At age seventeen, Shawn Fanning designed a computer program that transformed the Internet into an unlimited library of free music. Tens of millions of young people quickly signed on, Time magazine put Fanning on its cover, and his company, Napster, became a household name. It did not take long for the music industry to declare war, one that has now engulfed the biggest entertainment and technology companies on the planet.
For All the Rave, top cyberculture journalist Joseph Menn gained unprecedented access to Fanning, other key Napster and music executives, reams of internal e-mails, unpublished court records, and other resources. The result is the definitive account of the Napster saga, for the first time revealing secret take-over and settlement talks, the unseen role of Shawn’s uncle in controlling Napster, and hidden agendas and infighting from Napster’s trenches to the top ranks of the German media giant Bertelsmann.
All the Rave is a riveting account of genius and greed, visionary leaps and disastrous business decisions, and the clash of the hacker and investor cultures with that of the copyright establishment. Napster left a generation of music fans feeling that paying the recording industry close to twenty dollars for a CD was a foolish and unnecessary extravagance, which provoked a still-growing backlash against digital media consumers that might leave them with less control than ever. Here is the inside story of the young visionary and the company that made it happen.
A posthumous collection of writing by Aaron Swartz, the computer genius and Internet hacktivist whose tragic suicide shook the world
In his too-short life, Aaron Swartz reshaped the Internet, questioned our assumptions about intellectual property, and touched all of us in ways that we may not even realize. His tragic suicide in 2013 at the age of twenty-six after being aggressively prosecuted for copyright infringement shocked the nation and the world.
Here for the first time in print is revealed the quintessential Aaron Swartz: besides being a technical genius and a passionate activist, he was also an insightful, compelling, and cutting essayist. With a technical understanding of the Internet and of intellectual property law surpassing that of many seasoned professionals, he wrote thoughtfully and humorously about intellectual property, copyright, and the architecture of the Internet. He wrote as well about unexpected topics such as pop culture, politics both electoral and idealistic, dieting, and lifehacking. Including three in-depth and previously unpublished essays about education, governance, and cities, The Boy Who Could Change the World contains the life’s work of one of the most original minds of our time.
The web has its own language, aesthetics, issues, and problems; yet the infrastructure and rules of web site design are still in their infancy. Here, the author discusses how Web designers should collaborate with editors and engineers, have an acute understanding of the concept of real-time, master hypertext, know their audience, be wary of multimedia, and create sites that emphasize simplicity and clarity and that users can move through quickly. Includes numerous color reproductions of web pages.
JavaScript plays a powerful role in creating rich interactive experiences. But its power comes at a cost: longer load times, sluggish pages, and inaccessible content. The more we rely on client-side rendering, the more likely we are to exclude visitors with older devices, slower connections, or those who have disabled JavaScript altogether.
If we want people to fully experience the sites we have worked so hard to craft, then we must be judicious in our use of JavaScript. In thoughtful detail, Jeremy Wagner shows how JavaScript can be used to progressively enhance server-side functionality, while improving speed and access for more visitors. By centering user needs every step of the way—from toolchains to metrics to testing—we can all contribute to a more inclusive, accessible, and resilient web.
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
Did you know that these twenty-six words are responsible for much of America’s multibillion-dollar online industry? What we can and cannot write, say, and do online is based on just one law–a law that protects online services from lawsuits based on user content. Jeff Kosseff exposes the workings of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which has lived mostly in the shadows since its enshrinement in 1996. Because many segments of American society now exist largely online, Kosseff argues that we need to understand and pay attention to what Section 230 really means and how it affects what we like, share, and comment upon every day.
The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet tells the story of the institutions that flourished as a result of this powerful statute. It introduces us to those who created the law, those who advocated for it, and those involved in some of the most prominent cases decided under the law. Kosseff assesses the law that has facilitated freedom of online speech, trolling, and much more. His keen eye for the law, combined with his background as an award-winning journalist, demystifies a statute that affects all our lives -for good and for ill. While Section 230 may be imperfect and in need of refinement, Kosseff maintains that it is necessary to foster free speech and innovation.
An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well. Opening with the journey toward her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Wang discusses the medical community’s own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then follows an arc that examines the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life. In essays that range from using fashion to present as high-functioning to the depths of a rare form of psychosis, and from the failures of the higher education system and the dangers of institutionalization to the complexity of compounding factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease, Wang’s analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.
