This is an article about a new product called Merge which lets you hook your Motorola cellphone into it to turn your normal landline phones into using the Motorola phone for inbound - outbound phone calls...
Link
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Panda's doing handstands...
An amusing article on BBC entailing the Panda's tendency to do handstands so they can piss on trees higher up to mark their territory.
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A safer way to detect land mines?
Boing Boing: Genetically engineered plants detect land mines by changing color...
I still think we should send unsuspecting cute furry animals to detect lland mines but maybe that is my allergies talking.
Link
I still think we should send unsuspecting cute furry animals to detect lland mines but maybe that is my allergies talking.
Link
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Apocalyptica
Also from Blabbermouth:
Finnish cello-rockers APOCALYPTICA have set "Apocalyptica" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in February 2005. "In my opinion, our next album comes across like a mixture of 'Reflections' [2003] and the group's current live sound," Eicca Toppinen told Finland's Sonera Plaza. "So I think that we are now about to reach the essence of APOCALYPTICA. So that's why we decided to make the new album a self-titled affair."
SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo will be guesting on "Apocalyptica" on a song called "Betrayal". The track is described by APOCALYPTICA's Perttu Kivilaakso as a "really fast, thrash metal-influenced song."
Finnish cello-rockers APOCALYPTICA have set "Apocalyptica" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in February 2005. "In my opinion, our next album comes across like a mixture of 'Reflections' [2003] and the group's current live sound," Eicca Toppinen told Finland's Sonera Plaza. "So I think that we are now about to reach the essence of APOCALYPTICA. So that's why we decided to make the new album a self-titled affair."
SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo will be guesting on "Apocalyptica" on a song called "Betrayal". The track is described by APOCALYPTICA's Perttu Kivilaakso as a "really fast, thrash metal-influenced song."
Some info on the new Kamelot
From Blabbermouth:
KAMELOT have finalized the track listing for their new album, "The Black Halo", due on February 28, 2005 through SPV Records. The follow-up to last year's "Epica" was produced by Sascha Paeth and Miro at Gate and Pathway studios in Germany and features guest appearances by Shagrath (DIMMU BORGIR), Jens Johansson (STRATOVARIUS), Simone Simons (EPICA), Mari (MASQUERAID), as well as the KAMELOT choir, featuring Herbie Langhans (SEVENTH AVENUE), Amanda Somerville-Scharf, Miro, Gerit Göbel, Thomas Rettke (HEAVEN'S GATE) and Elisabeth Kjaernes, among others.
"This will be the second and final segment of the 'Epica' story. However artistically it is a different album altogether. The cover is different, the songs are heavier and the subject is definitely on the darker side of the story. Much like the second part of 'Faust'. Lyrically, there is a finalization of the story and conclusion of the saga. There are many parallels to our own lives today. Religion is a big theme on this new album one cannot deny the role that religion has on current events around the world."We knew that we would record the second part of the 'Epica' story," he continued. "The question was whether to do it now or later. Since the new songs on the album are really a different album from 'Epica' we thought to do it now. The story line continues into the main character Ariel's descent into the dark side of life. We are always changing and evolving with the sound and artwork, so the next release will reflect that. We have a black metal vocalist [DIMMU BORGIR's Shagrath] play the part of Mephisto. Logically."
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Megaherz
From Blabbermouth:
MEGAHERZ, the veteran crossover industrial rockers from Munich, will be releasing their fifth studio album, entitled appropriately "Megaherz - 5", on December 6, 2004 via S.A.D. Music. Snippets of all 13 tracks from the album can be heard at this location.
MEGAHERZ, the veteran crossover industrial rockers from Munich, will be releasing their fifth studio album, entitled appropriately "Megaherz - 5", on December 6, 2004 via S.A.D. Music. Snippets of all 13 tracks from the album can be heard at this location.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Slashdot | Valve Cracks Down on 20,000 Users
We knew this was going to happen.
