Category: Miscellaneous

This is another piece of artwork that I have been working on, now and then, for the last couple days. Feel free to let me know what you think.

According to TheDamnBlog you can hack an elevator by pressing the door close button and the floor of your choice at the same time, then the elevator will whisk you to your floor without stopping at any other floors.

From the site:

“The designers of some elevators include a hidden feature that is very handy if you’re in a hurry or it’s a busy time in the building (like check-out time in a hotel). While some elevators require a key, others can be put into “Express” mode by pressing the “Door Close” and “Floor” buttons at the same time. This sweeps the car to the floor of your choice and avoids stops at any other floor.
This seems to work on Most elevators that I have tried! Most elevators have the option for this to work, but on some of them the option is turned off by whoever runs them. This is a rather fun hack, so the next time you are on an elevator, give it a try, you have nothing to lose, And this concludes Hacking Elevators 101!

Elevators that have been tested and worked on:
Otis Elevators (All But The Ones Made In 1992),
Dover (Model Numbers: EL546 And ELOD862),
And Most Desert Elevators(All, But Model Numbers ELD5433 And ELF3655) “

Next elevator I ride in, I’m totally trying this.

(via Kottke)

In a move to prevent communication between it’s employees and their union leaders, Telus blocked subscribers’ access to a Web site set up by an employee labor union intended to publicize the union’s views about its dispute with Telus. As a result Telus also blocked access to at least 766 additional, unrelated Web sites.

What a terrible and ridiculous thing to do! Telus is playing very dirty. Why do we stand for it? This is inexcusable: imagine if Telus chose to block all calls into union headquarters. Then ask yourself how is this any different?

So I decided instead of just whining about it, I would actually try and do something by lodging a complaint with the CRTC. What I discovered on their website kind of surprised me:

You may not be aware that the Commission does not regulate the rates, quality of service or business practices for Internet Service Providers and cannot pursue complaints on these matters on your behalf.

The CRTC doesn’t care about business practices for ISP’s, and unless what they are doing is illegal, there doesn’t seem like there is much you can do.

Illegal actions fall under the Criminal Code of Canada or other federal statutes. Consumers concerned about possible illegal actions should contact the appropriate enforcement authorities.

I’m not even sure if what they are doing is illegal, and it’s not like I’m going to call them on it if it is. I should probably get a backbone and show my disapproval of their actions by switching providers.

Just now I stumbled upon Robert J. Lang’s amazing origami site. Robert creates the most fantastic things out of paper.

Having been working with vector shapes a lot yesterday, I was getting pretty frustrated when trying to switch between tools quickly. Though it’s not in the menu commands or tool tips within Photoshop, I found this table of helpful hints in the help file. I realize that for most people it’s going to be pretty boring content, but for me, it’ll be a handy resource for vector art (and most likely easier to find than looking it up in the help file).

Result	Windows	Mac OS
Select multiple anchor points	Direct selection tool + Shift-click	Direct selection tool + Shift-click
Select entire path	Direct selection tool + Alt-click	Direct selection tool + Option-click
Duplicate a path	Pen (any pen tool), Path Selection or Direct Selection tool + Control + Alt-drag	Pen (any pen tool), Path Selection or Direct Selection tool+ Command + Option-drag
Switch from Path Selection, Pen, Add Anchor Point, Delete Anchor Point, or Convert Point tools, to Direct Selection tool	Control	Command
Switch from Pen tool or Freeform Pen tool to Convert Point tool when pointer is over anchor or direction point	Alt	Option
Close path with straight-line segment	Magnetic Pen tool + Alt-double-click	Magnetic Pen tool + Option-double-click

I spent the afternoon making this cartoon character in Photoshop. It’s mostly vector shapes with some brush strokes for highlights and shadows.

I love a good controversy — especially when it involves google rankings, blog comments and maybe even the mob. (Okay probably not the mob, but some jerks at Quick Boys Moving & Storage.)

Adam Laurie, chief security officer of the London security and networking firm ALD shows Wired News how using Linux he was able to expose billing systems, read other guest’s e-mail, and open the minibar at hotels around the world before he spoke about the vulnerability Saturday at the DefCon hacker conference in Las Vegas.

I find this sort of stuff very interesting.

Yesterday The Supreme Court of Canada ruled against the levy on recordable media like Mp3 players. My iPod was purchased in the States so I never paid the tax, but from what I understand if you bought your iPod in Canada and paid the levy, you might be eligible for a refund; great for you.

However, as Canadian copyright lawyer Michael Geist points out, the ruling is actually not so good for users of the iPod because without the tax (although we’ll certainly hear more about this in the future) it looks like the government now considers any copying of music onto any hard drives, including iPod’s or personal computer drives, as illegal.

Further, today’s decision represents a serious blow to the iPod, which has been an incredible boon to the music industry. Simply put, copying store bought CDs onto iPods, as CRIA’s own Graham Henderson has supported, may now be unlawful in Canada since it is difficult to find an exception within the Copyright Act that would permit that form of copying. While perhaps some in the industry may think this is a good thing as it transitions users to re-purchase the same music yet again as MP3 files from services such as iTunes, I think it will ultimately lower the value that consumers associate with music to the detriment of everyone in the industry.

Link to Canada.com news report on the issue.

Google has a really cool service called Individualized Google. I love it because it not only lets you set your personal bookmarks on a google start page, but it also lets you track all your favorite RSS and news feeds and even your gmail on the same page!