Over the past two decades, Ricardo Dominguez has been utilizing electronics and the internet to piss off just about every high-level administrative authority in the US. In the late 90s, his performance-art-cum-activist organization the Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) set up a participatory website-jamming network called the FloodNet system, which allowed anyone with an internet connection to gum up the official sites of the US Border Patrol, White House, G8, Mexican embassy, and others, rendering them inaccessible. The Department of Justice retaliated with an electronic attack on the EDT that aimed to destabilize the group and interrupt their online meddling. As any conspiracy wonk can tell you, it’s illegal for the government to use military force against civilians without declaring martial law; that’s the job of cops and FBI agents.
Dominguez, a Zapatista sympathizer and close friend of Subcomandante Marcos, claims the various forms of online mischief conducted by the EDT were experiments in electronic civil disobedience rather than true acts of sabotage. Their work led to massive virtual and physical sit-ins protesting the Mexican government between ’98 and ’99, attracting more than 100,000 participants. But his current project–the Transborder Immigrant Tool–is poised to enrage a much broader spectrum of the North American populace. By augmenting a low-cost Motorola phone with GPS and a battery of applications, Dominguez’s goal is to help illegal immigrants complete safe border crossings without being sent back by the Border Patrol or getting shot in the face by American “patriots.”
You know what? If you're smart enough to get that phone in Juarez or wherever, haul your ass across a border using our own satellite network to get you here, I want you making my Wendy's Applewood Smoked Bacon Deluxes. Because you're not a completely fucking idiot, and when I say "no pickles" I won't get pickles and pickle relish.
At a fast food establishment, I have never met its equal. The truth is that rapid, high-volume production and bacon are not a match made in heaven. Fast food bacon is usually limp and soggy as a result. In order for bacon to be truly delicious it must be given some time, love and attention in the kitchen.
Careful what you say – that iPhone over there could be a live microphone.
Which is to say there’s a new, free iPhone app called Soundbiter designed to monitor the world’s audio and upload it to Twitter and Facebook with the push of a button.
When running, the Soundbiter app is constantly recording, keeping an audio buffer of a minute or so. Then when you hear a good joke, a fine guitar riff or a politician’s slip-of-the-tongue, you hit the apps’s only button, which saves the last 60 seconds of sound. From there, it’s a cinch to edit, upload, title and publish the sonic snippet to Twitter or Facebook.
No no, it's true, you should always record everything you say when you're high. You are actually smarter when you're high, and all your friends will be embiggened by your... *shudder* "sonic snippets".
Look, I'm not even going to get into the privacy/ security ramifications of such an app. I'm just going to say this: congratulations, you just made the Internet dumber. No no, for decades we didn't think it was possible, but. There you have it.
The good news is that this feature-rich handset, running version 2.0 of Google’s Android OS, compares very favorably to the Goliath of the smartphone world as a utility mobile-computing device – and, oh yeah, a phone. The bad news is that there may be too many good things going on to make using this device the quick, intuitive, out-of-the-box experience it should be. That’s a problem, given that the iPhone has set the usability bar so high.
Especially snappy is the Droid's Web browser, which loads images quickly thanks to the powerful 550MHz processor and speedy hardware-accelerated graphics. Though you are at the mercy of your 3G high-speed data network coverage, once you're in it, Web surfing is breezy and smooth. Video from sites such as YouTube looks equally impressive; the playback of a high-definition YouTube cartoon ("Sita Sings the Blues") was excellent, with no stalling or audio dropouts. Audio also sounded great piped through a pair of high-quality headphones. The straightforward music player supports playlist building, album art, and shuffle and loop playback modes. You can purchase DRM-free music at the Amazon MP3 store via the preloaded app on the device.
OK, this needs to be said: no matter what your feelings about Motorola, Google, Android, Verizon, smartphones in general--that is a stunning photo. Maybe a little too narrow DOF, but that backdrop makes up for it. What is it, a driveway? And you know that the vignetting's fake, but damn, is it used right.
Also, Kurtis, get me one of these phones; I'm on Verizon. I promise to keep it charged! I promise!
HOW can image sensors - the most complicated and expensive part of a digital camera - be made cheaper and less complex? Easy: take the lid off a memory chip and use that instead.
As simple as it sounds, that pretty much sums up a device being developed by a team led by Edoardo Charbon, of the Technical University of Delft, in the Netherlands. In a paper presented at an imaging conference in Kyoto, Japan, this week, the team say that their so-called "gigavision" sensor will pave the way for cellphones and other inexpensive gadgets that take richer, more pleasing pictures than today's devices. Crucially, Charbon says the device performs better in both very bright light and dim light - conditions which regular digital cameras struggle to cope with.
