Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Tan Le: A headset that reads your brainwaves
Tan Le’s astonishing new computer interface reads its user’s brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications.
About Tan Le:
Tan Le is the head of Emotiv Systems, which is developing the next generation of human-machine interface — a headset that takes input directly from the brain. Full bio and more links.
This is great for paraplegics, if you’re not one, perhaps you’ll soon become one due to lethargy lol.
No commentsPolice Say Anti-Piracy Law Makes Catching Criminals Harder
The head of Sweden’s National IT Crime Unit says that following the introduction of IPRED anti-piracy legislation it has become more difficult to track down serious criminals. This unfortunate eventuality is a side-effect of ISPs throwing away logging data to protect the privacy of their customers. While this protects casual file-sharers, it unfortunately protects serious criminals too.
On April 1st 2009, Sweden introduced the controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED). The law, which gives rights holders the authority to request the personal details of alleged copyright infringers, was met with stiff resistance from ISPs.
Jon Karlung, CEO of ISP Bahnhof and one of the most outspoken opponents of IPRED, quickly announced that he would take measures to protect the privacy of his customers.
Although IPRED should’ve made it easier to track down file-sharers, there is nothing in Sweden’s Electronic Communications Law that dictates that ISPs have to store information about the IP addresses they allocate to their customers. To that end, Bahnhof stopped storing user data. No matter how many requests they received from copyright holders, there would be no data to hand over.
Later Bahnhof was joined by Tele2, with CEO Niclas Palmstierna announcing that his company would also stop storing IP address information. Through an increasing number of ISPs, IPRED had effectively been neutralized.
While Swedish ISPs clearly felt they had little choice but to protect the privacy of their customers against civil action related to petty file-sharing, it seems that their response to IPRED has generated an unwanted side-effect.
Anders Ahlqvist, chief of the National IT crime unit says that due to a lack of customer logging data at ISPs, it is becoming harder for the police to track down criminals carrying out serious crimes.
“It is a major concern, for example, when minors are exploited for sexual purposes via the Internet but we can not trace the perpetrators because logging information is missing,” says Ahlqvist.
Taking IPRED out of the equation is not an option, though. It appears there will be a new push to introduce a data-retention directive which will close the loophole and force ISPs to store customer IP address data in future, an eventuality predicted by IFPI lawyer Peter Danowsky back in April 2009.
via torrentfreak.com
No commentsWell, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won’t Help Facebook’s Privacy Problems
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his company are suddenly facing a big new round of scrutiny and criticism about their cavalier attitude toward user privacy.
An early instant messenger exchange Mark had with a college friend won’t help put these concerns to rest.
According to SAI sources, the following exchange is between a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg and a friend shortly after Mark launched The Facebook in his dorm room:
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don’t know why.
Zuck: They “trust me”
Zuck: Dumb fucks.
Brutal.
Could Mark have been completely joking? Sure. But the exchange does reveal that Facebook’s aggressive attitude toward privacy may have begun early on.
Since Facebook launched, the company has faced one privacy flap after another, usually following changes to the privacy policy or new product releases. To its credit, the company has often modified its products based on such feedback. As the pioneer in a huge new market, Facebook will take heat for everything it does. It has also now grown into a $22 billion company run by adults who know that their future depends on Facebook users trusting the site’s privacy policy.
But the company’s attitude toward privacy, as reflected in Mark’s early emails and IMs, features like Beacon and Instant Personalization, and the frequent changes to the privacy policy, has been consistently aggressive: Do something first, then see how people react.
And this does appear to reflect Mark’s own views of privacy, which seem to be that people shouldn’t care about it as much as they do — an attitude that very much reflects the attitude of his generation.
After all, here’s what early Facebook engineering boss, Harvard alum, and Zuckerberg confidant Charlie Cheever said in David Kirkpatrick’s brilliantly-reported upcoming book The Facebook Effect.
“I feel Mark doesn’t believe in privacy that much, or at least believes in privacy as a stepping stone. Maybe he’s right, maybe he’s wrong.”
Again in Kirkpatrick’s book, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg puts it this way:
“Mark really does believe very much in transparency and the vision of an open society and open world, and so he wants to push people that way. I think he also understands that the way to get there is to give people granular control and comfort. He hopes you’ll get more open, and he’s kind of happy to help you get there. So for him, it’s more of a means to an end. For me, I’m not as sure.”
Facebook declined to comment about Mark’s attitude toward privacy.
more:
11 Companies that tried to buy Facebook
Original Post: businessinsider.com
No commentsGoogle joins the titans of Silicon Valley lobbying
With great power comes even greater headaches. Just ask Google.
The company’s transition from upstart to Goliath has multiplied its legal and policy problems. There may be no better measure of this phenomenon than Google’s expansion of its lobbying activities on Capitol Hill.
In just five years, the search engine giant has gone from almost no presence in Washington to spending more money on lobbying than all but one other Silicon Valley company in 2009. And in the past three months, Google topped all other valley spenders.
“The growth in their lobbying reflects what the company has become,” said Dave Levinthal, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics. “They’ve gone from a tiny company to a behemoth.”
Google’s drive for influence in D.C. extends beyond dollars and cents, and demonstrates remarkable savvy in the ways of Washington. These include Google funding policy fellowships and hosting politicians at the Googleplex, and Google employees taking jobs in the Obama administration.
Google seems determined not to repeat the mistake Microsoft made in the 1990s when the software company ignored politics until it was ensnared in an epic antitrust lawsuit.
There’s certainly nothing unusual about a company aggressively pushing its agenda. But in Google’s case, I think there’s a disconnect between the company’s view of these efforts, and how they look to outsiders.
Google has always
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been a company that believes it has a special mission to make the world better, and it sees its lobbying and policy efforts as part of that crusade. In truth, this massive investment in lobbying is just one more sign that Google is acting like the big corporation it has become.
That’s neither good, nor evil. Sometimes Google’s interests align with the interests of consumers, and sometimes they don’t. But while Google believes it’s not evil, its size means many others will increasingly question whether its motives aren’t less than good.
I put this idea to Alan Davidson, head of U.S. public policy for Google, who said it’s not true, and that Google works to show humility.
“We’ve always known that with growth comes responsibility,” Davidson said. “We’re grateful for the company’s success. We know as we grow, we need to show that we’re a responsible industry leader.”
It seemed like just yesterday we were writing stories about “Google goes to Washington” as the Mountain View company opened its lobbying office in 2005. Now, Google’s right at home.
In 2009, Google spent $4.03 million on its lobbying efforts, up from $260,000 in 2005, according to U.S. Senate records. In the valley, that’s second only to
Oracle, which spent $5.1 million. And in the fourth quarter of 2009, Google outspent Oracle $1.12 million to $1.05 million.
While Google’s expansion is extraordinary, it does reflect an increase in the valley’s investment in lobbying. The top 10 valley companies increased their lobbying expenditures from a total of $12.4 million in 2005 to $26.4 million in 2009. Only Hewlett-Packard, a company that’s been around for decades, came close to matching Google’s expansion, growing from $380,000 in 2005 to $3.62 million last year.
“There was always a plan for steady growth in our presence,” Davidson said. “We knew when we started the office here, the issues facing our users and industries were only going to grow out here in Washington.”
Davidson notes that on some of the issues that Google lobbies for, it now butts heads with companies that spend far more on lobbying. While Davidson wouldn’t say which ones, he’s most likely talking about telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, whose expenditures ranged from $12 million to $17 million in 2009. Google looks at them, and still sees itself as the guppy.
And in the tech industry, Microsoft and IBM spent more last year, $6.7 million and $5.4 million respectively. But the gap is closing fast.
Davidson said Google’s efforts are benign, aimed at educating politicians and making sure its users’ interests are being heard.
“We started this office with the same philosophy as we did the business,” he said. “If you start with the user and focus on that, everything else will follow. If what we’re doing is good for our users and the Internet community, then it will be good for us in the long term.”
The problem is that the company often seems so certain of its mission that it can’t believe anyone would question its motives.
For instance, in a New York Times op-ed last fall, co-founder Sergey Brin painted Google’s efforts to scan books as a crusade to protect the world’s knowledge against the ravages of history. He bristled over criticisms of a settlement with publishers and authors: “In reality, nothing in this agreement precludes any other company or organization from pursuing their own similar effort. The agreement limits consumer choice in out-of-print books about as much as it limits consumer choice in unicorns.”
Sorry, but it is hubris to expect us to genuflect and accept that Google is doing this purely for the benefit of mankind. Google is scanning books because it expects to make money in some fashion down the road.
Lobbying on behalf of its position doesn’t make Google evil. It just means it’s a big corporation. But for a company with a messianic belief in its purpose, that’s a hard truth to accept.
Contact Chris O’Brien at 415-298-0207
mailto:cobrien@mercurynews.com
Friday the 15th: “Crash” the Art of Bethany Shorb and Cyberoptix Tielab 2010
Here’s to a lady who multi-faceted talent and dedication have inspired me to re-create myself several times over. Her works an exhibition of grace in the realms of business and pleasure. Come celebrate the success and bask in the fellowship of Bethany Shorb and birthday bud Michael Doyle on this wonderful evening.
Are you fucking dumb get a map
ps check out these beauties:
sexy photo
hex tie
Don’t forget to buy something, you ought to to look this good.
Original Article:
Bethany Shorb’s Cyberoptix Tielab 2010 Preview and Photography Exhibition:
Special Musical Performance by Justin Carver from “Something Cold” and Deth Lab
Friday Jan, 15th 2010 6pm @ 323East in Royal Oak, MI.
