Iddo Genuth writes "Researchers at the Surface Science Laboratory at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid have created an ultrasmooth mirror that could be used to create a revolutionary new atomic microscope within the next several years. The new atomic microscope — using helium atoms for imaging — has the potential to provide the same resolution as existing electron microscopes but without many of the problems which have plagued them for years."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The vice presidential candidate of a major political party in America apparently believes dinosaurs and men once walked the earth at the same time:

After conducting a college band and watching Palin deliver a commencement address to a small group of home-schooled students in June 1997, Wasilla resident Philip Munger said, he asked the young mayor about her religious beliefs.

Palin told him that "dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time," Munger said. When he asked her about prehistoric fossils and tracks dating back millions of years, Palin said "she had seen pictures of human footprints inside the tracks," recalled Munger, who teaches music at the University of Alaska in Anchorage and has regularly criticized Palin in recent years on his liberal political blog, called Progressive Alaska.

Palin treads carefully between fundamentalist beliefs and public policy (Los Angeles Times)

For years, questionable "software" firms would buy up ads that pretended to look like computer warning messages telling you that your computer was at risk. Then there were scamming companies that would include a web-based "test" of your computer to see if it was at risk -- and, of course, it always found that you were. The scam is just to get you to download (and buy) their software which rarely does anything (and most of the time you don't need it). The FTC had cracked down on these companies a while back, but it appears at least some are still in business. Washington state is now suing a software company that apparently did something similar sending messages to computer users claiming "CRITICAL ERROR!" and demanding that they download the company's product immediately to repair the problem. Of course, there was almost never an actual problem... but the software cost $40.

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Ever wanted to own a full-scale Roman siege engine? Now you can!

The ballista was successfully built and managed to fire a very heavy stone ball some 127 yards. (Remember, these things used to successfully lay siege to entire cities.)

The ballista, dissembled, has been in our Scotland timber yard since then, so we have decided to make some room (quite a bit of room, actually) and sell it on eBay.

The ballista has aged gracefully and needs a little restoration work to get it back into shape again – though as a demonstration piece rather than as a fireable weapon. We’ve decided to sell the ballista ‘as seen’ for those who fancy constructing it themselves – though we are very happy to provide construction as an additional service. (To be fair, we recommend it – it will take people with timber expertise to do the required work.)

Our full-size Roman siege catapult for sale on eBay (Thanks, Uncle Wilco!)

The Adventurer's Club at Walt Disney World -- a cabaret show/bar augmented with puppeteered robotic masks, stone idols, and random junque -- has shut its doors, as part of the shuttering of Pleasure Island (an otherwise lacklustre adult entertainment area with crummy discos and clubs). This was my second-favorite Disney artifact of all time (after the Haunted Mansion ride), and my favorite club in the world. I'm so bummed to hear they shut it down -- I hope it re-opens somewhere else soon!

Three UCF students showed up dressed as Pamelia Perkins, Hathaway Browne, and the Colonel. “It’s the final night,” said Pamelia look-alike Beth Phillips. “We had to do something big.” Nathan Kohlun said choosing to dress like Hathaway was easy. “Everyone loves this character, especially the women. It’s just all really fun.”

About an hour before the doors opened, many of the actors came out in their street clothes to loud cheers. They posed for photos, answered questions, received gifts, and thanked as many fans as they could for their support over the years.

Cassie Cameron, who wore a hand-made Hathaway shirt, brought a snapshot to give to the cast showing her at age 9 in the Mask Room. The now 24-year-old said she’s just sad she won’t get the chance to bring her own daughter to the Club. “She’s three and can already sing the Adventurer’s Song and even Toast! I had really hoped to share this with her some day.”

Huge Crowd Gives Heartfelt Send-off to Adventurer’s Club (Thanks, Heath!)

The MPAA is suing RealNetworks for making a product that will rip a DVD, crap it up with DRM, and store it on your hard-drive. The MPAA says that only their stupid DRM, and not RealNetworks' stupid DRM, can be used to cripple DVDs. My take? A pox on both their houses.

Except this:

Lawyers for the MPAA, in a teleconference with reporters, said Kaleidesape and RealDVD are circumventing "technology designed to prevent copying."

The lawyers, who asked that their names not be published, said they were concerned "Consumers will think this is a legal product...when in fact it is totally illegal."

Wait wait wait wait: what? These unnamed lawyers are on a press-call with the media, as spokespeople for their company, and they "asked that their names not be published?" And journalists complied?

