tech@vedella

No more fancy feasts for death row prisoners who are about to be killed in Texas. The state is doing away with them. The meals. And, you know, also the death row prisoners. Brian Evans of Amnesty International, playing the … Continue reading →

The Twitter account of Mark Davidson, a self-described social media professional, has apparently been taken over by someone claiming to be an ex-employee who had been paid to ghostwrite Davidson's tweet-feed. Actually, the hijacker claims to have been part of … Continue reading →

Let the ringtone/remix fun begin! From NASA today: Here's a collection of NASA sounds from historic spaceflights and current missions. You can hear the roar of a space shuttle launch or Neil Armstrong's "One small step for (a) man, one … Continue reading →

HP today named Meg Whitman President and Chief Executive Officer. Let the company's deathwatch commence. Quipped @laloalcaraz: "[Her] first task at HP will be to shove all the Asian employees."

The FBI has arrested 23-year-old Cody Andrew Kretsinger of Phoenix, Arizona on charges of stealing data from Sony Pictures Entertainment earlier this year. Prison: not so lulzy. More from Elinor Mills at CNET News, from Kim Zetter at Wired.com, and … Continue reading →

Los Angeles firefighters are under investigation by the LAFD for apparently allowing porn producers to use their fire engines (the actual fire engines, not a euphemism for their hubba-hubbas) in an adult film. This follows reports in April that two … Continue reading →

TorrentFreak has excellent analysis of the revelation that a user in the Swedish Film Institute's IP block has been accused of illegally downloading movies in a report from one of the motion picture industry's copyright bounty-hunters. Rather than sniggering at … Continue reading →

Big and controversial science news breaking today, via AP: "A pillar of physics — that nothing can go faster than the speed of light — appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant … Continue reading →

[Video Link] Above, a sexually playful video with furries, which was apparently created by someone in the fandom, with his friends. Others in the furry community were upset when the video went viral, with the sort of sexually-focused mockery and … Continue reading →

Video Link. Maggie Spotz has a wonderful YouTube channel full of short-form, funny and/or cute animal videos. My favorites are the ones where her cat swats at hamsters and pet rats. Some of her videos are so popular, they've spawned … Continue reading →

According to the US Dept of Agriculture, the cost of raising a child in a middle-income family has increased by 40 percent over the past ten years. Every major category of child-rearing expense has seen steep increase: day-care, education, food, … Continue reading →

Schuyler Erle's FOSSLC presentation, "Pivoting to monetize mobile hyperlocal social gamification by going viral in the cloud," bridges the important gap between marketing and free/open source developers. A real public service. Pivoting to monetize mobile hyperlocal social gamification by going … Continue reading →

Trivia: Actual Tim & Eric vs. Breaking Bad connection? Bob Odenkirk, ya dummy! Now why didn't you think of that? [Shoop: XJ]

"Methuselah trusts" are (very) longterm trusts that accumulate so much compound interest over hundreds of years that by the time they mature, they could potentially pose a real threat to the economy. That's why they're illegal. From Lapham's Quarterly: Hartwick … Continue reading →

Speaking of smart games, Spongelab's Natural Selection is almost more of an interactive demonstration than an actual game, but it's still way cool. The goal: Learn about how evolution works by causing mutations in populations of cute, fluffy bunnies. Image: … Continue reading →

A couple of years ago, I told you about Foldit, a computer game that harnesses the power of human putzing to help scientists unravel the mysteries of protein structure. There's a new research paper out that uses results from Foldit … Continue reading →

This report from the Second West Coast Computer Faire -- in 1978 -- from Byte magazine is a perfect time-capsule of the heroic age of personal computing: I enjoyed the many special features of the show, particularly the excellent computer … Continue reading →

Funny. There are quite a few more at stocklogos.com.

Italian MPs from Berlusconi's party have proposed legislation that will require ISPs to disconnect any customer on receipt of a single unsubstantiated copyright complaint, from anyone -- even someone who's not connected with the alleged rightsholder in any way. 1) … Continue reading →

At least according to Wes Wilson, a psychedelic poster pioneer who helped define the rock poster aesthetic of the 1960s, iconic rock promoter Bill Graham wasn't as cool a guy as you might think. Of course, Bill isn't around to … Continue reading →