Sony’s “edgy” marketing gets it attention, but it’s remarkable how tone-deaf it is to what people other than teenage boys will think. It’s as if it doesn’t see that the story should be “PlayStation 3,” not “look how crude and offensive Sony is.” Erwin Rommel, Joan of Arc resurrected by PlayStation 3. [Copyranter via Engadget and Consumerist ]

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Purported PS3 ad sports Nazi imagery

[via walking on glass via fiction romance ] Previously: Polaroid files for Chapter 11 - Boing Boing Last Polaroid film kits head to Urban Outfitters The Impossible Project: Firing up an old Polaroid instant film … Polaroid to take another crack at the instant camera - Boing Boing … Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printer reviewed (Verdict: Shabby … Polaroid cartridge as iPhone stand - Boing Boing Gadgets

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Power On Self Test: Dead Format Device

Yes, this ad shamelessly rips off Levi’s . Yes, the concept is silly. But, man, do I love it. Apparently much more so than our friends at Gizmodo and Gadget Lab, who aren’t too keen on the notion of catching a laptop in your buttocks. Lighten up, fellas! In fact, go watch some Tim & Eric (NSFW). [via Gizmodo via Gadget Lab ]

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Why I’m Buying An MSI Laptop

AT&T is failing to deliver voice mail to iPhones, and has been failing at this for weeks. MG Seigler offers his horror story , which leads him to imagine a world in which Verizon carries the iPhone. In our own mailbox is a similar tale, from someone who was told by AT&T that it can do little to resolve the issue. Jean Hagan of the Institute for the Future (Pesco works there ) is among those affected, and spent more than an hour prizing information out of customer service. AT&T confirmed that the outage affects users in California: if it’s affecting you, you should call 611 and log a complaint so they “can work efficiently with Apple” to deal with it. Those affected couldn’t even manually check your messages–they’d get an error message instead–meaning you’d have to dial in, just like in the olden days. Here’s Jean: She told me they have been having problems for over a week with tons of reports. I asked her if they plan to notify users and she said “Well, we have been instructed to apologize, log all complaints to escalate with Apple, and if needed negotiate the service for the month”, and I was appalled that she said there was currently no resolution. Then she recommended that … you could move your sim card to, say an old RAZR, you’d be able to see our message index, etc. AT&T seems simply unable to deal with the iPhone on its network: its 3G is slower in real-world tests than Sprint and Verizon’s “2.75G” Evdo Rev. A network, and that’s when 3G works at all. For consumers, it’s an inconvenience; for business, it’s a big red banner over the iPhone saying “Do Not Buy This.”

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AT&T unable to fix broken iPhone voicemail

In 1983, my former professor and friend Howard Rheingold read an article by Alan Kay. Immediately, he wanted to experience the Alto and the future of networked minds. He started calling PARC on a weekly basis. Nothing. Then when he called back to remind HR of his existence, he was given an immediate assignment: write a last-minute speech for a Xerox executive. With that, Howard had landed himself his “dream job” at PARC as an in-house writer. Howard’s gig involved interviewing researchers and scientists about their work with interfaces, LAN, etc. Super cool in retrospect and at the time, I’m sure. He goes into great detail in his book Tools for Thought (pictured), which explores batch processing, the 1960s, time sharing, and more at Xerox PARC. Howard’s insights into the successes and failures of Xerox PARC are well worth a read. Here’s how he framed PARC’s trajectory and missed opportunity in his Wired article from 1994: Personal computers did not spring naturally from the computer industry. They were deliberately realized by a radical fringe, against all the force of the day’s accepted wisdom… These zealous wizards handed Xerox an astounding lead in information technology in the early 1980s, but by the end of the decade, Xerox watched as upstarts like Apple and Microsoft grew wealthy off Xerox’s discoveries. Neither Apple nor Microsoft even existed when the first Altos were designed in the early 1970s; by 1990 either company could have bought Xerox. The tragicomic Xerox saga is recorded in Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander’s Fumbling the Future . Here’s the question he ended his 1994 article with: So how will PARC guarantee that this time they won’t fumble their new future? Three ways, says JSB [ John Seely Brown ]. “One, we are more careful about intellectual property. Two, we are working smart - looking for entrepreneurial partnerships to develop ideas quickly. And three, Xerox has radically repositioned its organization so that its corporate strategy is shaped and informed by PARC and PARC is being shaped and informed by corporate strategy.” And, of course, here’s what eventually happened: By 2002, PARC became in independent research business with the ability to license its own patented tech and discoveries to other companies, institutions, and start-ups, especially the recent wave of alternative energy upstarts. While there are still ties to Xerox, PARC’s profits are entirely its own. What’s more, I’m told revenue is even split up among PARC employees. Lessons learned.

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PARC: Un-fumbling the Future

“Uh, I think I snapped it…” I got my first tick on the BBG camping trip. I was lucky. I didn’t even know it was there until it was gone. I brushed it off in the shower somehow without leaving any of the tick in my body *knock wood*. My completely uneducated guess is the hot water must have shocked the little bugger, and when I inadvertently passed my hand over him, he backed out and/or fell out because he had yet to burrow? (if you’re a tick expert, feel free to weigh in). Next time, I won’t be so lucky, which is why I’m going to: a) use bug spray, and b) pick up a legit tick remover just in case. Cause there’s no way I’m going to try the above method. Here’s a series of tick removers, including one that uses cryotherapy . I’m tempted to buy the one with a mini-lasso and just call it a day. Before I do, though, please feel free to chime in with any suggestions, experiences or links to videos of yourself removing ticks. Tickner (”My name is Freeze . Learn it well. For it’s the chilling sound of your doom.”) Ticked Off (you can personalize yours ) Tick Off (battery-operated) Tick Key (comes in a variety of colors) Trix TickLasso (via Cool Tools ) This post is part of a theme day: BBG on Camping .

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Tick Removers: Which Do You Use?

The final step of upgrading the iPhone to the new 3.0 operating system is failing, as it appears that the iTunes Store has collapsed under the weight of millions of phones trying to authorize at once. (Complaints are trending on Twitter by the hundreds .) Without the final authorization from iTunes, the new firmware doesn’t activate—bricking the iPhones and leaving them only able to make emergency calls. I know this, because I’m staring at my own bricked 3G. It is advised to wait a few hours for the store to come back online before upgrading if you want to, you know, use your phone. Update : And mine just activated. I had to unplug and replug about half a dozen times.

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iTunes Store failure temporarily bricking iPhones during 3.0 upgrade

I wipe out on 3-5 ft waves often. It sucks. But I cannot even begin to imagine what a wipeout of this magnitude feels like. After the jump, more crushing spills… Biff! Ooof Ay ay ay Montage Mega-Montage “Oh my god, I’m still alive…” Doesn’t look that bad… until you see the wounds (00:32) warning: nsfw language Shark-induced wipeout = WTF

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Video Gallery: Big Surf Wipeouts Are Gnarly

Brian Krebs : Big deal, you say? I can just uninstall the add-on via Firefox’s handy Add-ons interface, right? Not so fast. The trouble is, Microsoft has disabled the “uninstall” button on the extension. What’s more, Microsoft tells us that the only way to get rid of this thing is to modify the Windows registry, an exercise that — if done imprecisely — can cause Windows systems to fail to boot up.

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"Microsoft Update Quietly Installs Firefox Extension"

BusinessWire press release : Consumers will have a choice of the following HDMI cables: • Standard HDMI Cable - supports data rates up to 1080i/60; • High Speed HDMI Cable - supports data rates beyond 1080p, including Deep Color and all 3D formats of the new 1.4 specification; • Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet - includes Ethernet connectivity; • High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet - includes Ethernet connectivity; • Automotive HDMI Cable - allows the connection of external HDMI-enabled devices to an in-vehicle HDMI device. So I just buy the most expensive one, right?

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New HDMI 1.4 standard offers just five confusing options