Homotron.net

That Is A Camera On My Chest And No, I'm Not Happy To See You

2008-05-17T01:00:00Z

My plan to single-handedly take down Scientology, the beef industry, Indonesian textile mills, and the GOP will finally happen, thanks to this little yellow bastard: the Porta2030 camera backpack packs - that's right - all the evidence-smuggling storage space a modern-day political saboteur/activist needs with the don't-taze-me-bro protection of a chest-mounted camera that will record all the intimidation, corporate bullying, and crazy cultist assaults you can handle. Or that will fit on a 1GB flash card.

Sporting a "mobile data-sensing storage transmission unit," whatever that may mean, including a wireless hard drive, aforementioned flash card, an open-source system, and a webcam with LCD mini-terminal, this backpack means serious business.

Wait, did I say the porta2030 boasts physical storage space? I spoke too soon - looks like waging techno-war with this inconspicuous yellow chest camera will require you to pick up a second backpack to use as, you know... a backpack.

[Product Page via Crave]

Can't Stuff It All Down Your Throat? Cap Off Your Banana With NANA Saver!

2008-05-16T21:00:00Z

Listen, everybody has this problem. Bananas are huge and notoriously hard to finish in one sitting. I mean, every time I see a banana, I'm all "Golly, break out the steak knives!"

So you can imagine my relief to see this, the NANA saver Banana Holder, a banana-shaped clothespin ringed with little teeth to grip that leftover, perfectly-sliced banana peel while a flat plate snuggles up against your banana cross-section to keep it fresh as a daisy and the light Caucasian-wang color that banana lovers worldwide know and love.

Dishwasher safe. $2.98. Obsessive-compulsive disorder not included.

[Product Page via Random-Good-Stuff]

Charter Communications Customer Tracking "Opt-Out" A Piece Of Crap

2008-05-16T20:00:27Z

Yesterday, we brought you news of the ridiculous new programme by ISP Charter Communications to track their customer's every move on the Internet in order to serve them with targeted advertising via advertising company NebuAd.

Charter tried to temper the negative reaction to the programme by saying customers have an option to opt-out of the tracking system, but a reader who goes by the name Fenn, who has the bad luck of being a Charter Communications customer, wrote to us regarding his experiences on trying to use the opt-out feature:

I followed the link to "Opt-Out" and was blown away by the audacity of the warning text:
"If you would like to opt-out of this process, please fill out the form below and click "submit". The third-party opt-out process requires you to permit a cookie to be downloaded onto your computer so that the ad network can read your opt-out status in your cookie folder. Therefore, if you delete your cookies or cache files, use a different computer, buy a new computer, or use a different web browser from the one you are using at this time, you will have to opt-out again."

I mean, come on...if we are paranoid already, we will be clearing our cookies often and this thing tells me I will have to return to Charter's website each time to "Re-Opt-Out."

TOO MUCH!

So, to add insult to injury, they make the opt-out process equally stupid and onerous?

I urge any of our readers that may be Charter customers to call and complain to the company and threated to switch ISPs so that they can get an idea that this is not the way to conduct business.

I would also recommend sending your experiences over to the EFF, so that they can help defend your privacy concerns against Charter Communications.

It's this kind of thing that really gets me angry. I'm going to go fume in a corner after I place a call to an EFF buddy of mine.

Shocker Alert: The Gays Love Apple!

2008-05-16T19:15:00Z

A recent study conducted by Prime Access, Inc. on behalf of the Planet Out networks revealed some wonderful information on the gays that I'm guessing most of us knew: We frackin love Apple. We love them allot. And while we've known that for a long time, the reason has eluded those in the marketing field. According to the study, us gays love Apple so much because we perceive them to be a gay-friendly, and we are an extremely brand loyal people.

I think this is kinda funny because this is something that we've know for a loooong time. Apple is and has been very gay friendly. Their internal policies are very pro-gay, and even their chic store design and products appeal to our sensibilities.

It also appears that Samsung was rated among the lowest when it comes to being gay friendly, so if you were thinking about getting a shiny new Glyde, you may want to reconsider. Besides, that's a Verizon phone, and it looks like we're all switching to AT&T anyway.

Overall, is just another showing that the gays are an extremely attractive group to market to. We have money, we spend it, we're susceptible to most types of advertising (more so gay targeted ads and ads in gay media), we're loyal, and we're trend setters. So, companies of the world, listen up! Please contact Tiny Dancer about advertising opportunities here on Homotron... no, seriously, do it. Poppa needs a new iPod (and apparently a new microphone from the sounds of the podcast... sheesh!)

Study: Apple Most Gay-Friendly Brand, Samsung Least [Gearlog]

Hey Fatty! Nintendo Thinks You're Fat!

