Herschel Space Observatory Finds Precursors of Life In Orion

mars 8th, 2010
Via Slashdot by kdawson

ogre7299 recommends an announcement out of Cal Tech on a milestone for HIFI, the Herschel Space Observatory's Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared. "The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed the chemical fingerprints of potential life-enabling organic molecules in the Orion Nebula, a nearby stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy. … This detailed-spectrum, obtained with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) — one of Herschel's three innovative instruments — demonstrates the gold mine of information that Herschel-HIFI will provide on how organic molecules form in space. The spectrum, one of the first to be obtained with HIFI since it returned to full health in January 2010 following technical difficulties, clearly demonstrates that the instrument is working well. … [The HIFI instrument had previously been offline since] August 2009 when HIFI experienced an unexpected voltage spike in the electronic system, probably caused by a high-energy cosmic particle, resulting in the instrument shutting down. On 14 January 2010, HIFI was successfully switched back on using its spare electronics, with science observations commencing on 28 February."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Facebook Founder Accused of Hacking Into Rivals' Email

mars 8th, 2010
Via Slashdot by kdawson

An anonymous reader notes a long piece up at BusinessInsider.com accusing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg of hacking into the email accounts of rivals and journalists. The CEO of the world's most successful social networking website was accused of at least two breaches of privacy. In a two-year investigation detailing the founding of Facebook, Nicholas Carlson, a senior editor at Silicon Alley Insider, uncovered what he claimed was evidence of the hackings in 2004. "New information uncovered by Silicon Alley Insider suggests that some of the complaints [in a court case ongong since 2007] against Mark Zuckerberg are valid. It also suggests that, on at least one occasion in 2004, Mark used private login data taken from Facebook's servers to break into Facebook members' private email accounts and read their emails — at best, a gross misuse of private information. Lastly, it suggests that Mark hacked into the competing company's systems and changed some user information with the aim of making the site less useful. … Over the past two years, we have interviewed more than a dozen sources familiar with aspects of this story — including people involved in the founding year of the company. We have also reviewed what we believe to be some relevant IMs and emails from the period. Much of this information has never before been made public. None of it has been confirmed or authenticated by Mark or the company." The single-page view doesn't have its own URL; click on "View as one page" near the bottom.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

SXSW Festival : 1038 MP3 gratuits à télécharger légalement

mars 8th, 2010
Via PC INpact by marc@pcinpact.com (Marc Rees)

Comme chaque année, le festival South by Southwest ; ou SXSW ; réunit quantité d’artistes autour de plusieurs manifestations à Austin au Texas.

Exhibition: The New Faces

mars 6th, 2010
Via CR Blog by Gavin Lucas

Photographer Dean Chalkley’s exhibition, The New Faces opened last night at The Book Club on Leonard Street in London..

The New Faces is a collection of images Chalkley took late last year of a group of young Mods who he first encountered at his monthly DJ night, Shake!, at The Boogaloo pub in Highgate. Intrigued by their sharp dressing and enviable dancing skills, Chalkley suggested he immortalise their look and attitude on celluloid and invited them to come to a studio shoot. « These guys are the antithesis of the all too common don’t-give-a-fuck attitude of some young adults, » explains Chalkley. « They’re bright young folk who take a real pride in how they present themselves and they’re really into their music – mainly late 50s and early 60s rhythm and blues. They’re actually from varied backgrounds and different parts of the country – but their shared passion for music, dancing and looking sharp brings them together. And you should see them dance –they look good and they’ve got the moves! »

Here is a selection of images from the show:

Somewhat fittingly, the title of the show was suggested by none other than the Modfather himself, Paul Weller. Chalkley explains: « I’d just finished a shoot with Paul and I was showing him the contact sheet with these images. I told him all about the shoot and that I was going to exhibit the images but explained that I was still unsure about the title of the show. Paul responded with ‘It’s The New Faces’ and that was that. It was a perfect suggestion. »

The New Faces runs until 29 April at The Book Club, 100 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4RH

See more of Dean Chalkley’s work at deanchalkley.com

What Would You Do For $5?

mars 6th, 2010
Via TechCrunch by Leena Rao


Fiverr is a marketplace for gigs that are priced at $5. Essentially, you can sell and buy tasks for $5. So anyone can create a gig for small service on the site, and visitors can accept gigs as well. Gig prices are fixed at $5. Buyers can order gigs and are required to pay for the gig in advance. Fiverr takes $1 off of the $5 fee.

Gigs range from installing WordPress on a server to reading Tarot cards to writing a romantic sonnet. Tasks are divided into categories, including Funny and Bizarre, Social Marketing, Graphics, Writing,Technology, Business, Silly Stuff and Programming.

The idea is kind of brilliant and also entertaining. While you don’t necessarily have assurance that your task will be completed to your standards, you are only shelling out $5 for the task, so it’s not a total loss if the gig falls through or isn’t done well. Fiverr will also post buyer feedback on people who perform tasks. Task performers will be given a positive feedback score, which can be seen by users who are considering hiring them for gigs.

