The story of downtown San Francisco's failed Metreon. A mall by any other name is still a mall.

If you live in London, I am so jealous of you right now.

Detroit's automakers are turning to an unlikely source for help: the hardscrabble world of hip-hop. Whether it's to shake a stodgy image, shine up a faltering brand or fish for new buyers, the Big Three have found plenty of work for a string of A-list rappers in recent months. General Motors Corp.'s Pontiac brand gave down-and-dirty Atlanta rapper Ludacris the job of pitching its new Solstice roadster in TV ads.

Ford Motor Co. has chart-topper Kanye West promoting Lincoln in an upcoming music video, and Chrysler still is getting mileage from Snoop Dogg-Lee Iacocca commercials that ran last year. The alliances mark a departure from Detroit's often conservative advertising approach, which typically consists of cars on winding roads or trucks slogging through the mud. (DETROIT NEWS)

Call for Non-US Artists to Exhibit/Live in NYC

Wooloo Productions and White Box present AsylumNYC: an opportunity for non-US artists to exhibit and live in New York City. AsylumNYC will provide a talented artist with both a solo show at a recognized New York institution and the legal aid necessary to obtain an artists visa in the United States of America.

Location: White Box, 525 West 26th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues), New York, New York 10001. Date: April 24, 2006, 8PM – April 29, 2006. All interested artists are encouraged to apply before April 1, 2006.

CREATIVE ASYLUM IN NEW YORK CITY: Based on the concept under exploration by Wooloo Productions in AsylumHOME.net, which addresses the difficulties faced by asylum seekers in Europe, AsylumNYC targets the challenge faced by artists interested in working in the United States.

After an online application process, White Box’s gallery space will become a creative asylum where successful applicants will be invited to develop a work/project from April 24 to April 29, 2006. Projects must actively challenge a regime(s) of exclusion in New York by including otherwise excluded individuals from cultural, economic or physical structures in the City.

Once an artist’s project is selected, AsylumNYC will provide a free lawyer to try to obtain a O- artist visa. If successful, the artist will be awarded the opportunity to stay in New York for three years.

February 8, 2006 marks the launch of the www.AsylumNYC.com where interested artists may apply until the April 1 deadline. To apply for asylum, artists must be able to be present at White Box, 525 West 26th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues), New York, New York 10001 on April 24th, 2006 at 8 PM and STAY until 6:00pm on April 29th, 2006. While staying at White Box, the artists will be provided with lodging and food, but cannot leave the premises for the duration of the week.

ABOUT: Wooloo Productions is a provider of public and experimental spaces. Acting on the level of facilitation, every Wooloo production aims to encourage new forms of interaction and agency among members of diverse communities.

AsylumNYC is produced and organized by Wooloo Productions in close collaboration with White Box and the Franklin Furnace Archive in New York.

For more information, please email Martin Rosengaard, Media Manager: Martin[at]wooloo.org or call: +49 (0) 30 6676 3097

Please visit http://www.AsylumNYC.com for all project details.

This might make me break down and finally by an iPod: (via Digg)

Well, we won’t actually be there in person, but we’ll be there via the mediation of Nathaniel Stern. He’ll be presenting our work at the Upgrade! Joburg.

Check out the cool poster:

High-quality, clothlike tiling texture images Feel free to use any of these patterns on your own site. If you do decide use one, a credit link back to my site is always appreciated.

Pattern-riffic!

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Superblog Boing Boing is being "blocked by entire countries including the United Arab Emirates, and by many library systems, schools, US government and military sites, and corporations," Xeni says. The reason: a silly little program called Smart Filter, which classified 25,000 BB posts as "nudity."

The problem is, most of these posts don't have any boobies at all. "They're stories about Hurricane Katrina, kidnapped journalists in Iraq, book reviews, ukelele casemods, phonecam video of Bigfoot sightings (come to think of it, he doesn't wear clothes either), or pictures of astonishing Lego constructions..."

[Smart Filter maker] Secure Computing offered us a devil's bargain: if we'd change the URLs of images with "nudity" (which, they assured us, included photos of Michaelangelo's David) to something they could detect and block, they'd let the rest of the world see us again. That guy in the UAE who was worried he'd be imprisoned for trying to read BoingBoing would be OK again.

