Reuters - Hurricane Dolly moved inland
after tearing into the south Texas coast on Wednesday with 95
mph (150 kph) winds, pouring torrential rain on the U.S.-Mexico
border area and threatening floods.
SPACE.com - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is one step closer to analyzing a sample of the rock-hard layer of ice underneath the Martian dirt where the spacecraft touched down two months ago.
 DailyTech | Nintendo to increase Wii shipments this year Punch Jump - by Marcus Lai Nintendo Co. this week said that it intends to increase shipments of the popular Wii home video game system to the US amid a constant sell-out status of the device in the nation. Want A Wii For Christmas? Buy It Now Sony beefs up PS3 media ability with films over Web |
AP - The sabal palm, Florida's state tree, is under attack by a microscopic killer that has scientists stumped. An unknown but growing number of sabal palms in the Tampa Bay area have died from a mysterious disease that researchers are struggling to identify. Even after scientists pinpoint the disease and that could take years they will have to learn what insect spreads it. The disease will be tough to stop.
AP - Obama tells Israelis he's committed to their security, speaking with Hamas rockets as backdrop ... McCain denies he misstated timing of Iraq surge; says some elements began before Bush's order ... McCain credits Bush for drop in oil and gas prices ... Economy top issue, but energy concerns grow in AP-Ipsos poll ... McCain airs radio ads in U.S. Berlins
 Ontario Now | COPA Child-Protection Act Is Struck Down PC Magazine - by Chloe Albanesius The decade-long battle over the Children Online Protection Act (COPA) took another turn this week when an appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found COPA to be unconstitutional. COPA anti-Net porn law: down but not out US Court Calls COPA Unconstitutional, Again |
 ChattahBox | Apple notes continued MobileMe service outage Macworld - by Peter Cohen, Macworld.com Apple has posted a tech note to its Web site acknowledging a continued outage for users of its MobileMe service. Apple's MobileMe Problems Mount Apple says 'serious' server snafu caused MobileMe mail outage |
 Ontario Now | Games for Windows Head Kevin Unangst Explains Move to Free Live 1UP.com - Microsoft rights wrongs, talks about tomorrow's OS and DirectX 11 graphics in our interview with Kevin Unangst. By Shawn Elliott, 07/23/2008 While Microsoft may not apologize for its missteps it will gradually work to address them. Microsoft Drops Player Fees On Games For Windows Live Community games hit Xbox 360 this fall |
LiveScience.com - With food and fuel costs soaring and the financial costs of global warming becoming reality, a new cure-all prescription has emerged: The average American should eat less.
 BetaNews | Knol: (n.) Google's version of Wikipedia BetaNews - By Jacqueline Emigh, BetaNews With initial topics ranging from "How to Backpack" to "Toilet Clogs," Knol -- Google's answer, of sorts, to Wikipedia - has now left testing and is ready for perusal and contribution by one and all. Google opens Knol website, a wiki with bylines Pedias of world beware: Google Knol now open to the public |
 dBTechno | San Francisco Hack: Where Was the Oversight? InternetNews.com - UPDATED: Private companies are supposed to follow best practices for internal security. Experts are amazed that San Francisco wasn't doing the same. Parts of San Francisco Network Still Locked out San Francisco Mayor to the e-Rescue |
 PC World | Sony, Samsung Look To Upgrade HD Television CRN - Sony and Samsung are ready to give high definition television an upgrade. The two electronics giants have come together to form a consortium to provide high definition television to consumers wirelessly. CE Giants Back Amimon's Wireless HDTV Tech New wireless HD standard to compete with other proposed technologies |
 All Things D Blogs | Live From Facebook Founder’s Conference Keynote New York Times - By Brad Stone Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, is wearing not flip-flops but regular shoes, and what appears to be - hold the front page tonight guys - a good old-fashioned hooded sweater. It's Facebook Day! Say Hello To The Three Tier App System Around the Web 7.23.08: Steve Jobs' surgery, Facebook Connects ... |
 Wall Street Journal Blogs | ‘Spam King’ escapes from federal prison ZDNet - Edward “Eddie” Davidson, a notorious e-mail spammer who was sentenced to jail time in April, has escaped from a federal prison camp in Florence, Colorado. Spam King pulls prison vanishing act Spam king walks out of prison camp |
 Digital-Lifestyles.Info | Google Rumored Ready To Buy Digg Sci-Tech Today - By Jennifer LeClaire Google is reported ready to buy news-voting site Digg for $200 million. Rumors of a Google purchase started with Google testing voting methods, and Microsoft is said to be waiting in the wings if Google doesn't complete the ... Will Google destroy Digg or take it to the next level? Google Buying Digg |
 ChattahBox | One 'Spam King' Faces 4 Years In Prison, One Escapes CRN - By Stefanie Hoffman, ChannelWeb A Seattle man Tuesday was sentenced to 47 months in prison for spamming while a Colorado man is on the run after escaping from a federal prison camp. Seattle Spam King Dark Mailer faces 47-month sentence 'Spam king' sentenced to 47 months |
 TV Envy | TiVo Gets Its Own Shopping Channel: Amazon PC Magazine - by Chloe Albanesius Online shopping addicts beware. A TiVo-Amazon partnership will soon allow TiVo customers to purchase items via Amazon. TiVo Pairs With Amazon.com Shopping Channel TiVo and Amazon.com Shopping Channel Join Forces |
 Gizmodo Australia | Nintendo faces ban on some Wii controllers CNET News - Unless Nintendo complies with a federal judge's order by Thursday, the company will be faced with a ban on several of its controllers, Bloomberg reports. Wii and Gamecube controllers facing US ban Wii Classic controller in jeopardy after Nintendo loses patent appeal |
 ABC News | Most Bank Sites Are Insecure InformationWeek - Security risks caused by basic flaws in Web site design are widespread, according to computer scientists. By Thomas Claburn More than three-quarters of bank Web sites have design flaws that could expose bank customers to financial loss or identity ... Summary Box: Study sees online banking flaws Online Banking Has Widespread Security Flaws |
 ChattahBox | Red Alert! DNS Flaw Revealed InformationWeek - Security researchers warn users to patch immediately, as technical details to exploit a widespread DNS vulnerability were disclosed online. DNS Dot Bomb: Update Your Nameservers Kaminsky: DNS bug tattler not the first to guess flaw details |
How about a Nintendo buckle with an actual NES system attached to it? Look no further than the NESBuckle. Video after the break.