2008-05-16T17:58:38Z

In determining a user's body mass index (or BMI, which sounds like BMX and Bowel Movements Incorporated), the Wii Fit has "underweight" and "fat" on either end of spectrum.

And now obesity experts are grossed out about the Fatty McFatterson comments and don't want children to use the device.

"BMI is far from perfect but with children it simply should not be used. A child's BMI can change every month and it is perfectly possible for a child to be stocky, yet still very fit. I would be very concerned if children were using this game and I believe it should carry a warning for parents," explained Fry.

So is stocky fat? If the term "fat" is in there, should "underweight" be changed to "Skeletor"?

You're all dying to know what I think of this matter, I realize that, so I'll just cut to the chase: I think the obesity experts need to calm down. If Nintendo is going to give a weight complex to children, well, the parents of said "stocky" children should be aware of this and treat it like parents: nip it in the bud, send your kid to therapy, tell them that television is evil and judges Little Jimmy even when Little Jimmy is asleep, and that Little Jimmy should probably go outside and run around in circles until he feels better about his body image.

Besides all that, the concept of Wii Fit is to help overweight kids shed pounds whilst having fun. So it doesn't matter what they call them at first; what matters is the progress they'll make toward transforming as they please.

The Dark And Ugly Of Social Networking

2008-05-16T15:30:04Z

Related to Jesse's post about embarrassing shit on the Internet comes the sad and weird conclusion to the Megan Meier suicide case with the indictment of Lori Drew.

For those out of the loop, Lori Drew is a psychopathic mid-westerner who decided to cyberstalk Megan Meier under a false MySpace profile. The profile of one "Josh Evans," was created in 2006 and used to first flirt with Meier and then, bizarrely, suggest the world would be better off if she killed herself. Which she did.

Since Missouri courts couldn't do shit with the case, federal prosecutors shifted it to California, where MySpace's servers are based, and smacked Drew with three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress, and one count of criminal conspiracy.

Drew's daughter was a friend of Meier's before the two had a falling out. Drew hacked into the Josh Evans profile to discover what Meier really thought about her daughter. The case complicates from there. (For the whole story, I recommend the Wikipedia page and the New York Times.)

Wired reports that the sentencing in this case set a strange and frightening legal precedent. Since there is no federal law against cyberbullying, the feds used an age-old "violation of terms of service" law to bust Drew, which may cause 1984-esque ripples in the legal sea.

"Empowering terms of use to be key pieces of evidence in criminal matters -- when terms of use are generally thought of by the people who are entering into them as purely contract or civil maters -- is something that should be done carefully," says Andrea Matwyshyn, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School. "I think you're going to have strong disagreement as to whether this is an advisable course to take."

This is a tricky matter, to say the least, and definitely not one for a light and fluffy Friday morning. However, it deserves serious consideration. Because the law hasn't caught up to the negative possibilities of the Internet, Drew almost managed to escape prosecution. But because the case had garnered so much national and international attention, the Feds wanted to take a stand (which MySpace wholly supports, says their press release). Doing so, and so quickly, may have altered the course of the law, or, in reverse, get the case thrown out if it reaches the Supreme Court.

Still, one cannot be charged with a law that does not exist yet, so the Feds may have done the right thing under the guise that it was the only thing they could've done.

What're your thoughts and opinions on the case, Homotronic Biddyonic Phonic Defenders of the Universe? I can only say I wish we'd foreseen this, somehow, and should definitely craft the law for the future.

Social Networking: When Daddy Realizes His Princess Is A Whore

2008-05-16T15:00:00Z

With social networking and social media sites being all the rage these days, there are bound to be snafus from time-to-time. Who knew that they're potential employer would be searching for your MySpace profile before offering the job? I wasn't even sure that my mom knew what Twitter was, much less how to follow the RSS feed in Outlook, until a recent incident. And when I got an email from a friend asking why in the world I was bouncing between listening to the Wicked Broadway Cast Soundtrack and various Muse albums, I finally stopped to think: maybe I should uninstall that Last.fm widget from MySpace and Facebook. And then I thought maybe we're all just too connected?

I have to imagine that we've all had at least one embarrassing story about social networking. A picture that you "don't remember" being posted on a friend's page, a blog comment that you meant to set to private, an unintentional "outing" of or by a friend... I've seen just about all of them. I'm know we're not going to give up on social networking any time soon. It's kind of our thing now. Free love has turned to free, on-demand information and connection. But what I want to know is: What embarrassing Social Media snafu have you suffered? Personally, my screw-ups could fill an entire series of posts, but I want to hear about your missteps!

Microsoft's TouchWall

2008-05-16T01:00:00Z

Microsoft's got a prototype computer for just about every flat surface in your life: first they conquered tables, desks, and credenzas with the aptly-named Surface (which I've had a lot of fun with at various cell phone stores, although they do like to toss you out). Now Microsoft has turned Surface on end, probably literally, with their latest prototype, TouchWall.

