[HA! It's a dictionary cart for the NintendoDS... what a great name. -k]

TOUCH-DIC

"I'm sorry to say it's not true - Gabriel wasn't actually able to see the film - but a healthy number of people will be watching it next week while I wail and clutch my boxed set. I clicked the link the moment I knew about it, but by that time a wave of browncoats had already crashed over the limited supply and absorbed every ticket.

I must have grieved for an hour. There is nothing I want more than to hear those beloved characters swearing in Chinese.

Those gifted with prescience or whatever, the ones who will caper and exult in the preview theaters, I hope they understand that there are some secrets propriety demands they hold until the film is actually released. I mean it. If you come up to me at San Diego and tell me "so and so is a robot" or some shit I will buy a bat'leth and I will cut you in fucking half. They sell things like that at the convention, legendary weapons, and believe me when I say that being rent stem to stern by a Klingon warblade is probably the least exotic death I could manufacture under the circumstances. "

[ Classic Tycho. Also, let me echo the sentiment. Death will come quickly to anyone who ruins this for me. I was tempted to not even watch the trailer, but passion got the better of discretion. Goddamn. May 5th is a lot sooner than September 30th. -k]

Penny Arcade - on Serenity

] In order to make RFID technology safer, the State
] Department claims to be planning two things. First, they
] say will put a metallic lining inside RFID passport
] covers -- a tinfoil hat, so to speak -- to prevent the
] passport from being snooped when closed. In addition,
] they claim the RFID chip itself will be encrypted so that
] it cannot be read when the passport is open: the chip
] will only broadcast your personal information once it's
] been swiped through an optical reader.

[ They did exactly what we all thought of. This site is pretty sensational, but still, more than anything this whole debacle is fucking pointless. Even if storing electronic data is necessary, why aren't we using smartcard contact chips again? Oh, yeah, lobbies. Crap. -k]

State Dep't is all 'Oh, yeah, good point.'

[ All I can say is this : FUCK YEAH. Firefly was the best SciFi show ever. Period. This may be appeasement by the evil overlords at Fox, for cancelling everything good, but I'll take what I can get. It looks pretty shit hot to me. -k]

Apple - Trailers - Serenity - index

] The distractions of constant emails, text and phone
] messages are a greater threat to IQ and concentration
] than taking cannabis, according to a survey of befuddled
] volunteers.

[ No surprise here. -k]

Emails 'pose threat to IQ'

Craigs list Google map surfer. I'd heard about this, but now that I've played with it it actually seems pretty useful.

[ Yeah, I like it. -k]

Housing

[ Interesting interview with Richard Florida on "The Flight of the Creative Class" regarding the imperative to structure our cities in ways that attract and retain this creative class, which apparently consists primarily of relatively young, progressive, and often foreign workers. -k]

Salon.com Books | The gay/hipster index

] We've barely moved forward since those days of word
] processors and spreadsheets. Since 1988, the only major
] new software categories that have been created are email,
] IM, browsers and blogging tools. For all the flack, noise
] and supposed development -- we have barely innovated
] the initial concept of what a tool is.

The New Paradigm of Tools

] The Ambient Office Dashboard is one of those desktop
] gadgets you didn't know you needed.

I really like this. Its three analog dials that are controlled by the pager network. I hope they release an SDK.

[ Meh. This has been floating around for eternity. I thought meh the first time i heard it too. It's got a retro chic aspect due to being analog, and it's all very artistic, but I'm not sure there are 3 things so important, above all others, that I need instant access to them (but only when I'm at my desk). In the world of SMS, RSS, and nearly ubiquitous net access, it seems kinda pointless.

But I guess maybe that's the point, actually... just another option among many. The article sums up my disinterest perfectly, if unknowingly : "How neat to have a needle tell us it’s sunny out!" Indeed... panes of glass are so yesterday, and don't get me started on weather.com, yahoo stocks, and outlook... pish. -k]

First Look at Ambient Devices Office Dashboard - The Wireless Weblog - wireless.weblogsinc.com _

] Initially, police will place six cameras in the Cleveland
] Park area of east Nashville and also downtown in the
] tourist-heavy Second Avenue and Broadway district.
]
] If the system works out, the department plans to buy more
] cameras and build a more expansive network throughout the
] city.

There were planning to record audio as well, but apparently they couldn't defend that politically. Soon everywhere you go outside the police will be watching you. Better be carefull about loitering in a parking lot. Especially if you look like you might be young or not sufficiently white or otherwise undesirable. I wonder if they'll start following people from bars back to their cars and radio dispatch to pull them over?

This isn't going on in Nashville because it is particularly needed in Nashville. Its going on in Nashville because people in Nashville aren't willing to resist it.

Nashville Police to install city wide video surveillance system.