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Wired News: Top Stories

Hideo Kojima's Top 5 Memorable Games

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 1:57pm CDT by Game|Life

The maestro of pixelated sneaking lists his top five memorable games and, weirdly, his own 'Metal Gear Solid' made the cut.
Led Zeppelin Won't Lend Music to Rhythm Games

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 12:00pm CDT by Game|Life

Despite the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you won't see Led Zeppelin's iconic tunes pop up in either game any time soon. The band isn't comfortable giving gaming companies access to the group's master recordings -- a necessary step in adding the band to any game.
Court Orders YouTube to Fork Over Video Logs

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 6:52am CDT by Associated Press

A federal judge orders YouTube to disclose who watches which video clips and when to Viacom and other copyright holders involved in a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against the video-sharing service.
Casual Fan's Guide to 'Doctor Who' Finale

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 2:52am CDT by Underwire

On Saturday, July 5, at 6:40 p.m., the season finale of Doctor Who will go out on BBC1 to an expected audience of 10 million viewers. The specially extended 65-minute episode should be one of the most watched shows of the year in the United Kingdom. For casual sci-fi viewers who might not get what all the fuss is about, this preview will stack up some background data to prime this weekend's big sci-fi send-off for The Doctor and his Tardis crew.
Transformer: Kayak Adjusts Its Shape to Go With Your Flow

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 11:00pm CDT by Clare Baldwin

You can prep this flexible kayak for almost any weather or sea condition with hydraulic jacks that stretch and adjust the skin with ease. It's pricey, but wow -- it's like several kayaks in one.
Sex Drive: How to Keep the Fireworks Going From Afar

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 11:00pm CDT by Regina Lynn

Many long-distance lovers have become experts in how tech can augment sexuality.

No commuter couple should go without Skype, Twitter and mobile phones, while sex toys can take the repetitive stress injury out of a long-distance affair.

But it's not much of a stretch to think that there's a bigger need (read: market) for "tele-amore" devices than there ever will be for teledildonics (online sex toys controlled by a lover from anywhere in the world). And yet we don't have a lot of options when we're looking for devices designed to arouse our emotions.

Not everyone is comfortable enough with both sex and computers to get internet-enabled vibrators working, but we all want to interact with our partners in special ways. Despite the frenzy around social media applications, we still don't have sensual devices that extend that functionality beyond virtual space.

All it would take is something like the Ambient Orb hooked up to a desktop dot to get my heart racing.

Joseph Kaye, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University studying human-computer interaction, developed the Virtual Intimate Object, or VIO, to study the effect of low-bandwidth applications on long-distance intimacy.

The VIO is a dot that sits in your system tray (Windows) or desktop (Mac) and monitors an identical dot on your partner's computer. When your partner clicks his or her dot, yours fills with color; as time goes by without a click, the color slowly fades until the circle is just an outline.

In Kaye's 2004 study (.pdf), five long-distance couples kept journals of how often they clicked the VIO and how using it made them feel. He notes that while he originally thought of the VIO as the source of intimacy, he realized that the journals quickly became an integral part of the experience for the couples.

Just as dancing leads to necking which leads to spanking and then to the oral sex, what was enough on day one was merely adequate by day five of the study.

By week's end, participants had several suggestions for additional functionality: a choice of colors, the option to play a sound, and the ability to replace the circle with their own set of graphics. They had become emotionally engaged not just with their partners, but with the application.

If you can get all that from a 2-D dot, think what you could do with an object you can touch.

Unfortunately, the closest thing I can find to that type of technology for consumers is the Nabaztag rabbit, a wireless device that connects with other Nabaztag rabbits over the internet. From a strictly romantic standpoint, they one-up the Chumby and the Tux Droid in that the rabbits can "marry" each other, so that when one partner moves their rabbit's ears, the paired rabbit's ears move the same way.

Chat acronyms, make way for the semaphore signs of love.

The Nabaztags are excruciatingly cute. I've wanted a set for years, but they weren't specifically designed for suitors. (Nor are they the seamless technical experience they claim to be, apparently: The Nabaztalk user forums provide a sobering counterpoint to the Nabaztags' slick product marketing.)

The human-computer interaction folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology seem to understand the connection between technology and emotion, but their clever projects -- like the Lover's Cups that light up when a far-away partner takes a sip or the Mutsugoto interactive art bed -- have yet to break free of academia and museums.

Gadgets like teledildonics and sex machines that stimulate the body but shouldn't be used at work or in public only go so far. Sex tech doesn't have to be explicit to be effective: If you and your distant partner have been together long enough, you realize that tech that fosters intimacy, playfulness and common experiences has a much greater impact on the quality of your union than just having orgasms now and then.

I want to glance at the shelf and see an object glowing warmly because someone special sent me a message. I want to let someone know I'm thinking about him, simply by stroking my fingers over a smooth surface.

I know I'm not the only one who wants to interact through something sensual and swoopy and erotic that has no connection to business, chores or taxes.

I want my ambient intimacy object. Are you listening, developers? There's a mountain of money to be made keeping long-distance lovers connected in our increasingly complicated world.

