PayPal, darling of the World wide web, has warned its users to steer clear of Apple’s Safari Web browser because it doesn’t support anti-phishing technologies. (IE 7 and the upcoming Firefox 3.0 do, however.) Specifically, PayPal states Safari’s lack of support for Extended Validation Certificate, a technology that turns the address bar green when visiting a “safe” […]
PayPal, darling of the World wide web, has warned its users to steer clear of Apple’s Safari Web browser because it doesn’t support anti-phishing technologies. (IE 7 and the upcoming Firefox 3.0 do, however.) Specifically, PayPal states Safari’s lack of support for Extended Validation Certificate, a technology that turns the address bar green when visiting a “safe” site. The Apple-created browser also doesn’t warn users when they’re visiting a potentially dangerous site (independent of the green bar trick).
Putting aside the whole “use common sense when you browse the Web” argument, Apple probably should include some form of anti-phishing in Safari; not everyone who browses the Web are as savvy we (I assume you’re all heavy users) are. Although a joint Microsoft-Stanford study concluded that people wouldn’t notice the green address bar unless properly trained, what’s the harm in including it? Unless, I don’t know, that would open Apple up to some sort of lawsuit along the lines of, “Your anti-phishing technology failed to work properly, leading me to [something bad].”
And as long as we’re on the topic of Web browsers, I’ve started to use the nightly WebKit builds. It’s Safari, but with the latest rendering engine (WebKit) under the hood. Seems snappier than regular Safari. Give it a shot. The icon’s nicer, too.
I don’t know about you, but any trailer that starts with the greatest gadget genius of all time having a morning whisky on the rocks, while traveling through the desert in a Humvee to the beat of AC/DC’s Back In Black, says to me: BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER. Which is precisely what you can see in the new Iron Man full trailer, along with everything you would expect Robert Downey Jr’s perfect Tony Stark to do, from tinkering with his armor while mixing cocktails to playing with a multitouch holographic display to crashing through his amazing mansion on the edge of a cliff (Bruce Wayne is a wimp) to kissing the redheaded goddess that is Gwyneth Paltrow playing Virginia “Pepper” Potts, his personal assistant. Best quotes ever and poll, after the jump.
Tony Stark (to army driver): “Good God, you’re a woman.”
Tony Stark: “Yeah. I have the ability to fly.”
Computer: “Sir, the upgrade is complete” (talking about the new armor) Tony Stark: “Tell you what. Put a little hot rod red in there.”
Tony Stark (to Virginia Potts, while fitting his armor): “Let’s face it, this isn’t the worst thing you caught me doing.”
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JasonPoll concept courtesy of Jason Chen (who is a Batman fan; nobody is perfect.) [IGN]
Looks like Microsoft is trying another push to get Vista Ultimate running as your OS of choice. The top-end operating system will receive a price cut from $399 to $319, whilst the upgrade version will now retail at $219, a savings of $40 on the original price. Vista Home Premium will also be dropped in price, from $159 to $129. If you were holding out, now seems like a good time as any to take the Vista plunge, or stick with XP SP3 because it kicks Vista-ass. Your call. Note: the Digg badge on this post corresponds to the original news’ Digg. [News.com]
With Nuvio suing Garmin’s Nuviphone on fairly spurious grounds, let’s take a look at famous trademark wars of times past. Apple v. Apple — Say you want a revolution? How about a mouthful of lawsuit! In 1978, Apple Corp (owned by the Beatles) filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the nascent Apple Computer. They settled the […]
With Nuvio suing Garmin’s Nuviphone on fairly spurious grounds, let’s take a look at famous trademark wars of times past.
Apple v. Apple — Say you want a revolution? How about a mouthful of lawsuit! In 1978, Apple Corp (owned by the Beatles) filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the nascent Apple Computer. They settled the suit in 1981 for $80,000 (!!) as long as Apple Computer didn’t sell music. Fast forward to the 1986 and then 1991 when Apple started adding music playback hardware to its machines, which further infringed on Apple Corps business of “music making.” In 1991 a $26.5 million settlement was reached and then, guess what? Apple Corps sued again for iTunes, suggesting that Apple Computer now sold music, just like Apple Corps would do if George and John weren’t dead, Paul wasn’t a ponce, and Ringo wasn’t doing the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine. A judge ruled in favor of Apple Computer in 2006 and it seems that the Beatles catalog, which no one in the entire world has right now, might soon be available on iTunes. Bang bang the judge’s silver gavel, indeed.
Cisco v. Apple — Cisco’s iPhone line, which mind-freaked a load of people last year is basically a VoIP solution for business. Apple’s iPhone is a really cool phone with magical powers. But guess who came to the party first? Cisco, back in 2000. They filed a lawsuit last January and came to an agreement a bit later with undisclosed terms.
