Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Privacy Blocker app for Android spoofs your personal data

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 11:46 PM PDT


Brook Jordan sends word of a fascinating Android app called Privacy Blocker:
Basically what the app does is scans all the applications you have installed. It identifies what data the apps are requesting about your phone and sending. It then will "fix" the privacy issue by replacing that data inside the app with hard coded (bogus) data. So if an app is sending your phone number back to a server, Privacy Blocker will hard code your number as "55544433333". You also have the option to override the default values and make it anything you want.

What it's doing is pretty damn impressive to be honest. The app is very processor intensive when it's "fixing" an app because it's having to decompile, parse the source and then recompile the app on the phone. It's especially processor intensive on large apps like games. The author is a custom ROM developer and a regular on droidforums.net. I'm not a member of droidforums.net and don't know him. However I tracked this thread down when I was trying to validate the app and author for myself. All in all a pretty damn cool app. As a user who is sensitive to privacy this app has me extremely excited, damn near giddy.

Privacy Blocker
 


Styrofoam cloud ring

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 11:43 PM PDT

Microsoft switches off privacy for Hotmail users in war-torn and repressive states

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 11:36 PM PDT

For reasons unknown, Microsoft has changed the settings on Hotmail to disable HTTPS for users in several countries including Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Hotmail users in those countries can now be readily spied upon by ISPs and their governments. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has some good perspective:
Microsoft debuted the always-use-HTTPS feature for Hotmail in December of 2010, in order to give users the option of always encrypting their webmail traffic and protecting their sensitive communications from malicious hackers using tools such as Firesheep, and hostile governments eavesdropping on journalists and activists. For Microsoft to take such an enormous step backwards-- undermining the security of Hotmail users in countries where freedom of expression is under attack and secure communication is especially important--is deeply disturbing. We hope that this counterproductive and potentially dangerous move is merely an error that Microsoft will swiftly correct.

The good news is that the fix is very easy. Hotmail users in the affected countries can turn the always-use-HTTPS feature back on by changing the country in their profile to any of the countries in which this feature has not been disabled, such as the United States, Germany, France, Israel, or Turkey. Hotmail users who browse the web with Firefox may force the use of HTTPS by default--while using any Hotmail location setting--by installing the HTTPS Everywhere Firefox plug-in.

Microsoft Shuts off HTTPS in Hotmail for Over a Dozen Countries
 


Japan Nuclear Crisis: Nancy Grace vs. Science = ZOMGROFL

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 11:05 PM PDT


[Video Link]

I predicted this. But I was joking.

In the clip above: Nancy Grace, my absolute favorite television personality, goes to war with a CNN weatherman over fears that radiation leaked at Fukushima is an imminent mortal threat to people in the continental United States.

The de facto voice of science and reason in this clip is Bernie Rayno, an Accuweather meteorologist. Under barrage by Ms. Grace, he tries to explain there are some 6,000 or so miles between the US and Japan, and that the radioactive particles leaked in Japan pose no immediate danger to America.

Ms. Grace lashes back at this logic with the same tone she typically reserves for murderers, pedophiles and rapists on her show—though, watching the clip again, I wonder if she doesn't loathe "Japanese radiation" even more.

Science reporter Andrew Revkin of the New York Times laments what a pathetic nadir this represents:

The network claims to be about both "news and views." I think the word news should be dropped for now.
Once upon a time, my children, CNN had a science and technology desk. I remember fondly those bygone days.

