Why Intel and OLPC Parted Ways

runamock writes "The New York Times has an article that sheds some light on why Intel left the OLPC board: 'A frail partnership between Intel and the One Laptop Per Child educational computing group was undone last month in part by an Intel saleswoman: She tried to persuade a Peruvian official to drop the country's commitment to buy a quarter-million of the organization's laptops in favor of Intel PCs. Intel and the group had a rocky relationship from the start in their short-lived effort to get inexpensive laptops into the hands of the world's poorest children. But the saleswoman's tactic was the final straw for Nicholas Negroponte.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2008 | 1:13 pm

Western-Style Voting 'A Loser'

sethawoolley writes "In light of the upcoming elections in the US, author William Poundstone was interviewed about voting systems by Mother Jones. In it he advocates the benefits of Range Voting as a solution to Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. Approval, Borda, Instant Runoff, and Condorcet Voting, which are often solutions advocated by the Greens and Libertarians (in the US), are discussed, as well, in light of Warren Smith's recent empirical research using Bayesian Regret. My local party (of which I'm the Parliamentarian) uses Single Transferable voting, but we're considering using Range Voting in the future. One thing is for certain: any system is better than the West's out-dated plurality voting system."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2008 | 11:32 am

Skyscraper airport of tomorrow, 1939

This November, 1939 Popular Science article fantasizes about a futuristic "skyscraper airport" for the "city of tomorrow." Pretty good predictions, except they missed the whole no-shoes, no-liquid, no-dignity policy. Link

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2008 | 10:01 am

Open Source Hardware Gets Public Introduction

JoeBorn writes "The Sunday New York Times has an article on Neuros video recorder and describes the benefits of open source hardware to its mainstream readership. Can a mainstream audience appreciate that hackability can translate into new features or will it all just seem too geeky? In this case, the Neuros OSD got a YouTube browser. While the details might be lost on the average reader, are they getting the sense that some companies allow users to benefit from other users modifications while others are actively bricking products for applying 3rd party apps? In other words, is openness starting to add value to the brands that support it?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2008 | 9:29 am

High-security UK mall breached, photos online!

Last week, I wrote about Britain's high-security Fareham Shopping Centre, a high-value target where photography has been banned for "security reasons" -- this is the site where a pair of middle aged grandparents were banned for life as "terrorists" for taking a picture of their grandchildren.

Now, crack operative Matthew Fowler has penetrated the security perimeter around this facility with a hidden camera and smuggled out a reel of strategic photographs of the mall, including this (upside-down) map, which, incredibly, shows the location of the local Boots outlet and the Woolworth's store! With this kind of high-value intel, the Fareham Centre will be ours!

Agent Fowler has also provided us with a riveting walk-through video that reveals many key tactical elements of the structure, from the sort of chairs provided in the food court to the kind of tennis-shoes you need to wear if you want to blend in with the native population.

Tremble, Fareham Shopping Centre! I know not where you are, and care less, but still, you will be mine! Hahahahahahahaahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahaha! Link to images, Link to video

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2008 | 8:28 am

Red Devil reveller on Hallowe'en

Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: a striking red-devil reveller at the Hallowe'en street party in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Link

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2008 | 8:26 am

High heels: tottery killers (infographic)

This scary-ass (and handsomely designed) infographic details the thousand and one ways that high-heels are incredibly bad for your health, posture, and long-term prospects. Link (via Lawgeek)

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2008 | 8:23 am

HOWTO paint laser graffiti over whole buildings

Graffiti Research Labs Vienna builds "laser tagging" boxes out of lasers, laptops and projectors that allow them to paint "nondestructive, reversible" graffiti with light on the sides of buildings. In this Make Weekend Projects video, GRL and Make team up to show you how to make your own tag-box. Link (via Beyond the Beyond)

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2008 | 8:20 am

Perry Bible Fellowship webcomic book does good!

The hilarious, surreal webcomic Perry Bible Fellowship has just been collected in a book from Dark Horse called The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories that sounds excellent. What's more, 10 Zen Monkeys reports that the book is selling extremely well, going for a third printing, having done "$300,000 worth of pre-orders" -- I make that out to be an extremely respectable 30,000 hardcovers or so.

