This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on February 4, 2009). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.
Sometime between February 2nd and February 4th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!
- Cash 4 Gold Would Like to Melt Down and Recast Their Reputation: "How about that? A polite letter, with a clear goal: Bury the 'Cash 4 Gold' name in my article so that it doesn't scare off every would-be gold seller with an internet connection. I was kind of thrilled. People approach me all the time looking for ways to promote keywords, but this was the first time someone else was trying to buy me out of their Google search results. This was just like in the movies, right? Guy writes an article exposing underhanded business practices, business leader arranges a meeting to kill the story."
- Princesses Preen in a Pauper Economy: "Hime-kei appears to have been inspired by American filmmaker Sofia Coppola's movie Marie Antoinette, with its lush rendering of the decadence of the court of Louis XVI. The rush of young Japanese women to emulate the look of 18th-century French aristocrats has grown from a fad into something of a movement, whose leader is the popular singer Ayumi Hamasaki. It even has its own magazine, Koakuma Ageha, with a circulation of 350,000. If Coppola's movie created the wave, Osaka-based Jesus Diamante was ready to ride it. Established in 2001, the label had offered luxurious clothing styled for a hypothetical heiress with a likeness to French actress Brigitte Bardot. But the impact of Marie Antoinette prompted it to introduce such lines as Marie Wanpi, with a ball gown sporting a large ribbon on the chest and a Cinderella coat with a fur collar and sleeve edges. "
- Passport RFIDs Cloned Wholesale by $250 eBay Auction Spree: "The $250 proof-of-concept device – which researcher Chris Paget built in his spare time – operates out of his vehicle and contains everything needed to sniff and then clone RFID, or radio frequency identification, tags. During a recent 20-minute drive in downtown San Francisco, it successfully copied the RFID tags of two passport cards without the knowledge of their owners." I'm really wishing I'd renewed my passport before the new RFID-enabled passports went into production.
- How Twitter Was Born: "The original product name / codename 'twttr' was inspired by Flickr and the fact that American SMS shortcodes are five characters. We prototyped with '89887″ as our shortcode. We later changed to '40404″ for ease of use and memorability. @Florian was commuting from Germany, so in order to operate with him we secured a 'long code', or a full 10-digit phone number linked to a small-potatoes gateway. Twttr probably had about 50 users in the 89887 days."
- Untouched East Germany Flat Found: "A flat apparently untouched since before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has been discovered in the German city of Leipzig, German media report. An architect who renovates buildings in eastern Germany unlocked the door last week and was shocked to find himself in a veritable East German time warp. "