By Luke Anderson Remember last year when we told you that those crazy Japanese pet feeders that you could control from anywhere? It seemed like just another one of those gadgets that only the Japanese... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 11:49 am
Outside her store, Smashing Prims-- since 12/07, up to 1000 chests served In her first life, Raven Ivanova is a woman who was none too satisfied with the size of her chest. "I''ve always been small breasted... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 10:50 am
By Evan Ackerman If you have several hundred thousand dollars in your pocket, are looking for a mediocre desktop PC, and like teh shiny, then one of these computers Zeus might be exactly what you’re... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 10:50 am
jollyreaper writes "I have a nice new IT job with a non-profit. They are a growing organization and management has realized that they need to bring their way of doing business up to a professional level. Several years back, their IT department was still operated like it was in a home office — fine when you're dealing with three people, not so good when there's over a hundred users. IT got its act together and is now running professionally and efficiently. The rest of the organization is a bit more chaotic and management wants to change that. One of the worst problems is a lack of process documentation. All knowledge is passed down via an oral tradition. Someone gets hit by a bus and that knowledge is lost forevermore. Now I know what I've seen in the past. There's the big-binder-of-crap-no-one-reads method, usually used in conjunction with nobody-updates-this-crap-so-it's-useless-anyway approach. I've been hearing good things about company wikis, and mixed reviews about Sharepoint and its intranet capabilities. And yes, I know that this is all a waste of time if there's no follow-through from management. But assuming that the required support is there, how do you guys do process documentation?"
By Evan Ackerman I wish this was a joke, but it’s not: it’s cheeseburger in a can, complete with all the fixin’s. I’m going to make a totally unfounded assumption that whatever... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 10:15 am
Pam Samuelson, one of the world's foremost copyright scholars, is podcasting the lectures from her UC Berkeley Information Law and Policy course. Samuelson was one of the first people to criticize the DMCA, serves on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and has the respect of people from all sides of the copyright debate. I've learned something every time I've spoken to Pam. There's an RSS feed for the audio, too.
Link
(Thanks, Mike!)
Eileen sez, "The deadline is coming up fast for this year's Clarion West Writers Workshop. Apply by February 1 and save $100 on tuition (if you're accepted). Study with Cory Doctorow, Chuck Palahniuk, Connie Willis, Mary Rosenblum, Paul Park, and Sheree R. Thomas. The final deadline is March 1: applications must be RECEIVED by that day. You can apply by mail or online. Scholarships are available."
Link
(Thanks, Eileen!)
By Andrew Liszewski If those professional DJ mixers from Vestax or Stanton seem too complicated for you what with all those knobs and sliders, you might want to look into the Micro Mixer DJ-4. It’s... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:44 am
By Evan Ackerman Anything squishy gets major points with me. Especially if it’s useful at the same time. The Lite-On Moldable Mouse has guts made out of soft modeling clay encased in a nylon polyurethane... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:13 am
By Anonymous Apples free from pesticide residues could become a reality if the industry focuses on reducing its usage of chemicals that leave residues. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By Joe Lamp'l Did you ever wonder why good, healthy soil smells so wonderful? You can thank actinomycetes (ac-ti-no-my-cetes) for that. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
With the fall planting season right around the corner, now is a good time to get your soil in the best condition to help ensure a successful growing season. To fully gauge the condition of your soil, a soil test will tell you the good and the bad about your growing conditions. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
Lately, it is beginning to feel like fall. The temperature is starting to cool off. This brings about many changes in our plants, especially our trees. Leaves will start to change colors and then they will drop. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By FROM STAFF REPORTS RICHMOND -- Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, tried Monday to revive a bill designed to expand criminal background checks for firearms sold at gun shows, but a Senate committee blocked his effort. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anonymous Vital Earth has added two new products to its range of organic, peat-free garden feeds and soil improvers. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By Beccy Tanner, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Jan. 30--From outer space to the innards of Earth, the Eight Wonders of Kansas were unveiled Tuesday, on Kansas Day. More than 24,000 people voted in a contest sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Jan. 30--WHITEHALL, Wis. -- Trempealeau County Sheriff's Department officials are asking for the public's help for more information about a rural Arcadia, Wis., man accused of running over and killing a 5-year-old boy Sunday and then fleeing the scene. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By Lewis, Harry Editor's note: As part of our effort to highlight innovative approaches to improving the environment and the health of communities, the Journal will feature a bimonthly column from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
CELL PHONE USERS: Wish you never agreed to that two-year contract with your cell phone carrier? Frustrated that you can't change your cell service without incurring costly penalties? If so, check out Cellswapper.com. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
