Finding Wonderful Things

Slow-poached eggs

Jason Kottke — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:39:49 -0800

I mentioned on Twitter last week that I made slow-poached eggs using a technique from the Momofuku book. A few folks asked about a recipe so here are the details:

Fill your largest pot with water and put it over super low heat on the stove. Put something in the bottom of the pot to keep the eggs off the bottom...you want them to be heated by the water, not the flame underneath. Use a thermometer to heat the water to 140-145°F and slip the whole eggs in (no cracking). Let the eggs sit in there for 40-45 minutes, maintaining the temperature the whole time. I found that turning the heat on for 30-45 seconds every 10 minutes or so was enough to keep the temperature in the proper range.

To serve, crack the eggs and discard any clear whites. If you're not serving them immediately, chill the whole eggs in an ice bath and store in the fridge. To reheat, run under hot water for a minute or two.

This takes a little longer than making poached eggs in the traditional way, but you can do several eggs at once (like dozens if you have a big enough pot), this technique is less messy and fussy, and results in a poached eggs with a super-creamy white. The whites on my first batch were a little too runny for my taste, so I'm going to try a slightly higher temperature next time to (hopefully) achieve something between soft boiled and poached.

That's it. There's a lot more context and advice in the Momofuku book (which is excellent and includes a technique for frying your slow-poached eggs); I'd suggest picking up a copy if you're interested.

Tags: books food Momofuku

The 2000s according to Wikipedia

Jason Kottke — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:12:39 -0800

Wikipedia gets into the 2000s roundup game with a main article and a number of topic-based summaries, including fashion, film, and sports. From the fashion page:

In hip hop, the throwback jersey and baggy pants (popular in the '90s to 2004) look was replaced with the more "grown man" look which was highly popularized by Kanye West around the year 2005.

If you say so. More interesting is the chart of the 20 highest grossing movies from the film page (the top 3 each grossed $1 billion+ worldwide):

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. The Dark Knight
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9. Shrek 2
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
11. Spider-Man 3
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
15. Finding Nemo
16. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
18. Spider-Man
19. Shrek the Third
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Only one movie on the list was made from an original screenplay: Finding Nemo...the rest are all sequels or adapted from books, TV shows, amusement park rides, etc. Out of the top 50, only ten are not franchise films.

Tags: fashion movies The 2000s

#26288 - Liebherr L 586 wheel loader in the famous...

bauforum24 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:05:59 -0800

Liebherr L 586 wheel loader in the famous marble quarry in Carrara, Italy. This photo is taken from the Heavy Equipment 2010 calendar, presenting impressive motifs of monster machines.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

#26287 - First images of Zaha Hadid’s new Contemporary...

Ajintern — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:15:59 -0800

First images of Zaha Hadid’s new Contemporary Arts Centre in Rome, Italy, which opens today

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

The Weepies

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:51:30 -0800

The Weepies currently playing on our beloved GenevaSound XL at swissmiss studio:

(thank you for introducing me to The Weepies, Billy!)

Bush feared successor would revoke telecom spying immunity

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:50:18 -0800

Wired on the FOIA'd fed wiretapping docs EFF released yesterday: "The George W. Bush administration expressed concern future administrations might not use the legal amnesty it wanted to give the nation's telecommunication companies that were being sued for assisting the president's warrantless, electronic wiretapping program."...

To the anonymous gay teen who asked for help in a Boing Boing comment thread

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:48:46 -0800

[PHOTO: "Jessie," a CC-licensed image by LeTiger.] A few weeks ago, I blogged a funny video created by a Canadian high-school student titled "Hiding Your Sexual Orientation From Your Parents 101." One of the many people who commented on that post was an anonymous commenter who wrote: Ok, my parents found out i was gay by myspace (which i regret for putting my sexual orientation) and my parents will never accept cause my parents are really realigous for our christianity. They are so realigous, that i'm now homeschooled and going to a private school. Also i have no internet unless for emergencies, no friends houses, no phone, no boy friends til i'm 18. The only times i can get out is to christian youth groups so i have no life for the next 5 years ( cause i'm 13). Oh and my parents think all the wrong things in the world about gays, they even use the gay f word. I need help and i'm typing this from my PS3 cause they don't know it has internet. HELP!!! =O It's hard for jaded internet people like me to know when someone's pulling your leg online, but I'll take this one at face value. Many other teens read Boing Boing, and perhaps one of them is in a similar predicament. So, Dear Anonymous: Boy, that sucks. I don't have a way of contacting you privately, so I'll say it to the world. You are fine just as you are. There is nothing wrong with being gay, and everything right with being true to yourself, no matter who tries to tell you otherwise. But being gay and a teen is very hard when your family isn't cool with it. My friend Maggie suggests that you might want to check out these helplines and Web resources, so you can talk to someone who can help you sort stuff out: ♦ amplifyyourvoice.org (a teen LGBTQ site) ♦ billwilsoncenter.org (Web chat based teen counseling service) ♦ glnh.org (National LGBTQ help center, with phone counseling lines manned by other LGBTQ people. They've got a special youth line, online peer support and access to local services and organizations.) If you are reading this post, Anonymous, I bet some other people will be writing suggestions for other good resources in the comments. Check them out. Good luck. There are many of us in the world who welcome you just as you are. Don't believe anyone who tells you that who you are is anything less than beautiful. Keep your head held high, little happy mutant....

Anatomical vegetarian ad

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:38:59 -0800

Look at this kick-ass anatomical ad for the International Vegetarian Union. Vegetables are all your body needs (via Street Anatomy) Previously:Anatomical latex Hallowe'en mask - Boing Boing Anatomical models for artist's reference - Boing Boing Anatomical armchairs - Boing Boing Plush anatomical model of a foot - Boing Boing Anatomical paintings on vanity and fading beauty - Boing Boing Artistic and scientific anatomical models from Anatomy Tools ... Anatomical paintings on vanity and fading beauty - Boing Boing Artistic and scientific anatomical models from Anatomy Tools ... Plush anatomical knee - Boing Boing 19th century pregnancy anatomical models from Japan, - Boing Boing...

Graphite

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:30:08 -0800

Graphite on Paper by Meggie Schwendemann. Beautiful. Brings up memories from art school in Geneva.

