The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Farewell, father of Cheez Doodles
- Secret knock-detecting mechanical iris project
- Tim and Eric: The Blues Brothers 2012
- Newsweek bought for a buck by hi-fidelity tycoon
- Indonesian parliament pwned by porn
- San Francisco: Machinations art show, with Pesco moderating panel Tuesday
- Albino raccoon
- My favorite makers at Maker Faire Detroit
- Koreans! How to swear in English (NSFW)
- Telenoid R1 robot plumbs new depth of uncanny valley
- Handgun bluetooth earpiece project
- Slow motion video of things being destroyed
- Indonesia finds it hard to rub out internet porn
- Hitler finds out about the most extensive collection of Hitler emoticons ever
- RIAA, FBI issuing takedown requests for Radiohead's "In Rainbows"
- Cyber-stasi firm "Project Vigilant" among those recruiting at Defcon hacker conference
- Financial Times chief sees paywalls as 'morally' necessary to protect journalism
- Arduino: The Documentary, the trailer
- The Oregon Trail: The Movie
- What it's really like to work in a music store (a series of superb reality-comedy videos)
- Which chem suit is right for you?
- Jailbreak your iPhone 4
- Shades of Milk and Honey: Kowal's debut novel is a drawing-room romance with magic and art
| Farewell, father of Cheez Doodles Posted: 02 Aug 2010 10:20 PM PDT  We lost one of the greats today: Morrie Robert Yohai, better known as "Mr. Cheez Doodles." He was born in Harlem in 1920, "one of four children of Robert and Mary Habib Yohai, Jewish immigrants from Turkey," reports the NYT. During his career, he became vice president of the division of Borden that made Cracker Jacks. "One of his duties, he said, was sitting around a table with other executives and choosing which tiny toys would be stuffed into Cracker Jack boxes." Later in life, Mr. Yohai studied Torah and Jewish mysticism. He died on July 27 of cancer, at age 90.
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| Secret knock-detecting mechanical iris project Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:47 PM PDT Over at the Submitterator, BFarn tells of his excellent maker-meld of "Chris Schaie's beautiful Mechanical Iris, Steve Hoefer's Secret Knock detecting Arduino code, and an engraving made with my scratch-built CNC-Router to make the entrance to my garage/workshop/lab a bit more special." Mechanical Iris on the Boing Boing Bazaar
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| Tim and Eric: The Blues Brothers 2012 Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:38 PM PDT  So this is what them Mayans was warning us about! Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are reportedly hard at work on Blues Brothers 2012. That's right. With Terminix. And in 3D. Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ, yes I see the light. (Photo courtesy Shannon Cottrel, LA Weekly / Thanks, Tim Heidecker!)
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| Newsweek bought for a buck by hi-fidelity tycoon Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:52 PM PDT The beleaguered American magazine Newsweek has been saved from imminent demise by 91-year-old audio equipment tycoon Sidney Harman. He is reported to have purchased the title last night from the Washington Post Company for the token price of one U.S. dollar (he also assumes Newsweek's liabilities). No word yet on whether Harman's ever heard of the internet. Incidentally, his wife is Democratic California congresswoman Jane "never met a wiretap or a war she didn't like" Harman. |
| Indonesian parliament pwned by porn Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:08 PM PDT As noted earlier today, the government of Indonesia recently commanded ISPs to block all internet porn within the country by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan—August 11— or else. Today, some sneaky prankster managed to broadcast hardcore porn inside the Parliament, during government sessions. "The X-rated footage was visible to staff and journalists for 15 minutes before security staff were able to turn off the stream, local media report. The TVs are used to provide information on the day's political schedule." (thanks, Antinous!) |
| San Francisco: Machinations art show, with Pesco moderating panel Tuesday Posted: 02 Aug 2010 08:38 PM PDT  This is the exquisite work of artists Jeremy Mayer, Benjamin Cowden, and Nemo Gould. The three are part of an incredibly-creative collective called Applied Kinetic Arts, formed several years ago to cultivate collaboration and awareness of artists who make work "incorporating motion, light, sound, and interactivity." Mayer, Cowden, and Gould are showing their work right now at Claude Lane Gallery in San Francisco. Above: Jeremy Mayer's "Bust IV." Below, Benjamin Cowden's "A Series of Arbitrary But Passionate Decisions" and Nemo Gould's "Albert." The show, titled Machinations, runs until August 21. I was honored that they invited me to moderate an artist discussion tomorrow (Tuesday, 8/3) from 6 to 8pm at the gallery. All of the pieces can also be viewed, but certainly not experienced, at the gallery's site. Featuring the distinctive elements of re-use transformational sculpture while exploring human interaction and objectification. "Machinations," is a cunning reference to the shifting and subjective definition of what constitutes art. A variety of kinetic based art will be on display—ranging from whimsical creatures and life size scupltures crafted from twisted metal bits, to interactive machines.Machinations (Thanks, Gareth Branwyn!)