On a Monday, Tracy Edmonds signed up with Match.com, saw someone she liked and winked at him. On Tuesday, he e-mailed back, and by Wednesday, they had met at a Henrico County restaurant. "Which was kind of fast," acknowledged Edmonds, who was widowed laast year. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anonymous Win Pounds 100 worth of Amazon vouchers The GPC is consulting about whether DoH proposals for the new GMS contract to change from April 2008 are acceptable. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
Enfora today announced that Saar Gillai has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Product Development and Operations. In this role, he will be responsible for scaling development activities and operational processes to support Enfora's planned global expansion. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
ALToolbar is ESTsoft's new suite of tools to speed up and enhance Internet related tasks. Packaged as an addin for Internet Explorer, it runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista, x86 and x64 editions. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
New home sales dip to 12-year low WASHINGTON - The housing market plunged deeper into despair in November, with sales of new homes plummeting to their lowest level in more than 12 years. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anonymous Members can network with other members directly by joining "listservs" for any of AAACN's 7 Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The 7 SIGs are Leadership, Patient Education, Pediatrics, Staff Education, Telehealth Nursing Practice, Tri-Service Military, and Veterans Affairs. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2008 | 8:00 am
eldavojohn writes "Doctors Without Borders is reporting that four patents for tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, a key AIDS/HIV drug, have been revoked on grounds of prior art. This is potentially good news for India & Brazil who need this drug to be cheap; if the US action leads to the patent being rejected in these countries, competition could drastically lower prices. But the ruling bad news for Gilead Sciences. The company has vowed to appeal. We discussed this drug before."
Debra Jean Dean, who previously released a Creative Commons licensed recording of the US Constitution, has just released a recording of her reading the Declaration of Independence. Both readings are Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike: rip, mix and burn!
Link, MP3 Link
Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels over the years: a peeling sign from the Islington Sainsbury's grocery store in London, warning shoppers to avoid entrepreneurial kids doing freelance shopping-cart distribution and pocketing the pound-coins used to release the cars from their pack-mule chains. The way that the sign is peeling makes the undistinguished typography look like the cover of a hipster zine -- and the text is a simple object lesson in the dynamics of security.
Link
Yehuda has compiled an exhaustive "Guide to Board and Card Games Based on Video Games (1971 to 2007)." These are the half-formed bastard stepchildren of video games, generally representing the worst excesses of ill-thought-through licensing greed. As a result, they're a largely unregarded and uncatalogued corner of the gameverse.
The bad news is that many of these games are pretty much now loss leaders to get people to buy into the video game with little originality or creativity. Witness the large number of new and useless CCGs based on recent video games, included in the packaging or given away at conventions.
While video games are challenging to your hand-eye coordination or logic, most board and card game adaptations relied entirely on spinners or dice, making them entirely unchallenging. Some of the designs are cute recreations of their video equivalents, but without the interesting mechanics to back them up.
(TrendHunter.com) Anonymous is an organized group of hackers, reportedly responsible for 90% of all Internet terror. Fox11 news covered the group back in 2007 and reported Anonymous would hack into... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 6:20 am
A decidedly non-mellow fellow who worked on an online jazz music show called "Mellow Down Easy" (*snort*) set fire to the radio station where he volunteered, because he was pissed that his song selections for the show were changed without his permission:
Paul Webster Feinstein, 24, has been charged with second-degree felony arson for the Jan. 5 fire that caused $300,000 damage to the studios of 91.7 FM KOOP. He faces from two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.
Feinstein told investigators that he was "very unhappy" about the changes to his playlist, said Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Greg Nye. The songs were intended for an Internet broadcast that occurs when the station is off the air.
After years of delay, the Havok 4 upgrade to Second Life's creaking Havok 1 physics engine is imminent, and should happen this quarter; very early adopters have been on the test grid for months, however,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 5:29 am
I'm on CNBC's Power Lunch tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9:45am PST (12:45pm EST) debating my friend Herb Greenberg about all these damn blogger bears. And, while I'm thinking of it, I'm also guest hosting... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 5:12 am
BB reader Jason Griffey says, Following up on last year's cloud that was on BoingBoing , I did another Tag Cloud to help people visualize the State of the Union address: Link . ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2008 | 5:09 am
Funny old commercial for Space Food Sticks, which I believe were just cat crap in foil pouches. The voiceover is by the inimitable Paul Frees. (Via Serious Eats)(Thanks,
Marilyn!)
