AIDS sufferer Vinny, about whom Lisa recently wrote a feature here at BB, died this morning at 8:35 a.m. — Rob • Comments: 4

Golf company has Ping trademark, domain (UPDATED: There's a deal)

Rob Beschizza at 1:59 PM Wed 

Apple's name for its new social network, Ping, is interestingly generic. With a long association to the sport of table tennis and a computer networking utility whose function resembles it, it carries a natural association with communication, responsiveness, and so on. But like many generic terms, if you do a search for "Ping" at the trademark office's website, you'll find many, many entries. Most recent filings are from Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, which makes golf gear. Interestingly many of its filings go beyond the sticks to include computer and internet-related stuff.

This mark, for example, is for goods and services concerning "Communications software for electronically exchanging data." Though filed on April 7, 2010, it's already been abandoned. Most of the "Ping" trademark filings from Karsten, however, remain live.

Ping.com is a well-manicured corporate site that touts the corporate twitter account. It even has an iPhone app.

Then there's Ping.fm, a bona-fide social networking tool even closer to Apple's new thing. Owner Seesmic.com don't seem to have filed for any related trademarks.

Here's some of Karsten's trademark filings for Ping:
85003420 Wireless communication devices for voice, data or image transmission.
85010415 Computer software, namely, file sharing software; communications software for electronically exchanging data, and graphics accessible via a computer network, etc.
85009569 Computer services, namely, providing search platforms to allow users to request content from and receive content to a mobile device or a computer; Providing user-defined generated content, etc.
85014001 Entertainment and educational services ... Providing an internet website for dissemination of historical information and current news relating to golf etc.
85003420 Broadcasting of video and audio programming over the Internet ... Electronic mail; Providing on-line communications links which transfer the web site user to other local and global web pages .. Providing an on-line forum relating to the subject of sports; Consumer telecommunication services, namely, communications services for electronically exchanging data and graphics via telecommunication networks, including mobile and wireless networks.

UPDATE: There's a deal between the two companies. Press release follows after the jump! Thanks, Kristopher!

Read the rest

      Comments: 27

Hands-on with new Apple TV and iPods; and notes on Ping, the iTunes social network

Rob Beschizza at 12:28 PM Wed 

Apple showed off the latest editions of its iPod lineup and the Apple TV earlier today. The new iPod Nano loses the physical controls and adopts a multitouch display. The iPod Shuffle, however, gets them back.

Read the rest

      Comments: 28

Back To School Art Competition: De-CGI something and win prizes from HP/AMD

Rob Beschizza at 7:34 AM Mon 

HP has offered three splendid "Back To School" machines to give away to Boing Boing readers:

First prize is an HP dv6 15.6" laptop with an AMD Phenom Quad Core Processor

Second prize is an HPE Elite 210f desktop computer with an AMD Phenom Quad Core processor.

Third prize is an HP 2509 monitor.

The competition theme is De-CGI. Take something that is characteristically computerized and render it with natural media. For example, the pixelated layout of an old-school video game represented as bottletops, or a mandelbrot fractal drawn with crayons. Be imaginative!

You retain the copyright in your entries. Only legal residents of the U.S. aged 18 and above and Canada can win the prizes. Read the contest rules. You've got until midnight next Monday to get your entries in!

To enter the competition, simply upload your entry online somewhere and post a link to it in the comments below. Alternatively, email it to me (rob át boing boing døt net). Good luck!

UPDATE! Attention Canadians! HP can ship prizes north of the border. This means entries from oop north are eligible in this contest to receive prizes.

      Comments: 68

Sonar image of The Titanic

Rob Beschizza at 9:43 AM Sat 

A new expedition to the Titanic -- now falling apart on the Atlantic floor -- set out recently, and has begun imaging the wreck. Team PR man Ed Cunning writes in:

What you will see is A bird's eye view sonar image looking down at Titanic's bow taken by the Waitt Institutes AUV, "Mary Ann," operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in an expedition lead by Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Visible are the mast, superstructure, openings for the one and two funnels, as well as the Grand Staircase. This image is one small section of a larger map being created that extends some 15 nautical miles squared.

Click through to the permalink to embiggen the pic. The official website includes an attractive visualization of just how far down the sunken ship is.

      Comments: 24

Microsoft.com is attacked "between 7000 and 9000 times per second" by script kiddies. [ZDNet] — Rob • Comments: 5

Lance Armstrong wants to tell the nation something but it has to promise not to get mad. [The Onion] — Rob • Comments: 9

Follow Boing Boing at the new Digg

Rob Beschizza at 8:42 AM Thu 

Freshly relaunched and redesigned, Digg v4 is out of Beta. Users of the site should check out Boing Boing's page.

      Comments: 15

Animated: American Islamophobia, "Muslim Obama" and cabbie stabbing

Rob Beschizza at 7:28 AM Thu 

Michael from NMA submits:

A proposal to build a US$100 million Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero has sparked controversy in the US. While opponents say they are not against Islam, protests against similar mosques far from Ground Zero has raised fears that intolerance toward American Muslims is growing. One church plans to burn the Koran. 20% of Americans and 46% of Republicans believe Barack Obama is Muslim. A taxi driver in New York City was attacked after telling his passenger that he is Muslim.

      Comments: 46

Behold! Samsung's Galaxy Tab. It's an iClone with a 7" display and looks lovely: shown off in the video are Android 2.2, voice calling and a camera. — Rob • Comments: 38

Petra cave paintings

Rob Beschizza at 5:48 AM Sun 

From The Observer:

Spectacular 2,000-year-old Hellenistic-style wall paintings have been revealed at the world heritage site of Petra through the expertise of British conservation specialists. The paintings, in a cave complex, had been obscured by centuries of black soot, smoke and greasy substances, as well as graffiti. Experts from the Courtauld Institute in London have now removed the black grime, uncovering paintings whose "exceptional" artistic quality and sheer beauty are said to be superior even to some of the better Roman paintings at Herculaneum that were inspired by Hellenistic art.

Discovery of ancient cave paintings in Petra stuns art scholars [Observer]

      Comments: 22

Swedish prosecutors issue, then cancel, arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder

Rob Beschizza at 5:35 AM Sat 

Swedish prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Wikileaks' Julian Assange on Friday only to withdraw it hours later. Accused of rape and molestation, Assange was quoted on Twitter saying that the allegations were "without basis" and "deeply disturbing."

The warrant was cancelled on Saturday, however, with the chief prosecutor saying that Assange was not suspected of rape. From the BBC:

In a brief statement Eva Finne said: "I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape."

The website said there would be no further immediate comment.

Earlier, Karin Rosander, communications head at Sweden's prosecutors' office, said there were two separate allegations against Mr Assange, one of rape and the other of molestation. She gave no details of the accusations. She said that as far as she knew they related to alleged incidents that took place in Sweden.

On Saturday she said the police investigation into the molestation charge continued.

Wikileaks, which recently published 75,000 'war logs' relating to the war in Afghanistan, suggested the charges were 'dirty tricks,' but did not elaborate. Assange, whose globe-trotting advocacy for the organization makes him its most high-profile public face, was in Sweden last weekend to apply for a publishing certificate, which would qualify Wikileaks for protection under the country's journalist shield laws.

Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper reported further details of the the allegations. Assange remains under investigation for the lesser 'molestation' charge, which appears to be a literal translation of Sweden's sexual harassment laws.

Photo: New Media Days

      Comments: 172