Metaboston

Willoughby and Baltic Artist-in-Residence

Hacker/artist space Willoughby and Baltic is now offering an Artist-in-Residence Program to artists interested in mixing technology and art.

In order to support the creative process, Willoughby and Baltic offers a 6 month residency for two emerging artists. Each artist is granted a free, non-living shared studio space and a small material stipend. The studio is complete with free wi-fi and access to electronic assembly tools and modelmaking equipment, a machine shop, and a woodshop. The residency will commence on May 1st and end on October 31st, 2009.The deadline for submitting an application to the Artist-in-Residence program is March 31st, 2009.

Purple Blurb Digital Writing at MIT

The Purple Blurb digital writing series has an interesting series of speakers lined up including Steve Meretzky of Blue Fang Games in Waltham and local film maker Jason Scott.  All events take place at MIT.  The first event with Steve Meretzky is tonight!

Steve Meretzky on writing and computer games (32-141)
October 6, 2008 (Monday) 6pm.
Meretzky, an alumnus of MIT, was the most prolific author at the most successful interactive fiction company, Infocom. The work he did there included writing Planetfall, A Mind Forever Voyaging, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos as well as collaborating with Douglas Adams to develop The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Meretzky has worked at Legend Entertainment, Boffo Games, and WorldWinner. He is currently at Blue Fang Games. Note that this event is in the Stata Center, not the Trope Tank.

Jesper Juul on developing video games to develop video game theory (14N-233)
October 27, 2008 (Monday) 6pm.
Juul is a video game theorist and author of Half Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds (MIT Press, 2006). He is also a video game developer, and will discuss using lessons from developing online and casual games to inform work with video game theory (and vice versa). Juul is currently a lecturer in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies; he works at the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab.

Jason Scott on the blog ASCII and textfiles.com (14N-233)
November 17, 2008 (Monday) 6pm.
Scott is a documentary filmmaker whose work includes BBS: The Documentary and a film about interactive fiction, Get Lamp, which is now in post-production. In addition to making films, Scott maintains the main archive of textfiles (plain-text documents) as they appeared on computer bulletin board systems in the 1980s and early 1990s. He also blogs about digital media topics on ASCII.

Secret History of the One Laptop Per Child Project

Gizmondo has put together a secret history of the Cambridge-based One Laptop Per Child project whose revolutionary project pioneered the way for the ultraportable over the last few years even as the project itself has been criticized.  The article does a good job of pointing out the achievement of the OLPC project in the development of cheap ultraportables even as OLPC has been plagued with internal dissent and management issues.

“At this point, even if the millions of third-world students eventually get laptops, it's unlikely that the XO will be the one they receive. Still, the past two years are definitive proof that Negroponte can take credit for the birth of an entirely new kind of PC.'

GamerDNA at Boston Postmortem

Jon Radoff of GamerDNA, the Cambridge-based gamer social network, will be speaking in Waltham on Wednesday at Boston Postmortem, the local video game developer meeting.

"I'll be talking about market trends in the game market that we've,been able to observe by integrating data about gameplay across multiple game networks. Example discussion topics will include:

- Rock Band versus Guitar Hero 3 — which is being played more, and why?
- Braid vs. other XBLA titles — real evidence of the word-of-mouth long-tail at work
- What happens to former World of Warcraft players when they try other MMORPGs? (Hint: it's not what you expect)"

Info:
Time: 7pm, Wednesday, September 10
Location: The Skellig, Waltham, MA
Cost: Free (Including free food and drink courtesy of Gamer DNA)

Neal Stephenson in Cambridge: September 20

Neal Stephenson, author of a long string of geek icon titles like Zodiac, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon and the trilogy the Baroque Cycle, will be presenting his highly anticipated new book Anathem in Cambridge on September 20th but tickets go on sale at the Harvard Book Store today, Friday, August 29th.  Run, don't walk! 

Date:  September 20 at 7:00 PM
Location: First Parish Church Meetinghouse
Cost:  $5

Willoughby & Baltic Expands in Davis Square

Willoughby and Baltic, the Somerville maker/hacker/robotics space is hosting an information session August 27th at 7:00pm to discuss new initiatives and classes (also discussed below).

"Willoughby and Baltic, founded in 2001, became home to DorkbotBoston in January 2005. Since then, the former gallery has been bursting at it’s seams while juggling robotics classes, hacker meetings, and exhibition planning.

