Ebay is offering health insurance to merchants that make over $1000 a month! Talk about an interesting loyalty program. I’m fascinated… Maybe that’s how i should get health insurance… $1000 a month, eh?
[cypherpunk login for latimes: cypherpunk/cypherpunk]
Thanks to memepool, i’ve just learned that you could also use your bidding skills to bid on your own medical care…
Tehehe. Reuters reports that a new British site has just opened, helping lesbians find sperm donors. Guess what it’s called? Man not included dot com.
Although i didn’t make it to opening night, i did get to see Minority Report on opening weekend. Although i am not the biggest Tom Cruise fan and i get quite annoyed by Steven Spielberg, i was quite pleasantly surprised. The digital cinematography was fab – good lighting tricks, great filters, perfect layout, good use of fisheye and smart irregular dropping of frames. The plot was well done, although it had a bit of that A.I., let’s-add-on-extra-30-minutes feel, but this was much more bearable. I was quite psyched by the perfect timing of the release of a surveillance film, particularly with it’s thought-provoking take on how the public feels about it. There was a great homage to Stanley Milgram, where everyone stopped what they are doing to be accounted for – obedience to authority at its best. Given some of the corporate systems for eyescanning and finger printing, the big question is: how long until this is a reality? [The better question is, of course, will people rise up to say that this is unacceptable?]
Plus, of course, i appreciated the use of technology, mostly thanks to John Underkoffler. I have to imagine that Hiroshi was shitting his pants on Friday, watching all of his tangible research be pertified for the screen. Plus, i caught a neat little use of Ben Fry‘s Valence piece in an early scene. Yay for Media Lab work looking fab!
For those who are curious about the ML-related work, check out:
– electronic paper (i.e. the animated newspapers)
– laser wall (using lasers to detect hand motion mid-air)
– tangible media (sensor-based objects like the memory chips and balls, gesture work, etc.)
… there are more but this is what comes to mind… it’s just so great to see the research prettified…
All and all, i was quite entertained! [as was roger ebert]
Microsoft is at it again… only this time, they have support fron all the big players (Intel, AMD, Dell, Gateway, etc.). it seems as though they’ve got a plan to make systems full of privacy and security, which seems fab, right? but of course, i’m worried, because somehow i have a feeling that it’s going to be about surveillance of behavior with complete authentication rather than simply making certain that no one gets to your machine that shouldn’t. but maybe i should be a little be more optimistic – this is after all one of the first public announcements…
Reason to never use XP #n-teen billion: XP Search (Start menu->search) sends data to Microsoft
I need an explanation on this one… what did i do recently? Normally, i go about my day, kinda ignored by people that i pass on the street, minding all of our own business, la la la… it is Boston afterall. But in the last week, something changed and i keep getting noticed. I was walking down Highland at noon and some guy stopped to ask me what time the T closed and after looking at him oddly, he went into a soliloquy about how he was from Georgia and … Weird pickup line. Which i shrugged off. And then, an hour later, a guy decided to pick me up on the lawn of the Media Lab by telling me about his work with 802.11 after he realized that i knew what the protocols meant, of course getting closer and closer with every statement. Ok, it was a weird day so i looked at my clothing (typically hippie, non-descript, hair a wreck, writing up my arms as i was deep in thought). Strange. But it kept happening – the waiter at Denny’s wanted me to go out with him, i got smiles outta people’s cars, etc. And i’m still at a loss – is it the orange hair? Did my phermones change with this new round of medication? Why have i gone from non-descript to being noticed in under a week? And shit, i still don’t know how to respond to pick-up lines…
Hmm.. or should i just explain it by this week’s Village Voice horoscope?
Life is totally unfair, and you will soon be living proof of that, Sagittarius-in reverse, that is! Wild cards and X factors will fall at your feet, in your lap, and on your head. You’re likely to attract a kind of extravagant, unpredictable luck that will almost make no sense. You’ll have such incisive intuition and impeccable timing that it may almost seem as if there’s a cosmic conspiracy working behind the scenes to make you happy and fulfilled. The only potential downside is that envious people may accuse you of having an unnatural advantage or reaping more than your rightful share. Fortunately, your charm levels will be so high that you can probably disarm their resentment.
Personally, i still believe that the only horoscope that i can listen to is The Onion’s:
The race does not always go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but the job of lead singer always goes to the guy with the best hair.
Somehow, i’m just not inclined to stay on one topic, ever. So, why try in this format? I think that i just need to stop that..
Accepted the job with V-Day officially today. Computer arrives next week. Health insurance will be taken care of quite soon. Yippeeeee!!
I’m going to a conference this weekend on the Grassroots Use of the Internet – should be absolutely fascinating – activitists & tech geeks!
This week was full of many good good realizations – some emotionally painful, some quite healing after months and years of pain and frustration. Let’s just say that i actually smiled coming in to work today… it’s been a while!
Speaking of which, my advisor sent me a review of a book about eBay since we actually talked for quite a while yesterday about the affects of the dot.bomb and what it meant for companies and communities. And for whateve reason, it made me re-read the notes on the crash of ArsDigita.
[cypherpunk login for nytimes: c1ph3rpunk/c1ph3rpunk]
On the weird medical side, there’s a funny report about how tampons may protect against endometriosis (as does hetero sex during menstruation). Does that mean that i should give up my keeper? Grrrr….
Fusion finally announced their festival lineup! Now, i’m not overwhelmed by the lineup, but i would not miss such a fun event, especially given the venue!
ok.. i have a rough sketchy version of my thesis outline together… have any thoughts????
speaking of digital entities, before i lose her name one more time, let me blog the story of netochka nezvanova for all of my future headslapping cries of forgetting her name once again. for those who don’t know her, she’s quite fascinating… and sometimes, you can see her through her art/hackery – always a m9ndfukc
