Beyond the Beyond

Arphid Watch: K. Albrecht Declares Design Students Unfazed, Uncomprehending

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 06:24:19 -0600

http://www.spychips.com/blog/2006/10/we_want_to_know_where_youve_be.html

October 04, 2006

Tracking Where You've Been

If you've read the foreward to Spychips, you know that sci-fi writer and futurist Bruce Sterling is up on all things RFID. He did a stint last year as Art Center College of Design's "Visionary in Residence," where he assigned his class to use their industrial and graphic design skills to come up with novel uses for RFID. Then he invited me to fly out to California and throw in my two cents at the end of the semester.

Some of the designs were nutty (a retirement home for the oversexed was one standout example, though the RFID connection was tenuous). Others were inventive, like the power diet that would turn you into Vince Lombardi if only you'd continually scan the spychips on all your food and workout equipment.

But one project really stood out in my mind, perhaps because the danger in it was so difficult for the students who'd created it to grasp.

etc etc etd

Schadenfreude Pie

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 06:05:45 -0600

http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/004492.html

The Wit and Wisdom of the 21st-Century Printing and Packaging Biz

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 19:44:32 -0600

Overheard at the "INTELLIGENT PRINTING" conference, Oct 2006

"We're in the business of putting goo on a substrate."

"We need a taxonomy for 'printing-that-is-no-longer-printing.'"

"Your mega-customer, the anchor tenant in the mall of your dreams"

"It's the business of killing trees and putting chemicals on them."

"Baseball cards that suck in energy and run e-ink animated displays"

"They're not hiding, they're just selective."

"We help companies put together arguments and stories to win that venture money."

"Those Austrian farm-boys didn't know that ink-plants were supposed to be messy, so that was one of the cleanest plants they ever had."

"Electronic cardboard blurs the line between printed objects and the virtual world."

"The supply chain is a network of atoms."

"Six trillion RFID tags is four orders of magnitude bigger than any electronic item ever made."

"You can't take on the Silicon Gorilla face to face."

"Fluidic Self-Assembly Machines aren't 'printing' -- they're the competition."

"Displays are sold by the acre, not the function."

"Nano-sized particles bring mega-sized costs."

"The fabs of the future will be pressrooms."

"We're blowing dog-whistles in a city full of cats."

"If not for the one-percent inspiration, that would have just been a lot of sweat."

"Extrapolate and retropolate."

"The organic light starts decaying."

"The US government can't make a penny for a penny. How can we make RFID tags for a penny?"

"Silicon chips with a cardboard substrate? That's not a good marriage!"

"You can strap the chip to the package, but the strap costs more than the chip."

"A hundred microns is gonna kill ya."

"It's our metallo-organic approach versus the incumbent technologies."

"Shrinkage brings the flakes into contact and creates the circuit."

"Go read the patents! They're public domain!"

"Thermochromic ink is the Pet Rock ink of the New Millennium."

"Ergonomic and immediate unambiguous authentication"

"quantum-dot anti-counterfeiting"

"It takes forty-eight hours to counterfeit a golf club in Vietnam."

"Clemson is the Harvard of cardboard packaging."

"That's your tuition you just spilled on the floor there."

"It's bubble, bubble, toil and trouble in conductive polymer."

"If it's matrix-based, you're going to get some serration."

"Maybe we need intelligent ink."

The Giant Kosovo

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 19:09:56 -0600

(((How interesting to see nation-states learn to behave as effectively
the Russian mafia has been behaving for decades now.
In the continuing era of state-failure and the Giant Kosova strategy,
we can expect to see a host of neologisms emerging: "state terror,"
"state gangsterism," "the language of provocation and blackmail,"
protection rackets and shakedowns newly spun as state anti-terror and state anti-crime activities.)))

RUSSIA

GEORGIAN BUSINESSES TARGETED IN MOSCOW RAIDS. Police officials from
the economic-crimes unit in Moscow took a number of retaliatory steps
against Georgia and Georgian economic interests on October 3, Ekho
Moskvy radio and Western news agencies reported the same day. Police
raided the Georgian Embassy's guest house in the city center,
claiming that it was being run illegally and that the building in
fact belonged to the state-owned Melodia music company. Moscow city
authorities said they confiscated 500,000 bottles of Georgian wine
that managed to evade a Russian import ban imposed earlier this year.
Two popular Georgian restaurants in Moscow could be closed for
irregularities concerning the wine they serve to customers, ITAR-TASS
reported. Police also closed a casino, Krystall, claiming that it was
controlled by Georgian criminals and could not provide clear
documentation for its gambling tables and slot machines, newsru.com
reported. FF