[I]nstead we've decided to help put Secure Computing out of business... We're publishing a guide to evading the SmartFilter censorware. There are hundreds of ways to defeat these censorware apps, and we're going to catalog as many of them as possible. (We'll publish this tutorial shortly, and update the post you're reading with a link to the permanent page).

Thanks Huong!

Starting today is Perry Lowe, who is finishing his fifth year at Eyebeam where he coordinates
communications. In his spare time he makes subversive needlepoint and has
work appearing this spring in the KnitPro Needlecraft Art Show, Workmanship
of Risk at the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery in Canton, NY. Go P!

I heartheart you forever. Ciao. +[.:..;]+

30,000 bubble stickers printed and placed on top of ads all over New York City. Ji Lee

Look closely, I think they tagged a Dalek ad for Nike. Ha. Graffiti eating itself. [.:..:.] -> hn

Earlier this month Mr. Sun gave me a top compliment: "I read a bunch of [hello, typepad] posts and I know a lot of things he likes and not much about what he hates. That's nice." Thank you, Mr. Sun. When the giver of life (and lyric) compliments you for being positive, you run with it.

I've been reblogging quite a bit (last Tuesday was a highlight

), but it doesn't take the place of regular old blogging, so I'm going to try and pick up the pace again. This last week was full of drama (Sudama - was it the stars?) but I was struck by the good, rather than the bad, behavior of folks on the Internet.

Rogers Cadenhead stepped into a snake pit of xml pedantry and nearly a decade of failed ideas and nasty politics, in hopes of making software better. Some people in the tech community grouse about the "back channel" and then send private email messages around trying to intimidate people out of their ideas. These same people call for the end of venture capital as we know it, and then lean on friendly investors to lay out even more dire threats. Rogers' responses have been measured and reasonable. I trust him and the rest of the RSS advisory board to make software better.

In a similar vein, my friend Judith lost her camera in Hawaii. When Canadian tourists stumbled upon it, they did the right thing by alerting the park ranger, but then did the wrong thing by telling Judith they were not going to return it. Judith knows their name, phone number and address, but has refused to release that information even to the press. She could have their names dragged through the mud - honestly, she could probably have their house burned to the ground in twenty minutes - but instead she is patiently plodding through legal channels hoping the family decides to do the right thing. If you have something that's not yours you return it, right?

And finally, my friend Jason Kottke ended his year long micropatronage experiment. Jason's design and content is the gold standard of weblogs, and has been for years.

At some point last year I was sitting near Jason at Eyebeam, and he offered to show me some ideas he was working on for kottke.org. He opened up a photoshop document, and proceeded to zoom through 15-20 different styles and color schemes. The layouts were all top notch, obviously, but I was most struck by the thoroughness and level of detail in his own mockups. The layers were all logically named and grouped, so he could fly through ideas almost as fast as he could talk about them. If you know photoshop well, you know what I'm talking about.

It was really at that moment I realized how seriously Jason took his work - here was a document that less than five or ten people would even see or know existed, but it was of a higher quality than 95% of the work that professional web designers hand over to their clients. Jason took an enormous pay cut last year in hopes of making his blog better, a great gift to his readers. I think he succeeded, albeit maybe not at to the lofty levels he set for himself. I am sure kottke.org will continue to be outstanding, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

People like Rogers, Judith and Jason that make the Internet great.

Are We Worthy of Our Kitchens?
Christine Rosen

"[H]igh-end appliances promise to help us overcome our weaknesses. Whether our failing is sloth, inhibition, ineptitude, or simply lack of discipline, the technologies will make it easier to master our domestic vices and cultivate our domestic virtues. Perhaps this is why high-end appliance manufacturers use epic language to describe their wares: to fortify our belief in the technology’s ability to conquer life’s crises and unleash life’s pleasures. We live in an age when appliances have histories and legends, and when we are expected to value the domestic technologies we purchase for more than their practical merit. Buying a particular stove like the Aga is buying into a particular 'lifestyle,' complete with magazines and social networks. As a result, domestic tasks such as cooking and cleaning are not merely the drudgery of daily life, they are also extensions of the self...



