Slashdot Mirror

An anonymous submitter sends in: "Salon is reporting Automatic Media has run out of money, and Feed and Suck will be closing up shop. Sad news, especially for such high profile, established sites. What will you do on Wednesdays without Filler? Plastic will remain open, serving up some user generated content, which is apparently the cheapest way to operate on the net."

An anonymous submitter sends in: "Salon is reporting Automatic Media has run out of money, and Feed and Suck will be closing up shop. Sad news, especially for such high profile, established sites. What will you do on Wednesdays without Filler? Plastic will remain open, serving up some user generated content, which is apparently the cheapest way to operate on the net."

There's a piece on the newest breakthrough in quantum crypto on Feed. It goes over some of the background that we've all read before, but the implication of actually making it somethig useful beyond the current short distance is pretty darn cool.

Steven sent over an interview Feedmag has got with the lead AI programmer for Black & White. He talks about some of the creature/villager routinues in the game, which is interesting for the game, but also interesting in terms of how much the world of AIs for games has changed in the last few years.

Steven sent over an interview Feedmag has got with the lead AI programmer for Black & White. He talks about some of the creature/villager routinues in the game, which is interesting for the game, but also interesting in terms of how much the world of AIs for games has changed in the last few years.

Feedmag is running a story about Andy O'Meara, the guy behind G-Force, as well as some other aspects of the visualization for plugins for *Amp, XMMS etc. Playing around with the visualizations is a huge amount of fun, and it's interesting to see what types of music produce different visuals. And unlike psydelics, it's legal.

nikhil_g writes " National Geographic has the tidbits about an attempt that sounds as bizzare as they come. It seems to be on horizon with a US Team also planning sooner than the Australian attempt in 2002. " Feed Mag has more complete coverage as well. It's certainly a...uh...active way to spend your time.

Logic Bomb writes: "Feed is running a very well-written essay by Steven Johnson on game design that includes an interview with the designer of Oni. Johnson has some thought-provoking comments on narrative, navigation, and cheat sheets. Lots of room for discussion here: what balance do you like best between plot and action (i.e. Metal Gear Solid versus Quake)? Are cheat sheets just part of the game, or does needing one show bad game design? Anyone have comments on the system used by Oni discussed in the article?" Equally interesting to me is this other Feed interview with Warren Spector, designer of Deus Ex.

Logic Bomb writes: "Feed is running a very well-written essay by Steven Johnson on game design that includes an interview with the designer of Oni. Johnson has some thought-provoking comments on narrative, navigation, and cheat sheets. Lots of room for discussion here: what balance do you like best between plot and action (i.e. Metal Gear Solid versus Quake)? Are cheat sheets just part of the game, or does needing one show bad game design? Anyone have comments on the system used by Oni discussed in the article?" Equally interesting to me is this other Feed interview with Warren Spector, designer of Deus Ex.

More on power woes in California; a ray of light to all the would-be Delux DVD players in the audience; snappy comebacks from Sega; and some updates on the ever-intriguing Project Pengachu. Mmmmmm. All below, so use that mouse finger.

Good reason to stay on the 3rd coast, Bruce. Steven Johnson of Feed writes: "hey man, here's an excellent one for you: Bruce Sterling on the thirteen causes behind the California power crisis. All about how it's the result of treating energy networks like information networks. Classic Sterling. Enjoy!"

No accounting for taste, but on a length / goodness ratio basis, this is perhaps my new favorite Sterling article ever, too. Bam.

I'll believe it when that inventory is replenished. Patrick writes: "It's off the front page so no one will see an update or comment, but [this site] has the official statement from Sega. FYI"

The points made in this statement still don't say that Sega will continue to produce Dreamcast consoles past March (or any other time), but do emphasize that Sega has no intention of stopping the supply of games for their console, and are "currently in negotiations" to provide games for Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 2. Also, the affirm previous reports that Sega is promoting the Dreamcast's architecture for use in PCs and other places.

aztektum points somewhat more directly to the Sega statement (in Japanese, that is), with a link he claims was found on IGN.

