Computer glitch hits New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange had a bad enough day, what with horrible job reports and other bad economic news. But then a network problem slowed orders originating from the trading floor. To compensate for the slow-down, the exchange stayed open an extra 15 minutes at end end of the trading day.

Chinese airline barstools could fit 40% more fares

China's Spring Airlines wants to replace some number of regular airplane seats with an even greater number of barstools, which could enable 40% more passengers on each plane.

Michael Jackson to become the King of Postumous Pop

Hold on to your crotch, folks. It looks like Michael Jackson's career is just about to take off. Apparently Jackson recorded "dozens and dozens" of songs that have never been released. They're all sitting there in a giant vault somehwere ready to be released. And you know they will be. Jackson is likely to become the biggest dead celebrity since 2Pac.

Apple's 'iPhone' trademark taken by Chinese company

Apple still isn't selling iPhones through normal channels in China, even though smuggled, unlocked version of the iPhone make China one of Apple's biggest markets. The hold-up has been that both Apple and chinese carriers want to control everything, especially content. But it turns out there's another hurdle. The "i-Phone" trademark is already owned in China by a companny called Hanwang Technology. Even if Apple could get the Chinese courts to hand over the trademark, it could take up to four years. Meanwhile, of course, all the fake Chinese iPhones use the "iPhone" trademark freely. As I've said before, Apple and China are simply incompatible.

Trailer: 'Daybreakers' staring Willem Dafoe

Not sure the world needs yet another vampire movie, but "Daybreakers" actually looks pretty good. Stars Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Michael Dorman, Vince Colosimo, Isabel Lucas and Sam Neill. Here's the trailer.

AT&T can take 4 days to "deliver" iPhone voice-mail

David Coursey reports that it sometimes takes up to four days for AT&T to send voice-mail to iPhone users. That's longer than it takes to mail a letter. This is yet another reason "Why Apple Should Dump AT&T."

Dell must honor accidental sales of $15 monitors

The Taiwanese government is forcing Dell to honor the sale of 140,000 monitors accidentally priced at $15 each. The news of the price spread fast, and within 8 hours 26,000 people had purchased displays (obviously some buyers were stocking up...)

Trailer: 'The Informant' starring Matt Damon

Click here for the trailer.

60% of Americans would give up booze for phones

A new survey by Best Buy Mobile reports that 60 percent of Americans if given the choice between giving up alcohol or their phones for a week, they'd give up the alcohol. A whopping 64% of respondents say they don't own a smart phone because they're too expensive.

Fake Chinese iPhones look more convincing than ever

As Apple perfects the iPhone with the new iPhone 3G S, Chinese counterfeiters perfect the look and feel of fake iPhones, from the hardware to the software UI and even the box. They tend not to work very well, however. (props to Cult of Mac)

What's behind the Twitter celebrity bloodbath?

Twitter has many uses. One recent popular use is to use Twitter for spreading false rumors about the death of celebrities. In the immediate wake of Michael Jackson's death which itself was preceded by a false report) it was reported on Twitter that actor Jeff Goldblum was killed after falling off a cliff in New Zealand. Then the celebrities started dropping like flies: Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Miley Cyrus, P Diddy, Harrison Ford, George Clooney and even Rick Astley. Some involve hacks. Britney Spears' Twitter account was hacked in order to announce her fake death. What's going on?

Russian, Nigerian joint venture to be called 'Nigaz'

You just can't make this stuff up, folks. The Russian energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5 billion deal with Nigeria's state-controlled NNPC to form a new company they've decided to call "Nigaz." Which raises a lot of questions. Such as: Will they have attitude? Are they 2Pac fans? But mainly: What in the hell were they thinking?

Vibe Magazine shut down

Another one bites the dust.

Mobile broadband 75% slower than they say it is

A research group called Epitro claims that the average UK mobile-broadband download speed is just one-quarter the speed advertised.

How exclusivity helps AT&T, hurts Apple

Apple's decision to offer its iPhone exclusively on AT&T is great! For AT&T. For Apple? Not so much.

