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Banksy in New Orleans

Phillip Torrone — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:00:37 +0000

Some striking work from Banksy in New Orleans.

Pharma Patents And Why Indonesia Is Hoarding Bird Flu Samples

Michael Masnick — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:20:00 +0000

We've pointed to plenty of examples concerning how pharmaceutical patents actually do more to hold back life-saving cures, and here's another example. It's actually a continuation of a story we wrote about a year and a half ago, about Indonesia's decision to stop supplying bird flu samples to the World Health Organization, claiming it was worried that a big pharma would patent a drug based off of it, and Indonesia wouldn't receive any of the benefit. The country has something of a point: as pharma companies have made various cures incredibly expensive in the past.

However, Indonesia is now taking this a step further, claiming "viral sovereignty" over the bird flu. In other words, it's claiming that since the virus samples are found in the country, Indonesia owns the virus -- and it's fighting pretty much every attempt by others to do anything with the virus, sometimes using questionable claims such as one about how a US medical research facility is trying to use the virus not to create a cure, but to create biological weapons. It's basing this claim of "viral sovereignty" on the same ridiculous patent rules that allow a country to claim "ownership" and patents over indigenous plants.

While there's obviously a huge political component to this dispute, at the heart of the trouble is this idea of "ownership" of something like a plant, virus or drug -- and that's an idea that the US has been a huge supporter of, so it can hardly complain about Indonesia taking it to the logical conclusion. And, of course, that logical conclusion is the exact opposite of what supporters of pharma patents insist the system is designed to encourage. That is, thanks to this hoarding and claims of ownership, not nearly enough research is being done to try to create vaccines for bird flu. And, to make this even worse, it appears other countries are starting to consider "viral sovereignty," as well -- meaning that research into curing various diseases may grind to halt while various countries argue over who owns what.

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Bigfoot/atheist t-shirt)

David Pescovitz — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:09:37 +0000

Mark F. got me this terrific t-shirt for my birthday. Great tastes that go great together! It's $19 from TopatoCo. Pfft (There Is No God) t-shirt (TopatoCo)...

Colander Lampshade

Becky Stern — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:00:41 +0000

Michelle @ CRAFT writes:

Ikea Hacker points out lamps that Jim makes from things he finds at Ikea like this Ordning colander. I can't say I would ever use a colander as a lampshade, but it does look pretty cool.

Austin Event: Sew It Up

Luke Iseman — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:39:29 +0000

The picture pretty much says it all about this sew-riffic event tomorrow night:

Here are a few more details. If you're not into needlework and don't want to become 'sew', feel free to volunteer and have your own skillshare!

Mobile Phones Being Used To Bring Fairer Elections To Africa

Michael Masnick — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:38:00 +0000

We report on so many stories where technology is used in bad or oppressive ways, that it's important to note when it's being used in positive ways as well. Technology, itself, is just a tool that can be used in both good and bad ways (not to mention neutral ways), but somehow the good ways don't always get as much attention. CNN has an article detailing how the rise of mobile phones throughout Africa is helping in making elections that are more fair. It's certainly not perfect yet, but the ability to communicate has allowed citizens to report abuses of the election process and get the word out when they see any kind of cheating happening.

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SSD Won’t Make Sense In Laptops For Two Years

timothy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:03:00 +0000

kgagne writes "While solid state disk drives can vastly improve random read performance and are perfectly suited to most mobile devices, many operations are sequential in laptops and desktops and involve writes where SSDs most often lose to magnetic hard disk drives in performance. While introducing multi-channel flash memory controllers and interleaving the NAND flash chips increases performance, it will still be about two years before the cost versus benefit ratio will make sense to install SSD in your laptop or desktop PC, according to a Computerworld story. 'I think you need to get to 128GB for around $200, and that's going to happen around 2010. Also, the industry needs to effectively communicate why consumers or enterprise users should pay more for less storage," says Joseph Unsworth, an analyst at Gartner Inc.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:32:36 +0000

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets, we saw new Walkmen from Sony, hoped that Kindle 2 will be less ugly, and praised Fujitsu Siemens' Amilo Mini netbook for its Stormtrooping style. John found notes on how to port Pitfall 2 to the Apple IIe, gazed upon the beautifully thin Philips Essence, and laughed out virtual at NASA's space virus woes. There was an touchscreen PC with Netbook-like specs; a Pac-Man Mini which saw Namco in a new box, and a beautiful Haight St. apartment filled with old typewriters and cameras. We mused at Bloomberg's iMacabre Steve Jobs obit snafu, but nothing reminds us of our mortality quite like a Lego shoggoth-thingie based on the Ohmu from Nausicaä. Finally, Rob saw some silly cellphone accessories and launched a perhaps ill-advised defense of those terrible Tiger Electronics handheld games from the 1980s....

