Monday, November 2, 2009

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

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Review: A bouncy, anti-gravity workout with the new AlterG treadmill

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 11:21 PM PST

AlterG sideview girl.JPGWhen I finished my first half-marathon last month, I experienced what it felt like to run on the ground for two hours. But what is it like to run in a gravity-reduced vacuum? When AlterG offered me the chance to demo their new "anti-gravity" treadmill, I couldn't resist. I jumped in my car and headed over to the gym at UCSF, down in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco. A physical therapist named Chris gave me a rubber tube to wear over my running clothes. It looked like a cross between a wetsuit, a tire, and a tutu, and it had a giant zipper going across the top. He told me to step up onto the ramp and then zipped me into the giant rubber veil that covered what otherwise looked like a pretty ordinary treadmill. The AlterG is no ordinary treadmill, though. It is a super fancy, super-expensive treadmill that isolates the lower body in a vacuum and literally takes off percentages of your body weight using technology developed by NASA. It's meant to help disabled, overweight, and injured people get a solid cardio workout without putting a strain on their limbs, but at this particular gym anybody can sign up to buy time on the machine in 30-minute increments. The AlterG uses air pressure to create the sensation of lost weight — the machine can reduce your body weight by up to 80%, making you feel like you're floating, flying, or bouncing on clouds.

By pushing arrow buttons on the treadmill screen, I was able to change my body weight percentage — air would blow into the vacuum that surrounded my legs, and the tutu-wetsuit became tighter, essentially lifting my body off the ground and making my legs float backwards into a naturally wider gait. It gave me a wedgie, and I could feel my thighs sweating from the tight seal, but none of that mattered. This was so much more fun than normal running! I ran on the AlterG for about fifteen minutes, happily romping through the clouds at a 7.5 min/mile, a near-impossible feat for the ordinary me. I felt like a gazelle.

I didn't realize just how much fun I was having in 20% gravity until my time was up. Chris deflated the air around my legs, unzipped me from the machine, and asked me to step down. As I lugged my now-impossibly heavy legs down from the treadmill ramp, I realized just how heavy I really was. My legs felt like elephants, and my spirits sunk so low that I wondered if I was suffering from a temporary depression.

So why can't all of us work out like this all the time if it's better for our bodies and more fun than real running? Maybe because the thing costs $24,500. And before the new version, the M300, was introduced last Monday, its predecessor cost $75,000. The New York Knicks and J-Lo have been known to work out on the AlterG, but it's unlikely to end up in my fitness room (what fitness room?) anytime soon. Let's not forget, our basic Bowflex costs about a grand, and we can all run for free outdoors.



Speaking in Cambridge, Sheffield this week

Posted: 02 Nov 2009 02:46 AM PST

I'm giving two talks in the UK this week -- the first in Cambridge, as part of the Arcadia Seminar, held at Robinson College; the second is at Sheffield, as part of the DocFest premiere of RIP: A Remix Manifesto, a documentary on copyfighting and art that features some interviews with me. Hope to see you at them!
Cambridge: 3 November 2009, 6PM
Arcadia Seminar: 3rd Nov. "Thinking Like a Dandelion: Cory Doctorow on copyright, Creative Commons and creativity"
Umney Theatre, Robinson College, Cambridge. Please email mh569@cam.ac.uk if you are planning to attend.

Sheffield: 5 November 2009, 4PM-6PM
RiP! A Remix Manifesto
Showroom 1, Sheffield DocFest (tickets)



3D printed ban-hammer

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 10:26 PM PST


Chris sez, "I made a thing! This thing did not exist before I decided to make it. John Young called out to me from his universe, 'Make me a Ban Hammer!' So after a little 3D modeling and research, I conjured into existence the worlds only real Ban Hammer. If you are so able and inclined, you can print your own with the instructions given here."

Sisters and brothers, these are the first days of a new golden age of kipple.

Ban Hammer: 3D printed (Thanks, Chris!)

