Privacy groups, activists and journalists call on Skype to document its privacy practices Hollywood gets science wrong — and that's okay Lessig on AaronSw, the lecture Gamification of Looting A bizarre Steve Jobs "Groucho" photo and the story behind it Fan fixes Aliens: Colonial Marines' amateurish game trailer German court awards damages for loss-of-Internet, says net is "crucial part of people's economic living standards" 10,000 crocodiles escape Shuttered online game Glitch gets new life in the Creative Commons Britons rejoice! The Foglios' Agatha H books come to the UK Coachella 2013 lineup announced Aaron's Army Person posts question to Tim O'Reilly believing he's Bill O'Reilly Darth Vader returns to CNN Scotland enlists Shetland Ponies in Cardigans to compel you to visit Scotland Why is the One Laptop Per Child color scheme white and green? When it comes to cloud data, Google tells the Feds to come back with a warrant Watch these crazy hamsters demonstrate how centrifugal force works Dog walks cattle Kickstarter for film about man with muscular dystrophy looking for love online Susan Crawford should run the FCC! The crazy world of engagement ring financing Secret exterior door with remote control lock Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (review) German soldiers develop left breasts Smirnoff advertisement with DJ rivals Newport cigarette ads for sheer WTFness J.J. Abrams to direct new Star Wars movie How to eat an elephant Sexy computer art, circa 1956 HOWTO make a DIY bioprinter out of an old inkjet Privacy groups, activists and journalists call on Skype to document its privacy practices
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 25, 2013 12:13 pm A coalition of journalists, privacy advocates, and Internet activists have published an open letter to Skype and Microsoft, calling on them to "publicly document Skype's security and privacy practices" in a Transparency Report: 1. Quantitative data regarding the release of Skype user information to third parties, disaggregated by the country of origin of the request, ...
Read in browser Hollywood gets science wrong — and that's okay
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 25, 2013 12:08 pm Sidney Perkowitz is a physics professor at Emory University, and the author of several books that blend science and pop culture, including Hollywood Science: Movies, Science, and the End of the World. Seth Shostak is a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and a science advisor to multiple films, including Contact and the 2008 re-make ...
Read in browser Lessig on AaronSw, the lecture
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 25, 2013 12:04 pm Larry Lessig will give a lecture on the law and Aaron Swartz. Details to come.
Read in browser Gamification of Looting
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 25, 2013 12:03 pm Tim Maughan sez, "I've been wanting to thank all the BB readers that checked out my book Paintwork after Cory reviewed it last year - and what better way than some free stuff. Here's my gamification of looting story Limited Edition - which has been shortlisted for the BSFA award - over on New Scientist's ...
Read in browser A bizarre Steve Jobs "Groucho" photo and the story behind it
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 25, 2013 10:42 am John Brownlee tells the story of "a photograph of Steve Jobs so incredible, so deserved of being considered iconic, that you simply can't believe that no one has ever even heard of it."
Read in browser Fan fixes Aliens: Colonial Marines' amateurish game trailer
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 25, 2013 09:21 am After years of waiting, Alien fans were shocked yesterday by the appalling state of the trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Badly-acted and terribly-scripted, it made the forthcoming game look amateurish and cheesy; the project's lead writer immediately and publicly disowned it. But what a difference a day makes: Rock Paper Shotgun reader UberWaz remixed the ...
Read in browser German court awards damages for loss-of-Internet, says net is "crucial part of people's economic living standards"
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 25, 2013 09:12 am A case before the German Federal Court of Justice has ended with a man being awarded damages for an erroneous Internet disconnection by his ISP. He sued on the grounds that being deprived of the Internet resulted in economic harm, and the court agreed: But the plaintiff is entitled to compensation for the lost DSL ...
Read in browser 10,000 crocodiles escape
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 25, 2013 08:57 am A many as 10,000 crocodiles are "on the loose" in South Africa following floods on the Limpopo river. [Reuters]
Read in browser Shuttered online game Glitch gets new life in the Creative Commons
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 25, 2013 08:42 am The death of massively multiplayer games, reliant on expensive infrastructure to stay alive, is more final than most. But doomed worlds can enjoy an afterlife in the Creative Commons: the developers of Glitch, shuttered only a few weeks ago, have made the game's artwork and other components freely available. A hardcover book collecting the best ...
