Boing Boing

Patent troll that claimed ownership over the Web loses its case

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:43:28 +0000

Eolas, a notorious patent troll who partnered with the University of California in a shakedown scheme that claimed royalties for all "interactive web sites" that featured rotating images, streaming video, and other practices that had been widely established before their patent was filed, has lost a key lawsuit. A jury in Tyler, Texas (the sleepy town where the shell-companies used by patent trolls have their nominal offices) found that the Eolas patent was invalid, after hearing testimony from Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and other luminaries of the open web.

If the jury had upheld the patents, there would have been a potentially brutal damages phase in which Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Amazon, Adobe, JC Penney, CDW Corp. and Staples would have been sued for infringement and been asked for more than $600 million in damages, with the majority of that coming from Google and Yahoo.
The Eolas patents were denounced for years before this week’s landmark trial, but managed to survive repeated re-exams at the United States Patent and Trade Office.
However, Thursday’s verdict is likely a setback Eolas can’t overcome. It may well be appealed, but that will be a long process, and in the meantime Eolas won’t be able to go after new targets.

Texas Jury Strikes Down Patent Troll’s Claim to Own the Interactive Web

SF trade publication Locus Magazine goes digital, DRM-free

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:00:29 +0000

Locus magazine, the venerable science fiction trade publication put out by the nonprofit Locus Science Fiction Foundation has finally gone digital, selling DRM-free PDFs, ePubs, and Mobis on a subscription basis or as singles. I'm proud to write a column for Locus, and really treasure each issue when it comes through the door.

Locus Science Fiction Foundation (via IO9)

The oldest thing in the world

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:33:26 +0000

The oldest living thing on Earth is a massive "meadow" of sea grass growing in the Mediterranean between Spain and Cyprus. It's somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 years old and reproduces by cloning itself. Also, it's being killed by climate change.

Via Beth Buczynski

CIA website down

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:01:29 +0000

CIA.gov is down. Any number of entities might like to claim credit, but Anonymous seems to be first (via various accounts on Twitter). No hard reporting available yet, however, and given the target in question, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to confirm.

Elephant bean-bag chair

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:00:35 +0000

Italian Etsy seller ConceptualDevices made this $450 elephant beanbag chair, "a place where to read (and write) fairy tales."

Its external lining is made of a soft fabric used for outdoor upholstery produced by Sunbrella which is easily washable, waterproof, oil proof and sunlight resistant. The internal lining is 100% cotton and contains the expanded polystyrene padding.
TANTO is manufactured in Italy. Elephant is the first character of a wide collection of pachyderms that we intend to make.

TANTO. A Place Where to Read (and Write) Fairy Tales. (via Super Punch)

Darth Mater

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:43:30 +0000

A Sith nun is to be found in this month's edition of Elle. [Thanks, Heather!]

Design flaw: to check air pistol pressure, point it at your face

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Mark W Shead uses the terrifying design of this air pistol (you have to point is straight at your face to check the pressure) as a jumping-off point for a short, to the point essay on "domain knowledge" and software design.

Why You Need Domain Knowledge (via Making Light)

Alan Parsons on audiophiles

David Pescovitz — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:53:53 +0000

In an interesting interview at CEPro, Alan Parsons, the man who engineered Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and yes, had his own Project, says that room acoustics are far more important than audiophile gear. In fact, the interview led one Slashdot commenter to post this fine quip: "Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment." From CEPro:

What is the biggest thing that both electronics dealers and enthusiast consumers should do when setting up home theater/sound systems?
(Parsons:) You get what you pay for. But having said that, there are some decent budget surround systems you can buy at Costco or Walmart that really aren’t bad. Everybody has their budget; the hi-fi world will tell you if money is no object you can get better results out of every component - even the surface the amplifier sits on. Pro sound people have different expectations; they are only concerned that a piece of gear works and allows them to do their job. Hi-fi people spend huge amounts of money for tiny improvements, and pro sound guys will say, “I can spend half as much and get the results I need.”
I’m simply not very familiar with the latest domestic hi-fi equipment. I don’t go to hi-fi trade shows and I don’t have sophisticated equipment in the family areas of my house for music, but there are things that make sense like good speakers and a decent amp. But I dare say there would only be a small improvement if I bought a $20,000 amp. I can live with what I have.
I do think in the domestic environment, the people that have sufficient equipment don’t pay enough attention to room acoustics. The pro audio guy will prioritize room acoustics and do the necessary treatments to make the room sound right. The hi-fi world attaches less importance to room acoustics, and prioritizes equipment; they are looking more at brand names and reputation.

