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July 29
2010

Keeping it in the (Philly) family: http://veganphilly.com / @vegan_philly need a home /cc: @maccheese @onthevedge

Comments [0]

Okay, so I have a problem. I buy domains. Lots of them. Sometimes I buy them to start a website and use it. Sometimes I buy them to start a website I want to see but can't do anything else with because of time or knowledge constraints. Unfortunately, I'm facing the latter situation with veganphilly.com and its sister Twitter account, @vegan_philly.

I bought the domain because I've seen squatters snatch up Philly-ish domains in the past, and thought there would be a good audience for a Philly-oriented site about vegan and similar lifestyles. I'm still confident that the audience is there, especially considering the wonderful content at places like Living On the Vedge, Urban Vegan, and Mac & Cheese.

I bought a domain so some schmuck wouldn't buy it and automate ads on it. But now I can't really build it out like I wanted to. So I'm asking Philly if you folks have any interest in using the domain to somehow aggregate the wonderful community of vegan and vegetarian foodies, or start a blog of your own. Let me be very clear: I'm not looking to sell the domain. In fact, I'll renew it for another year before I turn it over to its new owner.

All I ask is that some peeps find or make a cool page for it. It's hosted at Tumblr right now but that's obviously not set in stone.

Hopefully someone will foster this cute little website/idea/whatevs. If you're interested, contact me at joe AT joebeta DOT com.

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July 29
2010
Filed under:  

CAPTCHA
  Image
  Twitter
 

Naughty Twitter captcha provided me with some morning lolz [Image]

Comments [0]

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July 28
2010
Filed under:  

Ars Technica
  CNET
  Dell
  Dell Streak
  Facebook
  Google
  Google Me
  Random Stupid Theory
  Rumor
  Social Gaming
  Zynga
 

Random Stupid Theory: "Google Me" will be a location-focused social gaming platform tailored to the mobile space

Comments [1]

logo1w.png
Ars Technica reported today that Google is working on a social gaming service.

This follows their previous rumors that the search and advertising giant invested in Zynga is working on something it hopes will be a Facebook killer, dubbed by the rumor mill as "Google Me."

My random stupid theory is that the big G is going to dive into social gaming, but use location and check-ins as a central feature, all while optimizing the experience for (and perhaps tailoring it to) a mobile experience, whether it be handsets, iPads, or Dell Streaks.

Sources: Ars Technica | CNET

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July 27
2010
Filed under:  

Design
  Flavors.me
  Gallery
  Image
  Meta
 

Amazed at how good my @flavorsme site looks on my Pre's browser. @flavorsme does great stuff. [Gallery]

Comments [0]

I'm constantly messing with it, particularly the background photo, which the Pre's browser either semi-intelligently refuses to load or stupidly just chokes on because the file is really large.

Check it out at http://test.joebeta.com and click the link in the lower left corner to try their service for yourself.

           

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July 27
2010
Filed under:  

Clothes
  Epic Want of the Week
  Movies
  The Princess Bride
  ThinkGeek
 

Epic Want of the Week: "Miracle Max's Pharmacy" Shirt -- via @thinkgeek [Clothes]

Comments [0]

via thinkgeek.com

$16 - $18 beans for this lovely t-shirt is reasonable to me.

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July 27
2010
Filed under:  

New Jersey
  Philly.com
 

Insurance co. wastes time trying to convert haters of NJ -- via @phillydotcom

Comments [0]

via philly.com

The futile effort is headquartered at jerseydoesntstink.com. Many people generally, and many Philadelphians specifically, will always possess a special hatred for New Jersey drivers, accents, and residents in general.

It's hard to quantify, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind.

Source: Philly.com

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July 27
2010
Filed under:  

Privacy
  Quick Quote
  RFID
  Wal-Mart
  Wall Street Journal
  Wikipedia
 

Quick Quote: Wal-Mart giving away RFID tags, just buy some undies -- via @WSJ [Privacy]

Comments [0]

While the tags can be removed from clothing and packages, they can't be turned off, and they are trackable. Some privacy advocates hypothesize that unscrupulous marketers or criminals will be able to drive by consumers' homes and scan their garbage to discover what they have recently bought.
via online.wsj.com

Read more about RFIDs at Wikipedia, but basically they're little tags that can be read remotely from a limited distance and are used by retailers to track physical inventory.

