Planet Justlol

The issue of interoperability in 3D architectural design

2008-08-28T06:13:55+00:00

Studio Wikitecture is an open group, composed of a diverse range of individuals from varying disciplines, interested in exploring the application of a open-source paradigm to the design and production of both real and virtual architecture and urban planning.

Amongst their projects is an award-winning 3D Wiki multiple-author 3D-urban project.

They have launched an important appeal to influence the future development of Second Life so that 3D designs can move from one platform to another.

Here’s a good explanation of the problems involved (excerpt only):

“I’ve been using Second Life for a number of years now to run experiments, through our ‘Studio Wikitecture’ group, to see if a Metaverse, such as SL might one day act as the platform for collective intelligence in architecture and urban planning. I’m also an active member of the ‘RL Architects in SL’ group. As you can imagine, most of the members that compose these two groups are architects. What I have found, participating in these groups over the last year or so is that new members are always excited about using Second Life as either a collaborative tool or as a platform to exhibit their work. Unfortunately, however, their interest soon wanes when they find out there’s no easy way to import in models from third party programs. I realize there’s a number of grass-roots initiatives out there that have developed rough and crude ways to import from the following:

Blender / Sketchup / Max / Maya

Although, I give my utmost respect to the programmers that have developed these projects, to say they are crude, is to pay them a compliment. What invariably happens is that after sharing these links with the many people that ask, they come back (if they come back at all) even more confused and frustrated having labored through the elaborate and evolved process of copying and pasting pieces of code back and forth between one program and the other. The process is about as easy as painting with rice grains.

Having had a number of conversations over the year with people about this, I can say with confidence, that SL’s lack of portability is the number one hurdle for our demographic and the main reason why many people never come back. Although speculation, I would imagine this is a major hurdle for other groups as well.

What I don’t really understand is why this issue is not pushed more by the SL community at large. I have noticed there were a number of issues posted on SL’s Issue Tracker that call for portability of a number of various file types, such as .OBJ, .3DM, .3DS, .DXF, & .DAE.

What I don’t really understand is why, firstly, the overall SL community is not voting on this en masse and secondly, why have some of these grass-roots initiatives outlined above, just withered on the vine? Some of these projects are over two years old, with no sign of life or continued evolution since they were first posted.

Having been in the middle of this conversation for awhile, it seems the standard responses usually involve two factors: technology and/or SL’s economy—Technology, from the aspect that it’s currently still too difficult to do and economically, from the aspect that the sudden influx of new models would dilute the value of existing in-world creations, resulting in a negative impact on SL’s economy. Although I’m sure there are more reasons, these seem to be at the forefront of the discussion.

What confuses me, from my perspective anyways, is that these reasons still don’t seem plausible to me and I’m found wondering if I’m missing a valuable part of the equation.

First, although I have a limited background in programming, it appears from the existence of these grass roots projects, that portability is indeed obtainable. Having dabbled a little with each project above, I realize the process is laborious—cutting and pasting code from one program to the other.

I also realize that most of these conversion programs drastically simplify the form when imported into SL, such as textures being stripped off, and meshes and certain objects such as cylinders and sphere’s being simplified down to plain ‘box’ prims in SL. Although these are indeed hurdles, the technology is currently there to do this on a very limited basis.

What I don’t understand, is why these projects haven’t evolved into a more user-friendly format after the years they have been in place. This is just a lack of user-interface design verses a lack of back-end programming. Even though they are crude and might only import texture striped SL boxes in some cases, i know that I, as well has a horde of others, would still jump at the chance to have access to a tool like this and in most cases would actually pay good money for such a thing

.”

This video, provides a nice overview of the technology behind Wikitecture 3.0 (‘Wikitecture’ being an experiment to work out the procedures and protocols necessary to harness a group’s collective intelligence in designing architecture):

Links for 2008-08-27 [del.icio.us]

2008-08-28T05:00:00+00:00

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20 Free eBooks About Social Media | chrisbrogan.com
a useful listing of 20 free ebooks on social media. The list includes resources on podcasting, blogging, usability and related subjects.

James Powderly back in US

2008-08-28T04:51:14+00:00

James Powderly just returned from being detained in Beijing. Having spoken to James, this short video is really just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a bit more at artnet and more to be published in the days to come.

James is one of the founders of the Graffiti Research Lab and an Anti-Advertising Agency collaborator.

Vervangen sites de papieren krant?

2008-08-27T23:00:23+00:00

Dagbladsites zetten opmars voort, zo meldde Cebuco vorige week donderdag in een persbericht. Was dat bericht reden tot juichen of jammeren voor deze marketingorganisatie van de Nederlandse dagbladen? Maar al te vaak wordt immers de zorg uitgesproken dat de gratis krantensites een bedreiging zijn voor de papieren oplages. Voor dagbladbedrijven is dat zorgelijk, want aan [...]

Laws of Identity Iterations - or: The Nexus Between Morality, Subjectivity, and Empirical Knowledge

2008-08-27T21:58:00+00:00

Kim Cameron has recently tried to shorten his "Laws of Identity". This started an interesting semantic process, which I will address at the end. But first, let's have a look at the iterations.

Here are Kim's original laws:

User Control and Consent: Digital identity systems must only reveal information identifying a user with the user’s consent.
Limited Disclosure for Limited Use: The solution which discloses the least identifying information and best limits its use is the most stable, long-term solution.
The Law of Fewest Parties: Digital identity systems must limit disclosure of identifying information to parties having a necessary and justifiable place in a given identity relationship.
Directed Identity: A universal identity metasystem must support both “omnidirectional” identifiers for use by public entities and “unidirectional” identifiers for private entities, thus facilitating discovery while preventing unnecessary release of correlation handles.
Pluralism of Operators and Technologies: A universal identity metasystem must channel and enable the interworking of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers.
Human Integration: A unifying identity metasystem must define the human user as a component integrated through protected and unambiguous human-machine communications.
Consistent Experience Across Contexts: A unifying identity metasystem must provide a simple consistent experience while enabling separation of contexts through multiple operators and technologies.

Here are the new and shortened ones:

People using computers should be in control of giving out information about themselves, just as they are in the physical world.
The minimum information needed for the purpose at hand should be released, and only to those who need it. Details should be retained no longer than necesary.
It should NOT be possible to automatically link up everything we do in all aspects of how we use the Internet. A single identifier that stitches everything up would have many unintended consequences.
We need choice in terms of who provides our identity information in different contexts.
The system must be built so we can understand how it works, make rational decisions and protect ourselves.
Devices through which we employ identity should offer people the same kinds of identity controls - just as car makers offer similar controls so we can all drive safely.

Pamela Dingle still thinks this would not "resonate with people like my Mom". So she came up with the laws in even more colloquial terms:

Don't do anything with my data unless I say so.
Don't ask for or keep my data unless you have to.
Don't let anyone see my data unless there is a good reason.
I get to choose whether my data in one place is connected to my data everywhere else.
I get to choose who speaks for me and I reserve the right to change my mind.
If the easiest to use the tool isn't the safest way to use the tool, the tool isn't built right.
Agree on one way to do things so that I can be successful everywhere regardless of the tool I use.

But Pamela has more.

"If I could use any terms I wanted and assume that everyone understood them, I could get even shorter":
Don’t share my information behind my back.
Don’t take more information than you need.
Don’t expose my information unnecessarily.
Don’t link me or allow others to link me unless I want to be linked.
Don’t lock me into silos.
Don’t tell me to RTFM in order to be secure.
Don’t let the product interfere with the ceremony.

The interesting thing I noticed is how the meaning of the laws changes along the way.

Kim's original laws have the remainders of empirical laws in them. This important aspect is much clearer in the very long version, but you can still see that the laws are meant as something that is based on observation, like the laws of physics: If you don't keep them in mind, stuff just won't work.

