The anonymous campaign against Scientology, better known among its participants as Project Chanology, continues to this day. In the months since it launched "Message to Scientology," Project Chanology has employed a variety of tactics, including pickets, pranks, and propaganda that ranges from the purely informative to the ferociously satirical. It has waxed and waned and waned some more, and yet, improbably, it has endured, evolving into a peculiarly instructive case study in the dynamics of online protest. Project Chanology may well be the first movement to realize the kind of ad hoc, loosely coupled social activism that many have hoped the ad hoc, loosely coupled architecture of the Internet would engender. But it's also the first one founded on the principles of the most obnoxious innovation that architecture ever produced: trolling.

To troll is to post deliberately incendiary content to a discussion forum or other online community–say, kitten-torture fantasies on a message board for cat lovers–for no other reason than to stir up chaos and outrage. Trolling is (for the troll, at least) a source of amusement. But for Anonymous it has long been more like a way of life. Study the pages of the Encyclopedia Dramatica wiki, where the vast parallel universe of Anonymous in-jokes, catchphrases, and obsessions is lovingly annotated, and you will discover an elaborate trolling culture: Flamingly racist and misogynist content lurks throughout, all of it calculated to offend, along with links to eye-gougingly horrific images of mutilation, sexual perversity, and, yes, kittens in blenders.

From Stock Z2 to Fully Flashed with Audio, Fluxbox, Mouse, Aliosa27’s Latest Userland

Here is a video Mark and I made of the complete flashing and installation process, and a tour of the new userland features.

For those following along at home, the required setup artifacts are below. You will need

* Your zipit z2
* A linux computer with an internet connection (to download the packages below) and gparted installed
* A microSD card

Wait. What? Trent Reznor? As in "Mr. I'll Give Away My Music," "Mr. Brutal Honesty," Mr. NINE INCH NAILS? What's he doing on Joystiq?

Prior to taking the concert stage this month, The Trent Reznor, along with NIN Creative Director Rob Sheridan, opened up to us about their gaming pasts, the direction they see the industry headed in, and whether or not Trent will have a role in shaping that future.

Continue reading for Joystiq's first-ever NINterview ...

Let's start off with an easy question: What kind of gamer are you?

Trent: I am old, so I was there from the beginning. You know, from the first Pong machine.

You're going to have soldier your way through the default mode, sliced into days which progress through the same seven levels over and over, gradually layering in each new zombie, weapon, and game mechanic. It builds slowly and it takes a long time. 28 days later, you'll finally get the last weapon. A terrible boss fight comes a few days after that. And then you've still got 25 levels to go.

Remember how Intel showed off its new, advanced optical standard -- Light Peak -- this past week on a Hackintosh? Well it turns out there's more to that story than you probably know, and it all leads back to some revealing facts about the connection... literally and figuratively. Engadget has learned -- thanks to an extremely reliable source -- that not only is Apple complicit in the development of Light Peak, but the company actually brought the concept to Intel and asked them to create it. More to the point, the new standard will play a hugely important role in upcoming products from Cupertino.

According to documents we've seen and conversations we've had, Apple had reached out to Intel as early as 2007 with plans for an interoperable standard which could handle massive amounts of data and "replace the multitudinous connector types with a single connector (FireWire, USB, Display interface)." From what we've learned, the initial conversations (and apparent disagreements) were had directly between Steve Jobs and Paul Otellini. If you were wondering about that Apple-blue motherboard we saw at IDF or the aforementioned Hackintosh demo, this should explain everything.

A controversial cooker that 'grows' meat and fish by heating animal cells in your kitchen claimed first prize in the Electrolux design competition tonight.

The invention, called Cocoon, could develop food with the make-up and nutrients of real meat.

Mr Hederstierna, 27, said: 'This will create 100 per cent pure meat without the need for animals to be killed and with no risk of contamination. It will change everything.'