These are not your father’s ties – let’s make that clear first. Cyberoptix? Right – and with a fresh bottle of Old Spice wrapped up with it. Knot quite.
These are the works of an imaginative artist and photographer named Bethany Shorb who took the mundane reality of neckwear and proceeded to give it a twist or two in new directions – with bold color, bolder materials, and the novel idea that a traditional symbol of subservience could be transformed into “a subversive object of desire.”
Reaching that goal was aided immeasurably by Shorb’s other talents; besides photography, she is trained in sculpture, costume design, and prop construction. And THOSE accomplishments, we hasten to add, are complemented nicely by her brutally direct understanding of what see sees or what she wants us to see. Shorb has tackled a variety of subjects and (as evidenced by a recent exhibit inspired by J.G. Ballard’s novel CRASH) her “eye” is not a blinking one by any stretch. Something is heated to an almost unbearable degree in her works. And if you can’t stand the heat … well, best you seek out an environment where the climate is more controlled.
But you don’t want to do that. What you want to do is to see the latest creations by this intriguing talent – the ones that 323 East will unveil on January 15. The cravats are cool. The pix are pulsating. Nice way to make a knot in our opinion.
—–
Schooled in both sculpture and photography, Bethany Shorb creates elaborate prop, costume and set constructions that blur the line between both editorial fashion photography and performance art documentation. Her recent Crash series refers to J.G. Ballard’s novel of the same name with scenes titled by the lyrics of The Normal’s song of similar influence, “Warm Leatherette.” Technology, celebrity, sex, and death are perversely glamorized and fetishised in unison in a single explosion of red Swarovski crystals and inflated black latex rubber. Models, wardrobe and set decoration all retain the same visual and emotional weight, a hyper-saturated amalgamation exploring the interstitial space between the alluring and repulsive; hedonism and restraint; the seductive speed of expressways and the still finality of Last Rights.
Bethany Shorb was born in Boston, MA in 1976. She received her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture, with an elective in Photography, from Cranbrook Academy of Art and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from Boston University with minors in Art History and Photography. Her photography and product design work have been widely published in the United States and abroad; her visual art and product work has been exhibited throughout the United States and is included in numerous private collections. This past summer she taught several printing workshops in her Detroit studio and was recently reviewed in the New York Times and Wired. Her dj alter-ego has performed as half of “Dethlab” at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Shorb also founded The Cyberoptix Tie Lab in 2006. As a designer of witty hand printed neckwear, she has applied her experience as a sculptor, couture, costume and graphic designer to transform a much maligned business necessity into a subversive object of desire. Cyberoptix ties and scarves are represented by more than 150 stores in a dozen countries: from Fred Segal in Los Angeles to Libertine in Western Australia. A paradox for the times, Cyberoptix Tie Lab operates one of the largest eco-friendly, solvent-free print shops in the country in Downtown Detroit, while providing a seditious, punky fashion statement for executives bound to the neck noose, and a sharply styled alternative for those who don’t need to wear a tie, but choose to do so.
cyberoptix.com
toybreaker.etsy.com
trunkt.org/cyberoptix
toybreaker.net/blog
dethlab.net
myspace.com/teamdethlab
323East.com
Original Metrotimes article via Facebook
Objectified, a film about industrial design
No commentsObjectified, a film about industrial design, is a new movie by Gary Hustwit. It’s his followup to Helvetica, which was totally awesome. The film should be released in March, 2009.
Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich)
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis)
Anthony Dunne (London)
Naoto Fukasawa (Tokyo)
IDEO (Palo Alto)
Jonathan Ive (Apple, California)
Hella Jongerius (Rotterdam)
Marc Newson (London/Paris)
Fiona Raby (London)
Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany)
Karim Rashid (New York)
Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune)
Smart Design (New York)
Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine)
and more participants TBA
Detroit By Design Fashion Show, Bankle Building 12.06.08
been uber busy, I might put up the shots from motorcity if a few more people mail me.
[cyberoptix.com] clothing by Bethany Shorb
No commentsGenghis Tron & YIPYIP @ Small’s Bar [10.20.08]
i know this was forever ago, but i recently decided yo up these for the sake of the bands. even tho i was pretty shitty this evening. i wanna thank worm of public pubes for enjoying this show with me and sharing. since this show was fucking amazing, i suggest you see these groups whenever you have the chance. please visit their myspaces and give them a listen. now watch this video for Genghis Tron “Asleep on the Forest Floor”.
can’t see the video? click here.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download: [Genghis Tron - Rock Candy.mp3]
[Wiki yip yip]
[myspace.com/yipyip]
[yip-yip.com]
[Wiki Genghis Tron]
[myspace.com/genghistron]
[genghistron.com]
