May 20, 2006

Suround Sound from an mp3?

MP3 Surround enables high-quality surround sound at bit rates comparable to those currently used to encode stereo MP3 material. It is backwards compatible to stereo MP3; a legacy MP3 device plays back MP3 Surround as high quality stereo.

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May 19, 2006

How-To access your PC from school or work with a thumb drive

A how-to that shows how to use a remote access program called UltraVNC and a USB thumb drive to bypass school and work PC restrictions. Also includes a pre-made portable app. setup for your thumb drive.

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Your Telco owes you $1,000

If your telephone company is one of the companies that decided to take financial compensation from the federal government in exchange for illegally proving your records to them they owe you $1,000. Now IANAL but this seems pretty damn clear cut to me.

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Ars Technica's MacBook Review

Ars Technica reviews the 2.0GHz white MacBook: "Apple has thrust themselves back into a state of competitiveness when it comes to the consumer laptop space, and even offers prospective users features that other computer manufacturers cannot."

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Colleges Vs. Students: As Cheating Goes High Tech

And at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after students photographed test questions with their cellphone cameras, transmitted them to classmates outside the exam room and got the answers back in text messages, the university put in place a new proctoring system.

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The Big Test - MacBook As A Windows Machine

Harry McCracken, of PC World, takes a look at the MacBook as a Windows machine and he likes it. True, he is a Mac person at heart but the MacBook plus Boot Camp equals nirvana.

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Seagate Buys Maxtor

Seagate Technology today confirmed that they are acquiring Maxtor Corporation. Specifically, the merger has been approved by Seagate shareholders and Maxtor stockholders. The transaction is expected to close in 2-3 business days.

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AJAX How To: Build A Digg Spy For Your Site

Simple tutorial to build an AJAX Digg Spy-like feature for your website. Covers everything from Prototype, Scriptaculous, and basic javsacript to fetch XML and leverage Fade Effects. Includes pretty good instructions and source code.

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How to replace the Hard Drive and Ram in the Mac Book (Video)

MacWorlds Jason Snell has posted a video that shows how easily you can get in and upgrade the RAM and SATA hard drive in your new MacBook. Itâ??s amazing. After removing just 3 screws you have access to everything. Just slide the drive out and your ready to upgrade.

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Fast Food Nation Movie Trailer

This was a great book written by: Eric Schlosser and now it's a movie. A dramatic feature based on material from the incendiary book Fast Food Nation, a no-holds-barred exploration of the fast food industry that ultimately revealed the dark side of the "All American Meal."

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Yahoo! Unveils Video Sharing Site

The new video site includes videos from around the web and a few from Yahoo! users as well. The top navigation bar references "My Studio" which could be a way for anyone to author and upload their own video files or maybe add some special effects. The new site supports personal favorites, tagging, and ratings of each video.

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Not in Battle with Microsoft : Innovation Drives Google

"We don't get there by looking at what other companies are doing, in general," he said. "We get there by having really great innovation and thinking hard and working hard." ~ Larry Page

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Senate Votes to Make English the `National Language' of U.S.

The Senate voted to make English the ``national language'' of the U.S. as part of legislation overhauling immigration policy.

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The biggest hacking incident in the web-hosting history

Yesterday the Turkish cracker going by the handle "Iskorpitx", succesfully hacked 21,549 websites in one shot (plus 17,000 as our last update) and defaced (on a secondary page) all of them with a message showing the Turkish flag (with AtaTurk face on it) and reporting...

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Robot carries out operation by itself

For the first time, a robot surgeon in Italy has carried out a long-distance heart operation by itself."This operation has enabled us to cross a new frontier," said Carlo Pappone, who initiated and monitored the surgery on a PC in Boston, ANSA reported. Pappone is head of Arrhythmia and Cardiac Electrophysiology at Milan's San Raffaele University.

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5 Steps to CSS Heaven

Writing CSS is very much like having sex. Not everyone does it the same way and there is no particular â??rightâ?? way to do it.

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Automatic Chemical Agent Detector Alarm(ACADA)

The ACADA is an advanced point-sampling, chemical warfare agent detection system that continuously monitors for the presence of nerve agents and blister chemicals using IMS (Ion Mobility Spectrometry) technology. It provides early warning of chemical attacks and can be remotely deployed, vehicle mounted or carried by soldiers.

