Federico Pistono - Blog - Federico Pistono

Invaders...

Federico Pistono — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:35:40 -0700

Minority Report's computer interface is among us

Federico Pistono — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:06:44 -0700

It's called G-Speak: Gestural Interface Technology. John Underkoffler, one of Oblong’s co-founders, was the science advisor on Minority Report and built much of what we saw in the film from what he was working on at MIT.

The gesture-based g-speak “spatial operating interface” (SOE) software platform has been in development at MIT’s Media Laboratory since the early 1990s and its intended use isn’t as nerdy as we’d expect. It’s meant to facilitate answers to real-world issues. The platform is reportedly compatible with Linux and Mac.

The SOE's combination of gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels brings the first major step in computer interface since 1984; starting today, g-speak will fundamentally change the way people use machines at work, in the living room, in conference rooms, in vehicles. The g-speak platform is a complete application development and execution environment that redresses the dire constriction of human intent imposed by traditional GUIs. Its idiom of spatial immediacy and information responsive to real-world geometry enables a necessary new kind of work: data-intensive, embodied, real-time, predicated on universal human expertise.

Some of the SOE's core ideas are already familiar from the film Minority Report, whose characters performed forensic analysis using massive, gesturally driven displays. The similarity is no coincidence: Underkoffler based the design of those scenes directly on his earlier work at MIT. Other foundational components are less directly visible but as crucially transformative. The g-speak platform braids development arcs begun in the early 1990s at MIT's Media Laboratory, where Oblong's principals produced radical user interface advances, distributed and networked language designs, and media manipulation technologies.

From academia; into popular cinema; and out broadly into the world as commercial product: it's an unordinary path for technical thought and effort, but one -- leading to g-speak -- that seems now logical and even necessary. The people who work in Oblong's Los Angeles and Barcelona laboratory offices are as concerned with design as with programming, with humanist principles as with running a company. Synthesizing these concerns is the only way to insure that the metamorphosis of human-computer interaction we offer the world will be one of beauty and durable worth.

Links

Oblong project's home page.

Welcome to Earth

Federico Pistono — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:48:39 -0700

With love anything is possible

Federico Pistono — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:47:43 -0700

From the The Perry Bible Fellowship.

Keith Olbermann on Proposition 8, Same Sex Marriage and Love

Federico Pistono — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:05:48 -0700

MSNBC Keith Olbermann on Prop 8, Marriage and more!

Could not agree more.

freeblogger - free blogger on a free state

Federico Pistono — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:03:37 -0700

Federico Pistono, blogger. I say no to the "killthebloggers"'s law (Levi/Veltroni).

Gmail Voice and Video chat first impressions

Federico Pistono — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:04:31 -0700

This is quite revolutionary. I have been waiting for this feature for a long time. Just like Justin Uberti said video and voice chat were added today in gmail.

"We've tried to make this an easy-to-use, seamless experience, with high-quality audio and video. And we've built this product using Internet standards, such as XMPP, RTP, and the newly-standardized H.264/SVC video codec."

To try the new features go to http://mail.google.com/videochat and install the required plug-in (Windows & Mac-only, for now). After restarting the browser, open Gmail, select a contact from the chat section and see if there's an option named "Video & more". If you can't find this option, your friend didn't install the plug-in yet.

I tested it with different systems and generally I shall conclude:

Pro

The video quality is very good, much better than skype.
Much lighter than skype.
Much faster than skype.
Much easier than skype.

It's still in development and there are a few bugs to fix.
Does not support Linux.
Does not support *BSD.
Does not support ANYTHING else but Win and Mac.
Not open Source.
Actually all contras as a consequence of the latter.

Monks fight in holy church

Federico Pistono — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:41:14 -0700

Dozens of monks punch and kick each other in a massive brawl inside the Holy Sepulcher church in Jerusalem.

Unlock you iPod with Senuti and Open Source Software

Federico Pistono — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:06:58 -0700

Apple makes very good produtcs, but it has the bad habit of making them closed source and limit their capabilities. Once again, the power of oss proves itself. With Senuti you can unlock your iPod, a simple application that allows you to transfer songs from your iPod to your computer.

