Martijn Vreugde's Hangout

NIKE unveils revolutionary NIKE+ Training experience NIKE today...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:59:02 +0200

NIKE unveils revolutionary NIKE+ Training experience

NIKE today unveiled Nike+ Basketball and Nike+ Training, two new experiences connecting digitally enabled footwear with interactive mobile applications that together deliver a revolutionary sport experience. First unveiled for running products in 2006, NIKE+ has grown into a community of six million digitally connected athletes and is set to expand with the recent launch of the NIKE+ FuelBand, a wrist-based device designed to track everyday activity.

WOW this is funny, geeks in full battle

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:10:02 +0200

WOW this is funny, geeks in full battle:

Dan Lyons a writer who used to be quite respected in his day, just keeps messing up and trying to keep his name alive via insulting more well know tech jounalists. Went on MG Siegler and Michael Arrington a few weeks ago and now aiming (read: failing) at Robert Scoble just too much fun to watch as his hypocrisy comes to bite his ass. Please oh please piss off Pete Cashmore next…

parislemon:

Watch front and center as the last great bastion of journalistic integrity dives face first into a huge pile of shit.

Then opens his mouth.

And Eats. It. All.

Slowly people are waking up, should be fun youranonnews: “Our...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:05:54 +0200

Slowly people are waking up, should be fun

youranonnews:

“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.

Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

~ Arundhati Roy

WHAT KIND OF DEMON EVIL SPEAK IS THIS ???!!!!!

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:18:27 +0200

Budget Speech 2012:

Excise duties on tobacco and alcohol products

Dhiveshan Naicker has offered the following tip, Mister Speaker: “Raise the tax on alcohol and cigarettes so that people will stop drinking and smoking too much”. This is good advice. The increases in duties on tobacco products will be between 5 and 8 per cent this year.

In respect of beer and spirits, an increased benchmark tax burden is proposed, to be phased in over two years. The excise on spirits will increase by 20 per cent to R36 for a 750 ml bottle this year, the tax on beer goes up by 10 per cent to R1.01 for a 340 ml can and wine will contribute 8 per cent more to the fiscus.

Fun work day ahead (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:31:00 +0200

Fun work day ahead

(Taken with instagram)

The hunt for the God particle By Joel Achenbach If you were to...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:05:01 +0200

The hunt for the God particle

By Joel Achenbach

If you were to dig a hole 300 feet straight down from the center of the charming French village of Crozet, you’d pop into a setting that calls to mind the subterranean lair of one of those James Bond villains. A garishly lit tunnel ten feet in diameter curves away into the distance, interrupted every few miles by lofty chambers crammed with heavy steel structures, cables, pipes, wires, magnets, tubes, shafts, catwalks, and enigmatic gizmos.

This technological netherworld is one very big scientific instrument, specifically, a particle accelerator-an atomic peashooter more powerful than any ever built. It’s called the Large Hadron Collider, and its purpose is simple but ambitious: to crack the code of the physical world; to figure out what the universe is made of; in other words, to get to the very bottom of things.

Starting sometime in the coming months, two beams of particles will race in opposite directions around the tunnel, which forms an underground ring 17 miles in circumference. The particles will be guided by more than a thousand cylindrical, supercooled magnets, linked like sausages. At four locations the beams will converge, sending the particles crashing into each other at nearly the speed of light. If all goes right, matter will be transformed by the violent collisions into wads of energy, which will in turn condense back into various intriguing types of particles, some of them never seen before. That’s the essence of experimental particle physics: You smash stuff together and see what other stuff comes out.

“A well tailored suit is to a woman what lingerie is to a...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:45:47 +0200

“A well tailored suit is to a woman what lingerie is to a man”

I read that on some post somewhere, and wondered if it was true. Makes sense I guess, it has been long known that a man in uniform is desirable to the ladies and the suit is the uniform of the modern successful man. Ok, I’m stereotyping to a colossal scale here, but you agree with the general premise right?
Now what got my attention in this pic is the woman picking a suit from a obviously impressive collection, now granted she could easily be picking out something for herself but allow me to be chauvanistic and imply she picking out something for her man because she knows best what he looks best in, now is it just me or is that incredibly sexy?

