The Latest from Boing Boing

In-game cash marketplaces and Napster -- the arbitrage of time-rich and cash-rich users Posted: 14 Apr 2009 04:48 AM PDT The Guardian's just published my latest column, "Developers still finding that it pays to get in the game," about the increasingly prevalent online game practice of selling items to players, and the parallels this has to the download wars: Official, game-sponsored exchanges for real-money trades (RMTs) are more than places where players can swap goods for money. Fundamentally, these exchanges act as an honest broker between two extremely different types of player: cash-rich/time-poor players (people with jobs, for the most part) and time-rich/cash-poor players (retirees and young people). Seen through this lens, a "game" is just a bunch of applied psychology that makes kids work long hours to earn virtual gewgaws that adults are trained to desire. In this "Free to play, pay for stuff" world, kids are alienated from the product of their leisure by a marketplace where the game-company skims a piece off of every transaction. The psychology of this is fascinating, since it all only works to the extent that the game remains "fun". One key element is that skilled players (eg kids) must not feel like the rich players are able to buy their way into positions of power. Game devs are advised to sell defensive items - shields, armour, dodging spells, but not offensive ones. A skilled player will still be able to clobber a heavily armoured rich player, given enough time (and skilled players have nothing but time, by definition), but may quit in disgust at the thought that some rich wanker is able to equip himself with a mega-powerful sword or blaster that gives him ultimate killing power. No one wants to play in a game where one player has an "I win" button. For me, the most fascinating thing about this is how it can be seen as the application of the business model that downloaders have been advocating since Napster: "Don't sue the kids who download your music or movies, rather, see them as the marketing that sells the same media to cash-rich adults who lack the time to use P2P software." Developers still finding that it pays to get in the game

Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch Posted: 14 Apr 2009 04:30 AM PDT Newly released documents reveal that Ronald Reagan served as a secret FBI snitch during the Red Scare (we already knew he named names during the hearings, but now we also know that he snuck around behind his friends' and members' backs and destroyed their lives): It was revealed last week that the future President played another role as well: as a secret FBI informant, code name T-10. According to an article published in the San Jose Mercury News, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that Reagan and his first wife, Actress Jane Wyman, provided federal agents with the names of actors they believed were Communist sympathizers. American Notes Hollywood (via Digg) (Image: File:Ronald Reagan in Dark Victory trailer.jpg, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons) Can't see the video? Click here

Soviet nuclear control devices Posted: 14 Apr 2009 04:09 AM PDT Mark Pitcher's posted a set of Soviet nuclear controls that look exactly as I pictured high-tech equipment looking when I was a kid (shown here is a nuclear detonator panel (!) that bristles with high-tech menace): "Equipment built during the 1940's to 1970's for use in the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (the 'Polygon'). All are hand-made and most are one-offs. Photos from a museum in Kurchatov Kazakhstan." Kurchatov Nuke Equipment (via Make)

CCTV spooks to be spied upon by gaze-tracking webcams Posted: 14 Apr 2009 03:22 AM PDT A reader writes, "You couldn't make this up: Cameras are being turned on the people paid to watch CCTV streams, to note which bits of surveillance footage they didn't see. The system developed in Turkey uses webcams to track a person's eye movements and can then produce an edited reel of footage that they didn't see at the end of their shift." Privacy campaigners may enjoy the irony if the gaze-tracking system comes to be regarded as intrusive by CCTV operators - who could fear that employers will use it to dispense with their services if they consistently miss too much on-screen skulduggery. Eyeball spy turns the tables on Big Brother

My story Anda's Game for Android Posted: 14 Apr 2009 02:56 AM PDT Last year, IDW published a collection of six comics adapted from my short stories called Cory Doctorow's Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now, all of these stories also licensed under Creative Commons. Now, Robot Comics, a firm that provides comics for Android mobile phones, has begun to make the comics available free under the same CC license for mobile phones, beginning with my story Anda's Game (which was also included in my short story collection Overclocked, and podcasted as a reading by Alice Taylor of Wonderland.The adaptation is by the excellent Dara Naraghi, illustrated by Esteve Polls. The story is a riff on the way that property-rights are coming to games, and on the bizarre spectacle of sweat-shops in which children are paid to play the game all day in order to generate eBay-able game-wealth. When I was a kid, there were arcade kings who would play up Gauntlet characters to maximum health and weapons and then sell their games to nearby players for a dollar or two -- netting them about $0.02 an hour -- but this is a very different proposition indeed. Cory Doctorow's Anda's Game Previously: Sam Kieth cover for comic of Cory's Anda's Game - Boing Boing Cory's Anda's Game podcasted by Wonderland's Alice - Boing Boing Cory's Anda's Game in Russian, Kurzweil interview in Italian ... Cory's latest short story -- CC-licensed, on Salon, all about ... My new graphic novel for sale and as a free, remixable, shareable ...