UK Hacker Loses Extradition Appeal Yet Again

Michael Masnick — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:01:00 +0000

While the US gov't clearly overplayed its claims that Gary McKinnon was the "world's biggest hacker" after having him arrested for breaking into US military computers, that doesn't mean that McKinnon hasn't overreacted back in response. The US offered him a plea bargain deal that seemed fairly reasonable, given what he did -- and he flipped out about it. Now he's lost his latest appeal against extradition, and it looks like he may finally get sent to the US in the next few weeks to stand trial, for breaking into US military computers, supposedly while high and looking for info on alien encounters.

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Today on TokyoMango

Lisa Katayama — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:57:56 +0000

Today on TokyoMango, I blogged about a guy who turns into a robot from a Hayao Miyazaki anime; a new technology that fights bird flu; and a silly man who kept 51 poisonous snakes in his house (and got bitten by one); and Tokyo's (slightly controversial) total dominance in the world restaurant scene. Oh, and this was yesterday, but there's a new Wii game that turns you into a competitive eater. Good night! ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

Comcast To Cap Data Transfers At 250 GB In October

timothy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:10:00 +0000

JagsLive writes with this story from PC Magazine: "Comcast has confirmed that all residential customers will be subject to a 250 gigabyte per month data limit starting October 1. 'This is the same system we have in place today,' Comcast wrote in an amendment to its acceptable use policy. 'The only difference is that we will now provide a limit by which a customer may be contacted.' The cable provider insisted that 250 GB is "an extremely large amount of data, much more than a typical residential customer uses on a monthly basis. ... As part of our pre-existing policy, we will continue to contact the top users of our high-speed Internet service and ask them to curb their usage,' Comcast said Thursday. 'If a customer uses more than 250 GB and is one of the top users of our service, he or she may be contacted by Comcast to notify them of excessive use,' according to the AUP."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Right-angle IC socket

Gareth Branwyn — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I like the solution here for a horizontal accelerometer board on a vertical breadboard. At first he had the entire breadboard at horizontal, but this little hack is a more sensible solution.

[This is from the balancing bot project I blogged about earlier]

Lexmark Trying To Help Users Print Less When They Print The Web

Michael Masnick — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:48:00 +0000

Last year, HP announced a special button that could be put on blogs to let users more easily print blog posts, without all the extraneous stuff on the website. At the time, we didn't see the value at all, but plenty of folks responded in the comments that it seemed like a good idea. It wasn't long before the folks at HP contacted us about trying the button out ourselves, so we put it on the page. It gets some use, though not an overwhelming amount. It appears that some people do actually print stuff out -- and they appreciate the simpler version.

Now, it appears that HP printer rival Lexmark is taking that idea much further by making it easier for users to eliminate a bunch of the junk on websites before printing them out -- so you only print out the stuff you really want. Unlike the HP initiative, this doesn't require the companies hosting the content to do anything, it takes care of it on the client side. Given the insane costs of ink, it's no surprise that printer companies have been a bit slow to adopt solutions that get people to use less ink -- but it's good to see them finally starting to recognize that it's probably for the best. Giving your customers reasons to like you, rather than hate you, tends to be a good long-term business strategy.

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Excerpts of Obama’s speech

Scripting News — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:43:44 +0000

“The American Promise”
Democratic National Convention
August 28, 2008
Denver, Colorado
As prepared for delivery

“Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story – of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

“It is that promise that has always set this country apart – that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

“It is why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women – students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive.

“We meet at one of those defining moments – a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

“Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay and tuition that is beyond your reach

“These challenges are not all of government’s making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed presidency of George W. Bush.

“America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.”

***

“This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough.”

“Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we’ll also hear about those occasions when he’s broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

“But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.”

***

“You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

“We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put away a little extra money at the end of each month so that you can someday watch your child receive her diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President – when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

“We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job – an economy that honors the dignity of work.

“The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great – a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.”