Carl Sagan + Sigur Rs remix

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:27:19 -0800

A little-known precursor to the Glorious Dawn Sagan/Hawking remix that made viral waves a couple of months ago

2 Vote(s)

Peter Tchaikovsky (and Friends) Messing Around With A Wax Cylinder Phonograph

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:25:57 -0800

In 1890, a group of eminent musicians (including Peter Tchaikovsky!) got together to screw around and experiment with what was then a wacky novelty. On this early Edison Phonograph recording, the group alternately showboats, teases each other and generally pokes the new technology with a stick. This is basically the audio equivalent of how you (meaning me) used to spend entirely too much time playing with the system preference settings on the school library computer back in 1993. Recording quality (and the fact that everybody is speaking Russian) makes it difficult to understand what's going on. Luckily, there's a translation after the cut......

Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive Spot

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:19:54 -0800

(via ignant)

Humanizing Psystar

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:09:47 -0800

Psystar, the company that makes and sells Mac clones, is the subject of a piece in SF Weekly. It talked to the young brothers behind the firm and asked them why they've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting Apple. The boys loved to tinker. Robert vividly remembers his mom's fury when she came home to find the parts of a brand-new remote-control car spread across the living room floor. It had been disassembled down to the tiny plastic screws. "I've always liked understanding how things work, I guess," Robert says, smiling, "even if I couldn't put it back together again afterward." Some people write about Psystar as if it were an offense to nature—even to the point of defending EULAs, the one-sided and adhesive contracts we "agree" to when installing software. Other nuggets in the story include Psystar's claim that their work is original and different to that of other hackers ("The first thing you have to do is unlearn everything you've read online about how to make this work, because it's all wrong.") and an unusual response from an Apple spokesperson. Worms in the Apple [SFWeekly]...

Illustration by Nick Lu

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:02:06 -0800

Made me look. Illustration by Nick Lu.

Eternal Helium Ballon

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:55:37 -0800

How crazy cool are these Eternal Helium Balloons? (Love the cloud!)

They are entirely made of fabric and there is in fact no helium in them. They are stuffed with kapok, and feel like a soft pillow. A tiny flap fixed at the top allows mounting it to your ceiling. It is key to hang them up as high as possible, in order to recreate the magic illusion of a real flying helium balloon! The most beautiful effect is obtained in setting a bunch of balloons together, forming a “balloon bouquet”. All these pieces are delicately handmade in my own workshop in Paris, in limited edition.

(thank you christophe)

How to Secure Your Jailbroken iPhone

Sarah Perez — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:01:15 -0800

Earlier this week, the news of the first iPhone worm made its way around the net. Since the worm only targeted jailbroken devices and then only those which had the SSH program installed, there wasn't a need for concern on the part of most iPhone users. However, a second worm which uses the same security hole as the so-called iKee worm has reared its head and this one is far more dangerous. According to security firm Intego, the new worm goes after personal data stored on the device including email, contacts, SMS messages, calendars, photos, music files, videos, and any other data recorded by any iPhone app.

In other words, if you're the owner of a jailbroken phone, you should now be concerned.

Sponsor

New iPhone Worm Discovered

Unlike the relatively innocuous iKee worm which the creator designed more as a "public service" to alert users to the potential for malware on the iPhone, the new worm, dubbed "iPhone/Privacy.A," is the real deal. Where iKee simply switched the iPhone wallpaper to display a photo of singer Rick Astley (a nod to the internet meme of rickrolling), Privacy.A gives the user no indication that it is running on the device.

The new worm also operates a bit differently than iKee does, as it doesn't have sit on the iPhone itself in order to inflect its damage or spread. The hacker can either load the worm onto their personal device and then monitor the network for jailbroken devices to attack or they can load the worm onto a computer. As Intego points out in their post, this computer could be on a public network at an Internet cafe or retail store. In that scenario, the worm would then scan for any other jailbroken iPhones that came within range of the Wi-Fi network and attack them.

How to Secure your iPhone

Although many jailbreakers are tech-savvy enough to know how to lock down their devices to protect themselves from attack, there are quite a few who have simply followed online instructions such as these to perform the jailbreak. This group, while arguably somewhat tech-savvy, doesn't necessarily know all the nitty-gritty details about the iPhone filesystem or its security mechanisms.

To make it easy on these users, we've provided steps on how to change your iPhone's root password - the common denominator required in order for the malware to gain access to your device.

While some may argue there's no need to change your root password if you haven't also installed the SSH program, another necessary element for these attacks to work, we think that's a little short-sighted. It would be easy enough for a malicious hacker to trick jailbreakers into installing SSH by bundling it with some other third-party application offered through underground App Stores like Cydida or Icy. By masquerading as something innocent like a wallpaper-changer or ringtone bundle, a hacker could easily set up a number of jailbreakers with SSH without the victims even being aware that it has been installed. Although we haven't heard of anything like this happening yet, if we thought of it then you can bet that the hackers out there have thought of it too.

Changing the Root Password

The best protection is to simply change your iPhone root password. That will keep you safe from the current iPhone malware...as least for now. Here's how:

Install the MobileTerminal application from Cydia.
Reboot your iPhone.
Launch MobileTerminal and type in the command: passwd
At the prompt which asks for the "Old Password," type in: alpine
At the new password prompt, type in a new password of your choosing, making sure to pick something strong.
Re-enter the password to confirm.
You'll then be returned to the Mobile$ prompt which means the change was successful.
Now you'll need to change the password for the secondary admin. Type in the command login root.
Again, you're prompted for the old password. Type in alpine.
Now type in the command passwd
You'll then go through the change password routine a second time, entering in alpine as the old password, creating a new password and then re-entering it to confirm.
When you are finished, close the application.

Note: these instructions assume you are running iPhone OS 3.0 or higher.

Discuss

iPhone Game Maker Apologizes for Stealing Phone Numbers, Calls Lawsuit "Meritless"

Sarah Perez — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:00:46 -0800

A federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday is charging an iPhone development firm with collecting users' cell phone numbers without their permission. The developer, a game-making firm by the name of Storm8, is the entity behind popular games like iMobsters, World War, Racing Live, Vampires Live, Kingdoms Live, Zombies Live, and Rockstars Live, among others. The company has five titles ranked in the top 50 free apps list in iTunes and seven titles in the top 100.

According to the pending class-action suit, Storm8 used a well-known backdoor method to "access, collect, and transmit" the wireless phone numbers belonging to their software's users.

Now the company has publicly responded to the suit by posting on their forums a sort of mea culpa as well as their plans to ask for a dismissal of the lawsuit due to its "complete lack of merit."

Sponsor

Download a Game, Give Up Your Phone Number

The complaint, filed on behalf of Michael Turner (and available in its entirety here), states that all the games retrieved the user's cell phone number and sent it over to the company without informing the user that this is being done. The suit also points out that there's no reason for this to occur since playing an iPhone game doesn't require the developer to have access to this sort of personally-identifiable information.

