We’re all familiar with the mass of cables that spring up behind computers, seemingly multiplying of their own accord. When you need to move your machine they’re frustrating, a mass oftangles. Well, now they’re a sport. It’s called speedcabling, and the idea is to take a set of six tangled Ethernet cables of varying length, and the idea’s quite simple –competitors go head to head to see who can untangle them fastest. Thee BBC reports that the sport, invented by Steven Schkolne, an IT professional (whatelse, of course) held its first championship recently in a Silicon Valley gallery, and the winner was LA web developer Matthew Howell. So how are the cables tangled? First of all they’rewound into a figure eight, then tossed into a tumble dryer. "I did a bunch of experiments and found that putting them in a dryer for three minutes works pretty well, it allows them totangle naturally," Schkolne told the BBC. "After that, they’re pretty much how they appear in nature." Schkolne came up with the idea two years ago, adding one important caveat– the cables have to be able to work after being untangled. Winner Howell – whose time wasn’t recorded – described his untangling technique as “fierce datacloud.” And his prize. Very aptly, perhaps, it was a gift certificate for dinner at an Italian restaurant.
Tag Archive: Howell
Welcome To Speedcabling
RIAA Targets Transferring Music to PCs
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) hasn’t won many friends in the public sphere lately, what with filing tens of thousands of lawsuits against music fans believed to be distributing music online in violation of copyright, sending letters to college students and others threatening legal action unless they pay a settlement, and (of course) falsely targeting many individuals in these actions.
But in an unusual move in a file-sharing case the RIAA is brining against Arizona resident Jeffrey Howell, RIAA attorney Ira Schwartz characterizes MP3 files Howell allegedly shared via the Internet as "unauthorized copies." (PDF) The catch? These are MP3 files Howell created from music CDs he legally purchased.
No Such Thing as a Legal MP3?
A brief filed by the Recording Industry Association of American in the case of Capitol v. Howell set blogs alight this week with cries of unfairness, by those who believed the RIAA was claiming that even private copies of paid-for CDs were illegal. As it turns out, that’s not the full story. A careful examination of the brief shows that the RIAA is taking the same stance it has always taken: sharing music is illegal.
Fast Food Web Sites Under Fire
Fast food companies have come under fire in Britain for targeting children on their web sites.
That might seem like nothing new, but rules set by the Advertising Standards Authority don’t allow online and offline advertising of fast food to children. However, magazine New Media Age has said that fast food and candy brands are using videos, cartoons and games on their sites to entice kids.
They identified brands such as McDonald’s, Hubba Bubba, Kinder and Haribo as culprits finding a loophole in the rules and exploiting it.