Meet James: A secret agent trapped inside the dire confines of the Mayview Hospital, a mental health facility, on a mission to liberate the prisoners of this institution. Only one thing stands between James and his freedom, his sanity. James is a paranoid schizophrenic, although this truth often eludes him, especially when the voices call to him in the form of a mysterious and dangerous woman he calls Eve. As he struggles on his road to redemption James must learn to confront his past in order to better accept and control his illness.
On this journey he meets Emily, a woman who will change life as he knows it. As James and Emily grow closer together James is forced to make a decision to either continue with his treatment or be with the woman he’s come to love. What James must understand is Emily has her own dark secrets and that love does not always conquer all.
Held Hostage is a story about mental illness and the sometimes deathly hold it has on its unwilling captors.
It’s a story about life, loss and the friendships in between.
The shocking untold story of the elite secret society of hackers fighting to protect our privacy, our freedom — even democracy itself
Cult of the Dead Cow is the tale of the oldest, most respected, and most famous American hacking group of all time. Though until now it has remained mostly anonymous, its members invented the concept of hacktivism, released the top tool for testing password security, and created what was for years the best technique for controlling computers from afar, forcing giant companies to work harder to protect customers. They contributed to the development of Tor, the most important privacy tool on the net, and helped build cyberweapons that advanced US security without injuring anyone. With its origins in the earliest days of the Internet, the cDc is full of oddball characters — activists, artists, even future politicians. Many of these hackers have become top executives and advisors walking the corridors of power in Washington and Silicon Valley. The most famous is former Texas Congressman and current presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, whose time in the cDc set him up to found a tech business, launch an alternative publication in El Paso, and make long-shot bets on unconventional campaigns. Today, the group and its followers are battling electoral misinformation, making personal data safer, and battling to keep technology a force for good instead of for surveillance and oppression. Cult of the Dead Cow shows how governments, corporations, and criminals came to hold immense power over individuals and how we can fight back against them.
Sonic Youth’s distinctive, uncompromising sounds have provided a map for innumerable musicians who followed, from ’90s groundbreakers like Nirvana and Pavement to current faves like the Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. More than perhaps any other act, Sonic Youth has brought “fringe” art to the mainstream, helping spawn an alternative arts scene that prospers to this day: a world of punk rock, underground films and comics, experimental music, conceptual art, contemporary classical compositions, and even fashion. In Goodbye 20th Century, David Browne tells the full glorious story of “the Velvet Underground of their generation,” an account based on extensive research, fresh interviews with the band and those who have worked with them (from Glenn Branca and Lydia Lunch to Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze), and unprecedented access to unreleased recordings and documents. This is a richly detailed portrait of an iconic band and the times they helped create.
In 1985, Kristin Hersh was just starting to find her place in the world. After leaving home at the age of fifteen, the precocious child of unconventional hippies had enrolled in college while her band, Throwing Muses, was getting off the ground amid rumors of a major label deal. Then everything changed: she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and found herself in an emotional tailspin; she started medication, but then discovered she was pregnant. An intensely personal and moving account of that pivotal year, Rat Girl is sure to be greeted eagerly by Hersh’s many fans.
‘When I first heard about this Faith No More biography, I didn’t know what to think. But I have to give credit where it is due, it’s a quality piece. The man has done his research and it shows. It provided me with more than a few revelations … and I’m in the band.’ — Bill Gould, Faith No More
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More is the definitive biography of one of the most intriguing bands of the late twentieth century. Written with the participation of the group’s key members, it tells how such a heterogeneous group formed, flourished, and fractured, and how Faith No More helped redefine rock, metal and alternative music. The book chronicles the creative and personal tensions that defined and fueled the band, forensically examines the band’s beginnings in San Francisco’s post-punk wasteland, and charts the factors behind the group’s ascent to MTV-era stardom.
Small Victories strips away the mythology and misinformation behind their misanthropic masterpiece Angel Dust, explores the rationale behind the frequent hiring and firing of band members, and traces the unraveling of the band in the mid-1990s. It also examines the band’s breakup and hiatus, explores their unwelcome legacy as nu-metal godfathers, and gives a behind-the-scenes view of their rebirth.
Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews with current and former band members and other key figures, Small Victories combines a fan’s passion with a reporter’s perspicacity.
