newrisedesigns dot com newsfeeder

this page is updated every thirty minutes, 20 minutes until next refresh.
last updated at Tue Oct 7 05:40:35 2008 (eastern time).

Boing Boing (xml)

  • Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets.
    Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets, we saw a promotional thumbdrive full of beer and a tasty motherboard cake. Breakfast is served! John saw Sega's inadvertant return to gaming "hardware"; a cutting board with an astronaut etched on it; a non-stop spinning top; and hankered for a USB desk lamp in the shape of a giant letter C. Joel discovered the art of Chindōgu, or useful but embarrassing technology; found spaceship-like sculptures made of foam packing; and found an amazing portrait of the Madonna made of dice, and posed the question, "Could you make a better fake rock speaker than Klipsch?" We reviewed the Sorapot, a fancy teapot, the NZXT Avatar gaming mouse, Cloanto's Amiga Forever 2008 retrogaming set, and the last five years. Looks like Apple's new MacBooks are going to have Nvidia inside. It's such a shame that Mazda's wonderful concept car, the Kiyora, isn't likely to ever have you inside. Console yourself with some vodka kept in bottles the shape of a skull....
  • Richard Metzger: Ten years ago
    In honor of my dear friend Richard Metzger's stint as a BB guestblogger beginning today, I dug up this link to a Wired interview I did with Richard that was published exactly 10 years ago this month. Wow, time sure flies when we're having fun. From the interview, titled "Live From Bedlam": Wired: Information wants to be free, but does it want to be true? Metzger: All information is from questionable sources. In the marketplace of ideas, what value does falsehood have once it's exposed?... So what's behind the growing public fixation on the fringe? Ten years ago all of this would have been so marginal. As we become more technologically advanced, we move further away from anything real, any real ecstatic religious experiences or gnosis. People are freaking out because they see Jerry Springer's white-trash crack whores on TV and schoolkids ambushing classmates with Uzis. How much more fucked up can things get? It's apocalypse from now on. People realize that the line they've been sold, the American Dream, is over - they want, if not an explanation, then at least someone to blame... Can the "underground" survive in an age when it's co-opted almost instantly? The best thing that could possibly happen to the underground is that it becomes overground - to see kids picking up Noam Chomsky and hearing Jello Biafra instead of just Stephen King and Weezer. Richard Metzger: Live From Bedlam...
  • How to find neighbors who think they are registered but probably aren't
    Adam Savage says: "My wife has been working for these folks. I'm passing it on to you in case you're interested. It's sooper inportant. They are non-partisan, btw." Project Vote has now posted online lists of people (with their addresses) who filed registration applications in various counties but who were not put on the voter rolls by election authorities because of alleged or actual deficiencies in their applications. The list is available at www.ProjectVote2008.org. The lists will be supplemented as we get new ones. This should be extremely valuable in helping 501c3 groups around the country locate people who think they are properly registered – but aren't – either correct their registrations or file new, correct ones before the deadline so that they can vote November 4th. Project Vote 2008...
  • Guestblogger: Richard Metzger
    (Tara McGinley, Richard Metzger September 2008. Photo: Coop) Meet our next guestblogger, Richard Metzger. Shortly after I met Richard in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, he launched an amazing web directory of unusual information called disinfo.com. He later went on to produce a television show, a conference, and a book and DVD publishing company under the Disinformation brand. Richard is one of the smartest people I know, and has introduced me to so many obscure but mind-blowing books, movies, and musicians I don't know where to start. He's also directed videos for different bands, including Ann Magnuson's Bongwater. We're thrilled to have him guestblogging on Boing Boing for the next two weeks. Please give a warm welcome to Richard! Greetings Boing Boing readers, it's an honor to be your guest blogger for the next few weeks and it will be fun to share my latest pop culture enthusiasms with everyone! Since leaving The Disinformation Company Ltd., I moved back to Los Angeles and co-wrote a graphic novel about homicidal mail men. (Stay away from mail men, they are very, very bad people). I am currently working to launch "Dangerous Minds," a new multi-platform talk show. We shot a pilot recently with Jackass ringleader Johnny Knoxville at Coop's studio. I'll have a proper posting about the project here later in the week. Richard Metzger...
  • Photos from the denim distressing factory
    Photographer David Friedman visited a Kentucky "distressing" factory where skilled laborers expertly age denim for the benefit of high-end designers, and produced a sweet little photos essay of these artisans at work. Photo Essay: The Denim Factory (via Kottke)...
  • Artificial foreskin lets you keep your sensitivity AND the covenant of Abraham!
    Circumcised? Need a foreskin? Have no fear, Viafin's synthetic turtleneck's got you covered: Being circumcised affects the natural operation, appearance and sensitivity of the penis. During recent years much medical research has been carried out in several countries into the function and purpose of the foreskin. There is now conclusive medical evidence that a circumcised penis with the glans exposed has less nerve receptors and is less effective than a naturally covered penis. Over the years the exposed glans becomes less sensitive. There is well-documented evidence which shows that this can, and often does, have a disastrous effect on sexual performance, its consequences, and ultimately, on self esteem. The SenSlip range of artificial retractable foreskins is available in different sizes, to allow for variation between individuals. With ten sizes we want you to be fitted correctly right from the start. (See fitting chart) Welcome to Viafin-Atlas (Thanks, Bill!)...
  • Wall decals based on Toronto subway stations
    Derek sez, "We recently produced a line of vinyl wall decals featuring the vintage 1978 modernist designs of the Toronto Subway system." These colors and lettering are permanently etched into my brain from a thousand million rides. Walloper (Thanks, Derek!)...
  • Explorer reports on his first two weeks on Tofua Island
    The Private Islands blog has an update on Xavier Rosset's trip to Tofua Island in the Kingdom of Tonga. (See "Adventurer will live 300 days as Robinson Crusoe") As I reported previously Swiss adventurer, explorer and islomaniac Xavier Rosset has set out on an expedition to spend 300 days living alone on Tofua Island, in the Kingdom of Tonga. Xavier’s arrival on Tofua Island was delayed because of bad weather conditions. Once Xavier was alone on Tofua, he started to get organized and tried to put together his camp and food. Xavier has to be ready as quickly as possible; the hurricane season is starting in more or less 6 weeks. The first concern of Xavier was of course to find food. So he went fishing. But despite his best goodwill, he didn’t catch that many fish, only one every second day. On the top of that, the rain didn’t spare him so he couldn’t make a fire and had to eat his fish raw. These factors affected his nerves by his second week on the island. He was disappointed and wanted to give up, feeling lonely. But Xavier is stronger than that and brought himself together quickly. Explorer reports on his first two weeks on Tofua Island...
  • Abbey Ryan's painting-a-day blog
    I'm an admirer of artists who create a painting a day, and then post them to their blog. Abbey Ryan is one such artist. You can bid on Abbey's work on eBay. The painting above, "Fortune Cookie No. 2," (Oil on linen on panel, 5 x 6 in.) has a current high bid of $99. A Painting a Day by Abbey Ryan...
  • Brown Monday: open thread on today's economic panic.
    Floyd Norris, liveblogging the panic today at the NYT -- The Great Crash of 2008: 2:45 p.m. ET: If the S.&P. 500 closes where it is now, (1009.07, down 8% for the day) it will have lost more than 13% over the past three sessions. The only other time declines of that magnitude occurred since World War II was in the crash of 1987. Prior to that, the last one was in May 1940, when France fell to Germany. Discuss, and breathe deeply, folks. We're gonna get through it together. (ht for the hed @Howard Rheingold) Video: "The 1929 Stock Market Crash newsreel." UPDATE: Our community manager Teresa Nielsen Hayden points to this NYT analysis by Joe Nocera as "the most lucid explanation" for what's going on: This is what a credit crisis looks like. It’s not like a stock market crisis, where the scary plunge of stocks is obvious to all. The credit crisis has played out in places most people can’t see. It’s banks refusing to lend to other banks — even though that is one of the most essential functions of the banking system. It’s a loss of confidence in seemingly healthy institutions like Morgan Stanley and Goldman — both of which reported profits even as the pressure was mounting. It is panicked hedge funds pulling out cash. It is frightened investors protecting themselves by buying credit-default swaps — a financial insurance policy against potential bankruptcy — at prices 30 times what they normally would pay. It was this 36-hour period two weeks ago — from the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 17, to the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 18 — that spooked policy makers by opening fissures in the worldwide financial system. As Credit Crisis Spiraled, Alarm Led to Action (NYT via Balloon Juice.) Also, everyone reading this blog should stop what they're doing right now and go listen to This American Life's epic episode from Friday: Another Frightening Show About the Economy. Alex Blumberg and NPR's Adam Davidson—the two guys who reported our Giant Pool of Money episode—are back, in collaboration with the Planet Money podcast. They'll explain what happened this week, including what regulators could've done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place. You can learn more about the daily ins and outs and join the discussion on the Planet Money blog. Here's the direct MP3 Link....
