August 2008
APOD: Playing Games With the Moon →
The Moon’s measured diameter is around 3,476 kilometers (2,160 miles). But apparent angular size, or the angle covered by an object, can also be important to Moon enthusiasts. Angular size depends on…
Lawmaker Cries Foul Ahead of FCC Net-Neutrality... →
At least one lawmaker is already crying foul over Friday’s expected Federal Communications Commission’s censure of Comcast for faking internet traffic to limit its customers’ peer-to-peer file…
Tap Tap Revenge Approaches 1M Users, Music... →
A number of record labels have taken notice of Tap Tap Revenge’s quickly growing install base, and are eager to use it as a means of exposing users to new music. Decrem says that the company is in…
Steve Jobs knows, ain't no cool like 'popped... →
Even back then, Steve was ahead of the curve.
The Large Hadron Rap →
Fitty ain’t gonna be put out of a job by this rap, but let’s see him try to explain the Large Hadron Collider.
Is Grand Theft Auto IV A 'Threat To America'? →
Should the government really be making decisions about what is or isn’t appropriate for adults to do with the money they’ve earned? When we set emotions aside, it all boils down to responsibility. If…
TasteSpotting: A Digg for Foodies →
Founded on the idea that we eat first with our eyes, TasteSpotting is our obsessive, compulsive, addictive food-porn-fiending lifestyle manifested as this collection of images that link to something…
The World’s 10 ugliest sea-creatures →
No matter how much you love swimming there are some creatures you do not want to run into. Most of them are harmless but you might have a heart attack due to the ugliness overdose, so get used to…
July 2008
Firefox 3.1 Alpha Preview Delivers Slick New... →
The first 3.1 alpha (code-named Shiretoko) already packs some impressive new features like the new visual tab switcher, which offers previews of pages, and changes the sorting order based on which…
Opt-in or opt-out? Street View case echoes privacy... →
In a newly-unearthed court filing, Google responded to a couple suing over Street View by saying that no one has total privacy, except possibly hermits. Everyone else should get used to life’s little…
The Colorful Beauty of Scenic Stones (PICS) →
Over millions of years the natural process of water penetrating and seeping into stones, bringing with it solutions of iron and magnesium, leaves traces of color and forms within the stone. This,…
Circles of Life: Amazing Views of Center Pivot... →
Center pivot irrigation is basically a method of agricultural irrigation which results in a circular field of crops. a huge column of sprinklers, fixed to the ground at one end, slowly travels around…
Citizens use YouTube to Turn the Tables on Big... →
Citizens are used to CCTV surveillance but a parliamentary group says that cameras are being turned on governments to keep them in line. The vision of the “public monitoring the state” and shaming…
U2 Goes DRM-Free on Rhapsody MP3 Store →
U2, the only band to have had an official iPod model made in its honor, has dropped the DRM from its music catalog for the first time. All 19 of the band’s full-length releases (including some…
Australian Gov't Proposes Checking MP3 Players at... →
Walking through the airport-security checkpoint could get even more annoying if guards start checking travelers’ MP3 players for pirated music. Some reports have speculated that the RIAA has a hand…
More TRON 2 Info: Lassiter and LOST writers... →
It’s been a week now since that “TR2N” teaser trailer ran at Comic-Con. And fans are desperate for additional information about this Summer 2010 release.Well, let me share some info that I’m sure…
Ten Things to Remove From Your Worry List →
Now, I can’t guarantee you that any of these worries is groundless, because I can’t guarantee you that anything is absolutely safe, including the act of reading a newspaper. What I can guarantee is…
Report: Google plans venture capital group, but... →
Google has put money into a variety of startups through its Google.org foundation, and its apparently liked the results so much that it’s setting up a corporate investment arm.
McCain Planned To Attack Obama If He Visited... →
What the McCain campaign doesn’t want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops…
The Top 10 Green Protest Stunts →
The best stunts get a ton of attention, but, it must be admitted, not all of them have the desired effect.
Bush Unveils Overhaul of Spy Powers →
The White House is expected to roll out the largest rewrite of intelligence power in a generation, bolstering the power of the director of national intelligence. Some on Capitol Hill were frustrated…
Signs of Life Found Inside Rock Salt →
A team of researchers working in New Mexico has found traces of life inside salty halite crystals. The finding may help scientists search for signs of life on other planets.
Nude sunbather impaled on spike after drinking... →
(No pictures, fortunately) The 34-year-old had been drinking with two friends and his girlfriend near Haslar Lake, in Gosport, Hampshire, yesterday afternoon when he decided to sunbathe naked.As he…
Empire's Awesome Watchmen Covers Plus Four New... →
Is there anything else they can do to make this movie look any more amazing?!
On a Wing and a Prayer: Amazing Story of The Gimli... →
On 23 July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton (due to a misunderstanding of the metric system). The…
2-Tron-2b-4-gotten (PIC) →
“Ju don’ fuck wif’ de Sark”
In Memoriam: Randy Pausch's 'Last Lecture' →
Randy Pausch died yesterday. Here’s a tribute in his own words: “The lecture really was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful.”
