I was going to ignore this, but people keep submitting it. A student blogger for ZDnet has decided that he's solved the RIAA's problems: just tax every internet connection at $1 per month. This is, of course, unworkable and unwise for a variety of reasons. First, the recording industry would laugh (and laugh and laugh) at the idea that $1 from every internet connection would come close to covering what it (falsely) considers to be "losses" from file sharing. Remember, this is the same recording industry that's continually trying to raise the price per song downloaded to over $1. But, more importantly, there are so many problems with a music tax idea, that it's taken up multiple posts here.

However, now that the fall semester is starting, we're curious about the "tens of thousands" of students that supposedly had signed up for Jim Griffin's Choruss -- which is an effort to put just such a plan into practice, though on a smaller scale, just on university campuses -- and, as Griffin constantly reminds everyone -- with a variety of experimental business models rather than a single one (despite them all seeming to reflect this sort of "let's create a big pool of money" concept that makes little sense to us). Last we'd heard from Griffin, back in June, he promised to answer all of the questions folks here had asked him about Choruss. I just emailed with him before posting this, and due to some unforeseen -- but perfectly understandable -- circumstances, he has not yet had a chance to go through the questions, but promises to do so soon. In the meantime, it would be great to hear from any students arriving on campus this fall, and finding out they're a Choruss campus. To date, I've heard from students at two schools, both (happily) telling me their campuses had turned down Choruss, but I haven't heard from anyone who's actually seen the program. But, surely, with tens of thousands of students signed up, at least someone here knows one of them. It would be great to find out from their perspective what's happening.

In the meantime, though, I take solace in the fact that nearly every comment on the ZDnet post points out why the idea is a bad one. This is an improvement. A few years ago when people talked up the idea of a music tax, many people seemed to like it -- but these days, it appears that more and more people are recognizing what a bad and unnecessary idea it is.

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destinyland writes "Next year SpaceX will perform resupply missions for the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle is grounded, as part of a $3.5 billion NASA resupply contract. 'The fledgling space industry is reminiscent of the early days of the personal computer,' notes one technology reporter, 'when a number of established vendors and startups reversed-engineered Microsoft's DOS and manufactured PCs using the Intel 8080 chip set. We're likely to see a similar industry shakeout in the private space vehicle market segment in the coming decades.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Alan Graham's home made automatic chicken door has mine beat by a country mile, because he can run it from his iPhone. His hens sure are cute.

The publisher of the forthcoming Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb sent me this exclusive video of an unknown person thumbing through an advance copy of what promises to be the graphic novel sensation of the year. It looks great!

(I have an advance reader's copy, which is watermarked with repeating gray logos on every page. I found it to be as distracting as trying to listen to music with static added to it. I could only read a few pages of it before I decided I should wait and read a real copy of the book when it comes out.)

Pre-order The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb on Amazon for $16.47

Someone who prefers to remain anonymous sends in this example of how the band KISS tried and failed (miserably) in its attempt to "connect with fans." Apparently the band held an online contest to get fans to vote for where KISS would perform -- calling it the "You Demand It Tour." Well, people voted, and the second largest vote getter was Manchester, New Hampshire. So what happened? The band ignored the vote and booked a show in Boston instead. In response, some local radio folks are starting a petition to try to get the band to actually live up to its promise to go where fans demanded:

Three months ago - when KISS launched their "You Demand It Tour", Buzz Lumpa's jumped all over it in an effort to bring KISS back to the Verizon Wireless Arena. The deal was that the band would rout their tour to the cities that wanted them most - and that meant the cities that cast the most votes. Manchester NH did just that - beating out EVERY major U.S. city! We cast more votes than New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and yes- Boston. Over 240 cities were vying for the band - and Manchester NH placed 2nd in the U.S.! And yet, when KISS announced their tour itinerary, Manchester NH was NOT on it. The band chose to play Boston instead. KISS lied to you.

Of course, given Gene Simmons' comments on new business models and the experiments of bands like Radiohead to better connect with fans (Simmons claimed it was killing the recording industry) perhaps this is no surprise.

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snydeq writes "San Francisco County Judge Charles Haines has denied Terry Childs' motion to reduce his $5 million bail, alluding to 'public security concerns,' according to Richard Shikman, who is representing Childs in court. The ruling comes in the wake of a recent decision to drop three of the four changes that have been levied against Childs, who has spent the past 14 months in jail. The fourth charge — that Childs violated a California statute regarding illegal denial of service for the San Francisco FiberWAN — has been called into question by those closely monitoring the case. As a point of comparison, the San Francisco Felony Bail Schedule lists a $1 million bail for the most serious crimes, such as sexual assault of a child, aggravated arson, or kidnapping for ransom. Prosecutors have argued that the bail is appropriate because, if released, Childs could cause damage to San Francisco's network."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wrapping up my trifecta of epicyclic gear posts today (1, 2) is this practical application from Greg Harper, a resident engineer at the University of Washington's Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, who put together a custom epicyclic gear train for his unicycle hub. Designed for speed, the hub gives 1.5 rotations of the wheel for each rotation of the pedals.

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Occasional Techdirt contributor Tim Lee has a great writeup for Cato, detailing why software patents don't make much sense, comparing the idea to what would happen if there were "literary patents":

Imagine the outcry if the courts were to legalize patents on English prose. Suddenly, you could get a "literary patent" on novels employing a particular kind of plot twist, on news stories using a particular interview technique, or on legal briefs using a particular style of argumentation. Publishing books, papers, or articles would expose authors to potential liability for patent infringement. To protect themselves, writers would be forced to send their work to a patent lawyer before publication and to re-write passages found to be infringing a literary patent.

Most writers would regard this as an outrageous attack on their freedom. Some people might argue that such patents would promote innovation in the production of literary techniques, but most writers would find that beside the point. It's simply an intolerable burden to expect writers to become experts on the patent system, or to hire someone who is, before communicating their thoughts in written form.

While I think Tim's comparison to "literary patents" is compelling, it's worth noting that there are some who believe that literary plots are, indeed, patentable. There's a guy who's been pushing for a patent on his story plot for years -- though, I half wonder if it's a combination marketing device and attempt to prove how ridiculous patents are. However, well-known patent system commentator Greg Aharonian has made the case that movie scripts should be patentable. So, it's worth noting that, as ridiculous as the concept sounds to many of us, there actually are some people who take the concept of patenting plots or storylines as being reasonable.

Tim's larger point, though, stands. It's that for those who actually work in software development world, patents make no sense. In fact, it's quite troubling that a significant number of people who actually develop software find patents so troublesome, and the defense of such things tends to come more often from lawyers. Tim points out that there's a rather large disconnect there, when so many of the people that software patents are supposed to "protect" are against the concept. Tim suggests that patent lawyers who defend software patents might want to spend more time around actual developers:

I think patent scholars would do well to pay a lot more attention to how the patent system is experienced by individuals who are required to obey it, rather than focusing on abstract doctrinal questions that are of interest only to patent attorneys. We might call this a bottom-up perspective on patent law. I spent the summer developing software for Dancing Mammoth, the company that also hosts this blog. If Dancing Mammoth were really serious about avoiding patent infringement, it probably should have hired a patent lawyer to verify that each line of code I wrote didn't infringe one of the hundreds of thousands of software patents in existence. Obviously, this would be completely impractical, as the patent attorney's fees would likely exceed my own salary, so like most software firms they didn't do that.

Now, I don't know of any patents I infringed, but as a statistical matter it's likely that I infringed some. Fortunately, it's pretty unlikely anyone will sue me or Dancing Mammoth for any infringement we may have committed, because there are other potential targets with much deeper pockets. But that hardly justifies this situation where everyone's a lawbreaker but most people don't get caught. Small firms do get sued for inadvertent software patent infringement. Laws that are virtually impossible to follow are bad laws, regardless of how infrequently they're actually applied.

In the original piece, Tim also points out how software patents (contrary to the claims of some defenders of the system) unfairly tilt the balance of power to big companies -- the ones who can stockpile tons of patents to use as a weapon against infringement suits. It's the small companies who are left exposed. Tim, and many others, hope that the Supreme Court ruling in Bilski will exclude software (and business method) patents, and I would probably cheer on such a ruling as well. However, there is a part of me that worries that drawing a red exclusionary line around certain areas is simply a way to duct-tape over a much bigger problem with the patent system. It may be a good short-term solution, but I'd rather see the entire patent system fixed, rather trying to create special cases for each individual problem.

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Annalee Newitz of science fiction blog io9 points to a neat post they've just published with...

Beautiful infoporn, showing the rise and fall of 5 major scifi themes (robots, aliens, time travel, etc.) since 1970, from io9's graphic designer Steph Fox. Now we just need somebody to interpret the data! Why is there a rise in shows about magic, and a fall in shows about space travel, right at the start of the Bush Administration?"

At Last, A Graph That Explains Scifi TV After Star Trek (io9)

JacobSteelsmith was one of many readers to note an ongoing problem with Gmail: "As I type this, GMail is experiencing a major outage. The application status page says there is a problem with GMail affecting a majority of it's users. It states a resolution is expected within the next 1.2 hours (no, not a typo on my part). However, email can still be accessed via POP or IMAP, but not, it appears, through an Android device such as the G1." It's also affecting corporate users: Reader David Lechnyr writes "We run a hosted Google Apps system and have been receiving 502 Server Error responses for the past hour. The unusual thing about this is that our Google phone support rep (which paid accounts get) indicated that this outage is also affecting Google employees as well, making it difficult to coordinate."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

All of that gear pr0n got me thinking about ridiculous mechanical gadgets, and what better than a mechanical linkage that can square a complex number? It's probably not as useful as the Peaucellier's Cell or Watt's Linkage, and I don't think it is possible to build, however I really like this somewhat extreme example of translating mathematical operations into mechanical computers. In the above calculator, the x-axis represents the real portion of the number, and the y-axis represents the imaginary portion. To make the 'calculator' work, you drag the green dot to the location of the number you want to square, and the location of the red dot tells you the answer.

You can try it out for yourself on Dori Elder's thesis site from 1999!

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pegr writes "Andrew 'bunnie' Huang, Reverse Engineer, XBox hacker, and generally smart guy, muses over the H1N1/swine flu virus as only a reverse engineer can: 'I now know how to modify the virus sequence to probably make it more deadly.' Not that he would, of course. bunnie has consistently made the esoteric available to us mere mortals, and his overview of the H1N1 virus is a fascinating read from a unique perspective." (Seen today also at the top of Schneier on Security.)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I had a blast browsing through this full-color, 228-page book about the very best iPhone applications. I only knew about 25% of the titles recommended by author Josh Clark, who tested thousand of apps to pick his 200 favorite work and leisure related titles. Some of the apps are free (like TED, which lets you watch those amazing TED talks on your iPhone, and Mint, a personal finance snapshot application that pulls your data from your Mint.com account). Others cost money (like SoundCurtain, an ambient noise generator for $3.99, and Print&Share, which costs $6.99 and lets you print things on your iPhone to a printer).

