Top Gear: Peel P50

There are a lot of great Top Gear episodes, but this is definitely one of the better of them. Jeremy Clarkson drives Peel P50 literally in and around the BBC Television Center.

The Day The Routers Died...

A song performed by the secret-wg in the closing plenary of the RIPE 55 conference.

Tokyo Dance Trooper in Shibuya

Finite Simple Group (of Order Two)

Listen to five students sing A love song that only an college math graduate student can completely understand.

World-first technology combines payment card and authentication in a single device - gizmag Article

gizmag reports: "Appearing in the standard form of a payment card, the Credit Card Embedded Authentication Device has a number of authentication ‘modes’ for use in online, phone, or ATM transactions. For example, a user can enter his or her secret PIN into the card’s keypad to receive a numeric passcode for one-time use. To authorize a banking transaction, the passcode is entered into an interface and instantly validated by an authentication server. This process removes the need to enter a PIN into an unsecure device such as a web browser and provides a user-friendly defense against electronic banking fraud - a problem that costs financial institutions an estimated $4 billion annually."

Here is a brief article including some pictures of a possible next-generation credit card that incorporates a alphanumeric display, 12-button keyboard, and an embedded microprocessor.

Fight For Kisses (Wilkinson Ad)

Wilkinson France launched a very funny ad campaign to promote their line of Wilkinson Quattro Premium shavers. The concept is called 'Fight for Kisses', where dad and baby fight for the attention of the wife/mom. Just watch it, its funny...

File sharers may risk identity theft

Reuters reports: "Computer users log on to popular file sharing, or peer-to-peer, websites to share music may inadvertently be sharing files that could lead to identity theft. ... Experts say some P2P users are being tripped up by a default setting in file-sharing software, which if not turned off when downloaded, may open up one's entire hard drive to prying eyes. Sites such as LimeWire say they have taken steps to alert users to the risks of inadvertently sharing confidential information."

Beware the dangers of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, you can be exposing yourself to identity theft.

Multi-Touch Display

Jefferson Han of Perceptive Pixel presents his amazing new human-machine interface at TED 2007. The multi-touch concept is not new, and has been done by a lot of companies. Although this is one of the best demos of the technology that I have seen.

We Didnt Start The Viral

A very well done compilation of all the popular viral videos over the last couple years. I recognized several of them video framents, but there were also several that I didn't know where they were from.

Are you a True Geek?

If you understand and laugh at the jokes below, then you are a true geek:

Q. Where does a sysadmin go after work?
A. 127.0.0.1

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There are only 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't

OptoutPrescreen.com (Real or Fake)

Tired of all those unsolicited 'prescreened' credit card offers that you get in your mailbox. Many companies use these offers to sell you credit cards and insurance policies that you didn't request. The prescreened offers are from information that is pull from your credit report based on a criteria a company sets for an offer.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the consumer credit reporting agencies (i.e.: Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion) are permitted to sell your information to credit and insurance companies to make offers for credit or insurance that you didn't request. The FCRA also provides you the right to 'Opt-Out' of these offers, which prevents consumer credit reporting agencies from providing your credit file information to these companies.

To opt-out of these offers go to the following web site called OptoutPrescreen.com. If you're worried if this web site is legitimate, I found a reference to it on the US Federal Trade Commission's web site.

Related Information:

• Free Credit Report (This is not a scam...)
• How to Reduce Telemarketing Calls
• Put Your Cell Phone On 'The Do Not Call List'
• Catalogchoice.org
  

Catalogchoice.org

Go to the Catalogchoice.org web site that helps you get your name taken off the lists of people who receive these catalogs. Use this site to help reduce your mailbox clutter, while helping save natural resources.

Companies mailed 19 billion catalogs in the U.S. every year. So you can help make a difference by stopping them from coming to your house.

Evolution of a Wikipedia Article

Jon Udell show the evolution of a Wikipedia article using the "Heavy metal umlaut" page. It very interesting to watch how the article matures over time.

All I can say is 'Wikipedia rocks', and 'long live Wikipedia'.

Video Games Timeline

A timeline of almost every video game system ever made, starting with Spacewar, in the order that they were released. The first video game ever made was Tennis for Two by William Higginbotham in 1958. It was played on an oscilloscope. I made this video around 2 years ago, so the Nintendo Revolution should be named Nintendo Wii, and there should be a Nintendo DS Lite after the Xbox 360.

How Not To Interview

One Semester of Spanish Spanish - Love Song

Learn how to romance a girl with one semester of spanish put to a catchy song. Download the exclusive mp3 at http://www.runawaybox.com

Internet Pioneer Explains Web Philosophy

The inventor of the Web Tim Brenners Lee elaborates on the origins and philosophy involved in the birth of internet as we know it.

The 1 Second Film Intro Video

An introduction to The 1 Second Film and our Road to Oprah tour. With Stephen Colbert, Kevin Bacon, Chad Hurley, and thousands more.

5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds

This map show brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. It also shows how these religions have spread through out the world over the millennia.