MikeRoweSoft v. Microsoft — In 2003, Mike Rowe, a CS student, registered MikeRoweSoft as a personal repository for his work. Microsoft asked him to take it down and once he refused, Microsoft offered $10 for his out of pocket expenses. That didn’t work. So they sent him a 25-page cease and desist letter. As we all know, cease and desist letters work extremely well on the Internet and when he went public, it looked like Microsoft had been killing puppies. Mike eventually settled for an XBox and some Windows training and Bill Gates’ lawyers returned to their mountain lair where they still suckle on the tears of newborns.
lulu.com v. hulu.com — Not sure if you remember Hulu it it was sued by Lulu. Lulu lets your print and sell your own books. Hulu is a site that shows video from Fox. You decide if Lulu = Hulu in your spare time. I’m not giving this any more brain cycles.
Mariah Carey v. Mary Carey — Now this is a case we can sink our teeth into. I’m not really good at lawyerese but chanteuse Mariah Carey sued panteuse Mary Carey [NSFW] for “doing business” under similar sounding name. See, Mariah sings songs while Mary is a porn star. It’s easy to get the two confused. The suit seems to be ongoing since 2006 but I suspect the lawyers were running into the problem of being interested in the case for about 10 minutes, then getting bored for about twenty, then getting interested again for about 30 minutes.
Yes, this is real, and spectacular. The Billboard Liberation Front has launched an “improvement” campaign on AT&T billboards in the SF area “to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants” with their big warrantless domestic spying program (explained by a adorable bear). We’re waiting for some “Yes, the NSA can hear you now” Verizon billboards to match. Check out their fantastic “press release” after the jump.
The Billboard Liberation Front this day announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Bureau. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants.
“This campaign is an extraordinary rendition of a public-private partnership,” observed BLF spokesperson Blank DeCoverly. “These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship, dating back to the age of the telegraph. In these dark days of Terrorism, that should be a comfort to each law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide.”
AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. “But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands,” noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. “Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic - who has time to cc the feds on each message? It’s a great example of how we anticipate our customers’ needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge.”
Commenting on the action, and responding to questions about pending privacy litigation and the stalled Congressional effort to shield the telecoms from these lawsuits, NSA spokesperson [REDACTED] remarked: “[REDACTED] we [REDACTED] condone [REDACTED] warrantless [REDACTED], [REDACTED] SIGINT intercepts, [REDACTED] torture [REDACTED] information retrieval by [REDACTED] means necessary.”
“It’s a win-win-win situation,” noted the BLF’s DeCoverly. “NSA gets the data it needs to keep America safe, telecom customers get free services, and AT&T makes a fortune. That kind of cooperation between the public and private sectors should serve as a model to all of us, and a harbinger of things to come.”
Come see the improvement at 14th St. and Valencia St. in San Francisco.
The BLF (www.billboardliberation.com) has been improving outdoor advertising since 1977. Prior campaigns have included work for Exxon, R.J. Reynolds, and Apple Computers.
AT&T (www.att.com) is America’s favorite telecommunications trust. Based in San Antonio, Texas, it has over 300,000 employees and annual revenues of $117 Billion.
NSA (www.nsa.gov) is the largest intelligence organization in the world. Headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, its budget, personnel, products, and services are all classified.
We can see this USB typing Speedometer being extremely useful for young typists who want to improve their speed, or Brian Lam if he ever wants to type faster than three words per minute, but it’s a USB gadget that plugs into your computer and tells you how fast you’re typing. If you want to keep track of how much you’ve typed during the entire day (say, if you’re a writer getting paid by the word), it measures that too. The meter goes up to 260 WPM, but the world’s fastest typist can only go 212 WPM. And that was with a DVORAK keyboard layout, which you’re probably not using. [Drink Stuff via Nexus 404 via Technabob]
“Comedian” Joe Rogan has got himself a new 7-foot tall isolation tank, and he is giving away his old one. This was created after the 1980s motion picture Modified Says, in which the protagonist—played by William Injured in his first role—uses it to get in touch with “ultimate reality.” Isolation tanks deprive you of your physical senses and, according to Rogan, they make you’ve hallucinations with no secondary effects or addiction. Sounds weird? Yes. That’s why we got deeper into this whole modified states thing.
While Rogan states it doesn’t create addiction, he seems quite enthusiastic about it and the psychedelic experiences he claims the tank puts you through. Enthusiastic enough to have created a new, more massive version, a soundproof 11-feet tall box filled with 11 inches of water and 800 pounds of dissolved salt.
The salt makes you extremely buoyant, and combined with the a 93.5 degrees F water temperature—the same of the skin—lying on the water makes you feel like there’s no end to your body. You don’t feel anything and, 15 minutes after you are in, he says you will begin having weird visions and pseudo-astral trips. And although he has a machine pumping pure oxygen into the chamber (”it’s good for the brain,” he says), according to Rogan the crazy effects come to you without any kind of drugs.
Hookai.
In the movie Altered States, however, William Hurt’s character uses more than pure oxygen. Taking hallucinogenic drugs to get back to a “primordial state” and discover the origin of life, he nearly destroys himself after going through a monkey and a giant amoeba, only to get rescued back into human form by his wife at the last moment. Looking at this picture, Rogan seems to be getting into the monkey stage now.