***

“That’s the promise we need to keep. That’s the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President.

“Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

“Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship our jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

“I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

“I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

“And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

“Washington has been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he’s said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.

“Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

“As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I’ll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.”

***

“We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are to restore that legacy.

“As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.

“I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing so that America is once more the last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.”

###

Animatronic bird and drummer - (WIP)

Collin Cunningham — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:30:00 +0000

A momentary glimpse at a work in progress … sometimes those can be more satisfying than finished project.

Use code “dogdays” at the MakerShed for 20% off

Mark Frauenfelder — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:08:14 +0000

The Maker Shed, Make and Craft magazines' online store, sells lots of great books and kits, like this solar powered Theremin (list price $15.99). If you use the code "dogdays" you'll get 20% off everything in the Shed. It's hot here in Sebastopol. So hot, that the PG&E substation across the street blew a transformer and knocked out our power yesterday afternoon. So.... Under the category of anything is a good excuse for a promotion, we'll do the "dog days" promotion now through midnight Sunday, August 31. Visit MakerShed and enter "dogdays" as the promotional code and get 20% off everything in your shopping cart. Offer expires midnight PST this Sunday (9/1). Use code "dogdays" at the MakerShed for 20% off...

Hashing Email Addresses For Web Considered Harmful

timothy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:01:00 +0000

cce writes "The MicroID standard, despite getting thrashed soundly by Ben Laurie two years ago, has since been recommended by the DataPortability Project and published on the user profiles of millions of users at Digg and Last.fm. MicroID is basically a hash calculated using a user's profile page URL and registered email address, producing a token that makes the email address vulnerable to dictionary attacks. To see how easy it was to crack these tokens, I conducted a small study, choosing 56,775 random Digg users, and cracking the email addresses of 14,294 of them (25%) using just their MicroID, username, and a list of popular email domains. Digg has more than 2 million users, and that means half a million of them — mostly people who had never heard of MicroID, and had probably not logged in for a long time — had their email addresses exposed to this trivial attack. I also applied this attack to Last.fm (19%) and ClaimID (34%). Digg and Last.fm have since removed support for MicroID, but the lesson is clear: don't publish a hash of my email address online, guys!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Aquarium for your toilet

David Pescovitz — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:34:19 +0000

The Fish 'n Flush is an aquarium for your toilet. According to the manufacturer's site, "Fish 'n Flush... makes a fun-fashion statement for the homeowner who wants to have something unique in the bathroom. It's $299 and fits most standard tank/bowl configurations. Toilet aquarium (Fish 'n Flush, via Dark Roasted Blend) Previously on BB Gadgets: • Tacky Glass Toilet Dioramas...

Who will be the Republican VP nominee?

Scripting News — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:33:40 +0000

Lots of speculation in the political blogosphere about the Republican VP. Supposedly McC has already made his choice, to be announced tomorrow morning. Who do you think he chose and why? Who would be good for Democrats.. Bad?

I think Romney would be his most powerful choice, I hope he chooses Lieberman -- I think he'd be the easiest to run against. I don't see too many Republicans going for him, and no one wants a traitor a heartbeat from the Presidency esp when the Presidential candidate is 72 and a cancer survivor.

That's what I think, what do you think??

PS: Lieberman ran for the Democratic presidential nomination just 4 years ago.

Update: The AP all-but says McC has chosen Pawlenty.

Phantom Finally Releases A Product… And It Sucks

Michael Masnick — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:32:00 +0000

Remember the Phantom? Depending on your perspective, this mysterious gaming console, first announced in 2003, was either a too ambitious product that could never get off the ground (living up to its "phantom" name in that it was almost never actually seen) or a big scam to part investors with money. Over the years, the company made many announcements, almost none of which it lived up to. The company was even sued by its own investment bank for fraud, and the company's founder was charged as part of a stock scam. At one point, people were shocked when the company hired a real gaming industry veteran as CEO, but once he left pretty much everyone thought the company was dead.

But... not so fast. A few years back it announced that it was ditching the gaming console concept, but was still going to come out with a neat keyboard that could be used for gaming. Of course, it promised that keyboard would be out years ago, and in true Phantom fashion, many delays followed. To be honest, I had thought the company had finally gone completely out of business, but Wired is reporting that it really honestly has a keyboard in production -- and it completely sucks. As Wired notes, it certainly wasn't worth the long wait. The only redeeming factor that Wired can find in the keyboard is the chance to own a piece of vaporware history. Just don't expect to actually use it, because you'll be wishing you didn't.