About Senuti

Senuti is a simple Mac OS X application for transferring songs from your iPod back to your computer.

There are many good reasons that someone would have to transfer music from her iPod back to her computer. There are many good ways to do it, too. Senuti is the only alternative that will give you the power and convenience that you need, wrapped in an interface that is extremely easy to use, at a cost that you can't complain about.

Lightning fast -- There's a little file on your iPod called the iTunesDB file. What does that mean to you? Nothing. What does that mean to me? Everything. Every bit of information on every song on your iPod is stored in this little file. Every bit of information on your playlists is stored in this file, too. It's how iTunes knows what's on your iPod. It's how your iPod knows what's there, too. There isn't a much faster way to figure out what's on your iPod.
Finding Songs -- Senuti includes all of the built in options that one would expect to find songs. You can search and sort in any combination of ways that you want. That's not quite enough sometimes, though. Sometimes you might want to know if you're copying the right song. Know how it goes, but don't know if that title is quite right? Play it! That's right, Senuti will play songs directly off of your iPod. It can even double as a jukebox player for your Shuffle or any other iPod.
Playlists -- Senuti not only reads the playlists that you made on your iPod, but it allows you to transfer them back to your computer as well. A simple drag and drop action within the application will not only copy songs to your computer and and add them to iTunes, but it will make a new playlist with the same name and add all of the songs to that list.
Seamless Integration -- Adding songs to your computer, you're probably going to add them to iTunes right after that, right? What if you didn't have to, wouldn't that be great? Well you don't have to. Senuti will do all of the work for you. What work you want it to do is up to you. You can have songs added to iTunes if you want. You can have all of your music organized into folders by artist and album, too. The option's yours.

How to use Senuti

Download Senuti. The latest version only works on Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. For OS X 10.3.9 users download Senuti 0.33 from the link at the bottom of the page.
Install Senuti. Drag the Seunti application to your Applications Folder. Drag Senuti into your dock or save a copy on your desktop if you wish. Eject the Senuti disk image and clear your download folder.
Make sure you have iTunes.
Open iTunes.
Plug your iPod into your computer.
Set your iPod to "Manually manage music and videos" in iTunes.
Open Senuti. Songs with a note or dot next to them are already in iTunes. However if you changed song information separately in your iTunes library or your iPod, it will think the same song is two different ones.
Go to "Preferences" and then "Copying" in Senuti. Choose the iTunes Music Folder as the "Save Location" for copied music. Otherwise two copies will be created of each song and will fill up hard drive space.
Highlight songs (hold down the Command key and click on them) and drag them to the text "iTunes". You can also drag and drop playlists from your iPod into "iTunes".
Make sure all the songs look normal and that there are no double copies.

Nanosolar Named Best Invention of the Year 2008 by Time Magazine

Federico Pistono — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:40:27 -0600

As the title says: There are countless ways to manufacture solar panels, but there's only one metric that counts: how the cost of solar power compares with that of electricity from fossil fuels. Until energy from the sun can beat energy from coal at the marketplace, solar will remain a niche player, adorning the rooftops of those who care more for their green reputation than for their bottom lines. Enter Nanosolar, a San Jose-based start-up that manufactures thin-film solar panels. Unlike the bulky silicon panels that dominate the solar market, Nanosolar thin-film technology is light and extremely cheap to make. The key is the manufacturing process: while silicon panels need to be baked in batches, Nanosolar's thin-film panels roll off the assembly line, as if from a printing press.

BlogRush Is Shutting Down

Federico Pistono — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:15:18 -0600

I received an email from John Reese of BlogRush.

After careful consideration, we have decided to shutdown the BlogRush service. If you have the widget code on your blog you will need to remove it.

When BlogRush launched in late-2007 it spread like wildfire all over the Web. Thousands of bloggers were talking about it and the service exploded to become one of the fastest growing free services in the history of the Web. During the first year of the service it successfully served 3.4 Billion blog post headlines and the BlogRush widget could be found on blogs all over the world; even up until the moment we closed down the service.