Truly, this is a new low in chickenshittery that has me scraping my jaw off my chest. These lawyers aren't deep-throat whistle-blowers sneaking information out of their employers' filing cabinets: they're the official spokespeople for the firm. And they get anonymity?

So what happens in the future -- after the MPAA gets its ass handed to it by the court -- if we want to argue that the MPAA's lawyers have a long history of going around saying that software is "totally illegal"? Do the MPAA get to deny it, because no one can name the spokesperson who said it?

And why on earth would the journalists honor such a request? "Unnamed MPAA lawyer says stupid thing" fails one of the important Ws of reporting: Who said it? MPAA, RealNetworks Wage Court Battle Over DVD-Copying Software

pgn674 writes "While the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 failed to pass in the House of Representatives, two other bills of interest to this community are currently moving through the US lawmaking process. One is the Broadband Data Improvement Act, which Communications Workers of America claims will help us towards bringing high-speed Internet access to all Americans. It will have the FCC increase their granularity in reporting the Internet accessibility of an area in the US, and redefine broadband measurements. It has passed through the House and the Senate, and differences in the passed versions are currently being resolved. The other bill is the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008. Pandora is excited for this one as it will give them time to negotiate with SoundExchange (i.e. the RIAA) for new, more affordable royalty rates. The bill is currently in the Senate, and is expected to pass with ease."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This month's IEEE Spectrum magazine has a lush photo-spread aimed at explaining to engineers the appeal of steampunk:

STEAMY STEPS: California artist and animator I-Wei Huang, known as Crab Fu, has built a legion of remote-controlled steaming creatures out of scale-model tanks and boats, electronics kits, and “a bunch of junk parts I’ve collected.” The Steam Walker, one of his favorite creations, uses a Wilesco D14 miniature steam engine and a system of sprockets and chains to move its feet.

Slideshow: Steampunk Sensation

(Image: Jonathan Sprague/Redux)

Facebook's recently-beefed-up management team includes former White House lawyer Ted Ullyot, who...

... helped coordinate the response to the investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity and serv[ed] as chief of staff to former U.S. Atty. General Alberto Gonzales. [He] will join Facebook as its vice president and general counsel next month. Ullyot, who also has had major private sector stints including as a top lawyer for AOL Time Warner Europe, is leaving a partnership with law firm Kirkland & Ellis and will relocate to the Bay Area, he said in an interview Friday.

Facebook hires general counsel as it continues to grow (LA Times, thanks @jameshome)

Longtime readers know that I'm no fan of metered broadband or it's half-sibling "broadband caps." They're not the worst thing in the world, but they set in place the wrong incentives, making an internet connection a lot less valuable. There are certainly those who disagree, but we've lived in worlds with metered internet access and phone systems before, and it leads to decreased overall usage -- and that's not a good thing. It acts as disincentive to creating the next great internet service that could be a boon to the economy.

Customers recognize this implicitly. They hate the idea of any sort of mental transaction cost associated with "watching" their bandwidth usage -- especially since they have no clue how much bandwidth they really use. A recent study highlights this pretty clearly. 83% had no idea how much bandwidth they use -- with many not even having an idea of how much data one gigabyte represented. 81% of those surveyed stated they were against the caps, and 51% said they'd look for alternative providers if their ISPs implemented such a cap. Interestingly, even light users were against such plans. That seems to go against what ISPs tell everyone, claiming that light users would be able to get cheaper access. Yet, those light users recognize that it would more likely end up with them keeping the same price, but with more limits.

Now, some will be quick to respond that of course people surveyed will hate broadband caps. It's like asking people if they want to get less for the same price. But the key point here is how many people would look for alternative providers, combined with the fact that, for most users, there really aren't many choices. Once again, this highlights the key problem with US broadband: there's almost no real competition. You have the duopoly of the telcos and cablecos, and not much else that represents real competition. Most of the biggest providers (Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable) have made it clear that they intend to cap broadband. The only really big holdout is Verizon, who is betting that its FiOS offering won't require similar caps. But FiOS is still limited in its footprint, and it will be worth watching what happens over time. So while there are plenty of skirmishes about things like net neutrality and broadband caps, don't lose site of the real issue: the lack of significant competition for broadband in most markets.

