A new study from the University of Toronto predicts that car navigation systems increase the risk of accidents. Their simulations found that as soon as these systems inform drivers of traffic and suggest another route, the likelihood that the idiot driver will crash into something increases. One might also imagine that being stuck in a parking-lot like traffic jam dramatically lowers one's risk of getting into an accident.
Finally, a web site that encodes and decodes ASCII! It's called Binary, and you can type in anything, and it will give it back to you in binary format. Enter binary, and it converts it into text.
According to an ABC News report, the 10-year-old daughter of an AOL executive asked her dad after spending time reading e-mail: "Daddy, do I need a bigger penis?"
Pentagon's New Plane Features 2,000,000 Lines of Code
The F/A-22 Raptor is a $200-million-per-plane stealth fighter that can do it all. But what really sets the plane apart is "its ability to process data on air and ground targets using its own onboard radars and sensors, as well as those on other aircraft. The airplane is, essentially, an extremely advanced carriage loaded with computers running 2 million lines of software code." Unfortunately, the plane has to be rebooted during flights.
Yahoo Launches 'American Idol' Style Search . . . For New Yodeler
"American Yodel?" Yahoo today kicked off a search for an amateur yodeler at the Times Square Studios in New York. The winner will win an appearance in an upcoming Yahoo! TV spot and $10,000. Auditions will take place in San Francisco, Kansas City, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. ADWEEK
Wallflower Systems is promising new 8x10 digital frames that suck photos off your PC via Wi-Fi, and display them at 1024x768. Sounds cool, but the frames will start at about $500. I'll keep you posted.
Natural Selection Applied to Problem of Circuit Design
A digital simulation of natural selection may replace the more "creationist" approach currently used to design integrated circuits. Miguel Garvie, a research student at the University of Sussex in the UK, has developed software that lets ordinary computer users contribute their spare processing power to create a virtual evolutionary environment for the project. Randomizing processes produce a wide variety of designs, and then the best designs are allowed to sexually reproduce, leading to offspring who survive or die off according to their fitness. Folks, I'm not making this up!
Scientists working for Japanese food companies have come up with a device that when placed in the mouth, simulates food, including taste, smell, texture, chemical reaction in the mouth and even the "crunch" or other sounds of mastication.
RIAA Radar is a web site that lets you search for a singer or band, and get information on whether or not they are associated with the Recording Industry Association of America, which is currently issuing subpoenas against music swappers at the rate of 75 per day.
SegaToys showed off an ugly new cat robot at the 2003 Japan Toy Show in Yokohama, Japan, today. Tentatively called the 'Necot,' portable pussy is programmed to communicate via gestures or sound, and will go on sale next March for about $250.
Electrolux is converging the refrigerator with the digital camera. The idea is that each time you close your refrigerator door, built-in digital cameras take snapshots of what's inside, and uploads them to a server. If you find yourself at the store, and don't remember if you're out of mustard, you can use your cell phone or PDA to take a look. Hopefully, the light stays on when you close the door.
Israeli Surgeons Perform Surgery Using Sunlight Instead of Laser
They sliced a mouse open using focused sunlight, and the mouse survived -- until they killed it for the purpose of conducting an autopsy. The technology requires fancy engineering and constant sunlight. Surgeons in the UK are uninterested in the technique.
It's well known that newspapers write obituaries of older public figures and keep them around for when they actually die. The New York Times' Bob Hope obit was written by Vince Canby, a guy who died himself three years ago. Here's Hope's obituary. Here's Canby's.
I told you about the Pentagon's Big-Brother-Is-Watching-You project called "LifeLog" in a previous Mike's List newsletter. Today, WIRED News is reporting that LifeLog, which records every aspect of every person's life, is "just the beginning." They also intend to create PDAs that tell us what we think and what we want. They're also interested in computers that can think for themselves.
Canadian Convict Ran Drug Smuggling Racket via Cell Phone From Prison
A cell phone smuggled into jail inside a "body cavity" of his girlfriend served as the entire IT infrastructure of a thriving cocaine smuggling company for Canadian prisoner Rivo D'Onofrio. When the battery died, he had a charger smuggled inside a Nintendo game.
Infamous hacker Stephen Craig Dendtler, who two years ago cracked the OptusNet network and made off with the account details of 400,000 customers, was given back a PC seized during a raid. Dendtler had complained that the computer was not used to commit his crimes and that in fact it belonged to his mom, with whom he resides.