  • eBoy's Blockbob Eater doll
    eBoy, the artist collective that designed Boing Boing's logos, announced the launch of its wooden Blockbob Eater doll today. Made out of Swiss maple wood, 8.5" tall and limited to 70 pieces. Each unit comes numbered and signed. eBoy's Blockbob Eater doll...
  • World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler
    In the sweet and sad novel, World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler, the population of the United States (and most likely, the world) has been decimated by an energy shortage, starvation, plagues, terrorism, and global warming. The story takes place in an unspecified time in the near future (I'm guessing it's around 2025 or so). Kunstler is the author of the non-fiction book The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, and World Made by Hand is a fictional account of what life might be like if things go the way he describes them in Long Emergency. (Here's a TED video of Kunstler from 2004. Thanks, Erik!) The story is told by Robert Earle, who used to be a software executive. Now he's a hand-tool using carpenter living in a town in upstate New York without Internet, TV, or newspapers. The electricity comes on every couple of weeks for a few minutes at a time. When that happens, nothing's on the radio but hysterical religious talk. Rumors of goings-on in the rest of the world are vague. There's no fuel or rubber tires left for cars, and even if there were, the roads and bridges are shot. Earle can't afford a horse or donkey, so when he needs to buy carpentry supplies, he takes his hand cart to a compound on the outskirts of town called Karptown. It's a trailer park next to the dump that's been taken over by a dangerous gang of former bikers and motorheads who roam the neighborhoods salvaging scrap materials from abandoned houses and buildings. The town is loosely run by a group of 15 men (no women) who half-heartedly try to maintain law and order, which is hard because no one wants to stand up to troublemakers like the folks at Karptown, who conduct occasional raids on people's homes. The story kicks off when Earle (who lost his wife and daughter in the plague and hasn't seen his 19-year-old son since the boy took off a couple of years earlier to find out what's happened in the rest of the country) is elected mayor and joins a search party to look for a freight boat and its crew, which disappeared on its way to Albany. Their horse-mounted odyssey takes them on a tour through a post-apocalyptic world of insanity, greed, kindness, corruption, and ingenuity. While life in Kunstler's world is lawless and harsh and populated with opportunistic characters that make Boss Tweed look like Glinda the Good, it's not without charms. Local communities are active and productive. Neighbors all know each other and look after one another. People grow and trade their own produce and livestock, and meals are tasty -- lots of buttery corn bread, eggs, chicken, vegetables, streaks, fish. They get together and play music a lot, and because people aren't stuck in their living rooms watching TV, they actually attend live performances. As a budding urban homesteader, I found the way of life in World Made By Hand, fascinating. No one can predict the future, and I doubt our future will be much like the one depicted here, but I think its possible that Kunstler has come closer to showing us what's in store than anyone else. Buy World Made by Hand on Amazon...
  • BBtv: Robert Plant and Allison Krauss interview (music)
    Hey, speaking of bluegrass... when Led Zeppelin founder Robert Plant teamed up with Nashville mama Allison Krauss, critics compared the musical collaboration to a hookup between King Kong and Bambi. But their album "Raising Sand," produced by T-Bone Burnett, earned the odd duo widespread raves. Boing Boing tv's London music correspondent Russell Porter caught up with Plant and Krauss backstage at the Mercury Prize, an annual award for the best album from the UK or Ireland. Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with downloadable video and daily podcast subscription instructions....
  • The problem with the one-eye veil for women, and a solution
    Saudi cleric Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan has come up with a solution for troublesome women who wear eye makeup to look seductive as they peer through the slit in the black hoods they wear whenever they step outside. He wants them to wear full veils with a single eyehole. The problem with this idea, of course, is that every time a woman blinks, men will think she is winking at them. Writing to India Uncut, Amit Varma has a neat solution: I have an alternative solution to your problem. I suggest that you introduce veils for men that cover both their eyes. That way it will make no difference if the women are winking, blinking or, heaven forbid, naked. Good idea, no? You’re welcome. Saudi cleric calls for one-eye veil for woman...
