WIPO boss: the Web would have been better if it was patented and its users had to pay license fees Essays on the trap of US student debt Noisolation headphones let your ears blink My "Story About Steve" in Business Week Court threatens sanctions against sleazy copyright troll lawyer Andy Warhol's Apple Macintosh print Epic family zombie-slaying portrait shoot Christa Faust on her new novel Choke Hold -- a Boing Boing Exclusive San Francisco: Festival of Rock Posters this weekend Tempo: transformative, difficult look at advanced decision-making theory Remembering Steve Jobs: how those who covered his life observed his death. Steve Jobs, Enemy of Nostalgia U.S. military drones hit by computer virus Right Here All Over: a short film on Occupy Wall Street by Alex Mallis How to build giant Space Invaders as public art Pictoplasma character design convention in NYC, November 4+5, 2011 Photos of people being terrified in a spook house Road eats car Seattle mayor makes Occupy Seattle "legal" The Black Rider: theatrical musical fable by Burroughs, Waits, and Wilson Occupy San Francisco: eyewitness account Men posed as female pin-ups Wearable bird carrier Morphing fashion models Animation: Vaetxh's "Mass" by Henning M. Lederer No such thing as "neurotypical"? Don't waste your money on alternative flu remedies Dinosaurs & Robots: Art opening in Anchorage, AK Infographic on the history of space launches Brain carved out of a watermelon WIPO boss: the Web would have been better if it was patented and its users had to pay license fees
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 08, 2011 07:58 am Last June, the Swiss Press Club held a launch for the Global Innovation Index at which various speakers were invited to talk about innovation. After the head of CERN and the CEO of the Internet Society spoke about how important it was that the Web's underlying technology hadn't been patented, Francis Gurry, the Director General ...
Read in browser Essays on the trap of US student debt
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 08, 2011 01:11 am Reclamations, a journal published by University of California students, has published a special, timely pamphlet called "Generation of Debt," on the trap of student debt in America. Young people in America are bombarded with the message that they won't find meaningful employment without a degree (and sometimes a graduate degree). Meanwhile, universities have increased their ...
Read in browser Noisolation headphones let your ears blink
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 07, 2011 11:22 pm Composer Alex Braidwood whomped up these awesome "Noisolation Headphones," which are designed to "let your ears blink," and are quite eye-catching, in order to "start a conversation." And if you don't like the conversation they start, you can just shut your ears! The Noisolation Headphones attempt to correct an oversight of our body: our ears ...
Read in browser My "Story About Steve" in Business Week
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 07, 2011 11:06 pm [Video Link] BusinessWeek asked me to write my "Story About Steve." I never met Steve, but I had a story to tell. Here it is. In May 2002 I got a call from my friend Alberta who asked if I'd like to be in an Apple TV commercial. Alberta had a friend who was an ...
Read in browser Court threatens sanctions against sleazy copyright troll lawyer
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 07, 2011 09:18 pm Virginia district court Judge John A. Gibney has threatened to sanction D. Wayne O'Bryan, a personal injury lawyer with a sideline in copyright threats on behalf of pornographers. O'Bryan used subpoenas to get the personal information of people who allegedly downloaded pornographic movies over BitTorrent, then called the accused at home and threatened to sue ...
Read in browser Andy Warhol's Apple Macintosh print
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 08:10 pm This print from Andy Warhol's 1985 Ads Portfolio set of 10 screenprints is on eBay for $400,000, more than 10x what you can get it for elsewhere. If you really want it and have that kind of money burning a hole in your wallet, you might wait a few weeks as Sotheby's has listed a ...
Read in browser Epic family zombie-slaying portrait shoot
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 07, 2011 07:12 pm A crafty family decided to do a series of portraits while dressed in improvised body-armor from a notional post-zombpocalyptic world. I love this little girl's zombie-hunting outfit! When your dear significant other asks you for a family portrait that includes Post Apocalypse zombie slaying, well of course you just smile, nod, and say yes! ChainCrafts ...
Read in browser Christa Faust on her new novel Choke Hold -- a Boing Boing Exclusive
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 07, 2011 06:58 pm Christa Faust has penned numerous crime and horror novels, including the Scribe Award-winning novel version of the cult movie Snakes on a Plane and Edgar Award-Nominated Money Shot. Choke Hold, the standalone follow-up to Money Shot was released on October 4th. When I wrote Money Shot, my hardboiled revenge novel set in the adult film ...
Read in browser San Francisco: Festival of Rock Posters this weekend
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 06:52 pm This Saturday is the Festival of Rock Posters in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Over at the New York Times, our pal Ben Marks talks about some of the fine artists who will be making the scene. One of the headliners is Emek, whose art you can see here. "Where Hard Rock Meets Pop Art" ...
Read in browser Tempo: transformative, difficult look at advanced decision-making theory
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 07, 2011 06:24 pm As I've noted here before, Venkatesh Rao is a thought-provoking, profound thinker, and I always welcome his long, fascinating blog posts. When he sent me a copy of his slim book, Tempo, I was very excited to see it turn up in my mailbox. Tempo is Rao's attempt to formalize many years of study into ...
Read in browser Remembering Steve Jobs: how those who covered his life observed his death.
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 07, 2011 06:13 pm A brief roundup of some of the pieces observing the passing of Steve Jobs, by journalists who covered Apple and Jobs, and peers who knew him. Steven Levy's piece in Wired was beautiful. Levy first interviewed Jobs in the mid-1980s. At the New York Times, John Markoff wrote the obituary. Markoff has been at it ...
Read in browser Steve Jobs, Enemy of Nostalgia
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 07, 2011 06:00 pm Mike Daisey wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times arguing against Jobs hagiography. Some might say "too soon," but it's a compelling piece, with much to think about. The Steve Jobs who founded Apple as an anarchic company promoting the message of freedom, whose first projects with Stephen Wozniak were pirate boxes and ...
Read in browser U.S. military drones hit by computer virus
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 07, 2011 05:47 pm Noah Shachtman at Wired News: "A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones."
Read in browser Right Here All Over: a short film on Occupy Wall Street by Alex Mallis
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 07, 2011 05:40 pm Alex Mallis directed this beautiful short film about Occupy Wall Street.
Read in browser How to build giant Space Invaders as public art
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 07, 2011 05:26 pm I asked Jason Torchinsky, one of my favorite makers/artists, to describe how he built his gigantic Space Invader sculptures for the IndieCade Festival (the international conference festival of independent games taking place October 7-9 in Los Angeles). Jason used the original space invaders shapes as templates and scaled them up to one pixel per square ...
Read in browser Pictoplasma character design convention in NYC, November 4+5, 2011
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 07, 2011 05:00 pm Pictoplasma is an annual conference and festival of contemporary character design and art. It will be held at Tishman Auditorium, November 4+5, 2011. Our pal, Tim Biskup, will be giving a talk there. The Pictoplasma Festival returns to NYC with a dense, extended weekend of inspiring artist presentations, conference lectures, animation screenings, character walk exhibitions, ...
Read in browser Photos of people being terrified in a spook house
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 07, 2011 04:59 pm Niagara Falls, Ontario's Nightmares Fear Factory has a Flickr feed full of visitors being terrorized in its environs. I grew up with the spookhouses of Niagara Falls, and they can be incredibly scary, even the basic Lundy's Lane spookhouse, which is often just a dark maze populated by bored locals with night-vision scopes who whisper ...
Read in browser Road eats car
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 04:59 pm This car fell into a massive hole that suddenly opened up on a busy road between the towns of Woking and Chertsey in Surrey, England. A busted water main caused the road collapse. From an onlooker quoted in GetSurrey News: "There's a car which has been absorbed into the road, it just went in. "The ...