"Beatles, Pink Floyd Engineer Alan Parsons Rips Audiophiles" (Thanks, Pat Kelly!)

The risk of using apps that access your Gmail account

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:34:21 +0000

Andy Baio, in an opinion piece for Wired News: "Since Gmail added oAuth support in March 2010, an increasing number of startups are asking for a perpetual, silent window into your inbox. I’m concerned oAuth, while hugely convenient for both developers and users, may be paving the way for an inevitable privacy meltdown."

John Wayne Gacy had a helper?

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:33:06 +0000

“There is significant evidence out there that suggests that not only did John Wayne Gacy not operate alone, he may not have been involved in some of the murders, and the fact that he was largely a copycat killer.”

Extreme DIY car mods: Volvo with a wood-burning stove for heat

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:24:38 +0000

Wood burns in a stove as Pascal Prokop drives his totally baller 1990 Volvo 240 station wagon during cold winter weather on a road near the town of Mettmenstetten, some 25 kilometres south of Zurich, on February 9, 2012. Prokob built in the stove by himself and got an operating permit by the Swiss technical inspection authority. As I publish this blog post, it is 15ºF in the town where he lives and drives.

Pros: S'mores while driving are possible. Cons: the stove occupies the spot where one's significant other might be seated. Oh, and, you know: fire?

(REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann)

Killed by something that doesn't exist

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:15:40 +0000

Placebos have no repeatable physical effect that can be broadly demonstrated to exist. But, if people believe the placebo can help them, it often does—especially for inherently subjective issues like pain relief.

Nocebos are what happens when a placebo (again, something that technically has no physical effect on the body) causes a negative side-effect, simply because the person believes that such side-effects are likely to happen to them.

There is a lot we don't understand about both of these effects. After all, running really detailed tests would inherently involve unethical behavior—intentionally not treating patients or intentionally trying to induce a negative reaction in them. But that doesn't mean you can ignore these phenomena.

A great example comes in a recent column by Alexis Madrigal on The Atlantic. You're probably familiar with the idea of sleep paralysis—the experience of waking up, being mentally awake, but still physically paralyzed. This happens to people all over the world. And, all over the world, it's long been explained in folklore as the work of demons and evil spirits. (The fact that sleep paralysis is often accompanied by feelings of terror, and the sensation of something sitting on your chest doesn't hurt in that regard.) Normally, sleep paralysis brings a few minutes of terror, but no lasting harm. In the mid-1980s, however, it suddenly became capable of killing. The catch, the men it killed were all recent Hmong immigrants, living in the United States. Researcher Shelley Adler thinks it was actually a nocebo effect that killed these men—they believed themselves into an early grave.

[In America] some Hmong felt that they had not properly honored the memories of their ancestors, which was a known risk factor among the Hmong for being visited by the tsog tsuam. Once the night-mare visitations began, a shaman was often needed to set things right. And in the scattered communities of Hmong across the country, they might not have access to the right person. Without access to traditional rituals, shamans, and geographies, the Hmong were unable to provide themselves psychic protection from the spirits of their sleep.

Drawing on all this evidence, Adler makes the provocative claim that the Laotian immigrants of the 1980s were in some sense killed by their powerful cultural belief in night spirits. It was not a simple process.

"It is my contention that in the context of severe and ongoing stress related to cultural disruption and national resettlement (exacerbated by intense feelings of powerlessness about existence in the United States), and from the perspective of a belief system in which evil spirits have the power to kill men who do not fulfill their religious obligations," Adler writes, "the solitary Hmong man confronted by the numinous terror of the night-mare (and aware of its murderous intent) can die of SUNDS."

