BREAKING SURF
| Goatse.cx, Requiescat in Pace? |
| A Pictorial History of the US in the Mid 20th Century |
| Canada on TV |
| Meteorological Service of Canada |
| The Astounding Hand of Joseph Stashkevetch |
| Paper Motorcycles |
| The Decline of Fashion Photography |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Comic Book Gorillarama |
| All about Video and Eyesight |
| iTunes from Home at Work |
| Morpheus 4.0 Now Links to Other P2P Networks |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
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BREAKING SURF
Beagle Silent, Spirit Sulking, Mars Express Emphatically Alive and Well
At press time, European Space Agency's Mars expedition is still not having any luck contacting their Beagle 2 lander. In fact, NASA is even having problems communicating with its Spirit rover. Nonetheless, the Mars Express spacecraft that brought Beagle 2 to Mars is happily in orbit, returning spectacular images that rival anything beamed back by Spirit thus far. The Mars Express team has released a nifty 3-D depiction of Valles Marineris, the largest known canyon in the Solar System. The 1,700-km by 65-km swath was imaged with a high resolution stereo camera at a resolution of about 12 meters per pixel. This just begs to be turned into a Battlefield 1942 map, doesn't it? Meanwhile, don't forget to keep an eye on the Red Planet as the lander Opportunity approaches for a Jan. 24 landing.Mars Express: http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/
Valles Marineris: http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMWF0474OD_1.html
What would you see if you were standing directly on the surface of Mars? It's easy enough to find out. Head on over to Panoramas.dk and take an eye-popping look at the QuickTime VR representation of the Spirit rover's landing site. You'll need plenty of bandwidth or patience to download the picture and obviously you'll need the QuickTime plug-in for your browser. This particular panorama was created by Hans Nyberg, who based it on high-resolution photos from NASA. It really is like having a 360-degree window on Mars. While you're over there - Panoramas.dk that is, not Mars - do yourself a favor and check out all the cool panoramas on the main site: Mars Pathfinder 1997, the top of Mt. Everest, even the Statue of Liberty in Paris. All tres cool.
Panoramas.dk: http://www.panoramas.dk/
Mars: http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen3/f2_mars.html
What Happened to the Mars Polar Lander?
NASA's Mars Polar Lander headed for Mars five years ago. As it approached touchdown, it went quiet - and it has never made a peep since. NASA scientists concluded that the most likely cause of the failure was a false electronic signal generated by the deploying landing legs that faked the lander into thinking it had landed while it was still miles above the planet. In such a case, the craft would have shut down its engines, resulting in a fatal fall. In an attempt to find the lander or the remains thereof, NASA trained the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor's cameras on the landing site and turned the images over to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) for analysis. High-tech imagery analysts at NIMA reported that they thought the Mars Polar Lander touched down safely, or almost so. They said they thought they could detect it sitting in one piece on the Martian surface, and that any failure occurred late in the descent phase, perhaps even after landing. NASA has ruled out those claims, but the debate continues - and may bear on Spirit's recent petulance. Space.com has the skinny.http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/mars_polar_lander_031222.html
Ah, the indignities of being a presidential candidate. Howard Dean, just days ago the front runner in the scramble for the White House, must now bear the indignity of being remixed as part of a rap song or three. By now everybody in this country has heard the sound bite of his post-Iowa speech where he lets out that famous primal scream. This being the sampling age, it took but a heartbeat for everybody and their brother to incorporate the yowl into a song or two. MTV has thoughtfully compiled a few of the better efforts efforts in this story.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1484529/20040122/aphex_twin.jhtml?headlines=true
Digitally Photographing the Centenary of Flight
There are some strong advantages to using digital photography in ambitious professional shoots. The ability to copy and back up unique images on a variety of media, rather than trusting everything to a single film negative is one big plus. Also, inside a high-performance aircraft, it's often difficult to load a new roll of film. The cover story in National Geographic's December 2003 issue, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of powered, controlled flight, was shot entirely with digital cameras, the first time that's been done in the magazine's history. The images easily equal anything film could produce. Film still has its own advantages occasionally, but photographer Joe McNally found the alliance of his Nikons and his PowerBook laptop to be a winning combination in almost all situations. McNally had no easy task convincing National Geographic to go all-digital for such an important article. In the end, inkjet prints of test shots did the trick. At Rob Galbraith's digital photography site, McNally provides many fascinating technical details about the challenging tasks he faced in illustrating the feature story. The National Geographic site has excerpts from the article and some of McNally's impressive photographs, which range from static shots carefully lit to avoid displaying classified information to short, one-off opportunities to shoot state-of-the-art aircraft in flight.Galbraith: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6450-6561
National Geographic: http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0312/feature1/index.html
UCLA's Center for Communication Policy Reports on Global Net Use
