Miss Aniston, who turns 41 next week, has flown to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico with the Scottish star along with friends Courteney Cox and Sheryl Crow.

Take to the rooftops of Gotham City as everyone's favorite Caped Crusader, Batman! Ascend to the rooftops as you take on Kanjar Ro and his band of villainous henchmen!

Charlie Nothing made guitars--
Dingulators--from American cars.
He'd play them and sing a song about wars or higher powers,
or how to keep from spending time behind bars.
His something-side wrote, and helped bees with the flowers.
Good-bye, Charlie Nothing, wherever you are.

The upcoming i5 MacBook Pro refresh might be closer than we thought, with TUAW discovering that Best Buy emptied their systems of the current version. Since they're not likely to go MacBook-less for...

Last month SecondMarket published data on private company stock sales that they helped complete in 2009. They’ve now released last month’s data as well.

A total of a little more than $13 million in sales occurred, with the average transaction size of around $2 million. There continues to be very strong demand for consumer products and services startups (which includes companies like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, etc.). But the sellers are spread out more evenly across all categories, particularly consumer, IT, Healthcare, energy and cleantech.

36% of the transactions were sales of Facebook stock, and we’ve heard from independent sources that sales are being completed for as high as $40 per share (or a $17.6 billion valuation). That’s a substantial price increase from less than a month ago. Tesla took 29% of the transactions, and sales of Solyndra stock were 28% of the total. Gridpoint rounded the group out with 7% of the total.

The complete report is below, and you can download the pdf here.

CrunchBase InformationSecondMarketFacebookTesla MotorsSolyndraInformation provided by CrunchBase

Google tonight confirmed talk of a significant product update by sending an invitation to a special event on Tuesday at the company's Mountain View, California campus. The company is short on details but promises "some new product innovations" at the gathering....

Easily generate case sensitive / insensitive random passwords (read more)

Cell phone provider Metro PCS' new campaign, featuring two supposed Indian tech experts, is proving a little controversial. The company admits it has received complaints.

TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp was preparing a global recall of its new Prius model on Monday, further damaging its reputation for quality and reliability on the heels of two other massive recalls.

Watch offline your preferred manga (read more)

Beware the coming of the spider! This strange creature was seen in a back alley, eating cats, small dogs, and any memory chips it happens to find. It has the capability to disguise itself as the Lian Li T1 Pitstop, which is a Mini-atx case with room for a full size power supply. Of course, no word on pricing, availability, or even if we’ll see this case in the US, but it’s a fun video to watch.

MySpace Music is trying another monetization trick, this time involving 30-second audio spots.  The experiment has been happeni...

Companies now spend $425 billion annually on contingent labor, which accounts for about 11% of the workforce, or 14 million people.

Tom Igoe got his hands on a Peppermill circuit board, and took it out for a spin:

Nicolas Villar sent me a sample of the PepperMill, a new sensor board he and Steve Hodges designed at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK. It's a nifty little board. You attach a DC motor and the board can an output voltage when the motor is turned, and analog signals telling you the direction and speed of the motor. It turns a DC motor into a rotary encoder, of sorts.

Wiring is very simple. The motor connects to the two spring connectors at the top of the board. Direction and Speed pins connect to two analog inputs on your microcontroller. Ground connects to your microcontroller's ground. The motor generates voltage when you spin it.

Check out Tom's article for circuit diagrams, source code, and information on obtaining a Peppermill board to experiment with. Using PepperMill to turn a motor into a sensor

(Tom is a member of the Arduino team and the author of Making Things Talk).

Making Things Talk
Our Price: $29.99
Programming microcontrollers used to require an expensive development environment costing thousands of dollars and requiring professional electrical engineering expertise. Open-source physical computing platforms with simple i/o boards and development environments have led to new options for hobbyists, hackers, and makers. This book contains a series of projects that teach you what you need to know to get your creations talking to each other, connecting to the web, and forming networks of smart devices.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arduino | Digg this!

Square Enix has applied to trademark Deus Ex: Human Revolution in Europe (#008862153). A quick scan of other international trademark bureaus hasn't revealed anything similar. As Siliconera notes, it could very well be the official name for the upcoming Deus Ex 3, but that may simply be a conspiratorial assumption based on logic.

Information on Deus Ex 3 is still quite scarce, with the little tidbits we do know highlighted by Square Enix handling CG cinematcs and that whole PC-exclusivity kerfuffle. Hopefully, this trademark signals that the Deus Ex prequel is ready to pull back the fiber-optic curtain.

[Via Siliconera]

Square Enix applies for 'Deus Ex: Human Revolution' trademark originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

He was an enigma, a man looking for a home, producing writing that was cryptic and full of longing.... the McSweeneys insisted that the use of the name was acceptable, even appropriate, given Timothy's background as an artist and search for connection and meaning through the written word. The real Timothy McSweeney, after whom Dave Eggers' website was named, has died. (hattip: Kottke)

A handy and easy to use desktop enhancement tool (read more)

Biofuel production in the US has met with fairly mixed success, as the cost and fossil fuel use of corn-based ethanol has severely cut into the benefits provided by avoiding the use of fossil fuels. It's been a somewhat different story in Brazil, which has embraced ethanol derived from sugarcane and seen more promising results. The government has set aggressive targets for both ethanol and biodiesel production, but a study that will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science later this week urges caution: unless the goals are met through an integrated agricultural strategy, they'll drive deforestation that will offset most of the benefits.

