Photron is a company that makes high-speed movie cameras. They have a flash gallery of some of the movies taken by their cameras. They might take a while to load even though the filesize is small, but some are very cool. Check out the golf ball and especially the water balloon movies.

From the Slashdot article:

You can put away your Sharpies, because Sony has launched a new CD copy protection scheme that is actually designed to be easily cracked: The copy-protection technology is…far from ironclad. Apple Macintosh users currently face no restrictions at all. What’s more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a back door measure on how to work around the copy protection.

Engadget has an article about a cellphone for young kids. There’s one button to call mom and one button for dad. Look at the image of the buttons. What about kids of gay parents? When they need to make a call, kids are going to have to decide which parent is more fem?

Gizmodo has a blurb about a new airbag design from Toyota using two airbags instead of one to better distribute impact. That’s all fine and good, but look at that thing. It’s shaped like an arse. It’s even skin-colored and has a dimple. I can see the ads now… 2006 Camry Atomic Sit-up Edition.

Why did it take so long to develop a one-handed keyboard?!? This should have the porn industry doggying it 100%! Clickity here…

Ecommerce sites use your personal info to charge you more. From the article on the EFF site:

CNN has a report detailing an unsavory practice euphemistically called “price customization.” In short, websites examine the web data you automatically shed (cookies, IP address, etc.) so they can charge you a different price for a product or service depending on your “identity” and shopping habits.

The article cites “a retail photography Web site charging different prices for the same digital cameras and related equipment depending on whether shoppers had previously visited popular price-comparison sites” and “one [Amazon] buyer [who] deleted the electronic tags on his computer that identified him as a regular customer and noticed the price of a DVD changed from $26.24 to $22.74.”

Florida judges are tossing out DUI cases when defendants ask to see the source code for the breathalyzers that busted them. The manufacturers won’t turn over the source, and since the machine’s correct operation is critical to establishing the case against the DUIers, the case is dismissed when it can’t be produced. From the article:

All four of Seminole County’s criminal judges have been using a standard that if a DUI defendant asks for a key piece of information about how the machine works – its software source code, for instance – and the state cannot provide it, the breath test is rejected.

Apple announced that if you bring in your old iPod to an Apple store, they’ll recycle it and give you a 10% same-day discount on the purchace of a new iPod.