“Born To Die” follows Lana’s first single...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:07:00 +0200

“Born To Die”

follows Lana’s first single “Video Games” which began its life online in July accompanied by a video created by Lana. Since then “Video Games” has amassed over 8 million hits and on release hit the i-tunes #1 position in 9 countries including the UK, Australia, Holland and France and is currently #1 in Germany. Also a massive critical smash, it has recently been hailed as the #2 track of the year by Q Magazine, with Q Magazine also awarding her the “Best New Thing” award at the Q Awards.

“Born To Die” is a suitably noir follow up to “Video Games” and is coming with an incredible video conceived by Lana and Directed by Yoann Lemoine. A Remix EP will also be released, including mixes from Damon Albarn, Woodkid and Clams Casino.

“Born To Die” the album is a collection of tracks about which Lana says “The songs I’ve written are an homage to true love and a tribute to living life on the wild side.” Album tracks include “Million Dollar Man”, “Off To The Races”, “Blue Jeans” and “Carmen”.

“Born To Die” the single is released on Sunday January 23rd on Polydor Records on download and 7” vinyl picture disc.
“Born To Die” the album is released on Monday January 30th on Polydor Records on download and CD.

Deadly Foreplay To cheer you up on a monday A muscular man and...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:58:00 +0200

Deadly Foreplay

To cheer you up on a monday

A muscular man and an athletic woman engage in a blindfolded swordfight in a virtual-reality dojo (similar to the sparring program in the movie “The Matrix” where Morpheus and Neo had their first fight) where with each slice of their swords they remove another piece of each other’s clothing. Immediately after each cuts the other down to their underwear, each lifts the blindfold to peek at the other. As the two are about to kiss, they are interrupted by an alarm and the virtual reality simulation ends.

This is the first scene of the animation “Final Flight of the Osiris”, written by the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix).

The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated short films released on June 3 2003, and set in the fictional universe of The Matrix series.

“like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:46:49 +0200

“like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.”

Waits distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz

The wonder and beauty that is the human mind I notice it’s...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:26:00 +0200

The wonder and beauty that is the human mind

I notice it’s the fact that I seem to have a better sense of will in regards to going to gym or going for a run than others, I wonder that comes from. What’s more strange is that it’s not pervasive, for example my will dissipates when I know I have to do some work I don’t want to do when I also have a cool series yet to be watched.

Wow that hurt, far more than I thought it would. That...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:58:00 +0200

Wow that hurt, far more than I thought it would.

That dull stabbing pain in your chest, I can understand why in the ages before it was thought that our emotions were from the heart, still said to be in poetry and song today I guess. When some one you care about disappoints you or hurts you even if it is not intentional.

The worst is when the word, actions or whatever the transgression might be cut deeper to your core than you expected, and you realise you care more than you thought.

This movie showed me what Blues was Great movie too, with many...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:05:00 +0200

This movie showed me what Blues was

Great movie too, with many more blues songs along the way all sung by the legendary Samuel L. Jackson.

Some Triva

Cedric Burnside and Kenny Brown, the members of Lazarus’ band, are the grandchildren of legendary (but relatively unknown) blues singer R.L. Burnside. They played in his band while he toured up until his death in 2005. Additionally, the reverend (played by John Cothran Jr.) is named R.L. On a side note, features of Lazarus (played by Samuel L. Jackson), such as his hair and his history with the Juke Joint, are remarkably similar to Burnside’s.

Something beautiful for a Friday An exquisite video of animation...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:44:00 +0200

Something beautiful for a Friday

An exquisite video of animation from the gang at Brigham Young University’s Center for Animation

A regular night of dream delivering turns into a literal nightmare when a boy’s book of ancient mythology comes alive.