They cost about a dollar and you can buy them here, but why pay when you can pull 'em off your skivvies.

The privacy concerns are real, but probably not as big an issue in this case since the information seems to identify the brand and possibly the specific store location from which the items were purchased.

As long as people are telling consumers there are RFID tags in their merchandise, and offering a brief definition of what they can do, things look okay.

I get nervous about the seeming proliferation of these tags, and whether or not a time will come when they near ubiquity and consumers aren't made properly aware of their presence in most merchandise.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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July 26
2010
Filed under:  

Copyright
  DRM
  Engadget
  Fifth Circuit
  Fifth Circuit
  Intellectual Property
  Library of Congress
  Mashups
  Nilay Patel
 

5th Cir. decision narrows restrictive power of DRM within that circuit's jurisdiction, but... -- by @reckless on @engadget [Copyright]

Comments [0]

I mentioned earlier today that updated rules from the Library of Congress mean it's okay to jailbreak phones, use brief clips from movies in your own mashups, and drag your unlocked phone to any carrier you want.

Engadget Managing Editor and recovering patent attorney Nilay Patel offers some great insight on the opinion (a PDF of which is included in this post), from the Fifth Circuit. The decision limits the restrictive power of digital rights management (DRM) constructs aimed at preventing unauthorized copying of copyrighted works, but it doesn't invalidate them.

While on the one hand, as my headline suggests, the restriction is narrower following the ruling, Patel's analysis focuses on reminding everyone of a very important distinction, and the whole post is worth a read, for background facts and more of Patel's cogent reading of the opinion.

His main point, as I read it, is that yes, people in Fifth Circuit jurisdictions (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) could theoretically rip a movie clip from a DVD for use in their own video mashup (something also okay under the aforementioned Library of Congress rule change) BUT:

it's still very much illegal to strip copy protection DRM off a video in order to transfer it to a portable media player, for example, since you're making an unauthorized copy. It's a subtle, but extremely important distinction.

Source: Engadget  

 

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July 26
2010
Filed under:  

Boing Boing
  Copyright
  Cory Doctorow
  DRM
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  Intellectual Property
  Jailbreaking
  Law
  US Copyright Office
 

Quick Quote: @EFF convinces Copyright Office to OK jailbreaking, mashups, more -- via BoingBoing by @doctorow [Law]

Comments [0]

EFF had applied to the Copyright Office to grant exemptions permitting the cracking of DRM in three cases: first, to "jailbreak" a mobile device, such as an iPhone, where DRM is used to prevent phone owners from running software of their own choosing; second, to allow video remix artists to break the DRM on DVDs in order to take short excerpts for mashups posted to YouTube and other sharing sites; finally EFF got the Copyright Office to renew its ruling that made it illegal to unlock cellphones so that they can be used with any carrier.
via boingboing.net

I haven't read the EFF press release Doctorow is writing about here, but a cursory read of his article indicates that this development should water down that pirate flavoring attendant upon activities like jailbreaking phones and ripping video from DVDs for limited use in derivative works.

Unfortunately, Doctorow also mentions that the odd US logic seemingly retracted by these moves by the Copyright Office is still being supported in US influence on foreign copyright policy. Read his article at Boing Boing for more on that.

Via: Boing Boing
Source: EFF

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July 26
2010
Filed under:  

@NYTimes
  Joe Ross of the Week
  New York Times
  Quote
 

Joe Ross of the Week: Old Joe Ross, the Butternut (1863) -- via @NYTimes [Quote]

Comments [0]

Old JOE ROSS, of Montgomery, Hamilton County, had all his horses taken by MORGAN. JOE is a Butternut. It is said he swore so hard that the atmosphere was blue around his locality.

via nytimes.com

A "butternut" is a confederate sympathizer or soldier, I believe. [Wikipedia]

That Morgan, what a bastard. We may never know if he was apprehended after his Ohio-based crimes, but the year 1863 was never the same.

Tensions between butternuts and Union folk must have been running high that year, with Lincoln having signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January. [Wikipedia]

Source: New York Times

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