It was after this that I noticed that "Transformers 2" is trending on Twitter (at the time of writing) along with "Megan Fox" (predictably). Apparently it was release day today so there is a bunch of buzz in the twittersphere, including a number of tweets which caught my eye, because they were popping up constantly in the trending topic stream and all linking to the same page on Bloglines...

[click to see bigger image]

Notice those repetitive post all linking to the Bloglines domain? Looks like there are multiple Twitter accounts all set up to post links to that same page. Here's a few of the Twitter spam accounts @lier11, @cichon420, @conradi780. There's more too, though I expect Twitter will have shut them down before long.

So all these accounts are posting items using phrases from trending topics so that they get seen in the stream and hopefully clicked on by lots of people...if you do click then you land on this page on Bloglines:

Cunning how they use an animated gif which looks like a movie trying to load. I might have been fooled if my suspicions hadn't been aroused by the spammy posting behaviour. Cunning too how they use a generally trustworthy domain like Bloglines to host this page (lowering peoples defences) and indeed how they use Google code to host the animated gif...here it is here: http://wewew.googlecode.com/files/tube.gif

So what they are counting on is unsuspecting people to click on that 'video' which will initiate the download of a very dodgy looking executable file named to make it look like it is some kind of video player software. Cunning bastards even host that executable on a domain name that sounds like it should be trustworthy, securityboss.info!

Now I should confess that I didn't actually instal that particular beauty, but I am willing to bet it doesn't end well if you do.

I many ways this isn't exactly news...any social medium is going to get the heck spammed out of it and Twitter is a particularly tasty vector for spammers because it is new for so many people, is very social by nature and has little defence against this kind of mis-use. I guess this intrigued me because it is the first really nasty Twitter spam I've seen, but we can expect to see more of it. I don't envy the Twitter guys when it comes to this kind of thing...they've got their work cut out for themselves.

UPDATE 25/06/09 - It is noteworthy that within 24 hours Twitter has suspended the spam accounts and Bloglines has removed that page from their site also. Well done to those guys for acting so quickly.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Twitter Malware Spam

Social Distortion ~ Bad Luck (Somewhere between heaven and hell, 1992)

This song is badass and that's all there is to it.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Bad Luck

To maintain his anonomity he communicated with just two people at the museum who had to keep everyone else in the dark, and then turned up with his own crew to handle the secret installation so still no one knows which one is actually him.

I would so love to go and see this. If you live within striking distance of Bristol this would absolutely be worth the trip. Hopefully we'll see more pix and video online as the exhibition goes on over the next 3 months.

[via @tedr]

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Banksy in the Bristol Museum

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Skateboard Tricks

I might be the last person in the world to know this, but you can now watch entire movies like Saving Private Ryan on Youtube thanks to the playlist feature and the dedication of the people who break them down into bite sized bits and upload them to Youtube one at a time. Surely this can't last very long. Movie after the jump...

Director: Steven Spielberg
Staring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Ed Burns, Vin Diesel, Matt Damon, Jeremy Davies, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg and Giovanni Ribisi

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Saving Private Ryan

From a distance I thought it was some kind of Lamborghini, but when I got close I was surprised to see the Jaguar badge on the back. Turns out that some guy in Auckland has imported a rare XJ 220 super car that Jaguar built back between 1992-1994. Apparently at the time it was the fastest super car out there, capable of 350 km/h (217 mph). It was trumped by the McLaren F1 in 1994. Lots more on Wikipedia.

Definitely an interesting piece of automotive history, with only 281 ever built and now days fetching north of NZ$259k (US$125k) as a collectors item. According to carjam.co.nz this particular example only has 469 miles on the clock so hasn't been driven much in the last 15 years or so.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Jaguar XJ 220

The only times I've been tempted to download pirated movies or TV shows is when getting it through some other channel is more of a hassle. It isn't because I am cheap and don't want to pay for it...au contraire, I am happy to pay for it (I was at the video store renting RocknRolla when I had the inspiration for this post), it is just that I am often lazy and in some circumstances the internet is an easier place to get what you want.

It is also true that many pirates are paying to use services like Imageshacks' Torrent service. Again, in such cases it isn't because they are cheap, rather they are looking for the most convenient way to get the content, and indeed they are proving that they are prepared to pay for that convenience. In many cases I don't think movie piracy is about the money.