Is Electrical Activity on Titan an Indicator of... →
Scientists have “unequivocally” proved that there is natural electrical activity on Titan, the largest of Saturn’s moons. The world scientist community believes that the probability of organic…
Caught on CCTV: Drunken Gang Kicks Man Unconscious →
Sickening images released by police lay bare a horrific attack by a teenage gang who kicked a man unconscious on the ground as a woman rifled through his pockets for money. WARNING: This footage…
Bees Used for Geographic Profiling to Track... →
By observing bees foraging in a lab, combined with computer models of their behavior, they were able to use geographic profiling as a way to distinguish between different types of foraging behavior….
PFC. LaVena Johnson Beaten, Raped, Shot; Army... →
Pictures and documents from the incident proved that she had been brutalized - raped, beaten, shot and set on fire. “Someone poured lye in her vagina to destroy evidence,” her father said. “In order…
Religious diversity 'may have helped halt spread... →
Divisions between people caused by religion may have actually helped reduce the spread of infections.Scientists claim this is why hotter countries which are more prone to disease have more religions…
The Worst Movie Remakes of All Time →
Are you skeptical when hearing about Hollywood’s newest remake of a classic movie? You have good reason. Sure, sometimes it works (see ‘The Italian Job’), but too often movie remakes can spell…
Giant Radio Telescopes of the World (PICS) →
These giant ears may one day connect us to extraterrestrial life. Until then, they’re still pretty impressive just to look at.
Sony Developing Venom Spin-Off Movie →
Comic Book movies are hot again, and Marvel’s option of the film rights to Spider-Man also give Sony the ability to to produce spin-off films based on the characters in that universe. I think hiring…
World's Scariest Robots (That Already Exist) →
If you’ve seen the latest Pixar film “Wall-E,” you’re probably fuming with rage that we don’t already live in a world with adorable clean-up robots, super-cool iPod evil robots and hover chairs. Then…
Portugal's 500,000 Classmate PC order a nail in... →
The government of Portugal has announced plans to distribute 500,000 Intel Classmate PC units to students in the country. This is a major victory for Intel in its competition with OLPC.
APOD: Beautiful Galaxies on a String →
Galaxies NGC 5216 (top right) and NGC 5218 really do look like they are connected by a string. Of course, that string is a cosmic trail of gas, dust, and stars about 22,000 light-years long.
Cool Stuff: George Lucas Frozen In Carbonite →
We’ve seen Han Solo frozen in Carbonite. We’ve even seen Jar Jar Binks frozen in Carbonite. But how now someone has finally created a Star Wars prop replica which has George Lucas frozen in…
First Cabinet-level blogger details his one-year... →
Health and Human Services director Michael Leavitt is the first Cabinet member to author a blog. His thoughts on why he sticks with it inside.
The World According to Cuil (+PICS) →
The following snippets with accompanying thumbnails were taken from search engine Cuil.com (they are not a representative sampling of all thumbnails – Cuil gets it right sometimes – but it also…
Solar Furnace Can Power California for Less Than... →
1000 towers over 700 acres of desert. With each tower having a capacity to produce 100 kW of power, the entire field stands to produce close to 100 MW of power when finished. That’s enough energy to…
Must Watch: Disney's The Princess and the Frog... →
Disney has unveiled a short but sweet teaser trailer for their upcoming hand-animated feature The Princess and the Frog. Not only does the animation look fantastic yet again, but the song is…
Cops Pwnd UK Google Street View Car →
Google may be the big fish on the Net, but Google Street View Car got no respect from the cops on the street!
Study: Women Outnumber Men on Most Social Networks →
The only social networks studied that didn’t have more women than men in the 18-24 year old group were venerable old LinkedIn (where incidentally the 25-34 age group was tops) and a site called…
Banksy Art: Photos, Prints, and Tattoos (+PICS) →
Banksy is irrefutably a talented artist. He has gained a worldwide following and his pseudonym is known around the world. What makes the Banksy experience unusual is that most of his fans have never…
Human Cells have Electric Fields as Powerful as... →
Using newly developed voltage-sensitive nanoparticles, researchers have found that the previously unknown electric fields inside of cells are as strong, or stronger, as those produced in lightning…
Five 'Female' Olympians Who Failed the Gender Test →
We’re familiar with drug testing for athletes, but officials at the Beijing Olympics will be taking things one stage further and examining competitors whose sex is in doubt. And it is far from being…
Floating Through the Supermarket (PICS) →
Photographer Denis Darzacq makes his models defy gravity in seemingly common settings. Here he brings surreal fly-overs to your local grocery store…
Bees help devise a way to catch serial killers →
Bumblebees are helping to hone a method used to catch serial killers to aid detectives and protect Britain’s dwindling bee population too.