Technology as it applies to me.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China enjoys anti-corruption game:
China enjoys anti-corruption game
Gaming is increasingly popular among China’s youth
An online game in China that allows players to eradicate corrupt officials has proved so popular its website has crashed, state media reports.
Since its launch eight days ago, the game, “Incorruptible Fighter”, is reported to h
Dateline “exposes” iPod thieves via hidden camera – Engadget:
There’s probably nothing quite as embarrassing as being ambushed on national television by Chris Hansen for stealing a measly iPod. Of course, NBC’s crack team of journalists are just trying to expose the growing trend of iPod theft in the world… or kick up their ratings. In a bizarre and somewhat convoluted “hidden camera” scheme, Dateline nabs thieves at their own game by allowing them to steal new iPods bundled with a “special” install disc which secretly hands over the user’s information to the news program. The venus-fly-trap-like plot unfolds as the crew leaves “unattended” iPods in high traffic areas, and is then shocked to see people walking off with them. With all d
UltraNewb: A beginner’s guide to BitTorrent:
Despite the fact that BitTorrent has been around for a good 6 years now, the lightning fast file sharing protocol hasn’t completely taken off in the mainstream. Since we post a decent amount about BitTorrent around here, we figured it was just time we put out a beginner’s guide to BitTorrent. This is the guide you can send to your friend next time he gets that glassy look in his eyes when you mention BitTorrent and how quick and easy it makes downloading albums educational, public domain videos and other large files.
Without going into too much detail, here’s a crash course in the file sharing protocol that is BitTorrent (feel free to skip to the How to find and download a file with BitTorrent section if you’re not all that interested in the details).
In Brief: The sly bastards over at The Pirate Bay are …:
The sly bastards over at The Pirate Bay are resurrecting the original big fish torrent site, Suprnova.org, complete with the classic look, in a couple of days. [TorrentFreak]
Great News: Laser Printers May Be as Harmful as Cigarettes:
Bad news, office drones: That laser printer sitting in your cubicle might be doing some serious damage to your health. It turns out that one third of all laser printers emit tiny particles of toner that, when inhaled, have similar effects as secondhand smoke. Awesome!
The printers are more dangerous when they’re used a lot, especially for graphic and photo heavy prints that require a lot of toner. In an open office setting, tests revealed that particle levels in the air increased five-fold during the working day due to printer use. That’s such fun news, isn’t it? And here you were eating salads, jogging and not smoking, and it’s going to be your laser printer that does you in. Life sure is hilarious sometimes. [BBC]
Beijing couples trying to score a little public nookie should be worried about a little more than just disapproving looks from others: state news agency Xinhua reported yesterday that police CCTV monitoring computers tend to flag “intimate acts” as crimes like kidnapping and robbery, because they’re “programmed to be sensitive to violations of safe distances.” All this really means, of course, is that working for the Beijing 5-0 just got a little more interesting: officers will first “monitor” the suspected crime to make sure things are on the up-and-up before dropping in and killing the mood. You keep that city safe, boys.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Internet Radio May Survive, But Only With Lots of DRM:
The imminent death of internet radio due to unreasonable licensing and fee hikes might not be so imminent, at least as long as radio stations are willing to pile the DRM onto their streams as demanded by SoundExchange. Wanting to end the practice of “streamripping,” the equivalent of the fair-use-sanctioned practice of taping songs off FM radio, SoundExchange is hinging their compromise proposal on the adoption of DRM technologies by all internet radio stations. It’s good news that there’s a better chance of stations staying on the air, but the fact that they need to inhibit fair use to do so is pretty weak. [Ars Technica]
The Time Is Nigh: NOW Watch is Always Right:
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, but this watch is even more accurate: It’s always right, because when someone asks you what time it is, just show them its face prominently displaying the word “NOW.” But wait a minute, this is a fake watch. Damn. But you can’t argue with its correctitude. For your humorless friends, just tell them it’s a special precision timepiece supporting the National Organization for Women.