(via @milesobrien)

CamelCamelCamel

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 04:35 PM PDT

CamelCamelCamel.png This site allows you to track price history and has price drop and price watch alerts. Ever since I discovered it a few weeks ago, I've looked at it before I bought anything on Amazon just to make sure I was at or near a historical low. The price charts are intuitive, and allow you to see highs and lows for the past year, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month. You can set your tracker to include just Amazon.com, 3rd party sellers, or Used. The best part? It's absolutely free. If you need something immediately, there's not a whole lot this can do for you. But, for example, I've had my eye on the MEElectronics M9P headphones. It's currently $15. Hopping on CamelCamelCamel, I can see that historically, it has run at about $23 until early December, took a dive to $15, a dip all the way down to $10 earlier this month, then popped back up to $15. I don't want to pay 50% more than what it was a few weeks ago, so I'll set up the Tracker to notify me by e-mail when it gets back down to $10.

camelchart.jpg

While I've found some bugs, such as hours-behind updating, and while I wish it incorporated shipping costs, it's still allowed me to save cash. More than that, I learned a long time ago I get a great deal of satisfaction from knowing I got a great deal.

CamelCamelCamel give me the data I need. If used car salesmen could hand you data-rich, neutral third-party charts like this every time they told you you were getting a steal, it'd go a long way to negating that sleazy image.

Alas, we can only dream, as it only covers Amazon.com and Newegg, BestBuy, BackCountry and Zzounds.com through sister-sites.

-- Doug Wong

CamelCamelCamel
http://camelcamelcamel.com/

Don't forget to comment over at Cool Tools. And remember to submit a tool!

Anthrax Redux: Did the Feds Nab the Wrong Guy?

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 02:46 PM PDT

ff_anthrax_fbi_f.jpg
Illustration for WIRED by Goñi Montes

Noah Shachtman has an epic, 11,000 word piece in the current issue of Wired Magazine on the biggest case in FBI history. It's a long read, but an amazing one. Here's an intro to the story, from Noah:

For years, FBI agents insisted that they knew exactly who launched the anthrax attacks that killed five people and scared the living hell out of the county in the fall of 2001. Now, the Bureau is admitting for the first time that the case still has major holes.

Days after Army biodefense researcher Bruce Ivins committed suicide, the FBI declared that he was the one who mailed the lethal, spore-filled letters. The combination of ground-breaking science and circumstantial evidence damning Ivins was overwhelming, the Bureau insisted. Then the FBI ended this biggest investigation in its history: a nine-year, thousand-suspect manhunt to track down the anthrax killer.

But in an interview with WIRED, agent Edward Montooth, who headed up the anthrax investigation, acknowledges that he's still unsure of everything from Ivins' motivation to when Ivins brewed up the lethal concoction. "We still have a difficult time nailing down the time frame," Montooth says. "We don't know when he made or dried the spores."

And Montooth isn't alone. The scientists who developed the most convincing evidence against Ivins have even deeper reservations. Paul Keim, who identified the anthrax strain used in the attacks, now tells WIRED, "I don't know if Ivins sent the letters." Claire Fraser-Liggett, who used DNA sequencing to tie the killer spores to an anthrax flask in Ivins' possession, concedes that "there are still some holes."

It's been nearly a decade since the deadliest biological terror attack ever launched on U.S. soil. The manhunt that followed it ruined one scientist's reputation and saw a second driven to suicide. But an in-depth look at the anthrax investigation in this month's WIRED magazine shows that nagging problems remain. Despite the FBI's assurances, it's not at all certain that the government could have ever convicted Ivins of a crime.

Anthrax Redux: Did the Feds Nab the Wrong Guy? (wired.com)

Bisexual romance heats up Dragon Age II

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 02:59 PM PDT

Homophobic (or at least stridently heteronormative) fans of Bioware's Dragon Age II are upset at the game's omnisexual characters, which offer players romantic dalliances regardless of their avatars' sex. After a player requested a "no homosexuality" option, one of the game's writers let him down firmly but gently. The real problem, of course, is that the romances are played out in game-engine CGI, summed up by QT3's Malcolm Tucker as "cringe-inducing gamer-stigmatizing Uncanny Valley evoking boner-annihilators."