Mike Godwin is a twenty-first-century crusader for free speech. As online counsel to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Godwin is often the one who gets the first panicked calls from Internet bulletin board operators or private citizens when their apartments are searched and computers seized. Deeply involved in civil liberties on the Net, Godwin shares his personal experience as a lawyer in the fight against the controversial Communications Decency Act of 1996. He provides expert analysis of the disturbing case of Jake Baker, whose short stories about rape-torture, published in an Internet newsgroup, resulted in the seizure of his dorm-room computer. Godwin also brings new insight to the Church of Scientology’s claims of intellectual property and copyright infringement, popular Web writers Brock Meeks’s and Matt Drudge’s encounters with libel law, and Phillip Zimmerman’s important fight for the freedom to use encryption software. Godwin offers practical guidelines on how to participate in life on the Net with rules for making virtual communities work, the good citizen’s guide to copyright on the Web, and how to hack the media to defend freedoms online.
It started with punk. Hip-hop, rave, graffiti, and gaming took it to another level, and now modern technology has made the ideas and innovations of youth culture increasingly intimate and increasingly global at the same time.
In “The Pirate’s Dilemma,” “VICE” magazine’s Matt Mason — poised to become the Malcolm Gladwell of the iPod Generation — brings the exuberance of a passionate music fan and the technological savvy of an IT wizard to the task of sorting through the changes brought about by the interface of pop culture and innovation. He charts the rise of various youth movements — from pirate radio to remix culture — and tracks their ripple effect throughout larger society. Mason brings a passion and a breadth of intelligence to questions such as the following: How did a male model who messed with disco records in the 1970s influence the way Boeing designs airplanes? Who was the nun who invented dance music, and how is her influence undermining capitalism as we know it? Did three high school kids who remixed Nazis into Smurfs in the 1980s change the future of the video game industry? Can hip-hop really bring about world peace? Each chapter crystallizes the idea behind one of these fringe movements and shows how it combined with technology to subvert old hierarchies and empower the individual.
With great wit and insight — and a cast of characters that includes such icons as the Ramones, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Russell Simmons, and 50 Cent — Mason uncovers the trends that have transformed countercultural scenes into burgeoning global industries and movements, ultimately changing our way of life.
If you wanted to build a machine that would distribute propaganda to millions of people, distract them from important issues, energize hatred and bigotry, erode social trust, undermine respectable journalism, foster doubts about science, and engage in massive surveillance all at once, you would make something a lot like Facebook. Of course, none of that was part of the plan. In this fully updated paperback edition of Antisocial Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life just a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging. It’s an account of the hubris of good intentions, a missionary spirit, and an ideology that sees computer code as the universal solvent for all human problems. And it’s an indictment of how “social media” has fostered the deterioration of democratic culture around the world, from facilitating Russian meddling in support of Trump’s election to the exploitation of the platform by murderous authoritarians in Burma and the Philippines. Both authoritative and trenchant, Antisocial Media shows how Facebook’s mission went so wrong.
In this ambitious novel of madness and release, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Doris Lessing imagines the fantastical “inner-space” life of an amnesiac.
Charles Watkins, a Professor of Classics at Cambridge University, has suffered a breakdown, confined to a mental hospital as his friends and doctors attempt to bring him back to reality. But Watkins has embarked on a tremendous pyschological adventure that takes him from a spinning raft in the Atlantic to a ruined stone city on a tropical island to an outer-space journey through singing planets. As he travels in his mind through memory and the farther reaches of imagination, his doctors try to subdue him with ever more powerful drugs in a competition for his soul. In this provocative novel, Lessing takes us on a harrowing voyage into the rarely glimpsed territory of the inner mind.
A fascinating glimpse behind the big suits and deadpan looks to the heart and soul of a band that made it big by playing it cool With their minimalist beats, sophisticated lyrics, and stoic mien, the Talking Heads were indisputably one of the most influential and intriguing bands of their time. Rising from the ashes of punk and the smoldering embers of the disco inferno, they effectively straddled the boundaries between critical and commercial success as few other groups did, with music you could deconstruct and dance to at the same time.
Culture critic David Bowman tells the fascinating story of how this brain trust of talented musicians turned pop music on its head. From the band’s inception at the Rhode Island School of Design to their first big gig opening for the Ramones at CBGB, from their prominence in the worlds of art and fashion to the clash of egos and ideals that left them angry, jealous, and ready to call it quits, Bowman closely chronicles the rise and fall of a stunningly original and gloriously dysfunctional rock ‘n’ roll band that stayed together longer than anyone thought possible, and left a legacy that influences artists to this day.