Read in browser Britons rejoice! The Foglios' Agatha H books come to the UK
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 25, 2013 05:17 am I've previously reviewed Phil and Kaja Foglios' Agatha H books, these being prose adaptations of their spectacular, award-winning Girl Genius comics. Now, the UK's Titan Books has brought out the first two novels in handsome paperback editions, reasonably priced for all to enjoy. The transition from comic to print works surprisingly well. While the action ...
Read in browser Coachella 2013 lineup announced
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 25, 2013 01:16 am The artist lineup has just been announced for the annual Coachella music and arts festival in the California desert. Wu Tang Clan, Jurassic 5, Sigur Rós, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Father John Misty, Beardyman, Café Tacvba, 3Ball MTY—should be a good one for all who can make it out there. I'll be home ...
Read in browser Aaron's Army
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 25, 2013 01:03 am At a memorial for Aaron Swartz in San Francisco tonight at Internet Archive (live video stream here), Carl Malamud spoke about the late activist and developer. Aaron was part of an army of citizens that believes democracy only works when the citizenry are informed, when we know about our rights—and our obligations. An army that ...
Read in browser Person posts question to Tim O'Reilly believing he's Bill O'Reilly
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 25, 2013 12:52 am Someone posts a question about the electoral process; Tim replies: "I think you must think you're talking to Bill O'Reilly, not Tim O'Reilly the technical publisher, but I'll take a stab at it anyway." The user remains confused. (HT: @torrez)
Read in browser Darth Vader returns to CNN
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 25, 2013 12:48 am The voice of James Earl Jones is back at CNN, intoning "This is CNN" in Vaderesque baritone. "Its restoration was a symbolic first act by Jeff Zucker, the new chief executive of CNN Worldwide, whose first official day on the job was Monday," reports Brian Stelter at the NYT.
Read in browser Scotland enlists Shetland Ponies in Cardigans to compel you to visit Scotland
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 25, 2013 12:43 am Okay. I surrender to our fuzzy, sweater-bedecked pony overlords. (HT: @katiezez)
Read in browser Why is the One Laptop Per Child color scheme white and green?
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 25, 2013 12:25 am Negroponte tells all. The short version: because Nigeria.
Read in browser When it comes to cloud data, Google tells the Feds to come back with a warrant
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 24, 2013 10:42 pm Google's latest transparency report reveals that the company has refused to turn over stored email to law enforcement unless a warrant is presented. The ancient Electronic Communications Privacy Act assumes that any file stored on a server for more than six months is abandoned and can be requested without a warrant, and Congress has refused ...
Read in browser Watch these crazy hamsters demonstrate how centrifugal force works
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 24, 2013 09:36 pm Why is it that these hamsters playing on a spinning contraption are so entertaining?
Read in browser Dog walks cattle
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 24, 2013 09:29 pm In Japan, this dog helps his owner walk the cattle every morning.
Read in browser Kickstarter for film about man with muscular dystrophy looking for love online
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 24, 2013 09:11 pm Kickstarter for a film described as the story of "two people with muscular dystrophy who go on a hilarious first date.
Read in browser Susan Crawford should run the FCC!
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 24, 2013 09:00 pm Andrew Rasiej sez, "If you're disappointed in the speed, quality, and cost of broadband service in the US you should learn about Susan Crawford who is the greatest US expert on the state of broadband and how the Federal Communications Commission has failed to properly regulate and spur competition or innovation in the marketplace. She ...
Read in browser The crazy world of engagement ring financing
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 24, 2013 08:46 pm Gerri Detweiler of credit.com has an article about sleazy engagement ring financing. [H]ere is what some of the major jewelry stores are currently advertising. With all of these plans, if you make one late payment or fail to pay the balance in full during the promotional period, interest will be charged from the date of ...
