White Bean Soup

Wondering what to make for dinner? How about a tasty vegetarian soup with Mexican influences? Canned beans allow this soup to come together in under 30 minutes. Poblano chilies pack heat, but a dollop of sour cream balances out the spiciness.

Flavored with cumin and lime juice, this soup is best paired with an icy cold beer or a margarita on the rocks. Double the amount in the recipe and you'll have a great meal to serve while entertaining. Purchase store bought chips and a selection of salsas, then invite some friends over and call it a party.

Do You Share Your Bathroom?

Some of us are spoiled and have a bathroom all to ourselves, and others have to share with a significant (or insignificant) other. Regardless, those few square inches of counter and cabinet space that help us function every morning are valuable, and shouldn't be taken for granted.

St. John and Angelina Say Goodbye?

After her long day of doing good, Angelina was back in mommy mode in NYC yesterday. She headed to pick up Maddox with Z in tow, and judging from her name tag, it looks like Mad isn't the only one who's in school these days. We love that Zahara was keeping it real by rockin' her name tag even after class let out. As for Angie, OK Magazine is reporting that St. John is planning on ending their relationship with the actress who has been their gorgeous model since September 2005. It always seemed like an odd pairing but if the news is true, then we hope that means Angie will be wearing more color in the future. She certainly was looking fresh and happy in all white sporting some fabulous Louboutins.

Cool Idea: NYC's Floating Farm

Since more than half of the world's population now lives in cities, it makes sense that we try to grow more of that food within the cities themselves.

Enter the Science Barge. The barge uses a system of recirculating greenhouse hydroponics to grow tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and peppers. Hydroponics doesn’t use soil, and the barge irrigates with rainwater and river water. The Science Barge itself is powered with solar, wind, and biofuels.

Midday Muse: Serious Cathedral Ceilings

This church-turned-house in Brisbane, Australia, (via Desire to Inspire) gives new meaning to the term "cathedral ceilings," and it looks downright peaceful. How do you feel about high ceilings?

Chicken Pot Pie Two Ways - Beginner & Expert

The days are getting shorter, and I've noticed a cold nip in the air. While it's not yet time to bring out my boot collection, it is time to start making delicious comfort foods. Chicken pot pie, with its creamy filling and flaky crust, is one of my all time fall favorites. It's classic, retro, and soothing-to-the-soul. As tempting as it is to pop a frozen pot pie in the oven, why not take a few extra minutes to make your own homemade version? I've found two tasty recipes: one that comes together easily, and another that is much more challenging. Choose the one that best suits your needs and skills as a cook.

Paris Has A Swede New Import

Paris wasn't ready to let her newest boy escort her to the amfAR Rocks benefit in NYC last night but she met up with him at Butter later on for a few photo ops. We already knew that Paris likes her boys young and international but apparently rich is no longer on her list of requirements. She picked up her 22-year-old Swedish boy toy Alex Vaggo on a street corner outside of his $27 dollar per night hostel and he's already reaping the benefits of hanging out with Paris — she's even trying to score him a gig with Ford Models. Not too shabby for a guy who was just checking out a few of the sights in Hollywood. He'll definitely have a pretty sweet story to take home with him even if it doesn't work out with Paris.

Best Soccer Goal Shop

Soccer goal post is one of the major training aids for young ones when they start playing in their backyards and other open spaces they can find. This includes a net; a frame for supporting the net, the frame. Soccer goal can help youth soccer players improve their skills of targeting and enjoy playing more without retrievals. These goals have played a very positive role in training of the kids, future player. They are safe and portable.

Soccer Goals are made from different materials and come in different sizes (various heights, width, depth at the top and base at the bottom), cord thickness, and mesh sizes. The cost of a goal post is mainly determined by its size, the thickness of the cord and its quality.

