Zoom performs work of China internet censors -- against users in the U.S.

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/13/bowing-to-china-zoom-deactiva.html

Having a virtual private network (VPN) protecting your online activities is as essential to 2020 web surfing as wearing a jacket during winter in Minnesota. But with dozens of VPN companies clamoring for customers, a select few are trying to raise the game by offering some unique services that lesser competitors can’t offer.

That’s one of the selling points of Encrypt.me, a Los Angeles-based provider that Lifehacker praised as "a VPN service that stands out thanks to its dead simplicity and easy to understand policies." 

If a no-nonsense approach to safe, manageable online security with a couple of interesting wrinkles sounds up your alley, Encrypt.me could find its way on to your shortlist of possible protection services.

If you just want simple plug-and-play shielded internet access and protection from online cyber threats, Encrypt.me has you covered with 70 locations in more than 40 countries, all accessible through fully encrypted, high-speed connections. Armed with Encrypt.me’s native security and encryption technology, hackers and other online snoops won’t be able to see or access any of your information.

But Encrypt.me is also the first — and still one of the only — VPN providers to offer customers cloud-hosted private VPN endpoints, isolated secure server space available on your own private cloud space, manageable only by you.  

So unlike other VPN services, that option offers you your own fully shielded IP with Encrypt.me that’s always the same. No more sharing IPs and no more time-wasting CAPTCHAs.

Encrypt.me also just gave users the ability to create their own content filtering, so you can block malware, viruses, ad trackers, adult or gambling content, even the evils of Facebook and Twitter if you choose. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/encrypt-me-vpn-offers-full-onl.html

We’re all shooting video now, which means at some point, we’re all going to need some video editing software to get our finished product into shape for YouTube, social media, and the like. 

Of course, there are always options like the heavyweights of video editing software, apps like perennial favorites Final Cut Pro, PowerDirector, and the granddaddy of the scene, the Adobe Creative Cloud anchor Premiere. But once you start looking at the price — like Premiere’s costly $20.99 per month subscription offer — most shoppers will invariably start asking if any free apps can handle the job.

The answer is yes. And while programs like DaVinci Resolve may miss a few of the bells and whistles of its much pricier competitors, training like that found in The Comprehensive Video Editing in DaVinci Resolve 16 Bundle can help you accomplish virtually any editing task in this sneaky powerful — and free — app.

This collection of seven courses is led by instructor Kashif Altaf, a Master's degree holder who’s taught thousands how to produce top-quality videos while earning an impressive 4.4 out of 5-star rating from nearly 2.500 reviewers.

Each segment of the seven-part course curriculum helps even first-time editors get a real handle on what DaVinci Resolve can do. After students get a feel for the app and its tools in Part 1: Basics of the CUT Page, we’ll immediately jump in and start editing. While learning how to import, edit, render and deliver, students also get direction in Part 2: Workspace and Editing Tools about how to edit with the mindset of a professional editor, including the exact steps pros use to create top-quality work. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/davinci-resolve-is-a-totally-f.html

Most of us may adore wine, but when confronted with the realities of being a true lover of the grape, we’re practically godless heathens. We pop the cork, fill up a glass and...glug, glug.

But as any true wine expert or sommelier will tell you, you really have to properly decant a wine to experience its true scope. Decanting separates a wine from any sediment that may have formed, while also aerating the liquor to supercharge the aromas and flavors within.

Trouble is, those same wine snobs will also tell you that many full-bodied vintages should be allowed to sit for an hour or even more before serving.

The Wake Up Wine Pro S electronic decanter says, nah, we’re not waiting an hour to drink up. In fact, most wines you put in the Wake Up only need about 5 to 10 minutes of aeration time before they’re ready to sample.

With the Wake Up, you pour your bottle into the 750 ml glass decanter, consult the chart to see how long that particular wine type needs, enter the number of minutes and press start. The internal blades slowly start churning your wine into a spinning tornado, opening up the liquid, and activating all the secret smells and tastes trapped inside. There’s even a super-fine sediment strainer that filters out impurities and sediments as fine as a millimeter.

