A Look At Sony’s Ongoing War Against Hackers

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[Phillip Torrone] recently wrote an article over at Make regarding Sony and their “War on Makers, Hackers, and Innovators“. In the article, he traces Sony’s history as a well-liked hardware company that once produced innovative products, to its current state as an enemy to all who would dare wield a screwdriver and soldering iron. He took quite a bit of time scouring the Internet to dig up very specific examples of Sony’s perceived assault on the hacking community. That’s not to say he simply lambasts the company and leaves it at that. Rather, he reflects on their past as a staple in nearly every American home, how they have changed since venturing into the content business, as well as what we might be able to do as hackers to change the way Sony treats its customers.

One specific example he mentions is the lawsuits that plagued the Sony Aibo modding scene, a case very near and dear to his heart. This scenario is one where the voice of the people was eventually heard, though too late to make a difference. He laments the loss of interest in the platform by the modding community as a clear cut example of the disastrous nature of Sony’s litigious nature.

You should definitely take a moment to read the article if you have the time. [Phillip] brings up some very good points, giving you plenty to consider the next time you make an electronics purchase, large or small.

We’d love to hear your take on the matter as well.

Thingiverse Receives First DMCA Takedown

A landmark in home 3d printing was set when [Dr. Ulrich Schwanitz] sent a DMCA takedown notice to Thingiverse.com on users [artur83] and [chylld’s] takes on his Penrose triangle model. ([chylld’s] take is pictured above) While the takedown itself is highly debatable, we do think it’s cool that home 3d printing has come far enough to begin infringing on the copyrights of objects themselves. Right now media pirating has the front stage, but it’s not hard to look a little further into the crazy sci-fi universe that is our future and see a battle being fought over the rights to physical objects.

[via Thingiverse Blog]

Free (…as In ‘free Beer’) ARM Kit

NXP holds a lot of market share for their ARM based solutions as it is. That’s why we were a little surprised when we found a link on their website announcing that they were giving away free LPCXpresso development boards, based on their Cortex-M0 line.

Catches? Unfortunately there are a few to get the board shipped and running. In order to do so, you must…

  • register with a corporate email address
    …the promo is targeted at engineers
  • use the crippled IDE supplied with the board
    …due to hard to find (non-existent?) documentation for the integrated LPC-Link
  • upload an original video of the physical destruction of a competing board to the NXP website

While killing your Arduino may not sound like the most fun, some qualified readers may be interested in moving up to 32-bits for a price that is hard to beat.

A-Z Of Electronics – Capacitors

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[Jeri Ellsworth] recently released another video in her “A-Z of Electronics” series – this time Capacitors are the subject. As a penance for my boneheaded AC Capacitor suggestion yesterday (I swear it was lack of sleep talking), [Caleb] suggested that I be the one to write this article. Since I’m not an electrical engineer (I majored in Comp Sci), I enjoy watching these videos, and I share them with individuals who are new to electronics. [Jeri] always presents the subject matter in a clear and concise manner, so the subjects do not seem daunting or intimidating.

She briefly discusses the early development of capacitors, including Leyden Jars, then focuses on modern capacitors and their usage. She covers wiring capacitors in circuits, demonstrating the difference between series and parallel configurations, as well as how electrode distance affects capacitance.

If you have a spare minute, be sure to check out her current video as well as those she has previously released.

Chrome In The Pwn2Own Contest

Google has announced that it will be sponsoring a $20,000 prize at the 2011 CanSecWest Pwn2Own Contest. $20,ooo will be given to the first person to escape Chrome’s sandbox through Google-written code in the first day. If researchers are unsuccessful on the first day, then days two and three will be opened up to non-Google-written code. In addition to the cash, there is also a Google CR-48 running ChromeOS offered as a prize, but it will not be the actual platform used to hack Chrome. We look forward to seeing what comes out of this contest.

[via GearLog]

ENIAC Was First, Right?

Well, no. Many of us who went to school and have degrees in various computer related fields instantly think of ENIAC as the first “computer”, but we’re all wrong. We know some of you are already familiar with the Atanasoff-Berry computer, and we are too… now. However, when we learned about it, it was long after our school lessons were over, and it felt like learning Santa wasn’t real, or the pilgrims didn’t really have a fancy dinner with the native Americans. [Jane Smiley] is releasing a book telling the whole story, and it should be fairly interesting. She gave an interview with Wired about the book. In the interview she talks about how fascinating the story is and even addresses [Alan Turing]’s role.

Internships: Have Fun While Working Toward A Career

Attention Students: Living your life with a devil-may-care attitude will soon come to an end… But while you’re at it, take the summer away from your normal school’s-out activities to hack together something cool while tricking family into thinking it’s good for the career.

That link will take you to Waterloo Labs’ announcement that they’re hiring four paid interns this summer. You’ll need a bucketful of hacking skills from mechanical, to electrical, to coding (or any combination thereof). If the name doesn’t strike a bell be warned; these guys and gals do things like riding the roof of remote-control cars, and playing video games with real armaments.

Is your company offering similarly radical internships? We’d love to connect some hardcore hackers with good summer homes. Send a tweet a to Mike (@szczys) so that we can post an internships follow-up with more opportunities.

[via Twitter]