Kim's short version has exchanged a lot of the "must" wording with "should", which makes it sound much more like a moral statement.

Pamela's "for my mum" version goes further down this road. It takes a radically subjective perspective and tells the world what she wants to happen to her data, and how the systems she deals with should be built.

Her "favourite" version again changes the attitude and only works with "don't", which is clearly directed to the technology community from a user perspective, implicating the annoyance with many current systems.

So in the end, we have arrived full circle at the start, but know a bit more about the whole thing:

If the users don't want it, it just doesn't work. And there is even some morality behind it.

Re: [Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

2008-08-27T21:40:55+00:00

U heeft helemaal gelijk. En grondslag aan dat besluit liggen drie redenen, die deels met elkaar samenhangen - daarnaast voorop dat deelname niet wordt opgedrongen, maar dat er een vriendelijk verzoek wordt gedaan. Indien dit als onwenselijk wordt beschouwd bij deze mijn excuses. 1. We proberen en representatieve steekproef te krijgen, ook van bedrijven die niet al heel bekend zijn met de gevestigde instellingen en bedrijven. De abonnees van deze lijst vormen vermoedelijk een betere doorsnede dan de bestanden die wij al hebben, hiermee hoop ik de enquete sterker te kunnen maken. 2. Het gros van de Nederlandse Nieuwe Media (incl. Digital video, gaming, etc..) werkt in Amsterdam of werkt in ieder geval veel met Amsterdamse bedrijven. Het ligt in de lijn van de verwachting dat deze lijst hier een afspiegeling van is. 3. Hoewel we verwachten dat bedrijven buiten Amsterdam niet zullen reageren: In Europese context en in Europese vergelijking is de metropoolregio Amsterdam op het gebied van clustervorming en in de v...

Matt Shlian - Everything, Everything

2008-08-27T20:39:55+00:00

left: ‘Everything, Everything’ (detail) Right: Kasparov Vs R13’ (detail) Matt Shlian’s large ballpoint pen drawings are refined outputs of personal human computation system. ‘Everything, Everything’ delivers an undulating landscape through a procedural triangulation technique creating an angular web that might have been made by a giant mechanical Voronoi spider. ‘All Possibilities’ reveals the wireframe contours of a [...]

Re: [Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

2008-08-27T20:39:49+00:00

nee hoor, ik vind het ook heel vreemd.. wie heeft er nou geen behoefte aan een sterk cluster ? maar hoe bedoelt u, internationaal ? het is toch ontzettend duur om al die computers internationaal te verspreiden ? en onhandig ook. jan-kees Burobjorn wrote: > Opmerkelijk. Een enquete sturen naar een mailinglist over -als ik het > goed begrijp- Amsterdam en innovatie. Terwijl deze mailinglist zich toch > niet geografisch tot Amsterdam beperkt? Ben benieuwd vanuit welk oogpunt > er de keuze is gevallen op deze lijst. Of ben ik de enige die dit toch > een beetje vreemd vindt? > > met vriendelijke groet, > Bjorn Wijers > > > > Ger Baron wrote: >> Geachte mijnheer/mevrouw, >> >> Graag zou ik uw hulp vragen voor het volgende. >> >> De gemeente Amsterdam neemt samen met de Amsterdamse Innovatie Motor deel >> aan het Europese project Regional Development in ICT (REDICT). Het doel van >> dit project is te komen tot een internationaal netwerk van MKB-bedrijven >> werkzaam in de Nieuwe Media/ICT sector. >> >> Voordat we hi...

Re: [Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

2008-08-27T19:31:21+00:00

Opmerkelijk. Een enquete sturen naar een mailinglist over -als ik het goed begrijp- Amsterdam en innovatie. Terwijl deze mailinglist zich toch niet geografisch tot Amsterdam beperkt? Ben benieuwd vanuit welk oogpunt er de keuze is gevallen op deze lijst. Of ben ik de enige die dit toch een beetje vreemd vindt? met vriendelijke groet, Bjorn Wijers Ger Baron wrote: > Geachte mijnheer/mevrouw, > > Graag zou ik uw hulp vragen voor het volgende. > > De gemeente Amsterdam neemt samen met de Amsterdamse Innovatie Motor deel > aan het Europese project Regional Development in ICT (REDICT). Het doel van > dit project is te komen tot een internationaal netwerk van MKB-bedrijven > werkzaam in de Nieuwe Media/ICT sector. > > Voordat we hier echter mee van start gaan willen we de huidige situatie en > behoefte bij bedrijven onderzoeken. Heeft u behoefte aan samenwerking? Heeft > u behoefte aan een sterk cluster? En moet dit dan internationaal zijn? > > Daarom vragen we uw medewerking om een korte vragenlijst in te vullen. ...

Light Criticism ast IGVF Milan

2008-08-27T18:00:27+00:00

AAA Project, Light Criticism made an appearance in the International Guerilla Video Festival in Milan. The Festival was held on Corso Como, a street in Milan that has plenty of outdoor advertising. The video was projected onto the streets alongside billboards and commercial shops.

<nettime> FN's Indian links in cyberspace (compiled from various sources)

2008-08-27T17:17:49+00:00

http://tinyurl.com/54thsr Sarai FLOSS fellowships, Delhi: http://tinyurl.com/55bhqe B'lore candle-light vigil against software patents (photos): http://tinyurl.com/59g835 More Flickr pix on the candlelight vigil against s'ware patents, Blore: http://tinyurl.com/59g835 LinuxChix-India URL: http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/indichix Christ University, Bangalore MPhil in Comp Sc. http://tinyurl.com/59kf8l Anant Shrivastava's useful plugin for Wordpress: http://tinyurl.com/56hug4 Anant Shrivastava's (WordPress plugin author) links http://anantshri.info http://www.linkedin.com/in/anantshri Raseel's unleashing the geek within: http://raseel.in www.indictrans.in , GISsection. This is an attempt in using Free Open Source GIS tools with Indian language interface Hindawi Launches Open Access Institutional Membership Program http://tinyurl.com/5djhny Open Source approach to textbook publishing http://tinyurl.com/6d69aq -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org My mobile number is again 9822 1224...

<nettime> McCain, Daddy Yankee and what is 'Gasolina??'

2008-08-27T17:15:34+00:00

Check out this DailyKos post, quite funny and really shows the incredible cultural obliviousness of the McCain Campaign.... ...a Latin music superstar named "Daddy Yankee" appeared with John McCain at a mostly Latino high school in Phoenix. As Kos diarist LeftofArizona pointed out, that McCain appearance was a violation of Arizona state law. But the story doesn't end there. Before a crowd of giggling, excited Latina teenagers, McCain plugged Daddy's big reggaeton club hit, "Gasolina." *What McCain may not have known at the time was that "Gasolina" is a song about "fucking."* Last night the Wall Street Journal posted an article quoting McCain aide Brooke Buchanan saying that "Gasolina" was McCain's "favorite." When asked what that song was about, the rapper smiled: "Energy independence." much more (and YouTube vids) at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/27/0050/93650/765/575892 -- . .. ... .. . jd in .hu \ budapestfoto@gmail.com Blog... http://lmv.hu/redjade # distributed via : no commercial use wi...

[Nettime-nl] Persbericht: EL OLVIDO en THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF in première op NFF

2008-08-27T16:52:37+00:00

Persbericht Nederlands Film Festival Utrecht, 27 augustus 2008 EL OLVIDO en THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF in première op Nederlands Film Festival De documentaires EL OLVIDO van Heddy Honigmann en THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF van Jan Louter zullen tijdens de 28e editie van het Nederlands Film Festival in première gaan. THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF wordt op 27 september voor het eerst vertoond. EL OLVIDO beleeft maandag 29 september zijn Nederlandse première. Beide premières vinden plaats in de Rembrandt Bioscoop in Utrecht. In THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF verbeeldt Jan Louter aan de hand van drie Inupiaq (Eskimo) families het naderende einde van een traditionele levenswijze op het eiland Shishmaref als gevolg van de smeltende poolkappen. Toch is de film ondanks de alarmerende situatie geen politiek pamflet. THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF is een film over identiteit, vergankelijkheid en het botsen van verschillende tijdperken en culturen. Heddy Honigmann schetst in EL OLVIDO een indringend portret van mensen die aan de...

