Don't try and hide that Leksvik table from me, I can recognize Swedish wood from a hundred miles away. We all own Ikea furniture, it's as certain as death and taxes. But not everyone makes a projector from a lamp.

Instructables member Derte84 cobbled together his projector using just the Isbrytare lamp from Ikea, tape and a couple of photo slides. Very simple, as you can tell. This particular model of lamp has a lens, which is necessary to make the image beam onto a wall, and is what Derte84 attached the photo slide to—though not too close to the light, as otherwise it'd burn.

Then, you can bore friends and family to death with holiday photos the old fashioned way—in Sweden, at least. [Instructables]

Somewhere on the web is the ultimate music site. It has virtually every album, EP and single ever released in a variety of high-quality formats with insanely fast download speeds. You're probably not allowed in.

The Pirate Bay is dead. So is TorrentSpy, MiniNova, Suprnova and many other public BitTorrent trackers. But the most savvy and obsessive file hoarders don't care about that stuff; they wouldn't be caught dead using public trackers.

People serious about downloading pirated music, movies, TV shows, software and other media aren't interested in getting a letter from their ISP or the RIAA/IFPI/MPAA/CRIA. They're also not interested in getting viruses or fake files, often seeded on public trackers by copyright enforcers looking to make piracy annoying. So they've built up hundreds of private sites that only trusted users can access.

A private BitTorrent tracker is a site that you can only gain access to via an invite from a current user. Some of them are very basic, featuring merely a searchable list of torrents people have uploaded. Many feature forums with the trackers for people to announce and discuss files that are available. The most sophisticated feature gigantic databases that organize the files like the greatest online downloading store ever built, but with no checkout.

There are huge private trackers that, like The Pirate Bay, offer up everything and anything that you could want. But there are many more smaller, more specialized trackers. There are sites for music, for movies, for HD Blu-ray movie rips, for both Mac and PC software, for porn, for comic books, for console games, for anime, for TV shows, for E-books and for sporting events. If you know where to look, you can find a site that specializes in exactly what you care about downloading the most.

But downloading media isn't the only thing going on at these sites. At some, they're software development communities, with large numbers of developers donating time to building the site together into something more than just a place to grab files and leave. And it's just this sort of development that gives these sites the ability to reappear in different forms if they get shut down. Because, when you're in the illegal file-swapping business, getting busted is a fact of life.

The RIAA told me that while both public and private trackers are "enormously damaging," they've handed the reins over to the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) to go after these sites. This is probably because many of these sites are hosted overseas. The IFPI told me that "it focuses resources on the top of the illegal supply chain of music, regardless of whether that is a public tracker, private tracker or other source."

OiNK was probably the biggest private music tracker on the web when it was shut down in 2007 by the IFPI. It was huge and well loved. Even Trent Reznor admitted he had an account:

I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now.

OiNK was so well loved because, as Reznor said, it was amazing. If there was an album you were searching for, it was a couple of clicks away. And thanks to infamously strict bitrate requirements, it was available in a number of formats, all higher-quality than what iTunes was offering at the time.

Furthermore, OiNK had very strict ratio requirements, meaning that if you didn't upload as well as download, you'd be kicked off the site. This ensured that files were seeded for a long time and were continually available.

Last month, after a two-year legal ordeal, OiNK founder Allen Ellis was found not guilty and released in the UK. But immediately upon OiNK's demise, multiple other trackers popped up to replace it, built by former members of the OiNK community and following the same ratio and quality guidelines that made OiNK so popular. And those replacements offer even more functionality than OiNK did, continuing to grow and improve in the years since it was shut down.

One of them, let's call it Site X, has surpassed OiNK in terms of content and functionality. It's run like a business, with multiple staffers putting in many hours a week to code it, manage it and work on new features. I talked to the founder and lead SysOp of Site X, who said when the site first started he put in a full-time job's worth of hours. "Nowadays, a conservative estimate would be 15 hours," which is still no small amount. And he is one of three SysOps. There are also two administrators, one developer and 17 moderators on the Site X staff. That's a lot of manpower for something nobody is getting paid for.

And according to this head SysOp, all money made from user donations goes to maintaining the servers and not into any wallets. "I'd be too scared to touch it, even if I could dampen my sense of morality enough to reach my hand into the piggybank." (One of the main charges levied against OiNK founder Alan Ellis was that he made "hundred of thousands of pounds" from user donations.)