If you have kids, they should be strongly encouraged to participate in sports and exercise as exercise is very beneficial to one’s mental and physical health. One sport that is known to be beneficial to one’s mental and physical health is soccer. Soccer also builds your leg strength and increase your concentration span. If you are looking for portable Soccer Nets or portable soccer goals for your kids to practise their soccer or hockey skills, you can purchase them from SoccerGoalzInc.com, a company that specializes in supplying top backyard portable Soccer Goals and roller / street hockey goals and equipment that are geared to training kids ages 6 and up at discount prices. Their brand of choice is Franklin Sports, a company that has been established for over 50 years and one that sells only good quality and affordable products.

When you are really into the game and want to train hard, some of these equipments including the rebounders can come in quite handy. I especially liked their 6 ft by 12 ft backyard soccer goal that would perfectly fit in with my plans. Any soccer fan can find the needed soccer equipments and Soccer Goals in there. They also provide a $10 flat rate shipping.

So if you are ready to pick up your soccer shoes, go in and get some goodies at Soccer Goalz Inc. A very good shopping site to bookmark:http://www.soccergoalzinc.com

Leafy Autumn Accents

In case you haven't noticed, I get really excited about the arrival of autumn. There's something about the crisp, cool air that makes me want to hang a festive but unfussy wreath and make spiced cider.

Of course, there's nothing more classically autumnal than images of falling leaves, so I've been scouting out some pretty fall accents with a leafy look. The best part about most of my picks is that while they look autumnal, they don't scream fall, so you can also use them year round. Check out my choices below and tell me what you think.

Cashmere Mafia Keeps Us Waiting

Lucy Liu and her Cashmere Mafia co-star Bonnie Somerville were dressed to the nines on the set in NYC yesterday. Patricia Field and the masterminds over at ABC must be hoping to use the characters' elaborate wardrobes to get our attention. It's worked before and therefore they are obviously being compared to the SatC ladies. We can't help but wonder what the shoe discussions would be like if all these working women ran into each other on their sets. Fall TV has just started but unfortunately we're going to have to wait until November to see Cashmere Mafia.

Cheese Board

I love cheese. It is one of my all time favorite foods. Whenever I host an impromptu dinner party, cheese inevitably makes it into the first course. However there is just one teeny weeny problem, I never know what to display the cheese on! My cutting boards are not exactly "party ready" and a plate doesn't do the cheese justice.

To remedy this problem, I've decided I need a cheese board — a little wooden board that I will only use to display and devour cheese. Can you help me find one? Search the web for a cheese board that is rustic and attractive. Nothing too showy, it should be a backdrop to highlight glorious cheeses. Save the boards in the Yum Market on TeamSugar with the keyword tag Cheese Board. I'm looking forward to browsing your finds!

GeekSugar has put together an explanation on how to use the fun bookmarking feature, so check it out to learn more.

Room Therapy: Missoni-style Bedspread

Welcome to the second posting of our new CasaSugar feature, Room Therapy, where users submit questions and you the readers help answer them. The questions can be about anything, from a decorating conundrum in your home to a coveted piece of furniture you can't find anywhere.

Today's question comes from PartySugar, who just moved into a new apartment. She says that she's feeling overwhelmed by her decorating needs. In particular, she's looking for a bright, Missoni-style bedspread that has a little less sticker shock.
To help PartySugar, leave a comment below, or create Casa Cravings for any products or web sites that you think would help. Just be sure to tag your Casa Cravings with the phrase "Missoni Bedspread." (Here's a post explaining what a Casa Craving is and how to create one.) Thanks! I can't wait to see what you guys come up with.

Paris Hilton Goes Leg & Underwear Shopping

Paris Hilton spent the afternoon shopping yesterday, including a stop at Agent Provocateur, which is a good call because it looks like she could use a bra. It doesn't look like Maggie G's saucy ads inspired her to buy anything though. It also would seem that she spent some time clutching her Blackberry Curve as she considered boots that are made to look like a bare leg wearing heels? What even are those? So bizarre, but something tells me if anyone would wear 'em it would totally be Miss Hilton. I'm sure she has room for them in her fitness room turned shoe closet.

Switched On: Touched by a hacker

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

I glanced at the clock, 1:36 PM. Perhaps I should not have gotten my hopes up. For weeks I'd been exchanging e-mail with an elite hacker who promised to speak with me about the latest attempt to free hardware from the shackles of manufacturers that bind it, sticking it to such companies by making their products more desireable.