Information provided by CrunchBase

ari marcopolous at foam photography museum

mars 6th, 2010
Via Designboom – Weblog by (author unknown)

ari marcopoulos – it might seem familiar
foam photography museum, amsterdam
on until june 16th, 2010


ari marcopolous
alice, 2008
© ari marcopoulos

amsterdam-born photographer and filmmaker, ari marcopoulos‘ exhibition ‘it might seem familiar’
at the foam photography museum in amsterdam, exhibits his work which spans over the last
three decades. well-known for his documentation of alternative youth culture in america,
the show presents photos of the emerging hip hop and downtown art scene in new york
in the 1980s, the snowboard and skate culture in the 1990s as well as frequent depictions
of his own family in northern california over the last ten years.

whether his art concerns celebrities or his own family, marcopoulos approaches his subjects
in an intuitive manner, characterized by a remarkable feeling of intimacy.


ari marcopolous
angel, 2008
© ari marcopoulos


ari marcopoulos
creeekside, sonoma, 2004
© ari marcopoulos

Scientists Discover Booze That Won't Give You a Hangover

mars 3rd, 2010
Via Slashdot by samzenpus

Kwang-il Kwon and Hye Gwang Jeong of Chungnam National University have discovered that drinking alcohol with oxygen bubbles added leads to fewer hangovers and a shorter sobering up time. People drinking the bubbly booze sobered up 20-30 minutes faster and had less severe and fewer hangovers than people who drank the non-fizzy stuff. Kwon said: « The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage reduces plasma alcohol concentrations faster than a normal dissolved-oxygen alcohol beverage does. This could provide both clinical and real-life significance. The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage would allow individuals to become sober faster, and reduce the side effects of acetaldehyde without a significant difference in alcohol’s effects. Furthermore, the reduced time to a lower BAC may reduce alcohol-related accidents. »

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft Says, Don't Press the F1 Key In XP

mars 3rd, 2010
Via Slashdot by kdawson

Ian Lamont writes « Microsoft has issued a security advisory warning users not to press the F1 key in Windows XP, owing to an unpatched bug in VBScript discovered by Polish researcher Maurycy Prodeus. The security advisory says that the vulnerability relates to the way VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer, and could be triggered by a user pressing the F1 key after visiting a malicious Web site using a specially crafted dialog box. »

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

SXSW 2010 for Designers

mars 3rd, 2010
Via ReadWriteWeb by Jolie O’Dell

A ReadWriteWeb Guide

SXSW 2010 design designerWhether you make your living as a professional pixel pusher or you simply hold yourself to a higher aesthetic standard, South by Southwest has a rich and varied stream of opportunities for designers.

We’ve put together a list of ten essential places, parties, panels and other events to help you tailor your SXSW 2010 experience to your own individual interests.

From Web typography to « WTF WordPress? », SXSW rocks for web designers in particular. And the many social events also include a few rich, interactive visual experiences, as well. Read on, and let us know you favorite Austin spots in the comments.

Sponsor

This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn’t your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon!

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerIs WordPress Killing Web Design?

Strong words, valid question, and sure to be a contentious panel this year.

« Is WordPress killing web design? Leading creatives from the world of web design debate whether CMS tools have made designers lazy, and created a new set of design conventions that designers feel obliged to follow. » With Brendan Dawes of magneticNorth, Dan Mall of Big Spaceship, Dan Oliver of Future Publishing/.net magazine, Jina Bolton of Crush + Lovely and Shane Mielke of 2Advanced Studios.

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerVisions

« Conceptart.org Events, Massive Black and The Art Department open ScreenBurn at SXSW Interactive with Visions,’ a one-of-a-kind multimedia event combining cutting-edge, live, digital and traditional art performances from the top film, video game and classically trained artists in the art world. Experience pulsing music from local and international DJs, special performance by International Burlesque performer, Eva Strangelove, and provocative runway fashion by Loves, Mariessa – all surrounded by gorgeous muses for every imagination and inspiration. Join us for a night of traditional and digital performances like you have never seen before. With software combining with leading talent, the show is not to be missed. »

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designer24 Diner

After a late party, how about some delicious nosh in a beautifully designed environment?

Chef-inspired comfort food is served up around the clock at this relatively new spot. The foodies among you might appreciate the bacon gorgonzola burger or the famed roasted banana and brown sugar milkshake. Aesthetically, 24 Diner is a throwback to clean, mid-century modernism. While you’re there, be sure to take in the many charming details of 24 Diner’s interior design.

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerValerie Casey Keynote

« Casey, founder and Executive Director of the Designers Accord, works with organizations all over the world to create positive social and environmental impact. She has been named a ‘Guru you should know’ by Fortune magazine, a ‘Hero of the Environment’ by Time magazine, and a ‘Master of Design’ by Fast Company. »

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerMuseum of Digital Art Showcase

« The Austin Museum of Digital Art presents a party featuring live electronic music and visual art. Expect video projections, interactive installations, and a Laptop Battle with musicians competing to outperform one another in a series of elimination rounds. Free for SXSW Interactive badgeholders. »

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerWeb Fonts: The Time Has Come

« After 15 years of contenting ourselves with system fonts, or image type, the planets are now in line for getting real fonts on the web. Some solutions are already working, and a cross-platform standard is emerging. Here web designer and type designers mix it up on how the font hurdles is finally being lept. » With Stephen Coles of FontShop/Typographica, Roger Black and David Berlow of The Font Bureau, Jeffrey Veen of Google and Bert Bos of W3C.

Of course, there are several other type-related panels throughout the conference, including Get Stoked on Web Typography, CSS and Fonts: Fluid Web Typography,

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerAdobe Sunday Brunch

« There will be bacon, coffee and geekery at the Adobe Sunday Brunch. Join us at 10am on Sunday for FREE brunch at the Adobe Day Stage. Adobe product managers and evangelists will be sharing the latest on mobile development with Flash and more from Adobe Labs. RSVP at http://facebook.com/AdobeSXSW. There might even be a few surprises. Join us to find out. »

Helpful hint: That Facebook link will also show you how to RSVP for Adobe’s Happy Hour the following day.

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerPain-Free Design Sign-Off

« Getting design approval can be like pulling teeth. Clients seem to make irrational decisions based on personal opinion. They ignore our expertise, reducing us to pixel pushers. However, it does not need to be this way. With good communication and a sound methodology, design sign off can be pain free. » With Paul Boag of Headscape.

More sessions on external and internal process: Your Design Process Is Killing You with Sara Summers of Microsoft and Interactive Agency Workflow: Design and Development Process with Danny Riddell of Archetype.

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerVisual Note-Taking 101

« Ever since Leonardo put pen to paper, visual note-taking has been a route to improve the quality of your thinking, make information more memorable, and make your ideas easier to share with others. Learn practical techniques and  »tricks of the trade » from modern visual note-taking masters: how to write, sketch, and diagram ideas live, in real time, as you hear them. » With Sunni Brown of BrightSpot Info Design, Mike Rohde, Dave Gray of XPLANE and Austin Kleon.

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerSociety of Digital Agencies Mixer

« It was only 3 short years ago that Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) officially announced their launch at SXSW. In celebration of our growth and accomplishments SoDA is holding their signature Digerati Mixer just steps away from the Austin Convention Center. As always we invite all our industry friends to join our SoDA members in a fun and casual atmosphere for appetizers, drinks and conversation. »

SXSW SXSWi 2010 design designerOther Events

Of course, this selection represents a mere smattering of all the things to do, see, hear and learn (and eat and drink) while you’re in Austin. If you’re inclined to spend a little more time inside the convention center, we also stumbled across these panels for designers:

Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
Design Fiction: Props, Prototypes, Predicaments Communicating New Ideas
Designing the First Fifteen Minutes
Persuasive Design: Encouraging Your Users To Do What You Want Them To!
Understanding Content: The Stuff We Design For

Those are a few of our SXSW Interaction recommendations for designers of all stripes. If you’ve got suggestions or feedback, let us know in the comments! See you in Austin, folks!

Discuss

Drupal Founder Critical of SaaS and its Proprietary Nature

mars 3rd, 2010
Via ReadWriteWeb by Alex Williams

driesbuytaert_feb_2010Drupal’s founder is calling for open source in the enterprise and in the cloud. This should be no surprise, coming from someone like Dries Buytaert. But it is still interesting, considering the source and the point he makes about the actual lack of open source in cloud computing.

Drupal is one of the most popular, open source content management systems. Buytaert created it initially as a messaging board. It went open-source in 2001.

Sponsor

Dries, who is now the co-founder of Acquia, says the SaaS model need to be updated, modeled on open source values. He points out that SaaS companies for the most part are built on proprietary software.

Dries:

« ….they might allow you to export your data, but they usually don’t allow you to export their underlying code. While a lot of these services might be built on Open Source components, they have a lot more in common with proprietary software vendors than Open Source projects or companies. »

It’s in Dries view that this model can be disrupted by open source. For example, he says, the Drupal Gardens community improves the overall platform by contributing to it. The goal, as Dries says, is for people to export their Drupal Garden site in their entirety  » the code, the theme and data — and move the platform to any Drupal hosting environment. »

His example points to a huge issue with cloud computing. It’s not easy to export data from cloud computing services. Third-party services offer methods for exporting the data but for the most part, cloud computing services are proprietary. No open standards exist for passing data.

As Vint Cerf said in January to the Commonwealth Club: It’s like 1973 for moving data around in the cloud. IBM, Google and Amazon have no way to interoperate. There are no cloud standards.