Site X's main feature is its huge database of torrents. All are organized by artist, so you can find everything someone has released in one place. Many releases are available in multiple file formats, ranging from lossless FLAC to various bitrates of MP3 to AAC to Ogg, for weirdos that really want their music to all be in Ogg. And for major releases with multiple versions available, you'll find every version, from the original to the vinyl to rereleases, available separately.

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, for example, has 20 different versions available on Site X spread across 60 different download options (click the image to the left to see the entire crazy list). Sure, most people will go for the basic V0 MP3 of the standard issue recording, but if you really want to find the 1981 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab master digitized from vinyl as FLACs, or the 1983 Japanese Black Triangle Pressing in 320 AAC, they're here. It's a completists' paradise.

But what about discovering new music? Site X has two features that help with that: collages and similar artist maps. Collages are basically user-made lists of albums. They can be something like Pitchfork's 100 Best Albums of the 70's or AllMusic 5 Star Albums or just one guy's favorite 90's ska records. At the bottom of every album page it lists what collages that album is a part of so you can explore other music that somehow relates to it.

Similar artist maps are visual guides that appear at the bottom of each artist page. Anyone can add an artist they feel is similar to an artist's page, and as those suggestions get voted up and down, they appear in various sizes in the visual guide at the bottom. Like a band? Simply check out other bands in the map to try something similar.

All of this is built on a system that's rooted in a community. There's an extensive forum here, as well as a Wiki full of information on everything from site rules to how to digitize a vinyl perfectly. And the community helps build the site, coding features that are added to the system and creating hundreds of custom CSS skins to change the appearance.

But what if Site X gets shut down like OiNK was? It has over 116,000 users as of this writing, a number far too large for it to escape the notice of the same people that shut down OiNK. The head SysOp admits that they've already gained some unwanted attention: "We've gotten multiple letters from the CRIA, but none in the past year and a half. It's been very quiet lately. They've either realized they can't do anything, or are busy launching an amazing assault." Won't all the work put into this system be for nothing if the latter is true?

Nope. Because the entire site was built as an open-source piece of software called Gazelle, one that's continually tweaked and updated. Gazelle runs the whole structure of the site, and they're currently working on writing an entirely original tracker from scratch for it. And so far, there are over 50 other private trackers running Gazelle. If one dies, another will pop up to replace it.

So does the existence of such a large network of meticulously-built private BitTorrent sites mean the IFPI and other trade organizations are losing the piracy battle? No, actually. These sites are very difficult to get into and just as difficult to stay in once you're there. They are most definitely not for laypeople, and they're also not at "the top of the supply chain." The days of Napster and Kazaa making piracy easy enough for your mom to do it are gone. It's actually harder to pirate media now than it was a few years ago thanks to the efforts of copyright holders.

Yes, these sites exist that are far, far better than any option has ever been before. But even a site as large and sophisticated as Site X has only 116,000 members. That's nothing compared to the millions of people who populated the large peer-to-peer file-sharing programs a few years ago.

So yes, piracy is indeed alive and well, more sophisticated than ever before. But it's been pushed to places that most people can't get to, and though that's an unlikely victory for the recording industry, I doubt they'd ever claim it as theirs.

Apple's had ambitious TV plans. Standing in the way, industry execs. Apple supposedly wants to offer subscriptions to packages for $30 a month, and to sell shows for a buck. Funny then, what CBS's CEO said during an earnings call.

The relevant Q&A from CBS's most recent earnings call, via Seeking Alpha's full transcript, with my emphasis added:

Doug Mitchelson – Deutsche Bank
And the secondary is just online distribution of your TV shows, I don't want to belabor it because we have talked a lot about over the last year, year or two, but there is a story out there that Apple wants to try to get prices down $0.99 per episode on the sales side and we are all still wondering if this is a right ad load on the free streaming shows. I mean any thoughts on your comfort level with the business models that are out there online?

Leslie Moonves
Yes, I mean the interesting thing about online ads and once again the reason we are happy we are controlling our own content is the advertising thing it's sort of a trial in process. And we are experimenting with different ad loads and as you know authentication TV everywhere would involve the same load that is on the network with similar pricing. So in all these, once again, they are all short-term deals and it is a moving target. There are a certain shows that will be sold on Apple for $0.99, I don't know yet which will be – and we will talk to them about it. But look the great news for us is are we are up in every single demographic category, at the same time we are increasing our revenue from online and other sources. So it all looks good for the future.