Just then, Skype lit up like a flaming notebook battery. It was the notorious hacker 5m0kNcR4K. A shadowy figure in the videoconferencing window spoke in a disguised voice.

"I'm in ur Skype, grantin' ur interview. Do not try to identify me. By using advanced digital video effects, I have pixelated my facial image, put myself in silhouette, and added a big blue dot in front of my face."

"What video effect makes it look like you have bunny ears?"

"Oh, that's just a mask I picked up at Party City."

"We could have just spoken by phone, you know. Or just used VOIP. Besides, I thought we were set to talk at 1 PM."

"I thought 13:37 would be more appropriate."

Continue reading Switched On: Touched by a hacker

This Just In: Yanko Design Opens an Online Store

All you design junkies out there probably know Yanko Design, which is a great blog devoted to the modern aesthetics of technology, interiors, architecture, and industrial design. Now comes the news that Yanko has opened an online store filled with crave worthy designs.


Yanko partnered with a number of luxe brands, including Eva Solo and Umbra, to fill out its inventory. The store features everything from computer accessories to the Sumo Omni Lounge ($149, above left) I blogged about a while back and this very cool Rosendahl Wine Tube ($99, above right). Check out the shop and tell me what you think.

Motorola intros D7 / D8 MOTOLIVN landline phones

Wow, talk about being on a roll. Not even a week after unleashing the awfully-titled TLKR walkie-talkie, Motorola is gettin' even more platitudinal with its new duo of MOTOLIVN landline phones. Both units tout location-free bases, "eco-mode" for saving energy, ten ringer melodies, a built-in speakerphone, and up to ten-hours of talk time (100-hours in standby). The D7 is said to be available in silver with a blue-backlit screen, while the D8 range can be picked up in black or white and comes Skype-enabled for those interested. Both handsets look to be available right now in Germany, and while the D7 starts at €49.99 ($70), the D8 gets going at €69.99 ($97).

The New All-In-One Chat Tool imo.im

If you like accessing all your IM clients with meebo, imo.im is a new instant messaging tool that you can use to link your accounts as well as start chat groups.
It's especially good for Google users since Gtalk doesn't offer group chat functionality. Still in Alpha phase, don't expect imo to have a bunch of mind-blowing features just yet, although the company promises some in due time. via mashable

CZJ Goes Wild In Tokyo

Before setting off on her India movie-making adventure, Catherine Zeta-Jones showed off her No Reservations in Tokyo. She looked smokin' hot, as usual, but this dress has nothing on that fiery little red number she wore to the NYC premiere of the movie. Neither her costars nor Michael was by her side for this one, but that dress is exciting enough to carry the event all by itself. Not many women can pull of floor length animal print and still look classy, but CZJ is definitely one of them.

Who Looked Better in a Side Updo at The Emmy Awards?

I'm not so sure that I completely understand this hairstyle, but since both Kate Walsh and Heidi Klum usually look stunning, I am going to let it pass and even praise them for taking a beauty risk. Paired with their bold red lips and glamorous dresses, they stand out on the red carpet somehow seem to get away with this strange side updo. How do you feel about this hairstyle, and who do you think wore it better?

Add a Splash of Lime To Your Water

TeamSugar member aistea311 recently posted one of my favorite tips. I live by this one every day and definitely think it's worth mentioning.
To spruce up an ordinary bottle of water, add fresh squeezed lime juice. For extra kick, do like aistea311 and add a few packets of Splenda and a splash of club soda.
While it is a super simple tip, it's definitely one worth keeping in your repertoire. If you don't have fresh lemons or limes on hand, you should consider keeping a bottle of 100% lime or lemon juice on hand. I personally have both, and find that it's a nice treat to be able to spruce up my water. Plus, guests are usually wowed when they ask for water and you say, "plain, with lemon, or with lime?"