BlogRush didn't grow without its fair share of problems -- from security issues to abusive users trying to 'game' the system to much lower click-rates than expected. We also had some problems with trying to fairly control the quality of the network, and in the process made many mistakes in deciding what blogs should stay or go. All of these issues, ultimately, limited the service's full potential.

Our team worked very hard to try and build a service that would truly help bloggers of all sizes get free traffic to their blogs. This was our primary focus. Not once did we ever try to monetize the service with ads or anything else. BlogRush never made a single penny in revenue. We wanted to be able to help our users FIRST and then worry about monetizing the service later. Unfortunately, the service didn't work out like we had hoped. (It happens.)

I want to say "Thank You" to all of the great bloggers that at least gave BlogRush a test to see if it would work for them. We sincerely appreciate you giving the service a try.

We have received several offers & inquiries about acquiring BlogRush, but we are choosing not to go that route. While many might think this is crazy, we truly feel it's the 'right' thing to do for our users. Believe it or not, it's not always about the money. In fact, BlogRush will have lost a small fortune when it's all said and done, and it was by choice. There were many things we could have done to monetize the service but we wanted to make sure it was going to benefit our users first.

Last but not least I want to say that I hope the failure of this service doesn't in any way discourage other entrepreneurs from coming up with crazy ideas at 4AM (like I did with this one) and from "going for it" to just try and see if something will work. Without trying there can be no success. And as we all know, ideas are worthless without action. The Web wouldn't be what it is today without entrepreneurs trying all sorts of crazy ideas.

On behalf of the entire BlogRush team, we wish the best of luck to everyone with their own blogs, ideas, and crazy ventures.

Sincerely,
John Reese

It's kind of sad. It was an interesting project, and one of the few that really cared about quality of service. I guess that's also the reason they are closing.

GOTV Rally - Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Chicago

Federico Pistono — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:08:07 -0600

Yesterday night I was at GOTV Rally, supposedly a non-partisan event. I had my camera on hand and I took some pictures, as well as a few videos. If I find the time I might upload a small service, even though not having the microphone nor the good camera makes it a little bit difficult.

I found a video, with basically the same video coverage:

stupid laws in US

Federico Pistono — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:36:39 -0600

Remember when I said I love public libraries and how nobody bothers you? Well, not in America. A few days ago Steve was trying to convince me that if you are a good citizen and do nothing bad the U.S. is a nice place. Having seen from a distance the abuses by law enforcement and police brutality I was of course very skeptic.

Eric Drooker Police Dog

Up until now nothing serious happened, beside my buddy a. being pulled over by the police for no reason at all, and then instigated to react on a non-existent crime just to take him to jail. It went something like this:

Is there a problem?
No, there is no problem.
Do you have any drugs?
Of course not.
Shut up, let me search.
[... search ... find nothing ...]
You know I can bring you to jail.
What are the charges?
If we have got a problem I'll bring you to jail.
What problem?
So, you have a problem?
No, I don't.
OK, I'll let you go this time.

"This time" according to what? Beside, he should be the one complaining with the police, I wonder if they do the same with rich white CEOs, who probably do have drugs in their cars, instead of a Latino community organiser from a poor neighbourhood who does nothing bad.

Abuse of power is displayed at all levels, from the most violent to the most insignificantly stupid. So, back to the library. I've been here for a couple of hours, silent and quiet, minding my own business. There comes the library guard with a piece of paper.

The rules say you can't have the hood on.
I beg you pardon?
The hood. Take it off. No hood in the library. It's the rule.
I grab the piece of paper and take a good look. Rule #5 states that hoods may be a symbol of gangs, and may cover the face of the person.
But it's getting cold.
It's not my problem.
Can I see the rules again?
Here.
It also says to use good judgement of the "no hood rule".
To me this is good judgement. If you don't take it off you have to leave.
Can't you raise please the heat a bit?
It's not my problem.

Alright, that's it, I have no choice but to take it off and catch a cold. A winter hat is OK, a hood is not. Too bad I didn't take my hat, right? This is ridiculous, it's not like I'm covering my face. Plus, I hardly look like a member of some kind of gang. And even if I was, I'm quietly minding my own business in the library with my computer, what's the big deal? I guess the so called figures of authority are there just to piss innocent and harmless citizens off, and rarely go after those who deserve it. It's easier, right?