In October 2008, Willoughby and Baltic will acquire two additional locations to support the growing hacker and maker communities in Boston. This volunteer-run initiative is a result of our growing community, and will serve as a center in the Somerville/Cambridge area for like-minded tinkerers and builders.  (more below)

TJX Wasn't Uniquely Incompetent

That's basically John Cox's analysis of a credit card fraud ring's ability to gain access to Framingham-based TJX's networks because BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, DSW and Dave & Busters were also compromised.

'The indictment doesn't go into details on how these retailers apparently almost invited these attacks: that's certainly the case with TJX, where WLAN security was almost non-existent. And apparently still is appallingly slack in the retail industry: early this year, wireless security vendor AirDefense reported on its own New York City war drive, which found that one third of the 800 stores scanned had no, zero, zip WLAN security, another third had only weak protection."

Age of Steam Game in Vermont and New Hampshire

Age of Steam is a board game where you compete against others to build railroads.  Now you can compete in Vermont and New Hampshire maps.  Players complain that this is a hard area to compete in (because of all the trees blocking the way).  And the price is a hefty $80 (!).

Two Bits: The People of Free Software

Chris Kelty will discuss his new book Two Bits, an examination of the people and cultures of the free software and free culture, at MIT on June 24.  The book is available as a free download too!

"In "Two Bits", Kelty investigates the history and cultural significance of Free Software, revealing the people and practices that have revolutionized not just the way software is created, but the way knowledge is produced and shared in fields including education, science, film, and music.

"I know of no other book that mixes so beautifully a deep theoretical understanding of social theory with a rich historical and contemporary ethnography of the Free Software and free culture movements. Christopher M. Kelty's book speaks to many audiences; his message should be understood by many more."--Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School

Christopher M. Kelty is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Rice University and Visiting Assistant Professor in the History of Science at Harvard University ."

Info:
Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 5:30pm
MIT 32-144, Ray and Maria Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Virtual Goods Discussion at Boston Post Mortem Tonight

Interesting topic at tonight's Boston Post Mortem:  virtual goods.

"Our speaker will be Ravi Mehta, Vice President of Publishing at Viximo, also formerly of Microsoft Game Studios. He’ll be giving a talk on the virtual goods market, which encompasses those little $1 gifts in Facebook as well as all the arms and armor people are buying and selling in MMOGs."

Info:
Tuesday, June 10 @ 7pm
The Skellig, Waltham

Zuneral with Pictures

Harvard Free Culture held a funeral for digital rights management this weekend symbolically interring DRM-laden devices like Microsoft's Zune (hence the Zuneral) and Apple's iPod.

(Images:  (top Wendy Seltzer; above Harvard Free Culture).

A Fitting Memorial to Gary Gygax at MIT

MIT students erected a giant black 20-sided die in memorial to recently deceased Dungeons and Dragons creator Gary Gygax.  This contemplative shot by Eric Shmiedl in MIT's newspaper seems like an illustration of the importance of personal passion and the temptations of the mainstream world.  MIT should really have a permanent 20-sided die memorial installed there.

New Massachusetts Bill Would Target Video Games

Although the video game industry has been doing pretty well in Massachusetts, the legislature is focusing on them for some tough treatment with a new bill being proposed and discussed on March 18th:

"HB1423 attempts to restrict the sale of video games with violent content to minors, making the sale of such titles illegal. No similar law is currently in effect as pertains to video games, movies, music or literature with violent content.

The bill, taking the “games-as-porn” approach, is titled such because it uses the rational that sexually explicit material and violent video games are equally harmful to minors. If this bill is passed, it would officially change the legal definition of content that is “harmful to minors” to include anything that “…depicts violence in a manner patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community, so as to appeal predominantly to the morbid interest in violence of minors; is patently contrary to prevailing standards of adults in the county where the offense was committed as to suitable material for  such minors; and  lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.”"

Some Boston game developers are worried about the effect of this bill noting in an email message that:

"* This bill would violate the First Amendment rights of video game developers and the public for whom we make video games. In particular, on Monday a federal appeals court confirmed a ban on a similar law in Minnesota.  (http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9895920-7.html). The bill is a waste of taxpayers' money.
* The video game industry has an effective rating system in place to distinguish which games are no  appropriate for minors. In particular, it's more effective and provides far more information than the ratings system in place for movies.
* ----. The Massachusetts game industry is booming, employs thousands of people and provides many hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the Massachusetts economy. H. 1423 sends the wrong message, that Massachusetts does not welcome the video game development industry."

