Filed under: Audio/Video, TV

What we’re watching tonight:

• USA (1080i) has U.S. Open Tennis at 7 p.m.
• Discovery (1080i) brings the series premiere of ‘NextWorld ‘at 8 p.m. followed by ‘MythBusters ‘and ‘Man Vs. Wild‘
• History (1080i) presents ‘MonsterQuest ‘at 9 p.m. and ‘Jurassic Fight Club‘ at 10 p.m.
• ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC & PBS have the Democratic National Convention at 10 p.m.
• A&E (720p) has ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter‘ at 9:30 p.m.
• Bravo (1080i) drops in the season finale of ‘Shear Genius‘ at 10 p.m.
• National Geographic (1080i) has ‘Taboo ‘at 10 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has MLB with Red Sox/Yankees at 7 p.m.

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Arctic seals tend to prefer the cold. Actually, they tend to prefer arctic cold. They are Arctic seals after all.

That being said, Sahara the seal (seen above) has decided that the cold just isn’t for him. He has been rescued twice after swimming 1,000 miles, twice, in the wrong direction to enjoy the warmth of Mediterranean waters.

Sahara is now a quasi-permanent resident of the National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, Cornwall, England. Care- givers at the Sanctuary have gone the tech route to rehabilitation, utilizing a massive ice machine to reintroduce the seal to his roots. After initially shunning the section of his enclosure equipped with the ice machine, Sahara has been increasingly interested in the frigid white stuff. He is now enjoying his time laying on the ice and looks set to be re-released into his native waters off Greenland.

He is obviously playing the researchers. We fully expect him back in the Mediterranean, fruity drink in fin, as soon as his little toosh hits the open ocean. [From: DailyMail]

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Filed under: Cameras, Home Video, Summer Fun

So, Nikon finally fessed up to its new D90 prosumer DSLR, which means all that’s left for us is to do is to pick through the spec sheets, drool on the product shots and imagine ourselves taking the film industry by storm with that D90-shot indie flick we’re plotting.

INT. SUBURBAN HOME - DAY

BLOGGER sits at his computer typing. He looks inspired, witty, unkempt. The camera’s short depth of field captures the writer in his element.

Oh, right, the tech specs:

• New 12.3 megapixel Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor with Integrated Dust Reduction System.
• Low-noise from ISO 200 to 3200, ISO 6400 available.
• D-Movie mode records in 320 x 216, 640 x 424 or 1,280 x 720 in AVI format.
• Scene Recognition System based on 420 pixel RGB sensor for improved autofocus, autofocus and auto white balance, in addition to Face Detection.
• Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus with 11 AF points.
• 3-inch, VGA Live View LCD.
• 4.5 fps continuous shooting, 0.15 second startup, 65ms shutter release lag.
• SD / SDHC storage.
• HDMI output
• 5.2 x 4.1 x 3.0-inches.
• 1 pound 6 ounces without battery.
• $1,299 kit price.

Read - Nikon D90
Read - D90’s “D-Movie” samples
Read - D90 tested out by Chase Jarvis

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Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers, TV

The team behind ‘lonelygirl15,’ the fake teenager YouTube video phenomenon that changed the way people thought about episodic Web content, are getting fired up for yet another show that takes place in the same universe as ‘lonelygirl‘ and its spin off ‘Kate Modern.’ The new show, ‘LG15: The Resistance,’ is set to premier on September 20, and won’t be as open ended as the original ‘lonelygirl.’

‘The Resistance’ will have new videos, photos, and blog posts daily, but will also reach out to a more casual audience by releasing weekly 6-8 minute episodes that will tie up the weeks plot developments. 12 of these weekly episodes will be released over three months before a 12 episodes in 12 hours marathon-like season finally wraps up the story line.

Though we’re sure the team won’t be abandoning its community roots, the more linear story line and concessions to casual audiences will likely limit the amount of audience interaction this time around. Even with those caveats, we’re interested to see what these ARG (Alternate Reality Game) pioneers have dreamed up this time. Check out the company’s Web site, EQAL.com, for up to date information as the launch date approaches. [From: NewTeeVee]

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Filed under: Computers

If you hear the name Yoda, you probably think of the little sage sage in the ‘Star Wars‘ films who had a funny way of speaking and apparently was pretty handy with a lightsaber. In Japan, however, Yoda is simply a common family name, a situation that social networking site Facebook seems somewhat oblivious to, since Facebook has been blocking all ‘Yodas‘ from signing up on the site.