If I was a movie studio I would be looking at how I can get my movies into peoples hands as easily as possible. Sure people are flocking to the movie theatres these days, which is a reflection that the theatre can be a great experience, but equally there are loads of people who are not looking for that experience, people who want to stay in on a Friday or Saturday night....make it easy for them and you'll satisfy another audience.

Right at this moment, in New Zealand there is no where I can go to download a copy of Burn After Reading to play on my TV. I can get it from iTunes, but then I have to play it on my computer which isn't real convenient. What I want is a file I can play on my TV or on my (non Apple) portable media player. Sure I have thought of buying an Apple TV, but I am resisting because I don't really want another media device and I keep expecting someone, anyone, to realize that the player who makes it easy for everyone is going make a killing.

I don't deny that there are people who will download pirated content even if it was readily accessible in a convenient format from commercial sources. I do think though that a big part of the bittorent audience are not motivated by free, but rather by convenience. When it becomes easy for everyone to get their digital media content from commercial sources in formats they can play on the devices of their choice then the likes of thepiratebay.org will become less relevant. The movie studios need to figure out how to make bittorrent feel like a hassle.

It occurs to me that we are living in a slightly weird period where the technological sophistication of certain media consumers is getting ahead of the media producers and so that segment of consumer is turning to the likes of bittorrent. Just like the music industry is finally realising that DRM doesn't help anyone, it seems like there's a certain enevitability to the future of digital movie distribution...studios will continue to fight it, but eventually they'll realize that they have to give the people what they want, which is really easy access to the content online in formats that are flexible enough for the consumers to do what they want with it.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Pirates are mostly just lazy

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Happy Birthday Dr Suess

Or if you don't have a space for a regular IAB sized banner you can try this dog ear I made (see top right corner of this page). Feel free to download it and add it to your own site, or if you like I can host it in which case just add the following code to the footer of your site:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
document.write('<div style="position: absolute; left: 100%; top: 0px; overflow: visible; height: 150px; width: 150px; margin: 0 0 0 -150px; padding: 0; z-index: 9999; border: none; float: none;"><img src="http://www.surfarama.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/no_s92a.gif" width="150" height="150" border="0" usemap="#rc"></div><map name="rc"><area shape="poly" coords="0,0,150,0,150,150" href="http://tr.im/gjg7"></map>');
// -->
</script>
 

The code is spilling over the margins of this column, but if you copy and paste the lot you'll have everything you need.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

How to support CreativeFreedom.org.nz

UPDATE 23/2/09: It isn't over yet, but today the Prime Minister, John Key, announced a delay to the implementation of section 92a until March 27th. The idea is that stakeholders now try and develop a mutually acceptable code of practice. The PM has also said that if a solution could not be found then it would be suspended. It ain't over, but that's a good start and thanks in large part to the hard work done by the Creative Freedom Foundation. Well done those guys.

UPDATE...thought I ought to be a little more specific about this Internet Blackout business and make it clear that the issue at hand is absolutely not about Copyright itself.

I totally wish more rights owners would consider the creative commons, but I absolutely respect copyrights holders right to protect their IP. I also wish content publishers would get savvier about distribution, but this isn't about that either. This is about the poorly considered and draconian provisions included in the Copyright Amendment Act coming into effect on Febuary 28th.

Specifically, Section 92a of the Copyright Amendment Act assumes Guilt Upon Accusation and forces the termination of internet connections and websites without evidence, without a fair trial, and without punishment for any false accusations of copyright infringement. It gives an unprecedented amount of power to ISPs (in a very wide definition) to close down websites and terminate internet connections just because an accusation is made. Indeed it essentially forces ISPs to take such action lest they be implicated in any case subsequently. The New Zealand Consumer institute noted the following...

The onus is then on the customer to prove their case and get their website access reinstated. We believe this responsibility is open to malicious abuse by parties who wish to close-down websites or disrupt in some way another person's business or enjoyment of the use of the internet.

When the law forces an assumption of guilt that is a bad thing...our legal system is based on a presumption of innocence until guilt is proven and S92a is a poorly considered amendment which will have far reaching consequences.

