Geek News and Musings

EFF Bootcamp on privacy and UGC for startups, May 11

Rebecca from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, “Does your company have to contend with the maze of laws dealing with user privacy and publishing user content? Want to do the right thing by the online community that gives your business value, and still fulfill your legal obligations? Check out EFF’s Bootcamp on May 11 in San Francisco. It costs only $300 for a full-day of training.”

Given that $300 won’t buy you an hour of law-firm advice, this is a damned good deal.

EFF Bootcamp

Glemie Dean Beasley, urban raccoon hunter
Glemie Dean Beasley, 69, hunts raccoons in Detroit and sells their pelts and meat. My old journalism school pal Charlie LeDuff profiles Beasley in today’s Detroit News. All of Charlie’s work is fantastic. From the feature (click image for full photo by Max Ortiz):

Beasley, a 69-year-old retired truck driver who modestly refers to himself as the Coon Man, supplements his Social Security check with the sale of raccoon carcasses that go for as much $12 and can serve up to four. The pelts, too, are good for coats and hats and fetch up to $10 a hide.

While economic times are tough across Michigan as its people slog through a difficult and protracted deindustrialization, Beasley remains upbeat.

Where one man sees a vacant lot, Beasley sees a buffet…

He procures the coons with the help of the hound dogs who chase the animal up a tree, where Beasley harvests them with a .22 caliber rifle. A true outdoorsman, Beasley refuses to disclose his hunting grounds.

“This city is going back to the wild,” he says. “That’s bad for people but that’s good for me. I can catch wild rabbit and pheasant and coon in my backyard.”

“To urban hunter, next meal is scampering by” (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

520 Tesla S Sedans Reserved In One Week: Company Gets $2.6 Million In Fees

Tesla says that 520 S Model all electric sedans have been reserved by customers in first week since it was announced. Each customer must pay a $5,000 reservation fee, which is refundable if they choose not to buy the car. The base price for the Model S, which will be available starting in 2010, is $49,900 after a federal tax credit of $7,500. A limited editon of the Model S is available for a $40,000 reservation fee.

The Model S is the second car unveiled by Tesla after the sportier Roadster, and it’s half the price. But it’s no slouch on performance. The car will do 0-60 in 5.6 seconds (the Roadster is 3.9 seconds) and has an electronically limited top speed of 130 mph. The car should go up to 300 miles between charges. Best of all, I believe I may actually fit in the Model S. The Roadster isn’t fully compatible with people my size.

If you want one, you can reserve it here. You should get it by late 2011.

Tesla says they delivered 104 Roadsters in March and about 320 all time. The company has raised $186 million in capital to date, and has applied for $350 million in federal loans.

Here is the Model S and Roadster side by side:

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Comcast’s OnDemand Reaches 11 Billion Views, Nearly Twice The Number Of iTunes Music Downloads

Comcast has reached the 11-billion views milestone for its On Demand video services since the launch of the feature 6 years ago. The cable operator threw out some interesting factoids to help measure the magnitude of its milestone.

Comcast points out that 11 billion views is nearly two times the total number of music downloads (6 billion) sold on iTunes since its launch six years ago. The company adds that 11 billion views is four times the total number of Big Macs sold in the US (3 billion) over the same time period and 30 times the total number of Harry Potter books sold around the world (375 million copies). Yeah, it’s a lot. But it’s less than how many videos are watched on the Web in a single month (that number reached 11 billion last April). And it is still a fraction of how many movies and TV shows Comcast cable customers watch on the other 300 channels they get with their monthly subscription.

The cable company also announced that PBS will now be available On Demand in HD. (Don’t knock anything over rushing for that remote). OnDemand gives consumers instantaneous access to more than 10,000 programs each month. Some are free, some cost $3.99. But unlike iTunes songs, you don’t get to keep them.

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Unicorn Chaser beverage from ThinkGeek!
ThinkGeek has launched a fantastic new Boing Boing-inspired product, the Unicorn Chaser! Sadly though, they got their facts wrong about the creator of the Unicorn Chaser. They said “the brilliant minds at BoingBoing (esp. Cory Doctorow!) originated the concept for a Unicorn Chaser.” Actually, it was Xeni. Our badass attorney will be in touch. So buy the beverage now before our C&D shuts 'em down! It'll be the best $2.99 you never spent. From the product description:

We’ve all been there. You are innocently Twit-blogging on the Interscape, logging a few hours on Facebook, or checking your e-mail and you click on a link without thinking. Suddenly, you are confronted with an image or video so horribly nauseating it makes your eyes bleed. Whether it be pictures of someone’s overstretched nether regions or a video of two young ladies sharing substances they oughtn’t - your mind begs for cleansing (or a swift death)!…

Introducing, the Unicorn Chaser - a drink shot specially formulated to cleanse your mind and soul. Featuring a perfect blend of vitamins, herbs and minerals (each selected for its body purification, mood elevation, stomach calming, and other beneficial qualities), the Unicorn Chaser is a life saver. Chug it within one minute of viewing the offending internet image (really, as fast as possible) and in mere seconds you will begin to feel better. It won’t erase your memory, but each Unicorn Chaser will pump you with enough goodness that it just won’t matter. You’ll be healed. You’re welcome.