Mayor Menino says he supports the bill but it looks likely to be overturned given its similarity to other laws that have been overturned around the country.

Framingham State Hacked!

Hackers cracked Framingham State College's email system and used college email accounts to send threatening emails.

"Laughran, the college's chief information technology officer, tells the MetroWest Daily News that the e-mails' content was "threatening someone in exchange for money."

He says they have been traced to China, Russia and the Sudan."

Brad Sucks, David Weinberger and Music on the Web

How does a musician get paid in a world where music is available for free online?   You can hear one musician's answers at a discussion between BradSucks/Brad Turcotte and David Weinberger on Feb. 11 in Cambridge (free).

"The traditional music industry is crumbling. From the dust comes … BradSucks. Brad Turcotte is the very paragon of a Webby, open source musician. At his site (http://www.bradsucks.net) you can download his music for free or pay him a little money. You can reuse his music as you’d like, subject to the Creative Commons license. Not only can you remix it, but Brad posts especially good remixes. He has even open sourced the paint job for one of his guitars. At this Web of Ideas, Brad will play some music and talk with David Weinberger of the Berkman Center about whether he’s the future of the music industry."

Above (a fan video of BradSucks' song "Fixing My Brain")

Info:
Monday, February 11, 7:00 PM
Griswold Hall Room 110 
Harvard Law School
Cambridge, MA

Anti-DRM Protest at the Boston Public Library: Feb. 9 (1pm -3pm)

Defective by Design will be leading a protest against the Boston Public Library's acceptance of digitial rights management (DRM) systems on items in its collection.

"DefectiveByDesign.org will be taking action this Saturday at the Boston Public Library to demand that they remove DRM technology from their collection! We will be gathering outside the entrance at the main branch of the Boston Public Library (700 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116) from 1pm until 3pm on Saturday, February 9th, 2008.--

The Boston Public Library (BPL) has DRM on its ebooks, audio books, music, and videos. These DRM systems sit between you and the item and restrict how and for how long you can access the information. For example, they may shut off your access to an audio book after seven days or tell you that you can't move the book from your laptop computer to your desktop. This also means that library patrons will be forced to use certain proprietary operating systems to access library materials, because patrons have to use something that is compatible with the DRM chosen by the BPL.

--

The BPL is funded by Massachusetts tax dollars and it is mandated by law to serve as the library of last recourse for the Commonwealth. [BPL president Ralph] Margolis's choice for bringing technology that locks digital ebooks and audio books was one that goes against the public's interests. We believe that the Trust is not acting in good accord with their legal mandate"

The Economist doesn't like the OLPC laptop

The Economist doesn't like the OLPC laptop but makes this prediction:

"Ultimately the OLPC initiative will be remembered less for what it produced than the products it spawned. The initiative is like running the four-minute mile: no one could do it, until someone actually did it. Then many people did.

Likewise, an inexpensive laptop seemed impossible until Mr Negroponte and the OLPC group placed a stake in the ground to build a $100 laptop—which in turn spurred the industry’s biggest players to create low-cost PCs. Mr Negroponte’s vision for a $100 laptop was not the right computer, only the right price. Like many pioneers, he laid a path for others to follow."

Virtual Boston in Second Life

The Hub2 project created by the city of Boston, Emerson, and the Berkman Center at Harvard premiered Boston Island in the Second Life 3-d virtual world recently.  (Parcels of space on Second Life are set on islands with larger organizations owning their own island.)  Boston Island served as a showcase for a variety of projects created to explore the meaning of civic life and community in Boston as seen through the lens of Second Life.

"Founded earlier this year by [Emerson professor Eric] Gordon, Berkman Center Fellow Gene Koo and Nigel Jacob, an assistant to Mayor Thomas Menino, Hub2 encourages interaction between Boston residents and their public spaces in the real world and cyberspace, Jacob said. It creates a way for citizens to participate in their community, and city officials said they hope it will encourage more people to become involved in civic activities."

The goal of the projects was to discover if Second Life could be a useful tool for building real-world community in the city.

