- Open Rights Group | Stop Disconnection without trial
Go here. Sign this. Now. It is almost certainly the most important and useful thing you will do today.
- The Amazing Renewable Dress! — Scene 360 Illusion – Amazing Art, Design, Technology, and Video
Another really cunning bit of product design, although I think I can do without actually owning this one myself.
- Nearness – Blog – BERG
A short film about RFID and NFC. It is very pretty.
- but does it float : Mona Hatoum
Some lovely installations here.
- chris chapman: roll-out vegetable garden
There are absolutely inspired bits of design genius. I want them. Of course, I would also need a garden, so my plan falls down, but still, these are just fucking magic…
Tag: politics
Bookmarks for September 5, 2009
- Charlie's Diary: Chrome Plated Jackboots
I really do enjoy watching Mr Stross think about the near future. I have no idea if he's right or not, but he's smart, shows his working, and never fails to make me think in turn. Which is all I can ask.
Bookmarks for July 24, 2009
- San Diego, Why Don’t You Come To Your Senses?
Please, pass this link around. It's worth doing. Reblog, re-tweet, pass it on to your friends so they can do the same. If you are a geek or a nerd of any stripe, you should be aware that some small fraction of the money you spend on entertainment media is going to fuel homophobia (if you're giving money to companies that are then giving money to an operation that is fuelling homophobia, then yes, that *is* what is happening), and that this should be stopped. And unless they are publically shamed, then there is no reason for companies like Marvel to grow a spine. So you should circulate this link.
- Strange Fish Identification Site
It does exactly what it says on the tin. I have no use for this, but I love that it exists.
- Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good
Watching this, I had to keep reminding myself that he's a politician, and that his words are unlikely to be backed up by action, that he's not going to be called on the content of this speech, and that he has teams of people whose job it is to help him seem engaged, aware and generally serious about the world. Still: this is a good speech, talking sense, and it's quite nice to see him saying things I agree with 100%.
Bookmarks for June 26, 2009
- Johann Hari: When divorce is the wiser option – Johann Hari, Commentators – The Independent
Not a topic I have a hugely vested interest in, being unlikely to marry or spawn, but it's a handy reminder of how Tory social policy is 100% arse backwards. "We must fix our ailing society, by doing things that any idiot can see will only make it worse". Genuine question: in what situation is be conservative (the ideology, not the party) social policy a good idea? Society moves forward – why is attempting to hold it back good or useful?
Bookmarks for March 18, 2009
- Kingsnorth report reveals shocking police campaign of intimidation against protesters – Britcit
This one's worth circulating far and wide – police using the various powers they've been given over the last while to suppress a peaceful protest.
- 20 Great PHP Libraries You Need to Know | KomunitasWeb
There's plenty of non-geek stuff in today's pile of links. Just skip past this one.
- Undesigning the Emergency @Etech Benjamin H. Bratton
Highlight " Because as software becomes a medium through which the city is accessed and made social, the paired need for both open software and hardware is clear. The design of the open public space is dependent on the design of the open software which is, increasingly, dependent on the design of open cities."
- Søren Vind >> pc_user
Might be handy in future projects – one of the first things I almost invariable do it set up a user class to handle logins and similar rubbish, and it'd be nice to have a handy boxed-up model to do all that with.
- iPhone 3.0: everyware-ready? « Magical Nihilism
Matt Jones identifies the really interesting thing about yesterday's Iphone 3.0 announcement, and it's not copy-and-paste.
- Espionage – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This looks like a fairly decent starting point, anyway. Of course, that's probably just what the government wants me to think.
- Intelligence cycle management – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Today is "everything you didn't need to know about intelligence, and weren't afraid to ask" day.
- Category:Secret broadcasting – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fascinating espionage-related stuff I had never heard of before now.
- Computer programmer from Finland has lost finger replaced with USB drive – Telegraph
I probably don't need the little finger on my left hand, you know…
Bookmarks for February 27, 2009
- The Convention on Modern Liberty
Shit, the London event is sold out. Still, I suppose that might be taken as a good sign. Maybe.
- The size of social networks | Primates on Facebook | The Economist
Starts of with some talk of Dunbar's number as it applies to social networks, then gets into the much tighter sphere of the number of people we actually interact with.
- Translating "The Economist" Behind China's Great Firewall
Really interesting look at how a group of volunteers in China translate each issue of The Economist.
Bookmarks for August 31, 2008
- Nikon D90 Hands-on Preview.
Dammit. Must not buy… Must…not…buy…
Well, maybe after christmas. Maybe. - Full text of Barack Obama's acceptance speech
Nothing exactly shocking, but y'know, it is what it is. Be interesting to see how closely the next couple of months campaigning hews to the line he lays out here.
- Lawrence Lessig on McCain on Technology
In summary: The Bush administration has done things that may fuck the US intertubes. The McCain administration will also fuck those tubes. Not exactly revalatory or unexpected stuff, but if you're curious about the major political issues affecting the (US) internet, and have 15 minutes to spare, then this is a good primer on them anyway.
- Shifting Mind » Postalicious
del.icio.us's blog auto-poster seems to be having problems, so I'm trying this plugin as a possible fix for this. Link crossposting may be a bit wonky for a few days as I get the new system bedded in.
- Mozilla Labs » Blog Archive » Introducing Ubiquity
This looks like it could be seriously fascinating, in 18 months or so. The principles, certainly, represent a massive shift in the way we might use the web, and while Ubiquity is a little clunky, I'm sure better interfaces for doing exactly this sort of thing will get developed over the next few years.
- Fake following
Via Matt Jones, Jason Kottke on Fake Following, a brilliant new idea at FriendFeed that I fully expect every social network site to implement by the end of next year.
- dConstruct 2008
I would give my eyeteeth to make this conference. Sadly, there's no way work will pay for it, and even if they would, I am going to be buried in work at the point it's on. Dammit.
- 101 Atheist Quotes – The Atheist Blogger
Don't agree with them all, but I'd have to admit, it's only a minority I really have to take issue with, and most of those are by people who have been dead a long time. My really big problem is that it's a bit anti-Christianity-centric, and while I know it's kind of implicit that atheism defines itself in response to theism, I think you can make a stronger argument for it without resorting to just swiping at the alternatives.
Bookmarks for August 28, 2008
- Lawrence Lessig on McCain on Technology
law netneutrality politics lessig mccain
- Shifting Mind » Postalicious
wordpress plugins delicious
Bookmarks for June 12, 2008
- 7 Deadly Glasses
These are beautiful, amd several of them are even practical. Someone get me a set at once.
- BBC NEWS | Politics | David Davis resigns from Commons
Well fuck me running. A Tory MP has done something that means I’d vote for him like a shot, if given a chance. Well done, David Davis. I may disagree with most of his party’s platform, but on this I agree entirely, and I applaud the bold move.
Bookmarks for May 20, 2008
- BBC NEWS | UK | Phone calls database considered
Good fucking grief. Insert Orwell references here. Is there any English speaking nation I can get into that isn’t getting increasingly fucking Big Brother, please?
- Radar Online : Is the government compiling a secret list of citizens to detain under martial law?
A senior government official says: “There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated.” This may be as many as 8 million people.