I don't speak the mysterious moon-man language, but I can only assume that this is for planetary defense against atomic supermen:

Blair claims to have fallen out of love but friends say he's going for a new man : John Kerry. Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | No 10's silent support for Kerry...

Anil links to Cassetes2CDs.com where you can convert your cassettes to CD or MP3. Mike gives the service a thumbs up, getting three tapes of his Uncle playing sax and clarinet (one tape from 1970) converted for $7 each.

The Video Semantic Summarization System generates a summarized video for a user based on his/her preference and delivers the personalized content effectively to the user. It is a complete summarization system to dynamically generate personalized video summaries using MPEG-7 descriptions of video contents in a middleware architecture. Our Video Semantic Summarization System is designed and implemented for: (1) the stand-alone application, (2) mobile platform, and (3) web browser. Each system allows the user to specify topic preferences, query keywords and total summary time. The summarization techniques involve optimizing the relevance scores of user parameters against the MPEG-7 semantic descriptions of our video content.

The American Press Institute's Media Center presents "We Media: The Impact of Participatory Media on Election 2004," a public webcast focused on the impact of new technologies and participatory media on the Nov. 2 U.S. elections.

Jason McCabe Calacanis, founder of the Weblogs, Inc. Network, hosts a high-level panel of media thinkers and leaders in this exploration of the intersection of media, technology and society.

(Continued at JD's New Media Musings)

Mobile/Wearable Computers Used for Security at Republican National Convention : Wearable : MobileMag

Xybernaut President and COO Steven A. Newman says, "Our initial joint deployment is a wandering, wireless video transmitter that is enabling New York law enforcement agencies to literally walk around the RNC convention floor, as well as conduct outdoor security around the Madison Square Garden venue, by sending real-time, live video to a web page for viewing by the NYPD teams."

The combined product enables any video camera (whether it is an inexpensive webcam, a personal handy-cam, or a sophisticated television-grade camera) to be connected to Xybernaut computers via USB or Firewire ports and transmit real-time video and sound to a specific, secure Web server for viewing by authorized personnel, wherever they may be.

neile writes "I stumbled across a fascinating paper over at the Microsoft Typography site today that provides a really nice overview of the different theories on how humans read. If you thought we read by recognizing word shapes, think again! With the assistance of fancy eye-tracking cameras researchers have been able to devise several clever experiments to give us new insight into how reading works." We've linked to some of Larson's work previously.

Reuters - One of the world's most bizarre scientific collections has gone on show.

I read on the net that "an unexplained radio signal from deep space could -- just might be -- contact from an alien civilization."

The signal could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon or even be a by-product from the telescope itself.

The potentially extraterrestrial signals were picked up through the SETI@home project (SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through the huge amount of data picked up by the telescope.

But, as Nanoblog comments the SETI website does not mention it.

And yesterday, an article called Alien contact more likely by "mail" than radio in National Geographic News reports that a new study suggests it is more energy efficient to communicate across interstellar space by sending physical material a sort of message in a bottle than beams of electromagnetic radiation. Solid matter can hold more information and journey farther than radio waves, which disperse as they travel.

This first column of the Hacking Congress series is called "Screenscraping the Senate".

Jibble http://www.jibble.org/shakespeare/

Brian Holmes is tearing it up to a standing-room-only crowd here at the Ars Electronica Center. https://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdr/pubsfolder/bhflowmaps/ Activist Art Critic Riffing on Cybersocial Geographies The "Barnett Gap," which Brian regards with a volatile mixture of elation and dread:

http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/index.htm

Thomas Barnett, perhaps the world's least Brian Holmes-like social theorist.

RNC NOT WELCOME

Solidarity for RNC arrestees and Action Alert
by RNC NOT WELCOME
Email: info (nospam) rncnotwelcome.org (verified)
01 Sep 2004
Please support the RNC arrestees
SUPPORT ARRESTED RNC PROTESTERS!
TAKE ACTION BY CALLING NOW!

Thousands of people have been arrested protesting the Republican National Convention in NYC. Many prisoners are being held under appalling and extremely unhealthy conditions at a temporary detention center at Pier 57.
We're asking everyone to call and demand prisoners be immediately released or transfered to a safe and sanitary facility.

Call the Police Commissioner at
(646) 610-5410 or (646) 610-5000 or Mayor Bloomberg at (212) 788-7418.

RNC Redux: RSS-enabled realtime performance

BoomZilla writes "Reading Disney's alliteratively titled Practically Perfect Pyrotechnics introduces the latest in firework launch technology. Gone are the 'light blue touch paper and retire a safe distance' days. Shells are now launched using compressed air. No burning black powder means no smoke drifting over the residential neighborhoods, plus a safer show. Best of all the new system is more precise and can launch shells higher than black powder, enabling spectacular new effects. An additional article: The future of theme park fireworks covers some of the pros and cons of compressed air launch systems." We mentioned this earlier.