"Hub2 has been designing sections of Boston since September, but is currently not aiming to make a complete one-to-one mapping of the physical city and all of its functions in Second Life's virtual universe, Jacob said."

Avoiding a one-to-one mapping seems like a good idea especially given the photographic mapping projects of Google StreetViewand Everyscape.

Joss Whedon to attend writers' strike rally in Harvard Square

Joss Whedon of Buffy and Firefly fame is to attend a writers' strike rally in Harvard Square on December 14th according to plans for the rally organized by fans4writers.  The plans so far:

"We are planning the event for Friday, December 14th from 12 noon - 3 pm. There will be an assembly of writers, fans (and potentially celebrity guests!) at the distinguished public affairs program Cambridge Forum in the Meeting House of the historic First Parish (Unitarian Universalist) Church, 3 Church St., Cambridge, MA 02138. There, guest speakers (which so far include Joss Whedon, Rob Kutner with a few of his Daily Show crew, and [Jaime (Eureka) Paglia]) will say a few words of thanks to our fans and talk about the cause they’re supporting. Once we are sufficiently pumped up, everyone will march with picket signs and pamphlets through Harvard Square to a rally outside of the famed Harvard Lampoon building, where so many great television comedy writers cut their teeth."

(via HubArts)

Second Life virtual world recreation of Kennedy assassination

A Second Life virtual world recreation of Kennedy assassination is planned with the creation of  a "Second Life version of Dealey Plaza, the Dallas street where President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963."  A marketing firm is behind the recreation (aerial view above) and the invitation-only re-enactment.

Conference on the Educational Significance of Poker at Harvard Law

Conference on the educational significance of poker at Harvard Law on Saturday, Nov. 10, part of Prof. Charles Nesson's Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society:  Speakers include James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street.  See our calendar or the conference website for details.

MIT V for Vendetta Hack for the Fifth of November

MIT V for Vendetta Hack for the Fifth of November:  V/Guy Fawkes masks everywhere.  (photo Paul Baranay)

Facebook Lawsuit in Federal Court in Boston

A group of Harvard alumni that started ConnectU, a college social-network site claims that Facebook a rival social network was based on ConnectU's code and ideas and is suing Facebook founder and Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg.  Mark Zuckerberg was involved with the originators of ConnectU but his site Facebook beat ConnectU in getting started and his since gone on to significant success.  The basis for the claim of ConnectU:

"ConnectU claims its founders hired Zuckerberg, then a Harvard sophomore, in 2003 to write code for Harvard Connection, a social-networking site for Harvard University students and alumni. Zuckerberg instead stole their idea and technology and launched Facebook in February 2004, they allege. Harvard Connection was renamed ConnectU and went live in May 2004 but had already lost its first-mover advantage to Facebook, according to the suit."

The stakes have been high with ConnectU a site with 100,000 members while Facebook claims around 30 million members.

A recent hearing on the case in federal court in Boston led to the judge questioning the evidence to substantiate the claims and complaints about a ConnectU news conference:

"Both the defense and the judge took issue with the plaintiffs arranging a press conference shortly following the hearing, indicating that it was an inappropriate and unprofessional move that turned the small legal hearing into a media spectacle. Hornick attributed the decision to hold the press conference to the unusual lifestyles of the twin Winklevoss brothers, who are rowers with Olympic aspirations. '(The Winklevosses) are training for the world championships in rowing in Munich (this summer),' the plaintiffs' counsel explained. 'They are deeply and intensely involved in training.'

'Until now, ConnectU has received very few requests from the press,' Tyler Winklevoss said in a prepared statement. "We have recently received so much press in the past couple weeks that a press conference seemed a good way to provide information and not interfere with our daily lives.' Additionally, Tyler Winklevoss said they wanted to clear up some of the speculation. 'We have seen some inaccuracies in the media reports,' he said. 'We would like to correct them. For example, the media has reported that ConnectU wants to shut down Facebook; that is not true.'

But while ConnectU insisted that its small press conference was a matter of logistical practicality rather than a grab for attention, it certainly didn't come across that way. Held at the posh Boston Harbor Hotel, the event was attended by newspaper reporters as well as broadcast journalists from network and cable television stations."

MIT Warns "Your Printer is Spying on You!"