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arduiNoise(beats);

Collin Cunningham — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:30:00 +0000

Bit-music loving Arduino users - I ported (and modded a bit) one of the Noise Toy programs over to the lovely and talented Arduino platform. Just add a couple of momentary switches to pins 8 and 9 and connect stereo audio to 3 and 4 - you're done. Loud Objects' code proved quite fun to tinker/learn with - if you're curious, try experimenting with different tempo values.

Read on to view and download-o the code-uino.

Loud Objects Noise Toy kit

Arduino Diecimila

Astrobiology Rap

David Pescovitz — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:24:27 +0000

I dig the Astrobiology Rap, written by Jonathan Chase, a post-graduate science communication researcher. Chase wrote the song for the new issue of the Astrobiology Magazine European Edition. Astrobiology Rap (AMEE, via Nature)...

Papercraft CCTV cameras

Phillip Torrone — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:20:11 +0000

This is nice, it would be fun to put these all over the place, maybe adding a little red LED-throwie action too to make it appear it is "on"... papercraft CCTV cameras! via BB.

Urinal targets and other helpful nudges

David Pescovitz — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:14:39 +0000

The always-good GOOD magazine has a short list of unusual nudges to get people to do the "right thing," from reducing teenage pregnancy to quitting nail biting. From GOOD: Stop men from peeing on the floor. Authorities at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam have etched the image of a black housefly into each urinal. It seems that men usually do not pay much attention to where they aim, which can create a bit of a mess. But if you give them a target, they can’t help but try to hit it. Similar designs have been implemented in urinals around the world, including mini soccer goals, bulls-eyes, and urine video games (seriously). Do they work? Since the bugs were etched into the airport urinals, spillage has decreased by 80 percent. Tricking People Into Doing The Right Thing (GOOD)...

Black Screens For Unauthorized Copies of Windows

timothy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:10:00 +0000

arcticstoat writes "In a bid to deter people from using pirate versions of Windows XP, Microsoft is now updating its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool to introduce a few uncomfortable niggles for users of pirated versions of Windows. These include replacing the desktop wallpaper with a black screen every 60 minutes, although you can still replace it with your wallpaper of choice in the intervening period. As well as this, copies of Windows deemed to not be genuine will also have a translucent watermark above the system tray, which Microsoft calls a 'persistent desktop notification.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Cases of 2,000 skulls

David Pescovitz — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:08:56 +0000

The intrepid travelers at Curious Expeditions took this photo and many other fantastic shots at the Museo delle Cere Anatomiche (Museum of Anatomical Waxes) in Bologna, Italy. From Curious Expeditions: These are Luigi Calori’s 2,000 human skulls, organized according to many different themes, from groupings of ancient Roman skulls to cluster of skulls from suicide victims. Calori was the head of the anatomy department of Bologna University in 1831. Museo delle Cere Anatomiche (Curious Expeditions)...

Use code “dogdays” at the MakerShed for 20% off

Phillip Torrone — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:00:35 +0000

You can get 20% off *everything* in the MakerShed store, right now... Here's a note from Dan!

It's hot here in Sebastopol. So hot, that the PG&E substation across the street blew a transformer and knocked out our power yesterday afternoon. So.... Under the category of anything is a good excuse for a promotion, we'll do the "dog days" promotion now through midnight Sunday, August 31. Visit MakerShed and enter "dogdays" as the promotional code and get 20% off everything in your shopping cart. Offer expires midnight PST this Sunday (9/1).

Balancing bot using ADXRS150 gyro

Gareth Branwyn — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Via HackedGadgets comes this promising-looking self-balancing robot, still a work in progress:

Woohoo! I now have an Analog Devices ADXRS150 gyro on a Sparkfun breakout board (left). That, in combination with my Dimension Engineering DE-ACCM3D accelerometer, should get this thing balancing once I get the software squared away. After playing with it for a while I moved the gyro down to the centerline of the axles where I believe I'll get the best response from it. The gyro is ultra sensitive and really "locks" the tilt attitude of the robot. You can feel it trying to keep the robot's tilt right where it is. But it drifts, as all gyros do and pretty soon the bot is leaning way over.