20,000 people got their Half-Life 2 games locked out. Who knows what percentage of them purchased the game, but wow. That sucks. Especially since the CDKey's they used were locked out and that would mean that anyone who legitimately bought the game who had the CDKey wouldn't get to play.
Link
20,000 people got their Half-Life 2 games locked out. Who knows what percentage of them purchased the game, but wow. That sucks. Especially since the CDKey's they used were locked out and that would mean that anyone who legitimately bought the game who had the CDKey wouldn't get to play.
Link
No Software Patents!
Here is my support of reducing the number of patent hogs in the world. Everyone has their own opinions and I respect all of them.
Sky News - Chinese Farmer Robot Inventor
This is a cool article on a Chinese rural farmer who invents Robots much to the detriment of his monetary position. Pretty cool! That is dedication to invention.
Link
Link
m:50 from Voodoo
The link below shows a picture of Voodoo's m:50 laptop. It is pretty! They are using Carbon-Fiber for the material they build it with. It is ultra-light and ultra-strong.
Link
Link
Airport searches for women
Hey I would be annoyed also if my wife was being felt up because they were afraid she had explosives in her bra...
Link
Link
Dolphins save 4 swimmers from Great White
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Reuters) -- A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday.
Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and Helen Slade were swimming 100 metres (300 feet) off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand's North Island when the dolphins herded them -- apparently to protect them from a shark.
Link
Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and Helen Slade were swimming 100 metres (300 feet) off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand's North Island when the dolphins herded them -- apparently to protect them from a shark.
Link
Laser Printers 'secret' encoding
I found this Boing Boing article interesting
Color laser printers add hidden ID number to print-outs
Zach J sez: Colour laser printer manufacturers encode each printout with the printer's serial number so they can trace it back to you if you are counterfitting bills. They can trace it back to you for anything else as well. Oh, and you could of course hack this to give yourself a nice alibi. "Clearly it wasn't MY printer, look at the code!" How long have they been doing this? Why isn't it common knowledge? What other ways to track our lives have been implemented without a big announcement? Link
UPDATE: Anonymous sez: "The answer to the question of how long color laser copiers have been encoding their serial numbers onto their prints is: at least since 1995 or so.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Kamelot
KAMELOT have set a February 28, 2005 release date through SPV Records for their new album, "The Black Halo".
Rhapsody
Italian symphonic metal band RHAPSODY will enter the recording studio together with film legend Christopher Lee to re-record the song "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream" from their latest release "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret". The single will be released worldwide early next year. The song will be produced in four different languages (English, German, French and Italian) and will feature a duet by Lee and RHAPSODY singer Fabio Lione. Besides offering multiple versions of the song, such as an orchestral version, two brand new studio tracks will be included. RHAPSODY have been successful for the past seven years and have sold more than one million records throughout the world.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
New Angra
The new Angra album, Temple of Shadows, has been pushed back so that a DVD can be ready to be included with the special edition version of the album. It is now set to come out in the US on January 11, 2005. Details are sketchy as to what exactly the DVD will contain.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
The Samsung Watch Phone
Engadget has a weekly article on cool watches out there. This week is the teaser watch that Samsung has been lording over the world for the last 4 years.
I think all of us at one time or another wanted to have a watch that was also our Cell Phone. Even if I had to use a headset everytime I wanted to make a call I would still go for it.
Link
I think all of us at one time or another wanted to have a watch that was also our Cell Phone. Even if I had to use a headset everytime I wanted to make a call I would still go for it.
Link
Try scratching this DVD | CNET News.com
Scratch-proof coating for our DVDs. I know they have tried to sell these CD protectors before which were pieces of sticky plastic that you pasted to the bottom of your CD to prevent scratching, but from what I heard it never did that well.
Interesting none the less.
Link
Interesting none the less.
Link
What is Grouper?
This is an application that allows file sharing, chatting, streaming audio... P2P technology connecting people together. Basically it is a free software that you download and invite people into (not open for general consumption) and then that group of people can do chats or send files to each other... What do you think about trying it?
Link
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24k Gold Game Boy Advance SPs
Engadget is running an article on Nintendo's latest marketing scheme. Gold plated Gameboys... Hey at least it has history behind it! The original Legend of Zelda game in a gold cartridge (obviously plastic but the concept is there). So it make sense to all us older gamers that they would try this marketing scheme...
Link
Link
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Inexpensive Alienware machine?
Say it isn't so!
Alright so here is the quote from engadget:
That $754 machine doesn't seen to bad to me. But I'm holding out for the best of the best.
Link
Alright so here is the quote from engadget:
You probably know them best for their prohibitively expensive high-end gaming boxen, but Alienware is making a grab for the low-end of the market with the Bot, their new desktop line that starts at $579 after rebate for a model that comes with a 2.53GHz Celeron processor, DVD drive, and an 80GB hard drive. There’s also a more expensive model that costs $754 and gets you a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 chip and upps the RAM to 512MB.
That $754 machine doesn't seen to bad to me. But I'm holding out for the best of the best.
Link
Stoplight to punish suburban speeders
I don't know. I just don't know.
The main problem is I know what is good for the human race and I know what I personally feel about people using technology to restrict our lives.
We should have these types of safety precautions in place. Also stuff like automatic sensors telling your car what is the fastest it can go on a particular street (obviously this would require everyone's cars to be updated and then something to keep us from overriding the settings). But these types of technologies can keep more people alive on the road.
Lets just hope that our government doesn't go 'too' far to bring safety to the people.
Article Link
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The main problem is I know what is good for the human race and I know what I personally feel about people using technology to restrict our lives.
We should have these types of safety precautions in place. Also stuff like automatic sensors telling your car what is the fastest it can go on a particular street (obviously this would require everyone's cars to be updated and then something to keep us from overriding the settings). But these types of technologies can keep more people alive on the road.
Lets just hope that our government doesn't go 'too' far to bring safety to the people.
Article Link
Image
Monday, November 15, 2004
Neowin.net - Are DualDiscs Safe?
Warner music has put out new disks called DualDisc which on one side has DVD content and on the other side has regular CD Music. Warner Music says it causes no problems but several CD/DVD players have issued warnings about these products. So check it out!
Link
Link
NYT: Britain, France and Germany Announce Accord With Iran
See I don't know about the rest of you, but this just rubs me the wrong way.
How can we want to give rewards to countries for stopping Uranium enrichment. What we are saying is that, you will get money and goods for not becoming a terrorist nation. That doesn't mean they don't know how to make the bomb, just that it will take 2 months for the to produce 1 when we stop giving them 'rewards'. And unless they are very careful the information they do have could fall into terrorist hands anyways.
I know there are 20 other ways to look at this, but that is one way that I don't like. We need to either say, everyone gets the bomb and get our defenses up as soon as possible (which would be catastrophic anyways because nuclear weapons damage the whole worlds environment) or we say no-one gets it but us 'priveleged' people and fight a war on terrorism because everyone hates us for having the 'bomb' hanging over their heads. Or give them rewards as seen above for being good 'children'.
Link
How can we want to give rewards to countries for stopping Uranium enrichment. What we are saying is that, you will get money and goods for not becoming a terrorist nation. That doesn't mean they don't know how to make the bomb, just that it will take 2 months for the to produce 1 when we stop giving them 'rewards'. And unless they are very careful the information they do have could fall into terrorist hands anyways.
I know there are 20 other ways to look at this, but that is one way that I don't like. We need to either say, everyone gets the bomb and get our defenses up as soon as possible (which would be catastrophic anyways because nuclear weapons damage the whole worlds environment) or we say no-one gets it but us 'priveleged' people and fight a war on terrorism because everyone hates us for having the 'bomb' hanging over their heads. Or give them rewards as seen above for being good 'children'.
