IP Democracy's Best of the Blogs

Literally Smells Like Teen Spirit

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 19:32:43 -0500

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.)

Next Up: Rewards for Tips Leading to the Identification of Verb-Conjugating Infringers

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 08:32:05 -0500

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.

Barney Loves...His Attorneys

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:25:08 -0500

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.

Not Just Any Record Store Cats But The Original Record Store Cats

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 16:24:27 -0500

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.

Ode to the Patent Code

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 14:24:28 -0500

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?

Cell Phone Shoved Down Throat or Swallowed? You Decide.

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:05:40 -0500

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.”

The Ultimate Niche Blog: Cats That Look Like Hitler

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 18:42:49 -0500

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.)

On the Internet, No One Knows You're a Pigeon

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:51:51 -0500

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).

As Long as the Urinal Doesn't Start Arguing

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:06:09 -0500

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.)

Stay Jewish...You Invented the iPod

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:58:50 -0500

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.

Ode to the Copyright Code

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 13:14:35 -0500

There’s almost nothing in the law that awakens the sleeping poet in us, but if federal law sparks anybody’s rhyming muse, that’s OK with us. A particularly helpful and welcome bit of federal code verse comes from Yehuda Berlinger, who has (and we kid you not) set the entire U.S. Copyright Code to poetry. Every single section.

Here are sections 105 and 106 from Yehuda’s opus:

105

Nothing the government
Makes is copyrighted
But they can buy copyrights
At K-mart sales, red-lighted

106

The owner exclusively
Can perform or display,
Copy, derive, or market
But do not dismay (see 107)

Our favorite, however, is section 405:

405

Before Berne’s convention
And without copyright notice
Infringement was as innocent
As a butterfly on a lotus

Hat tip to Boing Boing.

Apple's iPod Factory Mistake...No Corporate Song!

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:19:00 -0500

As the whole world knows by now, Apple, the company that is in the vanguard of cool and compassionate, got a big black eye for purported slave-like conditions at its iPod factories. But Apple should have turned to Intel for tips on keeping employees happy. It seems that Intel tries to buck up morale with its Chinese employees through the singing of a corporate song called “Intel Care.” Here’s the first stanza

Our operation is satisfaction,
We are sure perfection,
Quality we fair achievement we share,
For the staff Intel cares…

As Tian (also creator of the photo mash-up appearing in the thumb-nail) notes:

For some unknown reason, I was visualizing Barney singing this while strapped with an AK47, and at the end of the song, he lets out a loud 殺.

(Hat tip to Xeni Jardin).

Charge Your iPod While Doing Your Business

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 15:47:10 -0500

There are so many weird iPod accessories that mocking any of them seems like shooting fish in a barrel. But, hey, here’s the latest: an iPod dock and toilet paper holder all-in-one. It’s called the iCarta. Not only can you charge your iPod with this device, but it also comes equipped with 4 integrated high performance moisture-free speakers. No word on whether an iPod left next to the toilet for an extended period of time becomes a bio-hazard, but that’s what they make sanitizing wipes for. (Courtesy of OhGizmo.)

So, Does This Make Steve Jobs the Messiah?

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:43:58 -0500

As loathe as we are to promote anything have to do with The DaVinci Code, this parody of Opus Dei is too good to pass up. It’s particularly funny if you’re a Mac acolyte or close to someone who is. It’s Apple Dei, othewise known as So Dark the Con of Mac. Our favorite bit: a new Cilice that is iPod ready. (Hat tip to Good Morning Silicon Valley).

New Meaning for the Word Joystick

Sat, 27 May 2006 11:00:40 -0500

Courtesy of the TechEBlog, a video game and urinal, all-in-one. It’s called OnTarget and it’s really real. Here’s the product description:

Recessed into a urinal is a pressure-sensitive display screen. When the guest uses it, he triggers an interactive game, producing images and sound. The reduced size of the “target” improves restroom hygiene and saves on cleanings costs (like the “fly in the urinal” at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport). It also makes a trip to the urinal “fun and games” – more than just a necessary nuisance. By projecting the game experience into the public space, viewers are treated to a new way of visualizing the abstract, and the entertainment value is boosted. The projection of the project into a museum space was conceived of as a critical-ironic measure, questioning the concept of art, but extending it at the same time. “On target” is an interactive installation with the functional purpose of improving hygiene.

Is there anything more to say? Fun and games at the urinal that improve hygiene? Impossible to top that.