HP and multitouch maven Jeff Han both have multitouch wall devices, and anyone following the US presidential race has seen John King fingering CNN's Magic Wall touchscreen with varying degrees of effectiveness.

Microsoft's version, a 4 foot by 6 foot slab with inexpensive IR sensors and a rear-mounted camera, looks like a whiteboard for the future - and is indeed being targeted for low-cost school and small business applications. But don't be fooled into thinking this is the limit for touch-screen technology: Microsoft also has a sphere-shaped Surface in the works.

Gates demos TouchWall computer [CNET]

Wooden Mirror For The Modern Evil Queen

2008-05-15T21:00:00Z

NYU Professor Daniel Rozen's electronic wooden mirror is a total trip: displayed earlier this week at NYU's Interactive Technology Program, this fusion of modern thinking and the timelessness of little wooden blocks not only sounds cool - it works.

830 wood panels mounted on tiny motors move according to directions from a computer hooked up to a small camera - that sticks out from the middle of the mirror like a thumbstick pointer embedded in a laptop keyboard.

Check out a video after the jump to see what I'm talking about - it's a noisy but effective invention. The only thing missing from the wooden mirror is the ability to answer petty, self-involved questions along the lines of "Mirror, mirror, made of teak - who's written the best blog post all week?"

Electronic Wooden Mirror makes your reflection large, vague [DVICE]

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Charter Communications To Track All The Sites You Visit

2008-05-15T20:30:40Z

Now this really grinds my gears: Charter Communications, a cable ISP, has sent letters to a few hundred thousand subscribers telling subscribers that Charter will now begin tracking every single site that customers visit, and then selling that information to NebuAd, an advertising company, in order to increase its revenues.

Are you kidding me? At least to Charter Communication's credit, they've got the balls to actually come out and tell their customers what scummy tactics they're going to employ, unlike Comcast who does everything to hide their sleazy practices.

However, their outright honesty doesn't improve the ridiculous intrusion into their subscriber's privacy, and Charter Communication's senior vice president of product management, Ted Schremp, gives an almost point by point regurgitation of the typical PR BS that accompanies wanton destruction of customer's privacy rights:

Charter is taking "for the most part, a high road approach," according to Mr. Schremp. "We have told customers exactly what we are doing," he said. The letter to customers, he added, was "very forthcoming" and "not buried in mouse type and legal disclosures."
The five-paragraph letter positioned the monitoring program as an "an enhanced online experience that is more customized to your interests and activities."

"As a result,'' the letter said, "the advertising you typically see online will better reflect the interests you express through your web-surfing activity. You will not see more ads -- just ads that are more relevant to you."

Yeah, great, because what we all want is even more advertising that is the result of you tracking my every move. W00T!

Don't get me wrong, I know advertising is the lifeblood of the Internet. Hell, if it wasn't for the advertisers we have Homotron wouldn't exist and I wouldn't be communicating this to you.

BUT, there's a big difference between content makers like us putting advertising on our own website and an ISP tracking your every move and using that to add extra advertising content on top of sites in order to "increase revenue."

Ted Shcremp did tell the NYT that customers would be able to opt-out of the system, but that's hardly a solution. A default of opt-in with an option of opt-out is never a consumer friendly option, and it's a lesson that Facebook learned the hard way when it debuted its Beacon ad service a few months ago and incurred the wrath of privacy advocates everywhere.

For now, the programme is in a trial phase in Fort Worth, Tex.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Oxford, Mass.; and Newtown, Conn. If the trial goes well, Charter Communications will then roll out the programme to the rest of its 2.8 million subscribers.

If you're a Charter Communications customer, watch your mailbox for their letter and make sure to opt-out of this ridiculous programme.

Charter Will Monitor Customers' Web Surfing to Target Ads [NYT]

Verizon OKs Linux Mobile, But Does It matter?

2008-05-15T19:00:00Z

Verizon announced they will be partnering with the Linux Foundation and bringing Linux Mobile phones to their network later this year. Understandably, this is a big deal for the open source OS and a big step forward for Verizon, further cementing their commitment to their Open Network Initiative. LiMo, as the kids are calling it these days, is an operating system based on principles of Linux aimed at providing an easily customizable experience at no cost. And while many people are touting this as a victory for LiMo, I have to wonder if it really matters?

Well, what I mean is that Verizon has pledged to open their network to anyone that meets the standards they've set out. So, assuming your device doesn't cripple their network when you use it, they're pretty much OK with it. On top of that, come 2009 when they take over the C Block of the 700 MHz spectrum, they'll be federally required to allow other devices and services on their network. So, while it is awesome that LiMo is turning out to be the little OS that could, is it really that surprising that the company that is actively trying to change its image of rigidity to an image of openness accepts the OS that is know strictly for its customization? Not really.