  • Sharpest photo of Jupiter from Earth
    This is the sharpest "whole Jupiter" photo ever taken from Earth. It was snapped with a telescope using special adaptive optics to reduce fuzz. From National Geographic: Captured using a new computer-assisted process and a 27-foot (8.2-meter) telescope in Chile, the result is sharp enough to show features as small as 180 miles (300 kilometers) across... Adaptive optics, (UC Berkeley/SETI Institute astronomer Franck) Marchis said, adjusts for distortions caused by the Earth's atmosphere, "providing images as if the telescope was in space." New Jupiter Image: Sharpest View Ever From Earth UPDATE: In the comments, DAEMON kindly posted a link to the full res image!...
  • 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine
    Three scientists split the 2008 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of HIV and HPV. French researchers Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barre-Sinoussi first identified human immunodeficiency virus in 1983 and German scientist Harald zur Hausen discovered the human papilloma virus which leads to cervical cancer. From the New York Times: Of the more than 100 human papilloma viruses now known, about 40 infect the genital tract, and 15 of them put women at high risk for cervical cancer. Papilloma viruses account for more than 5 percent of all cancers worldwide. The Karolinska Institute said that discovery of H.I.V. by the French scientists, Dr. Barre-Sinoussi and Dr. Montagnier, led to blood tests to detect the infection and to anti-retroviral drugs that are effective in prolonging the lives of patients. The tests are now used to screen blood donations, making the blood supply safer for transfusions. The viral discovery has also led to an understanding of the natural history of H.I.V. infection in people, which ultimately leads to AIDS unless treated. Three Europeans Win the 2008 Nobel for Medicine...
  • Wonderful noodle stretching and folding video
    How do you make 4096 noodles in hurry? By stretching and folding the dough 12 times. A clip from Philip Morrison's 1987 PBS program "The Ring of Truth: Atoms" featuring chef Kin Jing Mark making noodles to demonstrate the principle of halving....
  • Who is "essential" during a pandemic?
    The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics published new research on who should be considered "essential" in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak. Of course, medical workers and firefighters are on the list but so are a surprisingly diverse group of other folks who often go unrecognized in keeping us alive and happy. From a press release: After examining several accepted public health rationing strategies that give priority to all healthcare workers and those most susceptible to illness, the authors propose a new strategy that gives priority to a more diverse group. “Alongside healthcare workers and first responders, priority should be given to the people who provide the public with basic essentials for good health and well-being, ranging from grocery store employees and communications personnel to truck drivers and utility workers,” says (Nancy Kass, Sc.D, Deputy Director of Public Health for the institute.) Rethinking Who Should Be Considered 'Essential' During a Pandemic Flu Outbreak...
  • The Maverick Family in Texas Asks: "Who You Callin' a Maverick?"
    NYT writer and Texas son John Schwartz wrote this very funny piece about the family in Texas who bear the name being co-opted by John McCain's presidential campaign. [T]o those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch — and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive. “I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants. In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand. Who You Callin’ a Maverick? (NYT) Image: Mr. Samuel Augustus Maverick, of Texas....
  • PingMag interviws Lullatone
    PingMag, the Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" has an interview with a delightful musical duo, Lullatone. Lullatone are a musical duo based in Nagoya comprised of the husband and wife team of Shawn James Seymour and Yoshimi Tomida. They make sweet, sleepy, sine-wave-riddled songs with whispered lyrics, poppy melodies, and parse, carefully arranged beats. The Lullas utilise children’s instruments, splashing water, household sounds, and electronic sounds to craft their delightful songs for young and old. From the visual side, they make all of their clips by themselves — a delightful mix of film, stop-motion animation, and video that syncs nicely with their hypnotic, dreamy live shows. Lullatone: Catch the Bedtime Beat!...
  • JFK rug
    This JFK rug from the 1960s is up for auction on eBay. It's 52cm x 40cm. Starting bid is $2000. US President Kennedy - Portrait -- Persian Rug (Thanks, Sly Thompson!)...

