Cybermohalla --really interesting group project in and around Delhi, bringing young people together via "Compughars" (fully-equipped media centers in their neighborhoods). Located in LNJP Basti (an illegal neighborhood) in Delhi, and Ambedkar Nagar (a resettlement colony) at Dakshinpuri in south Delhi, and cyberspace, and created by ANKUR - Society for Alternatives in Education (an NGO) with
Sarai, the New Media & Urban Culture Programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, they've created everything from texts, collages, posters, animations, and publications, to videos, and large-scale installations. Don't miss
by lanes --collected excerpts of some of the kids' personal and public diaries (pdfs), and
the
scratchbook (55-page pdf) and the
animated gifs.
posted by amberglow
on Aug 20, 2004 -
3 comments
Ain't this grand? Pop Goes the Gmail is a program that sits between the http://gmail.com web server and your email client, converting messages from web format into POP3 format that a program such as Outlook Express or Thunderbird can understand.
posted by sunexplodes
on Jun 15, 2004 -
43 comments
Whizzkid develops Linux application for Windows [...]The significance of the development is that Linux and Windows are able to work in parallel on the same computer or server. To[sic] now, the computer world is divided into systems that operate either with Windows or with Linux. [...]
posted by Postroad
on Apr 12, 2004 -
33 comments
Hey! A thirteen year-old kid gets suspended for three days for using a DOS command to send a one-word message to all 80 computers on his school's network. Even more charming is that the computer teacher of his school apparently doesn't know much about the computicatin' machines.
posted by Ufez Jones
on Jan 9, 2004 -
72 comments
The Self-Healing Minefield From the current Village Voice: "Utilizing commercial off-the-shelf computer chips and 'healing' software, the networked minefield detects rude attempts to clear it, deduces which parts of itself have been removed, and signals its remaining munitions to close the hole using best-fit mathematics."
Bonus ubertasteless Flash animation courtesy of DARPA
here. Color me fascinated and repulsed in equal measure.
posted by Armitage Shanks
on Nov 27, 2002 -
40 comments
Who Counts your Votes? This book published back in 1992 is a good launching pad to begin the quest regarding elections and election fraud in America. Joseph Stalin had a saying: ``Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.'' When I voted on November 5, I was handed a little card stuck it in to a Diebold voting machine and presto all the votes I submitted were counted correctly right? Well I'm not sure after I read the article Diebold: The face of modern balloting at http://www.bartcop.com/110702otter.htm
and some of the articles at
http://www.votefraud.org/.
Perhaps we Americans have handed a bit to much over to computers and the people who own the companies that make the computers and that write the code. Perhaps to restore faith in our Democracy its time to to go back a simple hand counted system, with observers from multiple parties stationed in the local precincts counting the paper ballots.
posted by thedailygrowl
on Nov 9, 2002 -
3 comments
Nüp2 Incorporated will revolutionize the electronic memory business. Using our patented memory technology and our patent-pending "Topolithographic" manufacturing process, we will develop and produce solid-state electronic memory having gigabytes of storage in a tiny package for just a few dollars per Gigabyte.
Hoax? Vaporware? Revolution in data storage? You decide.
posted by RylandDotNet
on Sep 17, 2002 -
3 comments
A computer aided simulation builds a spiral galaxy from
its beginning. In all, 390,000 particles were placed in an arrangement similar to a newborn galaxy. The end result after three months is an event that is believed to take billions of years to occur.
(animation)
posted by samsara
on Aug 7, 2002 -
7 comments
Using Internet Explorer, Outlook, or Outlook Express on a PC?
There's a new hack in town, ready to exploit cross site scripts like nobody's business. Do yourself a favor and disarm ActiveX on your settings.
posted by mathowie
on Jul 12, 2002 -
6 comments
Meet Cyc. This endeavor to produce AI has been going on since
1984. In ’86 it asked if it were human; it later asked “if any other computers were engaged in such a project”. It’s strength lies in a database of assumptions and generalities, in the hopes that it will eventually “generalize as much as possible until further generalization would be false”. Is this going to be the breakthrough, or does it just seem really cool? (yes, via
Slashdot)
posted by sherman
on Jun 8, 2002 -
9 comments
Overcome Depression: The New Computer -Cognitive Treatment Overcoming Depression is the world's first self-educative computer program for understanding, dealing with, and preventing depression using a unique dialogue mode that allows you to express yourself freely in your own words and that responds in meaningful every language characteristic of a therapeutic context.
