

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:51:39 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Foxtrot cartoon on Sony's rootkit

Today's Foxtrot comic strip really zings Sony over their rootkit DRM. Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II (Thanks, boB and Kirsten!)

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

Pop songs performed on 8-bit Nintendo synth

This looks promising -- a collection of pop tunes covered using a music synth modeled on the sound from an 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System.

01 REM - Losing My Religion
02 Europe - Final Countdown
03 Radiohead - Karma Police
04 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
05 Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
06 Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
07 Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
08 Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
09 Slayer - Angel of Death
10 David Pomeranz - Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now
11 Coldplay - Yellow
12 Rick James - Superfreak
13 Semisonic - Closing Time
14 (Silence)
15 Hidden NESmix Intro
16 Zero Wing (Opening Theme) (4x4 Remix)
17 Tetris (Music A) (Piano Practice)

Link (via Waxy)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:36:51 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Technorati posts major server upgrade

Technorati's founder David Sifry posts an update about his service's new engineering works. Technorati had 100 percent uptime last month and has reduced its average response times for different forms of search queries to subseconds. This is great news -- I use Technorati all the time to follow subjects' spread through blogs, and previous scaling problems have made this impractical at times. Link (Disclosure: I am on Technorati's advisory board))

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:13:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Canadian ISP blocking iTunes store/podcasts?

A reader writes, "A very short thread on Apple's website notes that Rogers/Shaw ISPs in Canada are blocking podcast downloads because of a policy against multiple downloads."

Over the past month Rogers (ISP) in Canada has put some software on their networks that prevents activity for BitTorrents, P2P, IRC, and also along with that is a rule that if you are trying to download a large media file from more then 1 server it will be dropped. When you download a Podcast from iTunes it downloads that file from multiple servers in the background (I confirmed this by watching my cable modem logs). As soon as it tries to use more than 2 different servers for the download, it just stops. That's the reason why Podcast downloads stop at random places - it's the point where a 2nd server is involved in the download. The same issue causes timeouts and cut-offs in the iTunes music store.

Here is the problem - when anyone calls Rogers about the problem they say it is either a router, firewall or Apple problem and they shrug you off.

Hundreds or thousands of people in Canada can no longer get Podcasts or purchase music from the iTunes Music store. This is BAD. Please, Apple, contact Rogers and sort it out. So many people have called Rogers with no luck.

Link

Update: Three readers have written to say that they can't reproduce this error, or that it only occurs intermittently for them. It may be that Rogers is fine-tuning its packet-shaping app to catch fewer false positives from the iTunes server.

Update 2: Scott sez, "Here's an old Shaw Ellacoya.pdf">press-release about protocol filtering software. From what I understand, they are not so much filtering/stopping/blocking downloads as much as capping the bandwidth available to certain protocols (ie BitTorrent)." So, basically, Shaw isn't trying to break iTunes. They're trying to break other legit services like Prodigem and Commonbits. Breaking iTunes is just a unhappy accident.

Update 3: Jeff sez, "I produce a podcast called A Foot In The Crease which covers hockey in Toronto and around the NHL. A few weeks ago we had celebrated the mark of a thousand listeners a week. Since that time, however, we have seen a sharp and inexplicable decline in our weekly audience to about a quarter of what it was. Until I saw your post this morning about this new stealth Rogers/Shaw policy, I had no idea what could be causing our problems. I am a Rogers subscriber and have personally experienced the podcast downloading problem in iTunes for our own show and other podcasts exactly as described.

"The decline in our podcast audience coincided directly with the time in which I began experiencing this problem personally. It stands to reason that a podcast about hockey in Toronto would have a large number of people listening using Rogers as an ISP due to their market-share. It is very discouraging that a backwards-thinking policy such as this has really put a damper on all our hard work and is likely hurting many other small growing podcasters as well. It is shameful that these ISPs think they can do something like this and shows complete disregard for both their customers and for podcasters."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:35:00 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

How I Got Into Computers stories on O'Reilly Radar

O'Reilly's Gnat Torkington has collected "How I Got into Computers" stories from many of the geeks in the O'Reilly orbit, and he's publishing them on O'Reilly Radar:

When I was a kid in New Zealand, my parents were dirt-poor, with my Dad subsistence fishing. While Mum was pregnant with my sister, they saved and saved, and in the year of my 8th birthday I got not only a little sister but also a Commodore 64. I began playing games, and rapidly learned programming. I was fascinated by text adventures and platform games, and still have a warm spot in my heart for Infocom, Manic Miner, and Impossible Mission.

I started off programming in BASIC, with all the PEEKs and POKEs required to do cool things. The Commodore 64 came with a great manual that showed you basic audio and video hacks, and there were sample programs on the C30 tapes that came with Commodore's "Learn to Program" series. The C64 had amazing video and audio chips, ahead of their time, and I had fun making sound effects and emulating the multicolored video bars that hacked games showed while loading. I ended up learning machine language (assembly and ML were conflated a lot in those days) and still associate A9 in hex with LDA. I never did learn how to put software into the 1541 disk drive, though, as the best disk copying programs did.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:32:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

75-year-old intl jewel thief profiled

The AP has a profile of Doris Payne, a 75-year-old woman who made her living as an international jewel thief. Payne would dress up as a high-society woman, go into jewelry shops, try on diamong rings, and walk out with one or two more on her fingers than she started with. Now she's in jail in Vegas, and has granted an extraordinary interview telling her life's story.

There was the February day, eight years ago, when she strolled into the Neiman Marcus store on the Las Vegas Strip and asked to see a pair of diamond earrings.

Hmm, she said. She’d think about it over lunch.

She returned and asked to see diamond rings. Employee Linda Sbrocco showed her several — this one ... no, this one ... how about that one? Soon Sbrocco was swapping jewelry in and out of cases at a dizzying pace. Payne slipped rings on and off, and had Sbrocco do the same.

Then Payne was gone. And so was a $36,000 marquis cut, 2.48-carat diamond ring.

This was how Doris Payne went about her work as an international jewel thief.

Link (via MeFi)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:31:23 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Doonesbury's lost Miers confirmation strips

Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau drew a series of high-larious cartoons to commemorate the confirmation hearings for Harriet Miers, toons that were rendered obsolete by Miers's withdrawal from this race. His publisher has posted them all anyway -- they're great.

Harriet, we hardly knew ye. The following week of daily strips on the planned confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers were intended for publication beginning Monday, October 31st, with a Miers Sunday strip to follow on November 13th. Rendered obsolete by the announcement of her withdrawal from consideration on Thursday the 27th, they are nonetheless presented below for your reading pleasure. This week's strips, and the November 13th Sunday, will be repeats.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:24:46 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

RIP Link Wray 1929 - 2005

From PCL Link Dump: "Link Wray has passed away. The King. Most people refer to Elvis as the King - and they are not wrong. He was the King. Link Wray was the The KING OF ROCK. And he most certainly was The KING OF THE ROCK GUITAR."
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 07:43:35 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cartoon aliens re-enact Tom Cruise's Scientology anti-psych rant

Ze Frank has put together a Flash app in which two cartoon aliens re-enact Tom Cruise's notorious Scientology anti-psychiatry interview with Matt Lauer, in machine-generated text-to-speech voices. It doesn't sound any less crazy when played out through adorable cartoon aliens. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:17:32 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Photo of Bush and "Albert Hubo" robot

Here's a creepy photo of George W. Bush shaking hands with a 54-inch-tall robot that has Albert Einstein's head. Link (Thanks, Dave Gill!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 11:29:01 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Josh Glenn on utopian ideas hidden inside dystopian sf

Josh Glenn writes a terrific column for the Boston Globe's Ideas section. It is called "The Examined Life." This week, he wrote "a long-form essay I've written for today's Ideas: It's about Fredric Jameson's new book on the utopian possibilities of dystopian science fiction by the likes of Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Samuel R. Delany."

Because of the Cold War emphasis on dystopias, Cold War writers like Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Samuel R. Delany had to find radical new ways to express their inexpressible hopes about the future, claims Jameson. At this moment of neoliberal triumphalism, he suggests, we should take these writers seriously - even if their ideas are packaged inside lurid paperbacks.

In Dick's uncanny novels, the author demands of us that we decide for ourselves what's real and what isn't. ''Martian Time-Slip" (1964), for example, is partly told from the perspective of a 10-year-old schizophrenic colonist on Mars, where civilization is devolving into ''gubbish." And ''The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" (1965) is a psychedelic odyssey of hallucinations-within-hallucinations from which no reader emerges unscathed.

Delany, meanwhile, is best known for ''Trouble on Triton" (1976), a self-consciously post-structuralist novel that depicts a future where neither heterosexuality nor homosexuality is the norm. Le Guin, author of a fantasy series for children, ''The Earthsea Trilogy," explores Taoist, anarchist, and feminist themes in novels like ''The Left Hand of Darkness" (1969) and ''The Dispossessed" (1974). Fans of Dick, Delany, and their ilk warn neophytes not to read too many of their books too quickly: Doing so, as this reader can attest, tends to result in pronounced feelings of irreality, paranoia, and angst.

Link

Josh adds: PS:

I'm also working on essay for the forthcoming issue of the journal n+1; I published something on what I call invisible-prison theory in their first issue. Watch this space

If you've never seen my column, which takes the form of three short items every Sunday (that makes 156 items a year) they keep it here.

And what the heck, as long as I'm at it, here are the only other two essays I've written for Ideas, one on the poet Fanny Howe and one on the significance people have managed to attach to beekeeping through the ages.

Reader comment: adam says: "Josh's column is called "The Examined Life", not "Ideas." It is part of a weekly Globe section called "Ideas," which the Globe introduced last year some time (I think). The Ideas section is probably the smartest regular content I've ever seen in a newspaper. They always have interesting, provocative pieces that go way beyond what you expect to find in a newspaper, or even in longer-form newspaper features like the NYT Magazine and certainly the Globe's own terrible Sunday magazine."

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:16:40 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

MP3 player in an NES controller

Martin ingeniously hacked an old Nintendo Entertainment Center controller to act as the chassis for an MP3 player. He even got the control-buttons to drive the MP3 player! Link (in German) (Thanks, Martin!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:39:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony insider: DRM is discredited at Sony

A high-placed source at Sony BMG has emailed me with some interesting information about the ongoing rootkit DRM fiasco. My source says,

Some of the top Sony BMG artists who had XCP placed on their CDs are complaining directly to the label heads, furious that it will hurt their relationship to their fans and their sales as they go into the massively important Christmas season. Add that to rising number of anti-DRM voices within in the company who have been against DRM as only hurting "the people that are doing the right thing and buying our music." This all means that some of the label heads are finally starting to believe that DRM is just bad for business.

Now they are starting to stand up to the corporate leaders who are pushing DRM as the solution to their sliding revenue, particularly Thomas Hesse who notoriously said "Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"

At least of the label heads has threatened never to allow another CD to go out with DRM again.

Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:34:23 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cthulhu meets Goatse

Monochrom's Johannes has written a funny short-short story mashing up HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos with the infamous Internet-gross-out image, Goatse, whihc shows a man holding his bottom apart to a prodigious degree.

