Hack Real

Turning Ads into Art

2007-05-16T18:10:00.001+01:00

AddArt is a Firefox extension that, rather than blocking web ads, replaces them with art by a "young contemporary artist" (via Advertising Lab).

I'm struck by the development of a third ground here (i.e. between keeping ads and removing them), and can't help but notice similarities between this and advert subversion.

Idea: Rather than replace adverts with art, let users contribute "doctored" advert images that replace, or even overlay the original ads. Some kind of "blocked ad repository" would let aspiring subverters to see what the most popular ads are, and which ones still need doctoring.

Or something like this does exist and I just haven't seen it?

Off Piste Escalator Action

2007-03-28T12:35:00.001+01:00

Condemnation from officials of the guy who skied down Europe's longest escalator, at Angel tube station in London. The BBC seems to be a bit wary about promoting the video, opting instead to link to "Transport for London". A swift Google reveals all though:

Reckless? Or harmless fun? Or something that fits neither? Bah, I'm not here to answer such questions...

Feedback: GWEI

2007-03-23T15:46:00.001Z

Monochrom points to an effort to "feedback" Google using AdSense revenue to buy Google shares: Google Will Eat Itself.

Zen Monkey TV launched, interview Rudy Rucker

2007-03-23T10:30:00.001Z

10 Zen Monkeys have officially launched their video podcast, appropriately labeled 10ZM.TV - go to that link right there for details, subscription links, and their first video: an interview with mathema-philo-writer-guy Rudy Rucker.

I feel guilty in that I've only read one of Rucker's early books, White Light, which is kind of Alice on acid, going into infinities and so forth. In the interview, Rucker talks briefly about the idea that rather than just what-we-call-computers being computational devices, many things in nature can also be seen as computational - deterministi systems that react to inputs, often "satisficing" rather than attaining "perfection".

I'm something of a determinist, so I like the idea. Everything happens for a reason, and all that. Of course, if nature wasn't a deterministic system, there'd be no basis for science or empirical study. Without some kind of stability - a certain level of consistency - things would by definition become unstable, and we wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be typing this.

Anyway, Rucker's great. Go watch him.

Studying Rocks!

2007-03-21T16:04:00.001Z

Smart people like to listen to rock, apparently. "Those questioned said they often used the music as catharsis by playing the loud agressive music to literally jump out frustration and anger."

Funny, that's exactly the same reason why I play things like Quake 3 these days - gotta be better than going out and punching someone, innit? Anger's, like, natural. The trick isn't to supress the anger through drugs or religion. It's to control the venting of that anger, like directing a hose.

Shame, then, that we "understand" anger and depression as "negatives" rather than necessities these days. As Psyblog puts it, "Ultimately we don't often hear the simple message that it's OK to be depressed sometimes. It's not pleasant, but it's part of being human."

Of course, the frustration of being smart is an odd thing, too. Can we expect more and more rock music as more people get shoved into further education? :)

One Page at a Time

2007-03-19T11:37:00.001Z

"What happens when you give high school students one minute to say what is on their mind?"

2 shots taken from the 8 1/2 by 11 Voices story over at JPG Mag.

Money talks

2007-01-31T15:32:00.001Z

De-noted does a fine job of riding on the back of the financial stream to spread the greater messages of life.

Agnostic Explosion

2007-01-31T11:25:00.001Z

To celebrate International Year of Polytheism, Monochrom lit 10,00 sparklers. In one go. Summoning up vague, slightly cheaper nostalgia of the K Foundation, Monochrom explodedly desymbolised single-cause celebration...

Watch the Free Bariumnitrate vid.

(Via laughing squid.)

Interactivity as suggestion

2006-12-06T18:43:00.000Z

Interesting article on how

interactivty can create false memories by making users more open to suggestion and, hence, the 'exaggeration' of what products can possibly do.

Technorati Tags: marketing, interactivity, suggestion, hackreal

How Heavy is Red?

2006-12-05T19:27:00.000Z

A post from Mixing Memory the other day looks at the apparent 'weight' that different colours have - i.e. in a block, we prefer lighter colours to be above darker ones. An interesting effect.

Link splurge

2006-11-27T13:33:00.000Z

Couple of links to have caught my eye recently:

Film hacking: Redscale your 35mm. Leads nicely onto bricolage.108's bi-cam.

Marketing Reality: Dove have made an 'Evolution of Beauty' video that's worth a watch.

Want milk with your latte, sir?

2006-10-16T13:00:00.000+01:00

Hmm, time to get this blog back into action, I think...

Interesting article about the implications of making your own latte using a double espresso and free milk at Starbucks - does the "twisting" of freely-provided resources for a purpose other than "intended" break any kind of limit? (Link via Richard Veryard.)

Quality and convenience aside (i.e. you may save money, but need the time and the skill to get the same quality..?), I can see Starbucks getting pissed off if everyone started doing this. Why? Simply because products these days are not just a simple trade of money-for-goods. Products are wrapped up, instead, in a whole context of brand and whatnot, that intends to turn them form product into experience.

By twisting the product, you're also twisting that experience, and the entire idea of "service" that is supposed to be "on sale". As per Disneyland, the "product" is the world you walk into once you're through the doors - the ambience, the staff, the banners, etc. Also - importantly - this includes other clientel. Hence, just as nightclubs turn people away for being dressed wrong, I can see chainbrands getting huffy about people behaving in a way that doesn't fit their "here to serve" image.

But maybe I'm just too cynical...? Will check for some follow-up articles, as it was a few weeks ago now...

Addendum: Starbuck's position is quoted in the original article as:

Customization is a fundamental attribute of the Starbucks Experience. We provide condiments to our customers so they can make their drinks to their liking and we appreciate their patronage. We trust our customers to make the choices that are right for them.

Well, I was right that it's an "Experience" (ooh, capital 'E' too), but they don't seem too put out by it. Maybe they're smarter than I give them credit for ;)

A Meek Call For Papers

2005-12-04T22:38:00.000Z

I've had this idea in my head for a little while, but haven't made much headway in working out how to really make any headway on it, so thought I'd just post and see. I've been thinking about a Reality Hacker [maga]zine - basically a collection of articles in Phrack style. I have a few ideas for possible article subjects, but am aware that no way am I going to get this done by myself. Thus, I'm on the scrounge for anyone else that thinks they might be interested in writing something. If there's enough interest, maybe it could become some kind of quasi-regular thing, even.

Topics accepted are pretty broad - I've also believed that Reality Hacking is a way of looking at things, and isn't something to be particularly constrained merely by subject, However, there are plenty of computer hacking zines out there, so no need to go over that ground unless it's particularly... "non-techy". But otherwise, anything from enhancing the self to subverting adverts to an in depth look at some particular system. All suggestions welcomed.

E-mail address to send stuff to, even if it's just a show of interest: hackreal =at= exmosis =dot= net

This Is Your Brain Under Hypnosis

2005-11-23T11:25:00.000Z

The NY Times has a piece on hypnosis, looking at a little of the history, uses, some stats from the general population, and some new research that studies the patterns of the brain as it undergoes through the Stroop Effect.

Some especially interesting thoughts on the interplay between "bottom-up", sensorial-led reporting of the world vs "top-down" almost-consciousness-led interpretation. A reliance on a dual-part system makes sense to me, between the observed and the observer. Hypnosis (along with other mentral control mechanisms) may be a way to place more weight on one than the other.

Brain blocks out Ad Overloads

2005-11-20T13:48:00.000Z

This weekend's Guardian has an article on ad blindness, using a newly-developed pair of spectacles to monitor what ads the wearer looks at, for how long. A round of questions then links that up to what brands and products you actually remember, and surprisingly (or perhaps not) they find that 99% of adverts have no effect.

Note that this is probably quite contextual - when bombarded with 130 adverts in 45 minutes, the brain is probably quite effective at filtering the whole lot out. If you saw 2 or 3 in the same amount of time, they might stand out more. Still, the point is that an entire landscape of massvertisement really doesn't help much. What good, then, does all that billboard budget do?

Dotty

2005-11-03T22:29:00.000Z

Neat optical illusion... Inverting your colour-o-vision

(via Blahsploitation)

Out-of-body or all in the mind?

2005-09-27T14:14:00.000+01:00

The BBC has an article on research into Out of Body Experiences.

Banished by Beethoven

2005-08-19T12:49:00.000+01:00

The small town of Worthing in the UK is employing classical music fully soon, to deter gatherings of kids with nothing better to do than get drunk. The BBC covered this back in January.

In an age of iPods and fragmented, individualistic music habits, this is interesting on two fronts. Firstly, the obvious counter-culture attack as intended. Secondly though, music isn't broadcast publically very much at all these days. Could this be swung to encourage other people to gather together and listen to the same thing? A kind of "community broadcast"?

The Self as Metaprogrammer

2005-08-08T18:00:00.000+01:00

Just found Chris Arkenberg's article "The Self as Metaprogrammer" which delves a little into what the brain is, what its relation to the self and the mind is, and different ways in which people attempt to break through the natural "setting" of our neural connections.

(via Technoccult)

Video: Gilmore on Politics of Psychedelia

2005-08-04T14:53:00.000+01:00

From this Reality Hackers tribe thread...

Hacker con 'What the Hack' is over, but they have full video downloads for all the talks (a bit faster than HAL 2001 got theirs up :)

Most of them are techie, obviously, but this one might be relevant here. John Gilmore on drugs and the mind in science and politics.

Scientists vs Dalai Lama

2005-08-02T17:11:00.000+01:00

There's apparently some controversy over the fact that the Dalai Lama will be lecturing at a neuroscientist conference. The religious aspects that the Dalai Lama subscribes to are supposed to be "unscientific" - yet the effects of these beliefs - meditation, et al - clearly overlap with the field studied by neuroscience. There is, in effect, a clash between what the scientists see, and the methods they choose to adopt.

Is this a rational move on behalf of the opposed scientists? Half of the point of science is to explain the things we don't understand. Yet we can achieve things, even if we don't understand the mechanisms behind it, through a variety of other techniques.

Personally, I think a healthy mix of belief and rationale is essential - the latter to provide the explanation and answers to our innate curiosity, and the former to prevent ourselves from going crazy and to settle the very same curiosity. My 2 bits, anyway.

Reality Mining @ MIT

2005-07-06T17:33:00.000+01:00

Large scale (and anonymous, hopefully) sociological tracking in MIT Media Lab: Reality Mining:

By the end of the experiment, this dataset will contain over 500,000 hours (~60 years) of continuous data on daily human behavior.

Change or Die

2005-06-17T10:05:00.000+01:00

Change or Die:

So instead of trying to motivate them with the "fear of dying," Ornish reframes the issue. He inspires a new vision of the "joy of living" -- convincing them they can feel better, not just live longer. That means enjoying the things that make daily life pleasurable, like making love or even taking long walks without the pain caused by their disease. "Joy is a more powerful motivator than fear," he says.

[Tribe discussion]

What are Lovemarks

2005-01-19T16:57:00.000Z

Branding is no longer enough, apparently. Now companies must become loved as if part of the family. Welcome to Lovemarks.

MI6 Manipulation of the Media

2005-01-13T12:31:00.000Z

MI6 Manipulation of the Media

Music to deter yobs by

2005-01-10T14:04:00.000Z

The Beeb reports on Music to deter yobs by.

Hooking into social trends and the inherent insecurity of them in order to manipulate a particular demographic. How else could this technique be used? Hint: Social fashions aren't just limited to music. This could be an inverse kind of "attraction psychology" as used in many shops to lure people in...

Hello Laziness

2004-08-20T15:35:00.000+01:00

France is entertaining the idea of slacking as a discorporate activity - a rebellious act to go against the idea of working for no reward. How is this hacking reality? Because of the way it picks apart and goes against the methods used to keep us doing something without good reason:

"Workers remain at their jobs until retirement, stymieing the promotion of those below them, she argues, yet a system of patronage and stiff legal protections make it difficult for employers to fire anyone. Years of such stagnation in France's hierarchy-obsessed society have produced elaborate rituals to keep people busy."

Anything that breaks through such systems is worthy.

WTF is RH?

2004-08-09T15:26:00.000+01:00

Just posted to the Reality Hackers tribe...

In starting this group, I've been kind of forced to assess just what is meant by "reality hacking." The problem is, of course, that as everything is real, the scope could be rather large and diverse, without having any real focus and so becoming a non-entity.

But what I don't want to do is necessarily define what reality hacking *is*. My approach so far is that it alludes to an attitude, to be identified in certain people, and that all manner of thoughts and activity emerges from such an attitude.

At best, I can narrow the attitude down to: "a yearning to understand and to experiment with the world". Any more than this, and I start getting into difficulties :)

I hope, in a way, that people with such an attitude will inherently realise it - in themselves, and in others. Just as there are great computer hackers around, but a definition of the term itself remains wholesomely elusive.

So, off the top of my head, here's a list of concepts that I may consider as falling under this theme...

- anything academic that attempts to explain how the world works, although I find the closer to ourselves this research is, the closer it could be considered to "reality". Thus psychology and philosophy may be of more "interest" than chemistry and maths.

- anything that sets out to discover what can be achieved physically - ranging from tasks such as juggling et al, to martial arts, etc. These things take much practice, and a certain way of looking at the world in order to make progress.

- anything that sets out to discover what can be achieved mentally - this includes attempts and actions to break from the channels of normal behaviour initiated by society. Drugs are an obvious example, but I also take into account things like meditation, puzzles and beer.

- anything that challenges existing, accepted means. This may overlap with criminal means in places, but the extent to which these are "hacking" depends on the situation, and intent. Again, no definition forthcoming on this...

Whether that narrows the field down is somewhat dubious, but it's a start. I'd definitely be interested to find out what other people think...

Wendy's Drive-up Order System Information Disclosure

2004-07-22T13:09:00.000+01:00

Only just found out about this, as it got turned down by the mods on BugTraq, but it's a fine example of both parody and just what we take for granted, too.

FullDisclosure: Wendy's Drive-up Order System Information Disclosure

"As proof of concept, this attack was carried out against mi2g
CEO DK Matai. It was disclosed that he ordered a grilled chicken
sandwich, large fries and a large Coca-Cola."

DEF CON 11 on-line

2004-07-19T12:29:00.000+01:00

Media from DEF CON 11 is up on-line, including hackreal-relevant talks like "Manyonymity", "Hacker Generations", more on HavenCo, "Mimicry" and loads of other stuff ranging from the technical to the political. Find it all in the DEF CON Media Archives.

Oxford hackers face punishment

2004-07-16T11:49:00.000+01:00

Oxford Uni's student paper had the scoop on just how insecure campus networks are, with users easily able to snoop (via traffic-sniffing, I assume) instant-messenger conversations and (non-https?) webmail passwords. The extra-interesting bit is the access to CCTV monitoring - remember kids, every day more of our actions get turned into little 1s and 0s and stored somewhere "safe".

Oh, and BBC News reports that the perps now face discipline. If you're going to highlight inherent dangers in the system, make sure you're your own guinea pig/monkey/other experimental creature.

Casino Easter Eggs

2004-07-13T11:48:00.000+01:00

'Easter egg' cheats cracking casinos? Even things that are assumed to be intregrally completely random have holes in them - often for good reason:

"Mr. Haase had his own programmers install hidden codes in products he sold to a casino in the Caribbean as a special feature the casino operator could activate for the amusement of valued customers."

Hacking Reality. Take 1.

2004-07-06T21:21:00.000+01:00

This blog has no particular aim other than an audience, or perhaps simply members. It is for people who are not just interested, but almost obsessed with figuring out who they are, and how the world around them works. It is for a mindset and an attitude, that is perhaps best described in this O'Reilly article:

What is the essence of Hacking?

Watch this space.

Hack Real

Turning Ads into Art

Off Piste Escalator Action

Feedback: GWEI

Zen Monkey TV launched, interview Rudy Rucker

Studying Rocks!

One Page at a Time

Money talks

Agnostic Explosion

Interactivity as suggestion

How Heavy is Red?

Link splurge

Want milk with your latte, sir?

A Meek Call For Papers

This Is Your Brain Under Hypnosis

Brain blocks out Ad Overloads

Dotty

Out-of-body or all in the mind?

Banished by Beethoven

The Self as Metaprogrammer

Video: Gilmore on Politics of Psychedelia

Scientists vs Dalai Lama

Reality Mining @ MIT

Change or Die

What are Lovemarks

MI6 Manipulation of the Media

Music to deter yobs by

Hello Laziness

WTF *is* RH?

Wendy's Drive-up Order System Information Disclosure

DEF CON 11 on-line

Oxford hackers face punishment

Casino Easter Eggs

Hacking Reality. Take 1.

WTF is RH?