Champion Crowned in Global Socket Showdown
The contest (if you can call it a contest) has been dubbed 'Plug vs. Plug' (C'mon, Brits. Couldn't you come up with something a little more creative and
funny posts
The contest (if you can call it a contest) has been dubbed 'Plug vs. Plug' (C'mon, Brits. Couldn't you come up with something a little more creative and
Some T-Mobile Users See Nude Strangers on Their Profile Pages
T-Mobile is apparently offering a scintillating ('Titillating' would have been far too easy and predictable.) new feature for people with online accounts: pics of naked girls. The Consumerist is reporting that when
Andrew also claims that when he signed in again later, yet more nudie shots appeared. After the Consumerist broke Andrew's shocking story, the site was flooded with still more reports of even raunchier images appearing on T-Mobile profile pages. When asked for a comment, a T-Mobile spokesperson told the Consumerist that the company is investigating the incidents, which it claims are "not common."
Wanted Thief Texts Mugshot to Local Paper, Old Pic Too Ugly
Fugitives, take note. If you're disgruntled over that unflattering mugshot, follow Matthew Maynard's lead and send in one of your own. Last Monday, the 23-year-old Welshman took cheekiness to the next level by texting The Evening Post a shot of himself, posing in front of a police van and dressed in matching neon yellow trousers. Maynard, wanted in conjunction with a burglary in Swansea, South Wales, was apparently unhappy with the official mugshot, according to The Daily Telegraph.
South Wales Police had originally issued his mugshot, along with those of seven other suspects, as part of a larger crackdown that eventually led to 81 arrests in 48 hours. Four of the pictured suspects were picked up within hours, but Maynard remains one of the four still at large. After receiving his sensational new photo, The Evening Post responded in kind by splashing it all over the front page of today's paper. "He thinks he's being clever by showing off like this, but we'll have him in soon now," said one officer. "Everyone in Swansea will know what he looks like now." Prison time is a big price to pay for your vanity, Matthew. [From: The Evening Post, The Daily Telegraph, and The Daily Mail]
iTunes Auto-Censor Targets '50s Doo-Wop
Despite its staid and strict stance against nudity and racy apps, Apple is continuing its unofficial practice of turning perfectly harmless words into demeaning slurs. Apple's censoring depends on a program that scans the iTunes database for dirty words, replacing the offending letters with asterisks. The problem with this auto-censorship is that it doesn't recognize context. As a result, innocent words are sometimes altered, ironically and immediately making people think of those alternate, more devious usages. According to the Guardian, the latest to fall prey to the asterisk is the style of music known as "doo-wop," whose name contains a word sometimes used as a slur against Italian-Americans. The word, with which many people were probably unfamiliar prior to the asterisk fiasco, appeared as "w*p" throughout iTunes as of this morning (it's since been changed back to doo-wop).
It's probably time to let the auto-censor go, Apple. Since you're now worth over $170 billion, you should probably be able to hire some human scanners. You know, ones that could actually discern between musical genres and racist terminology. [From: The Guardian]
Large Hadron Collider Clogged by Bird's Baguette Bomb
Something along those lines recently happened at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) when a bird dropped a baguette on the giant particle accelerator as it was flying overhead, nearly shutting the whole thing down in the process. The Register reports that the LHC, located at CERN laboratories in Switzerland, saw temperatures in parts of its accelerator circuits rise rapidly as a result of this baguette-bombing bird. (We're gonna go out on a limb and guess it was French.) Luckily, the LHC wasn't in operation, because if it had been, the incident would've likely suspended all further activity. Dr. Mike Lamont, who works in the CERN control center, reassured everyone that the LHC's safety net would have been strong enough to withstand the attack, especially in light of its significant upgrade in September.
Agri-Nerd Programs Classic 'Hello World' Code... in a Wheat Field
Ben Hopfeng-Aertner, a German programmer, has mowed a huge grassy pattern in Semacode, which is a "machine readable," visual programming language. According to Ars Technica, once the agricultural code is translated by a machine, the 'Tetris'-looking pattern literally reads, "Hello, World!" Ben has also created an explanatory Web site that boasts numerous features, including a series of photos detailing the extensive work required to cut the crop code.
Guy Wearing Breathalyzer Costume Busted for Drunk Driving
Whether it was a brilliant stunt or just sweet irony at work, we'll probably never know what 18-year-old trick-or-treater James Miller was thinking when he was arrested early Sunday, for drunk driving, dressed as a Breathalyzer. Cops pulled over the intoxicated Cincinnati teen in Oxford, Ohio after catching him driving the wrong way on a one-way street, NBC 4 reports. As police searched the car, they found a can of Bud Light in the center console, the remains of the case strewn about the car, and a few Ohio IDs in Miller's wallet. An actual Breathalyzer test revealed the teen's blood alcohol content was .158, or nearly twice the state's legal limit.
The costume, which retails for about $30, shows three sobriety levels: "Boring," "Life of the Party," and "Sotally Tober." It also, of course, features a plastic tube (in the groin region, no less) bearing the instructions, "Blow Here." We're willing to bet that Miller would like to add another sobriety result to the costume's display, just above the blow tube, and right next to "Sotally Tober": "This blows." [From: NBC News and The Smoking Gun, via BoingBoing]
ABCs of Computing: From Apple to Zip
While the computer's history might not stretch back too far, the ride has been anything but mundane. In fact, so much happened and changed with the computer in such a short span that it's not always easy to keep track. Organizing alphabetically is a good start, which is exactly what Neatorama did in a recent post.
The "Alphabet of Computing" breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly of the machines we love so much -- from A is for Apple to Z is for ZIP files, and everything in between. There are things we'd rather forget (like D is for the Dell Dude), and things we'll never forget (like N is for noob). Trust us, learning this alphabet is much more fun than the one we had to recite in grade school, although this one's too cumbersome to rhyme quite like we wish. But hey, who wouldn't like to know when the first tweet was sent (2006), or watch the first video ever uploaded on Youtube?
Now, we hope you were taking notes because we hear there'll be an oral exam on this next week. Just remember this rule: I(nternet) before E(-COM), except after C(isco System). Wait, that's something else... [From: Neatorama]
Bigfoot Now Being Tracked by GPS
If Bigfoot walks in the forest, but there's no GPS device around to track him, does he make a sound?Dissatisfied with grainy, exigent evidence of his existence, a team of "Sasquatch enthusiasts" have set out to find Bigfoot once and for all. And this time, they're armed with GPS. Members of the lovably titled Sasquatch Watch of Virginia recently camped out in West Virginia's Allegheny Mountains in hopes of catching the eternally elusive, or just plain mythical, creature. Armed with GPS navigation systems, cameras, and voice recorders (and plaster of Paris, of course, to make casts of any Big-footprints they might stumble across), the team was hunting in areas where several sightings had previously been reported. Tragically, though, the hunters came up empty-handed. West Virginians haven't been able to sleep since.
It's not really clear how exactly they used the GPS system (Do you just enter 'Sasquatch' as your destination?), but we sort of hope that it guided them with one of those peculiarly adorable voices. And we sort of hope it was Bob Dylan's. Not really sure why, just seems appropriate somehow. [From: CNews]
Rube Goldberg Contraption Absurdly Serves Breakfast
Such contraptions are frequently employed in film and television, perhaps most notably in the film 'Back to the Future' and the popular claymation series 'Wallace and Gromit.' Admitting that he was inspired by such Hollywood portrayals, London design teacher Yuri Suzuki has created an incredible breakfast-making machine straight out of 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.'
'This Is Why You're Fat' Twitter Contest Involves... Eating
Created by This is Why You're Fat, the Web site dedicated to all things artery-clogging, the Eat N Tweet Challenge pits contestants in a race against time, each other, and New York City traffic. The ultimate goal for each participant is to be the first to a take photo of him- or herself with each of the six New York street vendors (and their coma-inducing wares) that are involved in the competition.
Walmart Begins Selling Caskets and Urns Online
Of course, planning your interment online is nothing new. Costco has long sold burial boxes, urns, pet urns, and funeral flower arrangements on its site. What's more, Costco even offers next-day delivery when you're really in a pinch. That said, can we compare the two retailers' funerary wares? Walmart allows you to pay for your casket over twelve months with no interest, while Costco's with-interest plan could, in this economy, put you in a financial hole along with an earthly one. Costco's price floor is a bit higher than Walmart's, but then again who couldn't justify paying a little extra for the blushing Kentucky Rose casket?
'Firepower' iPhone App Lets You Vent Your Frustration
We don't want to stir the pot here, ourselves, but the idea behind 'Firepower,' not to mention its use of blood (albeit cartoony blood), will probably inspire some controversy. Then again, everyone knows that Internet addiction, not video games, breeds violence. [From: Wired]
Controller-Chewing Dog Spends Money on Xbox Live
When you adopt a dog, you expect to drop some cash on things like food, visits to the vet, and maybe chew toys. But one man's best friend drained his bank account in an unexpected way.According to Kotaku, a man named Greg says his one-year-old dog, Oscar, purchased 5,000 points on his Xbox Live account, totaling $62.50, while the owner slept in the next room. Somehow, the lab/hound mix (pictured above) managed to spend the money simply by chewing on the plastic controller. Greg says he woke up the next morning to read an e-mail confirming his purchase. After initially being angry, he just laughed it off. Instead of pleading with Microsoft for a refund, he just decided to purchase some new video games and a replacement controller with the points.
Mark Zuckerberg 'Hates' the New Facebook, Too
But rather than hide from the inevitable criticism, some Facebook employees decided to just laugh it off and play along. According to Tech Crunch, founder Mark Zuckerberg, and other employees like Ivan Kirigin and Ari Steinberg, have joined a group called 'I AUTOMATICALLY HATE THE NEW FACEBOOK HOME PAGE.' The irony here is almost enough to make us rethink our typical stance against joining Facebook groups.
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