BBC News Frontpage (xml)

Obscure Store and Reading Room (xml)

Yahoo! News' Highest Rated (xml)

  • Banking crisis sweeps Iceland, Britain (Reuters)

    A trader takes a break as trading was halted on the main floor of the BM and F Bovespa stock exchange market in Sao Paulo October 6, 2008. (Paulo Whitaker/Reuters)Reuters - Iceland's financial authorities took over the country's second largest bank Tuesday and shares in some of Britain's biggest banking names tumbled, the latest victims of the global financial crisis.


  • NASA spacecraft soars past Mercury (AFP)

    A file NASA image that the MESSENGER spacecraft took of Mercury's full crescent in January. A US space probe successfully flew by Mercury on Monday to photograph the solar system's smallest planet, in the second of three planned passes, the US space agency NASA said.(AFP/NASA/File)AFP - A US space probe successfully flew by Mercury on Monday to photograph the solar system's smallest planet, in the second of three planned passes, the US space agency NASA said.


  • Sen. Stevens on tape: "might serve time in jail" (Reuters)

    Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) walks in Capitol Hill in Washington September 27, 2008. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)Reuters - Sen. Ted Stevens told an oil-executive friend, in recordings played on Monday at the Alaska Republican's corruption trial, they both risked going to jail -- but he didn't think it would come to that.


  • Europe governments go their own way on crisis (AP)

    A trader reacts as he watches financial markets on a computer in Paris, at Meesschaert Asset Management. Desperate new measures by governments in Europe and North America to stabilise the financial system failed to stop panic selling that swept global markets Monday amid deepening gloom at the scope of the banking crisis.(AFP/Patrick Kovarik)AP - Individual European governments issued a flurry of deposit guarantees to shore up their banks but fell short of any coordinated action Monday to deal with the crisis sweeping financial markets, even as stock markets crashed and the euro sank to its lowest level for over a year.


  • Behind big job losses, a tighter credit squeeze (The Christian Science Monitor)
    The Christian Science Monitor - Pink slips are now being handed out at the fastest pace since 2003 – an economic event that may have ramifications from the ballot box to the Christmas tree.
  • Lehman sought millions for execs while seeking aid (AP)

    Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld Jr., wearing tie, is heckled by protesters as he leaves Capitol Hill in Washington after testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, on the collapse of Lehman Brothers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP - The now-bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers arranged millions in bonuses for fired executives as it pleaded for a federal lifeline, lawmakers learned Monday, as Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout.


  • Fan use linked to lower risk of sudden baby death (AP)
    AP - Using a fan to circulate air seemed to lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in a study of nearly 500 babies, researchers reported Monday. Placing babies on their backs to sleep is the best advice for preventing SIDS, a still mysterious cause of death.
  • Brits Say: We Can't Win in Afghan (The Nation)
    The Nation - The Nation -- For all the talk about Afghanistan being the "right war," and with both Obama and McCain insisting that they want to send thousands of additional US forces there, our British allies have let the camel, so to speak, out of the bag. Meanwhile, more and more information is coming out to confirm that the government of Afghanistan is negotiating with (gasp!) the Taliban. This is important stuff.
  • Penguins ride air force jet to South Atlantic (AP)

    In this photo released Monday, Oct. 6, 2008 by International Fund for Animal Welfare, penguins are released by environmentalists at the Cassino Beach, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008. More than 370 frigid water penguins that mysteriously stranded in the warm waters of northeastern Brazil have been released into the ocean, environmentalists said. (AP Photo/International Fund for Animal Welfare)AP - More than 370 penguins that mysteriously washed up on Brazil's equatorial beaches were flown south on a huge air force cargo plane and released closer to the frigid waters they call home, animal advocates said Monday.


  • Who's Watching the Fox at Treasury? (The Nation)
    The Nation - The Nation -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to name fellow Goldman Sachs alum, Neel Kashkari, to oversee the government's $700 billion Superfund cleanup of Wall Street's toxic assets.
  • Task force: Colon cancer screenings can stop at 75 (AP)

    Graphic shows deaths rates for colon cancer by decade since 1960;AP - Most people over 75 should stop getting routine colon cancer tests, according to a government health task force that also rejected the latest X-ray screening technology.


  • Bank of America reports profit drop, capital raise (AP)

    A building is reflected in the window of a Bank Of America branch in New York, October 6, 2008. Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. bank, on Monday reported a 68 percent drop in quarterly earnings, halved its dividend and said it would seek to raise $10 billion in additional capital. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES)AP - Bank of America Corp. on Monday reported third-quarter results earlier than planned, revealing a wider-than-expected profit drop and plans to boost capital by selling $10 billion stock and halving its dividend.


  • Scientists develop solar cells with a twist (Reuters)

    The sun sets over the sea in Dubrovnik, the famous Adriatic town, in Croatia November 3, 2007. (Nikola Solic/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. researchers have found a way to make efficient silicon-based solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars.