Via Christopher Ryan

Happy Metal from Meshuggah guitarist

David Pescovitz — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:14:09 +0000

The excellently-named Meshuggah is a "technical death metal" band from Sweden. While I appreciate their musical experimentation, the singer's angry growl is a bit much for me. I was delighted when my pal Patrick Kelly pointed me to this great video of Meshuggah's guitarist Fredrik Thordendal shredding with great joy along with Morgan Ågren, the drummer in Thordendahl's side project Special Defects. Those grins are infectious. As Pat says, this here is Happy Metal!

Judge okays exclusion of damaging emails from BP oil spill trial

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:03:33 +0000

A judge has granted requests from defendants in the BP oil disaster case to exclude various emails from trial. The details of the emails are an interesting read. For instance: At Halliburton's request, the court will not include an email from a BP geologist to a colleague in February 2010 which offered "thanks for the shitty cement job." (Reuters)

New MC Frontalot video: Stoop Sale

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:00:53 +0000

The incomparable MC Frontalot sez, "The second video extravaganza from my overfunded Kickstarter is Stoop Sale, a chilling tale of indecision and loss presented in cheerful all-puppet format. This is my first song about living in New York, which is something rappers seem to make songs about pretty often, but I've only just gotten around to it. Because it is a nerdcore song, the actual topic is my attempted purchase of a mystical item on the street corner in front of my apartment building in Brooklyn. This serves as the latest single from my recent album, Solved. Hi-def quicktime, MP3, and AAC files are all available free at frontalot.com."

MC Frontalot - Stoop Sale [OFFICIAL VIDEO] (Thanks, Frontalot!)

What is the deal with this purple squirrel?

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:56:53 +0000

The hard-hitting investigative journalism team at Accuweather is trying to figure out why this squirrel is purple. Currently, there is "No Explanation for Pennsylvania's Purple Squirrel." What do you think? Suggestions in the comments, please. (via @ProducerMatthew)

North Carolina town still protesting CIA rendition program, ten years later

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:54:16 +0000

Moms, priests, and peace-minded activists in a small North Carolina town haven't forgotten that a local aviation contractor was a key player in the CIA's “torture taxi” business. “I don’t want to live in a country that acts this way,” said Julia Elsee, 87, protesting at the Johnston County Airport.

Cat parasite may give you the crazy

David Pescovitz — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:41:41 +0000

For many years, Jaroslav Flegr, a biologist at Pregue's Charles University, suspected that a parasite in cat feces, the same ones that can harm a pregnant woman's fetus, can actually screw up the mind of anyone who comes into contact with it. Turns out, he may be right. From Kathleen McAuliffe's excellent article in The Atlantic:

(According to Flegr,) the “latent” parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others, how outgoing we are, and even our preference for certain scents. And that’s not all. He also believes that the organism contributes to car crashes, suicides, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. When you add up all the different ways it can harm us, says Flegr, “Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year.”
An evolutionary biologist at Charles University in Prague, Flegr has pursued this theory for decades in relative obscurity. Because he struggles with English and is not much of a conversationalist even in his native tongue, he rarely travels to scientific conferences. That “may be one of the reasons my theory is not better known,” he says. And, he believes, his views may invite deep-seated opposition. “There is strong psychological resistance to the possibility that human behavior can be influenced by some stupid parasite,” he says. “Nobody likes to feel like a puppet. Reviewers [of my scientific papers] may have been offended.” Another more obvious reason for resistance, of course, is that Flegr’s notions sound an awful lot like fringe science, right up there with UFO sightings and claims of dolphins telepathically communicating with humans.
But after years of being ignored or discounted, Flegr is starting to gain respectability. Psychedelic as his claims may sound, many researchers, including such big names in neuroscience as Stanford’s Robert Sapolsky, think he could well be onto something. Flegr’s “studies are well conducted, and I can see no reason to doubt them,” Sapolsky tells me. Indeed, recent findings from Sapolsky’s lab and British groups suggest that the parasite is capable of extraordinary shenanigans. T. gondii, reports Sapolsky, can turn a rat’s strong innate aversion to cats into an attraction, luring it into the jaws of its No. 1 predator. Even more amazing is how it does this: the organism rewires circuits in parts of the brain that deal with such primal emotions as fear, anxiety, and sexual arousal. “Overall,” says Sapolsky, “this is wild, bizarre neurobiology.”