The digital divide is a lot more nuanced than we previously thought. First off, it is an international problem that refers to more than the issue of access. Instead, it refers to the diverse ways that different societies are incorporating the Net into the fabric of everyday life. UCLA's Center for Communication Policy (CCP) has just produced a report replete with statistics and observations about Internet use around the world. Across national boundaries, the World Internet Project report tells us, 8% more males than females on average use the Net. Universally, television viewing declines with increasing time spent online. People in different nations display dramatically different levels of trust towards online info; South Koreans believe that most of the information is credible whereas Swedes distrust much of what they see and read. The World Internet Project's executive summary is an easy read, but the report offers up details and attempts to explain these divergences. For all those who fear homogenization, this is a great triumph.CCP: http://www.ccp.ucla.edu/
Press release: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=4849
The Wired News Vaporware Awards
Ahh, vaporware. The promises. The hype. The glowing press releases. The harsh wind of reality that tears into the delicate vapors of promise as release dates come and go and suddenly, the dream, the sweet, sweet dream is gone. Wired has again awarded its Vaporware Awards to a variety of projects that seem unlikely to ever see a shelf. Any talk of vaporware has to mention Duke Nukem Forever. The game title has almost become a synonym for vaporware, and rather than giving it the vaporware title for the third year in a row, Wired decided to award it a well deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. Beyond Duke Nukem Forever, ten other projects have claimed spots in the seventh annual Wired Vaporware Awards. We won't spoil the surprises, so go and have a look for yourself.http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61935,00.html
Hey, you got Peanutbutter.com in my Chocolate.org! And you got Chocolate.org in my Peanutbutter.com! Bring this great tradition to the Web and you have Mixmaster, a hilarious site that lets you mix and match Web sites to produce some of the weirdest humor you can see. It takes the content from one site and inserts it into the page design of site two. Want to know what happens when you cross the New York Times with Fox News? Or the White House with a host of sites? This is for you. The Metafilter crowd has a head start on you, and it's worth a peek to see what they've come up with before you start your own fun.
Mixmaster: http://www.topfx.com/cgi-bin/mixmaster.cgi
Metafilter: http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/30781
NIST Computer Security Incident Handling Guide
So what do you do when you discover that your computer has been cracked? If you're an individual, probably the safest thing to do is re-install your operating system, add on a good firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and get on with your life. If you're a corporation or a government entity, life is a bit more complicated. Organizations want to secure themselves against similar exploits and may have legal obligations to preserve evidence or to track down the perpetrators. Cybersecurity experts at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have prepared a guide to help organizations deal with the aftermath of a break-in. While the PDF document is aimed at entities with considerable resources to deal with security issues, it still is worth reading by individuals, if for nothing else than to become familiar with the common threats affecting just about any computer connected to the Net these days.http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-61/sp800-61.pdf
Account of FBI Raid Related to Half Life 2 Theft
What's it like when the FBI raids you in connection with possible hacking activities? Here is a weblog account by Chris Toshok, who was raided by the FBI and the US Secret Service recently in apparent connection with last fall's notorious theft of source code for the highly anticipated Half Life 2 game. Toshok belongs to an informal programmers' collective called the Hungry Programmers. Apparently, the FBI raided several members of the group Jan. 14. Valve Software blames the theft of Half Life 2 for setting back its release of the game to sometime this year. Given that the game is a sequel to one of the best selling games ever, the economic damage is considerable and helps explain such heavyweight law enforcement effort. Toshok has a good account of the raid. Follow-up posts by fellow hackers make for equally good reading.http://squeedlyspooch.com/blog/archives/000072.html
Google Backs Mysterious Social-Networking Site
Orkut is a networking site, named after Orkut Buyukkokten, the Google engineer who created it. Google employees are allowed to spend a portion of their time on personal projects, some of which make it to the outside world. Orkut has crossed to the outside, but while we can find it on the Web, the only way to join the entirely experimental site is to be invited. Don't hold your breath. Google freely acknowleges that Orkut is an experiment, but disavows any particular intentions with the site. Not so long ago, rumors circulated that Google was going to buy Friendster, the 363-kg gorilla of online social networking. Nothing ever came of this, but now we have Orkut. Make of that what you will. Search Engine Watch has the story and some informed speculation. Search Engine Watch:Orkut: http://www.orkut.com/
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3302741
Columbia Journalism Review has set up a Web site that it undoubtedly hopes will make a difference. The folks running the Campaign Desk site plan to "analyze and criticize press coverage in real time, so that suggestions for improved coverage might actually be heeded, and incorporated into campaign coverage, while the campaign is still under way." The blog-like Campaign Desk boldly claims to be politically non-partisan. You'll need to check it out and decide for yourself. We're a pretty apolitical bunch, here - yet when we cruised through, the site had a decidedly political scent to it.