Does your color printer provide a clue to your identity with each page you print by including a hidden pattern of dots (above)?  MIT's Computing Culture Group has started the Seeing Yellow campaign to raise awareness of this privacy issue:

"When you print on a color laser printer, it's likely that you are also printing a pattern of invisible yellow dots. These marks exist to allow the printer companies and governments to track and identify you -- presumably as a way to combat money counterfeiting. When one person asked his printer manufacturer about turning off the tracking dots, Secret Service agents showed up at his door several days later.

Upset? You should be!    

Let's stand up to silent tracking and government bullying and send a strong message to printer manufacturers. Our privacy and our control over our own technology is far too important to give up over trumped up fears of photocopied money."

So far over 12,000 people have contacted their printer manufacturers to complain.  A list of the known affected printer models is available through Seeing Yellow and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  It would be interesting to know what other uses have been made of the identifying information. (via Threat Level)

World's Richest Man Visit Prompts Ticket Scalping

The world's most successful capitalist as speaker at Harvard's graduation and the presence of former Pres. Clinton at Class Day encouraged entrepreneurial urges in students who turned to the internet (and specifically Craigslist) to sell their free tickets for up to $100. 

Harvard officials did not approve.

Maine Mystery Beast Attack?

Is a mysterious beast at loose in Wiscasset, Maine responsible for the slaughter of 26 sheep?  Stick-in-the-muds favor the theory that feral dogs are responsible but crypto-zoologists hold out hope for a more mysterious creature to be found responsible.  Previous attempts to determine the identity of the Maine Mystery Beast have ended in confusion.  (Banner (left) for the Mount Desert Island Marathon by Paul Szauter celebrates the Beast) 

The Hundred Dollar Laptop and Its Technology

37signals takes a look at the technology behind the MIT-affiliated One Laptop Per Child project laptop and comes across pretty impressed:

it’s the first laptop with a screen you can use outdoors in full sunlight. It’s also built to withstand harsh weather (“You can pour water on the keyboard…You can dip the base into a bathtub. You can carry it the rain. It’s more robust than your normal laptop. It doesn’t even have holes in the side of it. If you look at it: dirt, sand, I mean, there’s no place for it to go into the machine.”)

Other features: A built-in camera that takes stills and video, a stylus area, ear-like radio antennas that give the computer 2-3 times better Wi-Fi range than a regular laptop, the battery lasts 10-12 hours with heavy use, and you can charge it up with a crank or a salad spinner (a minute or two of spinning gets you get 10-20 minutes of reading).

Interesting discussion in the comments as well, including skepticism about the entire project.

Nanotechnology, the Economy, and Massachusetts

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has a fascinating new map mashup that focuses on Nano Metros, the areas where nanotechnology companies and institutions are concentrated.  Two of the 12 regions are in Massachusetts:  Boston and the Middlesex-Essex area.  You can focus closely on the regions and flags link to the institution websites. Its another great resource for finding out about cool things going on around Boston--also good for jobseekers.

Zombie Walk: Davis Square to Harvard Square: 5/12

Big crowd at Halfway to Human's Davis Square to Harvard Square walk on May 12th.  Some highlights below:
 
Zombie gets up close and personal

Colonial zombie

Nun zombie

Retiree zombie in yellow cardigan

Chainsaw zombie races by

Child zombie dances

Disco zombie

Zombies want acceptance too:  "We're Here, We're Undead, Get Used to It!"

Rabbit/clown/zombie

Where's Waldo (He's Undead)/Also Tennis Zombies

Great costumes!

How the TJX Data Theft Happened

Very interesting story by Joseph Pereira that details how thieves were able to access a store network at a Marshalls in Minnesota, capturing "data streaming through the air between hand-held price-checking devices, cash registers and the store's computers", and opening the door to the eventual theft from TJX headquarters of account information from almost 50 million credit and debit cards--the largest data theft in history.  Pereira paints a bleak picture of Framingham-based TJX's security measures:  "The $17.4-billion retailer's wireless network had less security than many people have on their home networks, and for 18 months the company - which also owns T.J. Maxx, Home Goods and A.J. Wright - had no idea what was going on."  The TJX theft could be leading to legislation in Massachusetts that could increase the liability of companies for this kind of loss.

Zombie March--May 12!

Only a couple more days until the Halfway to Human Davis Square to Harvard Square Zombie March.  Looks like a good weekend for the undead to rise and seek brains.  It's likely to be cool enough for zombies to embrace a 28 Days Later full-speed run as well as the classic Romero slow stumble.