Read in browser Seattle mayor makes Occupy Seattle "legal"
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 07, 2011 04:56 pm "I share the values and the message of the Occupy Wall Street movement. We want to provide the opportunity for the people of Seattle to express their views. And we are." The Mayor of Seattle has given his blessing to "Occupy Seattle" by way of a permit, allowing protestors to occupy a park where demonstrations ...
Read in browser The Black Rider: theatrical musical fable by Burroughs, Waits, and Wilson
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 04:38 pm Settle in for some good ol' fashioned avant-garde theater. You can now view the entire 2+ hour Austrian TV broadcast of "Black Rider," a 1990 collaboration between Tom Waits, William S. Burroughs, and theater director Robert Wilson. (In the video linked to below, the actual performance starts at 07:30.) From UBUWEB: Wilson was largely responsible ...
Read in browser Occupy San Francisco: eyewitness account
By Quinn Norton on Oct 07, 2011 04:27 pm Photo: Quinn Norton At noon on Wednesday, October 5, 2011, #occupysf protestors staged a march starting at their tent city in front of the San Francisco Federal Reserve down Market Street street, to City Hall, and back towards the Financial District by way of the Tenderloin. It was a peaceful and upbeat march with a ...
Read in browser Men posed as female pin-ups
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 04:20 pm Photographer Rion Sabean created a series of "Men-ups!," males posing in stereotypically female model poses. "Men-ups!" (Flickr) Sabean interview (Jezebel)
Read in browser Wearable bird carrier
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 04:16 pm This handsome pack allows you to stroll around with your bird on board. This hands-free, vest-style bird carrier hangs over your shoulders and is constructed of durable mesh fabric that allows good airflow and visibility for your bird. It features a zippered opening on the top and bottom for easy access and includes a removable ...
Read in browser Morphing fashion models
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 04:13 pm The New York Times's T Magazine posted an excellent interactive photo gallery where you control a slider to see how models are transformed with makeup and styling for fashion runways. Seen here, Iris Egbers at Alexander McQueen. Model-Morphosis (Thanks, Joel Johnson!)
Read in browser Animation: Vaetxh's "Mass" by Henning M. Lederer
By David Pescovitz on Oct 07, 2011 04:10 pm Read in browser No such thing as "neurotypical"?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 07, 2011 04:01 pm "The distinction between neurodiverse and neurotypical is too simplistic. There is certainly a great deal of structural variability between individuals, and that's compounded by structural changes that go on across the lifespan. I'm sure [the extent of brain variability is] a lot more than most people realise." — Jon Simons, senior author on a recently ...
Read in browser Don't waste your money on alternative flu remedies
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 07, 2011 03:39 pm What's one of the things Time magazine says you should never waste your money on ever again? Alternative flu remedies—from homeopathic to herbal, there's no evidence that they actually produce results. The one exception: Homemade chicken soup. (Follow that link for a research paper that includes a recipe.)
Read in browser Dinosaurs & Robots: Art opening in Anchorage, AK
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 07, 2011 03:35 pm This Tron-o-saurus is part of Dinosaurs & Robots, a gallery show by artists Scott Elyard and Raven Amos, which opens tonight in Anchorage, Alaska. For more info, check out the video trailer that Elyard made. Via Glendon Mellow, who you should follow for all your science-themed art needs.
Read in browser Infographic on the history of space launches
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 07, 2011 03:22 pm From satellites, to probes, to capsules full of people—humans have launched more than 7000 objects into space. In a nifty infographic at Technology Review, Tommy McCall and Mike Orcutt illustrate reams of data, collected from hundreds of sources, to show how the character of launches has changed over time in different countries. One of the ...
Read in browser Brain carved out of a watermelon
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 07, 2011 02:52 pm Redditor TheHerferd carved this brain out of the rind of a watermelon using a potato peeler and a paring knife. The project took less than an hour and looks great. We've posted about this before: here's a tutorial on making a similar brain, from 2008. (via Neatorama)
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