Excerpt:

Best App for When You Can't Hold It

SitOrSquat?
Free?
Version: 3.0?
Densebrain

When nature calls, it's SitOrSquat to the rescue. The database of public restrooms steers you to the closest porcelain oasis, including photos and ratings from a network of concerned citizens. That includes you: Update listings with photos, store hours, and ratings, or add new toilets as you explore your town's powder rooms. A blog of toilet humor provides bathroom reading, too. It's a full-service porta-potty for your mobile phone.

RESTROOM RADAR: SitOrSquat's map shows you the closest points of relief. Green and red icons indicate open and closed businesses (yellow means the database doesn't have that info). Select a business to see complete details, including photos, comments, and whether the facilities are clean ("sit") or dirty ("squat").

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS: The Search screen shows results in list view, including photos, ratings and distance from your current location. Type a new location in the search box to find restrooms for another place, or filter results for cleanliness, business type, or a remarkable number of "features" (changing tables, handicap access, seat covers).

Best iPhone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders

Copycense has a rather thought-provoking editorial pondering whether or not Creative Commons is good or bad for copyright. I have to admit that I've long felt similarly about Creative Commons in general. I don't use any of their licenses, because I don't necessarily see the point. We've declared in the past that the content here is free for anyone to do what they want with it, and thus I feel no need for a Creative Commons license. But, at the same time, there were some underlying issues about CC that have bothered me, concerning its continued reliance on copyright as a basis for making it work. I admire the folks behind it and the very idea of using copyright itself to carve out a more reasonable way of dealing with it, but I've always wondered if the use of Creative Commons, while a nice solution for many users, helps to cloud the problems with copyright law. This is the same point Copycense makes, noting that one of the major problems with it is that it takes copyright out of a policy debate, and makes it a contractual issue.

Copycense was okay with this in the past, back when it seemed unlikely that there would ever be a real national debate on copyright, but given recent events in Canada, it seems that such discussions can actually occur:

We conclude now... that the continued use and prominence of Creative Commons licenses actually obscures the real copyright issues we face in this country, and keeps Americans from settling on the proper parameters of digital information use, access, retrieval and preservation in the 21st century. It is too easy for a creator to slap a CC license on a copyrighted work, promote one's apparent knowledge of (and sensitivity to) copyright issues through a CC badge, and feel good about oneself, almost like the purchase of hybrid vehicle becomes one's outward signal to society that its owner is dedicated to stopping global warming.

Indeed, there seems to be a whole aura attached to using a CC license -- or perhaps more specifically, slapping that CC badge on a copyright-protected work -- because it seems to signal that the person using the license is thinking progressively about intellectual property, information policy, and related issues....

But we believe the real question to be asked is how we can calibrate copyright law to make it equally usable by, and effective for, all Americans. To this end, we believe the use of CC licenses actually avoids the question of what U.S. copyright should be in the 21st century, and how the law should best serve its citizens, who now are as likely to be creators of copyrighted works as your average conglomerate record label. This avoidance is particularly problematic given the prominence and use of CC licenses; the organization's position -- real or perceived -- as the antidote to a broken copyright system; and the very real possibility that few who use the licenses really know what they mean....

As Canada is doing now, the U.S. needs to have deep, complicated, and perhaps even painful conversations about information policy; the history, purpose, uses and scope of copyright law and policy in our digital information ecosystem; and the reform that needs to happen in both areas.

We do not believe the Creative Commons license scheme fosters that conversation. Instead, we believe the scheme muzzles this conversation by promoting a contractual bargain in lieu of balanced and calibrated legislation and policy. We hope that in the future, Creative Commons will put more of its considerable intellectual and economic resources toward resolving the problems with copyright law instead of promoting contractual workarounds. In the best case scenario, with a balanced and effective law that serves citizens and corporate owners equally well, a Creative Commons license is unnecessary. This should be the goal.

There's a lot more at the link, but I did want to pull out those sections, as making some points worth thinking about. While I always cringe at calls for "balanced copyright" -- which I think misses the point of copyright (a truly successful copyright law involves making everyone better off, rather than "balancing" interests) -- it is worth thinking about Creative Commons impact on the debate over copyright.

But... I'm not sure that I would go as far as Copycense in condemning Creative Commons. Many of the people behind it went through (and are still going through) numerous battles to push back on the excesses of copyright. Creative Commons wasn't the solution -- it was a helpful (and hopefully temporary) oasis in a bleak desert, following numerous well-reasoned, but ultimately futile attempts to push back corporate expansion of copyright. And while I agree that there are problems with shifting the issue to a contractual agreement (and the post highlights some of the many legal problems CC licenses may cause), I think that CC, as a whole, did turn a lot more people onto the some of the problems with copyright law as it stands today. In many ways, CC is an easy way for people to first start to understand the problems of copyright law, in understanding why CC is needed.

From there, many who do understand this have started questioning the larger issues around copyright -- and many of those involved with CC have continued to fight that good fight, rather than just assuming that CC is "the answer." So, in the end, I agree that we should be clear to recognize that Creative Commons and efforts to really rethink copyright are two separate things, but that doesn't mean that Creative Commons is necessarily bad for copyright policy issues. It has been, and hopefully will continue to be, a real stepping stone to getting more people to recognize these bigger issues. In fact, I'd argue that many of the folks now leading the debate for more reasoned copyright policy in Canada first came to understand these issues via their exposure to Creative Commons' licenses.

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Chris sez, "Online backup startup BackBlaze, disgusted with the outrageously overpriced offerings from EMC, NetApp and the like, has released an open-source hardware design showing you how to build a 4U, RAID-capable rack-mounted, Linux-based server using commodity parts that contains 67 terabytes at a material cost of $7,867. It's open-source hardware! Their blog states: 'Our hope is that by sharing, others can benefit and, ultimately, refine this concept and send improvements back to us. '"

Petabytes on a budget: How to build cheap cloud storage (Thanks, Chris!)

Last year Make: Online covered the pinewood derby birthday party thrown by Minneapolis maker gerg (aka Greg Flanagan). The party was so successful gerg and his wife Marie threw another one.

Imagine a Cub Scout pinewood derby without the scouts. Grownups gather to eat brats, drink beer, and build cars... then they race them on a track gerg built himself! Marie described the party on her blog:

We invite friends and family to come on over. We purchase car making kits, decals, paint, and give them access to gerg's workshop. They have 2-3 hours to design and build their cars. As they build their cars, gerg assists in the shop, I prepare nosh, and food is consumed during and after the races. The double-elimination style race is fun for everyone.

More pix on gerg's Flickr page.

So, grownup makers, when's the last time you built a pinewood derby car of your very own?

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imamac writes "Startup Weekend was a 54-hour coding marathon held on Microsoft's campus last weekend. It was designed to encourage the use of MS programming technologies. However, the winner of the contest was an iPhone app: '"Awkward," whispered Startup Weekend organizer Clint Nelsen into the microphone upon announcing the top vote getter.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Allegra sez, "Issue #6 of Steampunk Magazine is now out, either for purchase in hard-copy for a mere $5 or for free download through our website under Creative Commons Licensing. In Issue #6 we have a selection of articles from how to build windmills and your very own steampunk sculptures to features on alchemy, the Luddites and Victorian martial arts, as well as an interview with British steampunk band 'Ghostfire'."

Issue #6 is here (at last!) (Thanks, Allegra!)

Despite grotestque bacchanals that would make a True Blood maenad blush, some crazy, sadistic sickos guarding the US embassy in Kabul got their 5-year, 189 million dollar contract renewed for another year. The company involved: ArmorGroup North America (a subsidiary of Wackenhut, which is in turn owned by the security behemoth G4S). Your tax dollars at work, folks. Snip from Mother Jones article by Daniel Schulman:

Guards have come to POGO with allegations and photographic evidence that some supervisors and guards are engaging in near-weekly deviant hazing and humiliation of subordinates. Witnesses report that the highest levels of AGNA management in Kabul are aware of and have personally observed--or even engaged in--these activities, but have done nothing to stop them. Indeed, management has condoned this misconduct, declining to take disciplinary action against those responsible and allowing two of the worst offending supervisors to resign and allegedly move on to work on other U.S. contracts. The lewd and deviant behavior of approximately 30 supervisors and guards has resulted in complete distrust of leadership and a breakdown of the chain of command, compromising security.

Numerous emails, photographs, and videos portray a Lord of the Flies environment. One email from a current guard describes scenes in which guards and supervisors are "peeing on people, eating potato chips out of [buttock] cracks, vodka shots out of [buttock] cracks (there is video of that one), broken doors after drnken [sic] brawls, threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this activity...." Photograph after photograph shows guards--including supervisors--at parties in various stages of nudity, sometimes fondling each other. These parties take place just a few yards from the housing of other supervisors.

Animal House in Afghanistan (Mother Jones)

See also: Contractors Gone Wild, an article from 2008 about similar behavior from KBR employees in 2008. (Mother Jones)

Related: POGO Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding U.S. Embassy in Kabul (Project on Government Oversight)

On his science book blog John Ptak posted an entry entitled, "Dreaming of the 10-Ton Eiffel Tower Bullet, 1891," about a proposed fun ride in which people would sit inside a giant bullet and freefall from the top of the Eiffel Tower into a pool of water.

Physics of impact aside for the moment, M.Carron’s bullet capsule would be released from the top of the interior of the Tower, about 1000 feet high, and released to fall into an excavated pool 150’ across and 200’ deep.  The idea was that in addition to the springs inside the capsule, the water would act as a “shock absorber”, and so “the shock felt by the occupants on landing will be in no way unpleasant”.   

[Okay, so the thing would hit at 178mph or so, and, assuming that the whole thing didn’t get completely crushed on impact, I’m not so sure that 200’ of depth is very much wiggle room for the thing to come to a halt (if it didn’t deform). Also it would have to not have any wind deflection so as to not veer off its perfect entry into the water.  And so on.  Calculating the force of impact is difficult without knowing how far down the bullet would go, but hitting the water at 80 m/s and stopping at 30 meters would yield something like 28,600,000 KE and 1,274,000 N. There are lots of problems…]

The thing is, though, the thing that made this so appealing, is that for the 20-francs that get a person a seat in the bullet, that they would each get to go twice as fast as any human had ever traveled before ( 65 miles per hour was about the speed of the fastest train constructed). 

Dreaming of the 10-Ton Eiffel Tower Bullet, 1891

IANAL, but sure sounds like a SLAPP to me. Ben and Meg of Consumerist report that the consumer watchdog blog has been named in a lawsuit by an apparently allegedly reportedly purportedly sleazebag internet pawnshop. Above, all the proof you need: MC Hammer and Ed McMahon in the Cash4Gold Super Bowl ad. Snip:

The whistleblower's post appeared on ComplaintsBoard last November. We featured it this February, as part of our ongoing coverage of Cash4Gold, after the company raised its public profile with a multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad. The post was indeed written by an ex-employee, Michele Liberis, who is now being sued by the company for defamation. Recently, Cash4Gold added Consumerist and ComplaintsBoard as co-defendants in its lawsuits (PDF) against Liberis and another former employee, Vielka Nephew (PDF), in an attempt to force us to take the information down. Liberis and Nephew have chosen to stand up to Cash4Gold's legal attack, and so have we.