If you miss this one, there's another coming up in July but the route proposed is a marathon:  South Station to Harvard Square.

$100 Laptop A Bit More Expensive

The MIT-affiliated One Laptop Per Child project has been forced to raise the price of what had become known as the $100 laptop.  Now the computer is projected to cost a still cheap $175 and will also be able to run Microsoft software.  However, the project director and for MIT Media Lab head Nicholas Negroponte insists that the project is still committed to open source software although any affiliation with Microsoft has raised concerns among open-source advocates.

Trivia:  We had never made the connection that Nicholas Negroponte was the brother of John Negroponte the controversial government figure who is currently Deputy Secretary of State.

Virtual Providence

Arnell Millhouse's company Eyegloo is building a virtual Providence within Second Life set to open in the next couple months. (via Subterranean Homepage News)  The plan is to map exactly the  downtown city within the virtual world.  You can listen to him discuss the plan for Second Life Providence below:

MIT Piano Drop

Among campus traditions that have surprisingly survived contemporary liability concerns, MIT's annual dropping of a piano from the top of Baker House to mark the last date students' can drop classes in the semester has got to be up there. 

Video of the 2007 drop:

Zombie March 2006 Video

2006 Zombie Walk through Somerville and Cambridge.  The next one is May 12th:

Zombie Walk: Davis to Harvard: May 12th

Halfway to Human's Second Annual Zombie March will take place on May 12th, 2007.  Zombies will congregate in Davis Square around 6:30pm before beginning their slow undead lurching walk down to Harvard Square.

Anime Boston 2007 Review

Interesting perspective on Anime Boston 2007 by a Macworld writer who favorably compares the grassroots enthusiasm of the anime convention ("An anime con really has that homegrown feel to it.") with the early Macworld Expos:   "Going to an anime convention, or con, is a lot like going to a computer show like Macworld Expo about 15 years ago—though there are a lot more people dressed in costumes. If you ever get the chance to go to one, I’d recommend it—it’s a ton of fun."

Boing Boing Banned in Boston?

Boing Boing joined the distinguished list of media banned in Boston, at least temporarily, as the City of Boston's wifi network's censorware guardian rejects the popular weblog on dubious grounds.  Seth Finkelstein discovered the problem:

"The phrase "Banned combination phrase found" is a characteristic message of the censorware Dan's Guardian. http://www.dansguardian.org/ It seems some combination of words has triggered the "isItNaughty" flag (that's what they call it).

This is the message that appeared in the server log:

http://www.boingboing.net *DENIED* Banned combination phrase found: google, &safe=off

It looks like the "Banned combination phrase" was the following link, because of the search with SafeSearch set to "off":

Much more of Biskup on Boing Boing <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&domains=boingboing.net&q=%22Tim+Biskup%22&btnG=Search&sitesearch=boingboing.net">Link</a>

"Arbitrary and capricious" seems the relevant characterization.

[Update: BoingBoing should be viewable again on that network when the offending post scrolls off the main page, which should happen in a day or so. But that post itself will remain censorware'd until someone changes the phrase blacklist entries]"

Read more of Seth Finkelstein's very interesting research on internet freedom at his Infothought blog.

Anime Boston 2007

The Anime Boston 2007 Convention begins on Friday April 20th and runs through Sunday the 22nd.  Anime Boston is put on by the New England Anime Society and is the biggest anime meeting in New England;  last year almost 10,000 people attended.  Anime is Japanese animation, the cartoon equivalent of manga, which has grown from a cult interest to become wildly popular and hugely influential on animation outside Japan and particularly here in the U.S.

There's a preliminary schedule up with forums on the ethics of cosplay (costume play-popular with fans), copyright issues, artist galleries and talks, and a lot of information about Japan, even language lessons.

BU Student/Internet Gaming Show Host Arrested for Threats

Our sister site Metaboston TechNews posted on this unfortunate incident:

Andrew Rosenblum, the founder and one of the hosts of the internet video game show GameLife, has been arrested for allegedly making threats that refer to the VA Tech shootings.  Rosenblum, a student at Boston University, was arrested at his parents' Needham home after allegedly emailing disturbing messages to a woman he had dated.