Open-source communities are faring well in the enterprise space. Matt Asay of the Open Road posted a story last week that illustrates the success of oepn-source enterprise efforts.

In particular, he referred to some of the most successful companies: Alfresco Software, Sugar CRM, Jaspersoft and Zimbra. Here are the numbers he presented:

open source applications

Open-source communities thrive in all sorts of places, even the enterprise space. The next step is to bring this same community drive into the cloud community. Our bet is it will happen sooner than we think.

Discuss

Google avale Picnik… digestion difficile pour Yahoo ?

mars 2nd, 2010
Via PC INpact by marc@pcinpact.com (Marc Rees)

L’annonce a été publiée sur le blog de l’éditeur : Google vient de s’offrir Picnik, une solution d’édition de photo en ligne intégrée dans plusieurs services, dont ceux du concurrent Yahoo.

ハリネズミを洗う Pigmy Hedgehog

mars 2nd, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video: みんなでお風呂

Major Electronics Vendors Accused of Price Fixing

février 27th, 2010
Via Slashdot by Soulskill

Lucas123 writes « After the DOJ launched an investigation last fall into price fixing by major optical disk drive manufacturers, a home electronics retail store filed a class-action lawsuit this week seeking triple damages for what it is claiming to be long-standing collusion among Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, LG Electronics and Hitachi to raise and fix prices on the drives. The suit claims the vendors used trade organization forums as meeting places to discuss the price fixing. ‘These are big Asian smoke-stack industries where they’re investing in big fabrication plants. You can’t have a technology destroy the business,’ said the attorney representing the plaintiff. ‘If you fire up a big fab plant with CRT tubes, and the next generation technology destroys it, then you have a big fab plant manufacturing buggy whips. So they have to make sure the price points for these [newer] technologies … don’t destroy existing markets.’ »

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nobody Beats the Drum – Grindin'

février 27th, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video: Stop Motion Animation 'Grindin''

Director: Rogier van der Zwaag
Music: Grindin' by Nobody Beats The Drum
(available on the EP 'Focus' out on Satan's Circus)

check the making of!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBqxjvDAAWE&feature=channel

This sequence of 4085 photo's was patiently created by Nobody Beats The Drum's VJ / visual artist Rogier van der Zwaag. If you want to see the director at work, check out The Making Of Grindin' or visit www.100procenthalal.nl

For more information and music by the Dutch Electro group Nobody Beats The Drum, visit www.nobodybeatsthedrum.com

Beatport store: http://vl.am/mB9
Itunes store: http://vl.am/FvO

Space Exploration Needs Extraterrestrial Ethics

février 27th, 2010
Via Slashdot by samzenpus

An anonymous reader writes "Professor Andy Miah notes there's already international government policies taking hold on outer space — and a need for new ethical guidelines. 'For instance, what obligations do we owe to the various life forms we send there, or those we might discover? Can we develop a more considerate approach to colonizing outer space than we were able to achieve for various sectors of Earth?' And what rights do astronauts have? 'Could our inevitable public surveillance of their behavior become too much of an infringement on their personal privacy?' But more importantly, professor Miah notes that 'the goods of space exploration far exceed the symbolic value,' pointing out that 'A vast amount of research and development derives from space exploration … For example, the United Kingdom's 2007 Space Policy inquiry indicated that the creation of space products contributes two to three times their value in GDP.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ouroborus

février 27th, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video: See more at www.karllautman.com.

Neck Traction

février 27th, 2010
Via 7Gadgets.com by Raluca

Say goodbye to neck pain by releasing neck pressure caused by pinched nerves, tension headaches, and osteoarthritis. Wrap the comfortable inflatable cushioning around your neck and inflate or deflate to the desired pressure with the attached easy to use hand pump.

LINK

Help Design Balsamiq’s “Components” Feature

février 27th, 2010
Via Wireframes Magazine by Jakub

Peldi of Balsamiq is opening up the floor to a design discussion around how the upcoming “components” feature might work. Reusing objects or items across a UI program is quite important and so it will finally be making it’s way into an implementation plan. There are a couple of use cases on this feature already publicly available but he’s looking for more ideas from the community of course. So if designing in the open or giving feedback is your cup of tea, feel free to jump right in. :)

Facebook Patents the News Feed

février 27th, 2010
Via Slashdot by ScuttleMonkey

daedae writes "It seems Facebook has been granted a patent for the news feed, as a method of monitoring activities, storing them in a database, and displaying an appropriate set of activities to an appropriate set of users. 'That sounds pretty broad, and the social-networking world was all atwitter at the possible ramifications. Writing for ReadWriteWeb, Marshall Kirkpatrick proclaimed, "This could be very big. … MySpace, Flickr, Yahoo, Twitter (?), the sharing part of Google Reader, and even Google Buzz — do all of these sites have technology at the center of their social experiences that falls under this new patent of Facebook's?" The patent may not be that broad. Nick O'Neill at the All Facebook blog wrote that the patent doesn't appear to cover status updates as used by Twitter. "It appears that this patent surrounds implicit actions. This means status updates, which is what Twitter is based on, are not part of this patent. … Instead, this is about stories about the actions of a user's friends. While still significant, the implications for competing social networks may be less substantial," O'Neill wrote.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Drawing in Microsoft Excel

février 27th, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video: You thought you saw everything…