Of course, it’s still at least a few minutes of wait time, so the Wake Up also doubles as a high quality, 360-degree omnidirectional Bluetooth speaker unit. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/the-wake-up-wine-pro-decants-a.html

I've been using my Weber Rapid Fire Chimney Starter for about 7 or 8 years. It's the best way to get charcoal barbecues started. No starter fluid needed. Just add the briquettes, put two crumpled sheets of newspaper (I save newsprint junk mail for this) in the bottom, then light the paper. In about 30-40 minutes, the coals are ready for grilling. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/this-is-the-best-way-to-start.html

It's been five years since the recycling auteurs at Cardboard Movie Co. released "Jurassic Park: Low-budget Remake." Now they are back with the xenomorphtastic "Alien: Low-budget Remake."

Were you terrified by the #Xenomorph in our low budget #Alien remake? Take a look at our #creaturecreator Enrique Pi~neros working his magic behind the scenes! #cardboardcreations #moviepropsreplica @donttrythis @testedcom @RidleyScottCG pic.twitter.com/yO4RRgbfSQ

 Cardboard Movie Co (@cardboardmovies) June 12, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/watch-this-ridiculous-and-wond.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/apartment-complex-employee-sus.html

Built by researchers at Harvard and the University of Colorado, the Harvard Ambulatory MicroRobot (HAMR) is just 2.25 centimeters long. It "comes up to about knee-high on a cockroach," writes Evan Ackerman in IEEE Spectrum, and can run like hell. Four piezoelectric-driven legs carry it around at 30 centimeters per second even carrying its own weight in batteries or sensors. The makers of HEXBUGs should sponsor this research! From Ackerman's interview with the lead researcher, University of Colorado professor Kaushik Jayaram, in IEEE Spectrum:

Are there good reasons to make HAMR-Jr smaller, and how much smaller could HAMR robots get?

For a number of real world applications, we would like HAMR-Jr to be smaller and possibly more capable. Specifically, crevices in the rubble from collapsed structures are often just a few centimeters long. Similarly, in one of our previous collaborations with Rolls-Royce for engine inspection tasks, we found that typical boroscope port diameters are 8 to 12 mm in commercial jet engines. For robotic surgery related applications, the constraints are even smaller, as the largest arteries are only about 8 to 10 mm.

Making at-scale robots also makes it easy to use them as platforms for testing biology hypotheses (especially about insect locomotion) without worrying much about the physics of scaling, which is often unknown.

I hope to see a fully autonomous (both power and control) and highly capable version of HAMR-Jr fit within a one centimeter cube within the next few years.

"HAMR-Jr Is a Speedy Quadrupedal Robot the Size of a Penny" (IEEE Spectrum)

“Scaling down an insect-size microrobot, HAMR-VI into HAMR-Jr” (ICRA 2020)

image: Kaushik Jayaram/University of Colorado Boulder/Harvard SEAS Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/a-speedy-scurrying-bug-robot.html

Today, more than ever, the Munchies plague me. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/in-this-time-of-legalized-mari.html

Amazingly powerful. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/dave-chappelles-846.html

Stephanie Rapkin, the Wisconsin attorney who was recorded spitting on a 17-year-old at an anti-racism rally in Milwaukee was charged with a hate crime, reports AP.

From AP:

According to the criminal complaint, Rapkin told an investigating officer she was a cancer survivor and felt threatened because she was surrounded by protesters who were not wearing coronavirus protective masks. Video shows Rapkin did not wear a mask.

Shorewood police went to Rapkin’s home the following day in response to an altercation. She resisted arrest and kneed one officer in the groin, the complaint said.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/white-lawyer-who-spat-on-black.html

In the 1990s, country musician Ray Presnell wrote and recorded this delightful ditty, "Internet Loving."

At YouTube, Presnell writes, "Internet Loving was an easy one to write for me. I think most us can relate to the song and has spent a lot of time in the chat rooms."

(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/listen-to-internet-loving.html

"She says the turn signal won't stay engaged when making a right turn."

thumbnail image: detail of photo by Lukas 3z (CC BY-SA 4.0) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/watch-this-mechanic-fix-a-cust.html

According to the Action Man, "The G"omb"oc is the world's first three-dimensional convex and homogeneous shape that has only one stable and one unstable equilibrium point." Interestingly, the shape is similar to certain kinds of turtles. If one of these turtles is turned upside down, gravity will turn it right side up.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/the-gomboc-is-an-object-with-o.html

David Lynch took a break from giving his daily weather report to describe the activity of a caterpillar he observed outside his house.  Eraserhead-like sound effects were added to the short film, which heightened the dread of what followed.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/david-lynch-tells-the-story-of.html

Since the pandemic began, Bob Dylan has released his first two songs in almost a decade, "Murder Most Foul" (above), a beautiful ballad about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the stunning "I Contain Multitudes" (below). In a very rare interview in today's New York Times, Dylan talks to Douglas Brinkley about his new music, the curious references to both Indiana Jones and Anne Frank in his latest song, and, of course, sheltering-in-place. From the New York Times:

Why didn’t more people pay attention to Little Richard’s gospel music?

