hacks
Open Source Hardware: Buglabs to ship in Q4
Tired of your bricked iPhone? You’re not alone. (Ok, to be fair, iPhones aren’t even being shipped in Germany yet, I think. But anyway.)
There’s at least two new projects that are open sourcing not just their software, but also their hardware: They’re specifically designed for hackability. How awesome is that?
First, there’s OpenMoko, an open source […]
Opening the Social Graph
Lately the web has been buzzing with talk about the Social Graph (or Social Network Portability, as others prefer to call it).
The basic question? Who owns your social network, and how can you move it back and forth between different services and applications? (You should be the only one with complete control over your […]
Do we need standards to protect customers online?
Google has decided to discontinue their online video store, effectively just taking back the DRM-”protected” videos they had sold before. (BoingBoing has a brief round-up.)
This just shows, again, how deadly all the license agreements are that all users click through on a daily basis. (Yes: you, too.) Basically, whenever you purchase or rent anything on […]
Second Life goes open source (this time, for real?)
According to mashable.com, LindenLab will open up the source code for Second Life servers, too. (Awhile ago, the client software was open-sourced.)
As if there weren’t enough freedom on Second Life (letting avatars fly), now the virtual land will operate much like the actual Internet itself. Linden Labs, private owner of Second Life, is making […]
Hedonist International: Reclaiming public urban spaces
Now this is awesome. This group, going by the name Hedonist International, organizes flash mob-style events, reclaiming urban spaces. Well, actually, it’s pretty well organized for a flash mob. Anyway, this video mashes up two events: A mobile rave squad in the underground shopping mall under Potsdamer Platz, and a spontaneous rave in Berlin’s famous […]
Google meta-hack targets nerds & sniffers
It’s been known for a long time that you could use a simple Google search for “confidential” and “do not distribute” to find plenty of confidential stuff that all kinds of organizations and companies put on their web servers. With a bit of luck you get to see all kinds of drafts or internal memos, […]
Hacking device to go
Woah, scary. At this year’s RSA security conference, Immunity Inc. introduced their new portable penetration attack device Silica. Silica, as summarized by ZDNet’s Ryan Naraine, is able to
search for and join 802.11 (Wi-Fi) access points, scan other connections for open ports, and automatically launch code execution exploits from a built-in exploit platform.
For $3.600, you can […]
Dictatorships get to grips with Web 2.0
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) just released their Annual Press Freedom Survey.
Executive summary of the internet-related part: New technologies, encryption and Web 2.0 have made it easier for dissidents, journalists and other ordinary folks to have secure conversations and get the word out. However, dictatorships are catching up: Partly by adapting said new technologies, partly by […]
John Perry Barlow: “If you wanna share something - share it.”
[…]If you wanna share something - share it. If you wanna use something - use it. Try to do so ethically in the sense of don´ t take things without attribution.[…] Pay no attention to these people when it comes to being creative. Go ahead and do the stuff that Larry showed in the beginning […]
Web tool to bypass government censorship
Toronto University’s Citizen Lab has been cooking up a mean tool to bypass government censorship. Going by the name of psiphon, the software supposedly allows citizens in uncensored countries to provide unrestricted access to the Net to their friends in less fortunate countries.
“The program, called psiphon (pronounced “SY-fon”), will be released on Dec. 1 in […]
Larry Lessig on singing in the shower
Markus got a hold of Lawrence Lessig and has put up some pretty cool videos of their interview.
As a brief sample, Larry Lessig on singing in the shower:
“It is important that there be use of culture free of the regulation of copyright law. And the job of copyright law is to draw the parallels between […]
Crackdown on German coffee drinkers
German customs have sued “thousands of German coffee drinkers” about buying their roasted coffee beans via ebay from abroad. Turns out that Germany, Belgium and Denmark have a coffee tax (Euro 2,19/kg of coffee in Germany!), so customs claim that ordering your coffee more cheaply on the internet constitutes tax evasion.
Here’s the hilarious letter informing […]
Wizards of OS
Yochai Benkler and Rishab Aiyer Ghosh on the Wizards of OS panel in Berlin today. The conference’s motto is “Information Freedom Rules”. Yochai’s talk was amazing. I feel really lucky I got the chance to interview him. The video will be linked from here soon.
(The bar at Columbiahalle looks pretty funky, too. Never expected […]
Embedded Warcraft Journalist
Talking about immerging into virtual worlds: Steven Levy was an embedded journalist. In Joi Ito’s World of Warcraft guild.
How meta is that.
(Here’s Steven’s article.)
Wizards of OS 4 in Berlin, this weekend
In case you’re in Berlin and haven’t made any plans this weekend (and even if you have), don’t miss out on Wizards of OS 4. It’s the conference on free knowledge, information freedom and open collaboration.
From Thursday until Saturday, there’s going to be pretty much non-stop program at Columbiahalle (Google Maps).
Among the speakers there will […]
My name is Peter Bihr. I live in Berlin, Germany. As a freelancer, I consult on web strategies, communities, blogging and social media. In this weblog, I jot down random thoughts, ideas and news. Hopefully, you'll find some are interesting for you, too. 