Lucas123 writes "Computerworld has posted stories from a disaster recovery company that include a scientist who drilled into his hard drive in order to pour oil into the mechanism to stop the squeaking. It worked. Of course a dead drive makes no noise. And, then a guy in Thailand who, after discovering ants in his external hard drive, took the cover off in order to spray the interior with insect repellent. Both the ants and the drive died."

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After writing yesterday's post about politics on Wikipedia, I came across a copy of the actual email Durova sent purporting to demonstrate that the Wikipedia user she subsequently banned was a "troublemaker." What it boils down to is that the user in question was too good at contributing to Wikipedia, and so must not really have been a new user when she signed up in July. Basically, Durova thinks that she's made a suspiciously large number of helpful edits, including familiarity with relatively obscure Wikipedia features, and so she must be an experienced user creating a "sock puppet" to help unspecified co-conspirators gain control of the site. Now, it's pretty clearly paranoid to think this proves there's some kind of conspiracy going on; there are any number of reasons an experienced Wikipedian might want to start a new account, and as long as the new account isn't being used as a "sock puppet"—and Durova offered no evidence that it was—it's not really a problem.

But at the very least, Durova is right about one thing: the way you gain power and influence within the Wikipedia community is by making thousands upon thousands of helpful edits to Wikipedia articles. To the extent that there are competing factions battling for control of the site, they conduct their battle by competing to make the best contributions to the site, thereby earning the respect of other Wikipedians and enabling them to win election to leadership positions like the site's Arbitration Committee. If you peruse the comments people make when they're voting, you'll see that a lot of people vote against individuals because they haven't been on the site long enough or haven't made enough contributions. What this means is that it doesn't matter very much how paranoid, vain, or power-hungry the senior leadership of Wikipedia is, or that there might be factions plotting to seize control of the site away from the current leadership. In fact, it might actually be good for the rest of us if that's true, because it will spur each faction to re-double their efforts to do more editing in the hopes of earning the support of rank-and-file editors.

There's an obvious parallel to real-world human societies here. People often criticize capitalism for promoting greed, but that's not quite right. Greed has always existed in human societies. In pre-capitalist societies, the way greedy and ambitious people got ahead was largely by conquering new countries, enslaving their inhabitants, assassinating political rivals, lobbying the government for monopolies, and engaging in other wasteful and destructive activities. The rice of capitalism didn't abolish greed and ambition, but it harnessed it for the public good. Now, if you want to become rich and powerful, one of the best ways to do it is by creating a company that produces goods and services consumers want. (You can also still get ahead by lobbying the government for special privileges, so the system's not perfect) The better you are at serving your customers' needs, the richer you get. In a competitive market, it doesn't really matter if our elite businessmen are nice people, the system is set up so that they're driven by their own self-interest to do things that benefit their customers. By the same token, it doesn't matter if, as critics claim, Wikipedia is run by a paranoid cabal; the system is organized so that they have to continue contributing positively to the site in order to maintain their positions of authority.

Tim Lee is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Tim Lee and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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eldavojohn writes "Toyota has unveiled a robot that can play the violin. From the article: 'Toyota said it planned to further advance the robot's dexterity to enable it to use tools and assist with domestic duties and nursing and medical care. The robot has 17 joints in both of its hands and arms now.' It seems there have been small — or maybe even strange, impractical — advances in robotics repeatedly with demonstrations of robots performing a specialized task. Are we merely struggling to hard code each human activity as we strive for an all purpose android? Is there a chance artificial intelligence & robotics will ever become generalized enough to make interaction interesting?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

eldavojohn writes "Toyota has unveiled a robot that can play the violin. From the article: 'Toyota said it planned to further advance the robot's dexterity to enable it to use tools and assist with domestic duties and nursing and medical care. The robot has 17 joints in both of its hands and arms now.' It seems there have been small — or maybe even strange, impractical — advances in robotics repeatedly with demonstrations of robots performing a specialized task. Are we merely struggling to hard code each human activity as we strive for an all purpose android? Is there a chance artificial intelligence & robotics will ever become generalized enough to make interaction interesting?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Today on Boing Boing Gadgets we saw this "Glucoboy" device which rewards blood sugar testing with Game Boy gaming, our first (and last) Tractor Fight Thursday, a horseshit AT&T "open" story in USA Today, safes for the rich made of exotic wood and gold, my question about the Seiko Final Fantasy watch, a mouse that thinks it's a numeric keypad, a surprisingly intriguing fruit-shaped TV remote design, a cigarette pack that I though was clever but may not be, and the danger of knock-off goods. And you know what? Are you ready for it? Deals and clean-up links.

We've covered a number of these "helping hands" jigs, but as far as I'm concerned, you can't have too many, or too many "arms" on the ones you have. This one uses the Snap Flow/Loc-line hosing for the arms we've been seeing a lot of lately and magnetized bases so you can move them into different configurations.