Probably because gospel music is the music of good news and in these days there just isn’t any. Good news in today’s world is like a fugitive, treated like a hoodlum and put on the run. Castigated. All we see is good-for-nothing news. And we have to thank the media industry for that. It stirs people up. Gossip and dirty laundry. Dark news that depresses and horrifies you[....]

Does having the Pacific Ocean in your backyard help you process the Covid-19 pandemic in a spiritual way? There is a theory called “blue mind” which believes that living near water is a health curative.

Yeah, I can believe that. “Cool Water,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” “How Deep Is the Ocean.” I hear any of those songs and it’s like some kind of cure. I don’t know what for, but a cure for something that I don’t even know I have. A fix of some kind. It’s like a spiritual thing. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/a-rare-new-interview-with-bob.html

After you install an iPhone shortcut called "Pulled Over By Police" all you have to say is "Siri, I’m being pulled over” and the shortcut will record the encounter.

From CBS Sacramento:

You give the command, “I’m being pulled over” and the program pauses any music you were playing, goes into ‘do not disturb’ mode, dims the phone’s brightness, and starts recording on the phone’s front-facing camera. Further, once you stop the recording it will send the video to a designated contact.

Image: Jumpstory / CC0 Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/iphone-shortcut-to-record-enco.html

Tickets for Trump's forthcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, come with a liability waiver in which you could become infected with coronavirus there.

“By clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present,” the disclaimer reads at the bottom of the ticket page on the Trump website. “By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.”

Welcome to the death cult.

Previously: The Children at the Trump Rallies. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/tickets-for-trump-rally-come-w.html

Just like the Twitter experiment, and to nobody's surprise -- a Facebook account that copies and re-posts President Donald Trump's posts word-for-word is immediately flagged for inciting violence.

It is long past time for Facebook and Twitter to treat Trump like everyone else, and enforce the rules of their own platform against the biggest threat to safety America has at this time, besides the coronavirus itself.

From Newsweek:

The warning was received yesterday by "Will they suspend me"—a profile conducting an experiment sharing Trump's updates verbatim to see how the platform responds. It uses the handle @suspendthepres on Twitter, where the test is also ongoing.

The notice forced the deletion of a post that remained untouched on the president's own page, containing the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." It warned that the account would face a 24-hour suspension if it broke the policies again.

"Facebook took almost exactly a week but they just issued their first warning. Forced deletion of content," the account holder wrote Thursday, as Vice first reported.

"Your post goes against our Community Standards on violence and incitement. We use the same Community Standards around the world for everyone," the message from the social network said, revealing that the offending post had reached 26 people.

The post by President Trump, published on May 29, was widely criticized for appearing to incite state violence against masses of protesters taking to the streets following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis just four days prior.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/facebook-account-that-copies-t.html

Copyright law being behind the times is why we can't have nice things.

The nonprofit Internet Archive says its National Emergency Library was a public service to people who could not get access to libraries during the coronairus pandemic, but publishers and authors accused Archive.org of “stealing,” and there's a lawsuit threat, so founder Brewster Kahle says the program now must end.

Here's the Internet Archive blog post:

Temporary National Emergency Library to close 2 weeks early, returning to traditional controlled digital lending

“The Association of American Publishers, which is helping to coordinate the publishing industry’s response to Internet Archive, declined to comment,” reports the New York Times:

Since March, Internet Archive, a nonprofit, has made more than 1.3 million books available online without restriction, calling them a National Emergency Library. It said the program was in place “to serve the nation’s displaced learners” during the coronavirus pandemic, and that it would keep the library open until June 30 or the end of the U.S. national emergency, whichever came later.

In a blog post published on Wednesday, however, it said it would close the library next week. It said that the “vast majority” of people used the e-books for a very short period of time, so could be served under the organization’s normal restrictions, which included limiting checkouts to 14 days.

The lawsuit, filed June 1, does not just object to the National Emergency Library but to the way Internet Archive has long operated. Traditional libraries pay publishers licensing fees, and agree to terms that restrict how many times they can lend an e-book.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/internet-archive-ending-free-e.html