Macworld rumor mill: "16 to 9 says it's HDTV"

By Xeni Jardin at 8:44 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Over at Valleywag, Paul Boutin writes,

Hold the phone. Take a closer look at the image that took over Apple's front door this week. It's 744 pixels wide and 420 high. Recognize that ratio? Those are the 16:9 dimensions of an HDTV screen, not the 4:3 of iTunes video downloads. Apple's teaser does recall the Monolith of 2001: A Space Odyssey, whose only readable information was the perfect 1 to 4 to 9 ratio of its sides.

To be precise, they're 1.5 pixels off from being a perfect 16 to 9, but whatever. More likely Cupertino's perfectionist artists wanted to make it look exactly right to human eyes. I hesitate to go against the rumor mill, but where are home consumers spending most of their money now? On big-screen TVs that say Phillips, Sony, Panasonic --- every logo but Apple's in the most sacred spot in the house.

Link to full post. Macworld takes place this coming week, January 8-12, at Moscone Center in San Francisco. At 9am Pacific on January 9 Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the expo keynote, and we'll learn whether Paul is a psychic, or a pixel ratio conspiracy theorist.

Brazil ISP blocks YouTube after court decision on sex video

By Xeni Jardin at 8:22 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Following up on an earlier BoingBoing post about a court decision in Brazil to "shut down" YouTube over an unathorized celebrity sex video (links to the video file here), Bruno Maestrini says:

Brasil Telecom, a popular ISP in Brazil has already banned user access to youtube.com. As far as I know all other ISPs are still normal.

I, as a journalist, have tried to reach Brasil Telecom without any success. The only way I got to talk to them was through customer support, and they told me that the problem was with the company that authenticates my login. That sounds stupid. I have interviewed people from all around Brazil using BrT and none of them could access YouTube, except with a foreign proxy.

Janio Sarmento says,

Here's a story about how ADSL users from BrT are now prevented from accessing YouTube. BrasilTelecom is one of the major phone companies and bandwidth providers, and they just blocked YouTube, without a single word for the customers.

If your ISP blocks access to specific websites, some of the tips in the BoingBoing document "Defeat Censorware" may help -- including Tor.

Previously on BB:

Brazil orders YouTube shut down over celebrity sex video

Reader comment: Solon Brochado says,

I just wanted to note that, even though I do find the timing suspicious and Brazilian ISPs track record is definitely not a good one, it is still possible that this is just some sort of screw up on their part. About a year ago, lots of people - in particular those who used Virtua, the country's largest cable ISP - found that all of a sudden they were unable to access Flickr's image server (static.flickr.com), even though the site was working just fine.

Read the rest

Botnets will eat the Internets

By Cory Doctorow at 6:40 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

In the NYT, John Markoff covers the botnet phenomenon -- networks of compromised home PCs that are remote-controlled and used to send spam, blackmail net-casinos with denial of service shakedows, and harvest credit-card data and other valuable intel. I keep hearing that botnet numbers are swelling (which makes sense -- if Internet Explorer was insecure for 284 days last year, that's a lotta pwned PCs). If that's so, I would expect that the value of botnet time would be crashing -- I wonder when it'll become too cheap to even sell... Who needs volunteer PCs for Folding@Home when some Bulgarian hacker will sell you a month on a ten-million PC botnet for ten bucks?

ShadowServer, a voluntary organization of computer security experts that monitors botnet activity, is now tracking more than 400,000 infected machines and about 1,450 separate I.R.C. control systems, which are called Command & Control servers.

The financial danger can be seen in a technical report presented last summer by a security researcher who analyzed the information contained in a 200-megabyte file that he had intercepted. The file had been generated by a botnet that was systematically harvesting stolen information and then hiding it in a secret location where the data could be retrieved by the botnet master.

The data in the file had been collected during a 30-day period, according to Rick Wesson, chief executive of Support Intelligence, a San Francisco-based company that sells information on computer security threats to corporations and federal agencies. The data came from 793 infected computers and it generated 54,926 log-in credentials and 281 credit-card numbers. The stolen information affected 1,239 companies, he said, including 35 stock brokerages, 86 bank accounts, 174 e-commerce accounts and 245 e-mail accounts.

Link (via /.)

Oil paintings of giant power-cables

By Cory Doctorow at 6:30 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Ruth Whiting has a show of her oil-paintings of giant power-cords on in Gainesville, Florida. I thoroughly approve. Link (Thanks, Ruth!)

Emoticon attachments for boring earbuds: so kawaii.

By Xeni Jardin at 6:27 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Link, $16 for a pair of four "emotibuds." (Thanks, shanalyn)

Laser-cut volumetric sculptures

By Cory Doctorow at 6:23 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

AKI International's laser-cut DIY models are insanely cool -- they piece together to make weird, volumetric shapes that suggest everything from human forms to fanciful animals; they can also be used as packaging, surrounding fragile bottles and other goods. They've even got a full-sized mannekin intended for clothing stores.

