This is a hold up... give me all your game systems

Armed robbers in Orange County Florida ordered the manager of a GameStop store to empty the safe, and then asked him to pack up several game systems before taking the surveillance tape and fleeing the scene. Police investigators believe the games systems were the real target of the theft, I think they were after the money but wanted something to do to pass the time while they lay low. Florida's WFTV.com has the story.

YouTube and CNN tag team to ask the hard questions

Last week I blogged about the CBC and Facebook teaming up to ask Canadians about their pressing concerns for the future, now comes the story of CNN and YouTube banding together to solicit the voters questions for the presidential hopefuls. YouTube is providing the platform for everyday Americans to record and post their questions to the candidates, CNN will screen the submissions and pose the best ones. The first of several live debate occurs in Charleston, on July 23rd, and if your question is chosen, you may get the opportunity to watch it live and provide commentary for CNN. Another example of big media jumping on the social networking bandwagon.

Hi-tech entertainment leaving larger footprint

A study conducted in the U.K. by the Energy Saving Trust has found that while our household appliances are getting increasingly more energy efficient, our entertainment devices are energy hungry. In fact the new digital technology is sucking up as much as 4 times the old analogue devices. The Energy Saving Trust is a group established by the U.K. Government after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and is a great resource if you are interested in doing your part to save the planet from global warming. Regardless of whether or not you buy into Al Gore's theories, there is no need to waste! BBC has the story complete with comparison graph.

The intelligent bookshelf coming soon

Two enterprising young gentlemen in the Netherlands have developed a bookshelf that is aware of a books presence and will eventually use fingerprint scanning techniques to authenticate users and keep track of who has borrowed books from the shelf. Using RFID technology, antennas in the bookshelf, and a PC to track the books entry and departure from the shelf, the system has many promising uses. Here is a video demonstration:

Thanks to engadget for this story.

iPhone hackers busy

The Register is reporting that "Famed reverse engineer Jon Lech Johansen claims to have discovered a way to "activate" an iPhone without signing up for a contract with AT&T." Johansen is somewhat famous for having hacked the iTunes encryption and has been a thorn in Apple's side for some time. The current hack apparently allows users to use the iPod and Wi-Fi capabilities of the device, but doesn't allow the use of the phone features. iPhone is currently only available in the U.S. and only on the AT&T network, a non-activated iPhone will not function except to call 911, if Johansen's claim is true the iPhone could be used as a cool but expensive iPod. It's only been a few days since the release and many sites have popped up claiming to be able to hack the iPhone to allow its use on other networks and in other countries, these for fee services should be avoided in my humble opinion. As always , consumer beware! It's highly unlikely that anyone has totally cracked the device this quickly. The "God Phone" as it has been dubbed is such a hot commodity that some may be willing to take the chance, but from what I've heard and read I think I'd rather wait for the next version anyway, there still may be a few things for Apple to work out before it reaches deity status in my books.

Games not gangs

Microsoft, Humber College, YMCA, The City of Toronto, and the Humber Students' FederationGlobe and Mail story here. have all pledged funding and in kind contributions to offer a new media centre for inner city youth. The program is aimed at young people aged 9 to 25 and hopes to provide a free outlet to foster creativity by providing equipment, software, curriculum, and mentoring. Concentrating on two of the City's priority areas, Rexdale and Jamestown, the City hopes to take the program to 13 other neighbourhoods plagued by guns, gangs and violence. Truly and community effort here, hopefully support will continue and the program will flourish.

Gates no longer richest man

Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim has overtaken Bill Gates as the worlds wealthiest person according to the Forbes annual rich list. Slim more than doubled his personal net worth to an estimated $67.8 billion dollars, up from $30 billion last year, dethroning Gates who held top spot for 13 consecutive years. Looks like IT is still a profitable venture.

The Register story here.

Free music downloads... if you are fast!

TechCrunch has reported that Amie Street turns one year old today. Amie Street is a music download service similar to iTunes but with a distinct difference. Artists (including Bare Naked Ladies) upload their tracks for users to download, the songs are initially free and increase in price from $.01 to $.99 as they get more popular. The artists in this case actually get 70% of the income which is a huge difference from what they get when signed to the major labels. Not only can you help the artists by purchasing through Amie Street, but the first 5000 (make that 4999 ;-) TechCrunch readers who enter the promo code "TechCrunch" will receive a $2.50 credit. Act fast, they are going quick.

Is the Kremlin waging information war against opposition and media?

Opposition parties and media outlets that are critical of the current Russian government say the Kremlin has employed its vast resources to hack and cripple their Web sites in an attempt to "stifle Russia's last source of free, unfiltered information". With parliamentary elections in December and presidential elections in March '08, the victims allege they are being harassed electronically by vast zombie networks. The Russian government denies any wrong doing, saying "hackers could easily forge Internet Protocol addresses registered to government offices." You believe that don't you comrade?

CNN story here.

Wired list of 8 great geek vacations

Since you are reading this blog you probably fit into the category of folk who might find at least one of these vacation destinations interesting, I do! Check out Wired Magazine's "The Best Geek Vacations: The South Pole, Chernobyl, Tatooine" Not too sure about Chernobyl, but Tokyo sounds fun!