Balancing Robot #2

More:

DIY: Simple Balancing Robot

Seth on cartooning

David Pescovitz — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:58:12 +0000

One of my favorite comix artists, Seth, wrote an essay for The Walrus about "the quiet art of cartooning." It's a lovely piece and gives some nice insight the artist's mind at work. Seth's article is accompanied by a comic strip and also an interview with him. From The Walrus: A cartoonist isn’t like a writer. Writing requires a special kind of focus. Your mind must be utterly devoted to the task at hand. When I’m breaking down a strip or hammering out dialogue, I’m using that writer’s focus. But drawing and inking are different. They use different parts of the brain. I often find that when I’m drawing, only half my mind is on the work — watching proportions, balancing compositions, eliminating unnecessary details. The other half is free to wander. Usually, it’s off in a reverie, visiting the past, picking over old hurts, or recalling that sense of being somewhere specific — at a lake during childhood, or in a nightclub years ago. These reveries are extremely important to the work, and they often find their way into whatever strip I’m working on at the time. Sometimes I wander off so far I surprise myself and laugh out loud. Once or twice, I’ve become so sad that I actually broke down and cried right there at the drawing table. So I tell those young artists that if they want to be cartoonists, the most important relationship they are going to have in their lives is with themselves. Seth: The Quiet Art of Cartooning (Walrus Magazine, via Drawn!)...

Inside Mile High Stadium

Scripting News — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:34:37 +0000

I just got settled in at the blogger's booth in the press section at Mile High Stadium.

The line was unbelievably long, but eventually it moved very quickly. Getting 80K people in through security in a couple of hours is a huge job. Eventually I got pushed ahead because of my media credential. I'm uploading some pictures and movies that tell the story.

Video: Hot people waiting in line.

The famous stage with the doric columns.

Cost-Effective Server Room Air Conditioning?

timothy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:21:00 +0000

at0mic26 writes "I am currently tasked with finding a cost effective solution to our 30+ degree celcius server room. The only air conditioning currently provided is a single duct pipe from one of two air conditioner units. I was thinking of stealing air from the second air conditioning unit with some sheet metal work, but it likely will not be sufficient — and would not have tolerance for both AC units being offline for any amount of time. An ideal supplemental portable AC unit is what I am after, however I'm finding it cost prohibitive, with $600+ humidity controlled AC unit, plus 20 amp socket requirement, plus contract work to make a hole in the wall for outside drainage so that the unit does not flood the place. What sort of sucessful cheaper air coniditoning solutions have you come up with?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bank Changes Man’s Password After They Realize It Insults Them

Michael Masnick — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:17:00 +0000

Usually, when you're dealing with a bank, they encrypt your passwords so that no one else can read them. However, apparently that isn't always the case -- and this allowed an employee at Lloyds TSB to change the password of one member from "Lloyds is pants" to "no it's not". The customer actually found the story to be amusing -- but it does seem slightly troubling that the bank, for whatever reason, was reviewing and changing a customer's password. They also forbade him from switching the password to "Barclays is better" and "censorship." Lloyds has apologized, and said the employee in question no longer works for the firm. It also explains why the guy was able to see the password in the first place by noting that on certain business accounts with multiple users, account reps can read the password. This seems pretty weak, though. If it's a business account with multiple users, why not let each user set up their own username and encrypted password? Also, it's still not explained why the guy was looking at users' passwords in the first place.

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Little girl giant plays in the park

Collin Cunningham — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:15:00 +0000

This not-so-little girl was created by the Royal de Luxe theatre company as part of a public show entitled The Sultan's Elephant. She's part a cast of amazing giant wooden puppets created by the French theatre group.

- The Sultan's Elephant

Papercraft CCTV

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:42:50 +0000

Nude Magazine's got a free, downloadable papercraft CCTV camera, for freaking out your neighbors. Put one in the bathroom. The dog house. Use it for a hood-ornament. Build Your Own Nude Magazine CCTV Camera (Thanks, Alice!)...

Wolfenflickr: Wolfenstein in Flash, with your Flickr photos

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:39:34 +0000

Wolfenflickr is a Flash-based implementation of Castle Wolfenstein that decorates the castle's walls with random images pulled from any Flickr stream (or any Flickr tag). Shooting Nazis and looking at snapshots: two great tastes that taste great together. Wolfenflickr (via Wonderland)...