The catch, as it were, is that Moonves might not have meant what he said quite so specifically. That is, Peter Kafka's sources tell him that what he meant is that CBS is "open to talks with Apple," but there aren't any specific plans to cut TV shows prices. (In other words, CBS kinda wishes he hadn't said it, but they're not saying it it's flat wrong.)

Leading up to this, the Financial Times has reported on two separate occasions that Apple's pushing for 99-cent shows, and that they'll happen, possibly in time for the iPad launch in April. And then there's the WSJ's persistent report that Apple's pursuing $30 monthly subscriptions for packages of TV shows. Which sound nice. Desirable, even, to the point that Apple would sell way more TV shows.

But TV execs thus far—aside from Moonves' slip here—aren't exactly bubbling about selling their stuff for cheaper, even given the possibility of pushing a greater volume. At best, we could see certain shows sell for cheaper, like Moonves but they'll likely be shows that have less "value." (Like say, Season 1 of VH1's Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab, which goes for 99 cents a pop right now.) In other words, not Lost. It's the same reason the book guys don't like the idea behind Amazon's flat $9.99 rate for ebooks, or really anybody who produces any kind of content seems to be acting like such a paranoid, entrenched asshat to the average person who just wants to buy digital content cheaply and easily—they don't want you to think the stuff they make is worth less than it already is. (Though in the case of TV guys, it's not just losing value they're worried about, it's making more money to cover the expensive production costs of quality, hence their hot-on-the-balls desire to turn Hulu into something you pay for, since the ad revenue's not quite cutting it yet). Oh, and cable guys, like Time Warner, really aren't thrilled with an iTunes that sells subscriptions to TV packages, which is, you know, the same business they're in.

Point being, if this revitalized TV segment of iTunes happens, it's going to take a lot of coaxing, leveraging and browbeating to happen. If it does. [MediaMemo, Seeking Alpha, Mucho props to Peter Kafka]

I guess I should have sent my story to Giz as well since it reminds me of what this tipster had to say.

I happened to be in an elevator with Steve Jobs who appeared to be eating a small child, blood smeared across his face and spilling down his turtleneck in evanescent streaks. At first I acted like nothing was off – you know, we all try and act natural around el Jobso – but as he gnawed through a bone, which made this unsettling crackling sound, I couldn’t help myself.

"The hell you doing Steve?" I asked.

He stopped chewing and gave me this look like I was the dumbest person on Earth. But then, much to my surprise, he explained himself:

"At first I figured Apple would be the Visigoths of Silicon Valley, as we all did. But when I found out they were defeated at the Battle of Gaudalete for being pussies and refusing to employ slave labor on the front line, I realized the only way to sell magical and revolutionary consumer electronics at unbelievable prices was to be even more ruthless. If Apple is going to have any kind of future, we need slave labor and we need it now. Obviously, we also need to occasionally eat small children, kittens, and the like. Are you gonna man up or do I need to fire you before the elevator reaches your floor?"

I liked my job at the time, all things considered, so I "manned up" and shared his lunch. But in retrospect, something about that exchange always struck me as… I don’t know, not quite right, and I fear a harbinger for what Apple may have become. I mean, why couldn’t we just be Visigoths? Isn’t that enough?

Anyways, of course I no longer work at Apple and have since moved on to developing apps that make body parts wobble. But I just wanted to share my story.

Thank you for allowing me to share.

Dr. Christopher W. McGinley, Superintendent of the Lower Merion School District—the district accused of invading students' privacy by accessing their laptop's webcams remotely—has sent an email to parents and guardians explaining why. Kind of:

————— Forwarded message —————
From:
Date: Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 9:33 PM
Subject: Email from Lower Merion School District

Dear LMSD Parents/Guardians,

Our history has been to go to great lengths to protect the privacy of our students; whether it comes to student health, academic or other records. In fact, many of you may remember the heated debate over whether to have security cameras monitor some of our food vending machines. Privacy is a basic right in our society and a matter we take very seriously. We believe that a good job can always be done better.

Recent publicity regarding the District's one-to-one high school laptop initiative, and questions about the security of student laptops prompted our administration to revisit security procedures.

Laptops are a frequent target for theft in schools and off school property. District laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops. The security feature, which was disabled today, was installed to help locate a laptop in the event it was reported lost, missing or stolen so that the laptop could be returned to the student.

Upon a report of a suspected lost, stolen or missing laptop, the feature was activated by the District's security and technology departments. The security feature's capabilities were limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator's screen. This feature was only used for the narrow purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. The District never activated the security feature for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever.

