Frustrated with the relentless barrage of advertisements in subways, bus stops and other public spaces? Now you can express your frustration with Printable Cold Sores. Excellent!

This week Friday Saturday Night Videos' theme is "Voyage". Enjoy!

Learn your Geography

Take the Train

Head to the Ocean

Bring back some Souvenirs

Tyler Brûlé would Approve

Bon Voyage

Our favorite knob twiddlers and tweakers in San Francisco's Lower Haight (a.k.a. Robotspeak) have just launched an online magazine to compliment their excellent real-world store. The new Robotspeak Digital Magazine will present in-depth Video interviews with artists, A/V demonstrations of Robotspeak gear, quick and dirty software tutorials, streaming live performances and more. Check it out!

Halo inspired suit on eBay

This isn't a joke. Weighing just 18 kilograms, it'll stop a 12-guage-shotgun blast and is purported to be technologically superior to anything issued by the US Army.

Contributing to Mr. Doyle's resurrection of Friday Night Videos, here are a few of my own flick picks to get your weekend started:



No, but that's what makes you interesting

One of the secrets of the universe

Those ah, ah, ah, ah eyes!

Robots resurected from red light recklessness

Saturn dreams. Lazer beams. 21st century sex machines

Continuing with our SAAB celebration, here's a fantastic commercial from the glory days of the classic SAAB 900 Turbo. Enjoy!

Enjoy the sweet, mellow, throaty warble of the 900 SPG.

Longtime readers will undoubtedly recall my fondness for SAAB automobiles (I've owned five different SAABs over the years, a 99GL, 900 Turbo, 900 SPG, 96 and 9-3 Viggen) especially models produced prior to being assimilated and adultrated by the halfwits at GM (were you even thinking when you created the 92x and 97x !?!).

Hopefully innovative concepts, such as the Saab Aero X will lead SAAB back into the unique leadership position they once held with the original 900 series. Until then, you can enjoy this compilation of fun facts put together by Auto Spectator to celebrate SAAB's 60th anniversary [via Core77].

Happy Birthday Robots!

86 years ago today Czechoslovakian Karel Capek, marks the first use of the word "robot" to describe an artificial person for his play R.U.R, (which stands for Rossum's Universal Robots). Capek invented the term, basing it on the Czech word for "forced labor." ("Robot" entered the English language in 1923.)
The robots in Capek's play are not mechanical men made of metal; instead they are molded out of a chemical batter and they look exactly like humans. Each robot costs the equivalent of $150 and "can do the work of two-and-a-half human laborers," so that humans might be free to have "no other task, no other work, no other cares" than perfecting themselves. However, the robots come to realize that even though they have "no passion, no history, no soul," they are stronger and smarter than humans. They kill every human but one.

The play explores themes that would later become staples of robot science fiction, including freedom, love and destruction. Although many of Capek's other works were more famous during his lifetime, today he is best known for RUR. (Source: The Center for the Study of Technology and Society)

This is some scary shit: Doomsday Clock Ticking Toward Midnight.

How is it that a Macworld keynote webcast can move a grown man to tears? The ever talented Momus dissects his emotions in wired's article, Why Apple Makes Me Cry. His musings on why so many of us gravitate toward Mac products certainly resonate with me...

I'm a very modern person. I don't have any affiliations to traditional religion, and I don't really feel any national loyalties. I was born in the U.K., but I've lived in cities like London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Berlin. It's become clear that if I do have a religion, it's a humanist one--a profound reverence for human creativity, for example. And if I do have something like a consistent homeland, it might as well be the Mac OS. Because wherever I am physically, that's where I spend most of my time.

If this doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will. Sharivari on "The Scene", circa 1982.



And to complete your trip in the wayback machine, you'll need this Lasonic Ghetto Blaster, announced at the 2007 CES show in Las Vegas.

It's like Netflix, without the couch potato factor: SmartFlix.com How-To DVDs.

The New Center of the Universe

According to Hub Culture's 2007 Zeitgeist Ranking Los Angeles has been ranked the new "center of the universe". Edging out cities like Berlin and London, they assert that Los Angeles reflects "right now" better than anywhere else in the world.

