tech@vedella

Earlier this week, I gave a talk on the way that "Big Data" is underpinned with a kind of myth about how users trade privacy for services. Ciara Byrne from the NYT's VentureBeat interviewed me afterwards about it. I think she did a really good job of condensing a hard, nuanced question into a brief [...]

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[Video Link] Pentecostal minister Becky Fischer teaches kids how to raise the dead. At the six minute mark she explains that kids can successfully pray their dead pets back to life. Good luck, kids! (Via Dangerous Minds)

New York Times reports that Ugandans say they were beaten and forced off their land to make way for a carbon credit forest. The case twists around an emerging multibillion-dollar market trading carbon-credits under the Kyoto Protocol, which contains mechanisms … Continue reading →

Joplin, MO librarian April Roy, bookseller Pete Cowdin and members of the Kansas City Woodworkers’ Guild are building 22 mobile libraries -- book-shaped travelling bookcases that can be brought to poor, tornado-struck schools in the area. They're working with donated … Continue reading →

Today, Friday, Sept. 23rd (12:00 p.m. PT), MashUp Radio explores “Life Logging – the Self-Quantification Phenomenon.” This week’s show will explore the rapidly expanding movement in which people track various personal metrics with the goal of making better educated decisions … Continue reading →

Spencer Ackerman at Wired's Danger Room keeps digging into Islamophobia at the FBI, and the problem reveals itself to be deeper and deeper. Above, a montage of some of the books at the FBI library at Quantico. Following months of … Continue reading →

Milwaukee's Craig Smith presents his Han Solderer, a high-powered soldering gun made from a collectible Han Solo blaster he treasured as a lad. The gag is funnier if you pronounce it "sol-der" (UK) not "soh-der" (US), but woah, that's a … Continue reading →

danah boyd sez, "Alice Marwick and I just crafted an op-ed for the New York Times entitled 'Why Cyberbullying Rhetoric Misses the Mark.' It's based on a new paper that we just released called 'The Drama! Teen Conflict, Gossip, and … Continue reading →

There are a lot of Fairey remixes around, but this Admiral Ackbar/Star Wars TRAP poster's pretty nicely executed. POSTERS > Trap poster (Thanks, Sebastian!)

GadgetSponge features some wonderful birdhouses made from found objects and turned into aviary sculptures. Bird Houses (Thanks, Brian!)

Etsy seller hand-forges these steel spiders and makes the eyeballs they support, and describes both with a lot of verve: I hand hammer glowing hot steel on an antique anvil and make glass eyeballs that are attached after everything cools … Continue reading →

I bought a new Alternative Tentacles tshirt to replace the one I bought in the early 1980s. I didn't realize how faded it had become until I placed them side by side. I like the way the old one looks … Continue reading →

Ben says: "Although Skulls Unlimited generally articulates species that actually exist, we are sometimes asked to create custom skeletal mounts, such as this Centaur. Created using the torso of a real human skeleton and melding it with the body of … Continue reading →

From the Nov, 1938 issue to Mechanix Illustrated, a sweet little pop-up camping "house" that folded down flat and could be strapped to the roof of your hupmobile, tin lizzie any other jalopy you find yourself piloting. FEATURING six windows … Continue reading →

"How do you explain all the drugs in your house?," an Alabama police officer asked Ola Mae Robinson as she was cuffed and taken into custody. "It wasn't mine! Til they found me I was sitting up in my chair noddin!," … Continue reading →

Rafe Needleman at CNET, on Facebook vs. Google+: "The Algorithm is a big part of today's announcement at the F8 developers' conference. The Algorithm can determine what you're likely to like based on who you like, what you do, where … Continue reading →

Photo, by Dave Shumka: At left, Sean Connery as Zed from the 1974 movie Zardoz. At right, Dave's dog Grampa dressed as Zed, Halloween 2009. (thanks, @somebadideas!)

Steven Levy tweets: "It will take people a while to absorb that a Facebook profile is now a timeline of your life, an autobiography rendered by data." Check out his long-read over at Wired today: "Facebook is Ready for Your … Continue reading →

Etsy seller MechanicalOddities 3D prints these D6s with gears instead of pips, then finishes them by hand with brass-effect paint. Dice - 3D printed, Steampunk Style, Bronze Finish (Thanks, Alice)