http://campaigndesk.org/
Looking to enrich your vocabulary? How about "flexitarian" or the already overused "ass-hat"? Or perhaps this reviewer's favorite, "cliterati", is more your speed. Another word we especially like is "tanorexia". These and many other newly coined or revived words that might not yet be on the tip of your tongue can be found online courtesy of the American Dialect Society. The overall winner was "metrosexual", which, frankly, we don't think will have much staying power. Indeed, a great many of these words will probably fade fast but others may just hang around long enough to contaminate, or enrich, the language, depending on your point of view. Rated most likely to fade quickly is "tomacco". No argument from us. Try out these amusing entries on friends or at your next party. Some are hilarious when you sit and think about them for a while - case in point: "pre-emptive self-defense" The site lists the winners and runners up in various categories.
http://www.americandialect.org/
Some people think the Sundance Film Festival is losing its purity, a feeling fueled by the rise of corporate sponsorships, founder Robert Redford's decision not to give interviews, and the rather bizarre downplaying of the festival's 20th anniversary. Still, the crowds attest to the continuing drawing power of the event. Although probably the biggest buzz so far at this year's Sundance has come from "The Butterfly Effect", which premiered there last weekend, the festival's goal is to enable independent filmmakers to network and line up financial support and distribution arrangements. Of this year's 137 films, the vast majority don't have such deals yet. On the ground, the festival offers digital forums, workshops, screenings, and numerous hot spots for easy wireless Net access. The movies at Sundance have always been about innovation, experimentation, and a fresh creativity that usually escapes Hollywood. For anyone into film, Sundance remains a heady place to be. If you'd like to take it all in online, the Web site offers a $10 pass good for online access to movies through Feb. 15. You can also sign up for daily PDF newsletters and, of course, surf lots of movie info as well. Yeah, you'll want broadband.
http://festival.sundance.org/
Mad Magazine Artist George Woodbridge Dies
You may not recognize George Woodbridge's name, but if you've ever read Mad magazine, you've almost certainly seen his work. Don Martin and Sergio Argones are more famous, but Woodbridge was one of the illustrators who defined Mad's look. He started at the magazine in 1957, and his carefully shaded style is instantly recognizable. Dig out one of your old Mads and as soon as you see his handiwork, you'll recognize it - particularly if your mad memories derive from the '60s and '70s. Woodbridge illustrated one of the most asked-for reprints in Mad magazine history, the rules to "43-Man Squamish". Check it out at Collectmad.com. In addition to work at Mad, Woodbridge was also a recognized talent in military historical illustration. Check out his obit at Newsday. Woodbridge was 73.Collectmad.com: http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversite/quiz_olympics.html
Newsday: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--obit-woodbridge0122jan22,0,7808192.story
Yahoo Research Labs, and Maybe Googlemail
Competition drives innovation, and there's no better proof of that than the latest news and rumors from the two leading search-engine contenders. Yahoo is starting something called Yahoo Research Labs, with the stirring motto "Invention, disruption, innovation, improvement". This is clearly a shot across Google's bow as it seems to rival the well known Google Labs. Yahoo's press release has details, and the Yahoo Research Labs site has the intriguing invitation to "join our team". On the rumor front, Reuters (at CNN) is reporting that Google plans to launch a branded e-mail service. The Slashdot crowd noticed and rapidly launched into critiques of the move that generally skeptically eyed Google's creep toward becoming a Yahoo-like portal.Yahoo Research Labs: http://labs.yahoo.com/
Yahoo: http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release1140.html
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/19/google.email.reut/index.html
Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/19/2015213
Netcraft: Apache Rules Them All
For years now, Netcraft has been tracing the rise and fall of webserver software. At the start of this new year, we took a peek and noticed the obvious - the Apache webserver continues to accrue market share. Apache's major rival is made by Microsoft. The latest graph shows that over the last year Microsoft's webserver reached a plateau, while Apache's share keeps growing. Basically, most new Web sites going online these days choose to use Apache. Netcraft has the tell-tale graphs.http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html
.Name Registry Gets a Makeover
Global Name Registry (GNR) has relaunched its .name top-level domain registry, following a barrage of complaints from ISPs and ICANN regarding the structure of its previous incarnation and lackluster sales of .name domain names. Under their former structure, names were punctuated by an extra dot - Jane Doe might have desired the domain "Janedoe.name", but instead would receive "Jane.Doe.name". Now, Jane Doe can get Janedoe.name. This is a win for everybody - ISPs and ICANN are happy and the change is sure to unleash a pent-up demand for personal domain names. That's what GNR thinks, anyway. Why were ISPs upset? Since the ISPs are typically set up to manage only the top two tiers of a domain, the third - a result of the extra dot - made problems. This adjustment should make things easier all around, although it seems remotely possible that spammers would consider this a potential goldmine. CNET has a story on the transition, and there's a short, fluffy press release from GNR that addresses none of the issues.CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1038-5140967.html
GNR: http://www.nic.name/bf_news.html
ONLINE CULTURE
Goatse.cx, Requiescat in Pace?
