The Rigged-Up Net

Single speaker unit creates surround sound

A home theatre system that produces surround sound using a single speaker unit has been unveiled by a US company.

First flush of love not emotional

When you first fall in love, you are not experiencing an emotion, but a motivation or drive, new brain scanning studies have shown.

Advances in car technology bring high-class headaches

A California salesman says he had owned his 2003 BMW 7-series a few weeks in the spring when it stopped starting. When he hit highway speeds one evening after it was serviced, compact discs spit out at his passenger and the engine began sputtering and lurching until it died at the side of the road.

Are girls really crazy ’bout a sharp-dressed man?

Metrosexuals bore me.

Rackspace Managed Hosting named to InfoWorld 100

InfoWorld magazine honored Rackspace Managed Hosting for its use of technology to enhance its business, making it the only organization from San Antonio to be named to the InfoWorld 100.

Hot Wheel

We love reading about new products and designs from Bombardier, mostly because besides building things like airplanes and subway cars, the privately held, Quebec-based company also builds fun stuff like Rotax karts, Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Bombardier ATVs, Sea-Doo sport boats and Johnson and Evinrude outboard engines.

It’s a deal: Toll tags will work in Houston and Dallas

Tollway drivers soon will be able to take the fast lane in both Houston and Dallas.

“What to Do About Your Brain-Injured Child” Hardcover Book at Sharper Image

In this landmark book, Glenn Doman brings hope to thousands of children, many inoperable, to live in a sometimes dangerous world.

I wasn’t sure if this was a legit book, but Amazon.com has it too!

A Peek Behind Microsoft’s Firewall at ‘Wallop’

Microsoft Research is looking at how to leverage blogs, RSS feeds, wikis and other social-networking tools.

Sarah’s Windows Tweak Tip: Text-Only Outlook Email

The newest version of Outlook, Outlook 2003, has a built-in feature that lets you view all incoming mail as plain-text messages, whether or not they were ever sent as HTML messages. Previous versions of Outlook don’t have the feature.

YAY! Finally!

What’s Up With Metrosexuals?

With so many buzzwords making their way onto, across, and off the scene before you can say “supercalafragilisticexpi” — okay, before you can say “boo” — you’ve probably already noticed that you need help keeping up with today’s hippest terms. One of the latest to confuse alert readers is metrosexual.

Retail giant Wal-Mart faces challenges on many fronts

Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott remembers a labor-relations lesson he got from founder Sam Walton about 24 years ago.

FCC cuts cord on phone numbers

Cutting the cord on your home phone will get easier next month, thanks to a Federal Communications Commission ruling Monday that will let consumers switch their wired “land line” numbers to cell phones.

Internet Explorer to stomp pop-ups

Microsoft plans to add pop-up blocking features to Internet Explorer next year as part of its Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP, a move that would go far toward stamping out the Web advertisements.

Big clue to human pheromone mystery

Researchers may have taken a big step towards solving the mystery of how humans detect pheromones.

Drifting tries to rev up U.S. fans

If young hot rodders in Japan love it, surely America’s car-crazy youth will too.

A flash demo of how drifting works is here

US kids show early signs of heart disease

Early signs of heart disease have been found in US children. About one in seven US schoolchildren has three or more risk factors of “metabolic syndrome” – a precursor to heart disease and diabetes.

Ten most overpaid jobs in the U.S.

Almost no one in America would admit to being overpaid, but many of us take home bloated paychecks far beyond what we deserve.

Kasparov to play virtual-reality match

The world’s top-ranked chess player is facing a high-tech challenge: playing a game invented more than a millennium ago, against a computer, with voice-activated moves posted on a virtual board

Tax strategy has changed

Year-end tax strategies usually come down to one time-tested principle: Accelerate deductions, defer income. But 2003 hasn’t been a typical tax year.

A frank steward reveals ‘Plane Truth’

On a recent Europe-bound flight, a woman and her travel companions— who happened to be three stuffed animals — settled into four full-fare first-class seats. Flight attendant James Wysong asked her if they’d each like a menu, and she responded yes.

Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight

chuckpeters writes “A total lunar eclipse will soon darken the full moon for most of North and South America, Europe, and Africa. The Moon rises about five p.m. EST and the eclipse will be in penumbra. Totality begins at 8:06 p.m. EST. and ends at 8:31 PM EST and the partial eclipse ends at 10:45 PM. EST” To obtain the time and location for your area, use the Lunar Computer. It looks like the weather will cooperate and we will have clear skies for most of the country. Articles can be found at NASA, Space.com, Sky and Telescope, and Starry Skies.”

I am “Moo-pheus”….

