The cult of Scientology can’t keep the pulp science fiction and quack psychology of founder L. Ron Hubbard in print merely through sheer force of will. Instead, it’s with a state-of-the-art production facility in Commerce, Calif. featuring the latest printers from Hewlett-Packard. The plant is owned by the church through a company called Bridge Publications, whose unique experience in modern print production was enough to land Blake Silber, vice president of production at Bridge, a seat on a discussion panel for print-production professionals sponsored by Hewlett-Packard earlier this week. How does HP help Bridge churn out thousands of copies of Dianetics and related books in multiple languages to use as gateway texts for indoctrination?

Through fast prototyping made possible by HP’s Indigo line of industrial printers. Thanks in part to the Indigo 5000, Bridge can print, bind, and shrink-wrap 22,090 copies of Scientology: A New Slant on Life in as little as a week. And as acolytes move up “the bridge to total freedom,” they are required to buy further materials for study that, because of the increasingly elite membership, necessitate small runs. Thankfully, print-on-demand technology is here! When some sucker ponies up the five-figure sum necessary to pass through the “Wall of Fire” in order to become a level three “operating thetan,” Bridge can whip up a copy of the Xenu myth on demand in no time flat.

And since all of the print production is done in-house, it allows leader David Miscavige and his disciples to keep a tight lock on potential leaks “secrets” written in the embarrassingly bad prose of Hubbard. At the discussion on Tuesday, one of the topics panelists addressed was staffing and employee retention. There aren’t a lot of press operators familiar with such cutting-edge technology. Luckily for Bridge, members of the church’s paramilitary Sea Org — the true believers who often work as peons — have all signed contracts to serve for eternity. They couldn’t jump ship for a rival printer or publisher if they wanted to — that old-time religion matched with the latest in HP’s technology combine for business advantage.

There’s no surprise that Scientology is run like a business. Making a profit was the reason why Hubbard came up with the religion in the first place. But here’s what’s really disturbing: Could HP be helping Scientology proselytize? The church has a history of recruiting members in business settings. If Silber talked about more than just print-on-demand technologies at his seminar, that would raise eyebrows among HP’s many non-Scientology customers.

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Kyle Lechtenberg has designed the Visual Assistance Card that will help visually impaired users keep their personal information private, allowing them to shop in just about any store. It works by laying on top of the debit/credit card reader, relying on Braille imprinted on the card to keep everything hush hush. I know that there is just a small percentage of clerks who wouldn’t think twice about ripping off a blind person, but better safe than sorry these days. The Visual Assistance Card, being light weight is a snap to carry around, so hopefully it will roll out soonest possible before more visually impaired people experience credit card fraud due to unscrupulous people.

Add a comment | From: Visual Assistance Card | Visit Ubergizmo

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Android is getting its own App Store called the Android Market. It’s open source and apparently free to use.

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(Credit: Joshua Goldman/CNET Networks)

So I’m currently testing the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 (look for the review next week), one of Sony’s high-zoom cameras that among a gazillion other features has an on/off switch for Sony’s NightShot infrared shooting mode.

As you can see, I managed …

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Although it’s probably the worst mistake you can make as a journalist, it periodically happens to big media publications. Earlier today, Bloomberg sent a 17-page obituary of Steve Jobs over the wire, quickly retracting it with the following message: “An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m. New York time today. The item was never meant for publication and has been retracted.”

There’s nothing much to be said about the gaffe itself: it’s awful but it happens. However, knowing that Steve Jobs has been battling pancreatic cancer for some time, one has to wonder if the obituary was a complete mistake or was it perhaps based on some facts about Apple’s CEO? Gawker read the whole thing (you can, too, it’s over there), and they claim that it’s just a generalized text about Jobs’ life and achievements, containing no specifics about deterioration of his health, which is good news. We’ll all probably know more if Apple comes forward with an official statement.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Google’s Needle Hits Yahoo’s Vein in October, Says CEOThe Daily Poll: How Did You Follow the Steve Jobs Keynote?Steve Jobs Subpoenaed For Backdated Options CaseWill the Real Steve Jobs Please Stand Up?Could Fake Steve Jobs Be About To Go Away?Fake Steve Jobs Goes On TourFake Steve Jobs “Drama” Reaching The Point Of Silly

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If you want to keep some annoying kid away from your computer, you could always try and build a DIY USB monster hub, like the creator of the USB hub in the picture. This “monster” is basically a USB hub with some tape and cloth jumbled with some (rather cool looking) red LED lights as eyes. If you’re into monsters, you welcome to try building one of your own.

Add a comment | From: USB Monster Hub | Visit Ubergizmo

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Things have been quiet over at Jaiku since its acquisition by Google last Fall. People worried that Google may have ruined Twitter’s most formidable competitor by requiring the Finnish startup to labor away for months integrating its service into Google’s technology stack instead of rolling out new features. All the while, new signups have been disabled and invitations limited, which has cut the service off from a healthy stream of new users.But now we’re seeing some signs of life. Jaiku has moved its software over to a Google data center and has given its existing users an unlimited number of invites to send their friends.

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Android Mobile Platform team member Eric Chu wants you to know that its content distribution system - an Apple App Store think-a-like by the name of Android Market - is going to be user-driven. All thanks to “Google’s expertise in infrastructure, search and relevance to connect users with content created by developers.”

As one might expect for a developer-targeted message, this notice, plus screen grabs, is perhaps similar to the ones Apple delivers to its own third-party coders. But it just goes to show that Google’s efforts are very much in conceptual emulation of the iPhone/iPod touch. It would be unjust to point out the subjective visual inferiority that one might view Android Market with. It may well prove more voluminous than Apple’s own storefront when all is said and done. But that is something of relative interest to developers and users alike. What precisely does this mean?

Chu writes that Google will regard Android Market with a similar perspective as that given to YouTube. The service will run on a three-step publishing process: merchant registration, software uploads (with any necessary information to describe to potential users the utility of their solutions), and, finally, publication. Google also intends to “provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings.”

Unlike the iPhone’s initial 2007 rollout, Android Market will arrive in tandem with the first handsets to launch with the Android platform installed. Whether this debut will be one marked by a full-fledged marketplace (with a payment structure in place, for instance) is not certain. Chu has only confirmed that developers “can expect support for free (unpaid) applications,” with an update allowing for financial transactions to be issued “soon after launch.”

This is in fact not so terrible a release plan, as it enables Google to trial this beta-to-be without fear of encountering disruptions to the system and loss of users’ interest to ultimately invest in paid downloads. But the company’s point about a YouTube-like software download experience could prove disabling. If Google offers any less of a vetting process than that given by Apple to its App Store, faulty designs could crop up in even greater number. It is imperative that Google ensure a solid quality-assurance experience as a mediator that exhibits both partial and impartial behavior as doorman to the palace.

As to the planned Android Market update, it will be September at the very earliest that US-based consumers will have a chance at Android. And if/when T-Mobile, the first carrier purportedly committed to releasing the first Android-based handset, does indeed celebrate the debut in the fall, Google may well deliver an update “on first startup.”

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:First Complete Software Suite to Operate on Google Android SurfacesGoogle Android SDK is LiveAndroid? Meh, Says SymbianGoogle Reveals Top 50 Entries For Android Developer ChallengeThe Daily Poll: The Impact of Google’s New Mobile PlatformIs “What’s Open” the First Android Application?Verizon Wireless to Support Google Android

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La société européenne pour les organes artificiels tient son congrès annuel la semaine prochaine à Genève. Comment demain le corps sera-t-il réparé?

Source : Tribune de Genève (s’abonner)

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jvatcw brings us a story about Betty Ostergren, who operates a website dedicated to pointing out the social security numbers visible in public records. The purpose of the site is to raise awareness of privacy concerns regarding the personal information shared in Virginia’s governmental websites. Legislation was introduced in Virginia to combat Ostergren’s website, but last Friday a judge shot down the attempt to censor her, writing, “It is difficult to imagine a more archetypal instance of the press informing the public of government operations through government records than Ostergren’s posting of public records to demonstrate the lack of care being taken by government to protect the private information of individuals.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The defendant in a much-watched file-sharing case was dealt a serious blow this week when a judge ruled he tampered with evidence in the case. After first getting notice from the Recording Industry Association of America, Jeffrey Howell, according to Ars Technica,

… uninstalled KaZaA and deleted everything in the shared folder, reformatted his hard drive, downloaded and used a file-wiping program, and then nuked all the KaZaA logs on his PC.

Something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself unlucky enough to get caught. For more on the RIAA’s take-down tactics and defenses against them, check out out this Ask the Law Geek post.

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Filed under: Utilities, web 2.0

Google, Zoho, 37signals and other companies have done an excellent job of demonstrating that some applications don’t need to be desktop based. In fact, web-based calendars, office applications, and chat services offer many advantages over desktop versions like easy collaboration without the need for an Exchange server. But some applications really make a lot more sense on the desktop. Case in point: ShrinkFile.

ShrinkFile is an online file compression and hosting service. Have a large file you want to share with a friend or colleague and want to save them a bit of downloading time? Upload it to ShrinkFile, and ShrinkFile will zip it and host it for free for up to a week.

Sure, ShrinkFile could come in handy if you’re on a computer that doesn’t have WinZip, 7-zip, or another archiving application. But you know what? Practically every major operating system available today ships with the ability to zip files. What’s more, you could save time both downloading and uploading your large file if you just zip it before sharing it using another service like FileDropper or YouSendit.

What do you think? Am I missing something, or is ShrinkFile basically useless?

[via MakeUseOf]

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Just as small, fast-moving mammals replaced lumbering dinosaurs, pocketable gadgets are evolving to fill niches that larger, deskbound computers can’t reach. But as they shrink, these gadgets are faced with problems mammals face, too, such as efficiently dissipating heat. The…

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Remember the Phantom? Depending on your perspective, this mysterious gaming console, first announced in 2003, was either a too ambitious product that could never get off the ground (living up to its “phantom” name in that it was almost never actually seen) or a big scam to part investors with money. Over the years, the company made many announcements, almost none of which it lived up to. The company was even sued by its own investment bank for fraud, and the company’s founder was charged as part of a stock scam. At one point, people were shocked when the company hired a real gaming industry veteran as CEO, but once he left pretty much everyone thought the company was dead.

But… not so fast. A few years back it announced that it was ditching the gaming console concept, but was still going to come out with a neat keyboard that could be used for gaming. Of course, it promised that keyboard would be out years ago, and in true Phantom fashion, many delays followed. To be honest, I had thought the company had finally gone completely out of business, but Wired is reporting that it really honestly has a keyboard in production — and it completely sucks. As Wired notes, it certainly wasn’t worth the long wait. The only redeeming factor that Wired can find in the keyboard is the chance to own a piece of vaporware history. Just don’t expect to actually use it, because you’ll be wishing you didn’t.

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What it does

If The Hoff can have his own social network, then McCain can too. Over at Community.McCainspace.com, you’ll be able to join a social networking of people who support John McCain for president. Through this, you’ll be able to find likeminded individuals who share your passion for the Republican candidate. You’ll also be able to debate on new ideas, McCain’s policies, and do a little Obama trash talking. You can upload videos to show support for your presidential candidate. If you’re looking for merchandise to show support for Mr. McCain, then you should check out the Store. There, you’ll find everything from shirts to mugs bearing McCain’s logo and his presidential slogan. Combining social networking with the presidential campaign is a great idea to get the youth interested in the elections. This might convince some that voting for McCain is the right step towards a better America. To start networking with people who support your candidate, check out Community.mccainspace.com.

In their own words

“Introduce yourself and start talking about John McCain.”

Why it might be a killer

Republicans are sure to love this place. They can meet people who think like them and discuss politics, all in the same place.

Some questions

What will happen to this after the elections? Will people still care? Could it become a place for people to judge McCain’s presidency (if he’s elected)?

Link: http://community.mccainspace.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Social-Networking/community-mccainspace-com-republican-networking

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