Bedroom 747: Man Builds $30,000 Jumbo Jet Simulator in his Bedroom

Gizmodo reports: "John Davis spent eight years and £15,000 building a Boeing 747 flight simulator in a room in his house. And now the 47-year-old's hobby has turned into such a full-time occupation that he has jacked in his job as a graphic designer to run a full-time flight simulation business from his home in Coventry, UK."

One man dedicated to his passion...

One Laptop Per Child (Review)

David Pogue reviews the $100 laptop (which really cost $188). They will be available for sales in the US for two weeks starting Nov 12th for $400. When you buy one, another one will be given to a child in a poor country (although this will be tax deductible).

Personally I would love to play with one of these for a little while.

Amazing Basejumper Wingsuit Flying

Dedicated Web Hosting (Funny Video)

Todd brings home a surprise for Janet.

Sony Confirms Cheaper PS3 Headed for U.S.

PC Magazine reports: "Sony Corp will launch a cheaper model of its PlayStation 3 in the United States, hoping to attract more buyers as it goes up against rival game consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo this holiday. The company also cut the price of its highest-capacity model by about 17 percent."

It seems like the game console business is a cut-throat business. Sony was already losing money on the console, now they're going to be losing more. They're hoping to makeup the lost from the console through the licensing of the games.

Images: Future Firefox fitting in

CNET News.com reports: "Firefox developers are working to make the upcoming version 3, code-named Gran Paradiso, adopt the look of the operating system on which it's running. User interface designer Alex Faaborg has published a number of mock-ups that illustrate this conformity."

Our Favorite Music Services, Part 1

PC Magazine reports: "We all remember the wild and wooly early days of online music trading, when Napster and its imitators turned millions of otherwise upright, law-abiding folk into instant criminals on a scale that previously would have been hard to imagine. Suddenly, a music collection that represented hundreds if not thousands of CDs was within the grasp of everyone with a reasonably reliable connection to the Internet and the moral flexibility to ignore the fact that it was all stolen. Yes, it was a carefree time of all the free (stolen) crappy 32 or 64 Kbps rips of songs you could stand to download. Alas, those heady days of carefree larceny are mostly gone, unless you're willing to dare the (mostly impotent) wrath of RIAA and the risk of unbridled spyware infections that often goes hand in hand with P2P file-sharing."

Here is an excerpt from part 2 of the article: "Things haven't been looking good lately for Internet radio sites. The Copyright Royalty Board decided to modify current webcast radio royalties, imposing heavier fees that could put sites like Pandora and Last.fm out of businesses. The Internet radio community has fought back hard, getting Congress to introduce the Internet Radio Equality Act that would lighten their financial burden."

Best Buy Stops Selling Analog TVs

PC Magazine reports: "Big-box retailer Best Buy said Wednesday that they had pulled all analog TVs from its store shelves, jumping on board with the digital TV transition. ... The company also announced that they will participate in the NTIA DTV Converter Box Coupon Program to help people purchase digital converter boxes for their analog televisions. Coupon-eligible converter boxes will be available in Best Buy stores beginning in early 2008, in time with the phase-out of American terrestrial analog TV broadcasts, which will happen on Feb. 17, 2008."

One more nail in the coffin of standard definition television (SDTV). Expect HDTV prices to keep coming down (hopefully).

Microsoft Live Updates Target Mobile, Maps

PC Magazine reports: "Microsoft unveiled a host of updates to its Live suite of services, focusing on mobile improvements and enhancements to its mapping technologies. In total, the company said it made seven new enhancements to Windows Live Search and its VirtualEarth services. The rollouts follow improvements to Microsoft's basic search capabilities released late last month."

It really sounds cool, I can't wait to check out some of the features.

Palm Centro: At A Glance

PC Magazine reports: "To understand the Centro, you have to understand who it's for. There's nothing here for existing Treo owners, and there's little to entice other smartphone users to switch. Rather, the Centro exists to put more power into the hands of folks who are considering devices such as the T-Mobile Sidekick ID or LG's enV—inexpensive sub-smartphones with e-mail, text messaging, and media options."

This looks like a pretty impressive little device. Read the article for a complete review.

Fit PC—A Tiny Linux PC that Fits Anywhere

ExtremeTech reports: "What if you really wanted a small PC just for web and email? Here at the Case House, we often have a need for a communal system to quickly check email or browse web sites for shopping or homework. Most of the real work gets done on personal PCs, while important files are stored on a RAID 5 NAS server. So a small PC that fits into a small space would be ideal."

This is a cool little PC that you can give someone doesn't need a fast and/or expensive computer. They would probably make great terminal devices too.

10 Wacky Wii Accessories

PC Magazine reports: "Since the release of the Nintendo Wii in November 2006, the company has sold over 9 million consoles worldwide, according to the NPD Group. Would you believe that the Wii is the second most desired gift on Amazon's wedding registry? Its popularity should come as no surprise, given that it's very interactive, promotes exercise, and welcomes friendly competition."

