A Passing of the Torch

Though it might not appear to be so to the casual reader, should he or she bother to wonder where these neatly wrapped daily blog posts come from, running a site like this is a full-time job. Since Geekosystem launched a year and a half ago, I have written 2,716 posts, some of which are works of analysis and reportage that I'm quite happy with, some of which may mildly embarrass me should they come up when someone is Googling me a few years down the road, and some of which appear to consist of little more than thinly repackaged cat videos. Note that there is little if any overlap between these last two groups. But all good things must come to an end, and as I prepare to head back to school this coming fall, this is my last post as managing editor of Geekosystem. That duty will pass along to James Plafke, in whom I have the utmost confidence not to crush and ruin the site that I have poured my time and energy into since its birth. (In truth, James is great and the site is in capable hands.) 

Spanish Police Reportedly Arrest 3 Men Suspected of PSN Hack

According to the New York Times, Spanish police have detained three men "suspected of computer hacking in connection with recent cyberattacks on Sony’s PlayStation Network as well as corporate and government Web sites around the world." Sony's PSN woes have been the tech security fiasco of the year to this point, with the online gaming network brought down for more than a month following a breach that may left "customer names, addresses, usernames, passwords and as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers" exposed.

Challenge Accepted: NYC Bicyclist Only Rides in Bike Lanes, Crashes into Everything

When filmmaker and bicyclist Casey Neistat received a $50 fine for riding outside of a bike lane in New York City despite his protestations that the bike lane is often unsafe, he made this video in which he attempts to reduce the law to absurdity. So Neistat religiously sticks within the boundaries of the bike lane, even if they're blocked by trash, taxi, or trucks -- and if there's no way around them, he simply crashes spectacularly into them. It's not entirely clear that the ticketing Neistat describes is legal in the first place; what the law actually says is that "Bicycle riders must use bike path/lane, if provided, except for access, safety, turns, etc." [emphasis added], but NYC police have been aggressively ticketing cyclists this year, sometimes without regard for that caveat. New York City regulations also ban "parking, standing or stopping vehicles within or otherwise obstructing bike lanes." Neistat's point: Police can't fairly enforce the law with respect to cyclists without applying it to everyone else and making the lanes safe for use. (Consumerist via Boing Boing)

Freedom of Information Request Reveals U.K. City Is Unprepared for Zombie Attack

Here's an occasion for political alarm if ever their was one: One citizen's Freedom of Information request to the city council of Leicester, England revealed that the city is woefully unprepared for a zombie attack. According to the "concerned citizen" who filed the request, a man by the name of Robert Ainsley, "Having watched several films it is clear that preparation for such an event is poor and one that councils throughout the kingdom must prepare for." BBC:

"We've had a few wacky ones before but this one did make us laugh," said Lynn Wyeth, head of information governance. The Freedom of Information Act allows a right of access to recorded information held by public authorities. Ms Wyeth said she was unaware of any specific reference to a zombie attack in the council's emergency plan, however some elements of it could be applied if the situation arose.

(via BBC, Telegraph)

Playground Toy Looks Somewhat Unsafe [Video]

This type of violently whirling playground toy was apparently more common stateside in the old days, but it's pretty obvious why it wouldn't cut muster today. (The Daily What refers to it as a "spinning lawsuit factory.") The kids in the video do look like they're having fun, though. This video was taken at Skånegläntan Park in Stockholm, Sweden. (via Best of YouTube / The Daily What comments)

Geekolinks: 6/9

Apple's iCloud brings previously purchased apps back from the dead (Engadget) Richard Dreyfuss dramatically reads the iTunes EULA (CNET) Next Mars Rover faces bumpy ride to launch (New Scientist) Malaysian government blocks Pirate Bay, MegaUpload, other sites (TorrentFreak) Designer's strange encounter with a client at the supermarket (ClientsFromHell) Business uses Team Fortress 2 to promote a job listing (Super Punch) Seven-layered tea (WSJ) (Title pic: A see-through Pontiac. Hemmings Blog via Neatorama)

In Honor of Les Paul’s Birthday, Google Logo Is a Playable, Recordable Guitar

The folks over at Google are becoming ever more ambitious with their famous Google doodles. Today's honors the birthday of Les Paul, often credited as the father of the solid body electric guitar. Paul, who would have been 97 this year, has his birthday marked with a fully-strummable Google logo. Paul's belief that artists would want an instrument like an electric guitar proved remarkably prescient and helped kick-off a revolution in music. In addition to his prowess as an inventor and technical tinkerer, Paul pushed forward some of the styles of playing that would later become standards of rock 'n roll. Google's homage to Paul is not only playable, but recordable as well. Click the little button, play your kickin' jam, and Google will play it back and provide you with a sharable link. If you manage to pull off any face-melting solos, drop them off in our comments section.

Netherlands to Become First European Country to Enact Net Neutrality as Law

Telecom companies in The Netherlands must be kicking themselves now as the small European country, home to 16.7 million people, prepares to enact net neutrality principles into law. Yesterday, the Dutch Parliament agreed in a nearly unanimous vote that going forward, carriers must equally guarantee access to all web content and applications. Though they lobbied vociferously against the new law, telcos arguably brought this fate upon themselves discriminating against applications like VoIP and videochat service Skype and web-based text messaging service WhatsApp, among others. As these directly competed with their pricier packages for voice and texting services but could be used by customers who had bought data-only packages, Dutch telecom companies were rumored to throttle or even block them specifically. But when one company openly charged for these services, it triggered a backlash that led to the new net neutrality law.

Tron Guy Auditions on America’s Got Talent, It Does Not Go Well [Video]

Before YouTube and Twitter, Jay Maynard, a.k.a. Tron Guy, was one of the first people to achieve Internet stardom of a sort after a somewhat unflattering series of pictures of him in a skintight Tron costume spread from Slashdot to the other recesses of the Internet. But when he recently tried to take his act to America's Got Talent, clad in his Tron outfit and all, he ran into a wall of hostility from the judges and audience that can only be described as bizarre, as seen in the video above. It feels like a Tim & Eric skit or a Neil Hamburger routine, but it seems to be real. Though he is quickly booed offstage, Maynard is the one who emerges victorious here simply for being willing to go through with this. "Greetings programs!" (h/t Laughing Squid)

Geekolinks: 6/8

Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism? (Larry Sanger) The Renaissance man: how to become a scientist over and over again (Ed Yong) Visualization candy: the making of a realtime geo-dashboard (Thumbtack) Foursquare offers commercial space flight as grand prize in contest (Foursquare) Bill Simmons' Grantland goes live (Grantland) EU probes Facebook over facial recognition in photos (BusinessWeek) What is this I don't even (E-Learning for Kids) (title pic via Reddit)