China Mulling Robot Nurses for Future SARS Outbreaks
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has created a robot nurse called "Aim" that it hopes can treat future SARS patients without risking the lives of hospital staff. No word yet on any trademark lawsuit from AOL. Mike's List fans: Send me a pic when you find one! (mike@mikeslist.com)
France Telecom R&D is testing an instant scrapbook service for tourists that lets visitors point-and-shoot their cell phones at kiosks to create online photo albums and travel journals. Canned monument info can be added to personal photos, video and other data to create custom web sites about one's vacation. The service is being tested with 500 French and English-speaking tourists vacationing in Corsica and the French Riviera. This trial will begin on August 4 in Corsica and continue in September on the French Riviera. Presumably all the English-speaking tourists are English, Canadian, Australian or New Zealanders, as Americans don't go to France anymore.
Scientists Create Working Motor Less Than 1/300th the Width of Human hair
Alex Zettl of the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues have created a working motor just 500 nanometers wide. It could be used to power a uselessly microscopic, but nevertheless very fuel-efficient, electric car.
Called "Paycheck," this new Ben Affleck sci-fi thriller about a hotshot techie brought into a project by a shady corporation to reverse engineer something. The catch is that he has to allow them to erase his memory after the project is complete. Afterwards, bad stuff ensues, and he tries to remember what was erased before it's too late. Sounds like the typical Silicon Valley job. Check out the trailer.
The AirBike is a cross between a jet, helicopter, motorcycle and Star Wars Speeder. It can fly very fast, hover and maneuver, according to Allied Aerotechnics, the New Hampshire-based company that's working to make the AirBike a reality.
The U.S. Navy's new Virginia class submarines are the first subs built without periscopes. Instead, they'll sport masts with special digital video recorders, digital cameras and infrared laser range finders. The major benefits of going digital are that more than one person can watch at once, and that the control room no longer needs to be directly under the periscope. The downside is that you don't get the drama of pulling down that... thing.
Maxx Payne, the Wrestler, Sues Rockstar Games, Others
The retired World Championship Wrestling professional Maxx Payne filed a $10 million lawsuit against a group of software developers for stealing his name for "Max Payne." The developers include Rockstar Games Inc, 3D Realms Entertainment, Gathering of Developers and Remedy Entertainment Ltd.
Japan's Index Corporation rolled out a service this month to enable cell phone event tickets. After the customer pays, a barcode is sent to the phone, which is then read and authenticated at concerts, ball games and the opera.
Bouncers at a new UK club called City will be outfitted with wireless video cameras to record every customer interaction. The purpose is to monitor not what the customers do, but what the bouncers do. The UK, which is already the most surveiled country on earth, is getting even more camera-happy.
Simply scan the bar code of a product, and the gadget will make a "Geiger counter" noise of an intensity directly related to the product manufacturer's environmental or social record. It makes the products of unethical companies appear radioactive.
The BBC Proves that Loch Ness Monster Does Not Exist
Using 600 sonar beams and satellite technology, a BBC team failed to find any trace of famed prehistoric monster. In unrelated news, the BBC team is reportedly missing.
Sighted is a hoax web site devoted entirely to photographs of celebrities taken with camera phones at Starbucks. In reality, none of the "celebrities" are the actual celebrities but instead look-alikes or look-nothing-alikes.
A company called Level Biotech is displaying fluorescent mice at Bio Taiwan 2003. They get that healthy glow from gene injections during the embryo stage of their development.
The 
Wallflower Systems is promising new 8x10 digital frames that 
Scientists working for Japanese food companies have come up with a device that when placed in the mouth, 
SegaToys showed off an ugly new cat robot at the 2003 Japan Toy Show in Yokohama, Japan, today. Tentatively called the 'Necot,' portable pussy is programmed to communicate via gestures or sound, and will go on sale next March for about $250. 
New York cops are testing Segways for two months. 
Alex Zettl of the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues have created a 
The 
The U.S. Navy's new Virginia class submarines are the 
Matsushita will develop a 2mm module for cell phones and PDAs that enable the reception of digital TV signals. 
Using 600 sonar beams and satellite technology, a BBC team 
A company called Level Biotech is displaying fluorescent mice at Bio Taiwan 2003. They get 
