I've found a number of good X-10 and home automation resources at HomeToys.com. The prices for X-10, video/audio distribution, and DIY security are usually better at SmartHome.com than at X10.com (and they don't tend to send you so much spam!). The best prices I've found for X-10 stuff (they also have security and video surveillance equip) are at Worthington Distribution. I've had good Web and phone interactions with them. They know what they're talking about when you need technical help, both before and after they make a sale (I can't say as much for X10.com or SmartHome.com).
I agree that this guy wouldn't have been arrested if all he had done was download L0phtcrack. He was actually arrested for stealing user ids and passwords. However, in addition to all of the other counts, he was also charged with "possession of burglary or theft tools". When you kill someone with an axe or a 2x4, are you charged with possession of a deadly weapon? The language is important here: he should have been charged with "illegal use of password-grabbing tools", just like a felonious locksmith would be charged with "illegal use of locksmithing tools".
I knew that that comment would get me in trouble without some qualification. Perhaps "geek" is a better term, one of which I'm happy to be.
My point, I suppose, is that when I saw Steve talk and subsequently had a group discussion between him and my research group at Carnegie Mellon, he seemed socially awkward simply because he was constantly either being distracted by his gear or distracting others by using his gear. Perhaps it's not a function of Steve personally; simply wearing such equipment may lower a person's capacity to interact smoothly with others.
I would assume that your group has done research on the social implications of wearables in addition to practical design issues?
In the Washington DC area and the SF Bay area, there's a company called Metricom. They provide "always-on" Ricochet radio modems which connect to the Net via a network of low-power transceivers hung from streetlight poles. Except for the fact that they're not at all nationwide, it's not a bad system for constant connectivity.
Definitely. People look like dorks wearing this stuff. I met Steve Mann once. He's a guy at MIT (at least, he was at MIT; I believe that he's got a position at a Canadian school; please forgive my memory lapse). Steve's been wearing a custom wearable computer of some kind for over a decade. IMHO, he is the definition of dork.
That's what it means to "go gargoyle." A gargoyle eschews all social graces to be permanently, constantly wired. Check out Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash for the coining of the term.
While the Evil Capitalists tighten their Iron Grip upon Christmas for their own nefarious purposes, Christmas morning in my pleasantly atheistic household would be that much better with a Dyson DC-06 zipping around the living room perkily dispatching those o-so-Pagan pine needles.
And may the coming seasons bring you much happiness as well. Welcome Yule!
Perhaps I could be conspiroantagotheistic: If there is a God, I'll hold him down while you beat the crap out of him.
{It's 2:40pm EST, and it appears that the/. effect strikes again: I can't get a response from dc06.dyson.com any longer.}
I'm in agreement that this thing isn't going to do well in a typical geek room; even if it can successfully navigate obstacles, that'd leave about %0.2 of my workroom's floorspace sparkling. The rest is covered with parts, printouts, and assorted spelkus.
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I've found a number of good X-10 and home automation resources at HomeToys.com. The prices for X-10, video/audio distribution, and DIY security are usually better at SmartHome.com than at X10.com (and they don't tend to send you so much spam!). The best prices I've found for X-10 stuff (they also have security and video surveillance equip) are at Worthington Distribution. I've had good Web and phone interactions with them. They know what they're talking about when you need technical help, both before and after they make a sale (I can't say as much for X10.com or SmartHome.com).
I agree that this guy wouldn't have been arrested if all he had done was download L0phtcrack. He was actually arrested for stealing user ids and passwords. However, in addition to all of the other counts, he was also charged with "possession of burglary or theft tools". When you kill someone with an axe or a 2x4, are you charged with possession of a deadly weapon? The language is important here: he should have been charged with "illegal use of password-grabbing tools", just like a felonious locksmith would be charged with "illegal use of locksmithing tools".
I knew that that comment would get me in trouble without some qualification. Perhaps "geek" is a better term, one of which I'm happy to be.
My point, I suppose, is that when I saw Steve talk and subsequently had a group discussion between him and my research group at Carnegie Mellon, he seemed socially awkward simply because he was constantly either being distracted by his gear or distracting others by using his gear. Perhaps it's not a function of Steve personally; simply wearing such equipment may lower a person's capacity to interact smoothly with others.
I would assume that your group has done research on the social implications of wearables in addition to practical design issues?
In the Washington DC area and the SF Bay area, there's a company called Metricom. They provide "always-on" Ricochet radio modems which connect to the Net via a network of low-power transceivers hung from streetlight poles. Except for the fact that they're not at all nationwide, it's not a bad system for constant connectivity.
Definitely. People look like dorks wearing this stuff. I met Steve Mann once. He's a guy at MIT (at least, he was at MIT; I believe that he's got a position at a Canadian school; please forgive my memory lapse). Steve's been wearing a custom wearable computer of some kind for over a decade. IMHO, he is the definition of dork.
That's what it means to "go gargoyle." A gargoyle eschews all social graces to be permanently, constantly wired. Check out Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash for the coining of the term.
While the Evil Capitalists tighten their Iron Grip upon Christmas for their own nefarious purposes, Christmas morning in my pleasantly atheistic household would be that much better with a Dyson DC-06 zipping around the living room perkily dispatching those o-so-Pagan pine needles.
And may the coming seasons bring you much happiness as well. Welcome Yule!
Perhaps I could be conspiroantagotheistic: If there is a God, I'll hold him down while you beat the crap out of him.
{It's 2:40pm EST, and it appears that the /. effect strikes again: I can't get a response from dc06.dyson.com any longer.}
I'm in agreement that this thing isn't going to do well in a typical geek room; even if it can successfully navigate obstacles, that'd leave about %0.2 of my workroom's floorspace sparkling. The rest is covered with parts, printouts, and assorted spelkus.
However, it'd be ideal for the living room.