[Nettime-nl] Call for submissions

2008-08-27T16:52:32+00:00

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS AveCom "It's all in the game" October 3rd - 26th 2008, Arnhem - Nijmegen, The Netherlands 'Interactivity' is a word that seems to gain more importance and magic everyday. In 2008 AveCom focuses on an audiovisual phenomenon that is indisputable connected to interactivity: games. AveCom and Square Eyes Festival are organizing an event based on the interactivity between art and games entitled: "It's all in the game..." A 3-day festival, October 3rd - 5th, consists of digital movies, installations, performances and live-cinema. This festival will kick off a 4-week exhibition in which all imaginable fields of art that were inspired by the game-world and vice versa, will be shown. For information, deadlines and entry form: www.avecom.nl, www.square-eyes.org and www.myspace.com/square_eyes_festival AveCom is an activity of the CBKGelderland and is funded by the Province Gelderland. CBKgelderland Kortestraat 27 6811 EP Arnhem The Netherlands www.cbkgelderland.nl __________________________________...

Witte Huis verplicht DNSSEC voor overheidsinstanties

2008-08-27T16:38:42+00:00

Amerikaanse overheidsinstanties met een .gov domein zijn vanaf volgend jaar verplicht om DNSSEC te gebruiken.

[Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

2008-08-27T16:10:43+00:00

Geachte mijnheer/mevrouw, Graag zou ik uw hulp vragen voor het volgende. De gemeente Amsterdam neemt samen met de Amsterdamse Innovatie Motor deel aan het Europese project Regional Development in ICT (REDICT). Het doel van dit project is te komen tot een internationaal netwerk van MKB-bedrijven werkzaam in de Nieuwe Media/ICT sector. Voordat we hier echter mee van start gaan willen we de huidige situatie en behoefte bij bedrijven onderzoeken. Heeft u behoefte aan samenwerking? Heeft u behoefte aan een sterk cluster? En moet dit dan internationaal zijn? Daarom vragen we uw medewerking om een korte vragenlijst in te vullen. Het invullen van de vragenlijst gebeurt anoniem. De vragenlijst is in het Engels en omdat we in de zes pilot-steden (Dublin, Parijs, Berlijn, Copenhagen, Bukarest en Amsterdam) dezelfde lijst willen gebruiken verschilt her en der wellicht de terminomolgie lichtjes van welke we gewend zijn. Hiervoor onze excuses. De vragenlijst zou binnen 15 minuten ingevuld moeten kunnen zijn. De resultaten...

FirstLook :: Your online power assessment, prospecting and feasibility resource

2008-08-27T15:34:34+00:00

Wind and solar mapping.

What's Your Solar Potential? - RoofRay

2008-08-27T15:30:33+00:00

Using google maps to calculate the solar potential of your roof

Virtuele Interpol moet online gamers beschermen

2008-08-27T15:29:27+00:00

Een digitale postzegel voor het versturen van spam is in het verleden al eens voorgesteld en een virusbestrijder wil dit nu ook introduceren voor online games, zoals World of WarCraft.

Britse politie krijgt toegang tot kinderdatabase

2008-08-27T14:24:07+00:00

Een database met de gegevens van 11 miljoen Britse kinderen zal door de politie gebruikt worden om misdaad mee te bestrijden.

[Nettime-nl] uitnodiging "Hotel MariaKapel, een portret door Katie Jane" / invitation "Hotel MariaKapel, a portrait by Katie Jane"

2008-08-27T14:19:50+00:00

Hotel MariaKapel, een portret door Katie Jane Een project van gastcurator: Catherine Hemelryk Wie zijn onze buren? We worden in toenemende mate in de gaten gehouden - door beveiligingscamera's, uitgebreide veiligheidscontroles op vliegvelden wanneer we op reis gaan, klantenkaarten die alles wat we in winkels kopen registreren, terwijl zelfs onze e-mails onder toezicht staan. De vermeende bedreiging van terrorisme doet terugdenken aan de tijd van de Cuba crisis, toen gezinnen uit angst voor het communistisch gevaar schuilkelders onder hun huizen bouwden. Hoe reëel deze bedreiging was, wist niemand. De cultuur van wantrouwen die in communistische landen heerste blijft nog steeds op de achtergrond aanwezig. Kleine steden worden vaak geassocieerd met gluren vanachter de vitrage en bemoeizuchtige buren; de grens tussen een gezonde en een meer sinistere belangstelling voor de ander vervaagt gemakkelijk. In de persoonlijke sfeer kan het lijden aan een bipolaire stoornis of schizofrenie iemands omgeving vervormen en ...

Virusschrijvers gebruiken ontvoerde baby als lokaas

2008-08-27T13:57:59+00:00

In een nieuwe poging om internetgebruikers met malware te infecteren beweren virusschrijvers dat ze de baby van de ontvanger hebben ontvoerd.

A New Breed Of Hackers Tracks Online Acts of War (Washington Post)

2008-08-27T13:46:00+00:00

TORONTO -- Here in the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, a new breed of hackers is conducting digital espionage.

They are among a growing number of investigators who monitor how traffic is routed through countries, where Web sites are blocked and why it's all happening. Now they are turning their scrutiny to a new weapon of international warfare: cyber attacks.

Tracking wars isn't what many of the researchers, who call themselves "hacktivists," set out to do. Many began intending to help residents in countries that censor online content. But as the Internet has evolved, so has their mission.

Ronald J. Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, calls the organization a "global civil society counterintelligence agency" and refers to the lab as the "NSA of operations."

From the Washington Post
here

Delete your Facebook

2008-08-27T13:00:07+00:00

“delete your facebook its the cool fucking thing to do” & “kill your TV” written in sharpie on the wall of a Dunkin Donuts in Spring Creek on the New Jersey shore. Oh Facebook, the rebel tweens are turning on you already.

Ernstig lek laat hackers het Internet afluisteren update

2008-08-27T12:37:03+00:00

Vergeet het DNS-lek van Dan Kaminsky, een nieuwe kwetsbaarheid in het BGP protocol zorgt ervoor dat hackers al het onversleutelde verkeer op het internet kunnen afluisteren.

18-jarige katvanger krijgt taakstraf en geldboete

2008-08-27T11:51:16+00:00

Een 18-jarige katvanger die zijn e-mailadres en rekening aan een phisher beschikbaar stelde hoeft niet de gevangenis in.

Mobile Gmail 2.0 for BlackBerry

2008-08-27T11:42:23+00:00

Gmail's mobile client for BlackBerry has been updated and you can now download version 2.0.5 at http://m.google.com/mail. One of the most important changes is that you can add the credentials for multiple accounts and switch between them without entering the password. There's also support for Google Apps accounts, which previously required a separate application.

Users from the PinStack forums report that the application lets you copy-paste text when composing messages, it saves more than one draft message and there's a new option to preload the archived messages.

Gmail's help center mentions that "the Gmail application will run in the background, periodically checking for new email. This uses data. If you do not want Gmail to run in the background, you must explicitly quit the program by going to Menu > Exit Gmail".

Pre-boot authenticatie wachtwoorden in platte tekst opgeslagen

2008-08-27T11:23:47+00:00

Pre-boot authenticatie door Windows Vista Bitlocker, Truecrypt en andere disk encryptie oplossingen en boot managers die toegang door onbevoegden moeten voorkomen, blijken wachtwoorden in platte tekst op te slaan.