The Internet Blackout is about speaking out against injustices like Guilt Upon Accusation being done in the name of artists and protecting creativity.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

New Zealand Internet Blackout

I've seen this Hummer driving around our nighbourhood for a while now and finally got a chance to grab a pic of the number plate. Remarkable that the owner could be so self aware, which begs the question, Why?

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Self aware Hummer driver

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Skydiving with no parachute

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Human Flying

http://www.washingtontimes.com/users/Tylenole/ (by all means click this, just don't click on the ads on the page you land on)

I guess they've done this because a link to washingtontimes.com is less likely to be filtered as spam either automatically (until it gets finger printed by Akismet) or under manual review. Click on the link though and you can see that the spammer has cleverly hijacked that page using some javascript to redirect to the real place he wanted to send you over at ipafeed.com where they have loads of ad links for various drugs. [UPDATE: This has been fixed so the page no longer redirects]

According to Compete their spammy tactics are reasonably effective too with 30-40k visitors per month.

I guess the lesson is to be careful what you let users do with your profile pages if you run a aite with membership. Unfortunately for the Washington Times this reflects badly on them and now their domain is probably implicated as a spam site by services like Akismet which finger print dodgy links in blog comments.

--

UPDATE: Good on them...looks like the Washington Times have fixed it to remove the javascript redirect from the spammers profile page.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Sneaky Spammers

This post has taken a while to get out the door, but it probably isn't completely a bad thing because now I can reflect on my trip to Beijing without gushing too much.

As an undergrad I studied some Chinese economic history and I've wanted to visit mainland China ever since. I've been to Hong Kong on business a bunch of times and have always loved that, but never been to China proper before now.

The timing was pretty good too, we managed to get a great deal on Air New Zealand's inaugural direct flight into Beijing which was kinda cool with the CEO, Rob Fyfe, and NZ's Minister of Tourism, Damien O'Connor, onboard to celebrate the opening the of the new route. We even had a Maori welcome party at the Beijing end...

Beijing is a cool city. Arriving at the new Beijing Airport, one of the first things you notice is the architecture...the new airport is the largest airport building in the world and is quite stunning. Driving into the city you notice just how much new development has been going on, and how much of it is really interesting. The Birdsnest and Icecube are amazing, but are not the only ones...the Airport, CCTV and Beijing Opera House buildings are all noteworthy amongst loads of others.

No question Beijing has an issue with smog, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. On good days the sky was clear and blue, although you did still have a hazy horizon to remind you that you were in a big 'ol city with something approaching 20M people. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that the smog in Beijing is not much worse than any other similar sized city. If you ride the Tube in London for a day you'll appreciate atleast that Beijing isn't the only city in the world with pollution issues.

We had a weekend to look around before getting down to business and were lucky enough to have a local, Mr Jiang, to show us around on Saturday. We certainly saw more of the city than we would have had we been getting around ourselves. We checked out the main Olympic venues, Tiananmen Square, the new Apple Store which opened the same day and had lunch at a well known restaurant featuring some Northern Chinese cuisine. I tried the marinated Jellyfish which definitely has an unusual texture but is very tasty. In the afternoon we checked out the Beijing Opera House and spent a few hours walking around the Emperors Summer Palace. A bloody full day by any measure.

On Sunday we headed up to the Great Wall and checked out the Ming Tombs on the way, before heading out for a killer duck meal at what I'm told is the oldest Duck restaurant in Beijing. I had scorpions as a starter, which I think had some fairly positive physiological effects on me (more on this later).

The rest of the week was taken up with business, which was really interesting in itself, but we did manage to squeeze in a quick nosey around the electronics shopping district near the Baidu office (think floor after floor of electronics stores featuring everything under the sun), and a couple of hours wandering around the Forbidden City which was fabulous. I did the whole tourist thing with the audio guide and had a full on history lesson. Recommended.