So what benefits do these appliances bring? Do more advanced domestic technologies save us time, make us happier, expand life’s pleasures, or liberate us from life’s drudgeries? Our domestic technologies might make us more efficient, but they also impose higher standards of domestic performance. In some ways, this is obviously correct. Even the hardest working homemaker and her fleet of servants in ages past could never match the cleanliness made possible by certain modern machines. In the war against dirt and germs, times are clearly better. But the modern kitchen, for all its progress, tells a far more ambiguous story, one that is deeply revealing about the relationship between domestic technology and domestic happiness..."

(The kitchen illustration is from a wonderful old Catholic primer found on Flickr.)

MIT researchers have devised a new method for shrinking the size of crystals to make safer metal alloys. The new materials could replace metal coatings such as chromium, which is dangerous for factory workers to produce.

Read the article

San Francisco Chronicle
That's what National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association president Eric Hegedus says. "A professional sin of omission -- the failure to get all the facts by shying away from asking a newsmaker his or her sexual orientation -- still clouds the media's actions," he writes. "And in the case of Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, the problem becomes far more glaring. Stereotype-drenched speculation, gossip and wink-wink hearsay have taken the place of a sound journalistic practice: Asking the pertinent question. In this case, that question is: 'Are you gay?'"

Cory Doctorow: A CBS undercover reporting team went into 38 police stations in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in Florida, asking for a set of forms they could use to complain about inappropriate police behavior. In all but three of the stations, the police refused to give them forms. Some of the cops threatened them (on hidden camera, no less) -- one of them even touched his gun.

officer: Where do you live? Where do you live? You have to tell me where you live, what your name is, or anything like that.

tester: For a complaint? I mean, like, if I have --

officer: Are you on medications?

tester: Why would you ask me something like that?

officer: Because you're not answering any of my questions.

tester: Am I on medications?

officer: I asked you. It's a free country. I can ask you that.

tester: Okay, you're right.

officer: So you're not going to tell me who you are, you're not going to tell me what the problem is.You're not going to identify yourself.

tester: All I asked you was, like, how do I contact --

officer: You said you have a complaint. You say my officers are acting in an inappropriate manner.

officer: So leave now. Leave now. Leave now.

Link (via Why, That's Delightful!)

Update: Alex sez, "The Lauderhill cop who was shown intimidating an individual looking to file a police complaint on hidden camera took the news station to court to stop the story from airing."

Update 2: Lee sez, "The Police Complaint Center exists to help citizens file complaints against officers and departments -- an important service, as police officers are supposed to be serving the public."

a group of taggers bombs a subway car

Can you imagine a speech given by president Bush that would convince you that he has had a change of heart and could actually be the president of your dreams?

It is all too easy (and seems to get easier and easier) to criticize our president and his administration. Life changing events (often of the extremely painful variety) force us to reevaluate our values and actions. What if this happened to our president. What if he were humbled in some way which caused a profound change in his outlook on life and his role as the leader of our country - turning the aggressive posturing of an all-attack-all-the-time leader into a gentler, wiser soul determined to demonstrate the power of honesty and vulnerability. Channel your frustration, use your wit and ingenuity to write "the speech that shocked the world." Send your 1-2 page typed speech to me by March 6th at submit@helenakeeffe.com to be considered for the award of "most convincing" speech. The winning speech will be read by a Bush impersonator and made into an audio recording, which will be available to the public at www.helenakeeffe.com. The winner will receive a $50 cash prize and a copy of the audio recording. For inspiration I suggest reading about Antanas Mockus, former Mayor of Bogotá. http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01-mockus.html

Please forward this on to all of the brilliant speech writers in your address book.

-helena

Helena strikes again! Make sure to click through to the article about Antanas Mockus, the mayor of Bogata, who will not appear in this year's Whitney Biennial. [.:..:.] -> hn

While in Los Angeles earlier this week, Jake Dobkin spotted some sweet Banksy pieces on Melrose. You can see more here on LAist.

Gloria Anzaldúa ends her poem To live in the Borderlands means you... with the following suggestion:

To survive the Borderlands
you must live sin fronteras
be a crossroads.

Mute Magazine: Desert Crossroads (Rising Resistance to Corporate Globalisation and Deadly Borders)
Reporting on recent antiborder actions in the towns, desert wastelands and graveyards along the US/Mexico border.

Judi Werthein: Brinco (via)

"The project is a uniquely designed sneaker, trademarked Brinco. The design of the shoe is inspired by information and materials that are relevant to, and could provide assistance to, those illegally crossing the border. Underscoring the tensions sparked by the global spread and mobility of the maquiladora, the sneaker will be manufactured in China. In counterpoint to its potential for utilitarian use by Mexican migrants, the sneaker will be sold as a one-of-a-kind art object and will be available in the United States during inSite_05 in Blends, a high end sneaker store located in Down Town San Diego."

Brinco photo gallery

BBC News: State-of-the-art shoes aid migrants

SignOnSanDiego: Rugged routes, deadly risks: Migrants push east to avoid fortified border, with tragic results

Border Towns by Roberto Durán

Border towns and brown frowns
and the signs say
get back wet back
souls are searched at night by silver flashlights
gringos and greasers play cat and mouse
and I still wonder why
do apple pies lie?
the signs say live the american way
visit but don't stay
be a friendly neighbor hire good cheap labor
as rows and rows of illegal star war aliens
are aligned and maligned
as the morning shouts fill the morning chill and still
they will not
no way José go away

Make sure to click through to the Mute Mag link as well as the BBC link to Judi Werthein's Crossing Trainers project. -> hn

Another sweet use of OGLE, posted semi-anonymously to the forums. Someone named Karl out there has used it to capture a molecular model that they made using the open-source molecular modelling tool PyMol, and then texture, light, and re-render using Lightwave. Looks great if you ask me:

Israeli researchers have built a molecular computer using enzymes as logical gates, according to New Scientist. the scientists used "two enzymes -- glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) -- to trigger two interconnected chemical reactions." And the enzyme-based computer was able to perform computations using these chemical logic functions. But don't rush to your computer store: this kind of computers is not designed for speed. Instead, it could be 'implanted' inside your body for intelligent drug delivery or to complex drug therapies.

Hydrogen-producing algae breakthrough

Genetic engineers have made a leap in developing a strain of algae with the potential to supply fuel for a future hydrogen economy, Wired reports.…

Declassified photos from the Graffiti Research Lab. [.:..:.] -> hn

So when I first looked at these films, which all have really nice textural qualities, I thought they were somehow using Google Earth to create them, laying over wonderful skins for buildings and trees. Then I thought, what am I doing here? I should be out there making movies with Google Earth! After a little research, I calmed down and realized that they are pairing Google Earth images with films. Intriguing, but that also means that there's so much uncharted Google Earth territory to cover. Since I don't know Google Earth from my nose, you're going to have to do it. First step, Well, you should check out the Maya to Google Earth Plugin that everyone's talking about! [.:..:.] -> hn

Cory Doctorow: Here's a remixed Amsterdam subway map with all the station names changed for humorous anagrams -- it's in the tradition of the anagram remixed London Underground and Toronto Transit Commission maps. Lenin sez, "I can assure you that the anagrams are good and often very funny." Link (Thanks, Lenin!)

HAHA! Another one with a great commentary, a buddy to the London Anagram map. [.:..:.] -> hn

David Pescovitz: Yesterday, someone crashed a $1 million Ferrari crashed into a utility pole on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. Bel-air resident Stefan Eriksson claims that he was just a passenger in the car and that the driver, who he knew only as "Dietrich," ran away from the scene. Apparently, investigators haven't yet determined who owns the car either.

"We're investigating as to who was actually driving," said Sgt. Philip Brooks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department today. "His (Eriksson's) story has inconsistencies that need to be cleared up...

Officials are trying to determine whether (Eriksson) is the noted Swedish game designer whose firm, perhaps not surprisingly, was involved with car-racing themed video games....

