I tried DuckDuckGo for the first time today, and think I’ll probably stick with it, because of keyboard shortcuts. They have a whole bunch of other goodies, too.
I got keyboard shortcuts in search results back
February 2nd, 2012Similar photos infringe copyright in the UK →
January 30th, 2012All pictures that includes a red bus, Big Ben and parliament, with the red-on-black-and-white effect are now owned by Temple Island
This creates a situation where anyone who owns a large library of photos — a stock photography outfit — can go through its catalog and start suing anyone with deep pockets: “We own the copyright to ‘two guys drinking beer with the bottoms of the mugs aimed skyward!'” It’s an apocalyptically bad ruling, and an utter disaster in the making.
Techdirt have more details, and highlight the fact that the judge used his judgement of the artiness to determine whether the photos are ‘copied’.
ACTA rapporteur resigns over ‘masquerade’
January 30th, 2012Wow. A must read from the Open Rights Group UK.
(A Rapporteur, in this case, is the MEP appointed to investigate an issue or situation.)
Kader Arif, rapporteur for ACTA in the European Parliament, has quit his role as rapporteur. Thanks to La Quadrature Du Net, here’s his statement in English:
I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.
As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands.
Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.”
This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.
Strong stuff and a brave move. Another clear signal that something is seriously wrong. It’s going to be our job to make sure that the public’s voice is heard. Get ready to help us retrofit some democracy into the ACTA masquerade.
Rebase v Merge in Git →
January 27th, 2012ACTA signed, not yet sealed – now it’s up to us →
January 27th, 2012You can learn more about ACTA here. One of the main concerns is that it’s another attempt to punish people based on accusations without due process and without processes for accused to defend themselves.
ACTA has made it past the UK government with no input from stakeholders (e.g. the public) or discussion by parliament. The trade agreement is now in the European Parliament, so we should now get a chance to prevent it being put in place. Apparently it will be discussed some time after June.
I’m a strobist now
January 24th, 2012
My flash has arrived, and a 5m cable to take the flash waaay off camera.
PS the rolling shutter on the iPhone has caused the strange effect at the bottom of the photo.
Star Wars Uncut →
January 24th, 2012It’s finished. I will definitely be watching this later.
It’s a crowd-sourced remake of the original Star Wars film. It was cut up into 15 second slices, then anyone could choose a slice, and remake it.
Focus on the user →
January 24th, 2012I’ve not seen the new ‘search, plus your world’ results in my Google, yet, but this plugin is amusing.
It looks at the three places where Google only shows Google+ results and then automatically googles Google to see if Google finds a result more relevant than Google+.
When the sky crashed →
January 23rd, 2012LOL
More crazy CSS cleverness →
January 20th, 2012Best. 404. Ever.
