] The 8bitpeoples first came together in 1999 as a collective of artists sharing
] a common love for classic videogames and an approach to music which
] reflected this obsession. Our primary interests were to provide quality music
] for free and most importantly to have fun. In the years since, we have grown
] in rank and expanded our goals.

[ Check it out, kiddies. Boingboing had a linkup to their Christmas album (the standout of which is the First Noel interpretation, btw), but there's a veritable fuckton of other stuff on here. The trash80 release hologram is particularly excellent, and i say that without any qualifications like "considering the theme" or whatever. Just plain good. I haven't gotten thru all the tracks i downloaded (starting from the most recent release) but I've been very pleased so far... enough that I'll pick up some of their minicd's just to show support. If you like music, particularly the "electronic" kind, do yerself a favor. -k]

8bitpeoples

] But bloggers who want to remedy what ails the corporate
] McMedia monopoly should grab a clue from Chris Allbritton
] and haul their larval, jack-studded flesh up out of their
] Matrix-like pods and do some goddamn reporting instead of
] just getting all meta about Instapundit%u2019s post about
] The Daily Kos%u2019s post about Little Green
] Footballs%u2019s post about the vast left-wing media
] conspiracy%u2019s latest act of high treason. It%u2019s
] the Yertle the Turtle syndrome: Pundits stacked on top of
] pundits on top of pundits, all the way down, and, at the
] very bottom of the heap, the lowly hack who kicked off
] the whole frenzy of intertextuality: the reporter who
] dared venture out of the media airlock to collect some
] samples of Actual, Reported Fact.

[ This is a fantastic article which is as interesting as a compendium of neat links as it is a well thought out anaysis of the good and bad in the realm of the blogs... read it. -k]

Shovelware

] Outside the snow is blowing sideways, but inside there's
] a rainforest, a Balinese lagoon and people in swimsuits.
] This is Tropical Islands, a huge covered resort brought
] to eastern Germany courtesy of a Malaysian entrepreneur
] and a failed plan to transport freight in zeppelins.

Tim Dowling visits Tropical Islands - a new indoor resort in Germany

] The 26-year-old Owens is an Anchorage-area steelworker by
] day. In his own time, he's hoping to become the creator
] of a true "mecha"--not a robot, exactly, but a gigantic
] exoskeleton that can transform its wearer's motions into
] eight-foot strides and the devastating sweep of a steel
] fist.

Giant robots in the backyard | CNET News.com

] So the other day a UPS driver in New Hampshire was on his
] way to the Cheshire Medical Center in Keene to deliver
] some much-needed parts for a piece of medical equipment
] when he got into a crash. He suffered a head injury and
] was taken by ambulance to the very same hospital he was
] headed to, but they weren't able to do any of the
] tests they needed because the brain scan machine was
] broken -- and the parts needed to fix it were sitting
] in his wrecked truck on the highway. If only there were
] some word to describe situations like these...

[ Wow. -k]

Cruel coincidence befalls UPS driver

] It's a material chemist's version of the riddle of the
] Sphinx: What substance can conduct electricity like a
] metal, yet also stretch like a rubber band?
]
]
] Earlier this year, a team of researchers at a Blacksburg,
] Virginia company called NanoSonic found the answer in
] Metal Rubber, a filmy brown material that can extend to
] three times its original length and conduct electricity
] as well as a bar of steel, says NanoSonic founder Dr.
] Rick Claus.

[ Neat! -k]

Welcome to Technology Review

] The Inuit plan is part of a broader shift in the debate
] over human-caused climate change evident among
] participants in the 10th round of international talks
] taking place in Buenos Aires aimed at averting dangerous
] human interference with the climate system.
]
] ...
]
] Representatives of poor countries and communities - from
] the Arctic fringes to the atolls of the tropics to the
] flanks of the Himalayas - say they are imperiled by
] rising temperatures and seas through no fault of their
] own. They are casting the issue as no longer simply an
] environmental problem but as an assault on their basic
] human rights.

[ I think this is good. Environmental impacts directly affect the quality of our most fundamental human rights, and it makes sense to say so.

I also like the "Cooler Heads Coalition" as a name for guys who oppose cutting emissions. It's very clever how it uses the word "cool" which opposes the "warming" under debate, and also implicitly defines the environmental groups as crazy radicals. -k]

Eskimos Seek to Recast Global Warming as a Rights Issue

] Plenty of Treo 650 owners were cheesed off that palmOne
] released their new smartphone without support for their
] WiFi SD card.
] They've promised to get around to supporting it
] sooner or later, but you know how impatient those hackers
] can be, and so hot on the heels of his fine work to
] uncripple the Bluetooth on Sprint%u2019s version of the
] Treo 650 so you can use it as a wireless laptop modem,
] "Shadowmite" has figured out a way to hack the
] driver for the SD WiFi card so it'll work with the
] Treo 650, too (the hacked driver is hosted here).
] Hugeness, of course.

Add WiFi to your Treo 650! SD WiFi card drivers hacked - Engadget - www.engadget.com

] Shut Up Already
]
] After reading a story in the NYT, Jim's wife Heidi came
] up with a method to fight back against the obnoxious cell
] phone users that we all have to deal with in stores,
] restaurants, trains and pretty much everywhere else. Can
] design ride to the rescue? Jim and the incomparable Aaron
] Draplin think it can. So, as a public service, we
] introduce the reasonably polite SHHH, the Society for
] HandHeld Hushing.

[ Awesome! -k]

Coudal Partners

] EPIC FOIA Request Shows Postal Machines Take, Store
] Photos. Documents (pdf 1.9 MB) obtained by EPIC under the
] Freedom of Information Act show that new Postal Service
] self-service postage machines take portrait-style
] photographs of customers and retain them for 30 days on a
] Windows XP platform. One document reads, "Camera required
] by FAA. Privacy Office is requiring a notice for
] customers, advising that photograph may be taken during
] the transaction."

[ Not sure if it's big news yet, but there's a lot of privacy oriented folks up in here that may be interested to read this... -k]

EPIC Postal Privacy Page