VICTORY! UK recording copyrights won't go to 95 years! (?)

By Cory Doctorow at 8:27 pm Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Glyn sez,

The BBC are reporting that there will be no copyright extension for songs in the UK. The official review commissioned by the Treasury on all IP law in the UK has not yet been published but it is highly likely the BBC have managed to get a sneak peak.

Sir Cliff Richard and Jethro Tull had been among artists lobbying for copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50.

The Open Rights Group had been amongst the groups lobbying against this possibility with their release the music campaign and their submitions to the review. When the report actualy comes out we will see if they have had similar success with their request to create a new exception to UK copyright law that would give individuals the right to create a private copy of copyrighted materials for their own personal use, including back-ups, archiving and shifting format. Sign the petition if you're in the UK.

Link (Thanks, Glyn!)

How to make your urine blue

By Mark Frauenfelder at 7:56 pm Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

How to ingest methylene blue to make your pee blue. Link (Thanks, Phil!)

Reader comment:

Russell says:

I've been an avid reader of the Boing Boing blog for some time, it's good stuff.

I saw the 'turn urine blue' post and remembered seeing something about methylene blue on an MSDS that would probably be worth mentioning with this - it may have had a hand in some birth defects when injected amniotically. Fairly harmless stuff unless you're pregnant though, and probably not to dangerous when ingested even then, but for more info there's a report here.

Boing Boing Boing podcast 008: Merlin Mann

By Mark Frauenfelder at 7:40 pm Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Episode #8 of the Boing Boing Boing podcast is ready for downloading. Our guest for this edition is Merlin Mann of the personal productivity blog 43folders.com

Xeni, Pesco and I talk with our guest about a slew of recent Boing Boing topics, and about things going on in Merlin's busy life, including his fabulously funny "Phone Guy" videos.

LISTEN: Podcast Feed, Subscribe via iTunes, Direct MP3 Link (64K), other MP3 file download options from archive.org: Link, enhanced podcast with images, or listen at Odeo (with archives of previous shows): Link.

Future Salon: alternate reality games

By David Pescovitz at 6:14 pm Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Tomorrow's Future Salon in Second Life is, appropriately, on the topic of alternate reality games and pervasive gaming. Participants include 42 Entertainment's Elan Lee (BB pal Jane McGonigal's collaborator on projects like ilovebees), Tony "Clickable Culture" Walsh, and Adrian and/or Dan Hon of Mind Candy , creators of Perplex City. The in-game salon takes place tomorrow, Monday 11/27, at 4pm PST. Link

Glass handgun model

By David Pescovitz at 1:48 pm Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

This handsome glass model of a revolver is currently up for auction on eBay. Starting bid is GBP 9.99 (approx US$19.30). From the auction listing:

COLT 45 TYPE GUN SHAPED GLASS BOTTLE HAND MADE
THIS IS A RARE CONDITION WITH A NICE WELL DETAILED EMBOSSING GLASS SURFACE..

A LOVELY BOTTLE TO HAVE IN YOUR COLLECTION BOTTLE APPROX 10'' LONG.. .

Link (Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)

McDonald's tries to patent sandwich-making

By Cory Doctorow at 11:37 am Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

McDonald's has filed a patent application in Europe and the US for making sandwiches:

The burger company says owning the 'intellectual property rights' would help its hot deli sandwiches look and taste the same at all of its restaurants.

It also wants to cut down on the time needed to put together a sandwich, thought to have been dreamt up by the Earl of Sandwich in 1762.

The 55-page patent, which has been filed in the US and Europe, covers the 'simultaneous toasting of a bread component'.

Garnishes of lettuce, onions and tomatoes, as well as salt, pepper and ketchup, are inserted into a cavity in a 'sandwich delivery tool'.

The 'bread component' is placed over the cavity and the assembly tool is inverted to tip out the contents. Finally, the filling is placed in the 'bread component'.

It explains: 'Often the sandwich filling is the source of the name of the sandwich; for example, ham sandwich.'

Link (via Digg)

Update: Gareth sez, "Here's a link to the actual patent application. McDonald's isn't attempting to patent sandwich-making per se, just a tool for putting together a sandwich."

Open Source holiday gift guide

By Cory Doctorow at 9:42 am Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Make Magazine has published an "Open Source Holiday Gift Guide," filled with things to give this Christmas that you're allowed to take apart, tinker with, understand and improve upon:

There are hundreds of gift guides this holiday season filled with junk you can buy - but a lot of time you actually don't own it, you can't improve upon it, you can't share it or make it better, you certainly can't post the plans, schematics and source code either. We want to change that, we've put together our picks of interesting open source hardware projects, open source software, services and things that have the Maker-spirit of open source. Some are kits, some are open software projects that you'll need to build hardware for before gifting, and some are just support for the projects/groups that do open source. Included in this guide are things you can get from the MAKE store too (we try and have as many open source goods as possible).