Now there's headline I never thought I'd write. According to the BBC, physicists from the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Science were able to "teleport" information along a 2 km cable that spans the Danube river. This new variant of teleportation, which scientists have been mucking with for a while now, involves creating two particles that are "entangled" in the quantum sense. Once they're entangled, any change to particle A is instantly reflected in particle B -- even if they're a galaxy apart, theoretically. This entanglement has been achieved experimentally in the lab, but never before in the real world: Mr Ursin said a next step towards worldwide quantum communication would be to attempt the teleportation of quantum states between particles using a satellite link. "The first thing you will need to do is find out whether you can have entanglement over such long distances. But teleportation...

Xeni Jardin: Hacker zine 2600 reports that Emmanuel Goldstein (aka Eric Corley), the publication's founder and editor, was among hundreds arrested at demonstrations against the Republican National Convention in New York City on Tuesday. Snip:

The march which Emmanuel was apparently trying to videotape ended at 16th Street near Union Square when the police surrounded the marchers and began arresting everyone in the area -- at least 150 people. Officers at the scene reported that the arrested will be charged with "parading without a permit," but reliable information will probably not be available until arraignments take place over the next day or two.

At least 900 people were arrested on Tuesday, August 31st, most if not all for nonviolent and minor offenses, offenses which in non-protest situations would generally not result in spending any time at all locked up. People arrested at previous protests have usually had their charges eventually dropped or significantly reduced as the judicial system notices that their is little or no evidence that the protesters have committed any crimes at all.

Link to report on 2600. Portrait of Emmanuel Goldstein from Declan McCullagh, original here: Link. (via Engadget, thanks, ford)

The makers of video games need acknowledge that women like to buy and play games, says a study.

So we were waiting in line for iced coffee at one of our favorite neighborhood caf s yesterday and met a member of the Operation Sybil crew who rappelled down the face of the Plaza Hotel last Thursday and hung a banner seen around the world. We heard how it all happened, how it almost didn't happen due to the tremendous difficulties in carrying out such a mission, and how they're now facing some serious legal challenges. The event received
major news coverage. You can help Operation Sybil offset their debts and legal expenses by attending their fundraising party tomorrow:

Fundraiser and Celebration for Plaza 4 aka operation Sybil
8pm - 11pm, Thursday, September 2nd
The Sunburnt Cow, 137 Ave. C between 8th and 9th
Suggested donation: $15-4000

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County Museum of Art director and president Andrea Rich has abdicated her position, turning over operations of LACMA to billionaire businessman and philanthropost Eli Broad. Broad is giving LACMA over $50 million to renovate and rebuild its campus on Wilshire Boulevard. In place of a thank you note or a follow-up phone call, Rich has allowed Broad to choose the architect, to set up an independent board to oversee construction and to oversee the acquisition fund that will stock the new buildings with art....

microsoft's Andrew Wilson recently announced a new touch screen called "touchlight" that uses 2 cameras placed in a way that there is no parallax. so when videoconferencing with it, you can look the other person in the other location right in the eye, among other things.....i'm sure ;-) see the interview and demonstration in video. [via]

For interstellar communication, it seems that using radio is an inefficient alternative to sending a postcard

I present to you, another AndreaHarner.com exclusive...KerryRocks.net!

Click on Kerry to see a kick ass video you'll want to pass along.

Kerry plays guitar, Bush was a cheerleader...You Decide!

* A stellar Cory Arcangel and Jonah Peretti collaboration.

Diver looks to be an interesting tool for navigating around the frame in video and allows the user to create a "path" through the video. Very interesting. Uses QuickTime and also available via the web. Created by the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning. From the site:

DIVER is a tool for authoring and sharing DIVES. A DIVE is an annotated perspective on any video record. Content can be captured by equipment ranging from basic consumer video cameras to specially built, high-resolution 360-degree panoramic cameras with a multi-microphone array.

Imagine being able to find specific shots in raw video by just typing in simple keywords. IBM is developing a new application that does just that:

At a conference in Cambridge, England, last week, an IBM researcher gave the first public demonstration of a computer system called Marvel that uses statistical techniques to learn about relationships between colors, shapes, patterns, sounds, and other clues from video footage that can help identify its content. IBM's prototype then labels the footage so users can go back and find individual shots.

Now THAT would be a godsend for TV news. (Via NewsLab)

Fresh from Engadget: Scott MacLean was the guy who developed TimeTrax - a tool that records XM Radio broadcasts and saves them as MP3's. Now he's facing trouble with the RIAA on the grounds that his app "permit listeners to transform a broadcast into a music library."