Re: <nettime> Interview with Christopher Kelty: the Culture of Free Software

2008-08-27T11:15:49+00:00

> The only difference, which not even many FLOSS activists realized > in the beginning, lies in the implication for culture: that welding > the hood of _information_ technology shut reaches farther and > is infinitely scarier than keeping transportation technology > proprietary. > > -F > there is always a similarity i find in that behavior (the "not fully understanding the implications for culture" one) happening in FLOSS and in what happens in ecology, where the radicality of ecologic practices (more on the ecosofic side) deos not come out from "trees and trash" but from the notions of "interconnectedness". best, xDxD # distributed via : no commercial use without permission # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org

Schoolhacker zet gestolen gegevens op Facebook

2008-08-27T10:51:12+00:00

Een 17-jarige scholier die het schoolsysteem hackte heeft de gegevens die hij vond op Facebook gezet.

SSH-aanvallers installeren rootkit op Linux-systemen

2008-08-27T10:21:49+00:00

Het Amerikaanse Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) waarschuwt voor "actieve aanvallen" tegen Linux-systemen.

[Nettime-nl] Programma NIMk: Opening Sonic Voices, Rocking Hard en de UITMARKT

2008-08-27T10:14:40+00:00

PROGRAMMA NIMk Sonic Voices, Rocking Hard 30 augustus - 2 november 2008 opening 29 augustus, 17.00 uur Guy Bar Amotz, Bunny Rabbit & Black Cracker, Nathalie Bruys, Heidi Happy, Kim Hiorthøy, Christine Ödlund, Jonas Ohlsson, planningtorock, Jan Rohlf, Lina Selander, Annika Ström, Venour en video-clips voor Björk, the Knife en CocoRosie. Sonic Voices, Rocking Hard presenteert tot de verbeelding sprekende vormen van 'geluidskunst' geselecteerd ism co-curator Nathalie Bruys. Van een 3D videoclip voor Björk, tot tekeningen, cd's en een installatie van kunstenaar/muzikant Planningtorock. De werken zijn gemaakt door jonge kunstenaars met uiteenlopende achtergronden en een grote voorliefde voor muziek, geluid en kunst. Meer info: http://www.nimk.nl NIMK op de Uitmarkt 2008: Touch, crackle, inspiration 29, 30 en 31 augustus, Stubnitz, Java-eiland, Amsterdam Nathalie Bruys, Melanie Bonajo, Kim Hiorthøy en Planningtorock. Videowerk van oa. eddie d, Semiconductor, Julika Rudelius en Mediashed. Performances van One Man Na...

Stuur onze Zomerreporter op pad

2008-08-27T10:00:30+00:00

Journalisten, redacteuren, media-experts, professoren en uitgevers. Een ding hebben ze allemaal gemeen: Ze vieren vakantie terwijl uw zomerreporter nog altijd hard aan het werk is. Maar, maakt u zich geen zorgen. We zijn onderweg. Omdat iedereen vakantie viert aan de kust laten sommige reportages nog even op zich wachten. Anderen worden geschreven terwijl u [...]

Canon of Nikon

2008-08-27T09:44:48+00:00

Iedereen die mij een beetje kent, weet dat ik naast blogger en webmaster, vooral fotograaf ben.
Al, geef ik toe, is dat de laatste jaren wat minder geworden.
Ik sleur niet constant een camera meer mee (vooral omdat de hele wereld dat al lijkt te doen..) en na dit weekend thuis de zolder overladen met oude foto's gezien te hebben, weet ik ook waarom.

Zo een foto-dipje heb ik eerder al gehad. Het duurt een jaartje, of iets langer.
En dan komt de kriebel terug.

Een van de redenen waarom ik fotografie minder leuk begon te vinden, was het digitale apect.
Sinds ik van analoog naar digitaal switchte, bleef ik met het gevoel zitten dat 'het niet hetzelfde is'
En dan heb ik het vooral over controle over de camera.
Bij mijn oude FM en FM2 wist ik precies hoe ik de camera kon beheersen, hoe de foto eruit zou zien, zonder die ooit eerder op een schermpje gezien te hebben.
Bij de Canon 10D en de 20D miste ik het gevoel van scherpte-diepte.
Dat is niet enkel een gevoel, het is een feit dat digitale camera's door hun kleinere sensor scherpere foto's afleveren.
Daarnaast was er natuurlijk ook het ruisgevoel. Een digitale camera op 800 iso zetten was gewoon horror.

De laatste jaren zijn die dingen sterk veranderd, is de techniek er sterk op vooruit gegaan, en mede om die reden wint fotografie voor mij terug aan aantrekkingskracht.

Een tijdje terug werd de 5D van Canon gelanceerd, en hopelijk komt dit najaar (eindelijk) de 6D eraan.
Een paar weken geleden lanceerde Nikon hun consumer fullframe camera (D700).

Waar ik voor analoog resoluut voor Nikon ging, werd dat voor digitaal Canon. Vooral omdat het duidelijk was dat Nikon niet kon volgen.
Maar ze lijken van koers te wijzigen, en zetten intussen een sterke aanval op Canon in.

Het kriebelt terug. Erg. Erger..
(Het idee van een camera terug te kunnen gebruiken zoals voorheen, fullframe, draagbaar, en vooral met een fantastische scherpte-diepte... )
Alleen, ik weet niet welke camera te kiezen..

Iemand die weet waar ik de camera's kan testen, en iets beter dan vast aan een koordje in de MediaMarkt?
Want het kriebelt..

(Jip, I know, voor de 6D wordt het nog even wachten..)

Eric Hunting on P2P Architecture (3): Plug-in approaches and the soft-high tech divide

2008-08-27T09:29:04+00:00

The third part of our interview on p2p architecture.

Eric is still responding to the following multiple-thread question:

“do you have any ideas about a possible integration of what you call the soft-tech (if not anti-tech) sensibility of the ecovillage movement, and the more pro-high tech approaches, such as you mention, and I have also seen at work in the Viridian movement of Bruce Sterling and the people behind worldchanging.org. What I see as an emerging issue is the problem of scaling: how do we go from the passionate movements that you describe, especially with hobby enthusiasts, to the scale of global (albeit locally-specified and adaptable) solutions that can offer any hope for our dire biospheric straits? This is a feeling I often come up with: you see many things happpenign and already available as concrete solutions, but at the same time, the mainstream seems stuck and static?”

1. Towards a true plug-in architectural system

Eric Hunting:

“What we have not as yet seen because the structural technology has not yet existed to support it is the effect on community P2P and concepts of propriety where architecture is both relatively resilient, able to support higher degrees of sound and visual insulation, and spontaneously adaptable at a very low level of labor, as would be the case with a true plug-in architectural system. Pavilion architecture allowed rapid evolution but still with a delay of some years between structural renovations, with a need for a large labor pool for key structural elements. With a plug-in architecture major reconfiguration of structures becomes a one to few person task taking a few days, allowing for more spontaneous experimentation and customization within an agreed-upon personal space and also the major reconfiguration of a whole community in response to seasons and different situations. Even in the highly socially dynamic environment of past communities, when a P2P negotiation was conducted on the design and construction of things, the results of these group decisions had to be lived-with for years to generations. So there was much emphasis on coming to definitive terms before any work was done. But with this new technology no decision really has to stand for a long time because there’s no terribly great labor overhead in construction and components can be freely re-used. What might this mean for the character of a habitat?

