Month: July 2007

Web Joost

An independent developer has built a Flash version of Joost that runs in any browser. Sure, he doesn’t have access to any of the Joost content, but what he’s built is basically a proof-of-concept using Joost graphics and improving on the UI, using publicly available video from sites like YouTube and Veoh.

it is built on XUL, duh

Online to Offline

A dude on the internet referred to Russell Tavares as “a nerd” in an online trollfight. In one of the more dramatic tales of internet rage we’ve seen lately, the 27-year-old Tavares, who believed himself to not be a nerd, hopped in his car and sped off 2100 km from Virginia to Texas, where the name-caller lived. Tavares photographed road snapshots along his route, and posted the images online, as if to prove to his internet peers that he was not a luzer. When he got to there, he burned the dude’s trailer down. Tavares has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for arson.

such a nerd. OOOPS

The human sensor web

Getting location-aware mobile devices to contribute data to such networks means less work for humans, as there is no need to manually georeference the data. The easiest milestone on this road (pardon the pun) is live traffic reporting, as it doesn’t require the active participation of a human beyond driving. In the future, if TomsTom get the ability to transmit live telemetrics on busy highways via wireless data networks, you might start saving lives if a traffic accident in dense fog involving a TomTom-equipped car is reported in time to those following soon after.

a new page of headmap is turned

Maps Spam

It is important for public confidence that Google not only take care of these listings immediately by removing them but that they implement a better system for preventing these types of entries in the future.

with success comes spam. we are on it though.

Arcade Recruiting

The US Army has developed a stand-up arcade version of its video-game “America’s Army” and it will seed it in arcades around the country. This is straight out of a science fiction novel, but what would be even more skiffy is if they were to put these in arcades outside of the US. I’m surprised they’re charging to play these games — the natural thing would be to make these the only free games in the arcade, so the poorest and most desperate kids would dominate them, absorbing messages about signing up.

straight out of starship troopers

Flash Earth

Flash Earth is a Flash-based, zoomable map of the world using satellite and aerial imagery from several mapping websites including Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth (Windows Live Local Maps), Yahoo! Maps, Ask.com Maps, OpenLayers and NASA JPL OnEarth (MODIS Terra satellite updated daily)

uses gmaps, y!, ms, and nasa imagery

Rhizome Creative Commons

Rhizome is proud to announce its integration of Creative Commons licenses into its online archive of art, the Artbase. As of today, artists have the option to license their work under Creative Commons Licenses. This suite of licenses allows creators to shift the terms of copyright from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved,” therefore enabling authors, scientists, educators and artists, amongst others, to mark their creative works with the cultural freedoms they abide by. Rhizome’s hope is that through the use of these licenses, artists will have greater access to each others’ work in furtherance of their goals.

fred benenson, basically