Keiji InafuneThis is probably not the message you would want coming out at the end of the giant industry trade show that's supposed to be glorifying your native talents, but at the Tokyo Game Show earlier this week, Capcom's Keiji Inafune (creator of Mega Man and Dead Rising) shared his starkly damning assessment of the Japanese games industry: "it's finished."

The comments were made during an event showing off Dead Rising 2 (via Destructoid), where Inafune asked the attendees for their honest opinions of what they had seen at the show so far. Then, he shared his own: "Personally when I looked around [at] all the different games at the TGS floor, I said, 'Man, Japan is over. We're done. Our game industry is finished.'"

© 2009 Valve Corporation, all rights reserved. Valve, the Valve logo, Half-Life, the Half-Life logo, the Lambda logo, Steam, the Steam logo, Team Fortress, the Team Fortress logo, Opposing Force, Day of Defeat, the Day of Defeat logo, Counter-Strike, the Counter-Strike logo, Source, the Source logo, Valve Source and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation.

Technology can help mitigate the new dangers presented by online dating and the "hook-up" culture of today's youth, as well as the long-present threat of sexual misconduct by trusted authority figures, according to three companies presenting at the DEMO conference on Tuesday.

One of the companies, Date Check, lets people do quick background checks on potential dates and mates from their mobile phones.

"Look up before you hook up," said John Arnold, executive vice-president of Intelius Inc., which is offering the service.

The way consumers will get the three free games is this:

(1) Purchase a new PSPgo and connect it to the PlayStation Network
(2) Load up a UMD in the older PSP unit and then connect it to the PSN as well, registering the UMD
(3) Download a new PSPgo theme and wait for the UMD voucher offering 3 free games.

Read that again: you must still have the old PSP model to retrieve the free games. That certainly blows any kind of trade-in for the PSPgo out of the water.

According to the press release, the required UMD doesn't seem to be locked in to any particular title, however Sony has limited the list of free titles to sixteen games. These include Killzone Liberation, Medievil, Wipeout Pure, Buzz Brain Bender, Buzz Master Quiz, SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, Everybody’s Golf, Resistance: Retribution, Syphon Filter Dark Mirror, Lemmings, LocoRoco, Patapon, Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow, Echochrome, Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice, and Daxter.

It’s the perfect gift for the people who send you things that start with “FWD:”

The only thing more annoying than looking at terrible photos is having to wait while the person goes to find all the terrible photos they want to show you. The Philips 5.6” Black Digital Photo Frame cuts down on the annoyance by 50%, just by existing. Load it up, or keep a USB flash drive around (it’s not included) and you’ll have all those photos ready to go at a second’s notice. And that’s just polite.

$50 Rebate on Xbox 360 Elite Console Purchase!

You can get a $50 rebate on the purchase of a new Xbox 360® Elite Console from September 22 to October 5, 2009. Not only does Xbox 360 play the best games and provide quality entertainment, but now you can sign up for a mail-in rebate for even greater savings. If you’ve purchased a new console and want to claim your $50 rebate, follow all of the steps below:

1. Visit the Xbox 360 Elite Console rebate site.
2. Enter 49710555 as your password.
3. Be sure that you meet all the requirements as defined in the Mail-in Rebate form.
4. Your mailed-in submission must be postmarked no later than November 20, 2009.

And enjoy your new Xbox 360 Elite Console!

Will leaving your notebook constantly plugged-in kill your battery faster? Gina Trapani is exploring the issue after a friend's battery wouldn't charge after only two years. Though HP and Dell support pages weren't quite definitive, Apple clearly cautions against it:

On a page dedicated to maximizing your MacBook's battery life and lifespan, Apple says:

"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month. Need a reminder? Add an event to your desktop's iCal."

Ok... I am so sick and tired of this. Apple is wrong. Unless they have completely fucked up their own laptops, they are wrong. Modern electronics do not continuously overcharge li ion batteries once they're full.

