Online flamewars certainly can get nasty at times, often boiling over into quite a bit of rage -- but it's still pretty rare (and amazing) to see that anger then boil over into the real world. Last year, we wrote about a case in the UK where someone drove 70 miles to attack the guy he was sparring with online. The press referred to it as "web rage," though, rage doesn't tend to last that long. Or, perhaps it does. Here in the US we do things in bigger ways, apparently. A guy in Virginia who got into a flamewar online decided to make it a bit more literal, and drove 1,300 miles to Waco, Texas to burn down the home of one of this online enemies from a (no, this isn't a joke) picture sharing community. Not only that, but the attacker took photos of each "Welcome to State X" signs and shared them online as he made his way across the country -- to let others in the community know he was serious about going after the other guy. What did the one guy do to piss the other guy off? Apparently he had different political views and posted a silly photo claiming the other guy was a nerd. Nerd or not, he's now a convicted arsonist. He's been sentenced to 7 years in prison for burning down the other guy's home -- but it doesn't sound like the intervening time or pending jail time cooled this guy down. As the sentencing was happening, the arsonist used his cameraphone to take snapshots of the guy whose home he tried to burn down, apparently to post online as well (though, the court ordered the photos destroyed). So, while the typical admonition to those engaging in flame wars is to remember that it's a real person on the other side, we'd also like to add "who may be so crazy that they'll come burn down your house."

superstick58 writes "Reboot, one of the first CG animated TV shows is returning as a trilogy of feature-length films. This was a great cartoon for me, perhaps it also helped stimulate other developing nerds to embrace the computers that are supposedly run by these enjoyable CG characters."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

You might remember the recent data leak in Ohio, where personal info on a million or so people was lost, after a storage device containing it was stolen from an intern's car. The intern, who apparently took the device home with him as part of a security protocol, has now been fired by the state, and says he's being made the scapegoat for the loss. Despite the governor's claims to the contrary, of course the intern's being scapegoated, even though he apparently was just doing what he was told. That's how things work with data leaks: the buck is passed, and responsibility shirked. In this instance, the state can say the responsible party has been fired, glossing over the fact that he was apparently just following directions he'd been given, and that the real problem here was a flawed security plan that was either devised by an idiot, or, more likely, by somebody who didn't take the security of other people's personal info very seriously. That's the problem here: nobody seems to care when it's other people's data. There are never any real ramifications from these leaks, as long as companies or governments are seen to have some security plan in place, even if it's not a good one. Until that changes -- and the scapegoating and responsibility shirking stops -- data leaks and breaches are going to keep on coming.

phlack writes "Toyota has announced a plug-in hybrid vehicle, based on their popular Prius. So far, it will only have a range of 8 miles on the battery (13km). They are going to test this vehicle on the public roads, apparently a first for the industry. From the article: 'Unlike earlier gasoline-electric hybrids, which run on a parallel system twinning battery power and a combustion engine, plug-in cars are designed to enable short trips powered entirely by the electric motor, using a battery that can be charged through an electric socket at home. Many environmental advocates see them as the best available technology to reduce gasoline consumption and global-warming greenhouse gas emissions, but engineers say battery technology is still insufficient to store enough energy for long-distance travel.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Back in May, when US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales started pushing his ridiculous bill that would make copyright law much stronger we figured that it was simply Gonzales' way of actually doing something unrelated to the widespread scandals coming out of his office. Given that nearly all of Congress seemed pretty pissed off at Gonzales (which still seems true today), we didn't think anyone would actually introduce the proposed bill. However, there's always someone. Rep. Steven Chabot has introduced a bill that's very similar to what Gonzales proposed, including making "attempted copyright infringement" a criminal offense. It also increases the time copyright infringers can spend in jail. As the EFF notes, Chabot's bill goes even further than Gonzales' proposal in that it allows judges to apply statutory damages separately on each song of an album, rather than on the entire album (even as the recording industry only registers the copyrights on the entire album at a time). There are no co-sponsors to the bill and it seems unlikely to get very far, but it's disappointing that it's even been introduced at all. Why not head over to Washington Watch and give your opinion on the bill.

