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The Butterfly Ball: A Request
In Australia, during the 80s, the public broadcaster here the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) would occasionally play a short film clip, often between Henson’s Sesame Street and our homegrown preschooler show called Playschool. I am convinced there are a whole...
01.16.09 -
John Scott Martin, 'Man Inside the Dalek,' Dies at 82
A very sad month for sci-fi movie and TV fans kicked off with the less-bulletined, but still sad loss of John Scott Martin -- the veteran British actor best known for operating a Dalek through four decades and countless episodes...
01.16.09 -
Strong Women Steer Battlestar Galactica's Final Voyage
In her autobiography Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher recalls her most memorable direction from George Lucas while playing Princess Leia in Star Wars: Forget about wearing a bra because "there's no underwear in outer space." The women of sci-fi have come...
01.16.09 -
Fox, Warner Bros. Settle Watchmen Dispute
Our long, national graphic novel nightmare is over -- movie fans will get to watch Watchmen. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox have settled the rights dispute over Watchmen in principal and will present the proposed settlement to U.S. District...
01.16.09 -
Half-Naked Female Jedis, Coming Right Up in Clone Wars
Looking for some Friday night cleavage? Try the newest episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on for size. In "Jedi Crash," Anakin Skywalker is taken out of commission and his already lightly clothed Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, teams up with...
01.16.09 -
Doomsday Weapons: a Photo Restrospective
The portraits are so beautiful, it's easy to forget that each subject could kill hundreds of thousands. This photo gallery, from Martin Miller, looks at weapons on mass destruction, from 1945's Trinity experimental A-Bomb to the Atomic Cannon to the...
01.15.09 -
Automakers Sing the Body Electric
The future of the automobile was sealed at North America's biggest auto show this week, where all of the hottest new cars and concepts had extension cords. Any idea that ethanol or hydrogen will lead us past petroleum was tossed...
01.15.09 -
Sunglasses Combines Music Player, Bluetooth Headset
Empty out your pockets and you are likely to have a Bluetooth headset, a pair of sunglasses along with a wallet and a phone. Now what if three of those five items could be combined together into a single gadget?...
01.15.09 -
New Zoom Voice Recorder Brings 4-Channel To the Masses
High-end voice recorders are some of my favorite gadgets because they help me dictate story ideas while I'm traveling and because they catch key details of any song I might happen to hear in the streets. Zoom is one of...
01.15.09 -
December Sales: Nintendo Moves 3 Million... DS Lites
Nintendo sold over 3 million DS Lite consoles in the U.S. in December 2008, the first time in history that any piece of game hardware has sold over 3 million units in a single month, the NPD Group said Thursday....
01.15.09
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Movies: In Theaters This Week (Jan. 16)
Opening This Weekend My Bloody Valentine 3D Synopsis: This 3-D sequel to the 1981 Canadian slasher movie follows Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), who sparked a series of events that led to the slaughter of 22 people on Valentine's night 10...
01.15.09 -
4G Coming to Europe in 2010
Even as telecom carriers in North America work on rolling out their 3G networks nationwide, Europe seems to be ready to take the next step. European wireless service provider TeliaSonera says its plans to have commercial roll out of 4G...
01.15.09 -
No U.S. Final Fantasy XIII Until After April 2010
Final Fantasy fans outside Japan won't be experiencing the latest in the series until some time next year, says Square Enix. Speaking to Reuters, president Yoichi Wada said that the overseas release of Final Fantasy XIII won't happen until the...
01.15.09 -
Want Proof OpenID Can Succeed? Just Scroll Down
Whatever hurdles OpenID has to clear to become a widely-adopted de facto standard, its blueprint for success lies at the bottom of millions of blog posts. OpenID and its companion technologies -- along with similar systems like Facebook Connect --...
01.15.09 -
Asus Planning Cheap Eee Smartphone
This news comes with nary a hint of specifications, launch date, design or price, but the words came straight from the mouth of Jonney Shih, chairman of Asustek. Shih says that Asus is planning yet another Eee, this time a...
01.15.09 -
Obama to Defend Telco Spy Immunity
The incoming Obama administration will vigorously defend congressional legislation immunizing U.S. telecommunication companies from lawsuits about their participation in the Bush administration's domestic spy program. That was the assessment Thursday by Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for attorney general, who made the statement during...