While Charbon's idea is new and has a patent pending, the principle behind it is not. It has long been known that memory chips are extremely sensitive to light: remove their black plastic packages to let in light, and the onrush of photons energises electrons, creating a current in each memory cell that overwhelms the tiny stored charge that might have represented digital information. "Light simply destroys the information," says Martin Vetterli, a member of the EPFL team.
So even though flash is binary, there are two ways of getting gradiated data from that. First, is to mathematically deduce a value by weighing all the information from one pixel with its surrounding pixels. That's all fine and good, but it only tells you the value, not the hue. So what you've gotta do is put color and neutral-density filters across all the pixels, then average a group of those into one pixel's worth of data. All this right on the cusp of a flash shortage, too.
I suppose, anyway, I'm not an engineer. I mean, I was an engineer earlier, but I was also a spy, both of which turned out disastrously--ironically due to the presence of the other. I just need to learn, when it comes to Team Fortress, it's snipers and pyros for me. I'm not smart enough to combine killing with control schemes more complicated than W + left click.
With the release of "2012," the iPhone app tied to the forthcoming Sony Pictures film of the same name, a group of developers may have kicked off the future of games on the hit smartphone.
While the game itself is fairly simple and lasts just minutes, it incorporates features that may never have been tried before, and as such, could be among the small number of titles that are showcasing what will soon be considered par for the course.
In the minds of many industry observers, thanks to its integration of a functional operating system, an accelerometer, GPS and a camera, and the fact that thousands of developers, big and small, have released games for the iPhone, the Apple device has already surpassed Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS as the most important, or at least most adaptable, portable gaming platform.
I don't doubt that there are interesting, compelling, and most importantly, fun games for the iPhone. But there's still this one hurdle: the interface huffs donkey taint. It's like, the DS has had this touch screen forever, but do I ever bother playing with those controls? Maybe when I'm on the plane holding my soda 'cause I'm sitting at the bulkhead even though it doesn't have a tray table, because it's totally the best seat on the whole rig.
Seriously, you get on the plane without anyone bothering you, you get leg room, you can chat with the stewards and stewardesses, and most importantly, you're the first to get off the plane.
As of last week the Playstation Store is the only place PSPgo owners can go to pick up their games. Just how do the prices of the Sony-operated online store compare to the prices of the same games sold as used at retailers?
We checked with four online retailers and online shopping services to see how their prices compared to the ones found in the online Playstation Store. The results? A little surprising.
No, a surprise would be if Sony bundled a 16GB flash card with every PSP. A surprise would be if that flash card was SDHC. Hell, a surprise would be if they actually followed through with UMD digitizing kiosks.
With a library of digital content, this small selection of games currently available is insulting. It's like, sure, they don't have any huge titles for the PSP, so what can they do to make those Christmas bucks? Repackage old games for a profitable system.
Actually, what would be cool is an all-digital PS2 that you connect to your TV or monitor and plays Playstation Store games, and if you've got an external drive, lets you rip your own... Yeah, that ain't gonna happen, either.
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
Check it out, this guy has HULU running, DOSBox, even Debian. This is stupid cool fun for $50, I might just have to try this myself.
Which would be a much better idea than when I tried making a model Saturn V in middle school. Did you know you need wadding between rocket stages? Some stupid little paper is all that separates rocketry and backyard ballistic demolitions.
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.'
Wait, why is this controversial? I'm no vegelesbian, but if I had a meat appliance that turned powder into satisfaction (vegelesbian, hehe) I don't think I'd be upset by all the stem cells seared into deliciousness.
Unless this was somehow coop- or soy-based meatstistute. I don't care how sentient my protein was, I just care that it had a mitochondria that piggybacked its genetic material through viral means loved it.
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.
I suppose at this point, having purchased at least four, if not six or seven PlayStations, that Sony was a company that loved you. That in fact, was capable of love even in rudimentary, consumer-relating ways.
No, if they had it their way, there'd be content-protection inserted into your very genitals, tacking DRM onto each DNA-bearing cell launched from its once wholly-owned home. Echochrome? I've never heard of half of these sperms titles.
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!
Hey, it's 20% rounded in increments of ten. Percent. Anywhoo, if you don't have one of these, or maybe want a backup should yours come down with a case of the Red Rings, then this is practically free. Go nuts, you pre-holiday self-gifting credit fiends.
What, it's not like I care, I already own a 360. 'Course, it wouldn't be bad to have a hard drive that's twenty times larger.
what good is math if you only use it the way you were taught to in school?
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."
I was about to rant about how plain of attempt this was to sell more batteries when I saw the top comment, and decided I couldn't have said it better:
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?