While initially Storm8 claimed the harvesting of these phone numbers was due to a "bug" in their code, attorneys for the plaintiff were quick to point out that specific software code was required in order to retrieve the numbers - no bug could have done that. In other words, the collection was intentional.

Storm8's Response: We Erred, We Fixed It, Lawsuit is Meritless

Now the company is changing its tune - well, a bit. Instead of calling it a "bug," they're claiming that the phone number collection was due to legacy code that was put in place very early on in the software development process as a way to identify specific devices. Later, the company decided to use the iPhone's Unique Device ID (UDID) instead - a much more common and accepted practice for developers needing an identification method. UDID's aren't associated with a person's name or phone number - they just identify the iPhone itself. However, even though the company changed methods, they didn't remove the old code that performed the phone number collection.

Storm8 claims that they did nothing with those phone numbers nor did they provide them to any other company. They also say that the database housing the numbers was destroyed in August after they were alerted to the issue. At that time, they took voluntary actions to update their applications to new versions with the legacy code removed.

The company states that they plan to ask for a dismissal of the suit because no user "has incurred any damage or loss" as a result of their actions. Unfortunately, they may be right. As despicable as those actions were, the law may be on their side. According to legal news site FindLaw, the law requires that not only was a personal computer accessed, but that the computer was also damaged. Turner's lawyer then will have to prove that Storm8 caused damage because it "impaired the integrity of the data stored on a protected computer." Additionally, cell phone numbers are not considered "protected data" in the same way that social security numbers or bank account numbers are. In other words, despite how icky this privacy violation makes you feel, it may not actually be illegal.

In our opinion, that's terrible news. Of course we wouldn't want this to start some sort of "sue the programmer" trend, but we do need to have more control over who's doing what with the personal data stored on our mobile phones - especially if Apple isn't going to look out for us in this case. Shouldn't there be some way to punish developers who go after this private info without our knowledge - whether intentionally and maliciously or not? It seems like we have enough concerns over privacy issues these days, we shouldn't have to worry if our iPhone apps are spying on us, too.

Discuss

Paralyzed Artist Draws With His Eyes

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:51:25 -0800

(Video Link)

Graffiti artist Tony Quan suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and is unable to move any part of his body other than his eyes. But thanks to an open source computer project called EyeWriter, he can still draw. The technology tracks the movements of his eyes, allows him to select different shapes and colors, and then projects his images onto the sides of buildings. The above video is a selection from a documentary about the project.

Link via Gizmodo

#26286 - adidas launches online grafic novel game...

elgreco66 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:36:04 -0800

adidas launches online grafic novel game TEAMGEIST - every team needs a jersey with a story. With German national team players Ballack, Schweinsteiger, Poldi etc.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Updates on previous entries for Nov 12, 2009*

Jason Kottke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:11:09 -0800

Pollution in China orig. from Nov 05, 2009

* Q: Wha? A: These previously published entries have been updated with new information in the last 24 hours. You can find past updates here.

Tags: post updates

Ad-Driven Content - Is it Crossing The Line?

Richard MacManus — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0800

Yesterday we wrote about how Demand Media produces 4,000 new pieces of content every day - and whether it can sustain quality at that scale. There was vigorous discussion about the quality issue in the comments, including from some of Demand Media's thousands of freelance writers.

In this follow-up post, we look at the type of content that Demand Media outputs. It turns out that much of it is driven by advertising demand. Again we feel compelled to ask: is this good or bad for the Web's future?

Sponsor

Demand Media is one of the largest producers of content on the Web today and is ranked among the top 15 Web properties in the United States. It's also syndicating content to large media sites like Yahoo. All of this means that the type of content Demand Media is producing will get more and more common on the Web.

Service Journalism

Demand Media claims that its content is not journalism. However, it does compare its model to service journalism (a.k.a. "news you can use"), a concept rooted in the 1960s and common in lifestyle magazines such as Good Housekeeping. This is content such as tips and feature articles about fashion, food and travel.

Demand Media told us that it aims for "useful, used content." The content it produces has an "evergreen quality" to it, they say.

CEO Richard Rosenblatt told me at the Web 2.0 Summit last month that Demand Media will be syndicating content more to traditional media properties in 2010 and beyond. They see 'service journalism' content as being complementary to not only magazines, but large portal sites like Yahoo.

An interesting observation from Rosenblatt was that Demand Media content is "very similar to Associated Press content." In other words, it "helps fill the pages" for newspapers, magazines and other media properties.

Matching Content With Ads

What may be more controversial is that Demand Media makes no bones about their content being produced in order to put ads around it. OK, almost every online publisher has a similar objective: to make money with contextual ads. ReadWriteWeb makes most of its revenue from online advertising.

What's slightly different here is that Demand Media is custom producing content in categories where there is strong advertiser interest. A specific example of that is a YouTube ad program with Target that is currently running. In this channel based around holiday consumerism, content created by Demand Media is featured side-by-side with advertising. Below is a screenshot showing an eHow video entitled "How to Make Cornbread Stuffing," with a Target ad to the right.

Demand Media told us that advertisers are crying out for new content to advertise against. If a large media network like Yahoo is looking to "create content with ads," the next step for Demand Media is enabling their customers to "order content with ads." An example might be something like this: Demand Media produces a how-to article on playing tennis; then sells it to a Yahoo sports site accompanied by tennis equipment adverts placed around it.

Conclusion

Is what Demand Media is doing much different from mainstream media publications or blogs?

One difference is that ReadWriteWeb (along with many other online publications) is a journalism business, so we strive for editorial independence and there is a 'church and state' line with advertising. Demand Media isn't journalism in the traditional sense - that isn't the reason for its being and the company freely admits that. Demand Media produces content to make money, it's as simple as that really.

What do you think: is what Demand Media is doing just a natural extension of contextual advertising? Or is it crossing a line where content is too married to advertising?

Discuss

#26285 - Ted Perez + Associates offers a small peek...

Ted Perez — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:45:07 -0800

Ted Perez + Associates offers a small peek inside their heads...'heads' in this instance refers to their loos, wcs, biffies, reading rooms and the peek is at their splendid custom wallpaper.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Mark Amerika retrospective at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:43:05 -0800

While in Athens, i checked out the Mark Amerika retrospective at The National Museum of Contemporary Art. How could i miss it? I knew so little about Amerika, an artist who, as the press release reminds, had been described as one of the "Time Magazine 100 Innovators" of the 21st century.