Retro hardcover pulp Raymond Chandler novels Posted: 13 Apr 2009 09:00 AM PDT I just found these gorgeous retro Raymond Chandler editions from Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin UK. They're little, pulp-sized hardcovers with brilliant, pulpy covers and jacket-copy and spines, and they make a great set spine-out or face-up. Retro Chandler editions from Hamish Hamilton Can't see the video? Click here

Amazon explains cataloging error that banished queer books to "adult" purgatory Posted: 14 Apr 2009 12:13 AM PDT More information on how Amazon came to misclassify over 50,000 books (including books about feminism, about gay and lesbian themes, etc) as "adult" and make them largely invisible to searchers. Turns out Patrick's theory was largely correct -- an employee in France filled in a field incorrectly and clobbered the listings for 50,000 items. This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection. It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search. Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future. Amazon begins to re-rank affected 'adult' books; theories swirl [UPDATED] (via Lisa Gold)

Texas lawmaker: Chinese Americans should change names so "Americans" can handle them Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:56 PM PDT Greeted with the news that some Americans of Chinese descent were turned away from the polls because the names on their ID didn't match with the incompetently assembled voter lists, Texas State Rep. Betty Brown (R) has proposed that they should change their names so that "Americans" can manage them better. (Um, if these people aren't also "Americans" then why do they get to vote?) "Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese -- I understand it's a rather difficult language -- do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?" Brown said. Texas lawmaker: Asians should change their names to make them 'easier for Americans to deal with.' (via Sociological Images) Can't see the video? Click here

Recently on Offworld Posted: 13 Apr 2009 05:12 PM PDT Recently on Offworld we've already played what'll probably be this week's best indie development, Terry Cavanagh & Stephen Lavelle's Judith, a short game of shifting narratives and timelines that peels itself back one layer at a time and gives you subtle clues to your next move with each consecutive shift. If you've only got one hour for an indie game this week, give it to Judith (it even, graciously, comes in Mac and Linux flavors). We also took a look back at the most practical of this GDC's Pecha-Kucha-esque microtalks, with Boom Blox producer Robin Hunicke imagining six easy steps to help fix PlayStation Home, or rather, provide it with more engaging possibilities for play (we concur with all six). Elsewhere we saw excellent custom toy work with a bits and bobs Bioshock Big Daddy doll and hand-sculpted Grim Fandango figurines from Tim Schafer's LucasArts swan song adventure, and fantastic new fineries with the Gaming Revolution T-shirt (above) and the WiiExploded shirt (from the same people behind the exploded Atari 2600 and iPhone). Finally, we saw lush greenery coming to the barren landscape of Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5's versus mode in real life, curious character choices made for the officially licensed Super Mario Bros chessboard, a new album made entirely on handheld synth Korg DS-10, saw Q-games' beautiful Pixeljunk Eden Encore in motion, and, most wonderfully, watched demoscene compo winners RGBA & TBC create gorgeous landscapes in just 4K of code.

Thematically composited photos of New Yorkers over time but not space Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:51 PM PDT Dan sez, "Danish photographer Peter Funch stakes New York City street corners out for two weeks at a time, taking pictures of passersby from the very same spot. He then uses Photoshop to composite the results into single images. I love the mass of yawners." Peter Funch (Thanks, Dan!)

Loop of Disney video that rips off other Disney video Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:49 PM PDT See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing. Ren sez, "This is a smashing video that remixes scenes from Disney movies that appear to be traced from one another. The effect is super-bizarre, but it explains why I was never able to tell those princesses apart!" Disney Templates (Thanks, Ren!)

Steampunk Magazine #5 is out, hurrah! Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:45 PM PDT Hurrah! After a year's absence, Steampunk Magazine is back with issue #5 -- either buy the handsome object in print, or get a free Creative Commons licensed download. The new ish has short fiction from John Reppion and Jimmy T Hand, instructions for making an "emergency welding machine," information about being a "tramp printer," Steampunk madlibs ("On the construction of the Tesla Coil"), an interview with Voltaire, Bruce Sterling's "User's Guide to Steampunk," and much, much more. SteamPunk Magazine (Thanks, Magpie Killjoy)

Marylin Chambers, RIP Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:06 PM PDT The adult film legend died at age 56 on Sunday. She was found in her mobile home by a family member. Chambers' death was a "total shock," [fellow adult star Ron] Jeremy said, because they had been scheduled to sign a contract Monday to perform together in an off-Broadway "tongue-in-cheek" re-enactment of the porn classic "Deep Throat." "What's strange is that she was at a stage where she was totally happy and totally content with her life," Jeremy said. "Her life was falling together, and she was doing really well." Above, an interview with Ms. Chambers from 1977 on a NYC public access cable TV show. The porn title for which she is best known: The Mitchell Brothers production "Behind the Green Door."