An segment of the GameLife show with Rosenblum:

'Lost' Course at Tufts

Attracting a certain amount of teasing even from hardcore Lost fans at tuition dollars mispent, the Tufts Experimental College has put on a class on the TV show Lost:  The Future is Lost:  the TV Show as Cultural Phenomenon.

You can hear a Tom Ashbrook with Lost executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof that brings in instructor Chad Matlin late in the show.

And a podcast with Whitney Matheson of USA Today devoted primarily to the instructors and the course.  The podcast page also lists the syllabus.

Harvard Doctoral Student Wins Sudoku Championship

Harvard doctoral student in chemistry Thomas Snyder wins the second World Sudoku Championship defeating "140 entrants from 32 countries in a three-day championship in Prague."

MIT Untimely Death Public Notice/Art

Leonardo Bonanni has posted a list of untimely deaths like  suicides outside a main building at MIT.  By placing the list on a signpost he hopes that " if you carefully camouflage something controversial it can become public information without being torn down." 

The question of whether the suicide rate at MIT is higher than at other universities continues to be a controversial subject.

Beer Geeks: Beer Advocate of Brookline

Lengthy and very interesting article by the NY Times' wine guy Eric Asimov on Beer Advocate, the website and now magazine devoted to the appreciation of fine beer in the land of Bud Light, and its founders brothers Jason and Todd Alstrom.

Asimov suggests at one point that beer fans are still an outsider group: 

Without the pastoral mystique that has been appropriated by wine producers or the suave, sophisticated imagery of the wine drinker, beer lovers have largely retreated to the antistyle precincts associated with such proverbial social outcasts as computer nerds and science fiction fanatics. Bizarre facial hair, unflattering T-shirts and strange headgear are standard equipment among beer geeks.

But Todd Alstrom points out that beek geeks may be more avant garde than outsider:  "Before the Internet, computer nerds felt on the outside but now they’re accepted,” Todd said. “I think beer geeks are the same way. We’ll look back 10 years from now and remember what it was like.”

Boston's Next Zombie March: July 13

Last year's zombie marches were great sights.

At least one Zombie March for this year is already being planned and the route is a long one:  South Station to Harvard Square.

Harvard's Gaming Tourney

Harvard holds its first video game tournament increasing the social role of gaming in the area:  "It’s about people getting together, joking, and having a good time. Gaming really can be a social thing—it can actually be a powerful experience."

Xbox 360 Event: Coolidge Corner Theatre, April 21

From our sister site Metaboston TechNews comes this information about an upcoming video game competition to be played on a High Definition movie screen. A great idea:  "TheDigitalArcade.com and Brookline's Coolidge Corner Theatre are proud to present, "THE POWER OF X", an all night multiplayer gaming event featuring two top titles for the Xbox 360. On April 21st, gamers will experience the Xbox 360 like never before; on a 70 foot, High Definition Digital Screen ..."  Games to be played:  Gears of War and Guitar Hero II.  Coolidge Corner will also be showing game movies like Silent Hill.

MIT Drops Prosecution of Urban Explorers

MIT has convinced prosecutors to drop the charges against the unfortunate trio of MIT students caught by police wandering in a building after hours.  Seems like the campus police may not have been aware of the exploring/hacking tradition.  Maybe there will be a training program in it now.

MIT Backing Off Charges on Hackers?

In a sign that the recent arrest of several MIT students may be seen as an overreaction by zealous police unfamiliar with campus norms, there are reports that MIT may seek dismissal of the charges.  Some at the school have seen the arrests of students who claimed to be engaged in exploration of the campus that fits into a well-established history of hacking or pranks that have inspired books and web pages.  Campus traditions that conflict with laws may become more of a problem at many colleges as university security forces are more professionalized and draw their officers from regular police forces.

Harvard Square Videos

The Harvard Square Business Association is trying to show some of the personality of the Square by putting up a daily Youtube video series during February.  The emphasis is intended to be on the unusual and diverse in Harvard Square despite the increasing presence of large chains like recent additions American Apparel and IHOP.  And the theme running throughout is love.

Some highlights:
Timothy Sawyer from Lively Lore tours discusses some historical romances.  This is one organization we hadn't heard of that sounds quite good from the clip:

There's also some love poems from the Grolier and its new owner:

And a sweet video with the owner of La Flamme Barber Shop: