The U.S. Army plans to deploy in as early as 18 months new RFID-enabled rocks that are dropped by the thousands over battlefields and "listen" for approaching enemies. Though they look like small, natural rocks they're actually embedded with microprocessors and listening electronics that are so sensitive they can hear a person stepping on the ground 30 feet away.
A 16-year-old Finnish 9th-grader named Otto Ebeling spent a two-week "work rehearsal" (mandatory in Finland) using his reverse-engineering skills at F-Secure's antivirus lab. He was already knowledgeable about viruses, and learned a lot during his time in the lab. Let's just hope he doesn't turn to the dark side.
Siemens posted a press photo on its web site's media area showing the "Remote Expert Center for Power Plants in Karlsruhe, Germany." The purpose was to brag aout how these experts "use state-of-the-art communications to monitor, maintain and optimize a large number of machines and facilities." I say: Forget the communications -- look at that friggin' monitor! I want one.
Cell power is offering a provacative new way to carry a cell phone -- in a cell phone thong. Folks, you can't make this stuff up! (props to Textually.org)
Two safety issues associated with cell phones -- radiation exposure and exploding batteries -- will soon take on a whole new dimension. University of Rochester scientists are working on cell phones powered by radioactive gases. (props to textually.org and American Antigravity)
Lara Croft, the lead character in the game Tomb Raider, will be skinnier in the next version of the game and has "gone down a cup size." Even worse, her clothing will be less revealing. The changes were made to make the game more appealing to women and children. Tomb Raider brand manager Matt Gorman said to a reporter: "The days of selling Lara as boobs and guns are over." In other words, Tomb Raider is over.
I told you Friday about Blogebrity's claim that they would launch a glossy print magazine about bloggers. I also said that it "sounds like a publicity-seeking hoax." It turns out I was right on the money. The site was created as part of a contest to see who could create the most viral web site. (props)
The Blog Herald is reporting that the total number of bloggers worldwide has reached a whopping 60 million. Pretty soon we'll see a 1:1 ratio in bloggers to readers. (props)
Steven Spielberg has radically embraced digital filmmaking for the movie "War of the Worlds" -- and shot the whole picture in just 72 days. My, how things have changed since he shot the all-analog "Jaws," which ran 140 days beyond the schedule.
French Commission Rejects 'Blog,' Proposes 'Bloc-Notes'
The French Commission generale de terminologie et de neologie, which is French for "Commission to prevent American slang from wrecking France," wants the French to use the word "bloc-notes" instead of "blog." Personally, I always try to choose my words based on the recommendations of officious bureaucrats.
Bloggers Hammer Pepsi Exec For Equating America With Middle Finger
Pepsi President and CFO Indra Nooyi was forced by bloggers to apologize after she compared the U.S. with a hand's "middle finger" during a commencement address at Columbia University. In a bizarre and offensive analogy, she said that the five major continents are like the five fingers of a hand, with Asia as the thumb, "strong" and "powerful"; Europe as the index finger because it "pointed the way for western civilization"; South America is the "ring finger" because it symbolizes love, what with all the mambo dancing and what not; and Africa is the pinkie, because it doesn't have much of a role to play. America, then, is the middle finger, and, as such, the U.S. must be careful when we "extend our arm." Bloggers went nuts, and forced her to make an apology that was actually posted on the Pepsi home page.
New Cone of Silence, But Without the Cone (Or the Silence)
Herman Miller will soon start selling a $400 gadget called Babble, which masks your conversations. It does this by digitally recording the noise you make while speaking, chopping up those sounds into fragments and spitting them back out at random. You can still hear your telephone calls, but your nosy co-works can't understand what you're saying. Babble will be unveiled for the first time next month at NeoCon in Chicago. (props)
Welcome to the future of marketing. Burger chain Carl's Jr. has figured it out. (I'm talking, of course, about the recent Paris Hilton ad).
Step 1: Make a commercial that's too pornographic for TV staring a celebrity who is famous solely for an amateur hardcore-sex video.
Step 2: Pretend like you intend to air it on primetime TV.
Step 3: When the networks ban it, issue a press release bragging about how the ad is "too hot for TV"
Step 4: Create a special web site designed to look like a hardcore porn site exclusively for the ad. Make sure the site's hardware infrastructure can't handle a lot of traffic.
Step 5: When publicity over the ad generates enough traffic to crash the server, issue another press release about how your servers crashed because your soft-core porn ad is so "hot."
Does it bother anybody that this is how we sell hamburgers?
Man to Sell Vast Collection of Ancient Software On eBay
A man claims that he will sell his vast collection -- some 175,000 titles -- of "retro" computer software for Apple II, Amiga, Atari, Commodore 64, Mac, Timex (Sinclair), the TRS "Trash" 80 and the Vic 20 on eBay starting June 16. The 10-day auction will start with a $199,000 bid. (props)
A taxi company in Japan is testing a new service that lets customers charge their cell phones during the ride. The power comes from a special wind generator mounted on the cab's roof.