See you in a fortnight,

Regina Lynn

- - -

Regina Lynn is the author of Sexier Sex: Lessons From the Brave New Sexual Frontier. She blogs at reginalynn.com.
July 4, 1776: To Preserve, Protect and Defend ...

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 11:00pm CDT by Tony Long

1776: The Declaration of Independence is signed. It will take 117 years before someone gets around to saying, "Hey, maybe we should preserve this thing."

The Declaration of Independence can be fairly said to stand alongside the Magna Carta and Bill of Rights as the most important documents in the history of democracy. Its significance was understood from the moment it was signed, so one is left to wonder why its preservation was ignored for so long.

During the Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence was rolled up and toted around like a Thomas Bros. map, although, given the vicissitudes of war, that's perhaps understandable. Less understandable is what came later. Water was spilled on it while it was being copied in 1823. Then it was tacked up on the wall at the U.S. Patent Office for about 40 years, where it was subjected to a strong northern light.

Finally, the suggestion was made in 1903 that maybe it shouldn't be exposed to sunlight and, oh, by the way, maybe it should be kept dry, too. The latter turned out to be a bad idea because the Declaration, which was written on parchment, actually needs a bit of moisture to keep from cracking.

It wasn't until 1951 that the first modern preservation efforts began. The document was sealed inside a bronze, bullet-proof glass case at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Humidified helium replaced oxygen to prevent further erosion, and the glass was filtered to cut down on light exposure.

Beginning in 1987, using camera equipment developed for the Hubble Space Telescope, preservationists were able to monitor the Declaration for even the most minute signs of fading or flaking ink.

The measures proved effective, so much so that the Declaration outlived its original protective case. After undergoing careful inspection for further erosion in 2003, the document was resealed in a titanium casement filled with inert argon gas. Similar preservation techniques are used to protect the Bill of Rights and Constitution.

The Declaration of Independence remains on display in the rotunda of the National Archives, where it is seen by roughly 6,000 tourists every day. At night, when the crowds have all gone home, the case is lowered 22 feet into a vault.

That's almost as much protection as the French give to Napoleon.

Source: History.com
From Foldup Kayaks to Swim Goggles, Wired Reviews the Hottest Summer Gear

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 11:00pm CDT by Summer Test

Our blowout Summer Test gadget reviews have something for everyone from lightweight tents, folding bikes and GPS navigators to tricked-out training watches and pro-quality swim goggles.
U.S. Arms Dealer Tests Legal Bounds in Middle East Arms Bazaar

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 5:00pm CDT by Sharon Weinberger

Former congressman Curt Weldon is helping broker deals between Russian and Ukranian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments as part of his new job with a private American defense consulting firm, Wired.com has learned.

Weldon, who is currently being investigated by the FBI over alleged corruption during his time in office, visited Libya in March to discuss a possible military deal, according to a letter describing the trip from Weldon to Defense Solutions CEO Timothy Ringgold. In May, Weldon, together with Ringgold and another company representative, traveled to Moscow to discuss working with Russia's weapons-export agency on arms sales to the Middle East.

Both trips were part of the company's effort to tap into the growing -- and often legally murky -- market for selling weapons from former Eastern Bloc countries to the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Ex-Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pennsylvania, is helping broker deals between Russian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments through his company, Defense Solutions.
Photo: H. Rumph Jr/AP
The Russians want to sell weapons to Iraq directly, but "must go slow on Iraq because of political reasons" and want to work with an "intermediary" like Defense Solutions, CEO Ringgold subsequently wrote to colleagues. "They have not spoken with any American company that can offer the quid pro quo that we can or that has the connections in Russia that we have," he boasted.

A few years ago, an American company proposing to sell weapons to Libya might have triggered a congressional hearing. So, too, would have a proposal to conduct arms deals with Russia, which the United States has accused of selling high-tech weapons to Syria and Iran.

However, U.S. government efforts to rapidly equip countries like Afghanistan and Iraq -- which have largely Soviet-origin weapons -- have created legal ambiguities and loopholes in export controls that didn't exist in years past and given rise to a new class of arms trade middlemen. So, even though both Libya and the Russian arms export agency are on official U.S. blacklists, government officials and analysts involved in weapons sales say the rules have become unclear as the push to equip allies in the global war on terror has blazed new but uncertain legal ground.

Eagerly stepping into that virgin territory is Defense Solutions, a Pennsylvania-based company that is carving out a small but lucrative niche in a new international arms bazaar. The firm boasts as its advisors a number of influential Washington insiders, such as retired General Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug czar.

Helping the firm make key connections is Curt Weldon, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania at the center of an FBI investigation into alleged conflicts of interest during his time in office. Weldon, now a key executive at Defense Solutions, is working with the company to set up these weapons deals.
Defense Solutions has also proposed refurbishing Libya's BTR-60 armored personnel carriers, according to a sales proposal seen by Wired.com. Defense Solutions denies drafting a sales proposal to Libya.
It's an unusual, if not an entirely unexpected chapter for Weldon, whose time in office included frequent trips to Russia. As an influential member of the House Armed Services Committee, Weldon pushed for multibillion-dollar defense programs, like ballistic missile defense, and earned a reputation as a foreign policy gadfly, boasting of his contacts with officials in nations labeled by the administration as "rogue states" such as Libya and North Korea. Weldon's wild claims about a 9/11 cover-up and his sensationalist book warning of an Iranian terror plot, sometimes earned him official scorn and public ridicule, but it was accusations that he steered contracts to Eastern European businesses linked to his daughter's lobbying firm that drew the government's attention.

Weldon was voted out of office in 2006 just weeks after the FBI raided his daughter's home, and that of one of her associates.

Weldon did not respond to e-mails and phone requests to be interviewed or comment for this article. But in a 2006 interview, before the FBI probe was public, Weldon spoke enthusiastically about setting up a "front company" to work with the Russian arms agency, Rosoboronexport. Weldon hoped this company could sell weapons to the Middle East, and other regions, particularly to countries where the U.S. has strained relations. He claimed the director of Rosoboronexport approached him to work with "an American company that would act as a front for weapons these nations want to buy."

Weldon called the proposal an "unbelievable offer."

The administration, he acknowledged at the time, did not welcome the idea of an American company selling Russian weapons to potentially unfriendly countries. But two years later, Weldon, now a private citizen and chief strategic officer for Defense Solutions, appears to be working on precisely that sort of deal. And whether illegal or not, Defense Solutions' business represents a new phenomenon in the international arms trade business.

In years past arms brokers -- firms or individuals who serve as middlemen to facilitate weapons sales between countries -- were largely the stuff of spy thrillers. Unlike traditional American defense companies, like Lockheed Martin or Boeing, which typically sell weapons directly to NATO countries or other governments regarded as friendly to the United States, brokers are often small outfits run by people with sometimes questionable experience and reputations that they will sell to anyone. One of the most infamous arms brokers, a Russian named Viktor Bout, is charged by the United States, United Nations, Interpol and others of funneling arms to terrorists and rebels around the world. He was recently arrested in Thailand. The United States is requesting his extradition on charges of supplying arms to a terrorist organization.
Two Marines lower the trim vane on the front of an Iraqi BMP-1 mechanized infantry combat vehicle that was captured during Operation Desert Storm. The American defense consulting firm Defense Solutions has proposed refurbishing Libya's aging fleet of BMP-1s. Defense Solutions denies drafting a sales proposal to Libya.
But ironically, Iraq has fueled a new market for these professional middlemen; the United States is funneling billions of dollars into modernizing Iraq's army so that the country's government can fend for itself after coalition troops withdraw. And Iraq's largely Soviet-equipped military is a natural market for Eastern European countries brimming with old or out-of-date equipment they would like to unload. The middlemen, in these cases, serve a key role by allowing the U.S. government to do business with an American company, which in turn buys equipment from Eastern Bloc countries in deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it financed with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

One of Defense Solutions' sales -- a deal to sell Hungarian-owed T-72 tanks to Iraq in 2005 -- was typical of these new foreign military sales. But on the more questionable side is the company's plans to work with Rosoboronexport, which is barred from doing business with the U.S. government, and Libya, which is still on the State Department's arms embargo list.

The Eastern European-Middle East arms-brokering business, while in some cases sanctioned by the U.S. government, has run into problems, including outright corruption and quality. Defense contractor Dale Stoffel, the president of Wye Oak Technology, and another American were gunned down in Iraq in December 2004 after Stoffel alleged that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense was involved in a kickback scheme. Like Defense Solutions, the company Stoffel worked for was refurbishing the Iraq's army Eastern Bloc equipment.

Another problem is quality. Weapons from the former Soviet Bloc, which the U.S. military euphemistically calls "nonstandard equipment," have been flagged as substandard, acknowledges Brigadier General Charles Luckey, who is in charge of security assistance at Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. In an interview from Iraq, Brigadier General Luckey said: "One of the frustrating things about buying nonstandard (weapons), is that I'm the guy who has to deal with the fact that some broker I've never heard of allowed weapons to get to Iraq before they were inspected."
Defense Solutions is carving a new niche in the arms trade, selling Soviet-made weapons to Middle Eastern countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. Defense Solutions sold Hungarian-owed T-72 tanks to Iraq in 2005.
In one high-profile case, Iraqi officials alleged that a corrupt firm sold them $400 million in shoddy helicopters from Poland. More recently, a company led by a 21-year-old and a former masseur was offered a U.S. government contract worth nearly $300 million to sell ammunition to Afghanistan. The ammunition turned out to be outdated and of dubious origin and several people connected with the company have been indicted. A congressional investigation concluded that the company, which was on a State Department watch list, was able to take advantage of regulatory loopholes by using middlemen.

For those concerned about illicit arms trade, this new wave of weapons deals is rife with the potential for corruption and abuse, but for companies eager to pursue markets once regarded as dubious, it represents a lucrative business opportunity. The problem in these cases, according to those familiar with arms sales, is that it's no longer clear what's legal and what's not.

Rachel Stohl, an expert on international arms trade and a senior analyst at Center for Defense Information, says that in many ways, the rush to equip Iraq has led the United States to throw caution to the wind. She points to a report by the Government Accountability Office last year that found that some 190,000 weapons sold to Iraq have gone missing. "I think the reality is we won't know, until way after the fact, about all of these irregularities with the Iraq weapons provision program," she said. "We were providing them all these assault rifles that have gone missing. Why? They were not following the standard procedures that were in place."