MAKE Mobile’s final summer IBM gigs

Phillip Torrone — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:39:08 +0000

We delivered two Make Mobile visits to IBM's IGNITE Camp (an enrichment program for boys), and to ~50 teens at the Latino College Prep Academy (through Maker Tom Zimmerman who splits his time between LCPA and IBM). Our featured Maker was once again Scott Gasparian. This time, he brought along two fantastic demos to emphasize the connections between pressure and propulsion in the bottle-rocket-making activity: he started with a fire cannon "to get the kids' attention," and he also weaved in a demo of a solar-powered hydrogen harvester (using electrolysis.) Gaspo has been spearheading modifications to the fire truck and plans to attach the fire cannon to the roof soon. A few kids at each site also did Blinkybugs with me, when they finished the primary activity, and this helped clarify how we can more easily to do them as a classroom project with dozens of kids at once.

Our favorite story is the girl who took the rocket design and decided to build a rainbow colored butterfly around it--although admittedly it took some persuasion to get her to launch it.

We're looking ahead to our next steps. We'll be expanding our programming to include different kinds of projects from the Make universe. And soon we'll going to public schools! We already have 5 after-school programs whose staff members have invited us to come make stuff with their kids. All of them work primarily with kids who come from under-resourced communities: 3 around Oakland, 1 in SF's Tenderloin, and the 5th in SF's SOMA neighborhood.

Photo set 1 - On the afternoon of August 14th, 2008, the Make Mobile traveled to the Latino College Prep Academy, a program associated with the National Hispanic University in San Jose. Fifty kids made bottle rockets which they launched with pressurized air, air + water, and hydrogen that had been collected from solar-powered electrolysis.

Photo set 2 - On July 16th, 2008, the Make Mobile visited IBM's Silicon Valley Labs for TOCTWD, the ever-popular Take Our Children to Work Day. We worked with 60 kids (and their accompanying IBM sponsor-adults) to build and blast off dozens of wet, high-flying water-bottle rockets. Scott Gasparian was our featured Maker.

Latest Servo Magazine

Gareth Branwyn — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:28:25 +0000

The latest issue of Servo magazine (September) is out and it has a lot of great stuff in it. I subscribe to both Robot and Servo and enjoy them both. Published by the venerable Nuts & Volts magazine, Servo skews a bit more towards the deeper geek,while Robot is geared more towards the casual hobbyist, kitmakers, etc.

The latest Servo has a cover story on upgrading the Lynxmotion Johnny 5 to make it a more reliable research platform, using the Parallax Propeller in robotics, Arduino resources for robots, and Part III of Heather Dewey-Hagborg's series on artificial life. There's also a section on combat robotics and a piece on making your own custom terminal blocks. Good stuff.

Servo is published monthly and is $24.95/yr.

Photoblog devoted to century-old piccies

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:23:38 +0000

Shorpy, a photo-blog devoted to super-high-rez images from a century (or so) ago, like this magnificent 1924 shot of "clerks calculating the 'soldiers' bonus' for the War Department." Shorpy: The 100-Year-Old Photo Blog (Thanks, Mitch!)...

‘Junk’ raft

Phillip Torrone — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:23:00 +0000

The raft was made of 15,000 plastic bottles and a Cessna fuselage....

Tanned, dirty and hungry, two men who spent three months crossing the Pacific on a raft made of plastic bottles to raise awareness of ocean debris finally stepped onto dry land. The raft was made of 15,000 plastic bottles and a Cessna fuselage. "We made it," hollered Marcus Eriksen to a crowd of about two dozen gathered at Ala Wai Harbor on Wednesday. "Where's the food?" Friends greeted Eriksen and fellow eco-mariner Joel Paschal with lei, fresh food and beer to celebrate the end of their 2,600-mile voyage on what they call the JUNK raft. "We got used to eating fish and peanut butter," said Eriksen, who celebrated his 41st birthday at sea. The pair left Long Beach, California, on June 1. Their 30-foot vessel had a deck of salvaged sailboat masts, six pontoons filled with 15,000 plastic bottles and a cabin made from the fuselage of a Cessna airplane. While at sea they realized they were only traveling half a mile per hour and it would take them much longer to reach Hawaii than the previously anticipated six weeks.

A device that drives squirrels nuts

Phillip Torrone — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:20:50 +0000

A device that drives squirrels nuts via Book of Joe...