Also relating to this is the concept of macrostructure/microstructure systems or what I refer to as functionally generic architecture, which I think urban architecture is heading toward. This is where you have a heavy large-span macrostructure that defines the architecture of a community at the large community scale but is functionally generic at the human level, like an empty loft apartment building. This macrostructure is used as a host for a spontaneously adaptable in-fill microstructure that, because it has this larger sheltering structure functioning as a ’skybreak’, does not need to be as robust in strength and so can be lower-tech. This is the strategy of Paulo Soleri’s larger arcologies where the macrostructure is essentially a heavy generic structural system organized into ‘cells’ of very large unit size -several storeys high and as wide at they are high- that the habitable architecture fills-in and often conceals. (many people have misinterpreted arcology structures because they could not visualize the scale, and so often assumed this ‘cell’ structure to be analogous to a prison cell or a human scaled honeycomb when, in fact, it’s an open volume as large or larger than a typical suburban housing lot) So you get this split in the nature of P2P negotiation between the non-evolving or very slowly evolving macrostructure and the fast and spontaneously evolving microstructure as the personal level. (of course, Soleri never intended for there to be any P2P negotiation at the macroscale level -that was his job as master architect…) I’ve had to consider this in the context of marine settlement because, early on, when a community is small and in sheltered water, it’s easy to make the whole community spontaneously evolvable but when you get to the open sea your dealing in heavy concrete structural systems with massive areas of structure covered in parkland that cannot physically evolve as easily while you still need to accommodate spontaneous adaptability at the human scale to prevent these larger structures from being made functionally obsolete too quickly. These are some of the things I’m particularly interested in seeing work in the context of a Maker incubator community

.”

2. How to bridge the Soft-Tech vs. Eco-Tech divide?

Eric Hunting:

“Concerning the question of how we bridge the divide between Soft-Tech and Eco-Tech; the point where they meet is something pragmatic environmentalists refer to as ‘appropriate’ technology. What is appropriate in the sense of optimal environmental sustainability relative to the context of a particular cultural and environmental setting and its particular logistics and economics. The soft-tech movement was/is counter-culturally premised. It’s based on the notion of turning culture back toward a presumably more sustainable pre-industrial predominately agrarian way of life as a solution to the inherent ills of ‘hard’ technology. It’s based on the presumption that primitive always equals sustainable. (a notion whose origins rest in Victorian Romanticism and which tends to overlook the simple fact that western Europe had largely denuded its landscape and re-instituted mass slavery and indentured servitude by the start of the Industrial Revolution…) The Eco-tech movement is super-culturally premised. It suggests that unsustainability was always an inherent problem in human civilization, always a precipitator of regional civilization collapse, and not just a just a problem of the Industrial Age and that the solution is more technology, not less, because the natural trend in evolution of industrial technology is toward increased resource efficiency. Efficiency equals sustainability. Environmental degradation and unsustainability are thus not a product of technology itself but rather the inefficiency of a given state of technology and persists as a result of the deliberate suppression of the advance of technology for the sake of economic and political hegemonies, as typified by the oil and auto industry cartels and their suppression of renewable and alternative energy technology. Appropriate technology takes a middle-ground approach you might call alter-cultural. It suggests that neither high nor low tech can be regarded as automatically more sustainable. Sustainability is context-specific. It agrees with the eco-tech premise that technology is not wrong or evil in and of itself but new or old technology have no automatic virtues either. They are equally potentially destructive when inappropriate. The plow could destroy the earth just as readily as the nuclear bomb if used the wrong way.

I think the biggest problem with bridging the gap here is going to be the attitudes of people in contemporary mainstream environmentalism, which is sliding toward a kind of self-absorbed religious extremism with an apocalyptic obsession. There’s much more pragmatism in the Eco-Tech camp and so they more readily accept the notion of appropriateness even though they desire to push the edge of that as rapidly as possible. But it’s a different story for the environmental mainstream. People are not really using and advocating soft technology because it’s demonstrably or provably more sustainable. They adopt it as an aesthetic and cultural statement and take it on faith that primitive equals sustainable. You don’t even hear the term ’soft-tech’ used very much in the environmentalist community anymore even though it coined it. Any implication that what they are advocating is any kind of technology, and not an alternative to technology, is now blasphemy. I’ve had arguments with self-professed environmentalists where they actually objected to my use of the word ‘efficiency’ in any environmental context claiming that was a corporate culture buzzword. Increasingly, discussions of eco development mirror the sentiment of survivalists, with the same Malthusianist logic -which often stands in stark contrast to their veneration of the virtues of community. Environmentalism as a movement seems to have given up on the future and now, like the Christian right-wing, is just waiting for -praying for- apocalypse to come and sweep the non-believers out of the way. So much more convenient than actually having to negotiate with people you don’t like…

So I’m starting to think Alex Steffen’s and Cory Doctorow’s notion of an Outquisition has something to it -or more specifically the notion of Eco-Tech community safe-havens where the enthusiasts of Post-Industrial technology can cultivate it in a progressive environment. This is largely the same thing Marshal Savage was proposing in the Aquarius phase of TMP. He felt that in order to accelerate the cultivation of a potentially space-faring culture -a kind of Post-Industrial culture by default- one needed to put people in a situation and location that compelled them to pursue efficiency, environmental sustainability, and industrial self-sufficiency by any technological means as a way of life and as preparation for living beyond Earth. He chose the sea as a logical place to do that because it’s the next-best-thing to being in space and it insulates one from the instant material gratification of mainland markets, forcing you to figure out how to make what you need or want in new ways. It’s not as immediately deadly a place as space but it’s not as benign or homogenously rich with resources as the New World was so it challenges you to be smarter. You can live very comfortably -luxuriously- but not the same way you would on land. (as Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo pointed out) So Aquarius is intended to create a kind of new, largely ignored, country on the Equator where an Eco-Tech culture is independently cultivated to the point where one day, as Savage put it, it comes to the poker table of the world market like a player with a fire hose spewing chips up his sleeve. I tend to be of the opinion that we can also cultivate this ‘new country’ in a subversive way in the midst of the existing habitat. This is an option the Internet has given us; coordinated activity on a global scale through virtual community. We’ve now got this ability to create very tight social groups and coherent sub-cultural movements independent of location. But, as you note, there’s a real problem of how to turn the efforts of virtual communities into anything real, to go beyond intellectual products to things that constitute a physical habitat. This is a question I’ve long struggled with in the LUF because The Millennial Projects presents us with a very similar question; how do you turn the activity of a globally dispersed community of people linked only by Internet communications into the single largest space program in history

?”

Laptops Internationaal ruimtestation besmet met malware

2008-08-27T09:14:32+00:00

Laptops van het Internationaal ruimtestation zijn besmet geraakt met malware die wachtwoorden steelt en daar staan ze bij NASA niet van te kijken.

Decision Rights in Open Source

2008-08-27T08:33:11+00:00

We continue our treatment of a number of research essays on the practicalities of the governance of open source communities, here we focus on decision rights.

For related treatment, see also our wiki entries on Particpation Architecture and the Governance Rights Typology.

The following is an excerpt from draft version of the article: Of Hackers and Hairdressers: Modularity and the Organizational Economics of Open-source Collaboration. By Richard N. Langlois and Giampaolo Garzarelli Journal Industry & Innovation, Volume 15 Issue 2 2008.

The chosen excerpt focuses on decision rights and challenges Yochai Benkler’s tripartite distinction between markets, hierarchies and social production.

Consider the following Table:

	DON’T SELF-IDENTIFY	SELF-IDENTIFY
PRODUCTS	Inside contracting /or

Outsourcing

Classic Market EFFORTS Classic Firm *Voluntary Production*

Commentary by Langlois and Garzarelli:

“We can distinguish four possibilities:

Along one dimension is the issue of design: is assignment to task (and maybe even the division of labor itself) generated through the a centralized process or does it arise from the self-identification of collaborators with tasks? Along the other dimension is the problem of information and agency: are we talking about products cleanly measured and priced or are we taking about exchanges of effort that involve costs of measurement and agency?

In the upper left-hand box, the division of labor is centrally designed, but the products of that labor are easily measured and priced. This is the world of inside or outside contracting.

