try to imagine – if you will – that you are the researcher who knows in your heart of hearts you’re going to get published in science because you’re doing the killer experiment that proves that cloning isn’t associated with premature aging. you’ve worked hard. you’ve eaten your wheaties. you’re beating the odds and getting generation after generation of clones. you’ve stayed up late for months. your kids don’t care that you’re doing cool shit. [i mean, it is cloning for crying out loud.] you come in early one morning. you’ve run out of coffee. [you spilled what coffee you could squeeze out of yesterday’s grounds all over your new [well, new to you] shirt. and you find out your magnificent bit part at playing god has come to a sudden end:

“Researchers have cloned six successive generations of mice in an experiment that gives new insights into ageing. The sequentially cloned mice showed no signs of growing old prematurely and appeared mentally and physically normal.

However, the experiment came to a sudden end when the single, sixth-generation mouse clone was eaten by her foster mother.”

good stuff:

“How could a Ralph Nader story be interesting? He has been turned into the national scold, just as I am referred to as a “gadfly.” I assume that’s because intellectual is too difficult a word to spell. He has been made the bore of all time. Even I, who quite admire him in some ways, find him very boring. But he’s not boring; he’s presented as a bore, as a nag. Seat belts! I’m here in New York, and every time I get into a
taxicab these voices come on that say “buckle up,” I think of Ralph Nader. Now this has destroyed him! You have made him the bore of all time.

It’s all about getting rid of anybody who wants change, and you create an aura about him. I’ve been demonized for 50 years, I’m aware of how it’s done.”

here’s the entire interview.

something tells me that this isn’t the last we’ll hear of cuecat’s continuing woes:

“Hackers quickly figured out the simple base64+XOR system used to scramble the CueCat’s output, and wrote a Linux device driver for the scanner. Others launched web sites that could read the cat’s output. Another programmer pitched in with a decoder written in skintight Perl code. Nevada engineer Stephen Satchell published a detailed analysis of the barcode cues themselves, and a Wisconsin hardware hacker physically dissected his CueCat and discovered a way to neuter the device’s electronic serial number with a careful slice of an X-Acto knife. “The serial EPROM is easily accessible,” said Michael Guslick. “By cutting one of the traces, that effectively disables the serial number.”

Digital Convergence was aghast. “If people take over our cat and start using their own databases, the world becomes cloudy,” says Mathews. “Our revenue model is being the gate keeper between codes and their destinations online.”

By way of example, Mathews points to one hack, created by network engineer Michael Rothwell, that allows users to scan the ISBN number on the back of a book with the CueCat. “You could swipe a code, and it would serve up a page on Amazon.com. But what if [the publisher] doesn’t want it to go to Amazon.com, they want it to go to web site under their control… By the Linux community taking over and redirecting where these swipes go to, they were circumventing our software.””

so the other day, i received a cuecat in the mail. and yes, despite the negative press attention they’ve been receiving, i was tempted to install the software and begin the digital convergence journey. that is – until the proverbial straw broke the camel’s back:

“Just days after About.com releases email address of some of their business customers, Digital Convergence alerts customers to a possible security breach with their CueCat scanner. The breach includes possible release of emails and names of those who registered the CueCat (which is given away for free at RadioShack Stores). Apparently the CueCat security has been de-clawed.”

they’ve already made the rounds, but i’m going to catalogue the recent spate of mp3/artist stories anyway.

first, the offspring decide, if you can’t beat ’em – join ’em [with a twist]:

“Just as technology has made leaps and bounds over those last two years, plans
for the download and release of Conspiracy Of One are significantly more
sophisticated. Anyone who purchases the actual CD will have the opportunity
to use proprietary new technology, located directly on the physical compact
disc, to launch into a coded part of the band web site and become a member of
The Offspring Nation. The Offspring Nation is a digital fan club offering
incentives and benefits including subsequent exclusive downloads, animated
films, gated chats with the artist, advance ticket sales and more. Dexter
Holland
says, “We decided that we would create a super fan club for those of
our fans who actually buy our CD. The CD has a key in the CD-Extra section
that registers members to The Offspring Nation, our fan club. We figure
since we make our music available to everyone for free this will act as a
special acknowledgement to our fans who go to the trouble to buy our CD.
“”

and courtney love decides she wants some of the bounty the recording industry has been extracting from mp3.com

“In the nine months since it filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against MP3.com
(MPPP), Universal Music Group has said over and over again that it is battling the
online music portal to protect the financial interests of its legendary stable of
performers. After it said as much in court papers, a federal judge ordered MP3.com
to pay Universal between $120 million and $250 million in damages on Sept. 6.

But Universal recording artists will never see a dime of that cash, one of the label’s
most prominent musicians, Courtney Love, now says. And so, the Grammy
Award-winning singer says she will turn the tables on Universal and ask a court to fine
the company for stealing her music. ”

MP3 Player, Detailed Information

sigh. i’d like to pretend that i had enough free time to actually build my own mp3 player:

“This project is a stand alone MP3 player, designed for home, car, or portable use. It plays a group of MP3 files stored on a standard or laptop IDE hard disk drive… hundreds of hours using even today’s low-cost drives. The firmware is available under the GPL, for anyone who want to really customize the player. High quality audio output is provided by a 24 bit DAC, using both standard line-level outputs and an amplified headphone output. The large capacity allows the use of very high MP3 quality settings, that would reduce flash based players to only a few songs. Because it’s a complete stand alone player usable in a variety of applications, you can have your entire MP3 music collection anywhere away from your computer. ”

just think of the home automation possibilities of playing with the mp3 player and the world’s tiniest webserver