Rucker’s Flurb #2, space tourism regulations, UK turbines not all that, Japanese love hotels, auditory eavesdropping, just how bad Coke really is for you…

• 1 – Rudy Rucker’s ‘Flurb’ #2
  “This week I’ve been putting together a new issue of my webzine Flurb, mainly because I wrote “The Third Bomb,” a story so demented and countercultural that, in a more tightly run country, I might get in trouble for publishing it.”
  (tags: Flurb Rucker Rudy magazine stories short writing genre sf scifi fiction science webzine online)
• 2 – Loose Regulations For Private Space Industry
  “It looks as if the the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has decided to regulate the upcoming space industry with minimal restrictions. This is a good thing as bureaucracy is the last thing the private sector needs.”
  (tags: legislation bureaucracy FAA US regulations industry tourism space)
• 3 – Face-hunting software will scour web for targets
  “A search engine that uses sophisticated facial recognition to allow users to identify and find people in online images … civil liberties groups say the biometric-style tool could compromise the privacy of anyone who has their picture online.”
  (tags: surveillance privacy Rose Polar engine search software tool internet recognition face)
• 4 – An ill wind blows for UK turbines
  “The UK is not as windy as the British government thought. The country’s first generation of wind farms are delivering less power than predicted, according to an analysis of official data on their output.” Damn.
  (tags: weather inconsistant shortfall output turbine wind energy power renewable UK)
• 5 – Labels Could Sell Watermarked MP3s
  “The Digital Watermarking Alliance, launched in September of 2006 by a number of technology companies, has officially announced its support for the idea of selling music in the MP3 format…” Interesting.
  (tags: copyright steganography download sales distribution files watermarked mp3 content digital business music)
• 6 – Fantasy Love Hotels
  “In her new book, Love Hotels, American photographer Misty Keasler portrays some of the newest, most creative love hotels in Japan. Here’s a sneak peek.” A gallery at Wired.com.
  (tags: surreal fun fetish culture sex anonymity technology fantasy hotel love Japan)
• 7 – Bad moods assist attention
  “If attention is like a spotlight, then a good mood will widen that spotlight, while a negative mood will focus it very tightly…”
  (tags: perception emotions detail focus creativity attention state mental mood mind)
• 8 – Nano-welds herald new era of electronics
  “The world’s smallest construction site is taking shape in a laboratory in Switzerland, thanks to the development of new welding techniques that work at scales of a billionth of a metre.”
  (tags: technology electronics manufacture construction welding nanoscale nanotech)
• 9 – What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now?
  “In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.”
  (tags: warning sugar drugs physiology human effects drinks soft Coke diet health)
• 10 – Survey results: how many novels did you write before selling one?
  “The results of my survey concerning how many books a published writer wrote before they sold their first are in.” Looks like it’s best to keep on writing.
  (tags: results survey sale completed first novels published writing)
• 11 – Auditory Eavesdropping
  “…IMMI measures individual people and tries to figure out what they’re watching (or listening to). They do this through specially designed cell phones that automatically eavesdrop on what’s going on in the room they’re in…” Uh-oh.
  (tags: mobile surveillance privacy personal monitoring research ratings media marketing eavesdropping auditory)
• 12 – Excess space at conference suggests networking bubble may have burst | Technology | Guardian Unlimited Technology
  “Alternatively, the cancellation of a social networking conference in London may just be another example of the sad reality that European companies just don’t get the web.” My money goes on option B.
  (tags: ignorance internet European burst bubble networks social cancellation conference Upload London UK)
• 13 – The AddMirror – highly effective ambient media
  “The rationale behind The AddMirror is that it’s a dynamic medium for advertisers that compels audiences to engage with their creative work. Simply put, people looking in washroom mirrors cannot fail to see their adverts.” B@stards.
  (tags: innovation technology marketing attention captive mirror washroom public AddMirror advertising)
• 14 – Pedal Powered Billboard
  “…the billboard you see above was exlusively powered by volunteers pedaling a single bicycle over a span of about 5 days. The advertisement was [...] to show off how energy-efficient LED Christmas lights are.”
  (tags: ecology energy marketing efficiency LED billboard powered bicycle advertising)