Eriksson "had a .09 blood-alcohol level, but if he's a passenger, that's OK," Brooks said. "But he had a bloody lip, and only the air bag on the driver's side had blood on it. The passenger-side air bag did not. My Scooby-Doo detectives are looking closely into that.

"Maybe the 'driver' had a friend who picked him up. Maybe he thumbed a ride," the sergeant added. "Maybe he was a ghost."

Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)

UPDATE: Thanks to all the readers who point to the latest Ferrari crash news articles that include info about Eriksson's history with game company Gizmondo. Link

I wouldn't give this story this much attention, but David's commentary on it is just too great. [.:..:.] -> hn

Oldie but Goodie. This is too awesome for my limited vocabulary of emo-icons and run on words to express. You just gotta try it. (!...!) -> hn

Thanks Kwong Li, kung fu teen idol.

The next dorkbot-nyc meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 1st at 7pm at Location One in SoHo. Featuring the lovely and talented: k.cain and b.crabtree -- almost certified; Chris Korda -- Whorld; The Botmatrix: Heddatron

Be there or be cuboid. [.:..:.] -> hn

Some nice additions to your reading list:

PurseLipsSquareJaw: a blog by Anne Galloway, who also writes for Space and Culture. [.:..:.] -> hn

hellocanibeyourbestfriend? [.:..:.] ->hn

Seoulstriker writes "Google has introduced an AJAX web-publishing application called Google Page Creator. The app is great for getting whatever photos, information, files you want published, and it doesn't have to be in the typical blog format. The published site is hosted at the gmail user page. There are several templates and page formats to work from, and as far as I can tell, everything is WYSIWYG. The published HTML is very clean, but it does have some leftover fragments from editing pages repeatedly. If you want to be precise, you can manually edit the HTML. There is a Google Groups page available for the service. It took about 30 seconds to get a rudimentary page online." PC World has a quick rundown on the service at their site.

Drupal still has my heart. heart. [.:..:.] -> hn

Artist: Zato One

Hey, how about host an emerging artist rather than regurg what the Whitney and Armory blah blah blah has already approved? [.:..:.] -> hn

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has approved the issue of a license to Intel Corp, the world's largest microchip maker, to build a $605 million plant to produce chips and computer parts in a deal that officials hope could help draw more investors.

Sky gazers certify two new satellites

Astronomers have confirmed they spied two previously unknown moons orbiting tiny ninth planet Pluto using the Hubble Space Telescope.…

Looking at this site, I was wondering, is there a Google maps for art events yet? -> hn

AP - Shortly after his mate went to hog heaven, Willy the Red River porcine spied a new mud-pen pal in what officials are calling one of the oddest pairings at the Los Angeles Zoo.

The News loves weird animal pairings. {.;...;} '[:..:.]'

Fringe Exhibitions, 504 Chung King Court
Saturday, February 25 from 5 -7 PM

Mark Pauline, director of Survival Research Laboratories, will give a talk in the gallery.

http://www.fringexhibitions

Survival Research Labs are scary fun. [.:..:.] -> hn

Iran endorses its own blogging revolutionHossein Derakhshan | Toronto-based blogging activist | Feb 22Guardian Unlimited / Internet -  Hossein Saffar-Harandi, the most fundamentalist minister of culture and Islamic guidance Iran has ever had, has not only publicly endorsed blogs, but also announced plans for including them, as well as websites, within the purview of a new government office that used to oversee only the press, writes Hossein Derakshan. Given Iran's strict new policies against cultural products that promote "western" ideas such as feminism, liberalism, nihilism and humanism, the recent endorsement of blogs seems contradictory. The flourishing of blogs, estimated at more than 700,000 worldwide, has created a new space for self-expression on political and social matters. full of links

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360

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morphed furniture

i heartheart you. [.:..:.] ->hn

not the first, but the best page on scanner camera FAQ, how-to, photo gallery..

A new communications system being tested at a Cornish hospital could eventually replace pagers, walkie-talkies and mobile phones, according to the BBC. "Health workers at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro are piloting the tiny voice-activated badges developed by BT. They weigh less than 2oz (57g). The badge allows instant communication between staff by simply saying a person's name or department. The badges also mean staff do not need to memorise phone numbers or carry lists with them."

I think they had these on star trek, no? [.:..:.] -> hn

The 2F Folding Chair is so named because it has a profile of less than an inch, and a different appearance on each side. Designed by Hannu Kähönen, the birch plywood chair can be stored completely flat, and generates virtually no waste wood during production.

Ever since meeting Skype, I've been interested in combining phone calls with audio blogs in some kind of mismatched marriage of convenience and marginal lust. Today on the train, by idea gelled, or maybe just coagulated, at the building up conversations on audio blogs, in which you would be able to listen to an existing conversation and interject, even speak over the person (rude), as if you were in the same room. The conversation would build upon many people's contribution, until the moderator or whoever saw fit to export the entire thing as one lovely downloadable podcast.

Does this idea already exist? I tried Half Bakery (see previous post), no good. After rooting around Odeo's archive, I found Tom Sampson who is already racking his brains for an answer. [.:.;.]-> hn

Great site for testing out all of your weird invention/art ideas

I was dismayed to find that my idea for mood house paint had already been deconstructed, but happy that the idea of clothing-rental had not even been approached!! New frontiers. {..:..} -> hn

Phone Jam to Shut Down the Minutemen Recruiting Drive in Philadelphia!

Call the Valley Forge Convention Center and demand that this meeting be canceled: 610-354-8212 and 610-354-8213. Also, please call GF Management. they help to manage the Valley Forge Convention Center: 215-972-2222 and express your displeasure!

The Minutemen Project, a Conservative anti-immigration group with
 strong links to, and overlapping membership with, violent white
 supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations has announced plans to hold a recruitment meeting in Valley Forge, PA on Saturday, February 25, 2005.

The meeting, scheduled to take place at the Valley Forge Convention Center (1160 First Avenue, King of Prussia, PA, 19406), is set to feature Chris Simcox, co-found! er of the Minutemen Project, as the main speaker. Simcox is the gun-toting founder of the group, which since April has been arming itself, wandering the U.S.-Mexican border in search of "illegal immigrants", and detaining individuals at gunpoint.

Minutemen have openly discussed setting up sniper posts near the
 border, with the goal of shooting anyone attempting to cross.

Contrary to its claims, the Minutemen Project does not promote a
 policy of immigration reform. Instead, they promote a program of hate and intolerance; an extremist policy of stopping all non-white immigration into this country. They are a xenophobic group that blames immigration for everything that they are unhappy with. Last fall, the Minutemen were claiming that illegal immigrants were responsible for the sudden rise in gas prices in the United States. Talk about stupid!

The Minutemen have well-established ties to known white supremacist groups. Minutemen co-founder Jim Gilchrist has been involved with the neo-Nazi affiliated Council of Conservative Citizens for a number of years. In addition, members of the infamous National Alliance have claimed membership in the Minutemen Project and were identified participating in border "patrols" last spring and summer with the group. Over the years, the National Alliance has been tied to numerous violent crimes, such as the assassination of a Jewish radio host in Denver, and several high-profile robberies. The National Alliance has
 the dubious distinction of claiming Timothy McVeigh, the man
 responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, as a supporter.

On July 30th 2005, the Minutemen front group, Save Our State, held an anti-immigrant rally in California. Numerous members of white supremacist groups attended this rally, and were caught on film carrying flags emblazoned with Nazi swastikas and Confederate insignia. They were also seen repeatedly giving Nazi salutes. One of the neo-Nazis who had been holding a swastika flag was also photographed holding a "Save Our State" banner. So much for plausible deniability!

We call upon everyone who is concerned about this meeting to call and email the Valley Forge Convention Center and demand that it be canceled. We will not stand idly by while fascist and neo-Nazis are allowed to organize in our community. We are calling for an emergency phone jam of the conference center, and are letting it be known that if the meeting is not canceled, the community will be out in force to protest this fascist scum!

