Who knew that a punch in the face in slow motion could look so fun? Hmmmm, I wonder how much these people had to get paid for them to accept this? I guess we’ll never know!
Dot Matrix Revolution: A Brief History of Computing
So, you’ve always wanted to learn everything about the history of computing, but never had the time to do so? Fear not my friends, the “SuperBrothers” have cooked up a cool little music video explaning the whole thing in under 4 minutes.
Following an early morning status check of their vintage electronic equipment, two computer engineers “throw down” in an awkward dance-off that seems to (innacurately) echo the development of information technolgy and the internet from 1951 up to the present day (!?).
[Via io9]
Peeping Tom @ Google?
Google Street View debuted almost four months ago, and has already landed in legal trouble. Though really, there shouldn’t be much surprise that taking pictures of people without their permission has raised some major privacy concerns. Google has already dealt with some of them by implementing a a system so that images can get flagged and taken down, but of course as soon as the site launched, so did websites devoted to re-posting amusing pictures found there. So even if you do find that picture of yourself sunbathing in your underwear on your own balcony on Google Street View and ask them to remove it, by that time it’s probably already making the rounds on the web.
Of course, recently Google has encountered something more concrete than privacy in general: trespassing. One of their camera cars drove right up someone’s driveway, past a “No Trespassing” sign and a guard dog, and took pictures that were posted on the website. The owner of the house is not happy. Google’s defense: well, if cars turning around in driveways or UPS delivery trucks don’t get in trouble, then why should we? Forget the legal analysis; this doesn’t even pass the common sense test. If I needed to turn around in a driveway, I probably wouldn’t pick one with a big “No Trespassing” sign posted out front, not to mention that I certainly wouldn’t be taking pictures once I got up there. And delivery vehicles are invited there by the house owners.
One point that Google makes is a good one–a great deal of the privacy that we think we enjoy is indeed an illusion. Still, it seems to me that we need to draw a line somewhere, and if it’s not at that “No Trespassing” sign, then where is it? All I know is I won’t be sunbathing on my balcony anytime soon.
So my question to you is: how much privacy are you willing to sacrifice for cool technology like this?
Italian legal ruling suggests ALL Italian blogs are illegal
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
An Italian judge has used a 1948 law to convict a local historian and author of the crime of “stampa clandestina”. This is basically the crime of running a newspaper without first officially registering with the local authorities. But by convicting him, the judge has also opened the door to a much bigger Pandora’s Box.
What was this newspaper that Carlo Ruta was running? His blog. The judge ruled that since his blog had a headline, that qualified it as a newspaper and since he hadn’t registered it, he was guilty of “stampa clandestina”. Simple. Guilty as charged. He was fined and told to take down his blog. Next case.
Ruta simply took down the blog and put up a new one. But now he is a convicted criminal and he has lost all his original blog material which is obviously a big deal.
Italian bloggers are understandably outraged and are also asking why prosecutors are bringing cases now. There are potentially 5 million Italian blogs out there and Ruta was the first one to be charged. Blogs were folded into the “stampa clandestina” law back in 2001. Why was Ruta now singled out after 7 years? Was it perhaps because his blog is all about links between politics and the mafia? Hmmm…
The “stampa clandestina” law was actually set up back in 1948 with good intentions. It was just after the end of the war and the new government, with the help of the Allied occupation forces, wanted to stop Fascist sympathisers from starting up their own publications to stir up trouble. So they forced all new publishers to register with the local authorities so they could control things. But obviously now 60 years later, with the internet bursting onto the scenes and the likelihood of Fascists seizing power in Italy diminishing to zero, that law is becoming increasingly unworkable and needs to be revised. Plus let’s not forget the fact that Italy is a member of the European Union and freedom of the press is enshrined in the EU.
This conviction, if allowed to stand, is a dangerous legal precedent because it suggests that all Italian blogs are illegal because they are not registered. If anyone blogs anything in Italy that someone doesn’t like, a judge can order that blog to be shut down immediately under the “stampa clandestina” law. Plus if the Italian government starts demanding that blogs be registered, will bloggers comply? I sincerely doubt it.
