ButtUgly:MainThis is the butt-ugly weblog from Janne Jalkanen.Ubicomp, and why I think it's broken- June 30, 2008 A discussion (well, more of a rant) in Teemu's blog warrants repeat here - why I think the traditional vision of ubicomp, that is, the Internet of Things and the Smart Spaces is broken. You see, I think that intelligence is relative. You feel stupid when you're with people who're smarter than you, but you could rule the land if you were the only person in a village of idiots. Kinda like social status or wealth - you don't have to be rich: it's enough to have more money than your...http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_300608_2 OFFSystem gives lawyers and law-makers new headaches- June 30, 2008 The problem with geeks and law is that geeks are way better and faster in interpreting reality than lawyers are in interpreting laws. Here's a good example - the Owner-Free Filing system. The OFFSystem is a distributed file system (essentially creating a huge disk drive where you can put whatever content you want, and everyone else using the same system can see that content, too) - but what is interesting is that it is really stabbing at the heart of copyright as defined. You see, it does not.http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_300608_1 EU wants to regulate bloggers to stifle "unfair competition"- June 25, 2008 Whooooooo boy. Pissing off several tens of millions of people is really smart, Ms. Mikko. This report (English, Finnish version here) drafted by Estonian MEP Marianne Mikko details how bloggers, those pesky creatures, are unfairly providing free content to consumers, thus stifling competition with the real media providers and how blogs could be used for evil, which why they should be regulated. Witness the following, highly enlightening quotes: M. whereas commercial publications are...http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_250608_1 Another restaurant fails clue roll- June 24, 2008 The Internets and the fact that consumers have power these days still seems to escape some business owners. Mikko Eerola tested a local Latin American eatery called "Nuevo Latino", and wrote a review to eat.fi as well as to Jaiku. Unlike the other reviewers, he didn't much like the experience; just stated that he felt the food was good though overpriced and that the waiters were rude. So nothing very unusual in Helsinki. Could've been a bad day in the restaurant, too. The story...http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_240608_1 Guy sells his life on eBay- June 22, 2008 I know this is old news, but the auction is on right now! Just to refresh your memory: Ian Usher in Perth, Australia decided to sell his entire life. Yes, including friends and the job. He says: "On the day it is all sold and settled I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all, and get on the train, with no idea where I am going or what the future holds for me." The house looks decent, the place is pretty...http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_220608_1 The universal edit button- June 19, 2008 A few guys got together and built a "universal edit button" - essentially a small Firefox plugin that lets you know that you can change the content of a web page. It's a good idea, and I hope it becomes so commonplace you don't really need a browser plugin anymore. Just like the RSS logo you see if you're browsing this site with any relatively modern browser. JSPWiki will support this in version 2.8, out "soon". You can already test it at the JSPWiki sandbox. Other small.http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_190608_1 Tip: Firefox 3 download- June 18, 2008 In case you're trying to download Firefox 3, and are finding (among everyone else) that the mozilla.com servers are completely unresponsive due to the load, you can go directly to the distribution repository at http:releases.mozilla.orgpubmozilla.orgfirefoxreleases3.0, and choose your operating system first, and then the language.http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_180608_1 Siika- June 14, 2008 (Warning, obscure Finnish humor follows.) So, these guys managed to get a whitefish of respectable size while icefishing last winter, and put the experience on Youtube. It simmers there for a while, just watched by friends. The unbridled joy of getting a whitefish of almost two kilograms is shared by few. Aaand then someone makes a remix of that experience with a soundtrack. And then a Muumi remake follows. And then there was radioplay. And, if my magic 8-ball is right, all signs point to.http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_140608_1 Phoenix landing- June 12, 2008 For some reason, this video makes me very happy every time I watch it. It's always nice to see hair-raising tension get relieved in joy and laughter. (The video is a HD quality log of the seven minutes it takes for a Mars-bound spacecraft to decelerate from interplanetary speeds to zero. So many things could go wrong with it.)http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_120608_1 Back to civilization- June 9, 2008 Ha! With the new job, comes relocation. Out of the engineering pits of Pitjnmki into the civilized Ruoholahti I go, and whistle as I walk. The fact that I will save an hour of commute every day is going to make wonders to my mental health. Lunch, anyonehttp://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/wiki/Main_blogentry_090608_1 |