Great article for people who want to accessorize their Wii.

Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player Reviews. MP3 players Reviews by CNET.

CNET reports: "The Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player is a wind-up MP3 player that features video playback, a photo viewer, an FM radio, a voice recorder, a line input recorder, a text reader, expandable memory, and a flashlight. You can even use it to charge your cell phone."

This $350 media player comes with a crank so that you can wind it to power the device. Watch the video to see how it works and for the full review.

Photos: Airbus delivers the A380, finally

CNET News.com reports: "It's been a long time coming. The much ballyhooed Airbus A380 jumbo jet has endured months of delays, but the world's largest passenger plane is now in the fleet of its first customer. Singapore Airlines took delivery of the jet on Monday at a ceremony in Toulouse, France."

It's going to be interesting to see what happens between Airbus and Boeing. Either both planes are going to be popular, or one of them will win out over the other.

For Sale: Titan Missile Base Central Washington

For US $1,500,000.00 you can own the former Larson Air Force Base Complex 1A Titan ICBM Facility (eBay item 190132455924). It's located in Central Washington between Moses Lake and Ritzville. The property includes about 57 acres, and 16 underground buildings.

If you're looking for something like this check out the follow eBay auction.

Free and Easy Web Conferencing

eWeek reports: "And while Web conferencing has improved since its early days, it can still be a hassle for many. For those workers who have to deal with multiple meetings hosted on multiple platforms, it often means having to install several different applications on the desktop just to attend these meetings. And businesses that run multiple meetings a week through one of the leading providers can find that the cost of these Web conferences can quickly add up."

This sounds like an interesting service to check. When you read the article you will find out its called DimDim.com.

Microsoft's Social Events Planning Service Goes Live

eWeek reports: "Organizing an event? Microsoft is hoping that customers will use its latest free online service, Windows Live Events. ... This new social events planning service was unveiled Oct. 11 and will be rolled out over the next few days. ... Windows Live Events is designed to make it easy for users to create personalized event Web sites using a range of customized templates, to which they can add photographs, videos and stories via blog posts after the party is over."

Google Commands 60% of Global Searches

eWeek reports: "Google captured roughly 60 percent of the searches conducted worldwide in August, blowing away the field with 37.1 billion of 61 billion queries, according to new statistics from comScore. Five billion of Google's August searches came from the Mountain View, Calif., company's video property YouTube.com."

61 billion queries a month, that mean that almost 2 billion queries are made per day. That is a lot of searching...

Windows Home Server Hits Store Shelves

PC Magazine reports: "Microsoft's Windows Home Server, which we've been tracking , through its limitations, and through to its final review. As we previously reported, the price should have been about $189, and that's exactly where it is, according to this list of online vendors who have the operating system on their store shelves."

I have been reading a lot of good reviews about the Windows Home Server. Although PC Magazine didn't say much about it in this article.

Microsoft's Social Events Planning Service Launches

PC Magazine reports: "After months of new feature launches and beta rollouts, the reinvented Windows Live suite is finally starting to coming together. The latest introduction to the service is Windows Live Events. Introduced yesterday, the service looks to be an eVite/MyPunchbook competitor, giving users the ability to send out event invitations, stay in touch with friends and family, and share photos of the event, after it's over."

Read the article for a little more inforamtion.

Guys Start Bon Fire With Jet Engine

These guys build a huge stack of wood and other debris and then uses in a large jet engine to start the fire.


Guys Start Bon Fire With Jet Engine - Watch more free videos

Asteroid heads for Earth, Russian astronomer claims

PhysOrg.com reports: "An asteroid discovered three years ago could be a threat in 2029 when it crosses Earth's orbit, a Russian astronomer said Monday."

There is not much to the article, but its still interesting.

Jedi order establishes a new temple in lower Manhattan

Wired reports: "In the Star Wars universe, a Jedi fashions a lightsaber by packing Adegan crystals into a handle with a power cell. In the New York Jedi galaxy, knights order them for $150 to $700 a pop from a guy upstate."

May the Farce be with you...

The Miniature Earth

Microsoft Unveils New Zune Players

Microsoft Unveils New Zune Players - News and Analysis by PC Magazine: "The new Zune 80GB ($249.99) will offer much more hard drive space for your tunes and videos than the original model. Another improvement is the player's slightly larger 3.2-inch screen (compared with the 30GB model's 3-inch display). Though we have no word on actual dimensions yet, it appears that this Zune will have a trimmer profile despite its pumped-up storage capacity."

Images: Observatories at the top of the world

TechRepublic reports: "A dormant volcano in the Hawaiian islands called Mauna Kea is the unlikely home of the most important collection of astronomical observatories in the world. At least it might seem unlikely: the big island of Hawaii is better known for cattle ranches, macadamia nuts and black sand beaches. But because the Mauna Kea summit, at 13,796 feet, is so high in the atmosphere, because it's far from light pollution, and because it's usually free of clouds, it's the best place on the planet for atmospheric and astronomical observations."