It is the combined efforts of a fine group of artists from Brigham Young University. The film has played in hundreds of festivals around the world including the College Television Awards “Student Emmy”, Cannes Film Festival, Anima Mundi, Comic Con, Adobe Design Competition, Angelus Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, SIGGRAPH and many more!

I hope you enjoy it!

Visit the directors website at: tycarter.com/

Anonymous, what you need to know.

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:03:00 +0200

Here is a great article by Nicholas Pell from Mademan that give you a quick easy overview of the organisation known as Anonymous.

Anyone who hadn’t heard of Anonymous last year sure knows their, um, name now. Late last month, in the largest coordinated distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack ever, Anonymous took down the websites of the MPAA, RIAA, Universal Music Group, BMI, U.S. Copyright Office, Department of Justice, Belgian Anti-Piracy Federation, Warner Music Group, The White House, former Senator Christopher Dodd and the FBI. And new techno-assaults are going down every day. Clearly, these super computer geeks are on fire, so here’s all you need to know to sound smart at cocktail parties.

First off, where did “Anonymous” come from?

As with many aspects of this group, the facts are hazy. The term “Anonymous” is used on image boards (known as “chans”) by people who prefer to remain, well, anonymous. This then became an in-joke about an actual person named “Anonymous.” It wasn’t until around 2008 that the term began to refer to something more specific: A nebulous and leaderless hacktivist collective.

So who are they?

Hackers on steroids. An Internet hate machine.

No, really.

Anonymous is a loose and diffuse hacktivist group, consisting of three basic layers: First, the hard core of Anonymous (about 100 in number), the guys planning attacks and teaching at hacking schools. Second, the supporters of Anonymous (about 1,000). These cats hang out in the Internet relay chat (IRC) room and use a program called the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) to carry out DDoS attacks and other assorted mayhem. The third layer consists of fellow travelers and supporters, who number in the hundreds of thousands.

Wait, what’s “hacktivism”?

A portmanteau of “hacking” and “activism,” hacktivism means using hacking techniques to make a political point. “Hacktivist” doesn’t always squarely apply to Anonymous. Sometimes they just pull pranks. Other times, such as with a DDoS attack, they aren’t really hacking. A DDoS raid is basically virtual loitering—overloading a site with requests until it crashes. It’s not too different from the Occupy Wall Street folks doing a flash mob outside of a bank.

And why are these guys so popular?

Anonymous have been pretty smart about picking targets. They lingered under the radar for years, first coming to national attention duringProject Chanology, a series of computer attacks and protests targeting The Church of Scientology, beginning in January 2008. However, Anonymous really gained traction when they did a solid for the Arab Spring. The group was involved in several attacks on key government websites of Arab dictatorships while the Arab streets were on fire last year, including releasing the names and private emails of government officials in Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco. Anonymous might just be the most respected organization for under-30s in Arab countries.

Totally not scarier than Scientologists or anything…

What’s the deal with the masks?

The Guy Fawkes mask was popularized by the film V For Vendetta. The idea in the movie is that a leaderless resistance to tyranny arises around a symbol—the mask. Anonymous clearly find resonance with the idea of leaderless resistance and the power of symbols, but another explanation probably has some truth as well. As an ancient Anon proverb goes, it’s probably also “for the lulz.”

What else has Anonymous been involved in?

A lot of prankster stuff, particularly in the early days. But lately they seem to be hackers with hearts of gold. Other raids include racking up thousands of dollars in bandwidth costs for noted white supremacist Hal Turner and the Oregon Tea Party. Anon quickly came to the defense ofWikileaks, taking down the websites of PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and Amazon in retaliation for their anti-Wikileaks stance. They have continued to attack dictatorial and authoritarian governments such as Zimbabwe, Malaysia and Syria. They have also supported Occupy Wall Street and released sensitive information from governments and corporations alike as part of Operation AntiSec, short for “anti-security.” Whew.

So what kind of people do this stuff, exactly?