Race car runs on chocolate and vegetable oil

Researchers at the Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Center have come up with a race car that runs on chocolate and vegetable oil. The WorldFirst F3 car also has a steering wheel made from carrots, a front wing end plate made from potatoes, and seats made from soybeans. The car is practically a salad.

Michael Jackson filmed 'groundbreaking' 3D video

The Associated Press is reporting that Michael Jackson filmed a "groundbreaking" 3D video called the "Dome Project" that was to be used in his upcoming concert tour. The 5-week taping was completed two weeks before Jackson's death, and is now in post-production.

Obama speech interrupted by quacking duck ringtone

Dell working on an Android-based 'iPod Touch Killer'

Dell is creating a pocket-size Internet gadget that could compete with the Apple iPod Touch, according to The Wall Street Journal. The device will run on Google's Android platform and may use ARM-based chips, according to the report. Dell could start selling the gadget as early as this year, and may sell them via cell phone carriers.

Now MacBooks can deliver e-mail 'in person'!

Investment swindler Bernie Madoff gets 150 years

Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison for ripping off investors and even friends to the tune of $65 billion. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin handed down the maximum sentence. The 71-year-old Madoff had pleaded guilty in March to 11 counts of being a complete asshole. His Ponzi scheme holds the world record for the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person.

Just 20% of Twitter users use Twitter.com web site

Whenever you hear stats about Twitter's growth (exponential or flat), it helps to know that many of those stats merely count visitors to the Twitter.com Web site, but that only 20% of Twitter users actually visit the site, according to Twitter's lead engineer. The rest interact with Twitter through the huge variety of third-party apps.

Thieves using Google Earth to steal backyard fish

Fish thieves in the UK are believed to be using Google Earth to find backyard ponds in search of expensive Koi fish.

China censors 'Shanghai' out of 'Transformers'

The opening sequence of the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie shows Autobots and Decepticons fighting it out in a shabby industrial city, which is supposed to be Shanhai, China. The city, however, isn't clearly identified until a US military commander shouts something about "all the damage done in Shanghai." But Chinese government censors have garbled the word "Shanghai" in the version of the movie distributed in China. Why? Because a run-down industrial area (actually filmed in Pennsylvania) isn't the image the government wants Chinese people to have of Shanghai. Weird.

Mmmm. iPod Touch Birthday Cake...

If you're going to have a chocolate cake with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream filling, you might as well have one shaped like an iPod Touch. The cake was made for somebody's 16th birthday party by out-of-control baker April Julian. (props to Make)

Leaked Michael Jackson autopsy reveals ruined body

According to what the Sun newspapers claims is a leaked autopsy report, the body of Michael Jackson was ruined by starvation, drugs, plastic surgery and a recent fall. According to the report, Jackson weighed only 112 pounds, was nearly bald (he was wearing a wig when he died), had pills but no food in his stomach and had needle marks all over his arms and legs. The report also said that because of plastic surgery to his face, the bridge to his nose was gone and part of his nose had "collapsed." Adding to the damage, attempts to revive him caused a long list of injuries to his body as well, including broken ribs.

Ambulance crashes on its way to an ambulance crash

A Minneapolis ambulance on its way to an ambulance crash has itself crashed. A third ambulance somehow managed to make it to the scene without yet another accident.

Iran has more journalists in jail than any other nation

The Iranian government has arrested 49 journalists since June 12, bringing the country's total to 59 -- more than even China and Cuba, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Amazon.com hatching more mobile schemes

Forbes.com says Amazon.com, hot on the heels of successful Kindle gadgets and cell phone software applications, is "hiring more mobile engineers; has acquired a number of companies that could beef up its cell phone expertise; and has started selling content on the Kindle, which is obviously a mobile device." Their strategy appears to be to get Kindle content on more devices, and get more applications on Kindle.

2012 trailer hits. The world ends again in Hollywood.

Great special effects, though. Go here for the trailer.