Think again

GAT-X105 Strike Gundam from Gundam Seed Destiny Anime

This is the first drawing on Youtube done with Microsoft Excel exclusively (Autoshape can be used to do lineart, colors, shadows, lighting effects and layers, like some drawing softwares). Just for fun.

Real length: 12 hours 56 minutes

Suscribe, rate and comment

Very special thanks to:

Valentina (Gracias por la paciencia T_T)
Patolín (Saludos a la distancia compadre =D)

And you

Alice in Wonderland (1903)

février 27th, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video: The first-ever film version of Lewis Carroll’s tale has recently been restored by the BFI National Archive from severely damaged materials. Made just 37 years after Lewis Carroll wrote his novel and eight years after the birth of cinema, the adaptation was directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow, and was based on Sir John Tenniel’s original illustrations. In an act that was to echo more than 100 years later, Hepworth cast his wife as the Red Queen, and he himself appears as the Frog Footman. Even the Cheshire cat is played by a family pet.

With a running time of just 12 minutes (8 of which survive), Alice in Wonderland was the longest film produced in England at that time. Film archivists have been able to restore the film’s original colours for the first time in over 100 years.

Music: ‘Jill in the Box’, composed and performed by Wendy Hiscocks.

To find out more about the film, visit http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/974410/

To book tickets to ‘Alice in Wonderland – A BFI IMAX 3D Experience’, visit http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_imax/coming_soon/now_booking/alice_in_wonderland_an_imax_3d_experience_pg_tbc

To find out more about BFI Southbank’s season of Alice in Wonderland adaptations, visit http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/march_seasons/alice_in_wonderland

angel

février 26th, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video:

Ludwig Von Drake – The Spectrum Song

février 23rd, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video: Ludwig Von Drake continues his explanation of colors before he breaks into the Spectrum Song in this clip from the Anthology series called An Adventure In Color

What’s In A Name? For Startups, It’s Crucial

février 23rd, 2010
Via ReadWriteWeb by Chris Cameron

If you’ve been following our Weekend Reading series on Fridays for the last few weeks, you’ve noticed that we’ve been discussing the importance of personal branding for entrepreneurs. But branding is not only an important facet for individuals; for startups, branding is an essential step toward building a successful business. Mint founder Aaron Patzer, who speaks Tuesday at the Future of Web Apps Conference in Miami, Florida, recently discussed with CNET’s Caroline McCarthy how he believes Mint’s branding helped it become a breakout success.

Sponsor

Patzer says the company’s original name, « Money Intelligence » was transformed into « Mint, » which just so happens to be a dictionary word already associated with money. But this is no clever coincidence is no small matter, Patzer says having a recognizable, easy to spell name is important these days when trying to make a company name stick in people’s minds.

« Choose something with meaning, even if it’s expensive and difficult to acquire, rather based on domain name availability, because otherwise, you’re going to kill word-of-mouth, » Patzer says.

Patzer and Mint went through this very process themselves, first purchasing mymint.com at roughly $3,000 before inking a deal with the owner of mint.com for the use of the seemingly valuable domain name in return for equity in Mint’s funding. It turned out to be such a good investment for the original owner that he contributed to future rounds of funding before the company was eventually bought by Intuit last year for $170 million.

« It was a three-month negotiation, » said Patzer. « It was one of the most difficult negotiations of my life…that’s how important branding is to me. »

Certainly, as we’ve discussed previously, branding reaches far beyond just the name of your service, but Patzer makes an interesting argument for picking an actual dictionary word. It may be difficult to grab a domain name for a common word, but as Patzer explained, securing your brand online is worth the effort and the money. Of course, the best name in the world can’t make up for a poor product, but in the grand scheme of things, names can make a significant impact on success.

