Monthly Archives: January 2009

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Spam ubiquity – even your Lexus is no haven

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Lexus concept carOnce again, the physical space in which you can expect (or even hope) to avoid being relentlessly marketed at contracts in a dying spasm… that’s right, not even your car is a scared space any more, as
Lexus has announced plans to send targeted messages to owners of its cars based on the buyer’s zip code and vehicle type. Knowing how dependent on customer goodwill the luxury car brands are, I’ll be very surprised if this plan actually makes it to market. [via SlashDot]; image by SecondPrint Productions]

Speaking of spam, computer security researchers in Germany reckon they’ve found a serious chink in the Storm botnet’s armour that means it’s nowhere near as impregnable as previously thought. So why haven’t they smashed it up like a box of cheap crockery, then?

The team has not yet taken the final step of putting the whole thing into action with a genuine Storm Worm botnet in the wild. From a legal point of view, that could involve many problems. Any unauthorised access to third-party computers could be regarded as tampering with data, which is punishable under paragraph § 303a of the German Penal Code. That paragraph threatens up to two years’ imprisonment for unlawfully deleting, suppressing, making unusable or changing third-party data.

Oh, the irony. [also via SlashDot]

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Cory Doctorow on writing and the web

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doctorowThe inevitable New Year’s Resolution wear-off has begun: I resolved to write more and spend less time procrastinating by (amongst other things) surfing the web.

As ever things haven’t quite worked out like that but whilst procrastinating on Lifehacker I saw this article from Cory Doctorow, science fiction writer and Internet panjandrum, on how to avoid getting distracted by teh webz whilst writing:

Researching isn’t writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don’t. Don’t give in and look up the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, the population of Rhode Island, or the distance to the Sun. That way lies distraction — an endless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes of composing into a half-day’s idyll through the web. Instead, do what journalists do: type “TK” where your fact should go, as in “The Brooklyn bridge, all TK feet of it, sailed into the air like a kite.”

It’s all good stuff.

Now if only I could make good on my resolution to end all blog posts with a snappy and/or incisive comment…

[at Locus via Lifehacker][image from eecue on flickr]

Blog

Kim Stanley Robinson to appear in Second Life… as a coyote

Stan Shackleton, Kim Stanley Robinson's Second Life coyote avatarSecond Life may be off the headline radar now the hype has died off, but there’s still plenty happening there if you know where to look. The latest genre author to appear in-world as a public speaker (following after such luminaries as William Gibson, Charles Stross and Terry Pratchett) is Kim Stanley Robinson, who will be donning the form of a coyote while he gives a presentation to Second Life’s transhumanist clade, Extropia. [via NewWorldNotes]

Robinson’s appearance is scheduled for this coming Saturday, 17th January, at high noon Second Life Time/PDT; full details at the Extropia Events blog (to which is also due the credit for the screenshot of Robinson’s coyote avatar, Stan Shackleton).

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How to Communicate More Effectively, Part 2 – Attract Attention

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[How to Communicate More Effectively is a series of guest posts from Gareth L Powell. In case you missed it, here’s part 1.]

The first thing you need to do when writing a blog post, email or web page is to snag your reader’s attention. If they’re skimming through their RSS feeds or searching on Google, you need them to notice your post; if they’re checking their inbox, you need your email to stand out from the crowd; and this is where your title comes in. The title of your article or blog post (or the subject line of your email) should intrigue them and give them a reason to stop doing whatever it is they are doing and read what you’ve written. Ideally, your headline should also communicate a benefit to the reader, letting them know they stand to gain something of value by reading on.

Writing killer headlines is hard work but worth it, as studies show four times as many people will read your headline as will read the rest of your message.

Examples of good headlines include:

  • Learn How To Write Like a Pro with These FREE Hints & Tips
  • 7 Tried and Tested Ways to Save Money This Christmas
  • Read 10 Hot New Writers – for FREE!
  • Buy Two Issues of Outrageous Tales and Get This FREE Book
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Tooth regeneration redux

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clockwork teethAnother year, another “regrow your own body parts” story, this one coming from the ever popular domain of dentistry (a field which we have covered before on Futurismic). This time out, the Washington Post jovially informs us that wisdom teeth are a source of stem cells that could be used to regrow and replace missing teeth throughout our adult lives. [image by greefus groinks]

It’s a nuisance, but researchers are closing in on it. In fact, they think the tooth will probably be the first complex organ to be completely regenerated from stem cells. In part this is because teeth are easily accessible — say ahhhhh. So are adult stem cells, found abundantly in both wisdom and baby teeth — no embryos required, and your immune system won’t reject your own cells.

Nobody is predicting when the first whole tooth will be grown in a human, although five to 10 years is a common guess.

Only a decade to wait, then. But knowing dentists, they’ll probably still find a reason to assault your dignity, pain threshold and wallet all at once. Not that I’m bitter or anything. [via SlashDot]