Awesome video explaining the Large Hadron Collider. If you haven’t seen it already check it out.
(more…)

In 1989 a great tradition started with GHP (Galactic Hacker Party), which continued four years later in 1993 with HEU (Hacking at the End of the Universe), HIP (Hacking In Progress) in 1997, HAL (Hacking At large) in 2001 and finally WTH (What The Hack) in 2005.

Next year a new crew wants to organize the next event in this fine tradition. The name has been set on HAR2009 (Hacking At Random 2009). I’ve been part of this tradition in one form or the other since HIP97 and thus this event would by my ten year anniversary. Can’t wait for it.

ps: To clear some mistakes up on the definition of hacker, check out this description

Hilarious spoof found on Yergler.net on the absurdities of labeling friends on social networks. Enjoy after the jump.
(more…)

Two years ago I wrote a post about Paul Robertson’s Pirate Baby’s Cabana Street Fight 2006 (check it out on Google Video ), which I really enjoyed. Today I found out that Robertson just released his new film called: Kings of Power 4 Billion % (download it using bittorrent ). Once again its full of cute looking anime characters in settings full of violence and gore. It has the looks of a game, but it’s an animation.
I wonder why nobody has contacted Robertson to transform his work from a static masterpiece into an interactive masterpiece.I would definitely want to play it!

A talk by one of my ‘heroes’ Bruce Sterling -science-fiction author, visionary critical thinker and brilliant speaker- on Spimes and so called don’t make me think design approach (Steve Krug anyone?). Enjoy the video made during the Innovationsforum Interactionsdesign in Potsdam Germany.

Bruce Sterling from Innovationsforum on Vimeo.

Thanks to Boingboing!

The americana/country/folk heroes This Leo Sunrise out of Utrecht, The Netherlands in crappy YouTube galore. Go check out there new EP ‘Koewacht‘ (CC-licensed, off course) which I highly recommend.

(thanks MOMI )

We just released another eclectic music compilation with twelve Creative Commons licensed songs together with Mindz.com . The songs range from lounge-like electronics to R ‘n B and from dirty garage rock to indie pop. You can download this release directly (50MB zip) or have a look at the homepage where you can also find our previous free, gratis Creative Commons licensed compilations. I hope you’ll enjoy the music!

From the press release:

The Dutch open music platform Simuze released another free music compilation to promote its artists today. Music lovers can enjoy the twelve eclectic tracks on Mindz Music vol. 1 – the first collaboration with the new Dutch social network MINDZ.com – selected from the varied offer of Creative Commons licensed music on the platform. This is an excellent opportunity for those who’s Dutch is a bit rusty to experience some lovely music from the Lowlands. Anyone can legally download the compilation for free – including artwork and English documentation– in a zip file from: http://www.simuze.nl/live/download.php

 About Simuze.org:

Simuze.org is an on-line music platform for musicians and music lovers, based in the Netherlands. The goal is to combine the essential need of musicians to spread their music with the possibilities to distribute content through the Internet, in order to gain the much-needed exposure to promote their music. Simuze acknowledges and embraces the fact we live in a digital age that offers new creative possibilities, where people are used to discovering and exchanging music for free on the Internet. Because of this, all music on the platform is distributed under a Creative Commons license, which allows musicians to declare that the music they have uploaded to the website – under certain optional conditions – can be copied, remixed and shared for free, on a legal basis.

 

Since the launch of Simuze.org – in July 2005 – over 400 artists have uploaded more than 1500 songs. The music available on the platform ranges from obscure avant-garde experiments to finalists and winners of prestigious Dutch music contests. With over 100,000 unique visitors on a monthly basis, Simuze is becoming an important channel for Dutch musicians to promote themselves. At the moment the platform is still in its public beta stage, but in 2008 a new version of Simuze will be launched. This version will include a huge increase in functionality and usability for both musicians and music lovers, and also a beautiful new design.

Lawrence Lessig founder of Creative Commons considers running for United States Congress. Lessig already mentioned in Croatia during the iSummit 2007 (see also in crappy Youtube galore ) that he would change his focus from copyright reform to reforming American politics and since a few days it has become apparent that he means business. Today I heard about lessig08.org and I watched his presentation on ‘change’. I suggest to have a look as well:

I sincerely hope Lessig will go for Congress.

I suggest all Americans able to make this happen to have a good look at his ideas. Lessig is just what the USA and all of us striving towards copyright reform and a more balanced world could use. I wish we all could have more politicians of the stature of Lawrence Lessig. The world needs more knowledgeable people in influential positions.

You probably have had the same experience as I had with legally purchased DVD’s. Before you can watch the movie, you’re forced to watch an anti-piracy advertisement propaganda. I never really understood this. Why are you trying to indoctrinate those that actually bought the film legally? It seems to miss the point completely. C’mon I already bought the film, don’t bother me with propaganda otherwise I’ll download the movie, which is usually:

• cheaper (ISP account + power)
• quicker (the more popular, the faster a download works, at least using Bitorrent)
• more convenient (no need for leaving the house to visit a store)
• no silly DVD-region encoding or other lame artificial digital rights restrictions

Writing the above makes me wonder why I bother to buy films at all?

Anyway, some people decided to create an answer to the over the top, stupid and annoying anti-piracy propaganda and created a short film (view it above this post in crappy YouTube galore or download it using bittorrent) which ridiculous the rhetoric of ‘downloading equals stealing’ dogma.

In case you wonder why downloading is not the same as stealing: downloading a film or music does not mean that I take away your film or music. The metaphor of physical objects versus digital information does not work. Period. You can make unlimited copies from a digital work without quality degrading between copies. In fact it would be hard to tell which is the copy and which is the original. Perhaps cloning would be a better word to describe this process?

Some food for thought….at least for me

courtesy of Far East Records