The big question: Can the Zune HD compete with the iPod Touch? I get the sense that Microsoft isn't trying to, exactly.
While the Touch and its apps are a multi use pocket computer, the Zune HD is an evolution of the PMP–not a devolution of some smartphone model. Every new feature it has is used to expand the way you absorb media, from the HD video output to the HD radio to the redesigned UI.
The Zune HD is not a simple curved rectangle with a screen, like the iPod Touch, but a resolutely industrial, luxurious, angular and slim design. From the angled back to the visible screws to the long and thin home button, the Zune HD is a look all its own.
While I could go on about how excited I am to play with the new Zune, I think I'd rather point out how the US army is making ninjas:
Think military and you think macho, not meditation, but that's about to change now that the Army intends to train its 1.1 million soldiers in the art of mental toughness. The Defense Department hopes that giving soldiers tools to fend off mental stress will toughen its troops at war and at home. It's the first time mental combat is being mandated on a large scale, but a few thousand soldiers who have participated in a voluntary program called Warrior Mind Training have already gotten a taste of how strengthening the mind is way different – dare we say harder? – than pounding out the push-ups.
We're standing on the cusp of a new chapter in video game history: the era of microgames, where titles $10 and under take on a starring role, and attach rates (that is, games sold per console) skyrocket.
The charge is being led by Apple with its iPhone and iPod Touch, two devices without gaming as their stated purpose, both of which have found unmatched success in the downloadable gaming industry. The other video game consoles have their own "app stores," where games can be downloaded directly to the system, but none have reached the heights that the iTunes App Store has...yet.
At the annual iPod refresh last week, Apple's Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller said, "When you think about the companies that came before us... when you played those other systems, they seemed so cool, but now when you look at them, they don't stack up against the iPod Touch."
Which is how I read this article. Basically, Microsoft has Apple to thank for making portable, simple games popular. So we should expect it to also play ROMs, right? Uh-huh.
I'm going to keep an eye on the Open Pandora. Oh, hell, I'm gonna get a Zune, too.
You bastards, you're worse than video games.
No sooner does MWeston have the goods delivered to his door, he begins deliverin’ ‘em to ours. This is the second TV out test broadcasted from north of the border, but the first to showcase the sweet snap-in action of a mass production cable. Hit the HQ button for maximum maxness, then celebrate with some (unrelated) 70’s metal.
The Zune as we know it is going the way of the dodo, and its replacement is of course the Zune HD. "As you know, the new Zune HD device–featuring a touch OLED screen, HD Radio, HD video out capabilities, Internet browser and more–is available for preorder now and will be available at retail on September 15," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "Additional flash Zune devices (Zune 4GB, 8GB and 16GB) and hard drive devices (80GB and 120GB) will continue to be available at retail until sold out, though we will not continue to manufacture those devices."
The spokesperson also touted Microsoft's upcoming Zune software and service and the arrival of Zune video on Xbox Live this autumn. The software giant intends to provide a "great entertainment experience through software and services across multiple screens and devices."
When Ars asked if the Zune 4.0 software would be available for the old Zunes, the Microsoft spokesperson said "yes" and also noted that more details about updates to the software will be revealed soon.
Between this player, DX11 hardware, i5, and everything else, people aren't going to have money left over for the games.
So what would you rather have? A Zune HD, a netbook, or, and I think this is obvious, but, a bathtub full of Jell-O? Oh yeah, and on an unrelated note, you can fake DNA evidence now.
like it wasn't going to happen eventually. it was inevitable, now that i have a spare bathroom
Well, few PS3 owners have many PS2 discs laying around but the news of PS3 Slim not supporting them is still a bit strange. Furthermore, the „new and improved“ console lacks Linux support, as Sony is trying to „standardize“ their OS.
SCEA's director of marketing John Koller said how the company is three years „into the lifecycle of the PS3“ and that there as much as 80 or 90 percent of users who buy their PS3 for the PS3 disc-based games.
He added how the rest of the users are mostly those who haven't used their PS2 for a little while and who are now ready for the PS3. We guess mister Koller expects them to use their library of PS2 discs, which they didn't get for free mind you, to prop the door open on windy days.
xbox games on demandWith the new dashboard update comes the Games on Demand store to download full 360 games. Why is Microsoft launching that now?
We're big believers in digital distribution, everything from downloadable content for games, to Xbox Live Arcade games, to the Xbox Originals. Now we are going to be delivering Xbox 360 games. This is a natural next step in the evolution of digital distribution. But we're also big believers in retail distribution as well. Everything we've done in digital distribution spaces has expanded the market, has not been a share-shift between retail and online. And we think the effect will be the same thing here. It's a natural evolution, not only of the capabilities of the service, but the expansion of the business model that we offer, not only internally, but to our business partners.