Just attach it to your belt and be ready to play with it everywhere and/or be kicked by random people on the street.[via Gizmodo]
This futuristic BMW M1 concept "pays tribute to the original M1 and shows what could be possible if BMW were to produce a new mid-engined sports car." Click here for new pictures of this beauty.
There were only a handful of photos available when the car was officially introduced, but since then BMW has released several more for us to drool over including some of the original design sketches.[via Autoblog]
Prince of Persia DS uses "the unique stylus controls of the Nintendo DS system to deliver the extraordinary acrobatic and combat action that fans have come to expect from the Prince of Persia franchise." Video after the break.
Facing imminent danger, the Prince flees to a deserted kingdom that seemingly offers sanctuary.[via IGN]
Reuters - Meat and milk from cloned animals may not be safe to be sold in the European Union after all, the bloc's top food safety agency will say on Thursday after a rethink on the issue, EU sources said.
The USB Data Link Watch is essentially "a simple digital watch, with an internal battery that's charged when you plug it into a USB socket." Click here for first picture in gallery.
And then the same USB socket plugs back into the watch face, secured with PCB mount-style latches, with the ribbon cable as a strap.[via Gizmodo]
Created for a Star Wars celebration in Japan, this one-of-a-kind George Lucas in Carbonite piece is definitely a sight to see. Click here for first picture in gallery.
True story: George Lucas owed us some money and he wouldn't pay. So now we have the best office decoration ever. And until Carrie Fisher shows up in a metal choker and a bikini, we're not giving it back.[via Gizmodo - NewLaunches]
AP - The European Union proposed an import ban Wednesday on products derived from seals that are killed in a cruel way, a move that could hurt the annual seal hunt in Canada the largest in the world.
AP - A "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas-Louisiana coast this year is likely to be the biggest ever and last longer than ever before, with marine life affected for hundreds of miles, a scientist warned.
We recently got the chance to get an up-close look at the Batman Tumbler at a Dark Knight screening and snapped a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment. Continue reading to see more. Click here for first picture in gallery.
More than just a shiny metal computer, this custom mod features an AMD Athlon X2 4800+ (65W AM2) processor, 2GB of OCZ DDR2-6400 memory, and Sapphire AMD 3870 512MB graphics. Click here for first picture in gallery.
Max or "Mad Max", is easily one of the most talented of modders on the bit-tech rolls. His high-tech and heavy-industry projects tend to take his chosen materials (acrylic and aluminum) to a whole new level.[via Bit-Tech]
Resistance 2 PS3 features "a single player campaign which will follow the story of Nathan Hale, and an up to eight player online co-operative campaign that will have a storyline running parallel to Hale's campaign." Video after the break. Click here for first picture in gallery.
Both campaigns will also include boss-battles. One of the bosses is the Leviathan, a Godzilla-looking monster, which is the biggest boss, standing over 300 feet high.[via Wiki]
Unlike other vehicles, this motorcycle car concept has a passenger cabin that rotates, "lifting the third wheel in the air, which sprouts blades that keep the chassis stable, just like in a helicopter tail." Click here for first picture in gallery.
Looking like something from the next Transformers movie, this slick motorcycle concept toggles between two and three wheels at (presumably) the touch of a button. For highway driving it uses all three wheels.[via Dvice]
Architecture and Vision, a design firm, has come up with a moon base station that "automatically deploys after Ares [V Rocket] lands, and can host up to 4 people for 6 months." Click here for first picture in gallery.
Architecture and Vision's website suggest that it will be an ideal halfway point between temporary and permanent housing for humans on the moon.[via IO9]
LiveScience.com - A college student's new discovery of fossils collected in the East Antarctic suggests that the frozen polar cap was once a much balmier place.
The well-preserved fossils of ostracods, a type of small crustaceans, came from the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica's Transantarctic Mountains and date from about 14 million years ago. The fossils were a rare find, showing all of the ostracods' soft anatomy in 3-D.
The fossils were discovered by Richard Thommasson during screening of the sediment in research team member Allan Ashworth's lab at North Dakota State University. ...