So much for the personal therapeutic process. My question is - can this program prescribe meds??!??
posted by gloege
on May 20, 2002 -
18 comments
The
Read_Me Festival 1.2 shortlist has been posted, and includes such projects as
Carnivore(not the government one, though that was part of the concept), and the
DeskSwap screensaver. While this is a "software art" exhibition, it's of particular note that patches or
even just instructions for making existing software do things not originally intended are allowable entries. I haven't been through all of them to see if any patches were entered, but it'd be interesting what the publishers might think of these, since it would basically constitute hacking and/or reverse engineering.
posted by Su
on Mar 30, 2002 -
2 comments
Don't let the URL fool you, it's completely work safe, and yet
oh so naughty. I wish more sites would do this. It would lead to mass confusion, and last I heard, that's the next big monkey-making trend.
posted by jcterminal
on Feb 2, 2002 -
15 comments
AirSnort. The dangerous app with the unlikely name allows users to snatch data being passed over wireless networks, eventually capturing passwords to the network.
posted by o2b
on Nov 29, 2001 -
7 comments
MIT's Erotic Computation Group. "By developing advanced sexual appliances and techniques, we seek to broaden the range of human amative expression and heighten our potential for sexual gratification." Good to see that at least some people are doing research that will benefit all mankind.
posted by Eloquence
on Nov 25, 2001 -
22 comments
Staroffice 6.0b is a great, free alternative to microsoft office for people who can't afford the suite or for those that would rather not use microsoft products. Staroffice has completely integrated XML support and full featured word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing applications.
posted by mcsweetie
on Oct 8, 2001 -
25 comments
Fight back against sneaky scumware like TopText and Surf+, with this Javascript code by Gary Rosenzweig of CleverMedia. The code detects the scumware's presence, pops up a message letting the user know they're carrying a parasite, and then surveys the user to find out if they knew about it. In the first day of operation on his site, he discovered that 3.67% of his visitors had either TopText or Surf+ installed, and more than 90% of these visitors did not know until they were told. (Link to the Javascript code is at the bottom of the article.)
posted by cfj
on Aug 31, 2001 -
7 comments
Brain Cells Used To Make Working Semiconductor "This is the first direct functional interfacing of a living neuronal network with an electronic semiconductor chip," said co-author Dr. Peter Fromherz of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, in an interview with Reuters Health. "It is a further step on our road to combine the elements of brains and computers," he added.
posted by Alwin
on Aug 28, 2001 -
2 comments
Yet Another Artist Link , this time i'm showcasing an artist/skinner who not only does great work, but believes in usability (for all those 'hey i've been using winamp for 6 months now, and i still need the buttons plainly labeled' whiners). just kidding folks. check out the wallpapers too while you're there.
posted by jcterminal
on Aug 4, 2001 -
5 comments
Slate's Mickey Kaus and the
Washington Post ask the question: For all the claims of illegal monopolies and unfair advantage, is the tech industry counting on Microsoft and Windows XP's Oct. 25 release to save its bacon?
posted by rcade
on Jul 30, 2001 -
19 comments
Countless
people
have had problems with their
Apple
Airport wireless base stations failing shortly after the one year warranty
ran out.
Adventurous
folks figured out that there was a faulty capacitor in the power
supply, got out their soldering irons, and drilled some ventilation
holes.
Apple is aware
of the issue, and is quietly replacing ABSs that fall within a
specific serial number range, but only if they have failed. So other folks have to wait until the damn thing dies before it can be
replaced. This corporate behavior isn't just limited to Apple. What
other vendors are guilty of lack of disclosure for faulty products,
and only change their tune after public outcry?
posted by machaus
on Jul 16, 2001 -
18 comments