Society of the Spectacle (Digital Remix). Created by DJ RABBI : Mark Amerika, Trace Reddell, Rick Silva

Amerika describes himself as a "thoughtographer", an "artist-medium", a "fictional philosopher", a "remixologist", a "network conductor", a wonderer who constantly changes identities and roles in a fragmentary world where time acquires an a-synchronic and non real dimension. By trying to express the complexity and the interest of contemporary digital reality, he delves into different aspects of himself and draws on elements and traits that he transfers to the characters of his works, by using the media the technological platforms of our time. Developing projects on the net, filming with mobile phones, remixing common moments and figures of today`s culture in an VJ-like audiovisual rhythm, Amerika redifines the characteristics of today's culture and opens up the possibilities for new interpretations and thoughts from the audience itself.

What is sure is that he's probably the only net artist who is not only responsible for a publication that Publishers Weekly described as "the literary publishing model of the future" but also the director of a feature-length film shot entirely on mobile phone. After having seen the digital videos -Society of the Spectacle (A digital Remix) is particularly good- and internet artworks on show at the museum, i feel more puzzled than ever. It's one of those shows that require a second viewing (at least in my case) because everything doesn't come to you at the first visit. Just like the OK TEXTS printed on stickers and hidden under the steps of the stairs when you go downstairs to see the Amerika retrospective. I only saw them on my way out of the museum.

I copy/pasted a couple of them below:

We cannot process your information. Your information is corrupt and needs cleansing. Erase brain?

An error has been detected in your consciousness. All source-code is corrupt. Continue?

Revolutionary double-speak has engendered a new information war. The system is about to crash. Download drugs now?

The application could not be opened because your genetic code is dysfunctional. Abort?

A cyborg orgy is not valid. Only digicash transactions are available at this time. Would you like to pay for the privilege?

The network is monitoring your Digital Being. Create alias?

This document wants to blow you. Go to finder?

A transfer of $247,789.40 is about to download. Are you sure you want to disconnect?

VIews of the Media Lounge at EMST

At least, I'll get a second chance with the online works which EMST has listed on one of its webpages and made accessible to visitors in their Media Lounge.

Some images.
Mark Amerika - UNREALTIME, curated by Daphne Dragona, runs at the National Museum of Contemporary Art - EMST until January 3, 2010.

P.S. You can also see Immobilité Remixes at the Vivo Arte.Mov festival in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on November 12 - 15, 2009.

#26284 - Hotel Central of 1918 of the Brazilian...

acriacao — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:53:18 -0800

Hotel Central of 1918 of the Brazilian architect Ramos de Azevedo receives Red Bull House of Art.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Roomba Pacman

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:44:07 -0800

The Roomba Pac Man uses indoor location sensors and Unmanned Aerial System software to create a playable (albeit slow) PacMan built on repurposed autonomous vacuum cleaners. Roomba Pac-Man (via Wonderland)...

Labels may be losing money, but artists are making more than ever

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:41:29 -0800

The Times Labs blog takes a hard look at the data on music sales and live performances and concludes that while the labels' profits might be falling, artists are taking in more money, thanks to the booming growth of live shows. The Times says that they'd like more granular data about who's making all the money from concerts -- is there a category of act that's a real winner here? -- but the trend seems clear. The 21st century music scene is the best world ever for some musicians and music-industry businesses, and the worst for others. Which raises the question: is it really copyright law's job to make sure that last years winners keep on winning? Or is it enough to ensure that there will always be winners? Why live revenues have grown so stridently is beyond the scope of this article, but our data - compiled from a PRS for Music report and the BPI - make two things clear: one, that the growth in live revenue shows no signs of slowing and two, that live is by far and away the most lucrative section of industry revenue for artists themselves, because they retain such a big percentage of the money from ticket sales. (It's often claimed that live revenues are only/mostly benefitting so-called 'heritage acts'. Unfortunately, the data doesn't shed any light on this because live revenues are not broken down by type of act, gig size or ticket price.).. It's interesting too that, overall, industry revenues have grown in the period - though admittedly not by much - which arguably adds strength to the notion that, when the BPI releases its annual report claiming how much 'the music industry' has suffered from the growth in illegal file-sharing, what it perhaps should be saying is how much the record labels have suffered. The graph the record industry doesn't want you to see (via We Make Money Not Art)...

Internet ghost-towns: the blocked IPs where the bad guys used to live

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:33:12 -0800

When a block of IP addresses or a collection of domain names becomes associated with bad action -- spamming, jabbering, denial-of-servicing -- various ad-hoc Internet groups will add it to a blacklist of "rogue IPs" or "badware domains" that are blocked at a very low level in the network. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be any way to readily diffuse an "all clear" signal to everyone who follows along with this block, which means that gradually, the net is acquiring "slums" -- blocks of useful space that can't be occupied by legitimate users because someone bad once lived there and now no one will accept their traffic. The Washington Post's Security Fix visits this question -- it's a compelling problem when you think of it. Bad actors will continue to move from blocked IPs to fresh ones, and if we never release the blocked sections, eventually we'll have shut down a very large chunk of IP space indeed. "The problem is once an address block gets so polluted and absorbed into all these blocklists, it's difficult to get off all of them because there is no central blocking authority," said Paul Ferguson, an advanced threat researcher at Trend Micro. "That space won't be toxic for all time to come, but certainly it is going to be tainted for whoever ends up with it..." "What you'll find is some blacklists out there are derivatives of other lists, and it's hard to get those cleaned up," Bertier said, recalling a case last year in which a customer was given a swath of Internet addresses, only to find it was impossible to send e-mail from that space. "Typically in those cases, we'll work with the customers to get them new space and mark that allocation as something that really shouldn't be used for e-mail." A year later: A look back at McColo (via /.)...

#26283 - Tim Burton directs a new animated spot for the...

turbografix — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:01:26 -0800

Tim Burton directs a new animated spot for the MOMA (involving blowing-up the MOMA logo)...

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

#26282 - Bread packaging that make you smile....

borabora — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:57:07 -0800

Bread packaging that make you smile. Canada-based Karacters Design Group redesign of Silver Hills Bakery's bread packaging focus on the company’s simple, authentic values, and partners with a whimsical feel.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

The internet isn't killing anything

Jason Kottke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:16:22 -0800

Russell Davies says the internet isn't killing anything.

Something That's Growing Is Not The Same As Something That's Big.
Something That's Declining Is Not The Same As Something That's Small.

