CULTURE - Grandmother Sues Rockstar Games/Take Two Interactive

Old Lady

Incognito let's loose a scathing opinion on how "F-ing stupid" an old lady was for supplying a 14 year old with a game intended for over 17 year olds and then she goes on to sue Rockstar because "it contained hidden, sexually explicit scenes..." I guess she has no problem with her 14 year old explicitly sniping the heads off of pedestrians from a rooftop. Classic!

CULTURE - survey says, kids almost completely wired

Wired Kids

The report compiled for the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that nearly 9 of 10 youths age 12 through 17 have online access--up from about three-quarters of young people in 2000. The report goes on to say "Not only has the number of users increased, but also the variety of technologies that teens use to support their communication, research, and entertainment desires has grown.

These technologies enable a variety of methods and channels by which youth can communicate with one another as well as with their parents and other authorities. Email, once the cutting edge “killer app,” is losing its privileged place among many teens as they express preferences for instant messaging (IM) and text messaging as ways to connect with their friends."

WWW - Encyclopediadramatica

Encyclopediadramatica

The other night, I was mindlessly clicking around the net and found myself on what I thought was wickipedia article about england and it wasn't until i read that "The English are asymmetrical along the body, meaning that the left part is not a mirror image of the right. They do not have hardened exoskeletons, which results in horrible skin conditions. They breathe via their lungs through their permanently flared nostrils..." that I knew something wasn't right. It turns out the site is a parody site that runs off of a wickipedia engine but instead of balanced, self-correcting facts, it offers up funny bits that are intended to get a laugh. The idea behind the site was "Sparked after several people were denied from posting to wikipedia.org"

TECH -Bootable Linux Computer-On-a-Stick Flash Drive

geekzone

FingerGear is introducing the Computer-On-a-Stick Flash Drive. The Computer-On-a-Stick is a bootable USB 2.0 Flash Drive featuring a complete onboard Operating System.

Based on Linux 2.6.x Kernel with Gnome GUI Desktop, the device comes in configurations with 256MB, 512MB, 1G, 2G, 4G, and 8GB.

The device also features the OpenOffice Productivity Suite, along with many of the most commonly used desktop and Internet applications. The Computer-On-a-Stick allows users to take their entire software environment with them and move from hardware to hardware.

The device is bootable from any PC with an x86 processor supporting USB boot. All bookmarks, address book, emails, and office documents are stored securely on the device and never leave a trace on the host PC. Users enter a login password at each session.

TECH - Do You Know What Podcasting Is?

internetnews.net

Working in the tech-biz, I sometimes think that what I know is common knowledge, but it's like the plumber thinking that everyone knows that a "riser" is vertical water pipe carrying the mains water supply. Internetnews published an interesting article that puts it back in perspective for me.

Not sure of what the terms Podcasting (define), RSS (define) or Phishing (define) mean? You're not alone.

Though the tech news media regularly use those terms in stories, most Americans are not familiar with the digital audio file nature of Podcasting, the Web site syndication protocol RSS or the e-mail scam known as Phishing, according to a recent survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Pew surveyed a sampling of 1,336 people over the phone between May 4 and June 7. Sixty-five percent of respondents indicated they weren't really sure what RSS is, and 26 percent said that they had never heard of the term.

CULTURE - Driving In NJ - Dick to close Rt 1 today!

This Just In: "According to today's TRENTON TIMES:

VP CHENEY to VISIT WESTIN HOTEL at the PRINCETON FORRESTAL VILLAGE for
REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISER:

The event is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the hotel. Nearby
roads, including Route 1, likely will be closed in the late afternoon
or early evening for security purposes.

... Vice President Cheney will be here in town on Friday July 22,
2005. We strongly recommend that residents and drivers avoid the use
of US HWY 1 between the hours of 330pm & 700pm this date. Please make
the proper arrangements to choose a different route of travel."

FASHION - Custom Spider Man Outfits

Custom Spider Costumes

Margaret will make you your own custom Spidey outfit and you'll be as happy as this guy, ""I've been wearing the costume all around. I've been driving all around town! Thanks again! David S.

TECH - Improve the range of your Belkin Tunecast2

Belkin Mod

This would be great for broadspamming your music during those boring morning traffic jams. The Belkin Tunecast2 is a nicely designed piece of technology, superior to other devices of its sort due to its ability to tune to any FM frequency that you desire. The device is only limited by its range of operation. Before I modded my Tunecast2, it would operate efficiently at a distance of up to about 20-30 feet. After the mod, I was able to rebroadcast audio clearly without interference througout my entire house and even outside the house!

TECH - Swiss-Army Flash Drive

swissmemory 1GB flight

I guess with all the swiss army knitting needles getting confiscated on commercial flights, the knife company has decided to expand their product line with flight safe flash drive version of the historical multi-tool. Storage ranges from 256, 512 to 1 gig and come equipped with a laser sight for accurate aiming to the USB port. And for you folks with a pilot's license, they do offer a version with blades.