We believe citizens, consumers, and employees should be able to exercise their free-speech rights online - and journalists should be able to report on those efforts - without fear of intimidation. That belief is at the core of what makes Consumerist tick. And it's what keeps the internet from being just a brochure with hyperlinks. Inside, more about this episode and what goes on behind the public façade of a company that bills itself as "World's #1 Gold Buyer."

The Article Cash4Gold Doesn't Want You To Read (Consumerist via Brian Lam)

Mascara manufacturers have started putting teeny vibrating motors in mascara brushes, presumably to aid in application. NOTCOT did a little teardown of the brush by Maybelline.

More:

Eyelash switch: cyborg-style human interface device

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While it doesn't go nearly as far as the ridiculous policies put in place recently by college's Southeastern Conference (SEC) regarding "tweeting" on gameday, Ben alerts us to the news that the NFL has instituted its own social media policy that applies to players, referees and the media. There had been lots of talk about how the NFL was working on such policies, and they seem problematic. They ban players from doing any tweeting or sending any kind of social media message from 90 minutes before the game starts until well after the post-game press conference ends. I'm not sure why it's so troubling that players might want to communicate with fans...

Even odder is that the rules now prohibit NFL referees from using social media, ever. Apparently, some of this is in response to a ref who apologized online for a blown call in the week after it happened. In that case, the ref is an attorney during the week, and apologized via his work email. But that raises all sorts of questions. What if the ref's job during the week requires the use of social media? And, honestly, what's so wrong with letting refs communicate?

Finally, the new rules tell the credentialed media that they can't provide any sort of live "play-by-play" info via social media, though, I can't see how that's enforceable (other than kicking the reporter out of the stadium). Once again, this seems like part of the league's misguided belief that it can control how reporters report on a game. The first link above notes how ridiculous it is that someone sitting in the stands can easily live tweet a play-by-play, while the professional reporters cannot. The whole idea, of course, is that the NFL wants to "protect" its broadcasting contracts, that get sold for a ton. But the idea that a live tweet somehow replaces a TV broadcast is ridiculous. Personally, as someone who follows a bunch of sports reporters on Twitter who do tweet info during sporting events, I find it a useful reminder that I wish I had the time to watch a game...

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igrigorik writes "First the Netflix challenge was won with the help of ensemble techniques, and now the GitHub challenge is over and over half of the top entries are also all based on ensembles. Good knowledge of statistics, psychology and algorithms is still crucial, but the ensemble technique alone has the potential to make the collaborative filtering space, a lot more, well, collaborative! A look at the basic theory behind ensembles, how they shaped the results of the GitHub challenge, and how this pattern can be used in the future."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

(Photo: Dave Bullock, more here, click image to enlarge). Yes, they come every year, but the 2009 fires are now being reported as the largest ever in LA County's history. 122,000 acres and counting (the land mass of San Francisco and Las Vegas combined, with room to spare). Watching the blaze from a seaside rooftop last night was like gazing out at a distant, roiling Mordor.

Two firefighters died. Today, a quick Twitter scan reveals ambient "air-fear," worries over E.T's house, gay porn stars vowing to soldier on while studios scorch; confusion between snow and ash; citizens afraid their cars have developed dandruff overnight, and cigarette smoking as training. The web yields many a moody video of "pyrocumulus" and slow-moving doomclouds, and abundant photosets.

The hundred-year-old Mt. Wilson observatory is a site of huge importance in astronomy history. It's seen its share of blazes. And last night, it was as if the observatory webcam had suddenly plopped down on the surface of the Sun. Communications towers nearby carry signals for every major TV channel in LA, as well as a number of radio frequencies. The site is still at risk.

Some of what I'm following: On Twitter, hashtag #stationfires. @LATimesfires is doing a nice job. And Load this KML in Google Earth for a comprehensive data set. Please share other resources of note in the comments.

Todd "Telstar Logistics" Lappin is wowed by the giant planes we're using to fight the fires. Snip:

Aviation history was made today as a Boeing 747 Supertanker made its debut drop on a live wildfire.

Tanker 979 is a specially modified Evergreen 747 configured to carry 20,500 gallons of retardant, enabling it to lay down a fire line as much as three miles long from an altitude of 300 to 600 feet.

Things are slowing down today, as temps ease and humidity rises. The fire chief just downgraded the Station Fire status from "angry" to "cranky." But containment is still only at 5%, and officials say the fires won't be fully controlled for two more weeks. For now, my advice for fellow LA residents? Don't inhale.

Christoph Rehage spent a year walking across China. On his way, he took photos of his face every day and made this time-lapse video. These kind of videos have been around for a long time, but Rehage's is the best I've seen, because of the interesting backgrounds and the way he integrates bits of moving video with the still images.

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse (Via VSL)

Mike writes "Japan has announced plans to send a $21 billion solar power generator into space that will be capable of producing one gigawatt of energy, or enough to power 294,000 homes. The project recently received support from Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp, who are now teaming up in the race to develop new technology within four years that can beam electricity back to Earth without the use of cables. Japan hopes to test a small solar satellite decked out with solar panels by the year 2015."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Here's the book-trailer for Leviathan, the first volume of YA superstar Scott Westerfeld's kick-ass new steampunk alternate WWI series, featuring chimera-splicing Darwinist Brits fighting the clanking steam-mecha of the German side. Total gilliamfab!

Leviathan Trailer (Thanks, Scott!)

This looks like fun, the folks at the Visual Arts Collective in Boise, Idaho are putting on their inaugural Boise Bot Competition, but with a nice twist- if you aren't yet a robot maker and want to be, you can come early and they will help you make one! In addition to the competition, there will also be displays of cool projects made by community members, and lots of live music.

WHAT: Boise Bot Competition
WHERE: Visual Arts Collective
3638 Osage Street, Garden City, Idaho 83714
WHEN: Saturday, Sep. 12 2 p.m. to late
HOW MUCH: $5 spectator, $30 for a full robot kit and instruction

(thanks Tony Harrison)

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Erin sez, "As part of a back-and-forth regarding the harassment of photographers at U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, I've gotten my hands on the Homeland Security Department's official guidelines for photography of federal buildings. They're lame, to say the least, but I'm pretty sure they haven't been widely shared before now."

DOT response to the ACLU regarding photo harassment (Thanks, Erin!)

GamePolitics reports that the FCC is planning to study the idea of a "universal rating system" for all kinds of media, including movies, music, video games and television. According to the Bloomberg article on this, the FCC actually has a mandate to do this under a 2007 law that gave it authority to explore blocking technologies, though that seems to go well beyond the official mandate of the FCC to only monitor communications using public infrastructure. Furthermore, every single attempt to put in place a gov't mandated solution for a ratings system has been struck down as unconstitutional (and a bunch have been tried). Every rating system you see now are voluntary agreements from the industry. Having the FCC even explore such an issue raises some serious constitutional questions.

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"Beautiful coop built by Jeff Taylor and his granddaughter, Jayda, pictured."

My Pet Chicken (the place I ordered my baby Barred Plymouth Rocks hens from) has a gallery of chicken coops built from scratch.

Also, My Pet Chicken has a great "Cash for Cluckers" sale. They'll send you 25 chicks (all hens) for $41.50 with free shipping. That's a great deal, because the regular price is $100.

Chicken coops

In 1902, Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) premiered in French theaters. In many ways, it is the first "science fiction" film. Of course, it has been referenced on Futurama and The Mighty Boosh, and was the basis for the Smashing Pumpkins video "Tonight." The director of the film, Georges Méliès, was a stage magician at the Theatre Robert-Houdin before becoming enchanted with cinema after seeing a demo of the Lumière brothers' camera technology. (via Wired)

Tour company Ride the Ducks is suing rival tour company Bay Quackers, alleging that it holds trademark rights to the sound made by tourists using duck call devices, while on amphibious vehicle tours. San Francisco-based Ride the Ducks holds a 'sound mark' on the noise. Very few companies hold sound marks, but some of the more famous include: the NBC chimes and the MGM lion. The company holds US Trademark No. 2,484,276, which protects a mark consisting of 'a quacking noise made by tour guides and tour participants by use of duck call devices throughout various portions of [guided amphibious vehicle] tours.' Reading this makes my think that there is a room full of litigious monks somewhere, just waiting for someone to try clapping with one hand.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This morning's planetary-gear motorcycle wheel post has induced an epicyclic fury in my heart that is terrible to behold. Here's a couple of gems from the inevitable YouTube frenzy. The first, above, shows a set of elliptical gears (ho-hum), and then proceeds to show some pretty amazing non-circular planetary trains. The second, below, shows an asymmetric train without a constant center. As Gareth would say: WANT.

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Toe, The writes "Bionanotechnology researcher Babak A Parviz writes about his research toward producing a computer interface in a contact lens. At the moment, they have only embedded a single LED, but they foresee a much more complex interface such as detailed in Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End. Such lenses potentially could also read human bio-information from the eye, providing medical information on the order of what is now taken from blood tests, but on a continuous basis. An example would be monitoring glucose levels for diabetics. The author states that, 'All the basic technologies needed to build functional contact lenses are in place,' and details what refinements and advances will be necessary to bring this technology to reality."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I've said for a while now that I have problems with the Pirate Party's choice of names. While it does get attention, and perhaps helped jumpstart membership interest in what the party had to say, it still feels like a gimmick. Not only that, but a gimmick that limits the party's overall effectiveness in the longterm. It's been easy for politicians to simply brush the concerns of the party aside as being laughable from the start, just based on the name. And yet... the movement keeps moving forward. Obviously, the big win was Sweden's Pirate Party winning a seat in the EU Parliament, but soon after that, a well-known German politician switched affiliations to The Pirate Party, and last week came the news that another prominent German politician, a founder of that country's Green Party, has also joined the Pirate Party in Germany. And, of course, if you actually take the time to understand the party's position, it makes a lot of sense, and isn't the sort of crazy ranting that those against The Pirate Party seem to assume it must be. So, here's the question: can The Pirate Party really become a legitimate political force with such a name? Or will it always been seen as a fringe party?

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A followup on this earlier BB post about the wacko blog and gadget hallucinations of kidnapper/rapist (now also a murder suspect) Phillip Garrido.

Weighing in on that post, an astute BB commenter noticed that if you do a Google Maps search for 1554 Walnut Avenue, Antioch, CA -- the address of the Antioch home where Garrido detained Jaycee Dugard (and her children, fathered by rape) -- you can see an overhead view of all the tents, tarps and sheds that Garrido's parole officer(s) and local police were too incompetent to bother checking, despite the fact that the guy was a convicted rapist. The overhead view in Google Maps has since been widely reported and blogged, so that's old news 4 days later.

