Tag Archives: open-source

Death Star on Kickstarter After White House Shoots Down Petition

The Death Star, undoubtedly a worthwhile undertaking but not on the Obama administration’s radar, is now on Kickstarter if you want to help build one. A recent White House Death Star petition was denied, citing Obama’s “we don’t blow up planets” political stance and the potential fiscal nightmare. Now, a new Kickstarter project wants to pick up those plans, using an open source design effort and trying to raise funding to help make it happen. A LOT of funding. The project has a $30,000,000 funding goal, which would be used to create “more detailed plans” than the initial design the team currently has . Yes … 30 million just to design the thing. No one said it would be easy, or that the potential defense system is without flaws. As we know, a single X-Wing fighter can basically defeat the thing. If the Kickstarter project reaches its long-term goal – $850,000,000,000,000,000 – plans will actually be put to use building a full-scale, working Death Star. They hope to have the project up and running by December 2015. No word on whether it would be used to protect the whole world or just the U.S. Something for sexy beast Kim Jong Un to ponder before his next failed missile test or scary / cheaply produced anti-American North Korea video .

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Death Star on Kickstarter After White House Shoots Down Petition

Interactive Animation of Van Gogh’s Starry Night

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=36466564

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Greek artist Petros Vrellis created this beautiful interactive animated version of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (video). The interactive work is powered by openFrameworks, an open source coding toolkit for creatives. via Colossal & Creative Applications Network Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Laughing Squid Discovery Date : 10/02/2012 19:32 Number of articles : 3

Interactive Animation of Van Gogh’s Starry Night

Open Source vs. Commercial Software Security

Unless a piece of software explicitly says its aim is to be more secure then whether it's open source or a commercial software package doesn't matter. Software can be written securely or insecurely by an open-source project or a commercial vendor – it's all a matter of priority… https://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/10011-Open-Source-vs-Commercial-Software-… added by: Paisano1

11 Open Source Projects that Make Free Information Rock

Photo via Todd Huffman What happens when data is available for anyone to access and use? What happens when projects are open source so people can contribute their skills to improve it? We’re now more than ever connected to a wealth of information stored literally at our fingertips — if we can access it. So the concept of sharing is useful beyond creating tool libraries or Zipcar services. Sharing, when extended to information, can do amazing things, from creating fascinating mash-ups of data to expl… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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11 Open Source Projects that Make Free Information Rock

The Week in Pictures: The Week in Pictures: Microbes Eat Gulf Oil Plume, Bubblegum Rubber, Real Life Sea Monsters, and More (Slideshow)

What oil plume? Scientists have reported that the miles-long deep sea oil plume which resulted from the BP oil spill has essentially vanished, apparently eaten by microbes previously unknown to science. Also this week, an argument published by the Guardian calls for the FDA to lighten up on the regulatory process for approving genetically engineered animals; researchers have created a new kind of concrete that’s made out of waste products from coal plants; and wildlife photographer Paolo Torchio discovered a mysterious “bearded” antelope in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve. This news and more in our photo roundup of the most p… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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The Week in Pictures: The Week in Pictures: Microbes Eat Gulf Oil Plume, Bubblegum Rubber, Real Life Sea Monsters, and More (Slideshow)

World’s Smallest Hydroponic Grow Box: Twitter Enabled

Image credit: PocketGrow Whether we are talking about open source, automated garden monitors , more efficient industrial monocultures , or discussing whether soilless farming can be organic , many of our readers seem to have a strong dislike of overly techno-fix approaches to growin… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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World’s Smallest Hydroponic Grow Box: Twitter Enabled

Ubuntu 10.04 release date

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, to be released on 29 April 2010, will ship with hundreds of open source applications available at install with many more open source and proprietary applications becoming available in the days and weeks following. A few minutes ago, the Ubuntu development team unleashed the second and final Beta release of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system, due for launch at the end of this month. As usual, we#39;ve downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-d

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Ubuntu 10.04 release date

Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax

For the first time, 25-year-old researcher Robert Thomas reveals to Gawker how earlier this year he and Richard Heene drew up a master plan to generate a massive media controversy using a weather balloon. To get famous, of course. Thomas spent several months earlier this year working on developing a reality science TV show to pitch to networks – the “show,” Thomas says, that Falcon was referring to when he told CNN “We did it for the show.” Among the ideas that Heene, Thomas and two others came up with for their reality TV proposal — and one that he says most intrigued Heene — involved a weather balloon modified to look like a UFO which they would launch in an attempt to drum up media interest in both the Heene family and the series he was desperate to get on the air.

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Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax