Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: this artfully aged Chairman Mao statue stood about a meter high, on sale at an "antiques" stall in Shanghai. The street market was filled with cheerfully fake pieces (I found a nice fake Omega antique brooch clock and when the vendor argued for a few more RMB on the price, he said, "Omega, Omega!" and I countered, "Fake Omega!" and he said, "Chinese Omega!" and we both cracked up). At the next stall over a man was working with sandpaper and some kind of chemical to age a revolutionary-era plaque.

The revolution-kitsch antiques were in great supply, each of them weathered like this Mao, to look as though they'd been pulled out of an old town tenement just before it was bulldozed to make way for a gaudy, neon-clad skyscraper. Reality? Probably made in Guangzhou a week before. Link

Jason wanted to propose creatively to his girlfriend, Maui. So he conspired with comix legend, sf writer and all-round mensch Neil Gaiman: when Neil spoke in the Philippines, they would attend and Maui would queue up for a signature afterward. When she reached Neil, he would write "Will you marry Jason?" on the inside of her book and hand it back to her, and romance would ensue.

It worked flawlessly (see the video). Maui was delighted and surprised, Jason got down on one knee, the crowd applauded and Neil sat there, grinning like a maniac.

How lovely!

...and Maui actually failed to notice Neil's dedication because she was so starstruck. It took him about three times to actually get her to read the darn thing.

Maui (squealing, closing the book): Thanks!!!

Neil: Aren't you going to read what I wrote? You have to read it..

Maui (opening the book, shrugging, then closing it again): Thanks!!!

Me: You have to read the dedication...

And she bent over to give Neil a kiss, STILL not noticing what was going on.

Neil: You really have to read this...

When she did (FINALLY!)...

Link, Video Link

Socguy writes "The Canadian government has passed legislation that will reopen an Ontario nuclear reactor that produces most of the world's supply of critical medical isotopes, even though the site has been shut down for safety maintenance. Witnesses and experts were called in to the House to face questions about safety concerns and all parties eventually voiced support for the bill, which would effectively suspend CNSC's oversight role for 120 days. The Chalk River reactor ceased operating on Nov. 18. Pressure on the government to restart operations began to build after delays in the shutdown of the government-run site, which generates two-thirds of the world's radioisotopes, began to cause a critical shortage of radioisotopes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Our homeboy Windell, over at EMS Labs, has posted a simple circuit for creating a dark-detecting LED light. It's a power-conserving LED Throwie.

A Simple and Cheap Dark-Detecting LED Circuit - Link

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The debate over the shift from analog over-the-air TV to digital over-the-air TV has gone on for ages, but it's finally (fingers crossed) going to happen in 2009. This is important because it will free up a ton of useful spectrum that could be put to much better use. Even if it ends up costing billions, the overall benefit will certainly outweigh the cost of subsidized TV converters. Remember, that the transition really only impacts those who use over-the-air TV signals -- meaning those of you with cable or satellite or IPTV are basically unaffected by this move. Still, there are likely to be problems. The Government Accountability Office, one of the few government agencies who you can actually trust to be pretty honest in its assessment of things, is now warning that the FCC isn't prepared for the switch, noting that it doesn't seem to have much of a plan to educate people about the switch. The FCC claims that isn't the case at all (its response was apparently longer than the initial GAO report itself). And, perhaps the timing is a coincidence (somehow I doubt it), but right after the news of the GAO report came out, so did press reports about major retailers starting to stock up on converters. So, perhaps there is a plan after all...

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I was in the audience yesterday when the one dramatic moment of the conference took place. Scoble was on stage. Mike Arrington was sitting to my right in the front row of the second section (on the right). Mike showed me a piece he was writing, and I gulped. It said Scoble was leaving Podtech and probably going to FastCompany to start a TV network for them. Since Scoble is my friend, I knew that there was some truth to this, but was disappointed to see it was coming out, esp at a moment when Scoble wouldn't have a moment to think and consult with friends before formulating a response. HIs laptop screen was being projected as we watched him edit his comment on TechCrunch. At one point Mike asked if I thought he knew we could see what he was typing. I didn't think he did.

Anyway, Scoble lets it all hang out. And somehow he gets away with it. What would kill most people just stings him, and he smiles through it all, in his bumbling Scoble-like way, and it always amazes me how he makes lemonade out of the lemons. This isn't the optimal way to announce you're leaving a company, and his deal with FC isn't final yet. But somehow I think he'll navigate this transition and come out in a better place after the dust settles.

I don't know what Bebo is, I guess it's a social network, they say it's #3 in the USA, #1 in the UK, but they just did something that's pretty likely to work, if it's technically possible. They're cloning Facebook so that their service will run Facebook apps. What this means, if they can pull it off, is that they won't have to fight to get support from developers. That's a big deal.