But Iraq and Afghanistan aren't the only markets available to arms brokers like Defense Solutions. The gradual normalization of relations with Libya opens another door into a quasi-legal area of sales.

Like Iraq, Libya has a substantial arsenal of Soviet-origin military weapons, offering a potential market for brokers working with Russia and other former Soviet states. But even when there's not an outright ban, sales to the Middle East are often fraught with controversy, particularly to countries like Libya, which was under international sanction for more than a decade. Even as sanctions against it have been lifted, European companies proposing to sell arms to Libya have faced steep criticism, particularly since the country is still ruled by dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who took power in a military coup in 1969.

While the United States lifted Libya's "state sponsor of terrorism" designation in 2006, other restrictions, such as on the sale of arms, remain in place. A State Department spokesperson confirmed that exports of "lethal munitions" to Libya, such as tanks or related equipment, are still banned, although sales of nonlethal equipment are now allowed on a case-by-case basis.

In late March, Weldon traveled to Libya for a weeklong trip at the invitation of the Gaddafi Foundation, a group run by the son of Libya's leader, and the chairman of Libya's foreign affairs committee, according to the report he sent to Defense Solutions (.pdf), a copy of which was obtained by Wired.com. The trip reports states: "Agreement reached for Weldon to quickly return to Libya for meetings with son (of Libyan leader Gaddafi) Morti regarding defense and security cooperation."

A document dated April 16, just two weeks after Weldon's trip, outlines Defense Solutions' proposal to Libya to refurbish the country's fleet of armored vehicles, including its T-72 tanks, BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, and BTR-60 armored personnel carriers. A copy of the sales proposal, also provided to Wired.com, is on Defense Solutions' letterhead, appears to bear the signature of company CEO Timothy Ringgold, and is addressed to Libya's defense procurement council. "Defense Solutions is committed to delivering a full end-to-end solution to its clients," the proposal states. "Besides refurbishing these vehicles, we are capable of providing a full logistics support package, including a two year supply of spare parts, maintenance and repair services, and operator, maintenance, and repair training."

In an interview with Wired.com, Ringgold admitted that he's interested in doing business in Libya and confirms receiving Weldon's trip report from Libya, but denies drafting or signing an arms-sale proposal. "I've never made such a document to Libya," Ringgold insisted, after being read the proposal, and told that his signature is on it.

In addition to the Libyan arms-deal document, Wired.com has also reviewed copies of e-mails from Ringgold discussing the Libyan deal.

While Ringgold denies proposing an arms sale to Libya, he is open about speaking with Rosoboronexport, which has been on a U.S. government sanctions list since 2006, after the Russian state agency allegedly violated the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act. An April e-mail provided to Wired.com describes Ringgold, Weldon and Stephan Minikes, a senior advisor to Defense Solutions and a former ambassador, meeting with Rosoboronexport. The conversations included a number of potential deals, including supplying Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan and spare parts for Iraq's infantry fighting vehicles. Ringgold wrote to colleagues following the visit, describing the meetings as a "spectacular success," saying the Russian agency "has the ability to undercut all cost proposals from brokers."

Ringgold confirmed those discussions and said that his company has sought to do business with Rosoboronexport. Asked whether Ringgold considers his dealings with Russia to be legal, he argued that U.S. companies could work with Rosoboronexport on a "case-by-case" basis. "The particular purpose of the meeting we had -- and I want to be crystal clear -- was in response to a U.S. government requirement," he said.

A number of officials at the State Department and in the Pentagon, when contacted for this article, could not say whether working with Rosoboronexport is legal or not. A Pentagon spokeswoman said she was familiar with the issue, but deferred the question to the State Department. When asked about Rosoboronexport's status on the blacklist, John Herzberg, a State Department spokesman replied: "What's on there is on there."

Asked whether, given the ban, there was any way a company could legally work with Rosoboronexport, as Ringgold suggested, Herzberg provided an equivocal answer. "At the stage of the process we're at, I'm unable to give you an answer," he said. "You can try elsewhere in government, and maybe they'll be braver than me."

In an interview from Iraq, General Luckey conceded it was a murky area, but said, "My understanding is they are currently on our no-go list."

The confusion over debarred parties has even led the U.S. government into its own legal tangles, according to Jim McAleese, a Washington attorney who specializes in government contracting and foreign military sales. Because the Russian government violated U.S. nonproliferation laws, even NASA had to go to Congress to ensure it could work with Russia on Soyuz flights to the international space station. "What I'm warning you about is, don't be surprised by the confusion," McAleese said. "There are a whole bunch of different statutes that were adopted piecemeal and were never intended to be reconciled."

But it's the very ambiguity of the law that troubles those who monitor export control. "It's highly unusual to do anything with the Russians, particularly Rosoboronexport," said Scott Jones, director of Export Control Programs at the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia.

Legal or not, reputable American companies simply don't want to work with banned entities, Jones said, for fear of risking their reputations and business. "Even if it's not an outright prohibition, most companies don't want to put themselves in a liability situation that has really bad PR … and they stay away from it," Jones said. "But if that's your business, pimping out arms from the U.S. or Russia, that's the way it works, and you push as much as possible."