But not this. Check out what another commenter noticed. When you're at that address in Google Maps, switch over to Street View mode. You'll see something chilling. Right in the 1554 Walnut Avenue driveway, you see a beat-up van with a rusty, trashed exterior, and what looks like a man behind the steering wheel. Follow the van. Pull your POV out of that driveway, moving away on Walnut toward Bown, and look backwards toward the house on Street View. For what I think is, like, 6 blocks or more, that guy in that van is following the black Google VW with cameras mounted on it. Was that Garrido in the van? Is it possible he saw the Google van with all the gear on top, freaked out about being surveilled, and followed it for a while with interest and fear?Maybe, maybe not. IANALEO (I am not a law enforcement officer) so I don't know. Maybe I'm imagining this, and I probably need to stop obsessing about this story. But it's the creepiest thing I've ever seen on Google Street View.

Photos: Here's the Flickr set I created of the sequence within Google Maps. The final shot, before the van veers away, is at the top of this post.

Previously on BB: The blog of Philip Garrido, serial rapist and kidnapper: "sound control" gadget hallucinations.

Above: Gary McKinnon and his mother, Janis Sharp. Below, a guest opinion post by Oxblood Ruffin, a writer and human rights activist based in Munich, Germany.

Gary McKinnon is a Scottish technical expert, or as he is referred to by US federal prosecutors, the perpetrator of "the greatest military hack of all time." This claim is "total fucking bullshit", a phrase common amongst information security professionals.

Although Mr. McKinnon has high name-recognition factor in the United Kingdom he is virtually unknown to the American public. He is a mentally challenged hacker who waltzed through ninety-seven US military Web sites before being caught. Mr. McKinnon was looking for evidence of UFOs. He has Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. It doesn't make him Rain Man but it does create a different perceptual framework.

Gary McKinnon was arrested in the UK in November 2002 after a thirteen month hacking spree into US military networks. He was eventually caught because he used his own email address to download a program called RemotelyAnywhere. Before the bust McKinnon had been under surveillance by Britain's High Tech Crime Unit. But then he did that, dare I say, retarded thing.

Gary McKinnon left his email address plus a number of taunting messages such as, "Your security is crap" on US military servers. Personally, I think the messages were on the polite side. America's military network security is the cyber equivalent of Swiss cheese. My granny could have pulled off McKinnon's hacks and she was well in the grave before they even transpired. Because remember, if you wanted to intrude into US military sites in 2001 all you had to do was key in: user = guest; password = hello.

And so Gary McKinnon was arrested by the High Tech Crime Unit in Britain. He detailed everything and confessed without an attorney being present. Now bear in mind, this is a guy who has Asperger and didn't fully comprehend the consequences of what he had done. Yet his confession was signed-off on, and the process began.

US Federal prosecutors told McKinnon's attorney that if he traveled to America and pleaded guilty that he'd only get eighteen months to three years in prison. McKinnon declined as the offer was not put in writing, although a similar offer was later filed in court papers. Accordingly, Mr. McKinnon was charged in the United States with seven counts of computer fraud at ten years per count [PDF Link] Then came the Lapdog Treaty.

In March 2003 - one year after Gary McKinnon was nabbed - David Blunkett (then home secretary to Tony Blair) secretly popped over to America to sign the 2003 Extradition Act. It was a legal arrangement between Britain and the US to fast track terrorists from one side of the Atlantic to the other. The terms of the agreement can most charitably be described as asymmetric. Legal scholars can have a wank-fest over the minutiae of the arrangement but it boils down to this. If America wants someone from the UK they need only apply reasonable suspicion. Whereas, if the UK wants someone from America then they must prove probable cause.

Reasonable suspicion is the standard to make an arrest; probable cause is the standard to indict.

In real terms, British prosecutors are required to surmount an evidential barrier that American defendants can contest before extradition to the UK. But American prosecutors can extradite any British citizen with substantially lower standards. Even if British citizens were not in the vicinity of a crime, they could not argue to the contrary. It's the law. Check it out on Google.

The sad fact is that it''s easier to extradite a British citizen to the US than it is to extradite a New York resident to California. If the 2003 Extradition Act were a two way street then one side would be a superhighway and the other side would be a dirt road, with potholes. Compounding this nonsense is that the treaty was intended to be applied to terrorists, and not utilized retroactively against mentally-challenged eccentrics.

From McKinnon's arrest in 2002 to date, his case has garnered an extraordinary amount of ink in the UK. It started with hysterical claims by US federal prosecutors; traversed the fact and fiction of the file; included McKinnon's diagnosis as an Asperger sufferer; circumnavigated the extent of the British judicial system; personified McKinnon as the victim of the Lapdog Treaty; saw famous musicians record a song in his support, and celebrities flock to his cause; and generally, piss off the British press and every sensible person in the United Kingdom. All of this was in no small measure due to the efforts of Janis Sharp, Gary McKinnon's mother. She is best described as a cross between the mother that everyone would love to have and the Archangel Michael. For the atheists out there, this equation represents an ocean of love mixed with a tidal wave of whup-ass.

Ms. Sharp has taken on a singular role in the defense of her son because the British Prime Minister, his cabinet, and the government as a whole would rather genuflect to Washington than protect one of its most vulnerable citizens. Despite the testimony of one of Britain's leading psychiatrists and autism experts that Gary McKinnon might commit suicide if extradited; regardless that Baroness Scotland - the UK's attorney general - does not hold the Extradition Act in high esteem; spiteful that a member of Parliament resigned in protest over the travesty; ignoring the direct opposition of the government's top anti-terror advisor; etc., etc., etc. In the face of all of this and more, the government is shambling about in a willful state of dislocation. They have clearly lost the plot.

Although most people accept that politicians steal candy from the same children they kiss for the cameras, the public draws the line at inhumanity. No government is allowed to play Russian roulette with a person's life. Because what is fundamental to this case, once you strain away Labour's craven mendacity, is that Gary McKinnon's life is at risk. He suffers from an anxiety-prone version of Asperger that is exacerbated by stress. And that is what the British public understands even if the government refuses to confront the truth. Does the Prime Minister actually want to hold a press conference several months from now and say, "I regret to inform you that Gary McKinnon took his own life in an American prison because we failed to act"?

The British public stopped asking for justice for Gary McKinnon some time ago. Now they're demanding it.

---

IMAGES: Below, photos taken at a McKinnon rally in August, 2009, provided by Gary's mother. Oxblood says, "The aubergine-hair-colored lady is Janis Sharp; the man with the angular face is Gary McKinnon; others = general protestors."

John sez, "This is an annual report but out by the American Booksellers' Association and the American Library Association. Hardly worth mentioning EXCEPT that, in its paragraph about Susanna Kaysen's novel, _Girl, Interrupted_, it mentions 'the left-leaning Boing Boing, the most widely read blog in the world'! Way to go!"

Technically, we are the mostly widely read blog named Boing Boing in the world, but there you go!

Books Challenged and Banned in 2008-2009 (PDF) (Thanks, John!)

Instructables made a roundup guide of how-tos for Burning Man, from fire and wearable electronics to bikes and tents.

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coondoggie writes "BBN, which was bought by defense giant Raytheon today, got almost $11 million to help build self-configuring network technology that would identify traffic, let the network infrastructure prioritize it down to the end user, reallocate bandwidth between users or classes of users, and automatically make quality-of-service decisions. The advanced network technology is being developed by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and will include support for features like 32 levels of network traffic prioritization that will let data with a higher priority will be handled more expeditiously than traffic with a lower priority."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

coondoggie writes "BBN, which was bought by defense giant Raytheon today, got almost $11 million to help build self-configuring network technology that would identify traffic, let the network infrastructure prioritize it down to the end user, reallocate bandwidth between users or classes of users, and automatically make quality of service decisions. The advance network technology is being developed by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and will include support for features like 32 levels of network traffic prioritization that will let data with a higher priority will be handled more expeditiously than traffic with a lower priority."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Last Thursday, I attended the Canadian Copyright Consultation Toronto Town Hall (video). Despite the stated intention of soliciting a "breadth of perspectives," the record industry dominated the event. Michael Geist described it as the "Toronto Music Industry Town Hall" and a local publication called it the "town hall that didn't invite the town". Tickets were limited and speakers chosen by lottery, yet half the speakers were from the entertainment industry -- collection societies, record labels, industry lawyers. Twice as many industry representatives spoke as artists or creators. There was the odd librarian, student or programmer (and I had a chance to speak), but otherwise the participants seemed so skewed towards the same perspective that one person greeted the audience, "hello, music industry," and some non-industry (though admittedly not very eloquent) speakers were heckled towards the end. When asked afterwards about the strong music industry presence, the Minister who ran the town hall joked, "I guess they had the night off." There are lots of questions about the sincerity and efficacy of the consultations (though, also some indication that the government might take the time to try and get things right), but what was most disappointing, albeit least surprising, was what the entertainment industry actually had to say.

Most industry speakers presented emotional pleas, with little in the way of serious suggestions. They focused on a "right to get paid" and "fair compensation" (without talk of providing a reason to buy), while Canada was portrayed as a "lawless society," rampant with property "theft" and hostile to "legitimate" business (despite evidence to the contrary). A writer stunningly declared that "[more flexible] fair dealing would be a disaster for creators," while SOCAN claimed that adding "unwarranted" fair dealing provisions would be asking creators "work for nothing" (even though flexible fair dealing would be a lot like fair use in the US -- hardly a disaster). The President of Warner Music Canada talked about disappearing jobs, and many industry employees painted a dire picture of colleagues and artists struggling to make ends meet (with little mention of any success stories). Yet, when the occasional concrete recommendation was made, it was to implement a notice-and-takedown system (ripe for abuse), extend the "you must be a criminal" tax blank media levy to digital audio players (an idea that's been struck down twice), or enshrine an inducement doctrine into law -- extreme measures which have provided little solace to failing businesses elsewhere.

It wasn't argument. It was the language of moral panics.

The Canadian record industry was demanding to be lied to, to be told that more restrictive copyright laws will save their business. Though fewer and fewer people can convincingly tell the lie, they seemed perfectly capable of convincing each other that restrictive copyright legislation might somehow stop the market from changing (even with a decade of hindsight on the DMCA). It's tragic, because hard working people who love music and love working for artists are losing their jobs, but the industry continues to block the sort of innovations that could provide it with a way forward. A lawyer described the music industry as a "copyright industry," even though most artists and companies who are figuring out how to make money in the digital economy are successful despite copyright -- not because of it.

Artist voices were few (nevermind consumer voices), which is disappointing because many Canadian creator groups are adopting more forward thinking approaches, proposing solutions that don't involve criminalizing common consumer behavior. Now... most creators echoed the industry in supporting the levy and its expansion to digital audio players and even ISPs, and some asked for new royalties and more collective licensing, but that's much better than demanding stricter laws and enforcement mechanisms. The problem remains though, that although collective licensing may be a move in the right direction, short-term revenue from additional royalties and levies also increases barriers to innovation, making it harder for new sustainable long-term business models to emerge. Artists and creators need to find a way to earn money that's based on a solid economic ground, instead of depending on levies that can quickly become absurd. That's where the record industry should be able to help them out.

