ideometric

This is quite an attractive little container, I love the clean lines of the handle and lever, and the overall proportionality of the piece. Why do things like this have to be $50?

DWR

There’s an article in the Korea Times detailing some of the current issues in Korean internet policy. The government is expanding its regulation of internet use, mandating the collection of personal data (equivalent of social security ID) for sites with over 100,000 visitors and increasing the powers of law enforcement to intercept data and invade privacy. This is coming up against companies like Google that refuse to comply with demands for personal information gathering (actually the article states that Google is the only major site that refused…interesting). The end result being a counter-productive incentive to ditch restrictive native web services in favor of foreign competition. Good job.

I’m curious how this is being sold to the public. What rhetoric is being used? Or is it just unashamedly clamping down on political freedom of speech vis-a-vis anonymity online?

These photos by Peter Funch are pretty genius. Looks like multiple shots from the same angle used to create a composite scene amplifying certain features of the urban landscape and life therein.

http://www.v1gallery.com/artist/show/3

South Korea narrowly avoided falling into recession during the first quarter of this year, supporting hopes that the economy may at least be bottoming out as stimulus measures take hold.

The South Korean economy, among the biggest in the region, grew 0.1 from the previous three months, rebounding from a previous 5.1 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction, and surprising many analysts who had expected the recent quarter to show another, though slight, decline.

NYT

Here’s to hoping that this will start to boost the value of the Won, which has been depressingly low ever since I got here.

From Yglesias:

Strong IP is usually branded as “good” for “creators” but the main impact of the digital revolution has been to advantage non-commercial producers relative to commercial producers, and the main impact of strong IP law is to shift the balance of power back to the commercial world. We’re accustomed to thinking of capitalism in opposition to socialism, state-direction production, but in the information realm the main opposition is between capitalism and activity that is simply non-commercial in nature.