New year's resomolutions are a tricky business, as recidivism and moral inertia are man's natural state. But I think I've got one I can stick with this time.
I generally don't rebroadcast information about piracy unless I want to make a moral pronouncement of some kind, but that video running around about fail0verflow's absolute domination of the Playstation 3 platform is too, too interesting, and makes an incredibly fascinating point that you may be as surprised to hear as I was.
A core assertion of the presentation is that it was the removal of OtherOS - the capability of the machine to run Linux - that brought the biggest guns to bear, as opposed to The Warez. People have been trying to break down the box for a long time, longer than any other system, but what the team was able to accomplish (and specifically how they were able to accomplish it) presents the idea that "owning" this equipment wasn't a priority until Sony withdrew what had been inherent functionality. I thought the case was well made. I mean, you tell me.
The video is long, clocking in at just under forty-five minutes, but it paces its discoveries and jokes well. Taken as an entire piece, I found its arc of discovery very exciting, and consistently interesting, and its expression of cleverness in the service of a twenty-first century digital ethos (for lack of a better term) inspiring. I don't need any Linux except to serve you this page, so I'm not likely to run anything like this. I still found it tremendously worthwhile.
My cohort once associated with Sqort and Krasp, the malefactors behind the Blamimations, to produce a life-changing piece that changed lives. Now, I have somehow managed to get trapped in their shared gullet, and only ironic post-folk and effluvium can allow me passage through their overlapping membranes. I think the original idea was to make a Holiday Episode, but because of implacable linear time we had to make an episode for all holidays, at all times, ever.
At least, I think that's what happened.
(CW)TB out.
