Kurt is a machine with four injection needles and Chinese ink. Attached to the upper arm it tattoos an enduring symbol on the user’s skin. Kurt is an extreme example of the human-machine interface. The intervention is aimed at rising the awareness of the close connection between the individual and the machine, in a bond as long-lasting as the drawing itself. Link.
WoW. Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against a group of gamers who wrote a work-around to Blizzard’s Battle.net multiplayer gaming service. The three programmers had written a program dubbed ‘BNetD’ that functioned similarly to Blizzard’s free service. The letter of the law may side with Blizzard, but it is hard to see how this is anything but a single-finger salute to their army of fans: play on our servers or not at all, is the message. Naturally it is Blizzard’s product, so they can do as they see fit, but this restriction is contrary to almost every multiplayer game on the market and only serves to limit their market. Link.
Here’s why…On top of that, consumers should expect punishment for tinkering with their Blu-ray players, as many have done with current DVD players, for instance to remove regional coding. The new, Internet-connected and secure players will report any “hack” and the device can be disabled remotely. “A hacked player is any player that is doing something it’s not supposed to do,” Setos said, adding the jury was still out if regional coding would be maintained or scrapped. [via] Link.
Awhile back we covered the LifeStraw – a 25 cm long, 29 mm diameter, plastic pipe filter purchased costs around US 2.00 that could possibly be a great and low cost way to get clean water. With a lot of people out of drinkable water in the south, I though it might be good to post up a list of ways to make drinking water- not a bad thing to know how to do…If you have resources, link, etc.. post them up. Link.
Instructions, on the web and in PDF format, for making your own iPod Shuffle armband for about $4 (compared to $30 for an official version). You need to buy some elastic, velcro, a medium-thick rubberband, and superglue. The velcro is easy. The elastic comes in different weights… Link.
Neat HOW TO from Ralis Kahn – Vacuum forming is simply heating up sheets of plastic until they are soft and stretchy then placing it over a positive form and using a vacuum to suck the plastic tightly onto the form. I have gotten very good detail with my machine, even pore texture from life casts! I had seen more elaborate machines with tanks, vacuum pumps, check valves etc. I just wanted to test the process and it worked so well that I have been using it ever since. [via] Link.
For the closet beer geek in all of us, ProMash allows a brewer to virtually brew a recipe before ever setting foot in the home or professional brewery. It frees the user from the tedious “carry the 1” calculations that abound in the brewing process and helps you keep track of the history of a beer as it develops over time. Updates are provided yearly, free of charge to registered owners. Link.
