eBay iPhone iNsanity

eBay bidding is reaching over $10,000 on some auctions.Uh, people, you can actually order them online from Apple at retail price...

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What the Heck is E-Mail? [Ad from 1977]


This is an ad from 1977. In 30 years we have gone from trying to explain the concept of e-mail, even to professionals, to it being such an indispensable part of daily life.
171 billion messages are sent every day, 70% of which are spam and viruses.
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This is too cool. With a regular digital camera and telescope, astronomers at a Boston-area high school snapped this stunning picture of the space shuttle Atlantis docking with the International Space Station, 190 nautical miles up.

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About 2 out of 3 Christians say they never watch R-rated flicks, according to a poll run by one of the largest Christian web portals in the world.
Of visitors to ChristiaNet.com polled, 61 percent answered that they “never” watch them. The remaining 39 percent either watch socially important rated R films like Passion of the Christ and Schindler’s List or watch films rated R "only" for violence.
A University of Bologna research team has found the crater to the historic Tunguska Event, they claim.
Lake Cheko, seen here in a computer rendering of the
shape of the lakebed, fits the bill as a crater site for what would be one of the substantial pieces left from the 1908 explosion over rural Siberia.
This claim is not without it's critics, but in summer 2008 the team will return for further research.
Link

Monster Squad Coming to DVD


This movie is now 20 years old. Wow.
I remember watching this when I worked at the movie theater
all those years ago. I've been waiting to buy this on DVD for
a while now.

New Batsuit From "The Dark Knight"
























With a new cowl, cape and gauntlets, as well as a general redesign of appearance, Christian Bale is headed to theaters again as Batman in his early years in The Dark Knight July 18, 2008.
Dell seems like it's starting to listen to it's customers.
Monday Dell announced that it will give buyers of certain PC models the option to avoid what the company calls "preinstalled software." Buyers of Dimension desktops, Inspiron notebooks and XPS PCs can now click a field in Dell's online order form that will block the installation of productivity software, ISP (Internet service provider) software, and photo and music software.

Pre-installed software, or "crapware" has been a growing problem for people who buy new PCs from major manufacturers like Dell and HP. Programs like PC Decrapifier have been created to help deal with the problem. Some pre-installed software like Vongo has become notoriously hard to remove, to the point of behaving like a virus or rootkit.

Now if they would just remove that annoying browser address error redirector...

Another Controversial Game by Take 2


Manhunt 2, the sequel to the first sickening Manhunt, has just been banned by the British Board of Film Classification. Produced by Take 2 Studios, makers of the Grand Theft Auto games and Bully, the game is the first banned in Britain in 10 years.
David Cooke of the BBFC said in a statement "Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."
I could never understand the appeal of entertainment that focuses on extreme cruelty and sadism. I was disgusted just at the description of the game on Wikipedia. Have game players/audiences today become so accustomed to extreme violence that it takes this level of gross violence to attract them?

Ubuntu tells Micro$oft to Go to Hell


Despite rumors to the contrary, Ubuntu is not going to engage in negotiations with Microsoft in response to their outrageous extortion attempts.
To quote Mark Shuttleworth:
We have declined to discuss any agreement with Microsoft under the threat of unspecified patent infringements.

Allegations of “infringement of unspecified patents” carry no weight whatsoever. We don’t think they have any legal merit, and they are no incentive for us to work with Microsoft on any of the wonderful things we could do together. A promise by Microsoft not to sue for infringement of unspecified patents has no value at all and is not worth paying for. It does not protect users from the real risk of a patent suit from a pure-IP-holder (Microsoft itself is regularly found to violate such patents and regularly settles such suits). People who pay protection money for that promise are likely living in a false sense of security.

Read his entire blog post here.

CBS Orders 7 More Episodes of Jericho


CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler announced on a network-hosted fan site for the recently canceled Jericho that the network, responding to fan outcry, will order seven more episodes to air in midseason.
So I guess the "nuts to CBS" campaign had some effect.
I think there must still be serious flaws in the Nielson ratings system because it seems that interesting shows that have a fan following are always prematurely canceled.

Preposturous Child Robot Built


I found this today on engadget and I simply could not stop laughing at this bizarre creation which our Japanese researcher in the picture seems slightly too pleased with.
Called the CB2, it mimics the physical ability of a 1- or 2-year-old toddler and can turn over and stand up with assistance.
It also emits a pleasant barking sound instead of speech.
"echhh! echhh!"
The Youtube video doesn't allow embedding, so watch it here.

Sorry, I like the dancing Sony robots better.

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer told a bunch of industry analysts during a conference call Thursday "We have nearly a dozen active agreements in place for digital delivery of our content with such major players as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Blockbuster, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart, with more to follow."
A Blockbuster spokesperson declined to comment on Feltheimer's statement. "We intend to offer a movie download service, but we have not provided any details on timing or anything else," spokesperson Randy Hargrove told Ars Technica. "It makes sense for us to participate in the download space, but we don't see it becoming a huge business in the next year or two. That said, it's something we think is important."
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