Bill pondered the ways humans have chosen to deal with squirrels -- poisoning, shooting, trapping -- and decided no one had tried to annoy them into submission. That is Bill Earl's great contribution to pest control: He's the first man to think of ticking squirrels off. ad_icon
"I thought of the old disco lights," he said. Bill contacted his friend Mike DeGinto, who works at an electrical and lighting supply shop in Pennsylvania. And thus was born the Evictor, a high-intensity strobe light that flashes 92 times a minute. Bill and Mike say if you install enough in your attic to illuminate every last dark corner the squirrels will, um, high-tail it.

"The reason they leave is it's so very annoying," Bill said. "It's very, very annoying. The squirrels can't get past that. They decide it's a bad place to raise their young."

It's like living in a cheesy '70s nightclub -- a perpetual cheesy '70s nightclub, Studio 54 with a cocaine-addled DJ who refuses to stop the checkerboard dance floor from pulsating.

Bell Labs Kills Fundamental Physics Research

timothy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:19:00 +0000

An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from Wired: "After six Nobel Prizes, the invention of the transistor, laser and countless contributions to computer science and technology, it is the end of the road for Bell Labs' fundamental physics research lab. Alcatel-Lucent, the parent company of Bell Labs, is pulling out of basic science, material physics and semiconductor research and will instead be focusing on more immediately marketable areas such as networking, high-speed electronics, wireless, nanotechnology and software."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Straps band chair

Phillip Torrone — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:00:05 +0000

Straps Band Chair by Yahïa Ouled-Moussa looks like it has nice re-make potential via Book of Joe.

ABA Says RIAA File Sharing Watchers Shouldn’t Need Private Investigators’ Licenses

Michael Masnick — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:59:00 +0000

We've seen a few cases against the RIAA in which either state officials or defendants will point out that the RIAA's hired hands in tracking down file sharers -- companies like MediaSentry -- are violating state laws requiring private investigators' licenses for certain activities. Now, the American Bar Association (ABA) has put out a report suggesting that this is silly, and that states and judges shouldn't require such companies to have a PI's license. While I'm a bit surprised at myself, I actually agree with the ABA. As distasteful as the RIAA's legal strategy is, and as flimsy as the evidence is that these company's collect, going after them for not having a PI's license is focusing on a loophole, not the actual merits. And, honestly, most of these requirements for PI licenses are really just a way to create artificial scarcity in the PI business, not actually a way to ensure safety or quality. The RIAA's efforts to sue music fans have plenty of problems, but focusing on whether or not companies like MediaSentry need a PI license seems like a tangent that takes away from the bigger picture.

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Will W3C Accept DRM For Webfonts?

timothy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:25:00 +0000

dotne writes "Microsoft has submitted Embedded OpenType (EOT) to W3C and a slimy campaign for EOT has been launched. EOT is a DRM layer on top of normal TrueType/Opentype files; EOT ties a font file to a certain web page or site and prevents reuse by other pages/sites. Microsoft's IE has supported EOT for years, but it has largely been ignored due to the clumsiness of having to regenerate font files when a page changes. Now that other browsers are moving to support normal TrueType and OpenType on the web (Safari, Opera, Mozilla, Prince), W3C is faced with a question: should they bless Microsoft's EOT for use on the web? Or, should they encourage normal font files on the web and help break Microsoft's forgotten monopoly?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Jaywalkers in Shanghai to be punished with shame

Lisa Katayama — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:16:05 +0000

In an attempt to put a halt to wandering pedestrians and cyclists, Shanghai police are going to post photos and videos of offenders all over the media—in newspapers, on TV—just to embarrass them. Some lawyers are protesting the system, saying that public humiliation is exaggerated punishment, and possibly defamatory, for such a minor infraction. Crossing the street in Shanghai is like crossing the street in Manhattan—people wait for an opportunity and just do it, with little regard for what the traffic light says. Which makes me wonder how effective of a punishment this is. If they did it in NYC, people would probably either not give a crap or start posing for the camera. But being outed as a law-breaker is considered shameful—and maybe even a little scary—in China. I suppose police wouldn't be doing this if they didn't think it would work in the first place. Image by d'n'c' via FlickrPolice to shame jaywalkers on TV ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

