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Provided by: gapingvoid.com1062010-09-01 19:00:58blogs / gapingvoid.com /: Back in the mid-90s, when the Internet was still the size of a tadpole and TV was still the Big Kahuna, I was working in a large advertising agency that had many big, blue-chip clients. We were given a brief to work on, a well-known laundry detergent. All the other teams went away and came [...]

Provided by: boingboing.net1072010-09-06 17:37:01blogs / boingboing.net /: Physics.org is looking for the best physics-centric sites on the Web, and they need your help. The first ever Physics.org Web Awards is now open for nominations. We're looking for great sites suitable for a non-specialist audience in the following categories: * Best blog * Best news site / online magazine * Best podcast * Best Q&A / ask the expert site * Best revision site * Best kids' site * President's prize (anything which doesn't fall under any of the categories above) You can nominate sites until the 10th of October and there's several ways to nominate. On Twitter, you can send a message to @dotrythisathome or make a general tweet using the #pwa10 hashtag. There's a Facebook page. Or you can just send an email. Winners will be announced just as soon as the judging panel—which includes yours truly—reaches a decision....

Provided by: boingboing.net1082010-09-06 16:40:56blogs / boingboing.net /: A limber binding is a happy binding. (Submitterated by Gabriel Andery)...

Provided by: boingboing.net1092010-09-06 17:03:13blogs / boingboing.net /: Chris Milk made a neat interactive music video that uses HTML5 and Google maps to make a custom music video about the place you grew up in. The Wilderness Downtown (Submitterated by 7ape)...

Provided by: boingboing.net1102010-09-06 14:40:45blogs / boingboing.net /: Michael Geist writes in with the latest news on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the secret, closed-door copyright treaty that will bring US-style copyright rules (and worse) to the whole world. Particularly disturbing is the growing support for "three-strikes" copyright rules that would disconnect whole families from the Internet if one member of the household was accused (without proof) of copyright infringement. The other big US agenda item is cramming pro-Digital Rights Management (DRM) rules down the world's throats that go way beyond the current obligations under the UN's WIPO Copyright Treaty. In the US version, breaking DRM is always illegal, even if you're not committing any copyright violation -- so breaking the DRM on your iPad to install software you bought from someone who hasn't gone through the Apple approval process is illegal, even though the transaction involves no illicit copying. Ironically, this DRM push comes just as the US courts and regulators have begun to erode the US's own extreme rules on the subject. Or perhaps this isn't so surprising: in the past, the US copyright lobby has torpedoed the courts and Congress by getting USA to commit to international agreements that went far beyond the rules that they could push through on their own at home. Given the history of ACTA leaks, to no one's surprise, the latest version of the draft agreement was leaked last night on Knowledge Ecology International's website. The new version - which reflects changes made during an intense week of negotiations last month in Washington - shows a draft agreement that is much closer to becoming reality. Square brackets [ed: these indicate areas where there is still debate] have been removed from many sections, leaving the core issue of scope of the agreement [ed: that is, whether the treaty will cover things like EU-style trademark rules that would prohibit calling it "cheddar cheese" if it's not made in Cheddar, England] as the biggest issue to be resolved when the next round of negotiations begins in a few weeks in Japan. Perhaps the most important story of the latest draft is how the countries are close to agreement on the Internet enforcement chapter. The Internet enforcement chapter has been among the most contentious since the U.S. first proposed draft language that would have globalized the DMCA and raised the prospect of three strikes and you're out. In the face of opposition, the U.S. has dropped its demands on secondary liability [ed: that is, forcing ISPs and online services to police and censor their users or face prosecution] but is still holding out hope of establishing digital lock rules that go beyond the WIPO Internet treaties and were even rejected by its own courts. ACTA Text Leaks: U.S. Concedes on Secondary Liability, Wants To Go Beyond DMCA on Digital Locks New ACTA leak: It's a screwjob for the world's poor countries ... ACTA "internet enforcement" chapter leaks Delusional EU ACTA negotiator claims that three strikes has never ... Biggest-ever ACTA leak: secret copyright treaty dirty laundry ... ACTA leak: Now we know who is against transparency - USA, Korea ... Secret ACTA fights over iPod border-searches Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad. ACTA goes public...

