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Archive for June, 2006

Self-regarding nonsense

By Dan Lockton ⋅ June 27, 2006 ⋅ Post a comment
Self-regarding nonsense

Lisa, from the University of Technology, Sydney, writing in Design Arguments – Critical Judgements, comments on this blog in the context of a discussion on critical technique and design criticism. I’m flattered!
“In fact, this blog [Architectures of Control in Design] almost meets Baker’s definition of design criticism at its best – ‘fictive, vindictive, and improper’“
(Note [...]

Policing Crowds: Privatizing Security

By Dan Lockton ⋅ June 24, 2006 ⋅ 2 comments
Policing Crowds: Privatizing Security

The Policing Crowds conference is taking place 24-25 June 2006 in Berlin, examining many aspects of controlling the public and increasing business involvement in this field – ‘crime control as industry’. Technologies designed specifically to permit control and monitoring of the public, such as CCTV and many RFID applications, will also be discussed.
The conference takes [...]

‘Fair use, Xbox hacking, and how far will Linux users go to get a cheap PC?’

By Dan Lockton ⋅ June 24, 2006 ⋅ 7 comments
'Fair use, Xbox hacking, and how far will Linux users go to get a cheap PC?'

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, in ZDNet’s Hardware 2.0 blog, asks whether it is ‘ethical’ for users to install GNU/Linux on an Xbox, or in general, to use hardware they have bought in whatever way they wish.
“First, is it ethical to hack an Xbox or any other bit of commercial hardware? I’m not just talking about [...]

Interesting quote from Ted Nelson

By Dan Lockton ⋅ June 22, 2006 ⋅ One comment
Interesting quote from Ted Nelson

Just looking up something else, I stumbled across this quote from Ted Nelson. From ‘Ted’s ComParadigm in OneLiners’:
“A frying-pan is technology. All human artifacts are technology. But beware anybody who uses this term. Like “maturity” and “reality” and “progress”, the word “technology” has an agenda for your behavior: usually what is [...]

‘Researchers develop prototype system to thwart unwanted video and still photography’

By Dan Lockton ⋅ June 19, 2006 ⋅ 8 comments
'Researchers develop prototype system to thwart unwanted video and still photography'

Via Boing Boing, ‘Researchers develop prototype system to thwart unwanted video and still photography’, news from Georgia Tech of a system that scans and finds the CCDs of digital imaging equipment and shines bright light (or a laser) into them in order to flood them with light and prevent usable images being recorded.
“Commercial versions of [...]

An interlock example

By Dan Lockton ⋅ June 16, 2006 ⋅ 5 comments
An interlock example

It’s been a while since I posted about an architecture of control designed to assist/protect the user rather than to frustrate or intimidate, but just reading a great article about the MG SV-R supercar formerly produced by MG Sports & Racing*, a very simple interlock example (more discussion of interlocks and forcing functions here and [...]

‘Labels on digital content should spell out how easy it is to move from gadget to gadget’

By Dan Lockton ⋅ June 5, 2006 ⋅ 2 comments
'Labels on digital content should spell out how easy it is to move from gadget to gadget'

A warning label mockup*
The BBC is reporting that the All Party Internet Group (APIG), a cross-party group of MPs, has made some intelligent – and interesting – recommendations about explaining DRM more fully to consumers:
“The MPs’ report made several recommendations and called on the Office of Fair Trading hasten the introduction of labelling [...]

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