"How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy"

Lions on the lam

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:35:33 +0000

Remember last fall when an entire small zoo's worth of exotic animals briefly ran amok through an Ohio town? GQ has a feature that explains what the hell happened.

Iran attacks internet access on Islamic Revolution anniversary

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:33:20 +0000

At Hacker News, a user named "Sara70" posts:

I'm writing this to report the serious troubles we have regarding accessing Internet in Iran at the moment. Since Thursday Iranian government has shutted down the https protocol which has caused almost all google services (gmail, and google.com itself) to become inaccessible. Almost all websites that reply on Google APIs (like wolfram alpha) won't work. Accessing to any website that replies on https (just imaging how many websites use this protocol, from Arch Wiki to bank websites). Also accessing many proxies is also impossible. There are almost no official reports on this and with many websites and my email accounts restricted I can just confirm this based on my own and friends experience. I have just found one report here. The reason for this horrible shutdown is that the Iranian regime celebrates 1979 Islamic revolution tomorrow.

Jake Appelbaum and the Tor Project folks confirm that Iran is partially blocking encrypted network traffic, and they are trying to help ensure free and safe access for activists (and everyone else inside the country).

More at Washington Post, at CNET, and The Next Web.

(via @jadi)

PHOTO: Iranian schoolgirls chat online at an internet cafe which is exclusively for females, near the city of Karaj, 60km (38 miles) west of Tehran, May 24, 2007. REUTERS.

Exploring ancient water

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:23:07 +0000

I love it when news lines up almost perfectly with our editorial calendar. Next week, I've got a Science Question from a Toddler feature lined up that will explain how scientists can date reserves of water, and what makes ancient water special.

This week, in Antarctica, a team of Russian scientists made contact with some very ancient water. Yesterday, they drilled through the last of a more than 12,000-foot ice cover and into Lake Vostok, a reserve of liquid water that hasn't had contact with the outside world in 15-34 million years.

These researchers are looking for extremophile bacteria—semi-alien Earthlings that have evolved separately from the rest of their terrestrial kin. Bryan Walsh at Time.com explains:

The hope is that some form of new microbial life might exist within the waters of the lake, which remain liquid despite the cold thanks to heat generated by the pressure of all that ice and geothermal energy rising from the planet’s core. The environment of Lake Vostok is similar to that found on Jupiter’s icy moon of Europa. If life can survive in Lake Vostok, it might just be able to survive on another planetary body.

It’s still going to take the Russian scientists some time to actually take samples from the lake—with the Antarctic winter on its way, they’ll need to leave Vostok Station soon. And there are environmental concerns that the drilling process could contaminate the lake, which is pristine. The researchers used more than 66 tons (60 metric tons) of lubricants and antifreeze in the drilling process—chemicals that would have polluted Lake Vostok had they leaked through the ice, and contaminated any samples. The good news is that contamination seems to have been avoided: the scientists plugged the bottom of the bore hole with Freon, an inert fluid, and drilled the final distance to the lake surface using a heated drill tip instead of a motorized drill that needed chemical lubricants. When the lake was breached, water flowed up the bore hole before freezing and forming an icy plug.

World wrapped in plastic: 1948 cling-film ad

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:15:24 +0000

This 1948 ad for Viking's "VisQueen" plastic film paints a utopian vision of a world where everything is entombed in airtight plastic layers, rendering it sterile and impervious to the world's depredations and imperfections. My grandmother practiced this sort of mummification in her living room and most of the kitchen until all her grandchildren were well past adolescence.

A plastic cover for everything!

Your weekend space jam: "Space Station," by Total Ghost

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:10:02 +0000

This goofy video by Total Ghost first made the internet rounds some months back, but I was recently reminded of it when SpaceX founder Elon Musk shouted it out on Twitter. He's absolutely right, it's the perfect theme song for SpaceX (and, all space entrepreneurs).

