Permanet gets a mention

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The alternative, much-better name for ‘broadband’ gets a boost from David Birch in today’s Guardian Online.

“I’ve written before how transformative broadband is in the home environment and noted that that is primarily because of the “always on” characteristic rather than higher speed. I rather like the suggestion made by a recent correspondent to Bill Thompson’s WebWise column on BBCi that we stop using the phrase “broadband internet” and start using “permanet”, as this captures the essence of the service more accurately. The combination of “always on” with “on everywhere in the house” because of the Airport is especially powerful. “

» Guardian Online: Wi-Fi is so good: it even works

WarScooping

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Some genome-hacking excerpts from the latest, fantastic entry to Bruce Sterling’s Virdian Robot Dog Competition:

FAQ– Does the Ictadopac dog use open source code?
A– Surely the source-code DNA of our dogs is accessible to anyone who follows our dogs with a pooper-scooper. But, No, we don’t offer permission– via Open Source License– to fiddle with our proprietary genome. Our lawyers will pounce on any pirated clones. And we can’t stop you from gene-tweaking or your dog. But doing so violates your Dog License, and voids your Warranty.

FAQ– Why do you recommend only OEM methods and parts?
A—-Don’t tell me you going to let just anyone DNA-hack a dog frequently left unattended in the care of your children?!!?? Such modifications are simply unnecessary. Our 4idog already possess the traits commonly defined as loyalty and fidelity–toward your family ‘pack’ (including your other pets). Ictadopac uses a tendency naturally occurring in domesticated canines to accept people, and even other animals, into their social group. (Non-domesticated wolves, hyenas & dingos lack such depth of interspecies social capacity.) What does this mean for you? Your Ictadopac is predisposed to accept your authority as alpha-leader.

FAQ– But isn’t Open Source License access necessary to fix a broken 4idog?
A– With over a 150,000 years of field testing, the domesticated two-eyed dog genome is a robust, stable platform. Subsequently, problems at the source code DNA level are rare. That’s exactly why we base our product on this time-tested standard. This means that you’ll be able to take your 4idog to any accredited veterinarian for service. Moreover, our product is based on a model so deeply integrated into the human environment (we’ve co-evolved together!) that, in the case of minor physical problems, 4idogs respond positively to many forms of folk-medicine and home remedies.

FAQ– “Co-evolved”? Am I going to get four eyes?
A– No, this characteristic is no more contagious than a wet nose or dog breath. Rather, ‘co-evolved’ refers to scientist’s recent discovery, in analyzing the genome of two-eyed dog mitochondria, that humans and canines have been working and playing in concert even before we reached our anatomically modern forms……. So, in the past, both people and dogs have gone through both cultural and physical changes–TOGETHER. And the changes have been quite positive.

FAQ– So I won’t get 4 eyes then?
A–No. But, your 4idog will bring about changes to your constitution and psyche at a much quicker rate than that of biological evolution. Around your contagiously lovable 4idog you’re likely to experience a heart beat altered for the better, an understanding of nature’s intricate plan and soothing metabolic optimization


Absolutely fantastic. Gets my vote to win, even though I entered and would dearly love an AIBO. Lots of intriguing ideas in there – I like especially the idea of genome hackers wandering around with plasticbags to warscoop the faeces of exotic, expensive chimera…

» ICTADOPAC.COM: FAQ

Computers + Comics at the ICA

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A bit late on this one. Went along last wednesday (25.09.02) with a few other to an event staged at the ICA billed as “The Mouse vs the mouse: comics and computers”.

Dave Gibbons, Dave McKean – two creator-heroes of mine were to speak on the influence of the universal machine on the form and production of comic books.

Unfortunately, the event focussed on the latter.

It was a fascinating and enjoyable evening nonetheless – but it concentrated on how computers and the internet had made their work-lives easier, not different.