That’s the thing, no one really knows. “They hacked the CIA’s website, for crying out loud, and haven’t gone to jail for it,” says Josh Shaul, Chief Technology Officer of Application Security. “That takes skill. I’d be shocked to find that there aren’t people who are in charge of security for major banks or head programmers at major technology firms.” In practice, stunts get pulled, and Anonymous takes credit. There’s a general idea of what Anonymous is about, but everyone is free to act independently. You could go around calling yourself Anonymous right now if you wanted.

Really?

We wouldn’t recommend it. Anons don’t take kindly to poseurs. As their slogan goes: “We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

How do I protect myself?

Basically by not being an Arab dictator, pro-SOPA member of Congress or random moron who decides he’s going to talk a bunch of smack. There are basically no examples of Anon going after someone who didn’t do something to deserve it.

What if I actually am an Arab dictator or something?

Sorry, dude. Even your copy of Norton Anti-Virus can’t save you now.

The liquor on you lips makes you Dangerous… Animation, Old...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:10:06 +0200

The liquor on you lips makes you Dangerous…

Animation, Old style film, Black & White… and a sultry voice what more could you want.

First time I’ve heard of Lana Del Rey but wow, what a voice. There is a Youtube Mix of her if you like to check her out. Though I should mention that she has a rather sad soft melodic style, most if not all are about love and usually tragic. So this won’t be played in any dance club anytime soon but I more a dark smoke filled whiskey lounge type blues joint… you know my kinda place.

When Is Activism “Terrorism”? When It’s Effective. I can’t...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:49:00 +0200

When Is Activism “Terrorism”? When It’s Effective.

I can’t pretend to be into the eco activism space in any way, my only real contribution is not littering. But this video is more about Activism as a whole, and I like to think I’m part of the Internet Activism in the way of supporting Anonymous in my small way.

In any world where this is happening something is wrong, and needs to be corrected:

I was good and sweet once… honest…. then the...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:27:00 +0200

I was good and sweet once… honest….

then the dominant personalties took over

the sweet kid only wimpers in the dark lower corners of our mind now, too terrified to look up fo fear of seeing the draconian ideas swarming above.

Ugly by The Exies on Grooveshark

Dutch Parliament Rejects ACTA On Human Rights Violations

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:23:57 +0200

The controversial ACTA treaty is quickly losing support in Europe.

After a handful of countries already backed off last week, The Netherlands and Bulgaria put their decisions of hold today.

A majority of the Parliament isagainst the ratification of ACTA.

They only intend to change this position if there’s irrefutable evidence that it doesn’t violate basic human rights.

Right now this is certainly not the case, as professors Douwe Korff and Ian Brown examined ACTA’s compatibility with human rights and concluded:

“Overall, ACTA tilts the balance of IPR protection manifestly unfairly towards one group of beneficiaries of the right to property, IP right holders, and unfairly against others.”

“It equally disproportionately interferes with a range of other fundamental rights, and provides or allows for the determination of such rights in procedures that fail to allow for the taking into account of the different, competing interests, but rather, stack all the weight at one end. “

“This makes the entire Agreement, in our opinion, incompatible with fundamental European human rights instruments and -standards.”

And there is more bad news for ACTA supporters.

In Bulgaria, where more than 10,000 people took the streets in Sofia last Saturday to protest the treaty, Economy Minister Traicho Traikov announced that the country will not ratify ACTA before other EU countries have made up their minds.

“Our country will not undertake any actions, including a ratification of the agreement, until the stance of the other EU member states is made clear,” the Minister said earlier today.

The caving support and doubt among governments makes is less likely that ACTA will pass, although it’s still to early to say something conclusive.

After Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States signed ACTA last October, Europe is the final hurdle to take before it goes into effect.

I will find you one day, I just hope its a day not too far...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:30:00 +0200

I will find you one day, I just hope its a day not too far away.

Happy Valentines to my future love, and to all the awesome woman in my life.