29th June, 2004
BBC Creative Archive
Finally, something to smile about. It always gladens my heart when I hear about a large-scale organization using the Internet for Good instead of for Screwing Over the Public. In the same vein as MIT’s OpenCourseWare, the BBC is planning on opening up it’s archives and making them freely available to anyone on the Web to use “for learning, for creativity and for pleasure.” Very, very cool. Cheers, mates. [via BoingBoing]
Posted at 12:21 pm | Comment (0)
29th June, 2004
Big
Apple has just come out with new Cinema Displays. The flagship model is a staggeringly huge 30 inches and has a staggeringly cool minimalistic/industrial design as well. Of course, such bling bling doesn’t come free; a new 30-incher will cost you just a hair under $3,300. Staggering indeed.
Posted at 8:43 am | Comment (0)
29th June, 2004
Do it for the kids.
Note: my Internet connection has been down the past couple of days so I’m posting this a bit late.
I’m in a pissy mood today, thanks to having to deal with Gateway’s moronic technical support policies. In a nutshell, it now takes 3x as long to get a friggin’ parts replacement. It’s no wonder they’re cutting staff and losing money hand over fist.
But I digress. Via too many sources to list, comes word of two separate acts (the PIRATE Act and the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act) that Senators Orrin Hatch and Patrick Leahy – who are most definitely not bought and paid for by the entertainment industry – are trying to rush through the system. If enacted, kiss your fair use rights goodbye and bid farewell to innovation. The EFF has an excellent example of how Apple, Toshiba and C.net could be sued back to the stone age under such legislation.
Despite his monetary ties to Big Entertainment, Sen. Hatch is still claiming that this is all being done to protect children from the evil temptation of technology. Say it with me, kids: riiiight.
Posted at 5:57 am | Comment (0)
22nd June, 2004
Payback
Interesting article regarding the antitrust settlement with major music labels that has taken for-friggin-ever to be fulfilled. As part of the settlement, almost 6 million CDs are slated to be given to non-profit organizations; that’s a Good Thing, right?
Oh, but wait, it seems that the record labels are dumping old & unpopular CDs from their inventories as settlement payment. Topping the list is the oh-so-lucky Iowa State Library which received 430 copies of Whitney Houston singing The Star Spangled Banner at the 1991 Super Bowl. I bet those will circulate a lot. MSNBC tries to put a happy spin on it by saying “…the source of the overabundance has been determined to be nothing more sinister than a computer-programming glitch…”. Right. And the war in Iraq isn’t about oil.
Posted at 7:35 am | Comment (0)
21st June, 2004
The Final Frontier
The privately funded craft, SpaceShipOne, successfully took its pilot to the edge of space and back today. Many are hoping that this event heralds a new age of exploration for humankind; especially since we are rapidly running out of areas to ravage and destroy on this planet.
Posted at 1:37 pm | Comment (0)
18th June, 2004
Zen
WebZen. See it. Live it.
Posted at 10:31 am | Comment (0)
15th June, 2004
Arrrr.
Engadget has an amusing blurb about how to start up your very own pirate radio station with an iPod and an iTrip attachment. Shiver me timbers.
…ever get stuck at a stop light for like 10 minutes and the dude in the next car is blasting the radio? With the super easy iPod interface you can quickly get to the station he?s on and send over whatever you want, a couple gentle ocean waves or birds usually works out great.
Posted at 11:27 am | Comment (0)
8th June, 2004
Venus
It’s a GogBlog first, ladies and germs: three posts in one day. Sugoi! Anyway, today was the day of the Venus transit, an event that hasn’t happened since 1882. Lots of cool pics out on the web now. Even though I wasn’t able to see it where I live, I did celebrate by playing Bananarama over and over again, much to the dismay of my co-workers.
Posted at 1:56 pm | Comment (0)
8th June, 2004
October Surprise
BoingBoing points out that October Surprise! is running a tongue-in-cheek poll on how Bush is going to pull off a re-election. It’s as funny as it is sad:
- Osama bin Laden captured!
- Spectacular terrorist attack on US soil!
- Vote is threatened by terrorist attacks, vote suspended due to red alert.
- Diebold Election Systems fixes the vote in battleground states.
- Escalation in Israel, Iran, or North Korea. US opens a new war front.
- US pulls out of Iraq in October, leaving the UN in charge.
- WMD’s found in Iraq!
For those who are interested in what the original October Surprise was, Google has your answer.
Posted at 1:39 pm | Comment (0)
8th June, 2004
It’s pop, dammit.
An interesting map showing the distribution of pop, soda and Coke as terms to describe your favorite carbonated soft drink.
Posted at 9:15 am | Comment (0)
2nd June, 2004
Satan’s Laundromat
Typically, I find photoblogs to be somewhat lacking and, well, just downright craptacular but this one features cool/odd/thought-provoking pics of urban life in the NYC area. Check it out.
Posted at 7:48 am | Comment (0)
1st June, 2004
Good Eats
Wired has an article featuring Alton Brown, the host of Good Eats over on the Food Channel. If you haven’t yet seen this show, you’re a goober.
Posted at 12:58 pm | Comment (0)