Desk Squid - "Helping Hands" improved. - Link

Related:

• Magnifying finger attachment - Link
• Cool Tool: Third Hand - Link
• 3 degrees of freedom positioner for soldering / gluing small parts - Link

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Back in 2003, Disney's brilliant idea to "compete" with TiVo and Netflix was to start MovieBeam. Just the fact that Disney felt it needed to compete with TiVo and Netflix shows you how backwards the thinking was at the point. Moviebeam was a terrible idea from the start. People were expected to buy (yet another) expensive set top box from Disney, which would basically be a very limited DVR. The hard drive would come packed with about 100 movies, and each week some would disappear and others would magically "beam" into the box. Despite the fact that you already had to pay for the box, you still had to pay each time you wanted to watch a movie -- and, you were only given a 24-hour time period in which to watch that movie. Two years into the program (with only a few small test markets) Disney shut down the program. At the time, we figured it was gone for good, but somehow, some VCs and Cisco were convinced to pony up $50 million to bring this idea back to life as a spinoff from Disney. Yet, when the offering was relaunched (with a few small improvements) people still didn't care. Earlier this year, the company was basically sold off for next to nothing, and now the company has announced that it's shutting down operations next week. Who knows, though, maybe it'll rise from the dead again, so that it can fail a few more times.

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The New York Times reports that the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed tapes of "severe interrogation techniques" conducted on two Al Qaeda operatives in its custody "in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy."

Daniel Marcus, a law professor at American University who served as general counsel for the Sept. 11 commission and was involved in the discussions about interviews with Al Qaeda leaders, said he had heard nothing about any tapes being destroyed.

If tapes were destroyed, he said, “it’s a big deal, it’s a very big deal,” because it could amount to obstruction of justice to withhold evidence being sought in criminal or fact-finding investigations.

Link

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? writes "Ars is reporting that the Ron Paul spam has been traced back to the Reactor botnet. According to the SecureWorks report, which originally identified the spammer, someone calling themselves nenastnyj was behind it and their botnet control server has been shut down. The Ron Paul campaign has previously denied any connection with this spam campaign."

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Hey remember when we asked you to post up your ideas for an automatic Xmas tree watering system? Here's our winner! Stokes writes -

I had an idea involving an external reservoir but didn't require an air-tight container:

An open-topped (or at least non-sealed) external reservoir is attached to the tree's water supply by a tube at the bottom. The reservoir is kept at the same height as the tree's supply. The water level in each container will remain level; you can easily see how much water the tree has, plus you can refill the external reservoir without having to crawl beneath the tree. If you use a larger or deeper reservoir, you can extend the time between refills substantially.

The one benefit this has over the ones that rely on an air-tight reservoir is that there is less of a risk of leaking. A tiny air leak in an air-tight reservoir system could eventually overflow the container under the tree. This idea doesn't store as much water, though. You also need to put a hole in the bottom of the tree stand, which is additional work.

Winner! Stokes email us! - Link.

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The New York Xpress American Hip Hop Street Wear is another in my ongoing series of photos from my travels. This one is from Whitechapel, in East London, and it's part of my small but growing series of pictures of commercial ventures in London that name themselves after US places (Tennessee Fried Chicken, Texas Fried Chicken, Dixy Chicken, Chicago Fried Chicken and Ribs (Halal!), Manhattan Loft Corporation, and so on). Link

The recent announcement that Verizon Wireless will support Android, Google’s new software platform for mobile devices, is an early warning sign that the traditional network operator model is fast becoming obsolete. To some this move seems to contradict a widely held presumption that two previous announcements (the choice of LTE with Vodafone and the inclusion of non-Verizon phones on the Verizon Wireless network) were a competitive strike at Google’s position in the upcoming 700 mHz auction. In conjunction, these three publicly declared commitments to openness are indicators that fundamental changes to the Verizon Wireless business model are set to occur over the next 3 – 5 years.

Verizon Wireless is preparing to compete in an industry that will resemble more of a free-for-all where innovation and customer value are the rule of the day. Verizon can no longer afford to maintain strict boundaries between the devices and applications “inside” and “outside” their networks. By embracing openness on several different fronts the company is seeking to offload a large chunk of the costs associated with developing devices to a wider ecosystem of participants. Inclusive device policies will retain the same effect that outsourcing the development and support costs for new phones would. It is no longer tenable to develop devices and support customer issues for every single customer on its network, so the company is looking to basically exchange network access for ownership of support issues, with a larger group of handset and application providers.

Particularly, the Android move is to ensure that an assortment of niche devices powered by Google’s platform will have a home on the Verizon Wireless network. The company should begin to feature an increasing number of programs and incentives for an increasing number of handset makers and wireless application developers. Meanwhile Verizon will begin to slash the high costs associated with developing phones with the Samsung and LG types. As a result, the number of phone models actually supported by the company (currently at around 50) is set to drop significantly by 2012 even as the total number of models running on the network will escalate.