Provided by: boingboing.net1112010-09-04 13:38:48blogs / boingboing.net /: William Gibson's latest novel, Zero History, is his best yet, a triumph of science fiction as social criticism and adventure. Continuing on from 2007's Spook Country, Zero History features a reformed, dried out version of Milgrim, the junkie anti-hero from Spook Country. He's been rehabilitated at the expense of Hubertus Bigend, the shadowy power-broker whom we first met in Pattern Recognition. Bigend has got Milgrim hunting for the designer behind a mysterious line of fetish-denim, in the hopes of remaking it as the basis for a lucrative US military contract; this being Bigend's idea of novelty-seeking good times. Joining Milgrim is Hollis Henry, the former pop star from Spook Country, still reluctantly in Bigend's employ, but even more conflicted, and missing her ex-boyfriend, a thrill-seeking nutjob whose idea of a good time in jumping off tall buildings in a glidersuit. Milgrim -- and later, Hollis -- track the secret denim from South Carolina to London to Paris and back to London again, and very quickly find themselves embroiled in an intrigue involving US spooks, experimental UAVs, rogue infosec specialists, and a palace coup at Blue Ant, Bigend's legendary design and branding firm. What makes Zero History into Gibson's best so far is how absolutely perfectly he captures the futuristic nature of the present day. Milgrim -- a junkie dried out after a ten year fugue of living rough and stealing to buy pills -- is well-suited to this task, emerging as if from a time-machine into the 21st century in full swing, able to narrate its essential strangeness without seeming contrived. But all of Gibson's characters are in the business of understanding how we got to this futuristic present, and on every page, there is a jolt of pleasant dissonance as Gibson does the conjurer's trick of making you look at your surroundings with fresh eyes. Here is a book that is both contemporary, and futuristic -- and anachronistic, filled as it is with characters who long for simpler times, who fetishize antique computers and vintage memorabilia. It's a book that doesn't so much feel written as designed, cunningly filled with trompe d'esprit effects that fool your brain into staring at your own life from the objective distance of a Martian. And moreover, here is a book that is a novel, filled with people having exciting adventures and romance, developing as characters, chasing mysteries. An even better trick: to make something so smart that is nevertheless enormous fun as well. What a treat. Zero History William Gibson bags and coats William Gibson's Spook Country William Gibson explains why science fiction is about the present ... William Gibson interviewed on IO9 William Gibson answers questions William Gibson: The Rolling Stone interview William Gibson on NSA wiretapping Original proposal for William Gibson's Spook Country Timothy Leary and William Gibson promoting a Neuromancer film ... William Gibson WashPo interview "one of the best ever" William Gibson's playlist BoingBoingBoing #15: William Gibson William Gibson on writing in the age of Google William Gibson explains how Molly's mirrorshades work Gibson's self-destructing poem Agrippa: screen-movie How William Gibson discovered science fiction...

Provided by: boingboing.net1122010-09-05 22:20:15blogs / boingboing.net /: Browsing through the concept art from Pixar's abandoned film NEWT makes me sad. I had heard nothing about about this project previous to this art. This looks like it would have been adorable! What was the story about? "What happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they canFisherman Wily Dean was trying to catch cow-nosed rays in Southern Maryland's Potomac River for a marine biologist this week, but he ended up netting an 8-foot-long bull shark. Unfortunately, the story doesn't have a happy ending for the shark. From NBC Washington: "We had an interesting morning bringing it in," Dean said. "It was quite a fight." Once the shark was captured, the next question was: What the heck do you do with it? "I am probably going to have it mounted, maybe the head," Dean said. "Right now, the shark's in the freezer." "8-Foot Shark Caught in Potomac River"...

Provided by: gapingvoid.com1132010-09-01 07:38:20blogs / gapingvoid.com /: I just wrote the [very long] blog headline above just to give y’all something to chew on… I’m guessing most of us here are familiar with Techcrunch, yes? Like I said earlier, we’re incredible beings. So frickin’ go do something about it. Frickin’ go do something that matters. Exactly. God Bless…

Provided by: gapingvoid.com1142010-09-01 06:41:55blogs / gapingvoid.com /: ["Awake", the print I featured in this Monday's newsletter etc.] We’re incredible beings. And I want to make and sell art that maybe, just maybe, makes people think, even for a short while, that I’m not wrong, either. [I can think of worse ways to make a living. Lord knows, we've all tried a few [...]

Provided by: gapingvoid.com1152010-09-01 05:31:06blogs / gapingvoid.com /: I don’t know if it was Brian Clark over at Copyblogger who first popularized the term, “Content Marketing”, but it’s he I most associate it with. Content Marketing is exactly what is sounds like- creating content in order to more effectively market whatever it is you’re selling. Copyblogger itself is a really good example of [...]

Provided by: gapingvoid.com1162010-09-03 18:45:55blogs / gapingvoid.com /: Browsing through the concept art from Pixar's abandoned film NEWT makes me sad. I had heard nothing about about this project previous to this art. This looks like it would have been adorable! What was the story about? "What happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they can"cartoons drawn on the back of business cards" [The "Life Is Too Short" print...] I first started playing with the idea of “Smarter-Conversations” way back in 2004, the same year gapingvoid really started getting traction in the blogopsphere. Though not something I talk about day-in-day-out, it’s always been there somewhere in the background, informing everything I work on. Here are some notes: 1. [...]