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CONCERNED ABOUT HARASSMENT OF GEORGIANS IN
RUSSIA... Lyudmila Alekseyeva, president of the International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, told Ekho Moskvy on October 4
that police are arresting members of several Georgian families from
their Moscow homes "simply on nationality grounds." There is no
official confirmation of the report. The people targeted, Alekseyeva
said, are members of families that fled the bloody conflict in
Abkhazia at the beginning of the 1990s and have lived in the same
building in Moscow since. Since the start of the current crisis
between Russia and Georgia last week, there has been a flood of
Russian media reports about Georgian criminality. Roin Konjaria, vice
president of the Moscow Georgian Community, a social and educational
organization, told "The Moscow Times" on October 3 that between
150,000 to 200,000 Georgians currently live in Moscow and some
500,000 throughout Russia. FF

...AS GEORGIAN COMMUNITY WAITS OUT CRISIS. Georgian citizens in
Russia have expressed concern over the worsening tension between the
two countries. "The Moscow Times" quoted Georgian social activist
Joni Kvaratskhelia, head of the Lazare youth organization in Moscow,
as saying that "this affects every Georgian. We're having unfriendly
relations with Russia, yet we have a lot of Russian friends. It's
uncomfortable to view one another as enemies." Kvaratskhelia said the
organization has received numerous calls from Georgians in Moscow
looking for advice. Interfax on October 3 quoted State Duma Speaker
Boris Gryzlov as saying that the Russian parliament is taking steps
to block bank transfers between Russia and Georgia. The sanctions
could severely disrupt trade between Georgia and its biggest trading
partner and create enormous hardship for the families of Georgian and
Russian citizens who regularly send money to their relatives in
Georgia. FF

FOREIGN MINISTER RULES OUT SWIFT END TO SANCTIONS ON GEORGIA...
Sergei Lavrov on October 3 ruled out a rapid end to the sanctions
Russia has implemented against Georgia, RIA Novosti reported. Lavrov
said the suspension of transport and mail links was aimed in part at
preventing money flows from Russia being used to fund a Georgian
military buildup, according to the news agency. Lavrov said Georgia
is expanding its military so it can forcibly regain control of its
two breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which receive
significant support from Russia, "The New York Times" reported.
Lavrov said Georgia's seizure of the four Russian officers last week
was only "one episode in an anti-Russian campaign" pursued by
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and that simply handing back
the officers was not sufficient to change Moscow's mind about
sanctions, the "Financial Times" reported. Lavrov was quoted as
saying that "we don't want everything to be as it was before, because
everything was very bad." He added that money being sent from Russia
to Georgia included the proceeds of organized crime, and had been
used to fund arms purchases and pay for the call-up of military
reservists. FF

...AND SUGGESTS U.S., NATO BACKED GEORGIA. Foreign Minister Lavrov on
October 4 also suggested that Georgia arrested the Russian officers
with the tacit encouragement of the United States and NATO, which
agreed last month on a schedule for negotiations on Georgia's
potential membership in the military alliance, "The New York Times"
reported. Russian and Western news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying
that "the seizure of our officers immediately followed, I repeat,
NATO's decision to grant Georgia an intense cooperation plan,
'Intensified Dialogue.'" Lavrov added that NATO's step followed a
recent visit to Washington by Georgian President Saakashvili. Lavrov
was quoted as saying that the Russian leadership "certainly makes
note of the assurances of our American colleagues that they have
constantly tried to keep the Georgian leadership from [committing]
abrupt acts, but the chronology was the way I have just explained: A
visit to Washington, NATO's decision, the taking of hostages." FF

Arphid Watch: Arphid Art in London

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 17:36:04 -0600

TAGGED -- Opening TOMORROW
//Five new works by artists working with RFID technology as part an
ongoing project produced by [ space.media.arts ]//

Opening Reception: 6 October, 6 - 9pm; continuing until 21 October With
a performance by Paula Roush

Electronic tagging technologies are increasingly impacting society and
are set to shape the future. Standing for Radio Frequency
Identification, RFID tags use radio waves and can potentially function
without your knowledge, with widespread adoption across many commercial
and public industries.

In this exhibition, the artist collaborative **Louis-Philippe Demers and
Philippe Jean** are working with local shop Hollywood Convenience
electronically tagging their grocery items to produce the artwork iTag.
Using a portable music device, available to pick up from the exhibition,
shoppers can listen to music generated from the grocery aisles.

RealSnailMail is a project in development by **boredomresearch**, using
RFID technology to enable real snails to carry and deliver electronic
messages on their own time, despite growing expectations of instant
communication.

**Mute-Dialogue (Yasser Rashid and Yara El-Sherbini)** have created the
interactive installation, Origins and Lemons. Arranged as an East End
market stall the installation invites you to pick up RFID-tagged items
and scan them to receive clues as to their history and origin.

In SWAPOId, **evoLhypergrapHyCx (C6)** implement RFID technology in the
Antisystemic Distributed Library Project, an alternative library of
shared books, videos, and music with venues in community centres and
bedrooms worldwide, and through this acting as but one site of
resistance against a de-humanising, de-dimensional agenda.

