A scene from my neighborhood: The “wall” the Coast Guard is protecting with their tiny little machine gun is actually the LNG tanker Suez Matthew. LNG tankers are a hot button issue in Massachusetts due to terrorism concerns. [Universal Hub]
Researchers at MIT are using computer networks and cabbies to tackle a routine problem that I, personally, can attest to: Boston area traffic jams. Called CarTel (get it?), the system creates a network by way of cell phone-sized black boxes. The boxes currently sit on board 50 cars and taxis in the Boston area. Drivers access the CarTel web portal for real-time info on their own vehicle as well as those around them. “Everybody’s data is contributing to collective views of what congestion looks like,” said MIT associate professor Samuel Madden.
We’re here at the Boylston Street Apple Store for Media Day. No line outside, but plenty of reporters playing with the toys. Ron Johnson, Apple’s SVP of Retail, is here with hizonnah Mayor Thomas Menino to open the largest Apple Store in the country (confirmed!). The Mayah “loves” the store and made a joke at the expense of the Back Bay Architectural Commission, which was hesitant to approve the project. Menino said he wasn’t a fan of the prior building and didn’t know why anyone would want to save it for “historical” reasons. Get more details on the new location after the jump.
Here’s the first look at the new largest Apple Store in the U.S, courtesy of John Sheehy. Last time we saw the glass mammoth, it was covered up in an unsightly green sheet. Upon viewing this pic, you’re expected to fall to your knees, shed an awe-inspired tear, and proceed to the nearest Apple Store — where you will buy large amounts of Apple gear. [Thanks, John]
Later this month, Apple is opening its latest flagship store on Boylston Street in Boston. The store’s main claim to fame? It’s huge. We’re talking largest Apple Store in the world, by square footage. The store, in the city’s historic Back Bay district, looks like a four-story glass cube. It’s the first store inside Boston proper and the first with (finally) easy subway access. According to a store employee, it’s a good thing Boylston Street is so big: Apple estimates 1,500-2000 customers/hour will visit — more than 10 times the 160/hour that the average store gets. It’s something else inferiority-complex ravaged Bostonians can hold over New York.
(Photos by Jordan Golson)
A Boston judge has just followed up on the previous NY judge ruling that just making files available isn’t enough to constitute copyright infringement. According to the EFF, it’s the most “extensive analysis yet of the recording industry’s ‘making available’ argument”, but doesn’t actually make things better for people who are being sued by the RIAA. The same judge ruled that even though the “offer to distribute” won’t be enough to decide a case, it is enough to permit a lawsuit to move forward. On the other hand, another NY judge has ruled in the opposite manner, that making an “offer to distribute” could violate copyright, even if nobody downloaded whatever you put up. [EFF via Boing Boing]
Those of us not brain damaged enough to remember stuff from a year ago will recall the crazy response Boston had to the LED Mooninites plastered around their city to promote the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. This elite group of people lacking severe head trauma sure didn’t forget, and they’re definitely not letting the city of Boston forget it either as they’re throwing up even more Mooninite LEDs today in celebration of the crapfest that happened last year. 1-31-07, a day that will live on in internet DIY nerd infamy. [MAKE]