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| Posted: 02 Aug 2010 08:45 PM PDT This friendly face is an albino raccoon caught Thursday in West Knox County, Knoxville. Randy Wolfe, owner of a business called Varmint Busters Wildlife Management Services (!!!), says this is the fourth one he's nabbed in more than two decades. Sadly, they killed the lovely critter. From Knoxville News Sentinel: "Rare albino raccoon captured in West Knox"
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| My favorite makers at Maker Faire Detroit Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:55 PM PDT  I was in Detroit this past weekend for Maker Faire Detroit 2010. It was held at the Henry Ford Museum (look for an upcoming post about this incredible museum) and I'm guessing 20,000 people showed up. There was a great deal of excitement and energy in the air, and I went home with the feeling that Detroit is going to rise to greatness again very soon. I met a lot of terrifically inventive makers in Detroit, and I managed to take photos of a small fraction of them. These three boys are about to enter 6th grade. They demonstrated their Blackjack dealer robot, which sensed the presence of players sitting at a table and dealt cards to them. It worked flawlessly, and won first prize in a Robotics competition held by the US Army RDECOM (I served as a judge in the competition). Chad Chenier showed off his home-built chicken farming equipment, including a chicken tractor and his "Easy Chicken Plucker" made from a cheap drill, a PVC endcap, and the ends of 3 rubber bungee cords.
TV-B-Gone magnate Mitch Altman taught a nightmarish giant-headed Henry Ford how to solder.
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| Koreans! How to swear in English (NSFW) Posted: 02 Aug 2010 03:00 PM PDT This video is totally pickled. [via DF]
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| Telenoid R1 robot plumbs new depth of uncanny valley Posted: 02 Aug 2010 12:51 PM PDT  The appeal of the Telenoid R1 robot cannot be denied (otherwise it will sneak into your bedroom at night and kill you). (Via Pink Tentacle)
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| Handgun bluetooth earpiece project Posted: 02 Aug 2010 12:21 PM PDT   The Mayor of Mt. Holley says: "Inspired by the Retro Wireless Handset project from Make Vol. 20, I decided to mod a Bluetooth earpiece for my phone out of a kid's plastic toy gun." He adds, "I've been debating on painting it to look like a real gun." Handgun Bluetooth Earpiece Project
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| Slow motion video of things being destroyed Posted: 02 Aug 2010 12:14 PM PDT James Gurney says: "Did you ever wonder what happens in slow motion when a martial arts expert whacks his hand against a stack of bricks? The fingers flex alarmingly." You'll also see what happens when an egg is dropped on a mousetrap, and a water balloon is thrown with force at a person. Things being destroyed very slowly
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| Indonesia finds it hard to rub out internet porn Posted: 02 Aug 2010 11:42 AM PDT "It's really a hard thing to do in technical terms. For me, it's almost an impossible task."—Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association member Valens Riyadi. He and fellow ISPs are tasked with banning internet porn in the predominantly Muslim country "by Ramadan or else." |
| Hitler finds out about the most extensive collection of Hitler emoticons ever Posted: 02 Aug 2010 11:35 AM PDT Sean Bonner has gathered what may well be the most comprehensive index of Hitler emoticons ever seen on the internet. |
| RIAA, FBI issuing takedown requests for Radiohead's "In Rainbows" Posted: 02 Aug 2010 11:13 AM PDT  TorrentFreak reports that the RIAA and FBI are sending takedown notices to people sharing Radiohead's "self-released" album "In Rainbows," which was released in MP3 form at the time for whatever fans wanted to pay (though there were some oddly conflicting messages later from the band's management). Mike at Techdirt writes, "TorrentFreak notes, accurately, that Radiohead did do deals with major labels for distribution of the physical album of In Rainbows, but I was pretty sure they kept the copyrights themselves. Perhaps that's not the case?" (Full disclosure: the album remains one of my fave of all time. —XJ)
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| Cyber-stasi firm "Project Vigilant" among those recruiting at Defcon hacker conference Posted: 02 Aug 2010 11:20 AM PDT  Via the Submitterator, Boing Boing reader Trotsky points to some news from the recent Defcon hacking conference in Las Vegas: "Project Vigilant says they hope to add 1,300 new employees by 2011 to help profile and identify 'adversaries.' One of their better known and longstanding 'adversary characterizers?' Adrian Lamo. A press release says the organization tracks more than 250 million IP addresses a day and can 'develop portfolios on any name, screen name or IP address."
