So I wanted to install Mythbuntu on my old Dell C640, I downloaded the CD and started the PC. Things went cool until the installation reached 25%. At that point ubiquity decided that the CD was corrupt and the installation could not continue.

So I tested the CD on both the old computer and a newer one. The newer computer didn’t find any error, but the C640 said the cd was completely broken (19 broken files, but one of them was the squashfs image).

Now what? Boot from USB? Didn’t seem to be an option, since there is no option in the boot menu. After a lot of time I found the following working solution:

• Boot the laptop from the CD (remember only the installation failed)
• Have a copy of the CD on an USB Disk
• Mount the USB Disk (mount /dev/sdb1 /tmp/usb)
• Mount the squashfs filesystem image that is located on the USB Disk (mount -o loop /tmp/usb/casper/filesystem.squashfs /tmp/squashfs)
• And now the big trick: bind the new location (/tmp/squashfs) on the location that is created by the installation CD (/rofs). The command to do that is: mount –bind /tmp/squashfs /rofs.
• Start ubiquity.

Oberwelt e.V., a German artists collective presents a nice device which can protect you from all the infrared security cameras installed on public roads. It sends out an invisible infrared light that will make your face show up as a white bulb.

I-R.A.S.C is a device giving every citizen a reliable protection from governmental security measures. I-R.A.S.C. is security against security and therefore a response to the dissymmetry of the forces between state and individual.

Instead of showing and interaction among human-beings, or between man and machine, I-R.A.S.C. demonstrates an interaction among machines. This is part of an absurd situation – while the time and effort invested into protection measures aims at the alleged safety of the citizens, the individual looses importance in this safety concept.

I-R.A.S.C is an infra-red device working as a protection shield from infra-red surveillance cameras. Everybody can rebuild this device without special technical skills.

Link via Boing Boing

OK, I though I was never going to do this…

I have been skipping advertisement everywhere I can… Installed ad-blocking stuff for my pc (adzapper and mozilla,) and even built a mythtv box to get rid of commercials on tv. However if advertisement makers can guarantee me that everything they make will be as nice as this one, I will remove it all from my home.

Norway has decided to put a lot of TV and Radio (public channels) online. This could have been a great project, but the government of Norway decided to put all the content through Microsoft DRM. Thus giving Microsoft control over who can play the content, where and on what devices.

Boingboing’s Cory did a nice analysis on the topic, which got flamed by a Microsoft employee. It makes for a very good read. The best arguments against DRM can be found in the reaction by the Microsoft employee.

Link (via boingboing).

Marginal Revolution has a nice analysis of what is wrong in Hollywood. They state the following 6 reasons (and yes I know 5 is listed twice, but a quote is a quote):

1. Hollywood cannot control its marketing costs or star salaries. The growing importance of DVDs increases the “needle in the haystack” problem for any single film and thus locks studios into more marketing, creating a vicious spiral.
2. TV is now so much better, and offers artists greater creative freedom. Why watch movies?
3. The Internet is outcompeting cinema, whether at the multiplex or on DVD.
4. Big TV screens are keeping people at home, which lowers box office receipts. This also hurts the long-term prospects of many DVDs.
5. The demand for DVDs has fallen because movie lovers have completed their core collections, just as the demands for classical CDs have fallen.
5. The demand for DVDs was due to fall in any case. Forget the collectors, you buy DVDs to have a stock on hand so you don’t have to run out to the video store on short notice. Now everyone has a stock. Stocks must be replenished every now and then, but there is no longer a large new cohort simultaneously building up a stock from scratch.

Link.