Think Geek's Unicorn Chaser beverage

Unicorn Chaser beverage from ThinkGeek!
ThinkGeek has launched a fantastic new Boing Boing-inspired product, the Unicorn Chaser! Sadly though, they got their facts wrong about the creator of the Unicorn Chaser. They said “the brilliant minds at BoingBoing (esp. Cory Doctorow!) originated the concept for a Unicorn Chaser.” Actually, it was Xeni. Our badass attorney will be in touch. So buy the beverage now before our C&D shuts 'em down! It'll be the best $2.99 you never spent. From the product description:

We’ve all been there. You are innocently Twit-blogging on the Interscape, logging a few hours on Facebook, or checking your e-mail and you click on a link without thinking. Suddenly, you are confronted with an image or video so horribly nauseating it makes your eyes bleed. Whether it be pictures of someone’s overstretched nether regions or a video of two young ladies sharing substances they oughtn’t - your mind begs for cleansing (or a swift death)!…

Introducing, the Unicorn Chaser - a drink shot specially formulated to cleanse your mind and soul. Featuring a perfect blend of vitamins, herbs and minerals (each selected for its body purification, mood elevation, stomach calming, and other beneficial qualities), the Unicorn Chaser is a life saver. Chug it within one minute of viewing the offending internet image (really, as fast as possible) and in mere seconds you will begin to feel better. It won’t erase your memory, but each Unicorn Chaser will pump you with enough goodness that it just won’t matter. You’ll be healed. You’re welcome.

Think Geek's Unicorn Chaser beverage

Inexpensive Vegetable Trellis Grows Vegetables in Small Spaces [Gardening]

If you already have a fence or railing available, there is a simple and cheap way to turn them into extra growing spaces in your garden.

Over at the gardening blog DigginFood, they have an economical solution for squeezing more space out of your garden.

Last summer we decided to convert our west-facing, 6-foot tall fence into a growing space by installing panels of welded wire mesh on it. The mesh is sold at hardware stores for concrete reinforcing. We bought mesh with four-inch square holes and each 4-foot by 6-foot piece cost less than five dollars. The grand total for this super functional trellis? Fifteen bucks.

It would appear the mesh is spaced just right to encourage the growth of squash, cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes upwards instead of sprawling out into their tiny garden. The installation was a breeze, they used a heavy-duty staple gun to staple the mesh right to the wood of their fence. Alternately you could use thick zip-ties if you didn’t want to put staple holes in the railing of your deck. Have your own creative way to squeeze out enough space to grow your favorite veggies? Sound off in the comments below.

Palm Reveals New ‘Post’ Smartphone, Still Working On Pre

In an unprecedented move, Palm has revealed its heretofore ultra-secret WebOS-based smartphone - the Palm Post - at CTIA 2009.

While the mobile world has been patiently waiting for the Pre since it was first teased back in January, Palm has apparently been hard at work on the (clandestine) Post as well.

According to Palm’s press release:

We’ve put an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources into the development and production of our new flagship device - the Palm Post. Rather than rush our highly anticipated Palm Pre to the market, we thought it was in the best interest of both our customers and our company to perform extended R&D on our new hardware and software.

Not only does this ensure that consumers will receive the highest quality mobile device possible, but by moving our top engineers to a new facility - The Orchid - we’ve been able to do what no other company has been able to achieve until now…we’ve preemptively included all of the features and technologies that our customers (and Sprint) will want come 2011 in the Post! In other words, thanks to the DHARMA Intiative, we no longer have to wait for months of testing and feedback, but instead can rely on the needs and desires consumers will develop in the not to distant future. This enables us to provide the best, most comprehensive smartphones available anywhere on planet Earth.

The Post’s most spectacular features include:

• 3.5G / 4G / 5G octo-band radios
• WiFi / WiMax connectivity
• 21 MP digital camera with 1080p video recording
• 4.1″ AMOLED / E-ink “reader” dual-mode display
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Wireless USB charging/syncing
• 128GB flash memory
• Hydrogen-cell battery: 2 weeks talk-time / 2 months standby
• HD pico projector w/ 5.1 channel surround
• T10 predictive thought text auto-correction

That’s right folks. You heard it here first. Palm, by utilizing nontraditional means, has developed and will soon release a mobile device - the Post - with features that you didn’t and couldn’t even know that you wanted! The Post is expected to be available online and in Sprint brick-and-mortar stores by April 10 for the fantastically low price of $49.99 w/2yr contract.

In other related news, Palm still plans to release its pending Pre smartphone by April 30 in an effort to beat out iPhone 3.0 / other new Android devices to the market…if anyone still cares in light of this incredible announcement.