Watch: Total Ghost - Space Station - YouTube.

The celebrity mannequin of 1937

David Pescovitz — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:08:57 +0000

BB pal Ben Cosgrove writes:

In 1937, LIFE magazine launched the career of an up-and-coming starlet in a multiple-page photo spread that, overnight, made "Cynthia" a household name. In very short order she became an A-list celebrity; was given her own television talk show and starred on the silver screen; was sent jewels and dresses by top fashion houses; was briefly engaged to one of radio’s biggest stars; hobnobbed with the former king of England; and became one of the most recognizable faces in the fashion world.
There was only one minor catch: Cynthia was a mannequin.

"Cynthia: The Mannequin Who Became a Superstar"

Greenpot Bluepot: "Melting Sword" video premier

David Pescovitz — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:51:16 +0000

Natalie LeBrecht carries the torch of New York's downtown avant grade into contemporary popular music. Recording as Greenpot Bluepot, LeBrecht melds outernational influences with vocal melodies reminiscent of Yoko Ono (with less screaming) or, as Devendra Banhart put it, an "intergalactic Nico." That makes sense, given that LeBrecht has worked closely with minimalist pioneers La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. In the late 1960s, those two set the stage for the New York music scene that linked contemporary classical music with weird performance art and, of course, birthed the Velvet Underground with whom Nico sang. Boing Boing is pleased to premier the latest Greenpot Bluepot video, directed by Brett Milspaw, for the song "Melting Sword" from the new album Ascend At The Dead End. Here's what LeBrecht told us about her musical path:

Growing up, my parents listened to pop music so that was what I was raised on. When I went to college, my tastes expanded when I studied avant-garde art theory and gained exposure to avant-garde music. Because I appreciate both traditions, I think it’s natural that I would incorporate a hybrid in my own work.
Assisting LaMonte Young & Marian Zazeela was an inspirational & enriching opportunity for me - just to have exposure to that high caliber of musicianship & artistic purity up close was a blessing. In his late 70’s, LaMonte is still an olympic-champion singer with the voice of a 30 year old. His voice is spiritually charged and powerful - yet wielded with refined subtly, control, grace & beauty. These are qualities I aspire to as a singer.
As an artist, I’ve always needed to challenge myself - even if it means I’ll fail or make something laughably bad - this is what it means to be “experimental”. The flip-side is that there's a potential to create something innovative, so it's worth trying. I created the album “Ascend At The Dead End” outside of my comfort zone, experimenting with some different variations of microtonal tuning for some of it. I also was striving to create complex compositions that seem effortless and easy to listen to.
“Melting Sword” differs from the other songs on the album in that I decided to make the music simple so that I could get in a trance and just let the voice & words flow out & do whatever they wanted with no restriction. I created & recorded it in one afternoon and it was by far the easiest song on the album to make. The vocals & lyrics were improvised in 1 1/4 takes (I re-did the ending).

Greenpot Bluepot

Obama campaign hires Boing Boing Video collaborator for campaign meme video

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:45:55 +0000

Nice to see some recognition from high places for Joe Sabia, the talented director who also collaborates with Boing Boing Video on our in-flight Virgin America television channel. Here's the first of his videos for the Barack Obama 2012 campaign. In Joe's signature style, it's an ADD-friendly cavalcade of presidential memes. The Story of Us: Five Years Ago Today.

Of course, the president himself is a fan of Boing Boing, as he mentioned in a 2011 speech: "Most days I barely skim through the comment section of Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, The Daily Dish, BoingBoing.net."

Stephen Wildish: Rude Birds by Habitat

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:28:56 +0000

Stephen Wildish's Tumblr is a good one for your RSS feed. As a bonus, the artwork above will give those who feel a need to point out that the Venn diagram doesn't make sense something to do.

(Via This Isn't Happiness)

Sponsor shout-out: Watchismo

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:17:47 +0000

Our thanks go to Watchismo for sponsoring Boing Boing Blast, our once-daily delivery of headlines by email.

