tech@vedella

They said it couldn't be done. But National Geographic Traveler's Andrew Evans seems to have invented the Alligator Chaser. As a bonus: Check out this 2007 research paper, published in The Journal of Experimental Biology. It marks the first time that anyone sat down and figured out the physical mechanics of the alligator "death roll"—the [...]

Back in the day, home versions of arcade hits were often disappointing: low-res screens, tiny sprites and tinny music. At the time, this was seen as the result of computers and consoles lacking the originals' cutting-edge tech. This is true enough; accurate living-room clones of coin-op hits weren't common until the 16-bit era. But expert [...]

An anti-Gaddafi fighter shows the media what they say was the golden pistol of Muammar Gaddafi, near Sirte October 20, 2011. Gaddafi was killed on Thursday as Libya's new leaders declared they had overrun the last bastion of his long rule, sparking wild celebrations that eight months of war may finally be over. Details of [...]

I can't make this, but if you're in the Boston area tomorrow, you should consider spending your Friday at MIT's Energy Night. The event starts at 5:30 pm, it's free and open to the public, and you'll get a chance to see 70 cool energy projects that some of the smartest people in America are [...]

Creative works published before 1923 are legally part of the public domain. Beyond that, the federal government can't copyright anything, except in very specific circumstances. So why is the Smithsonian Institution claiming copyright on a collection of 19th-century seed catalog images? What Would Luther Burbank Do? is a project aimed at convincing the Smithsonian to [...]

A sweet gig for NYC-based makers and hackers and 3D printing enthusiasts: MakerBot is hiring support technicians: "To work for support is to be right in the thick of all that is MakerBot — if you find 3d printing exciting, this is the place for you. Send your resume today — that is, if you’ve [...]

[Video Link, thanks @demarko]

[Video Link] Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed today when rebel fighters battling what was left of his regime took over his hometown of Surt. Since no-one has created a "Hitler Finds Out Gaddafi is Dead" video yet, I dug up the strangest thing I could find: this raw footage of the despot relaxing [...]

Writer Naomi Wolf attended a HuffPo event in NYC where Governor Andrew Cuomo was expected to attend, and which had attracted a group of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who wanted to address the governor. Seeing the demonstrators penned up far away from the area where it would be lawful to protest, Wolf asked the police [...]

Troy Hunt installed the HTTP proxy Fiddler on his network and used it to examine the way that iPhone apps performed. What he discovered was a series of shockingly poor implementation decisions that massively bloat the bandwidth needed to load and use apps (important for users whose mobile phone plans contain strict bandwidth caps); poor [...]

Canada's Parliament is debating bill C-11, the latest incarnation of a "modernisation" copyright bill, which contains a very controversial US-style "digital locks" (DRM) rule. Under C-11's digital locks rules, it would be illegal to remove any sort of anti-copying technology, even if you're doing so for a lawful purpose. For example, if a store sold [...]

[Video Link] Boing Boing pal Mike Outmesguine shares this excellent video of his son Mikey and his classmates putting on a demonstration for his school. Mike is a wireless technology expert and a fun-loving explorer of DIY-hacker-maker culture, and his son Mikey appears to be following in his father's footsteps. Mike explains: His class created [...]

Sound It Out #3: Jenny O. -- "Well OK Honey" It’s not easy to find information about Jenny O. Her bio tells us that her father is a scientist/wedding singer and that she began playing music at an early age. That’s pretty much it. Mysterious origins aside, “Well OK Honey” is the rare song that [...]

Korean sculptor Yeong-Deok Seo works with densely welded bicycle (and other) chains, creating beautiful, hollow forms with strange, irregular surfaces and voids. (via Colossal)

Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, you've probably heard me and other people talk about the radiation exposure we experience in everyday life. All humans, throughout history, have been exposed to background radiation produced constantly by the natural environment. Then there's added exposures from modern sources: X-rays and medical scans, living near power plants (both coal [...]

From The Onion: "The groundbreaking Outkube.com launched this week, providing an online destination where pandering and incendiary content is used to lure moronic Internet commenters away from all other websites."

Submitted to the Boing Boing flickr pool by Dan Swenson.

According to an NTC leader quoted by Reuters, Colonel Gadaffi was shot and captured today. Update: And he's dead.

On the 1896 five dollar bill, "the entire obverse was covered with artwork representing electricity." The $2 bill offered an image representing science, with youth gracing the $1.

Heather Brooke is the American-trained "data journalist" who upended British politics when she moved to the UK and began to use the UK's Freedom of Information law to prise apart the dirty secrets of power and privilege, most notably by exposing the expense cheating by Members of Parliament. Brooke's latest book is The Revolution will [...]