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| Financial Times chief sees paywalls as 'morally' necessary to protect journalism Posted: 02 Aug 2010 10:35 AM PDT  In making "the commercial and moral case for newspaper paywalls," the Financial Times' John Ridding points out that people do pay for access to high quality journalism such as his organization produces. Interviewer Roy Greenslade of The Guardian concludes with this: But he clearly backs all such moves and concludes our conversation with a sharp observation about the digital revolutionaries who have argued that "information wants to be free." It is, he says, "an absurd notion."A "sharp observation?" It isn't. Few ever cite this ancient, shopworn slogan except entertainment executives and fellow travelers in need of an easy zinger. Ridding has no-one to attribute it to, so his usage of it gives the impression that he's not arguing entirely in good faith. Taken in the economic context of the rest of the interview, it makes him appear ignorant of the fact market forces, not the opinions of free culture advocates, are what's hurting his traditional industry. Not a smart impression to give, even if you are turning a profit. Perhaps the 'case' here, however, is actually intended to service similar prejudices in his audience about how the internet works. I.W.T.B.F. is so inherently empty of meaning when context-shifted that defensive critics can't resist wheeling it out: If the audience believes that newspapers are really under threat from inane news-pirating bloggers, it's easier to conceptually link paywalls to quality as well as revenue. An interesting part of this is that it makes typical objections to paywalls -- how will people link in? how will people share it? -- read like appeals to vulgar popularity. Wouldn't you rather be in on the exclusive? But there are practical consequences for the silo: sealed-off from the internet and social networks, it can make money, but it's no longer part of the web. It loses influence and public accountability in proportion to its inaccessibility. It trades established guidelines for avoiding advertiser influence in favor of being directly financially tied to readers' own expectations and prejudices. That may certainly be preferable to readers, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out how superficial a 'moral' improvement it could end up in practice. The really ingenious part, however, is that if you take Ridding's use of the term 'information' literally rather than as a proxy for journalism, it hints at a competitive advantage the FT has already established. A successful paywall reinforces the notion that information monopolies and the quality journalism that result are more valuable as private services for professional and cultural elites than as something you might read for free on a train. There's nothing wrong with that -- think LexisNexis. But this isn't a case for paywall journalism: it's a clever escape hatch for a screwed business model. Take, for example, what happens when the product is of little interest to niche customers and commands no premium over competitors. Ridding finds himself unable to be "drawn into talking on other publishers' initiatives" when asked to comment on the 90% traffic drop suffered at the now-paywalled Times. A moral case for paywall is also presented: subscriptions make newspapers less reliant on advertising for revenue, and therefore more independent from them. But just as many won't see through the "Information wants to be free" hogwash, they won't know that even with paywalls, the FT will still depend on advertisers for money: "Reach 12 million executives!". Print was always overwhelmingly reliant on ad revenue. To newspapers, cover price and subscriptions exist not to generate a bulwark against advertiser influence but to increase the value of advertising space. Paid circulation is more valuable to advertisers because it means someone paid to look at their ads. "If you have an audience that is paying for your journalism they are engaged and that is an important message for advertisers," Ridding said in an earlier interview. So much for the "morally abhorrent" formula of advertiser dependence that paywalls will free his paper from. Paid circulation might not command ten times the ad rate (bad luck, Rupert!) but if the FT can make a go of it, good for the FT. But let's not pretend that this is about whether information wants to be free: it's about how effectively the Financial Times can control the information it sells to readers.