According to Boing Boing, Japanese author and translator Hiroko Yoda was attempting to create a profile on the site, but was prevented due to an error message about her name. After using different spellings, she was eventually allowed in. She contacted the site and received this note from Facebook’s customer service:

Facebook blocks the registration of a number of names that are frequently abused on the site. The name “Yoda,” also being the name of a popular Star Wars character, is on this list of blocked names. I apologize again for the inconvenience. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Completely locking a considerable portion of the population of Japan out of your service seems like a little more than an inconvenience to us. Sure, they may not be able to use the Force, but they can certainly use the Internet just fine, and since when is that not enough criteria for a Facebook account? [From: Boing Boing]

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Filed under: Computers, Celebrities

Dirty tricks used to mislead voters and keep them away from the polls, but new Web-centric attempts to disenfranchise voters are stoking fears amongst voters and activists. In the past, political trickery has relied on phone calls, fliers, and direct mailing, which are much easier to track and prosecute than the new wave of political scare tactics.

Traditional calls, like the push polls in 2000 that lifted Bush over McCain in South Carolina, have been replaced by robo-calls via VoIP that are harder to trace and not subject to the same restrictions land-line and cell phone based political phone campaigns are. Such tactics were turned on African-American voters in North Carolina during this primary season when calls were placed that led voters to believe they were not properly registered.

More familiar online techniques such as phishing, pharming (secretly redirecting traffic from one site to another), and good old fashioned typo-squatting have also made their way to the political arena. The primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton saw hackers redirecting visitors to Obama’s social networking site MyBarackObama.com to Clinton’s home page.

Experts expect to see spam e-mails giving out incorrect polling locations, misleading information about who can and cannot vote, and even money making and identity theft schemes centered around voter registration.

Of course all of the uses of the Internet in politics are not nefarious. Barack Obama has proven himself adept at utilizing social media and activists have been using it to organize large numbers of people since the 2004 Howard Dean campaign. [From: CNN]

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Filed under: Car Tech

Nearly every state in the Union has a toll highway somewhere, and most states have employed some sort of automatic, wireless tag system to speed commuters through the booths that stand between them and their destinations. Many have complained that these tags are just another tracking system the government uses to keep an eye on where they’re going (and how fast they’re traveling to get there), but others have voiced concerns about security. It seems these are valid concerns, at least in California, where the FasTrack system for automatic toll collection has been shown to be easily hackable.

Security expert Nate Lawson has shown that he can not only access the tags and retrieve a user’s account number, but can also modify an existing tag and reprogram it to have someone else’s. This means that he could walk through a parking lot, wirelessly scan someone’s transponder hanging in their window, then reprogram his own and drive on another customer’s tab. In fact, he’s already successfully scanned his own tag and reprogrammed others to share its account information. There are other systems in place at the toll booths, like cameras that photograph license plate numbers and drivers as cars go through the booths, but that’s no excuse for the woefully bad security on these things.

Right now it’s unlikely that many are exploiting these tags, so you won’t see us trading ours in and going back to stopping and paying in cash — at least not yet. [From: Technology Review]

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Filed under: Computers

When humans go into space, they’re protected from the cold extremes by armored walls, thick glass and airlocks. They’re also prevented from coming into contact with any potential space bugs thanks to their completely sealed suits. Their computers, apparently, are completely exposed to the elements, being shot up into space with nary a virus scanner aboard. No surprise, then, that computers on the International Space Station have been infected with a common computer virus.

The virus is Gammima.AG and is the type that runs in the background and steals usernames and passwords, with the hopes of hijacking people’s accounts to a variety of popular Asian online games. Fortunately, this is hardly a major threat to our orbital security, but it suggests that our space security may need to be tighter. NASA is pledging to install scanners on any laptops destined for orbit, and we’re hoping it also has them back on Earth, too. [From: BBC News]

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Filed under: Computers, Back to School Guide 2008

Everybody knows that cyber-bullying (when someone goes out of their way to be a jerk online, a.k.a. ‘griefing‘) is terrifically irritating. It’s behavior that many gamers, particularly those in the online virtual world ‘Second Life,’ have turned into something of a degenerate art form. But is it a threat to our health? Yes, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC has elevated the discussion of this issue from niche online nuisance to a decidedly mainstream issue.

According to a newly-released CDC report, cyber-bullying incidents rose 50-percent between 2000 and 2005. While there haven’t been any studies since, there’s little doubt that online bullying hasn’t seen similar — if not more dramatic — growth since then.

Unfortunately, the report says, not much can be done about online bullying, since filtering non-profane but still hateful speech is all but impossible online. If you’re a parent, we suggest you talk to your kids about online bullies and how pathetic they are — not only so that they’re not offended by them, but so that they don’t turn into bullies themselves. And, if you’re a victim yourself, just try to ignore it. Remember: Don’t feed the trolls! [From: USA Today]

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Filed under: Cell Phones

Maybe it’s just because we had a rough weekend, but we’ve yet to piece together what the purpose of this device is. Officially, it’s a novelty cigarette pack-shaped earphone headset for Nokia / Samsung / Sony Ericsson mobiles. That’s to say it enables you to just talk into the pack rather than into your phone. At just $6.79, we’d love to say this would at least make a good gag gift, but honestly, we can’t figure out what’s to “get.” Hmmph. [From: DealExtreme via Gearfuse]

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