Explore the myriad of distribution points -- automated data crunchers, search engines, social networks and fellow bloggers -- a blogger's words take on their way to readers.
From rock-infused political documentaries, electro-funk remixes and a record-label insider's memoir, Wired's editors highlight noteworthy picks to tune into to now.
TwistedOne151 writes to recommend a ScienceNOW article describing the work of a team of Italian neurobiologists who have found the roots of the capacity for tool use in the primate brain: the brain treats the tool as part of the body. The experiment as described is passing clever.
Wired News reports that some relatively late-model iPod owners are discovering that their devices don't work with Apple's newly-launched iTunes video rentals -- even though those iPod models have a video playback feature.
As of Tuesday, the issue had been raised multiple times in Apple's support forums. So far the company's only response has been to confirm that movie rentals work only with the iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic and the third-generation iPod nano. Earlier iPods, including fifth-generation iPods sold before the September 2007 release of the sixth-generation iPod classic, are incompatible with rented videos.
Eliot Van Buskirk at Wired's "Listening Post" blog has more here.
Stony Stevenson writes "Computer security expert Bruce Schneier took a swipe at a number of sacred cows of security including RFID tags, national ID cards, and public CCTV security cameras in his keynote address to Linux.conf.au (currently being held in Melbourne, Australia). These technologies were all examples of security products tailored to provide the perception of security rather than tackling actual security risks, Schneier said. The discussion of public security — which has always been clouded by emotional decision making — has been railroaded by groups with vested interests such as security vendors and political groups, he claimed. 'For most of my career I would insult "security theater" and "snake oil" for being dumb. In fact, they're not dumb. As security designers we need to address both the feeling and the reality of security. We can't ignore one. It's not enough to make someone secure, that person needs to also realize they've been made secure. If no-one realizes it, no-one's going to buy it,' Schneier said."
A ridiculous TV news report incorrectly tarring Mass Effect for explicit sex scenes yields unexpected results: Wrongheaded "experts" get famous. Me too, please. Commentary by Lore Sjöberg.
An online mob attacking Scientology thought they had tracked down a hacker who had busted into their lair. Instead, they bombarded a 59-year-old PG&E worker and his wife with threatening phone calls.
The U.S. military is developing contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could hit North America.
Hell Yeah! reminds us of a 2-week-old development that somehow escaped notice here. A team of Russian hackers has found a way to decipher a Yahoo CAPTCHA, thought to be one of the most difficult, with 35% accuracy. The Russian group's notice, posted by one "John Wane," is dated January 16. This site hosts a rapidshare link to what looks to be demonstration software for Windows, and quotes the Russian researchers: "It's not necessary to achieve high degree of accuracy when designing automated recognition software. The accuracy of 15% is enough when attacker is able to run 100,000 tries per day, taking into the consideration the price of not automated recognition — one cent per one CAPTCHA."
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Angered at the RIAA's 'gamesmanship' in joining multiple 'John Does' in a single case without any basis for doing so, a Magistrate Judge in Maine has suggested to the presiding District Judge in Arista v. Does 1-27 that the record companies and/or their lawyers should be fined under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules, for misrepresenting the facts. In a lengthy footnote to her opinion recommending denial of a motion to dismiss the complaint (PDF, see footnote 5), Judge Kruvchak concluded that 'These plaintiffs have devised a clever scheme to obtain court-authorized discovery prior to the service of complaints, but it troubles me that they do so with impunity and at the expense of the requirements of Rule 11(b)(3) because they have no good faith evidentiary basis to believe the cases should be joined.' She noted that once the RIAA dismisses its 'John Doe' case it does not thereafter join the defendants when it sues them in their real names. Arista v. Does 1-27 is the same case in which student attorneys at the University of Maine Law School, "enthusiastic about being directly connected to a case with a national scope and significance", are representing undergrads targeted by the RIAA."
ianare writes "An application that gives fresh new meaning to 'digital rights management' has been pioneered by Aboriginal Australians. It relies on a user's profile to control access to a multimedia archive. The need to create profiles based on a user's name, age, sex and standing within their community comes from traditions over what can and cannot be viewed. For example, men cannot view women's rituals, and people from one community cannot view material from another without first seeking permission. Images of the deceased cannot be viewed by their families. These requirements threw up issues surrounding how the material could be archived, as it was not only about preserving the information into a database in a traditional sense, but also about how people would access it depending on their gender, their relationship to other people, and where they were situated."
Google's dependence on ad revenue makes it particularly vulnerable to an economic recession, some experts say -- but others point out that the nature of its advertising may insulate Google from any downturn.