Hyperbolic Bronnerianism in Graphic Design Posted: 13 Apr 2009 10:02 PM PDT That is a fancy way of saying "crazy mushed up text with LOTS OF ALL CAPS! BOLD! I-T-A-L-I-C ! Nnnnnooooo negative space!" on product labels. I made up that bogus design category name, "Hyperbolic Bronnerian," to describe things like the plant stimulant product above. I found this at Home Depot on Sunday. Dr. Bronner's Soap is, of course, the greatest and most insane example of this aesthetic. I think Bragg Amino Acids are another good one. What are your favorite? "Unbalanced neighbor's signs" might be included, as might the rambly emails of mentally disturbed persons who fear black helicopters and alien butt probes. However, I am really looking for commercial products here. Viva Bronner! Here are some amazing scans of the plant growth stimulant product labels. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. One is shown below.

Great Depression Cooking show Posted: 13 Apr 2009 08:55 PM PDT Clara Cannucciari, 93, lived through the Great Depression. Now, she hosts a Web video series on how to cook meals of the era, like pasta with peas, peppers and eggs, and the "poorman's feast" with meat and lentils. Great Depression Cooking with Clara (Thanks, Marina Gorbis!)

A Nigerian Dictator Bought My Sofa Posted: 13 Apr 2009 08:43 PM PDT Boing Boing pal Todd "Telstar Logistics" Lappin has a guest post up on Laughing Squid about a new scam he encountered on Craigslist. Last week I posted an ad to Craigslist offering our yellow loveseat for sale for $200. A gentleman wrote to say that he was interested, but that he couldn't come see it because he's busy with work. Instead, he proposed mailing his payment, and then having movers come later to pick up the loveseat. Odd, but not unheard-of, I supposed. Yet as the transaction has unfolded, it now seems pretty clear that that this "buyer" is really trying to pull a Craigslist version of the Nigerian dictator/advance-fee fraud. The tone of his messages seemed strange from the get-go, but the note I received last night brought things into focus. Read the email here. It is to LOL. A Nigerian Dictator Scam on Craigslist? (Laughing Squid) Incidentally, Todd's loveseat is still for sale. Can't see the video? Click here

Phil Spector and his spectacular hair convicted of murder Posted: 13 Apr 2009 09:13 PM PDT A Los Angeles jury today convicted music producer Phil Spector of second-degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson more than six years ago. At left, Spector, as seen in a previous Boing Boing post by Mark. Here is a New York Times piece about the trial, and the killing for which Spector was today found responsible.

Obama adds yet another RIAA attorney to Justice Department roster (now there are 5) Posted: 13 Apr 2009 04:01 PM PDT Over at WIRED's Threat Level blog, David Kravets writes, President Barack Obama is tapping another RIAA attorney into the Justice Department. Monday's naming of Ian Gershengorn, to become the department's deputy assistant attorney of the Civil Division, comes more than a week after nearly two dozen public interest groups, trade pacts and library coalitions urged the new president to quit filling his administration with lawyers plucked from the Recording Industry Association of America. The move brings to five the number of RIAA lawyers Obama has appointed to the Justice Department. Obama Taps Fifth RIAA Lawyer to Justice Department (blog.wired.com/27bstroke6 via @seanbonner)

OpenSecrets.org releases 200 million government data records Posted: 13 Apr 2009 03:48 PM PDT Today the nonpartisan watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics announced the release of some 200 million data records from its archive "to the hands of citizens, activists, journalists and anyone else interested in following the money in U.S. politics." Snip from the press release: The following data sets, along with a user guide, resource tables and other documentation, are now available in CSV format (comma-separated values, for easy importing) through OpenSecrets.org's Action Center at opensecrets.org/action/data.php: * CAMPAIGN FINANCE: 195 million records dating to the 1989-1990 election cycle, tracking campaign fundraising and spending by candidates for federal office, as well as political parties and political action committees. CRP's researchers add value to Federal Election Commission data by cleaning up and categorizing contribution records. This allows for easier totaling by industry and company or organization, to measure special-interest influence. * LOBBYING: 3.5 million records on federal lobbyists, their clients, their fees and the issues they reported working on, dating to 1998. Industry codes have been applied to this data, as well. * PERSONAL FINANCES: Reports from members of Congress and the executive branch that detail their personal assets, liabilities and transactions in 2004 through 2007. The reports covering 2008 will become available to the public in June, and the data will be available for download once CRP has keyed those reports. * 527 ORGANIZATIONS: Electronically filed financial records beginning in the 2004 election cycle for the shadowy issue-advocacy groups known as 527s, which can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, labor unions and individuals. OpenSecrets.org Goes OpenData (Via Clay Shirky) Can't see the video? Click here