01.15.09 -
Obama-Spidey Comic Sells Out, Gets New Variant Cover
Amazing Spider-Man No. 583 is truly living up to its name, but not just because of the Webhead. Rather, the appearance of President-elect Barack Obama has caused the standout Spidey issue to sell out two times over. It is now...
01.15.09 -
Eating Cereal Won't Make More Boy Babies
Rest easy, girls: You won't be deprived of romantic options because eating breakfast cereal made mothers less likely to have male babies. The cereal-makes-girls connection was made last April by British researchers. The academic title of their paper — "You...
01.15.09 -
Dakota Fanning to Voice Coraline Movie Game
The game adaptation of the upcoming film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's eerily adorable Coraline will feature many of the film's famous actors reprising their roles as character voices, including the eponymous protagonist. Dakota Fanning (Coraline), Keith David (Cat) and Robert...
01.15.09 -
eMusic Says Data Supports Long Tail Theory
The DRM-free, indie music-oriented site eMusic may not contain any major label music, but it does have the sort of music that people go to great lengths to find, rather than just downloading whatever's at the top of the charts....
01.15.09
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Life Hunters Target Methane Plumes on Mars
Methane, an organic molecule that on Earth is usually produced by life, has been found emanating from three specific regions on the surface of Mars. The regions have suddenly become the most defined and accessible regions in the solar system...
01.15.09 -
Israeli Shells Strike U.N. Compound in Gaza (Updated)
The latest news from Gaza: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed "outrage" after Israeli shells struck a U.N. compound there. Photos from the scene show workers trying to extinguish fires in the U.N. compound, where 700 Palestinians reportedly...
01.15.09 -
Video: Extended Mafia II Trailer
The original Mafia was a severely underloved gem of an open-world sandbox game, and based on the newly released extended trailer the long-in-development sequel is shaping up nicely. First seen during this year's Spike Video Game Awards, this clip features...
01.15.09 -
Killzone 2 Demo Dated for Those Without Pre-Orders
Despite its plans to release an early demo for Killzone 2 exclusively for gamers who pre-order the title from GameStop, Sony is also issuing a demo for the rest of us prior to the game's release, reports MTV's Multiplayer Blog....
01.15.09 -
Motorized Self-Adjusting Keyboard Pampers Tired Wrists
It used to be that "injury avoidance" was simply filing down the sharp edges on the vacuum cleaner hose before you fired up the adult channel. Now, it's a hi-tech game involving carpal tunnels, servo motors and fancy algorithms, all...
01.15.09 -
Frak Partiers Prep for Battlestar Galactica's Final Season
Battlestar Galactica superfans around the country are prepping "frak parties" where they can watch Friday's Season 4.5 premiere with like-minded sci-fi addicts. Some of the viewing parties, like the ones hosted by "professional smartasses" Cort and Fatboy, radio personalities at...
01.15.09 -
A New Weapon in the Battle Against Drug-Tolerant Bacteria
The key to battling drug-tolerant superbugs could be keeping them awake. New research into how bacteria go dormant, allowing them to evade drugs, could lead to a method to keep them from hiding. Bacterial infections are often hard to eradicate...
01.15.09 -
Secret Micro-Sat Mission Feeds Space War Worries
An American missile-warning satellite has died, more than 22,000 miles up. So now, the U.S. is sending a pair of mini-spacecraft on a top secret operation to investigate, Craig Covault reports for Spaceflight Now. If the mission is successful, analysts...
01.15.09 -
Job Cuts Possible at Microsoft, Says Wall Street Journal
In a rare move, the higher ups at Microsoft are contemplating widespread job cuts as a reaction to the ongoing economic upheaval, reports the Wall Street Journal. "Microsoft Corp. is seriously exploring significant work force reductions," says the financial paper...
01.15.09 -
$30 Obama-Phone Launches in Kenya
Inevitably destined to be called the oPhone, this cheapo handset from Kenyan manufacturer Mi-Phone is branded with Obama propaganda. The President elect is apparently a popular figure in Kenya due to family ties, and this phone is there to cash...
01.15.09
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EA Grabs Distribution Rights to Wheel of Time Games
Correction: As per the just-released official press release, the deal only applies to worldwide distribution of the upcoming games. Red Eagle Games will still be responsible for publishing the titles. The actual games are still a ways off, but Wheel...
