September 9, 2006
Literally Smells Like Teen Spirit
Although most people enjoy listening to music, Japanese communications giant NTT Communications has a hunch that some people want to smell music. Yup, that’s right…NTT has developed something called the “Aroma Geur,” a USB-connected sphere that pumps out whiffs of six oil-based perfume compounds depending on the music playing on the radio. The $430 device, which also displays random lighted colors, pumps out smells based on PC-delivered instructions spurred by Internet radio stations. Let’s hope they don’t develop a smell blast for “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.”
(Hat tip to Engadget.)
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 7:32 PM|Print |Comments(0)September 1, 2006
Next Up: Rewards for Tips Leading to the Identification of Verb-Conjugating Infringers
Microsoft is pretty aggressive in defending its intellectual property, so we’d all better pray that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office doesn’t grant a recent patent application by the software giant. It seems that Microsoft has applied for a patent that covers…verb conjugation. Mike at TechDirt brought this to our attention, which put him in mind of The Onion’s satirical piece on Microsoft patenting 1s and 0s. Clearly before Microsoft reaches that point it has many other patent applications to consider. Say, for example, patents on subject-verb agreement, split-infinitives and misuse of personal pronouns.
August 28, 2006
Barney Loves...His Attorneys
Purple dinosaur Barney is easily offended, lacking a sense of humor. At least that’s how the fun-to-mock children’s character comes off in his attorneys’ threatening cease-and-desist letters. EFF has joined the fight of a man, Stuart Frankel, who is asking a federal court for a declaratory judgment that he has the right to post a parody of Barney on his personal web site.
Frankel has taken this extreme step because since 2002 he has been receiving cease-and-desist letters from the company that produces Barney and Friends, Lyons Partnership. Lyons’ attorney Matthew Carlin keeps warning Frankel that Barney is copyrighted and that if Frankel doesn’t take down the web page, Lyons will sue. Worse, Lyons, through Carlin, keeps threatening to report Frankel to his ISP for posting material that infringes on Lyons’ copyright.
Although Frankel has sent responses to Lyons via his own attorney, arguing that fair use under the copyright laws protects his parody, Lyons keeps sending the same threatening letters — directly to Frankel himself no less, despite the fact that he’s represented by counsel.
Frankel is not alone in being subject to Lyons’ legal harassment. Barney’s most famous legal case: suing an individual sports mascot, “The Famous Chicken,” over a parody used in the mascot’s performances.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 11:25 PM|Print |Comments(0)August 25, 2006
Not Just Any Record Store Cats But The Original Record Store Cats
Like most people, we follow the time-wasting Internet site recommendations of people we respect. That’s why, when Thomas Hawk recommended a site devoted to “The Original Record Store Cats,” we clicked away expecting to see something very, very cool. What we found were, um, animated cats wearing headphones in record stores (no false advertising there) that are kind of scary and not all that cool. Still, if you watch them long enough, they strangely grow on you.
August 20, 2006
Ode to the Patent Code
Yehuda Berlinger has followed up on his copyright-code-in-verse with the U.S. patent code in verse.
Our own personal favorites:
Sec. 12
Libraries also
Get copies each year
They make for good doorstops
Or so I do hear
Sec. 104
If you come from outer space
The rules aren’t dismissed
Apparently this applies to
The lawyers who wrote this
and last but not least
Section 117
If you’re dead, your estate
Might on patents insist;
Wait, if you’re dead, how
Are you reading this?
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 2:24 PM|Print |Comments(0)
August 10, 2006
Cell Phone Shoved Down Throat or Swallowed? You Decide.
Cell phones are dangerous, that we all know. Too many accidents happen when distracted drivers gab away on their devices, and a hard-core group of people still believe cell phones cause brain cancer. Now, however, a new cell phone danger has emerged: someone might shove a phone down your throat or, in the alternative, you might swallow it. It’s a proven fact that one of these two things happened recently.
Courtesy of SmartMobs, a man has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend by…shoving a cell phone down her throat. He, however, claims she swallowed the phone to keep him from seeing the numbers she had called. That’s not even the best part. The girlfriend claims “she couldn’t remember how the phone got in her throat, saying she had too much to drink that night.”
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 12:05 PM|Print |Comments(0)July 30, 2006
The Ultimate Niche Blog: Cats That Look Like Hitler
We never cease to be amazed at the unendingly imaginative array of blog choices available to us. There’s something for everyone, no matter how inconceivable, even a site devoted to “Cats That Look Like Hitler.” These creatures, and there are a lot of them, are called “kitlers.”
Here’s the definition:
Most cats possess that typically feline facial expression that implies a secret longing for world domination. All cats want to rule the world, that’s part of the nature of the species, but to be a genuine Kitler there has to be some other similarity with the notorious German dictator. We’re looking for that tiny, unfashionable moustache. Or does it even has the flock-of-seagulls hairdo? An evil glint in its eye?
The site is a hit — according to Alexa, it ranks 87,456. In other words, it’s one of the Internet’s top 100K web sites. Koos Plegt, who founded the site, has no intention of honoring the dead and abhorrent dictator with Catsthatlooklikehitler.com. Plegt claims that he’s ridiculing Hitler, who he calls “a disgusting, pus-ridden lump of excrement from the devil’s own anus.” (Hat tip to FreakyTrigger.)
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 6:42 PM|Print |Comments(0)July 26, 2006
On the Internet, No One Knows You're a Pigeon
Far be it from us to make fun of a good cause, but this is too good to pass up. A University of California assistant professor, Beatriz da Costa, is setting up the Internet’s first blog written by…birds. Pigeons, to be precise. She plans to release 20 pigeons wearing “tiny” backpacks containing pollution-measuring devices into the San Jose skies during the 9-day conference of Inter-Society for the Electronics Arts conference. The pigeon packs will also be equipped with transmitters that will ship the data to the…Pigeon Blog.
But that’s not the best part. This endeavor, aimed at helping develop new ways of measuring air quality, is also, inexplicably, billed as a “cutting-edge art project.” (Tip to SmartMobs).
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 6:51 PM|Print |Comments(0)July 21, 2006
As Long as the Urinal Doesn't Start Arguing
We fail to understand the popularity of electronic gizmos in urinals, but have come to accept that these porcelain necessities are prime marketing locations. The latest candidate for distracting (if not freaking out) men at urinals: the talking urinal. Specifically, the Wizmark Urinal Communicator, a waterproof drain cover embedded with electronics, including a proximity sensor that triggers audio announcements when the man is within 30 to 60 centimeters of the urinal. Even more chilling, the device has an image and text display for, well, commercials. Dr. Richard Deutsch, the inventor, says the Wizmark can be used for anything from beer commercial to PSAs. (Hat tip to Wired Blog.)
July 13, 2006
Stay Jewish...You Invented the iPod
Courtesy of Boing Boing comes this pamphlet from Jews for Jesus that apparently seeks to convert Steve Jobs. (Click on thumbnail for the full view). The bizarre tract draws parallels between Jobs’ humble beginnings and those of Christ. Here’s a passage:
Steve, you might be able to run circles around circuits. But reality is found in Jesus. iKnow and uShould too, since your life story and his have more than a few things in common.
Huh? We’re not sure, but by pointing to Jobs (the pamphlet highlights his amazing success story), this campaign might backfire. It might end up converting more people to Judaism.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 11:58 AM|Print |Comments(0)
