July 06, 2005
Eco-car more efficient than light bulb
CNN.com - Eco-car more efficient than light bulb - Jul 5, 2005: "LONDON, England (CNN) -- An eco-car that can travel the world using a fraction of the electricity it takes to power a light bulb has been unveiled by its British creators."
Posted by jason at 07:43 AM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2005
Funtain on Canada Day
We went over to Grange Park across the road to see steve's latest invention the Poseidophone prototype. I got some great video, but haven't uploaded it yet. The event was part of the Canada Day Art in the Park put on by the AGO. The picture below includes Toronto City Councillor Olivia Chow
Posted by jason at 07:07 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
Neko-sen!
Boing Boing: Japanese bullet train with retractable cat-ears
This new Japanese bullet-train design is intended to go 360kph, and use reetractable cat-ear-shaped air-brakes to slow itself. The nosecone and color scheme are intensely manga-esque, the kind of thing you expect to see in a collectable toy.
Thanks to Muneco-chan for this image!
Posted by jason at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)
Solid State Laptops?
AppleInsider | Flash drives in future Apple laptops?
...the company recently announced a prototype 16GB flash drive and said it has plans to expand to 100GB "in a couple of years," assuming double-digit percentage price drops in the flash-memory market continue.
This is what I'm waiting for... for Zero Cost Computing
Posted by jason at 08:39 AM | Comments (0)
Take the Marlow test...
Posted by jason at 08:31 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2005
Microchip inventor dies...
Jack St. Clair Kilby who co-invented the microchip died at 81.
Obit: The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Microchip inventor Jack St. Clair Kilby dies
Posted by jason at 06:48 AM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2005
MacDell?
Dell 'happy' to ship Mac OS X-based PCs | The Register
Michael Dell would like to license Mac OS X and ship it with future PC products, the Dell founder and chairman has revealed.It's not likely to happen any time soon, of course - Apple CEO Steve Jobs has already said it's not something he wants to do for now - but according to name-dropping Fortune online columnist David Kirkpatrick, Dell would jump at the chance if offered.
Posted by jason at 05:42 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
anti-rape device
Julia and I stumbled over this while looking for readings for KMD2003: Knowledge Media Design and Learning, and had to stop to discuss it
Alex Halavais notes:
A South African woman is to begin marketing artificial dentata as an anti-rape device. (Strikes me that a wide-spread effort to teach girls a martial art at a young age might be more effective.)
BBC NEWS | Africa | S Africa 'rape trap' condemned:
Anti-rape campaigners in South Africa are outraged about a new invention intended to catch rapists. The device, designed for a woman to insert, attaches itself to a rapist and has to be surgically removed.
http://www.answers.com/topic/vagina-dentata
Posted by jason at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2005
Wake me when the exam starts
A UNIVERSITY is broadcasting lectures straight to students' mobiles so they don't have to get out of bed in the mornings.Lessons are filmed using digital cameras, edited down into 15-minute segments, then sent to students with 3G phones.Media Production tutors Harold Fricker and Eduardo Carrillo... believe it could be used all over the world. Mr Fricker said: "There are always lazy students, despite most being dedicated to the course and committed to working hard.
Posted by jason at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
Steve's AGO webcam...
Steve's finally gotten a web cam. I only overlook the back of the AGO, and he's got the best view. I think I can see my apartment from this angle though.
Posted by jason at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2005
Real Violence in Virtual Games
CBC News: Real-life murder in online gaming dispute
A court in China has sentenced an online gamer to death for the real-life murder of a fellow player after a confrontation over a virtual weapon. The dispute involved the ownership of a "dragon sabre" in the fantasy game Legend of Mir III. The court in Shanghai found Qiu Chengwei, 41, guilty of stabbing to death Zhu Caoyuan.But Zhu's family wants Qiu to receive the full weight of the law, and plans to appeal the suspended sentence. "We want Qiu to die, and immediately," the victim's father said.
Posted by jason at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2005
ipod shuffle
shufflehacks makes sense, if you've got one. yuka does.
Posted by jason at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2005
Joi on .XXX
Joi Ito's Web: Some notes on the .XXX Top Level Domain
I realize that the formal documents on the ICANN page are difficult to read, but I suggest people take a look at the actual application before jumping to conclusions about what the .XXX TLD is. It is actually a well thought out structure that provides a balanced approach to an issue with many stake holders.