The Wailing Walls have ears. Adam Alexander, webmaster of Dulux Consumer Support, writes to assure Slashdot readers that despite his site's name,"My site is not an advertisement for the company; in fact many parts of it are very critical of the company. The purpose is to help people who have already ordered the product in getting the product or getting a refund. My site discourages new orders at this time, at least until the old orders are taken care of."

As the introduction to that site puts it, the page "has been created to serve as a central location for interaction between people who placed orders for a Dulux DVD/MP3/Karaoke/Game Player and would like to share customer service or product information."

That sounds pretty smart. Any class-action lawyers around?

I would not name a daughter this. PSUdaemon writes "Back in November there was a post about Pengachu. A project to provide cheap wireless internet in a handheld. The handhelds are designed with the Linux coder in mind. With ports for an external keyboard and mouse, you can take your projects anywhere. There is a Web Page now with lots of details and pictures. Unfortunately I couldn't find a link to buy one..."

I'd like to suggest a slogan for the wildly successful spin-off this project deserves to spawn: "It's from MIT, so it's got to be good!" Certainly a good step toward ubiquity.

There's an interesting story running about the need/development of genetic mark-up language. It's called GEML - Gene Expression Mark-up Language and is basically a DTD ^[?] . Obviously, with working with things like genes, GEML is useful - and a good example of why DTD is muy bein.

I enjoyed reading the robot diaries which are an account of building some BEAM ^[?] robots from kits. BEAM bots are interesting in that the design sense behind it is much more building from the ground-up (IE, build a robot to resemble an insect) rather then trying to build from the top down. Basically a more evolutionary approach to things.

There's a great interview with Hideo Kojima, the designer of Metal Gear Solid, VP at Konami, and currently working on Metal Gear Solid 2. Very interesting guy - the Renaissnance man description sounds quite apt.

There's an article out in Feed Magazine that pans the Space Station, but then gets into some actually interesting matter, like the increasing ability to actually do asteroid mining. Asteroid mining has long been a staple of hard science fiction, but the benefits of being able to /really/ do it are immense - less pollution, really clean metals. There's just that nasty get-the-material to the factory issue. But that's why we need a space elevator, right?

Feedmag is running an article that talks about the "openness" of the PS2, as well as the upcoming competition with the widely anticipated X-Box. Well thought out and interesting.

grossdog writes: "Feed Magazine has an article up by editor-in-chief Steven Johnson (author of Interface Culture) describing the OS X rollout as a cultural event -- the now manifestation of the same impulses that turned Sgt. Pepper and Exile on Main Street into touchstones. 'Seeing a brand new interface,' writes Johnson, 'is a little like seeing the new Audi TT, or the latest Alessi home appliance: You know you're going to be seeing these shapes and colors emulated for years to come.' In this sense OS X is an important milestone in OS development: Apple has set a new standard." This is a good piece. It talks about hype, media, and software. I don't think OSX is Sgt. Pepper. More like the Phantom Menace (technically amazing and very pretty, but will it have a plot, or just suck?).

grossdog writes: "Feed Magazine has an article up by editor-in-chief Steven Johnson (author of Interface Culture) describing the OS X rollout as a cultural event -- the now manifestation of the same impulses that turned Sgt. Pepper and Exile on Main Street into touchstones. 'Seeing a brand new interface,' writes Johnson, 'is a little like seeing the new Audi TT, or the latest Alessi home appliance: You know you're going to be seeing these shapes and colors emulated for years to come.' In this sense OS X is an important milestone in OS development: Apple has set a new standard." This is a good piece. It talks about hype, media, and software. I don't think OSX is Sgt. Pepper. More like the Phantom Menace (technically amazing and very pretty, but will it have a plot, or just suck?).

BorgiaPope writes "WAIS creator and Alexa founder Brewster Kahle is interviewed by Feed. Kahle talks about the 30 terabytes of 'net content stored in Alexa's Linux servers, a data store he calls the 'largest library the world has ever known.' Some fascinating observations about how sites move in and out of the top traffic tier. He also claims that the top ten Web sites have the "greatest worldwide concentration of power since the Roman Empire.""