SPECIAL FEATURE: Ghost Babies

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 03:54 PM PDT

The traffic in dead babies is booming: daguerreotypes of dead babies, ambrotypes of dead babies, tintypes of dead babies, cartes de visite of dead babies, cabinet cards of dead babies; dead babies from the Victorian era. When Karl Marx wrote of capitalism's "naked self-interest," he never imagined the eBay listing whose description assures, "You are bidding on a cabinet card measuring 8 X 6 inches of a sweet baby in repose after death."

Read the rest



Minecraft wolves

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 02:30 PM PDT

Pet wolves are coming to Minecraft. Extremely cute.

The Golden Dawn: "Evolution" (1968)

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 01:11 PM PDT

[video link]

Friday Freak-Out: The Golden Dawn's "Evolution," from their 1968 album Power Plant.

DIY food: From kimchi to bootleg Nutella

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 10:17 AM PDT

This New York Times primer on DIY food projects will show you how to make your own butter, cheese, corn muffin mix, fancy mustard, and more!

Photo series: dangers of methamphetamine use

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 12:39 PM PDT

methsteve.jpeg

(Via QBN)

Coal plant for sale

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 12:12 PM PDT

Portal Pls Portal Docs 1 568662804
Santee Cooper is selling the design and major components for a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant. The plant was slated for Kingsburg, South Carolina but was cancelled. I heard about this primo investment opportunity from the Sierra Club, who had been actively fighting construction of the plant. The Sierra Club's Sierra Daily have posted an ad from Power Engineering magazine promising that the huge steam turbine and other accoutrements are "priced to move. Quickly." From the sale page at Santee Cooper:
This Unit 1 power block is a coal-fired electric generating unit comprising a nominal 600 MW GE steam turbine, tandem-compound 4-flow single reheat unit with throttle conditions of 3500 psig, 1050°F/1100°F. The Alstom steam generator is rated at approximately 4,650,000 lbs per hour capable of burning bituminous coal only or a combination of bituminous coal and petcoke (up to a 70%/30% blend). Coal pulverizers have significant design margin operating at ~70% for MCR firing...

Included with the block procurement of the equipment listed for sale is the design documentation of the power block. This includes all drawings, specifications, calculations, 3D modeling etc at the stage that currently exists. For sale separately are the continued services of the engineer of record for this design.

"For Sale: One Coal Plant – Priced to Move!" (Sierra Club, thanks, Oril Cotel!)

Power Plant Components and Engineering Package Offered (Santee Cooper)

Clock powered by dead flies

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 11:42 AM PDT


[video link]

This prototype clock, designed by James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau, is powered by dead flies. A conveyor of fly paper catches the insects and then drops them into a microbial fuel cell where they become feedstock for bacteria to consume. As the bacteria munch on the dead flies (or most any organic matter), the chemical energy is converted to electrical energy. The same technology powers the sewage-eating robot I posted about last year and also appears in the video above. (via Daily Grail)

Did Limewire shutdown really cause P2P music infringement to drop 30%?

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 11:22 AM PDT

On Copyfight, Alan Wexelblat picks apart the widely reported story that P2P music sharing dropped 30 percent when Limewire shut down -- pointing out that the drop began two years ago, and Limewire only shut down three months ago. Alan's got some alternate hypotheses for the reported drop in file-sharing.
To cut NPD a small amount of slack here, they do admit that former LimeWire users are moving to other sharing networks. But really, this is just marketing puffery. NPD has no idea what caused the drop in self-reported file sharing over the past three years. Maybe it was that people thought it was an increasingly bad idea to admit that they used LimeWire to random marketers when there was a relentless stream of bad headlines about LimeWire.

Or maybe - and here I think is where there's an interesting story Sandoval might have written - people are sharing music by new means. Look, for example, at music-sharing via Twitter, or how about a video that's over a year old telling people how to share music on social networks?

I like TorrentFreak's take on this, too: if it's true that "music piracy" has dropped 30 percent, then we should have seen some sort of concomitant rise in music sales. And if there wasn't one, well, does that mean the music industry is wrong that "piracy" is the cause of its financial decline?

CNET (and others) Get It Wrong, Miss the Actual Story

 


Disneyland fashion shoot, 1961

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 10:29 AM PDT


This 1961 fashion shoot from Disneyland, "Storybook Fashions," ran as an insert to the April 9, 1961 issue of Midwest Magazine distributed in the Chicago Sun-Times. It features some extremely snazzy duds!

Storybook Fashions (via Dinosaurs and Robots)

116, the precursor to 911?

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 10:44 AM PDT

Voidmstr sez, "I cut this clip from an old PD documentary I found on archive.org, a film made by the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1949. The announcer wants people to literally dial 1-1-6 to report a fire. A few days later it's now a footnote in a Wikipedia article about the history of emergency phone numbers. Does anyone know anything about dialing 1-1-6 and whether I stumbled across something important?"

LAFD Video: Report Fire Promptly! Dial 1-1-6 Or Break the Glass (Thanks, Voidmstr, via Submitterator!)

Japan: new data in town 30km from Fukushima show "1 year's worth of radiation in 1 day"

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 09:57 AM PDT

Officials in Japan just released new data on radiation levels in a town about 30 kilometers northwest of the badly damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant: "If you were outside with no protection, you would hit the annual exposure limit for radiation in about one day." (Mainichi)

At Fukushima nuclear plant, concern and confusion over state of #3 reactor

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 10:39 AM PDT

RTR2KD5D.jpgClick for larger photo. Japan Self Defense Force members in protective clothing prepare to transfer to another hospital workers who were exposed to radiation at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, at a hospital in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan on March 25, 2011. About 300 engineers have been working around the clock to stabilize the six-reactor Fukushima complex since an earthquake and tsunami struck two weeks ago. (REUTERS/Kyodo)

Two of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are now in cold shutdown. That's the good news. The bad news is that Reactor #3, the one that uses recycled fuel, isn't one of them. In fact, it's giving people in Japan some new worries.

The temperature and pressure in the core of that unit are stable now, and the temperature is low enough that the core shouldn't melt any more than it already has, according to the AP. But three workers were burned yesterday when they were exposed to very high levels of radiation in contaminated water, which they'd had to wade through as part of the work of keeping Reactor #3 under control. The doses they received are high, but well below the World Health Organization's limit for worker exposure during emergency situations.

The cause of those elevated radiation levels is the source of a lot of confusion and concern right now. There are several possible causes, but the one that's got people worried is this: The elevated radiation levels in that water could be a sign that there's a physical crack or hole in one of the layers of steel and concrete surrounding either the core, or the spent fuel pool. If that is actually what has happened, it would mean that a lot more radiation is likely to be released compared to what we've already seen, and it would also likely mean that the groundwater has been contaminated.

It's really hard to tell what's going on exactly. The AP and Reuters are giving slightly different accounts of the same information. World Nuclear News says that the fact that pressures and temperatures are stable in Reactor #3 is evidence that the containment probably hasn't been breached. But, again, they're a potentially biased source.

It's a little weird for me to pop on here and tell you that I don't really know what's going on. But I think it's also important to do just that. When the information available isn't as clear, cut-and-dry as the headlines make it sound, you need to know about that. In a nutshell, here's what we do know: There are higher-than-expected radiation levels in one part of Fukushima Daiichi #3. Nobody knows what's causing it yet, but they're working on figuring it out. One of the several possible answers—a breach of the core—would be very bad. Hopefully, that's not what's going on.

Reminder: Cory in LA this weekend

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 06:26 AM PDT


Reminder: I'm in LA this weekend and the nice folks at Dark Delicacies in Burbank (3512 W. Magnolia, 91505) were kind enough to host a signing and reading for me on Sunday, March 27th at 2PM. (I'll also be speaking at Claremont McKenna College's Atheneum series on Mar 30 at 1845h, and it's free and open to the public.)

