Catch a flick or two in the YouTube screening room

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

If you feel like catching a quick short movie then you might want to consider taking a look at the YouTube Screening Room.

The Screening Room contains short movies of ten minutes or less, written, produced and directed by rising stars.    According to YouTube, such movies are usually played at international film festivals, far from the eyes of most people, so the producers / directors can also apply to YouTube to place their movies in the Screening Room for more exposure.

Four new movies are added to the Screening Room each Friday, so there is constant new content being added all the time.

If you find yourself bored for a while and looking for something to watch, give the Screening Room a try.  The movies are made very professionally.   No stupid amateur stuff here.    Get your popcorn, turn down the lights and start watching and rating.



“Anonymous” Rallies for a Second Assault on Scientology

By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

It would seem to most casual surfers of the Internet that the battle that once roared between The “Church” of Scientology and the group called “Anonymous” all but fizzled out.  While Guy Fawkes mask-wearing protesters are still occasionally sighted outside of Dianetics centers, the oddly named group doesn’t make the major headlines anymore.

The Masks Are AssemblingClearly the higher-ups in Anonymous are worried that their movement may come to a halt.  On August 1st, the powers that be issued another chilling video to their members, supporters, and the Internet at large, stating their new determination to:

“shift to more subtle and shocking tactics.”

While it had the same Anonymous “clouds and traffic overlay,” the video was a little longer and dealt with slightly more specific topics than some of the original releases. Continue reading ›



The Web 2.0 method of proposing marriage

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Whatever happened to the days of Mr Darcy when if you wanted to marry someone, you would visit the potential bride’s father and ask for permission to court his daughter?

When Google decided to take some new Street View images at the Googleplex, one Google employee decided to use the opportunity to ask his girlfriend to marry him – the Web 2.0 way.   He rigged up a website called Marry Me Leslie and then when the Street View cameras swung his way, he held up his banner for all to see :

But wait, Romeo isn’t finished yet!   Despite Leslie (that’s the lucky gal) already accepting his proposal once before, he decides that a second “yes” isn’t enough (oh for the love of….) so he invited readers to email his bride-to-be via his website to tell her how stupendously lucky she is to have such a wonderful boyfriend who isn’t satisfied with two yes’s to his marriage proposal.

What’s next?   A third marriage proposal by getting into a rocket and taking off into space?

How To Upgrade WordPress Using Subversion

What is Subversion?

Overview
Subversion is a version control system that makes it easy to get the latest version of files, or go back to previous versions. It is used by many different pieces of open source software and has been around since 2000. Subversion is considered the successor to the Concurrent Versions System.

To put it in layman’s terms, say you were running a Subversion server and your resume was checked into it when you first created it. Years later, if you have maintained your Subversion repository, you could go back and look at all of the changes you have ever made to your resume.

This is great for programmers, as we can track changes that we, and other people have made to our code over time, permitting us to revert back to those previous versions. Or if we are running a Subversion repository, we can push out our changes to all those on the web that use our software.

Continue reading ›

Female German cops to be provided with bulletproof bras

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

I don’t know if female cops in the US are given this level of protection but female law enforcers here in Germany are to be provided with three bulletproof bras each after some complained that the normal bulletproof vest made their conventional bras cut into their skin causing injury.

The new bras are now required wearing, but what I find funny is that they are emblazoned with the word POLIZEI (German for police).   Assuming that the bra is worn like any other bra (underneath the clothing), who is going to see the word “polizei”, except the officer herself and perhaps her partner when she gets dressed and undressed each day?

I would like to know what stopping power this bulletproof bra has.    Obviously it can stop a shot from a pistol (at least I’d like to hope so) but how about something more powerful?   Are any GAS readers experts in bullet-proof vests?   What kind of stopping power does a standard bullet-proof vest have?

This is a really good idea and should be required wearing for ALL female police officers in all police forces around the world.

Via Daily Telegraph

iPhone Firmware Version 2.0.1 Has Launched

By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

iPhone LagFor any of you who have either purchased a new 3G iPhone or upgraded your old one, you’ve probably noticed your iPhone acting up.  All kinds of problems have been reported, but personally I’ve experienced:

  • Frequent crashes
  • Lag in on-screen controls
  • Lag in on-screen keyboard (can’t keep up with typing)
  • Lag in audio sounds associated with the keyboard
  • Reproducible bug that takes audio and video permanently out of sync

Now crashes are to be expected on a device as new and complex as the iPhone.  They are usually the result of trying to do too many things at the same time and using up all the available memory.  The other issues, though, interfere with the core functionality of the iPhone.  I’m amazed that true design flaws managed to find their way into the iPhone’s iPod program and then leave the testing facility unfixed.  Clearly with that kind of sloppiness, the development team must have had a lot of pressure on them.

Anyway, it seems that this is all in the past.  Yesterday evening, Apple pushed iPhone Firmware 2.0.1 to iTunes.  Thus far I have tested as many known bugs as I can and I haven’t found anything still outstanding.  There may still be a little lag in the volume control display, but it’s much less noticeable.  Almost every App I have downloaded to date has now updated itself so that is probably a factor as well.  As an added bonus, the iPhone now syncs faster and doesn’t take as long to back-up.

As an unsurprising sidenote, Kevin Rose (@kevinrose), founder of Digg,  twittered this message to his followers yesterday:

“rumor: iphone 2.01 update to be released in the next 10 mins”

He was right on the money.  Man, is Kevin ever well-connected.

[Image from Apple and Kevin’s Twitter]

Online criminal records database proves highly controversial

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Criminal Searches

If you have a US criminal record and you want to keep it hidden, then you will soon be out of luck.   Anyone with an Internet connection who knows your full name and birthdate will be able to easily look it up on Criminal Searches – for free.

The site covers all 50 states in the US and it has privacy advocates choking on their Cheerios.   No longer do people have to hire expensive private investigators to check into people’s backgrounds – all they need is to type the person’s name into Criminal Searches.

But in a newspaper interview, the site owner admits there are faults with his service.   Some law enforcement agencies are digitizing their files faster than others and if you don’t know the person’s birthdate, it’s very easy to confuse one identity with another.

Plus there is concern that people will start to abuse the database. Criminal Searches makes the task of finding if someone has an old criminal record so easy, it’s not hard to imagine that this information could be used for nefarious purposes.

What do you think?    Is ‘Criminal Searches’ a worthwhile public service or a potential disaster waiting to happen?

Star Wars fan pays $400,000 for T.I.E Fighter model

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Just when you think your obsession and dedication towards Star Wars couldn’t get any higher, you start to read stories like this one.

One Star Wars fan, whose name has not been revealed, but obviously has a lot of spare cash lying around, parted with $402,500 for an original miniature of a T.I.E. fighter spaceship.

That is a serious amount of cash for something that is only 17 inches tall and 14 inches wide.

Let’s hope whoever it was that bought it has an understanding partner.   I can just see the buyer now dragging the T.I.E fighter through the door saying “darling, you’ll never guess the bargain I picked up at the auction room today.   It was ONLY $400 grand…!”