Discuss

Free Software Foundation Urges Google To Free VP8

février 22nd, 2010
Via Slashdot by timothy

jamesswift writes « The FSF have written an open letter to Google urging them to free the VP8 codec with an irrevocable royalty-free licence: ‘With its purchase of the On2 video compression technology company having been completed on Wednesday February 16, 2010, Google now has the opportunity to make free video formats the standard, freeing the web from both Flash and the proprietary H.264 codec.’ »

Also from the letter: « The world would have a new free format unencumbered by software patents. Viewers, video creators, free software developers, hardware makers — everyone — would have another way to distribute video without patents, fees, and restrictions. The free video format Ogg Theora was already at least as good for web video (see a comparison) as its nonfree competitor H.264, and we never did agree with your objections to using it. But since you made the decision to purchase VP8, presumably you’re confident it can meet even those objections, and using it on YouTube is a no-brainer. »

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Chuck Norris Attacks Linux-Based Routers, Modems

février 22nd, 2010
Via Slashdot by timothy

angry tapir writes « Discovered by Czech researchers, the Chuck Norris botnet has been spreading by taking advantage of poorly configured routers and DSL modems. The malware got the Chuck Norris moniker from a programmer’s Italian comment in its source code: ‘in nome di Chuck Norris,’ which means ‘in the name of Chuck Norris.’ Chuck Norris is unusual in that it infects DSL modems and routers rather than PCs. It installs itself on routers and modems by guessing default administrative passwords and taking advantage of the fact that many devices are configured to allow remote access. »

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Patch Rectificatif : Fixed 4chan ignorance issues

février 22nd, 2010
Via ReadWriteWeb France by Pierre-Alexandre Rouillon

Pierre Alexandre Rouillon est journaliste dans le monde des jeux vidéo et 4channer. Il a – vivement – réagit au billet – maladroit – que j’ai – osé – pondre sur 4chan, et après quelques échanges, il nous a semblé approprié de proposer aux lecteurs de RWW un nouveau billet sur le sujet qui en propose une introduction.
________________

Patch Rectificatif : Fixed 4chan ignorance issues
ou « 4chan pour les nuls blogueurs français ».

Allons bon. Voilà que je me compromets à devoir briser la première règle des interwebs. En me connectant à la grande toile d’araignée à enfants mineurs qu’est Internet, j’avais conclu un accord tacite avec les grands anciens du web. « Très bien messieurs, je ne parlerai pas de /b/ ».

Et puis pan, voilà que #EPELBOIN me demande mon « expertise » (LOL U) sur le sujet en réaction à cet article sur lequel j’ai lancé un zerg rush hier (KEKEKEKE).

Il va donc falloir éduquer ces blogueurs « influents » qui ne manquent pas une occasion de parler de 4chan en faisant croire qu’ils s’y connaissent parce qu’ils ont posté un demotivator et un lolcat.

Sauf que quand on dit « 4chan » alors qu’on souhaite dire /b/, ce n’est pas seulement un problème d’orthophonie. C’est aussi un léger souci de malhonnêteté intellectuelle et de connerie crasse.

Alors on va avant tout commencer par la bonne grosse base : 4chan n’est pas /b/. Répétez-le autant de fois qu’il le faudra dans vos petites caboches d’ignorants. Allez, répétez. Encore. Je veux vous entendre à l’unisson. Voilà. Stop. Tu peux arrêter de répéter, là. CA SUFFIT ! FERME TA GUEULE MAINTENANT PUISQUE JE VAIS T’EXPLIQUER !

GRAND UN PETIT A : 4chan.

Salut connard/sse. T’as vu, je t’insulte. Connivence, humour, amour.

Alors 4chan, qu’est ce que c’est ? C’est plus ou moins la version américaine de 2chan, un BBS (ou forum si t’es un peu con) créé à la base pour parler d’animes et de jeux vidéo. GENIAL, NON ? MON PETIT FRERE A FAIT PAREIL !

Sauf que là, il est tout à fait possible de poster de manière complètement anonyme. Du coup, le BBS a vu sa popularité grandir, le nombre de boards a considérablement augmenté et on peut maintenant y trouver à boire et à manger.

En effet, avant de parler de /b/ (OMG THE RULE), il convient de faire le tour de quelques sujets qu’il est possible d’aborder sur 4ch. On pourra y parler d’animes (/a/), de jeux vidéo (/vg/), de comics (/co/), de photographie (/p/) et de paranormal (/x/, ehhh ouais), tout comme on pourra y trouver un assez grand nombre de boards destinés aux adultes avec photos hi-rez de Sasha Grey ou liens rapidshare vers l’intégrale des cumshots de ta maman à la clé.

Je demanderai, pour appuyer mes dires, à Binnie de nous démontrer que 4chan n’est pas que violence et haine, grâce à ce poster en gloire à /an/.

Bref, 4chan est un coin plutôt safe tant que l’on ne clique pas sur les boards notés 18+ (rangés dans les catégories « Adult » et « Misc »).

GRAND 1 PETIT /B/


Oh que je suis drôle. Mais tu t’en rendrais compte si tu lisais mon blog BACKLINK BACKLINK BACKLINK ou mes supers articles malins et rigolos BACKLINK BACKLINK BACKLINK.

Donc /b/. C’est le board « Random » de 4chan. Siglé 18+, il permettra à n’importe qui de poster (presque) n’importe quoi sous couvert d’anonymat. Alors bien évidemment c’est l’occasion pour tout le monde de se lâcher. Oh, la jolie photo de mon ex en train de me sucer ! Oh, un thread contre les noirs ! Oh, le superbowl ! Oh, un anonyme parle de son envie de suicide ! Oh, ce mec baise un crâne et poste la photo ! Je ne vais pas vous faire la liste, mais vous voyez l’idée.

