September 2007
43 posts
New AT&T terms of service: We'll cut off your... →
From now on, AT&T can terminate your connection for conduct that ‘tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.’ So AT&T customers aren’t allowed to write/podcast/vlog critical things about AT&T, its billing-practices, or its cooperation with illegal NSA wiretapping, on pain of having their connections disconnected.
The "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks →
Altered iPhones Freeze Up →
“I don’t blame them for fighting the unlocks,” said Brian Lam, editor of Gizmodo, a blog devoted to gadgets. “They are trying to make money, as a business. I get that.” Still, he said, that disabling someone’s phone, “instead of just relocking it and to wipe out the apps, it seems like Apple is going way too far; I’d call it uncharacteristically evil.”
Burma's hour of need →
“Fine words are not enough. The international community must find a coherent strategy to deal with the generals - and China is the key.”
Interview with Ridley Scott, Blade Runner: The... →
Ridley Scott’s final retake on Blade Runner, the influential 1982 film adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, will be released to select theaters in October followed by a DVD in December. The 1992 “director’s cut,” was a triumph of future noir, a film that stands the test of time more than almost any other science fiction...
EINSTEIN: AN EDGE SYMPOSIUM: Brian Greene, Walter... →
Is That Big Brother in Your Pocket, or Are You... →
While most courts considering the issue have held that police need “probable cause” to track your movements, a new decision last week out of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts holds that law enforcement need show only “relevance to an ongoing investigation” to get a historical record of your past movement… (via Boing Boing)
“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.”
– Marie Curie
An MIT student wanted to stand out on career day... →
Bush & Sons, General Contractors →
iPhone & iPod: contain or disengage? →
… Apple has to always remember that simply making money CANNOT be its point of existence. The point of any company should be to make customers want to give it money, NOT to get money from customers. It’s a subtle distinction that is the difference between good and evil.
“The View” co-host doesn’t know if the world is... →
Absolutely, utterly surreal
“Partnerships take a lot of work - you want to go out on a few dates before you...”
– Steve Jobs on building carrier partnerships in support of iPhone
Guns, not roses, for Iraq →
“Iraq is becoming one of the United States’ larger foreign military sales customers,” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 11, noting that Iraq has inked deals to buy $1.6 billion in arms from the U.S., with the “possibility of up to $1.8 billion more.”
TV Torrents: When 'piracy' is easier than legal... →
Geostationary Banana Over Texas →
(via Boing Boing)
Canadian gov't convenes secret net-tapping inquiry →
And for those of you in the US, the EFF has launched stopthespying.org.
Steven Pinker: A brief history of violence (video) →
In a preview of his next book, Steven Pinker takes on violence. We live in violent times, an era of heightened warfare, genocide and senseless crime. Or so we’ve come to believe. Pinker charts a history of violence from Biblical times through the present, and says modern society has a little less to feel guilty about.
iPhone hackers release free AT&T unlock kit →
“Finally, you can unlock your iPhone from AT&T’s network using easily available online tools, without having to do any work on the hardware, for free (free as in no money, nada, zip).”
France at the UN: Step up on Iraq →
China’s cyber army is preparing to march on... →
Sami Saydjari, who has been working on cyber defence systems for the Pentagon since the 1980s, told Congress in testimony on April 25 that a mass cyber attack could leave 70 per cent of the US without electrical power for six months.
Phoenix police burn down a house and kill puppy... →
Further evidence of the continued militarization of US law enforcement
“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize...”
– Bertrand Russell
“Politics has, like, jacked itself up to my level of weirdness,” Gibson...”
– William Gibson on US politics in an interview with the Washington Post
Patriotism: A Negative Assessment →
Reactee - Cause a Reaction (shirts that text back) →
Rick Rubin Sez: “My Beard Shall Replace The iPod!” →
The Epidemiology of Virtual Worlds and Our Own →