Chicago City

Federico Pistono — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:34:25 -0600

Chicago Chronicles - Street photos

Federico Pistono — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:32:52 -0600

quiet

Federico Pistono — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:54:36 -0600

Here I am, back again, finally live blogging from Chicago. I took a day off from my daily activities and have some time to relax, blog and do some research. My original intention was to provide a kind of Chicago Chronicles while I was spending my time in the U.S., but the place where I am only offers, shall we say, a volatile connection. Now, thanks to the wonders of the Chicago public library I am back to work.

I like libraries. Very much. I feel like they are my natural habitat. Warm, quiet, spacious, well illuminated, nobody bothers you and most of the times you get free internet. I leave you with a couple of pictures I just took, lots of more from the past days to come. ^_^

Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty and GDP

Federico Pistono — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:26:52 -0600

Here I am, Chicago Illinois, first time ever in US soil. Things are getting pretty interesting. Right now I'm on a Starbucks, there's a free hot spot and thanks to that I can live blog. I hold my tea paper cup and it says:

Starbucks is committed to reducing our environmental impact through increased use of post-consumer recycled materials. Help us help the planet.

Funny how this could have been a perfect starting point for last year's topic: the environment. I wonder if that really helps the environment. Of course the use of post-consumer recycled materials has been proved to cause less environmental impact than brand new materials. But is that really the point? What's the real cost of a product? It turns out that poverty and environment are really interconnected topics, the more you exploit "poor countries" resources the more you damage the environment. It's all connected, and it's all part of the same game, the game of economic growth. We live in rich countries, we have wealth, hospitals, bridges, advanced technology, corporate merchandises, cars and iPods. We are rich, indeed. According to the World Bank 1.4 billion people, or one quarter of the population of the developing world, lived below our international line of $1.25 a day in 2005. $1.25. That's very poor. I can't even buy my Starbucks tea with that.

I am a fisherman from Sierra Leone. Every day I wake up at 5, bring my fishing nets to the sea and do what I know to do. I fish. The whole morning goes by, in the afternoon, when the sunset approaches, I take my fish back to my humble place. On the way home I find a friend, who just got back form the market where he sells his home-grown vegetables. They would go very nicely with the fish a just got. I give him my biggest catch, a five-kilos tasty cod. He gives me back a bag of various vegetables and a smile. My wife will take care of the cooking, she's a really good cook. As I go back I see my son and daughter helping out my wife, tonight we'll have a great dinner. I feel happy. And rich.

So what's poverty? Is is the inability to pay for everything you need? Or rather the inability to get what you need? Imagine I grow vegetables in my backyard, make my own yoghurt, get the meat and the milk form local producer for very little money and high quality, but I work part time and get half the salary. Am I poor? According to international organizations who take the GDP as a reliable indicator, yes. But I wouldn't feel poor. Actually I would feel much richer. By having to work less and for less money I would be able to spend more time on the things I really love: reading a book, riding the bike, spend time with people I love, direct a film, play the bass, learn the piano and drums. A speech from Robert Kennedy sums it up the best.

"The gross national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them.
"The gross national product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles with nuclear warheads....
"And if the gross national product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials....

"The gross national product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile; and it can tell us everything about America except whether we are proud to be Americans.

He was running for president, so he had to say Americans. I am not, and I would say "it can tell us everything about us except whether we are proud to be humans". If we really want to end poverty we have to stop sending money to organizations who look like they are going to help "poor countries". Poor countries are actually much richer than the so called rich countries. They have more resources and more space. We just exploit them under the false promises of helping hem. As John Perkins illustrated in his book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

If we really want to end poverty we have to leave the poor countries alone, trying not to export our rotten ideal of crony capitalism, but ideals of community, compassion and uncorrupted leaders. Something we are not really familiar with even ourselves. First, let hem be. Second, change our mindset, since our model is rotten, it relies on the poorness of someone else in order to survive, if they become like us we will all be dead soon. We should be more humble and learn that even the smallest actions, if shared by millions actually make a difference.