Google could have done this with OpenSocial. Watching the panel assembled by Marc Canter at LeWeb3, I was reminded of every tech conference I've been to for almost 30 years. Some big company sitting in the center, and lots of smaller ones sucking up to them, not daring to say what's obvious, that the big company is only interested in limiting the growth of an upstart (not present on stage of course). That's where the Fear comes in Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. We don't say anything because we're too scared to. Even the outspoken Marc Canter, who's smart and has been around this block many times, doesn't dare say what's obvious.

Now Bebo decides to get in lockstep with Facebook, not Google. Of course! Facebook has the juice. But this is a dangerous place to be if Facebook doesn't want them there, and being a big company, they probably don't. The only value of having clones to FB is that it negates the threat from Google. Sometimes having clones is a good thing, but usually the clones take over the market. Witness MSIE and Netscape, and then Firefox. Compaq et al and IBM. dBASE and Fox. It's possible to depose an installed leader if it's possible to clone them. As a user and developer, I'd like to see FB be open to cloning. If I were a FB shareholder I'm not so sure.

One constituency that's sure to like the existence of clones are Facebook developers. Without choice in platform vendors, they have nowhere to go when the sole vendor decides to take over their market. With a viable alternative, unless FB is incredibly aggressive and builds its competitive features so they can run on competitive platforms, at least developers will have a place to run their apps when FB encroaches.

Platforms are a game, like Risk, with rules and strategies. Google did not play the game wisely with OpenSocial. I chalk this up to inexperience on the part of the strategists. So far Facebook has been doing what's needed to keep its dominant position. Bebo deciding to clone the Facebook API ratifies that position, it's a gutsy move, but the best one available to them, and to other would-be Facebook competitors.

PS: The news is slow to reach Europe. Facebook said yesterday that they support what Bebo is doing. Very enthusiastically. That should be the end of OpenSocial.

jcatcw writes "Health care software vendor McKesson Provider Technologies is focusing on ways to cut IT costs for customers, including hospitals and medical offices. The cure is moving many of McKesson's medical software applications to Linux, which can then be used on less expensive commodity hardware instead of expensive mainframes. A deal with Red Hat allows McKesson to offer its software in a top-to-bottom package for mission-critical hospital IT systems."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The MAKE:NYC gang sent in the details of their holiday contest!

Holiday recycling contest at Make:NYC

First Prize: $100
Second Prize: $50
Third Prize: $25

Contest Rules

• Create a new item/project/gizmo from holiday seasonal waste. Use wrapping paper, product
• cartons, lights, decorations, tree… anything you’d toss away once the season was over.
• You may use some non-seasonal items, but it must consist primarily of recycled goods.
• No perishable food items.
• Creations need to be well documented and the documentation must be made freely available.
• Judging criteria will be Most Creative.
• Creations are due into the next Make:NYC meeting, in late January — date TBA.

Things you might want to consider:

• Make the item as useful as possible. Strictly decorative items won’t score you many points.
• Don’t celebrate much? We won’t mind if you’ve bought some materials just for the contest.
• Have fun and enjoy your holiday, just don’t let anyone toss out your ideas!

Bring your completed project to the January Make:NYC Meeting, which will be announced soon her eon the Make:NYC blog. Holiday Recycling Contest at Make:NYC - Link.

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Another one for the "Don't Put Your Eye Out" file, a copper-hosed rocket motor made out of granulated sugar, honey, potassium nitrate, and water. Kids? Don't make me say it...

Two Dollar Rocket Motor - Link

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Ethan Zuckerman says,

The Organization for Transformative Works has just launched.

It's a fascinating new proto-nonprofit determined to defend media fandom from the excesses of copyright and to help fanfic writers and vidders maintain control of their remixed works. A few especially interesting things about the org:

- the board chair is Naomi Novik, bestselling author who's been vocal about her support for the fanfic community

- the organization explicitly recognizes the role of women in the fandom community, and has launched with respect for that history as part of their values statement (not to mention an all-female board)

- the word "transformative" looks like they're throwing down the gauntlet in copyright battles, insisting that fic is fair use as a transformative work

Ethan's post on the org launch is here: Link.

ianare writes "Eight tusks and a bison skull all show signs of having being blasted with iron-nickel fragments, typical meteorite material. Raised, burnt surface rings trace the point of entry of high-velocity projectiles; and the punctures are on only one side, consistent with a blast coming from a single direction. But the team was astonished to find the animal remains were about 35,000 years old, rather than from the known impact of 13,000 years ago."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

While you may recall the Supreme Court's decision in the MercExchange/eBay case from a year and a half ago, that was really just over one technical point at issue in the case: should a judge automatically issue an injunction to stop the sale of a product if that product is found to be infringing. Thankfully, the Supreme Court recognized that injunctions don't always make sense. However, once that was decided, the rest of the case still had to proceed. Based on the Supreme Court ruling, it was no surprise earlier this summer that the judge denied an injunction against eBay, but this week he did approve a $30 million judgment against the company -- representing the $25 million earlier award, plus another $5 million in interest.

