spy on other people [update2]

this reminds me of the old days on the internet, where one was able to steer a model train via a remote interface [1]:

use google to find “vunerable” security cams. if you take a look at this google search then you will find a huge amount of unsecured webcams, most of them might be security cameras. pretty much all of them can be controlled via your browser [2] so you’re free to spy on all different kinds of things, may it be car rentals, laundromats, japanese hotel lobbies or bays or a whole friggin list of things!

[1]: more spy-related links can be found at the bottom of this article in the new scientist, where i also was able to find the link for the model train…

[2]: beware OS X users: safari doesn’t support the streaming jpeg technique that most of these cameras use, so you must use firefox for those links…

[via boingboing and metafilter]

update: mathias noted that the link to google is wrong. i corrected it.

update2: here’s some more on this on boinboing.

picture of the week 00

i wanted to (digitally) record the ibrahim ferrer show that drs3 aired last thursday evening so the post about enabling your ipod to record anything on hackaday came just right. but after installing linux on my first-generation ipod (see here) with the extremely painless ipodlinux installer i could not get it to record more than 5 second snippets (but played some games on it…) so i figured out an easier way. i started the live-stream of drs3 and used wiretap1 to record the concert. nonetheless i’ve now got two working operating systems on my ipod.

Dsc04088

ps: now i just have to figure out how i can burn the 2h show on one cd to give to nina (which was the point from the beginning….)

1: the pro version works like a charm in the free mode as long as you don’t need to record directly to mp3/aac. i used itunes for the conversion…

gmail invitations [update]

i again have got to give 4 2 1 no invitation to gmail away. if you want one, leave a comment.

i’ll give away the invitations to the four out of the first ten to comment which give me the best cause to give ’em a gmail-invitation. so be creative and dont just write “i want a gmail invitation!!”. make me laugh and i’ll give you an invitation!

look who’s got himself in trouble!

2720563 047E477C74jan-o-plastic (and his photoshopping monkeys and fran) made a funny little calendar (i wrote a post about it some time ago) with members of the swiss parliament. now mrs ruth metzler thinks she’s more important than all the other stuff that is going on in the world now (christmas and new years eve are just wee bits among it) and sends piece a cease and desist letter to take down the “offending image” (which has been mirrored already)although one can be different opinions on how the image is of artistic value different questions spring to mind:

  • is satirical use of an image of a – former – public person not allowed?
  • does mr metzler not want to see his wife naked and thus wants to take the image down.
  • what about artistic freedom?
  • is it ok that piece took the picture down/masked it?
  • is mrs metzlers book selling so bad, that she needs publicity?

if you’re a law geek and have an opinion or some help for piece, send him a message or summink.

sad but true

<cite>

Why are you getting all worked up about fifty thousand people dying from an earthquake? Every single day 25,000 children die from easily preventable diseases. Every single day 24,000 people die from hunger. Do they not count?

Natural disasters happen. We can’t prevent them, and ultimately they kill very few people. Hunger and disease problems in developing countries? That one is directly our fault. We literally created that catastrophe with our aggressive foreign policies, thus we ignore it. If you want to actually help the world, don’t waste your money on Sri Lanka. Focus on curing poverty and stopping our first world governments from continually kicking down any nation that tries to climb out of that poverty.

</cite>

[via shannon, adapted with links]

read the text above again and step back a bit before flaming me or shannon! you must get the point.

it’s extremely sad for each and every person that had to die in south-east-asia or lost someone there. it’s a terrible way of dying.

but do all the newspapers make an as big fuss as they do over the people that die of hunger in africa or anywhere else in the third world? no, they dont. that’s my point. go and change the world where you can, don’t change it where you cannot.

hilarious flash

i remember that i saw this flash linked somewhere, but i cannot remember where. yesterday evening i played it so many times that the boyfriend of my flatmate asked me if i’m insane.

but only until i showed him what i watched, then he nearly spurted his glass of milk through his nose.

if you want to see a poor hilarious guy performing in front of his webcam then you must watch this flash movie: numanuma.swf (4.5mb .swf-file). but beware, it’s mean, loud and addictive!

don’t wonder about the strange intro-screen, it’s a modified version of the original file not done by me, just mirrored on this server. sit through the intro, crank up your speakers and laugh!

a little challenge for you [2nd update]

Penguinjumptoday was a reeeealy slow day at work, so i was catching up with the posts on boingboing.net. while checking out the entries on the latest web-zen post i found this marvelous penguin game, a holiday greeting from macromedia.com. it seams that i’ve been really lucky, because managed to impress the “judges”, i made 29.4 points.

can you beat me? leave a comment!

[via boingboing]

update: i should have practiced more!

all those beat me!

Penguin2sigi at 08.56 in the morning

Penguinjump-1raphael, he wrote some more on penguin games on the velocite-blog.

arni, he posted his picture on flickr.

my sister would have been the fastest to respond, but needs some practice :-) keep going!

2nd update: markus and leo have a wee fight over their result over at flickr…

recommended reading

my mother recently gave me schotts sammelsurium, a very funny book.

in case you want to be a brilliant conversation-partner at your next diner party i recommend that you get that book. it’s a overly extensive list of things one should know. things to know like: the thickness of ice needed to carry you, a car or a lorry, how to tie a sari, a list of european cities with metro, some shakespearean curses, the longest word in english and other stuff to know. it’s a fabulous reading and you should get is asap :-)

oh, and there is also an english version…

ps: ecto now has a nice amazon-search included (and can be yours for 30% less until christmas)

google address book plugin

if you liked “my” address book plugin, then you might dig this script posted on osxhints.com.

it enables you do do a quick google-lookup of any person in your address book, with a single click on the phonenumber of the desired person. (and can easily be adapted for other search engines, which might in the end enable me to throw together a “look-up-person-on-tel.search.ch-and-merge-info-with-already-in-addressbook”-script. but that’s another story for another day.

good night.

[via osxhints.com]