More than 2,400 XM listeners have downloaded the program since he made it publicly available on Aug. 12, MacLean said, and nearly 400 paid for the full version at a cost of $20. He raised the price on Tuesday to $30. These users are using TimeTrax - in combination with the software that came with XM's receiver, the PCR ' as their main gateway to XM Radio on the PC.

The Degree Confluence Project is an organized sampling of the world asking people to take a picture of each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world. There is a confluence within 49 miles (79 km) of you if you're on the surface of Earth. Even if confluences in the oceans and some near the poles are discounted, there are still 12,781 to be found.

All you need is a good map, a camera, and a compass (a GPS can help) The pictures and stories related are posted on the website.

From del.icio.us/ChrisDodo.

Reuters - Three men were trampled to death in a rush to claim vouchers at the first IKEA furniture showroom in Saudi Arabia Wednesday, hospital officials said.

Ruff ruff ruff ruff, ruff ruff. Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Ruff ruff.

The above quote comes from The Book of Surrealist Games which, after an evening of fun with friends, inspired me to create an online version to play:

PLSJ's Surrealist and Other Beautiful Games

Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Practice - "A primary act in the symbolic transformation of the territory, an aesthetic instrument of knowledge and a physical transformation of the negotiated space, which is converted into an urban intervention."

Themes in Cross-Cultural Contact - "Armies, colonists, merchants & traders, missionaries & pilgrims, diplomats, travelers & nomads, and modes of transport."

In Transit: Mobility, City Culture and Urban Development in Rotterdam - "Mobility is not solely a logistical or technocratic challenge in the modern city, but also a key conditioning factor in urban development."

Zoomscape: Architecture in Motion and Media - "How we now perceive buildings and places at high speeds, across great distances, through edited and multiple reproductions. Nowadays, our views of the architectural landscape are modulated by the accelerator pedal and the remote control."

A Question of Place exhibition - "mobilizing Aboriginal knowledge in a way that forms and informs discourses on contemporary art, architecture and theory... drawing out relationships to the land that provide new insights into the meanings of place and community."

RoAM: A Reader on the Aesthetics of Mobility - "Under five themes narrative, representation, glocalisation, telematics, velocity ideas around what it is to 'roam' are explored [through] discourses from art, cultural studies, design and politics."

In Transit - Clarke Robinson's "Interviews and Photographs of People on the Bus" in San Francisco.

An Exeter Misguide - "Many of the walks were developed in conjunction with Exeter citizens, creating a variety of perspectives on the way we negotiate the city. We aim to help local people to discover the unknown side of their city and to celebrate each person's unique sense of place."

73urbanjourneys - Katrina Jungnickel "explores, experiences and captures the textual, visual and sensual narratives of the mobile London urban experience."

Torrent: http://66.90.75.92/suprnova//torrents/2514/The%20End%20Of%20Suburbia(2).torrent
Size: 693 Mb
Quality: DVD-rip

Torrent: http://66.90.75.92/suprnova//torrents/2514/The%20Truth%20And%20Lies%20Of%209-11(1).torrent
Size: 687 Mb

"Once analyzed the topology of these networks and the links between individuals within them can be applied to practical problems like recommender systems, reputation / trust metrics, even online dating systems."

http://www.bewitched.com/art

I just played some chess against this Walczak guy's electronic art chess installation. I don't believe that thing is "thinking," but (a) it was gorgeous, and (b) it was kicking my ass at chess.

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of Japan claims that they have successfully developed the core technology for printing RFID chips. This technology, combined with other technologies such as printable antennas (and printable batteries in the case of active tags), may be used to create a printer-like machine that produces a complete RFID tag on demand.

Three O'clock Ltd. has launched a new video magazine service for mobile phones. The free service offers subscribers access to 60 video magazines, as well as five special edition magazines ranging from video games to female fashion. It is designed to work with any Java-enabled mobile phone, and magazines include video, text, graphics. Although the service itself is free, normal data transfer charges still apply.

To alleviate the heat island phenomenon, a team from Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a system that would allow architects to estimate how much heat would be trapped by planned developments.

The team collected data on the characteristics of building and road materials that contribute to the heat island effect and examined how the phenomenon is affected by trees.

Using the software, they input data on planned buildings, the quality of materials to be used and the condition of the ground to create a 3-D model which simulates the surface temperature of all buildings and roads in a proposed development. Differences in temperature are represented by a system of color-coding.

Based on that model, the type of building materials and distribution of open land can be adjusted to reduce heat emissions.

The team plans to put the software on the market next year.

From Daily Yomiuri.

People in the UK are buying and playing more games than ever before, a report has found.

A small group gathers around a truck that has a projector attached to a laptop mounted on the roof.

The Village Voice: Features: The Sunshine Patriots by Tom Robbins...