Who Wore It Better? French Connection Green Tie Dress

French Connection dresses are really popular these days! Lauren Conrad wore her green French Connection dress at LAX, while ex-professional wrestler Stacy Keibler wore hers at the French Connection celebrity styling event, as well as at a pre-Emmys party. I prefer the casualness of LC's ensemble. Stacy's looks too formulated with the peep toe pumps. Who do you think wore it better?


Bauer-Griffin & Source

Cat-spiration!

After a nice, relaxing weekend, Mondays can be a b*tch. But not if you have some cat-spiration to get you going. Like this furry dude, you, too can just do it!

DIY: A Mailing-Tube Wine Rack

If the wine racks for beginners I featured earlier today don't fit your look or your price range, then perhaps you'll be interested in this project from ReadyMade on how to make your own wine rack from mailing tubes. The process is ridiculously easy, and the results are surprisingly cute, so you can have a bevy of bottle storage in no time.

Bottle Pocket Wine Rack via ReadyMade

What You'll Need

• Cardboard mailing tubes (ours were 3 1/2" in diameter x 36")
• Paint (optional)
• Round color-coded stickers (optional)
• Plenty of wine
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Hand saw
• Sandpaper (200 grit)
• Paintbrush (optional)

For step-by-step instructions, read more

Words That Move You...

Sometimes all it takes are a few good words to get you moving...

“Go pump some neurons! Expand your craniums!”— Robin Williams, in “Mrs. Doubtfire”

Great quote, especially since exercise makes you smarter.

Source

Just Another Day At The Office For Cameron

Cameron Diaz looked all ready for a day at the office and then a picnic on the set of What Happens In Vegas. Her famous famous legs were mostly covered up, but still showed off her rocking body in those business-y/summery-y dresses. She may be keeping her options open these days with the menfolk, as she should, but I think the ol' career path is pretty much all set. Well, at least if this LA girl ever ends up with an office job (ha), she looks good in the wardrobe.

Definition: Faux Finish

Faux finishing is the art of using paint to create the illusion of texture or depth on otherwise flat surfaces, such as walls, furniture, and floors. The decorative painting technique has exploded in popularity in recent years, and you can now buy many different types of specialized brushes and glazes available to help achieve faux finishes.


There are a number of faux finish techniques, including sponge painting (above left), "ragging" or rag painting (right), and color washing. Faux finishes can also be used to replicate the look of a specific surface, such as leather, stone, cracked plaster, or gilded wood.

Source

Name That Dish!

This is a traditional Mexican dish whose main ingredient is Ilan Hall's guilty pleasure food. Do you know what it's called?

Samsung's BD-UP5000 HD DVD / Blu-ray combo player gets previewed

The folks over at HDGuru managed to spend a few quality minutes with Samsung's forthcoming hybrid player, and initial impressions look to be pretty positive. Granted, their BD-UP5000 was a pre-production sample, but they were mighty impressed with the BD-Java / HDi support, HDMI 1.3 functionality, and the Reon scaler chip within. During limited time with the player, the assortment of HD DVDs and Blu-ray films that they got to view "all looked spectacular, with every image appearing clean, crisp and sharp as a tack," and the "faster chapter changes and quicker entry into other menu functions" compared to previous generation units were highly praised, too. Overall, it seems that we've got a respectable combo player on the horizon for those not willing to choose a side, so be sure and give the read link a visit if you're too impatient to wait for a full-on review.

Paris Hilton Thinks You’re Retarded

Paris Hilton wants to have children of her own, and although she is open to adopting, she has no intention of that happening any time soon. “Someone just said that I’m adopting four blonde babies,” Hilton recently said in an interview. “That’s retarded. No, I’m not.”

She also makes it clear that she and “Entourage” star Adrian Grenier are “totally just friends,” saying he is like a mentor to her. Hilton then added: “I think it’s cool to talk to someone in L.A. who has more to talk about than all this artificial crap people talk about. It’s nice to talk to someone who’s real.”