Out of the black void of the bloated net I received a hideous JPEG attachment, a single glimpse of forbidden eons which chills me when I think of it and maddens me when I dream of it. That glimpse, like all dread glimpses of truth, flashed out from this godless email I received. If I live, I shall never knowingly supply a link in so hideous a thing.

Link (Thanks, Johannes!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:32:31 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

PSP is unlocked, once again

A new program for the Sony PSP reinstates the ability to play homebrew games and run homebrew apps on your PSP.

Owners of Sony PSP handheld game devices are blessed with a universe of aftermarket programs that enhance the value of their property. Unfortunately, Sony keeps downgrading the PSP with new firmware versions (some of which are installed automatically mandatorily when you buy and play new games) that lock out all programs save those that have been blessed by Sony.

Luckily, heroic firmware hackers keep on undoing Sony's mischief, returning control to the devices' owners. With the new program, you can easily swap between Sony's latest lockware and the open firmware that lets you run your own programs.

"The demand and excitement for PSP has been very strong, and in turn consumers have already found many uses for PSP," a spokesman for Sony's gaming division told vnunet.com.

"However, PSP contains robust technology and was designed to run specific applications via the Universal Media Disc or memory card.

"Consumers should be aware that any hacking or home-brew applications may cause damage to the PSP unit and may void the warranty."

Translation: Sony sold you this device, but you still don't own it. It's ours, and you're not allowed to use it in ways that displease us. Link (Thanks, AV!)

Update: According to commenters on the above-linked website, there's some question as to whether this unlocker works as advertised. It may be that we still don't have a way of running our own code on our PSPs.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:29:34 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Latest news on Sony lawsuits

Mark sez, "This website tracks the class action lawsuits surrounding the Sony BMG Music Entertainment/First4Internet XCP Rootkit. Additionally, it offers information about how individuals who do not wish to wait for the class action can sue Sony in their local small claims court." Link (Thanks, Mark!), Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:23:32 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

RIAA prez: Lots of companies secretly install rootkits! It's no biggie!

RIAA President Cary Sherman gave a recent college press-conference where he addressed Sony's rootkit fiasco (among other things -- the whole trascript is worth reading for a quick visit to the planet greed). His take? Other companies do the same thing all the time!

"They have apologized for their mistake, ceased manufacture of CDs with that technology,and pulled CDs with that technology from store shelves. Seems very responsible to me. How many times that software applications created the same problem? Lots. I wonder whether they've taken as aggressive steps as SonyBMG has when those vulnerabilities were discovered, or did they just post a patch on the Internet?"

Um, Cary? We have a name for the kind of company that installs a rootkit on your computer. We call it "a criminal enterprise." It's hardly the kind of "bug" that your average software vendor has to patch. Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II (Thanks, Robert!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:32:59 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Papercraft puzzle-blocks: print, assemble and solve them

Homespun Magixx, a site with some lovely papercraft models, has two tremendous puzzle-blocks papercraft projects. Print them, assemble them, then solve them. Link 1, Link 2 (via Paper Forest)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:50:13 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cory's "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" concludes

I've been podcasting my short story "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" -- about the sysadmins surviving in data-centers after the apocalypse -- since Oct 27 and I've wrapped up the story today. You can download all six parts as MP3s or Oggs on my podcast page -- or just wait for the story to come out in the second issue of Baen's Astounding Stories Universe, a DRM-free, pay-to-download science fiction mag. Link

Update: John Joseph sez "Baen has changed the name of the mag to Jim Baen's UNIVERSE. Rumor has it they were contacted by the rightholders to the name ASTOUNDING (Dell Magazines, one would assume), and rather than fight it out, they just dumped the name in favor of a new one."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:18:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony offers MP3s in replacement for rootkit CDs

Wow -- Sony is not only offering to replace its rootkit CDs with non-rootkit CDs; they're also offering to provide MP3s of all the music on the CDs to the people who bought them. I wonder if the MP3s carry watermarks? Also -- note that they're offering to replace the discs with non-rootkit DRM discs, but not promising that some other DRM won't be present. We already know that Sony uses lots of different techniques to cripple its CDs.

You can exchange your SONY BMG compact discs (CDs) containing XCP content protection software for replacement versions of the same CD(s) without the XCP software. Please confirm that your CD(s) is among the titles and versions listed below and then select from the list the titles of the CD(s) you wish to exchange. Then click “continue.”

In the page that follows, you will be asked to provide the shipping information in the United States to which you would like to have the replacement CD sent. In addition, you will have the option of selecting whether you would like to receive MP3 files of the title(s) in addition to your replacement CD(s).

Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II (Thanks, A.V.!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:49:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Friday, November 18, 2005

Brit backpackers take Indian call-centre jobs

British backpackers in India are taking call-centre jobs for wages that are very low by UK standards, but which can bankroll an extension to a trekking holiday by a month or two.

Among the first to land in the subcontinent was Kenny Rooney, a 28-year-old from Livingston in Scotland. He had worked in a call centre at home, but after nine months in India says he does not want to return. "This is an incredible country," he said, speaking from Bombay. "I have had a brilliant time and met people from all over the world..."

Young Britons of Indian origin are also finding the jobs offer them a chance to rediscover their roots. Among them is Hasmita Patel, who is also working in Pune. "This has been the best thing I've ever done," said Ms Patel, from Leicester. "It has really allowed me to see the country and get to know people. I've learned so much about myself."

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:11:39 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Vienna's creepy natural history museum exhibits in photos

Yesterday, several of the speakers at the Roboxotica conference took a tour of Vienna's Naturhistorisches Museum, an imperial wedding-cake of a natural history museum, whose ancient taxidermied animals spill from their glass cases in great profusion, all stitches and tufted fur. Along on the trip was Jake Appelbaum, a great photographer whose work has appeared here on Boing Boing many times before. Jake was ecstatic that there was no one around to enforce the museum's no-photos rule, and he went crazy with his cameras. He's uploaded the photos to Flickr and tagged them for convenient retrieval. These are amazing shots and they really capture the musty, Indiana Jones feeling of the museum. Link (Thanks, Jake!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:24:21 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

I HEART Rootkit tees, list of Mediamax CDs, Mediamax installer to be fixed

Here's the night's dispatches on the Sony rootkit fiasco:

Pre-order your I HEART ROOTKIT shirts today Link
Get a (partial?) list of Suncomm Mediamax-infected CDs from the "CD in Question" drop-down menu on this page. Link (Thanks, Claire!)

Ed Felten and Alex Halderman report that they're working with Suncomm to fix the Mediamax uninstaller, which currently leaves your computer is worse state than it started. Link

Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:10:07 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

RU Sirius interviews Rob Breszny

In this week’s RU Sirius Show, the crew considers SF’s gun ban and contemplate abusing Bill O’Reilly. Also, they interview “Free Will Astrology” columnist Rob Breszny about “Pronoia.”

Meanwhile, on NeoFiles, RU talks with George Gleason about where we’re headed in surveillance and encryption.

And let’s not forget Lisa Rein’s “Songs from the Commons” which delves into more of “The Grokster Chronicles." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:59:20 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Laser etching doesn't necessarily void your warranty

An Apple Store tried to refuse warranty service on the headphone jack of an iPod that a customer had gotten engraved. The customer wrote a great letter to the store and got his device fixed. If you're worried that a laser etch job might void your warranty, check out the letter:

I asked that he show me the iPod warranty and the language in it that supports his determination. He showed me a copy of the iPod AppleCare plan with sections 2.e.(iii) and 2.e.(v) highlighted. After reading it, I came to the conclusion that having non-Apple engraving does not necessarily void the warranty. I explained my reasoning, but couldn't convince him that his claims weren't supported by the warranty. (Before leaving the store, I probably let my frustration show a bit too much, and for that I apologize to both sales people.)

I have since spoken to Apple Customer Service on the phone, and though they can't of course comment on my issue without seeing the Shuffle first, they were able to tell me that there is no blanket policy stating that non-Apple laser engraving voids the warranty, and that any such determination is up to the technician examining the unit, guided by the terms and conditions of the warranty. They recommended I take this issue up with the store manager.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:18:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Strip-joint balloon-artist sets balloon-inflating record

Eric sez, "I just did a story on a local guy who set a new Guinness record in balloon blowing. The weird thing is he works in a strip club six days a week, but calls Sunday his 'church day.'"

"While I was blowing up balloons another guy sat down at one of their tables and ate 200 crackers. He kept yelling out, 'You're inspiring me, man,'" said Lortie.

Monday morning, Lortie couldn't tie his own shoes.

"My fingers were swollen from tying balloons," he said.

Unfortunately, Lortie never got the chance to see what 520 balloons look like all piled up.

"We were letting the kids take them as I blew them up. The pile never seemed to get any bigger," he said.

Link (Thanks, Eric!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:14:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Vintage Panasonic appliances papercraft models

Panasonic has a selection of downloadable papercraft models of vintage Japanese small appliances, like this 1959 rice-cooker. Link (via We Make Money Not Art)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:55:58 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sears 1979 Wishbook scans

Alinsane sez, "I am in the process of digitizing and Flickr-posting the entire 1979C edition of the Sears Wishbook. Every year, my siblings and I would pore over the pages of the Sears Yearbooks, selecting the scores of items we hoped to get for Christmas. For many, the Sears Wishbooks were the (then) modern day equivalent of A Christmas Story's Higbee's Department Store front window." Link (Thanks, Alinsane!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:52:51 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

UCLA to MPAA shill: ARRRRRRR!

The MPAA's Dan Glickman went to UCLA to "educate" them about how bad piracy is. He got met wiht hard questions about his industry's campaign against its customers, then he was catcalled by students, including one who showed up wearing a pirate eyepatch (!).

"Arrrrrrr!" shouted a group of students in the front row, prompting a chorus of pirate-like catcalls in the vein of Johnny Depp...

Several of the students said the government should be focusing on eliminating poverty and improving education instead of jailing kids who download movies, music and software. One young man wore a patch over one eye, pirate-style.

Link (Thanks, Alice!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:48:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

iTunes creates a security hole?

A security research company has reported that Apple's iTunes software creates vulnerabilities in Windows XP and Mac OS X that allow remote parties to install and execute code on your computer -- basically, the vulnerability means that your computer can be taken over by an attacker who can then hijack your connection, your files, and your privacy.

I'm not surprised. An objective of good security is to protect users from attackers who want to prevent the user from controlling her computer. DRM -- like that in iTunes -- is a system for allowing remote parties (e.g. entertainment companies) to enforce their policy on your computer. Once you design the system to let anyone apart from the owner to control it, you open up the possibility that someone other than the owner will end up controlling it.

As with Sony's rootkit, every DRM has the potential to create this kind of vulnerability. Imagine if Yale manufactured every door-lock so that a "master key" from Yale could open it. So long as no one except Yale knows about the master key, you're safe (assuming you trust Yale). But someone always finds out -- that kind of secret is too valuable to remain a secret. Once a bad guy knows that there's a single technique that can be used to access every door with a Yale lock, it's only a matter of time before the attacker develops a crack.

DRM systems are an attractive nuisance, the cracker's best pal. They are, at root, systems for giving control over your computer to someone other than you. That's an invitation to disaster.

