by Thomas Houston on Aug 20th 2010 6:39PM

There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
This Google Maps hack takes out everything but the location markers ...
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by Amar Toor on Aug 20th 2010 5:42PM

Like something out of a futuristic Roberto Bolaño novel, city officials in Leon, Mexico are currently putting together a citywide database of its citizens' irises. They plan on using the system to keep track of known criminal offenders -- and, presumably, every other person in the city. ...
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by Amar Toor on Aug 20th 2010 4:52PM

Not to be outdone by Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founders of Google are reportedly getting the Hollywood treatment as well, thanks to a freshly inked movie deal.
According to Deadline, Groundswell Productions and producer John Morris have just acquired the movie rights to Ken Auletta's book, ...
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by Warren Riddle on Aug 20th 2010 3:57PM

BlackBerry's App World is finally leaving beta status. Now live and available for everyone, the App World 2.0 shift features a variety of beneficial (and overdue) upgrades and services for app shoppers. The alterations include the institution of a more flexible pricing scheme, the welcome arrival ...
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by Matthew Zuras on Aug 20th 2010 3:07PM

The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages ...
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by Terrence O'Brien on Aug 20th 2010 2:17PM

When it comes to managing your e-book collection, there aren't a whole lot of options out there. If you want to organize a large library of e-books, especially ones that you're not buying or downloading directly from your e-reader's manufacturer, then there's really only one viable choice: Calibre. ...
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by Matthew Zuras on Aug 20th 2010 1:47PM

Hip hop historians will be delighted by The Rap Map, an interactive Google Map that plots the geographic origins of rap lyrics -- from NYC and Atlanta to Chicago and LA. From Cam'ron, 'Bout It Bout It,' referencing East Harlem's Taft housing projects: "Then if you walking through Foster and Taft / ...
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by Caleb Johnson on Aug 20th 2010 1:17PM

A Hawaiian man wants NCsoft, a South Korean video game developer, to pay up for neglecting to warn against the addictive nature of its popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), 'Lineage II.' According to Wired, Craig Smallwood claims he is "unable to function independently in ...
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by Amar Toor on Aug 20th 2010 12:27PM

Here at Switched, we try our best to refrain from taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. But, when said misfortune involves a game as odious as 'Mafia Wars,' we really can't help ourselves. This is Zynga, after all, the same game producer that unleashed the pestilence of 'FarmVille' upon the ...
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by Warren Riddle on Aug 20th 2010 11:37AM

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
North Korea, which seems to have finally bought into that whole World Wide Web fad, apparently just created a Facebook page to go along with its new YouTube and Twitter accounts. [From: Yahoo! News]
HP exec Todd Bradley reportedly ...
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by Amar Toor on Aug 20th 2010 10:47AM

He may be older than dust, but, make no mistake about it, John McCain is a certified "Twitter Genius." According to a recent study (PDF) conducted by researchers from George Washington University and New York University, the 73-year-old Arizona Senator ranks at the very top of the U.S. Senate's ...
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by Amar Toor on Aug 20th 2010 9:50AM

Earlier this month, AT&T and Verizon announced a joint venture to test a new system that would allow customers to pay for products with their smartphones. Now, Bank of America and Visa have followed in their footsteps, and, as Reuters reports, will begin testing their own smartphone-payment ...
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by Caleb Johnson on Aug 20th 2010 9:00AM

Raise a glass, and fill up your ride, too. Rightly so, the Scots (purveyors of some of the world's finest spirits) have found a way to power cars with leftover whiskey. According to the BBC News, researchers at Edinburgh Napier University used the delicious distilled drink's byproducts to create ...
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by Caleb Johnson on Aug 20th 2010 8:10AM

With concussions becoming a focal point in sports medicine, doctors and trainers are searching for new ways to diagnose these dangerous injuries. According to The Washington Post, for the past year, athletic trainers at the University of Maryland and Ohio State University have been using Wii Fit to ...
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by Caleb Johnson on Aug 20th 2010 7:20AM

In a radical new study, South Korean psychiatrists at Chung Ang University, College of Medicine, claim to have reduced participants' desire to spend hours online playing 'Starcraft' by dosing them with antidepressants. According to Wired UK, 11 participants in the study took doses of Bupropion, ...
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by Terrence O'Brien on Aug 20th 2010 6:30AM

You might not know this, but Peter Molyneux is a genius (well, according to Managing Editor Leila Brillson, since they are best friends). The man behind 'Black & White' and the 'Fable' series isn't content to hand gamers a controller, and tell them to mash buttons until the baddies are gone. He ...
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by Thomas Houston on Aug 20th 2010 12:10AM

Hello and welcome to the new Switched! There's no question this is the biggest launch in the history of the site, and it's far more than a simple visual change. You'll find new experiences with everything from our stories to videos, and the new site represents a rethinking of how to navigate and ...
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