01.15.09 -
Small-Town Arcade Taxed Out Of Existence
Citing steep taxes on "coin-operated amusement devices," a small shop in Hampshire, Illinois was forced to remove its 10 arcade machines, eliminating a popular after-school hangout for kids and teens. The story, as reported by The Courier News, has all...
01.15.09 -
The Train in Spain Replaces the Plane
The trains in Spain are doing better than planes as a growing web of high-speed lines carrying sleek bullet trains steal hundreds of thousands of passengers from airlines and cut emissions in the process. As the government pumps more money...
01.15.09 -
Juiced-Up Script Changed Bale's Mind About Terminator Salvation
LOS ANGELES -- When director McG first pitched Christian Bale on playing John Connor in Terminator Salvation, the star of The Dark Knight delivered a blunt response that might have made Batman blush. "He told me to fuck off," McG...
01.15.09 -
Nintendo: Wii, DS Smash Euro Sales Records
Wii and Nintendo DS are selling at an unprecedented pace in Europe, according to Nintendo. MCV reports, following a press release from Nintendo of Europe, that the gamemaker sold 8.4 million Wii consoles across Europe in 2008. Nintendo says this...
01.15.09 -
Latest Release Gives Mozilla's 'Ubiquity' Plug-in a Speed Boost
Mozilla has released another update to its Ubiquity plug-in for Firefox. Ubiquity is designed to offer an easy way to manipulate web services by typing simple, plain language commands into your browser. Wait, say what now? Okay, the best way...
01.15.09 -
Fantasy Author Graham Joyce to Pen Doom 4
Perhaps hoping to add a bit more gravitas to the traditionally shallow Doom universe, id Software has retained the services of four-time British Fantasy Award-winning author Graham Joyce to script the upcoming Doom 4, reports CVG. "I can say that...
01.15.09 -
Moon Rock Reveals Hot Molten Core
A moon rock brought back by astronauts from the last Apollo mission in 1972 has finally proven its worth by revealing that the moon used to have a hot, convecting molten core that generated a magnetic field. The moon’s magnetic...
01.15.09 -
MSI NetTop Looks Like 1980s CD Player
Take a bunch of cast-off 80s CD players, stuff in a distinctly modern dual-core Atom 330 processor, a couple gigs of RAM, a DVD superdrive and 7.1 surround sound and you have MSI's new NetTop D130. MSI is calling it...
01.15.09 -
DIY Magsafe Connector for Any Notebook
Ask anyone with kids what is the best part of the MacBook range and they'll tell you the Magsafe connector. Not only is it easy to pop in – the magnet snaps the plug right into place – but marauding...
01.15.09
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Win Cool Flight of the Conchords Swag
It won't be long until Flight of the Conchords' sophomore season takes to HBO's airwaves. But why wait until Sunday to refresh your taste for comic sonics? Enter Wired.com's giveaway and you could win a Conchords prize pack stacked with...
01.15.09 -
What's the Best Computer for an Autistic Child?
We have a mission, GeekDad readers! Like we often are called upon to do in our daily lives, we are being asked to suggest a tech solution for someone. But in this case, the request is a little more challenging....
01.15.09 -
Child Porn Laws Used Against Kids Who Photograph Themselves
Privacy advocates say prosecutors are misusing child pornography laws by turning them against the very people they are meant to protect. The accusation comes following a raft of recent child pornography cases against juveniles accused of photographing themselves in the nude. This week, prosecutors in...
01.15.09 -
Monkeys Are Gadget Junkies, Too
It's not just hardware junkies who want the right tool for the job. It's monkeys, too. In what may be a modern-day snapshot of humanity's technological infancy, researchers have observed wild capuchin monkeys carefully selecting stone hammers best suited for...
01.15.09 -
Funny Video of the Day: Star Wars Retold by Someone Who Hasn't Seen It
I know I'm showing my age and my geekiness, but I'm always taken a bit by surprise to learn that there exist adults who have not seen the original Star Wars trilogy. That fact is the source of this video,...
01.15.09 -
Stephen Colbert Remixed Against Wishes, For Copyright Reform
When copyright reform advocate and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig appeared on the Stephen Colbert Report last week to promote his new book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, he argued that all the last ten...