Du coup, ça devient forcément un peu une zone de non-droit. Le board fait à lui seul 30% des visites de 4chan, on y poste en moyenne 200.000 putains de messages par jour à une vitesse absolument phénoménale et il ne sera pas rare qu’un thread devienne 404 juste le temps de le copier/coller à un pote. Et finalement la seule chose qui sera modérée sera la pédopornographie (seulement si les mods ne dorment pas, faudrait voir à pas déconner). Existant depuis maintenant plus de sept ans, ce petit ilot libertaire et utopiste commence à bien se faire connaître. A un tel point que les anciens commencent à déplorer la vague de « newfags » aussi nommés « le cancer qui tue /b/ ».

Le newfag va débarquer sur /b/, ne rien y comprendre, croire que sa blague déjà vue 8000 fois est drôle et va finalement casser les couilles de tous les anciens qui étaient très bien entre leurs gore threads et leurs suicides en direct avec timestamp.

GRAND 1 PETIT C : Anonymous

Ben oui parce qu’on t’a parlé un peu partout d’Anonymous mais jusque là, tu sais toujours pas ce que c’est, quoi.

Anonymous, c’est un concept, et en même temps une réalité.

Pour le concept, c’est l’idée que si tous les internautes un peu à fond dans les forums etc se rassemblaient ensemble, ils formeraient une légion surpuissante, qu’on nommerait Anonymous. La force de l’anonymat pour renverser n’importe quel ordre établi.

Dans la réalité, Anonymous c’est quelques centaines (milliers ?) de mecs et de filles qui traînent sur /b/ et qui sont persuadés de disposer d’une force de frappe phénoménale.

On peut aussi juste y voir une ribambelle de nerds qui ont trop regardé Fight Club et qui se sentent pousser des ailes quand ils font ce qu’on appellera communément des « raids », comme faire commander des pizzas, imprimer des faxes noirs ou passer des coups de fil anonymes (haha) chez des associations type « God Hates Fags » ou, bien plus récent et notoire, l’Eglise de Scientologie il y a deux ans.
Bref, si Anonymous n’est pas spécialement un concept inhérent à /b/, il faut avouer que le board l’a poussé à son paroxysme, bien que si tu viens voir Anon pour qu’il harcèle ton ex ou ta prof d’histoire, il te sera rappelé que /b/ n’est pas TA PUTAIN D’ARMEE PERSONNELLE et tu risques de te retrouver pour la peine avec des photos de FURRY RAEP sur ta page Facebook.

Par contre, comme tout bon enfant gâté qui se respecte, Anon se lassera très vite de son dernier jouet pour aller se concentrer sur autre chose comme troller le site internet du TIME pour faire de Moot la personnalité de l’année ou spammer Youtube de vidéos de cul.

GRAND 1 PETIT D : Moot.

On aura entendu tout et son contraire sur Moot, créateur de 4chan.

Depuis environ un an et demi, Moot est devenu la coqueluche de certains medias américains. Interviews dans TIME et Wired, portrait dans le Wall Street Journal, conférences à TED, le jeune homme s’est vu sous les projecteurs, lui qui à la base voulait juste parler de robots géants et de jeux vidéo sur Internet.

Selon ses dires, le monstre lui a complètement échappé, et il avouerait lui-même ne plus trop savoir quoi penser de sa création. La légende urbaine voudrait aussi que Moot vive seul avec sa mère dans un appartement pourri, versant chaque mois la quasi-totalité de son argent dans les serveurs pour faire tenir 4ch.

Si je parle au conditionnel, c’est que l’on ne sait absolument pas si tout cela est vrai ou pas. En effet, beaucoup de théories pensent que Moot n’est qu’un gigantesque troll, s’étant inventé une vie à raconter aux medias, allant même jusqu’à avoir inventé son patronyme, Christopher Poole, ou CP, comme CopyPasta et Child Porn.

GRAND 2 : Les mèmes

Mais finalement, pourquoi /b/ est aussi connu si on n’y croise que des blagues de mauvais goût et des blaireaux sans vie qui se masturbent devant des photos de cadavres en décomposition ?

Déjà parce que le necro-onanisme c’est putain de rigolo, mais aussi parce que de nombreux « mèmes » (sur)utilisés aujourd’hui sur Internet sont nés ou ont été démocratisés sur /b/.

On appelle donc ça des « Mèmes » (à prononcer « mime », « mème » ou « mémé », tu fais ce que tu veux, je suis pas ton père). L’Oxford English Dictionary, qui n’en rate jamais une pour ramener sa science, parle d’un « élément d’une culture pouvant être considéré comme transmis par des moyens non génétiques, en particulier par l’imitation ».