IdeaFestival 2007: Tiffany Schlain Is An Apple Fangirl

Tiffany Schlain is obsessed with technology and the Internet, which makes perfect sense considering she’s the founder of The Webby Awards. We’re still waiting for ours, Tiffany. ☺ She’s here promoting her new film The Tribe, but her Apple fangirlism was quite apparent. She grew up in the Bay Area and her first computer was an Apple II, which coincidentally was equipped with a Disk II that was created by Woz (coverage on Woz coming in a couple hours). Her current arsenal includes a MacBook Pro and iPhone, which went off twice during her presentation. Her worst fears had come true at our expense. Heh.

Google Sponsors Robotic Race to the Moon

Google most certainly has a fascination with the space beyond the atmosphere of the Earth. After all, they recently launched the new addition to Google Earth called Google Sky (a virtual telescope), and they routinely work closely with NASA on various projects. Now they’re getting involved in outer-space another way, through a robotic race to the moon which they’re sponsoring called Google Lunar X Prize. The winner of the race will receive a whopping $20 million dollar prize with a $5 million dollar second prize, and $5 million in bonus prizes.

Getting a robot to the moon is no easy task, and Google along with the X Prize Foundation realize this. That’s why the first place prize can be awarded anytime between now and December 31st, 2012 - over 5 years from now. To obtain the first place prize, a team "must successfully soft land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon, rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters, and transmit a specific set of video, images, and data back to Earth." If no one is able to accomplish that task before the given date, the award will drop to $15 million until December 31st, 2014 when the contest would end.

After Google announced the race to the moon, Gearlog sat down with Google co-founder Larry Page to ask him about visiting space. He was asked if the race would be a "fulfillment of childhood fantasies" to which Page responded that he’d love to go to space. He said "I think everyone wants to go into space… if it’s easy, efficient, and affordable." Page was also asked how Google could contribute to this race other than sponsoring it, and he said "Our engineers are really excited about this. They put up this Moon product; you can see the old Apollo data really well, and that’s just great - as our technologists get excited about things…"

It makes sense now why Google launched a new version of Google Moon without the cheese. Remember the cheese? Not too long ago Google’s sense of humor was found on the surface of the moon. If you zoomed it as far as you could - this is what you’d see:

No joking anymore! Getting to the moon is serious business now, and Google along with the X Prize Foundation are hoping that this international competition will end up introducing us to low-cost ways of getting robots into space for exploration. As XPGeek said in the forum, the last time we were at the moon was "almost 40 years ago. That’s the farthest we have gone, and we haven’t been back since." I think it’s about time, don’t you?

Source: Reuters

The Terror Dream

Jane at FireDogLake recommends Susan Faludi’s latest book, The Terror Dream:

In The Terror Dream, Faludi has written what I think is an important work for the moment as we try desperately to extricate ourselves from an imperialistic foreign policy and politicians who are locked into a narrative where bellicosity is equated with strength.

Yep, that sounds very familiar. Anyway, being the voracious reader that I am, I’ll be picking up this book on Jane’s recommendation and look forward to the Book Salon on November 4th with Susan Faludi.

Don’t sweat copyrights, it’s good for the economy

Fair use exceptions to U.S. copyright laws is worth more than $4.5 trillion in annual revenue, or a sixth of GDP.

Do you buy it?

That tally is provided via a study commissioned by the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a bunch of firms that support fair use.

The report is well-documented, but I’d encourage you to read it for yourself with an emphasis on the methodology. Mike Masnick at Techdirt says it best: Reports from the BSA, RIAA and MPAA are blatantly one-sided in support of copyrights (they typically blare about piracy losses). However, this report coming from a group that includes Google, Yahoo and Microsoft is also one-sided.

In other words, the truth (as usual) is somewhere in the middle.

The CCIA says:

Companies benefiting from limitations on copyright-holders’ exclusive rights, such as “fair use” – generate substantial revenue, employ millions of workers, and, in 2006, represented one-sixth of total U.S. GDP.

Let’s give CCIA some credit for trying to quantify fair use’s impact on the economy. Unfortunately, the court system may not care. Copyrights feed into profit motive. Tell Viacom, which is suing Google over YouTube, that its copyright limits are for the greater good.

