Silicon by Gaslight

UTK Gets $325M Grant to Digitize Old Newspapers

2010-08-03T21:36:42Z

Press release here. Related job application here?

Comcast's Totally Legit P2P Settlement (Promise!)

2010-07-12T21:45:48Z

Ars Technica reports on a settlement in the class-action lawsuit between communications giant Comcast and P2P users who had their internet speeds throttled.

If you're one of the affected parties, you too can publicly out yourself as a P2P user, and get sixteen whole dollars for your troubles! Who in their right mind would pass up that kind of deal?

Summer Rerun: July 2008 Edition

2010-07-07T20:57:48Z

Weird Al Yankovic is playing the Tennessee Theatre...wow, looks like tomorrow!

Here's an interview I did with him almost two years ago to the day. Ah, the heady, innocent days of 2008. I remember them like they were just a couple of years ago.

Summer Rerun: July 2008 Edition

2010-07-07T20:57:48Z

"Weird Al" Yankovic is playing the Tennessee Theatre...wow, looks like tomorrow!

Here's an interview I did with him almost two years ago to the day. Ah, the heady, innocent days of 2008. I remember them like they were just a couple of years ago.

The Internet vs. Bluff City PD

2010-06-09T21:43:02Z

Hot on the heels of news that the TN legislature is putting off state-level traffic camera reforms until at least next year, here's an innovative response to traffic camera gripes from our neighbors in Sullivan County.

Police chief David Nelson excused it away, commenting that "It just slipped my mind. If you open up a Web site and let it go down, somebody can buy it - I did not know that."

Way to join us in the 21st century, guys!

Hutchison Takes Internet, Goes Home

2010-05-05T13:13:20Z

It's been less than 12 hours since former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison officially walked away from the County Mayor GOP primary with a smidge less than 15 percent of the vote, but it appears that the campaign signs are already being unceremoniously thrown out. The "Tim Hutchison for Knox County Mayor" Facebook page has been deleted, and hutchisonformayor.com currently redirects right back to Google.

Abrupt responses are one thing, but a complete vanish from the Web without so much as a "thanks for your support"? Perhaps they're just in a temporary holding pattern while Hutchison prepares a post congratulating Tim Burchett on his primary victory.

UPDATE: The campaign twitter account is gone, too.

KERNELLWATCH: Palin to Visit Knoxville, Destroy Internet

2010-03-11T04:59:57Z

Per Satterfield@KNS, it's freakin' official, you betcha.

BIG EARS '10: Fred Armisen? (Updated 2-24)

2010-02-24T03:20:27Z

UPDATE: Big Ears sources now reporting that Armisen's percussionist alter-ego Jens Hannemann will be opening for Joanna Newsom.

This one's a little out of my tech-ish blog idiom, but oh well.

From the Blab and twitter: SNL's Fred Armisen will be coming to Big Ears this year.

~~It remains to be seen in what capacity Armisen will appear.~~ He is best known for his comedic turns, but with 20 years in the music business under his belt, ~~who knows~~.

~~If Armisen appears in a non-musical capacity, he may be the first non-musical addition to the 2010 roster.~~ 2009's festival was all over the place, with spoken word events, workshops, and a walking tour of downtown with Neil Hamburger, but by comparison 2010's events so far have focused on musical acts. See above. Armisen as Hannemann will play the music with, presumably, the funny.

UPDATED: Toyota Announces Global 2010 Prius Recall

2010-02-08T23:41:18Z

UPDATE 2/09: IT'S OFFICIAL.

Looks like Toyota is about to throw the emergency brake on the brake problems the 2010 Prius is experiencing. "Ouch," say forward-thinking automotive pundits everywhere.

Expect the inevitable overwrought American consumer backlash against anything not . Hell, with any luck we'll be back to burning whale oil by 2011!

But seriously, I've been wary of the Prius' brake system since its inception. Not because of any precognitive ability re: the current situation, mind you. I just think that it's playing with fire to throw too many variables in there with the big damn clamps that keep me from dying. Academically, I like the idea of reclaiming kinetic energy and channeling it back into a usable form, but not at the risk of screwing up a mission-critical system. Put some solar cells on the roof or something instead, Toyota.

As far as I can tell, my misgivings are entirely theoretical in nature, and the issues currently facing the Prius are not related to my loony rants. Which is a shame, really - risk management consultants make a lot of money.

This Week In Old-School Pings: LORAN Goes Offline

2010-01-20T23:14:08Z

LORAN-C, the successor to the LOng-RAnge Navigation (get it?) system that your grandfather used to beat back the Japanese during WWII, will be going offline soon, according to this AP report.

Cost concerns are cited as the primary reason for the shutdown, which will begin February 8th and is expected to end with the final LORAN tower going offline by October 8th. With GPS receivers cheap and the infrastructure pervasive, LORAN is seen as obsolete, and unplugging the system will save an estimated $190 million over five years.

1,000,000 V-Chips for Conan

2010-01-16T00:28:00Z

Unless you've been under a rock for the last week, you're probably aware that after a series of dick moves from NBC, Conan O'Brien has finally been cleared to take his ball and go..somewhere else with what appears to be few if any stipulations from the network, leaving The Tonight Show open for a second usurpation by Jay Leno.

If you're unhappy about NBC's decision to strongarm O'Brien out of the spot in favor of the least-funny person in late night, why not let your parental controls do the talking?

(And yes, it's my group. It's also my blog, so there.)