Artists and creators need to be able to experiment with new business models, but the copyright crutch gets in the way. They turn to levies and licensing because they can't imagine how else to make money, but successes have been outside of the copyright system. Canada needs innovative companies to help artists and creators find digital business models, not to chase fictive legislative solutions. If the Canadian record industry isn't willing to help creators with what's next, they need to clear out of the way.

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

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Fluffeh writes "IBM has applied for a patent on a network-enabled smart remote control that sends out a message to Twitter, Facebook or a blog when you start watching a TV show." Hopefully this launches an exciting patent landgrab of devices that are socially enabled. Your car can tweet when you leave your garage. Your dishwasher can tweet when the load is done. Your skillet can tweet when your eggs are burnt. And they say innovation is dead.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Each week we're bringing you some of our favorite posts from our friends over at TreeHugger. Enjoy!

Ultra Rare Tiger Dismembered at Zoo and Sold on Chinese Black Market
It's something you'd think would only happen in a movie. But one of only 400 of these rare tigers was literally taken apart at a zoo and sold off on the black market.

Inflatable Solar Panels Zip Together To Power Most Anything
This lightweight, inflatable solar panel concept brings renewable energy access to any building and without that pesky renovation.

First Gray Wolf Hunt in Decades Begins Today
Starting today, the gray wolf is about to be hunted for the first time in decades. Unless a judge steps in, hundreds are likely to be shot, starting in Idaho.

buBle is More than a Tent, Less than a House
Check out this awesome piece of design for a temporary home.

Borneo Tribesmen Armed with Blowpipes Block Roads, Stop Palm Oil Plantations
There's one way to put a halt to harmful production! A very concrete example of how roads into rainforests can bring indigenous people into the firing line.

Weird Solar Device of the Day: Hanging Basket Rotator
Do you need a special solar device to make sure your hanging plants get even sun? Maybe!

Moonbell Lets You Create Music Based on Lunar Topography
It's one thing to get music recommendations from your Pandora radio station. It's a whole other thing to have the moon craft what you're listening to.

A Minneapolis Couple Celebrates Their 50th Anniversary By Installing Rain Gardens For Their Block
Most couples toast to 50 years with a nice bottle of champagne, flowers, or maybe a weekend away. But not the Wolks!

California Hosts Gigantic Garage Sale to Raise State Funds
Can't balance your state's budget? Is a lack of funds causing hard working employees to take pay cuts and unwanted days off? Tired of sending out IOUs to cover your debts? There's only one thing to do: garage sale!

Wow...This Excessive Electronics Packaging Takes the Trophy!
I think half the people on my block heard me burst out laughing when I saw this image. You'll never guess what is inside this massive box. 10 new laptops? 5 flat panel monitors? Nope! Keep guessing...

consonant writes "FT is reporting that Google has reached a deal with Sony to ship Chrome on the Vaio line of PCs. Google confirmed that Sony PCs carrying Chrome had started to go on sale and said it was in talks for similar deals with other computer makers. It said the arrangement was 'experimental' and part of wider efforts to boost distribution, including a deal to make Chrome available to internet users who download the RealPlayer software and the company's first use of television advertising. While mainstream media coverage and financial details were very sparse, El Reg terms it a 'Microsoft-snubbing deal.' Google also mentioned it was pushing for similar deals with other vendors. Could this spell the beginning of the end for IE?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

consonant writes "FT is reporting that Google has reached a deal with Sony to ship Chrome on the Vaio line of PCs. Google confirmed that Sony PCs carrying Chrome had started to go on sale and said it was in talks for similar deals with other computer makers. It said the arrangement was "experimental" and part of wider efforts to boost distribution, including a deal to make Chrome available to internet users who download the RealPlayer software and the company's first use of television advertising. While mainstream media coverage and financial details were very sparse, El Reg terms it a "Microsoft-snubbing deal". Google also mentioned it was pushing for similar deals with other vendors. Could this spell the beginning of the end for IE?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Well, this is bad. We've worried in the past about the lack of a specific safe harbor to protect trademark infringement claims being brought against third party service providers. The DMCA has a safe harbor that protects against copyright claims, and the CDA has a safe harbor that protects against all non-intellectual property claims, such as defamation. But trademark is a loophole... and because of that you can get some really dreadful results. Earlier this year, we noted that a court had ruled that web hosting firms could be liable for trademark infringement done by their customers. The case involved luxury goods retailer Louis Vuitton suing some web hosting firms for the actions of their customers. Any common sense ruling would find that the hosts are simply the tool providers, and it was the customers running the actual websites who were liable. That is, if there were common sense.

Instead, as Eric Goldman alerts us, the jury has sided with Louis Vuitton and awarded the company $32.4 million in damages from the web hosts.

This is a bad end result no matter how you look at it. If you do any sort of web hosting, your liability just went up by a tremendous amount, and you may now be expected to proactively police all your customers' websites for anything that might possibly be seen as trademark infringement. It's safe to say that this is not what Congress intended -- given the nature of the safe harbors it set up in the DMCA and the CDA. Hopefully, either a higher court will toss this out and/or Congress will finally get its act together and extend safe harbor protection to trademarks as well.

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From the MAKE Flickr pool

Matt the modulator built a deluxe substitution box for experimenting with different resistor & capacitor values for circuit bending. Features include -

1. Resistance pots (4k7, 100k, 1m)
2. Capacitance - 12 caps selector
poly 47-pf, 100-pf, 470-pf, 1-nf, 4n7 nf, 10-nf, 100nf, 1-uf, 1uf
elec 1uf, 4.7uf, 10uf, 100uf
3. LED
4. Signal tracer simply a 1w amp maplin kit to trace audio signal in a circuit.

Have a closer look at the innards on Flickr.

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"Capricorn Cyclo-Works" apparently came and went without my noticing, which is too bad, as their "Involution" epicyclic-geared motorcycle wheel is one of the cooler doo-dads I've ever seen. The gear train is non-load-bearing and free-spinning so that, even if it jams completely, the wheel will continue to function as normal. The vid below shows it in motion.

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An anonymous reader writes "Playing Tetris increases the density of the cortex and improves the efficiency of some parts of the brain, according to researchers investigating video games and other complex spatial tasks." Unfortunately, storing a half million copies of the song negates any practical functional gains beyond loading your trunk very efficiently.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Julefrokost writes "Computerworld has a story about eBay selling Skype. Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape along with a group of investors, are reported to have paid $2 Billion for Skype. According to New York Times, Google was also a potential buyer. Also the original founders of Skype are said to have placed a bid, but Marc Andressen & Co was the highest bidder."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tamron has announced a revised version of its popular 17-50mm F2.8 fast standard zoom for APS-C/DX SLRs, which now incorporates optical image stabilization (or as the company calls it, Vibration Compensation). The SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical [IF] offers a useful wide angle to short telephoto range of 26-78mm (35mm equivalent) in a compact design scarcely larger than its unstabilized predecessor. The 19 element / 14 group optical design employs a host of special elements to minimize aberrations, and features a minimum focusing distance of 0.29m over the entire zoom range, with a maximum magnification of 0.21x. It will be available in Nikon mount (with a built-in focusing motor) from mid-September, with a Canon version to follow.

YouTuber denha shares this demo vid of a percussive synth built using the XR-2206 function generator chip. The built-in tap-trigger is a nice touch! [via Matrixsynth]

Related:

Review - The VCO Chip Cookbook

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When we found out Alice was pregnant, we wrote to all our friends who had recently had their first kids and said, "What's your one tip-top piece of advice for parents-to-be?" My second-favorite piece of advice came from Stewart Butterfield, who said "Buy one parenting book. Only one. It doesn't matter which." (My favorite piece came from John Henson, who said, "Agree with everything she says.")

If I had to choose just one book -- I cheated and read several -- I think it would be this one: If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency, by the paediatrician Lara Zibners.

Apart from a terrific title, the book has plenty going for it. Basically, Even if Your Kid Eats This Book is a detailed guide to everything you don't have to worry about. It has an orifice-by-orifice guide to detecting and removing Lego! A list of things under the sink that won't poison your kid! Sensible advice about how to get rid of dry skin! (Hot bath, then anything greasy from Crisco to Vaseline, then time).

And of course, there's also very clearly spelled-out, highly specific lists of what is worth calling your doctor or going to the emergency room for; along with details about why those things are scary and what the worst could be (it's usually not very bad).

There's nothing more soothing than a list of stuff you don't need to worry about. Yes, 12 Hours Sleep By 12 Weeks is more practical, but once the kid is sleeping OK, this one is indispensable.

If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency

When we found out Alice was pregnant, we wrote to all our friends who had recently had their first kids and said, "What's your one tip-top piece of advice for parents-to-be?" My second-favorite piece of advice came from Stewart Butterfield, who said "Buy one parenting book. Only one. It doesn't matter which." (My favorite piece came from John Henson, who said, "Agree with everything she says.")

If I had to choose just one book -- I cheated and read several -- I think it would be this one: If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency, by the paediatrician Lara Zibners.

Apart from a terrific title, the book has plenty going for it. Basically, Even if Your Kid Eats This Book is a detailed guide to everything you don't have to worry about. It has an orifice-by-orifice guide to detecting and removing Lego! A list of things under the sink that won't poison your kid! Sensible advice about how to get rid of dry skin! (Hot bath, then anything greasy from Crisco to Vaseline, then time).

And of course, there's also very clearly spelled-out, highly specific lists of what is worth calling your doctor or going to the emergency room for; along with details about why those things are scary and what the worst could be (it's usually not very bad).

There's nothing more soothing than a list of stuff you don't need to worry about. Yes, 12 Hours Sleep By 12 Weeks is more practical, but once the kid is sleeping OK, this one is indispensable.

If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency

Back in June, we wrote about the rather horrifying situation that Dr. Bob Shafer found himself in, facing a patent lawsuit over a fantastic resource of HIV-related data that he had been putting together for years, and which the community of HIV researchers have used for years. Shafer's employer, Stanford University, was threatened by a company, Advanced Biological Laboratories, claiming that the database violated its patents (6,188,988 and 6,081,786) on using databases for diagnostic decisions -- even though HIVdb predated either patent. There was some back and forth, and Stanford settled the dispute (much to Shafer's dismay) and a separate lawsuit commenced against Shafer himself, after he refused to abide by the terms of the original settlement.

Joe Mullin has an update on the situation and the one bit of good news is that the lawsuit itself has been settled, and Shafer really just needs to post a link to ABL's "response" to his claims.

But the more disturbing part is that the USPTO has upheld the '988 patent in question, despite over 200 pages of prior art submitted by Shafer and his lawyers. Why?

Even though doctors had used databases to help choose therapies to treat various ailments for decades before the first relevant patent application at issue was filed in 1998, Hughes said the '988 patent should be allowed. Her reasoning: the prior art references didn't distinguish a system with exactly three "knowledge bases." And that distinction alone--having three "knowledge bases"--is a patentable advance, Hughes decided.

Yes, you read that right. Even though people have used such knowledge bases for decision making for quite some time, the fact that we're talking about three knowledge bases suddenly makes it patentable. Because without patents, no one would have ever thought to use exactly three knowledge bases. Shafer and others are already pushing back on that and hoping to still invalidate the patent. Mullin notes that Ted Shortliffe, president of the American Medical Informatics Association, has joined Shafer in pointing out how ridiculous the idea that "three" knowledge bases makes some sort of meaningful difference:

This is a trivial distinction without a practical difference since multiple knowledge bases could be merged into a single entity and have long been separated into multiple representations largely for computational convenience and clarity.

Honestly, can someone explain how the USPTO is employing people who think that having three knowledge bases turns using knowledge bases for diagnostic purposes into a patentable invention?

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neonsignal writes "Opera 10 has been released. It now supports rich text email, the 'turbo' Opera proxy server feature, some HTML 5 support, XML 'pretty printing', extra skinning features, and a 100/100 score in the Acid3 test. There has been no official announcement as yet."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A Beijing dentist built this resin-cast tower of pulled teeth to remind patients how important their oral hygiene is. Likely a warning - brush up … or else! [via The Presurfer]

Related:

Toenail necklace

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@brady mentions some of the noteworthy tech coming to this year's Burning Man festival in this article over at O'Reilly Radar. Items of interest include local SMS and Burning Man Earth online directory, API, and beta iPhone app.

Burning Man Gets an API (and a Whole Lot More)

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Scientists design first robot using slime mold @ Physorg via Beyond the beyond.

Scientists at the University of the West of England are to design the first ever biological robot using mould. Researchers have received a Leverhulme Trust grant to develop the amorphous non-silicon biological robot, plasmobot, using plasmodium, the vegetative stage of the slime mould Physarum polycephalum, a commonly occurring mould which lives in forests, gardens and most damp places in the UK. The Leverhulme Trust funded research project aims to design the first every fully biological (no silicon components) amorphous massively-parallel robot.

...Professor Adamatzky says that there are long term potential benefits from harnessing this power, “We are at the very early stages of our understanding of how the potential of the plasmodium can be applied, but in years to come we may be able to use the ability of the mould for example to deliver a small quantity of a chemical substance to a target, using light to help to propel it, or the movement could be used to help assemble micro-components of machines. In the very distant future we may be able to harness the power of plasmodia within the human body, for example to enable drugs to be delivered to certain parts of the human body. It might also be possible for thousands of tiny computers made of plasmodia to live on our skin and carry out routine tasks freeing up our brain for other things. Many scientists see this as a potential development of amorphous computing, but it is purely theoretical at the moment.”

Pictured above - The 93rd plate from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (1904), depicting organisms classified as Mycetozoa....

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Mike writes to tell us that Inhabitat has an interesting article, complete with some pretty pictures, about a new solar-powered swarm robot that could be used to collect data and aid in surveillance. "These mini-robots are quite revolutionary, considering that they contain all that's necessary to collect data and relay it back using one single circuit board. In the past single-chip robots have presented significant design and manufacturing challenges due in part to the use of solder as an adhesive. These new microbots use conductive adhesive to attach the components to a double-sided flexible printed circuit board using surface mount technology. The circuit is then folded into thirds and wrapped around the ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). On top, a solar cell generates power for the robot and delivers 3.6 V to the unit, which is enough for it to walk. Locomotion is achieved via three vibrating legs, while a fourth horizontal vibrating leg is used as a touch sensor."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Can 'Unscientific America' Be Science Literate? @ NPR...

Is the rift closing between scientists and the general public? Sheril Kirshenbaum, co-author of Unscientific America, discusses the challenges of communicating about science and engineering, what scientists can do to help, and why science literacy is especially important today.

I listen to podcasts while I ship packages (kits) the above audio just happen to be on today - and oddly enough here were tons of orders for schools and "back to school" type group buys. It's likely a grassroots style movement that we're all seeing in the MAKE world, but I'm more encouraged than discouraged lately. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Science | Digg this!

Following the financial crisis there's obviously a lot of interest in more carefully regulating aspects of the private equity markets, given that behind-the-scenes financial efforts have been seen (rightly or wrongly) as part of the cause of the mess. But, of course, Congress can barely understand what caused the problem, let alone other aspects of the the financial system, so they end up regulating by shooting in the dark. The latest is that the various attempts to put regulations on hedge funds and private equity firms that invest in public companies (which in many cases really were sneaky ways to get around regulations) may be applied to venture capitalists as well, despite the fact that venture capital is a totally different beast. It doesn't invest in public companies. It doesn't aim for sneaky quick flips. It's true long term investment capital, directly investing in private startup companies to help them grow. It's real investment -- not gambling. But Congress doesn't seem to realize that.

In a recent Congressional hearing where venture capitalist Trevor Loy explained this to our elected officials, Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky apparently told Loy that he didn't believe him that VCs invest in private companies rather than companies likely to be rated by the various ratings agencies (I'd link to the story where this was noted, but the publication that wrote it, put it behind a paywall and apparently doesn't want traffic -- there's a Google cache for now). And, yet, these are the folks writing the regulations. This is why some of us get nervous about gov't regulations. Yes, in an ideal world, perfectly knowledgeable regulators might possibly be able to divinely create regulations that work. But that's not what we have.

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Samsung has released the WB5000 with 24x optical zoom. A variant of other recently launched superzooms, the camera offers a field of view of 26-624mm equivalent, 3.0 inch LCD and a 12.47 MP sensor. It features 720p HD video recording in an advanced H.264 format, but does not provide an HD output. Other features include RAW format shooting, Image Stabilization, P/A/S/M shooting modes and enhanced Face Recognition.

We all know robots will take over the world sooner or later, right? Well, when they do, I just hope they're all robotic teddy bear nurses.

Riba, short for Robot for Interactive Body Assistance, was developed by the state-run Riken research center. Promoters are calling it the world's first robot to lift people in its arms. Riba can move patients weighing up to 134 pounds in its foam-padded paws and transfer them from beds to wheelchairs. Its cute face is designed to make the 400-pound robot less imposing. Very kawaii.

Pololu 3pi Robot

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Last week, we noted that Italian investigators were looking into Google News for alleged antitrust violations in not telling newspapers how it ranks stories. As ridiculous as that assertion is in the first place, it looks even more ridiculous when you realize (as Erick Schonfeld figured out) that Google News is actually a much smaller presence online than Italy's two largest newspapers online. It makes you wonder how you claim an antitrust violation against someone, when your own marketshare is larger and you control the established brand names in the market.

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An anonymous reader writes "A new report based on data from 100 US and European ISPs claims P2P traffic has dropped to around 20% of all Internet traffic. This is down from the 40% two years ago (also reported by the same company which sells subscriber traffic management equipment to ISPs). The report goes on to say the drop is likely due to continued, widespread ISP P2P shaping: 'In fact, the P2P daily trend is pretty much completely inverted from daily traffic. In other words, P2P reaches it low at 4pm when web and overall Internet traffic approaches its peak... trend is highly suggestive of either persistent congestion or, more likely, evidence of widespread provider manipulation of P2P traffic rates.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes "A new report based on data from 100 US and European ISPs claims P2P traffic has dropped to around 20% of all Internet traffic. This is down from the 40% two years ago (also reported by the same company which sells subscriber traffic management equipment to ISPs). The report goes on to say the drop is likely due to continued, widespread ISP P2P shaping: 'In fact, the P2P daily trend is pretty much completely inverted from daily traffic. In other words, P2P reaches it low at 4pm when web and overall Internet traffic approaches its peak... trend is highly suggestive of either persistent congestion or, more likely, evidence of widespread provider manipulation of P2P traffic rates.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wikileaks has published the video and transcript of an investigative report into "est" (Erhard Seminars Training) guru and Landmark Education Forum godfather Werner Erhard by CBS News, originally broadcast on the program 60 Minutes on March 3, 1991.

Both, video and transcript, have been published at various points in time, but are not publically available anymore due to legal threats against publishers from Werner Erhard.

The material contains interviews with friends, business associates and family of Werner Erhard making serious claims against him. Erhard is accused by family members of beating his wife and children, and raping a daughter, while still giving seminars on how to have relationships that work. The story also includes interviews with two former staff members of Werner Erhard: Wendy Drucker (a senior manager) and Dr. Bob Larzelere (head of Erhard's counseling staff).

The current incarnation of the est training is now known as Landmark Education, with its course the Landmark Forum. Landmark Education is run by CEO Harry Rosenberg, who is Werner Erhard's brother, and General Counsel and Chairman of the Board of Directors Art Schreiber, who has acted as Werner Erhard's lawyer. Werner Erhard's sister Joan Rosenberg also sits on the Board of Directors of Landmark Education.

Suppressed CBS News 60 Minutes on Landmark cult leader Werner Erhard, 3 Mar 1991 (Wikileaks, thanks Enric)

Related: A number of companies have corporate ties to est/Landmark, for instance: Bay Area vegan restaurant Café Gratitude (See: East Bay Express, and SFGate). And Lululemon Athletica, the company that makes all that trendy yoga gear (see Fast Company, this blog, and the CEO's testimony on the Landmark Forum website). Some former employees at both companies have stated publicly that if you want to become a manager or keep your job, you pretty much better be prepared to join Landmark.

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Ben Cosgrove says: "As Tuesday's the 70th anniversary of the start of WWII, I decided to put together a gallery of some of the most intense propaganda posters and flyers I could find, just to remind LIFE visitors that, whatever one thinks of the war itself, there's no denying that some of the graphic art that came out of it was AMAZING."

In war and in peace -- but especially in war -- governments everywhere resort to propaganda, which at its simplest and starkest often takes the form of outrageous posters: occasionally beautiful, sometimes racist, and often brutally jarring. This, for example, is how the Nazis wanted occupied Holland to see America and Americans in 1944 -- as a Frankenstein's monster of warmongering racists, jazz-crazed degenerates, and money-mad gangsters.

Propaganda posters from WWII

Bre sez,

At MakerBot Industries, we've been selling more and more MakerBots and we needed an inventory tracking system so that we could keep track of all the different parts of the machine and know what we have and where it is. Keeping inventory and making lists of parts for a project turns out to be really important for open source hardware folks because it lets you share what it is you're doing and leaves breadcrumbs for others to build on. It turns out that it's really handy to be able to share lists of parts, part numbers, and suppliers so that other people can build on the shoulders of your accomplishments.

Zach pulled together the Parts Nebula as part of Thingiverse, our digital design and project sharing website. If you're like me, half the time you're making something, you're pretty sure that you've got a certain part but you don't know where it is and so you have to buy another one. Well, this parts management system pretty much fixes that. Go forth and document your parts drawer full of junk and then make something with it and share the project!

Thingiverse: Parts Nebula Discovered (Thanks, Bre!)

Casey from the Future of Music Coalition sez:

It's been nearly a decade since the digital music genie burst out of its bottle, changing the game for virtually everyone in the music ecosystem. Future of Music Policy Summit 2009 features practical, musician-focused workshops, keynotes from leading artists, managers and policymakers and inspired panel discussions with the sharpest minds in the music/technology/policy space.