CCIA says:

In the past twenty years as digital technology has increased, so too has the importance of fair use. With more than $4.5 trillion in revenue generated by fair use dependent industries in 2006, a 31% increase since 2002, fair use industries are directly responsible for more than 18% of U.S. economic growth and nearly 11 million American jobs. In fact, nearly one out of every eight American jobs is in an industry that benefits from current limitations on copyright.

What’s notable about this report is that there are a lot of examples how fair use plays into every day capitalism. I’ll have to weed through the report in its entirety to figure out what makes sense. I encourage you to do the same.

Update: Weeding complete. Color me skeptical on this report and most industry backed studies. But honestly nothing I can write is going to be as good as Nick Carr’s missive. Here’s a sampling:

Even by the woeful standards of the bespoke research industry, this study is a crock of shit. It’s not just bad; it’s absurd. What the authors have done is to define the “fair-use economy” so broadly that it encompasses any business with even the most tangential relationship to the free use of copyrighted materials. Here’s an example of the tortured logic by which they force-fit vast, multifacted industries into the “fair use” category: Because “recent advances in processing speed and software functionality are being used to take advantage of the richer multi-media experience now available from the web,” then the entire “computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing industry” qualifies as a “fair-use industry.” As does the entire “audio & video equipment manufacturing” business. And the entire software publishing industry. And the entire telecommunications industry. And - hey, why not? - the entire insurance industry. Stock markets and commodity exchanges? Sure, throw them in, too.

Chris Crocker @ Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Everybody must be well aware of Chris Crocker’s complete meltdown on YouTube (it’s been viewed more than 8 million times) regarding the world picking on Britney Spears for her 2007 VMAs performance. He even scored a webcam guest spot on last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

Chris explained his behavior to Jimmy saying, “Britney Spears and I are] both beautiful women. More than that, we’re both underdogs. Everybody wants to be us. They accuse both of our breasts being fake.”

Apparently he’s been in touch with Britney’s camp and Jimmy tries to get Chris to admit it.

Chris, while adjusting his stuffed bra, joked: “You’re putting words in my mouth and that’s not what I want you to put in my mouth.”

Paris Hilton employs zoo keeper

Paris Hilton has so many pets she has to employ a zoo keeper to look after them all.

The socialite has a menagerie of animals, including dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits and monkeys, and she allows most of them to roam free around her house.

Due to her busy schedule, Paris has a keeper who cares for her beloved beasts when she is away from them.

She told Elle magazine: "My animals make me really happy. I just love my pets. I have 11 dogs, three ferrets, two rabbits, two monkeys and three cats.

"The monkeys and ferrets are at my ranch, but the dogs and cats and bunnies run around my house. I have this guy, Eric, who's like a zoo keeper, and he's with them all the time. He loves them, and I love them, too. But since I work a lot I'm not always home."

Paris got into trouble with California's animal authorities when she bought a kinkajou during a trip to Las Vegas in 2005.

The 26-year-old star was eventually forced to give up the racoon-like pet, which she named Baby Luv, after it was deemed to be illegal to own as a pet.

The same year, Paris was also allegedly forced to return a baby kangaroo after having it flown to the US from Queensland, Australia.

Her pets include a Rottweiler called Tyson, Rascal the Ferret and her famous Chihuahuas Tinkerbell and Bambi.

Articulating Laptop Stand

Not quite as elegant as some of the other laptop stands we have blogged about before, but the Thanko articulating laptop stand is definitely versatile. Adjustable into virtually any position for using your laptop while both seated or lying down, this stand also has a built in USB powered cooling fan to keep your machine cool.

How I Keep A Simple & Tidy Work Area

From Glenn Wolsey


I’ve been asked time and time again why my desk is so clean when I post a picture to Flickr, people tell me I should leave it the way it is and not ’stage’ the desk shots. Well, uhh, folks - that’s how my desk looks in a normal situation.

How I manage to keep such a tidy desk is something even I don’t know. It would be so easy to let things pile up and be working under a cover of books, paper, and stationary, but I don’t. I manage to keep the workspace clean and tidy and it usually stays that way. I think it could be down to my OCD problem, everything has to look right, be right, and fit in right.