Now For The Science Bit: A new, promising science blog

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 09:03 AM PDT

There's a new science blog that I'm rather excited about. It's written by scientists, and aimed directly at answering questions, and countering misinformation, that arise from the way science is reported in the mainstream media. Very cool idea. There's only a few posts so far, but it looks quite promising. And Now For the Science Bit

Lifebuoy soap to Rosie the Riveter: You stink!

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 12:24 AM PDT


In this 1944 ad for Lifebuoy soap, an unhappy gal working as a Rosie the Riveter on the war effort can't figure out why her husband doesn't want to go out to the movies with her anymore. She's rescued when she overhears two friends explaining that all the hard work has made her stink. Delighted to learn this, she switches to Lifebuoy and rekindles her relationship with her husband.

We're all sweating more in '44!

 


Google map of the world's nuclear power plants

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 08:38 AM PDT

RINGHALS.jpg

At Nature blogs, Declan Butler has put together a really info-dense mapping of the world's nuclear power plants, using Google Earth. Nifty stuff for anybody whose interest in nuclear power has gone up significantly in recent weeks.

Here's a quick summary of what the map shows:

1. All the world's nuclear power plants are depicted on the map as circles. Their names appear in yellow on browseover, with the size of the circle proportional to their total MW electricity output. I calculated the MW output by summing that of the plant's operational reactors, plus that of those already under construction.

2. Where it gets more interesting is that if you zoom in and then click on a power plant, its circular symbol will open up to show each individual reactor at the plant, with the colour of the circle of each reactor depicting its design (for example, "boiling water reactor"). Then clicking on any reactor will bring up an information panel, giving the reactor's basic technical details, and where available a photograph of the plant, as well as links to recent news stories about the plant.

A major advantage of Google Earth is that it is also easy to overlay other layers of data on top of this base map of nuclear power plants and reactors, so (time permitting) I could envisage, for example, adding such relevant geographical layers as datasets on population density, past significant earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as seismic risk. Let me know what sort of data you would like to see added as supplementary layers.

I can see one useful idea, right off the bat. Butler includes capacity of each plant, in megawatts. But it would be nice to also have some information that would give people a sense of what the capacity really means. If the data is available, it would also be interesting to see what the capacity factors of these plants were—i.e., how much energy they actually produce vs. how much they're rated as being capable of producing.

HOWTO hack frequent flier programs

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:38 PM PDT

In this video from OSCON Ignite, Evan "rabble" Hanshaw-Plath gives a five-minute primer on gaming frequent flier programs to get free flights, perks and bonuses. I actually met Evan on an airplane -- we randomly had adjacent seats on a flight during my last book tour, and I noticed he was wearing a FOO Camp shirt and we struck up a long and interesting conversation.

Ignite OSCON 2010 - Hacking Frequent Flyer Programs (via Joshua)

 


How a nuclear reactor in Florida weathered the storm

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 08:23 AM PDT

After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, a Florida nuclear power plant lost external power for five days. Luckily, in that case, the backup diesel generators were still operational.

A saber-toothed ... herbivore?

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 08:14 AM PDT

sn-dinoteeth.jpg

Saber teeth—the dangerous, vicious-looking cousin of buck teeth—are a pretty rare feature to find in animals. Mostly, the teeth are associated with several species of extinct cats. All of which were meat eaters.

But not all saber-toothed animals were carnivorous. In a paper published this week in the journal Science, a team of Brazilian scientists describe a delightfully strange creature that had both saber teeth ... and a full set of the sort of flat, wide, heavily worn teeth normally associated with animals that spend their lives chewing (and chewing, and chewing) on fibrous plant material. In fact, the only time you normally see teeth like that are in ruminant herbivores, like cows, which eat nothing but plants.