En gros, c’est le fait de transmettre une habitude, une parole, une action, d’un individu à un autre, puis d’un groupe d’individus à un autre. Le terme le plus courant employé aujourd’hui serait « private joke », même si justement l’intérêt du mème est d’aller au-delà de la private joke pour toucher un nombre massif de personnes.

On a les grands classiques comme les lolcats, les demotivators, lazors et autres Milhouse :

Puis viennent les memes plus récents (parfois considérés par les vrais /b/tards comme des mèmes de newfags) comme Advice Dog ou Xhibit .

En dresser une liste exhaustive serait long, idiot et inutile. Si vous voulez savoir comment ça marche, il va falloir y aller par vous-même.

GRAND 3 : OP is a faggot.

TL;DR

/b/ est une partie de 4chan où de nombreux internautes ayant un humour plus tolérant que la moyenne essaient de révolutionner leur quotidien en se moquant des noirs et en spammant le mail perso de Sarah Palin.

Vous pensez avoir compris ? C’est bien. Mais en fait, vous ne comprendrez jamais, amis blogololeurs. Tant que vous n’aurez pas passé des soirées de désœuvrement à troller sur un nostalgia thread au lieu d’aller manger le dernier burger de McDo pour en tirer un billet sponso, tant que vous n’aurez pas fait vos premiers shoops de #EPELBOIN, tant que vous n’aurez pas vus vos premiers combo breakers au lieu de poster des vidéos de maquillage sur Youtube, vous ne saurez rien, vous ne resterez toujours que des putains de newfags.

Alors vous pourrez loler avec vos chats, vos demotivators et peut-être même vos rick rolls, mais n’essayez jamais de vous prétendre vrais /b/tards, ce que même moi je n’ose pas toujours faire.

Parce que le jour où on verra que vous essayez de vous approprier notre subculture pour faire le beau dans votre cercle d’amis ( »Oh mon dieu, il a posté Obama avec un bucket de KFC ! Quelle subversivité !« ), on déchainera plus de neuf mille putains de plaies d’Égypte sur vos petits culs qui chieront des briques dans vos jolis pantalons Celio.

A bon entendeur, voici maintenant une photo d’un chien très sérieux.

Also, The Game.

Booba – Foetus (clip officiel) exclu

février 22nd, 2010
Via lutinmalinmalin's YouTube Activity by (author unknown)
I favorited a YouTube video: Nouveau clip officiel de Booba – Foetus. Exclusivité 2010

Vivienne Westwood says “Stop buying clothes”

février 22nd, 2010
Via Dangerous Minds by (author unknown)

 
Vivienne Westwood’s pointedly anti-consumerist remarks backstage at London Fashion Week after her big show were taken by some as more “dotty” remarks by the great British designer, but they didn’t seem that way to me. Yes, there is certainly a, uh, tension between showing a new collection of clothes and then telling everyone assembled not to buy them, but do you think Westwood doesn’t know that?

And besides, since when is the pure act of telling the truth, somehow dotty in the first place? Have I missed something here? The woman’s 1000% correct. She should be commended for her commitment to the future of mankind—and speaking with common sense—and not mocked.

I actually met her once about ten years ago and she was a trip. My close friend Oberon Sinclair was doing some PR work for the opening of the Westwood boutique in New York and there was a big sit down dinner for a lot of people. Westwood didn’t know a lot—if any—of the people present and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, who I attended the dinner with, gallantly and sweetly, sat down with Westwood to put her at ease. So I was along for the ride and we sat across from her for about two hours and she was a delight, if a little non-sequitur at times. (Not a judgement, just a description. People must say that about me all the time…)

One-of-a-kind designer Vivienne Westwood Sunday night presented a gorgeous collection of autumn and winter outfits at London Fashion Week, then went backstage and told reporters she hopes people stop buying her clothes.

“Stop all this consumerism,” said Westwood, the former high priestess of punk who has increasingly used her catwalk shows to spotlight her concern about climate change.

“I just tell people, stop buying clothes. Why not protect this gift of life while we have it? I don’t take the attitude that destruction is inevitable. Some of us would like to stop that and help people survive,” she said.
 
Below is part one of Dame Westwood’s interview on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross last year. I thought she was fucking awesome when I saw this. Part II is here. Both parts are well worth watching. When is the last time you heard a public figure speak this passionately about something?
 
 
Westwood Condemns Consumerism After London Show (ABC News)
 
Vivienne Westwood meets James Lovelock on video (Dazed Digital)

Movie Title Stills Collection

février 22nd, 2010
Via Neatorama by Alex

Web and graphic designer Christian Annyas sure watched a lot of movies over the years. To prove it, he collected screenshots of the movie titles (and many trailer and "The End" titles as well). His collections include movies made int the 1920s to today’s films, but for whatever reason I gravitated to movies from the 50s.

Link – via The Litter Box

Previously on Neatorama: Stills