December 2007
Privacy state-of-the-planet -- it's not good →
Sam sez, “The 2007 International Privacy Ranking rates selected countries in terms public surveillance. Each year since 1997, the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International have undertaken what has now become the most comprehensive survey of global privacy ever published. The Privacy & Human Rights Report surveys developments in 70 countries,...
U.S. seen internationally as an ‘Endemic... →
In the recently released annual survey of worldwide privacy rights by Privacy International and EPIC, the United States has been downgraded from “Extensive Surveillance Society” to “Endemic Surveillance Society.” As Glenn Greenwald notes, this is “the worst possible category there is for privacy protections, the category also occupied by countries such as China, Russia, Singapore and Malaysia.” In...
Pilot to TSA: Let my people go! →
Patrick Smith, the airline pilot who co-writes the NY Times’s Jetlagged Blog has written a corker of an editorial railing against the bullshit “security” procedures that the TSA has put into place. Smith is hopping mad and stops just short of calling for a revolution. Man, I’d be with him at the barricades.
No matter that a deadly sharp can be fashioned from virtually...
iPhone v1.1.3 screenshots leaked? →
Filed under: Macworld, Rumors, Software, Software Update, Apple, iPhone
Fire up that chunk of your brain known as the Macworld Rumourbuster, readers! With just a little over two weeks before Macworld kicks off, let’s officially call the crowd to order, and let the rumour-mongering, blurry ‘leaked’ pictures, and Photoshop-ing begin. Gearlive kicks off the “fortnight of...
Get those DVDs onto your iPhone or Mac →
Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Video
HandBrake is one of those applications that we adore here at TUAW HQ. It makes converting DVDs into a variety of digital files a snap (though only use it with DVDs you own. Don’t be pirates, kids). Chris Breen, of Macworld fame (and an amateur astronomer it would seem) shows us how to use HandBrake like a pro. Breen goes a step beyond ‘use the...
Starting bittorrent downloads remotely from the... →
Filed under: Hardware, Tips and tricks, Odds and ends, Internet Tools, Open Source, iPhone
I like Mac OS X Hints a lot, although I will admit that most of the hints they post just aren’t for me— either they’re for things that I just don’t have a need to do, or they’re for things I already figured out a solution for on my own. But lately, I’ve been trying to...
Biodegradable Coffins, "Composting At Its Best"... →
Biodegradable coffins allow you to rest in peace without putting a permanent dent in the planet or your wallet.Cremation was long considered more environmentally friendly than burials in graveyards,…
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7 Bad Habits of Digital Photographers →
Here are, compiled in one post, the 7 bad habits of digital photographers…
Adobe Spying On Its Customers →
It’s not all that surprising these days to hear about software companies having their software “phone home” in some manner or another, though it’s often quite annoying. However, it looks like Adobe has taken this to a new level. As highlighted by Valleywag, Adobe’s CS3 design software includes a system to provide your usage data quietly to a “behavioral...
Ultra-slim MacBook Confirmed.... By Rapper! →
The long-rumored, flash-based, ultra-slim Apple mini-laptop was confirmed this week, not by an Apple insider, partner or parts supplier — but by RAPPER JUST BLAZE, who claims to have performed this week for Apple employees in exchange for one of the devices. (props to TWIMO and Gizmodo)
Can Legislation Let People Opt-Out Of Having Their... →
The “Do Not Call” list has been something of a success over the past five years, but the various attempts at similar “do not X” lists always seem a bit ridiculous. The latest, coming from the state of Connecticut, would institute an impossible to enforce and most likely unconstitutional universal opt-out list for your info online. The idea is that there are so many...
Ron Paul: 95 percent of black men are ‘criminal.’ →
Kos highlights a 1992 article from Ron Paul’s self-published newsletter, The Ron Paul Political Report:
Indeed, it is shocking to consider the uniformity of opinion among blacks in this country. Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty, and the end of welfare and affirmative action…. Given the...
Van crashes into TV studio during live newscast →
“Two people were injured, Michelle, and the weather made the rescue work all that much more — HAOOH!!” The look on this guy’s face is priceless. Ha!
via Neatorama
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Neil Gaiman on Little Brother →
Neil Gaiman gave me an unexpected Christmas present this year — a stellar review of my forthcoming (May ‘08) novel Little Brother (a YA novel that pits hacker kids in San Francisco against the DHS in a bid to restore the Bill of Rights to America) on his blog. He has a few quibbles with some of the plot elements, but closes with this:
I’d recommend Little Brother over pretty...
Idaho police grads' slogan: "Go out and cause... →
This year’s 43 graduates of the Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy came up with an interesting slogan: “Don’t suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it.” (PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder.)
[Ada County Sheriff Gary] Black said the class president was ex-military, and that the slogan “slipped in.” He declined to identify the graduate....
What Flickr Stats Mean for You →
Image: plutor
It’s the moment every serious Flickr member has been waiting for.
Flickr has rolled out stats.
They’re only available to Pro members (so that’s a pretty good reason to upgrade), you’ll need to hit an “activate link” to get them working and they’re supposed to kick in within 24 hours. In practice though, unless you’ve got lots of figures to crunch, once you activate your stats you...
The Internet Brain Implant: Why We Should Say No →
This Fall pollsters Zogby International released the results of a survey that asked nearly 10,000 US adults the following question. “How likely would you be to implant a device into your brain that enabled you to use your mind to access the internet if it could be done safely?” 11% of respondents said they were very or somewhat likely to do so. I’ve talked to a lot of people in...
Genius Idea: Wants For Sale →
Along the lines of Million Dollar Homepage in the “that’ll never work… will it?” category, 2007 saw the successful launch of Wants For Sale. The innovative project by New York artist Justin Gignac and his girlfriend Christine might just be my favorite idea of the year. The premise is simple: Justin and Christine paint pictures of things they want and then sell them for the...
Cool Stuff: Batcave Home Theater →
Last month we featured a custom home theater designed to model the Enterprise NCC-1701D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We return in December to show you the home theater set-up of a retired naturalist who thought that her cellar would be a great Batcave.
That’s right, a Batcave themed home theater created by New Hampshire-based installer DC Audio Video Systems. The set-up includes prop...