LC: What was in the books you drew as a kid?
NG: The same stuff I'm doing now, I'm pretty sure. Lots of monsters, lots of robots, lots of dinosaurs...
I don't think I've always wanted to be a cartoonist. I've always just been a cartoonist. I've always just been making little stories.
LC: Colonel Sweeto shows a magical candy land where the reigning monarch practices some vicious realpolitik. When I contacted you, I almost wondered if you lived in a far-away fantasy castle of your own.
NG: I wonder if most people have that impression. I love castles. I plan to live in one some day. It's not wrong that you have that impression.
I wish it were true.

Link, Link to buy The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, Link to Perry Bible Fellowship (Thanks, Destiny!)

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2008 | 8:13 am

Mickey burgers

I'm delighted to discover that Disney sells these Mickey-shaped hamburger patties -- soylent brown is cartoon characters! Link (Thanks, Raphael!)

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2008 | 8:02 am

The Age of the Airship Returns?

Popular in Victorian and Steampunk fantasies, airships and zeppelins evoke a certain elegance that most modern travelers don't associate with the airplane. Some companies are capitalizing on that idea, and a need to move cargo by air in an era of ever-increasing fuel costs, to re-re-introduce commercial zeppelins. Popular Mechanics notes four notable airship designs, all with specific design purposes. One craft in particular, the Aeroscraft ML866, is being funded by the US government's DARPA group. It looks to combine the best elements of the helicopter and the zeppelin. "The Aeroscraft ML866's potentially revolutionary Control of Static Heaviness system compresses and decompresses helium in the 210-ft.-long envelope, changing this proposed sky yacht's buoyancy during takeoff and landings, Aeros says. It hopes to end the program with a test flight demonstrating the system. "

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2008 | 7:34 am

Wonder Woman Gets a Woman's Point-of-View

theodp writes "Traditionally, comics have been by, for and about men. But more and more women are breaking into the traditional boys' club. Beginning with Wonder Woman #14, the superhero's tale is being told by Gail Simone. It's a break from nearly 66 years of being written for the most part by men. '[Her work as a blogger] led to a writing job for the all-female comic 'Birds of Prey' for DC--which became a short-lived, live-action TV series--and in turn won her the "Wonder Woman" job. Simone says she sees a change since she wrote her refrigerator rant 10 years ago. 'At that time, the trend was towards grim stories where female characters were killed,' she says. 'We only had a handful of female characters to look up to. Today we're not seeing those stories so much.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2008 | 5:21 am

'Video Snacking' New Frontier For Media Creators

News.com has up a piece from the NYT about the concept of 'video snacking', a new focus for media companies as they gain a certain savvy about the internet. They're increasingly targeting the 'lunch market' for office workers, creating short to-the-point videos that can be consumed over a sandwich. "The midday spike in Web traffic is not a new phenomenon, but media companies have started responding in a meaningful way over the last year. They are creating new shows, timing the posts to coincide with hunger pangs. And they are rejiggering the way they sell advertising online, recognizing that noontime programs can command a premium. In 2007, a growing number of local television stations, including WNCN in Raleigh, N.C., and WCMH in Columbus, Ohio, began producing noon programming exclusively for the Web."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2008 | 3:56 am

RIAA's 'Misspeaking' May Have Affected Verdict

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "David Kravetz of Wired.com covered last year's Capitol v. Thomas trial gavel-to-gavel. It's worth noting, then, his article saying that the RIAA's recent statement — that Sony's top litigation lawyer 'misspoke' during the trial. She said that making a copy from one's own cd is 'stealing', which (in his words) may have caused a major miscarriage of justice. Wired further points out that later on in the trial, during the RIAA's examination of Ms. Thomas, 'On the hard drive she [turned] over were thousands of songs Thomas said she ripped from her CDs. The RIAA's Gabriel suggested to jurors that copying one's purchased music was a violation of the Copyright Act. Gabriel, for example, asked Thomas whether she had ever burned CDs, either for herself, or to give away to friends.' Gabriel, the RIAA's lead attorney, apparently misspoke too — prejudicing jurors along the way."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 5 Jan 2008 | 11:30 pm
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