graffiti

Lawmakers and homeowners continue to blame graffiti for defacing property and contributing to the overall decline of civil society. Old-school, permanent graffiti made with paint, markers, and stickers may still rule the streets, but nondestructive public messages enabled by the Internet, laptops, lasers, and mobile hardware are also on the rise.

Graffiti artists with a political bent are exploring digital technologies to make a nondestructive point in public, whether in the name of ego, whimsy, the environment, or free speech. Some of their underground, open-source efforts are going mainstream as corporate marketeers mimic the tactics of graffiti artists.

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Back from the weekend, Randall's parents get rid of their home phone...so that Randall can't call anymore. Nine Inch Nails is another band releasing their album free online. Seth MacFarlane is back in business with Fox and may release a new Family Guy spinoff, Cleveland. Semi-Pro was semi-awful, and if you want to meet men, go to the Apple Store.

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If you can count on geeks for one thing, it's a creative approach to traditional things.

For example, l33tspeak as an alternative to regular language. Or LOLCats as an alternative to the usual annoying pictures of cats.

That's why I wasn't surprised to find, over at Laughing Squid, a post about a site that is now collecting images of geek graffiti.

This, if you're wondering, is a small, but growing, trend in which geeks--or folks taking on geek tendencies--tag some public place with some kind of tech-inspired message.

For example, on the West Bank side of … Read more

Now this is what we call retro chic. Forget those boombox remakes and arcade replicas--we're talking drive-in movie memorabilia here.

You too can own your own pair of free-standing speakers that look just like the kind we used to wedge into the fog-shrouded windows oif our misspent youth. All that's missing are the beat-up station wagon, decaying intermission hot dogs, and a cheap date.

Sure, $330 is a bit steep to bring back some teenage memories, as OhGizmo observes, but no one ever said the price of a midlife crisis would be a bargain. As for the … Read more

Sometimes, commissioning a pop artist to dress up a product is a good move; sometimes, it isn't. This is an example of the latter.

A year ago the "Nabaztag" Wi-Fi bunny was the darling of the digital pet world as others tried to figure out exactly what it was. (We're still not so sure.) For some reason, however, its creators at Violet have decided to subject the e-hare to the whims of French graffiti artist Andre.

The result, Luxist says, is a version with a tattooed ear and a "limited edition" price tag of … Read more

We've long wondered if there'd ever be a digital equivalent to two tin cans a string (other than our lousy cell phone, that is), and this is the closest thing we've ever seen.

The "Boosted Tin Can Speaker Set" is the product of a collaboration between Sprint's Boost Mobile and various graffiti artists, according to Tech Digest. The 5-inch speakers are more for looks than for sound, but that's just fine with us: Anything that applies graffitti to something other than our car or house is a good thing.

Having had some fairly infuriating experiences with graffiti as property owners, we view the work of outfits like the Institute for Applied Autonomy with mixed feelings, to say the least. Its stated mission, after all, is "to study the forces and structures which affect self-determination and to provide technologies which extend the autonomy of human activists." Translation: They make stuff like graffiti robots.

Still, from a pure gadget-loving point of view, we can't help but admire their unabashed guerrilla-like audacity. Take, for example, the "StreetWriter" project, which is essentially a van that's been converted … Read more

One of the newest and most popular Facebook apps making the rounds is Graffiti Wall, an application that does exactly what it says: it lets your friends tag your profile. Facebook has had its wall feature for years, allowing users to write personalized messages to one another for everyone to see. With Graffiti Wall, instead of words, you can break out your art skills and go to town on a 600-pixel wide canvas.

Once you've created your masterpiece, it will show up on your friends' Graffiti Wall, assuming they have it installed. If not, others will still be able … Read more

A few months ago we wrote about the Graffiti Research Lab, a set of artists who have created LASER Tag, the hacked projector that can be used to create temporary laser graffiti. The guys at GRL got their start at Eyebeam, an art and technology center in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that always has some Craveworthy stuff going on (a few months ago, they had a real live Mooninite on display!)

Last night, at Eyebeam's tenth-anniversary benefit party, I had the chance to play around with one of the GRL's laser pointers and tag the side of a … Read more