Interesting discussion over there, that is probably mirrored around the net. To say that porn has no place on the internet, which isn't what anyone here is necessarily saying, but has been said is silly, of course. Though I'm still pissed off that they let bizzness on the internet back in 1994 or whenever it was. I was pissed then, and remain so. Though I do love all the advantages that have come with it. Same goes with porn. I worked to block porn on campus in the late 80s. Not as an activist, but my job was to sort out the porn Usenet groups from the merely erotic or talking about sex, sex in art... we made porn harder to find and the rest easier to find... realizing that we couldn't legally block porn on campus, but we could focus attention on what we thought was important. We also blocked hard science and engineering usenet groups from being accessible in our lab, because we were a writing lab...
The larger point is that porn represents a valid fringe location of our global community. Beyond the fringe, for those of us in many countries are issues such as child pornography and abuse forms of sexuality. To allow people to self-opt IN to .xxx domains, if there is a concomitant monitoring of the legality of the content on those sites will be a very good thing. If someone knows that they will not be breaking any laws by visiting a .xxx domain, it will be much easier to monitor what goes on in other domain systems that are not 'validated'. I mean this from a social, rather than technological perspective. It will help the porn industry, and those who want to be involved with its legal activities, which is a valuable thing.
And if it helps to expose illegal and exploitive porn, then it is valuable to us all.
Posted by jason at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)
May 18, 2005
enCore Consortium
I just joined the enCore Consortium as an extension of the MOO work that me and the crew have been doing with project achieve since it started up in 1999. We'll be taking Achieve offline sometime this month, but hope to resurrect it sometime after I get localized at Ryerson.
Posted by jason at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2005
Thanks Rochelle
Rochelle let me scarf the css from her blog: Diary of a Subversive Librarian so that I could have her neat blockquote layout. She also made my cool logo.
Posted by jason at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2005
UK Children Go Online Project
Scarfed from: Tracy
Two new reports from the UK Children Go Online (UKCGO) project have been published today:Inequalities and the Digital Divide in Children and Young People's Internet Use: Findings from the UK Children Go Online project (UKCGO survey findings in relation to internet access, low users and the digital divide)UK Children Go Online: Final report of key project findings (a summary of integrated project findings with main conclusions and policy recommendations)Both reports, the press release and media coverage are available on the project website, http://www.children-go-online.net
Posted by jason at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2005
Google TrustRank TNG
Philipp Lenssen writes "Google registered a trademark for the word "TrustRank", as Search Engine Watch reveals. Is this a sign we can expect a follow-up to Google's PageRank? An earlier, possibly related paper on TrustRank is available; it proposes techniques to semi-automatically separate good pages from spam by the use of a small selection of reputable seed pages."
Google Trademarks: TrustRank & The Neighborhood Wide Web
Gyongyi, Zoltan; Garcia-Molina, Hector; Pedersen, Jan: Combating Web Spam with TrustRank
Posted by jason at 09:33 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2005
iPod... iLearn?
Via Slashdot
: When iPod goes collegiate | csmonitor.com: " When Kenneth Rogerson walked into his newspaper journalism class on the first day of the school year, the professor could barely contain his excitement. After a quick introduction he broke the big news: "We got the grant," he told his class. "You all get iPods.""
Posted by jason at 07:17 AM | Comments (1)
April 16, 2005
NIN news from Boing Boing
Boing Boing: NIN's Trent Reznor releases song as GarageBand file: "NIN's Trent Reznor releases song as GarageBand file On nin.com, Trent Reznor is offering a complete mix of a song from the forthcoming Nine Inch Nails album as a Garageband 2.0 file. The CD/vinyl is due out on May 3."
Posted by jason at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2005
WirelessToronto: a community wireless network for Toronto
[THis is a forwarded email...]
The costs of deploying WiFi access points have dropped over the past few years, but commercial WISPs (Wireless Internet Service Providers) are still trying to charge crazy rates for casual wireless Internet access. The same WISPs have been slow to deploy in Canada -- those hotspots that do exist are in areas obviously targeted at business users... the only ones who will pay their exorbitant rates.