All this can be yours for free, dear reader, straight from a guy who doesn’t believe that humans landed in the moon, September 11’s WTC 7 was imploded and JFK’s assassination was a conspiracy. Contrary to rumors, however, the free tank doesn’t come with a tinfoil hat. You’ll have to do one yourself. [Joe Rogan —Thanks to Brian Reichle, who made the video and send it to us]
Swedish designers Per Emanuelsson and Bastian Bischoff believe that their Surveillance Lamp is “Orwellian” in the sense that it is an “ambiguous reflection of their thoughts about the political future.” That’s deep and everything, but the bottom line is that a lamp modeled after surveillance cameras looks pretty damn cool. The only question is whether or not it is cool enough to drop over 50,00 EUR ($7,500) on—because that is where the bidding is on eBay right now with about six days left. [eBay via Surveillance Light via Dezeen]
Swedish designers Per Emanuelsson and Bastian Bischoff believe that their Surveillance Lamp is “Orwellian” in the sense that it is an “ambiguous reflection of their thoughts about the political future.” That’s deep and everything, but the bottom line is that a lamp modeled after surveillance cameras looks pretty damn cool. The only question is whether or not it is cool enough to drop over 50,00 EUR ($7,500) on—because that is where the bidding is on eBay right now with about six days left. [eBay via Surveillance Light via Dezeen]
Oh man, do I like this table. Sure, it provides a flat surface for eating or working on like most tables, but it also has marble tracks carved into it. That means that when you get bored of your meal/job, you can put marbles in the top and watch them follow an elaborate path around the legs and down to the ground. Call me a simpleton, but this thing would keep me entertained for an humiliating amount of time. [Product Page via NotCot]
I don’t know about you, but any trailer that starts with the greatest gadget genius of all time having a morning whisky on the rocks, while traveling through the desert in a Humvee to the beat of AC/DC’s Back In Black, says to me: BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER. Which is precisely what you can see in the new Iron Man full trailer, along with everything you would expect Robert Downey Jr’s perfect 
Looks like Microsoft is trying another push to get Vista Ultimate running as your OS of choice. The top-end operating system will receive a price cut from $399 to $319, whilst the upgrade version will now retail at $219, a savings of $40 on the original price. Vista Home Premium will also be dropped in price, from $159 to $129. If you were holding out, now seems like a good time as any to take the Vista plunge, or stick with XP SP3 because it kicks Vista-ass. Your call. Note: the Digg badge on this post corresponds to the original news’ Digg. [
With 
Mariah Carey v. Mary Carey — Now this is a case we can sink our teeth into. I’m not really good at lawyerese but chanteuse Mariah Carey sued panteuse 
Yes, this is real, and spectacular. The Billboard Liberation Front has launched an “improvement” campaign on AT&T billboards in the SF area “to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants” with their big 
We can see this USB typing Speedometer being extremely useful for young typists who want to improve their speed, or Brian Lam if he ever wants to type faster than three words per minute, but it’s a USB gadget that plugs into your computer and tells you how fast you’re typing. If you want to keep track of how much you’ve typed during the entire day (say, if you’re a writer getting paid by the word), it measures that too. The meter goes up to 260 WPM, but the world’s fastest typist can only go 212 WPM. And that was with a DVORAK keyboard layout, which you’re probably not using. [
“Comedian” Joe Rogan has got himself a new 7-foot tall isolation tank, and he is giving away his old one. This was created after the 1980s motion picture Modified Says, in which the protagonist—played by William Injured in his first role—uses it to get in touch with “ultimate reality.” Isolation tanks deprive you of your physical senses and, according to Rogan, they make you’ve hallucinations with no secondary effects or addiction. Sounds weird? Yes. That’s why we got deeper into this whole modified states thing.
In the movie Altered States, however, William Hurt’s character uses more than pure oxygen. Taking hallucinogenic drugs to get back to a “primordial state” and discover the origin of life, he nearly destroys himself after going through a monkey and a giant amoeba, only to get rescued back into human form by his wife at the last moment. Looking at this picture, Rogan seems to be getting into the monkey stage now.
Swedish designers Per Emanuelsson and Bastian Bischoff believe that their Surveillance Lamp is “Orwellian” in the sense that it is an “ambiguous reflection of their thoughts about the political future.” That’s deep and everything, but the bottom line is that a lamp modeled after surveillance cameras looks pretty damn cool. The only question is whether or not it is cool enough to drop over 50,00 EUR ($7,500) on—because that is where the bidding is on eBay right now with about six days left. [
Oh man, do I like this table. Sure, it provides a flat surface for eating or working on like most tables, but it also has marble tracks carved into it. That means that when you get bored of your meal/job, you can put marbles in the top and watch them follow an elaborate path around the legs and down to the ground. Call me a simpleton, but this thing would keep me entertained for an humiliating amount of time. [
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