Arphield Recordings by **Paula Roush** records the sound of citizens
scanning their Oyster cards in London Underground stations, and outputs
them in live performance, installation and public intervention.

A new essay by **Armin Medosch**, The Spychip Under Your Skin,
accompanies this exhibition and will be published on a new [
space.media.arts ] website: http://www.spacemedia.org.uk.

RELATED EVENTS:
Oyster Card intervention with Paula Roush: Saturday, 7 October 2006 at
3pm sharp. Bring your Oyster card to participate in the endless
symphony.

boredomresearch Artists Talk: Wednesday, 11 October 2006 at 7pm. Hear
about RealSnailMail research and other projects.

---

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Email: exhibitions@spacestudios.org.uk
Web: http://www.spacemedia.org.uk
Telephone: 0208 525 4339
Press inquiries: claire@spacemedia.org.uk

TRAVEL

Bus: 26 & 48 from Liverpool Street
106 & 254 from Bethnal Green
55 from Old Street

Tube: Bethnal Green
Train: Hackney Central Silverlink

EXHIBITION OPENING TIMES

Wednesday - Saturday.1 - 6pm

//FREE ADMISSION FULLY ACCESSIBLE//

Hacker-Pewlard, I mean Hewlett-Packard

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 17:05:15 -0600

(((The pity of this is the way HP sinks into a darkside mire of hackerdom while investigating THEMSELVES. It's like watching an angry family trying to break a will -- the pitiful repugnance of people "wrestling with a dead man's guts.")))

(((The hard-boiled cyberdetective story is practically writing itself here... Martin Scorsese does the screenplay.)))

Hewlett-Packard Paid $325,000 to Trace Source of Board Leaks
2006-10-03 00:04 (New York)

By Connie Guglielmo
   Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. paid private
investigators more than $325,000 to spy on directors and
reporters in a probe that may have used illegal tactics and
eventually cost Chairwoman Patricia Dunn her job.

   Surveillance, including a ``sting'' operation and digging
through trash, was the most expensive item, costing $83,600 over
five months, according to an invoice from Security Outsourcing
Solutions Inc. that was supplied by Hewlett-Packard and released
late yesterday by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.

   Dunn authorized the probe that led investigators to spy on
directors, two employees and nine reporters as they searched for
the source of boardroom leaks. At one point, Dunn considered
using lie detectors, the documents show. Dunn, General Counsel
Ann Baskins, the company's director of ethics, and the global
security chief all resigned last month for their part in what
Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd called a
``rogue investigation.''

   ``Cost of catching leaks: $325,000. Cost to company's
reputation: priceless,'' Paul Saffo, a longtime Silicon Valley
researcher and associate professor at Stanford University, said
in an interview. ``Everyone has gotten so hung up on the legality
of this they've forgotten the ethics.'' (((You know something? Paul Saffo can really coin a quote.)))

   Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard, the world's
second-largest personal computer maker, paid more than $51,000 to
have personal phone records obtained as part of the probe,
according to a May 2 invoice submitted by Ronald DeLia of
Security Outsourcing, a Boston-based firm that oversaw a network
of investigators working to gather information on the company's
behalf. The probe, dubbed Kona II, ran from December 2005 through
April, according to DeLia's bill, which totaled $325,641.65.

   Indictments

   Hewlett-Packard acknowledged on Sept. 6 that investigators
used fake identities to gain access to call records, a tactic
called pretexting that may be illegal. California Attorney
General Bill Lockyer said he is considering whether to indict
Hewlett-Packard executives and outside contractors over the
probe. (((Not looking good...)))

(...)

Among the charges from Security Outsourcing was the line
item: ``Multiple Surv. And Sting Activity Palo Alto, Piedmont,
SF, LA, CA & Denver, CO (Note: includes surveillance & trash re-
con of all areas).'' (((Nice line item!)))

   Background checks on board members, their relatives and
reporters from media outlets including the Wall Street Journal
and Cnet.com cost a further $66,688, according to the bill.

   DeLia also charged $37,535 to ``locate, review and catalog
over 10,000 print and Internet media articles.''

   Stolen Laptop

   Hewlett-Packard paid more than $9,600 for work related to
recovering a laptop computer owned by board member George
Keyworth, who resigned in September after acknowledging he was
the source of some leaks.

   Keyworth's laptop was stolen while he was on vacation in
Italy, and DeLia, in a Feb. 3 e-mail to Hewlett-Packard's
internal security team, said he had spoken with local police to
ask for help in trying to recover the machine.

   ``We will also contact the local criminal element and inform
then there is a reward, no questions asked, for the return of the
laptop,'' DeLia said in his message to Kevin Hunsaker, Hewlett-
Packard's director of ethics, and Anthony Gentilucci, then global
security chief. Hunsaker and Gentilucci led the Kona II
investigation. (((How often does one "contact the local criminal element" in the service of Hewlett-Packard, I wonder.)))