Among the ranks of stellar speakers and panelists are:

U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN), who will speak about net neutrality.

Daniel Ek, founder of Spotify -- the potentially game-changing music service that's sweeping Europe and generating incredible buzz in America, where the service is expected to launch this year.

Brian Message -- a partner in Courtyard Management, the team that represents Radiohead, Supergrass and the 22-20s.

Throughout the Summit, prominent musicians from a variety of genres will also give their direct thoughts about how they're adapting to an increasingly networked (and noisy) world. Artist participants in Policy Summit 2009 include jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, Wayne Kramer of MC5, Dave Allen of Gang of Four and Mac McCaughan, co-owner of Merge Records and member of Superchunk and Portastatic.

Music, Technology, Policy and Law Go Back to the Future

Ever since the whole financial crisis began, and the concept of "too big to fail" became a common phrase, I've been wondering why the US gov't didn't set up a simple provision in any bailout procedure: if you are too big to fail, and because of that need a gov't bailout, then a part of that bailout means you need to become small enough to fail. I think it's a perfectly reasonable suggestion that has been pretty much totally ignored.

So, when news came out that the biggest banks, the ones deemed "too big to fail," are now getting even bigger, you might think that I'd view that as a bad sign. And... partly, I do. But not for the reasons you might expect. The issue of "too big to fail" isn't the bottom line size of the bank, it was about how interconnected it was in the rest of the economy, and how any ripple effects of a failure would damage (significantly) other parts of the economy. But, since the government has done pretty much next to nothing to actually deal with that sort of systematic risk (and, no, putting in place a "systematic risk" manager, as we keep hearing, isn't going to fix the problem), it should come as no surprise that these banks still have such risks.

But, the fact that, by themselves, these banks are growing isn't a bad sign. Given what the government has done, it's actually a good sign. You should be a lot more upset if, after the government gave these banks so much money, they went out and lost it all. Instead, many of them have at least put it to good use (and some have returned money to the government at decent interest rates -- though, the amount returned still is a blip compared to the amount at risk).

The real issue isn't the size of the banks, but how interconnected they are. But little to nothing has been done to take on that problem -- which is a bad thing. However, given that, it's at least a decent sign that these banks we've given so much money to are actually doing better these days.

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Canada's copyright consultations are rapidly drawing to a close (you still have time to get your comments in) and the excellent folks at Canadian Internet giant Tucows (who also own Domain Direct and other tech businesses) have hired David Weinberger (author of Everything is Miscellaneous, Small Pieces, Loosely Joined, and co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto) to write a plain-language, brilliantly argued submission. Weinberger explains how moderate copyright is better for creativity than the pervasive system favored by the American entertainment cartel.

Even within any one class of incentive, the effect of money on creativity is rarely a straight line. Mordechai Richler would not have written four times as many books if his advances had been four times larger. The Guess Who might be tempted to release more recycled compilations if you pay them enough money, but their songs would not have gotten 1% better for every 1% their revenues went up. Thus, while copyright may provide a financial incentive that enables many creators to create, stronger copyright that results in more money does not necessarily result in more creativity.

In fact, how long would it take you to list the bands that have gotten worse as they've gotten richer?

For the most important creative cultural works, money is an enabler but not the reason the person is putting pen to paper, chisel to stone, or camcorder to eye socket. There are so many other reasons people create -- from G-d whispering to them, to a neurological itch that can't otherwise be scratched, to wanting to get laid. Copyright could do its job -- facilitate an innovative, sustainable culture -- if it aimed merely at enabling creators to create, rather than thinking that the creativity-to-financial-reward curve is a straight line angled at 45 degrees.

Now, there would be no problem with setting up a system of laws that overemphasizes the financial incentives for creators if that system had no other effects. But it does, especially now that culture and economics have slipped the bonds of the old physics. Even if we devised a copyright law that provided the absolutely right amount of incentive for every creator to keep on creating, it takes more than motivated creators to build a creative, innovative culture.

It takes culture. It takes culture to build culture.

Copyright's Creative Disincentive (Thanks, Elliot!)

On Boing Boing Gadgets, our Steven's found a goldmine of computer repair flowcharts:

From Morris Rosenthal's Computer Repair with Diagnostic Flowcharts. Bonus: On his site, the charts are interactive, so clicking on a diamond jumps you to the text for each decision step.

Computer Repair Flowchart

Discuss this on Boing Boing Gadgets

The Super Punch blog is collecting the inevitable Marvel/Disney mashups that have appeared online since the Disney/Marvel acquisition was announced yesterday. Shown: Serge Kliavaing's Mickey Venom.

More Disney/Marvel mashups, Disney/Marvel mashups (Thanks, John!)

Here's a great opportunity to get involved in Austin at Art Outside:

Hushed galleries. White walls. "Inside" voices. That's one way to experience art. But Art Outside 2009 is looking to change that. If you are a visual artist, performer, musician, dancer, comic, filmmaker, crafter, fashion designer, or a creative spirit of any sort - we are looking for you to participate this October 9-11th.

One of Texas' most anticipated annual art events, Art Outside is a three-day experience for art lovers, families, DIY junkies and avid concert-goers. You'll perform or display your work in the environs of Apache Pass, located just East of Austin and centered between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. With over 100+ participants across all media, it's also an opportunity to meet and network with artists from all over the country, from under-the-radar newcomers to today's art icons.

Just some of this year's participants include carnivalian collective Art of Such N' Such, fresh off their 2009 Bonnaroo performance, eco-chic fashion designer Rene Geneva, recently named Best Local Fashion Designer at the Austin Fashion Awards, blues/vintage rock outfit The Golden Animals, Fort Knox Five, Freq Nasty, DIY workshops by The WonderCraft, Comedy by Reggie Watts and Adira Amram, food by Ararat and Happy Vegan Baker and many more. *visit website for full line-up/line-up is subject to change.

We look forward to reviewing your wild, wonderful creations. With a tradition of showcasing groundbreaking talent on breathtaking grounds, Art Outside has hosted artists and art appreciators since 2004. Founded at Austin Enchanted Forest, Art Outside began as a small gathering of creative souls, and expanded into a destination event for visitors near and far. We pay homage to the Enchanted Forest as we spread our wings over a new landscape, Apache Pass, where we can host more art than ever before. An inspiring expanse of beautiful central Texas landscape, Apache Pass will offer music performance areas, a cantilevered stage, artist tents, camping grounds for full-weekend participants, food and drink vendors. A limited amount of advance 3-day passes are now available for purchase on the website. To learn more, please visit Art Outside-www.artoutside.org.  

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Hugh Pickens writes "Studies of reproduction in space have previously been carried out with sea urchins, fish, amphibians and birds, but Brandon Keim writes in Wired that Japanese biologists have discovered that although mammalian fertilization may take place normally in space, as mouse embryos develop in microgravity their cells have trouble dividing and maturing. The researchers artificially fertilized mouse eggs with sperm that had been stored inside a three-dimensional clinostat, a machine that mimics weightlessness by rotating objects in such a way that the effects of gravity are spread in every direction. Some embryos were ultimately implanted in female mice and survived to a healthy birth, but at lower numbers than a regular-gravity control group. Part of the difference could be the result of performing tricky procedures on sensitive cells, but the researchers suspect they also reflect the effect of a low-gravity environment on cellular processes that evolved for Earth-specific physics. '"These results suggest for the first time that fertilization can occur normally under G environment in a mammal, but normal preimplantation embryo development might require 1G," concludes the report. "Sustaining life beyond Earth either on space stations or on other planets will require a clear understanding of how the space environment affects key phases of mammalian reproduction."'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Updated story on CBS - Following The Trail Of Toxic E-Waste @ 60 Minutes...

(CBS)  This story was first published on Nov. 9, 2008. It was updated on Aug. 27, 2009. 60 Minutes is going to take you to one of the most toxic places on Earth -- a place that government officials and gangsters don't want you to see. It's a town in China where you can't breathe the air or drink the water, a town where the blood of the children is laced with lead. It's worth risking a visit because, as correspondent Scott Pelley first reported last November, much of the poison is coming out of the homes, schools and offices of America. This is a story about recycling - about how your best intentions to be green can be channeled into an underground sewer that flows from the United States and into the wasteland.

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Hot on the heels of Canon's announcement of its Hybrid IS technology comes the first lens to sport this feature and, to no great surprise, it's a 100mm F2.8 macro. The Hybrid IS system is claimed to provide up to 2 stops stabilization at 1.0x magnification, and up to 4 stops at longer shooting distances. This, Canon's third-generation EF 100mm F2.8 macro lens, is also the first to gain the flagship 'L' designation and comes with such goodies as ultra-low dispersion glass elements, a nine blade circular aperture and weathersealing. The Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS USM macro will supplement, rather than supplant the existing 100mm F2.8 USM macro.

Hot on the heels of Canon's announcement of its Hybrid IS technology comes the first lens to sport this feature and, to no great surprise, it's a 100mm F2.8 macro. The Hybrid IS system is claimed to provide up to 2 stops stabilization at 1.0x magnification, and up to 4 stops at longer shooting distances. This, Canon's third-generation EF 100mm F2.8 macro lens, is also the first to gain the flagship 'L' designation and comes with such goodies as ultra-low dispersion glass elements, a nine blade circular aperture and weathersealing. The Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS USM macro will supplement, rather than supplant the existing 100mm F2.8 USM macro.

Along with the EOS 7D, Canon has announced two EF-S, APS-C lenses. The EF-S 15-85mm F3.5-5.6 IS USM is as a high quality standard zoom designed to complement the EOS 7D. It offers a flexible 23-135mm (35mm equivalent) range and offers image stabilizer with a claimed effectiveness of 4 stops. It also includes ring-type USM and a close focus distance of 0.35m through the entire zoom range. Also bolstering Canon's EF-S range is the 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS USM, which covers a 29-216mm (35mm equivalent) range and with a claimed 4-stop image stabilizer and a minimum focus distance of 0.45m.

Just Posted: Our hands-on preview of the Canon EOS 7D. We've had a bit of time to get to grips with Canon's latest high-end APS-C body. This 18MP camera uses dual Digic 4 processors to offer an impressive 8 frames per second and features a new 19-point AF system with the ease of point selection more usually associated with the 1D series. We delved around under the hood, leafed through the menus and even shot some sample images (coming soon).

Just Posted: Our hands-on preview of the Canon EOS 7D. We've had a bit of time to get to grips with Canon's latest high-end APS-C body. This 18MP camera uses dual Digic 4 processors to offer an impressive 8 frames per second and features a new 19-point AF system with the ease of point selection more usually associated with the 1D series. We delved around under the hood, leafed through the menus and even shot some sample images (coming soon).

Just Posted: Our hands-on preview of the Canon EOS 7D. We've had a bit of time to get to grips with Canon's latest high-end APS-C body. This 18MP camera uses dual Digic 4 processors to offer an impressive 8 frames per second and features a new 19-point AF system with the ease of point selection more usually associated with the 1D series. We delved around under the hood, leafed through the menus and even shot some sample images (coming soon).