Correlation is not causation.

Tags: russelldavies

#26281 - nendo has designed an exhibition space of the...

NOTCOT — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:52:03 -0800

nendo has designed an exhibition space of the 'world craft triennial 2010 pre-event' in kanazawa, japan. inexpensive mass-produced glass greenhouses display objects.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

9hours :: hotel de cpsulas en Tokyo

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:38:42 -0800

9hours (nainawasu) es un hotel innovador que ofrece habitáculos con forma de cápsula de una estación espacial de lujo en un espacio mínimo vital. Diseñado por Fumie Shibata de Design Studio S, definen la creación de estas habitaciones como un "espacio de tránsito mínimo" para las grandes ciudades en Japón.

3 Vote(s)

Brilliant Ideas Inspired by Mundane Tasks

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:35:26 -0800

If you haven't had your big breakthrough yet, try one of these simple strategies:

1. CRACK OPEN A CAN OF BEER

Toolmaker Ermal Fraze was on a picnic in 1959 when he realized he had no way to open his beverage. At the time, drinking from a can required a triangular tool called a "church key" to punch two holes in the top. Because no one had thought to bring one, Fraze tried to use a car bumper to pierce the container. The result was a foamy mess.

Several nights later, while suffering from insomnia, Fraze went down to his workshop. By the next morning, he'd developed a built-in, tear-off opener for cans. Over time, Fraze refined the idea, and by 1965, 75 percent of American brewers were using Fraze's ring-pull design for their beer.

2. SHAVE YOUR STUBBLE

Although he'd written extensively about the evils of capitalism, King Camp Gillette still dreamed of getting rich.

As a traveling salesman, he understood that the key to financial success was to create something that people would have to buy over and over again. But his big idea didn't hit him until he started shaving one morning in 1895.

At the time, Gillette was using a traditional safety razor, which had to be sharpened after almost every use. So, Gillette imagined a blade that could simply be thrown away when it became dull. By putting a sharp edge on a thin piece of sheet steel, he created the first disposable razor. It took him eight years to get the invention to market, but once it hit stores, Gillette quickly became a millionaire.

Gillette's razor patent, dated November 15, 1904

In 1913, he retired to California to grow fruit and pursue his utopian dream of founding a city called Metropolis, where everyone would live in perfect harmony. Let's just say the shaving venture went more smoothly.

3. TAKE A COLD SHOWER

In 1958, Jean Hoerni was one of eight engineers at the Fairchild Semiconductor company racing to build a better high-speed transistor. At the time, transistors were easily disrupted by dust or moisture, which is, you know, everywhere.

One morning, Hoerni was taking a shower when he noticed the way the water flowed over his hands, and it gave him an idea. If the transistors could be coated in the right substance, then dust and moisture would just flow right over them. He then thought of silicon dioxide, the perfect material for the job. His solution eventually led to the integrated circuit, the silicon chip, and almost everything else to come out of Silicon Valley. (Photo: Fairchild Semiconductor)

4. WALK THE DOG

One evening in 1948, George de Mestral was getting ready to go out to dinner when his wife asked him to zip up the back of her dress. As he struggled with the jammed zipper, he longed for a better way to fasten cloth.

A few weeks later, he was walking his dog in the woods when he noticed that his pants were covered in burrs. When he got home, he examined one of the burrs under his microscope and noticed that it was covered with tiny hooks that stuck to the small loops of thread in his clothes.

By replicating the idea using little hooks and loops made of nylon, de Mestral developed Velcro. He eventually sold the rights to the patent and made millions in royalties, never to deal with zippers again. (Photo: Francoise and Charles de Mestral)

5. DREAM A LITTLE DREAM

In the late 1830s, Elias Howe Jr. was working as a machinist's apprentice when he overheard someone say that the first person to invent a small automatic sewing machine would make a fortune. Howe decided to take on the challenge, but it proved harder than he thought.

Then one night, he awoke from a nightmare about being captured by cannibals and stuffed into a stew-pot. The dream nagged at him until he realized that the cannibals had each carried a spear with a hole in the tip. This was the breakthrough that Howe needed.

Traditional sewing needle were designed so that the hole carrying the thread went through the fabric last. For Howe's machine to work, he needed the hole to go through first. He patented his sewing machine in 1846, but other manufacturers, including Isaac Singer, stole his design. After a lengthy court battle, Howe was finally awarded royalties on all sewing machine sales until both he and his patent expired in 1867.

The article above, written by Ashley Larsen, is reprinted with permission from Scatterbrained section of the Jul/Aug 2009 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Be sure to visit mental_floss' website and blog for more fun stuff!

#26280 - Fragrance by Alexa Lixfeld ~ love the concrete...

NOTCOT — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:01:04 -0800

Fragrance by Alexa Lixfeld ~ love the concrete caps for the packaging!

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Slow motion water drops

Jason Kottke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:49:37 -0800

When you shoot video of water drops falling into a puddle in super slow motion, it turns out that they bounce in really interesting ways.

(via 3qd)

Tags: science video

Get Rid of Your Lawn Mower ... Get a Goat Instead!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:40:31 -0800

Forget gas-guzzlin’, smoke-belchin’ lawnmowers. The eco-friendly way to mow grass and get rid of unwanted vegetation is to … rent some goats!

The city of Andover, Massachusetts has some unwanted guests: invasive species like the European buckthorn tree and the strangling bittersweet vine from Asia are shouldering out local wildlife. To make matters worse, in tight times the city can’t always afford the mowing machines and the manpower required to keep the invaders at bay. That was until they brought in the experts–goats.

The mowing “machines are massive, constantly breaking down, [and they] use a lot of fuel so we have actually had to skip several years of the mowing program because it’s very expensive,” says Bob Douglas, the director of Andover’s Conservation Commission.

Luckily, the commission recently hit upon a neat solution when one of their volunteers spoke to Lucy McKain, who tends dairy goats next to one of the city’s preserves. They worked out an arrangement where her animals get to graze the land and the commission saves a few thousand dollars a year. The fix was a win-win for everyone.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by bizwiz27.

