Nerdy gingerbread roundup

By Cory Doctorow at 7:08 am Monday, Dec 12

The Mary Sue's roundup of nerdy seasonal gingerbread is not to be missed, with a gingerbread Tardis, Weasley house, weighted companion cubes, and Starship Enterprise. Shown here, Mezcraft's stonking Weasley House (which includes edible Molly Weasley jumpers!).

Gingerbread We Saw Today Tags: Copyfight, crafter, Food, happy mutants, holidays, maker, not food, science fiction

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Keypad watch: looks like a chunky calculator, tells the time

By Cory Doctorow at 1:50 pm Monday, Dec 12

Watchismo's badass new multicolored Keypad watches are the followup to the equally badass (and be-dipswitched) Click Watches. Animated blinkenlights on each of the chunky keypad buttons tell the time in a fashion that is delightfully impractical.

Click Keypad

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Spacemen magazine of the 1960s

By David Pescovitz at 9:49 am Monday, Dec 12

Spacemen was a short-lived early-1960s magazine specifically about space-themed science fiction movies. Warren Publishing -- creators of the classic magazines Famous Monster of Filmland, Monster World, Creepy, and Eerie -- produced only 8 issues of the magazine, helmed by Forrest J. Ackerman. The cover art is glorious (cover above by Wally Wood!) and you can find torrents of the whole scanned run of the magazine. Swapsale has a gallery of the covers. Here's an article that Ray Bradbury contributed. And dig this terrific submission letter sent to Spacemen by Stephen King, age 14.

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Sneaky Prawn (Die Antwoord snapshot)

By Xeni Jardin at 9:47 am Monday, Dec 12

Above, a snapshot I took of Ninja and Yo-Landi of Die Antwoord during a recent visit to Los Angeles. In this photo, they are hanging out in the studio of LA-based artist David Choe. Die Antwoord will release their second album Ten$ion soon, and tour dates will kick off in early 2012. They've said goodbye to Interscope, and will soon announce details of an interesting new independent plan for music release and distribution—and a number of other projects.

* Shot with an iPhone 4s, btw. I'm always stunned at how well it performs in poor lighting conditions, and how well it performs compared to earlier editions.

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The most intense taekwondo fight ever

By Dean Putney at 1:53 pm Sunday, Dec 11  

They're ripping each other to shreds! Oh the humanity!

Thanks for Submitterating, hombrelobo! [Video Link] Tags: adorable, Kids, taekwondo

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FBI says Carrier IQ files used for "law enforcement purposes"

By Rob Beschizza at 12:42 pm Monday, Dec 12

The FBI disclosed this weekend that it uses data gathered by Carrier IQ software for "law enforcement purposes", but refused to give any details of exactly how it has done so.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Muckrock, the FBI said that it held relevant records but that their release could interfere with pending or prospective law enforcement proceedings.

The request asked for "manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ."

Muckrock's Michael Morisy says he plans to appeal the FBI's decision: "What is still unclear is whether the FBI used Carrier IQ's software in its own investigations, whether it is currently investigating Carrier IQ, or whether it is some combination of both."

Carrier IQ came to public attention after threatening a security researcher who reported on the functionality of its software, which is installed on cellphones by some carriers and handset manufacturers. The software, described by Google chairman Eric Schmidt as a "keylogger", is capable of logging and transmitting everything typed by users, though Carrier IQ insists that it does not do so.

The researcher, Trevor Eckhart, spotted suspicious logging activity and demonstrated how the software reacts when users interacted with their cellphones. Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T all acknowledge using Carrier IQ for diagnostic purposes, but say that they do not use it to maintain records of individual users' activity.

Read the request and the FBI denial: FBI: Carrier IQ files used for "law enforcement purposes"

Photo: Trevor Eckhart Tags: carrier IQ, Gadgets

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Samsung's four pound, 14-inch "Ultrabook"

By Rob Beschizza at 6:02 am Monday, Dec 12

Samsung is launching the Series 5 Ultra, an "Ultrabook" with an optical drive. It's got an Intel Core i5 processor, HDMI and ethernet ports, SSD storage and an attractive aluminum casing.

At 14" across, 20.9mm thick, and weighing 4 pounds, however, it does not meet Intel's original specifications for that description.

It's as if there's a process by which marketing slowly loses sync with reality:

1. The MacBook Air is seen to conquer all.
2. Intel formalizes the sweet spot in computing that it represents, and brands it Ultrabook.
3. Some Ultrabooks are very good and the branding play gets some traction.
4. ????
5. Samsung starts branding refrigerators Ultrabooks.

The Series 5 Ultra looks for all the world like a decent laptop, of course, if you need an optical drive. Coming soon:

Tags: Gadgets

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