BorgiaPope writes "WAIS creator and Alexa founder Brewster Kahle is interviewed by Feed. Kahle talks about the 30 terabytes of 'net content stored in Alexa's Linux servers, a data store he calls the 'largest library the world has ever known.' Some fascinating observations about how sites move in and out of the top traffic tier. He also claims that the top ten Web sites have the "greatest worldwide concentration of power since the Roman Empire.""

Will Wright, creater of Sim...well...Simeverything, has done an interview with Feed. Great interview - Wright gives away a lot of info about Sims Online, which will be (duh) the Sims in a giant contiguous online world. He also talks about adaptive software and other goodies.

Will Wright, creater of Sim...well...Simeverything, has done an interview with Feed. Great interview - Wright gives away a lot of info about Sims Online, which will be (duh) the Sims in a giant contiguous online world. He also talks about adaptive software and other goodies.

abe1x writes "Ian Clarke of Freenet is interviewed at Feed by Christopher Locke of The Cluetrain Manifesto. Pretty interesting, can't wait for Freenet to actually function smoothly on a large scale."

JellyBeansOnToastWithStrawberryJamonTop writes: "I noticed in Sharky Extreme and Tom's Hardware coverage of the AMD Duron processor that they both have details on the overclocking capabilities of the processor. Looks like the new Celeron 300A, eh?" It's cool to see that AMD has not locked out overclockers with their new chips. But where are the dual Athlon motherboards, please? Updated 3:19GMT by t: Apropos of overclocking, check out Feedmag's not-uninteresting take on overclocking culture.

JellyBeansOnToastWithStrawberryJamonTop writes: "I noticed in Sharky Extreme and Tom's Hardware coverage of the AMD Duron processor that they both have details on the overclocking capabilities of the processor. Looks like the new Celeron 300A, eh?" It's cool to see that AMD has not locked out overclockers with their new chips. But where are the dual Athlon motherboards, please? Updated 3:19GMT by t: Apropos of overclocking, check out Feedmag's not-uninteresting take on overclocking culture.

Feed Mag currently is running an interview with Martin Garbus. Garbus is going to be the lead litigator in the attempt to stop the gag order on 2600 regarding the dicussion of DeCSS. Garbus is one extremely intelligent man, and the interview really shows that.

There's been some interesting article published lately in the realm of DNA computing and software breeding models - kinda the land where 1s and 0s and Darwin meet. ArtsTechnica has got a primer on DNA computing which goes over the high points of DNA computing, and is accessible to anyone who remembers high school bio. Feed Magazine has got an article that examines breeding software and what that means.

Feed is running a piece written by Bruce Sterling regarding the destruction of the The Iridium Satellite system. We've also linked the folks who are trying to rescue the system, so take a gander for them as well.

Feed is running a piece written by Bruce Sterling regarding the destruction of the The Iridium Satellite system. We've also linked the folks who are trying to rescue the system, so take a gander for them as well.

Jett wrote to us with an interesting article concerning links between drugs, computers and intellectual culture as a whole. The usage of drugs, ranging from hardcore substances to alcohol and such is an interesting intersection within the computer world. One of the other pieces that I've also liked in Feed was Steven Johnson's piece on Everything2.com. And to be straight: Yes, I am involved with Everything2. But it's because I think it's cool.

Jett wrote to us with an interesting article concerning links between drugs, computers and intellectual culture as a whole. The usage of drugs, ranging from hardcore substances to alcohol and such is an interesting intersection within the computer world. One of the other pieces that I've also liked in Feed was Steven Johnson's piece on Everything2.com. And to be straight: Yes, I am involved with Everything2. But it's because I think it's cool.

roger writes "Feed Magazine has an interesting column on etoy/eToys, Leonardo, etc., and the recent patent law insanity in the United States." Cogent commentary on *why* so many big companies are doing such dumb stuff from Hunter College Professor Clay Shirkey.

roger writes "Feed Magazine has an interesting column on etoy/eToys, Leonardo, etc., and the recent patent law insanity in the United States." Cogent commentary on *why* so many big companies are doing such dumb stuff from Hunter College Professor Clay Shirkey.