Read in browser Secret exterior door with remote control lock
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 24, 2013 08:09 pm Matt Richardson says: "I've seen plenty of secret doors on the interiors of houses, but never an secret exterior door." (Via Boing Boing Community on G+)
Read in browser Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (review)
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 24, 2013 07:19 pm Last week, my wife started reading Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. She couldn't put it down. I was sick in bed with the flu, and was looking for anything that would distract me from feeling sorry for myself, so I got the Kindle version. The story was so enthralling that I sometimes forgot I was sick ...
Read in browser German soldiers develop left breasts
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 24, 2013 07:01 pm The German Herald reports that men serving in the elite Wachbataillon unit of the German army are developing breasts on their left pectorals. A doctor who is treating the men says that their trademark close-order drill is at fault, as it has the men repeatedly, violently slamming their guns into the left side of their ...
Read in browser Smirnoff advertisement with DJ rivals Newport cigarette ads for sheer WTFness
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 24, 2013 06:15 pm Jesse Thorn says: "My friend Oliver Wang (proprietor of Soul Sides and prof at CSULB) wrote this great little thing." At first glance, this image of a DJ working the turntables, with a cleavage-baring admirer looking on, seems uncomplicated: Smirnoff promises a fun, sexy time. However, a closer examination of the mise en scéne yields ...
Read in browser J.J. Abrams to direct new Star Wars movie
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 24, 2013 06:07 pm The Wrap: "J.J. Abrams will direct the next "Star Wars" film for Disney, taking stewardship of one of Hollywood's most iconic and lucrative film franchises, an individual with knowledge of the production told TheWrap."
Read in browser How to eat an elephant
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 24, 2013 06:00 pm Millions of calories, one thick skin.
Read in browser Sexy computer art, circa 1956
By David Pescovitz on Jan 24, 2013 05:19 pm Sometime between 1956-1958 an unknown IBM employee wrote a punchcard program that displayed the above pin-up girl on the screens of the US military's two billion dollar Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) computers. Some say that the program was a diagnostic tool that showed the pin-up as a data transfer test. Others contend that it was ...
Read in browser HOWTO make a DIY bioprinter out of an old inkjet
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 24, 2013 04:55 pm Instructables author Patrik has rigged up a homemade bioprinter, a 3D printer that "prints" in biological material.
Read in browser Meet SparkTruck, an “educational build-mobile” for the twenty-first century.
Dreamed up by a group of Stanford d.school students and funded through Kickstarter, SparkTruck is a mobile maker space currently traveling across the United States. At schools and summer camps and libraries around the country, the SparkTruck team offers workshops to help kids “find their inner maker” as they design and build projects like stamps, stop-motion animation clips, and “vibrobots.”
[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmRKXqDwieY&feature=plcp]
This might seem all shiny and new. And it is—but only in part. What’s so striking (and exciting) about SparkTruck is the way it combines old and new. It does so in the tools it gets kids using, which range from pipe cleaners to laser cutters. It does so in its educational approach, which combines cutting-edge (get it?) STEM and design pedagogy with the fundamentals of an old-school shop class. And it does so in its method, which combines the iconic, century-old technology of the bookmobile with the hot new form of the maker space.
In doing so, SparkTruck joins a growing number of libraries which are combining time-tested principles (like equal access to information) with new technologies (like 3-D printers), putting in maker spaces and media production labs alongside bookshelves and meeting rooms. As I’ve argued over on bookmobility.org, these combinations make sense because reading and making actually have a lot in common. They’re both creative processes that take existing materials and combine them in new ways. Getting people engaged in those kinds of processes—through imaginative thinking, contemplation, hands-on problem-solving, and collaborative learning—is what both maker spaces and libraries are all about.
Taking that commitment on the road with scissors and hammers and 3-D printers and a great big bookmobile-like truck, SparkTruck serves as a laboratory for new approaches, as well as a reminder that trying new things doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t!) necessarily mean tossing old ones out.
After all, what would those vibrobots be without classically crafty pipe cleaners and tongue depressors? And what would a library be without the creative, participatory, straight-up awesome experience of reading?
SparkTruck schedule [sparktruck.org]
How to arrange a visit from SparkTruck [sparktruck.org]
SparkTruck YouTube channel [youtube.com]
Signature: --Derek Attig, bookmobility.org
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