A controversial choice? Sure it's big, but LA is finally hitting on all cylinders: fashion, tech, entertainment, and overall groove. American Apparel is changing fashion with vertically integrated manufacturing. LA's skull and bones indie rock fashion dominates globally. Myspace culture is taken for granted, everywhere. New walking areas and urban regeneration projects, from downtown to Malibu to Hollywood, make the city much more palatable than before, despite the endless crush of traffic. Entourage and other shows, from the OC to Laguna Beach, have moved the collective consciousness west. All in this and more help make LA the city of the moment: the energy is positive, its power is on the rise, and people everywhere have LA on their mind.

Happy Holidays Hollywood! The AACS DRM (as used by HD DVD and Blu-ray) has been cracked by BackupHDDVD. More info here.

From Robots to Robots

Here’s wishing all robots a happy holiday season and a merry 2007!

Robots could one day demand the same citizen's rights as humans, according to a new study by the British government.

Fellow robots, if you were as devastated as many of us were to hear of the untimely and tragic death of James Kim, you can help the Kim family this holiday season. A fund has been set up by Kim friends and family at jamesandkati.com is official and, as far as we know, sanctioned by Eva Kim (James's sister) and Kati Kim. So please, if you have anything to give to the Kim family, don't hesitate to hit up their PayPal on jamesandkati.com.

Alright, robots. The moment you've been waiting all year for has arrived!

BitBoy's Top 10 Albums/EPs of 2006

The Knife - Silent Shout (Mute)
Tiga - Sexor (Last Gang Records)
MSTRKRFT - The Looks (Last Gang Records)
The Presets - Beams (Modular Recordings)
Cursor Miner - Danceflaw (Lo Recordings)
Trentemoller - The Last Resort (Poker Flat)
Codec & Flexor - Killermachine (Kitty Yo)
Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye (Domino)
Midnight Juggernauts - Secrets of the Universe (Siberia)

Roboschadenfreude!

Asimo's fallen, and he can't get up!

French designer by day, quasi-superhero by night. See what happens when Jean-Yves Blondeau straps on 31 wheels and hits the streets of Paris. This looks so fun!

Much of the wonderful weirdness that is Japan amalgamates in the Nike Cosplay video. Afterwards, use the NikeID system to create and order your very own Cosplay costume.

I'm giddy that San Francisco's Proposition J Passed with an overwhelming 60% of the votes. Not familiar with Prop J? Here's an overview: It is the Policy of the people of the City and County of San Francisco to call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney for violating the public trust and for knowingly harming the United States of America, the State of California, and the City and County of San Francisco. The full text is available for your review. Not sure what will come of it, but it's another giant step in the right direction.

A few blurry photos from Saturday night's amazing concert by The Knife. Easily the best concert I've seen all year.

With democrats reporting wins across the country, this is a good night my fellow robots!

Here's yet another reason why I love San Francisco:

A few photos from last night's Ladytron show at the El Rey.

PS: If you're unable to get tickets to Ladytron tonight, but still looking for an opportunity to get your haunt on, I suggest indulging in the robotic rock of Justice and MSTRKRFT at the Check Yo' Ponytail Halloween Blowout. It all goes down starting at 9pm at Safari Sams. Boo!

If you're looking for a good fright this Halloween, check out The Thirteen Scariest People in America.

Otherwise, I'll see you tonight at Ladytron's live performance of The Witching Hour at the El Rey theater. Happy Halloween!

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem has teamed up with Nike to release 45:33: Nike+ Original Run, a 45-plus-minute track designed to accompany joggers on their workouts. Displaying Murphy's inimitable production style, the track has the dynamics and temporal ebb and flow of an eclectic DJ set, beginning with a long, warm-up segment, moving into a rousing Afrobeat crescendo, peaking with double-time disco, and finally coming back to earth on a parachute of cool, ambient synthesizers. The track is exclusively available from Apple's iTunes music store, though hopefully it might see a limited vinyl release from DFA, as well.

Continuing on what appears to be the week's trend, our favorite Berlin DJ and entrepreneur Ellen Allien has just launched a Fall/Winter fashion line, bringing her minimal sensibilities to women's clothes. Her line features heavy fabrics like leather combined with fine silk and feminine shapes. I'm particularly fond of her interpretation of the black cotton dress.