As shock sites go, the infamous Goatse.cx one was so ridiculously over the top that you could hardly call it obscene - in a metaphorical sense, that is. In a very real sense, it was egregiously obscene. Over the years, Goatse.cx achieved legendary status as a favorite destination to which link pranksters would redirect gullible netsurfers. For years, the site has been quietly registered with the .cx top-level domain, which denotes Christmas Island, essentially the dry summit of a vast submarine mountain in waters southwest of Java. Somebody finally complained about the content of Goatse.cx and the Christmas Island Internet Administration (CIIA) suspended the domain. If you don't know about Goatse.cx, Wikipedia has more information then you may really want to know about it. Wikipedia also has links to the latest developments in the Goatse.cx suspension (there's a petition) and information about other shocking stuff such as Tubgirl, the harlequin fetus, and Lemonparty.org. Go ahead, try not to look. We dare ya. Kuro5hin has additional links and info.Christmas Island: http://www.christmas.net.au/
CIIA: http://nic.cx/
Wikipedia: http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatse.cx
Kuro5hin: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/1/16/03540/4020
ONLINE TRAVEL
A Pictorial History of the US in the Mid 20th Century
Explore the work of amateur photographer Charles Cushman at Indiana University's Digital Library. Between 1938 and 1969, Cushman explored the US (and other countries) through his camera lens. The results form a pictorial history of the US (and other nations) over 32 years that saw enormous changes in society and technology. There are thousands of images to peruse. Visitors can browse images by year, location, subject, or genre. In addition to taking in the works of Cushman, you can also learn more about him and the project initiated by Indiana University to digitize more than 14,000 of his photos. The site promises an anhanced interface to be put in place in the spring.http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/index.jsp
Ask any Canadian if he saw the episode of "The Simpsons" in which the cartoon family made a brief visit to Toronto. The answer will likely be "Yeah, eh. Did you know Homer is Canadian?" American television is a prominent presence on Canadian airwaves, so it's little wonder that many Canuckistanis get a kick out of hearing mention of their fair land on an American TV series. The Canadian Connection site explores some of the most popular television shows produced in the US and the Canadian connections to these shows. The shows featured here include "The Simpsons", "Seinfeld", "Friends", and the Star Trek franchises. Many of the references any watcher would have picked up, but there are many obscure references that even the most patriotic Canadian may have overlooked. These include Seinfeld's Kramer watching Parliament and the CFL on television. In addition to the comprehensive references, the site also offers lists of movies filmed in Canada as well as Canadian actors working on American productions.