In the lower left-hand box, the division of labor remains centrally designed, but the cost of measuring and pricing transactions makes it cheaper to purchase the effort of collaborators directly. This is the classic firm.

In the upper right-hand box, participants self- select their contributions; but measurement and pricing costs are not prohibitive, and those contributions take the form of products offered on spec. This is the classic market. Finally, in the lower right-hand box, participants self-select their contributions (also effectively “on spec”); but those contributions come directly in the form of effort rather than of effort embodied in a product. This is the model of voluntary or open-source production.

Discussion of the Typology:

“This two-dimensional schema has advantages, we argue, over the tripartite distinction Benkler (2002) offers among markets, hierarchies, and what he calls peer production. Benkler argues that a perceptible trend toward the increased importance of human capital in production is leading toward peer production and away from both markets and hierarchies. It may well be that, with economic growth and an expanding extent of the market, there is a general trend rightward in Figure 2, what Langlois (2003) calls the phenomenon of the Vanishing Hand. But an increased importance of human capital and greater spontaneity of production is consistent with markets as well as with decentralized collaboration through direct effort. Even apart from the likes of books, musical scores, or screenplays, there are a plethora of “consulting” services – from legal representation to brain surgery – that are priced on markets. The interesting issue, in the language of Baldwin and Clark (2003), is: when can cooperation be effectively measured and priced (and thus turned into “transactions”) and when not?”

“The most extreme form of a voluntary arrangement would occur when the self-selection of the collaborators itself actually creates the division of labor. This is far from unimaginable: it is exactly what happens in “the market” in the largest sense – including the market for software in the large. It also arguably happens in the context of academic open science, where the pattern of knowledge emerges from the self-selected research choices of the participants. If we cast our gaze down to a less lofty level, however, there almost always seems to be some pre-existing structure of possible tasks from which the participants choose.

At the level of any particular software project, the self-selection of workers to tasks takes place within the context of an established architecture or (at the very least) an established technological trajectory.”

For more, see how Christian Siefkes proposals on effort-sharing are distinguished from this concept of effort-trading.

Christian send us a note of caution concerning the concept of effort trading:

“I think it’s a misnomer for the practices which I describe more aptly as “effort sharing”. Evidently, nothing is traded within open-source/peer-production projects, hence the term “effort trading”
doesn’t make sense.

I guess that’s another instance of the misanalysis we’ve recently seen on the Oekonux list: if you have the preconceived notion that all human interactions are “trading”, that naturally you will apply this term to all human interactions, whether appropriate or not. It’s like Patrick Anderson’s
sad (und usually wrong) assumption that lovers are “trading” with each other. I would strongly advise against using the term “effort trading”, since it gives people an utterly wrong picture of what is actually going on in free software and other peer production projects.

“

Re: <nettime> Interview with Christopher Kelty: the Culture of Free Software

2008-08-27T04:29:52+00:00

On Sunday, August 24 2008, 10:09 (+0200), Geert Lovink wrote: > the dominance of the conservative-libertarian pop ideology within open > source/free software circles (see www.slashdot.org). A small critical footnote: While Slashdot started as an Open Source/Free Software site in the late 1990s, it has shifted its focus some years ago towards "geek culture" in the broadest and most general sense. While am writing this, only 3 of the 18 articles on the Slashdot front page are on Open Source topics, while others such as "The Best Gaming PC Money Can Buy" address users of non-free operating systems. According to the Wikipedia article , "a poll on Slashdot suggests that approximately half of all Slashdot visitors use Microsoft Windows as their operating system, a third use some form of Linux, and above ten percent use Mac OS X". It's been a long time - ten years, actually - that the Slashdot forums were a Who's Who of FLOSS developers and activists (just as it's been a long t...

Re: <nettime> Interview with Christopher Kelty: the Culture of Free Software

2008-08-27T04:29:37+00:00

florian, thanks for these observations, I agree with all of them. I would only defend my book by insisting that it is in fact a kind of history of this period, and not at all intended to be a representation of free software today. It is however, composed in such a way that I think helps make sense of some of the "modulations" of free software that have since appeared (Creative Commons and Connexions are the two analyzed in the book), and I hope, a theoretical understanding of how to make some of the criticisms you raise here, especially that of freedom qua consumer-choice, more rigorous. I hope it serves that purpose, rather than being read as simply out of date. Being always up to date, or more accurately, being anxious about not being up to date, is in fact a feature of contemporary consumer culture and its focus on so-called rights. Think of it as the academic equivalent of the slow food movement :) thanks, as ever for the thoughtful commentary, ck On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 03:59:35AM +0200, Florian Cramer w...

More About Android and HTC Dream

2008-08-26T23:40:11+00:00

Five months after the last released version, Google and the Open Handset Alliance publicly launched Android 0.9 SDK beta.

"Back in November, we made some SDK builds available that we referred to as early look SDKs. The goal was to give developers insight into the platform as early on as possible, and to get some initial feedback. Since then, we've been working with our Open Handset Alliance partners to incorporate much of that feedback, and finish the first devices. Since those devices are shipping in the fourth quarter, the platform is now converging on a final Android 1.0 version," explains Dan Morrill.

The release notes include a lot of changes: a new Home screen, context menus, two removed APIs (Bluetooth and GTalkService), but the good news is that the next versions will not have major changes.

The first mobile phone that will run Android, HTC Dream, has been approved by FCC and is on target for a launch until the end of the year. New York Times speculates that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer HTC Dream in October.

A video posted last week on YouTube claimed to show the smart phone, which looks anything but impressive:

TmoNews has some specifications of the upcoming phone: touch screen, full Qwerty keyboard, 3G/Wifi, 3MP camera with no flash, easy access to Google applications. "We have confirmed that the Android device will be available for current T-mobile customers online, for pre-sales, on September 17th. The Pre-sale will last for one week, with the device being delivered on October 13th, which happens to be the national public launch of the device."

Of course, it's good to keep in mind that Dream is just one of the mobile phones that will use Android and users primarily buy the device for its design and features, not for the operating system.

Update: some new specs (528Mhz Qualcomm 7201 processor, trackball, 1GB MicroSD card, POP/IMAP/SMTP, AIM/MSN/YAHOO/GTALK messaging, Google Calendar sync, Google Streetview with built-in compass, 3.17″ screen with HVGA, 5.6 oz weight).

[Nettime-nl] Wijnands sprokkelnieuws

2008-08-26T22:34:01+00:00

ILLEGALE ACTIE SOMS GERECHTVAARDIGD Er is een moreel recht om grote misstanden en grove schendingen van de vrijheid en de democratie te helpen recht te zetten onder strakke criteria, ook als je daarmee de wet breekt. De discussie zou moeten gaan over de vraag waar je exact die grens moet trekken. http://www.ravagedigitaal.org/2008/26aug/artikel.php RECHT OP VERZET Wie de afgelopen dagen naar Nederland teruggekeerd is van vakantie en enigszins behept is met belangstelling voor politiek, zal enige moeite hebben om te snappen welk 'debat' in de tussentijd de komkommers losgeschud heeft. Kort samengevat blijkt een links kamerlid te zijn afgetreden omdat hij geconfronteerd werd - of zichzelf confronteerde?- met zijn rol als actievoerder in de jaren '80. Met name een volstrekt geweldloze actie-inbraak van 23 (!) jaar geleden, waarover hij in zijn memoires schrijft, zijn door media tot schandaal opgerakeld, waarna het kamerlid zonder al teveel verweer de handdoek in de ring gooide. www.globalinfo.nl/content/view/166...