Many of the titles are games with sequels coming. Is the main strategy behind Games on Demand marketing, or is the strategy to provide a service that is more beneficial to developers and players than buying retail?
Really, because I thought that their model was the same as Netflix, which was to stock their selection with titles people wouldn't bother stealing in the first place. But I could be bitter as I have the 20GB hard drive. Maybe I should mod it. No, no, what am I thinking! I should stimulate the economy by throwing it away and buying a new one. Controllers and everything.
Like any business, Somali piracy can be explained in purely economic terms. It flourishes by exploiting the incentives that drive international maritime trade. The other parties involved – shippers, insurers, private security contractors, and numerous national navies – stand to gain more (or at least lose less) by tolerating it than by putting up a serious fight. As for the pirates, their escalating demands are a method of price discovery, a way of gauging how much the market will bear.
If you receive a text message on your iPhone any time after Thursday afternoon containing only a single square character, Charlie Miller would suggest you turn the device off. Quickly.
That small cipher will likely be your only warning that someone has taken advantage of a bug that Miller and his fellow cybersecurity researcher Collin Mulliner plan to publicize Thursday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. Using a flaw they've found in the iPhone's handling of text messages, the researchers say they'll demonstrate how to send a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that can give a hacker complete power over any of the smart phone's functions. That includes dialing the phone, visiting Web sites, turning on the device's camera and microphone and, most importantly, sending more text messages to further propagate a mass-gadget hijacking.
And this has to fit in, because it's too weird and cool not to, but HP's going all black hat:
However, HP security pros Billy Hoffman and Matt Wood are planning to demonstrate at Black Hat USA, held July 25 to 30, how advances in Web browser technology make it possible to develop a darknet that can be accessed by any platform with a browser–be it a PC or an iPhone.
A new touchpad from Synaptics promises the ability to track ten individual points of contact — potentially meaning future multitouch implementations could track the digits of both hands.
As reported over on Gizmodo, the company is looking to bring its capacitive ClearPad 3000 touchscreen tech to market in high-end smartphones and future hand-held gaming systems.
The new touchpads bring interesting possibilities, as the company claims that the use of 48 separate sensing channels and improved power management capabilities over the older ClearPad 2000 range will allow the technology to scale to screen sizes of 8 inches — introducing the potential for an advanced multitouch netbook.
Synaptics: you can touch my eight inches with all ten fingers, hon. It won't bite.
No mention of dual-screen netbook tablets? Isn't this what Negroponte wanted with the OLPC2?
But apparently Dell managed to get its hands on a few extra units, because the company has brought back the Mini 9 for a limited time promotion. For the next few days only, you can pick up a Mini 9 running Ubuntu Linux for $199. The Windows XP model starts at $269.
"For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when', because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like... Project Natal. So we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will... will extend to other platforms. No question about it."
Platform-holder Sony is aggressively courting developers around the world to work on digitally distributed games for PSP in a bid to grow the software offer on its handheld... This latest move will see Sony take a step closer to addressing the march that Apple has stolen on its handheld platform with the iPhone, that lets developers sell pretty much whatever they want (pending Apple's approval) via the App Store.
According to Firemint (Flight Control and Real Racing) CEO Robert Murray that may not be enough - the PSP development kit still costs $1,500 USD even with the reduction. Apple meanwhile only levy a one-time $99 USD publishing fee, which Murray reckons will make the iPhone a more attractive platform to small studios.
It's about time that a limited edition video game package came with pack-ins that are actually cool. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition ($150; November 10) includes the highly-anticipated followup to Modern Warfare, a download code for the original classic Call of Duty, a hardbound game art book, a Steelbook case with custom artwork, and – seriously – a fully-functional set of night vision goggles good for 50 feet of visibility in total darkness, along with an individually numbered and engraved stand. Just don't get carried away re-enacting your epic wins.
It's official. For three, er, Grants, you can get your very own low-end night-vision goggles and a partial head of who must be Suds McTavish to rest them on.
OK, I want one. You guys gonna send me one? If your sequel is as good as the, well, sequel, I'm going to not only give it a good review, I'm going to sleep with it pressed against my body.
For those of you who do not want to play war shooters, I found this WiFi-detecting hat you might be interested in:
This is the WiFi hat. It has a functioning WiFi detector built right in, showing you when you're in a hotspot. Well, more accuratly it shows people standing around you when you're in a hotspot. In order for you to see it, you'll need to take the hat off and look at it. Sure, not the smartest design in the world, but if you're looking for a hat that is far, far nerdier than your Star Trek hat, this is it.