Dubai bashing and 'what-aboutery': Joi Ito Posted: 13 Apr 2009 03:51 PM PDT (Image: Joi Ito). Blogger, photographer, tech investor, WoW guild overlord, Creative Commons CEO, and periodic Boing Boing Video guest star Joi Ito recently became a part-time resident of Dubai. I've followed his explorations of that city-state with much interest, and have been wondering what he thinks about the current flood of negative news coverage of Dubai amid the econopocalypse. Last week, for instance, I blogged this piece by Johann Hari in the UK Independent which opens with a vignette about a European expat living in her car, and proceeds to paint a really dark picture of what life is like there now. Joi has written a blog post which isn't solely a response to that piece, but more a reaction what seems to be a broader backlash in the press -- a backlash Joi feels is not fair or reality-based. A snip from his post: I'm still new to the region so I can't speak definitively as a native, but I do know that the picture that is sketched is pretty biased and I think could be rightly called "bashing". As far as I can tell there is a crunch going on, just like everywhere else, and the government and businesses are trying to figure out what to keep and what to shut down. There are a lot of solid businesses and a lot of solid business people in Dubai and like anywhere else, consolidation and downsizing is taking its toll. Having said that, the parking lots are not full of homeless foreigners and dumped cars. The mood is the same, if not maybe slightly more upbeat than the US or Japan these days. Instead of taking an hour and a half to get across town, it takes half an hour, instead of 3 days in advance reservations for the lounge/bar at The Address, it's 2 days and you can usually get a table at the nice restaurants with less than a hour wait now... usually. The real estate and development part of Dubai seems to be getting hit the hardest, but it looks the shipping and "the hub of the Middle East" parts of Dubai seem to be doing OK. I don't want to appear like I'm defending human rights offenders. As a board member of Global Voices, WITNESS and a supporter of a number of Human Rights organizations, I spend a TON of time on human rights issues. We NEED to talk about human rights. However, human rights issues are resolved by understanding how and what kind of pressure to put on who in order to cause the change. While broad understanding of human rights is important, I don't find that sprinkling them on articles as part of a negative press pile-on is really, comparatively speaking, that productive. Dubai bashing and 'what-aboutery' (Joi Ito) You may also want to read this "Dubai Bashing" post on Desert Blogger. Previously: Cooking Young Bamboo Shoots with Joi Ito (score by Ryuichi Sakamoto) The Dark Side of Dubai - Boing Boing Dubai airport clogged with cars abandoned by fleeing construction ... Warren Ellis' friend busted in Dubai for melatonin - Boing Boing City of Lyon being cloned in Dubai - Boing Boing iPod is inspiration for new tower in Dubai: "iPad" - Boing Boing Steampunk stormtroopers and Alien spotted in Dubai - Boing Boing Dubai is a creepy but intriguing place - Boing Boing

Kevin Kelly's list of found quotes Posted: 13 Apr 2009 03:37 PM PDT Kevin Kelly has been compling a list of quotes he's found online. Kevin and I have the same sense of humor and reaction to certain kinds of ideas, so I found these fascinating. Here are a few: "Most of them seemed to be Twittering the conference as they went, and following each other's Twitter feeds. Surreal moment: At one point, the guy sitting closest to me was reading a blog post containing a photo of the guy sitting immediately behind him." -- Owen Thomas "As you make a prototype, assume you are right and everyone else is wrong. When you share your prototype, assume you are wrong and everyone else is right." - Diego Rodriguez "The World Wide Web was precisely what we were trying to PREVENT-- ever-breaking links, links going outward only, quotes you can't follow to their origins, no version management, no rights management." – Ted Nelson "Creating your own blog is about as easy as creating your own urine, and you're about as likely to find someone else interested in it." -- Lore Sjöberg "This is my long-run forecast in brief: The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations and most of humanity will be at or above today's Western living standards. I also speculate, however, that many people will continue to think and say that the conditions of life are getting worse." -- Julian Simon