Occasionally someone submits a feature that really raises my eyebrow. Jack William Bell did just that by submitting 'Open Source as an Ant Farm'. Its a really interesting piece that talks about code as art, and much more. Its quite funny, and its got a lot to think about. Click now, you won't regret it. Open Source as an Ant Farm by Jack William Bell

Where Open Source is concerned, hyperbole from the digerteratti hype meisters proliferates nearly as quickly as the hyperlinks they hype. Let's face it -- Clapton has been deposed; Linus Torvalds is now God. And those pundits shouting his divinity the loudest can^Òt even tell a stack register from a walrus. I wonder if Jesus had the same problem?

This constant lionizing of Linus is getting on my nerves. I mean, he is probably a great guy and all (if you know what I mean), but a great man? Usually you wait until people are safely dead (and unable to further embarrass themselves) before heaping those kinds of laurels on their heads. If I was he I would start worrying about that strange human proclivity for taking our living idols down a notch once in a while. Or even nailing them to a tree. Not to mention burning at the stake, drawing and quartering and satirizin g on TV.

But I knew things were getting ridiculous this last week when I saw three different weblogs pointing to the same dumb article using variations on the same dumb caption: 'Open Source as an Art Form' . I mean come on, just because a bunch of nutzoid art types gives Torvalds an award for Linux doesn't mean that an operating system or a development model is art! Yeesh!

Not that I don't think of programming as art mind you. After all I am a programmer myself and I often like to compare what I do to the creation of art. A kind of raw industrial art perpetuated underneath the digital world by Morlo cks like myself while the Eloi cavort on the surface, unaware of the immense complexity (and fragility) of their world. In other words code is art, but it is exclusionist art. No more approachable to the everyday person than a Jackson Pollock work. And twice as incomprehensible!

After all if everyone could do it, it wouldn't be art, would it? It would be just another craft. And if everyone could appreciate good code the way I appreciate the Impressionists then it would be 'Classical' (read 'Dead') Art. Not something alive and thriving. Bubbling and fermenting and making funny smells the way the process of hacking out good code does.

But, you say, it is being appreciated just as you would like! After all, isn't that what the award was all about?

Well, no frankly. Not even close. In my opinion if you can't write good code you can't appreciate good code. At the most you can only appreciate the end result, the compiled program. And, while some programs are definitely 'art' in their own right, many others cannot be described as such based on their even visible-to-the-user external features. And Linux, while a work of art in my programmer eyes, is really just a kernel. A piece of code that, if everything is working right, the user will never see directly. Some of my peers would agree with this. Some will not. As always opinions are all over the map...

One poster on Slashdot tried to have it both ways when he opined "Which part of the programming is the art? Is it the code, neatly formatted, with creative comments and clever algorithms or is it the finished product? When you look at 'art' in a museum, all you see is the finished product . . . So which is the art? The code or the program? I personally think it's the program, and beautiful programs usually have very nice/efficient/clean code."

While another lamented "When the New Yorker compares Open Source to the Algonquin roundtable, the seventh seal will be complete and Microsoft will be free to release Windows 2000."

And another asks "So how is this art going to be displayed? Will art galleries have framed printouts of C code, or will they just give out Linux CDs?"

How indeed? Well, if you read the dumb article I mentioned above you will find the author's thesis is that neither the source code nor the compiled Linux kernel code is the issue, rather the art in question is the Open Source development model that built it! He bases this proposition the following facts:

• China Youth Daily used the Microsoft consternation over Open Source for propaganda purposes.
• The Open Source development model (as described by Eric Raymond) is about cooperation and participation.
• Indian Potlatches were about cooperation and participation.
• The Surrealists did some stuff that involved cooperation and participation.
• A lot of twentieth century art uses 'quotation' (like painting soup cans or sampling 1970's Rock and Roll for Rap music) and 'quotation' is kind of like Open Source, isn't it?
• John Myatt's art forgery scam was kind of like 'quotation' too! And it was kind of like art as well
• When some people share a pseudonym to do wacky performance art, and then someone else uses the same nom de plume to crack a web site or to write an on-line 'tag-team' novel you have cooperation and participation and quotation and propaganda all rolled into one, with an Internet connection as a sweetener!