The case isn't over yet, though. eBay has vowed to appeal the ruling. While the Supreme Court ruling on injunctions was an important one in preventing some of the worst abuses of the patent system, this case is still something of a travesty. MercExchange had claimed patents over all different aspects of online auctions, and while some of those patents were tossed out of the case, eBay was still found to infringe for daring to offer a "buy it now" feature on an auction. What no one has yet been able to explain is how the idea of a "buy it now" option on an auction should ever be patentable. It's simply a feature and a natural offering for any auction site to include at some point or another. It wasn't some brilliant idea that deserves a huge monopoly preventing all others from offering such a simple feature. Yet, tragically, with the way our patent system works, that's what has happened.

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W00t, here is the 50th episode of Boing Boing tv! Mark makes a tiny amplifier for an electric guitar, then proceeds to shred. Next, a short film by Walter Robot (Bill Barminski and Christopher Louie) in which an urban cowboy funks out.

Link to video and full post with comments thread.

This weekend Handmade music is going to be HUGE and in NYC!

Handmade Music
2:00 - 5:00 pm
December 16, 2007
openhousegallery.org at 201 Mulberry Street near Spring Street, Manhattan

Hosted by createdigitalmusic.com, Make Magazine, and Etsy.com

• Featured Performance: Mister Resistor Ensemble from Parsons
• Workshop: Soldering-free Sonic Electronics for Beginners, with Peter Kirn and PAiA (paia.com)
• Open musical show-and-tell
• Free, with refreshments provided by Function Drinks

Handmade Music is a semi-regular event hosted by createdigitalmusic.com, Etsy.com, and Make Magazine celebrating DIY music creation. It's a party, performance, and show-and-tell for musicians who build their own expressive tools, in hardware, instruments, and software.

This month is headlined by the Mister Resistor student ensemble from Parsons, featuring instruments constructed by cassette tape, microchips, oatmeal boxes, and much more. Ensemble director Ranjit Bhatnagar has already wowed audiences with musical robots and ironing boards, and now shows off what his students have been doing.

To help newcomers learn how to make their own creations, Create Digital Music's Peter Kirn will lead off with a workshop on musical electronics, with free kits from PAiA Corporation that uses pencil markings to produce circuits. (No soldering required, so total beginners can give it a try. Kits for the project are free, on a first-come, first-served basis.) Throughout the afternoon, New York's top musical makers will meet and display their creations.

Everyone is welcome, from curious visitors to those bringing in-progress projects of their own.

RSVP to:
rsvp@etsy.com

More info:

• Mister Resistor in concert (Facebook) - Link.
• Mister Resistor (site) - Link.
• All-Handmade Mister Resistor Music Ensemble, Live in NYC Sunday - Link.

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An anonymous reader writes "For the first time, the Army has set up a project office, just for building videogames. The military has been training troops with games for decades, of course. But this is the first wing of the armed forces dedicated exclusively for gaming. One of the first projects: a tool kit that would let soldiers "build and customize their own training scenarios — just like the Marines' did, adapting Armed Assault for military purposes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hacked Gadgets has a link to a how-to PDF and an aftermarket solution for adding a push-button switch to a North American 2004 Prius to enable the EV (electric vehicle) mode.

Hack your 2004+ Prius to allow EV Mode - Link

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In all the talk about a "new" internet bubble, the one thing that many people have pointed out over and over again is that we're still not seeing the same sort of crazy IPOs that were everywhere in 1998 and 1999. However, that's not to say some weren't interested in trying to push the envelope. More internet firms -- including quite a few that were unprofitable -- have been looking to go public lately. However, perhaps the most outlandish was Classmates.com's IPO plans. Classmates, of course, was a survivor from the original bubble, and had something of a web 1.0 social network, helping classmates reconnect. It tried to make money on premium services that very few people signed up for -- and even fewer as things like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook came along. However, with social networking sites getting astounding valuations, United Online (the current owner of Classmates) decided to try to polish the company up and position it as a social networking IPO. Of course, it didn't take Sherlock Holmes to realize this was a dud from the very beginning -- and it seems that message finally got back to the folks at United Online who have pulled the offering costing the company $4.5 to $5.5 million for a lot of nothing. Still, this should be seen as a positive development. Even with the hype and crazy valuations around social networking, the folks on Wall Street have at least some sense of when a company just has a story rather than anything of substance.

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