Link
Boston Globe - How 'Dungeons' changed the world
This is an article that Peter Bebergal wrote for the Boston Globe. All of you need to read this because it talks about Dungeons and Dragons. Pretty cool!
How 'Dungeons' changed the world
How 'Dungeons' changed the world
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Boeing Successfully Tests Anti-Missile Laser
dankinit writes "MSNBC is reporting that a 'Boeing Co.-led team has successfully fired for the first time a powerful laser meant to fly aboard a modified 747 as part of a U.S. ballistic missile defense shield.' The test called 'First Light' has a budget of $474.3 million in the fiscal year 2005 and is part of a larger $10 billion dollar missile defense system."
[Slashdot] Boeing Laser test
Orcs for President!
If we only knew, we could have voted for this guy! then no one would have messed with America!
Another Competitor for Blu-ray and HD-DVD
[Slashdot] neutron_p writes "New Medium Enterprises unveils the highly anticipated pre-industrial Versatile MultiLayer Discs, the next generation HD Disc & Drive containing 20GB of storage capacity. VMDs use the current Red Laser technology, so it's easier for DVD factories to switch over. The company is set for launching production and sales of 15 GB, 20 GB, 25 GB and 30 GB Discs & Drives by Fall 2005. The drives will be inherently backward compatible with the existing pre-recorded and recordable DVD and CD formats."
MultiLayer Discs
MultiLayer Discs
New York Times - Tech in the military
The Pentagon is building its own Internet, the military's world wide web for the wars of the future.
The goal is to give all American commanders and troops a moving picture of all foreign enemies and threats - "a God's-eye view" of battle.
New York Times - Pentagon Internet
The goal is to give all American commanders and troops a moving picture of all foreign enemies and threats - "a God's-eye view" of battle.
New York Times - Pentagon Internet
Passing on from Boing Boing, Save Tomorrowland!
This is a little post on Boing Boing's site about saving tomorrowland @ Disneyland
Boing Boing - Save Tomorrowland
Boing Boing - Save Tomorrowland
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Gorgoroth
Norwegian black metallers GORGOROTH made headlines in major Latin American newspapers after the audience rioted at their show in San Salvador (capital of El Salvador) on Saturday (Nov. 6). According to a posting on the band's web site, "the audience got so ecstatic over the presence of the first black metal act visiting their country that the situation got totally out of control. The security and the police could not handle the people outside the venue so they had to call in the special forces, 'del cuerpo de Proteccion a Personalides Importantes' (PPI). When the PPI reached the venue the masses of people not getting a ticket for the already sold-out show kicked in the entrance door and lots of fighting between the audience began. The audience started to kick in doors and toilets, several injuries occured and major damages to the venue. The PPI decided in the end to use gas on the audience to get the situation under control. When GORGOROTH entered the stage 30 security people had to be on stage preventing the audience to enter it. The fighting [continued] through GORGOROTH's performance and the PPI and the police had to hold the audience inside the venue with firearms to get the band in safety. GORGOROTH [walked away] from the incident without any injuries."
Laptop to drool over
Quoted from Engadget:
AlienwareWe know how a lot of manufacturers like to descirbe their laptops as “desktop replacements”, but we sorta think
Alienware weren’t kidding when they talk that way about their gargantuan new Area-51m 7700 17-inch widescreen laptop.
They’re currently taking preorders on this bad boy; we’re almost afraid to ask how much it must cost (or weigh), given
its non-skimpy specs: a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 processor, 256MB Mobile GFX graphics card, full-size keyboard with number pad
keys, built-in four speaker surround sound with subwoofer, 7-in-1 memory card reader, PCI Express, dual hard drives,
two optical drive slots, and up to 4GB of RAM.
500GB Optical Disks....