Goldwag: Cranks, Curiosities, and the Process Church

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:37:11 -0800

Guestblogger Arthur Goldwag is the author of "Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies: The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, The Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Black Helicopters, The New World Order, and many, many more" and other books. Charles P. Peirce's bestseller IDIOT AMERICA: HOW STUPIDITY BECAME A VIRTUE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE includes a wonderful portrait of Ignatius L. Donnelly (1831-1901), the lawyer, US Congressman, founder of a failed Utopian city, and bestselling author of three influential books: ATLANTIS: THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD (1882), which sparked the Atlantis mania that continues to this day, RAGNAROK: THE AGE OF FIRE AND GRAVEL (1883), which anticipated Immanuel Velikovsky's WORLDS IN COLLISION (1950) by more than half a century by attributing a world-wide deluge that sank Atlantis and wiped out the world's Mammoths to a near-collision with a comet (TRIVIA QUIZ: Can you guess what other pseudo-scientific classic was published in 1950? ANSWER: L. Ron Hubbard's DIANETICS), and then in 1889, THE GREAT CRYPTOGRAM, which argued that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays and scattered clues to his authorship throughout them. Pierce considers the wildly creative, fiercely productive, and swiftly-forgotten Donnelley to be one of America's great cranks. "Cranks are noble," Peirce says, "because cranks are independent. A charlatan is a crank who sells out." It's like the difference between kitsch and dreck--people who make kitsch are sincere. Cynical purveyors of political and cultural dreck like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh know better--they're in it for the money and the power and the fame....

#26279 - Brilliant (and silly) idea of spinning plugs so...

NOTCOT — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:10:04 -0800

Brilliant (and silly) idea of spinning plugs so it doesn't matter what country plug you have, it can work!

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

A perpetual loop of seduction

Jason Kottke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:31:31 -0800

The landing page for Natalie Daoust's Tokyo Girls project (sorry no direct link because of Flash) presents you with a grid of 45 small animated photos of women performing stripteases.

It is kinda mesmerizing. NSFW. (via swissmiss)

Tags: Natalie Daoust NSFW photography

#26278 - We Feel Fine becomes a book! An Almanac of...

NOTCOT — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:20:05 -0800

We Feel Fine becomes a book! An Almanac of Human Emotion to be exact ~ by Sep Kamvar and Jonathan Harris

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Crescent Earth

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:04:39 -0800

This beautiful picture of Earth was taken by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft. Rosetta is on a mission to intercept the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which will happen in 2014. The brightest part of this picture is our South Pole. Link

(image credit: ESA)

YouTube Videos Get Huger, High Def-er

Jolie O'Dell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:02:50 -0800

TodayYouTube has announced its plan to support 1080p videos.

This means that those amazing, high-definition videos you uploaded last year will now finally be converted to their original resolutions and will finally look as good as they do on your desktop. The new resolution represents a significant improvement over the current 720p maximum resolution, which leaves all those glorious, pirated segments of old movies tragically blurred and pixelated.

Sponsor

The fine folks at YouTube cited increased resolutions on consumer video recording devices as the impetus for the improvement.

Here's YouTube's example of a 360p image:

If you're not uploading videos from your phone, however, you're probably looking at something like YouTube's current HD setting, 720p:

And, by way of comparison, this is the new maximum resolution YouTube HD videos will have:

Those images are from YouTube. Why they chose a dog's muzzle, we may never know. But we're awfully grateful for the resolution improvements.

Also, users are specifically encouraged to upload videos that will showcase t he capabilities of the new hotness that is 1080p resolution. YouTube engineer Billy Biggs tells users in the related blog post, "Be creative and choose subjects that really show off the beauty of your camera. We will run the best examples on our homepage in a future spotlight."

While it'll be nice to see our own classic jams restored to their original awesomeness, it will also be interesting to see professionally produced videos now appearing in better HD. Well done, YouTube, and thanks for allocating the resources.

Discuss

#26277 - Awesome visit to John Hargreaves cardboard factory

lazerian — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:29:04 -0800

Awesome visit to John Hargreaves cardboard factory

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Conductive ink

Jason Kottke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:07:25 -0800

Bare is a skin-safe conductive ink that you can paint on your body to create "custom electronic circuitry".

This innovative material allows users to interact with electronics through gesture, movement, and touch. Bare can be applied with a brush, stamp or spray and is non-toxic and temporary. Application areas include dance, music, computer interfaces, communication and medical devices. Bare is an intuitive and non-invasive technology which will allow users to bridge the gap between electronics and the body.

Tags: electricity

The Perfect Coffee Cup

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:06:57 -0800

Using a new, high-tech material, German scientists Klaus Sedlbauer and Herbert Sinnesbichler have developed a coffee cup that will keep your drink at the optimum temperature for drinking. Phase change material (PCM) was already in use as a building and clothing material because of its temperature-regulating capability. Now it will keep your coffee from going cold!

CM is able to absorb and maintain heat or cold for long periods of time. It melts when warmed and solidifies when cooled. Different PCMs have different melting points. If a hollow-framed mug were filled with PCM that becomes liquid at exactly 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit (the ideal drinking temperature for warm beverages) and the mug’s reservoir filled with a warm beverage, the PCM would absorb excess heat, bringing the liquid down to drinking temperature and keeping it there long enough for you to enjoy your coffee.

Sedlbauer and Sinnesbichler are looking for a manufacturer and distributor for their coffee cup. Link – via babycreativeblog

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Babycreative.

Make an audiobook, get an audiobook science fiction challenge

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:40:34 -0800

Rick sez, "SFFaudio has just announced their 4th Annual Make an Audiobook, Get an Audiobook Challenge. They have twenty Science Fiction and Fantasy titles of public domain and Creative Commons novels that they'd like to see freely available as audiobooks on the internet. They're looking for participants to commit to recording and editing the sound files and then making them available online. At that point they will get to choose a free audiobook for a prize. But the real prize is the satisfaction of creating a creative work that can be shared with all. Previous SFFaudio Challenges have generated some great audiobooks of classic and obscure titles that would otherwise be unavailable in audio. This year's challenges has a variety of authors including Jack London, Mack Reynolds, James E. Gunn and many others." The 4th Annual SFFaudio Challenge (Thanks, Rick!)...

#26276 - Kid Robot unveils their new Munnies at a SoHo...

FaranAlexis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:38:05 -0800

Kid Robot unveils their new Munnies at a SoHo art exhibit today, including this cutie from BukuBuku!

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

#26275 - Russia's own artist Sveta Shubina presents her...

MikeGusto — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:57:04 -0800

Russia's own artist Sveta Shubina presents her latest artwork, which simply consists folded paper.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Current TV axes 80 staffers, cuts shows, changes direction.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:54:31 -0800

Current TV lets go 80 employees, cancels some shows. Programming head David Neuman (former D

CNN ends a web news experiment

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:33:43 -0800

CNN laid off its four web video anchors today and announced that continuous live video production for CNN.com will end. Thus dies "one of the Internet's biggest news experiments." (NYT, via Andrew Baron)...