The study looked at the expansion of the two crops that are expected to drive biofuels growth in Brazil: sugarcane for ethanol, and soy beans for biodiesel. To reach the country's 2020 goals, there will have to be a major increase in the production of both of those crops. Even assuming major increases in the efficiency of their production (the authors assume an increase at double the rate of the past 20 years), there's simply no way to get there without expanding the amount of land devoted to farming them, and there's no way to do that without secondary consequences.

Biotech firm Cell Therapeutics is getting a snow day -- and a reprieve from what will likely be hars

Award-winning director (and three-time Oscar nominee) David Lynch (of Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks fame) and the David Lynch Foundation have teamed up with mobile video marketer Mogreet to bring video MMS messages to Lynch fans.

We spoke with Mogreet and the David Lynch Foundation about the technology, the purpose of the campaign and how the DLF is using social media and technology to further its message.

Spreading a Message With Mobile Video

The ever-increasing pace of smartphone adoption only underscores the growing importance of mobility. As we’ve seen with everything from mobile app stores to the Red Cross’s text message for Haiti campaign, mobile is an extremely valuable platform for brands and nonprofits to get their messages across.

Video is an important communication driver, too, and when you combine the two technologies together, you end up with something potentially amazing.

Last month, we wrote about Thwapr, a company that specializes in doing mobile-to-mobile video. We see mobile video messaging as something that’s only going to continue to grow, especially as more and more companies realize just how many users are able to actually view video on their phones.

One of the companies that is really focused on mobile video marketing is Mogreet. Mogreet works with companies so that they can send video MMS messages to users that request their information. Because virtually every mobile phone sold since 2005 or so can support MMS messages that include video playback, the potential audience for these sorts of messages is huge.

I spoke with James Citron, the CEO of Mogreet, and he told me that the company has more than 2,700 device profiles in its database, meaning that if you have a cell phone, chances are, it can play one of Mogreet’s video MMS messages. Each video is encoded in a variety of different formats and it is sent to phones in the best format for that phone, so that users of an iPhone get a different experience than someone using a Motorola Razr, but each user gets the best possible experience for his or her device.

While this has primarily been used for commercial advertisers, Mogreet is interested in getting into the non-profit space too, because that’s perhaps an even better market for this sort of service. Think about it, what if you could donate and then get a video message back showing someone who is helped by your donation saying thanks? Or what if you could see what is going on in Haiti or some other place that needs aid? The non-profit organization’s message might be that much more powerful. After all, images often speak louder than words.

To that end, Mogreet decided to work with the David Lynch Foundation and bring some of Lynch’s talents — and messages — to his fans.

David Lynch Goes Mobile

The David Lynch Foundation is dedicated to documenting programs that awaken creativity and transform lives. To that end, the foundation has a website, DLF.TV, that has lots of video content of David Lynch and of people the Foundation has helped, as well as of other artists and friends who have support the Foundation’s vision.

The first mobile video message that the DLF will be sending to fans is of a short film that Lynch directed featuring the musician and artist Ariana Delawari. Delawari’s debut album, Lion of Panjshir was recorded in Kabul and Los Angeles, and reflects the cultures of both places. Delawari’s decision to return to Afghanistan in 2007 to record the album influenced her work and its overall sound. Like Lynch, Delawari is a student of transcendental mediation and like Lynch, it has also influenced her life and her work.

Lynch directed a six-minute short showing off Delawari’s style and voice. The style is unmistakable Lynch, from the background to the sound mix to the camera angles. It’s also a piece that works well when viewing on the web or on a mobile phone.

To spread the word about Delawari — and to kick off a mobile-type of initiative — fans can text ‘LYNCH’ to 647338.

It’s an interesting approach to spread a message from an always-interesting director. It’s also something we expect to be a growing trend, especially as nonprofits start to embrace the power of mobile.

What do you think about mobile video? Are you a fan of David Lynch? What do you think of this initiative? Let us know!

Tags: david lynch, MMS, Mobile 2.0, video, video messaging, web video

Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby Says He Will Release Several "Holds" Used to Get Money for Home-State Projects

As Tiger Woods recovers from a car accident and contends with reports of philandering, Slate V imagines what the golfing great might be typing into that familiar white search bar.

An application that can capture images from HD FLV, MP4 and MOV Video (read more)

An easy-to-use peer2peer client (read more)

It seems odd that Apple execs would even hint at the possibility of an early price cut lest they give folks already on the fence about buying the first iteration of the device more reason to stay there.

This kid creates a rather impressive ball trick using an iPhone, HDTV, and a couple laptops.

With confetti and congratulations pouring down on him after Sunday's 31-17 Super Bowl XLIV ambush of the favored Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton- a guy who likes to celebrate -- said he wasn't sure he would make it to the traditional Monday morning winners' news conference.

Displays weather radar satelite information in the US....

This concept scale that doubles as a decorative rug might—might—be the thing to finally get me taking better care of myself. Designer Kwan Sunman's Rug With Scale project does away with...

The best team in the NBA is beginning to get healthy.