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Video remix artists Eclectic Method cut and paste music videos, movies, current events, and video games into a danceable stream of sound and heady stretch of images. It's fun to watch them "scratch" DVD's live, and their recorded work makes for great YouTube fare.

Here's my favorite examples of their video mashup:
BOB MARLEY - (an official video mix for the Marley Family)
OBAMA VS. CLINTON: MEDIA HYPE OVERLOAD
ENTOURAGE HBO: Ari Gold says F*%K
ZEITGHOST #2 - Eclectic Method's Signature Music Video Remixtape
TONY SOPRANO's Video Remix
KILL BILL - Movie Fight Remix

But it's even more fun to play with this stuff oneself. In true DIY fashion, they've created a super-easy video remixer that lets the least experienced or most stoned computer users to play mash-up with images from their last video.

(All you do is click on the image, and then use your number keys to jam.)

It may not be the most deeply creative computer experience available, but it is kinda fun - and accessible to all. Even my 3-year-old.

Douglas Rushkoff is a guest blogger.

gravis777 sends us to BoingBoing for news that the International Olympic Committee has trademarked a line from the Canadian National Anthem and is threatening to sue anyone who uses it. The line in question is "with glowing hearts." "The committee is so serious about protecting the Olympic brand it managed to get a landmark piece of legislation passed in the House of Commons last year that made using certain phrases related to the Games a violation of law. The list includes the number 2010 and the word 'winter,' phrases that normally couldn't be trademarked because they are so general."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

gravis777 sends us to BoingBoing for news that the International Olympic Committee has trademarked a line from the Canadian National Anthem and is threatening to sue anyone who uses it. The line in question is "with glowing hearts." "The committee is so serious about protecting the Olympic brand it managed to get a landmark piece of legislation passed in the House of Commons last year that made using certain phrases related to the Games a violation of law. The list includes the number 2010 and the word 'winter,' phrases that normally couldn't be trademarked because they are so general."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

American Memory is a new and compelling DVD coming from extended Skinny Puppy posse members William Morrison and Justin Bennett later this year. It took me a while to figure out exactly what was going on (and exactly who was responsible), but that didn't detract from this hypnotic and ultimately forceful piece.

The voice in the clip on the DVD's trailer is that of former slave Alice Gaston, interviewed in her eighties for the Library of Congress in 1941. The actress is lip-synching to her dialogue. Videomaker William Morrison explains that the whole project works this way, using audio from the American Memory Archive along with new and processed footage. And, of course, delicious and eerie post-industrial music.

According to Morrison: "The theoretical context of the project is that some time in the very distance future, long after America is gone, some artists scouring the backwater of whatever the net has become discover the American Memory Archive. They have no context for it's meaning but are intrigued by the sights and sounds. They create surreal impressions of the material they find and broadcast it back through time. A quantum radio channel beamed into the sub conscious minds of the 21st century."

A few different permutations of the band will be playing a show on December 4 at the Gramercy in NYC, with special guests Doug Mesner and, if I can get my act and gear together, me.

Douglas Rushkoff is a guest blogger.

An open source joke for next week's Saturday Night Live...

Scene: The Palin-Biden debate.

Governor Palin is responding to a question from moderator Gwen Ifil asking if she has enough experience to be VP.

She's listing the Vice-Presidents who had similar amounts of experience.

She mentions Dan Quayle.

Biden interrupts.

Governor.

I knew Dan Quayle.

I served with Dan Quayle.

You're no Dan Quayle.



"cheesecake"

As was widely expected when RealNetworks announced plans to release some DVD ripping software, the lawsuits are now flying. RealNetworks rushed to court to ask for a declaratory judgment, though the MPAA admitted it had its own lawsuit ready to go as well. Real getting to the courthouse faster may mean slightly more favorable jurisdiction for the company. In the meantime, it seems like the MPAA is facing a huge uphill battle here, as Real's software includes its own DRM, so it's hardly a case of allowing widespread copying. Plus, making personal backups is allowed under copyright law. The real issue is where two conflicting parts of the law collide: the right to make personal backups and the DMCA's prohibition on circumventing DRM. Real claims that since it adds its own layer of DRM, the studios' DRM is not circumvented. That may make the most sense from the standpoint of the lawsuit, but it still seems like a strong case could be made by simply focusing on how people have a right to make personal backups. Of course, this lawsuit is something of a marketing stunt. There are better DVD rippers out there that are available for free, so it's difficult to see Real ever getting very far with this product, no matter what happens with the lawsuit.

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