Link (via O'Reilly Radar)

Make's "Warranty Voider" tool

By Cory Doctorow at 7:31 am Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Make Magazine has a special Make-branded "warranty-voider" Leatherman tool, along with a copy of the Maker's Bill of Rights:

* Meaningful and specific parts lists shall be included.
* Cases shall be easy to open.
* Batteries should be replaceable.
* Special tools are allowed only for darn good reasons.
* Profiting by selling expensive special tools is wrong and not making special tools available is even worse.
* Torx is OK; tamperproof is rarely OK.
* Components, not entire sub-assemblies, shall be replaceable.
* Consumables, like fuses and filters, shall be easy to access.
* Circuit boards shall be commented.
* Power from USB is good; power from proprietary power adapters is bad.
* Standard connecters shall have pinouts defined.
* If it snaps shut, it shall snap open.
* Screws better than glues.
* Docs and drivers shall have permalinks and shall reside for all perpetuity at archive.org.
* Ease of repair shall be a design ideal, not an afterthought.
* Metric or standard, not both.
* Schematics shall be included.

Link

Update: Fred sez, "there's a couple of things that struck me about the device after I read the manifesto and looked at the Flickr set:"

Warranty Voider violations of The Maker's Bill Of Rights

1. No parts list.
2. Case is sealed by rivets -- cannot be opened for repair.
3. Need a drill to remove rivets and a riveter to replace them (i.e. 'special tools required').
4. Can't get at components to replace them, thus entire assembly must be replaced, and proprietary parts are not available individually to the end user.
5. Ease of repair not a consideration.
6. No schematics included.

"Now, while I carry a Leatherman to perform occasional light repairs on my unreliable 1976 Triumph Bonneville, the Leatherman has missing tips and chipped tools from misuse over the years. I've always been annoyed that I can't perform maintenance on my maintenance tool."

Update 2: Phil sez, "the Make Warranty Voider has a 25 year warranty from Leatherman - they'll pretty much repair them no matter what."

Fine art ads photoshopping contest - kick ass!

By Cory Doctorow at 7:27 am Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Today on the Worth1000 photoshopping contest -- fine art reimagined as contemporary advertising. This is hands-down the best W1K contest I've seen this year -- some favorites (besides McDavid, pictured here): Hey Eve!, Advil, Spain Is Different, Reach, Last Supper, Escher Raid, I Wish I Had..., Shout, Coffee, Picasso Crayola, Anbesol.

Link

Australia's copyright law breaks search engines

By Cory Doctorow at 7:16 am Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Australia's new copyright law may result search engines blocking access to the country. PM John Howard sold Australia's copyright law out as part of the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement, through which Australia agreed to change its copyright laws to surpass America's own disastrous system.

The new law will create punishing potential liability for search engines who do not secure permission for indexing, cacheing and and searching every website in their database. In order to protect themselves from liability, search engine operators would have to contact every single web-author who ever lived.

Critics say Australian copyright laws do not take into account how information is gathered and presented on the Internet.

Dr Rimmer says Internet search engines could be crippled by the proposed copyright changes, which protect libraries, archives and research institutions but leave commercial entities like Google out in the cold.

He says this will affect the ability of search engines to engage in digitisation projects like book search, provide images, index news stories and archive web content.

"Given the amount of litigation that Google has been involved in the last year, I think they've got very genuine fears that they could be subject to copyright actions in Australia," he said.

He says rather than adopting the narrow "fair use" definitions contained in the legislation, Australia should adopt a US-style open-ended fair-use defence to ensure a flow of and access to information.

Link, Link (Thanks, Dan!)

Update: Mark Pesce has a great op-ed about this in today's Melbourne Age.

Bahrainis use Google Earth to spy on royals' palaces

By Cory Doctorow at 6:40 am Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Marilyn sez, "Ordinary Bahrainis are using Google Earth to spy on the many gargantuan palaces, yachts,former national parks and waterfront properties (90% of the country) owned by the royal family and their cronies, while the rest of the country lives in squalor."

Mahmood al-Yousif, a businessman whose political chat and blog site Mahmood’s Den is among Bahrain’s most popular, says that in the tense run-up to the polls, few Bahrainis have not surfed over the contours of their kingdom, comparing vast royal palaces, marinas and golf courses with crowded Shia villages nearby, where unemployment is rife and services meagre.

For those with insufficient bandwidth to access Google Earth, a PDF file with dozens of downloaded images of royal estates has been circulated anonymously by e-mail. Mr Yousif, among others, initially encouraged web users to post images on photo-sharing websites.

“Some of the palaces take up more space than three or four villages nearby and block access to the sea for fishermen. People knew this already. But they never saw it. All they saw were the surrounding walls,” said Mr Yousif, who is seen in Bahrain as the grandfather of its blogging community.

Link, Link to PDF closeups of Bahrain's palaces, Mahmoud's Den coverage (Thanks, Marilyn)

Ukrainian steampunk plane

By Cory Doctorow at 6:27 am Sunday, Nov 26 • Comments • Share

Ukraine's Aeroprakt is manufacturing this neo-Victorian wooden airplane. I don't know any other details -- is it veneer? Solid? One of a kind? Mass-manufactured? Link (Thanks, Avi!)

Update: Rich sez, "The 'wood' on that Aeroprakt A22 you talk about at is just a custom paint job. See the gallery of this Aussie Foxbat distributor. You can see that the lines are identical to the standard Foxbats, and you can see that steampunk plane labeled 'Wooden paint job'."