Announcements

“You buy it, you own it” – but not if you buy Lexmark laser cartridges – Pay attention next time you rip open a cardboard box – you may be entering into a contract without realizing it. A recent decision in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinforced the right of companies, in this case Lexmark International, the printer maker, to legally limit what customers can do with a patented product, given that the company spells out conditions and restrictions on a package label known as a box-top license. Link.

PSPUpdates is reporting that there is yet another firmware update from Sony (2.01) – this update appears to remove the ability to run homebrew applications and to downgrade to 1.5. In other PSP news, there are some trojan-like downloads, a patcher, that will brick your PSP (not reboot). Steer clear of this, as well as the Sony update; both have extreme consequences.

Interesting article about the business (online and off) of bartering – I think as the DIY trend continues to increase we’ll see the barter culture and web services appealing to entrepreneurs and makers. Freecycle and DIYparts are also some favs to check out. [via] Link.

Story about the 3M duct tape band-aids as well as a larger trend, duct tape becoming an acceptable wearable accessory – Many plasters [Band-Aids] are either covered in cartoon characters to appeal to children, or are pink in color – hardly a traditionally ‘masculine’ shade, Datamonitor says. However, Nexcare 3M Duct Tape Bandages, launched in the US, are gray in colour and feature a man’s hand on the packaging, holding a DIY tool. [via] Link.

The big announcement over the weekend was that Office 12 will support PDF export from all the Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc..). Mac users have had this system wide for the most part for awhile, but if you’re on a PC you can also do this now, for free (as opposed to the pay versions of PDF exporting). CutePDF is a great, PDF online does it online…and Adobe can convert text or HTML too. Link.

We’re starting to build our little MAKE:land area in Second Life, stop on by secondlife://Crescent/13/99, see a virtual edition of MAKE, ride a dune buggy, see some MAKE movies and a few other surprises. Mac or PC, get the free client here – I’m Torrone Trumbo. IM me, and we’ll add you to the Maker group too.

Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at children in developing nations. Negroponte, who laid out his original proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, said MIT and his nonprofit group, called One Laptop Per Child, is in discussions with five countries–Brazil, China, Thailand, Egypt and South Africa–to distribute up to 15 million test systems to children. Link.