Materials such as acrylic, corrugated cardboard, wood, and metals are used to construct models, which are designed in 3D by computer and then precision cut by laser. This allows for fast and easy assembly, and attractive finished products.

Link (via Gallery of Functional Art, which should REALLY put more of its stunning inventory online!)

Engineered hollow celery as Bloody Mary straw

By Cory Doctorow at 6:17 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

From Iconoculture: "Duda Farm Fresh Foods in Florida has engineered celery stalks with hollow centers." The celery can be used as a Bloody Mary straw or an edible swizzle-stick. Link (via Neatorama)

Devil's Dictionary: the publishing edition

By Cory Doctorow at 6:15 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Teresa Nielsen Hayden has written up a list of her own Devil's Dictionary-style definitions of publishing terms as an adjunct to Paperback Writer's "Devil's Publishing Dictionary" (part 1, part 2):

Cover Art; Book Jacket: A small poster advertising the book to potential readers. Authors who have failed to take into account the fact that it has been bound to the outside of the book, rather than printed on an interior page, will often come to the mistaken conclusion that it is meant to illustrate the story, and be distressed by its inaccuracy.

Earn Out: To the author, proof that the publisher didn’t pay enough for the book.

E-book (electronic book): The publishing format that has the highest ratio of “time spent discussing it in meetings” to “copies sold.”* Authors fondly believe that tens of thousands of readers who’ve passed up the opportunity to buy attractive, inexpensive hardcopy editions of their works will nevertheless go to great effort to illegally download wonky, badly formatted e-texts of the same books in order to read them in Courier on their computer screens.

Managing Editor: In trade book publishing, the person in charge of production. Normally, there are multiple layers of insulation between the author’s behavior and the Managing Editor’s production decisions. That’s a good thing.

Mass Market: A smaller, cheaper edition of a hardcover novel that is nevertheless more difficult, expensive, and uncertain to publish.

Link

PC water cooling system uses swimming pool for reservoir

By Cory Doctorow at 6:11 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

These intrepid PC builders decided to convert their machines to water-cooled, ripping out the fans -- and for water, they used an entire nearby swimming pool, hooking up a pump that circulates cool pool-water through their PCs and back into the pool. Thus, they get "quieter, cooler" computers and a warmer pool.

Cooler, quieter computers and [possibly] warmer pool water with very little extra cost and added energy savings...

This is the plumbing around the pool without modification. We can see where there are two returns on this corner from the filter pump.

Next, we insert a check valve into the system. This has no affect on the operation of the filter pump but it will come in handy later.

Water for the cooling system will be drawn in from the upstream side of the check valve and returned after the output of the check valve. This ensures that even when the filter pump is turned off, fresh pool water is drawn in and returned to different areas of the pool.

Link (via Digg)

Ads quietly introduced in Google Video content

By Xeni Jardin at 6:08 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

I'm not sure how new this is, but it's the first time I've noticed. In this Charlie Rose Show clip on video.google.com, Google ads are built into the stream, and appear a slightly different color from the rest of the buffered content. (Thanks, captaindave)

Chest-pillow for gamers from Japan

By Cory Doctorow at 6:07 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

The Game Dutch is a Japanese chest-pillow intended for heavy players of handheld consoles. You prop the bottom on your crossed ankles and rest your chin on the top, letting you look down at your tight-clenching hands for extended hours of supported gaming fun. Link

First Hungarian CC remix album is out

By Cory Doctorow at 6:04 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Bodo sez, "Creative Commons Hungary, Tilos Radio, Hungary's first and foremost non-profit community radio, and Nomada, a enormously gifted band playing gypsy music last year have announced a remix contest based on Nomada's Aven le Roma! - Here come the gypsies! song. The selection was done by Dj Palotai and two well known roma musicians Mitsou and Szakcsi Lakatos Bela. The remix album is now online and downloadable in mp3 and in uncompressed formats along with the covers under a CC Attribution- Non-commercial- Share Alike license." Link (Thanks, Bodo!)

Jag with PWNED plates

By Cory Doctorow at 6:00 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

An intrepid Torontonian snapped this Jag with custom Ontario tags reading PWNED. This tops the Jedi lorry I snapped in London, but not my own new vanity tags: COPYFYT (if I do say so myself) (and I do). Link (Thanks, David)

See also:
Proud owner poses with GOATSE license plate
Another F Dubya license plate
Conspiracy license plate
Help find stolen WEB GEEK license plate
GOTMILF? Not anymore, for vanity plate car owner
Hacker license plate gallery

Update: Rob sez, "Speking of PWN3D, I've seen this cherry red Lotus parked around Capitol Hill. Haven't noticed the Civic yet."

Update 2: Will's plates read KHAAAAAN!

Update 3: Charles sends in Beetle with a FEATURE plate -- it's not a bug, it's a feature.

Update 4: Samuel sez, "my own tags (RM -RF *) are here. (I tell Unix users that it's safe, since I backed up in the driveway. Non-Unix users ask me to explain it, and the best I can come up with is 'I am become Death, the Eraser of Filesystems')"

Update 5: Andy sez, "Here is a link to the plates that Jet Propulsion Lab people sport on their cars. Viva space nerds!"