Previously:


Monster-skin rug Hallowe'en costume

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 10:22 PM PST


Sarah sez, "This Halloween my costume was inspired by Longoland's Monster Skin Rug (which I think is just so awesome). I thought you'd get a kick out of seeing some pics -- I called it the Longo Monster and got 3rd place for "Scariest Costume" at the 13th Annual North Halsted Halloween Parade here in Chicago. I spent the whole night getting hugged by strangers who thought it was adorable :) The body is a mechanic's jumpsuit covered in scales cut from white fleece."

Longo Monster -- costume inspired by Longoland rug (Thanks, Sarah!)

Anatomical latex Hallowe'en mask

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 10:13 PM PST


Penfold sez, "As a student of medicine and biomedical engineering, I enjoy the chance to make something a little creepy for Hallowe'en. The link shows a homemade anatomically correct latex-moulded mask of the musculature of the human face, as well as an unhappy pumpkin with an exposed brain. Feliz dia de los muertos!"

Hallowe'en 2009 (Thanks, Penfold!)

Previously:


The real HAL 9000

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 08:58 PM PST

An IBM sings Daily Bell in 1961. Fails to descend into madness. More! [YouTube]

Vader and Death Star pregnancy costume

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 09:46 PM PST

Heavy illegal downloaders buy more music

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 07:07 AM PST

A new British independent poll conducted by Ipsos Mori concluded that the people who do the most illegal downloading also buy the most music. This is in line with many other studies elsewhere and is easy to understand: people who are music superfans do more of everything to do with music: they see more live shows, listen to more radio, buy more CDs, buy more botlegs of live shows, buy more t-shirts, talk about music more, do more downloading -- all of it.

And of course, these are the people the music industry's supergeniuses have set their sights upon for bizarre enforcement regimes like the one that British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has promised: anyone who lives in a house that generates three or more copyright infringement notices will be barred from Internet access.

"The latest approach from the Government will not help prop up an ailing music industry. Politicians and music companies need to recognise that the nature of music consumption has changed, and consumers are demanding lower prices and easier access," said Peter Bradwell, from the think-tank Demos, which commissioned the new poll conducted by Ipsos Mori.

However, music industry figures insist the figures offer a skewed picture. The poll suggested the Government's plan to disconnect illegal downloaders if they ignore official warning letters could deter people from internet piracy, with 61 per cent of illegal downloaders surveyed admitting they would be put off downloading music illegally by the threat of having their internet service cut off for a month.

"The people who file-share are the ones who are interested in music," said Mark Mulligan of Forrester Research. "They use file-sharing as a discovery mechanism. We have a generation of young people who don't have any concept of music as a paid-for commodity," he continued. "You need to have it at a price point you won't notice."

Illegal downloaders 'spend the most on music', says poll (Thanks, Libbi!)
Previously:


Scenting the Dark: outstanding debut short story collection from Mary Robinette Kowal, exploring our relationship to technology and each other

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 09:42 AM PST

"Scenting the Dark," Mary Robinette Kowal's debut short story collection is slim and spare and eminently satisfying. Kowal writes science fiction that uses our relationship to technology to expose our relationships to one another. Kowal is one of science fiction's most celebrated new writers, a winner of the Campbell Award for best new writer and a current Hugo nominee, all on the strength of her short fiction (she has two novels forthcoming from Tor), and it's easy to see why.

For me, the standout story here was Jaiden's Weaver, a tale that combines the astronomical reality of life on a ringed planet with a subtle and moving coming-of-age story. Like the other stories in this volume, it epitomizes Kowal's gift for using rigorous science fiction as a lever for prying open the subjective reality of the people who inhabit the futuristic world of now.

"Scenting the Dark" is a slim, handsomely made hardcover volume from the specialist house Subterranean Press, a great gift and a great treasure for yourself.

Be sure to check out Kowal's website for readings of her work (she's a talented and accomplished voice actor and puppeteer -- she read my story After the Siege for Subterranean's podcast), free downloads (she's a copyfighter, too!), and other supplementary material.

Scenting the Dark and Other Stories


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