It may be that this iTunes vulnerability takes advantage of the auto-update or the connection to music store and not the components where iTunes keeps you from directing your own computer to do your bidding, but having such systems is just a bad idea if you're trying to design systems that protect their owners. Link (via /.)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:43:49 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Talking frogs review web sites

Two little talking frogs review websites. The first site they talk about is TicketMaster. They don't think it is a very good site, and I agree with them. Watch the review and find out why.
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:36:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Rugby fan castrates self

Geoffrey Huish, 31, cut off his own testicles in February to celebrate Wales beating England at Rugby. He had promised a friend he would do it if his favorite team won, so he made good on the vow. From the Australian Associated Press:

"It took about 10 minutes and there was quite a bit of pain but I just kept going.

"The cutters were blunt so I had to keep snipping."

After picking his testicles from the toilet bowl, he went to the social club.

"I went in and shouted out 'I've done it!'," Mr Huish said.

"I took my b*lls out and passed them in the bag to a friend.

"Some people then laid me on the floor."

Mr Huish continues to see a psychiatrist.

Link (Thanks, Jess Hemerly!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 12:32:44 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Senior softball champion is an enigma even to his teammates

Sixty-four-year-old John Meeden is regarded as the best player out of the two million aging baby boomers who belong to "senior softball" leagues, but nobody knows much about him, even his teammates. J.R. Moehringer of the LA Times traveled to St. Louis to see if he could find out more about the mysterious Meeden. It's a wonderfully-written piece.

"Here he comes!" someone shouted.

At last, walking slowly toward us from the parking lot, was a man built very differently from the men gathered around me. He had none of their Midwestern roundness, none of their low-slung solidity. He was tall, lean, somewhat frail, and instead of clomping along on big feet, as the others tended to do, he picked his way forward delicately, as if someone had told him to watch out for broken glass.

He was dressed differently too. Rather than the dapper uniform worn by his teammates, Meeden wore baggy street clothes--he preferred to play in his everyday duds, his teammates insisted--and he carried a sad little Kansas City Chiefs tote bag. Also, while every other man looked as if he'd been to the same Supercuts that morning, Meeden wore his white hair rakishly, almost foppishly, long. The wispy strands fell well below his shoulders.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:48:26 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

New computer translator tech headed to Iraq

Snip from Wired News report:

Even in a work environment as unsafe as modern Iraq, the job of a war-zone translator stands out as exceptionally dangerous. Dozens of interpreters hired to work with U.S. troops have died in the course of the war, victims of combat or targets for assassination. To date, the principal tools-of-the-trade are body armor and a firearm.

The risky business of battle-zone translation could get a technological boost, however, as researchers prepare to test a system that instantly translates spoken conversations to and from English and Iraqi Arabic.

Funded by Darpa, the system would allow troops to communicate in Arabic through a laptop computer equipped with voice recognition and translation software. Troops could speak in English and have their words instantly translated into Iraqi Arabic, "spoken" by a computerized man's voice. The program also translates Arabic into English.

Link to story by Joanna Glasner.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:28:51 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Users sue Match.com for date fraud

Frustrated Match.com users are suing the online dating service over complaints that company employees posed as interested date prospects -- online and in-person! -- to trick accountholders into re-upping paid subscriptions. Please stifle your ROFLs.

Match.com is accused in a federal lawsuit of goading members into renewing their subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails sent out by company employees. In some instances, the suit contends, people on the Match payroll even went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy.

"This is a grossly fraudulent practice that Match.com is engaged in," said H. Scott Leviant, a lawyer at Los Angeles law firm Arias, Ozzello & Gignac LLP, which brought the suit.

Link to story (Thanks, Mo)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:22:15 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Report: Iraq bid-rig scheme exposed, ex-con took bribes

Snip from NYT story by James Glanz:

A North Carolina man who was charged yesterday with accepting kickbacks and bribes as a comptroller and financial officer for the American occupation authority in Iraq was hired despite having served prison time for felony fraud in the 1990's. The job gave the man, Robert J. Stein, control over $82 million in cash earmarked for Iraqi rebuilding projects.

And at the end:

Walter Slocombe, an under secretary of defense in the Clinton administration who served as an adviser in Iraq in 2003, said that the comptrollers were "people with considerable responsibility, but not very far up in the hierarchy." Although Mr. Slocombe does not recall meeting Mr. Stein, he said that he did recall visiting the regional office in Hilla where Mr. Stein worked. Amid the privations and heat of Iraq, the office stood out vividly for a particularly simple reason, Mr. Slocombe said. "It was famous for its soft ice-cream machine," he said.

In the wake of the latest accusations, Mr. Slocombe said, he was wondering how the ice-cream machine had been paid for.

Link , and here is a related NYT piece from 11/17.

Here is a related account from Paul Richter at the LA Times, and here is an AP report.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:08:32 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, continued.

David Weekly is among the many nerds occupying Tunis this week for the World Summit on The Information Society -- he's doing an incredible job of documenting the experience. Here are links to his November 17 and November 18 wiki entries, where you'll read his account of Jimmy Wales' Wikipedia preso; the ICANN panel; the ubuiquity of dummy SSIDs, and much more. Snip:

I then headed over to the plenary room. Most of the talk was by very, very important and powerful people who clearly have no idea about what the Internet is, why it works, or how they'll benefit. They use very big and generic words to say pretty much nothing, and everyone claps. Most of the language concerns how great everything is going and how important the summit is. People are happy to feel important. Poor countries tend to talk about how they don't like being poor, and repressive regimes tend to talk about how dangerous the Internet is.

Saudi delegation says it should be "WECANN" instead of "ICANN". Out of technical considerations, I'm sure.

Libyan minister says the internet is used for plane hijacking and needs to be regulated. People laughed incredulously. What crack is he on?

Venezuala compares American control over the Internet to the Spanish control of sea routes in the 19th century. This is wildly off, since the Spanish actually got a cut of the traffic, but the US government does not profit from its oversight of ICANN.

Link to David's Tunis Wiki. Here is his photostream. Image: a government-produced sign promoting tech commerce in Tunisia, shot by David. "Wow, who thinks up these slogans?," he writes, "Clearly -- people who love people."

Previously on Boing Boing:
Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, 11/16
Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, 11/14

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:45:38 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Desiree Holman's chimp suits part of art opening tonight in SF

Oakland artist Desiree Holman created unnerving wearable chimpanzee sculptures. The chimp suits are part of her video/sculpture/photography installation titled Troglodyte. Holman's solo exhibition opens tonight, November 18, at San Francisco's Queen's Nail Annex gallery.
Link (Thanks, Jill Miller!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:42:47 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Web Zen: Annoying Zen

seizurebots | la la la | teddy bear | dancing guy | moving window | it hurts
a classic: dedodedo | and something soothing: pixeljam

web zen home, web zen store, (Thanks, Frank).

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:27:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pervy his 'n' hers keyholders

His, and Hers.
(thanks, Mr. Spocko)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:22:30 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tunisian government tries to shut down WSIS free speech panel?

Here's a post on the Berkman Center website documenting problems with Thursday's World Summit on the Information Society panel on 'Expression under Repression.' According to this account -- first it was canceled, then reopened, then harassed. Link (Thanks, Luis)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:15:58 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Kitschy stealth sex toy disguised as cellphone

We've had some posts recently on Boing Boing about tech gadgets which are not sex toys being used for dirty purposes. Here is the opposite, spotted in the Hustler Store on Hollywood's Sunset Strip.

Nestled between light-up penis keychains and glow-in-the-dark buttplugs, a superkitschy vibrator disguised as a cellphone. "The Vibra Phone is Your Secret Agent Massager in a Covert Package." Whatever shame might be avoided by being caught with a vibrator in your purse would surely be overshadowed by being caught with a cellphone that looks this crappy. Link to phonecam snapshot.

As an aside, the Hustler stores are interesting retail spaces, with regard to user experience. Everything is well-lit, wide open, unhidden. Unlike most adult stores, for instance, the façade of the Sunset location -- a very busy street -- is clear glass, with both products and clientele on display. Lots of artsy/lit books and magazines, in addition to the wares you'd expect to find.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:09:50 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Beck and the dancing robots

Beck's new video "Hell Yes," directed by Garth Jennings, stars four Sony QRIO robots busting their mechano-moves.
Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:01:06 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Congress honors Navy men lost in Bermuda Triangle

Congress has honored the 27 Navy airmen lost on Flight 19, a mission of five planes that vanished off Florida's coast on December 5, 1945. That mysterious disappearance first launched the Bermuda Triangle meme. From the Associated Press:

Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.) said he hoped the gesture (of the House resolution) would help bring closure to surviving families.

What happened is the question that has befuddled, entertained and tormented both skeptics and believers in the Bermuda Triangle, a stretch of ocean between Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Miami that many believe is an area of supernatural phenomena.

"There's just so many weird things here that experienced pilots would have not acted this way," Shaw said. "Something happened out there."

Link to AP article (via Cryptomundo), Link to Navy FAQ on "The Loss Of Flight 19" (Thanks, Angus McIntyre!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:50:05 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Diseases, drugs, chemicals and famous artists from history

"The Effects of Diseases, Drugs and Chemicals on the Creativity and Productivity of Famous Sculptors, Classic Painters, Classic Music Composers and Authors" is the name of an article by University of California pathologist Paul L. Wolfhas. From the article, published in this month's Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine:

The phrase “the inhumanity of medicine” has been used by Sir David Weatherall, Oxford's Regius Professor of Medicine, for a kind of sickness in modern technological medicine.1 In 1919, one of his predecessors, Sir William Osler, had the remedy for that complaint. Osler suggested that the “arts” secrete materials that do for society what the thyroid does for human beings. The arts, including literature, music, painting, and sculpture, are the hormones that enhance an increased human approach to the medical profession.2,3

Illness has affected the artistic achievement of musical composers, classical painters, creative authors, and sculptors. Illness affected their physical and mental status as well. Their inspiration may have been shaped by their human condition. The associations between illness and art may be close and many because of both the actual physical limitations of the artists and their mental adaptation to disease. Although they were ill, many continued to be productive. The afflictions these people endured probably could have been ascertained and perhaps treated with modern medical techniques.

This article analyzes the effects of drugs, chemicals, and diseases on the creativity and productivity of the famous sculptors Benvenuto Cellini and Michelangelo Buonarroti; classic painters Ivar Arosenius, Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, and Michelangelo; classic music composer Louis Hector Berlioz; and author Thomas De Quincey.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:40:57 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Laser etched PowerBook

Phillip Torrone took his PowerBook to Squid Labs and got a tarsier laser etched on the case.
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 07:54:39 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Letter to BBC: Bring back classical music downloads!

The BBC has decided that classical music is too popular to be given away for free to the people who pay for the BBC.

Last June, the BBC posted every Beethoven symphony as a free MP3 download, to great success. Britons downloaded the tracks, discovered new love for classical music, and got good value for the money they give the BBC every year.

The classical music labels can't see past the loss of a few CD sales to the greater value of revitalizing and mainstreaming love of symphonic music, nor do they seem to care about the Beeb's remit to deliver public value. They complained bitterly about the BBC giving away classical music to a hungry audience that demanded it.

The BBC has caved and is abandoning this runaway success. Britons' license fees will not be spent to give them the media they desire.

Rufus Pollock has written an open letter to the BBC taking it to task for this dereliction of duty. You can email him to add your name to the letter.

Classical music is an essential, and highly valued, part of our culture and we find it entirely inappropriate that access should be restricted on narrow, and mistaken, ‘commercial’ grounds. The benefit to us, as individuals and as a society, of greater access to these works greatly outweigh any costs. Thus we formally request that the BBC repeat the policy adopted during its Beethoven-week both for Bach and future seasons by providing free online downloads of the material wherever it is able to. We believe that it is only in this way that the BBC can fully live up to its mission as a public service broadcaster.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:58:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ex-MI5 chief: national ID cards are useless

The former head of Britain's secret service has publicly denounced the UK's national ID card proposal as "useless."

Dame Stella Rimington has said most documents could be forged and this would render ID cards "useless".

If you're interested in fighting the "useless" National ID card in the UK, you can check out NO2ID, and the Pledgeban pledges (refuse the register, support refuseniks). Link (Thanks, Jacob!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:45:58 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ode to the overhead projector

The kooky Austrian net.artists at Monochrom have released their latest project, a pop song that's a love-anthem to the dear departed overhead projector.

Overhead
You really drove us mad
You weren't all that bad
On the walls we read
What they wanted to teach
What they wanted to preach
It's over

Link (Thanks, Johannes!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:36:31 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Game: defend your gallery from modern art by shooting it

Curator Defense is a little video-game where you defend the walls of your art gallery by firing guns at modern art as it attempts to get itself hung. Link (via Wonderland)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:03:03 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

EFF's blogger's rights guide for students

EFF has added a guide to Bloggers' Rights for students, an excellent companion piece to its previous smash-hit Guide to Bloggers' Rights.

Do Public School Students Have Free Speech Rights under the First Amendment?
Absolutely. Both minors and adults have First Amendment rights, and according to the Supreme Court, public school students don't "shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." See Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969). In the Tinker case, the Court said that public high school students had a First Amendment right to wear black armbands to class in symbolic protest of the Vietnam War. "Students in school as well as out of school are 'persons' under our Constitution," the Court said, and "they are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect..."

But I'm a Private School Student—What About Me?
You also have First Amendment rights, but those rights only protect you from government censorship, not private censorship. As a general matter, you will receive no protection from censorship or punishment by a private school or college. See e.g. Ubriaco v. Albertus Magnus High School, No. 99 Civ. 11135 (JSM) (S.D.N.Y. July 21, 2000) (dismissing claim contesting private school expulsion for content on personal web site). However, as discussed below, some states provide private high school and college students with additional speech protections that go above and beyond the First Amendment. Furthermore, if your private school has an applicable written policy, the school must follow that policy.

Also keep in mind that even though your private school may have the right to enforce a stupid rule, that doesn't make it any less stupid. So, if your private school is going overboard in trying to squelch online speech, contact EFF. Depending on the facts, we may be able to help you publicize the problem and hopefully convince your school to be more reasonable.

If you're a blogger, you can help support EFF's work through the Bloggers' Rights fundraising campaign. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:25:09 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Google logos through the ages

This is a sweet gallery of dozens and dozens of variants on the Google logo. Link (via Digg)

Update: Google has an official repository for these logos, too. (Thanks, Douglips!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:10:57 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

This season's ten most dangerous toys

World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH), a consumer watchdog org, has published a list of its ten most dangerous Xmas-season toys. I have to say that they all seem pretty mild compared to the stuff I used to play with, though it is interesting to note how hypocritical the manufacturers' advice can be as with the Fantastic 4 Thing gauntlets below:

These oversized fists, resembling those of a popular comic book and movie character, are sold to enable six year olds to "smash!" and "crash!" just like the "super strong creature." Remarkably, at the same time children are encouraged to engage in "clobberin time!", parents are warned that the toy is "intended to be used only for dress-up fantasy play", and that "serious injury could result" should it be used to strike a person or pet.

Link (via Fark)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:09:00 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ancient MacSE at an Apple Genius Bar

A blogger snapped this pic at an Apple Store Genius Bar where someone brought in his 1988 MacSE to see about getting it upgraded. I had a couple of these things -- real workhorses. Of course, it's got about 0.5 percent of the power of my current laptop, and 0.05 percent as much RAM! Link (via Digg)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:05:04 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Euro XML/open standards conference call for papers

XTech 2006 is an XML conference that's being held in Amsterdam on 16-19 May 2006 -- they've posted their call for participation, looking for talks on open standards, Web 2.0, and service-remixing. Link (Thanks, Edd!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:59:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Phoneswarm: Call payphones, chat with strangers, report back

Phoneswarm provides the phone numbers of remote payphones for you to call so you can chat wiht strangers. They share stories about the conversations they have with people who answer the phones.

One thing I've noticed about the pay phones is that after you call and reach the modem thing, you have to wait ten or twenty seconds before you can call again. I get a busy signal between this. And as I was typing that, I got through. Luckily, I left my microphone on, Audacity recording, and my phone on speakerphone, so I recorded the conversation. It actually scared me a lot. He said stuff about drugs and me being female because of my high voice. Twenty bucks says he's still waiting there by the phone for me to call back. Listen and behold - and be afraid. If you want, I can post a text transcript for our dial-up friends. Despite the fact that my heart is beating 140 miles per hour in fear, that was pretty fun. I'll definitely be trying it again.

Link (Thanks, Jon!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:56:51 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Judge to Lego: Your patent has expired, get over it

The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that it's lawful for a Montreal company to make blocks that work with Lego bricks.

Decades ago, Lego sought and received a Canadian patent for its blocks. The patent did what it was supposed to do: it protected Lego's invention for a limited time, and then it expired, so that anyone could make compatible products. That's the patent bargain: in exchange for asking the government to keep your competitors at bay, you agree to let the public copy your invention for free when the period of exclusivity is expired.

Lego is a great beneficiary of this: the machines, processes, materials, tools, and even the roads, power and sewer lines that feed the Lego business contain innumerable inventions on which the patents have expired. If Lego had to pay a royalty to every inventor whose work they built upon, a single Lego brick would cost a million dollars.

But Lego wanted to renege on the deal. They proposed that their trademark should protect their exclusive right to their blocks forever. They argued that anyone who buys a Lego-shaped brick is doing so because he believes he's buying official Lego product and not Mega Bloks, even if it says Mega Bloks on the package.

In other words, Lego argues that its customers are so stupid that they need to be protected from their inability to distinguish official Lego from lower-cost competing products, and the government should therefore ensure that no one ever undercuts their pricing.

The Supreme Court didn't buy it. They threw out Lego's claim and opened the door to competitors. Now Lego joins the same pool of inventions that has served it so well -- a pool from which anyone can freely draw to create new products and services as innovative as that first Lego brick was, all those decades ago.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court justices concurred with a lower court judge who found that "purely functional" features, such as the well-known geometrical pattern of raised studs on the top of the bricks, could not be the basis of a trademark.

"Trademark law should not be used to perpetuate monopoly rights enjoyed under now-expired patents," the Supreme Court says.

Link (Thanks, Michael!)

Update: Greg sez, "In your post about the Lego/Megablocks ruling you implied that the two are 'compatible'. As a father of three I can tell you that they are not: they look and work the same, but you can't connect them in any useful way. Which just makes Lego's position even even more more ridiculous."

Update 2: Dominic sez, "I was of the same opinion until recently my wife got me over my shortsightedness and made me buy the Imagination Bucket of Megablok pieces for the kids. I can honestly say that they integrated perfectly with our Lego collection and the kids are able to build without knowing one from the other. Maybe Greg is thinking of older the older Megablok style, which was not compatible, or else some of the junior sets?"

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:53:36 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Anti-GWB logo: Worst. President. Ever.

This anti-GWB sticker ("Worst. President. Ever.") is the perfect blend of comic-book-guy in-joke, cheeky remixing of the W04 campaign logo, and admirable political sentiment. Link (Thanks, Rich!)

Update: A banner with the same legend hangs in a prominent spot visible from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. (Thanks, Jim!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:40:35 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

One laptop per child for the developing world

Nicholas Negroponte and other MIT luminaries have been working on a project to build a sub-$100, hand-cranked WiFi laptop, with the objective of supplying one apiece to every child in the developing world. They've done lots of cool stuff along the way -- for example, they've remained committed to providing entirely free and open operating systems for the machines, so that their owners can tinker with them, improve on them, and publish their improvements (they turned down an offer from Apple to supply OS X with every machine because it fails this test -- parts of Apple's OS are proprietary and can't lawfully be modified by users).

Now they've actually demoed a working prototype for the Secretary General of the UN, which cost just a hair more than the final price: $110. Wired News has a short interview with Negroponte on the milestone:

WN: Is the goal literally to make computers available to every child that wants one in the world?

Negroponte: It's every child in the world whether they want one or not. They may not know they want one.

WN: Do you have any thoughts on what the long-term impact of giving all these kids a programming environment and an open-source ethic might be?

Negroponte: Those are two different questions. Giving the kids a programming environment of any sort, whether it's a tool like Squeak or Scratch or Logo to write programs in a childish way -- and I mean that in the most generous sense of the word, that is, playing with and building things -- is one of the best ways to learn. Particularly to learn about thinking and algorithms and problem solving and so forth.

And providing the tools for some people -- it's going to be a very limited subset (who will use them) -- to develop software that will be redistributed and versioned and so forth out into the world is also important. It's part of the whole open-source movement.

Clive Thompson has some good commentary on this:

As the creators of this initiative explain in the online FAQ for their project:

Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What's wrong with community-access centers?
One does not think of community pencils -- kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful.

Precisely the point: A computer is a tool that creates new modes of thought -- just like a paintbrush or a new language. As the seminal education thinker Seymour Papert argued in his superb book Mindstorms, one of the reasons people don't learn math is that it is a language that requires immersion in "mathland," much as learning French requires living amongst those who speak French. If you try and learn French in an English-speaking country, with no one and no place to practise it, you'll fail. Same goes for math. Papert argued that computers -- most specifically, basic computer programming -- formed a virtual "mathland".

Link

Update Jhai foundation co-founder Lee Felsenstein has published a detailed critique of the One Laptop Per Child project. I disagree with some of what he says and am curious about the rest -- at the least, this constitutes a roadmap of issues that the OLPC project will have to resolve on the way to realizing its vision. (Thanks, Ciaron!)

Update 2 Here's some commentary from Jhai's other founder, Lee Thorn

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:36:02 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Amazon offers refunds for all Sony rootkit CDs

Amazon has not only pulled all of Sony's rootkit-infected CDs from its catalog, they're also contacting everyong who bought a rootkit CD and offering a full refunds, whether or not the CD has been opened.

Now this is a textbook example of how retailers should be responding to the news that Sony tricked them into selling CDs that screwed up their customers' computers.

The Sony CD(s) listed above contain XCP digital rights management (DRM) software. Due to security concerns raised about the use of CDs containing this software on PCs, Sony has recalled these CDs and has asked Amazon.com to remove all unsold CDs with XCP software from our store.

Since you purchased this CD from Amazon.com, you may return it to us for a full refund regardless of whether the CD is opened or unopened.

Link (Thanks, Kelly!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:00:07 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Andrew "Bunnie" Huang -- drop me a line --UPDATED!

None of my contact numbers for Andrew "Bunnie" Huang work anymore, nor do the email addresses I have. Andrew, please drop me a line -- I need to chat with you! Mail me Found him! Thanks, everyone!

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:45:31 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Nice day for a cyberpunk wedding: Sterling - Tesanovic

Tomorrow will be a lovely day in Los Angeles. Because tomorrow is the day on which Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic will be married here, in a small, private, phonecamarazzi-free ceremony. From all of us at Boing Boing: we wish you the very best. Already, I can hear the gleeful cries of robots ringing out through all the land.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:47:46 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Great long PopSci story on the development of colored soap bubbles

Martina says: "A scientist's 11 year quest of developing colored bubbles, which will be available in February 2006."

[Tim] Kehoe, a 35-year-old toy inventor from St. Paul, Minnesota, has done all this in an effort to make real an idea he had more than 10 years ago, one he's been told repeatedly cannot be realized: a colored bubble. No, not the shimmering rainbow effect you see when the light catches a clear soap bubble. Kehoe's bubble would radiate a single, vibrant hue throughout the entire sphere—a green bubble, an orange bubble, a hot-pink bubble. It's a bubble that can make CEOs giggle and stunned mothers tear up in awe. It's a bubble you don't expect to see, conditioned as you are to the notion that soap bubbles are clear. An unnaturally beautiful bubble. Kehoe made a bubble like that when he was 26, after only two years of trashed countertops and chemical fires. He showed it to toy-company executives, who called it a "holy grail." And then it broke, as bubbles always do. And when it did, the dye inside escaped onto clothes and carpets and walls and skin, staining everything it touched. The execs told him to come back with a bubble they could wash off their boardroom table.

Link

Reader comment: Rick says: Check out the photo gallery. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:10:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Conrstarch lab fun

Old-school BB pal Jim Leftwich sends this link to a "trippy video of an experiment involving water and cornstarch." Beautiful!
Link (via Mike Wertheim)

posted by David Pescovitz at 04:46:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Crop circle files on eBay for $250k

Crop circle investigator and expert Colin Andrews is auctioning off two decades of research materials, including more than 35,000 photos with negatives, 650 VHS tapes, Excel databases, more than 3,000 books and publications, and lots more crop circleana. Andrews is broke. Bidding on eBay starts at $250,000. From the auction listing:

Andrews states that after 2 decades of intensive investigation and having witnessed some powerful experiences himself: "I am sure this is one of the most profound phenomenon of our time and I share the view held by some of the worlds nature loving people, like the Hopi Indians, that "Mother Earth" is crying and is in serious difficulty. She requires massive and urgent assistance of all "Brothers" in all places. Universal energy interactions may be at work and the interface between two dimensions register spectacular patters of great meaning and such depth as man can yet imagine."

Be aware that this collection also contains documented evidence suggesting paranormal activity, high strangeness, or "fringe" activity. Among the items, you will find 20+ years of research projects and results, some never before disclosed. These cover a wide range of topics, including:

* Magnetometer Surveys
* Plasma Balls
* Brainwave experiments
*Altered mind states and the healing effects of crop circles on the human consciousness.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 04:09:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Antigravity device patented

I missed this in Nature last week, but the US patent office has approved a patent for a spacecraft powered by antigravity. Here's the abstract of US Patent #6,960,975:

A space vehicle propelled by the pressure of inflationary vacuum state is provided comprising a hollow superconductive shield, an inner shield, a power source, a support structure, upper and lower means for generating an electromagnetic field, and a flux modulation controller. A cooled hollow superconductive shield is energized by an electromagnetic field resulting in the quantized vortices of lattice ions projecting a gravitomagnetic field that forms a spacetime curvature anomaly outside the space vehicle. The spacetime curvature imbalance, the spacetime curvature being the same as gravity, provides for the space vehicle's propulsion. The space vehicle, surrounded by the spacetime anomaly, may move at a speed approaching the light-speed characteristic for the modified locale. Link

Such a device apparently defies the laws of physics. From Nature:

This is not the first such patent to be granted, but it shows that patent examiners are being duped by false science, says physicist Robert Park, watchdog of junk science at the American Physical Society in Washington DC. Park tracks US patents on impossible inventions. "The patent office is in deep trouble," he says.

"If something doesn't work, it is rejected," insists Alan Cohan, an adviser at the patent office's Inventors Assistance Center in Alexandria, Virginia. And when something does slip through, he says, the consequences are not significant: "It doesn't cause any problems because the patent is useless."

But Park argues that patenting devices that so blatantly go against scientific understanding could give them undeserved respectability, and undermine the patent office's reputation. "When a patent is awarded for an idea that doesn't work, the door is opened for sham." Link (Thanks, Harvey Lehtman!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 02:59:57 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Vote on horrible sounds

BadVibes is a fun project launched by Salford University's Acousitc Research Centre to identify the worst sound in the world. Visitors to the BadVibes site are given an opportunity to hear and rate some truly annoying noises. From the press release:

Fingernails scraping down a blackboard… the scream of a baby… your neighbour’s dog barking: what’s the worst sound in the world?

People can... listen and vote on a collection of awful sounds, use the horrible sound mixer and even download horrible sound effects as ringtones.

But as Professor Trevor Cox from the University’s Acoustics Research Centre explained, there’s a serious side to the research as well.

"The idea behind the project is to get people thinking about the complex way we listen to and interpret sounds. For instance, you can find out why we find the sound of retching horrible.

Link (Thanks, Eric Paulos!)

posted by David Pescovitz at 02:11:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

This is Cape Canaveral

Ward Jenkins says: I thought you'd dig this post I wrote about the rare book, "This is Cape Canaveral," I found recently, written and illustrated by Miroslav Sasek, who was this fantastic children's book illustrator from the 50's on into the 70's. He had this wonderful timeless quality to his look and style."

From Ward's post:

Equally impressive is the fact that when you look at Sasek's work, it does not look at all dated. Sure, there are elements to that stylized look and design in his work that was evident of the mid-20th century, but it's just enough to remain timeless. I swear, you could open this book in 2005 and think that you are reading something that is contemporary. Again, credit this to Sasek's impeccable style, which seems to get better with age.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:07:16 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ronald McDonald and Mario get together in Chicago

(Click on thumbnails for enlargement)Ronald McDonald and Mario made a joint surreal celebrity appearance at a Chicago McDonalds to tout the new Nintendo Wi-Fi service. My 8-year-old daughter has been playing Mario Kart DS against players from around the world using the Wi-Fi link. It's really slick.
Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:44:06 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Uninstaller for Sony's other malware screws up your PC

Last week, I wrote about Princeton DRM researcher Alex Halderman's work on Suncomm's MediaMax, a piece of malware that accompanies the XCP rootkit on many of Sony's DRM CDs. Like the rootkit, Suncomm's software spies on your music usage and finks you out to Sony without your knowledge and consent.

But beware. If you try to uninstall the Suncomm MediaMax trojan using the official tool provided by Suncomm, you'll leave your computer with a huge back-door vulnerability, due to the negligent incompetence of Suncomm's programmers.

When you visit the SunnComm uninstaller web page, you are prompted to accept a small software component—an ActiveX control called AxWebRemoveCtrl created by SunnComm. This control has a design flaw that allows any web site to cause it to download and execute code from an arbitrary URL. If you’ve used the SunnComm uninstaller, the vulnerable AxWebRemoveCtrl component is still on your computer, and if you later visit an evil web site, the site can use the flawed control to silently download, install, and run any software code it likes on your computer. The evil site could use this ability to cause severe damage, such as adding your PC to a botnet or erasing your hard disk.

Halderman has written a remover for Suncomm's software that doesn't screw up your computer blocker that stops Suncomm's uninstaller from running, but that leaves you with Suncomm's malware on-board. Don't run the software from Suncomm if you value your data.

And don't forget how your computer got screwed up: Sony punished you for doing the honest thing and buying a CD from them instead of downloading your music from an unauthorized source.

Next time you'll know better. Link, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part I, Sony Rootkit Roundup Part II

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:27:11 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tesla's 150th birthday party

Croatia is planning a big blowout for the 150th anniversary of the birth of my hero, Nikola Tesla.

The government will finance the finishing of restoration of Tesla's home in a village in central Croatia and turn it into a museum. Conferences and lectures on Tesla's work are also planned.

Link (via Fark)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:19:56 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

All-knitted wedding

This knitting club celebrated a member's wedding by knitting the entire service -- booze bottles, confetti, dresses and a top-hat, the wedding cake and the train. The photos are incredible. Link (via Make Blog)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:18:07 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Funny review of Barrel of Monkeys Game

Rob Getzschman says: "I've been trying to find out how to get my hands on a copious amount of monkeys from the "Barrel of Monkeys" game by Hasbro, as I'd like to send these out with my new album "Hypocrisy in the Genius Room", which has a monkey on the cover. "In my research, I found this great review of Barrel of Monkeys. And I thought it fit with all the beautiful things I find on BoingBoing.net. Hope you dig it."

My edition of BoM is constructed in sturdy, space age organic compounds produced by polymerization, molded into the shape of (a) a barrel and (b) 12 monkeys. The ingenious design of this is that the barrel is both the monkey receptacle used later in game play as well as the convenient portable carrying case for the entire game! The edition that I have (1996) has a vibrant sunburst yellow barrel and monkeyriffic red simians.

The components are molded from beautiful sculpts and accurately represent both the barrel and monkeys to perfection. There is no part of the components that would leave people wondering what they could be. The detailing on the monkeys is sublime, from the individual hairs in the monkeys' sumptuous coat of fur, to the expression of unadulterated glee on each and every monkey's face, will not leave you disappointed.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:17:45 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

MAKE visits American Inventor

Phillip Torrone & Natalie Zee of MAKE magazine (disclaimerFull disclosure: I am editor-in-chief of MAKE) filed an on -the-scene report of their visit to the American Inventor reality TV show opening day in San Francisco.

Some of the ideas came from kid inventors with their parents prompting them to show what they made, from a new board game to aerodynamic car ornament. A farmer who invented an inflatable bra was inspired to design the product by his 3 daughters. A woman spent over $350,000 developing a special diaper bag. An elderly man is working on an odor eliminating toilet seat. 


The producers of the show said out of the 400 in LA, they'll call back around 100. The team of judges are patent lawyers, TV executives, and CEO/author Pamela Riddle who , wrote "Inventing for Dummies." Pamela commented on the large number of inventors who unfortunately spend a lot of money and time working with the infomercial "invention" companies who advertise with an 1-800 number late at night. "Every idea is good to them, and it can cost up to $11,000 to be listed in their database, I've never known any inventor in my 20 years in the business who got their product to market with any of these companies," says Pamela.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:05:57 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Interview with artist Jim Flora's archivist

In the latest AIGA Design Forum, Steven Heller interviews Irwin Chusid, author of The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora.