#26274 - Parisian artist André has hand painted 12...

newshow — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:30:04 -0800

Parisian artist André has hand painted 12 Quiksilver surfboards. They look great!

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Litl

Jason Kottke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:27:08 -0800

Litl is a new netbook that seems to aiming for the same ballpark as the hypothetical Apple netbook. The interface is sort of iPhone-like, all apps run in a browser, and everything lives in the cloud (the device has no hard drive). Pentagram did the identity and assisted on the user interface for Litl.

The Litl webbook can be used in two configurations: like a traditional laptop, with full keyboard, used to surf the Web; or flipped upright, like an easel or picture frame, for broadcast of photo and video. The laptop configuration has been conceived as a "lean forward" mode, for active participation; the easel configuration conceived as "lean back," for watching.

$700 though...that may be a bit much for too little; a 12-inch MacBook is only $300 more.

Tags: Litl Pentagram

"Sixth Sense Technology" Will Be Open Source

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:21:19 -0800

My husband called me last night all a-twitter and once I got him talking slow enough to understand that he wasn't going on about "six pennies", I could sympathize with the high level of enthusiasm. Earlier this year, "Sixth Sense Technology" from MIT---basically, a visual interface system that allows you and the computer in your cell phone to communicate in some truly astounding ways---was a big hit at TED. This week, at TED India, inventor Pranav Mistry announced that the technology will be released as open source...in a matter of months. "Rather than waiting for that time to come, I want people to make their own system. Why not?," Mistry says in an article on Rediff Business. "People will be able to make their own hardware. I will give them instructions how to make it. And also provide them key software...give them basic key software layers...they will be able to build their own applications. They will be able to modify base level and do anything". Makers, start your engines. Mistry to make digital "Sixth Sense" open source on Rediff Business The importance of Sixth Sense going open source on zdnet Sixth Sense augmented reality device goes open source on Singularity Hub (natch)...

Comcast: TV Everywhere, and a possible $30 billion NBC buyout

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:20:52 -0800

More details out today on Comcast's "TV Everywhere" service launching in December. "Yes, this does still count against the 250GB monthly cap if used at home and still no word on HD streaming." Related: NYT on Comcast's $30 billion takeover bid for NBC Universal. (via Andrew Baron)...

Sponty: Revolutionizing the Meetup and Tweetup

Dana Oshiro — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:18:00 -0800

Though I'm chronically checking in on services like Brightkite, Loopt and Foursquare, it's rare that I'll actually make an appearance at the behest of a friend's status update. For the slovenly masses that work from home, venturing out to meet friends on a weeknight can seem daunting. But rather than submit to the unkempt perils of pantless utopia, there's hope. Sponty offers us a chance to plan and prep for casual outings.

Sponsor

Instead of asking users to give their immediate locations, Sponty allows us to add events to a schedule. Users can add their information via the company's web interface or its newly released iPhone app. If you know you're going to be at a conference, happy hour or concert you can add the event, location and time to your Sponty calendar. From here it's easy to plan meet ups and tweet ups. Once you fill in your info, your friends are notified via the Sponty community, Twitter, Facebook, email or through an embeddable blog widget. Friends then click the "I'm down" button to express their interest in joining you. Users can cancel or bail out on events at anytime.

While you may share calendars with your closest pals, a wider circle of friends would quickly make that overwhelming to track. Sponty is a great social calendar substitute and offers users a chance to plan impromptu events without the constraints of multiple registrations. What's interesting about this service is the fact that instead of offering us real-time event updates, it's more usefully giving us a look at real-time intentions. To register and test the service visit thesponty.com.

Discuss

Furry Logic: Don't Worry by Jane Seabrook and Ashleigh Brilliant

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:09:25 -0800

I’m a big fan of Ashleigh Brilliant’s witty Pot-Shot series of epigrams, so I’m pleasantly surprised to learn that New Zealand artist Jane Seabrook of Furry Logic Books (published by Ten Speed Press) has created the perfect art for his words in book form.

The book Furry Logic: Don’t Worry is Jane’s sixth and Ashleigh’s first as a co-author in the series. Like all of the Furry Logic books, this one combines beautiful animal pictures with Ashleigh’s razor-sharp wit.

The colorful animal pictures aren’t just exquisitely drawn – they’re educational, too! Jane accurately depicted the red-eyed tree frog, the meerkat, the blue-footed booby and the flame angel (what’s that? You’ve got to read the book). There are 30 animals in all, each accompanied with Ashleigh’s epigrams. This book will make a perfect gift, inspirational book, or reading material to enjoy with your kids.

Links: Furry Logic: Don’t Worry at Amazon | Order from Ashleigh himself (you can even get it autographed)

Note: My review copy is graciously provided by Ashleigh Brilliant. I am not financially or otherwise compensated for this review.

Previously on Neatorama: Ashleigh Brilliant’s Pot-Shots | I May Not Be Totally Perfect But Parts of Me Are Excellent | Ashleigh Brilliant-inspired T-Shirts at the Neatorama Shop

YouTube will soon support 1080HD

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:05:31 -0800

I attended a YouTube roundtable in San Francisco yesterday, and learned of many features coming soon, including this: Starting next week, YouTube's HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p. In this blog post, see how much this enhances one's experience of a dog's snout....

#26273 - Wallpaper's Wallspace - In the Claudio...

NOTCOT — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:04:04 -0800

Wallpaper's Wallspace - In the Claudio Silvestrin & Giuliana Salmaso designed basement of la Rinascente, Milan’s one and only Grande Magazzino or department store, Wallpaper* has set up shop.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

#26272 - Gouache paintings, drawings, and collages by...

etsicommunication — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:38:04 -0800

Gouache paintings, drawings, and collages by Kelly Allen.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Damien Hirst x Supreme

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:28:37 -0800

Damien Hirst and Supreme are back together again. I love this version of the artist skate deck collaboration at least twice as much as the last work they did together. I had one of those boards for a little bit but it never stuck in my collection.

These ones probably will, big fan of them.

The collection releases in-store in the US on November 19th and online on November 23rd. Japan will see a release on November 21st.

Quizipedia

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:21:33 -0800

simple game with trivia scraped from Wikipedia entries

Weird Al Yankovic on Attack of the Show

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:17:01 -0800

Chris Hardwick interviewing “Weird Al” Yankovic on Attack of the Show (AOTS).

That episode of AOTS was also co-hosted by Veronica Belmont.