As anticipated Canon has today announced the EOS 7D digital SLR. It boasts a new 18MP CMOS sensor, Dual DIGIC 4 processors, ISO range expandable to 12800, continuous shooting at 8 fps and full HD video recording. It also incorporates a new viewfinder with 1.0x magnification and 100% coverage and a 3 inch LCD with 920k dot resolution.

As anticipated Canon has today announced the EOS 7D digital SLR. It boasts a new 18MP CMOS sensor, Dual DIGIC 4 processors, ISO range expandable to 12800, continuous shooting at 8 fps and full HD video recording. It also incorporates a new viewfinder with 1.0x magnification and 100% coverage and a 3 inch LCD with 920k dot resolution.

As anticipated Canon has today announced the EOS 7D digital SLR. It boasts a new 18MP CMOS sensor, Dual DIGIC 4 processors, ISO range expandable to 12800, continuous shooting at 8 fps and full HD video recording. It also incorporates a new viewfinder with 1.0x magnification and 100% coverage and a 3 inch LCD with 920k dot resolution.

We've already discussed the ridiculous circumstances under which a model, Liskula Cohen, ended up getting a judge to order Google to reveal an anonymous blogger who Cohen felt defamed her by calling her a "skank," among other things. That no longer anonymous blogger, Rosemary Port, is now planning to sue Google, though it seems her chances of winning are slim to none. Still, the whole thing did raise questions about the level to which Google should go to protect the anonymity of people who use its services.

This issue is getting more attention, as Google has apparently alerted some anonymous Caribbean journalists that it may hand over their information due to a defamation lawsuit filed against the journalists, concerning their investigations into corruption in the famed vacation resort Turks & Caicos Islands. One of the people accused of being involved in the corruption filed the lawsuit, and Google sent the site a letter, saying:

To comply with the law, unless you provide us with a copy of a motion to quash the subpoena (or other formal objection filed in court) via email at legal-support@google.com by 5pm Pacific Time on September 16, 2009, Google will assume you do not have an objection to production of the requested information and may provide responsive documents on this date.

Some are making a big "First Amendment" deal out of this, but it's not clear that's such a huge deal. Google, as a private company, can choose to reveal that information, and appears to be properly notifying the people in question of the legal situation and allowing them to respond. But, of course, some insist that Google should stand up for the privacy rights of its users, and there's an argument to be made there. How far should Google be expected to go to defend the privacy of its users in the face of a court order or subpoena? Given Google's reputation as being user friendly, many would expect it to go quite far, but is that reasonable? Is there a balance between obeying court orders and subpoenas and fighting for its users' rights? Or should Google always default to defending its users' rights as far as possible?

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The Register is reporting that EMC co-founder Richard Egan has committed suicide. The article has an interesting look back at some of his accomplishments. "Egan had an amazing life, encompassing involvement in the Apollo space program, the US Marines, starting and building the most successful storage company on the planet, and becoming the US ambassador to Ireland. Finally, aged 73 and facing a lingering death, he ended the battle decisively and on his terms. He was never a shrinking violet."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It was a hot Summer Sunday afternoon. I’d just stepped off the Acela Express from Boston to New York City, and I was confused as ever about HTML5. I thought I was alone. Impossible in mid-town Manhatt— no, alone in being confused about the next chapter of markup specifications. I figured something was wrong with me. Was I not reading up enough about HTML5? Well no, wait, I’d been doing a fair amount of reading up about HTML5, yet there was still this partial confusion about a number of aspects of the proposed spec.

Thankfully, a few friends old and new got together at Happy Cog headquarters to walk through the spec, noting along the way the areas that seemed problematic, confusing or otherwise unsettling.

Personally, I came away from that day less confused, but more importantly feeling more positive about HTML5 in general. Along with this newfound positiveness, came some clarity in specific portions of the spec that seemed troublesome. The rest of the group (I can take zero credit for its publication) crafted a “guide to HTML5 hiccups” in the hopes that the powers that be would listen and healthy debate might begin on these specifics.

A few of those items that stood out for me were:

• Offering an HTML5 syntax option when validating. This has nothing to do with HTML5 itself, but it’s important for the validator to simply and easily add an option for checking syntax that would help to foster good coding habits, avoid head-scratching rendering issues, etc. That’s why I choose to code XHTML today — it’s a personal preference that helps me maintain, optimize and troubleshoot code, and I’ll continue with that convention no matter the doctype.
• HTML5 introduces a lot of new elements. All at once. Some of which seem unnecessary (e.g. article, hgroup).
• While at first I was cringing at the idea of redefining the semantics of certain elements, it does start to make sense. Instead of introducing even more elements, HTML5 reuses and redefines. For example, the small element would now “represent side comments such as small print”, rather than a presentation instruction for font size.
• The concept of “sectioning content” I didn’t quite get at first from the high level overviews I’d been reading, but seen in practice, it’s quite excellent (e.g. where the section dictates scope of the heading elements it contains).
• That said, folks will use header and footer for exactly the areas that they’re now assigning IDs with those terms, while in HTML5 they can mean different things (header and footer of a section, for which there could be many on a page).

I still have an enormous amount to learn about HTML5, am still concerned about certain aspects of it, but overall optimistic about the future of markup.

Tell me of your homeworld Usul, LEGO sets that never were but should have been... DUNE @ Brickself...

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Max writes in:

My former employer who does audio tours is emptying out their warehouse and is throwing out a couple hundred walkmans. They are already in a dumpster by their office and will probably be picked up sometime tomorrow. I send you this information in the hopes you know someone close to Marin (Sausalito) who might have interest enough to dig them out and save them from the landfill for mello-tronic projects and the like.

They're located out at Fort Cronkhite in the Marin Headlands.

More:

• Make a mellotron out of walkmans - Weekend Projects Podcast
• DIY mini-mellotron sampling keyboard
  
• The Melloman - DIY Mellotron using 13 old Walkmans!

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Congratulations to the Ann Arbor Mini Maker team for a successful Faire! Over 1100 attendees blew smoke rings, rode the worlds largest (claimed) bristlebot, piloted robots, made music, silk-screened t-shirts and had a great time! Missed it? Be sure to check out the Flickr pool, or read the excellent writeup at the Ann Arbor Chronicle!

Photo credits: Matt Mets, Dug Song

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So, this was really weird. I was having an instant messenger chat with a colleague here about the various "three strikes" proposals that have been popping up around the world, and he asked me whether or not the BSA had taken a stance on the issue. I noted not remembering hearing anything from them on it, and assumed that it was because the BSA mainly focuses on business users, for which a three strikes policy is not really an issue, and that the BSA would hopefully realize that cutting people off from the internet would almost certainly hurt the software industry a lot more than help it. But, literally 10 seconds after I sent that last text, I flipped over to my RSS reader and up popped an article about how the BSA has come out in favor of a three strikes plan. Freaky.

Guess I should have known better than to assume the BSA was smarter than the RIAA on this issue. As the article at Ars explains, the BSA tries to put in a bunch of caveats about due process and judicial oversight, but spends a bunch of time in its statement explaining how ISPs can get around all that due process and judicial oversight by simply putting three strikes into their contractual language -- meaning that they can just decide on their own to cut users off. Good luck with that.

More troubling, however, is that when questioned about the new statement by Ars Technica, the BSA said it was necessary because "last year our industry lost over $50 billion (USD) worldwide." Hmm. It's really quite troubling that the BSA still stands by these numbers when they've been debunked so thoroughly over and over again. They count the "retail value" of every piece of software as being "lost," which is clearly a lie. Five years ago, the research company that runs these studies for the BSA, IDG, flat out said that the BSA was wrong in claiming that "the retail value" of the software is the same as "losses." So why does the BSA continue to get away with claiming it?

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MojoKid writes "Believe it or not, it wasn't internet.com or dot.com that was acquired when the Internet was young. Instead, it was the somewhat off-the-wall name of symbolics.com. The Symbolics company was the first to use an internet domain name to guide Internet viewers to its line of Lisp machines, which were single-user computers optimized to run the Lisp programming language. XF.com Investments, which is a Missouri-based Internet investments firm, has managed to secure the domain name from its original owner for an undisclosed sum and XF's CEO was quick to proclaim his excitement over the acquisition. It's hard to say why this domain name was the first registered back on March 15, 1985, but for obvious reasons it holds a special place in history. There has been one original owner for nearly 25 years. Over that time, we've seen the Internet grow to the tune of 180,000,000+ registered domains, and thousands more are being added each and every day."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I knew this was common years ago, but I honestly had no clue that modern sports leagues were so clueless as to think that it made sense to blackout local TV broadcasting if the attendance at the event wasn't a sell-out. Those rules were from a time (apparently still existing for some) where people actually thought that being able to see a game on TV would mean fewer people coming out to the actual game. Of course, as any sports fan knows, there's a massive difference between watching on TV and "being there." But allowing fans to watch their favorite team on TV does seem to encourage fans to care more about their team, making it more likely that they'll go out and see the team live when they can. But... not according to the NFL, who still has such blackout rules in effect, and is suddenly worried that attendance this season is dropping (thanks Carlo) due to the economy, meaning that many more games won't be shown to local fans. It's difficult to see how that makes any sense at all. All it does is piss off the biggest fans, and give them reasons not to pay attention to the team, and to cut out the most compelling local TV for many fans (harming ad revenue). On top of that, you risk a sort of death spiral. Teams that don't get enough fans at the live event piss off their fans who can't watch the games on TV -- and without the games on TV, they're less interested in following the team... leading to less interest in going to the game... leading to more empty seats... leading to even fewer games getting on TV.

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The first rssCloud meetup in NYC in July was a great success.

Now we're ready for rssCloud Meetup 2.0, on Wednedsay September 9, 7-9PM at 110 South Hall on the UC-Berkeley campus. South Hall is the gothic brick building in the center of the UC Berkeley campus, just across from the iconic clock tower.

It's a 15-minute walk from the downtown BART station.

The meetup is open to all, but primarily for developers. The goal is to bootstrap the loosely-coupled 140 character message network. One that's open on all sides, so anyone can add an aggregator, cloud server or authoring tool, yet still have the feel of a centralized system. There may be tradeoffs, but the benefits of not having a company at the center of the network should create great opportunities for news organizations, innovative developers, designers, businesses, and users everywhere. Twitter is great, but we want something that works better for all of us.

We hope to see one or more new implementations come online before or at the meetup.

The way it'll work is: 1. I'll talk for 20-25 minutes, review the walkthrough, technology, philosophy, then briefly answer questions. 2. We'll go around the room and people will say what they're doing, and what kinds of help they could use. 3. Then an open discussion, and we adjourn.

There will be free wifi, but if it's like the NYC meetup you won't need it. This is a complex and interesting topic that seems to hold people's attention. But it's California and you never know, so bring your laptop, just in case.

If you know you're going to be there, please post a comment on this blog post.

Thanks to the UC Berkeley School of Information for generously offering to host this event.