New UK SF fiction mag, major labels say ‘DRM is dead’, virtual tour of CBGBs, build a fileserver for $80…

• 1 – Roads, good intentions, etcetera
  “The question the politicians should be asking is not, “how should the US disengage from Iraq”, but “how can we prevent the inevitable coming collapse of Iraq from spreading to its neighbours”?” Charlie Stross on the Middle East.
  (tags: chaos collapse regimes dictatorship occupation war politics east Middle Iraq)
• 2 – Hub – Speculative Fiction News, Reviews, Features, Interviews and Original Writing
  “Hub is the UK’s newest bi-monthly SF Genre magazine, focusing on new writing from the world’s best established and emerging writers.” Can they pull it off in a sparse market? Go buy an issue and give them a chance.
  (tags: literature writing magazine news stories genre horror fantasy fiction science scifi sf UK new)
• 3 – YourSpace
  “The tag line is ‘Books by the Greats, Covers by You’, and throughout the rush to design the (back) covers, get the right paper, and tell people about them, we’ve had a really great time.” Buy a Penguin classic, do your own cover.
  (tags: promotion crowdsourcing Penguin covers novels drawing literature culture books art)
• 4 – Major labels to abandon DRM
  “…the major labels have decided to abandon [DRM]. They haven’t announced it yet – but it’s coming soon. In the wake of the Sony BMG Rootkit debacle, and in the light of the competitive advantage logic, it makes perfect sense.”
  (tags: labels major DRM copyright property intellectual IP content media digital industry music)
• 5 – Chernobyl: The plume of doom
  “It starts off as a small blob over Ukraine, but then spreads. Constantly changing shape and colour, it curls its way round most of Europe.” Animated map of the spread of Chernobyl fall-out. Scary.
  (tags: radioactivity pollution plume animation map flash Chernobyl disaster accident power nuclear)
• 6 – How engineers tamed the internet’s Tower of Babel
  “At a United Nations meeting last month, a bespectacled Swede made a small, barely noticed announcement that nevertheless represented a pivotal moment in the history of the internet.” Use all the identifiers you like!
  (tags: language international history culture symbols code alphabet registration name domain internet)
• 7 – A Virtual Tour of CBGB’s
  360degree panorama pictures of the recently-defunct US punk mecca.
  (tags: history culture music club punk photography panorama 360 tour virtual CBGB NYC)
• 8 – The Lonely Planet Guide to Micronations: An Interview with Simon Sellars
  Interview with the webmaster of Ballardian.com and co-author of a book on micronations (I’ve read it; worth a look). Of interest to anyone with an interest in alternate or parallel realities.
  (tags: reality alternate nations geography interview micronations Sellars Simon Ballardian)
• 9 – New Book Announcment
  Mere weeks after The Android’s Dream hits the shelves, Scalzi sells the unwritten (indeed, un*started*) sequel to Tor. Is there any stopping the man?
  (tags: books literature writing sf scifi fiction science Tor sale sequel Dream Androids Scalzi John)
• 10 – Cock-A-Doodle-DOOOOOO!!!!!
  Hal Duncan sells a short story to Interzone, and one ‘pirate shanty’ to Farrago’s Wainscot. Congratulations are in order.
  (tags: writing speculative genre sf scifi science sales fiction poem story short Duncan Hal)
• 11 – How to Configure an $80 File Server in 45 Minutes
  Does exactly what it says on the tin.
  (tags: Howto tutorial streaming storage project source open installation Linux hacks guide DIY computer server cheap build)