Channel Blipvert: 6.04.2011

The channel that loves the clicker

This week I've travelled all the four corners of this fine world, at the click of a button. Found camera's pointing at some pretty funny things from the comfort of my NEW couch.

Now where did I leave that remote, click.

Selected for your viewing pleasure.

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1. The HTC Flyer with Android on board, some serious IPad 2 competition.
2. Intel has released a touching video on why you shouldn't store precious memories on hard disks
3. The Angry Birds helps explain Gaddafi and Libya
4. Playboy celebrity golf without the celebrities
5. After Google's April Fools day video of Minority Report Gmail comes the real Kinect Gmail video, great come-back.
6. Greg Powell's record setting BMX stunt
7. Charlie Sheens uncut ABC 20/20 interview
8. Anonymous has an ominous message for Sony
9. Maria Bamford appears at the 2011 Melbourne Comedy Festival, she funny
10. Caroline Rhea also at the festival
11. The Hobbit movie trailer

Buddha's Brother out...

Chevrolet Sheep Do Dream, Mi-Ray

Chevrolet has looked to the future and created their vision. The Mi-Ray was developed at the GM Advanced Design Studio in Seoul and is a departure for Chevrolet, this is a risky gamble. The drive train is electric front, 1.5litre turbo petrol engine driving the rear wheels. Regenerative breaking charges the 1.6Wh lithium battery pack on the go and plug-in recharge is available when you've parked. With a full wrap around cock pit style interior, more of an artist impression  of a jet fighter than it is an old war bird, the show car nature of the Mi-Ray is apparent. It is very well executed but it is a show car, a technology demonstrator and style changer. READ MORE

Free 2 Play, The Gathering Storm

The world of computer gaming is going through  a quiet revolution. Free2Play games - F2P - are taking over the spare time of people everywhere. It's not just for the boys either, girls are spending enough time on Facebook F2P games that their X-Box addicted boyfriends are complaining. Actually it's  all about the money. The retail over the counter experience will always be there, F2P won't stop that  Though F2P companies like Zynga and EA will keep pushing the micro payment barriers, it may take a while but F2P revenues will force the games industry to take notice. One day micro payments may be king. READ MORE

Nike+ Sports Watch, Just Plain Cool

The Nike Plus SportsWatch is by far the slickest peice of gadetry yet from Nike. With a TomTom GPS onboard this watch will always know where you are, even if you don't. Will this watch shake up the excercise world ?

While the watch is definitely a watch for people who play sports and generally get up and out, there are a myriad of other purposes for a GPS watch.  If for example you suffer a lot of drunken black outs then with the Nike+ watch you could re-trace your steps the next day, still no guarantee of memories but you could retrace your steps. READ MORE

Blipverts: 03.04.2011

It's ALL empty calories people.

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Australia's draconian video game laws seem no closer to being dragged screaming into the modern world. After what seemed like progress with the Gillard government attempting to overhaul the classifications the Victorian government has sided with the Christian lobby groups to stall the process. Have  these people seen the internet lately, these people are a joke.

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Speaking of jokes, did anyone make it through April Fools day prank free ?

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The rodent exterminator of choice.

• A massive web attack is under way as we speak, 100,000's of websites have already been compromised.
• More spectacular pictures of the sun from SDO, this time the Earth eclipsing the Sun
• Sucker Punch the new movie looks incredible. Sin City style with Victoria Secret models.
• OLED display technology is coming along in leaps and bounds
• Russian site gets hold of early Windows 8, machine corrupted in record time
• Wikileaks for Porn, new server hardware claims it feels dirty
• Feds shut down 50% of music piracy sites in one night, the return of the g-men
• After a long search the new king of clock radios's has arrived Sony XDR-C706DBP is the business
• The Playstation Phone is finally available, the game line-up at launch is pretty impressive
• Our favorite speaker maker with the lamest name ever Bowers and Wilkins - B&W - have released some silky smooth USB speakers for PC's B&W MM-1
• Finally a new racing simulator on the PC, Shift 2 Unleashed
• Tesla 2.5 Review, is it a real car yet ?
• MIX Wireless Mini HTPC Keyboard Mouse, mini keyboard with track pad for your multimedia PC, yes please.
• Acer has an ace up its sleeve with the Iconia dual screen laptop, king bling
• Work in a cubical farm, simple solution, build a cubical mansion in 5 easy steps.
• ComScore phone survey is in, Android begins to dominate the market, bye bye Blackberry.
• Samsung begins production of 22" transparent displays, very slick
• Viral videos for the week.
• Fords new hi-tech in car dash suffers blue screen of death
• Microsoft suffers 'shoe on the other foot' syndrome, accuses Google of anti-competitive behaviour.
• Crysis 2 Review, why its better on the PC.
• Playstation One games appear for Android on Experia Play, return of the classics.

Buddha's Brother out...

How2: Upgrading Your Computers Memory

Does "chugging along" ring true when describing your computer? Need to squeeze a bit more life out of your old beast, then consider upgrading your RAM. Upgrading a computers memory is the easiest upgrade off all.  Having enough memory  is an essential ingredient for an enjoyable computing experience. Signs that you are running low on memory include; taking a couple of minutes to start up or applications loading slowly.  Time to upgrade?  READ MORE

Silicon Fish and Plastic Chips

The science of making electronics out of plastic has recently taken a huge leap forward with the creation of the first working computer CPU chip - processor - made entirely from plastic. While it may sound like an un-natural combination electricity and plastic can work and the scientific types at the IMEC nanotechnology centre in Leuven, Belgium have produced a simple demonstration circuit. Plastic chips will drive computing power into every corner of our life, this is the second revolution in computing, where even the cheapest of products can have a computer embedded in it. READ MORE

Father of the Internet Dies Aged 84

Paul Baran died at his home in Palo Alto, California. Saturday March 28 2011 of complications from lung cancer. Paul Baran was a co-developer of packet switching, the foundation of the Internet.  "Paul wasn't afraid to go in directions counter to what everyone else thought was the right or only thing to do" Vinton Cerf, a vice president at Google and longtime friend of Baran. Baran was awarded  the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2008. A year earlier, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, joining the likes of Thomas Edison. Baran received many accolades late in life for his pioneering work, but he was anxious to widely distribute the credit.READ MORE

Channel Blipvert: 30.03.2011

Welcome to our inaugural video roundup. Our chief couch lounger has spent the last 7 days compiling this list, the couch is now seriously broken.  Anyone with a couch to spare  -  please contact highpants -  this guy only works from the couch so this is relatively urgent !

The Channel That Rewired Our Brains

Clearly we take no responsibly for the Videos he's selected for your viewing pleasure, enjoy . . .

1. A tribute to the space shuttle discovery on her final mission. She served us well.
2. Don't double park in Russia, you won't want your car back
3. Crysis 2 video review, looks good for the bang bang boom
4. Flyingbots juggle, strangely star wars like
5. Have scientists discovered a new planet in our solar system, is this chain pulling?
6. Something about a dog on a scooter, Take Braird the dog for example
7. Ken Block is always extreme but this one is not the happy ending kind
8. Nintendo 3DS unboxing and review
9. Has the earth sprung a leak
10. Trailer for the new mega action film THOR

Buddha's Brother out....

The channel that rewired our brains.

Highlights including the <<Need paragraph and picture, new picture>>

Has the earth sprung a leak.
A tribute to the space shuttle discovery on her final mission. She served us well.
Don't duble park in Russia, you won't want your car back.
Crysis 2 video review, looks good for the bang bang boom
Flyingbots junggle, strangely star wars like.
Have scientists discovered a new planet in our solar system
Something about a dog on a scooter, Braird the dog for example
Ken Block is always extreme but this ones not the happy ending kind
Nintendo 3DS unboxing and review
Trailer for the new mega action film THOR

Amazons Magic Clouds

Amazon's attempts to transform itself into a digital media company are starting to light up the cloud. Amazons most recent release Amazon MP3 along with it's CloudDrive Internet storage service are a two punch combination. Beating Google to the Web Based MP3 player must have given them some satisfaction. . Think of it as a web based iTunes with-out the need to sync. So what is brewing in the clouds, will it be a thunderstorm, will the big boys compete for our storage and listening needs. This may well be what cloud computing is really all about. The strange thing is all of these services make our music more accessible by storing it on the other side of the world. READ MORE

Apple, The Other Computer That Changed The Galaxy

On April fools day - April 1 - 1976, the 2 Steves, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs created a little nugget called Apple Computer. From the first 500 Apple I's through to the Macintosh of the mid 80's, Apple rocked the world of personal computing. Apples first real foot in the door was with business applications. Machines like the Amiga and Atari specialized in gaming, the Apple II was the A in Applications. Visicalc the first ever spreadsheet was released on the Apple IIe. Later on applications like Photoshop,  Pagemaker, Logic Audio gave it a distinctly professional market. This application centic nature also led to the education market which would become one of their main stays for many years. This first golden period also saw the release of first Apple II and the Macintosh and even though there were unable to speak to each other – no networking – they were brothers who shared the market until the early 90′s – 1993- when the Apple II was phased out.READ MORE

Groupon Now Hiring

There is one massive difference between small and large business, aside from the obvious, size. Large business must have a robust and keen complaints department. Right about now we reckon Groupon is expanding it's workforce via that very department. Groupon it seems is upsetting the galaxy of coupon fiends, a group of people more than happy to b_tch and moan about being misled or mistreated. Forums like groubal and complaints board have pages filled with Groupon complaints. From frothy mouthed rants about use by dates to credit card fraud. Seems Groupon is upsetting the coupon cutting brigade.READ MORE

India Says NO to .XXX

We Love a Good Hypocrisy, seems the new .xxx domain evoked a strong response from the Indian Government, the Ministry of IT, has issued the following statement, "India, along with many other countries from the Middle East and Indonesia, opposed the grant of the domain in the first place, and we would proceed to block the whole domain, as it goes against the IT Act and Indian laws." OK all you Indians doing the one hand typing thing, Quit it! READ MORE

Blipverts. 27.03.2011

Blipverts, where interesting information meets too much spare time

The Australian F1 race has come and gone for another year, congratulations to Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel for a dominating victory. Its difficult to think about what's been happening in the world this week without going over all of the terrible events around the world, there has to be more to life than disasters. It was International Procrastination day on Friday, even the french instigator of the day said it was OK if we put it off till tomorrow. The lost art of the long slow thought. Time for the couch and a think.

Can too much of the web ever be enough, time to click below.

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• Google employees are testing Googles new music service, gTunes
• Video highlights from around the web, Lightsabre badminton anyone
• Opus 11 the ultimate steam punk watch, $250,000 worth of fascination
• RIAA our favourite pirate hunters think LimeWire owes them $75 trillion dollars, LimeWire asks if it can have a payment plan, say $75 a week for a trillion weeks
• Nintendo has finally released the 3DS. 3D gaming without any glasses, just watch the nausia.
• Old meets new with Ulysse Nardin Chairman android phone, $50,000 price tag, I might have to change my mobile plan.
• Intels 990X Extreme Edition CPU eats all compition in its path, has to sit down with a tummy ache
• Do you love comics, not sure how to go digital ? No problem here is the guide
• One of Fibonacci's manuscripts is up for auction, if maths is your passion you can drewl over this one, but don't it’s the only one of its kind
• London Underground to get 120 Wi-Fi hotspots for the Olympics, buskers are now just playing internet radio over Wi-Fi,  they can't be bothered actually playing an instrument anymore
• Southpark creators make it on broadway, wait, what!
• India turns out to be a prude, will ban .xxx domains
• Britney Spears does surprise performance in Las Vegas, appears sober and lucid, crowd leaves confused but happy
• Chrome 11 Beta tips up on the web, includes Speech-To-Text function, Little Jon stil says What?
• MySpace's downhill run picks up speed, loosing 10 million user in one month. They have to soon admit they don't have a clue
• Firefox has released version 4, all reports are positive, sets dowload record, 7 million downloads in the first day
• Texas beauty queen proves in court a chubby princess is still a princess, wins court case and goes out for an ice-cream
• Anna Chapman in the news, Russia's hottest spy cant stay away from the camera
• New bigfoot video taken, blurriest footage yet of man in a monkey suit, or is it?
• Youth in London rampage and riot over cut's to the public service.
• Warner Bros announce The Hobbit has begun production, Welsh unemployment solved
• NASA produces map of Mercury, refuses to stop and ask for directions
• Fisker Karma electric sports cars enters production, car doubles as $80,000 phone charger
• Video footage of RAF Tornado blowing stuff up in Libya, bombs away

Buddha's Brother out...

Sprites, Space Lightning

Just above the clouds, on the other side of the sky is a phenomenon that’s caught sciences eye, Sprites.

Sprites are a relatively newly discovered - 1989 - high altitude atmospheric optical emission - flash - , they only last for milli-seconds and can be quite dim compared to the lightning flash below the clouds. They look like recoil from lightning or flashes of ghost in the sky. If you thought all of the interesting bits of life have been made boring by science then we present to you Sprites. READ MORE

AMD's 3.5Ghz Bulldozer.The CPU Rumble in The Jungle

The CPU performance battle is about to heat up once more as the game of one up-manship continues. Can AMD finally answer Intels domination of the market or will Intel once again squash them like a bug on the windscreen of the Intel juggernaut. No  matter which one of the two 600 pound guerrilla's wins we consumers are the true winners, with Uber fast kit coming up and neither AMD nor Intel being able to rest on your laurels. Let's see if the AMD Bulldozer can shove all of the competition aside and take the crown for Uber Performance Desktop Processor. READ MORE

BMW New Smart Car Sharing

As a joint venture  BMW and car rental outfit Sixt have launched a new car-sharing program "Drive Now" with premium vehicles. Very cleverly, a vehicle key is not needed. The "Drive Now" cars are equipped with a chip, members are issued with a smart card that operates the vehicle. the program is being launched in Germany with plans to roll the system out internationally later this year. As always with BMW, expect this to be a very efficient and user friendly system.READ MORE

Gaddafi Exiled to Italy

The babbling dictator of Libya - Moamar Gaddafi - is deep in chats with the Italian government, about the possibility of granting exile to the embattled Libyan leader. The proposal is deadly serious and is part of a proposal Italy and Germany are planning to  present to this week's conference on Libya in London.

Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini told national daily newspaper La Repubblica that granting exile to Gaddafi is a viable peace option for Libya. READ MORE

Nvidia GeForce GTX 590. The Uber Video Card Battle

Nvidia's answer to a question that no one can afford has been released, the dual GPU Nvidia GTX 590 is here to challenge the king of Uber video cards the ATI 6990. ATI no longer has the Uber video card market to itself, their 6990 video card  may still hold the speed crown - only just - but the GTX 590 is hot on it's heals, the king has some competition. READ MORE

Test Tube Sperm

Japanese researchers have successfully produced mature, functional sperm in a laboratory dish for the first time - a feat that has eluded reproductive biologists for more than half a century. The scientists met this challenge with mice, successfully culturing mouse testes cells, inducing them to cultivate sperm, and then using this sperm to reproduce seemingly normal offspring. COSMOS READ MORE

B_tch and Moan, Porsche 918

OK, previously we may have been a little harsh on Porsche Australia - READ 'Why Do We Pay More -  we no longer give a sideways what the new 918 costs, we just want one!  Porsche AG announced the 918 Spyder Plug In Hybrid is officially on sale, well pre-order. This auto stole the show at it's preview in Geneva last year. The concept project known as XG10 - 918 is going into production in September 2013, the expected cost of this stunner $US845,000. READ MORE

Gmail Hacked by China

We're not sure if you noticed, on March 9 and 10 2011, the interweb seemed to slow, considerably. Turns out it wasn't your cap kicking in. Google has released a statement accusing China of hacking it's popular webmail app Gmail. Theories are floating around the web that China is attempting to curtail a 'Jasmine Revolution" by censoring internet communication. "Relating to Google there is no issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a Chinese Government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail" Matt Cutts of Google.  READ MORE

Quote of the Day

"It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough - it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing and nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices."

Steve Jobs

CBS, Warner Beg Charlie to Return

Charlie Sheen may be out of a job, for now. But according to reports swirling on Monday the actor may be back on television sooner rather than later. Sources close to Sheen are saying that CBS has offered Charlie  his job back on the hit comedy Two and a Half Men, but no deal had been struck and discussions were ongoing. Cbs has released a statement outlining the CBS President and CEO - Les Moonves -  intervened in Warner Exec's woeful handling of Sheen, directing them to get Sheen back!.READ MORE

Facebook Snaps up Snaptu

API developer Snaptu - founded in 2007 - confirmed yesterday it had been purchased by Facebook, for a reported $US65 Million. The company is based in Britain but also has offices in Tel Aviv and California.  Snaptu offers a mobile App that gives owners of regular handsets a "smartphone-like" interface when using social networks. When a user downloads the Snaptu platform onto their handset, they have access to a range of services including, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.READ MORE

Secret of the Spin

Spintronics, sounds like a new dance move for the doof doof crowd but no, Spintronics is a new field of Quantum Physics that is working towards making the inner workings of computer chips smaller and faster. Spintronics refers to the science of using the direction of electrons spinning around an atom to store information. If you could zoom into an atom you would see  electrons spinning around a central core - nucleus -, between the circling electrons and the core is a whole lot of space, even atoms aren't solid. The direction the electrons circle the nucleus - left or right- is its spin. This spin is the main characteristic that scientists are trying to work with in order to make a whole new kind of gadget. READ MORE

Blipverts: 20.03.2011

The answers to questions that haven't been asked yet

As the war in Libya intensifies 112 cruise missiles were used this morning to wake Ghaddafi up, looks like the changes rolling through the middle east can't be stopped by one crazy dictator and his son's. The UN actually taking action is even stranger.

Duck hunting season started in Victoria this weekend, with literally thousands of Emler Fuds  running round with shot guns its time to duck and cover. The score so far is one protester shot in the face and one hunter shot himself in the hand. Update: Ducks seen dressing up as chickens.

Like a block of Snack chocolate for your mouse

• Driving through a Tsunami, scary video, the driver survives this
• Somethings going on at AOL, they brought Engadget.com and now the editors are leaving, wait a minute that’s normal for AOL
• Wireframes are the new optical illusion of choice
• The street racers rejoice, Mugen have new plans for the hybrid Honda CR-Z, it’s a blue rinse shopping trolley but somehow mean and green
• Irish history boiled down to two sentences, I have one word for you, potatoes
• Sun angrys up again, kicking up another monster flare
• Scientific boffins have melded computer circuits and nerve cells, cyborginator here we come
• New research investigates how anti-depression drugs change the brain, what was I saying
• Photo's have emerged of Adrianne Palicki's Wonder Woman Outfit for the new film. Tight, very very tight
• 5 most popular video's of the week.
• Groupon goes for $25 billion public share offering, did I hear Google muttering
• Our first satellite to orbit Mercury successfully arrives, knocks on the door but no-ones home
• MSNBC reporter caught talking up Japan's bad news, says research is for the slow witted
• The white coats at Howard Hughes Medical invent a microscope  that can film living cells in 3D
• Comparison of the 3 top e-book readers, the king is dead long live the king
• Chatswood Sydney, teens party is cancelled when 200,000 people RSVP
• Memory and SSD maker OCZ buys controller chip maker Indilinx. Fries with that
• Hole digging boffins say they may have found Atlantis, again
• Netflix out bids TV for new show, the aptly named 'House of Cards' with Kevin Spacey
• Proton smashing LHC - Large Hadron Colider - breaks the time barrier, in theory
• Ever wondered what a film looks like in single frame, me either but here it is anyway
• A strangely gangster hearing aid that works through your teeth
• Hubble just keeps snapping great shots, Tarantula Nebula
• Celebrity accounts being hacked all over the web, only Charlie Sheen is safe.
• Some blind people re-tune their brain to see with their ears, the brains a very clever thing.
• Celebrity teenage moms, does it get any better
• Air powered motorbike is coolest looking zero emission vehicle yet
• Visa sets up PayPal competitor, PayPal to start robbing people in the street
• New York Times puts up new type of pay wall, bye bye NYT

Buddha's Brother out...

Deathstars Visiting Our Sun?

The UFO world is a buzz with this story, Star-Cruisers. Footage is appearing all over YouTube of these strange objects in tight orbit around the sun. Recent advances in solar observation satellites such as SOHO have made available hours of ultra cool movies of the sun in all of its glory. The films are spectacular in there own right but what if there was more, something unexpected. What if there where planet sized craft parked so close to the sun they really can kiss the sky. Some are even within the suns fiery corona. May 2010 the SOHO satellite sent back footage odd objects sitting stationary within the suns corona. READ MORE

Dot XXX Gets Green Light

In an move to bring clarity to the internet, ICANN has approved a new top level domain - TLD - for porn sites. URLs ending in .xxx will contain sexually oriented adult entertainment content that is verified to be neither fraudulent nor illegal. Adult media advocates have been pushing to get this approval since 2002. The new .xxx domain names will be registered through the ICM Registry. 230,000 URLs have already been reserved. ICM expects the URLs to sell wholesale for around $60 each. READ MORE

IPS, King of Colour

There is a little known category of LCD Monitor, the lonely King of Monitors. He gets little attention but rules the top end of the monitor market. The IPS - In-Plane Switching - LCD Panel. In-plane switching was developed by Hitachi Ltd. in 1996 to improve on the poor viewing angle and the poor color reproduction of TN panels. IPS  panels are the Bentley of the monitor world. Just as with a Bentley you will pay for them, $2500 for a high end IPS monitor. Thankfully IPS panels are starting to appear in the lower segments of the monitor market, along with in televisions, so expect prices to drop. READ MORE

Google Mobile Payment System Gets Green Light

OK it now looks like we're on a Google hunt - we're not - Google as always just keeps making news. Google it seems is planning to test a service that allows store customers to pay for their purchases at the cash register using their mobile phones.  Unnamed sources familiar with the project told Bloomberg that Google’s payment method will be tested at thousands of stores in San Francisco and New York within four months. READ MORE

They're Quite Mad Those Yanks

45 Million Americans, thats double the entire population of Australia, 20% or one in five adult Americans has experienced mental illness in the past year, according to a new government survey. Of the nearly 20% of Americans with mental illness in the past year, 11 million of those had what was defined as ''serious mental illness,"

Among this 45 million people,  nearly 9 million people had substance dependence or abuse problems. READ MORE

The British X-Files

NO we're not talking a pastey, ginger version of Fox Mulder, nor a desexified version of Sculley, the British Government has released  it's collection of UFO sighting reports, investigations and photos. The British X-Files. Like all good conspiracies this one begins with a government collecting, investigating then denying information. Dr David Clarke, journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, and others wrote enough angry letters to fill a novel but they got the job done. “It has taken 10 years of campaigning to get these papers out and now that they are it lays to rest some of the claims of a cover up by the MoD, he said, adding “Personally I think that some of the sightings have got to be of scientific interest. There are some that just cannot be explained” READ MORE

Just A Bad Memory

Researchers working with mice have discovered that by removing a protein from the region of the brain responsible for recalling fear, they can permanently delete traumatic memories. Their report on a molecular means of erasing fear memories in rodents. “When a traumatic event occurs, it creates a fearful memory that can last a lifetime and have a debilitating effect on a person’s life,” says Richard L. Huganir, Ph.D., professor and director of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “Our finding describing these molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in that process raises the possibility of manipulating those mechanisms with drugs to enhance behavioral therapy for such conditions as post-traumatic stress disorder.” READ MORE

Australian Censors So Out of Touch

Mortal Kombat will remain  banned from being sold in Australia after the Classification Review Board upheld a decision for it to be classified "refused classification" Earlier this month the Classification Board had given Mortal Kombat a "refused classification" rating due to its violent gameplay, banning it from sale in this country unless the publisher - Warner Bros - submitted a more toned-down version. Warner Bros appealed the decision but was unsuccessful. "We're obviously extremely disappointed that the refused classification decision has been upheld by the Classification Review Board," a Warner spokesperson said. "We want to thank the thousands of Mortal Kombat fans in Australia and around the world who have voiced their support during the appeal process"  Australia does not have an R18+ rating for games, any game that is found to be unsuitable for 15 year olds is automatically banned. Any day now our Classification Review Board is going to simultaneously fall into the "time to retire" basket and exit with their archaic views. Is it moral for a minuscule group of crusty old views to rule what the rest of us want to watch?

Go Go Google, Gone

Content Farms Feel the pain of subsidence, hits drop like flies as Google's new algorithm kicks in and kicks off sites that it reckons are spam.

"There is of course a sweet irony here, 12 of the 15 sites we looked at to research this article - Run Google Ads - surely this is going to hurt the Big G more than anyone else?" Sounds like a game out Zynga's closet, unfortunately it's much more serious for sites that have been labeled "Content Farms" by the search giant. Content Farms as defined by Wikipedia is used to describe news aggregators that employ a large staff of freelance writers to generate content that is designed to "satisfy algorithms" resulting in higher rankings on Google SERPs, search engine result pages. READ MORE

China has 2 of the 3 Fastest Supercomputers in the Galaxy

The pinnacle of computer technology is the supercomputer.  Never mind gaming rigs like the Alienware Area 51, if one of these babies were ever used for gaming, they'd blow all competition out of their  water cooled existence. These systems are powerful enough that they have their own unit of measurement for their processing speed - the petaFLOPS - FLoating point OPerations per Second - odd name, but you can't deny the power it represents - trillions to quadrillions of operations every nanosecond.  [Just so we don't get in trouble with the noids that know, a FLOPS is not an actual measured unit. an expression like  is actually interpreted as ]  READ MORE

Goes Around, Comes Around

Electric powered Motor Vehicles are the buzz of the auto-world at the moment. Ford UK has been trifling through it's huge photographic archive and some boffin stumbled upon this little gem. The Ford Comuta was previewed at the Geneva Motor Show in 1967. It had a top speed of 60 kmh and a range between charges of 60 kms. The then Ford Assistant Managing Director  said " The Ford Comuta was never going to oust the best-selling Cortina as the drivers' favourite. Electric cars will be primarily as city centre delivery vans and suburban shopping cars." More

Subway Rolls Passed McDonald’s As Dominant Global Fast Food Flogger

Subway has surpassed McDonald’s to become the world’s largest restaurant chain the sandwich company confirmed Monday.  Subway had 33,749 outlets in 96 countries at the end of 2010, said Subway spokesman Les Winograd. McDonald’s had 32,737 at year end. Subway currently - today – has 34,265 outlets. READ MORE

Amiga. The computer that changed the Galaxy

"Mac owners know that things works, but not how. Amiga owners know that things work and how. Windows users are happy if things work." - Fredrik Zetterlund

The story of the Commodore Amiga is the story of highs and lows. Like a Hollywood star burning out in front of our eyes. The Amiga built on Commodore's momentum, the C64's success and managed to go from the lofty heights of the being the number one selling computer in 1990 to being a part of a bankrupt company by 1994. The life of the Amiga had many twists and turns.

If you walked through the Myers department store - electronics department - in Australia during the late 80's you would have seen a Commodore Amiga, chances are it was running one of the Boing Ball graphics demonstrations. These simple animations of a checkered ball rotating and bouncing around a window or three boing balls being juggled on the desktop was one of the great wow moments of computers in the 80's. It was also one of the greatest pieces of marketing ever, these demo's alone sold millions of Amiga's. READ MORE

Funk n Wagnell

Have you ever noticed that herds of cattle all face in the same direction? Turns out cows all align their bodies - all over the world -  in a North South orientation.  Dr Sabine Begall, from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany surveyed Google Earth images of 8,510 grazing and resting cattle in pasture plains across the globe, confirming this extra sense - magnetoception.

"Turns out cows might be the worlds stinkiest magnets"

says Begall

Further analysis of cattle showed that in locations where the angle between the geographic and magnetic poles differs most. For instance, cows in Oregon, which is relatively far north and subject to a strong magnetic field, face 17.5 degrees off true north.

For More Delectable Deviant Earth Facts, Checkout Paranoid Android

HOT NEW AMD 6990, Uber Video Card

AMD does foot long sub

Do you always have to have the fastest, always want the best. Do you have a spare $699 US floating around to spend on a video card. Well AMD has just released the AMD 6990 and it ticks all of those boxes, it is the new king of video cards.

This is the ultimate bad ass video card. It's loud -58.5db under load - , runs hot but its also the fastest damn video card you can buy. If you have the resources and right setup to slot it into then this is as good as it get's right now - seriously the biggest,baddest, bestest video card to ever hit the market. READ MORE

Benz To Produce Joystick SCL600

Fast Forward 15 years, Mercedes has utilized many of the innovations from that original F200, seamlessly incorporating innovation is after all what a Concept Car is all about.

In 1996 Mercedes Benz unveiled the F200 Imagination to the Paris Motor Show,  The concept was based on the CL600" the preferred daily drive of the uber-wealthy. The concept included technical innovations such as a joystick in place of a steering wheel, a video monitor in place of a rear-view mirror, and swiveling gull-wing doors. Most of this technology has now evolved and sits comfortably in current models. Grilled has learned from a Mercedes insider that the Joystick concept has gone beyond a thought and is close to being used in a real world production vehicle.  READ MORE

Night of the Lunatic

March 19 will be a good day for photographers and astronomers. The moon will be the biggest, fullest it has been for 18 years. This point of the moons orbit - where it is closest to Earth - is known as the Lunar Perigee. While this is common, this closeness happens every 9 years, it doesn't often coincide with a full moon. As long as there is a clear sky in your neighbourhood get ready for a big moon. Even with binoculars or a good zoom lens on your camera you will be able to see incredible detail. READ MORE

Our Charlie Shows Off His New-found Hebrewness

During a morning phone call March 4 to the Access Hollywood Live show, our Charlie told hosts Billy Bush and Kit Hoover, "My mum - actress Janet Templeton - is Jewish" Carlos Irwin Estevez went on "So I guess that would make me Jewish and my children Jewish. And Brooke Mueller, my ex-wife, is Jewish. So I guess I should have rolled that out, too."A perplexed Bush told Charlie, "You're getting accused of anti-Semitic remarks - you might want to say, 'By the way, I'm Jewish!' READ MORE

Aerogel, Our Favorite Almost Material

AeroGel - Frozen Smoke, so called as it has a transparent smokey look - has added another use to its growing list of can do's. Scientists at the University of Southern Florida are working to develop batteries using the material. There is something impossible about this strange material, something very cool. It's 99.98% air but still manages to be a solid, there is literally nothing too it. READ MORE

Frenzy Over Live Sex Show in Class

We all love a bit of titilation, taboo subjects often garner more interest than they should. Take for example the story of professor John Michael Bailey. In his class on human sexualities at Northwestern University, he decided - a spur of the moment decision he would later regret -  to allow a guest presenter to demonstrate a sex toy. When this little bomb hit the media it took all of the parties involved by surprise. READ MORE

Saif Gaddafi Faked PhD

The London School of Economics Director - Sir Howard Davies - has resigned over the schools connections to Colonel Gaddafi - Saif Gaddafis fudging of  PhD papers and a donation of £1.5Mm clearly intended to cover Jnr's plagiaristic punt.  With the events occurring in Libya there has been stringent inspection of any connections public and private to the rogue dictatorship. It seems that Gaddafi has damaged the college’s refined reputation. However this  is not the only organisation with the initials LSE to have links with Libya.  The London Stock Exchange is apparently in cahoots with yet anothe LSE - The Lybian Stock Exchange. If this is all getting a little confusing, the short story is that the fallout from Gaddafi's financial dealings are just gaining momentum. READ MORE