Photos: Art of the printer cartridge refill

TechRepublic reports: "The printer supply business is lucrative: it's estimated that companies that produce hardware, paper, ink, and cartridges make $70 billion in sales each year. Now, what was once a niche segment of the market--printer cartridge refilling--is rapidly becoming an indispensible part of the industry. As businesses and consumers find out about the less expensive and often more environmentally friendly option of getting cartridges refilled by third-party companies instead of going to the printer manufacturer, refillers are gaining ground. Currently they do about $15 billion in business annually."

Watch how an old ink cartridge is brought back to life.

FireWire speeds set to quadruple

ZDNet reports: "The speed of FireWire is set to quadruple next year after the group behind it announced a new specification for the networking interface. FireWire is the best-known brand name for the 1394 standard, which is also known as i.Link. The technology is used as a high-speed data interface for linking devices such as external hard drives and camcorders to PCs."

Its pretty amazing the speeds that they're reaching with the next generation USB and FireWire technologies.

An Amazing New Car Door Design

Sukhoi Su-30 Demo

This looks like an amazing plane...

Surrogate Mothers: Womb for Rent

MSN Reports: "Customer service, tech support...these days we outsource everything to India. So why not pregnancy? Here is a report on the growing number of Indian women willing to carry an American child."

I think this is taking outsourcing to a new extreme (for good or bad its here).

Photos: Autographs via LongPen

CNET News.com reports: "Toronto-based Unotchit has developed a special videoconferencing system that allows authors and celebrities at one location to interact with and send personalized autographs to fans at another. A key feature of the system, called the LongPen Network, is the LongPen kiosk, the video and signature-replication 'autopen' that can be placed at bookstores and other retail locations. An author at home, for example, can write comments and his or her signature on a special touchpad connected to the network; those are then replicated by the autopen."

It seems as the world becomes more advanced, things become less personable. This technology is a prefect example.

The Hypersonic Age is Near

Popular Science reports: "Last March, engineers from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) gathered in the control room of a high-temperature tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. After a countdown, a jet of blue flame fueled by methane gas roared down the 12-foot length of the tunnel. A low rumble crept into the control room. It sounded like a rocket firing, which actually wasn't far from the truth."

These are truly amazing engines, with scary future prospects (such as missiles that can hit a target anywhere in the world really, really fast)...

Cracking open the Microsoft Zune (2nd generation)

TechRepublic reports: "The second generation Microsoft Zune media player is that company's answer to the various iPods Apple has put on the market with at least video and MP3 capability. As a general purpose media player, the Zune is more than serviceable. It is not spectacular, but the Zune does just what you expect -- play music and videos, display pictures, and manage your media library. But the question remains -- what the heck is inside. In this TechRepublic Cracking Open Photo Gallery we examine what is actually in a Microsoft Zune."

TechRepublic shows you inside a 2nd generation Zune. There are lots of pictures.

21 Things You Didn't Know You Can Recycle

Co-op America reports: "Garbage. Americans produce more and more of it every year, when we need to be producing less. Even the most waste-conscious among us can feel overwhelmed by the amount of household waste that goes beyond what municipal recyclers and compost bins can handle. That’s why our editors have spent the summer investigating the state of waste management in our country, and putting together information for you, our Co-op America members, explaining how we can get serious about the three R’s – reducing, reusing, and recycling."

This site has some great idea for recycling that stuff that you want to get rid of.

Unboxing Rock Band | TechRepublic Photo Gallery

TechRepublic has a photo gallery of the unboxing of the very popular 'Rock Band' game. This gallery allows you to see all the equipment comes with the game.

Body Odor Called Key Romantic Attraction

WCVB Boston reports: "A new dating service that says it's the first to use DNA matching to find that 'perfect someone' is scheduled to launch in Boston Tuesday. ScientificMatch.com promises its technology will use DNA to find a date with 'a natural odor you'll love, with whom you'd have healthier children and a more satisfying sex life.'"

IMHO: Personally I will take my chances with less scientific methods.

Site of the Week: Pageflakes

PC Magazine reports: "This incredibly versatile Web start-page builder takes personal portals up a notch. Pageflakes even surpasses the new My Yahoo!, Windows Live personal page, and iGoogle, which it resembles. Pageflakes is all about the widgets, which it calls 'flakes.' And though there aren't as many different ones as there are actual snowflakes, there are already nearly 240,000 of them! Flakes let you add just about any Web content you can think of—video, picture, news feeds, e-mail, maps, online storage—or you can create your own custom flakes. Once you've chosen (via the slick interface) which flakes to add to your start page, a fluid, breathtakingly intuitive AJAX interface lets you customize to your heart's content. If you like the idea of a personal portal, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. If you've never tried building one, it's time."

Best (and Worst) of 2007

PC Magazine reports: "In a year dominated by hype, it's nice when products can live up to it. You'll come across a couple of well-publicized items in the following pages, plus some gems that may have escaped your attention. Luckily, they didn't get by our crack crew of analysts. We'll even point you in the direction of the full reviews at PCMag.com."

If you're still looking for the perfect gift for yourself or someone else, here is an article that can give you some more ideas.

New Batman and Joker Images

The Movie Blog: "Nothing really special, but here ya go. AICN got their hands on new Batman and Joker images. Personally, I’m starting to dislike the new Batman look. The design of the suit is fine… but Bale IS SO MUCH SKINNIER in this one than he was in the last one. I figure he’s about 20-25 pounds lighter and I do NOT like the look. I don’t hate it or anything… it’s just that the more I see of the thinner Batman, the less I like it."

IMHO: The characters don't look as good as the original Batman (Keaton) and the Joker (Nicholas). I know Adam West was the original movie Batman, but Keaton was the best.

Star Wars actors then and now - after 30 years

Are you curious what the favorite Star Wars character looks like 30 years later? Check out this page, I am not sure but I think some of them might already be dead.

Here Comes Another Bubble (Music Video)

Great music video...

Photos: Coal addiction

CNET News.com reports: "Who uses coal? You do, close to half of the time. This pie chart from the Energy Information Administration breaks down where our power comes from. Actual consumption varies by state---California, for instance, doesn't use a lot of coal."

Find out where your energy is coming from you might be surprised.

Champion cardstacker builds capitol with 22,000 cards

Using 22,000 cards over 3 days, record-holding card stacker Bryan Berg builds the Rhode Island State House, home of Brotherhood, Sundays at 10PM ET/PT only on Showtime. Visit www.sho.com for more about Brotherhood.

Sanity check: The 10 biggest technology belly flops of 2007

TechRepublic.com reports: "While 2007 gave us some fantastic technological innovations, it also brought the usual spate of bungles, miscues, and faux pas. Since I believe that you learn more from your mistakes than your successes, it’s important to look at some of the most glaring errors that were made manifest in the business technology sector during 2007. There were a lot of opportunities for learning this year. "

I find this article mildly interesting, but you might want to read it.

Wachovia Bank Tells Man He Owes $211 Trillion

WSB Atlanta reports: "Martins said he recently closed an account at Wachovia Bank and made good on an outstanding check. He just got a letter about the closure and his negative balance -- $211,010,028,257,303.00. That’s $211 trillion."

That is one amazing error...