01.15.09 -
Another Stonehenge, Really? Geeks Know This Has H.P.Lovecraft Written All Over It.
Reports of an underwater Stonehenge at the bottom of Lake Michigan, including a rock with a Mastodon carved in it have been circulating the internets over the last couple of days. There has been speculation over the validity of the...
01.15.09 -
High Court OKs Illegal Searches Based on Computer Errors
Drug evidence found during an unlawful arrest arising from a police computer error could be used at trial, a divided Supreme Court says. The 5-4 decision on Wednesday means that the nation's high court is distancing itself from the so-called "exclusionary rule" that prohibits police...
01.15.09 -
Google Circles the Wagons, Kills Notebook, Jaiku, Dodgeball and More
Google is on a house cleaning spree. The company has announced it will close three engineering centers, let go of some contractors and, most significantly for users, shut the doors on several Google services. If you were naive enough to...
01.15.09 -
Sizing up the Contenders for the 'MRAP Lite'
The Pentagon is in the market for a scaled-down version of the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, the super-sized trucks that are designed to withstand roadside bombs. The deadline for vehicle designers to submit proposals passed earlier this week; industry sources...
01.15.09
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Bartz Says 'Gut' Against Microsoft Search Deal. Nicely Played ...
It could be that freshly-minted Yahoo CEO Bartz still hasn't drunk the Kool Aid when she says things like she's in no hurry to sell the company's search business to Microsoft -- and that her "gut" tells her it isn't...
01.15.09 -
Greg Lynn, Master of Blobitecture
"A straight line is just a curve without inflexion." "It's not rocket science to design a sacred space." http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/greg_lynn_on_organic_design.html *Okay, it's not a new speech, but he makes it quite clear where he's coming from. And those last four minutes,...
01.15.09 -
Four Fields of Industrial Design
*"Speculative Design"! Oh yeah! Totally. http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/the_4_fields_of_industrial_design_no_not_furniture_trans_consumer_electronics_toys_by_bruce_m_tharp_and_stephanie_m_tharp__12232.asp Design is a mess The problem is that design is pretty much a mess. Just try and make sense of the range of the terms floating around out there: user-centered design, eco-design, design for...
01.15.09 -
2009, European Year of Creativity
*This oughta prove entertaining... http://www.dexigner.com/product/news-g16624.html European Year 2009: Creativity and Innovation The Czech Presidency of the EU and European Commission officially launched the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009 on Wednesday 7 January with the slogan "Imagine. Create. Innovate"....
01.15.09 -
Matador Records on Blogging as Business Strategy
Matador Records is a pillar of the indie music community, with several bands you've probably heard of on its roster and a history of dealing in music that's critically well-received. We spoke with Matador Records general manager Patrick Amory in...
01.15.09 -
Handheld Ultrasound Is First Aid for Combat Medics
A prototype handheld ultrasound device made from the battery of a remote-control car and other cheap parts is powerful enough to sear flesh in seconds and could be used by paramedics to cauterize wounds or by doctors to treat cancer....
01.15.09 -
Barack Obama: Superhero or Mere Mortal?
On the heels of news that President-Elect Barack Obama will appear on the cover of an upcoming Spiderman book, the guys over at Comic Book Resources have an exclusive first look at the cover of Youngbloods #8, which also features...
01.15.09 -
The Pentagon's Far-Out Science Podcast
Stick this in your iPod and smoke it: The U.S. Department of Defense is launching a new radio show audio webcast, "Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military." I listened in to the first broadcast -- an...
01.15.09 -
art machines: I want a "Sub-Sonic Dissidence Propulsion Device"
Gareth Branwyn over at Make drew our attention to this web site: art machines. Hardly a surprise, given the name of the site, art machines boasts a growing collection of machine-inspired artwork as well as some very cool and elaborate/diabolical...
01.15.09 -
Five for Fighting 1/15/09
* Israel shells U.N. complex; accident, Barak says * San Fran spycams, not totally lame * UK Foreign Minister: "War on Terror" a "mistake" * Shoot the baddies! * Afghanistan: Peace Through Accordions (High five: Hambling)
01.15.09
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Mario Stars in Poetic Origami
Today, we can finally draw back the curtain on our first Origami Haiku review. These bite sized reviews take just five seconds to read but are written, folded and photographed by hand. They combine the Japanese art of origami with...
