You are currently under surveillance. Really.

Bad news for freedom as noted in this snip from WIRED Threat Level piece by David Kravets:
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits targeting the nation’s telecommunication companies for their participation in President George W. Bush’s once-secret electronic eavesdropping program. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker upheld summer [...]

Power Up Your Java Slot

 I think that all vehicles should have a AC outlet built right into them. However, until that time comes we have the Coffee Cup Power Inverter. According to the site, “The Coffee Cup Power Inverter is a conveniently shaped power source that coverts your car’s DC power into two 120-volt AC [...]

MotionPortrait
We don’t pretend to understand the Japanese, we usually just nod graciously and smile when they dazzle us with their consumer electronics and robots. But Sony’s MotionPortrait is different, SolidAlliance different. The technology creates 3D graphics from 2D stills of human faces.  (Video after the break)

Everything is Better with Lasers 
What if you could take a regular incandescent lightbulb, zap it with a powerful laser for a small fraction of a second, and make it about twice as efficient as a regular lightbulb? That seems to be what researchers at the University of Rochester did. What does the laser do? It [...]

Wild dog waits on the platform
The clever canines board the Tube each morning.  After a hard day scavenging and begging on the streets, they hop back on the train and return to the suburbs where they spend the night. (Pics)

A mouse diced with death when it stole some food from under the nose of a leopard  
Instead of pouncing on the mouse, the 12-year-old African leopard, called Sheena, simply watched as it fed on scraps of meat thrown into its enclosure.

‘cubital tunnel syndrome’ or ‘cell phone elbow’
They have been blamed for damaging hearing and exposing users to harmful radiation.  Now those who just can’t stop chatting into their handsets are facing a new menace – mobile phone elbow.

 
Wired has a recipe for an exploding drink called the Manhattan Project. You can try to make it taste like a Manhattan, but it’s not really necessary. The point is that there will be a delayed-reaction explosion to surprise your guest. Oh the memories it will create…

Holy Crap! That looks peaceful.

The South Pacific nation of four million people and 40 million sheep has knocked Iceland off its perch after violent demonstrations followed the collapse of Reykjavik’s banking system.
The Global Peace Index, a report prepared for the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks 144 [...]