Sony planning a cell phone/game player hybrid

Japan's Nikkei business daily said today that Sony will set up a project team as early as next month to develop a new kind of gadget that is equal parts cell phone and PlayStation Portable.

Indian military developing hot chili grenades

The Indian Defense Research and Development Organization plans to create hand grenades packed with a payload of peppers. The goal is a non-lethal deterrent using an Indian pepper called Bhut Jolokia, which is 1,000 times hotter than your average culinary chili. What's next, curry bombs?

Why Google Voice is free

Google Voice means Google is technically, literally and actually a telephone company. Google owns and maintains the servers, switches and other equipment necessary to connect phone calls. They're regulated just like any other telephone company. And they're connected into, and are part of, the national telephone network.

The difference is, the company is giving many Google Voice services away for free, rather than charging for them. Why?

I'm going to give it to you straight: I believe Google Voice is free because Google wants to track your phone calls, read your voicemails and text messages and invade your privacy to offer you up on a silver platter to advertisers. Read the whole column here.

Tiny iPhone projector hits

A company called Phonesuit has announced a tiny projector for the iPhone called the Mili Pro video projector. The projector hits in September. No price yet.

iPhone falls in pool while recording video, still works

Some dude dropped his iPhone in a pool while recording video, so we get it see the whole thing from the iPhone's point of view. Best of all, he pulled it out and it still worked! One point for Apple!

AT&T charges Mythbuster star $11k for hours of data

Adam Savage, star of the TV show Mythbusters, says AT&T charged him $11,000 for "a few hours of web surfing in Canada." Now he's leading a revolt on Twitter, according to TechCrunch. The story suggests that "AT&T needs to work on letting its customers know when they’re spending exorbitant amounts of money on data charges." Yeah, no kidding. This whole episode provides yet an additional point in my contention that "Apple should dump AT&T."

Geek Atlas: a travel guide for math and science nerds

How cool is this?

HP unveils three classic calculators for iPhone

HP unveiled three classic calculators as iPhone apps: The HP 12c, HP 12c Platinum, and HP 15C. Although the exact look and feel of these calculators is cool enough, the most amazing bit is that the apps actually use the original ROM code. They're programmable, too, just like the originals. Unfortunately, because this is HP we're talking about, they're also overpriced: They cost $15, $20 and $30, respectively.

How fake Michael Jackson news scooped everyone

Shortly after news reports surfaced that pop star Michael Jackson was taken to the hospital with cardiac arrest, someone posted a fake news story that he had died. (Here's a screen capture of that story.) The story was created on a Web site called "Fake a Wish - Celeb Fake News Generator." The fake news story appeared to have been published by a Global Associated News, which doesn't actually exist. Twitter tweets linking to the fake story were exceeding 10 per second for more than a half hour. At some point, the site TMZ reported an un-sourced story that Jackson had died. My working thesis is that they fell for the Global Associated News prank. But then Drudge Report and other major sites linked to the TMZ story, and reported Jackson's death as fact. All that happened before the actual scoop, which was this blog post by The Los Angeles Times. Well after the L.A. Times story, the original TMZ piece was updated and made respectable with sources specified.

I can't prove it, but I think TMZ fell for the hoax, hundreds or thousands of news organizations all over the world linked to the TMZ story, but then the fake story became real when Jackson died nearly an hour later.

The remaining question for TMZ was: Was their story based on the fake news report? If not, they should tell everyone what it was based on.

UPDATE: The L.A. Times asks, "What if TMZ had been wrong?"

RC bird with video cam tapes curious eagle in flight

Raptor attack! from Billwhit on Vimeo.

How cool is this? A remote-controlled hobbyist bird with a video camera on it captured the attention of an eagle, which checks it out in flight. (props to Bot Junkie)

Microsoft steals Kayak's look and feel

Microsoft Bing's travel search engine is a look-and-feel rip-off of competitor Kayak. WIRED noticed this. Newspapers, consultants and users have noticed. So has Kayak.