How does a li ion battery lose capacity? 1) constant loss as soon as it's made, 2) discharge/charge cycles, 3) the heat from the device itself - regardless of whether it's plugged in. Source.

Worse yet, Apple recommends completely discharging the battery every month. This is completely wrong. Source.

I don't know if the Apple techs are 1) stupid or 2) lying, but if you follow their advice, you will actually hurt your battery and you'll be forced to replace it sooner. Gee willickers, that would mean you'd have to pay Apple more money. Gosh, that couldn't possibly be their motive, could it?

Tyrannosaurus rex -- the most fearsome predator ever to have trod the Earth -- had a pint-sized precursor, remarkably similar in appearance but no heavier than a human being, according to a new report from a team of scientists. The creature was what Austin Powers might call T. rex's Mini-Me.

The new animal, based on a single fossil smuggled out of China and eventually sold to a private collector, has been named raptorex. It lived 125 million years ago in a lake-dotted region of northern China.

A new ghostshark species has been identified off the coast of Southern California, and it’s darker and weirder than any shark we know.

The purplish black ancient relative of the modern shark comes packed with a suite of odd features that give its taxonomical family the name chimaera, after the mythical beast made from the parts of many animals.

The MicroCell isn't something you won't have already heard of as AT&T competitors Sprint and Verizon offer similar devices. However the pricing is something that is causing quite a stir. A post over on Engadget lists what purports to be official pricing and its not pretty, especially if your plan is already close to $100 (as is the case with a lot of iPhoners). It's going to cost you $19.99 a month for unlimited use unless you've got internet or landline service with them, in which case it'll set you back $9.99. those of you who have both internet and landline accounts with AT&T can get it free.

After nearly three years of late nights and heavy collaboration, a team led by AT&T Research engineers has won the $1 million Netflix Prize for devising the best way to improve the company’s movie recommendation algorithm, which generates an average of 30 billion predictions per day, by 10 percent or more.

Amazingly, the decision came down to a matter of minutes, according to Netflix Prize chief Neil Hunt. BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos submitted their solution 10 minutes earlier than the second-place team, The Ensemble, while the two teams’ algorithms were a perfect tie, score-wise.

Only Bungie can get away with throwing a random string of letters after their game's name. Halo 3: ODST? Overdose street? Outdoor, sexually transmitted? Oddest? Of course, the Halo faithful know ODST stands for "orbital drop shock trooper" and everyone else eats up all things Halo, no matter how overpriced they are, much less the letters and numerals on the box. ODST is a sure-fire success. It's also a disappointment.

There are no long hallways and there is no torturous narrative. You don't have to escort anyone and you don't have to deal with your warthog gunner not being able to hit anything. There are no pre-placed snipers. There is no time limit. Master Chief himself is nowhere to be seen. You and up to three friends pick one of the eight maps and then hold out as long as you can while randomized waves of aliens assault you, gibbering and growling and hucking grenades and flanking you and dying obligingly to leave an assortment of guns scattered at your feet. It is Halo's Greatest Hits, The Condensed Version.

Ye scurvy dogs! Tomorrow, September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day, which means you need to be talking like a pirate.

Besides just wagging your chins like a pirate, you could also spend the day playing pirate games. No, no, we're not suggesting any illegal activity, ye landlubber. We're talking about Monkey Island.

On Talk Like a Pirate Day, the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island will be unlockable for free by getting a code here. It starts midnight GMT.

"BlizzCon is operated at a substantial loss for the company," he said. "It's a huge marketing opportunity, so that's the benefit we get out of that. But in terms of any kind of financial gain, it actually is a loss for us."

To give you an idea, then, of how much holding the show costs, consider that 20,000 people bought tickets this year. At $125 a ticket, that's $2.5 million. So for the company to make a "substantial loss" on the show, it must cost a lot.

Then again, when you're Blizzard and you get all that WoW subscription money, you can afford to throw lavish parties for your fans every year.