My first thought on reading the article was "Huh?" Then I reread and listed the salient points above and reiterated "Huh?"

Clearly Harvey Blume isn't a programmer. If he was I wouldn't trust him to code a 'for' loop based on his demonstrated grasp of simple logic. Nonetheless if he had simply stated that Open Source programming with the Bazaar model is 'Art' because he says it was art I would have much less to quibble with. After all art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Only he didn't. Instead he chose to defend his allegation using arguments that indicate he doesn't understand anything about the subject. In other words, I cannot say Mr. Blume is wrong, but I can state with near certainty that he is the wrong person to make the claim. He might be right, but for the wrong reasons.

So, assuming you can call a development model an art form -- how do you hang it on the wall? I would argue that it is already there. The main point about Open Source is that it is (wait for it) . . . OPEN! Duh^Å Unlike 'Closed' development the source code is available for all to see. And often the discussions between developers are available as well, archived on one list server or another. In the Internet sense you can't get up against the wall any more that that!

But what does the average art lover see hanging there? Open Source as an Art Form? I think not. More like Open Source as an Ant Farm! At most they will get a glimpse of we scurrying workers as we toil underground. But they will never, ever understand. As I said before, I am OK with that.

Non programmer types can present art awards for Linux or even Sendmail if they like, but it doesn't signify to me. In my opinion these awards mean nothing until they are given by someone who understands why the jargon file definition of 'Recursion' is funny. Until then I would rather they just threw money. Wouldn't you?

Marcus Hum writes "FEED magazine is running a special issue on video games. Features include an interview with Myst creator Robyn miller, an essay on video game violence by children's game designer Theresa Duncan, and a dialog with Marc Laidlaw (Half Life), Will Wright (SimCity), Matt Householder, producer on Diablo and Diablo 2 (Blizzard Software), and Josh Randall, producer on Thief (Looking Glass Studios). "

Marcus Hum writes "FEED magazine is running a special issue on video games. Features include an interview with Myst creator Robyn miller, an essay on video game violence by children's game designer Theresa Duncan, and a dialog with Marc Laidlaw (Half Life), Will Wright (SimCity), Matt Householder, producer on Diablo and Diablo 2 (Blizzard Software), and Josh Randall, producer on Thief (Looking Glass Studios). "

Marcus Hum writes "FEED magazine is running a special issue on video games. Features include an interview with Myst creator Robyn miller, an essay on video game violence by children's game designer Theresa Duncan, and a dialog with Marc Laidlaw (Half Life), Will Wright (SimCity), Matt Householder, producer on Diablo and Diablo 2 (Blizzard Software), and Josh Randall, producer on Thief (Looking Glass Studios). "

Marcus Hum writes "FEED magazine is running a special issue on video games. Features include an interview with Myst creator Robyn miller, an essay on video game violence by children's game designer Theresa Duncan, and a dialog with Marc Laidlaw (Half Life), Will Wright (SimCity), Matt Householder, producer on Diablo and Diablo 2 (Blizzard Software), and Josh Randall, producer on Thief (Looking Glass Studios). "

Marcus Hum writes "FEED magazine is running a special issue on video games. Features include an interview with Myst creator Robyn miller, an essay on video game violence by children's game designer Theresa Duncan, and a dialog with Marc Laidlaw (Half Life), Will Wright (SimCity), Matt Householder, producer on Diablo and Diablo 2 (Blizzard Software), and Josh Randall, producer on Thief (Looking Glass Studios). "

Josh Baugher wrote in to say that Feed is running a special issue on free software. Includes bits with RMS, ESR. More is coming, including bits from the GNOME boys and Larry Wall. Nice little page.

Rost wrote in to send us this link where you can a bunch of improtant people's opinions on the Perfect OS. As you may well imagine, Open Source is mentioned.