Heller: Would you say he was happy being an illustrator?

Chusid: Flora was married to an artist, Jane Sinnicksen, whom he considered a superior fine artist. The indications are that he decided to go in the opposite direction—lowbrow, and thus his style of fractured caricature evolved. But he wasn't a "starving artist." He made a good living as a commercial illustrator, raised five children, and paid his mortgage. He traveled, and exuded joie de vivre. What this collection reveals is what he did when he wasn't being paid to help hawk merchandise or entertain tots. It's as if he was exorcising his demons. Instead of being a serial killer, he painted and sketched. I suspect he often stepped back from the canvas, examined his work, and gave a sinister chuckle.

Link (Previous Jim Flora coverage on Boing Boing here) (via Cartoon Brew)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:42:55 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

How to dip your fingers in molten lead

From a 1999 issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine: Physics instructor David G. Wiley shows how to walk on broken glass, dip your fingers into molten lead, and pick up as "orange-hot piece of space shuttle tile."

Before dipping one's fingers in molten lead, the hand is dipped in a bowl of water. Then the drops are shaken off and the hand dipped quickly in and out of the lead. I usually dip the first seven or eight centimeters of my fingers. Heat from the lead goes into evaporating the water and hence not into burning the hand, and the resulting steam layer insulates the hand.

Link (via Neatorama)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:34:13 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

NPR's "My Lobotomy" on MP3

Ryan says: "Yesterday on NPR's 'All Things Considered,' they aired a segment entitled 'My Lobotomy,'" a story of and narrated by a 56-year old bus driver from California named Howard Dully who underwent an transorbital (a.k.a. icepick) lobotomy in 1966 at the age of 12.

"Since his lobotomy, Mr. Dully has been tortured with the thought of how his life, personality, and soul was changed by the brutal procedure. I'm an avid NPR listener and this is the single best story I've ever heard on air." MP3 Link

Reader comment: Ryan says: "Though the story aired on NPR, it is not 'NPR's' piece. It was produced by Sound Portraits, who also have a link to the MP3 and other pieces in a similar vein. This was a very moving piece, and I'm very glad to see you spreading it to a wider audience. Directly mentioning the actual producers would give credit where credit is due and help others find more stories by this excellent production house, which makes their content freely available to the public (it was established by a MacArther fellow).

Reader comment: Jay Brodsky of NPR says: "I'll note for the benefit of your readers that subscribers to NPR's "Story of the Day" podcast would have had the piece arrive directly onto their MP3 player this morning at 1:00 ET, for their enjoyment on the commute to work today. Yet another reason to sign up! Here's the direct link. Just paste it into your podcatching software, and hit 'subscribe.'" http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1090&uid=n9qe4e85742c986fdb81d2d38 ffa0d5d53

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:23:12 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Space Cadets: Real-Life Truman Show

Nick says: "The Independent reports on a new reality TV show - in top secret production since March - that will trick nine clueless victims into thinking they've travelled into space. It'll be filmed live starting in December.

"Issues that will be explained to them include the fact they will not be weightless in near space and that, like Sir Richard Branson's space-tourist shuttles, their craft will take off horizontally rather than vertically. A Russian fitness trainer will also take them through their physical paces.

The shuttle itself has been built using a set from the film Space Cowboys, starring Clint Eastwood, which was made from a Nasa blueprint. It consists of three sections - a cockpit, a mid-deck where they will they eat and sleep, and a laboratory, where the team will carry out experiments - some of them authentic, others slightly more wacky.

The cockpit has four windows, which are in reality giant digital screens using graphics three times the resolution of high definition television and better than the visual effects used in The Matrix, capable of recreating hurricanes over Mexico.

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:12:59 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

In memoriam: Motorola EVP Geoffrey Frost

This morning, extremely sad news that Motorola executive vice president Geoffrey Frost has passed away. Here is a statement from Motorola about his passing. Here is a Reuters item.

I had the great fortune of working with Mr. Frost on several occasions. He was a good man. I know that he will be missed by many. (Thank you, Numair)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:53:45 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ten word vocabulary for women

Samantha Bonar of the LA Times -- writing about Maureen Dowd's new book, Are Men Necessary -- says she's learned that she needs only 10 monosyllabic words to effectively communicate with men.

You
Big
Strong
Yes
Chips
Game
Beer
Man
Want
Great

For example: "Big strong man want beer?" "You want chips?" "You great!"

I will avoid these words like New Orleans:

Me
I
Why
What
Can
Will
No
Never
Stop
Yuck

As in: "Why do you insist on my wearing these sheer red stockings?" "Can I have one of your beers?" "Will you let me know if you are married?"

Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:31:54 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

HOWTO use Google Local to get European maps on your phone

Google Local is a service that puts maps of where you are on your phone. According to Google, the service doesn't work in Europe, nor does it take account of the GPS data your phone may send, but the intrepid phone hackers at Digital Lifestyles have figured out how to get Google to use accurate GPS signals from your phone and to display location data for Europe.

The discovery doesn't end there. After chatting further to Cristian Streng, we now also realise that there's detail on the Mobile version that isn't available via the 'normal' Web-based Google Maps.

To illustrate it, he sent us some screen grabs showing mapping data of Germany that is currently only available in GLM.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:58:55 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Schneier: Why didn't anti-virus apps defend us against Sony's rootkit?

Bruce Schneier has a great editorial on Wired News that asks why anti-virus companies -- who would normally address a rootkit or similar piece of software within hours -- didn't notice Sony's rootkit, which had been in place since mid-2004? Also: why did they initially refuse to patch against it? Who do these companies work for -- us, or the entertainment industry?

Symantec's response to the rootkit has, to put it kindly, evolved. At first the company didn't consider XCP malware at all. It wasn't until Nov. 11 that Symantec posted a tool to remove the cloaking. As of Nov. 15, it is still wishy-washy about it, explaining that "this rootkit was designed to hide a legitimate application, but it can be used to hide other objects, including malicious software."

The only thing that makes this rootkit legitimate is that a multinational corporation put it on your computer, not a criminal organization.

You might expect Microsoft to be the first company to condemn this rootkit. After all, XCP corrupts Windows' internals in a pretty nasty way. It's the sort of behavior that could easily lead to system crashes -- crashes that customers would blame on Microsoft. But it wasn't until Nov. 13, when public pressure was just too great to ignore, that Microsoft announced it would update its security tools to detect and remove the cloaking portion of the rootkit.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:17:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony still advising public to install rootkits

Sony's website still has instructions for playing its CDs in which they advise you to install their now-recalled dangerous rootkit software.

To install the software on this disc, you must have Administrator rights on your computer. Administrator rights are typically the default setting for home computers, however, in many work environments it is not the default setting. If you do not have Administrator rights, log out of your account and log in as an Administrator.

Link (Thanks, Dan!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:42:13 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony rootkit roundup, part II

See Part I, Part III, Part IV, Part V and Part VI of this post for more.

It's been three days since the first roundup post on Sony's rootkit DRM and lots of new stuff has come to light since. Below is a timeline of posts since then, but first, here's the Sony debacle news that came in while I slept:

• Immunize Yourself Against Sony’s Dangerous Uninstaller: Princeton DRM researchers Ed Felten and Alex Halderman explain how to miitgate the security vulnerabilities left behind by Sony's incompetent "uninstaller" program.

• List of infected CDs: Sony finally lists the 52 titles infected with the XCP rootkit. Note that Sony initially claimed that fewer than half that number were infected. (Thanks, Kurt!)

• US-CERT: Never Install Audio-CD DRM Software. The Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team advises that you never install CD DRM: "Do not install software from sources that you do not expect to contain software, such as an audio CD." (Thanks, Kurt!)

Now, all the news that's come in since the initial roundup post on Nov 14:

Nov 14: Sony anti-customer technology roundup and time-line

Roundup of Sony's misdeeds to Nov 14.

Nov 14: EFF to Sony: you broke it, you oughta fix it

EFF publishes an open letter to Sony calling on the company to make amends for its misdeeds -- Sony should disclose the risks of its DRM software, it should give customers uninfected CDs, help anti-spyware companies fix the holes, compensate customers for damage to PCs, and package their CDs will full disclosure of any malware contained within.

Nov 14: Sony's rootkit uninstaller is *really* dangerous

Following on the November 13 research about Sony's rootkit "uninstaller" leaving your computer vulnerable to attacks like rebooting it by inserting malicious code in a web-page, Princeton researchers Ed Felten and Alex Halderman announces that they have discovered far more serious problems with the software and warn against installing it at all, promising prompt full disclosure (they publis this the next day, along with some instructions for defending yourself if you've run the uninstaller)

Nov 15: Sony begins to recall some infected CDs

Sony announces a limited recall of its infected CDs -- they'll take them back from stores, but not from customers (they announce that they'll swap out customers' CDs later in the day)

Nov 15: Sony's spyware "remover" creates huge security hole

Princeton DRM researchers Ed Felten and Alex Haldermen publish detailed analysis of the security vulnerabilities created by the rootkit "uninstaller" Sony that provides. Running this software leaves your machine vulnerable to complete takeover by simply embedding malicious code in a webpage.

Nov 15: Sony infects more than 500k networks, including military and govt

Dan Kaminsky publishes research showing that Sony's DRM has infected over 500,000 computer networks including networks belonging to the military and the government.

Nov 15: Sony disavows lockware patent

Sony issues a statement promising not to use technology that locks videogames to consoles.

Nov 15: Latest Sony news: 100% of CDs with rootkits, mainstream condemnation, retailers angry

Mini-roundup post. Before Sony recanted, they were sending out emails to their customers proudly promising that 100 percent of their CDs would be infected with rootkits by end of 2005. The Globe and Mail's business section denounces Sony. A tipster at a retailer reports that Sony is pressuring the sales channel to downplay the scope of the threat from its rootkit DRM. Sony and other electronics companies get caught jacking up the wholesale price to online stores, so that their retail price will be the same as those in physical stores.

Nov 15: Sory Electronics: Will Sony make amends for infecting our computers?

SORY Electronics -- lovely parody of Sony's logo, reading: "SORY IS THE HARDEST WORD." It's the concept behind a site calling on Sony to really make amends for the infecting of its customers' PCs.

Nov 15: Sony issues non-apology for compromising your PC

Sony promises to send you a non-DRM CD to replace your DRM CD. Still no word on how to effectively uninstall their rootkit, and the company downplays the scope of the damage -- just what we need, infected users with a false sense of security.

Nov 16: Katamari/Sony DRM mashup

Humor break: Joey De Villa creates "Katamari DRM," showing the wonderful videogame transformed into a game where the objective is to overwhelm the planet with rootkit DRM -- he draws on Dan Kaminsky's excellent visualizations of the 500,000+ networks infected with the rootkit.

Nov 16: Sony waits 3 DAYS to withdraw dangerous "uninstaller" for its rootkit

Three days after being notified that its rootkit DRM uninstaller leaves computers in a dangerously insecure state, Sony finally stops advising its customers to use it.