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May 18, 2006

Digg Traffic Plotted On Google Maps (Real-Time)

Now you know where all those Diggers hide out... Detailed images of Digg crowd in New York, US, Europe and the World in general. Surprised to see so many Dutch people as opposed to very few German Diggers.

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Is your broadband too fast?

I know that sounds like apostasy on a tech site, but most people don't come close to using their bandwidth. It's a fact the broadband companies count on to get you to pay for something you won't use. An interesting article that gives some advice on how much bandwidth you really need.

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New Vista Photo Gallery Screenshots!

The Microsoft Blog has some new screenshots and an overview of Windows Vista's Windows Photo Gallery, which houses both photos and videos. Vista's Photo Gallery is also full of wizards for all of the important media management tasks. It will have wizards for mobile device synchronization, CD/DVD creation, photo printing, and e-mail. - ars

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First MacBook Benchmarks

Macworld runs the new MacBook through its gamut of benchmarks

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HOW TO: Remote Control Hack for Your Alarm Clock

"The hack is to assert control over the buttons of an alarm clock using a microcontroller."

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Hardware requirements for Windows Vista officially announced

Microsoft today revealed the minimum specifications for Windows Vista, in two tiers: "Vista Capable" and "Premium Ready." And as usual, the emphasis is on minimum.

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Touch Screens Will Soon 'Touch Back'

Immersion's new TouchSense Technology for Touch Screens combines vibro feedback with finger-position recognition and interpolation to deliver tactile feedback on standard touch screens. This feedback can register as bumps, low vibrations, ticks, clicks, slides, you name it. All of it is coupled with audible feedback to enhance the experience.

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The Windows XP Command Line, Batch Files, and Scripting

"The Windows command line is a mainstay for systems administrators and power users but is relatively unknown to many PC users." - Very nice introduction for Batch Files and Scripting.

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New Vista Photo Gallery Screenshots!

The Microsoft Blog has some new screenshots and an overview of Windows Vista's Windows Photo Gallery, which houses both photos and videos. Vista's Photo Gallery is also full of wizards for all of the important media management tasks. It will have wizards for mobile device synchronization, CD/DVD creation, photo printing, and e-mail. - ars

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Is your broadband too fast?

I know that sounds like apostasy on a tech site, but most people don't come close to using their bandwidth. It's a fact the broadband companies count on to get you to pay for something you won't use. An interesting article that gives some advice on how much bandwidth you really need.

read more | digg story

First MacBook Benchmarks

Macworld runs the new MacBook through its gamut of benchmarks

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ElephantDrive: Free Unlimited Storage

Elephant Drive, in association with Amazon is creating a service similar to that of Xdrive. However, they offer unlimited offsite backup free of charge if you sign up as a beta tester!

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ElephantDrive: Free Unlimited Storage

Elephant Drive, in association with Amazon is creating a service similar to that of Xdrive. However, they offer unlimited offsite backup free of charge if you sign up as a beta tester!

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MySQL Cheat Sheet

A fantastic quick reference sheet for when you are working with MySQL from the command line.

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Streaming MythTV to your cell phone

Why not stream my own video to the phone? Better yet, why not just automate my MythTV to convert my recorded programs and automatically have them ready to be streamed whenever I care to watch them on the phone?

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XBOX 360 HDMI Cable Announced

After Microsoft�s HD DVD announcement at E3, people were wondering whether HD DVDs would be capable of playing at full resolution on analog component cables, since there was no HDMI cable available for the 360. Well, that particular question hasn�t been solved, but we do know that there is an HDMI cable for the 360.

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Free MPEG-4 encoder jams 58 CDs into one

Nero has released "reference quality" encoding software described as "fully compatible" with the latest MPEG-4 audio standards (LC-AAC, HE-AAC, HE-AAC v2), and is offering a free Windows version for noncommercial use. It's available now for download.

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Final Fantasy XIII Playstation 3 Images

Here are a bunch of images from Final Fantasy XIII for the Playstation 3. These are fresh off the presses from Japan.

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Techcrunch.com is a Millionaire

Some research shows that is making nearly a million dollars a year with his blog.

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Systm Episode 6 Released

The much anticipated Episode 6 is now out. "The 2006 Maker Faire presents the do-it-yourself community with thousands of finished projects and inspired ideas."

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Last chromosome in human genome sequenced

Scientists have reached a landmark point in one of the world's most important scientific projects by sequencing the last chromosome in the Human Genome, the so-called "book of life."...

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MacBook - CNET First Look Video

Michelle Thatcher reviews Apples new MacBook (White, 2.0 Intel Core Duo) notebook computer.

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May 17, 2006

Great website showcasing visual effects techniques.

This company has a great website showcasing its effects techniques. Just click on one of the different special effect titles to get a cool example. The Universal Capture effect is interactive!

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"LOST" with No Repeats Next Season

It's a plight that Lost fans know all too well � you tune in on a Wednesday night praying for a new episode only to find a random repeat from nearly a season earlier, or else a lengthy and unexpected clip show. ABC is hoping to eliminate that experience.

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AllofMP3 is back, but with some big glitches...

It seems like Allofmp3.com is back online after days of downtime. Just one big problem: ordering is not working. The Register has failed to reach AllofMP3 for a comment.

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Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro Comparison Chart

Use this chart to easily see the differences and options available for all the notebooks in the MacBook and the MacBook Pro lines.

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Touchscreen Computer Display Floats in Mid-Air

IO2 Technology has the coolest sounding display I have ever seen called the M2i. The device projects a 30" diagonal 4:3 aspect ratio display into the air. That's right, into the air like a hologram. The entire projection unit is designed to be hidden out of site so that only the display image shows.

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FatBits: Why the shiny MacBook screens? People are idiots.

Apple's laptops have stuck with their traditional matte-finish screens. That's changed with the introduction of the MacBook and its glossy display. The MacBook Pro now has a glossy display option as well. So, what's the big deal? Consider some synonyms for the word "glossy." Gleaming. Shiny. Reflective. Now you're getting it.

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Camera basics: shutter-speed, aperture and ISO

An introductory tutorial covering basic camera exposure controls - shuter speed, aperture and ISO. Includes plenty of useful pictures showing how they affect pictures

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100+ powerpoint presentations on improving your PHP skills

Nice page on php.net that has a ton of PHP powerpoint presentations from some of the top PHP developers out there. Topics range from Database, Internal Workings, Internationalization, Debugging, Performance and more. Good stuff.

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Upload a photo of yourself, and web site will make you look old

In an attempt to draw interest in a survey on Scotland's aging population, government health officials are offering software that allows people to see what they will look like when they are 65.

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Security Feature in Vista Could Drive Users Nuts

An annoying surprise awaits 2 million consumers expected to enthusiastically step forward in the next few weeks to help Microsoft test its new Windows Vista PC operating system.

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In-Flight Internet and VOIP On The Way!

FCC has started auctioning frequencies that will enable airlines to offer in-flight Internet services

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A Computer that Monitors Worker's Fatigue

Australian researchers are developing a computerised system that monitors the performance of miners and tells management if workers are getting tired.

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Computer models may replace animal testing

The first realistic software models of human and animal organs are starting to emerge - potentially replacing some of the 50 to 100 million animals used each year for scientific research.

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New Cement Absorbs Pollution

An Italian company has begun marketing a cement that is capable of absorbing pollution from vehicles.

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May 16, 2006

Build an $800 Gaming PC

It's time for ExtremeTech's yearly $800 gaming PC build it. As always, the new rig comes bigger, badder, and doesn't break the bank.

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Biggest map of universe reveals colossal structures

Giant structures stretching more than a billion light years across have been revealed by two new maps of the distribution of galaxies in the universe. The updated atlases lend more support to the idea that the universe is dominated by dark matter and dark energy.

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10 Things You Might Not Know About Google

Did you know Google stopped counting their index size?

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Debian Sarge (3.1) with Ruby on Rails and Apache 2 with FastCGI

This howto will step you through installing Debian (Sarge) with Ruby on Rails and Apache 2 with FastCGI managed with ISPConfig.