(...)

   E-mails, presentations and other documents show that
Hewlett-Packard investigators followed directors and their
families and sent at least one phony e-mail to a reporter with a
tracing device designed to determine whether she forwarded the
message to her board informant.

   Investigators also considered sending staff posing as
administrative help and cleaning crews to spy on newsrooms, the
documents show. ((("Gumshoe with a broom." Must help a lot with that trashing hack.)))

   The e-mails showed a growing hubris among investigators as
the detectives got closer to nailing Keyworth as the leaker.

`We're Goin' In'

   ``Strap on your helmets fellows, we're goin' in!!!''
internal investigator Vince Nye said in a Feb. 9 e-mail to fellow
Hewlett-Packard investigator Fred Adler as Kona II activities
accelerated.

   The documents also showed anxiety as publicity escalated
following the company's Sept. 6 announcement.

   ``This thing is taking on a life of its own, articles are in
the tabloid stage, not sure I will survive after the steam roller
runs me over,'' Gentilucci said in an e-mail to Kevin Huska, who
is responsible for global security, on Sept. 7.

   Dunn herself expressed concerns before the company made the
probe public.

   ``Now that the proverbial sewage appears to be hitting the
fan, that effort seems naive and doomed from the start,'' she
wrote to board members Aug. 17.

   One benefit the company did get from DeLia's probe: a cheap
rate that was half what DeLia typically charges clients,
according to his invoice.

   All DeLia's hours ``are billed at a discount rate of $65.00
per hour vs. normal rate of $125.00 per hour,'' his bill states.
Based on DeLia's charge of $58,529.98 for his personal time spent
managing the case, including daily meetings with Hewlett-
Packard's legal staff, the investigator spent 900 hours on the
case.

--With reporting by Ian King, Rochelle Garner and Jonathan Thaw
in San Francisco and Christopher Stern in Washington. Editor:
Palazzo (jto)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at (1)(415) 743-3582 or
cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma Moody at (1) (212) 617-3504 or emoody@Bloomberg.net.

test test

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 16:54:35 -0600

obligatory Latin filler goes here

Konarka: Printing Plastic Power

Wed, 4 Oct 2006 13:04:36 -0600

(((Solar panels as plastic ribbon. No, they're not kidding.)))

http://www.konarka.com/

"Konarka develops light-activated power plastic that is flexible, lightweight, lower in cost and much more versatile in application than traditional silicon-based solar cells.

Materials Make It Possible

"These new materials are made from conducting polymers and nano-engineered materials that can be coated or printed onto a surface in a process similar to how photographic film is made.

World Without Wires™

"Anywhere there is light and a battery, power plastic makes it possible for devices, systems and structures to have their own low-cost embedded sources of renewable power. By combining energy generation and power consumption within the same device, Konarka enables manufacturers to create a World Without Wires™ with truly wireless applications."

Printing with Quantum Dots

Wed, 4 Oct 2006 12:45:06 -0600

http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192501266

EE Times: Latest News

MIT spinoff demos quantum dot display technology

Nicolas Mokhoff

EE Times

(09/01/2006 5:35 PM EDT)

MANHASSET, N.Y. — QD Vision has demonstrated a proprietary, scalable printing technique for manufacturing displays based on quantum dots. The MIT spinoff is seeking commercialization partners.

The fabrication method is derived from a quantum dot contact printing method originally developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to QD Vision (Watertown, Mass.), its proprietary process is designed to pave the way for a new generation of displays that are larger, more reliable and of higher quality than current displays.

(...)

Quantum dots displays are expected to provide sharper colors and cost less to make than the competing technologies like organic light-emitting diodes while using a similar manufacturing process to OLEDs.

(...)

The Institute for Sustainable Communications

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 11:52:54 -0600

((("Intelligent printing" isn't just cyber -- it's greener.)))

http://www.sustaincom.org/

"The Institute for Sustainable Communication has developed an easy-to-use Design for Sustainability (DfS) Dashboard that provides comparisons and real-time feedback on the impact of varying design, specification, purchasing and production options.

"Information gleaned from the ISC DfS Dashboard will enable you to:

• Significantly improve environmental impact abatements

• Deliver unexpected cost savings

• Provide guidance on social responsibility performance, message efficiency and knowledge management practices.

• My Client is asking me about greenhouse gas emissions – what do I tell him?

• How many trees can I save by making this 6”x8” instead of 8”x10”?

• What is the impact of using 50# paper instead of 60#?

• Is recycled paper really better and if so, by how much?

• Is the price I am being quoted to print this better or worse than average?

• I have an RFP for a Sustainability Report, and I really want to put sustainable design into practice. Where do I start?