Link Latte #7

Ok – the last one was only 1/2 a… latte. This may be another 1/2… or not, depending on whether or not you see things as being 1/2 full or 1/2 empty – or simply that your glass is twice as big as it should be, and basically one big UI fuckup.

1) DIY (kindof) Plush Toys.

In which kids draw random and disturbing monsters etc, and talented people turn them into really rather good cuddly toys.

Only the blurb says “Shidonni is based on unique proprietary patented algorithms and using Microsoft Silverlight“.

Idiots.

I think this is possibly an indicator of the way digital fabbing might go though – some sort of lego thing in software that allows people to skip the learning curve that it takes to acquire the talent that it takes to do these things using a CAD program. The Catalyst in this example though is the talent of the person actually making the things. Cheating a bit – that needs to be a software task.

2) iPhone Planes

In your mind, dude:

Basically a program that makes WWII fighter plane noises based on the pitch/yaw/acceleration/whatever of your phone.

I can’t believe you did that. Brilliant. Kindof.

3) What the future will be like in 2010

Which is a scanned/photographed/transcripted kid’s book from 1972. Presumably putting it on the web like this is illegal. Presumably the author doesn’t care because he’s a sane human being with a sense of humour, and besides, people don’t buy this one that much any more. Presumably, the publishers will use this as an example of how the internet is killing their business, even though this is free advertising for something they a) don’t sell any more but b) want to stop anyone else from making copies of…

… reminds me of a cat that I used to have that ate frozen peas… to stop the other cat from getting them, even though he hated eating frozen peas and grimaced through the whole ordeal.

Idiots.

Apart from Angus (the cat) on account of Angus being one of the greatest cats ever.

Assuming of course that this is what they’re doing – it tends to be what publishers do.

4) Android to watch, Android to watch…

In which someone has persuaded his Android phone to pick up the data for “next available bus” and transmit it to his watch. This uses Open-Watch software, which is cool because you can use it for all sorts of other things as well.

There’s been a bit of a backlash against the Nexus One launch hype – it’s better at some things, worse at others… as you’d expect. The sales haven’t been great – but open-source was ever a slow-burner. The $550 disconnection charge is fucking reprehensibly criminal…

… but the killer-app with Android is that it’s open. You can do things like this watch hack without having to go begging to Apple.

The data that this watch hack is using has only just become “available” though… ie: until a couple of months ago, a company was sending cease and desist letters to anyone trying to use this data.

Idiots.

5) Bloke in Wheelchair Held up by Police Robot while 10 Police Hide like Giggling Sissies Behind Their Van

Is this “A Good Thing”?. Hard to say. I’m not entirely convinced that this isn’t a bit like conducting
police-work from within the safety of a tank.

6) Avatards

A bit like a good Bacronym… Avatards is one of those names that is so good, that you have to invent something to… fill its shoes, so to speak. In this case, it’s rather easy… avatar fanboys etc… and according to CNN (who destroyed their credibility (forever) during the Bush years)(idiots), audiences are experiencing depression when faced with… reality, when they leave the theatre.

Speaking of reality, I think this picture is particularly funny

On account of the guy on the right being caught mid-nom on a piece of pizza.

Jesus, don’t you people ever stop eating? Incredible. I’ve never seen anyone eat pizza in a movie place before… I mean the distraction of sitting next to some popcorn munching fuck does my head in, but a whole Pizza? Ber-limey.

I think this is quite interesting though – and I’m guessing that at some point in the next 10 years, a convergence of something like this and World-of-Warcraft, will see people choosing The Matrix over their real lives to the extent that their real lives start falling apart and it becoming a real problem.

Back to Copyright… (because who could resist)… apparently Cameron has done what Led Zepplin did back in the day, and allowed himself to be HEAVILY influenced by someone who’s input was not entirely given the credit it was possibly due. ie: He nicked it off the Russians.

Or did he? Guess we’ll never know eh… but rest assured if you try the same trick with Avatar, then Rupert Murdoch’s company (that owns it) will sue you back to the 14th Century, and then lobby the US govt into trying to impose the machinery for police-statehood on all countries that the US would trade with… which is all countries.

Crying all the time that the internet is killing their business, even though they’re making billions more than they’ve ever done before.

Idiots. Enemies of Humanity.

7) Google Decided to Stop Censoring Its Results In China

Which is interesting – because it’s a blow against the legitimacy of state censorship… and as the EFF predicted, Legitimacy is one of the key things that’s going to be scrapped over this year.

That’s what all this ACTA crap is about… Govts and Corporate Lobbyists colluding to try to make control of the root a morally right position for them to take.

It’s not. All power is inherently illegitimate, and needs to justify itself (at every step) to the people it governs. If a power needs to censor, then all bets are off. It’s illegitimate.

No Ifs, no fucking buts.

8) Tacky is the New Brilliant

There used to be this furniture shop in London that sold UNBELIEVABLE furniture… stuff for insane Oil-Sheiks etc. Gold Lions. Coffee Tables made out of a life-sized, nude, gold limbo-dancer holding up a massive bit of glass… and the ever-present New York skyline pictures, painted onto black velvet, and lit up from behind etc. Marvelous.

Here are a couple of others having a fair crack at it…

Glow in the Dark Sofas

And my favourite… wall-sized-digital-pictures

Although they have managed to make them look sortof tasteful, which is a shame – I’m not sure if you can use your own pictures… they have a “portfolio” of cliche-ware images… and one or two that do sortof suggest you might be able to use your own.

It would be brilliant if you could. I’d have photos of me

Or a regular day at the Taylor Household.

Obviously in the future, you’re going to be able to get e-wallpaper, and change it on a whim etc. That would rock. You could actually BE in Harry Potter land… although the Harry Potter Movies are getting darker and darker – I could hardly tell what was going on in the last one – at this rate the next one will be a totally black screen with posh voices clunking about and talking bollocks in the background… and you can already simulate that one just be turning the lights off.

9) Ok, that’s enough for now…

Two short movies to do with lego

(via)