A couple of other great experiences...Over dinner the conversation somehow turned to wine and Mr Jiang invited me to try some traditional Chinese 'wine'. Sounded good, except there is a fairly large gap between his definition of wine and my own. What he was actually offering me was a traditional grain based liquor which I think is commonly known as Baiju or Shaojiu (Wikipedia entry), and this stuff is strong enough to fell an elephant. Seriously I am pretty sure you could run your car on it. I was presented with a mini bottle of it at lunch time and was able to manage a few sips before I could start feeling the effects. It is typically in the order of 53% Alcohol by volume and is most certainly an acquired taste. Apparently there are parts of China (in the North) where they commonly drink Baiju for breakfast...those must be some hard men. I should also point out that I also tried some locally made red wine which was really good.

Another must do are the outdoor food stalls which you'll find around here. We went on my last night in Beijing. They are super busy and serve some amazing food, including Silk worm kebabs (not bad), scorpions (yummy) and other delicacies like snake on a stick (wish I had tried it) and cow's intestines (OK, but not my fav). Because they are so accessible and near many of the big hotels they are popular with the tourists but still worth checking out for an interesting, cheap, meal.

So yeah, overall I loved Beijing. The people were extremely friendly. My workmate, Allen, did an outstanding job arranging everything so we got very cheap hotels accommodation and got to see a huge amount in busy week. And the business was good too. Couldn't ask for more, and hopefully will have a chance to get back in the medium term too.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Beijing Trip

Posting this from the Worspress app which seems pretty sweet..might even me inclined to blog more if I can easily embed pix too.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Testing iPhone Wordpress App

Superman Vacuuming

Originally uploaded by Charles.

No reason for posting this except I get a giggle out of it every time I look at it...even Superman needs to do the domestics sometimes.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Superman Vacuuming

Lucky for Vodafone Mauricio was on to it and managed to keep Geekzone alive despite the traffic jam so we all got to finally see the plans and the initial reactions were not good. Twitter lit up with a roundly negative response...it's been funny to watch Summize update with peoples opinions. The Geekzone forum has had a similar tone.

My initial reaction was exactly the same, massively disappointed, but with some time to cogitate I'm a little more philosophical about it. I think the reason for the disappointment comes back entirely to the data plans...

1GB just isn't a lot of data, and $250/mth for it is a hell of a lot to pay. And paying $80/mth for 250MB of data seems even more absurd. To be clear this is about what anyone pays already fopr a data plan in New Zealand...the point is we still have a duopoly situation in the NZ carrier market right now and they are busily making hay while they can.

Now, I'll wager that very few people get close to using 1GB of mobile data per month right now, and no doubt that's why Vodafone have released these plans as they have. But that kinda misses the point. The reason we (the geeks) are so excited about the iPhone is because it is the first decent mobile web browsing device. It has a decent processor and OS, and a good browser with innovative UI features making the iPhone a real handy internet device...quite literally in your pocket.

We want to use the device to access the internet and would use it alot if it weren't so expensive...

• I installed the Google maps mobile app on my old Windows mobile phone a while back and loved it despite the small, clunky version of mobile IE. It was a revelation, until I got the bill and realized that each of those map tiles were consuming extraordinarily expensive data at a rate of knots. Just planning a route across the city would use several MB of data as the maps interface called up all the images.
• I would love to use my cell phone to download media over the air. Browse YouTube, Google Video, TVNZ and TV3's video on demand, download legal music and podcasts and do any number of other things which would quickly eat data

Given the early comments out of Vodafone I really thought they were going to do something different and roll out data plans that recognized this potential . Instead they've gone and just rolled out the same old expensive data that we already have. This is why it is so disappointing. It would be great to see some real customer centricity and forward thinking coming out of Vodafone today, but  guess that was too much to hope for.

All that said, the iPhone is still a killer device, and comparable handsets from other manufacturers probably cost even more than the seemingly high no-plan price of $1129 for the 16GB model (a Nokia N95 is $1200 off plan). I doubt there's another handset with similar capabilities for less than that. I've certainly paid more for handsets in the past so all things considered I'll still be seeing what it is going to cost to change my plan and get an iPhone 3G...I just don't think I'll be lining up at midnight.

UPDATE: And here's a great chart detailing the TOC for an iPhone in New Zealand. Ouch.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Vodafone New Zealand iPhone Plans

UPDATE: Thanks Justine. All good now...problem was between the chair and keyboard :)

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

RSS feed borked fixed

I'll Never Forget You

You can download the EP here.

Orginally posted on Surfarama.com

Francis & The Lights