Ancient Mayan underworld discovered in Mexico

Lisa Katayama — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:08:36 +0000

Archeologists in Mexico think they might have discovered Xibalba, a mythical Mayan underworld also known as the "place of fear." After some serious scuba diving and inching across deeply submerged underwater tunnels near the Yucatan peninsula, investigators reached an entrance to a bunch of dry chambers with the stone ruins of eleven sacred temples and a 330-foot long road. There were also lots and lots of human bones. According to the ancient Mayan scripture Popol Vuh, the entrance to Xibalba was once protected by rivers filled with blood, scorpions, and pus, and houses swarming with shrieking bats. Link to Reuters article Xibalba on Wikipedia (Thanks, Baker!)( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

Make: Philly’s 3rd annual Art Buggy Derby

Gareth Branwyn — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Get Ready to Rumble!

MakePhilly's own 3rd annual Art Buggy Derby (www.ArtBuggy.com) is being held on October 19, 2008 and this year it is an official event of Design Philadelphia! So grab your foot powered buggy... race it, create art with it, and win $500 CASH!

What is the Art Buggy Derby?
It is the world's only live event that mashes together interactive art making, MacGyver style craft, and creative materials reuse. The idea is pure insanity and fun: Build a foot powered 'buggy' that creates art as you race it against another team's buggy. Wow the crowd with your artistic creation and win $500 cash or one of many other cash & prizes! See video of last year's derby here: www.ArtBuggy.com

Register Now!
ANYONE can build an Art Buggy! You don't need to be an artist or engineer... just take everyday items (especially those destined for a landfill) and assign them a new role in life. Use an old skateboard or tricycle for the Buggy base or recycle wallpaper for a canvas. Register here!

What are the Prizes?
1st Place: $500 CASH!
Runner Up: $250 CASH!
Plus: Cash & Prizes in at least these 8 other categories!

What Qualifies as a Buggy?
Anything powered by your feet - scooters, wheeled things, or make your own....

What Qualifies as Art?
Mark making that captures the journey of the race (without your assistance!)

Tell Me More!
Visit www.ArtBuggy.com

Bands Avoiding iTunes For The Wrong Reasons

Michael Masnick — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:40:00 +0000

This is hardly a new phenomenon, but the Wall Street Journal is noting that some bands and some record labels are avoiding putting music on iTunes (or in some cases, pulling music off iTunes) in an effort to force people to buy the full album, rather than just a few tracks. There are plenty of reasons to dislike iTunes, but it seems hard to believe that this does anything positive for the bands in question. The article quotes Kid Rock's manager, who compares apples to oranges, by pointing out that people who are on iTunes sell more single songs than albums, but that's rather meaningless in comparing to an artist (like Kid Rock) who's not on iTunes at all. Not putting your music where people want it is only going to piss them off.

Hell, even record industry execs are getting frustrated by bands not having their singles anywhere that can be downloaded legally. And, yet, the sister record label to the one that employs the annoyed exec above is experimenting with an even more annoying proposition: pulling popular songs from iTunes after they've become popular, to see if it gets more people to buy the CD.

Honestly, is it really that hard to understand the concept of providing the customer what they want in a convenient manner?

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Lenovo Requires NDA For Windows License Refund

timothy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:36:00 +0000

tykev writes "A customer wanted to return the license for preinstalled Windows Vista Business that came with his Lenovo laptop. After some lengthy negotiations with representatives of Lenovo's technical support and management, he was offered financial compensation for returning the license in the amount of CZK 1950 (USD 130, EUR 78), pending his acceptance of a non-disclosure agreement that would cover the entire negotiations with the company and its results. He declined and published his experiences on a Czech Linux website. The website editors decided to reward the customer for publishing the article by paying him an author's royalty in the same amount as was the offered compensation for returning the license."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Case Against Video-Sharing Site Dismissed

timothy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:49:00 +0000

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A California copyright infringement case brought by an adult video maker against a video sharing web site, Veoh Networks, has been thrown out, based upon the 'safe harbor' provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ('DMCA'). In a 33-page decision (PDF), the Court concluded that Veoh was covered by the DMCA, and had carried out its duties to comply with takedown notices in a reasonable manner. The Court rejected the plaintiff's arguments showing possible ways that users could do an end-around, saying that the law requires 'reasonable' compliance, rather than perfection, and noted that the DMCA is 'designed to facilitate the robust development and world-wide expansion of electronic commerce, communications, research, development, and education in the digital age'."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.