This is a blog post from Laughing Squid, subscribe via RSS, Twitter, Facebook & FriendFeed.

#26271 - Clever ad for Miele Dishwashers! I wish I would...

fondalashay — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:12:07 -0800

Clever ad for Miele Dishwashers! I wish I would have been smart like this kid!

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Do you understand my first-grade child's homework?

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:03:44 -0800

My six-year-old told me she doesn't understand her homework. After studying it for 15 minutes, I *think* I understand what she's supposed to do, but I'd like a second opinion....

Books + Online Video = Vooks: Watchable, Readable, & Very Cool

Jolie O'Dell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0800

Vook is a new company that's come up with a method for blending text and premium video to create an interesting mobile multimedia experience around popular literature.

It combines the (relatively) old skool readability of a Kindle with the engagement of a YouTube series, all wrapped in the delicious flavor of a usable, interactive UI for web users and iFanboys alike.

Sponsor

Of course, no experiment involving new media and books would be complete without reference to our dear friend Mr. Gary Vaynerchuk, whose new title, Crush It!, was just published in every imaginable format, including this one. And as skeptical as we were about the marriage of books and video, at least for this author and product, the format really seems to work.

Another one of the Vooks we saw was a cookbook - another product type that meshes very well with the hybrid book/video offering.

We see vooks being awesome for many verticals. Celebrity-penned tomes interspersed with video interviews or anecdotes, how-to books with video tutorials, biographies, et cetera. But how does the format work for literary fiction, pop attorney dramas, or romance? Time and experimentation will tell.

Still, for nonfiction works, we thing that ebook formats that can integrate intelligently with online video are where it's at, and we applaud Vook's direction. If they can just get the licenses to splice The Princess Bride film footage with the ebook text, we'll personally invest our two cents.

Discuss

DRM for Real-Time Media: Justin.tv Now Protecting Video Streams With Digital Fingerprinting

Jolie O'Dell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0800

This week, Justin.tv is rolling out new measures to protect copyrighted live video streams from being pirated on their site. The technology the company is using will allow them to remove pirate channels without having to issue a takedown notice first.

Using technology from Vobile, an online video publishing company, Justin.tv partners (including FOX), will be able to use VideoDNA™ "fingerprinting" technology to watermark their digital content. If the content is spotted elsewhere on the site, Justin.tv will automatically remove the infringing channel. Think of it as DRM for real-time, streaming media.

Sponsor

These measures come in the wake of Justin.tv's legal and PR woes last year, when television broadcasters found that the site was being used to illegally redistribute their channels - especially sports and pay-per-view events - online. At that time, the site claimed traffic greater than Hulu's; however having to uphold stricter piracy standards has hurt those stats, too.

"This has been part of our long-term effort to work with copyright holders... How can we help them automate the process of removing content?" said CEO Michael Seibel in a recent interview with NewTeeVee.

Vobile's solution, VideoDNA, is a compact, unique digital signature, a.k.a. a fingerprint, that can be attached to online video without changing the source content. To identify an unknown video, its fingerprint is found and matched against the entries in the reference database, known as the Vobile DNA Database. If a match is found, the querying application is provided with comprehensive data on the match. The VideoTracker component of this solution is intended specifically for content creators and has reportedly been adopted by many major Hollywood studios.

Using this huge library of fingerprints, Justin.tv has worked with publishers to integrate digital fingerprinting with live, streaming media. It's a complicated solution requiring the proactive responsibility of the copyright holders.

Check out NewTeeVee's video interview with Seibel below, and let us know in the comments what you think of the new measures for copyright protection of live, streaming media.

Discuss

Home made Russian water purifier

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:58:46 -0800

Take a look at this crazy home water purification system created by a 68-year-old retired engineer. Above: "magnetic bottle. Plastic bottle with a magnet (I used magnets for the refrigerator). Here are removed from the water surplus of some metals." Below: "Fig.6 Capacitance cereal saturation. Funnel neck of a plastic bottle filled with millet. Here the water is saturated with vitamins and gets incomparable flavor Russian fields." Machine for water purification...

Willie Nelson beats Snoop Dogg at smoking pot

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:51:40 -0800

Snoop Dogg just admitted on Twitter than Willie Nelson conquered him at weed-fu. World, we have a champion....

From Wassap! to Obama, a decade in review

Jason Kottke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:47:39 -0800

As part of Newsweek's extensive 2010 project (more on that next week), they've produced a 7-minute video showing the highlights from the past decade.

Wassup! Wassup! What a decade. (thx, jr)

Tags: The 2000s video

PopSci's "Best of What's New" in 2009 list

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:46:45 -0800

Ah, year's end is nigh -- no, I'm not talking about turkey discounts or Christmas retail displays. Must be the season of the list! PopSci's "Best of What's New," 2009 list includes that beautiful all-glass TKTS building in Times Square, biodegradable fungus, and a telescope designed to find Earth-like planets....

#26270 - Beautiful hand carved wooden spoons by Nic Webb

Playmedesign — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:45:05 -0800

Beautiful hand carved wooden spoons by Nic Webb

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Apple's big huge steaming pile of cash

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:42:48 -0800

"On December 27th, 1996, Apple had $1.8 billion in cash and securities. Today it has $34 billion."...

Human Embryos With Three Parents

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:39:31 -0800

British medical researchers are working on growing human embryos that would have three parents: the father’s sperm, the mother’s egg nucleus, and another mother’s egg cytoplasm. In The Daily Telegraph, Richard Alleyne writes:

IVF often fails in older women because there are abnormalities in the outside of their eggs, known as cytoplasm, which surrounds the nucleus.

The team at St Mother Hospital in Kitakyushu, Japan, believe one way around the problem would be too implant the healthy nucleus – which contains most of the information to produce a baby – into the cytoplasm of a donor, usually a younger mother.

The team successfully did this in 31 eggs and of these seven formed “early stage embryos” when injected with sperm in a test tube.

Link via Popular Science | Image: NIH

Video of Dia De Los Muertos in San Francisco

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:21:10 -0800

A beautifully haunting video of Dia De Los Muertos in San Francisco by documentdocument set to the soundtrack of “Hellhole Ratrace” by Girls.

via Spots Unknown

This is a blog post from Laughing Squid, subscribe via RSS, Twitter, Facebook & FriendFeed.

#26269 - MRO is currently circling approximately 300 km...

eller.g — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:20:04 -0800

MRO is currently circling approximately 300 km above the Martian surface. Here is an astounding collection of alien-like photographs taken by the HiRISE camera on board the MRO – at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)