Save 25% on all Tendence Watches at Watchismo for a very limited time. Enter coupon code TEND25 at checkout.

A blend of form & function, the new Tendence collections, from Lugano, Switzerland, are a highly evolved and original concept, with extreme dimensions never before seen in a wristwatch. The 3D digits are sculpted high above the concave dial and built into multi-material casings of stainless steel or titanium. They are now available worldwide at Watchismo.

Walt Disney World tightens the rules on FastPasses

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:12:53 +0000

On The Disney Blog, John Frost describes the upcoming rule-tightening for FastPasses in Walt Disney World. FastPass is a ride reservation system: park visitors visit a ride, feed their entry ticket to a kiosk, and it spits out a coupon that can be redeemed later in the day for admission via a shorter queue. Until now, FastPass expiry times were not enforced (that is, the pass might say it was good for 3-4PM, but you could use it any time after 3), which led people like me to collect FastPasses all morning (you can get one every hour or so) when the lines were short, and then use them all in a bunch in the afternoon when the lines got longer.

Frost says the rule change is a precursor to a much more dramatic change, a FastPass replacement (?) called xPass, which allows visitors to reserve their ride-times far in advance, over the Web, simultaneous with their other bookings -- dining, hotel, etc. This feels like it would suck a lot of spontaneity out of Disney World visits, though for certain very slow-loading/long-queueing rides, it would be nice to guarantee a ride in advance.

Meanwhile, Frost has some excellent suggestions for ways to fine-tune the new FastPass system:

Here are a few tweaks I would like Disney to do to improve the FastPass system a bit.
* More surprise fastpasses. Standby queue dropping below 15 minutes? Send a digital fastpass to guests on their mobile phones.
* Shorten the wait time required to get an additional fast pass later in the day.
* Let guests pick their return window. Maybe just morning, afternoon, or night. But at least that way you have an option if you arrive at a fastpass machine only to find out you have an restaurant reservation scheduled for that same time.
* Allow locals to get a digital fast pass for one ride from home the night before. Make it for afternoon or peak dining times only. This solves the having to show up at the crack of dawn problem.
* Rides with a through-put of more than 2000 guests an hour should not have fastpass. Instead move those machines to spinners and other low capacity attractions.
* Display publicly the number of fastpasses that can be redeemed an hour. Perhaps as a % of the standby queue. This will help guests decide if they need to get a Fastpass for the attraction or not.
* Limit the number of Fastpass that can be issued before 11AM to 50% of the day’s fastpasses. This saves some Fastpass capacity for guests who arrive later in the day

Fastpass Changes Coming to Walt Disney World

(Image: Rockin Rollercoaster Fastpass Walt Disney Hollywood Studios, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from kathika's photostream)

The What's New, an early 60s folk-rock band that began in Disneyland

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:46:28 +0000

[Video Link] Bedazzled has a short, interesting history of a band called The What's New, which formed in 1959 in Long Beach, CA. They got their start playing at Disneyland.

The What's New have always fascinated record collectors: mistakenly listed as a Florida band, they released two EPs in France but nothing in the U.S.

Their story starts with the Yachtsmen, a folk group founded by students at Long Beach City College in 1959. They became regulars at Disneyland in Anaheim, releasing an LP on Disney's Buena Vista label (BV-3310), "High and Dry with The Yachtsmen" in 1961.

…

Their second EP showcases four original songs by Colin Scot, putting a sharp folk-rock sound behind Scot's plaintive lead vocal and the group's harmonies. It includes the now-famous "Up So High" ("Got no use for LSD, every time you look at me I'm up so high") and the excellent "Get Away" which moves from dreamy verse to tough chorus.

The What's New disbanded in early 1967. Colin Scot became part owner of a nightclub called Kahuna's Cave in Cala Mayor, Palma de Majorca, and toured the folk circuit in the UK in the late '60s. In the 1970s he released LPs on United Artists and Warner Bros, with a final single "Mandolin Man" / "Boris" on RCA in 1977. He died in Amsterdam in 1996 (though I've also seen it listed as 1999).

Check out the other What's New videos at Bedazzled.