Realitista

Want to Power Your iPhone by Burning Wood After the Apocalypse? Look No Further.

Is it a portable stove or a gadget charger? How about both. The BioLite ($130) is a compact, portable stove that burns sticks, twigs, pine cones, and other renewable resources instead of petroleum gas, lighting quickly and bringing water to a boil in no time. In addition, it packs a USB port on the front that draws its power from the heat of the fire, letting you charge your phone, GPS, or LED lights miles from the nearest outlet.

European Commission Slip Reveals Censorship In ACTA - Falkvinge on Infopolicy

The European Commission, which is sort of the Administration in the EU, published a rebuttal to “rumors on the net about ACTA” and tries to set the record straight.

Note the two first points: “ACTA ensures people everywhere can continue to share non-pirated material and information on the web. ACTA does not restrict freedom of the internet. ACTA will not censor or shut down websites.” There is one word on their web page that stands out and reveals so much more about the nature of ACTA: “Non-pirated”. Everybody will be free to share “non-pirated” material.

All of a sudden, there is a qualifier to what information we are able to share on the net; this qualifier has never been there before. We have always been able to send whatever we like, and possibly answer for it afterwards.

This is very, very serious. For what it says here is that the net will only be usable for government-approved communications; the government takes itself the right to determine what the net is usable for and what it isn’t usable for. To 250 million Europeans who share culture and don’t see anything wrong with defying an immoral monopoly, this is an arrogant slap in the face, but it’s more than that and worse than that.

Any qualifier to what can be communicated — “non-pirated” in this case — always means “government-approved”, that only governmentally approved communications may take place. And this is serious for the deepest of democratic reasons:

Any communications technology must be compatible with dissent.

ePawn Arena gives figure-based board games a fresh chance

I was wondering when the first generally available digital board gaming table would arrive. Well it looks like it’s here.

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Europe Weighs a Tough Law on Online Privacy and User Data

The EU does some cool things around defending rights. The US congress should take notes.

The proposed data protection regulation from the European Commission, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, could have significant consequences for all Internet companies that trade in personal data, whether it is pictures that people post on social networks or what they buy on retail sites or look for on a search engine.

The regulation would compel Web sites to tell consumers why their data is being collected and retain it for only as long as necessary. If data is stolen, sites would have to notify regulators within 24 hours. It also offers consumers the right to transport their data from one service to another — to deactivate a Facebook account, for example, and take one’s trove of pictures and posts and contacts to Google Plus.

Waterproof Your Cell Phone, No Case Required!

This is pretty cool. For $59 you can get your phone coated to make it fully waterproof. For how many phones I’ve ruined in water, this would definitely be a good investment for me.