Call the Valley Forge Convention Center Sales Office at 610-354-8212 and 610-354-8213 and let them know how you feel about them laying out the welcome mat for fascists. You can also fax the sales office at (610) 992-2884, or email the Director of Sales at cellesin@aol.com
 or the Convention Center Sales Manager at tomlinsonm@gfhotels.com
. Also, please also contact GF Management (1811 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103), the Philadelphia firm who helps to manage the Valley Forge Convention Center. They can be reached by telephone at 215-972-2222, by fax at 215-972-2259, and by email at info@gfhotels.com .

Please forward this message widely ? together we can shut them down!!

In solidarity,

Philadelphia Residents Against Racism

SlashLinks is a tool I developed at Eyebeam R&D for automatically mirroring links from the popular social-bookmarking service del.icio.us on your personal or institutional website. Posting, tagging, and management still occur within the del.icio.us interface, but design and layout can now be fully customized on your mirrored site. The tool also adds blog-like year/month/day archives (similar to Kottke.org's remaindered links) to the typical del.icio.us or flickr style tag browsing.

SlashLinks was motivated, in part, by the desire to keep the intuitive URL navigation provided by del.icio.us and common with blogs while allowing for design/layout customization to suit the user's taste. Additionally, when republished on your own site, all of your links become accessible to search engines -- effectively casting your vote for what other sites or pages deserve top placement in search results.

Slash/Links is written in Ruby on Rails but built to plug into existing sites that are not.

Get SlashLinks, and let me know how it works for you!

LEDs are extremely common in electronic devices. They are used as light emitters, but can also be used as light detectors since they are photodiodes. By quickly switching between light emitting and detecting, you can use the LEDs to determine the ambient lighting and even do bidirectional communication. MERL has a good paper covering the basics of how this system works and how they used it as a “last-centimeter” communication device. The system can be implemented using one LED, a resistor, and two I/O pins. So, it could be used cheaply in almost any device. The microprocessor quickly switches the LED between emitting light, detecting light (LED acts as a charging capacitor), and measuring the discharge rate of the LED to determine light level. Jeff Han has a neat video demo of how this system can be used as a proximity sensor.

[thanks branen]

Calls itself 'mobile media'...aka Chickenhead

Comment …

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots

]

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The future is now. Get your BB guns. [.:..:.] -> hn

In Keitai Girl (2003), Yamaguchi Noriko wears a body suit crafted from cell phone keypads, large headphones and is draped from head to toe with wires.

Certain guests are given the phone number of her body suit and can dial her up from their own cell phones and talk with her during her performances. This suit—a full-body prosthetic that turns her into a walking and talking cellular device—to investigate the future development of the human body and its interaction with technology.

Via Asia Pacific Magazine. Images.

I don't quite understand how she's different from any other cutie-rhinestone-cell-phone-toting-addict, I sure do like it. [.:..:.] -> hn

This is one of the craziest products I have ever seen. These fake cat paws, which have claws that extend out when you press a switch in the handle, are completely useless … and yet so cool. Check on Akihabara News for the good and sensible uses they can be put to..

Of course Japan only, starting in April.

Via Akihabara News

send myself future mail

Teachers enlisted in battle against creationists Teachers enlisted in battle against creationists  | Feb 20The Guardian -  US scientists have for the first time enlisted the help of teachers in their battle against campaigners who want the theory of intelligent design to be taught in schools. More than 300 teachers were invited to attend this year's American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in St Louis, Missouri, yesterday, and many revealed their concerns. Although recent court rulings have favoured the teaching of the theory of evolution, the teachers told how finger-wagging parents in the midwest insist they abandon biology textbooks for biblical creationism or intelligent design.

Photos of the First Few Microseconds of an Atomic Blast: Quote: "Ever wondered what an atomic blast looks like before it obliterates everything around it? Before the smoke, the mushroom cloud, the devastation, it's really quite amazing to see the first few fractions of an atomic bomb upon detonation. Edgerton built a special lens 10 feet long for his camera which was set up in a bunker 7 miles from the source of the blast which was triggered Nevada - the bomb placed atop a steel gantry anchored to the desert floor by guide wires. The exposures are at 1/100,000,000ths of a second. Due to the extremely high shutter speeds, the image quality and color depth is limited in these photos."



(via Carlos Katastrofsky)