Photo credits bahrania.

Leaving...

Federico Pistono — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:48:55 -0600

Leaving for Chicago... bye bye! ^_^

Zeitgeist: Addendum - Watch it online for free

Federico Pistono — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:13:37 -0600

I present you Zeitgeist Addendum, the second film of Peter Joseph, the creator of the groundbreaking Zeitgesit, The Movie.

Stay tuned for a high quality download, subtitles and a personal commentary.

Statement from the director.

The second film, Zeitgeist: Addendum, attempts to locate the root causes of this pervasive social corruption, while offering a solution. This solution is not based on politics, morality, laws, or any other "establishment" notions of human affairs, but rather on a modern, non-superstitious based understanding of what we are and how we align with nature, to which we are a part. The work advocates a new social system which is updated to present day knowledge, highly influenced by the life long work of Jacque Fresco and The Venus Project.

Sarah Palin is unfit to lead a country

Federico Pistono — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:23:38 -0600

I think we've all seen the Tina Fey's Saturday night live hilarious interpretation of Palin when interviewed by the CBC.

CNN Laughs It Up Over Sarah Palin Interview

That interview may seem like an entertaining piece of tape, if she wasn't running for one of the highest seats in the USA. When you can't give an straight answer to a fair question about international affair, general politics, economics, geopolitics and you may be the new Vice President it becomes really scaring. This is were we cross the line between fair political and ideological differences and living a nightmare.

Regardless of what your political position is, you may be a democrat, republican, independent, anarchist, it doesn't matter. This isn't a question of politics, or even personal tastes. It's called decency.

Jack Cafferty Tells Us How He Really Feels About Sarah Palin

As Jack Cafferty puts it: "There's a reason the McCain campaign keeps Governor Palin away from the press. [...] If John McCain wins this woman will be one 72-year-old's heartbeat away from being President of the United States. And if that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should. [...] That is one of the most pathetic pieces of tape I have ever seen from someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country".

When Blitzer tried to be diplomatic, Cafferty shot back: "Don't make excuses for her. That's pathetic."

There's more to it. Palin appeared to support Hamas.

Palin Appeared To Endorse Hamas In Couric Interview

Either that or she did not even understand the question. Or she has no idea what Hamas is. In any case it's clear she's not fit to be the major of a 4000 people city, let alone US Vice President.

If that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it really should. Here's what Matt Damon had to say.

Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin

I think there's a really good chance that Sarah Palin could be president. I think that's the really scary thing," Damon said during the interview. "Because I don't know anything about her. I don't think in eight weeks I'm going to know anything about her. I know that she was mayor of a really, really small town. And she was governor of Alaska for less than two years. I just don't understand. I think the pick was made for political purposes. But in terms of governance, it's a disaster.

You do the actuary tables, there's a one out of three chance, if not more, that McCain doesn't survive his first term, and it'll be President Palin. I was talking about it earlier. It's like a really bad Disney movie. The hockey mom. Oh, I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska, and she's president. She's facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It's absurd. It's totally absurd, and I don't understand why more people aren't talking about how absurd it is. It's a really terrifying possibility. The fact that we've got this far, and we're that close to this being a reality, is crazy. Crazy.

I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. That's an important -- I want to know that. I really do. Because she's going to have the nuclear codes. I want to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. Or if she banned books or tried to ban books. You know, we can't have that.

Just for the record, here's an incomplete list of Palin's positions on the issues:

Palin is opposed to abortion in almost all cases, including rape and incest
Palin is in favour of teacing creationism alongside evolution in schools
Palin is opposed to "explicit sex-ed programs", including "school-based clinics and the distribution of contraceptives in schools"
Palin opposed state covered health and retiree benefits to same-sex partners of state employees
Palin has declared herself in favor of capital punishment
Lifelong NRA member & champion of right to bear arms
Palin is opposed to efforts to decriminalize marijuana
She has come under fire for inquiring about censoring books from the library in Wasilla shortly after she was elected mayor
As Governor, Palin has strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, and advocates exposing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling
After saying that global warming would affect Alaska more than any other state, Palin added: "I'm not one...who would attribute it to being man-made. (despite the evidence and overall scientific consensus)
While governor, Palin opposed The Alaska Clean Water Act
In 2007, Palin supported the Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing Alaska the hunting of wolves from helicopters as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations, a practice which has been banned since 1972
In December 2007, Palin wrote an opinion column in which she described her opposition to the listing of polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act
Palin has opposed, on economic grounds, the designation of the Cook Inlet beluga whale as an endangered species
Palin supports the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq

I don't want you to misunderstand. I don't support Obama-Biden, and I am not taking anyone's position. I'm just very concerned that someone so utterly ignorant, misinformed and who has no understanding of basic science, politics and economics may become president. It's a disgrace that she even got this far, and in my humble opinion this is a clear sign of the decadence of the US system.

No place for reason, no place for intelligence, no place for integrity. If she managed to be a VP candidate it's clear that she gets in touch with a significant part of the electorate. This means that a lot of people identify with an ignorant, religious extremist, pro pre-emptive invasions and wars, antigay, pro arms and weapons, pro death-to-anyone-who-doesnt-think-like-her, who doesn't give a shit about the environment and who wants the benefit only the higher classes- cadidate. That's scary. And sad.

FactChecking Biden-Palin Debate

Federico Pistono — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:14:20 -0600

The candidates were not 100 percent accurate. To say the least.

Summary

Biden and Palin debated, and both mangled some facts.

Palin mistakenly claimed that troop levels in Iraq had returned to “pre-surge” levels. Levels are gradually coming down but current plans would have levels higher than pre-surge numbers through early next year, at least.
Palin repeated a false claim that Obama once voted in favor of higher taxes on “families” making as little as $42,000 a year. He did not. The budget bill in question called for an increase only on singles making that amount, but a family of four would not have been affected unless they made at least $90,000 a year.
Biden wrongly claimed that McCain “voted the exact same way” as Obama on the budget bill that contained an increase on singles making as little as $42,000 a year. McCain voted against it. Biden was referring to an amendment that didn't address taxes at that income level.
Palin claimed McCain’s health care plan would be “budget neutral,” costing the government nothing. Independent budget experts estimate McCain's plan would cost tens of billions each year, though details are too fuzzy to allow for exact estimates.
Biden wrongly claimed that McCain had said "he wouldn't even sit down" with the government of Spain. Actually, McCain didn't reject a meeting, but simply refused to commit himself one way or the other during an interview.
Palin wrongly claimed that “millions of small businesses” would see tax increases under Obama’s tax proposals. At most, several hundred thousand business owners would see increases.

For full details on these misstatements, and on additional factual disputes and dubious claims, please read on to the Analysis section on FactCheck.org.

Freedom Fry — "Happy birthday to GNU"

Federico Pistono — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:04:38 -0600

Happy Birthday to the GNU project, which turned 25 today and is celebrating with a video of English humorist Stephen Fry. In September 1983, Richard Stallman first announced the plan to develop a free software operating system called GNU. Today, in combination with the Linux kernel, GNU/Linux is a completely free operating system running on many millions of computers world-wide. You are using GNU/Linux every day when surfing the web, as it’s one of the most popular operating systems to power web servers, database servers, and the other infrastructure that makes the web work.

Happy birthday, GNU!

Obama and McCain - are your a slave or do you really have a choice?

Federico Pistono — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:55:49 -0600

In a country where the majority of the people do not vote, the so called Slackers can actually make the real difference. It's a pity if that goes wasted, no doubt about it. But it's a real pity if they only live the illusion of choice, without making any.

In a two party system like the USA there is no space for other candidates. I wonder if there really is a debate over the major issues. Think about it: people always complain about third party candidates, saying that they steal votes from Democrats, others say the steal form Republicans, therefore to vote for a third party means you are dispersing your vote and hurting the system.

OK, what if the system is broken? To this point, I don't see very many differences between Obama and McCain. To be fair McCain disastrous strategy of lies and deception is almost embarrassing, while Obama is playing a fair campaign.