Artist/prankster Tom Kennedy (RIP) Posted: 13 Apr 2009 01:57 PM PDT San Francisco prankster and art car artist Tom Kennedy drowned yesterday at the city's Ocean beach. What a tragedy. He will be missed. His friend John Law wrote an obituary over at Laughing Squid. Goodbye To Tom Kennedy: Art Car Artist, Activist, Teacher & Prankster Previously: Topsy-Turvy Bus - Boing Boing

TED talk: Bonnie Bassler: Discovering bacteria's amazing communication system Posted: 13 Apr 2009 01:54 PM PDT TED is running biologist Bonnie Bassler's TED talk about how bacteria "talk" to each other, "using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry -- and our understanding of ourselves." Bonnie Bassler: Discovering bacteria's amazing communication system

Baseball card collage art Posted: 13 Apr 2009 01:02 PM PDT Artist Pat Riot launched his website, Popular Vulture, featuring a wonderful gallery of collage art baseball cards.

Neil Young's latest album is about his electric car Posted: 13 Apr 2009 12:46 PM PDT Neil Young's latest album, Fork in the Road, is entirely about his electric car, which he calls the Lincvolt. The songs on the album are an emotional response to the current social and ecological questions facing the world’s population. Young has been an activist his entire career, and over the past few years has become involved in developing different fuel possibilities. Along with Johnathan Goodwin, their LINCVOLT project using alternative energy to power Young’s 1959 Lincoln Continental is now finished.

Charles Dickens cigarette cards Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:48 AM PDT Over at Orange Crate Art, Michael Leddy found these terrific Charles Dickens cigarette cards in the New York Public Library's Dickens' Gallery online collection. Can't see the video? Click here

Alien hand syndrome masturbation Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:35 AM PDT I need to keep up with my Mind Hacks posts! A few days ago, Vaughan stumbled upon a case study in a medical journal describing a stroke patient who lost control of his hand. He ended up with "alien hand syndrome" in which his hand apparently engaged in public masturbation outside of his control. From Mind Hacks: We tend to think of the cognitive impairments after brain injury as the most disabling - things like loss of memory or speech or language impairment, but we often neglect what we might call social impairments. Especially when the effect is embarrassing, these can have just as strong an impact because many people massively restrict their lives to prevent causing social discomfort to themselves or others. Involuntary masturbation in alien hand syndrome

Telepathic advertising Posted: 13 Apr 2009 11:21 AM PDT Brain Ads offers a free "telepathic ad" in exchange for a donation. Not only will you be able to "reach more people than any conventional ad," but you can also "reach people in any time zone." According to the founder, "Your donation will be used for treatment of my condition, and for my own pleasure,which includes making donations to various charities." From the About page: It has been a long journey to discover that people were reading my mind, and although I came to think this already 7 years ago, everyone denied it. I was even given drugs without my knowledge. It all came down to trusting myself and accepting what I was experiencing. Slowly I have explored the repercussions that having this ability has had on my life. Consequently, I also began to understand how other people had been using my ablity for their own personal, financial and emotional purposes. As I realized that TV shows were following my daily thoughts and stores began bringing products I had been wishing for, it finally dawned on me that they were not just teasing me, they were actually getting more viewers and selling more products! Everyone seemed to be getting a share of the bounty except me! Brain Ads (via Mind Hacks)

Dork Yearbook Posted: 13 Apr 2009 10:49 AM PDT Joel Johnson has been taking some time off from the A/V club to work on the Dork Yearbook, a collection of poignant photos of riot nrrrds celebrating our geek childhoods. (Did you submit yours?) At top, Project Runway contestant and fashion hacker Diana Eng. Below Diana is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak with one of his science fair projects. As Joel points out, "Dorks always mess with these things in school but it never goes anywhere in real life." Dork Yearbook

Johnny Rex's super-8 movies from Minneapolis' skid row circa 1960 Posted: 13 Apr 2009 12:33 PM PDT Mt. Holly Mayor Mike Haeg says: Visitor's to Minneapolis often remark about how much drinking goes on here. They point out the few remaining buildings with any character downtown (There are really only one half a blocks worth left) and remark, "What happens in there?" but seldom wander inside. And I'm glad. Because, I tend to tipple in these places, to get away from the suits, the college kids, the convention goers, and the suburban sports fans. I enjoy cheap, stiff drinks, earnest conversation, and little or no distraction from either. It's a slice of heaven. If I had a time machine, I would go back to skid row. Perhaps I'd see my grandpa brawling outside The Sourdough. He worked for the railroad. And from what I hear, he liked to get into his cups. Enjoy this little slice of permanent happy hour. I hope it makes you as thirsty as it makes me. Down on Skid Row by Johnny Rex

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