As a result of our preliminary review of security procedures today, I directed the following actions:

• Immediate disabling of the security-tracking program.
• A thorough review of the existing policies for student laptop use.
• A review of security procedures to help safeguard the protection of privacy; including a review of the instances in which the security software was activated. We want to ensure that any affected students and families are made aware of the outcome of laptop recovery investigations.
• A review of any other technology areas in which the intersection of privacy and security may come into play.

We are proud of the fact that we are a leader in providing laptops to every high school student as part of our instructional program. But we need to be equally as proud of the safeguards we have in place to protect the privacy of the users, as well as to safeguard district-owned property while being used by students.

We regret if this situation has caused any concern or inconvenience among our students and families. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at info@lmsd.org. Additional information has been posted on our website, http://www.lmsd.org.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Dr. Christopher W. McGinley
Superintendent of Schools
Lower Merion School District

Do Not Reply. This is not a reply e-mail address.

It's good to see that they have turned the spying software off. It's not so good—but understandable, given the legal situation—that he's not recognizing any wrongdoing, and instead trying to dress the whole thing as a "security feature."

He doesn't talk about the class-action suit, or the fact that students have been asking about this for as long as a year. Talking to Gizmodo, some Lower Merion High School students claimed that, when asked about the random activation of their MacBook's webcams, tech support explained that it was all a technical glitch. These two explanations don't match up. A technical glitch, which admits that it's happened, but accidentally, and the Superintendent's "never activated...any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever" contradict each other. Which is it?

It has taken a class-action suit and massive media coverage to actually acknowledge than the technical glitch was actually security software, installed on purpose to "track lost, stolen and missing laptops." It's just too bad that, according to the students, they were using that software to randomly spy on them at their own homes. [Gizmodo]

There's no special tech inside this power strip concept that could prevent it from coming to market tomorrow. Instead, simple, clever design makes an everyday product even better. Let me explain.

The Multi-Tab strip, by designer Soon Mo Kang, does three things that most power strips don't:

1. Modular construction means you can expand it at will
2. Each plug accommodates a sticker label so you know what it's powering
3. Components can be turned on/off individually, as marked with an LED

Now, whether or not the tabs would make for the best way to toggle power behind my home theater system (where cords are piled high, easily weighing down on exposed controls), is a tad uncertain. But everything else about this design is superior to what I'm using at the moment.

You know the drill, manufacturers. License the design or rip it off—just do something that we didn't in 1993. [Yanko Design via DVICE]

You don't need to speak German to appreciate Papierkrieg (Paper War) by Makaio Tisu—you just need a sibling and/or one long-repressed paper airplane obsession. Two children face off, creating paper creations of increasing imagination. And it's charming. [Neatorama]

With working conditions and security policy down Apple's supply chain under serious fire, an Apple insider reached out to us. Apple's blasé attitude toward its manufacturers' labor practices, he says, is old news.

Our tipster was a member of the Newton team when Steve Jobs made his return to Apple in 1996, with mixed memories of the homecoming:

In an effort to bring the Newton group into the fold, we had a meeting at which Steve laid out his vision for the future of Apple.

"Apple will be the Nike of consumer electronics" was his mantra.

The Nike of consumer electronics. I mean sure, aspiring for Nike's level of name recognition and synonymity with their industry is forgivable. But in 1996-1997, Nike's name wasn't just synonymous with shoes and sportwear; it was synonymous with shady work practices, after an extensive Life Magazine article about labor conditions in Pakistan led with a photo of a small boy surrounded by Nike merchandise. To aspire to be Nike that year was to aspire to be successful at all costs. :

I stood and asked if that included employing disadvantaged 'slave' labor in Asia? A well known problem for Nike at the time.

My question was ignored.

Regardless of the actual v.s. relative working conditions, a company cannot grow and produce margins like Apples without someone paying the price. That someone is always the one with least leverage.

Unfortunately, extreme secrecy can also protect bad practices as much as any legitimate trade secret.

This anecdote clearly comes from someone who's got some serious issues with Apple, and Steve Jobs in particular, whom he calls "one of the most vindictive people I have ever met." But if true, the implications are disturbing: It paints Apple, from the top, as a company—that's been plagued with documented labor issues as of late—that isn't just blissfully unaware of how companies down its supply chain meet their absurd demands for secrecy, including known labor problems, but as a company that ignored these concerns from the start. [Thanks, tipster!—Pic via LostInAFog]