Finding any U.S. defense company working with the Russian government at this point would be "remarkable," Jones added.

In the meantime, the future for Weldon is unclear. The FBI investigation continues and Weldon's former chief of staff recently pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and is cooperating with the government, notes Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a complaint against Weldon in 2004. Sloan speculated that Weldon may be charged with "honest service fraud" for misusing his office for personal gain. "It's an easier standard than bribery," she said. "I wouldn't be surprised (if he's charged) with bribery, but I think it will be honest services fraud."

Ringgold insists that he and Weldon are on the right side of the law. "Everything we do is in strict compliance with international and U.S. law and we operate only in the best interests of the U.S. government," he said. "I didn't serve 30 years in the United States Army to throw that away on a whim."

Asked if Weldon is still working for the company, Ringgold replied: "Absolutely, proudly so."
Stage a Fireworks Show Safely

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 4:00pm CDT by How-To Wiki

Lighter in one hand and crazy look in another? It must be July 4th and it is time to honor our forefathers and delight your neighbors by blowing stuff up with fireworks. Our fireworks tips will ensure your fireworks show is the best and safest one yet.
Analysis: NSA Spying Judge Defends Rule of Law, Congress Set to Strip His Power

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 1:00pm CDT by Threat Level

President Bush's arguments for his secret wiretapping of Americans are not legal, a federal court judge ruled Wednesday standing up for a law intended to curtail Presidential spying abuses. His reward? Come Tuesday, the Senate is expected to pass a law legalizing Bush's dragnet and ordering the Republican-appointed judge to throw out cases against telecoms that helped with the spying.
Secrets of Stradivarius Explained

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 10:00am CDT by Wired Science

Dutch researchers run five of the peerless violins through a CT scanner and find that the wood used in the instruments possesses an exceptionally uniform density.

Tweakers.net Mixed RSS Feed

Microsoft aangeklaagd wegens patentschending Silverlight

Posted: July 5th, 2008, 3:13am CDT

Gotuit Media, ontwikkelaar van videosoftware, heeft Microsoft aangeklaagd. Silverlight zou volgens Gotuit zijn patenten met betrekking tot video-indexering schenden. Het gaat ...
Leaseweb verliest ook in hoger beroep van Brein

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 11:19am CDT

Leaseweb heeft ook de rechtszaak over Everlasting in hoger beroep van Brein verloren. Het Hof van Amsterdam oordeelde dat de torrentsite 'onmiskenbaar onrechtmatig' handelde. Eind juni vorig jaar won Brein een korte geding tegen Leaseweb, waarbij de rechter het vonnis uitsprak dat het hostingbedrijf Everlasting uit de lucht moest halen, en naam en adres van de eigenaar aan Brein te overhandigen...
Reggefiber voorziet Dordrecht van glasvezel

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 10:17am CDT

De gemeente Dordrecht heeft met Reggefiber en KPN een overeenkomst gesloten om huishoudens in drie wijken van een glasvezelverbinding te voorzien. De aanleg zal naar verwachting twee jaar gaan duren. In totaal moeten veertienduizend huishoudens in de wijken Dubbeldam, Stadspolders en Staart Oost op het glasvezelnetwerk worden aangesloten. Reggefiber wil in oktober gaan beginnen met de aanleg. ...
MSI introduceert Wind-moederbord voor doe-het-zelf-nettops

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:48am CDT

Met de introductie van het Wind-moederbord voor zelfbouw-nettopsystemen wil MSI een graantje meepikken van de populariteit van nettops. De Atom-cpu en de overige componenten op het bord worden passief gekoeld. Het door MSI aangekondige mini-itx-moederbord is uitgerust met een 1,6GHz Atom 230-cpu. Verder lijkt het bord als twee druppels water op het MS-7314-moederbord dat in de Wind PC-nettop ge...
Vlamingen willen .vla als alternatief voor .be

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:27am CDT

De Vlaamse regering wil een topleveldomain voor Vlaanderen laten registreren, zodat Vlaamse webadressen in de toekomst mogelijk niet alleen op .be maar ook op .vla kunnen eindigen. Minister-president Kris Peeters heeft het Vlaamse parlementslid Mark Demesmaeker donderdag laten weten dat de regering de mogelijkheden voor een Vlaamse .vla-extensie onderzoekt. Die mogelijkheid dient zich aan nu d...
Microsoft ISA Server 2006 SP1

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:22am CDT

Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server, in de beheerdersmond ISA genoemd, is een geavanceerde firewall op applicatieniveau, vpn- en webcacheoplossing waarmee het netwerk beveiligd kan worden. Voor meer informatie over ISA verwijzen we jullie door naar deze pagina bij Microsoft. Sinds kort is de eerste service pack voor Microsoft ISA Server 2006 beschikbaar, waarmee nieuwe functies wor...
Help & Manual 5.0.2 build 540