Last week alternate candidates Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree with Ron Paul on four key principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every election.

We Agree

Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.

Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.

Is either Obama or McCain addressing any of these vital issues? As far as I could see, no. Yet the media decide to cover irrelevant stories about jokes, pigs and lipstick, and who's more patriotic. Do the American people really want to hear about this nonsense? They are starting to understand only now what Ron Paul predicted a couple of years ago, the collapse of the economy. The CNN recently interviewed Ron Paul about the bailouts. Why? Because they are starting to get scared, nobody understands what's going on and they try to get reassured that everything will be OK. It won't. The banking system is the cause of the collapse, and unless we address this issue we won't ever solve our problems.

Michael Moore's Slacker Uprising available for free starting tomorrow

Federico Pistono — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:16:53 -0600

Michael Moore's new film will be available as free download to those residing in the United States and Canada, from September 23rd to October 13th.

"This is being done entirely as a gift to my fans. The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November." - Michael Moore

Oktapodi: Impressive CG French student short Film

Federico Pistono — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:36:39 -0600

Oktapodi

A film by:Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier and Emud Mokhberi
music by: Kenny Wood

Awards, Festivals & Screenings

Hiroshima 2008 - Special International Jury Prize
Siggraph 2008 - Best of Show & Audience Prize
Annecy 2008 - Canal+ Family Award
Animafest Zagreb 2008 - Children Jury Special Mention
MONSTRA Lisbon Animated Film Festival 2008 SICAF (Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival) 2008
Trickfilm Festival: Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film 2008
Festival International des Très Courts 2008
Granada Filmfest (Festival Internacional de Jóvenes Realizadoraes Granada) 2008
Prix Ars 2008 - Honorary Mention
FICCI BAF 2008 - Best Student Animated Short Film
Imagina 2008 - Winner of Best Animation Award
ARTFUTURA 2007 - Winner of Gran Premio Award
Courts Devant 2007 - Winner of Grand Prix Award
e-magiciens 2007 - La Bourse Lagardére

Articles & Press

AWN - Siggraph Winners in Depth
VFX World - Siggraph Computer Animation Festival
Hollywood Reporter - Oktapodi Named Best of Show at Siggraph
AWN - Ratatouille, At World's End, Oktapodi take top honors at imagina
Euronews - Octopuses are darlings of imagina
Nikau - La Nouveau Visage du Design N2

Links

Official Website

Linking to P2P Downloads Confirmed Legal in Spain

Federico Pistono — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:35:54 -0600

We are moving forward in some civilised countries. Torrentfreak reports that A court has ruled that a site providing links to P2P downloads is operating legally. The Provincial Court of Madrid ruled that Sharemula.com, a site offering eDonkey links to movies, music, software and games does not break the law. The court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.

Following a Federación Antipiratería (Anti-piracy Federation) investigation in 2006, 15 people were arrested in Spain in connection with the operation of Sharemula.com, an eDonkey (eD2k) indexing site. eD2k links are similar to URLs or .torrent files, in that they contain no copyright material themselves, but may point to such works.

Spain’s Brigade of Technological Investigations claimed that the site was illegal and should be closed. Just under a year ago the case was heard, but sadly for the entertainment industry, the court ruled that the case against Sharemula should be dismissed. It said that neither the site nor administrators had operated illegally by offering links to copyright works, since they had not done so for profit or commercial gain.

However, the entertainment industry - including but not limited to Columbia, Disney Company Iberia, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner, Universal, Paramount, Sony and MGM, did not accept the ruling and appealed the decision.

Yesterday, the Provincial Court of Madrid ruled that the entertainment industry has no case against Sharemula, and since it has broken no laws, the case should be dismissed. This dismissal is final and cannot be appealed.

The court rejected all allegations that were made by the entertainment industry and concluded that indexing eD2k links (or torrent files) can not be seen as copyright infringement (pdf in Spanish). Sharemula’s main purpose is to index links, and they are not responsible for where these links go according to the court decision. Whether or not Sharemula makes profit is irrelevant.