Good news for LiMo, for sure, but not really something to write home about. You did it LiMo, you graduated elementary school!

Verizon picks Linux—but not Android—for mobile platform [Ars Technica]

CNETBS? CBS Buys Out CNET

2008-05-15T15:00:00Z

Oh snap! In the interesting move of the day, CBS and CNET announced a deal this morning whereby CBS will purchase CNET for $1.8 billion! While this is certainly not the $44 billion + we were looking at for the Yahoo! and Microsoft merger, this is still a large chunk of change for a internet company. This will give CBS control of not only CNET, but download.com, MP3.com, News.com, and all the other CNET domains.

How exactly was this news broken to the general public? Via Twitter of course! Dan Farber, the guy currently behind all that is CNET, posted up a quick tweet a couple hours ago, and since then the news has taken off. This, of course, was not the "official" press release, but it still provided the basic nugget that we all needed to know. Never let anyone tell you new media isn't making any ground.

CBS to buy CNET Networks [CNET]
[via: Brian Averly]

Update To Yesterday's Post About Boston's New Apple Store

2008-05-15T14:00:00Z

I was passing by the Boylston Street Apple Store this morning at 7:00AM when I noticed barricades surrounding the storefront and police officers flanking the sidewalk.

Let me remind you: it was seven o'clock in the morning. On a Thursday.

As I got closer to the building, I took a peek inside. It's very spacious and minimalist—very peaceful. I imagine in a few hours time, it'll be jam-packed with wide-eyed computer geeks and thrill-seekers from the dankest corners of the city. Peace will become a concept of the past.

Then I noticed people. At least ten people, sitting and standing behind the barricades. One had a camera strapped around his neck, making me believe he was some kind of reporter before I remembered that press day was yesterday. So he was just one of "those guys" who brings cameras to "big events" like a store opening (I saw similar people at the midnight release of Grand Theft Auto IV; there was literally nothing special to photograph that night).

Then I noticed sleeping bags. SLEEPING BAGS. People were camping out for the Apple Store. The store doesn't open until 6:00PM tonight! Can I emphasize that enough? SIX O'CLOCK PEE EM TONIGHT.

Ridiculous. I just lost a shitload of faith in humanity.

Here's yesterday's post if you missed it: Largest Apple Store In The U.S. Will Ruin My City.

Samsung Wants To Glyde Right Into Your Tight Pants

2008-05-15T13:12:00Z

Samsung slides into the PDA-like devices with the Glyde, exclusively for Verizon.

There isn't much about the Glyde that separates it from the rest of the slide-out keyboard smartphones on the market ... except the unique (to me) design of its keyboard. I really, really like that keyboard; it resembles that of an actual computer, with a fat space bar and a lack of extraneous buttons.

Because the Glyde looks so much like the AT&T Tilt (the phone I purchased for myself), I compared the specs to see if I got ripped off.

Both have 2.8" touch screens
Tilt: 6oz. Glyde: 4.13oz
You can talk for 240 minutes on the Tilt and 210 minutes on the Glyde ... though I never trust those specs, as they're nearly always wrong
Tilt has a 3 megapixel camera with 10x zoom; Glyde has a 2 megapixel camera with "flash and zoom," whatever that means

And a bunch of other crap—check the Glyde out here, and the Tilt out here. They're so close to one another, it really comes down to whether you subscribe to AT&T or Verizon, and whether, like me, you're second-guessing your decision not to buy an iPhone (goddamn it).

The Homotron Downlink Episode #4 Is OUT!

2008-05-15T01:30:30Z

The Homotron Downlink Episode #4 is OUT and ready for download!

Join Den Den Boy and Jesse James (Tiny's passed out due to Anniversary celebrations) as we discuss what we're doing with our packages (the economic stimulus kind!), the end of the Microhoo! telenovela, MySpace and social networks, NIN, crazy copyright bills, Den Den's dating life and much, much more!

When you finish listening in, be sure to let us know any feedback you have, and of course any questions you'd like us to discuss on the next episode by shooting me an e-mail with the subject "Podcast Question"!

The Homotron Downlink comes to you every two weeks right here at Homotron.net!

Go on! Get to downloading!

THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO THE HOMOTRON.NET PODCAST ON ITUNES!

for those that use other audio clients

THIS LINK TAKES YOU TO THE RSS FEED FOR THE PODCAST

or if you prefer you can

DOWNLOAD THE FILE DIRECTLY HERE!

or if you don't have one of them new fangled fancy ass iPod deals, you can

DOWNLOAD AN MP3 VERSION HERE!