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Secret gov't source tells ABC News: 'Get new cellphones'

ABC News has a very disturbing report today, at least for reporters and anyone else who believe that whistleblowers serve an important role in safeguarding American democracy.

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MTV Launches Online Music, Video Store

For years, MTV Networks Inc. sat on the sidelines while Apple Computer Inc., RealNetworks Inc. and others racked up sales of music downloads. Now the cable network group that helped popularize music videos two decades ago is entering the online music fray with URGE, a new service that makes its public beta debut on Wednesday.

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Ecstasy allows cancer victim to spend final days at peace

After a 40-year virtual ban on research involving psychedelic drugs, scientists look anew at their potential in treating pain and anxiety

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What the PS3 can really do

Quantic Dream, developers of the psychological adventure Indigo Prophecy, have recently showed off their new game Heavy Rain. The demo is running in real time on the Playstation 3 hardware

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Professor faked chips with sandpaper and got millions in investment

A university professor used sandpaper to remove the logo markings from Motorola mobile phone chips and passed them off as his own invention. He got away with it for THREE YEARS and received millions of dollars in government funding!

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Massively Multi-player Online Virtual Nightclub (MMOVN)

Don't want to go out and spend your hard earned money on something that's just going to make you feel like crap the next day? Well here is they answer a virtual nightclub to hang out in.

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Timeline of the use of CGI in films.

Pretty cool actually...shows a cool evolution of technology in general, if you think about it.

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Timeline of the use of CGI in films.

Pretty cool actually...shows a cool evolution of technology in general, if you think about it.

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Internet-Connected Appliances Could Lower Energy Bills

Pilot test in Washington and Oregon lets dryers and water heaters check electricity prices and decide if its worth waiting until off-peak times.

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GOP Skepticism Over NSA Program Widens!

A Republican senator on Monday questioned whether the federal government should be using its resources for large-scale data-mining efforts such as those associated with the National Security Agency's wiretapping program!

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MIT Devises Largest Storage Array: For Human Speech Project

The storage array is being constructed for the Media Lab's ambitious Human Speechome Project. The array will be used to collect and analyze video and audio data for a research project designed to better understand early childhood cognitive development, according to MIT.

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Microsoft, Yahoo chase after Google's ad empire

Vowing to catch up to industry leader Google, Yahoo will demonstrate an overhauled advertising system that promises to generate higher revenue and enlist more clients.

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China's colossal 3 Gorges Dam coming 'online' by end of May (pics)

More than 6 X size of Hoover dam! When the dam is fully operational it will produce enough energy (over 80 billion kWh of power) to power nearly all the lights in the United States! Of course, the flip side is that the environmental impact has been massive - displacing millions of people and threatening hundred of species.

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AllofMp3.com Down but Not Out

Reports of AllofMp3.com's death are premature it appears.

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Introducing Macbook

It is finally here!!!

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Mythbusters now in the iTunes Store

...along with other Discovery Channel shows.

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Samsung Goes Commercial With Their Hybrid Hard Drive!

Samsung Electronics says notebook users will get an extra half hour of battery life and be able to boot up their computers faster using its hybrid hard drive, which will come out in PCs in 2007!

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Script your life in .txt

Using plain old .txt and scripts to run your real life more effectively.

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DIY Portable Skype Phone

Make your own skype phone with an old cordless phone lying around in the house! Great with the new free SkypeOut...

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The DOD to release video of Flight 77 striking the Pentagon on 9/11 today.

Judicial Watch announced today that Department of Defense will release a videotape to Judicial Watch at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon that allegedly shows American Airlines Flight 77 striking the Pentagon on 9/11. what will the tin hat foil wearers have to say? i can't wait to see.

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Share iTunes music over the internet in 3 easy steps!

1. Download Hamachi and create a network, 2. Turn 'Share my music' on in iTunes, 3 Give your friends your network's password.

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HOW TO: Start Blogging

Covering DNS servers, domain names, webhosts, hosted blog solutions, WordPress, Movable Type, Textpattern, FTP and some tips for starting up a blog.

