Year 2008

They all think they're playing Grand Theft Auto

The Guardian (re)visits the increasingly troubling gun culture in the United Kingdom. "It's getting like the US now, like 'The Wire'", the interviewee says, although British Police is by no means used to it or capable to respond, at least in the short-term.

Λίγο πριν τις Βρυξέλλες

Λίγο πριν την αναχώρηση για τις Βρυξέλλες, έκατσα και συγκέντρωσα σημειώσεις, bookmarks και σκέψεις σχετικά με τα θέματα προς συζήτηση. Μπορεί κανείς να συνοψίσει τα βασικά ζητήματα στο παρακάτω πίνακα: Στη κορυφή του πίνακα παραθέτω τις χαρακτηριστικές ‘εφαρμογές’, ή αν προτιμάτε δραστηριότητες που φέρονται να ‘απαιτούν’ επιπλέον νομοθετική ‘ρύθμιση’. Αφ’ενός το peer to peer, ή […]

Mistagged? Misprogrammed.

I regularly listen to last.fm radio stations, be it from my friends, neighbours or people that I stumble upon by checking out groups that may interest me. One of the problems I’ve noticed is that music that Last.fm serves over its radio is sometimes mistagged; the problem is that the Last.fm software seems to identify […]

Hard Drive Data Recovery Talks

Open hard drive Excellent talks on hard drive data recovery by computer forensics and data recovery specialist Scott Moulton, for those that feel confident messing with their hardware. Extremely informative and very useful especially in those cases where you'd like to salvage your data from a broken drive, but don't want to shell out ~€2,000 for a professional data recovery company to do it. Two lectures, one from DEFCON 14 (2006) and another from 15 (2007). There's some overlap, but they're both interesting to watch nevertheless. Around 45 minutes each. Hard Drive Recovery (at DEFCON 14): Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Advanced Hard Drive Data Recovery (at DEFCON 15): Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Image by Flickr/Roberto F. Used under Creative Commons BA-NC-ND licence

Taking over Hollywood

It may be the case that the Red One camera has been around for a while, but it's only lately that some of Hollywood's leading directors have started to use and promote it. And that's only three years after the company was established and less than six months since the camera has been available to the general public (although apparently there's a considerable backlog before you can get your own Red, even if you're willing to spend the $17,500 it costs to buy). After Soderberg, a known fan of digital technology and longtime user of digital video along with or instead of film, Doug Liman jumps on the Red bandwagon and talks about the camera and how its changed the way he films.
Wired had a great article on the Red recently. You can find more clips from Red (at 720p) on the Vimeo Redusers group.

The Olympic Legacy

I just read this article on Guardian (via Buzz) regarding the legacy of the sporting venues created for the Olympics and whether they're worth it. Living in Athens for the past three years it's become clear to me that most people --- including myself until very lately --- is unaware that they can, cheaply, access some of the facilities created for the 2004 Olympics, for example the Olympic swimming centre. It has been clear that most of the facilities have been under lock and key and unavailable to anyone wishing to use them. Then there's the case of 'The Mall', the huge shopping mall that was created just after the games and which seems to be illegally built (a story widely publicised [in Hellenic], but largely ignored), but also a recent report [in Hellenic] by the Hellenic private TV station 'Alpha' claiming that the main building of the Olympic Village was given by the Hellenic government to a monastery which then sold it. It's, therefore, unclear to me whether the Olympic facilities are really a burden or whether Athens is such a bad example upon which this conclusion is drawn. With proper management, more public interest and --- if anything --- no multi-billion euro scandals, I'm pretty sure that the Olympic investments could be beneficial to many hosts. Barcelona comes to mind.

Canon EOS 50D

It’s been almost four and a half years since I got my venerable Canon EOS 20D. And, in DSLR time, that’s quite a lot. The 20D was a fantastic camera for its time, highly valued by both amateurs such as myself and pros (mostly as a second body). Sadly, most updates to the series by […]

iΠακέτα ηλιθιότητας

Η Vodafone Ελλάς ανακοίνωσε τη διαθεσιμότητα του iPhone 3G της Apple στην χώρα μας. Πέραν τις ιδιαίτερα ακριβής τιμής απόκτησης του τηλεφώνου (ιδιαίτερα για τα ελληνικά δεδομένα), η Vodafone κατάφερε να δημιουργήσει κάποια από τα αθλιότερα πακέτα που έχω αντικρύσει διεθνώς, σε βαθμό που ακυρώνουν πολλά από τα χαρακτηριστικά του iPhone (250MB μηνιαίως;), τόσο σε απόλυτη τιμή όσο και αν λάβει κανείς το πραγματικό εισόδημα του μέσου έλληνα. [Γράφει σχετικά και ο Γιώργος στο Reality-Tape]

Point of No Return

I had no intention of writing anything about the conflict in South Ossetia, but it turns out it escalated much faster — and to a higher degree — than I (or anyone for that matter) expected. So much that for most of the mainstream media — and a couple of blogs I’m following — it […]

Επίσκεψη στο Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο

Τη περασμένη Παρασκευή, 18 Ιουλίου 2008, έλαβα μια πρόσκληση από την ομάδα Ευρωβουλευτών του ΠΑΣΟΚ για μια επίσκεψη στο Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο στις Βρυξέλλες όπου θα πραγματοποιηθεί σειρά συναντήσεων με Ευρωβουλευτές, σχετικούς Επιτρόπους της Επιτροπής καθώς, εκπροσώπους κάποιων ιδιαίτερα γνωστών Μη-Κυβερνητικών Οργανισμών (π.χ. Statewatch, EFF μεταξύ άλλων) αλλά φυσικά και αρκετών bloggers, πάνω στο θέμα της […]