If You Missed “The Mentalist,” You Might Give it a Second Look
By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
I hope you got a chance to see Casey’s Geek Guide for the Fall TV Season. On it she lists some of the new shows that should be real winners for the geek crowd. After finally catching up with all the pilots, one show stood out for me that sadly didn’t make the list. Let’s make up for some lost time!
The Mentalist is one of the least hyped shows of the Fall. Aside from commercials that reminded me of The Dead Zone, the pilot received almost no attention. At first glance it looked like a rehash of an old idea (the hyper-observant detective) that might fall somewhere between Monk and Psych. When I was planning my “premier week” watching schedule, I didn’t even add The Mentalist to my list. In fact, I only remembered it after its pilot had already aired, forcing me to find it on the internet. After viewing it last night, I have to say that I was pretty impressed.
The premise of the show is that a one-time psychic uses his powers of observation and manipulation to solve intricate mysteries. If you ever saw Crossing Over with John Edward, the protagonist, Patrick Jane, was pretty much that guy until a tragedy occurred in his family. After that, he quit his career as a cold reading con-man and began helping the California Bureau of Investigation with their major cases. To say much more about Patrick Jane would give away much of the plot, but let’s just say that it’s certainly no clone of Monk and it’s a far darker story than Psych. In fact, the last scene of the pilot is very dark and really ties together the whole episode. Consequently I’m hooked for the rest of the season.
I was completely prepared for this show to be either terrible and over-the-top or dry and boring as paste. It turns out I was completely mistaken. If you saw the pilot, share your expert opinion in the comments!
The Geek Guide to New Fall TV
by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Maybe it’s due to the success of shows like Heroes, but there seems to be a lot of science fiction in this year’s new television line-up. No complaints here! This past week was a big one for debuts, and most of the rest of these shows will be premiering in October. So here’s a few words about some of the new geek-friendly shows that are showing up on a television near you.
Man flies across English Channel with jet-propelled wing
A Swiss man has become the first man to fly across the English Channel, using nothing except a homemade jet-propelled wing, earning him the nickname “The Human Jet”.
Yves Rossy flew 22 miles from France to England in 13 minutes. He leapt from a plane a mile and a half from the ground and fired up his jets. He managed to get across to England without any problems and parachuted into a field beyond the famous white cliffs of Dover.
You can watch his descent into England here :
and here is a good CNN report about Rossy and his jet-propelled wing :
12 embarrassing photos that got online
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
MSN has a rather amusing feature about 12 photos that managed to find their way online and subsequently get the subjects into hot water. They range from the Apple Macs on the Microsoft campus which led to the Microsoft employee getting fired to the guy who pled a family emergency only to dress up as Tinkerbell at a Halloween party (updating his Facebook profile afterwards wasn’t his smartest career move)
Have you had any really embarrassing photos intentionally or unintentionally make their way online? If so, how did you deal with it? Have they adversely affected your professional / personal life? Are they still online? If not, how difficult was it to get them offline?
Futuretech Powerflux: The Most Expensive Power Cable Ever
If you think Monster Cable is ripping their customers off with their insanely high priced cables, you’ve seen nothing my friend. Future Tech, another company known for its overpriced gear, is selling their Powerflux Power Cord for a measly $1800. ONLY $1800? That’s a real bargain for a simple power cable!
Cable Essentials
Powerflux conductors are 68-strand ? (Alpha) OCC twisted around ?–conductor strands with a special-grade PE insulation or dielectric. (Alpha conductors are fine OCC wire treated with Furutech’s Alpha Cryogenic and Demagnetizing process.) The dielectric is surrounded by an inner sheath of RoHS-compliant PVC incorporating carbon powder that enhances damping, and that in turn is covered by a full ? (Alpha) conductor wire braid shield. Another flexible PVC outer sheath and a Nylon braid jacket finish the job.
Ooohhhh, sounds fancy! At that price, I think I’ll take ten please!
[Product Page | Via OhGizmo!]
The Amazing “Silver Wolf” Rubberband Gun
Based on Metal Gear Solid 4, The “Silver Wolf” semi-automatic rubberband gun is made out of shiny stainless steal and features a laser targetting system, allowing you to devastate your colleagues at that next office war. Looking for some other cool rubber band guns? Amazon.com has tons of other ones right here!