Follow-Up: Chinese Gamer Wins 'Stolen Weapons' Lawsuit
I told you September 6 that Beijing PC gamer Li Hongchen sued the creator of "Red Moon" for replacement of his stolen virtual weapons (they just vanished one day) and for "mental anguish." This week the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court ruled in Li's favor, ordering the company to return his weapons, which were reportedly stolen by a hacker in February, according to the Chinese news service Xinhuanet. The company, the online gaming company Beijing Arctic Ice Technology Development Company, was accused by the court of having inadequate security, which lead to the virtual theft. It is unclear whether the company will have to pay Li money for his "mental anguish." Lawsuits over online "possessions" were unprecedented, even in Europe, Japan and the United States.
Broadcom claims 802.11g products based on Atheros chips reduce the speeds of nearby networks based on rival chips, a claim that has now been verified by Small Net Builder.
Marketing for the upcoming movie, "I, Robot," starring Will Smith, has begun, with a fake ad that pretends to offer a home automation robot. The ad looks like the robot is a new Apple product.
AOL to Launch 'Radically New' Application for Teens Called 'RED'
According to this internal company memo, AOL plans to launch with AOL 9.0 an application called "RED" that is designed to provide a hipper interface to AOL services.
Chinese Hackers Using U.S. Navy Ship to Broadcast Spam
Hacker-spammers in Guandong, China, may be useing the USS San Antonio, currently under construction in San Antonio (though it appears the Microsoft Exchange Servers are working...), to relay spam, according to a self-appointed spam sleuth.
The latest version of Sony's "Qrio" robot can actually run like a human. Here's the video. The company's Digital Creatures Laboratory developed a new control software system that allows the robot to take both feet off the ground, according to Toshitada Doi, president of the laboratory. He can also pitch a fast ball.
Toshiba Selling First Ever Wireless Bone-Conduction Pillow
Toshiba Consumer Marketing started shipping yesterday a wireless bone-conduction pillow. The sound vibrates your skull, which transmits the vibration to your inner ear. The person whose head is on the pillow can hear it; anyone else in the bed (not likely for the kind of people who would buy this...) will not. The sound is sent to the pillow from your stereo via an included infrared transmitter.
The presidential motorcade of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was spared fatal destruction when a bomb attached to a bridge failed to explode until after the cars had passed. It turns out that Musharraf's cars apparently have signal jammers that disable any radio communication -- such as are used with remotely detonated bombs -- within a 200-meter radius.
EOps Technology will soon make available a TV tuner for a Pocket PC called the N-O1. The CompactFlash plug-in gadget supports TV at up to 30 frames per second and stereo sound via headphones. The company expects to release the N-O1 in first quarter of 2004.
Jupiter: One in Seven Web Sites Contains Colossal Errors
Jupiter Research reports in a statement released today that one in seven "customer-facing" web sites contains errors bad enough to cause "visitor defection."
A Nielsen//NetRatings report shows that a person's online behavior can be predicted if you know what kind of car they drive. For example, BMW owners are heavy visitors to travel sites, while FIAT drivers like homemaker-oriented sites. Ford owners visit the peugeot site more than other car owners.
U.S. Navy's Killer Robot Boat Headed For Persian Gulf
The U.S. Navy's experimental 23-foot Spartan Scout unmanned boat is currently headed for the Persian Gulf aboard the USS Gettysburg. The boat conducts video and radar surveilance, even in total darkness, and can defend itself with Hellfire or Javelin missiles and operate on its own if it loses contact with the fleet.
Volvo to Roll Out Condescending Concept Car for Women
Sweden's Volvo is rumored to be preparing a concept car that will be unveiled in March designed for -- and by -- women. Based on the ideas that women can't parallel park, the car parks itself (much like the Toyota Prius); that women are obsessed with tidiness, the paint and glass are dirt repellent, the seat covers can be machine washed and there's no gas cap to touch when refueling; and that women can't change tires, the car drives even with flat tires. There's even a "valley" down the back of the head rests for pony tails.
Toshiba Corporation researchers have created a .85-inch hard drive -- smaller than some coins. The capacity is a whopping 2 to 3 gigabytes, according to reports coming out of Japan. The drive should become available in 2005.
A USB Mouse available on the Japanese Rare Mono Shop site features a 
Scaled Composites of California flew its SpaceShipOne rocket-plane at Mach 1.2 and a a height of 68,000 feet. They may fly the plane into space as early as next year. SpaceShipOne is the 
The latest version of Sony's "Qrio" robot can actually 
Toshiba Consumer Marketing started shipping yesterday a 
EOps Technology will soon make available a 