Matt Gardiner’s Oribotics are simple robotic sculptures that fold origami shapes and and animate light patterns. Some interesting videos on the site of the “blooming” effect of these curious machines. They are constructed with “a fusion of origami, LEGO robotics, animated light and sound. Opening and closing blossoms of paper, light and sound. Oribotics explores beauty in synthetic artificial nature, and the simple, elegant mechanical motion of folded paper. It also suggests the future potential of origami and technology.” Ahh, a future we can all be proud of! Check out the bots at this year’s ElectroFringe festival in Newcastle, Australia at the end of September/Early October.

not a long list, but a nice idea  

sunbird writes "The Justice Department has issued a subpoena seeking IP logs from Calyx, the ISP for nyc.indymedia.org, after individuals posted [1 | 2 | 3] the names, addresses, and phone numbers of some of the RNC delegates. The subpoena was issued as part of an ongoing investigation of voter intimidation. As reported earlier in this Slashdot article, the Justice Department tried this before. Calyx, represented by the ACLU, responded, claiming that '[t]he only intimidation taking place here is the Secret Service intimidating people who speak out against the government.' [Full text of the letter available here] Read more: Indymedia.org | NYT"

When the 43rd issue of Visionaire comes out next month it will be the first to use a revolutionary process called laser-cutting. No ink will be used because the images will be etched out of a blank black page. Based in SoHo NYC, Visionaire focuses on art and fashion and is known for pushing the limits of publishing process, presentation and content with each of its limited edition quarterly issues. 1500 copies of issue 43 will be made.

via towleroad

---

Posted in: Design

A trio of newly discovered worlds are much smaller than any other planets previously discovered outside of our solar system.

We (Six Apart) released Movable Type 3.1 today. Some important new features including a dynamic pages and sub-categories. It comes with a plugin pack which includes MTBlackList 2.0. MTBlackList 2.0 is my favorite comment spam zapper. (More on Mena's Corner.)

Comment - TrackBack

AP - A man whose genitals were bitten off by a pit bull remained in serious condition Tuesday, and the dog remained on the loose.

Reuters - A San Francisco laundromat may be the one of the world's most unusual places to surf the Internet but a sleek club on Moscow's Red Square is definitely the sleekest, according to a Yahoo! survey of the globe's best cybercafes.

Information Visualization as Artistic Practice

Software Structures: fun with Casey Reas et al (Jared Tarbell, Robert Hodgin & William Ngan).

a couple of years ago i wrote an article titled ”The Future of Wearables” for Rhizome. in my article i profiled designer Elise Co and her fantastic work. from a very early start elise has been ahead of the curve, working on challenging ideas which remain relevant in this quickly moving area. (previous blog posts mentioning elise can be found here.) one of her projects, Perforation (1999) struck me as especially poetic and beautiful. challenging the physicality of the body “through transparency", a mass of fiber optic cables transfers light from one side of the body to the other.

Elise Co’s “Perforation”

	in (2001) we see the concept of a “hole in the body” re-appear in IDEO’s award winning e-fashion concepts. in a design team led by Naoto Fukasawa a video camera is used to take images from the front of the body and display them on an LCD screen on the back.
	IDEO’s e-fashion concepts

	and this year, at ISEA 2004, we see a piece by Diana Burgoyne which transfers light from a flashlight from the back of the body to the front. this makes me think of Erkki Huhtamo’s talk at ISEA on Media Archaeology… and the recurring “topoi” of the immaterial body.
	Diana Burgoyne and model at the ISEA 2004 fashion show in Tallinn, Estonia

Reuters - Iran's moral crackdown has widened its focus from stylishly dressed women to curvaceous shop-window mannequins, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Reuters - Australia's election campaign took a wacky turn on Tuesday with claims the Greens party wanted to allow the sale of "party" drugs, state funding for sex changes and laws to make people ride bicycles and eat less meat.

"Surfin' U.S.A." For those newly-energized politically, and impatient, frustrated and disgusted with the starvation rations of the commercial U.S. media, here are a very few online, radio and print suggestions, delivered in no particular order. Of course each of...

Korean authorities are talking about u-City (Ubiquitous City) reports RFID Japan.

"Ubiquitous City is an intelligent next-generation city based on u-IT (Ubiquitous Information Technology.)

Examples of u-IT include RFID and wireless internet technologies. One of the first efforts to build u-Cities is the development of the convention center district in the Korean city of ChanWon.

In a u-City, RFID would be used in the following ways:

- Automated parking system
- Vehicle identification
- House keys
- In-store services: product information, tailor-made clothes, fashion news
- Automated checkout in retail stores
- Attach RFID tags to sewer pipes to manage waste water
- Track locations of vehicles, children and pets.

Significant structural differences in male and female brains may result from selective cell death orchestrated by just one gene

A researcher's claim to have cloned human-cow hybrid embryos from dead people is met with scepticism and revulsion

awesome