Nov 16: Sony CDs banned in the workplace

Companies, educational institutions, and government agencies are banning the use of Sony CDs on workplace computers, due to the security risks that arise from the rootkit DRM. Some orgs go so far as banning audio CDs altogether, since there are plenty of malicious bits of anti-security technology in music from many labels.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:44:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

HOWTO decode bar-codes

WikiHow has a great short article on decoding 12-digit bar-codes:

1 Note that barcodes are made up of both black and white lines. The white spaces in between the black lines are part of the code.

2 Understand that there are three different thicknesses to the lines. Henceforth, the skinniest line will be referred to as "1," the medium-sized line as "2," and the thickest line as "3."

3 Each UPC barcode begins and ends with 111 (thin black, thin white, thin black). In the very middle of the barcode, you will notice two thin black lines sticking down between the numbers. The thin white between them, as well as the thin whites to either side, make up a 11111. Each UPC barcode has 11111 in the middle.

Link (via Make Blog)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:40:39 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Papercraft sculptures from single sheets of A4

Peter Callesen is a sculptor who makes amazing papercraft fantasies out of single sheets of A4-sized paper. Link to Korean site, Link to official site (via Waxy!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:39:08 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Floppy disc notebooks

Another beautiful, ingenious retro-nerd Etsy item: handmade blank notebooks made from 5.25" floppies. Link (via Wonderland)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:35:18 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Earrings made from 10-sided dice

A crafter on Etsy is selling these gorgeous earrings made from 10-sided D&D dice, for that special gamer on your Xmas list. Link (via Wonderland)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:33:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sherlock Holmes serialized as originally published in The Strand

Graham sez, "Stanford is going to be republishing several of the Sherlock Holmes stories in serial installments as they originally appeared printed and illustrated in The Strand magazine. You can subscribe to get them either as paper copies or electronically, and either way is completely free. It starts in January, but you signups are open now."

Over 12 weeks from January through April 2006, Stanford will be republishing, free of charge, two early Holmes stories, “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Speckled Band”; the nine-part novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles; and the famous “last” encounter between Holmes and Moriarty, “The Final Problem.” If you would like to receive paper facsimiles of the original magazine releases, you may sign up on our website. If you would prefer to download the facsimile as a pdf from the website, each installment will be available on successive Fridays. If you will be using the pdf files, please provide us with your email address on the subscription page, and we will send you an email every Friday, alerting you that the week’s issue is available to download.

Link (Thanks, Graham!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:30:28 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

5000 music cylinders digitized and posted

Jon sez, "The Department of Special Collections at the University of California at San Barbara Library just placed online 5000 cylinder recordings from the 1890s to the 1920s. They are freely accessible, and even the original (raw) transfers are available for those who want to restore them. Note the sidebar at the web site talking about many cylinders still covered under State copyright law restrictions until 2067!" Link (Thanks, Jon!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:28:29 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Everyday objects as boats photoshopping contest

There are some very funny entries in this Worth1000 photoshopping contest where contestants remixed everyday objects into nautical vessels. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:27:23 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Girl who didn't do homework put on street with WILL WORK FOR FOOD sign

An Oklahoma mom whose daughter wouldn't do her homework set her daughter on the street with a WILL WORK FOR FOOD sign to give her a taste of her future career if she didn't buckle down and study. Link (Thanks, Ross!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:24:51 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Rockin' cover of Katamari Damacy music

Check out this rockin' cover of the theme song from Katamari Damacy -- there's lots to love about the game-play in Katamari Damacy, but the music is pure genius, and this cover kicks ass. 3.8MB MP3 Link (Thanks, Jory!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:20:04 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

WSIS yields Internet governance deal

Snip from Wired News report by Kevin Poulsen, on location in Tunis:

Negotiators working late into the night Tuesday shook hands on a deal that creates a new U.N.-sponsored global forum to explore problems like spam and cybercrime, while leaving the United States firmly in control of the internet's domain name system.

The last minute accord settled an issue that threatened to derail the U.N.'s World Summit on the Information Society, which began here Wednesday. The multilateral gathering -- conceived to bridge the "digital divide" between rich nations and poor -- has drawn thousands of delegates and observers from around the globe to this port city in the North African desert.

Link, and here's a related AP story: Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 04:59:53 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Beautiful plywood computer toy

This guy posted pictures of a great looking toy his dad built for him in 1966.

I'm trying to figure out the year round about when he built it...  I was maybe nine or ten years old... perhaps a bit younger.  I'm inclined to think it was Christmas of 1966.  I'm thinking that Star Trek might have been on TV which is where he would have gotten the inspiration... or was it from "Lost in Space"?   I know we still lived in our old house and I was around ten when we moved so it had to be maybe a year earlier.  That would make "Lost in Space" or an episode of "Twighligt Zone" as a more probable inspiration.  Thinking of how close I was to losing this piece forever puts a big knot in my gut.  It had been long buried in a bunch of "junk" in a storage area and when my mom had to clean everything out she figured that since there were no longer any kids in the family to be amused by it, she put it in the pile of stuff to be discarded.  It was only by chance that I discovered and "rescued" it only moments before it would have ended up in the Salvation Army bin.

Link (thanks, Mark!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:05:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Good story about the Kansas meteorite

The Pratt Tribune has a good article about that 1,430 lb meteorite discovered in Kansas last month by professional meteorite hound Steve Arnold. It's the third larget meteorite in history.

Arnold found the meteorite on Oct. 16 using a special eight feet wide metal detector. He had been hunting the field, which belongs to Allen Binford of Haviland, since he arrived in Haviland on Sept. 30 and had already found a couple of other meteorites in the field, including one that weighed 280 pounds, before he came upon the big one which was buried 88 inches (that's over seven feet) below the surface, Arnold said. Arnold had been digging in the field for over two weeks and after digging down a few feet decided to call in some help. He hired area farmer Dan Woods to bring his back hoe and dig for him. He had used Woods before but that item turned out to be an old iron wagon wheel.

What's the biggest meteorite? The Ahnighito meteorite, which weighs 36-and-a-half tons. It is just a fragment of a much larger meteorite called the Cape York Meteorite, which weighed 200 tons. It landed in Greenland over 1000 years ago and was used by the Inuit people as a source of metal tips for spears and harpoons. The Inuit people kept the location of the meteorite fragments a secret, but in 1894 Robert Peary traded one of them a gun for the location of the Ahnighito fragment.

From an article about Peary and the meteorites:

Over the next three years, Peary’s expeditions managed to load the pieces of the metoerite onto ships despite severe weather, engineering problems, and having to build Greenland’s only railway specifically for the task. Upon arrival in New York City, the source of Greenland’s Iron Age was sold to the American Museum of Natural History for $40,000. Several more large masses have since been found and recovered from the strewnfield, including, in the 1960s, the 15-ton Agpalilik, thought to be the legendary "Man" and fourth member of the Cape York family.

Link 


posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:27:54 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

AOL inserts some new uninvited bots into buddy lists

Boing Boing reader Luke says,

AIM just automatically added a couple of bots to everybodys buddy list. I had a weird conversation with the MovieFone bot.

(11:51:07) me: i will crush you
(11:51:07) MovieFone: Excellent.

Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 03:27:09 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, continued.

Hacker/entrepreneur/tech aid volunteer David Weekly is in Tunisia this week, attending the World Summit on the Information Society event. Above, snapshot of an Arabic/QWERTY keyboard he used in an Internet cafe nearby. Here's a snip from David's wiki entry for today:

In many ways, this feels like an international version of COMDEX. The complete lack of theme sensitivity on the part of some organizations is stupefying - Vivendi Universal has a largish booth replete with booth babes advertising their latest video games. It's like the team got lost on their way to E3 and ended up in Tunisia but decided to set up anyhow. (...)

The language used in the documents and speeches here are very typically UN. They sound good but say nothing. "We support the inclusiveness of e-participation, encouraging all stakeholders to engage in the advancement of the information society." Hey, I actually just made that up, but that's pretty much the tone of about 95% of the content here. Utterly devoid of real meaning and real action. Ugh.

It's interesting how whole countries here have booths just like Sony would have a booth at COMDEX. Rwanda, Ghana, Mali, UAE, Canada, the US, even Israel are here. There were guards posted by the Israeli booth, and the US booth, next door to the Israeli one, was very small - several times smaller than the South Africa, Canada, or even Bahrain. It's amusing to have whole countries promoting and advertising themselves, for reasons I cannot fully put my finger on.

Link, and here's David's photostream.

Previously: Liveblogging WSIS inTunisia, 11/14/05

posted by Xeni Jardin at 03:21:25 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

"Unhackable" anti-computer-addiction gizmo for kids' PCs

"Are you constantly telling Joi Ito to quit playing World of Warcraft? your child to get off the computer and get on to homework, chores or bed? Does your child stay up late playing games or chatting and has trouble getting up for school? Is your child using the computer unsupervised before you get home from work or late at night? Have you attempted to install parental controls only to have your teen outsmart you or the software? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, the PC Moderator(TM) can help."

Link

Reader comment: geekpdx says,

Sure, the dongle locks out the VGA port, but this does not take into account the fact that many (increasing daily) computers have not only a VGA output, but also an s-video and/or composite video out. And if a computer doesn't have a video output, one can be added via an add-in PCI card or USB port. With a cheap composite video wireless transceiver and a wireless keyboard/mouse combo - kids could be browsing from their room without parents being any wiser.

Unhackable my ass.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 03:02:48 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

First all-Esperanto TV channel now online

Boing Boing reader Dan says,

This is apparently the first-ever TV channel with programming all in Esperanto. It launched online earlier this month. Their English language info page is here. According to a wikinews article, there was a previous attempt at Esperanto web-broadcasting that never got off the ground. I learned of it from this post on Slashdot's Spanish sister site. Also interesting, though their video stream is in Windows media format, they have instructions for Linux users to watch with MPlayer (apparently Linux is "Linukso" in Esperanto).

posted by Xeni Jardin at 02:41:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Deutsche Welle and RSF 2005 weblog awards winners

Snip:

The 12-member jury of the Deutsche Welle's 2005 Weblog Awards unanimously condemned the blocking of "Wang Yi's Microphone" and called on Chinese authorities to end their censorship of Weblogs and the Internet. (...) Wang Yi's Weblog was among the final three candidates for the Special Award from Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Also among the top three nominees were a blog written by Tunisian judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui and the Egyptian Weblog "Manal and Alaa's Bit Bucket," which went on to win the award.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 02:32:13 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Report: Journalists, others at WSIS attacked by authorities

Snip from a press release from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Civil Society's Media Caucus:

Civil Society's Media Caucus at WSIS expresses its indignation over a series of incidents in which Tunisian authorities have hampered the freedom of expression of journalists and their freedom of association as well as that of others attending the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. [Incidents include:]

# Christophe Boltanski, a correspondent for the Paris daily newspaper 'Libération', was beaten and stabbed and had his personal effects stolen near his hotel in the embassy district. When he cried for help, guards standing outside a nearby embassy did not intervene. The attack took place a day after Libération published Boltanski's report about clashes between police and activists protesting in support of seven hunger strikers campaigning for the release of political prisoners in Tunisia.

# Representatives of Tunisian and foreign media and human rights organisations were prevented by a large number of Tunisian plainclothes police from entering the Goethe Institute, the cultural centre of the German Embassy in Tunis, for a meeting to plan events parallel to the Summit.