Update 6: Ryan sez, "I thought you might be amused by my little vanity-plate homage to your fellow cyberpunk superstar Neal Stephenson."

Update 7: Daniel sez, "Our 'meta' license plate, reflecting our obsession with metadata of all sorts, might fit the hackerly license plate bill."

Update 8: Matt's got some nice data on the plates at Fermilab (CQUARK, DO TOP 1, TP QUARK, QUARK).

Evolver t-shirt: Beatles meet Darwin

By Cory Doctorow at 5:48 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

The "Evolver" t-shirt is sweet -- a visual riff on the cover of the Beatles' Revolver mashed with some science-lovin', intelligent-design-refutin' evo-bio. If you're a proud Beatles fan and a proud ape-descended hominid, this is the best way to show it. Link (via Preshrunk)

Flintstones Meet the Gruesomes book

By Mark Frauenfelder at 12:11 pm Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

A Boing Boing reader named Jason kindly sent me this copy of a fantastic book from 1965 called The Flintstones Meet the Gruesomes. The lively illustrations are by George De Santis. Thanks, Jason! Link goes to three photos of the book. Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• World's most disappointing purchase -- crummy Flintstones book Link
• When did The Flintstones start to suck? Link
• Prankster puts toy dinosaur in front of volcano-cam Link

Mark on KTLK radio today, live stream

By Mark Frauenfelder at 11:02 am Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

I'm going to be on the Bree Walker show on Air America today from 2-4pm Pacific time. You can listen to a live stream here. Link

Ads on bins will boost traveler delight during TSA screening

By Xeni Jardin at 9:20 am Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Rich Kulawiec says,

The TSA is planning to inflict commercial advertising on travelers passing through its checkpoints. Apparently it's a swap: advertisers provide "divestiture bins, divestiture and composure tables, and [...] return carts" (gotta love that terminology) and in return they get to display ads on the bins. The question becomes: which advertisers wish to associate their goods and services with this fiasco?

Link to article in Aviation Now, via Infowarrior (Richard Forno) and Interesting-People (David Farber) mailing lists. I remember receiving mail from BoingBoing readers earlier in the year -- people who spotted ads on bins in the screening areas, and said "WTF?" -- according to this report, a pilot program has been in effect since July, 2006.

Reader comment: Cybele says,

I posted on www.blogging.la earlier this week about advertising on the plane (not new). But the funniest part that I think is so appropriate is the media agency (SkyMedia) that sells these types of ads uses the tag line:

"Affluent.Captive.DecisionMakers."

I can't think of anything that more truly reflects our feelings of how trapped we are by the system.

Jesse says,

I can think of one advertiser that should be falling all over themselves to advertise at TSA screening points: The EFF. "Sick of having your 4th ammendment rights violated here? Join the EFF." ... or perhaps something a bit less inflamatory. I'd give a chunk of change toward seeing that happen ;)

That's a pretty awesome idea. Photoshop brigade, are you there?

David of Ironic Sans blog says,

Your post about the TSA bins reminds me that almost a year ago, I wrote this prediction about advertisements in airplanes on the overhead carry-on bins (with a rendition of what it might look like): Link.

Ian says,

Apropos to ads on airport bins, join this pledge:

If the ACLU applies and is accepted, I'll donate $500 for the ACLU to buy bins that advise people of their rights when passing through airport screening.

Link.

Ice storm photos from US midwest

By Xeni Jardin at 9:03 am Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

EdA says, "A terrible ice storm plagued the midwest (of the USA) from 12/29-12/31 2006. A friend of mine is a pole worker out there and sent me a link to some incredible photos." Link. Above, a confused cow surrounded by ice-coated grass that can't be chewed. This is another great shot: JPEG Link.

Update: BB reader Sarah corrects my previous, erroneous subject line:

These pictures are actually from central/south Nebraska, not Montana. This is the same storm that dropped a bunch of snow on Colorado (which got all the press).

RIP Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant ramen

By Xeni Jardin at 8:45 am Saturday, Jan 6 • Comments • Share

Momofuku Ando, the man who invented instant ramen and founded Nissin Foods, died Friday of heart failure at 96 years of age. As any hungry cosmonaut or broke college student knows, his creation truly is a miracle food:

Ando was inspired to develop the instant noodle after coming upon a long line of people on a cold night shortly after World War II waiting to buy freshly made ramen at a black market food stall, according to Nissin. The experience convinced him that "Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat," it said.'

(...) In July 2005, Nissin introduced a vacuum packed instant noodle specially designed for Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to eat during a mission aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery. Showcasing his Space Ram noodles, Ando said, "I'm happy I've realized my dream that noodles can go into space."

Link to Sydney Morning Herald, Link to The Age (Australia), Link to AP. See also the "Instant Ramen Invention Story" animation Todd Lappin points to on his blog: Link. (Thanks, Vorn, Mr. Lim, John Parres)

Previously on BB:

Carnival of Carbs

New Wave Noodle theme park to open in Japan

Web Zen: food museums