Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 675

Dark Pools

*Imagine the fun of unregulated, globalized, collapsing finance-empires that are too big to fail and also don't officially exist.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/story/print?guid=11EB6EC9-6D71-43C9-ADD2-59C6B9E3C5D1

Unlike the bulk of trading in stocks, this trade was made anonymously and was executed outside of the market where retail investors and institutions meet. And unlike a trade on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, no one will ever know who put a million shares up for sale and ...

Fabbed on the Catwalk

*I'd be guessing that these sintered-nylon fabricated heels (a) stink (b) pinch and (c) blister, but who cares? Lookah that hot young industry putting on the ritz.

http://www.freedomofcreation.com/for/high-heel-shoes-by-pauline-van-dongen

Spime Watch: Pachube and SMS alerts

*Ubicomp newbies are always moaning at me, "When do I get cellphone prompts from my various kitchen white goods?"

*Here you go, then. Wire up the works there, and enjoy yourself for the 15 minutes it takes to realize that random, interrupt-driven connectivity from machines is certainly not where it's at ubi-wise.

*You see how this site is called "community" Pachube and not "bunch of wired 'smart' refrigerators" Pachube? Big hint there.

http://community.pachube.com/node/390

SMS Alerts come t...

Augmented Reality: Metaio's in town

http://blog.eventful.com/

March 10, 2010

SXSW Partiers can use Augmented Reality to find the coolest events (((it had to happen, so I'm blogging it even though it's a press release)))

One of the great things about my job is that I get to work with all of the cool new applications that are using Eventful's API to integrate event data into their services.

I am pleased to introduce the first augmented reality platform to integrate Eventful event data including event locations and event details...

Here comes the big geolocation skirmish of SXSW 2010

*It won't need Nostradamus to figure this one out. More as the situation develops at the conference here in Austin.

*It's frenemies / colleagues/ industry boosters Twitter, Foursquare, and Gowalla frolicking on the geolocative streets of Austin, TX 78701-4121, whilst Facebook and Google sit on their checkbooks waiting for marketing daylight. Casualties already: Loopt, Brightkite. Dark horse contenders: Yelp, and anybody who calls themselves "augmented" anything.

*Operative question for...

Here comes the big geolocation skirmish of SXSX 2010

*It won't need Nostradamus to figure this one out. More as the situation develops at the conference here in Austin.

*It's frenemies / colleagues/ industry boosters Twitter, Foursquare, and Gowalla frolicking on the geolocative streets of Austin, TX 78701-4121, whilst Facebook and Google sit on their checkbooks waiting for marketing daylight. Casualties already: Loopt, Brightkite. Dark horse contenders: Yelp, and anybody who calls themselves "augmented" anything.

*Operative question for...

War drones of now and tomorrow

*Say, this visual guide to current and future warfare drones oughta be pretty handy for your survivors after you're silently blown to bits from a clear blue sky.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/gallery/2010-02/gallery-future-drones

Future: Vulture

Jim Wilson/Lockheed Martin

Class: High-Altitude

Habitat: A belt of relatively calm air around 55,000 feet

Behavior: Lockheed Martin's design for Darpa's Vulture program can stay aloft for five years, (((and that doesn't even count the extensive...

More about the Mariposa botnet

*Hard to believe that Spanish authorities are this lacking in ingenuity. Seizing control of millions of computers owned by utter strangers is, what, a team sport in Spain?

–Will Mariposa Arrests Prove to be a Deterrent?

(March 4, 5 & 8, 2010)

The three alleged ringleaders of the Mariposa botnet who were arrested
in Spain last month may not ever go to jail because Spain does not have
legislation that addresses their alleged crimes. Merely owning and
operating a botnet are not punishable offenses ...

Ecco che arriva il Rinascimento tutto daccapo.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/digital-renaissance-partnering-with.html

A digital renaissance: partnering with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage

3/10/2010 04:00:00 AM

The Renaissance, Europe's period of cultural, political and scientific rebirth, began in Florence around 600 years ago. At Google we're interested in a (small "r") renaissance of a different kind — a digital one. Since the launch of Google Books, we've been working with libraries and publishers around the globe to ...

Dead Media Beat: DOCAM

http://www.docam.ca/

"For more than 50 years, (((read: "they're dying and so is their stuff"))) the use and integration of technology in art practices has greatly changed the cultural landscape and has prompted us to review and adapt our conservation and documentation methods.

"The work and results of DOCAM demonstrate that the preservation of media art requires that its particular characteristics be taken into account. The mission of the DOCAM Research Alliance has been to identify and...