  • 59% Would Vote to Replace Entire Congress (Rasmussen Reports)
    Rasmussen Reports - Congress was front and center in the national news last week and the American people were far from impressed. If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 59% of voters would like to throw them all out and start over again. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 17% would vote to keep the current legislators in office.
  • Asteroid to burn up before hitting Earth (Reuters)
    Reuters - A tiny asteroid discovered earlier Monday by an Arizona observatory will hit Earth's atmosphere over Sudan in a few hours but will burn up before it can hit the ground or endanger aircraft, astronomers said.
  • Many workers do not respect their bosses (Reuters)
    Reuters - Almost half of U.S. workers do not respect their boss and only half believe they are competent, according to an online survey released on Friday.
  • Europe strives to combat financial crisis in unison (Reuters)

    Traders work on the floor of the Barcelona's Stock Exchange, October 6, 2008. (Gustau Nacarino/Reuters)Reuters - European governments struggled on Monday to shelter banks and bank depositors from a global financial crisis that is eroding confidence, endangering the economy and challenging their ability to respond as one.


  • Iceland's banks falter (AP)
    AP - Iceland's banks face a battle for survival Tuesday after government introduced emergency legislation to give itself sweeping new powers over its collapsing financial sector.
  • Small asteroid headed for light show over Africa (AP)
    AP - A small asteroid was headed for a fiery but harmless dive into Earth's atmosphere early Tuesday morning over Africa, astronomers said in a first of its kind advance warning.
  • AP Enterprise: In bad economy, power cutoffs soar (AP)

    Marie Williams, right, helps her daughter Richelle with homework at their home in Cohoes, N.Y., Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. Williams' power was cut off this summer for about a week, forcing her girls to do homework by candlelight. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)AP - The number of Americans whose electricity or gas has been shut off for nonpayment of their bills is up sharply in many parts of the country as people struggle to cope with higher prices and a shaky economy.

Waxy.org (xml)

Wired News Top Stories (xml)

  • Video: Neil Gaiman Gives Away 'The Graveyard'
    The Sandman author reads from his new book, about a boy who hangs out with dead people, and posts the clips online for free. Gaiman talks about Graveyard in a video interview with Wired.com.

    Wired.com

  • Solar Goes From Gardens to Gigabucks
    A California company has a billion dollars worth of orders in hand for a new solar product that could soon blanket the tops of flat-roof buildings across the nation.

    Wired.com

  • Pimp My Pony: Gear for the Equestrian Commute
    Gas gas hovers around $4 a gallon, your Prius-driving neighbors are cruising smugly all the way to Whole Foods. Sure, you could join their self-satisfied ranks. Or you could commute in style — on a horse (if your city's ordinances allow it). The timing is good: Equestrian gear recently got some serious and long-needed upgrades. High tech, Silver, away! 1 // Bitless Bridle Robert Cook's Bitless Bridle is an evolution of an ancient pony-friendly design. It steers with straps that crisscross under the muzzle: To turn left, draw the left rein away from your steed's neck, applying pressure to the right cheek and turning its head in the direction you want to go. 2 // Ultralight Helmet Old-school hats were just velveteen-sheathed plastic. Today's models, made of high-density polystyrene, are almost half the weight of the classic style yet can withstand several hundred Newtons of force. 3 // Carbon-Fiber Saddle Leather seats have all the give of a two-by-four, and a bad fit can cause your horse's vertebrae to dip. The Swedish company Linear has designed a modular seat (for a custom fit) with a carbon-fiber core to spread your weight as evenly as possible. 4 // Polyurethane Wraps To better protect tendons and joints from accidental hoof slaps, wool wraps are being replaced by boots padded with gel and carbon fiber. An outfit called Veredus molds its shells from 54-Shore TPU, a tough polyurethane mixture that stays flexible down to 5\0xB0F. 5 // Springy...