[Nettime-nl] Het spook van McCarthy of de de terugkeer van de inquisitie in de Lage Landen

2008-08-26T21:45:04+00:00

Wij hebben hier uw naam als ondertekenaar van een petitie aan ... Uit het Colofon van de Grachtenkrant 325 blijkt dat woonplaats en initialen mogelijk toebehoorden aan dezelfde ... In de notulen van de blokvergadering van ... staat dat uw reactie op .... Het spook van MacCarthy waart door Nederland, maar wie nu de openbare aanklager is blijft onduidelijk? Is er regie? een uitgestippeld vervolgingsbeleid , of kan een ieder die een vroeger activist weet te koppelen aan een hedendaags arrivist vrijelijk deelnemen aan het nieuwe inquisitiespel? Als archivaris van moderne sociale bewegingen gedurend enkele decennia moet ik opmerken dat er voorheen nauwelijk belangstelling was, maar ik vermoed dat een geheel nieuw allooi van onderzoekers zich meester zal gaan maken van de kleineste persoonlijke details in de normaal vaak lege studiezalen van het Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis ... Daar valt veel te vinden, zker voor jammeraars van heden... zoals de vele scheld mp; dreigbreieven, inclusief dooodsb...

[Nettime-nl] Baltan Laboratories is looking for a director

2008-08-26T19:41:48+00:00

BALTAN LABORATORIES is a new media lab, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Eindhoven, as the city of Philips, High Tech Campus and the TU/e university of technology, but also the Design Academy and the Van Abbemuseum wants to take the next step in exploring and shaping the relationship between technology and the arts. The lab is currently a two-year experiment that will be continued if successful. One of the lab's commissions is to research a contemporary version of La Poeme Electronique. The lab will also examine in theory and in practice how an ideal laboratory for art/science projects should look when pursued. In October 2008, BALTAN will start its activities in a space of almost 500 m2 on the 8th floor of the SWA building in Strijp S. Strijp S is a former 27 hectare industrial site that will be developed as Eindhoven's second urban heart over the next 12 years. Strijp S also houses the famous, original Philips NatLab (physics laboratory), which serves as an inspiration for BALTAN. BALTAN's artistic staf...

<nettime> Statement on Censorship and Violence against Press in Kashmir: Reporters Without Borders

2008-08-26T19:02:42+00:00

Dear all at Nettime, Just to let you know a little more about how the world's largest democracy is treating the media in Kashmir. best Shuddha > Statement on Censorship and Violence against > Press in Kashmir Reporters Without Borders > http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28297 25 August 2008 > > > > Reporters Without Borders calls on the Indian authorities to put > an immediate stop to the censorship and violence against the media > in Kashmir that has been prompted by a wave of protests against > Indian rule. At least 13 journalists were beaten by police yesterday > in Srinagar, local TV stations are being censored and a curfew is > making it hard for newspapers to bring out their issues. > > "This latest crisis in Indian Kashmir must not be used as a pretext > for subjecting the press to more violence and obstruction," > Reporters Without Borders said. quot;Journalists must have all the > guarantees they need, including permanent passes, to be able to work > freely despite the curfew. We also call ...

Olympissed

2008-08-26T18:00:44+00:00

Olympic ad wrap up: We at the AAA can’t have much of an olympic ad piss party because we were so disgusted by the political and social justice issues surrounding the olympics themselves. We were too busy watching our friends and allies get abused, detained and harassed while most tv viewers drooled over swimmers’ abdominals.

Luckily, I watched the Olympics twice and easily discovered a festering sore– Nike’s campaign, who had the clever idea to protect their investments by utilizing the DRAMA and SUFFERING of losing athletes. Because really, do we identify more with Jackie Joyner Kersee, or Marion Jones? Where was Nike when I was giving mock interviews in rollerblades in my garage at age 11? I definitely sucked at sports– the ultimate underdog! I would have been perfect!

Apparently the campaign wasn’t necessarily meant to be like this. It was a strategy to save face in case any of their endorsed athletes disappointed them. Choosing athletes as product pushers is a risky move… remember reebok’s “Dan and Dave” campaign, where, oops! Dan didn’t qualify for the olympics five weeks before the event. Ouch.

But capitalizing off of anyone’s humiliation or embarassment is bound to bite you in the ass. Nike, in the ad campaign, turned out to be the biggest loser– because they made some really uncute decisions when an anonymous blogger started a rumor:

Liu Xiang, the Chinese track and fielder who did not compete “because of an injury,” was pushed out because Nike didn’t want him to lose, which they felt was inevitable.
Nike suspiciously overreacted, making threats to hunt down the blogger like Osama Bin Laden. Who did they ask to help them? The Chinese Government!

Charlie Brooks, the representative for Nike, assured us that this wasn’t about freedom of speech, but protecting brand image. Oh, okay Charlie! I won’t read into the situation. A manhunt over an internet rumor in an intensely loving and fair country like China is just about branding! That’s fine, then. I thought, for a moment, it might be about valuing money and objects over human beings… which is also why I thought you’d exploit a suffering and embarassed athlete’s misfortune to hock sportswear. And now, Charlie Brooks won’t talk about it anymore.

I think Marina Hyde from the Guardian says it best in her column on the foible:

Don’t Brooks’ employers find that at odds with the kind of inspirational rhetoric that drives their adverts, where mavericks speak truth to power, and the individual is fetishised? No comment. Does Nike have a position on democracy? No comment. Because it feels like just the kind of abstract noun Nike would be drawn to in the cause of selling stuff. No comment.

What will happen next? Advertising screw-ups are almost as breathtaking as the Olympics themselves. Just think of all the drama Aeschylus missed out on, living in the BA (Before Advertising) period!

[Nettime-nl] OOG deze week: Tjebbe van Tijen - Hasta la violencia siempre

2008-08-26T16:59:49+00:00

Deze week in Volkskrant Oog Kunstenaar: Tjebbe van Tijen Titel: 'Hasta la violencia siempre' http://extra.volkskrant.nl/oog/client/index.php?artworkId=215 ---------------------- Vanaf vandaag is Volkskrant Oog weer terug in zijn normale vorm: wekelijks een nieuwe bijdrage van een kunstenaar of ontwerper, waarin een beeldende reactie word gegeven op het nieuws, actualiteiten en/of de media. De eerste bijdrage 'Hasta la violencia siempre' is gemaakt door bibliothecaris en beeldend kunstenaar Tjebbe van Tijen. Deze online scroll van beelden en grafieken is het vierde werk uit de serie 'Mapping Human Violence' waarin Van Tijen onderzoek doet naar het in kaartbrengen van menselijk geweld. Begin juli 2008 was het wereldnieuws: de bevrijdingsactie uit de gevangenschap door de FARC van 15 gijzelaars, waaronder Ingrid Betancourt. In haar publieke optreden wees Betancourt op hen die achterbleven... Hoeveel waren dat er? De cijfers die op internet te vinden zijn blijken niet eenduidig, maar Colombia heeft wel de trieste...

[Nettime-nl] Persbericht: Popmuzikanten presenteren favoriete films voor 'Keuze van ...' op NFF

2008-08-26T16:21:06+00:00

Persbericht Nederlands Film Festival Utrecht, 26 augustus 2008 Popmuzikanten kiezen favoriete films Nederlands Film Festival presenteert ?De Keuze van ?? Marco Borsato, Don Diablo, Brainpower, Huub van der Lubbe, Syb van der Ploeg, Spinvis en Yes-R presenteren tijdens het Nederlands Film Festival in het programma ?De Keuze van?? hun favoriete film. In het jaar dat gevierd wordt dat de popmuziek in Nederland 50 jaar bestaat zijn de banden tussen popmuziek en de Nederlandse film intenser dan ooit. Veel recente speelfilms gaan vergezeld van een pakkende popsong van een bekende popmuzikant, vaak speciaal geschreven voor de film. Onder leiding van Sophie Hilbrand en Isolde Hallensleben praten de popmuzikanten na afloop van de vertoning met het publiek, de makers en leden van de cast over hun keuze. ?De Keuze van?? wordt tijdens het festival gepresenteerd in Rembrandt 2 om 19.30 uur. Donderdag 25 september: Marco Borsato is binnenkort te zien als hoofdrolspeler in de film Wit licht en maakte ook het gelijknamige al...