Sony's attempts at a turnaround have been pretty slowgoing, but their latest quarterly results -- showing profits double last year's -- generated some enthusiasm that things were on the right track. Although some parts of the company's business have picked up, the biggest factor in the increased profits was a weakening yen, which boosted the value of overseas sales. Investors shouldn't discount the currency effect, but they do have some other reasons to be upbeat: the company's movie unit is doing well, and its Sony Ericsson mobile phone joint venture continues to grow its market share. While the electronic business overall is looking healthier, Sony's TV unit is still underperforming, and the gaming business is still in the can. Sony's video-game unit boosted its sales by 60 percent over the same quarter last year, which is great, except that its losses grew as well, partly because it's still selling the PS3 for less than it costs to build. The game unit got a new boss a little while ago, but it doesn't yet look like he's making a lot of progress. Sony announced a price cut for the US on one PS3 model, and also said it will deliver a new high-end version and a load of new games. But it's hard to see those small changes making a big difference in terms of getting the mass market to buy into the PS3, particularly when you contrast Sony's strategy to that of Nintendo, whose business is booming. Still, Sony's problems are far from solved -- but it is showing some signs of life.

n0g writes "In a recent submission to Bugtraq, Larry Gill of Guidance Software refutes some bug reports for the forensic analysis product EnCase Forensic Edition. The refutation is interesting, but one comment raises an important privacy issue. When talking about users creating loops in NTFS directories to hide data, Gill says, 'The purposeful hiding of data by the subject of an investigation is in itself important evidence and there are many scenarios where intentional data cloaking provides incriminating evidence, even if the perpetrator is successful in cloaking the data itself.' That begs the question: if one cloaks data by encrypting it, exactly what incriminating evidence does that provide? And how important is that evidence compared to the absence of anything else found that was incriminating? Are we no longer allowed to have any secrets, even on our own systems?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Xeni Jardin:

Bonnie Burton says,

Stormtroopers in line for lattes, a gigantic LEGO Death Star looming over the crowd, Slave Leias flirting with superheroes, celebs talking movies (*cough*Indiana Jones*cough*) -- yup it's time for San Diego Comic-Con International, and starwars.com is there taking snapshots, shooting video and reporting the latest news tidbits daily on the Official starwars.com Blog. Link. Check out our Flickr blog too.

Above, a snapshot from The Vader Project, a series of customized Vader helmets on display at Comic-Con this week: Link to blogpost, here's more and more. Participating helmetmodders include Shag, Tim Biskup, Frank Kozik, Marc Ecko, Amanda Visell, J. Otto Seibold, Gary Baseman, Joe Ledbetter, Urban Medium and Jeff Soto.

Xeni Jardin:

Following up on this much-covered story today about a report alleging alcohol abuse among NASA astronauts, hurtyelbow says:

NASA probably has powdered beer in space, because NASA knows how to prioritize. It's like Tang. Except it's beer. So what do you do when you feel your fellow astronaut might be orbiting under the influence? Nothing, because you're an astronaut and you're drunk too.

Let's say there were interstellar law enforcement spaceships that could police the area around earth (Who cares about the other planets really?). Typical symptoms of drunk driving wouldn't apply. First of all, flying isn't driving and secondly there's nothing to run into in space anyway.

Link.

We don't always agree with FCC chair Kevin Martin -- and there are plenty of times that we find his positions laughable or disturbing -- but he's certainly correct when he says there's simply no need for the reinstatement of "The Fairness Doctrine," which would require broadcasters to give "equal time" to the opposition on controversial topics. Of course, that makes the incorrect assumption that controversial issues have two (and only two) sides, which is rarely the case. It also ignores the huge increase in outlets for anyone to get their views across. However, some politicians have been pushing hard to reinstate the doctrine, which actually feels a lot more like media restrictions than anything to get a message out. As some have pointed out, those who can't get heard shouldn't rely on some unnecessary fairness doctrine to get their message across. They should learn to formulate a better message.

