PARK CITY, Utah — The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz received a standing ovation at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival this week just a few days after the one-year anniversary of the web pioneer’s death rattled the Internet. The documentary by Brian Knappenberger (known for directing We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists about the online hacktivist group Anonymous) closely follows the rise and fall of computer programming prodigy and Reddit co-founder Swartz, who emerged as one of the top advocates for Internet freedom and education. In high school, Swartz helped launch the web’s first RSS feeds, founded Creative Commons and ultimately co-created Reddit, before it was sold to Conde Naste in 2006. Most recently, he helped push forward the successful grassroots opposition to SOPA. Although Swartz’s legacy has been widely discussed, especially following his suicide in early January 2013 while facing federal prosecution, the The Internet’s Own Boy shows an intimate, harrowing side to the story that intertwines home footage and interviews with some of his closest friends and family members. The film was funded on popular crowdsourcing platform Kickstarter and raised nearly $100,000 from about 1,500 backers. Those close to Swartz have long attributed his suicide at age 26 to his indictment on federal charges for stealing millions of documents from MIT and scientific journal and article archive JSTOR. Even though JSTOR dropped the charges, the government allegedly told his family they were proceeding to “make a statement out of him” and deter other hackers from gaining access to information in a similar way. The film begins by chronicling Swartz’s brilliance that surfaced at a very young age. He taught himself how to read at age 3, built an ATM machine for a school project in elementary school and began building websites soon after. By age 14, he served on the coveted RDF Core group at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and his respected peers were some of the smartest thinkers in the Internet space, including Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web. As his mother simply puts, “people listened to him like he was 40.” With the help of experts, The Internet’s Own Boy makes a clear argument: Swartz unjustly became a victim of the rights and freedoms for which he stood. Much of the film centralizes on the incidents related to the federal charges and the toll it took on his mind, shared through stories by his ex-girlfriends, brothers and parents. It’s these interviews that bring real depth to the film: Swartz wasn’t just an advocate and headline story — he was a son, a brother, a companion. One of the most captivating interviews of the two-hour film comes from his ex-girlfriend Quinn Norton, who details in tears her decision to speak to federal officers during Swartz’s investigation. The film compels you to root for Swartz, who helped the web forward but also wanted to keep it an open place for greater information. However, little light was shed in the […]
This new political ad from Priorities USA Action, an Obama-affiliated Super PAC, may be the most brutal ad yet from the 2012 presidential election. Called “Understands,” the ad features the story of Joe Soptic, who claims he lost his job after Bain Capital, the financial services company for which Mitt Romney once served as CEO, shut down a plant where he worked. Soptic lost his health insurance along with his job, meaning he couldn’t pay for his wife’s treatment when she was diagnosed with cancer. Soptic’s wife died as he stood by, helpless. The seemingly implied message of the ad: Mitt Romney indirectly killed Soptic’s wife. Yikes. That implication aside, the factual foundation of the ad is built on tenuous ground. As the Washington Post pointed out on Tuesday, Mitt Romney had left Bain Capital before Soptic’s plant closed. A representative of Priorities USA Action also told the Washington Post that “this is another in a series of ads that demonstrates how long it took for communities and individuals to recover from the closing of these businesses.” Is this ad on target, or does it go too far? Share your thoughts in the comments. YouTube’s 10 Most-Shared Ads in July 1. DC Shoes: Ken Block’s Gymkhana Five: Ultimate Urban Playground, San Francisco The most-shared ad of July is a riveting, white-knuckle adrenaline ride through the streets of San Francisco. Watching Ken Block rip and shred through turns is a pure delight for speed junkies and gearheads. Anyone who winces at car crashes in movies – this is not for you. But good luck looking away. 2. Sesame Street: Share It Maybe We all knew this was coming right? It makes perfect sense that the Cookie Monster would spoof Carly Rae Jepsen’s song “Call Me Maybe” and turn it into a plea for you to share your cookies with him. We just have one suggestion. In the words of the immortal Randy Jackson, “I’m not sure about your tone dawg. It seems just a little bit off to me. Otherwise, I’m totally diggin’ it!” 3. Abercrombie Models Sing “Call Me Maybe” While Shirtless Supposedly this is a video created by the controversial store’s models and employees themselves. From the description: “To celebrate the song’s Summer popularity, A&F asked its hottest guys from its Flagship stores all around the world to have fun with the song — film it on their phones and to do whatever came naturally… This is what the guys sent back!” Regardless of who created it, it’s being shared like crazy. It’s got virtually the same recipe as the number two video so it makes complete sense to us. 4. Som Sabadell Flash Mob Flash Mobs still light up the charts on share counts. Banco Sabadell chose to celebrate its 130-year anniversary by arranging one of their own with some truly talented musicians and singers. The little girl conducting from the lightpost is one of the best visual moments, but it seems like a lot of the people […]