Enter the MEATrix

(Thanks Chris)

Five reasons not to buy an iPod

For the past year, the media has been clamoring about iPod killers on the horizon–new MP3 players with more features, longer battery life, and designs nearly as svelte as the iPod’s. However, this oversimplifies the situation; in truth, while the iPod rocks, it’s not now, nor has it ever been, perfect for everyone.

The results are in: what the carriers are charging each month for portability #

As promised, here’s what we could find about what each of the different carriers’ monthly fee for cellphone number portability, which they’re charging even for customers who aren’t planning to switch carriers.

(Thanks Dirk)

Nickels get first redesign in 65 years

Coin collectors, get ready for another change. Drawing on the enormous popularity of the state quarter program, the U.S. Mint on Thursday unveiled two nickels it hopes will lure as many collectors as the 25-cent pieces.

San Antonio continues to violate Clear Air Act

San Antonio’s air quality continues to worsen with the city recording 11 days of pollution exceeding federal clean air standards.

RAID – the holy grail of data safety? Read this:

Baffling

Blown Hard Drives Dept.: I recently visited with the folks from DriveSavers (www.drivesavers.com), the California-based specialists who fix blown hard drives. They told me some horror stories about how a lot of big companies lose all their data in a recurring scenario

I met Dvorak this past summer which was very cool since I had been reading his column in PCMag since I was 8. Funny guy too.

Human trial of HIV vaccine starts in South Africa

South Africa’s first human trial of an HIV vaccine will start this week, researchers have announced. The new vaccine is being tested for safety and its effects on the human immune system in 48 volunteers split between South Africa and the US.

Fish farting may not just be hot air

Biologists have linked a mysterious, underwater farting sound to bubbles coming out of a herring’s anus. No fish had been known to emit sound from its anus nor to be capable of producing such a high-pitched noise.

This is pretty funny… I suggest you crack the volume, kick back, and prepare to laugh your butt off.

http://www.delinker.nl/nov3/bsb.swf

Terrorism lends urgency to hunt for better lie detector

In a quiet corner of the University of Pennsylvania campus, professor Britton Chance is using near-infrared light to peek at lies as they form in the brains of student volunteers.

New mobile message craze spreads

Are you being bluejacked?
Phone owners now have something else to do with their handset: bluejacking

Step Aside Las Vegas … Survey Picks Minneapolis as Nation’s Most Funominally Fun City

Sperling’s Best Places and Board Game Maker Cranium Unveil America’s Top 50 Places for Fun

Need a quick and free way to test the memory on your system?

Windows Memory Diagnostic

The Windows Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors. The diagnostic includes a comprehensive set of memory tests. If you are experiencing problems while running Windows, you can use the diagnostic to determine whether the problems are caused by failing hardware, such as RAM or the memory system of your motherboard. Windows Memory Diagnostic is designed to be easy and fast. On most configurations, you can download the diagnostic, read the documentation, run the test and complete the first test pass in less than 30 minutes.

I love my Tivo. But my Phillips Series 1 Tivo is slow as ass. Its probably becuase of 80gig drive I added to it. Rumor has it that a memory upgrade from 16mb to 32mb will improve the speed. 9thtee sells the upgrade kit for $20 but I have no skill for SMD soldering so I’m sending it in to ElectricLegs to get done. I don’t think its too pricey for $50.

If the memory upgrade doesn’t work, I can always get a CacheCard.

Here’s the email I got from ElectricLegs:
Read the rest of this entry »

I know that everyone wants a set of spinners on their car… but most can’t afford new shoes for their ride, so here’s a cheap alternative…

Spinner Hubcabs

It’s your number, take it with you

Like millions of other wireless customers, Mark Graves is ready to dump his service provider this month when people will be allowed to keep their old cell phone numbers when switching carriers.

They suggest that number portability will cause lots of churn – DUH! [shakes head]

Hackers On Atkins

`Sean writes “Salon.com has published a story about Hackers on Atkins. Although going on a diet is the last thing on the minds of the stereotypical geek basking in the ambient radiation of multiple monitors for 15 hours per day, many hackers have been embracing Atkins because utilizing low-carb methods to modify the metabolism is analogous to hacking and overclocking the body. Others have been combining Atkins with other systems, such as John Walker’s The Hacker’s Diet. I’ve personally lost a hundred pounds so far and will toss in the obligatory if I can do it, anyone can ism.”

Men tout styles at beard, moustache showcase

Sporting plunging Fu-Manchus, rapier-like Van Dykes, and bushy belly-warming beards, more than 130 of the world’s most hirsute men paraded down a catwalk here Saturday in the sixth World Beard and Moustache Championships.