When it was announced that a war was coming, Iraq went through a major brain drain as  the best and the brightest chose to leave the country.  They will only return when it’s safe to come home.  As a result, these are the type of people making decisions in their country.
I don’t believe many countries […]

The 2008 Google Summer of Code is on. We have discussed this four-year-old tradition before (2005, 2006, 2007). Google will once again be hosting a program that gives computer science students a $4,500 stipend to work on open source software projects. Last year, Google funded over 900 students’ projects in more than 90 […]

Depression is common but it’s not a sign of weakness. In fact, experiencing the condition for a brief period can actually benefit you.
A leading psychiatrist has claimed that a bout of depression could be good for the soul — it may bring misery to its sufferers, but it can also […]

Chris Anderson has a brilliant article in Wired Magazine this month about the economy of FREE. Between new ways companies have found to subsidize products and the falling cost of doing business in a digital age, the opportunities to adopt a free business model of some sort have never been greater. But which […]

A sophisticated robotic dog could be a good companion for your dog-loving grandmother who can’t care for a living pet, a new Saint Louis University study suggests.
The researchers compared how residents of three nursing homes interacted with Sparky, a living, medium-sized gentle mutt, and Aibo, a doggie robot once manufactured by Sony that looks like […]

Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah’s Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic “doomsday vault” filled with samples of the world’s most important seeds will be inaugurated on Tuesday.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the personalities present at […]

For those of you who are more on the sending than receiving end of the email equation, here is a review of the top 14 email marketing services.  Leading the pack this year is iContact, followed by Constant Contact, and Benchmark.

 
The much-anticipated benefits of personalized medicine are being lost or diluted for many Americans who are too afraid that genetic information may be used against them to take advantage of its growing availability.
In some cases, doctors say, patients who could make more informed health care decisions if they learned whether they had inherited an elevated […]

 
Bill, alert Ken and Barbie. We just bagged another one of these menaces
More of the Top 10 Photos of the Week after the jump.

Tech-savvy teenagers are increasingly paying a heavy price – including criminal arrest – for parodying their teachers on the Internet.
Tired of fat jokes and false accusations of teacher-lounge partying or worse, teachers and principals are fighting back against digital ridicule and slander by their students – […]

Botanicalls Twitter answers the question: What’s up with your plant? It offers a connection to your leafy pal via online Twitter status updates that reach you anywhere in the world. When your plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and […]

Online banking is now widespread in the US and UK, according to a survey conducted by Gartner during June, July and August 2007.
The study found that 71 million US adults and 14 million UK adults regularly use Web banking services.

Because of the breakneck pace of change in the technology world, there is so much information that most of us need to keep up with on a daily basis. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time to read as much as we would like. As a result, podcasts are one of the most valuable tools that […]

It was just announced that “La Vie En Rose” star Marion Cotillard was the surprise winner for best actress at tonight’s Academy Awards, riding the spirit of Edith Piaf to Oscar triumph over Julie Christie, who had been expected to win for “Away From Her.” Here is a preview of the movie so few had […]

Your breath can reveal more than what you ate or drank, it may provide a very inexpensive method of diagnosing any disease you might be suffering from, researchers say.
The breath potentially contains trace of more than 1000 compounds even though you might see only water vapour coming out of your mouth […]

Let’s start by saying that some countries just aren’t very good at taking a joke. The government of Pakistan has today ordered all local Internet Providers to block access to Google’s YouTube video sharing site “until further notice” due to offensive content. According to officials, the YouTube website contains cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad […]

Life as a Hans Solo junkie has just gotten more expensive.  Well now you can steal Vader’s prize to Boba Fett and have the frozen Han Solo for yourself and turned into a practical piece of furniture. This desk is actually real and was created by Tom Spina Designs for a client with an apparent […]

Here are some great photos of a day at the beach in China.

A medical student has caught a record-setting fish - a Warsaw Grouper weighing 359.1 pounds. The giant hauled in by J.J. Tabor of Thibodaux is 12 ounces above the previous Louisiana state record, a state biologist confirmed. Great photo.

 
The invisibleSHIELD™ is a polyurethane film originally used by the military to protect the leading edge of helicopter blades. It is now designed to protect gadgets such as the iPhone and the iPod from scratches. This video demonstrates how strong the invisibleSHIELD truly is.
 

Set this eight-megapixel camera to “Smile Shot,” and the shutter won’t click until someone grins. Face-detection software finds jawlines and watches for the change in contrast-light teeth against a darker mouth-that indicates a smile.

Control your computer by waving this mouse in the air, without even pointing at the screen. A gyroscope senses motion, and an accelerometer knows if the mouse is tilted.
Logitech MX Air $150

This is the most unique camping and travel trailer you’ll ever find. The GO was designed from the frame out to be a one-of-a-kind mobile adventure trailer that’s even more versatile than a Swiss Army knife. It’s lightweight and easy to manage in the parking lot, garage or on the road. Weighing in at […]

 
Researchers at Princeton have discovered that with a can of duster and a laptop, it takes only matter of minutes to crack most encryption software, including BitLocker, FileVault, dm-crypt and TrueCrypt. The weak link that makes this ridiculously simple hack possible is the DRAM chip. Here’s why:

Mexican brides and grooms who get cold feet before walking down the aisle will have to pay their significant other for the inconvenience, if a proposal by a local congressman is adopted.
In Mexico, weddings are big social events where large amounts of money are spent before the big day on gowns, tuxedos, catering and music […]