    Wired.com

  • Oct. 7, 1959: Luna 3's Images From the Dark Side
    1959: The space probe Luna 3 takes the first photographs of the dark side of the moon. The radio-controlled Luna 3 was part of the Soviet Union's highly successful lunar program, which completed 20 missions to the moon between January 1959 and October 1970. Although the United States won the race to land a human on the moon, the Russians achieved a number of their own lunar milestones, including the first flyby (Luna 1), first surface impact (Luna 2), first soft landing (Luna 9) and first lunar orbiter (Luna 10). Luna 3's mission objective was to provide the first photographs from the moon's far side. To achieve this, the probe was equipped with a dual-lens 35mm camera, one a 200mm, f/5.6 aperture, the other a 500mm, f/9.5. The photo sequencing was automatically triggered when Luna 3's photocell detected the sunlit far side, which occurred when the craft was passing about 40,000 miles above the lunar surface. Luna 3's camera took 29 photographs over a 40-minute period, covering roughly 70 percent of the moon's far side. The photographs were developed, fixed and dried by the probe's onboard film processing unit. Seventeen images were successfully scanned and returned to Earth on Oct. 18, when Luna 3 was close enough to begin transmitting. Although the low-resolution images had to be boosted by computer enhancement on Earth, in the end they were good enough to produce a tentative map of the dark side. Among the identifiable features were two seas, named Mare...

    Wired.com

  • Gallery: Inside Secretive New Solar-Tech Factory
    : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com FREMONT, California -- Solar photovoltaics make up a tiny percentage of the world's power largely because they just cost too much. Burning fossil fuels remains cheaper than even the best solar panels. But Solyndra's new thin-film technology could substantially cut the cost of manufacturing and installing solar electricity, perhaps reaching the cost of standard power within a few years. The venture-backed company, which came out of stealth mode today, gave Wired.com access to their new whirring fab, installed in a former hard-drive factory. Most of the equipment was designed in-house by Solyndra's 500 employees and the aid of more than $600 million in venture capital. "We've put a lot of effort into very sophisticated process control," Kelly Truman, VP of business development told Wired.com. "We design and build all the critical equipment in the factory ourselves." Left: Solyndra's solar modules enter the factory as simple glass tubes a few feet long, seen here awaiting a special cleaning process. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Designed with automation in mind, the factory's many robots do much of the work in transporting the panels of glass tubes around the floor. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com The glass tubes are dipped in a series of solutions including coatings of copper indium gallium diselenide, known as CIGS. Here we see finished tubes, which have lost their transparency. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com As the panels receive...

    Wired.com

  • Clive Thompson: Why Veteran Visionaries Will Save the World
    Don't trust anyone over 30. That's the prevailing wisdom in Silicon Valley, a land once again bestrode by millionaire CEOs who just learned to shave. Many people believe that the breakthrough ideas come only from the young. And why not? Media stories constantly recite the ages of a few famous founders: Bill Gates of Microsoft, 20; Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, 20; the Google boys, 25; YouTube's Chad Hurley, 28. Tumblr founder David Karp is 21 — and on his second successful company. Young people rule tech innovation, we tell ourselves, because they have several key advantages. They're fearless and naive, so they'll try anything. They can spy markets that elders, with their locked-in views, cannot. And without dependents or spouses, twentysomethings can work the sort of pyramid-building hours necessary for a startup. It's a kind of Logan's Run world: If you're ending a third decade, you're obsolete. But hold on. A recent study has finally collected some data on age and high tech innovation and found that older geeks are just as successful as young Turks. What's more, the chronologically advanced are especially successful at solving problems we increasingly — and desperately — need solved. In other words, the high tech future may belong to the over-30 set. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation surveyed 652 US-born CEOs and heads of product development who founded high tech firms in the boom (and bust) years of 1995 to 2005. Both the average and median...

    Wired.com

  • Meteoroid Predicted to Burn Up in Earth's Atmosphere Tonight
    A small meteoroid is predicted to burn up in Earth's atmosphere over Sudan tonight. This is the first time astronomers have been able to predict when a meteoroid will enter the atmosphere.

    Wired.com

  • Judge's Secret Decision Blocks Sale of DVD-Copying Software
    A federal judge seals a decision tentatively blocking RealNetwork's sale of DVD-copying software.

    Wired.com

  • Goliath Beats Davids for Pentagon Power Prize
    The Pentagon set up a million-dollar prize to get entrepreneurs and tinkerers to come up with radically new ways to supply power to the all those gadgets a soldier has to lug around. But the winner, the Pentagon declared today, is as traditional as it comes: DuPont, the chemical giant -- and military supplier, since 1802.

    Wired.com

  • How to Understand the Financial Crisis
    There's a lot of hype surrounding the financial crisis, but what does it really mean? To get acquainted with the financial crisis and what it means to you and me, we've pinged several sources on the internet for economic explanations even we could understand.