01.15.09 -
Team Steam Chugs Toward 170 mph
We here at Autopia love anything LSR-related. That's land-speed record for the uninitiated, and it doesn't matter what form it takes. Cars, bikes, belly tankers, rocket cars, whatever. We're even into the patently weird and wacky endeavors, like building the...
01.15.09 -
Video-Card Maker Gets Into PC Gaming, Brings Along Concierge
Launching a high-end gaming PC system in the middle of the worst economic period in the last 25 years doesn't seem like a smart move. But the people in charge of video card-maker BFG Technologies are trying to beat the...
01.15.09 -
French to Give Up Luxury Industry
*Sorry mon freres, but the SIGNS of modesty are much more important than actual modesty. http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/15/style/15paris.php (...) Some French intellectuals want to go much further, calling for the death of the entire luxury industry as a sort of national ritual...
01.15.09 -
Topobo: A Novel Construction Set with Kinetic Memory
My kids and I had a real treat this afternoon. We were paid a visit by Hayes Raffle: MIT Media Lab guru, ZOOB co-inventor, and more recently, inventor of Topobo, a 3D construction set with “kinetic memory”. The primary purpose...
01.15.09 -
Torchwood Season 3 Set for Summer Premiere
While the BBC has yet to announce an official premiere date for the third mini-season of Torchwood, a BBC America exec indicated U.S. viewers can look for the show mid-summer. Garth Ancier, president of BBC America, said that the U.S....
01.15.09 -
Watchmen Trial Canceled as Settlement Nears
With Warner Bros. looking up to Rorschach and begging for that final word on a legal settlement with 20th Century Fox, Watchmen's marketing people seem confident enough to hit the throttle on a new website. A hearing set for Jan....
01.15.09 -
Meet Tim Cook: The Man in Charge of Apple
For millions of Apple fans, Steve Jobs is irreplaceable. But if there's one man Jobs himself trusts to stand in his shoes, it is his second in command, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. With Jobs on medical leave until...
01.15.09 -
Online Burger Promotion Pulled After Going Too Viral
It seems as though a Carl's Jr. online promotion for a free $2.75 "Famous Star" hamburger coupon went a little too viral. The Carpenteria-based chain promptly stopped honoring the coupons for their franchise burger after what seemed like a harmless online promotion was supersized by...
01.14.09 -
Steve Jobs Probably Won't Come Back to Apple
Steve Jobs' medical leave from Apple is likely to be permanent, analysts say. In a letter to Apple staff on Wednesday, Jobs said he was taking a five-month medical leave because his health issues are "more complex than I originally...
01.14.09
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Ricardo Montalban, Wrath of Khan's Classic Space Villain, Dies at 88
Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born television star and all-time great Star Trek screen villain from The Wrath of Khan, died Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 88. Beginning his career in Mexican movies, Montalban arrived in Hollywood in the...
01.14.09 -
Northrop Unveils Bitchin' Bomber-Cycle
Forget the Blackwater cufflinks and the attack helicopter Hawaiian shirt. The contest for most awesomely bad defense trinket is official over. This is the 20th anniversary of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, you see. So the bomber-makers at Northrop Grumman...
01.14.09 -
Retro Floppy Won't Fit in Tight Slots
This floppy-shaped recordable CD is, at first glance, a splendidly retro device. Push it down onto the spindle of the drive and you can look forward to 200 whole Megabytes of storage. Unfortunately, that's where it ends. Try cramming this...
01.14.09 -
Edison Marine Makes A Classy, Green Cruiser
Edison Marine has taken electric boating to the next level with its swank, 1940's-style barrel-back powerboats. The plug-in electric Edison Cruise is hand crafted using solid African mahogany and can reach speeds of up to 30 mph -- that's salty...
01.14.09 -
Lovely Logos in Lego
The folks at Royal Pingdom have yet another gallery for our perusal, this time featuring tech company logos rendered in the plastic pixels of Lego. Along with the Flickr logo above (our favorite), you'll find Apple's multicolored Apple design (twice),...
01.14.09 -
Wired-O-Nomics: What Japanese Toilets Taught Me About the U.S. Auto Industry
A recent trip to Japan sparked two podcast episodes about marketing/cultural observations, and some reflections on why Japan is the king of customer service. But was I really going to do an entire segment about Japanese toilets? When I started...