Meanwhile, community wireless groups have emerged, attempting to fill the gaps by offering free wireless Internet access. Montreal's Ile Sans Fil has an impressive centrally-managed network of hotspots -- 30 to-date. In addition to offering Internet access, part of Ile Sans Fil's goal is to develop their hotspots' captive portal pages into a community resource -- for hotspot hosts to post information about upcoming events/exhibits/etc., but also for discussion, sharing of information, and the presentation of art projects. This initiative could have as -- or more -- important a role in the community as simple connectivity.
Toronto is sorely lacking a community wireless group; at the April Social Tech Brewing we'll discuss creating a group in Toronto which offers these services. Michael Lenczner from Ile Sans Fil will talk about the work that's been done in Montreal, and Gabe Sawhney will lead a discussion about approaches, models, and strategies for a community wireless group in Toronto.
So, please mark April 7th in your calendars! The event details are: 5:30 - 7PM @ The Centre for Social Innovation (the215.ca) 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 120 Just north of Queen on the east side of Spadina
Also, Please RSVP so we have enough chairs: phillip@communitybandwidth.ca
Social Tech Brewing: www.socialtechbrewing.org
Posted by jason at 08:55 AM | Comments (2)
April 05, 2005
Are reusable water bottles dangerous
[Via Boing Boing]
"Nalgene gives you BRAIN DAMAGE! Yes, Bisphenol A, used to make Nalgene bottles and other hard plastic projects, apparently seeps into the body and can, in certain doses, mess with the function of the brain."
Posted by jason at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
Name in URL Not Copyright Infringement
Slashdot | Company Name in URL Not Copyright Infringement:
"Christoph writes "CNN reports that a man's website, http://www.bosleymedical.com, criticizing the Bosely Medical Institute does not infringe the institute's copyright on its name. The man's attorney is quoted as saying that the court's decision 'is an important victory for free speech on the Internet. It makes clear that consumers can use a trade name for a company they want to criticize.' The appeals court, however, reinstated part of the lawsuit in which Bosley alleged that Kremer is violating a so-called cybersquatting law by allegedly attempting to sell the site to Bosley in exchange for removing the disparaging material.""
Posted by jason at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2005
The Science of Seeing with Sound.
Arun was telling me about The vOICe - Seeing with Sound on CBC Radio | Quirks & Quarks. I missed it, but it sounds cool:
April 2, 2005 on Quirks & Quarks
The Science of Seeing with Sound.
Imagine being blind for 25 years, and suddenly being able to see again - using your ears. It sounds impossible, but that's exactly what's happened to Pat Fletcher. For the past few years, she's been experimenting with a revolutionary new technology that allows her to see through sound. Using a simple computer program that she downloaded from the Internet, which translates visual images into soundscapes, Pat's brain is able to translate those sounds back into images. Find out how in Alison Motluk's remarkable documentary, "See, If You Can Hear This."
Plus - Meet T-Rex - in the flesh...
That's Quirks & Quarks, Saturday right after the noon news on Radio One.
Posted by jason at 06:43 PM | Comments (1)
March 31, 2005
The OpenEEG WARNING.txt file
[A reminder to always read the warning with your open source software... via Dave.]
We include the following warning file to help make clear to everyone what the risks might be from using home-built EEG gear, and to help you make your own safety assessments:
IMPORTANT WARNING
-----------------
If you choose to use the OpenEEG project hardware and/or software to do neurofeedback training or experimentation on yourself or others, you do so ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Posted by jason at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2005
Fair Use Thumbnails
I was reading Joi Ito's Web: Google lawsuits guiding the way and stop at the phrase "Fair Use Thumbnails" to describe the use of small images to refer to an image that might be copyrighted, just as you'd use a quote from text to illustrate or refer to a point. Joi mentioned 150x150 pixels max, which is enough for you to know what the image is about, without it being of much value to you. It will make for an interesting discussion for my summer course.
According to GigaLaw.com: Photos and Fair Use Online: From Penthouse Pets to Kelly's Thumbnails:
In a landmark case, a U.S. court of appeals has ruled that posting small, "thumbnail"-sized images of another's aesthetic photos on a web site is a fair use -- and therefore not copyright infringement -- when done for information-gathering or indexing purposes. Although the court's decision provides important guidance about fair use and photos on the Internet, it does not mean that all thumbnail images are legal. In this article, a former attorney for Penthouse magazine discusses the history of illegal photo copying on the Internet and the significance of this case for understanding online copyright infringement and fair use.