# A Belgian television cameraman approaching the Institute had his camera seized by plainclothes police who forced themselves into the TV crew's vehicle. The camera was only returned after the film cassette had been confiscated. The police stated that no pictures may be taken in Tunisia without prior official authorisation and prevented another reporter from taking photographs of the incident. A Tunisian journalist approaching the site was beaten by police.

# Various websites which have contained criticism of Tunisia are available to the delegates at the official WSIS venue, but remain blocked and censored in the rest of Tunisia.

Link (Thank you, Tunisian tipster)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 02:28:15 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The Sex Machines Next Door

I filed this item for today's Wired News on Sex Machines, the new book by photographer Timothy Archibald that documents DIY inventors who build homebrewed erotic robotics in their garages. The book is a lot more about sociology than sexuality; the images aren't pornographic, and the stories of these tinkerer's lives and obsessions are fascinating. Snip from Wired News story:

Jon Traven does not look like a sex-machine inventor. He looks like a cowboy. But the divorced Christian homesteader from Idaho is one of many makers of garage-built erotic devices featured in Sex Machines: Photographs and Interviews, a book by Timothy Archibald that documents the secretive subculture of hobbyists whose creations bear names like The Thumpstir and The Gangbang.

"Here I am, this divorced Christian guy, not promiscuous at all, and here I am with a sex machine," reads Traven's monologue in the book. "It was an idea I came up with in the last year or two of the marriage, as a last-ditch attempt to save whatever we had ... our sex life, if nothing else. She actually pushed me for a divorce before I could finish it and give it to her.

"I will require anyone ordering a machine from me to provide proof of marriage and a signed statement of intent to use only within that marriage. Kind of like a gun dealer that requires proof of age and proof of passage of a firearm safety test before selling someone a firearm. Sexual arousal is a doorway to a person's very soul and isn't to be messed with lightly."

Link to Wired News story. Photo: a portrait of Jon Traven shot by Timothy Archibald. Here is my absolute favorite photo from the book (sorta-kinda NSFW).

Link to Archibald's blog, and link to buy signed copies of the book.

Update: NYC's Museum of Sex is currently exhibiting Tim Archibald's work -- and some of the actual Sex Machines -- through January 3rd 10. Link.

The opening for that show sounded incredible. Archibald said many of the inventors in the book traveled far from home towns to NYC to attend in person. He described the scene as being much like a scene from the John Waters movie Pecker, in which the eccentric folk in "Pecker's" photos come out to see themselves immortalized. (Thanks, Jerry Weinstein)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:51:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Webcast of Wired's Google Print debate in NYC Thursday

Thursday (tomorrow) night at the New York Public Library, Wired Magazine hosts a forum on the controversy surrounding Google Print.

The event sold out days ago, but proceedings will be webcast here beginning at (or perhaps just before) 7:00 PM ET.
Previously:
To do in NYC: The Battle over Google Print, a Wired Mag forum

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:23:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Mysterious dog-killer in Maine

A mystery animal in cental Maine is killing dogs in a particularly creepy way, by slicing the canines' throats open. The brutal slayings began in the summer of 2004 but have started again. Eyewitnesses say the murderous beast looks like a hyena. Loren Coleman has more at Cryptomundo:

Reporter (Mark) LaFlamme (of the Lewiston Sun-Journal) interviewed me about this new attack, last night, and at the end of his article today, he open-mindedly included various candidates for the attack, from the mundane - coyote and badger - to the cryptozoological - mystery cat and Bigfoot. Due to the article, one couple has already emailed me details of a mystery cat sighting they had two years ago that took place near the recent dog incident. The case is ongoing, needless to say...

Link

posted by David Pescovitz at 01:10:37 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony CDs banned in the workplace

I've been chasing down several accounts of government agencies, companies, educational institutions and others banning the use of Sony CDs on their PCs, due to the security risks of having Sony's rootkit DRM infecting their PCs. One government ministry, Alberta Agriculture, has banned the use of music CDs altogether, since Sony is hardly the only music company crippling its CDs with sneaky, malicious software. Here are a couple examples:

It has been brought to our attention that there is significant risk to the security and the operation of UC computers in using Sony BMG produced CDs. For this reason, the use of Sony BMG produced CDs in University of Canberra computers is prohibited.

Link to Alberta Agriculture letter Link to University of Canberra letter (Thanks, tipsters!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:57:00 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sony waits 3 DAYS to withdraw dangerous "uninstaller" for its rootkit

Fully three days after the publication of proof that Sony's rootkit DRM uninstaller leaves the computers on which it runs in a vulnerable state where they can be trivially attacked by embedded code in web-pages, Sony has finally responded by pulling their uninstaller.

UNINSTALL REQUESTS

November 15th, 2005 - We currently are working on a new tool to uninstall First4Internet XCP software. In the meantime, we have temporarily suspended distribution of the existing uninstall tool for this software. We encourage you to return to this site over the next few days. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

If you downloaded and ran the uninstaller in the 72 hours after Sony was put on notice that their product was unsafe for use, you need to look at Felten and Halderman's research, which includes instructions for correcting Sony's willful negligence. Link (Thanks, Chas!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:48:41 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Katamari/Sony DRM mashup

Joey AccordionGuy De Villa has produced an hilarious mashup of the brilliant Katamari Damacy video game and Dan Kaminsky's ominous maps of the 500,000+ networks infected with Sony's rootkit DRM:

I decided to take a tiny bit of my lunch break and cobble together my own statement on Sony's nasty anti-piracy "rootkit" (software hidden on Sony music CDs that takes control of your computer without your permission) by mashing up Dan Kaminsky's visualization of affected systems worldwide and one of the Sony PlayStation's most beloved games, Katamari Damacy.

Link (Thanks, Joey!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:43:02 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Student folds paper 12 times!

A high-school student has defied the received wisdom that it is impossible to fold a paper more than eight times by folding one twelve times:

For extra credit in a math class Britney was given the challenge to fold anything in half 12 times. After extensive experimentation, she folded a sheet of gold foil 12 times, breaking the record. This was using alternate directions of folding. But, the challenge was then redefined to fold a piece of paper. She studied the problem and was the first person to realize the basic cause for the limits. She then derived the folding limit equation for any given dimension. Limiting equations were derived for the case of folding in alternate directions and for the case of folding in a single direction using a long strip of paper. The merits of both folding approaches are discussed, but for high numbers of folds, single direction folding requires less paper.

Link (Thanks, Alex!)

Update: Ari sez, "I really enjoyed the story about the student who figured out how to fold a piece of paper more than eight times -- but it's too bad that the proof is only available by mail order! I've posted an independent derivation of her equation here."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:39:00 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Why do you read Boing Boing?

Thomas "Joi Ito's resident guestblogger" Crampton asks. Oddly, most of the reader comments so far seem to indicate the answer is "because it sucks." Excellent! Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 12:33:25 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Barenaked Ladies release album on USB stick

A reader writes, "The Barenaked Ladies are trying out a new method of music delivery: 28 songs, plus video and audio clips and a few live versions, on a 128 mb flash drive. (Link goes to their news page--it seems you can't get separate articles. Specific content information is from an email sent to fans) They even say the flash drive is an easy way 'to share music, videos, pictures and other data'--not the kind of sentiment you'd hear from most bands. The content, including the extras, looks like it will be stuff that's been at least partlly released before--but it's still a pretty cool idea, even if the execution could be better."

BARENAKED ON A STICK! ... is a USB flash memory drive containing songs, videos, and exclusive content from the Barenaked Ladies, and will go on sale November 22, 2005! Essential for any BNL fan's collection, the 128mg USB flash memory drive (about the size of your pinky finger) is a fast and easy way to share music, videos, pictures and other data. It is PC/Mac compatible, re-usable and incredibly low priced at $29.98 (close to the same cost of the device on its own with no special content). It will be available on Amazon.com and Werkshop.com (Nettwerk's online merchandise store), and will also be sold at all BNL shows this winter.

I agree that this is cool, but how many 128MB sticks can you usefully own? I've got about ten kicking around now... Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:32:24 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Google: our print scan program has no hidden AI agenda

Snip from Andrew Donoghue's ZDNet article today:

Google has been quizzed about rumours that its current quest to digitise books may be about more than simply making literature available online, but the search giant is being non-committal on the subject.

At a conference on Tuesday, organised by The Economist, Jeff Levick, Google's director of vertical markets, was questioned about comments concerning artificial intelligence made by historian George Dyson following a recent visit to the Googleplex. During his visit Dyson claimed that one Google staff member working on book digitisation told him that some of the material was destined for a non-human audience.

"'We are not scanning all those books to be read by people,' explained one of my hosts after my talk. 'We are scanning them to be read by an AI,'" Dyson wrote in a posting on Edge.org following a visit to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of John von Neumann's proposal for a digital computer.

Link to "Google side-steps AI rumours".

Previously: George Dyson's Google visit -- "Turing's Cathedral"

posted by Xeni Jardin at 12:29:53 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

RadioDavidByrne Nov. playlist: all funked up

I've been totally grooving out to the retro funk playlist on David Byrne's internet radio station all month, but keep forgetting to blog it. Here. This edition's disco-era theme, I'm told, is a byproduct of his work on a forthcoming musical that chronicles Imelda Marcos' Studio 54 years. "Here Lies Love," Byrne's collaboration with Fatboy Slim, is set to debut on stage in early 2006.

From Byrne's liner notes for the November playlist:

These songs may have been what folks were referring to when a certain portion of the population held up “disco sucks” banners in the 80s. These self-proclaimed music critics often stated that what bothered them was that these songs were made by machines (they often were, and proudly so) and therefore lacked sincerity or realness. I think what they were really afraid of was the fact that many of these songs emanated from a mostly Black and often gay subculture — a combination which was so unimaginably scary that its musical representation simply had to be fought off at all costs.

The songs are, as mentioned, proudly artificial studio creations. Linn drum machines and synthesizers abound, and there are no attempts to disguise, for example, the synthesizers as pianos or organs — they are made to sound all squirmy and slithery in reference to bodies on the dance floor — and elsewhere. And maybe linking these with the mechanical programmed beats was a way of taking the oppressive aspects of the modern world, a mechanized world controlled by distant suits (especially if you were stuck in the projects) and turning it on its head — using a thing that represented the worst of modern life and making it ecstatic and celebratory.

Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:23:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Atari 800 laptop

Benjamin Heckendorn hacked together a custom Atari 800 laptop. Here are some of the specs from his project description:

* Uses (what's left of) an Atari XE GS (Game System) the last model Atari 800 type computer from 1987.

* 8" TFT active matrix display

* Compact Flash "hard disk drive" utilizing MyDOS 4.53 for maximum drive size of 16 megabytes. Card is removable for swapping.

* Built-in NiMH battery pack and charger (uses external plug like a normal laptop) Also battery is removable from base as with most laptops.

* Full (Atari 800) sized keyboard

* Built-in Player 1 & 2 controls, plus joystick ports. Built-in joypads great for playing Robotron 2084!

* Brushed aluminum and wood grain everywhere! A weird combo style, sure, but I like it!