There are a few things I can comprehend which I do to keep the workspace tidy. These include putting things away as soon as I’ve used them. Finished with a book? I put it away right away. When I’m packaging a parcel to send in the post, as soon as it’s done the tape and excess bubble wrap get put away in the cupboard. If my desk is not tidy, I find it difficult to work comfortably. A clean environment is critical for me to be productive and work well.

A reader by the name of Peter asked me this exact question last week, I think a shortened version of the answer to how I keep my workspace so tidy is my problem, that little problem called OCD.

Are you much like me? Is your workspace clean and tidy or messy and cluttered? How do you like to work?

PETA slams Paris Hilton.

Paris Hilton's love for pets is now bringing her a whole lot of problems.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has slammed Paris Hilton for growing too many pets.The socialite reportedly has around 25 pets at her home.PETA accuses Paris of wrongly influencing her young fans who consider carrying a pet in their laps as a fashion.Ingrid Newkirk ,PETA president has personally wrote a letter to Paris that reads,"Perhaps you and other vacuous stars need to tattoo 'Don't buy while pound pups die' on your foreheads to remind each other of that home truth."<

Google Pays NASA 1.3 Million to Land Jet

Apparently Google and NASA are best buds these days. Despite the fact that NASA’s Moffett Federal Airfield is off limits to private aircraft, they decided to allow Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s Boeing 767 plane land at their field. The reason Google’s co-founders want to land there is all a matter of convenience. You see, Moffett field is located in Google Land (a.k.a. Mountain View, California) which means when they land, it’s only a short drive (about 2 miles) to the Googleplex.

The clearance to land the Google Jet at Moffett Airfield didn’t come for free though, it’ll cost Page and Brin 1.3 million each year. And not only do they have to pay the parking fee, they’re also required to carry NASA scientists and equipment on the various Google planes. I suppose when both co-founders are worth $17 billion each, they have the money to splurge on a jet, and the fee to land at the airfield of their choice.

Below is a Google Map which shows just how close the Googleplex is to Moffett Airfield which helps to explain why Larry and Sergey wanted to make a deal with NASA.

It seems a bit ironic to me though, that Google focuses so much on "going green" with their Googleplex Solar Power Project, and their recent investment in green transportation solutions, yet they own 3 jets with one of them large enough to hold 180 passengers but modified to hold 50 passengers once "amenities" were added. Sounds like a waste of energy to me!

iPhone price drop leads to sales boost

Shocking, we know. As if the price drops on the PlayStation 3 weren't evidence enough that we all like our gizmos a bit cheaper, a new report from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster claims that iPhone sales skyrocketed shortly after the (hotly contested) price drops. According to his math, Apple needed to sell some 136,000 iPhones between September 5th (the day of the cuts) and September 9th (the day Apple claimed to have sold one million of its mobiles), which meant that 27,000 iPhones per day were getting unboxed in the five-day period. Comparatively, Munster approximated that Cupertino was unloading around 9,000 iPhones per day prior to the price cuts. 'Course, even Gene doubts that the recent sales surge will be able to hold steady, but we'd say the slashings have already had their desired effect.

[Via DailyTech]

Frankfurt Auto Show: Porsche GT2

Here in Frankfurt, Porsche downplayed the release of its new, batshit-mad 911 -- the GT2. Instead, boss Wendelin Wiedeking spent his keynote vehemently defending Porsche's environmental record in the face of Greenpeace allegations of extreme piggishness. He also asserted Ferdinand Porsche built a gas-electric hybrid in the early part of the century. Take that, Japanese! But for us the show was the rollout of the is the fastest and most powerful Porsche 911 ever homologated. The GT2 -- as we've mentioned before -- is the first 911 ever to hit 200+ mph from the factory, via a 3.6-liter flat six twin turbo producing 530 hp at 6,500 rpm, and maximum torque of 501 lb-ft from 2,200 - 4,500 rpm. Acceleration to 62 mph comes in just 3.7 seconds and the new top-dog 911 can hit 204. Bruce 1, Greens: DNF.

Paris wants a Kiwi bloke, says friend

Are Kiwi guys "hot"?