“The hearing confirms the position of the defense that linking to P2P networks does not constitute a criminal offense,” wrote David Bravo, a lawyer in the case, noting that Sharemula did not store any copyrighted material. The site simply links to files that are hosted elsewhere, on computers of P2P users.

It is on this same premise that The Pirate Bay claims to operate legally. With upcoming cases against The Pirate Bay and Mininova in Europe, this decision is very welcome for p2p-site administrators.

Silence is Sexy joins Mininova, distributing their new album for free

Federico Pistono — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:32:44 -0600

From the mb: More and more more artists are discovering the benefits of our free Content Distribution (CD) service. Silence is Sexy is the first Dutch rock band to release their complete new album this way. ‘This Ain’t Hollywood’ is a must-download if you are into bands like Radiohead, Editors, Coldplay and Interpol.

An increasing number of music producers see that giving away their content for free is the right way to build a fan-base. These producers are often using Mininova CD to distribute their content to a broad audience. Nowadays more than 750 publishers are actively using Mininova CD to publish content.

By the way, the Silence is Sexy’s first album is also available at our Content Distribution service. We hope a lot more artists will follow this example!

I'm listening to it right now. Regardless of how it turn out I am happy that more and more bands are choosing to distribute their music through the Nine Inch Nails model or a similar one, which has been proven to be the right one. It's pointless to fight against free distribution and sharing of music, it is instead more intelligent to embrace a new model, one which can accomplish commercial success and love for the community, seizing the distributing and looking at it as positive externalities. People do share things, ideas, emotions and therefore music. It's a good thing, it's a sane process that depicts a vibrant community willing to share knowledge. The money comes from different sources, Trent Reznor gave a possible solution, but it's not the only one. In these days of evolving technology also the very ideas of copyright, intellectual property, property itself are under discussion. We should be able to understand that and find out what we can accomplish.

It's a journey I am excited to embark.

Alex Jones - Internet Censorship HAPPENING NOW!

Federico Pistono — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:23:06 -0600

In this video, from August 4th 2008, Alex discusses in detail the serious issue of Internet censorship and how it is affecting us. The only winners of this censorship are the governments and corporate oligarchies who want to severely restrict our freedom of speech and our ability to acquire factual information from independent news sites.

Alex Jones: Internet Censorship

It's time to wake up, it's time to realise the truth. The news media popularity is falling like a stone, internet communications are on the rise, independent news channels provide daily insightful and accurate information, exposing lies, corruption and plans of the elite. Some people, for obvious reasons, don't like freedom. They don't like people capable of critical thinking, they don't like to see their plans exposed. They like to keep everyone worried about useless things, so that they have no time to think about what's really important. They take away our freedoms, day by day, little by little, with the silent compliance of the media.

Speak up. Spread the word.

Jon Stewart cleverly buries Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly and Karl Rove

Federico Pistono — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:33:23 -0600

Wednesday night on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart hit Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly with damning evidence of their hypocrisy regarding Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

While Rove recently praised Palin's experience as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Stewart showed video of Rove trashing Virginia Governor — and former Richmond Mayor — Tim Kaine's executive experience, listing all the cities that are bigger than Richmond and calling such a pick "political."

Then, after recent video of O'Reilly describing Bristol Palin's pregnancy as a family issue, Stewart showed a clip of the Fox News host blaming Jamie Lynn Spears' parents for her teenage pregnancy.

Finally, after showing video of Dick Morris complaining about the rampant sexism in the media coverage of Sarah Palin, Stewart unveiled a clip of Morris saying that Hillary hides behind the sexism defense, and that anytime "the big boys" pick on Hillary, "she retreats behind the apron strings."

"In Dick Morris' defense," Stewart said, "he is a lying sack of sh*t."

From hp.

Venice International Short Film Festival: Circuto Off TV

Federico Pistono — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:52:15 -0600

Live bloggin from the Venice International Short Film festival "Circuito Off". I'm working here full time. Here's a Web TV I set up:

Interviews with the directors, backstage, and all you can think will be posted there and updated daily. I also prepared an RSS and the iTunes feed for the geeky ones ^_^

Enjoy!