Quoted from Engadget:
Pioneer has developed a technology that they say will allow them to create optical data storage devices that can store up to 500GB of data, 20 times that of soon-to-come Blu-ray technology. Ultraviolet lasers emit shorter wavelengths than those of blue lasers, so the data can be
packed tighter on the optical disc. No one knows when Pioneer will have this technology ready to know, but we’ll go out
on a limb and guess that it’s just a few years away.
[Engadget]
Monday, November 08, 2004
Sorry for no posts
The Imperial Executioner has been hanging out at my house the since Friday night and as such there has been no time for posting on the blog. Hope Monday is treating everyone ok!
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Friday, November 05, 2004
Two good articles
I thought both of these were really neat.
1) Clocks made out of odd things: Sestka
2) This is just awesome. I so want to hook up this around my house (not that I have a good place for it): Hidden Doors
Is there anything cooler than doors that look like bookcases? Maybe completely hidden doors that blend with the wall, but at the same time, still majorly cool.
1) Clocks made out of odd things: Sestka
2) This is just awesome. I so want to hook up this around my house (not that I have a good place for it): Hidden Doors
Is there anything cooler than doors that look like bookcases? Maybe completely hidden doors that blend with the wall, but at the same time, still majorly cool.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
For those of you publishing to my blog...
I really like this tool. If you find a better one out there tell me, but I have long ago given up on using www.blogger.com from home (at work I can't use this tool through the firewall unfortunately).
w.Bloggar
w.Bloggar
Poll...
I don't have one of those cool polling processes, although I could probably build one...
Main Poll:
a) I am posting to infrequently
b) I am posting just the right amount
c) I need to post more items
Sub Poll:
a) Stop posting links ripped from other sites
b) Post all cool news articles you see
c) Keep posting news articles, but also write more of your own thoughts
Thanks! Just trying to find out where people think I should go with this blog.
Main Poll:
a) I am posting to infrequently
b) I am posting just the right amount
c) I need to post more items
Sub Poll:
a) Stop posting links ripped from other sites
b) Post all cool news articles you see
c) Keep posting news articles, but also write more of your own thoughts
Thanks! Just trying to find out where people think I should go with this blog.
One Persons Viewpoint on the Presidential Election
Link
But what troubled me yesterday was my feeling that this election was tipped because of an outpouring of support for George Bush by people who don't just favor different policies than I do - they favor a whole different kind of America. We don't just disagree on what America should be doing; we disagree on what America is.
So, now I am a minority.
Just shy of half of us are in this position. We are numb and bleary-eyed this week. Floundering for how to make sense of a country that doesn’t act like what we think of as America. Trying to understand how religion can be used in ways that seem, well, unchristian. And, wondering just how grave the situation will really get.
I’m not sure how I came to live a life different than the so-called norm, but I do know that when I was very young, I agreed with the people who supported Bush in this election. And, age, open discussion, education, exposure to people different than myself, and travel changed my mind. Perhaps the only answer to a renewed America is a true national discussion instead of each side listening to their own entrenched institutions (media v clergy) and nothing else. More on that in the days to come …
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Wells Fargo computers stolen | CNET News.com
Identity thieves may have obtained sensitive information for thousands of Wells Fargo mortgage and student loan customers, after four computers containing customer account numbers and Social Security numbers were stolen recently.
The incident occurred in mid-October, when the computers were stolen from the Atlanta office of Regulus Integrated Solutions, an outside vendor that prints the loan statements for the bank. The computers also contained customers' names and addresses.
Wells Fargo computers stolen | CNET News.com
Eco-Friendly media?
There is an article on Engadget telling how Pioneer has built Blu-Ray disks (27GB capacity DVDs) out of Corn Starch. This provides a renewable resource for our media. Interesting, can we plop it into our stew to thicken up the sauce once we are done with the data?
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Monday, November 01, 2004
Janis Ian Articles
Adeptio turned me onto this article. I really like it. The article is about free music downloads and the RIAA from the point of view of a music artist.
Janis Ian Articles
Janis Ian Articles
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