Posted by jason at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2005
John is Back in Town
Project OS|OA : Lecture Series Outline -- John Willensky: The Access Principle: The New Economics of Knowledge as a Public Good
I use John's PKP Open Journal Systems for The Harrow: Original Works of Fantasy and Horrow and am very happy with it.
Posted by jason at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2005
Linux Juke Box
O'Reilly: Resurrect Your Old PC for Music--with Linux
Are you the kind of person who can't toss out old gear? I know I am--though I must admit that embracing the art of junk-collecting has come in handy from time to time. For instance, this article will show you how to resurrect a tired old PC by installing a modern operating system, and then revitalize the computer as an internet-enabled CD player, DVD burner, and MP3 jukebox.
Posted by jason at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2005
Apple Developing New Palmtop Mac
[I'm a newton and emate fan. I have two emates still. There have never, in my mind, been any better palmtops. We can only hope.]
O'Grady's PowerPage - Your Mobile Technology Destination
Apple Developing New Palmtop Mac
08 March 2005 06:30 EST
Neal Hoskins EU Bureau Chief
From the Hardware Dept.
Remember Apple's eMate 300 from the early nineties? (nicknamed "Eat Me" by developers). It was a kind of Batman green and a fab little flat lap Newton. The PowerPage EU bureau has been beamed some details of a secret development team planning specifications for the release of a new mini laptop. (It goes well with their current mini theme. -Ed). Deep in the Apple cave these slim little mini pocketops are doing the rounds and getting a lot of great feedback. Sources who claim to have see one have commented that an internal planning spec details that the new machine runs a stripped-down flavour of Mac OS X. We're told that it will finally utilize Apple's Inkwell technology to "write anywhere" and neatly fold into your pocket - rather like an
Posted by jason at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2005
KAT! Says... So it must be true.
KAT!
points out that even Google loves OS X: GoogleX.
Posted by jason at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Wiki Becomes a Way of Life
I'm a fan of wikipedia, for all the wrong reasons. I missed this article last week, but yuka pointed it out to me. I like the article, for it's humanizing of the folks involved.
Wired News: Wiki Becomes a Way of Life:
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has 490,000 articles -- in English alone. All together, including its French, German, Italian, Chinese, Spanish and many other versions, it has well over 1.3 million entries.
But without its 16,000 contributors, Wikipedia would be about as useful as a moldy 1978 edition of Encyclopedia Americana. With them, Wikipedia has become the world's largest effort of its kind, and one that is compared to Encyclopedia Britannica in terms of quality and breadth.
Posted by jason at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2005
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger to arrive in April
Think Secret - Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger to arrive in April
Apple will officially announce Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger's release at an event in early April and will begin shipping the operating system within two or three weeks afterwards, Think Secret has learned. Apple has previously only stated that Tiger will ship during the first half of the 2005.
Posted by jason at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2005
Video Mann
I took a short video of Steve using his Funtain. It is about 7megs.
Posted by jason at 03:51 PM | Comments (3)
February 02, 2005
A Wiki Search Engine or Bottom-up Extortion?
It is hard for me to keep on top of things these days. Thanks to the crew at many2many I find things like this...
Many-to-Many: A Wiki Search Engine or Bottom-up Extortion?
This is pretty interesting.¬Ý Web’Äôs Biggest not only claims to be the biggest search engine, but the biggest wiki.¬Ý
It leverages existing search engines and scrapes the whois database.¬Ý The spider captures summaries, which is all the engine searches, which gives you easy breadth, but not depth.¬Ý The summaries are far from perfect, but it seems the idea is they are meant to be changed.¬Ý A smart hack, if legal (Andy Beal wonders if this violates whois guidelines).
Posted by jason at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2005
iGoalie
Posted by jason at 07:40 PM | Comments (1)
January 24, 2005
Going offline for a bit
jasonnolan.net is on the move. So this site may be unavailable for a couple of days while the DNS does its thing. Email to jason@jasonnolan.net may bounce, but jason.nolan@utoronto.ca should be fine.
Posted by jason at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2005
--cameramail cameras--
[Yuka forwarded this.]
First, a brief introduction to cameramail.
The idea is not completely original, I'm sorry to admit. While working on a mail-art project for school, I saw Daniel Farrell and Richard Kegler of the website P22 document an impressive number of odd forms of c