Wider Angle: Links for 04.23.06

Sweden finally recognizes W as a letter! [via Fark]

File under massive(ly) cool displays: The HIPerWall at University of California, Irvine, [via Kottke] uses 50 30-inch Apple Cinema displays to create a 200 megapixel video wall. Also, the world's largest 3d display [via digg] was created by students at Delft University of Technology. It uses 8000 LEDs and ping pong balls to display images at 2 x 4 x 8 meters. I'm considering buying a Matthew Lesko book to get a grant of my own for one of these things.

AOL is developing a MySpace killer [via waxy]. "The service will launch at AIM.com, and individual user pages will be aim.com/[username]. Functionality will be similar to MySpace - with blogging, photo and music widgets available for integration. Also, third party companies are being approached to build widgets...." And, given AOL's clear development superiority (not sarcasm), it probably won't really be that buggy. Plus it will integrate seamlessly into AIM. Goodbye, MySpace?

This nutty New Orleans mayoral candidate took a campaign picture of herself at Disneyland. Fine, right? Except she's pretending it's New Orleans.

At the moment I'm finally catching another DJ Kepi set on Thump Funk on XM80 The Move. If you like dirty, nasty, funky breaks, try to catch this guy wherever you can. I tried to find a DJ set to link to online but came up short, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Pandora is supporting the Pandora/Last.fm mashup and giving Gabe, the programmer, access to their API so he can develop it to make it more stable and even more fun. "The mashup is basically the Pandora player, and listeners have the ability to add music played by Pandora directly to their Last.fm playlists. Last.fm favorite artists for the user are also displayed, and can be used to generate on the fly Pandora stations."

At first I winced at the idea of the Great News Network, a website devoted only to good news, but once I visited I became a believer. It's certainly not a primary news source, but it's a great unicorn chaser to the New York Times.

An ingredient in Rocko's mom's milk turns out to be a bacteria-fighting compound 100 times more effective than penicillin. G'day, indeed. [via digg]

Someone created a Google cheat sheet. At first glance it seems like overkill, but look closer and you'll find a use for it.

James Dyson creates the illusion of water flowing upward in the context of a gorgeous sculpture. For people who are into physics, art, and design, this project is literally a wet dream.

Wal-Mart is learning that people will still find ways to organize and be heard even if they can't join unions. The result is millions of people forming political campaigns in an attempt to change the way the megasupergigantocorp does business.

Public Knowledge present a Net Neutrality video on YouTube explains the concept to non-geeks. GREAT IDEA! Neither Republicans or Democrats are doing anything to protect net neutrality. NOT GREAT IDEA!

The Founding Fathers were not religious. Much more importantly, they were firm that religion should have nothing to do with government. No faith-based initiatives. No Jesus. No God. "Madison believed that 'religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize.'"

Netflix mailers through the years. "The result of more than five years of experimentation, this mailer transports approximately 1.4 million DVDs a day to Netflix's 4.2 million subscribers."

The recording industry has apparently given in to Apple's demands: 99 cents per song for every song.