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:07am CDT

Elke software-ontwikkelaar weet hoe belangrijk een handleiding bij een programma kan zijn als men niet overspoeld wilt worden met telkens dezelfde vragen van gebruikers. Om op een eenvoudige manier deze handleiding samen te stellen, kan je het programma Help & Manual gebruiken. Hiermee ben je in staat om je handleiding in elkaar te zetten en deze vervolgens in verschillende formaten uit te brengen...
Flock 1.2.3

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:03am CDT

Flock is een browser die gebruikmaakt van de code van Mozilla Firefox 2.0 en wordt geleverd met diverse opties voor de gebruiker om te interageren met diverse socialenetwerksites op het internet. Voorbeelden hiervan zijn Flickr, Facebook, Youtube, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Photobucket en Digg. Voor meer informatie en een demonstratie van verschillende features verwijzen we jullie door naar deze han...
Fresh UI 8.10

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 8:53am CDT

Fresh Devices heeft Fresh UI een update naar versie 8.10 gegeven. Dit programma stelt je in staat om verborgen instellingen van Windows via een grafische interface aan te passen. Op deze manier zijn onder andere de gebruikersinterface, systeeminstellingen en policy's aan te passen. De volgende veranderingen zijn terug te vinden in de lijst van aanpassingen sinds de vorige vermelding in de Meuktrac...
Betterjpeg 2.0.0.2

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 8:51am CDT

Met het programma Betterjpeg kan je eenvoudige bewerkingen op foto's uitvoeren, zoals croppen, resizen en het verwijderen van het zogenaamde rode-oogeffect. Verder kan het programma de datum en de tijd dat de foto geschoten is, eventueel met commentaar, aan de foto toevoegen. De meeste programma's die jpeg-bestanden bewerken, schrijven het hele bestand opnieuw weg. Hierdoor neemt de kwaliteit van ...
T-Mobile geeft toelichting op iPhone 3G-tarieven

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 8:50am CDT

T-Mobile heeft meer informatie verstrekt over de tarieven voor de drie iPhone 3G-abonnementen. Daarnaast halveert de provider 'tijdelijk' de aansluitkosten van 52,50 euro per aansluiting. De aansluitkosten dienen betaald te worden door iedereen die een iPhone 3G met abonnement bij T-Mobile aanschaft en die daarnaast geen prepaidklant is of al een abonnement heeft lopen bij de telco. De prepaidk...
Webgui 7.5.15 bèta

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 8:48am CDT

Webgui is een contentmanagementsysteem en applicatieframework waarmee een website beheerd en ingericht kan worden, zonder dat hiervoor uitgebreide technische kennis nodig is. Het pakket bevat onder andere een fotoalbum, een weblog, een forum, een rss-feedgenerator en een soap-frontend. De ontwikkelaars hebben bètaversie 7.5.15 uitgebracht en voorzien van de volgende lijst van veranderingen:...

Boing Boing

Interview with Charlie Angus, Canadian MP who's fighting the Canadian DMCA

Posted: July 5th, 2008, 12:12am CDT by Cory Doctorow

Adam Reimer secured an interview with Charlie Angus, the ex-punk-musician turned Canadian Member of Parliament who'se leading the charge against the Canadian DMCA. Adam solicited interview questions from the web and got a great interview with a thoughtful, intelligent, and honorable politician. Link, Link to mirror (Thanks, Adam!)
Barlow's Forth of July message

Posted: July 5th, 2008, 12:01am CDT by Cory Doctorow

Vinay sez, "John Perry Barlow is in Iceland for the Icelandic Foundation for Digital Freedoms' conference. We shot this Fourth of July talk with him at Thingvellir, the ancient site of Iceland's historic parliamentary republic, B. 930 AD, D. about 3 centuries later." Link (Thanks, Vinay!)
Where the Linear Crosses the Exponential: Kevin Kelly

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:46pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

Snip from an essay published by Kevin Kelly today over on his Technium blog:
All extropic systems -- economy, nature and technology -- are governed by self-accelerating feedback cycles. Like compounding interest, or virtuous circles, they are powered by increasing returns. Success breeds success. There is a long tail of incremental build up and then as they keep doubling every cycle, they explode out of invisibility into significance. Extropic systems can also collapse in the same self-accelerating way, one subtraction triggering many other subtractions, so in a vicious cycle the whole system implodes. Our view of the future is warped and blinded by these exponential curves.
But while progress runs on exponential curves, our individual lives proceed in a linear fashion. We live day by day by day. While we might think time flies as we age, it really trickles out steadily. Today will always be more valuable than some day in the future, in large part because we have no guarantee we'll get that extra day. Ditto for civilizations. In linear time, the future is a loss. But because human minds and societies can improve things over time, and compound that improvement in virtuous circles, the future in this dimension is a gain. Therefore long-term thinking entails the confluence of the linear and the exponential. The linear march of our time intersects the cascading rise and fall of numerous self-amplifying exponential forces. Generations, too, proceed in a linear sequence. They advance steadily one after another while pushed by the compounding cycles of exponential change.
Balancing that point where the linear crosses the exponential is what long-term thinking should be about.
Where the Linear Crosses the Exponential [Kevin Kelly]
Jesse Helms leaves the planet.