Film studios and record labels cannot demand that internet providers turn over the names of customers suspected of illegally downloading movies or music.
Shares of software-maker VMware, a high-flying stock that soared after an impressive public offering in 2007, were down more than 30 percent Tuesday, as investors responded to weak fourth-quarter earnings.
Apu writes in to inform us that the ACLU is trying to block an Ohio county from moving from touchscreen voting machines back to paper ballots. While it may seem like Cuyahoga County — which includes Cleveland — is moving in a good direction from the perspective of ballot security, the system chosen tabulates all votes at a central location. This means that voters don't get notified if their ballot contains errors, and thus they have no chance to correct it. The ACLU of Ohio is asking a federal judge for an injunction against any election in Cuyahoga County it they move to the new system.
_Hellfire_ sends us over to Baseline Magazine for a longish article entitled After 20 Years, Critics Question the BSA's Real Motives, which paints the Business Software Alliance in the same colors as the RIAA. "A recent Associated Press story highlighted the fact that 90 percent of the $13 million collected by the BSA in 2006 came from small businesses. Since 1993 the group has collected an estimated $89 million in damages from businesses on behalf of its members, every penny of which it keeps. 'I don't know of a business where you can get away with raiding a customer with armed marshals and expect them to continue to do business with you...' said [Sterling] Ball, who shifted his company to open source software after the raid."
Not Comcastic writes "Two weeks after officially opening proceedings on Comcast's BitTorrent throttling, angry users are bombarding the FCC with comments critical of the cable provider's practices. 'On numerous occasions, my access to legal BitTorrent files was cut off by Comcast,' a systems administrator based in Indianapolis wrote to the FCC shortly after the proceeding began. 'During this period, I managed to troubleshoot all other possible causes of this issue, and it was my conclusion (speaking as a competent IT administrator) that this could only be occurring due to direct action at the ISP (Comcast) level.' Another commenter writes 'I have experienced this throttling of bandwidth in sharing open-source software, e.g. Knoppix and Open Office. Also I see considerable differences in speed ftp sessions vs. html. They are obviously limiting speed in ftp as well.'"
Apple's new video-rental service requires a late-model iPod or iPhone, customers have discovered. Video rentals from iTunes won't play on iPods that predate the latest models, released in September 2007.
CORRECTED The Federal Communications Commission has stepped up the pace of its auction for the 700 Mhz wireless spectrum, holding four rounds of bidding Monday. This added $2.4 billion to the combined... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 1:36 pm
TOKYO - Japan's top mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo said Tuesday its profit rose 38.4 per cent in the October-December quarter, buoyed by the introduction of new subscription services and Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 1:11 pm
Just two months after the phone went on sale in the UK, the network today trebled the number of free calls and texts on lower-rate tariffs Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 1:01 pm
Interchangeable genitals, the ability to become pregnant, repeatedly die and come back to life mark out Stan as no ordinary social networker Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 12:14 pm
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese electronics maker Kyocera Corp plans to withdraw from China's booming mobile phone handset market due to mounting losses amid competition from cheaper producers. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 12:08 pm
A glitch that subjected two Russian cosmonauts and Malaysia's first space traveller to a rough trip back to Earth was caused by a faulty cable, according to a news agency report... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 12:03 pm
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - John Chambers, chief executive of network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc , said on Tuesday service providers will continue to upgrade and build out their networks... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 11:36 am
U.S., New Zealand and Italian marine scientists began a two-month voyage to Antarctica's northern coast Tuesday as part of the first- ever census of Antarctic marine biodiversity, Prime... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2008 | 11:31 am
Pam Samuelson, one of the world's foremost copyright scholars, is podcasting the lectures from her UC Berkeley Information Law and Policy course. Samuelson was one of the first people to criticize the DMCA, serves on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and has the respect of people from all sides of the copyright debate. I've learned something every time I've spoken to Pam. There's an RSS feed for the audio, too.
Link
(Thanks, Mike!)
Debra Jean Dean, who previously released a Creative Commons licensed recording of the US Constitution, has just released a recording of her reading the Declaration of Independence. Both readings are Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike: rip, mix and burn!
Link, MP3 Link
The bad news is that many of these games are pretty much now loss leaders to get people to buy into the video game with little originality or creativity. Witness the large number of new and useless CCGs based on recent video games, included in the packaging or given away at conventions.
Following up on last year's cloud that was on BoingBoing, I did another Tag Cloud to help people visualize the State of the Union address: Link.