As the most profitable U.S. cellular business, Verizon Wireless also has the most impetus to begin the process of expanding a revenue base limited to subscribers who are content to choose from 50 or so the company’s handsets. Spurred by a shrinking number of first time customers it is fast becoming critical to find ways to attract subscribers from rival carriers and open access policies are a good start towards that end. Along the same lines, the aforementioned Vodafone LTE announcement is key to the company’s strategic play for subscribers who, in the past, shunned Verizon Wireless for carriers that enable easier roaming. The goal is to extend the availability of “America’s most reliable network” to both sides of the Atlantic to boost the value proposition of becoming a Verizon wireless customer.

Verizon’s open evolution is a response to the limited growth opportunities faced by US mobile carriers in the face of market saturation (250 million across the country already have cell phones). Over the next 2-3 years what is now a rumbling from consumers will expand into smoldering demand for choices on wireless networks that reflect the nature of those provided on landlines. In effect the company realizes that it must adapt to an open-centric marketplace to compete and survive over the long haul, not just in the upcoming 700 MHz auctions. In doing so, Verizon has begun the transformation from staunch gatekeeper of a closed network into the heart of a more open wireless ecosystem.

Alex Fletcher is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Alex Fletcher and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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$5 Motorcycle Camera Mount - Link

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640 Comments Are Enough for Anyone writes "Microsoft is going back on one of their promises concerning OOXML. While they originally made assurances that the ISO would take control of the standard if it were approved, Microsoft is now reversing that position and keeping near-full control over OOXML with the EMCA. This is significant because the EMCA is the group that originally rubber-stamped OOXML. It seems unlikely that they will force changes to correct problems with the standard. In Microsoft's new plan, the ISO would only be allowed to publish lists of errata and would be unable to make OOXML compatible with existing ISO standards, while the EMCA would be the one to control any new versions of the standard."

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JahFurry sez, "Rushkoff, Paul Pope, Moby, Dean Haspiel, Josh Neufeld, Nick Bertozzi, Molly Crabapple, Dan Goldman, JahFurry and more team-up on Monday night in NYC to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at a member party benefitting the Fund, with live art jam, badass music by Avi Bortnick, sketches books and special prints for sale, make killer holiday gifts!" Link (Thanks, JahFurry!)

Along with pallets of toilet paper and 12 pound drums of nutmeg, it appears that Costco also stocks any funeral accoutrements you may need: caskets, pet urns, "keepsakes," and the like.
Link (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

I really like these little robots are built with parts salvaged from discarded TVs and VCRs, avail @ ETSY - Link.

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Like many bloggers, we get inundated with ridiculous press releases about stuff we'd absolutely never write about. While we won't go to the level of Chris Anderson's decision to publicly shame and block every emailer who spams him, sometimes we do try to give some advice -- such as the time we tried to remind PR people that we don't want press releases. Seriously. Don't send them. Ever.

Of course, the real problem is that the annoying PR people don't read the site, so not only do they have no clue what we write about, they also don't see the messages trying to tell them how to better communicate with us. But, still, sometimes it does help to get PR people talking about these things, and if we have to do it, we might as well try to do it constructively. I'd been meaning to post a note about "the most boring PR pitch in the world," but kept letting it slip. However, I'm reminded of it after seeing the bizarre situation (from the same firm) between Valleywag and MWW, a PR shop. Apparently, one of the folks at MWW sent a PR spam to Valleywag, but left in all the edits showing that it was a copied template. Amusing, but not too surprising. However, in response, the PR person who sent the email is now threatening legal action (over what, we have no clue). More interesting, though, is that Valleywag (in that same post) highlights an email that got sent around MWW about how to pitch bloggers, including things like "Don't pitch, talk" and "Be brief."

Well, it appears that some of the folks at MWW take that second one a bit too seriously. For a few months now, the folks at MWW send me a regular stream of PR spam that often has a totally unintelligible subject line, such as the model number of a new mobile phone that I don't recognize and don't care about. It's also just sent from a general email, rather than a person's name. Then, the crux of the message itself is to not tell me why I should possibly care:

Greetings,

We have posted recent news to our media site. Below is the link and abstract for the announcement. Please go to our site if you would like to learn more or to download images or specs.

Best,
MWW Group -- Dallas

Click here to view article.

The "click here to view article" is the entire "abstract." I have no idea what this pitch is about or why I should care. The messages from MWW all appear this way, though sometimes it will actually include a one sentence snippet from the press release as the "abstract" way at the bottom while others just ask us to click for no good reason. Now, to its credit, MWW isn't technically sending us a press release. However, if you are going to try to engage with bloggers (or real reporters, for that matter), what's wrong with actually (1) appearing human and (2) giving the person a reason to read what you've got to say? "We have posted recent news to our media site, click here" without any reason why I should care at all is hardly a compelling pitch. We're getting spammed all day long with pitches we already don't care about. To not even tell us what you're actually pitching seems beyond ridiculous. So, again, do not send us press releases, but if you must communicate with us, at least give us a reason to care.

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