Chris sez, “One of my favorite songwriters, Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses, 50FOOTWAVE, and solo) has founded the Coalition for Artists and Stake Holders, on the assumption that both artists and fans are stakeholders in the production of music. She’s built a framework to distribute music on the internet while taking donations (sort of Radiohead-style: pay what you want) and taking full advantage of the medium — including offering ProTools tem files via BitTorrent so you can remix her song!”

Link

(Thanks, Chris!)

Can’t see the video? Click here

Originally
from Boing Boing

by Cory Doctorow


reBlogged

on Nov 28, 2007, 6:00AM

Originally by Cory Doctorow from Boing Boing on November 27, 2007, 11:00pm

6:30 pm

Azariah’s Cafe, Mudd Library.

The Guardian reports that a genetics website encouraging people to send in swabs of their saliva began operating yesterday in a closely watched Silicon Valley venture with links to the search firm Google.

The site, 23andMe , is named after the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the human body. It claims to offer the first “personal genome service” for $999 (£488) a customer.

Using hi-tech analysis software, the company says it can read up to half a million points in an individual’s genome. The service is intended to help people understand their inherited traits and to allow them to compare themselves with friends and family.

PETER– i had no idea about google before hearing Nathan talk about their empire. looks like they are gathering more codes and data, too — PETER

Originally
from Smart Mobs

by Emily Turretini


reBlogged

on Nov 21, 2007, 6:41AM

Originally by Emily Turretini from Smart Mobs on November 20, 2007, 11:41pm

The website Eternal Sunset uses 272 west-facing webcams in over 50 countries to show a live sunset 24 hours a day. Right now, for example, we’re checking out the pastel hues over the water in Valle Gran Rey, Spain.

Now all we need is a never-ending bottle of merlot and a loop of Marvin Gaye.

Via VSL.

Originally posted by andrewprice from Good Magazine:, ReBlogged by Jenny Broutin on Nov 20, 2007 at 02:08 PM

PETER — I find this interesting because looking at the sunset on this website is a terrible experience. If anything, the technology is what is fascinating/stimulating, not the event that it renders “visible.” It makes me think about how certain technologies reappropriate our interests/stimulate us in different ways and therefore change the “meaning” of an experience –PETER

Originally
from Eyebeam reBlog

by andrewprice


reBlogged

on Nov 20, 2007, 7:08PM

Originally by andrewprice from Eyebeam reBlog on November 20, 2007, 12:08pm

Some warned of crop disaster when honeybees started to disappear. Crops didn’t fail, but farmers and beekeepers aren’t out of danger yet.

Originally from Christian Science Monitor | Sci/Tech, ReBlogged by Leah Gauthier on Nov 17, 2007 at 10:32 AM

PETER — more on the intersection between technology and natural processes, this article makes me think a lot about genetic engineering as a practice: the speed and convenience of genetically modified and grown crops does not skirt reliance on certain natural growing processes, like pollination. More crops, less variation, more intense pressures on factors we can do less to technologically augment. — PETER

Originally
from Eyebeam reBlog

reBlogged

on Nov 17, 2007, 3:32PM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on November 17, 2007, 8:32am

Engineers have begun cooling the “doomsday vault”, which aims to protect the world’s crop varieties from disaster.

Originally from BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition, ReBlogged by Leah Gauthier on Nov 17, 2007 at 10:19 AM

Originally
from Eyebeam reBlog

reBlogged

on Nov 17, 2007, 3:19PM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on November 17, 2007, 8:19am

oh yeah.

PETER — this would be a good one for roberta smith; i think she mentioned rauschenberg’s erasd dekooning — PETER

Originally
from del.icio.us/53os

by 53os


reBlogged

on Oct 29, 2007, 1:29AM

Originally by 53os from del.icio.us/53os on October 28, 2007, 6:29pm

The estimable Lorcan Dempsey of the OCLC points to a presentation by Michael Panzer (also of the OCLC) about how to “webbify” the Dewey Decimal System.

The question Michael addresses is how to take the Dewey Decimal Classification system to the “networked level,” defined as “Infrastructural improvements to make a KOS [Knowledge Organization System] web-scale accessible, to make sharing, syndicating, leveraging of its data feasible.” He begins by scoping the problem. He then talks about the issues in webbifying the DDC, which he boils down to three: URI design, caption design, and format considerations.

He proposes a scheme for URI’s (which, especially in the condensed form of a PowerPoint presentation I don’t fully understand, but are probably beyond me even if spelled out), with examples such as http://dewey.info/concept/338.4/en/edn/22/. Notice the DDC number after the “concept” designation.

Captions he acknowledges depend on context, and with Web services (Michael points out), one cannot always know the context in which one’s captions are going to be used. He also discusses the importance of maintaining the hierarchy, but the bullet points are too compressed. (Not a criticism. The PowerPoint deck wasn’t intended to be self-standing, and I don’t know enough to be able to fill in all the missing context.)

To the third point, he looks at adopting either the MARC 21 or (and?) SKOS formats.

As Duncan says, “This is part of an ongoing investigation of what it means to release more of the value of ‘classic large-scale vocabularies’ in a web environment.” There’s lots of info packed into Dewey’s system. How can we best liberate that info?

[Tags: dewey_decimal_system libraries kos michael_panzer]

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PETER — i thought MATT might find this interesting — PETER

Originally
from Everything is Miscellaneous

by David Weinberger


reBlogged

on Nov 12, 2007, 11:39PM

Originally by David Weinberger from Everything is Miscellaneous on November 12, 2007, 4:39pm

Holy Schmoly, this is going to be interesting…A giant SUV just won the Green Car of the Year Award and I think my brain might explode.

We think the Tahoe is a kinda lame vehicle, just like the Excursion and the Sequoia and all the other too-big, too-powerful SUVs. But the fact is, no one can stop car companies from making them if people want to buy them. And people do want to buy them — almost a third of cars sold are still large SUVs. As much as that sucks, we can’t stop it without government intervention…and we’re still waiting to see how that turns out.

So as long as people are buying these behemoths to haul their yachts up 17% grades at 70 mph (or get the kids home from school…y’know…whichever) it’s probably a good idea to try and make them more fuel-efficient. And the Chevy Tahoe 2 Mode hybrid absolutely does that.

I suppose that’s why the Chevy Tahoe 2 Mode Hybrid became the "Green Car of the Year." It’s really strange to see such a colossal vehicle getting strapped with that label, but it’s also hard to deny the power of the innovations that make this radical increase in fuel efficiency possible.

PETER — bogus! one thing I can’t stand about green SUV’s (like to piles of shit that safety and security cruise around in) is that the mentality of driving a large car is >.5 the problem. the idea of more, larger cars on the road is terrorism; sacking any progressive ideals about commuting and alternative transportation (bikes, segways, etc). i want to put a hole through the windshield of about 35% of all the SUVS i see, just based on the way these people drive their vehicles –PETER

Originally
from EcoGeek.org

by Hank Green


reBlogged

on Nov 15, 2007, 5:53PM

Originally by Hank Green from EcoGeek.org on November 15, 2007, 10:53am