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:40pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

US Senator Jesse Helms died today. Here were his words in 1956, responding to criticism that a fictional black character in his newspaper column was racist:
To rob the Negro of his reputation of thinking through a problem in his own fashion is about the same as trying to pretend that he doesn't have a natural instinct for rhythm and for singing and dancing.
Jesse Helms quotes on life and politics [AP]
Iran: death penalty for “corrupt weblogs”

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:14pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

New legislation has been proposed in Iran that could make blogging a crime punishable by death. Cyrus Farivar has a story on today's edition of the PRI radio show The World: Iran considers harsh penalty for some bloggers (3:30).
Over at Global Voices, Hamid Tehrani writes:
On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death.

In recent years, some Iranian bloggers have been sent to jail and many have had their sites filtered. If the Iranian parliament approves this draft bill, bloggers fear they could be legally executed as criminals. No one has defined what it means to “disturb mental security in society”.

Such discussion concerning blogs has not been unique to Iran. It shows that many authorities do not only wish to filter blogs, but also to eliminate bloggers!
A translated English copy of the proposed legislation is here. [International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran]
Image: "Women In Black," by Matthew Winterburn, who has some really neat photos of Iran in his Flickr stream.
Some douche steals Ian Curtis' (of Joy Division) headstone

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 8:53pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

The headstone marking the final resting place of deceased Joy Division singer Ian Curtis is suddenly missing.
Whoever stole it is a total douche, and deserves a special place in hell where screaming emo demons torture them with burns from a thousand clove cigarettes, poke them with a million blunt eyeliner applicators, and blind their eyes with painfully asymmetrical hair extensions for all eternity.
The grave marker, wherever it is now, reads: "Ian Curtis 18 - 5 - 80" and the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart".
Here is a story in the Times UK, and above is a music video by Jonathan Beamish for the earliest recorded version of "Love Will Tear us Apart," produced as a John Peel Session for the BBC in 1979 (jesus! 30 years ago, wow).
Captain America, Fuck Yeah!

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 8:45pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

Happy Fourth of July, everyone. Blow some shit up!
Captain America Fuck Yeah
[YouTube; the song in this unauthorized and infringalicious fan video was lifted from the great Matt Stone and Trey Parker epic, Team America: World Police, referenced in these BB posts of yore: 1, 2.]
Terrible new Brazilian Internet law proposal will criminalize brazillions of people

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 7:31pm CDT by Cory Doctorow

Pedro sez, "Brazil is about to pass possibly the strictest legislation ever regulating the internet. The bill will be voted in the next few days by the Brazilian Senate. Please see below the translation of the article published today by Folha de Sao Paulo, the largest newspaper in the country:"
According to Ronaldo Lemos, by referring to "computer networks", "communication devices" and "information systems", the draft law covers not only computers, but also MP3 players, cell phones, DVD players, software systems and even digital TV set-top boxes, not to mention websites. Following this line of reasoning, the bill would cover even the act of unblocking a cell phone.
The professors claim that no country criminalizes access to information on the Internet in such broad fashion. "The closest legislation to what is being proposed here is the one passed in the USA, which criminalizes the act of circumventing technological protection measures. But no law has criminalized access itself," mentions the brief.
Article 285-B qualifies as a crime – also punished with 1 to 3 years of imprisonment and a fine – "to obtain or transfer data or information" without prior authorization of the legitimate owner.
The professors propose the exclusion or amendment of the text of two articles of the draft law. They suggest that the access and transference of information on the Internet be considered a crime only if fraud or "unlawful advantages" are involved.
Link (Thanks, Pedro!)
New eBoy Peecol figures

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 3:01pm CDT by David Pescovitz

Our friends at eBoy, creators of BB's mascots including the lovely and talented Jackhammer Jill, released their latest in the Peecol line of toy figures. My favorite is Rilla, the diaper-wearing gorilla! They're $9.95 each from Kidrobot. eBoy Peecol (Kidrobot)
Tattooed living zombie

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 2:25pm CDT by David Pescovitz

Bizarre magazine interviews a Montreal gentleman named Rick who is tattooing his entire body to look like the living dead. From the interview (photo by Neville Elder):
What look are you trying to achieve with your tattoos?
They’re about the human body as a decomposing corpse – the art of a rotting cadaver. It’s also a tribute to horror movies, which I love.

What influenced your tattoos? When I was a kid I was a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I wanted to be a ninja turtle and live in the sewers. But as I got older I fell in love with zombies and wanted to become one. Oh, and I love George A Romero’s Living Dead movies.

Anyway, the closest thing I could get to becoming a zombie was to get tattooed like one.

Zombie tattooed man (Bizarre)
Lost scenes from Metropolis found

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 2:17pm CDT by David Pescovitz

The original version of Fritz Lang's fantastic science fiction film Metropolis was first seen in Berlin in 1927. Shortly after, Paramount recut the film to (over)simplify the plot. From then on, it was thought that at least 1/4 of the whole film ended up on the editing room floor where it was swept into the dustbin of history. Recently though, much of the lost footage was rediscovered. According to ZEITmagazin, several of the rediscovered scenes are essential to the film's plot. The magazine has the story about how the missing reels ended up in the private collection of a film critic in the late 1920s or so, and eventually came to light again. From ZEITmagazin (poster image from Wikipedia):
Among the footage that has now been discovered, according to the unanimous opinion of the three experts that ZEITmagazin asked to appraise the pictures, there are several scenes which are essential in order to understand the film: The role played by the actor Fritz Rasp in the film for instance, can finally be understood. Other scenes, such as for instance the saving of the children from the worker’s underworld, are considerably more dramatic...