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May 15, 2006

Wal-Mart is Going Organic

The nation's largest grocery retailer has decided to go organic. The New York Times reported today that starting this summer, Wal-Mart will be stocking its supermarket shelves with a lot more organic food.

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You can make another person dream

Studies show that you can bring about a dream in another person. One way is by holding an open bottle of perfume under the sleeper's nose. Another is by whistling. A third way is by blowing air across the sleeper's face with a fan. Someone else can also affect the content of a sleeper�s dream. For example...

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Top 10 Strangest Robots (Videos)

TomCat, King Kizer, RunBot and many others. This is a round-up of the top 10 strangest robots. Lots of videos included

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20 Things You Didn't Know About Leonardo da Vinci.

Some very interesting things about Leonardo da Vinci including some theories about the Mona Lisa, sodomy charges, and sexual innuedo. A fun little read.

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The Myth, Reality & Future of Web 2.0

The discussion flared up when Josh Koppleman, a well known angel investor, wrote that many of the Web 2.0 companies that were cropping up were targeting a niche audience. He found that many were me-too or forgettable permutations of some of the more established players such as Flickr, You Tube or Digg.

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Water Fuel - HHO Gas

We don't need oil or gas. Water fuel is a reality. 100 miles with 8 ounces!

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How to create a LED Display for your computer for less then $20

Cool walk through how to create a LED Display for your PC for less then $20, includes directions, wiring diagrams (full and simplified) and sample code for running it. I like the simplicity, it'll be easy to modify.

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Canned Oxygen Goes on Sale at 7-11

Is this a new trend since bottled water?

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Google Image Ripper

no more thumbnails,straight to the good stuff

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Drink Up! Red wine may fight deafness

Moderate consumption of the popular drink, or aspirin, could delay the onset of age-related deafness and reduce hearing loss caused by loud noise

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Engadget.com - A Visual Breakdown.

How much advertising is there on the Engadget.com site? And how much screen space demands Weblogs Inc.? Take a look at this comprehensive breakdown.

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Is allofmp3.com down for good?

Is this the end to the 2nd most used music download service? Both allofmp3.com and alltunes.com are no longer pulling up their address. Was it too good to be true? Check it out...

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Upcoming 360 game to have 390 square mile game map

Compare it to oblivion which is 16 square miles, this game is 25 times bigger than oblivion. You can fly planes, drive cars etc etc.

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Google Page Creator with Gadgets

Sign in to your Google Pages, click on Site settings, then enable Experimental features.

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High-definition video could choke Internet

With more people turning to the Internet to get their TV experts are suggesting that the demand could be too much for ISPs to cope with.

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LG Unveils The World's Slimmest Laptop!

It looks like cell phones aren't the only gadgets that are undergoing the whole shrinking process

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Graphical Music: Harmonics Animated

A flash animation showing the relationship between chromatics, harmonics, and even primes and non-primes. It sounds as cool as it looks! From the author's site: "a musical realization of the motion graphics of john whitney as described in his book 'digital harmony'"

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Apple's iPhone: it's for real!

Nihon Keizai Shimbun said that Softbank president, Masayoshi Son and Apple CEO, Steve Jobs had met and reached a basic agreement on the partnership, and that they would release a 3G iPhone for the Japanese market sometime in 2006.

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Moola�s Interesting Business Model

"Moola is a new website, in private beta, that puts two visitors up against each other in a simple Flash game. The interesting thing about the site is that people are playing for real money."

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Dusting for Digital Fingerprints

Hidden folders, "deleted"files and internet caches hide clues criminals never knew they left behind. - Popularmechanics

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How To Set Up A Loadbalanced High-Availability Apache Cluster

This tutorial shows how to set up a two-node Apache web server cluster that provides high-availability. In front of the Apache cluster we create a load balancer that splits up incoming requests between the two Apache nodes. Our load balancer will in fact consist out of two load balancer nodes that monitor each other using heartbeat.

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SkypeOut now FREE for US & Canada!

Yes. It is really very, very free. There's no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached.

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PhotoBucket Gets $10.5 Million Investment

PhotoBucket, the company that drives 2% of total Internet traffic, will announce a $10.5 million Series B round on Tuesday.

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life is absurd