01 6 / 2012
So Much for Sharing His ‘Like’ - NYTimes.com
Sponsored stories resulted in what initially seemed like a potentially damaging class-action lawsuit in California, though last month the company announced its intention to settle out of court.
In filing the case, in United States District Court, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the company had been unfair and deceptive in deploying users’ names and pictures in advertising without consent. In its defense, Facebook took a press-freedom approach, saying it did not need consent because sponsored stories were actually “news,” because all Facebook users were public figures to their friends. Details of the tentative settlement were not disclosed.
07 5 / 2012
Stylish framing solution for vinyl cover art that holds both the record and sleeve and allows you to easily and quickly change the display or play the record.
(via Welcome to ART VINYL)
01 5 / 2012
Hell yes. Listen to John Peel’s legendary vinyl collection! This is exciting stuff for crate diggers around the world. Says the archive director Tom Barker:
After some deliberation we decided that the best way to start the process was to release the details of the first 100 albums, listed alphabetically, from each letter of the alphabet each week. So on 1st May we will release the first 100 A’s, on 8th May the first 100 B’s, 15th May first 100 C’s, and so on.
We also hope that by doing it on a week by week basis, you will keep coming back week after week, eager and excited to explore more of John’s collection.
Permalink 132 notes
25 4 / 2012
"Competition has trumped value-creation. In this and other ways, the competitive arena undermines innovation. You know somebody has been sucked into the competitive myopia when they start using sports or war metaphors. Sports and war are competitive enterprises. If somebody hits three home runs against you in the top of the inning, your job is to go hit four home runs in the bottom of the inning. But business, politics, intellectual life and most other realms are not like that. In most realms, if somebody hits three home runs against you in one inning, you have the option of picking up your equipment and inventing a different game. You don’t have to compete; you can invent. We live in a culture that nurtures competitive skills. And they are necessary: discipline, rigor and reliability. But it’s probably a good idea to try to supplement them with the skills of the creative monopolist: alertness, independence and the ability to reclaim forgotten traditions."
21 4 / 2012
Tim Berners-Lee: demand your data from Google and Facebook
He said web users needed to be more conscious that websites that seemed to be permanent fixtures of the online world could disappear within a few years. “Whatever social site, wherever you put your data, you should make sure that you can get it back and get it back in a standard form. And in fact if I were you I would do that regularly, just like you back up your computer … maybe our grandchildren depending on which website we use may or may not be able to see our photos.”
17 4 / 2012
"We will not use the patents from employees’ inventions in offensive litigation without their permission. What’s more, this control flows with the patents, so if we sold them to others, they could only use them as the inventor intended."
Permalink 21 notes
06 4 / 2012
This Is Important, You Should Know This of the Day: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act now has more than 105 co-sponsors, and some fear the bill could go further than SOPA and PIPA in threatening online privacy. SOPA and PIPA were finally discarded earlier this year after resounding online protest changed the debate, but the same doesn’t yet appear to be the case with CISPA.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, H.R. 3523 “would let companies spy on users and share private information with the federal government and other companies with near-total immunity from civil and criminal liability. It effectively creates a ‘cybersecurity’ exemption to all existing laws.”
The bill could sneak through Congress quickly once it’s back in session, so be sure to track its progress.
Permalink 2,244 notes
02 4 / 2012
Why Nations Fail - NYTimes.com
Nations thrive when they develop “inclusive” political and economic institutions, and they fail when those institutions become “extractive” and concentrate power and opportunity in the hands of only a few.
“Inclusive economic institutions that enforce property rights, create a level playing field, and encourage investments in new technologies and skills are more conducive to economic growth than extractive economic institutions that are structured to extract resources from the many by the few,” they write.
“Inclusive economic institutions, are in turn supported by, and support, inclusive political institutions,” which “distribute political power widely in a pluralistic manner and are able to achieve some amount of political centralization so as to establish law and order, the foundations of secure property rights, and an inclusive market economy.” Conversely, extractive political institutions that concentrate power in the hands of a few reinforce extractive economic institutions to hold power.
01 4 / 2012
Greece sells airspace to TPB - The Pirate Bay - The galaxy's most resilient bittorrent site
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Athens, Greece - Political power in Athens, Greece, today signed an agreement with representatives for The Pirate Bay (TPB) about exclusive usage of the greek airspace at 8000-9000ft.
- This might come as a shock for many but we believe that we need to both raise money to pay our debts as well as encourage creativity in new technology. Greece wants to become a leader in LOSS, says Lucas Papadams, the new and crisply elected Prime Minister of Greece.
LOSS that he is referring to is not the state of finances in the country but rather Low Orbit Server Stations, a new technology recently invented by TPB. Being a leader for a long time in other types of LOSS, TPB has been working hard on making LOSS a viable solution for achieving 100% uptime for their services.
- Greece is one of few countries that understands the value of LOSSes. We have been talking to them ever since we came up with the solution seeing that we have equal needs of being able to find financially sustainable solutions for our projects, says Win B. Stones, head of R&D at TPB.
The agreement gives TPB a 5 year license to use and re-distribute usage of the airspace at 8000-9000 ft as well as unlimited usage of the radio space between 2350 to 24150 MHz. Due to the financial situation of both parties TPB will pay the costs with digital goods, sorely needed by the citizens of Greece.
