Inside the shadowy underworld where rogue employees sell holes in their companies' software. The buyers: security firms, mobsters, and -- surprise -- the U.S. government.

Fear of a Black Hat

Traffic engineers are rather obscure characters, though their work influences our lives every day. A geographic survey of East Lansing, Michigan, for example, once found that more than 50 percent of the retail district was dedicated to “automobile space”—parking, roads, and the like. By and large, the design and management of this space is handed over to traffic engineers, and our behavior in it is heavily influenced by their ­decisions.

In the last few years, however, one traffic engineer did achieve a measure of global celebrity, known, if not exactly by name, then by his ideas. His name was Hans Monderman. The idea that made Monderman, who died of cancer in January at the age of 62, most famous is that traditional traffic safety ­infra­structure—­warning signs, traffic lights, metal railings, curbs, painted lines, speed bumps, and so ­on—­is not only often unnecessary, but can endanger those it is meant to protect.

The Traffic Guru

The radio pundit has a bad time doing TV.

Found Objects: Laura Ingraham

California led the U.S. into the worst housing recession since the 1930s. Now the most populous state may be the first to find the bottom.

In Stockton, the U.S. metro area with the highest foreclosure rate, home sales more than doubled in the second quarter after prices fell by an average 37 percent.

From the archive:

Because all asset hyperinflations revert to the mean, we can expect housing prices to decline roughly 38 percent from their peak as they return to something closer to the historical rate of monetary inflation. If the rate of decline stabilizes at between 6 and 7 percent each year, the correction has about six years to go before things stabilize, leaving the FIRE economy in need of $12 trillion. Where will that money come from?

California's Discount Foreclosure Sales Point to Housing Bottom

Fallingwater has always been my preferred work from one of my favourite architects: Frank Lloyd Wright. I remember seeing and admiring this building in some history book from school since I was a child. There was a photo of its outside with that characteristic point of view: the fall in the foreground and the deep forest surrounding the house. At 13 or 14 years old it seemed to me a very modern construction, almost futuristic; later it surprised me to find out that it dates from the Thirties of the Twenty Century.

With this animation project I have tried to understand —and to explain at the same time— how this house was built, showing its internal structure and offering points of view not so well-known or disclosed. I hope you enjoy it.

Fallingwater

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States is fighting wars in which the effective communication of ideas and information is vital. Strategists in both these conflicts increasingly share with classic counterinsurgency theorists a keen appreciation that they are fighting for the support of the population, and that communication is a key part of the struggle.

This article sets out to explore the ramifications of this feature of modern war. Communications may be vital, but how should the operational and tactical commander use them to best advantage? Why have US military and civilian authorities found effective communication so difficult in the current struggle against militant Islamism?

Waging Communication War

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said falling U.S. home prices are "nowhere near the bottom" and the resulting market turmoil isn't showing signs of abating.

Greenspan Says Housing Prices Not Yet Near Bottom

In terms of strategy, Grantham summarizes his view in what he believes should be investors' motto: "Don't be brave, run away. Live to fight another day."

Specifically, as far as house prices are concerned Grantham looks at the ratio of US median house prices to family income and states: "In order for house prices to reach normal from here, they must either decline 17% immediately or experience four flat years while income catches up, or some combination." Even more worrying, however, is the normal tendency for bubbles to overrun on the downside.

Jeremy Grantham: "I'm officially scared!"

On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. James Marsh’s documentary brings Petit’s extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as “the artistic crime of the century.”

Man On Wire

Remember that great application that used to come with all Macs called HyperCard? Ever wished it would return, only better? Well say hello to TileStack! Here's a video that explains everything:

TileStack - Your Creative Playground