Last year, Charlie Stross and I wrote Unwirer in a public blog. The story was for ReVisions, an alternate history anthology edited by Isaac Szpindel and Julie Czerneda. Now, Kenn Brown has finished the cover art for the book, and it's very very nifty. Link (Thanks, Kenn!)

A Japanese toy-company is shipping a water-powered, 19cm-long car that "uses hydrogen created from the electrolysis of pure water" to run itself. Link (via Engadget)

Steve sez: "this thing undoubtedly uses electricity to _produce_ hydrogen from water (that's what an electrolyzer does).  The hydrogen is then converted back to electricity to run the car.  In other words, this thing is nothing but an inefficient _electric_ model car.  The coming 'hydrogen economy' has been oversold.  Don't believe the hype!"

There's a LotR musical underway, and a Crooked Timber contributor has come up with some very tight suggestions for the songs.

News today that a musical version of The Lord of the Rings is in the works. Suggest songs and plot-points here. Potential titles include: 'I'm gonna wash that orc right out of my hair' (Legolas), 'You're the One Ring that I want' (Sauron in Act I, then Gollum in Act II, and Frodo, Gollum and Sauron in Act III), 'People will say we're in love' (Frodo/Sam duet, Act II, theme echoed by Gimli and Legolas during Battle of Pelennor Fields), 'City with the Tree on Top' (Gandalf's arrival at Minas Tirith), 'How do I solve this problem, my dear Grima?' (Theoden introduction), and Gollum's Act III showstopper, 'Memorieses'.

Link (via Electrolite)

Zack Exley/Eli Pariser from MoveOn.org just gave a fantastic keynote at SXSW, describing the happy accident that gave rise to the best new toolsuite for organizing and sustaining Internet-based activism. Here are my running notes:

Before the war, we did a candlelight vigil in defiance of the war. You could come and punch in your ZIP and set up a location where the vigil would take place, then told our members to go and find your local vigil. We did 6500 vigils all over the world. 500k people showed up. When you signed up, it told you that there were others signed up to attend your local vigil, so you owouldn't be the only one.

Eli: This all came together in five days -- 500,000 people mobilized in five days. A vigil every 20 blocks for the whole length of Manhattan.

There are more political ways of doing this. We asked people to hold house parties and show a movie against the war, and people opened up their homes to have strangers come in and see this film. We heard from people in small midwestern towns who thought they were the lone anti-war people in their town, but the site showed them that there were dozens more who felt the same way.

Link

Dan Gillmor reports that the SXSW organizers have changed their policy regarding photos at the conference: "The only restriction on pictures/videos/recording is that they must be for personal use." This is amazing -- the SXSW organizers are marvellously responsive to their attendees -- great to see. Link

When the VH1 documentary airs, they'll call it "I was Bruce Sterling's Chauffer for a Day." Snapshots of Mr. Sterling's visit to LA, during which I kidnapped him for a trip to see the nanotechnology science/art show at LACMA. There were questions, but deep reflection led to answers. Technical notes: (1) everything was shot with the nano-sized digital camera Canon Powershot SD10 Elph, which is a little smaller than a pack of cigarettes. (2) I'm trying out FOTKI for the photo hosting, and really liking it so far (thanks, CJC).
Link to snapshots.

The Austin conference center has changed its tune about its policy forbidding attendees from using the AC outlets. Jon Lebkowsky says, "They changed the rule - people can plug in. They just told me to announce it on my 11am panel. Yay!"

This is a sweet PC case -- "The bare-bones chassis includes three large acrylic windows, cut-outs for a mind-numbing 11 fans, chrome front-panel switches, and a set of medium-duty casters. You can remove the drive bays, the motherboard tray, and the backplane, and Xoxide plans to offer interchangeable drive bay modules for buyers who prefer different configurations. All three acrylic panes are fitted into the case's U-shaped wraparound cover, which removes them from harm's way whenever you work inside."Link (via Wonderland)

Russian Legacy sells rock-star matrioshke dolls. Link(via Geisha Asobi)

Update: Dan Gillmor reports that the SXSW organizers have changed their policy regarding photos at the conference: "The only restriction on pictures/videos/recording is that they must be for personal use."

Update: jonl says, "They changed the rule - people can plug in. They just told me to announce it on my 11am panel. Yay!"

At SXSW, every speakers' table has this sign on it: NO UNAUTHORIZED VIDEOTAPING OR PHOTOGRAPHY IS ALLOWED IN PANEL ROOMS AS A COURTESY TO SPEAKERS.

This is a really silly idea, one that violates the burgeoning norm of tech conferences, which is to aggressively capture and retransmit the happenings at conferences as they are underway, and I think that we should do something about it.

Every speaker should open her or his panel or talk with the following:

[First, pick up sign and place it face down on the table]

I am hereby authorizing you to take as many pictures and video of this presentation as you care to. I have travelled a great distance, at great expense, to say something and be heard. I would be deeply grateful to you for helping me to spread what I have to say.

I would be further grateful if your photos and videos of this presentaiton were distributed as widely as possible under a Creative Commons license.

Thank you.

If speakers forget to do this, someone in the audience should stand up at the start of the proceedings and say, "That sign says we're not allowed to take photos and videos without your permission. We'd like to share what you have to say with others -- may we have your permission to do so?"

There's another problem at SXSW, which is that the conference center charges an arm and a leg to conference organizers who want to use the AC outlets in the hallways. SXSW doesn't have an arm and a leg to spare, so they haven't paid the extortionate sum.

The result of this is that red-jacketed "security guards" spend all their time going around, ordering paying attendees -- again, people who have travelled to Austin at great personal expense -- to unplug their laptops from the wall or face a $90 fine. This is the mingiest, rottenest way to make conference attendees feel welcome, and again, we should do something about it.

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau's email address is visitorcenter@austintexas.org, and their phone number is (800)926-2282.

Is there anyone from the Austin papers reading this? It would be grand to put someone from the convention center management on the spot about this: "Did you really pay your staff to walk the corridors of the conference center and order working people who had plugged in their laptops so that they could keep up with their jobs while visiting Austin to unplug or face a fine? Do you always do this? Is this in keeping with your remit as an ambassador for Austin to our visitors?"

I have a great time at SXSW every year, and the conference organizers do a tremendous job of putting on a show. But someone needs to take the conference center management to task for this unacceptable policy. Link

A UK health expert is recommending that obese children be put on the Atkins diet, because the high fat protein content -- which makes it palatable to kids -- also suppresses appetite. The health risks of high fat and high sodium are outweighed by the health benefits of not being clinically obese.

"The children who come here are not just overweight, they are ill, and in danger of dying. Some of them can't breathe and some of them can't lie down.

"I do think the basis of Atkins - low carbohydrate and high protein - is a good diet for children and the priority is for these children to get weight off."

Link