And that's not the only weird thing going here. The scientists have identified the new fossil as an Anomodont—a diverse suborder of creatures that weren't mammals, but had some mammal-like traits. These weren't ancestors of the mammals that exist today. Instead, we simply share a common ancestor. But, when it comes time to imagine with Anomodonts looked like, that relationship leads to some pretty crazy looking illustrations. Like the one above, where you get a thing that looks kind of like a lizard, but with mammal-like skin. It's an idea that's not totally far-fetched. Some other not-quite-mammals related to Anomodonts have been found with imprints of fur.

But back to our friend, the saber-toothed vegetarian sort-of lizard. If this creature ate only plants, then what the hell were those pointy teeth for? This is a point where scientists can only speculate, but the going theory is that this animal's saber teeth (which, notably, lack the serrations found on carnivorous saber teeth) might have been more about self-defense, or a way to fight rivals of the same species. Sort of like the way that bulls use their horns.

Image: Juan Carlos Cisneros

Mr 3D Printing Goes to Washington: free conference for Hill rats on Apr 28

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 12:30 AM PDT

Public Knowledge -- whose white paper on the law and 3D printing is required reading -- is throwing a conference in DC for wonks, policymakers, regulators, staffers and all manner of Hill rat. The event's on April 28, and it's free:
On April 28th at 3D⚡DC, the 3D printing community will descend on Washington, DC to show policymakers what they are up to. Panels will introduce the 3D printing community to the DC policy community, and explore some of the policy issues that this disruptive technology will implicate. During a demonstration phase, you will be able to see this technology in action first hand, and speak one-on-one with people and companies on the cutting edge. Be the first person in your caucus, at your GS level, or on your adult kickball team to see 3D printing live
3D⚡DC: 3D Printing Comes to the Nation's Capitol | Public Knowledge (via Makerbot)
 


Classic arcade game deaths (Boing Boing Video)

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 11:57 AM PDT

[Video link. Music is a cover of Mad World, by Tears for Fears. You can buy the original here.]



Wisconsin GOP uses sunshine laws to harass prof who speculated about links with pressure group

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 09:51 AM PDT


William Cronon is a historian at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison. His work has recently led him into an inquiry into the shift in Republican policy in his state, and he published some preliminary notes linking that change to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC, a conservative pressure group that drafts "model bills" that it promulgates through its members, including many local, state and national legislators; they claim responsibility for Arizona's controversial immigration legislation).

Cronon's speculation about ALEC's link to Wisconsin politics has hit a nerve: for the first time in his career, the chaired, tenured professor has found himself to be the subject of a freedom of information act request from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, seeking the disclosure of any emails relating to Republicans in general, ALEC, various Republican politicians, labor, unions, etc.

Cronon is understandably alarmed: it appears that the Republican party is using sunshine laws to harass scholars who investigate its workings; Cronon points out that the inquiry that the GOP has requested will result in the unlawful disclosure of academic reports on students, as well as confidential (but not improper) discussions with other scholars. He thinks that the GOP is looking for a pretense in his email -- some personal or political communique that violates state rules against using his official email for personal work -- with which to discredit him.

Cronon claims that there is no such skeleton in his closet -- but he still wants to fight the disclosure, on the grounds that it is an improper use of sunshine laws for partisan intimidation.

In the meantime, there's a Streisand Effect aborning: if the Wisconsin Republican Party goes berserk any time someone speculates about a link between it and ALEC, well, perhaps more of us should be looking more closely at whether such a connection exists.

Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom (Thanks, SalJake, via Submitterator)

 


Koch-pranking Beast editor runs for Congress

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 09:54 AM PDT

Ian Murphy, the Beast editor who called up Wisconsin governor Scott Walker pretending to be a Koch brother, is now running as an Green party candidate in a conservative, rural New York district and he's trying to raise money for his campaign. I'm pretty sure that as a dirty foreigner, I'm not allowed to give him any money, otherwise I'd be in for a C-note. The world needs this kind of leadership.

murphy can has congress | The Official Site of Ian Murphy for Congress (Thanks, Steelydan3, via Submitterator!)

 


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