Engadget has a blurb claiming that Apple has announced that iTunes 4.9 will have one-click subcriptions and iPod syncs to podcasts without the need for 3rd party apps. While that functionality will be nice, this could mean the end of some free podcasts.

Here’s an article and slideshow of the user interface of the X360. I like the “Arcade” idea where you pay a couple of bucks to get little games like Bejeweled.

On April Fool’s Day this year, Scientific American had a great satirical concession speech on their recant of evolution. From the article:

Nor should we succumb to the easy mistake of thinking that scientists understand their fields better than, say, U.S. senators or best-selling novelists do.

I’ve posted before (1, 2) about the $25 million Creation Museum set to open near Cincinnati, Ohio. Yesterday’s Cincinnati Enquirer has a long profile of founder Ken Ham. In the article, Jerry Falwell says that Ham is “the most informed creationist in America” and that the museum is “going to be a mini-Disney World.” From the Enquirer article, here are a few of Ham’s beliefs:

• Earth is about 6,000 years old, a figure arrived at by tracing the biblical genealogies, and not 4.5 billion years, as mainstream scientists say.
• The Grand Canyon was formed not by erosion over millions of years, but by floodwaters in a matter of days or weeks.
• Dinosaurs and man once co-existed (see above photo), and dozens of the creatures – including T-rex – were passengers on the ark built by Noah, who was a real man, not a myth.

Zip-Linq is a company that specializes in retractable cables. It looks like they have everything from phone, pda, iPod chargers, USB, ethernet, etc. It looks like a good idea. Has anyone used them?

Morrowind is the best RPG for Xbox. This is undisputed (or should be). While there is a main quest, it doesn’t have to be completed. The game has a non-linear structure, which makes it a little more like a tabletop RPG. Perhaps the best feature of its non-linearity is that you can do whatever you want. In my game, I did 50% side quests, 20% main quest, 30% exploring. By contrast, Crabby did 10% main quest, 15% side quests, and 75% burgling. Watch your wallet around her.
Anyway, Oblivion is the 4th installment in the Elder Scrolls world. It will be out for PC and X360 and it looks stunning. Boomtown has a preview. The article has this to say about the new physics engine:

We were also shown a scene in which the hero shot an arrow at a bucket hanging on a strap. Not only do did the arrow get stuck in the bucket, making it swing from side to side, it was also retrievable. And even cooler, the arrow made the bucket tilt to the side because of its own weight.

Above image pre-op.

Lara Croft (the video game character, not the movie character) gets a breast reduction for the next installment of Tomb Raider. From AFP:

British computer game firm Eidos, which created Croft, has changed her physique to one less likely to put off female players. In the soon-to-be-released “Tomb Raider: Legend,” the eighth title to feature Croft, her DD-size bust has been reduced to a more modest C-cup and some of her more revealing outfits have been ditched, the report said. The adventurer even sports a modest round-neck sweater with full arms for part of the game, the paper added.

No… that’s a good idea. The game sucks on its own, so it makes sense to get rid of the one gimmick (or two) that sells it.

Everyone knows how obsessive Japan is with toilet technology. I don’t know what any of it means, but it’s kind of funny. They really want you to buy this toilet.