01.14.09 -
R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner's TV Visionary
"I am not a number, I am a free man!" Patrick McGoohan's character Number Six shouted at the panoptic eye in the sky at the beginning of every episode of the revolutionary '60s sci-fi TV series The Prisoner. And although...
01.14.09 -
Tesla Deal Helps Daimler "Bridge" Its Battery Gap
Daimler tapped Tesla Motors for the batteries it needs to get the Smart EV program rolling, but it appears the German automaker will use its own batteries in production models. Tesla founder Elon Musk said Tuesday his company would provide...
01.14.09 -
In Internet First, RIAA File Sharing Hearing to Be Webcast
The internet will get a chance to watch live as lawyers spar in a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit this month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner of Massachusetts granted over-the-internet coverage for a Jan. 22 motions hearing...
01.14.09 -
Nikon Raises D3X Price 10% Due to Currency Fluctuations
If you thought the new Nikon D3x was expensive, thank your lucky, lucky stars you're not British (unless, of course, you are British, in which case you should head straight to the pub and get a pint -- watch out...
01.14.09
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Steve Jobs: Health Problems 'More Complex Than I Originally Thought'
Apple chief Steve Jobs' health concerns are more serious than the company had previously been announced. "During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought," he wrote in an e-mail to...
01.14.09 -
iPhonepad Combines Paper and Pixels
Clearly Stephen Barry is a smart man. When looking to get some coverage of his iPhonepad he send it in to the Wired News hotline, whereupon it inevitably trickled down to the Gadget Lab, provider of Molekine hacks to the...
01.14.09 -
R.I.P. Ricardo Montalbán, 1920-2009 and Patrick McGoohan, 1928-2009
Sad news today: Word has come that actor Ricardo Montalbán, most famous for his portrayals of Mr. Roarke on the TV show "Fantasy Island" and Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek, has passed away at the age of 88. The...
01.14.09 -
Apple CEO Steve Jobs Goes on Medical Leave
Apple CEO Steve Jobs told employees Wednesday he is taking a leave of absence because of health issues. "Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else...
01.14.09 -
Inside FusionFall, Cartoon Network's New Kid-Friendly MMO
With its new FusionFall, Cartoon Network hopes to introduce young players to the addictive joys of massively multiplayer online games in a tightly controlled setting that parents will appreciate. While strictly aimed at the tween set, this vibrant, colorful world...
01.14.09 -
Israel Accused of 'War Crimes' for Phosphorus Shells
International watchdogs are calling the Israeli use of white phosphorus shells in Gaza a "war crime." Could they be right? Calls for an international war crimes investigation in Gaza are getting louder, especially over the issue of white phosphorus (WP)...
01.14.09 -
Glaucoma Meds Repurposed to Grow Longer Lashes
Maybe it's natural. Maybe it's Maybelline. Maybe it's medicine. The company that brought the world Botox, the skin-paralyzing, wrinkle-fighting blockbuster, will soon bring the world a new way to make your eyelashes longer and fuller, by repurposing a drug first...
01.14.09 -
Weezer Jams More Net Memes Into 'Pork and Beans'
Rock band Weezer has updated its "Pork and Beans" video, adding even more internet superstars to the meme-riddled clip. Valleywag counted 24 internet memes when the first version of the "Pork and Beans" music video was released last May. How...
01.14.09 -
Israeli 'Cluster Bombing' In Gaza? Unlikely
Critics say that the Israelis are pounding Gaza with cluster bombs. But the evidence suggests otherwise. Last week, there were a number of claims that the Israeli Defense Forces were using artillery-launched cluster rounds in Gaza. The Times of London,...
01.14.09 -
Bartz Choice Signals Bid to be Yahoo (!) Again
Carol Bartz’s appointment as Yahoo’s new CEO probably makes a search deal with Microsoft more likely, and a strategic alliance with AOL less probable. And her fighting words in a first press conference suggest she isn't warming the seat in...
01.14.09
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Retronauts: The Long-Awaited Earthbound Episode
People have been asking Jeremy Parish to put together an episode of Retronauts themed around Earthbound for as long as the podcast has been on the air, and today you get your wish. Unfortunately, it's still just the usual cast...