SbG's "Insert Lane Kiffin in an Outdated Meme" Contest

2010-01-13T15:17:27Z

Express your outrage over the internet like a good civilized people should. Make more, disseminate accordingly. Post links here. Go her e for outdated meme ideas. A decent Downfall subtitle is a shoo-in.

If you win, you get nothing. Well, maybe passing internet fame in a niche audience.

Me to Apple Tablet: Get Off My Lawn!

2010-01-05T00:44:15Z

So! According to the latest semi-reliable leaks out of Cupertino, Apple's latest worst-kept secret, the ~~iTablet~~ ~~iSlab Touch~~ ~~iTouchtabowabo~~ Apple Tablet (name pending), is due for a major announcement by the end of the month.

As a new owner of an iPod Touch whose ownership thereof can be described less as "proud" and more as "that sound is inevitability, Mr. Anderson"*, I feel safe in saying that I understand the allure if I don't necessarily leap headlong into it**. They're pretty, they're (legally, if not technically) proprietary, they're expensive. I get it.

But a tablet? While every other Apple product falls into a category that I can at least appreciate on the conceptual level, a tablet is something that I don't even care for in theory. Everything that a tablet can be made to do can either be done smaller (on an iPhone/iTouch-level platform, with portability, convenience, and convergence thrown in as bonuses) or larger (on a Macbook-level platform, with more power and versatility than a tablet could utilize without some sort of Miracle Drive add-on).

This is not an opinion which I hold exclusively in regard to Apple products. Tablets to me are a technology with one foot out the gate and the other in the grave.

To be a viable product, a tablet must be big enough to handle manual read/write operations on a full-size touchscreen yet small enough to be "ultraportable" yet sturdy enough not to break in a steady wind yet light enough not to give the user arm cramps during use, while at the same time being cheap enough to mass-produce yet advanced enough to handle heavy multitasking over long periods in the field yet simple enough for the layman in that same field to use (and troubleshoot) yet complex enough to be able to handle a potentially mind-numbing assortment of load-outs...okay, I'm getting a headache.

Get the picture? Unlike other fields in which Apple products have flourished, tablet computing has not yet even begun to be sorted out. A proper tablet is a logistical nightmare. Apple's penchant for gift-wrapping a formula made of elements which already exist may or may not work too well here.

Unless they're just going to straight-up Kindle it, which is unlikely given the rumored $1000 price tag.

----
* Which isn't to say that I don't like it, in case its purchaser is reading this.

** The fact that I recognized Apple's stylistic contributions back when the rest of you fairweather end-users wouldn't have gone near one of their products notwithstanding.

Ripped From Today's Headlines: 2009's Bottom Five

2009-12-23T20:06:04Z

Apparently, I had too much to say about 2009. Here are five low points that didn't make the cut for the print edition:
]]> PSP GO GOES NOWHERE: Digital distribution is only now becoming a true alternative to brick-and-mortar sales. The costliest blow to the business model at this point would be if an industry giant built a new version of a flagship product around it while alienating both its customers (by eliminating compatibility with the previous version's library and monopolizing the "improved" model's storefront) and retailers (by cutting them out of the loop on game sales while expecting them to charge more for the "improved" model). On a related subject, guess what Sony did?

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS WII'S FLASHBACKS : NSMBWii is an important game, but not necessarily a fun one. The 8-bit era, which NSMBWii perfectly emulates, was a period of unmitigated torture interspersed with enough trips to the title screen to cause screen burn-in. This went double for multiplayer - two kids skilled enough to beat Battletoads' co-op might as well have been clones raised to kill by the NSA. Had true multiplayer Mario existed in the 1980s, a generation would have wiped itself from the face of the earth in 2-4 player groups. 20 years after we've gone home and gotten girlfriends and started careers and lived - actually lived - they want to drag us back into that? Go to hell, Nintendo.

GUITAR HERO/ROCK BAND'S SLUMP: The honeymoon is over. The thrill is gone. The idea has become the institution. We haven't quite hit the nadir of music games yet, but if trends continue and innovation is further sacrificed to make way for cheap cash-ins, the bottom will fall out sooner rather than later. At least Harmonix has the guts to ride this pony into the dirt on the back of a Lego Freddie Mercury in Lego Rock Band. Let's see the other guys top that - what's that? Guitar Hero: Van Halen? Well played, Neversoft.

DUKE NUKEM'S CONTINUING UNDEATH: Duke Nukem Forever's development cycle took on a life of its own in its 12-year span, one eclipsed only the sheer non-eventness of its long-overdue death in May. DNF's termination seemed to bring closure to the story...until Nukem's Facebook fan site (reportedly run by 3DRealms co-founder Scott Miller) posted a single screenshot of a project called "D-Day". The internet picked it up, with predictable results. "Always bet on Duke" seems to have a monkey's-paw caveat - "whether you like it or not."

ASSASSIN'S CREED II COULDA BEEN A CONTENDER: Assassin's Creed II is a monster of a game and a huge improvement in all aspects over its predecessor, but it will ultimately be hindered by that same comparison. In the long run, Assassin's Creed's greatest shortcoming may be the fact that it sets AC2 up as the sequel which the original should have been. If Assassin's Creed had only lived as a tech demo for the game which eventually became Assassin's Creed II, the series would be so much better for it.

Bean on Knology

2009-12-15T16:32:06Z

Betty Bean has a couple of nice little anecdotes about Knoxville's premiere "maybe we cover you, maybe we don't" cable service provider.