Addy, our British Gizmodian wordsmith/babe, says it stands for Nobs Out, Wankers. Either way, it’s on sale for $49.95. Seems like a lot to pay just to lampoon your clock-watching friends. [Elevate Films, via This Next]
Court: Feds can read e-mail, IP addresses without warrant:
Data mining at the FBI: digging for terrorists, insurance scammers, and identity thieves
House approves warrantless wiretapping
Senate Judiciary Committee approves Big Brother bills
MIT Project aims human buffer overflow at Secret Service
A few weeks back, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco issued an important ruling about Internet privacy—or lack thereof. Reaction to the case has been mixed; some commentators see it as a logical extension of existing telecommunications policy, while others view it with the same sort of enthusiasm generally reserved for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Given the importance the case has already taken on, let’s take a look back at the decision and at some recent reaction to it.
The court’s ruling was essentially a simple one. The government is currently allowed to deploy “pen registers”—devices that can record ev
New York City to get London-style “surveillance veil”:
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
It looks like New York City will soon be seeing a slew of new ever-watchful eyes, as The New York Times reports that the city is set to get a London-style “surveillance veil” that would eventually consist of thousands of cameras monitoring vehicles and individuals alike. Dubbed the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, the system will initially include more than 100 cameras that are expected to be in place by the end of this year, each of which will be able to read license plates and send out alerts is suspect vehicles are detected. That appears to just be the tip of the iceberg, however, with some 3,000 public and privately-owned cameras set to be put into service by the end of 2008, along with a series of pivoting gates that’ll be installed at critical intersections, giving authorities the ability to block off traffic at the push of a button. From there it’ll apparently grow even further, with the entire operation expected to be up and running by 2010. No word on head-mounted cams as of yet though.
Roswell aliens theory revived by deathbed confession | NEWS.com.au:
UFO pieces handed around at high-level meeting
EXACTLY 60 years ago, a light aircraft was flying over the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, at a height of around 3000m.
Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light illuminated the aircraft.
Visibility was good and as pilot Kenneth…
Resolute Wal-Mart shopper attempts to self-checkout $5 plasma – Engadget:
While we’ve certainly seen more dramatic heists before, this particular run-in with the law melds cleverness and ignorance in perfect harmony. After conjuring up grandiose thoughts of subversion, a less-than-reasonable fellow managed to snag a 42-inch Sanyo plasma, replace the $984 pricetag with a slightly less burdensome $4.88 sticker, and carry it to the front where he utilized a self-checkout register to all but steal a brand new PDP. Presumably grinning from ear to ear just basking in the glory of his brilliance, we imagine the mood went south quite quickly after store officers approached the man and demanded a receipt. Of course, he attempted to sweet talk his way out of the predicament, bu
DIY Dali vinyl record clock:
Here’s how to make a Dali-esque wall clock using a vinyl (Barry Manilow) record… Link.
Philip Johnson’s Glass House:
The residence that the architect built for himself in New Canaan, Conn. is now open to the public.
Potential cure for HIV discovered – Yahoo! News:
CHICAGO (AFP) – In a breakthrough that could potentially lead to a cure for HIV infection, scientists have discovered a way to remove the virus from infected cells, a study released Thursday said.
The scientists engineered an enzyme which attacks the DNA of the HIV virus and cuts it out of the infected cell, according to the study published in Science magazine.
The enzyme is still far from being ready to use as a treatment, the authors warned, but it offers a glimmer of hope for the more than 40 million people infected worldwide.
“A customized enzyme that effectively excises integrated HIV-1 from infected cells in vitro might one day help to eradicate (the) virus from AIDS patients,” Ala
A Low Impact Woodland Home:
Hobbit House-MC
You are looking at pictures of our family home in Wales. It was built by myself and my father in law with help from passers by and visiting friends. 4 months after starting we were moved in and cosy. I estimate 1000-1500 man hours and £3000 put in to this point. Not really so much in house buying terms (roughly £60/sq m excluding labour).
The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings.
Why Your Electricity Meter Sucks | EcoGeek | Power, Electricity, Plants, Peak, Use:
My electricity meter is about fifty years old, and it’s likely that yours is too. Even if it’s new, it probably uses the same ancient technology as mine. Those meters were created for a world with cheap, abundant power. Well, the world has changed…so why hasn’t my electricity meter?
It turns out, that if all United States power companies were to upgrade to new electricity meters today, America would save roughly $35 billion in energy costs over twenty years and it would eliminate the need for around 625 power plants. How could something as simple as an electricity meter suck so bad?
