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Here’s what we are thinking. Not to like Star Wars is practically like being anti-American. But the thing that is best about the series is how the fantasy is made better by turning it into a reality. But in this new movie, even Yoda is a bit too creepy. If you haven’t yet seen the trailer for Clone Wars, take a peek, and decide for yourself if it is worth paying outrageous ticket and popcorn prices to see on its August 15 debut. We think we may wait for the video to come out and catch another screening of Wall-E.
Read More 
| Clone Wars Official Site
Gallery: Star Wars Clone Wars Movie Trailer
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Dell Launches Best of Web Site
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Editorial, Hot Deals, Internet, Movies, Music, PC / Laptop,
Dell has decided to get in on the Internet sales force with their new Best of Web site. Offering discounts, it includes categories of shopping, travel, games, music, movies, interaction, sharing and learning. The deal here is that if you are a Dell customer, you get a discount of up to 50% on purchases from Kodak, Wild Games, and Blockbuster, etc. While we are not all that impressed with the site for the general user, take a peek if you own a Dell. It certainly is not be convincing enough to buy our next computer from the company.
Read More | Dell Best of Web
Gallery: Dell Launches Best of Web Site
Our iPhone 3G purchase review: Campout trip from hell
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Editorial, Features,
UPDATE: Watch the full video of our iPhone 3G line experience.
We had no idea that our quest to grab a few iPhone 3G units at launch here in the Seattle area would turn out to be an utter fiasco. Last year, when the original iPhone launched, we had a much longer wait in line (over 19 hours versus just over 8 hours) last year, and were further back in the line to boot. However, it was a complete failure on both Apple and AT&T’s part in making sure that the experience went as smoothly as possible.
Oh, sure, we finally have our iPhone 3Gs working and in good shape, but it took much, much longer to get them in that condition than it should have. Read on as we relive the events that took place earlier this afternoon at the Alderwood Mall Apple Store. Oh, and credit for that photo of Sparky walking out after being first in line goes to Jim Valley.
Click to continue reading Our iPhone 3G purchase review: Campout trip from hell
Gallery: Our iPhone 3G purchase review: Campout trip from hell
Fuji Subaru Plug-in Stella
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Design, Editorial, Transportation,
Those of us that live around the Motor City hear reports almost every day of American car companies losing workers and factories. Sad to say that they are being replaced by such energy efficient vehicles as the Toyota Prius Hybrid. Now Fuji is celebrating their successful Subaru Plug-in Stella, a combination of the EV system in the R1 and the mini-car. The prototype electric vehicle is set to go into development and test marketing. This is not the first time Fuji has gone green. They also released a horizontally-opposed diesel engine in Europe this past March.
Read More | Far East Giizmos
Gallery: Fuji Subaru Plug-in Stella
MIT Makes Inexpensive Solar Dish
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Editorial, Misc. Tech, Science,
A team of MIT students has successfully tested a prototype solar dish by lighting a plank of wood on fire. The system is a 12 ft. wide mirrored dish made of thin, inexpensive aluminum tubing and strips of mirror. It concentrates sun rays by a factor of 1,000, enough heat to melt a steel bar. Because water in the tubing turns to steam, the team is hoping that could revolutionize energy production as we know it. We think it’s great and would certainly opt for solar panels over building more nuclear power plants, as was recently suggested by a certain presidential contender.
Read More | MIT
Gallery: MIT Makes Inexpensive Solar Dish
Is There Ice on Mars?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Rumors, Science, Transportation,
NASA believes that material found on Mars recently may really be ice. When images from the trench dubbed “Snow White 2” were received from the Phoenix Mars lander, scientists believed the white surface shown was either salt or ice clumps. Because many of them were gone the next day, the researchers ruled out the presence of salt, although the soil sample didn’t yield evidence of water.
Because the Phoenix is undergoing adjustment to its software, it has been a bit lax in its duties. We suspect that when it gets going it will get right on it, unless those pesky Martians try to sabotage the project again before the 90 day time frame is complete.
Read More | CNN
Gallery: Is There Ice on Mars?
Internet Charges May Rise to a Whole ‘Nother Level
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Broadband, Smartphones, Editorial, Home Entertainment, Internet, Movies,
We remember a time (about 15 years ago) when we were allotted only so many hours on the Net. If you were really addicted, that meant you either had to go online with a stopwatch, reconnect occasionally, or be charged for a business account. Nowadays you can go 24/7 and most providers will offer you a good deal for doing so. For example, knowing that about 1 in seven no longer have landlines, Verizon will be offering discounts to those who don’t but order Internet or TV service. Their Flex Double Play begins this week allowing customer discounts of $8.00 to $12.00 a month if you combine their wireless plan with FiOS TV or broadband.
On the swing side, AT&T is thinking of charging more for those who download too much data. Spokesperson Michael Coe claims that about 5% of their DSL customers use 46% of their bandwidth, while overall usage doubles every year and a half. Time Warner is already charging its customers in Beaumont, Texas, who go over their bandwidth limit $1.00 per gigabyte. If you are one of those who downloads movies and TV shows, especially in hi-def, don’t move to the Lonestar state.
What do you guys think? Should we be charged extra for services that companies are pushing on us to the max? Or should we all go out and purchase a Roku and spend the $8.99 a month before our Internet overcharges become excessive?
Gallery: Internet Charges May Rise to a Whole ‘Nother Level
We are always so serious around here, that when we found this circulating on the Net we just had to share. Too funny! The image is courtesy of “lonecellotheory” on Flickr, while the author is apparently still unknown. Give that woman/man a job at Comedy Central!
Barack Obama: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!
John McCain: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
Hillary Clinton: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure—right from Day One!—that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me…....
Dr. Phil: The problem we have here is that this chicken won’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on ‘THIS’ side of the road before it goes after the problem on the ‘OTHER SIDE’ of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his ‘CURRENT’ problems before adding ‘NEW’ problems.
Oprah: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
George W. Bush: We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
Colin Powell: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road…
Anderson Cooper - CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
John Kerry: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
Nancy Grace: That chicken crossed the road because he’s GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
Pat Buchanan: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
Martha Stewart: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer’s Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
Dr. Seuss: Did the chicken cross the road?
Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes, the chicken crossed the road,
But why it crossed I’ve not been told.
Ernest Hemingway: To die in the rain. Alone.
Jerry Fallwell: Because the chicken was gay! Can’t you people see the plain truth?’ That’s why they call it the ‘other side.’ Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like ‘the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It’s as plain and as simple as that.
Grandpa: In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
Barbara Walters: Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.
Aristotle: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
John Lennon: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
Bill Gates: I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken.. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra…#@&&^(C% ........reboot.
Albert Einstein: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
Bill Clinton: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken! What is your definition of chicken?
Al Gore: I invented the chicken!
Colonel Sanders: Did I miss one? Where did that sucker go?
Dick Cheney: Where’s my gun?
Al Sharpton: Why are all the chickens a colorless white? We need some black chickens.
We suspect that you guys could add to the list, eh?
Read More | Neatorama
Gallery: Why DID the Chicken Cross the Road?
John McCain Googles for VP Candidate
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Google, Internet,
Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain, seen here in a recent trip to a pig roast in Michigan, recently joked around that Googling made his VP search simpler.
“You know, basically it’s a Google,” he said at a fund-raising luncheon. “What you can find out now on the Internet—it’s remarkable.”
It seems like the senior senator has finally caught on to the Net. Fortunately for Barack Obama, back in October he had the smarts to hire Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes to head up his online campaign.
Read More | stuff
Gallery: John McCain Googles for VP Candidate
Will Color-Calibration Targets Prove Life on Mars?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
We are pretty sure by now that everyone is aware of NASA’s Phoenix landing on Mars, but after looking at some early shots, we were amazed by the color. It seems that color-calibration targets, about the size of hockey pucks, have chips on them to determine exact hue that were designed by a University of Central Florida Physics and Astronomy Professor Dan Britt and two students. They also contain magnets that brush off excess dust. With those true colors revealed, researchers say they can help find out what makes up the terrain on the planet. We anxiously await the result that yes, there might have been someone up there at some time as evidenced by the possibility of water/ice.
Read More | Mars Daily
