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January 30, 2007
Oil Platforms Repurposed as Wind Farms.
In a marketing move that will probably be considered the first stage in the downfall of our civilization, BMW, the makers of the Mini, are erecting customized billboards with electronic displays that provide a different message depending on which Mini driver is passing by them - each Mini driver's key fob has a unique radio signature that is picked up by the billboard, and a message unique to the driver is then displayed. Kinda cool. Scary, but kinda cool. I can see how this technology could be warped to display negative messages on demand as well. "Mike, I'm divorcing you. - Karen" or, "You're a bitch, Sally! - Dave."
Users of Apple's Mail.app email application will find this page of plugins and enhancements very useful.
Accordion Guy Joey deVilla has a Combo Chart of The Seven Deadly Sins - why commit just one sin when you can combine them?
Posted by Hamish at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2007
Roxik Pictaps - check it out!
Go here to make your own dancer.
Posted by Hamish at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2007
Law Professor and Copyfighter Michael
Law Professor and Copyfighter Michael Geist appeared on CBC Radio's Business Network with Chuck Regehr this morning to respond to CRIA's Graham Henderson. He's posted about it on his blog and extends the debate a bit further by highlighting CRIA's efforts to get in the back pocket of the current Heritage Minister, Bev Oda. You might recall that Geist, among others, campaigned to oust the previous occupant of the Heritage portfolio, Sarmite Bulte. Bulte was run out on a rail in the last election, but it became clear that once Bulte's goose was cooked, CRIA turned their attentions to Oda's campaign.
Scientific American discusses Fact or Fiction: Premium Gasoline Delivers Premium Benefits to your Car.
Posted by Hamish at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2007
This morning on CBC Radio
This morning on CBC Radio One's Business Network with Chuck Regehr featured an interview with Graham Henderson of the Canadian Recording Industry Association on the topic of digital music - pay for play. More specifically, the topic was about why that hasn't worked as well in Canada as it has in the states. Henderson put the blame squarely on the Canadian Government's copyright laws which he says make it impossible to sell digital music here and make it work. Well, that's not exactly true - Apple's iTunes store is open for business here and doing quite well. But the market isn't as large as the CRIA would like, obviously, and they think the main problem is that we allow our music users loads of freedom to use music we pay for the way we'd like - transferring it to different media, backing it up, etc.
Chuck bumped the interview on Friday and that made me think that there ought to be an answer to the CRIA position - I emailed him about it and he asked for suggestions for an opposing viewpoint - someone to come in and record a response. So, I hooked him up with Michael Geist, the lawyer and professor at the University of Ottawa, whose speciality is speaking out on copyright issues in Canada. Geist will appear on the Biznet tomorrow morning. 5:45am! Or you can listen to it at the BizNet page [the CRIA interview is already there - requires RealPlayer] a little later in the morning if you don't have kids that wake you up at 5:30am. Sweet.
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In an interesting development, the first true mp3 music store has opened its 'doors' in New York - Other Music. All high-quality, no DRM. Awesome. This is the kind of music I will pay for!
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Restoring "Sweetie" - In one of those stories car buffs dream about, a couple of guys discovered a 1938 Chevrolet Business Coupe in a Kansas barn, and have embarked on a project to restore the old beauty. Kansas.com has what will be an on-going photo series on the restoration.
Posted by Hamish at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2007
Borat: Cultural Learnings for Make
Borat: Cultural Learnings for Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, as interpreted by Bunnies in 30 Seconds. By the way, if you didn't see Sacha Baron Cohen's acceptance speech for winning the Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes on Monday night, go check it out on YouTube. Just awesome.
Posted by Hamish at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2007
The Canadian Government is considering
The Canadian Government is considering removing 'fair use' rights from this country's Copyright law. Where's the justice in that?
Worth1000's photoshop contest theme: Remixed Statues Difficulty: it's ok to use the Statue of Liberty.
Caffeine Content of Beverages. Red Bull: 115.5mg/12oz Coke: 34.0mg/12oz - further down the list are coffee, tea, food, pills and medications.