TECH - Tiny Apps For Tiny's sake and everything else

tiny apps

TinyApps.Org, a guide to very small software for your PC. The link above links you directly to the MAC section, but they have tiny software for Mac, Palm and Windoze. The app sizes range from 1.44 mb all the way down to a miniscule 448 bytes! Perfect for carrying around on your swiss-army flash drive.

MUSIC - Xpod: get music from iPod without iTunes

Xpod

Xpod 81k ipod music downloader, stick it on your key drive for emergency mooching! For Apple Mac OS X only, hahahahahahahah!

ROBOT - Swedish Mini Robot H2

H2

The HR-2 robot was constructed during a period of three months at Chalmers University in Sweden. It has 22 degrees of freedom which enables it to easily move around imitating human motions. The robot is also equipped with stereovision giving it possibilities to perform hand-eye coordination. For that task an artificial neural network is evolved. Furthermore, the artificial brain is capable of tracking faces as well as recognising them. The HR-2 is also able to speak. They have a nice video showcasing the robots ability to mimic the motions of the demontrator.

TECH - Star Trek Screensaver

Star Trek Screensaver

Reblogged from TUAW meWHO's Star Trek screensaver turns your Mac into your very own starship in the service of Starfleet. Not only does this screensaver create a complete LCARS (Library Computer Access and Retrieval System) menu system on your screen, but it is also accompanied by authentic sounds from the series (though you can turn the sounds off).

TECH - computer crashing? Think positively

Mind May Effect Machines

A researcher says that his experiments may prove that your thoughts may have an effect on electronic devices.

Researchers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, or Pear, have been attempting to measure the effect of human consciousness on machines since 1979.

Using random event generators -- computers that spew random output -- they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines' output. Out of several million trials, they've detected small but "statistically significant" signs that minds may be able to interact with machines. However, researchers are careful not to claim that minds cause an effect or that they know the nature of the communication...

Radin said the phenomenon could be similar to quantum entanglement -- what Einstein referred to as "spooky action at a distance" -- in which two particles separated from each other appear to connect without any apparent form of communication.

TECH - HOW TO make Enhanced Podcasts (images, links and more with audio)

make

Hatch has been finding great podcasting bits, here's the latest: Reblogged from hatch.org "Apple's new iTunes 4.9, iPod color, allows you to view (and listen to) "enhanced podcasts" these are audio files that can have slideshows, URLs and some cool features we have discovered."

FLASH - Fullasgoog flash blog aggregator

Fullasgoog

An aggregator for all of the best Flash related blogs out there, and has valuable information popping up daily.
"Why did you bother to build Full As A Goog?
Blogs are a useful way of distilling information from people in the know. Blog authors in turn distill information from their experience, mailing lists, the web, even other blogs. The problem with any diary is that it's updated now and then. I got tired of having to check through my list of favourite blogs for changes. I wanted a one stop clog of blogs and so "Full As A Goog" was born."

FLASH - PAPER:What About Flash? Can We Really Make Games With It?

Scott Bilas

I'm designing a racing game, and although I am a master of "goto", a first person driving game is going to need some professional grade programming behind it. Fortunately, I work with a bunch of brilliant programmers and have run into problems trying to explain to them how flash programming differs from .NET. This article from Scott Bilas does a great job explaining what those differences are as well as the strengths and weakness of programming in flash. "This paper is the story of the Oberon development team’s experiences with building games in Flash. All of us came from big games where we built our own tech (the author was a C++ game systems engineer for nearly ten years), so why did we choose Flash as our development platform instead of building our own casual games platform? What was so hot about Flash, and what caused us headaches? And, most importantly, when should we avoid using Flash entirely?"

GAME - Flash lawnmower and gopher

gopher-it!

This is more of a demo than a game, being that it doesn't keep score and has no ending. But sure is a sweet concept. You are in control of a lawnmower in a gopher infested lawn. hit the refresh button to get out of a finished level. Happy trimming :)

TECH - burn calories playing video games with an exerciser controller

Power Grid Fitness

A controller disguised as an exercise device! I wish I heard of this before I put on 40 lbs of experience points. It's based on isometric exercise The Kilowatt resistance rod measures force, not distance, so it never actually moves. The resistance rod is reading the amount of force you’re exerting against it and translates this force into the video game. You push and pull against a pole that measures pressure. If your playing a racing game, the harder you push, the faster your car will go. Works with all major consoles.

TECH - Hoax or Hack? Hackaday.com displays strange home page

hacka-a-day

9:33 pm, 07-16-05 - I'm par-oozing my blogs and have come across a strange message on the hackaday home page. Hackaday is just that, a blog with new hack every day, sometimes it's getting some cool software to work on your toaster, other days it's how to turn your electric shaver into a hedge-trimmer. Today, the only message on the site is a blank white page with the text, "Fuxz Ownz You! fuxz0r@gmail.com" Hmm, is this for real? Time will tell.

11:52pm, everything seems back to normal

UPDATE: It was a "simple defacing"