    Wired.com

  • Is the Cheapest Genome Sequence Ever for Real?
    A biotech company is planning to offer complete personal genome sequences for $5,000, but is it too good to be true?

    Wired.com

  • Toy Robot Intended to Save Humans From Evil
    Zeno, a toy robot that may be available for around $300 in 2010, is designed to fend off future robots that are psychotic and lack sympathy for humans.

    Wired.com

  • Who Should Win the Nobel for Physics?
    Nobel Prize week kicked off this morning with awards in Medicine given to discoverers of the viruses that cause HIV and cervical cancer. Up next: Physics. And if you'd like to test your significance-assessing chops against those snobs at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, now's your chance.

    Wired.com

  • Wall Street Tumbles Amid Global Sell-off
    Wall Street tumble, joining a sell-off around the world, as fears grow that the financial crisis will cascade through economies globally despite bailout efforts by the U.S. and other governments. The credit market remained under strain, and investors piled into government bonds. The Dow Jones industrials skidded more than 300 points.

    Wired.com

  • EBay To Drop 1,000 Employees, Picks Up Two New Businesses
    As rumored, EBay is cutting 1,000 employees -- 10% of its workforce. The company also announced the acquisition of an online payments business, Bill Me Later, for $820 million in cash and $125 million in options, and two online classified sites based in Denmark for about $390 million.

    Wired.com

  • The Clone Wars" TV series: Better Than Expected, Still Not Great
    I was completely prepared to hate the new "Clone Wars" TV series, but while it's in no danger of making its way onto anyone's list of great sci-fi shows, it's not so bad. Any animated TV series is only as good as its writing, and, if the first two episodes are any indication, the writing for "The Clone Wars" is decent, though unspectacular.

    Wired.com

  • Wall Street Set to Follow Global Sell-Off
    Global markets sell off after European governments take steps to limit the damage from the growing global financial crisis. U.S. stocks appear headed for a steep drop at the opening, and the credit markets remained under strain.

    Wired.com

  • 3 European Scientists Share Nobel Medicine Prize
    Three European scientists share the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer. French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were cited for their discovery of HIV while Germany's Harald zur Hausen was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.

    Wired.com

  • Sega Getting Back into the Hardware Game
    According to the Register, Sega plans to launch a new handheld console next year, and it won't just play games. The new console, called the Vision, will also play music and movies, have a built in camera, TV-Tuner and display e-books. We speculate that the battery pack will come in a separate, suitcase-sized box.

    Wired.com

  • European, Asian Markets Plunge on Crisis Fear
    Asian and European stock markets plunge as government bank bailouts in the U.S. and Europe failed to alleviate fears that the global financial crisis would depress world economic growth. Britain's benchmark stock index fell 4.42 percent and Germany's DAX index fell 4.22 percent to 5,552.27. Across Asia, all markets were also in the red; Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell to its lowest level in 4 1/2 years, sinking 4.25 percent to 10,473.09.

    Wired.com

  • Wired.com Photo Contest: Motion
    This week's photo contest topic is Motion. We want you to cram as much action as you can into the stillness of a frame. Use the Reddit widget below to submit your best Motion photo and vote for your favorite among the other submissions. The 10 highest-ranked photos will appear in a gallery on the Wired.com homepage. Nothing we can say will hold back the deluge of streaky, unintelligible photos, we know, but motion blur is only a small part of capturing the action. Show us bucking bulls at rodeos, sparring swashbucklers and collapsing buildings. We want to see arrows in mid-flight, jumping kangaroos and rockets blasting into the air. Capture the beauty of a single frame of action that the human eye can't catch, and we will be forever grateful. The photo must be your own, and by submitting it you are giving us permission to use it on Wired.com and in Wired magazine. Please submit images that are relatively large, the ideal size being 800 to 1200 pixels or larger on the longest side. Please include a description of your photo, which may include exposure information, equipment used, etc. We don't host the photos, so you'll have to upload it somewhere else and submit a link to it. If you're using Flickr, Picasa or another photo-sharing site to host your image, please provide a link to the image directly and not just to the photo page where it's displayed. Using an online photo service that requires that you login will not work. If your photo doesn't show up, it's because...

    Wired.com

Fark.com (xml)

Metafilter (xml)

 



About This Program

The Newsfeeder is part of the newrisedesigns dot com network.

Have an XML feed you'd like listed here? Let us know.

Customize the look of this page.
This page was generated in 4 seconds.