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General Mills Enters Tech News Space With Forced Acquisition of CrunchGear
On behalf of Kendall J. Powell and the entire General Mills team I’m proud to announce that CrunchGear, TechCrunch’s former tech blog, is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Mills and will feature both tech news as well as local news relating to our consumption of Big G cereal products including, but in no way limited to, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Boo Berry, Buc-Wheats, and Reese’s Puffs. TechCrunch received $15,000 for the site as part of a trademark infringement lawsuit against the entire Crunch Network which will be renamed at a later date. All of the writers including Peter Ha, Devin, and Nicholas will remain and Doug has been made head of cereal testing.

April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I.

Wow. April Fools Is In full swing.

The Guardian goes all Twitter, ditching the printed version and the website. “Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters.”

Amazon launches a brand new cloud computing service called Floating Amazon Cloud Environment, or FACE. “The FACE uses durable, unmanned helium-filled blimps with a capacity of 65,536 small EC2 instances, or a proportionate number of larger instances. The top of each blimp is coated in polycrystalline solar cells which supply approximately 40% of the power needed by the servers and the on-board navigation, communication, and defense systems. “The government will have absolutely no chance of acting against them, because they will be too busy trying to decide which Federal Air Regulation (FAR) was violated, not to mention scheduling news conferences. “

Meanwhile, Google masters artificial intelligence in a post and description that’s way too geeky for me.

But they’ve created the world’s first Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity (CADIE), which is a computer that’s come alive and is making changes at Google. “Earlier today, for instance, CADIE deduced from a quick scan of the visual segment of the social web a set of online design principles from which she derived this intriguing homepage.”

Another early project for Cadie: making a 3D version of Google Chrome, since “81% of households had red/blue 3D glasses lying around.”

Last and certainly least, and there’s no gentle way of putting this, YouTube just flails with upside down video viewing.

Gmail now has AutoPilot.

Google Brain Search uses CADIE technology to index your brain.

Google Australia introduces the gBall, which will change Australian rules football as we know it.

There is also a featured YouTube video of a panda by the user ‘cadiesingularity’ with a profile stating “Cadie - the world’s first Cognitive Auto-Heuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity”.

When browsing Street View in Google Maps, a panda is shown in the bottom right map instead of the yellow person usually shown.

CADIE even has its own blog on Blogger.

There is also a “CADIE’s recommended places for humans” link in Google Maps, which leads to the “Panda Mapplet” and includes several marked locations with “CADIE’s” commentary. Under Redmond WA a link is listed which will rick roll the viewer.

Meanwhile, Identi.ca has acquired Twitter. A Twitter executive was quoted afterwards saying: “I was worried we were going to have to make a business out of that whole Twitter thing! I’m really glad it’s someone else’s problem now.”

Google is apparently also building a new $100 laptop together with Alienware (Dell). It will have a built-in brain wave reading chip, with sensors that need to be applied onto the user’s skull.

Scientists at CERN have found the cell that basically triggered the Big Bang.

The Pirate Bay sells out to Warner Bros.

There’s a new social network for your nose, a friendspace for your fragrance, a place to share your opinions on perfumes and vote for your favorite smells. They call it smellr and it’s online now.

Opera has moved on from Mouse Gestures and comes out of the closet with Face Gestures.

The entire Internet is being rebooted.

Expedia is offering flights to Mars from $99. In related news, Hotels.com offers rooms on the Moon.

Add a bit of shine to your website with Laminatr.

This new Landmark jQuery plugin will alter the face of the internet.

Yahoo debuts Ideological Search.

Social Media Use Decreases Customer Satisfaction.

This brand new mobile phone works as either a coin-operated or credit/debit card mobile.

BBC’s Top Gear show comes to Hulu.

Woopra takes its Web Analytics suite up a notch and launches a webcam spy-feature for websites.

Woot is selling crap.

Reddit now looks competely like Digg (good one).

Wired: Twitter plans to make money. I’m gonna order that TW-900.

TweetDoubler gives you twice the bird.

Topify got sued by Fedex. “Fedex claims they have a registered patent for delivering faster and better email notifications and they claim we have infringed it.”

Fark now has its own social network. It looks vaguely familiar.

SocialBlade cracked Digg’s algorithm.

Epistolary Aardvark for Offline Access! “Until now, Aardvark could only be used via instant messenger or email to get answers to your questions within minutes. Through Aair Mail, you’ll be able to send questions via regular postal mail, just like you’d send a letter to a friend.”

Seacom has wired the entire African continent, which now has the fastest internet connection in the world.

AXECollegeHumor

LiveJournal has a Friends Page redesign project.

Microsoft added support for automatic mood detection in Windows Live Messenger. “We’re happy to announce that due to the great breakthroughs from Microsoft Research, we have an alpha version working that monitors your real-time physiological state and translates that into a mood (happy, sad, anxious, etc), such that you would never have to enter an emoticon again.”

Web celebrities (including Michael Arrington) are spotted dancing together, and they got the video to prove it.

The BDFL, having shepherded Python development for 20 years, officially announces his retirement, effective immediately. Following a unanimous vote, his replacement is named (Barry Warsaw).

Google is rumored to be acquiring Palm.

Ford, GM announce the Android Car. It looks cool.

More as they come in. Let us know what you’re finding out there in the comments.

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