A question each in the woefully-short Q&A period from Yoz and myself attempted to steer the panel round to the possibilities of form and content that the web presented, to no avail. To say nothing of discussing the possibilities of rewiring the creator-audience relationship and it’s possible beneficial effects for both parties as outlined by McCloud and attempted by Ellis et al.

Some positives: I asked the panel if they’d read Patrick Farley‘s awesome, idea-packed “The Spiders” – they hadn’t but a few people who heard me asked the question hunted me down in the bar later and asked me for the URL, so did my bit to spread the word.

Also, AnnaKookymojo, Simon, Celia, Paul, Yoz and myself had an awesome conversation in the pub about bootstrapping an online comicsphere, and many thanks to simon to following up in email with links to ComicsML.

The final positive point was when the fella who organised the talk appealed to the audience to lobby the ICA to stage more events discussing comics and sequential art. IMHO, The Institute of Contemporary Arts should absolutely devote energy and investment into the comics form – which is influencing and instigating more and more ‘mainstream’ creative endeavour, not just blockbusters like Spiderman but more ‘high-brow’ culture like Sam Mendes’ adaptation of “Road to Perdition”*, Ang Lee directing The Hulk and Art Spiegelman’s illustrations for the New Yorker.

So here is the email address of the office Phillip Dodd, the director of the ICA: philipdoddsoffice@ica.org.uk. If you’re in the UK why not write him a nice, polite letter asking for more focus on comics as a popular, yet critically-neglected contemporary art-form that could do with a champion.

I’m just about to…

Creativity, redux

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Warren Ellis reviews one of the most beautiful considerations of human creativity I’ve come across: Snakes & Ladders by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.

It’s a wonderfully sensitive illustrated adaptation of a talk Moore gave at the Conway Hall, Red Lion Square (which I walk through on the way to work every morning) – using the square’s history, it’s inhabitants and their encounters with the muse as a basis for the investigation of dna, magic and the creative urge.

There’s a PDF preview [c. 500k] to give a flavour.

» artbomb.net: Snakes & Ladders

Lilypads and frogs

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Short, thoughtful recap of a lot of the memes around wifi vs 3g by the old man of the seachange, Nicholas Negroponte:

“In the future, each Wi-Fi system will also act like a small router, relaying to its nearest neighbors. Messages can hop peer-to-peer, leaping from lily to lily like frogs — the stems are not required. You have a broadband telecommunications system, built by the people, for the people. Carriers are aware of this, but they discount it because they do not feel there will be sufficient coverage. They are wrong.”

» WiReD: Nicholas Negroponte: Being Wireless
[via warchalking.org]

Viridian Design BioFuture Robot Dog Contest

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Just spent a couple of hours hacking together my entry in the Viridian BioFuture Robot Dog Contest, based on some doodles and sketches that have been mounting up over the last month. Here he is below, along with some of the sales-blurb that goes along with the entry…

“Introducing Von Neumanns best friend.

A self-replicating, self-structuring nanodog system designed to be fun for all the posthuman family. Advanced ‘stinky-sneaker-simulant’ tail-bonds ensure structural integrity whatever the game – from chasing a stick to digging tunnels through gas-giants.

Von Neumann’s best friend is a canine companion that will last you from now until way after the singularity. He’ll be your pal no matter what scale or how distributed your consciousness is.”

» BioFuture Robot Dog Contest: Von Neumann’s Best Friend

Like the weather

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From McSweeney’s interview with Kurt Vonnegut:

‘Q: It is a weird moment in history, don’t you think?

Kurt Vonnegut: Well, my late brother Bernie, who was a great expert on weather — at one point he knew more about tornadoes than anybody else on the planet, I imagine — was always approached by people who knew his background and wanted him to be an expert about it. “Bernie, isn’t this weather unusual?” And he would say, “The weather is always unusual.” I mean, this is a very special time in history, but every time is.’

» McSweeney’s: The best jokes are dangerous: interview with Kurt Vonnegut, pt. 1