You don’t have to travel to New York City this weekend to experience the NYC Pride March. On Sunday, June 29, the city streets will welcome the march, and Mashable has your front-row seats. We’ll be providing coverage, commentary and interviews live from the march route. Tune in right here on Mashable or via the livestream on the Mashable YouTube page beginning Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET for interviews with Orange Is The New Black‘s Laverne Cox, Frozen‘s Jonathan Groff, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Rea Carey and Kinky Boots‘ Natalie Joy Johnson, among many others attending the march. Influencers and advocacy groups around the world will also join the event remotely through the power of Google+ Hangouts on Air to share their inspiring stories and efforts. The month of June commemorates the Stonewall riots, which took place in New York City in June 1969. Now 45 years later, Pride Month is often observed and celebrated across the U.S. through LGBT Pride marches. To follow the march through social media, keep up with all the action with the #PrideCast hashtag. BONUS: 5 LGBT Influencers Share Their Proudest Moments Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/06/27/nyc-pride-march-livestream/
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons stars in a new digital short for “Battle For Your Ballot,” a non-partisan grassroots movement raising awareness about voter suppression. The video is the first in a series of PSA-style YouTube clips from The BRPR Group. The movement’s website, BattleForYourBallot.com, will house the videos, inform viewers about their voting rights and let people report voter irregularities by submitting audio, videos or photos. “We want to utilize the followings of celebrities and high-profile individuals with fans who are most effected by voter suppression tactics — younger voters and minority voters,” BRPR Group’s agency director Christopher Renz tells Mashable. He says the next figures in the movement will be a politician and Hispanic celebrity. The website also details state-by-state information for voters, including rights as an employee on Election Day and a list of necessary documents to bring to the polls. “This is not about a red or a blue state, Republican or Democrat,” says Gerard Bush, co-founder and chief creative director of The BRPR Group, who also has a prominent role in the video. “It’s actually not partisan at all; it is about the most valued right of every American citizen to have our voices heard at the ballot box.” Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/01/battle-for-your-ballot/
America is down to the final hours before hitting the polls to decide the winner of the 2012 presidential election. By now, you likely know who you’re voting for, but this little guy is hoping to sway the electoral college vote with cuteness. “Little Mitt,” filmed by Portal A, features a sassy, pint-sized version of GOP candidate Mitt Romney. When told how great he looks, Little Mitt says, “Of course I do, I’m Mitt frickin’ Romney.” Watch Little Mitt shake hands with trick-or-treaters and neighborhood residents in the video above. The small politician even outdoes the real Romney in flag pins. BONUS: Elect to Laugh With 10 Mitt Romney Tumblr Pages 10 Mitt Romney Tumblrs 1. Mitt Romney Wearing Jeans Politicians always look a little awkward out of suits. Mitt Romney Wearing Jeans collects photos of the GOP candidate in denim instead of Dockers. 2. Little Face Mitt Big head, little face. Photoshop magic creates hilarity one teeny-tiny Mitt mug at a time. 3. Mitt Venn and Now The folks at Upworthy think the Romney campaign could use a little help putting together Venn diagrams. 4. Cats on Mitt Romney Self-explanatory. 5. Mitt Romney Ruining Perfectly Good Gifs Mitt’s giggling face ruins the Internet’s best GIFs. 6. Mitt and Rob Comedian Rob Delaney sends funny tweets to Mitt Romney, and Delaney’s buddy @pants illustrates the one-sided tweet-versations. 7. Amercia Is With Mitt In May, a typo in Mitt’s app — “Amercia” instead of America — sparked plenty of jokes at the former governor’s expense. Amercia Is With Mitt lasted less than a week, but it’s now a piece of blooper history. 8. Mitt and Lucille Photos of Mitt Romney + Quotes from Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development = Mitt and Lucille 9. Mitt Does Shakespeare More Tumblr math: Photos of Mitt Romney + Quotes from William Shakespeare = Mitt Does Shakespeare 10. Mitt Romney Confusing Children All that politician baby-kissing is sure to produce a funny photo or two. Or an entire Tumblr’s worth. BONUS: Mitt Romey’s Official Tumblr Page That’s right; Mitt Romney has an official Tumblr page. The page includes campaign updates, videos and supporter stories. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/05/little-mitt-romney/
