January 2008
The Ten Best Movie Posters of ‘07! →
As we begin our look back at 2007 at the movies, we start where most people usually start their movie experience — with the posters. Here we take a look back at the best of ‘07, one teaser at a time.
New FAA rules limit batteries in checked, carry-on... →
Planning on packing plenty of spare battery power to that New Years party? You might run afoul of new air travel rules that go into effect on January 1, 2008. Full guide to rules here.
Britain Drops 'War on Terror' Label →
The words “war on terror” will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country’s chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless “death cult.”
Happy New Year’s Eve! The Drill Down comes to you early with the Best of 2007 and Kina Grannis (“Gotta Digg”) http://urltea.com/2g0o
Radiohead, others trying to fight clutches of... →
Rock band Radiohead’s decision to release its new album “In Rainbows” by itself — online, without a record label’s help and at any price the user chose — rocked the industry last fall. But everyone wants to know: Who’s next? The following 10 acts represent where the smart money is on such speculation. Let the games begin.
December 2007
Top 10 Web Tech Stories of 2007 →
2007 was an eventful year in Web Technology, with the rise of Facebook, some frenzied acquisitions from the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, and of course the iPhone. To round out the year (and put an end to the December lists!) here is a look at what we think were the 10 biggest Web tech stories of the year.
Measuring CPU usage during HD video playback: ATI... →
HD content is becoming more popular, but maintaining smooth playback requires a significant amount of CPU and/or video card power. Here, we take a look at the latest offerings from ATI and NVIDIA to see how they measure up.
7 Things That Only Make Sense When You're Drunk →
Most of you have been there (and those of you too young to drink will soon find out for yourselves): you’ve had too much to drink and suddenly, drunk-logic takes hold of your mind. This is when you see start to see things in a different light and things that normally wouldn’t make sense when you’re sober suddenly seem like a totally good idea…
New Year’s Eve: 40+ Sites to Party Like A Rock... →
New Year’s Eve is less than a week away, and unless you plan on sitting in your house watching the ball drop on television (or you could watch Radiohead drop an album), you may want to check out this short list of web-based tools for finding, planning and getting to a New Year’s Eve party.
@mikeontv @duncanriley Still awaiting the correction on Duncan’s TC entry re:”the Drill Team” to “The Drill Down”…sigh
10 Things Women Love About Men [best of... →
Something different for a change: A woman praising the idiosyncrasies that make us guys, well…guys!
Crazy Nintendo Support Call: Smack Wiimote to Fix... →
Nintendo Help Desk: “Okay - I want you to take the remote, button side down and smack it into the palm of your hand two or three times.”Russ: “You’ve got to be kidding”Nintendo Help Desk: “No sir, do it hard enough that I can hear it across the phone line but not hard enough to damage the remote”The thing is…IT WORKED!
Tapes by C.I.A. Lived and Died to Save Image →
Current and former intelligence officials say, the agency’s every action in the prolonged drama of the interrogation videotapes was prompted in part by worry about how its conduct might be perceived — by Congress, by prosecutors, by the American public and by Muslims worldwide.
8 tech tools every Ghost Hunter needs →
So, you want to be a Ghost Hunter? There’s never been a better time: a lot of the tech tools hunters use in the field are available to everyone. From infrared cameras to night goggles, high-tech gear comes in real handy when dealing with the ethereal backlog of human history, not to mention otherworldly spooks.
The Forgotten Sound Mirrors →
From 1915 onwards these huge eerie concrete structures started popping up along the UK coast, all built with one purpose: to provide the military with an early warning system in relation to incoming aircraft. Their construction was pretty much limited to the UK and arrived just before radar technology as we know it became widespread.
@moojj Thanks, man!
@duncanriley Posted a correction on your TC article re: the name of our podcast http://urltea.com/2fr9
Join us for a live taping of The Drill Down in about 10-15 minutes here: http://tinyurl.com/2fzmu6
Officially Cool: Indiana Jones LEGO Sets! →
The awesome and highly anticipated new LEGO sets for the upcoming film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. These awesome little sets give us a Lego-sized look at some of the various scenes that may be in the movie. Hopefully the actual set design will be a little better, at least.
How To: Install Leopard with Your iPod →
In general a plain jane external hard drive should work fine, too, but I generally use my iPod when I’m doing this, so that’s what I’m covering. You can just as easily replace “iPod” with “external hard drive” for the rest of the guide if you want to use an external drive or large thumb drive.
12 College Classes We Wish Our Schools Had Offered →
I took a course last semester called “Research Methods and Theory.” It was as exciting as it sounds. I would much rather have been taking one of these 12 classes. From pop culture to maple syrup, these aren’t your average lectures.
Put a Head on the BitTorrent Hydra with xbtit →
People in the BitTorrent community are familiar with the ‘hydra’ concept. When the mythical creature had one of its heads cut off, others grew in its place. Likewise the shutting of a torrent site results in the spawning of others in its place. We interview the developers of ‘xbtit’ who can help you to become another head on the hydra.
8 Famous (Or Infamous) Fans Who Stood Out From The... →
Some of these not-so-secret admirers could sell their own jerseys in stadium stores. Some should be locked up. (And one is.)
Dream PC: 8-Core HP Rocks the Penryns (Verdict:... →
HP is cranking out some smoking workstations these days, and the latest Intel Xeon quad core processors, affectionately known as the Harpertown chips with 45-nanometer Penryn technology inside, take Windows performance to the next level.