Apparently so, if Paris Hilton's judgement is anything to go by.

The hotel heiress might be coming to New Zealand and is apparently on the lookout for a Kiwi bloke, The Press newspaper reports.

Her friend Jessica Meisels, girlfriend of New Zealander Matt Halliday of the A1 grand prix series, said in Queenstown that Hilton had wanted to accompany her on her jaunt.

"She's definitely dying to come down to look for a nice Kiwi boy," said Meisels, who has known The Simple Life star since she was 14.

Halliday has turned chauffeur as he ferries around Meisels and Sopranos television star Jamie-Lynne Sigler, a surprise judge for this week's Cocktail World Cup in Queenstown.

Meisels and Halliday hit it off at a Champ Car World Series event in Las Vegas this year and now share a house in Malibu, California.

Firefox hits 400 million downloads

In less than three years, Mozilla's Firefox has amassed 400 million downloads. The whole shift towards using the Firefox web browser was sparked in November 2004 by a Spread Firefox campaign in which tens of thousands of users spawned 25 million downloads. The buttons and banners placed on websites took only a year to grab 100 million downloads, and a year later 200 million.

Now, three years, an award for most recognized brand and 400 million downloads later, Firefox is helping people surf the web better, faster and with a friendlier experience. If you want to be part of the next 400 million users to download the virus and spyware free browser, you too can add some Firefox love to your blog or website.

Canon 40D DSLR Specs Revealed

The Canon EOS 40D DSLR has now been official announced by Canon. As reported yesterday, the camera features a 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, large 3.0-inch LCD display with enhanced Live View, 6.5 frame-per-second continuous shooting capability, sRAW mode with a 35-zone metering system, and an integrated Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit.

Here’s Why
Although used sparingly until recently, I’ve found shooting at 3 frames per second on the 350D rather clunky and slow. It’s okay for portraits when I want to capture a few images to eliminate blinking, etc, but when shooting sports, 3-fps really doesn’t cut it. 6.5 frames per second is a much appreciated improvement over the 3-fps in the 350D, and the 5-fps in the 30D.

When spending a lot of time in the field I find myself reviewing shots on a constant basis to check focus, aperture, and exposure. The enhanced 3-inch LCD screen with LiveView appears perfectly suited to aid in checking shots while (and after) shooting an image.

The Canon 350D performs rather poorly when pumping the ISO speed to 800 and above, I find this very inconvenient when shooting with slower glass in low light situations - grain is very apparent with shots at ISO 800, I don’t even want to get into ISO 1600. With the new Digic III processor, I’m hoping for much cleaner shots when shooting with a raised ISO speed.

The final feature I’m excited for is Auto ISO. When entering this custom function you have the ability to choose a desired shutter speed, and the camera will automatically adjust your ISO speed on the fly to keep your desired shutter speed in tact while keeping exposure even. Very, very handy if you’re shooting an important event and want a constant shutter speed without worrying about the ISO speed.

When & Why
Priced at $1299, it’s expected to ship on September 20th. I will not be placing a pre-order as I have a habit for purchasing technology on impulse. Instead, I’ll be putting a little away each month and picking it up over New Year 08 (I hope). The Canon 40D is everything I want in a DSLR.

City Scape

It’s strange to think that the city was once my playground.
Smells of strangers. Coffee. Darkness. Music. Money.
Walking past places reeking with intimacy now grown cold.

The bench. Sitting, truanting, smoking stolen cigarettes.
The tree. Kneeling, gasping, puking hours of ingested alcohol.
The cafe. Standing, stressed, queuing for my coffee before work.
The ring shop. Leaning, lonely, wondering if I’d ever get married.

The city. Her streets. Her buildings. Her facades. Her dark alleys of colourless secrets. For years, she mocked my unhappiness. My doubt. My confusion. Obscuring me from myself. For years, she made me believe that running away was the only way.

But now I stand. I walk hand in hand. My fingers curled inside his. My lips brushing his shoulder. My hot cheeks spirited in the winter’s air. I feel strong. Firm and sure. Beyond the dizzying heights of happiness.

Life is here. The past is gone. Life is now.