Xeni Jardin: A dude on the internet referred to Navy Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares as "a nerd" in an online trollfight. In one of the more dramatic tales of internet rage we've seen lately, the 27-year-old Tavares then hopped in his car and sped off 1,300 miles, from Virginia to Texas, where the name-caller lived. Tavares photographed road snapshots along his route, and posted the images online, as if to prove to his internet peers that he was not a luzer. When he got to there, he burned the dude's trailer down. Tavares has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for arson. Snip:

The feud started when Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco, joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his artwork and political views. After he blocked some people from his page because of insults and foul language, they retaliated by making obscene digitally altered pictures of him, he said.

Anderson, who went by the screen name "Johnny Darkness," traded barbs with Tavares, aka "PyroDice." Investigators say Tavares boiled over when Anderson called him a nerd and posted a digitally altered photo making Tavares look like a skinny boy in high-water pants, holding a gun and a laptop under a "Revenge of the Nerds" sign.

Tavares obtained Anderson's real name and hometown from Anderson's Web page about his Museum of Horrors Haunted House.

Link to AP report. (thanks, Andria)

Xeni Jardin: DefectiveByDesign says:

Today the BBC made it official—they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating system to view BBC programming on the web. And you must accept the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes.

Link

Xeni Jardin:

BoingBoing reader Carl says,

I was recently in Vegas and took a tour through the Neon Graveyard. It was fascinating and gratifying to see that so many of the old neon signs are being preserved for public viewing. Everyone should go when they're in Vegas.

Link.

Xeni Jardin:

Blogger White African has an item up today about the mobile reporters of AfricaNews:

Africans are reporting via their mobile phones. Using GPRS-enabled phones, anyone can send images, articles and video to someone else. This is a huge, primarily because it means that the on-ground reporters don’t need an internet connection at all - only access to a cell phone tower.
The Voices of Africa project is being piloted by 3 reporters right now - one from Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. They are using Nokia E61i phones to send in their stories, working through the technical issues to ensure that it can be rolled out to a much larger group of reporters around the continent.

Link. Via Emeka Okafor at Timbuktu Chronicles.

mytrip writes "In hopes of avoiding potentially embarrassing incidents, IBM is taking the unusual step of establishing official guidelines for its more than 5,000 employees who inhabit Second Life and other virtual worlds. 'IBM appears to be the first corporation to create rules governing virtual worlds. The move has critics, who say that mandating behavior for the so-called "metaverse" is unlikely to reform impish avatars. They also question why IBM would add a layer of buttoned-down bureaucracy to this relatively rollicking corner of the Internet. IBM executives counter that having a code of conduct is akin to a corporate stamp of approval, encouraging workers to explore more than 100 worlds IBM collectively calls the 3D Internet.'" This regulation may be coming from more than self-interest: IBM sees these environments as management training courses in some ways; working inter-personal skills via chat and human resources via guild activities.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Xeni Jardin: A third person died Thursday night from injuries suffered during the explosion of an experimental rocket fuel tank at Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert. BoingBoing readers may recall this site as the location from which SpaceShipOne and other innovative, privately-financed craft have taken off in recent years.

"We don't know why it exploded," said Burt Rutan, the owner of Scaled Composites. "We just don't know." Rutan was visibly distraught as he appeared in public for the first time Thursday night following the tragedy. He said he still can't believe three of his employees are dead, and three others critically injured. "We were doing a test that we believed was completely safe... which is why we don't remove the people from the area like we do on a rocket test," said Rutan.

Link to KGET item, here's an LAT report (thanks, ginohn).

Previously on BoingBoing:

Xeni on NPR: report from SpaceShipOne launch at Mojave

X-37 first flight at Mojave (on SpaceShipOne's anniversary)

Alan Radecki's photos of X Prize event and Mojave airport

At the end of every interview someone inevitably asks “Where do you see 37signals in five years? Ten years? 20 years?” My answer remains the same: “Still in business. Beyond that I have no idea.”

Five years ago I had no idea we’d release Basecamp. Four years ago I had no idea we’d release Ta-da List. Three years ago I had no idea we’d release Backpack or Campfire. Two years ago I had no idea we’d release Highrise. Did I ever think we’d write another book? Not until we started it. And what about next year? I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to be working on.

You know more later tha