Implement the powerful new multimedia and interactive capabilities offered by HTML5, including style control tools, illustration tools, video, audio, and rich media solutions. Understand how HTML5 is changing the Web development game with this full-color, project-based treatment that shows you-not just tells you-what HTML5 can do for your Web sites. Reinforce your practical understanding of the new standard with demo applications and tutorials, so that execution is one short step away. The companion website, visualizetheweb.com, is packed full of extra information, online code libraries, and a user forum, offering even more opportunity to learn new skills, practice your coding and interact with other users.
Since its introduction in 1998, XML has become an indispensable technology for exchanging data and operating across heterogeneous systems. Whether you’re sharing calendar events, importing syndication feeds, or querying an external API, XML is usually one of the formats available for consumption. Early versions of PHP provided extensions for working with XML, but it wasn’t until the introduction of SimpleXML, DOM, XMLReader, and XMLWriter in PHP 5 that working with XML was streamlined. XML Parsing with PHP, edited and produced by php[architect], provides a comprehensive survey of the classes and functionality available for working with XML. This edition covers parsing and validating XML documents, leveraging XPath expressions, and working with namespaces as well as how to create and modify XML files programmatically. Each chapter contains examples illustrating how to use the different XML extensions at your disposal.
Topics covered: SimpleXML DOM XMLReader & XMLWriter XML Basics Namespaces in XML documents Working with syndication feeds REST, SOAP, and WSDL Validation with DTDs, RelaxNG, and XML Schema Written by PHP professional John M. Stokes, this book provides an easy-to-use reference for working with XML.
Suddenly, everyone’s talking about HTML5, and ready or not, you need to get acquainted with this powerful new development in web and application design. Some of its new features are already being implemented by existing browsers, and much more is around the corner. Written by developers who have been using the new language for the past year in their work, this book shows you how to start adapting the language now to realize its benefits on today’s browsers. Rather than being just an academic investigation, it concentrates on the practical–the problems HTML5 can solve for you right away. By following the book’s hands-on HTML5 code examples you’ll learn: new semantics and structures to help your site become richer and more accessible how to apply the most important JavaScript APIs that are already implemented the uses of native multimedia for video and audiotechniques for drawing lines, fills, gradients, images and text with canvas how to build more intelligent web formsimplementation of new storage options and web databaseshow geolocation works with HTML5 in both web and mobile applicationsAll the code from this book (and more) is available at www.introducinghtml5.com.
GO BEYOND THE BLOGSmashing WordPress shows you how to utilize the power of the WordPress platform, and provides a creative spark to help you build WordPress-powered sites that go beyond the obvious. You will learn the core concepts used to build just about anything in WordPress, resulting in fast deployments and greater design flexibility.
Inside, WordPress expert Thord Daniel Hedengren takes you beyond the blog and shows you how WordPress can serve as a CMS, a photo gallery, an e-commerce site, and more.
YOU WILL LEARN:
THE ANATOMY OF A WP INSTALL AND HOW WORDPRESS ACTUALLY WORKS HOW TO BUILD BEAUTIFUL WORDPRESS THEMES – INCLUDING CHILD THEMES HOW TO CREATE CUSTOM LOGIN FORMS AND ADMIN THEMES HOW TO USE THE LOOP TO CONTROL CONTENT, AND EVEN USE ALTERNATIVES TO THE LOOP HOW TO INTEGRATE THEME OPTIONS HOW TO BUILD PLUGINS – INCLUDING WIDGET FUNCTIONALITY HOW TO BUILD YOUR WORDPRESS PROJECTS FOR SEO INTEGRATE WORDPRESS WITH THE SOCIAL WEB HOW TO CREATE AMAZING NAVIGATION HOW TO USE CONDITIONAL CONTROL ELEMENTS
On Stranger Tides is Tim Powers’s great Disneyland ride through pirates, puppeteers, treasure, and thrill a minute action that carries on from page one.
Chair Shots and Other Obstacles: Winning Life’s Wrestling Matches is an introspective look into the wit and wisdom of legendary professional wrestler and manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
“Chair shots” is a part of wrestling vernacular, but it is also a metaphor for setbacks and impediments that one experiences in life. Heenan has had his share of challenges – both personal and professional. He also has learned his share of lessons, but not in a formal education setting. The world has been his classroom and observing life around him, his curriculum.
In his new role of “self-help guru,” Heenan dispenses that wisdom through tangible and downright funny examples and anecdotes of a 59-year life and a five-decade career in professional wrestling.
And what a career it has been. Heenan shares his many “chair shots,” from battling pesky promoters and fanatical fans to combating cancer, which Heenan refers to as “the ultimate heel.” Heenan also shares his seemingly infinite supply of humorous stories about many wrestling legends including: Dick the Bruiser, Andre the Giant, Vince McMahon, and Hulk Hogan.
