Author: Gabrielle Taylor
Chinese Internet users rail against the Great Firewall
In response to images of the Tiananmen Square massacre being posted on Flickr, China has banned Flickr access. “I just want to look at some photos! What’s wrong with that?” said 24-year-old accountant Yang Zhou, who discovered the ban when he went to Flickr to browse his friend’s holiday snaps. “Of course, [privacy is] the first thing people seek when they have the economic resources,” said Nicholas Bequelin from Hong Kong-based Human Rights Watch. “We see this growing in China in the wake of ideas of ownership and property.” Reuters has video coverage of global privacy issues. [GT]
China Web users rage against Great Firewall
Related posts
Chinese Wikipedia unblocked, becomes second fastest growing version
Chinese scientists continue thumbing nose at nature
Nude web chats are fine, thanks to Chinese law loophole
RedPost/Kit: DIY digital photo frame
RedPost/Kit is a DIY photo frame which comes with a 19″ LCD monitor, a USB flash drive running Damn Small Linux, built-in 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, and a 200MHz fanless x86 CPU with 128MB on board memory. You can either load pictures to it over your network via Samba, or point it at a photo web site. Comes in six colours (if “unpainted” is a colour; they felt some would want to customize the frame personally) and is VESA mount compatible. $549. I want. [GT]
RedPost/Kit’s birth announcement (via Engadget)
Related posts
Shiny Video Review: i-mate Momento 100 WiFi Digital Photo Frame
Aluratek Digital Lifestyle Device – high-definition photo frame
AG Neovo launch V-10 digital picture frame
Shape Memory Alloys to change future of clothing?
Shape Memory Alloys expand or contract depending on whether you superheat or supercool them, and when they return to normal temperature, they retain the changes. Philips has the hot (or cool) idea of using SMAs as the base in clothing, meaning that instead of your having to wear a shirt that bags at the underarms or is too tight around the neck, one zap would make it fit you perfectly in both places, no tailoring required. The alloys would also be recyclable in more sophisticated ways than the typical hand-me-down method, not to mention that the clothes would simply last a lot longer. Fashionistas could get a discount for swapping in their old Manolos against a spiffy new pair, and know last season’s goods would be broken down into good-cause goo. [GT]
Controllable surface area fabric (via Wired)
Related posts
LumiGram fiber optic clothing
Solar Powered Trackable Clothing
Phone and iPod integrated into Motorola/Burton jacket
All your Oppai Baka are belong to us
The latest offering from Japanese game company OLE is called Oppai Baka, and sports an unusual advertising campaign involving a life-sized cardboard girl with a life-sized 3D chest. “Squeeze all you want”! the sign encourages. Oppai Baka translates more or less as “crazy for boobies”, and the OLE site points out that “This commodity is a game for people who like boob”. Republicans, perhaps. [GT]
Oppai Baka (via Tokyo Times)
Related posts
Your own virtual girlfriend – V Girl
Sex talk on your iPod
Sex no longer the most popular web search
Women love the DSLRs, says PMA
According to a new report from the Photo Marketing Association, the primary digital SLR (single-lens reflex) user in the United States is a woman 51 percent of the time among those surveyed. Though, er, since women make up 51% of the population, that’s not that surprising a statistic. More interesting is the statistic that among those households where women are the primary user, the average annual income is at least $75,000, and they’re much more likely than most to have children under 6 years old. In short: moms love to snap. Surprise! [GT]
U.S. women go for digital SLRs
Related posts
Mio launches H610 – the personal travel assistant for women
Online gaming: Women outnumber the men
Mobile usage shock: women are emotional, men are egotistical
Rideable vacuum cleaner by Kristina Andersson
The concept behind the concept of the rideable vacuum cleaner is that children will want to help clean the house by riding on the vacuum. (So would I!) There are a few bugs with this system, however, like no indication as to how the child is supposed to control the vacuum, or indication of how well the vacuum performs, or how it is powered, or notice of how much weight the vacuum can take for when the adult (me me me!) decides to take a spin on it and breaks it. (Whoops!) [GT]
Rideable Vacuum Cleaner by Kristina Andersson (via CrunchGear)
Related posts
LG’s talking vacuum cleaners
Wany’s robot vacuum cleaner
Floating vacuum cleaner
Hitachi RFID dust to track your family jewels
If you’re worried about your jewelry catching unwanted attention from would-be thieves, you’ll be happy to know Hitachi is right on the problem. They’re working with jewelers to embed their almost-invisibly-small RFID dust in rings, watches, necklaces, and other small stealables, so that they can be easily tracked and selling them is more difficult. Each chip has a unique 38-digit number which is integrated into the circuitry, and broadcasts to a special receiver. (Logically the easiest way around these is simply to short out the RFID chip and claim it doesn’t have the identifier in the first place.) Somewhat unexpectedly, Wal-Mart plans to be among the first to debut the technology, presumably more to avert shoplifting than handsome and daring cat burglars who will also make sweet sweet love to you before vanishing with your heart and a handful of family jewels. [GT]
Radio tags could make jewelry more secure (via Red Ferret)
Related posts
RFID chips in surgical sponges
Kodak sez, eat this RFID
UK is number 2 for RFID usage
Vivolium is made of PEOPLE! Yes Men crash petroleum conference
“Without oil,” said Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men, posing as Shepard Wolff of the Natural Petroleum Council, “we could no longer produce or transport food, and most of humanity would starve. That would be a tragedy, but at least all those bodies could be turned into fuel for the rest of us.” This lecture was delivered as a $45 keynote luncheon at Gas and Oil Exposition 2007 in Calgary, Alberta. It was expected to contain a statement on US-Canadian energy policy, not a performance piece on turning corpses into Vivolium. [GT]
Oil executives duped by impostors
Related posts
Chinese scientists continue thumbing nose at nature
Nanotechnology the key to clean economy
Picard solar bag puts a solar fist in a leather glove
American doctors formally declare videogames 'addictive'
The American Medical Association is on the verge of recognizing ‘Internet/video game addiction’ as a diagnosable disorder, part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV, which can be used as a legal defense, and treated with drugs. It also encourages funding examination of the effects of video games and Internet usage on those under the age of 18, and limiting use or playing to 1-2 hours per day, tops. This is both correct and stupid, as these things are wont to be. [GT]
American Doctors Want Videogame ‘Addiction’ Recognised
Related posts
Brits addicted to email
Are you addicted to your gadgets?
China declares war on MMORPG addiction
Fumakilla invites you to urinate on their message
Intended to improve aim as well as deliver targeted results, so to speak, Japanese bug spray Fumakilla has a new ad campaign being played out in men’s lavatories. They’ve put stickers of a fly in rifle crosshairs in the urinals. When whizzed on, the stickers, printed with a layer of heat-sensitive ink developed by Pilot Ink, change to show an advertising message. Fumakilla also has a website where you can practice in their Flash game (probably not that kind of flashing). [GT]
Heat-sensitive urinal stickers as bug spray marketing gimmick
Related posts
After a few beers, just what you need: talking urinals
Urinal, the videogame
Fragrant smelling urinals – they are taking the piss
