Extra Future

Month: April 2010

  • The World Bank Opens Up It’s Data

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [A massive amount of interesting data available in a variety of formats][link]. Get to makin’ shit. [link]: http://data.worldbank.org/ “Data | The World Bank”

  • Man Builds Working Star Trek Phaser

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    Phil Nelson
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    [Using one of those 12X Blu-Ray laser pointers][link]. IT pops balloons, burns paper, and apparently even makes the sound effect from TOS. [link]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_3rB7uyEMc “YouTube – 12X Blu-ray Star Trek Phaser – Beam, Flash Paper, Balloon…”

  • Turning down Netflix

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Netflix refuses copyright holder’s request to stream her film without DRM][link]. Nina Paley (the filmmaker) owns the film outright. There are no rights issues whatsoever. I believe the issue here is related to this culture we have where we assume everyone is a criminal. It’s actually *more work* for Netflix to let people watch a…

  • CNet: Lost iPhone prototype spurs police probe

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    >Silicon Valley police are investigating what appears to be a lost Apple iPhone prototype purchased by a gadget blog, a transaction that may have violated criminal laws, a law enforcement official told CNET on Friday. [I believe the whole thing was a case of common theft and the sale of stolen goods][link]. Looks like Apple…

  • Illustrated Dwarf Fortress Tale: Bronzemurder and Oggez Rashas

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Wonderfully drawn and told][link]. I’d buy a print of this in a heartbeat. [link]: http://www.nzfortress.co.nz/forum/showthread.php?t=20768 “[dwarf fortress] I illustrated a thing that happened to my latest fortress – NZFortress – New Zealand’s Team Fortress Community”

  • Android OS Installed on iPhone

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [This is, as Andy Baio calls it, “a clever hack”, and that’s about it.][link] It is worthy of note primarily because it is, as far as I know, the first time a non-Apple OS has been installed on the iPhone hardware. At least, the first time in public. The real *power* of the iPhone isn’t…

  • Akihabara, an HTML5 Video Game Toolkit

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [From the project description][link]: > It is a set of libraries, tools and presets to create pixelated indie-style 8/16-bit era games in Javascript that runs in your browser without any Flash plugin, making use of a small small small subset of the HTML5 features, that are actually available on many modern browsers. There are 5…

  • An HTML5 Presentation Written in HTML5

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [A good introduction to the highlights of HTML5][link], using the code itself for examples. Best viewed in a browser that, you know, supports HTML5. [link]: http://apirocks.com/html5/html5.html#slide1 “HTML5 presentation”

  • Shawn Medero on Climate Change, Nowcasting, and Objectivity

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    >… [most syndicated print or TV journalists seemingly don’t have the education or tools to present any subject objectively nor do they take the initiative to gather all the facts.][link] TV and print presenters/journalists tend to avoid, as [Bunk Moreland][bunk] would say, “Giving a fuck when it ain’t their turn to give a fuck.” [link]:…

  • Rouse

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Described by the creator of the project as][link]: >an attempt to create a new Mac OS X web browser that steals the best bits from OmniWeb for its user interface, adds some well-needed hooks to the interior to customize rendering and loading, and otherwise stays away from scope creep as far as possible. and I…

  • iPhone Native GUI Hall of Shame

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [It’s worth noting that the iPhone/iPad is capable of some truly atrocious user interfaces][link]. [link]: http://nativegui.posterous.com/ “iPhone Native GUI – Home”

  • S.E.C. Sues Goldman Sachs

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    >[Goldman Sachs, which emerged relatively unscathed from the financial crisis, was accused of securities fraud in a civil suit filed Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which claims the bank created and sold a mortgage investment that was secretly devised to fail.][link] If convicted, I want all these fucks behind bars for the rest…