01.14.09 -
Triple-Digit Growth for Last.fm
According to Nielsen's numbers for 2008, Last.fm experienced strong growth in four key areas over the previous year. Unique visitors increased 204%, site visits 147%, page views 219% and total minutes spent on the site 141%. Last.fm credits the traffic...
01.14.09 -
Microsoft Launches 'Get Game Smart' Campaign
Microsoft wants to encourage parents to understand the media (specifically videogames) that their kids are so enamored with, and to that end the megacorporation has just launched the "Get Game Smart" campaign. Centering on a main hub website, Get Game...
01.14.09 -
Nerd President Elect: Official Portrait Reveals EXIF Data
There's just over a week to go before Barack Obama installs himself in the Oval Office, and in the meantime his geek-cred rating continues to climb. We've already seen his on-again-off-again iPod/Zune affairs, and his CrackBerry addiction is probably the...
01.14.09 -
U.S. Africa Task Force, No Longer Homeless
The neglected stepchild of the Pentagon's overseas deployments is finally getting a stable home. Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, the U.S. military's only publicly acknowledged permanent presence on the continent, has moved from the Iraq- and Afghanistan-focused...
01.14.09 -
Third-Party Browsers Emerge for iPhone
Apple this week began offering iPhone owners alternatives to its Safari mobile browser. A number of third-party web browsers appeared in the iPhone App Store on Monday and Tuesday. Applications include Shaking Web ($2)-- a browser that stabilizes the view...
01.14.09 -
State Department Passport Snoop Faces Little or No Jail Time
A low-level State Department employee pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to charges of accessing hundreds of confidential passport files, including those of celebrities, actors, athletes, politicians and family members -– and he likely faces little to no jail time. Dwayne Cross, 41, of Upper...
01.14.09 -
Rumor: EA Cut Ties With Pandemic Brisbane
Electronic Arts has severed ties with developer Pandemic Studios' Brisbane studio (Destroy All Humans!), according to "a reliable source" speaking to Kotaku. Though the developer was only acquired last year (as part of the much-publicized EA/BioWare merger), Kotaku's source holds...
01.14.09 -
Review: Lord of the Rings: Conquest Misses the Magic
How could a game that lets you take control of an Ent and knock down swaths of hapless Uruk-hai with your massive branch-arms end up being so unimpressive? Lord of the Rings: Conquest, an action game built around the legendary...
01.14.09 -
Will NASA Lose Its Head?
Update: Sources are reportedly saying that President-elect Obama has asked Air Force Major General Scott Gration to head NASA. Gration was an early campaign supporter and has been advising Obama on the military and foreign policy. This will likely be...
01.14.09
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Steve Jobs Probably Won't Come Back to Apple
01.14.09 -
Top 5 Bets for Extraterrestrial Life in the Solar System
01.14.09 -
The Prisoner Reboots the Panopticon for 21st Century
01.13.09 -
Online Burger Promotion Pulled After Going Too Viral
01.14.09 -
Israel Accused of 'War Crimes' for Phosphorus Shells
01.14.09 -
Meet Tim Cook: The Man in Charge of Apple
01.15.09 -
Review: Lord of the Rings: Conquest Misses the Magic
01.14.09 -
History's Most Beloved Gadgets
01.13.09 -
Mercedes SLR Evokes the Glory of Stirling Moss
01.13.09 -
Child Porn Laws Used Against Kids Who Photograph Themselves
01.15.09 -
Dell Plans Its Own Smartphone, Analysts Say
01.13.09 -
R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner's TV Visionary
01.14.09 -
Bioethicists Save Organ Donation by Tweaking the Definition of Death
01.13.09 -
Dollhouse Creator Joss Whedon 'Can't Fight the Funny'
01.14.09 -
Green Tech Could Get Economy High, With a Little Help From the Feds
01.13.09 -
Xbox 360 Gets Resident Evil 5 Demo First
01.14.09 -
iPhone Opens to Some 3rd-Party Web Browsers, But Not Mobile Firefox
01.14.09 -
Tesla Motors Joins Daimler On a Smart EV
01.13.09 -
The Last Frontier: Our Stinky, Sexy Sweat
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Jan. 15, 1919: Morass of Molasses Mucks Up Boston
01.14.09