Posted by Hamish at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2007
The touchscreen tech used in
Download Only Song to Crack the Top 40: (via Slashdot)
"nagora writes 'The BBC is reporting that next week's UK music chart may have the first sign of the end of the recording industry as we know it. From this week (7th Jan, 2006), all downloaded music sales are counted in the official UK chart, not just tracks which have had a physical media release. Now, an unsigned band called Koopa is poised to enter the top 40 without any old-world recording, distribution, or production deals. Band member Joe Murphy says 'If someone comes along and gives us an offer, we'll talk to them.' before continuing on to add the words the recording industry has been having nightmares about since the introduction of the mp3 format: 'If we can get enough exposure and get in the top 40 by the end of the week, do we necessarily need a large label? Probably nowadays, no you don't.' Is this finally the crack in the dam we've all been waiting for to wash away the entrenched monopolies of 20th century music production? Or just a sell-out waiting to happen?'
The touchscreen tech used in Apple's (I want one) sexy new iPhone was debuted and discussed at the TED, a nerd conference held last year. Here's a really cool video of that demonstration.
Oh by the way, Cisco is 'suing' Apple for their unlicensed (yet) use of its trademark name iPhone. Media hype of the first order. This is theatre meant to ensure the words "Apple" and "iPhone" stay on the front page of the business section (where Blackberry users will see it) for the entire length of the CES, stealing headline space from Microsoft's limp debut of their Vista Windows upgrade.
Peter David has an amusing account of his play-by-play of U.S. President Bush's "surge speech" last night.
Google Earth 4 has been released and hey, Toronto's actually got some 3D buildings in it now!
"At least he said "nuclear" correctly."
Posted by Hamish at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2007
SARS
Today the Ontario Government releases the Final Report of the SARS Commission looking into the outbreak of that virus in Toronto during 2003. I was affected by the outbreak through the misfortune of having bronchitis and a fever at the time, which led me to go for a checkup at a local hospital - my symptoms were close enough to SARS that I ended up being quarantined for 8 days in St. Joseph's Hospital, while my wife Christine and infant son Ethan had to stay behind closed doors in our house for that time. I posted about it on the Tribe Message Board at the time. I hope our health system has learned some lessons from the outbreak so that when something like a flu pandemic comes along, we will have more than a fly's chance in a hurricane of dealing with it.
refreshthing.com is a handy website that loads a given URL and then reloads it periodically (you set the interval) so you can keep track of a frequently updated page, like, say, a live blog account of the Steve Jobs Keynote speech at CES today.
If you have US70Million to spare, you just might be a candidate to purchase Bran Castle on Romania! Why, praytell you ask, is this a desirable property? Because it's the castle associated with Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. The castle gets half a million visitors a year. Who cares if the connecton with Vlad is somewhat suspect...
Posted by Hamish at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2007
13 Photographs That Changed The World
Neatorama's 13 Photographs That Changed The World.
PURE ENERGY: The death and life of the beloved Laserium. (LAWeekly) When I was in uni my friends and I once in a while partook of the marvel that was "Laser Floyd", "Laser Beatles" and Laser Zeppelin" at the McLaughlin Planetarium, next to the Royal Ontario Museum. The Planetarium is closed but the domed building remains, tantilizingly daring someone to come along and rescue it. The granddaddy of laseriums (planetarium+laser light show=laserium) was the Griffith Observatory in L.A.. It has re-opened but without its Laserium... Apparently it was the last to go. Sigh... Such good times. Sitting in those wayback chairs, baked out of our skulls [high on life, surely!] watching the pretty beams dance across the domed ceiling while trippy music played. It was the ultimate in non-violent entertainment.
This is awesome - all three original Star Wars movies cut together as a silent film.
Posted by Hamish at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2007
Happy New Year!
The new year is off to a blazing start as the tiny Caribbean island of Soledad Miria was beset by an inferno caused by a faulty gas cooker. The island is 700 feet long and has 1,014 inhabitants. 348 of them were injured in the blaze but none died, thankfully.
The Bad Astronomer has posted his picks for the Top Ten Astronomy Images of 2006.
A great collection of photos from the great blizzard of 1913 in Denver, Colorado.
Posted by Hamish at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)