http://ccr.ptbcanadian.com/index.htm
Meteorological Service of Canada
The Meteorological Service of Canada, or MSC as it is known to its friends, has a wealth of weather and climate facts available on its Web site. Along with typical information such as water surveys, ice statistics, ozone details, and smog forecasts, you can also find out which Canadian city really is the rainiest, the snowiest, or the windiest. Or you can check out the new wind-chill research, which has determined precisely how long it takes for exposed skin to freeze in cold weather. You can check what the weather was like the day you were born and work out the likelihood of a snow-covered Christmas Day this year. The presentation and layout are well organized and the images, particularly of waterspouts, are clear and awe-inspiring. After absorbing all this new knowledge, you can even test yourself with an online weather trivia quiz.http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Astounding Hand of Joseph Stashkevetch
Don't be fooled - these photorealistic drawings are not the work of a camera lens. It's difficult to believe that human hands could create the images presented at this site, but that's exactly how it was done. Using primarily conte-crayon on rag paper, Joseph Stashkevetch creates drawings that magnetically draw you in for a closer look. While it's evident in some of his work that he draws by hand, other pieces are more difficult to differentiate from a photograph. "Shadowland #1", the first item on the New Drawings page, mimics the focusing ability and inability of a camera lens amazingly well. Explore a decade of Stashkevetch's work at the Archive page of his Web site. If you're interested in seeing his work up close, check out the biography page for information on exhibitions near you.http://www.stashkevetch.com/
It makes sense that the unlikely twin passions of motorcycles and paper-modeling be united on a Japanese Web site. This is not quite origami - these models are detailed printable cut-outs of the various parts - but any modeling enthusiast should be happy that Yamaha Motor has launched a full selection of patterns for miniature paper versions of their bikes. Each design is available in color or black and white. Those craft fans who lack an interest in motorcycles might enjoy the selections of patterns for making rare animals or the family-friendly section that features symbols of the seasons such as a pumpkin and witch collection for Halloween, a reindeer hauled sleigh for Christmas, a traditional cherry blossom tree for spring, and a wearable ogre mask for the Japanese festival of Setsubun. Get folding! The site requires adobe acrobat reader for downloading the assembly manuals.
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/eng/papercraft/
The Decline of Fashion Photography
Have you been wondering why fashion-magazine photography is indistinguishable from catalogue shoots? Even if you haven't thought about that issue, check out this excellent photo essay at Slate on the decline of fashion photography. The 28 slides are as illuminating as the text and the images and words hang together with little artifice. Of course, the story is depressing, but some of the pictures, especially those from a Prada spread and from the past, are downright dazzling.http://slate.msn.com/features/010510_fashion-slide-show/01.htm
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the image or title to order at a hefty discount from our affiliate Amazon.com, and send a few pennies our way as well.
For more selections, check out: Netsurfer Books: http://www.netsurf.com/nsb/ Netsurfer Library: http://www.netsurf.com/nsl/ |
Taming HAL: Designing Interfaces Beyond 2001
Cork Boat
Swann's Way
Linux Toys: 13 Cool Projects for Home, Office and Entertainmenthttp://members.shaw.ca/comicbookgorillarama/cbgindex.htm
SURFING SCIENCE
Amateur and aspiring videographers and game creators will find the NFG Video Primer a useful resource in understanding the basic components of video format, including the history and advances of this rapidly growing facet of technology. Begin your lesson with the Video Signals article, which discusses topics such as RGB, S-Video, and NTSC formats. Next, explore the Video Colour Resolution page to compare how different formats handle color resolution. Continue by browsing other articles here, including Chroma Subsampling, Human Vision Issues, and a Brief History of TVs. Each article links to recommended readings that prove useful in learning more about video and human eyesight. While we couldn't find the credentials of the author anywhere on the site, visitors will find the information a welcome companion to existing video instruction.http://nfg.2y.net/games/ntsc/
SOFTWARE
So you have your iTunes collection of music happily sitting on a computer at home, but you don't own an iPod. Consequently, every time you go to work you have to abandon your music collection and make it sad. Maybe it chews up the couch or trashes your hard drive. TunesAtWork will solve your problem, so long as you're using OS X on that home computer. It's basically a specialized webserver that runs on your Mac at home and serves up Web pages that allow you to view and play your iTunes MP3 collection on a selection of browsers on a selection of operating systems. There are caveats. Only four computers at a time can tune in to your iTunes collection, and TunesAtWork only supports streaming of MP3 files for now. This is still beta software so don't be surprised if there are glitches. However, it's quite free and looks and works as advertised.http://www.tunesatwork.com/
Morpheus 4.0 Now Links to Other P2P Networks
StreamCast Networks has released a test version of Morpheus 4.0, one of the more popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing applications. The big deal with this release is that Morpheus will now link to other P2P networks, most significantly arch-rival Kazaa. The software lets you search for and download files on all the listed networks with this one application. CNET has the background behind this move and other recent developments in the P2P business.Morpheus: http://www.morpheus.com/
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5142626.html