Archive for September 14th, 2005
Interview with MythBusters co-host: Adam Savage.
Part Two of The Sneeze interview with MythBusters co-host: Adam Savage.
In this section Adam and I discuss harsh fan criticism, how long he could survive in a fight with Jamie, the greatest toy ever invented and much more…”
AkibaLive: USB Radio from Thanko
Thanko (Japan) started selling its new USB Radio today, which can connect to a PC and provide radio control through the computer. This handy little gadget, when internet radio is not enough, will only set you back �2,980. It’s compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP.
The USB Radio is bus powered, therefore not requiring an external power source. The USB Radio connects to a PC via an available USB port and using the special tuning and recording software can be controlled from the PC.
The device can record directly from the radio in WAV/WMA format, in addition to being able to be preset to record at a specified time. The dimensions of the USB Radio are 32×70mm with a weight of 15 grams.
Gorillas, chimps and orangutans face extinction
The United Nations has proclaimed that gorillas, chimpanzees, pygmy chimpanzees (bonobos), and orang-utans are now faced with a disturbingly high chance of within the next 50 years.
Read more in the BBC’s article, UN’s clarion call for great apes.
Also, find out additional facts and ways you can help at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Great Apes Survival Project website.
G.W. = Failure
Web users entering the words “miserable failure” into the popular search engine are directed to the biography of the president on the White House website.
The trick is possible because Google searches more than just the contents of web pages - it also counts how often a site is linked to, and with what words.
Thus, members of an online community can affect the results of Google searches - called “Google bombing” - by linking their sites to a chosen one.
Weblogger Adam Mathes is credited with inventing the practice in 2001, when he used it to link the phrase “talentless hack” to a friend’s website.
The search engine can be manipulated by a fairly small group of users, one report suggested.
Newsday newspaper says as few as 32 web pages with the words “miserable failure” link to the Bush biography.
The Bush administration has been on the receiving end of pointed Google bombs before.
In the run-up to the Iraq war, internet users manipulated Google so the phrase “weapons of mass destruction” led to a joke page saying “These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed.”
The site suggests “clicking the regime change button”, or “If you are George Bush and typed the country’s name in the address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly (IRAQ)”.