Provided by: boingboing.net1172010-09-05 22:20:15blogs / boingboing.net /: Fisherman Wily Dean was trying to catch cow-nosed rays in Southern Maryland's Potomac River for a marine biologist this week, but he ended up netting an 8-foot-long bull shark. Unfortunately, the story doesn't have a happy ending for the shark. From NBC Washington: "We had an interesting morning bringing it in," Dean said. "It was quite a fight." Once the shark was captured, the next question was: What the heck do you do with it? "I am probably going to have it mounted, maybe the head," Dean said. "Right now, the shark's in the freezer." "8-Foot Shark Caught in Potomac River"...

Provided by: boingboing.net1182010-09-05 21:59:42blogs / boingboing.net /: Last night, the Hugo Awards, one of science fiction's most prestigious prizes, were presented in Melbourne at Aussiecon 4. The Hugo ceremony is one of my favorite parts of any WorldCon, and last night's event, emceed by Garth Nix, was a particularly outstanding edition of the ceremony. The ballot was extremely strong, with works that I really enjoyed competing in several categories. The voter and nominator turnout were both much higher than usual, and the program moved at a very, very good clip. This year's award, designed by Nick Stathopolous, was gorgeous, incorporating aboriginal motifs and an organic, Belle Epoch look inspired by the Paris Metro signs. Kudos to the administrators on a smooth, well-run ceremony! The fiction prizes were especially sweet this year. Best novel was an almost-unheard-of tie between China Mieville for his brilliant, mind-bending The City and the City and Paolo Bacigalupe for his stellar debut novel The Windup Girl. Best novella went to my collaborator Charlie Stross for Palimpsest, from his wonderful, mind-bending solo short story collection Wireless. Best novelette went to Peter Watts for The Island, from The New Space Opera 2. Boing Boing readers will remember Peter as the SF writer who was beaten and gassed near the US/Canada border when he got out of his car to ask why US customs officers were searching his car; he spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting the charge and the potential two-year sentence; was found guilty but received a suspended sentence. SF fans raised money to bring Peter to Australia, and his acceptance speech in which he called this the "best and worst year of his life," was brilliant. The best short story, which I presented, went to Will McIntosh for "Bridecicle," a lovely story. Net-based media was a big winner this year: the podcast Starship Sofa (often presented here) won for Best Fanzine. And of course, there was Fred Pohl's Hugo for Best Fan Writer for his excellent blog The Way the Future Blogs. Other categories whose winners made me especially glad include the Best Editor prize for my editor at Tor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden (this was his second prize in the very new category, and he has taken his name out of the running for next year). The graphic novel category went to Phil and Kaja Foglio's steampunk comic Girl Genius. The Campbell Award for best new writer to Seanan McGuire, whose heartfelt acceptance speech made me burst into tears. Tor.com has the full list of nominees and winners here. 2010 Hugo Nominees announced Hugo Award winners and statsporn! Hugo nominating deadline looms Design the Hugo Award logo, win $500 and a ticket to WorldCon ... Hugo Award winners for 2008 For sale: first editions of every Hugo- and Nebula-award winning ......

Provided by: boingboing.net1192010-09-05 20:38:18blogs / boingboing.net /: The Bad Astronomy blog posted this blink-and-you'll-miss it video of the International Space Station zipping across the face of the sun back in 2007. Let's put that speed in perspective: It orbits the Earth a mere 350 or so kilometers (220 miles) up; I like to say that if you live in DC and see it pass overhead, it's about the same distance from you as New York City. So it's actually pretty close to the Earth's surface, and screaming around at 8 km/sec (5 miles/sec). That's a good clip! From the point of view of someone watching from the ground, it only takes a couple of minutes for the station to go clear across the sky, horizon to horizon. Evolution of the International Space Station New picture window for the space station Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Gravity Is For Suckers Boing ... No sex on the space station Paper airplane to be launched from International Space Station ......

Provided by: boingboing.net1202010-09-05 19:35:47blogs / boingboing.net /: Behold, the face of the enemy. (Why, yes, my nose is rather runny, why do you ask?) Urge to vengeance aside, my main reaction while flipping through this gallery of pollen images was wonder at the intense variety of sizes, shapes, textures and tricks floating through the microscopic world of plant pollen. This group shot ranges from the (relatively) giant orb of pumpkin pollen in the center, to the teensy blue dot that belongs to the forget-me-not. Some of the grains seem like completely alien things, but others bear a striking resemblance to the plants they help create—for instance, I guessed that Venus fly trap pollen went with the Venus fly trap before I read the caption. All these shots are the work of Swedish scientist Martin Oeggerli, who makes amazing art using a scanning electron microscope. The images actually start out in black and white, with Oeggerli going back and adding color, pixel by pixel. The colors can, but don't necessarily, reflect reality, but they do help make textures stand out and make the form more easily readable by your eye. The Telegraph: Full pollen image gallery Martin Oeggerli explains the technology behind his photos, from microscope, to sample preparation, to coloration. Image: Martin Oeggerli/Micronaut...

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