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| Arduino: The Documentary, the trailer Posted: 02 Aug 2010 10:06 AM PDT I see a lot of familiar faces in this upcoming documentary about Arduino, the open source microcontroller system that is the basis for thousands of neat DIY projects. [Submitterated by alphabomb]
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| Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:45 AM PDT You have died of dysentery: "In 1864, a family embarks on an impossible journey into the untamed American West. Based on the classic educational computer game, The Oregon Trail by MECC." YouTube Link. Created by HalfDayToday. [Submitterated by Rev. Benjamin]
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| What it's really like to work in a music store (a series of superb reality-comedy videos) Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:51 AM PDT Tara McGinley points us to this seemingly real series of funny videos on YouTube documenting the Kafkaesque hell that is the daily life of a music store employee. It's all the creation of a YouTube vlogger named Avery Ellis, aka "Mostly Harmless." He lives and plays music in Alabama, in a band called The Exhibits. Guy's a genius. Dangerous Minds has collected a series of his videos for you to enjoy here.
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| Which chem suit is right for you? Posted: 02 Aug 2010 09:29 AM PDT  Susannah Breslin writes, The google meta description for this website reads, "Which suit is right for you?" I am fond of the Tychem TK710 Chemical Hood, and the baby wrap.
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| Posted: 02 Aug 2010 07:17 AM PDT  The iPhone Dev Team released a jailbreak for iPhone4 over the weekend, authored by Comex. For a taste of free-ishdom, go to the site with your iPhone and let it do its work. A jailbreak is simply the ability to run apps and use themes and tweaks not approved by Apple. Jailbreaking doesn't slow down your device or use any extra battery, and is fully reversible (just restore in iTunes). A jailbreak lets your device be how you want it.It's easy to go back, too. Just plug in your iPhone and revert the system to your latest backup using iTunes. JailbreakMe 2.0 [JailBreakMe]
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| Shades of Milk and Honey: Kowal's debut novel is a drawing-room romance with magic and art Posted: 02 Aug 2010 11:24 AM PDT  Shades of Milk and Honey is the hotly anticipated debut novel from Mary Robinette Kowal, who has already made a name for herself in science fiction with a series of outstanding short stories. It's a Regency drawing-room romance, told in pitch-perfect style, with one important difference: these mannered and well-bred nobles are able to do magic. By conjuring "folds from the ether," well-brought-up men and women are able to create optical illusions -- or even breezes and smells -- though such workings are quite exhausting and too much conjuring can leave the practicioner comatose, brain-damaged or dead. Kowal's lively romance tells the story of two grown sisters: Jane, a spinster at 28, is the ugly duckling of the family, but she makes up for her sallow skin and disharmonious features with her talents in genteel arts, from painting and pianoforte to conjuring up beautiful and vivid glamours using the ether. Her younger sister, Melody, is the family beauty, courted by men all around the Dorset countryside. Father is a warm but distant presence, while Mother is a bedridden neurasthenic hypochondriac who grasps and climbs the social ladder, hoping to ingratiate herself with the viscountess next door (and possibly marry Melody off to her nephew, a dashing captain in His Majesty's Navy). Shades of Milk and Honey does an incredibly cunning job of working magic into this well-worn scenario, breathing fresh life into the stifling mannerist drawing-rooms of these propriety-bound gentlemen and ladies without ever losing the authentic feel of a Regency love-story. And this is a love-story and a rather glorious one at that. The suitors, belles, and chaperones dance around each other as the gravity-wells of a good heart, artistic talent, and physical beauty send them careening around, one against another. Kowal's first novel is a beautifully told story of being true: true to love, true to family, and true to art, even when it seems that one of them must give. It's a marvellous and promising debut, and hints at more wonders to come. A video trailer for the book follows.
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Wolfe said because of an overpopulation of raccoons and the presence of raccoon-strain rabies in East Tennessee, TWRA regulations forced him to euthanize the albino raccoon. Raccoons can carry diseases harmful to humans and other mammals, including rabies, parvo and raccoon roundworm.
Not only are you laughing at the "musicians" testing out instruments at the store, but when this guy makes his cameo appearance, the look on his face will have you in tears. He doesn't have to say anything at all and it's side-splitting. When you make eye-contact, you know what he's thinking!
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