The final debate of the 2012 presidential election season has been auto-tuned. The Gregory Brothers, the duo behind “Songify the News” and “Bed Intruder Song,” has been setting every debate of the presidential capaign season to song. The “songified” videos put notable moments from the debates to song. The first three debates have amassed over 7 million views together. Which one was your favorite? We’ve embedded the prior three below. Auto-Tune The Debates First Presidential Debate Date: October 3, 2012Topic: Domestic policy Location: University of Denver in Denver, ColoradoParticipants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt RomneyModerator: Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS) VP Debate Date: October 16, 2012Topic: Foreign and domestic policy Location: Centre College in Danville, KentuckyParticipants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul RyanModerator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent) 2nd Presidential Debate Date: October 22, 2012Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policyLocation: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt RomneyModerator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent) 3rd Presidential Debate Date: October 22, 2012Topic: Foreign policyLocation: Lynn University in Boca Raton, FloridaParticipants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt RomneyModerator: Bob Schieffer (Host of Face the Nation on CBS) Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/23/final-presidential-debate-auto-tune/
Image: Scott Sonner/Associated Press RENO, Nev. — A flash fire that injured 13 people, mainly children, at a Nevada science museum happened when an employee applied the chemicals in the wrong order during a tabletop demonstration about the mechanics of tornadoes, officials said Thursday. Reno firefighters said a three- to five-second blaze erupted Wednesday at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum after the presenter poured alcohol on a cotton ball that had been dusted with boric acid and partially ignited. The alcohol is supposed to be applied before the boric acid and the flame. “It was a simple oversight by the presenter,” Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said in a statement. “Our prevention staff will be meeting with museum staff to review demonstration and safety procedures and make appropriate recommendations as necessary.” Several TV news stations got hold of cellphone video footage from the incident, including CBS This Morning. The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, spokeswoman Teri Williams said. Eight children and one adult were transported to a Reno hospital for minor burns or smoke inhalation, Reno spokesman Matthew Brown said. One child was hospitalized overnight, but all patients had been released by Thursday afternoon, according to officials at Renown Regional Medical Center. Four other people were treated at the scene, but their ages were not available. Jackie Rider said she and her family were watching the demonstration, which is supposed to produce a tornado of green fire, when the flames leaped toward her children and niece. “She was on fire, completely on fire,” Rider told KOLO-TV about her niece. “Her hair, her back, her face. My best friend tackled her and was putting her face out with her hands.” Mat Sinclair, executive director for The Discovery, said the facility’s primary focus was on its patrons. “All those affected by today’s incident continue to be in our thoughts, and we are committed to determining the cause of this incident,” he said in a statement Wednesday. Museum representatives didn’t immediately respond to inquiries Thursday about the employee’s medical condition or employment status in light of the fire department’s conclusions. The tornado effect is created when a cotton ball soaked with methyl alcohol is dusted with boric acid and then set on fire inside a large glass container. The jar is set on a Lazy Susan, then spun around to create a miniature green whirlwind. The two chemicals are commonplace and often combined because they can produce green flames, said Vince Catalano, a chemistry professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. Boric acid is a mild solid that is sometimes used in eye washes, while methyl alcohol is a common solvent that produces low-heat flames when burned. While it is common sense not to put a flammable liquid on a burning substance, Catalano said, “keep in mind that methanol flames are nearly colorless. It might have been difficult to see that the cotton ball was on fire. It’s difficult to speculate without knowing all of the […]
In this corner, standing at five feet, six inches and host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart! And in the other corner, at six feet, four inches and host of Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly! The two frequent adversaries, who often appear on one another’s shows, are scheduled for a live, 90-minute debate on Oct. 6. The showdown will be held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “The Rumble In The Air-Conditioned Auditorium,” as it’s being called, will be livestreamed for a small charge, with half of the proceeds going toward charity. “In order to illuminate the vital issues associated with the upcoming presidential election, Stewart and I will debate man-to-man, eye-to-eye,” said O’Reilly on his Monday broadcast. “Well, not really. He’s a tiny guy.” For more, visit TheRumble2012.com. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/18/stewart-oreilly-debate/
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) wanted to make a big impression when he voted against a controversial bill to make it more difficult for women to have abortions. He Vined his “nay” vote, making him most likely the first member of Congress to do so. Swalwell was protesting a bill called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. It would ban abortions after a fetus is 20 weeks old, and is based on the idea that fetuses can feel pain earlier than previously thought.On Twitter, Swalwell posted that the bill was part of a “war on women.” Of the Vine, he said, “When House @GOP try to roll back health protections for women, this is how I vote.” The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act passed the House 228-196 Tuesday, with only 12 members of Congress breaking party lines: Six Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and six Republicans voted against it. There’s little chance of the bill actually becoming law. Even if it were picked up and passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate, President Obama has already promised to veto. He did not, however, stress his point in a six-second video with stuttering sound. Image courtesy of James Morehead/Wikimedia Commons YouTube experiments with its own Super Bowl halftime show The race to create our virtual realities A guide to Rob Gronkowski’s best Internet moments Black & Sexy TV wants to appeal to more than black audiences This article originally published at The Daily Dot here Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/06/19/eric-swalwell-vines-vote/
Private spaceflight company SpaceX has been testing its Grasshopper rocket over the past few months, but it set a record last week with its latest launch in which it flew 2,440.94 feet in the air — the vehicle’s highest leap yet. Using a single camera hexacopter drone, SpaceX was able to get closer than ever to record the video above, which the company released Monday. As the rocket climbed gracefully into the air, the drone camera — which you can see in the right-hand corner of the frame — adjusted to capture the seemingly slow launch. Grasshopper soared in an almost-perfect straight line — quite different from its August launch, when it leapt sideways. The 10-story-high Grasshopper is one of SpaceX’s most outside-the-box experiments. Most rockets burn up when reentering Earth’s atmosphere, but Grasshopper is a reusable Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle built to withstand these harsh conditions and return to the planet’s surface intact. Grasshopper holds the first-stage tank of the Falcon 9 rocket, which boosts SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. BONUS: 10 Rare of Inside-Views of Spacesuits Inside the Spacesuit: 10 Rare Views of a NASA Icon Alan Bean Spacesuit Astronaut Alan Bean wore this A7-LB suit on the 1973 Skylab 3 mission. Bean logged 1,671 hours and 45 minutes in space, including more than 10 hours of EVA (extra vehicular activity). Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Boot X-Ray An x-ray of an Apollo-era “overboot” shows the adjustment strap that allowed astronauts to tighten this boot over another shoe that was attached to the spacesuit. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Glove Astronauts wore special gloves during lunar excursions. Made with rubber and Neoprene interior bladders, gloves covered hands completely to the wrist and were attached to the arms of the spacesuit with aluminum rings. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Helmet X-Ray This 1964 A4-H “Universal” helmet was designed to fit on more than one suit. The x-ray reveals ball bearings in the neck ring that allowed the helmet to move right and left without restriction. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Phase I Apollo Helmet X-ray of a helmet that was developed for the Phase I Apollo program. Image: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Mark V Spacesuit The Mark V suit was relatively flexible and incorporated design elements that allowed for a fuller range of movement. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Apollo Spacesuit Overshoe X-ray of an extravehicular (EV) overshoe that was designed to be worn over the Apollo spacesuit boots while an astronaut was walking on the Moon. Image: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Alan Shepard’s Apollo 14 Spacesuit An x-ray of Alan Shepard’s Apollo 14 spacesuit allows curators and conservators to “see” inside space clothing — a task that had previously been done by peering through the neck or the wrist with a flashlight. Image: X-ray by Roland H. Cunningham and Mark Avino Freedom 7 Spacesuit Alan B. Shepard, one of the original “Mercury […]