The rediscovered material is in need of restoration after 80 years; the pictures are scratched, but clearly recognizable. Martin Koerber, the restorer of the hitherto longest known version of “Metropolis”, who also examined the footage, said to ZEITmagazin: “No matter how bad the condition of the material may be, the original intention of the film, including all of its minor characters and subplots, is now once again tangible for the normal viewer. The rhythm of the film has been restored.”
Lang's Metropolis rediscovered (ZEITmagazine, thanks COOP!)
Bugs have creepy faces

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 2:06pm CDT by David Pescovitz

Dark Roasted Blend posted a fun gallery of "Ugly Bug Faces." The images above are from the Oklahoma Microscopic Society. The National Geographic Society also published a hardcover book titled Bug Faces.
America loves drugs

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 1:54pm CDT by David Pescovitz

According to a new international study, the United States has the highest rates of pot and coke use, followed by New Zealand. The other 15 countries surveyed by the World Health Organization didn't even come close. Approximately 42.4 percent of those surveyed in the US say they've used marijuana, with 20.2 percent admitting to having tried the drug by age 15. From Alternet:
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy tried to dismiss the study, Bloomberg News reported:

Trying to find a link between drug use and drug enforcement doesn't make sense, said Tom Riley, spokesman for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington. "The U.S. has high crime rates but we spend a lot on law enforcement and prison,'' Riley said yesterday in a telephone interview. "Should we spend less? We're just a different kind of country. We have higher drug use rates, a higher crime rate, many things that go with a highly free and mobile society."

Funny, ONDCP takes precisely the opposite line whenever a state considers liberalizing its marijuana laws. In a March press release, deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns railed against a New Hampshire proposal to decriminalize marijuana, saying such a move "sends the wrong message to New Hampshire's youth, students, parents, public health officials and the law enforcement community," and would lead to "more drugs, drug users and drug dealers on their streets and communities."
WHO drug use survey (Alternet, via Dose Nation)
Video: documentary on Showbiz animatronic band

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 11:49am CDT by David Pescovitz

For eleven years, the Rock-afire Explosion was the animatronic house band for Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants. The musicians' story is a touching tale of technical expertise, marketing muscle, and, er, "concept unification." (See the Wikipedia page for more on that.) Chris Thrash Window Pictures (director Brett Whitcomb / writer Brad Thomason) are making a full-length documentary on the Rock-afire Explosion, and the new preview trailer is itself a must-see. Rock-afire Explosion trailer (YouTube, thanks COOP and Rodney Ascher!)

UPDATE: Rodney just found a video of Rock-afire Explosion, programmed by Chris Thrash, playing Usher's "Love In This Club." YouTube

UPDATE: The film is actually about Chris Thrash. More info at the movie's MySpace page.
NYC cops harass club owner whose CCTV footage overturned drug conviction

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:58am CDT by Cory Doctorow

Law enforcement LOVES surveillance cameras -- except when those cameras are used to surveil dodgy busts and get them overturned:
Last year, New York police officers were seen dancing in the streets just before arresting four men in a city nightclub on charges of selling $100 worth of cocaine. It took six months and the men's life savings, but their names were finally cleared when prosecutors took the unusual step of announcing in court that the men had committed no crime.
That's because club surveillance video shows that the undercover cops had no contact with the accused men in the two hours they were in the club.
Now, club owner Eduardo Espinoza says the police are retaliating against him.
Link (Thanks, Marilyn!)
XKCD's "Choices" -- now an audio drama

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:56am CDT by Cory Doctorow

Paul sez, "'Choices', from Randall Munroe's xkcd comic has been turned into a short audio drama (under four minutes) available under a Creative Commons license from Brokensea Audio Productions." Link (Thanks, Paul!)
Grimly hilarious cartoon about telecom immunity and warrantless wiretapping with Snuggly the Safety Bear

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:53am CDT by Cory Doctorow

Hugh from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, "SF Gate cartoonist Mark Fiore has an awesome new cartoon on the telecom immunity debate. Snuggly, the Security Bear is back, and he has a few words to say about 'compromise.'" Link (Thanks, Hugh!)
Government nosy parkers use passport database to spy on celebs

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 9:51am CDT by Cory Doctorow

David sez, "From the nobody's suprised file:"
Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity's records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people...
When the scandal erupted earlier this year, State Department officials suggested that the department maintained a list of "flagged files" to ensure that records of high-profile individuals were not breached. But investigators found that only 38 people were on the watch list, and there was no system or specific methodology for putting them there.
The watch list has since been expanded to more than 1,000 people, including all members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, senior administration officials, and entertainers, media personalities and sports figures.
What's the easiest way to prevent your huge database of highly sensitive personal information from leaking? Don't generate huge databases of highly sensitive information in the first place. Link (Thanks, David!)

Gregarius

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