Month: August 2014
A hacktivist calling himself Phineas Fisher, has hacked into Gamma International, a UK-based spyware company that makes malware for governments, and leaked 40 GB of internal documents including the source code of their premier spy agency tool, FinSpy or FinFisher. The tools’ source has been released on BitTorrent, meaning now you too can be your […]
The wife of Ramsay Orta — who videotaped the Eric Garner being placed into a chokehold that, according to the medical examiner, caused his death — has been charged for misdemeanor assault of a woman. SI Live reports that Chrissie Oritz was placed under arrest in the area covered by the troubled 120th Precinct, not far from where Garner was killed. Orta was […]
Last month, New York State Education Department approved a new degree at NYU‘s Tisch School of the Arts through the NYU Game Center. The school will soon be accepting applicants for a new Bachelor of Fine Arts in Video Game Design. Game Center will accept 20 students into the program in January 2015 and a freshman class of […]
A group show featuring two dozen graffiti and street artists opens tonight at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Curated by longtime author/documentarian/organizer-of-things Roger Gastman, “Cruel Summer” includes work from the likes of BLADE, HAZE, RIME, REVOK, POSE, Mark Bode, Shepard Fairey, DABS MYLA, and many other notables gaining ground on the graffiti/street circuit. The exhibit will be […]
Gilad Lotan of I-Data has published an enlightening and thorough analysis of how social media channels and online publications spread coverage of the conflict in Gaza. It illustrates the pathways through which we’re served biased material, based on our user preferences and whichever social media bubble we already occupy. The article features massive infographics like […]
A new Texas-based company Celestis, Inc offers to send a portion of your pets’ remains or DNA into space, for as little as $995 and up. The pet remains will travel on a vehicle also carrying scientific or commercial baggage. The service is fairly customizable, as the company describes in their press release: “Service options include suborbital flights that […]
This bronze African Renaissance Monument towers above the slummy, unfinished house of the Mamelles district in Dakar, Senegal. It’s not exactly inspiring, as the Senegalese government is replete with corruption and is being investigated for embezzlement. Meanwhile, 47% of the country’s residents live below the poverty line. But wait, it looks… familiar… Slate’s Atlas Obscure blog explains: The colossal monument’s Soviet-influenced, […]
ANIMAL’s Radicals Of Retrofuturism uncovers stories by the technological rebels of the past in vintage media and looks at their predictions in the context of today’s digital world. This week, we look at Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock” in the Realist and beyond, circa 1970. Alvin Toffler‘s Future Shock, unlike the other bits of futurist ephemera we’ve discussed so […]
Alright already with the padlocks on the Brooklyn Bridge! The Department of Transportation has been busy removing them — “a whopping 5,600 latches from the 5,989-foot span” clipped off between July 2013 and May 2014. But the insidious trend (which already annoyed the shit out of Paris) continues. A particularly distressed Jen Jones at Women You Should Know recently spoke with […]
The city is finally gearing up to ban those illegal clothing “donation bins” that have been popping up around the city at an increasing rate. A new bill introduced by Councilman Vincent Gentile “will authorize the Department of Sanitation to immediately remove clothing donation bins illegally placed on public property,” as opposed to just pasting notices […]