Finally, “The Brain” sums up his experiences with a last bit of advice: “Don’t be a ‘Bobby Heenan.’ I’m not even saying to be a Ray Heenan. Just be a clown. That’s the best advice I can give anyone…Now, when do I get paid?”
Our enduring love of vampires – the bad boys (and girls) of paranormal fantasy – has persisted for centuries. Despite being bloodthirsty, heartless killers, vampire stories commonly carry erotic overtones that are missing from other paranormal or horror stories.
Even when monstrous teeth are sinking into pale, helpless throats – especially then – vampires are sexy. But why? In A History Of The Vampire In Popular Culture, author Violet Fenn takes the reader through the history of vampires in ‘fact’ and fiction, their origins in mythology and literature and their enduring appeal on tv and film. We’ll delve into the sexuality – and sexism – of vampire lore, as well as how modern audiences still hunger for a pair of sharp fangs in the middle of the night.
Loosely related to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island, Pussy, King of the Pirates is a grrrl pirate story that journeys from the most famous whorehouse in Alexandria though an unidentified, crumbling city that may or may not be sometime in the future, to Brighton Town, England, and, finally, to a ship headed toward Pirate Island, where the stories converge and the vision ends.
Neil Gaiman, a close friend of Acker’s, has written a new introduction to this anniversary edition. In typical Acker fashion, he’s including a text exchange with one of Acker’s fictional heroines, Janey Smith, along with stories of their friendship and what Acker would think of everything now, today, “as the world begins to burn.
In a quiet house on a quiet street Frank and Julia are having an affair. Not your ordinary affair. For Frank it began with his own insatiable sexual appetite, a mysterious lacquered box- and then an unhinged voyage through a netherworld of imaginable pleasures and unimaginable horror… Now Frank – or what is left of Frank – waits in an empty room. All he wants is to live as he was before. All Julia can do is bring him her unfulfilled passions… and a little flesh and blood…
“At last, the feminist history of booze we’ve been waiting for!” —Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist
From Los Angeles Times bestselling author Mallory O’Meara comes a lively and engrossing feminist history of women drinking through the ages
Strawberry daiquiris. Skinny martinis. Vodka sodas with lime. These are the cocktails that come in sleek-stemmed glasses, bright colors and fruity flavors—these are the Girly Drinks.
From the earliest days of civilization, alcohol has been at the center of social rituals and cultures worldwide. But when exactly did drinking become a gendered act? And why have bars long been considered “places for men” when, without women, they might not even exist?
With whip-smart insight and boundless curiosity, Girly Drinks unveils an entire untold history of the female distillers, drinkers and brewers who have played a vital role in the creation and consumption of alcohol, from ancient Sumerian beer goddess Ninkasi to iconic 1920s bartender Ada Coleman. Filling a crucial gap in culinary history, O’Meara dismantles the long-standing patriarchal traditions at the heart of these very drinking cultures, in the hope that readers everywhere can look to each celebrated woman in this book—and proudly have what she’s having.
After being rescued from her kidnapping by a handsome highwayman, she returns home only to find her marriage prospects drastically reduced. Her father expects her to marry the repulsive Lord Lewes, but Jane has other plans. All she can think about is her highwayman, and she is determined to find him again.
Mark Virtue is trying to go straight. After years of robbing coaches and surviving on his wits, he knows it’s time to hang up his pistol and become the carpenter he was trained to be. He busies himself with finding work for his neighbors and improving his corner of Southwark as he tries to forget the girl who haunts his dreams. As a carpenter struggling to stay in work in the aftermath of The Fire, he knows Jane is unfathomably far beyond his reach, and there’s no use wishing for the impossible.
When Jane turns up in Southwark, Mark is furious. She has no way of understanding just how much danger she has put them in by running away. In spite of his growing feelings for her, he knows that Southwark is no place for a lady. Jane must set aside her lessons to learn a new set of rules if she is to make a life for herself in the crime-ridden slum. She will fight for her freedom and her life if that’s what it takes to prove to Mark—and to herself—that there’s more to her than meets the eye.
Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples and oranges (of which there is none). And don’t even get him started on his love life and the whole Harry-Met-Sally situation.
Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he’ll make you laugh, and he’ll drive you insane — usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, politics, and kittens, but — really — it’s about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, “In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever ‘in and of itself.'” Read to believe.
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.