[Nettime-nl] Persbericht Nederlands Film Festival presenteert De Meester en De Leerling

2008-08-26T16:21:01+00:00

Persbericht Nederlands Film Festival Utrecht, 25 augustus 2008 Het Nederlands Film Festival presenteert De Meester en De Leerling Tijdens de 28e editie van het Nederlands Film Festival wordt de culturele dienstplicht ingevoerd. Op het festival in 2007 werd deze term tijdens een debat door filmmaker Jean van de Velde voor het eerst genoemd. Het festival heeft als antwoord hierop een programma samengesteld waarin toptalent uit de Nederlandse film wordt gevraagd hun keuken open te stellen voor de nieuwe generatie filmmakers en expertise en ervaring te delen. De jarige Nederlandse Film en Televisie Academie (50) en Dutch Directors Guild (10) participeren in diverse programmaonderdelen met ervaren meesters en aanstormende talenten. De Meester en De Leerling bevat de volgende onderdelen: MakersvoorMakers Op initiatief van het Binger Filmlab, het Nederlands Fonds voor de Film en het Nederlands Film Festival krijgen filmmakers de kans in een persoonlijk gesprek kennis en ervaring uit te wisselen over hun speelfilm- e...

[Nettime-nl] V2_: Vacancy Senior Curator

2008-08-26T16:11:25+00:00

V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam has a VACANCY FOR A SENIOR CURATOR as of November 2008. This is a 4-day-a-week position. V2_ was founded in 1981 and is currently located in the center of Rotterdam. It has a presentation space, a media lab, a publishing house and offices. V2_ is an interdisciplinary center for art, technology and media that pays special attention to research. Thus, it has many collaborative ties with institutions in various sectors (such as art, universities and colleges, and the business world). This research concentrates on the relationship between art, technology, media and society and is made accessible through public presentations. Over the past 25 years, a growing domestic and international audience has had the opportunity at V2_ to get acquainted with prominent artists, thinkers and projects in the field of art, media and technology through exhibitions, presentations, symposiums and performances. V2_ currently employs 24 permanent staff. About the senior curator positi...

[Nettime-nl] vooraankondiging Media Art Festival voor Jong Talent

2008-08-26T16:10:19+00:00

- Persbericht - Vooraankondiging Media Art Festival voor Jong Talent 2008 Elke zomer is het weer zover: een nieuwe lichting jonge 'media'kunstenaars studeert af aan de Nederlandse kunstacademies. Media Art Friesland biedt al sinds 1995 ruimte voor tentoonstellen, presentatie en werkveldoriëntatie voor deze artistieke ondernemers in audiovisuele en nieuwe technieken. Tot aan 2007 werd dit platform geboden in het Media Art Festival onderdeel Jong Talent. Nu presenteert het zich als zelfstandig podium: Media Art Festival voor Jong Talent. Het prachtige monumentale pand waarin eerder Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden huisde, in de Grote Kerkstraat 29 te Leeuwarden, is de festivallocatie. Met vaste onderdelen als de performance en openingsavond, de tentoonstelling , het presentatiepodium Pitch en het informatiecentrum Markt. En met nieuwe onderdelen als de Jong Talent Prijs met Artist in Residencies en masterclasses, de Focus op Master of Art Studenten en de nominaties van de René Coelho Prijs van het Nederlands In...

Firefox plugin FireBug 1.2 verplettert meer dan 100 bugs

2008-08-26T15:31:15+00:00

Firebug is een krachtige JavaScript debugger voor Mozilla's Firefox en bevat tal van handige features.

Nice Synth (nicesynth)

2008-08-26T14:41:03+00:00

This is an example of something like a Photosynth art form - a synth still life (still synth?). With this type of synth, I like the way that you can essentially view the subject from angles that were not in the original set of images by manipulating the view of the point cloud.

Photosynth 2 from matthew hurst on Vimeo.

I've been tagging interesting synths in delicious with the tag nicesynth.

Schijf met gegevens één miljoen bankklanten via eBay verkocht

2008-08-26T14:06:24+00:00

Een harde schijf met de gegevens van 1 miljoen bankklanten is voor het luttele bedrag van 40 euro verkocht via eBay.

Planet Justlol

The issue of interoperability in 3D architectural design

Links for 2008-08-27 [del.icio.us]

James Powderly back in US

Vervangen sites de papieren krant?

Laws of Identity Iterations - or: The Nexus Between Morality, Subjectivity, and Empirical Knowledge

Re: [Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

Matt Shlian - Everything, Everything

Re: [Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

Re: [Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

Light Criticism ast IGVF Milan

<nettime> FN's Indian links in cyberspace (compiled from various sources)

<nettime> McCain, Daddy Yankee and what is 'Gasolina??'

[Nettime-nl] Persbericht: EL OLVIDO en THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF in première op NFF

[Nettime-nl] Call for submissions

Witte Huis verplicht DNSSEC voor overheidsinstanties

[Nettime-nl] Hulp gevraagd: Enquete over Europees ICT/NM cluster

FirstLook :: Your online power assessment, prospecting and feasibility resource

What's Your Solar Potential? - RoofRay

Virtuele Interpol moet online gamers beschermen

Britse politie krijgt toegang tot kinderdatabase

[Nettime-nl] uitnodiging "Hotel MariaKapel, een portret door Katie Jane" / invitation "Hotel MariaKapel, a portrait by Katie Jane"

Virusschrijvers gebruiken ontvoerde baby als lokaas

A New Breed Of Hackers Tracks Online Acts of War (Washington Post)

Delete your Facebook

Ernstig lek laat hackers het Internet afluisteren *update*

18-jarige katvanger krijgt taakstraf en geldboete

Mobile Gmail 2.0 for BlackBerry

Pre-boot authenticatie wachtwoorden in platte tekst opgeslagen

Re: <nettime> Interview with Christopher Kelty: the Culture of Free Software

Schoolhacker zet gestolen gegevens op Facebook

SSH-aanvallers installeren rootkit op Linux-systemen

[Nettime-nl] Programma NIMk: Opening Sonic Voices, Rocking Hard en de UITMARKT

Stuur onze Zomerreporter op pad

Canon of Nikon

Eric Hunting on P2P Architecture (3): Plug-in approaches and the soft-high tech divide

Laptops Internationaal ruimtestation besmet met malware

Decision Rights in Open Source

Re: <nettime> Interview with Christopher Kelty: the Culture of Free Software

Re: <nettime> Interview with Christopher Kelty: the Culture of Free Software

More About Android and HTC Dream

[Nettime-nl] Wijnands sprokkelnieuws

[Nettime-nl] Het spook van McCarthy of de de terugkeer van de inquisitie in de Lage Landen

[Nettime-nl] Baltan Laboratories is looking for a director

<nettime> Statement on Censorship and Violence against Press in Kashmir: Reporters Without Borders

Olympissed

[Nettime-nl] OOG deze week: Tjebbe van Tijen - Hasta la violencia siempre

[Nettime-nl] Persbericht: Popmuzikanten presenteren favoriete films voor 'Keuze van ...' op NFF

[Nettime-nl] Persbericht Nederlands Film Festival presenteert De Meester en De Leerling

[Nettime-nl] V2_: Vacancy Senior Curator

[Nettime-nl] vooraankondiging Media Art Festival voor Jong Talent

Firefox plugin FireBug 1.2 verplettert meer dan 100 bugs

Nice Synth (nicesynth)

Schijf met gegevens één miljoen bankklanten via eBay verkocht

Ernstig lek laat hackers het Internet afluisteren update