Fresh from the Labs

This clever little script runs on anything that has a Net connection and Perl. It grabs MP3s from a MySpace page and saves them locally. Like youtube-dl, this is not new, but it automates a number of things and does it locally from your hard drive without weird requirements. The best part is that it grabs all the songs and saves them in the format of [band] - [song title].mp3 automatically. Like youtube-dl, simply save the project file to your hard drive and flag it as executable, like so:

$ chmod u+x getmsp3

Now, simply run the script and enter the URL of the band you want after the command:

$ ./getmsmp3 http://www.myspace.com/soundskp

Of course, we can't encourage you to download illegally, so I've provided you with the URL of our own band, which you're welcome to download (slightly redundant though, as we've provided the option to download our files anyway).

Here's a project I'm dying to see the outcome of—a free (as in beer) speed camera warning system designed to run across a large range of mobile phones and GPS devices. FoxyTag is a collaborative system designed to encourage users to share speed camera data—the more users and feedback, the more reliable the system becomes. The system doesn't merely assume a speed camera is in one place either. Users have the options to report a permanent camera or the installation or removal of a mobile camera.

Figure 4. The People's Speed Camera Locator—FoxyTag

However, Michel Deriaz, the project's leader at Geneva University, isn't trying to promote speeding or unsafe driving. According to FoxyTag's Web site:

As for mobile phones, any Java mobile phone with MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1 and Bluetooth should be compatible. For GPS systems, any Bluetooth GPS should be compatible (including GPS modules of some navigation systems), and Michel recommends a Sirf III GPS. Unfortunately, I have neither. Hopefully, we can rustle up the needed hardware and cover this project further. I'd love to see the results of this one.