Ever wondered where on earth late-night radio jocks like Stan Zemanek, below, find their motley crew of eccentric, opinionated callers? Some are created by insomnia and too much alcohol, no doubt, but on Zemanek’s show several characters are the creation of the voiceover specialist Bryan Wiseman
A blind man drove a golf cart for two miles through the winding streets of Peachtree City, accompanied by his guide dog — and an inebriated friend giving instructions — before running into a parked car
G-Gnome has finished his amazing Orac case mod, which looks absolutely stunning. For those that don’t know, Blakes 7 was a late 70s/early 80s British science fiction series and Orac was this intellectually snobbish, difficult and incredibly brilliant computer, hand built by an eccentric scientist
Mozilla Firefox 0.9 and Mozilla Thunderbird 0.7 have been officially released
The University of Tokyo has developed the illusion of invisibility, under the name of Optical Camouflage. The system is remarkably simple — you have a mix of light-sensitive and light-emitting devices attached to an adapted reflective surface. The devices are hooked to a computer, which simply projects on each side whatever is on the opposite side. The result is more of a translucent look, than real invisibility, but the potential is there. The inventor’s next objective is to make walls that are invisible, using the same technology. Project a real outside image onto an interior wall without windows. This almost sounds more frightening than the cloak, since there’s no reason why the sensors would have to be placed outside. Imagine a world where PHBs can turn their office wall into a window onto any cube. Zero privacy. The technology is great, but the potential for abuse is definitely there
Music business analyst Phil Tripp is pushing for a change to the Copyright Act that would give consumers the legal chance to copy music for their personal use
ISP iiNet has announced plans to roll out its own DSL broadband infrastructure covering approximately 11,000 ports across Australia. After a three month customer pilot and feasibility study, 32 exchanges will be covered for the initial rollout around the country, replacing part of the capacity currently acquired from iiNet’s wholesale provider
Yahoo began offering 100MB of storage to people who use its free e-mail service. As part of an overall redesign of its mail service, Yahoo also upgraded Mail Plus paid users to 2GB of storage and lowered its subscription rate from $29.99 a year to $19.99. Other a la carte services, such as POP e-mail forwarding, are consolidated under this plan and will no longer be sold on a standalone basis
Makers of the revived Zeppelin airship delivered their first helium-filled craft to a commercial user Saturday, a Japanese company that plans to use the 12-seat craft for sightseeing trips and advertising. The granddaughter of the original airship’s inventor, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, was on hand as Japan’s Nippon Airship Corporation took delivery of the 247-foot ship, destined for sightseeing and advertising flights in Japan and a starring role at the 2005 world’s fair in the city of Aichi
A grapefruit-sized meteorite smashed through the roof of a New Zealand house, hitting a couch and bouncing off the ceiling before coming to rest under a computer. The 1.3kg chunk of space debris dropped out of the sky and plummeted through the tiled roof of the Auckland home on Saturday
Muggers in South Africa handed back an Alcatel mobile phone while robbing two terrified women — because they refused to thieve cheap stuff
The best way to get a great deal with Microsoft may be to say you’re seriously considering Linux — which is why Microsoft spent Thursday dispelling the myth
of open source. More companies are using the threat of Linux when negotiating deals with Microsoft. While Microsoft is adamant that open-source software isn’t a serious competitor on the desktop today, it may well be forcing Microsoft’s prices down
Hewlett-Packard has signed an agreement to sell Sendmail’s e-mail software, the latest move by the longtime Microsoft ally to also woo open-source players
NTT DoCoMo says it has achieved a connection of 300Mbps with its experimental fourth-generation network
Approximately a million news stories from the 19th century are going online. The project will cost roughly £$2 million and include 100 years of news and images from publications that are no longer copyright protected, and currently only available at the Newspaper Library in Colindale, North London. 52,000 newspapers and magazines will be included and the project should take 18 months to complete
An angry buzzard is terrorising a quiet English country road by dive-bombing passing cyclists. Paul Taylor, 71, says the bird of prey used its beak and claws to rip a three-inch gash in his head as he cycled along the stretch of road near Holsworthy in Devon, western England
The decomposed body of a man dressed in pyjamas was discovered in an abandoned Tokyo apartment building 20 years after he is believed to have died. A Tokyo Metropolitan Police official said construction workers were preparing to tear down the building earlier this month when they found the man’s skeletal remains laying face-up on a mattress on the tatami reed mat floor of a second-floor room — via Rogue Sun
A former night-shift cook at a Denny’s Restaurant in Illinois is in hot water after allegedly getting creative in the kitchen. Anthony Lindhorst, of Waterloo, is charged with five counts of aggravated battery for allegedly lacing brownies with marijuana and mixing his semen into the restaurant’s sauce. Lindhorst is accused of serving the brownies to co-workers and the tainted sauce to two customers
Harry Potter author JK Rowling now has her own official site which is very slick indeed.
Site produced by these guys Lightmaker.
Headblade is a razor designed for shaving your head. Unlike a conventional razor, the HeadBlade makes your hand (and fingers) the handle. This gives you more control. Practical, well-designed and a really nice shade of yellow. I want one — via boingboing
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