The most significant (though not only) problem with old electricity meters is that they charge you the same amount no matter what time of day it is. Electric utilities must keep
YG wanted to get real live on you (and by “you” we mean music and film industry “players”) with its new Voyager speaker system (based on the company’s Anat reference monitors), but it definitely seems like someone had too much casemodding or Transformers on their mind when they put pen to paper on these 200lb heart attacks. Let’s face it, you probably weren’t going to shell out the $100,000 per pair that YG is asking, but if you had, would you really want these monsters staring you down every time you watched Independence Day in your home theatre? Yeah, we know that the knee-buckling bass response and ear-tickling high end is hard to pass up, but remember — there’s a reason they’re called Decepticons.
If we ran the world Philadelphia, it’s highly unlikely that we’d camp out in the dismal rain for an iPhone like all those “normal citizens,” but we’ve got to give props to John F. Street for roughin’ like the rest of us. Apparently, Mr. Street set up shop earlier this morning and made up his mind to brave the inclement weather in order to be one of the first to snag an iPhone. Currently, he’s waiting patiently along Ranstead St. at 16th St. in Center City to be third in line to purchase an iPhone from the AT&T store, and while we’re sure such an influential character could have just paid someone off to do the waiting for him, the reward will be that much sweeter when 6:01PM rolls around.
Update: Looks like the media descended on the mayor and the dude took off about an hour ago! Looks like someone else has his spot in line (now word on whether he’s waiting for the mayor), but we’ll have an update in our lineblog shortly.
BBC NEWS | Americas | Vertical farming in the big Apple:
Fantastic!-MC
Is this how farms will look in the future?
Downtown Manhattan is hardly a place you would associate with agriculture. Rather, with its countless restaurants, cafes, shops and supermarkets this is a place of consumption.
And so every morsel, every bite
Boggers embroiled in Volish bribery kerfuffle:
A ROW IS BREWING between a bunch of bloggers who took cash from Microsoft marketing outfit and stodgy old media types who take their bribes in less obvious ways.
The row started on Friday when the ValleyWag revealed how some “star boggers” had take
The FCC clarifies what you can expect when switching service providers.
Telephone companies are allowed to charge a fee to recover their number porting costs. Companies may or may not choose to charge a fee, and their fees may vary. If they do charge specific fees, the fees cannot exceed their porting costs. Local telephone companies that assess the fee generally charge a fixed monthly fee and may do so for up to five years.
Besides clearing up some common questions, the guide gives you the skinny on exactly how to go about switching service providers without losing your phone number. What was your experience when changing service providers? Were you able to successfully keep your phone number? Hit up the comments.
Keeping Your Telephone Number When You Change Your ServiceProvider [FCC]
Ye Olde Wii: Buy One LaserTour, Get the Lay-Dee for Free – Gizmodo:
YE OLDE WII
Buy One LaserTour, Get the Lay-Dee for Free
This is leisure, 1982-style. The Perceptronics Las
Spinning Sihouette Optical Illusion – Mighty Optical Illusions:
Spinning Sihouette Optical Illusion
June 24, 2007 by Vurdlak | E-mail this post
This animation was on my laptop for quite some time. I had it for almost a year. Today anonymous user submitted me this gif version, and when I opened it, only then I realized how great this illusion actually is. If you look at the spinning girl’s silhouette below, you will think it is spinning clockwise, probably. When you check her shadow below, momentarily the spinning direction changes in your mind, and now the girl is spinning counter-clockwise. It can be quite hard at the beginning to notice switch of the spinning direction, but eventually you’ll manage. I posted more simple illusion of this kind while ago, and you can see it here. Now, be honest – how long did it take you to see it spin in both directions? Not as easy as the hidden tiger, ayeh? I lost the link to the original artist, but best I could come up with is the place I found it on.
Iphone review. A must read for anyone wanting one-MC
The Mossberg Solution – WSJ.com:
Reviews of print editions of bOING bOING:
Mark Frauenfelder:
Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been reviewing old issues of bOING bOING, the print zine that Carla and I started in 1988
With issue #6 bOING bOING continues to grow both in size and stature, this issue including an interview with Robert Anton Wilson (by Antero Alli), Rudy Rucker on James Gleick’s Chaos: The Software, an interview with comic artist Daniel Clowes and some high-falutin’ high-tech articles about subjects that are still miles above my head (and, believe it or not, I have an above-average IQ…allegedly). Still, it was always good to see bOING bOING on the newstand, if only because their coverage of new media (books, zines, software) was second to none and always satisfied this young man’s craving for fresh sources of information.