Art Lebedev kills us with Optimus Tactus keyboard... →
Yeah, you thought the Optimus Maximus was the holy grail of keyboarding — then you saw the Optimus Tactus, a giant touch sensor display tablet keyboard that could do all the sorts of crazy stuff the Maximus can’t even touch, like playing movies and being a gigantic color swatch.
In case anyone is wondering… “Juno” FTW.
A History of Speeding Tickets →
Before you get one of these yourself, take a lesson from these unfortunate individuals…
Why Today's Music Sounds Like Shit →
Over the past decade and a half, a revolution in recording technology has changed the way albums are produced, mixed and mastered — almost always for the worse. Producers and engineers call this “the loudness war,” and it has changed the way almost every new pop and rock album sounds…
Will Apple Kill Netflix? →
Fox will offer movie rentals through iTunes. Netflix and Blockbuster shouldn’t assume that this will be a non-event. Since both companies have been beefing up their own digitally delivered offerings, they’re already positioning themselves to compete. Unfortunately for Netflix and Blockbuster, though, digital delivery levels the playing field…
Help us plan the next episode of The Drill Down. What were the very absolute best events of the year in Tech, the internet or science?
3 down, 1 to go: Warner Music Group drops DRM →
Warner is making all of its music available as MP3 files for sale at Amazon’s music store.
Man Dies After 2-Hour Marathon Lap Dance &... →
Of all the ways to die, having a stripper rub you up for two hours is not a bad way to go.
Security firm predicts Stormy weather for New... →
Storm’s December 24 attack may have been more smoke than fire, but that’s not stopping the program’s authors from trying again. New information suggests that the Storm Worm may attack again this weekend, hopefully with minimal results.
Digg: No Acquisition, No IPO in 2008? →
Many people have speculated on why Digg is (or is not) a good investment. My take on this matter is simple: Digg is caught in the Web 2.0 bubble which says that every web project is a business. Well, everything can be business, but not all businesses are created equal…
@msaleem G’night Mu! Rest up for Friday, It’ll be an exciting show…
War on drugs: US vs Netherlands →
Common Sense for Drug Policy has released the 6th edition of Drug War Facts in PDF. Here’s a surprising excerpt from the fact book…
7 Ways Modern Games are Spoiling us →
Before this generation, gaming gave us quite a bit of pain to suffer through before enjoying the pleasure. Nowadays, it seems as though we’re being served everything we wished for on a silver platter. Here’s seven new advances in gaming that have made us happier, yet lazier.
It’s a Christmas miracle!!! http://tinyurl.com/yvc5ln
Paris loses out: Hilton's fortune pledged to... →
U.S. hotel heiress Paris Hilton’s potential inheritance dramatically diminished after her grandfather Barron Hilton announced plans on Wednesday to donate 97 percent of his $2.3 billion (1.16 billion pounds) fortune to charity.
The Drill Down’s Holiday show is up! Recorded Live in front of a Ustream audience. http://thedrilldown.com/?p=49 Happy Holidays!
Adult Swim airs every Futurama episode starting... →
Starting tonight at 11:00 PM, and continuing until 11:30 PM on the last day of the year, there will be nothing on the schedule but Fry, Leela, Bender, and the rest of the team from Planet Express.
Flying spaghetti monster defeats anti-evolution FL... →
Efforts were afoot recently on the Polk County School Board to begin teaching the “concept” of intelligent design in science classes as an alternative to evolution. But that was before the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster arrived and shamed the school board into backing down. Read more about this somewhat merry holiday tale…
iPhone marriage proposal →
Being the romantic fellow that he is, Claude spent what must have been numerous hours producing a video proposal in the style of those ubiquitous commercials — as you can see after the break — and then screened it for his sweetheart (probably on his or her you-know-what) while they were strolling around the area where they’d first met in college.
One Toy Maker's Conscience →
The story of how a business-school professor and consultant for Mattel would turn ‘‘Made in China’’ into something other than a curse.
The Christmas Miracle of World War I →
During World War I, in the winter of 1914, on the battlefields of Flanders, one of the most unusual events in all of human history took place. The Germans had been in a fierce battle with the British and French. Both sides were dug in, safe in muddy, man-made trenches six to eight feet deep that seemed to stretch forever. All of a sudden…
What's a better present: Raisins vs. Drum Set? →
Late Christmas Eve, my wife and I were preparing for Santa’s arrival. She felt bad when she realized we didn’t have much to put in our three-year-old’s stocking. I asked if I could wrap up a tiny box of raisins, just to see if he would be excited or not…
Heal thyself: One doctor's personal experiment →
Amazing story of one oncologist, given 2 months to live, who devised her own cancer treatment plan and beat the odds…
Tetris Mastery: Video Clips To Make You Feel... →
Tetris is one of those classic games that is simple to learn, but very difficult to master. The game has gone through many iterations over the last two decades, but people all around the world are still devoted to the game and developing new skills to show off.
Everything you've known about absinthe is wrong →
Banned for a century for inspiring madness and murder, absinthe is legal again. So pour yourself a glass and get to know the real Green Fairy. Let’s clear up a few misconceptions….(Including Video demonstration of the preparation of absinthe)
Themrock's Crazy Videogame Art →
Dirk “Themrock” Schulz main art style takes well-known characters and turns them into extremely cartoony versions of their former selves. The way he has some of the characters such as Rachet, Earthworm Jim, the various Mario look extremely happy should make you want to smile from the pure joy of their expressions.