Ford SmartGauge Makes 2010 Hybrids Even Prettier

When the new Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid roll out in 2010, they will come equipped with a new Ford SmartGauge instrument panel. A conventional speedometer occupies the center, but it is flanked on either side by video screens shown your EcoGuide. How are you using that power? What’s your current MPG? You know, that kind of stuff.

Burnout Paradise ‘Party’ DLC, Ultimate Box Revealed

Continuing the trend of regularly scheduled downloadable content releases for Burnout Paradise, developer Criterion Games has just revealed details on the first additions for the new year, dubbed “Party.”

The premium DLC will add a hotseat multiplayer mode to the game, allowing
for group gameplay with a single controller. The pack also includes an
altered aesthetic for this special mode.

There is no word on whether any of the current multiplayer modes will be incorporated into
this Party mode, but as most of them require more than one person’s car
competing against another, I can’t imagine how that would work.

The Party pack is scheduled for release on the Xbox Live Marketplace and
PlayStation Network in February 2009. Criterion has yet to reveal how
much this round of DLC will cost.

Additionally, Criterion revealed the impending release of the Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box.

This updated retail release of the game will contain all the content of the
original boxed copy, alongside all downloadable content released up
until that point.

No price has yet been established for the Ultimate Box, but it will hit retail shelves roughly around the same time that the Party DLC reaches your online-enabled consoles.

Tomb Raider: Underworld Demo

Eidos Interactive has released a playable demo for Tomb Raider: Underworld (direct link), allowing you to try out the PC version of this action game by Crystal Dynamics.

Word is: ” “The demo will have players travelling to the western coast of Thailand – the second destination in Tomb Raider: Underworld – to experience a taste of the adventure that is to come. Gamers can master steep coastal cliffs, navigate perilous and crumbling ruins, evade vicious wild animals and use state-of-the-art gear such as the grapple or the new Field Assistance System to create and uncover paths that will take players deep into the challenging wilds of Thailand.”

The 1.5GB download is mirrored on AtomicGamer, AusGamers,

CGO.ro, FanGaming, FileFront, FilePlanet, GH, GWelt.

Retrial Date Set in RIAA v. Thomas

A federal judge tentatively has set (.pdf) a March 9 retrial date in the Jammie Thomas music file sharing case. Of about 30,000 cases the Recording Industry Association of America has lodged against peer-to-peer users, the Thomas case was the first and only one to go to trial.

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King’s Head returning Home

Ghana is demanding that the Dutch return the head of King Badu Bonsu II. The head is kept in a preserving jar in a department of the University of Leiden. It’s likely that the Netherlands stole the head in Ghana in the 19th century out of revenge for the murder of two Dutchmen.

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SecondLight:demo at PDC 2008

PCPro has posted a video of this awesome SecondLight demo at PDC 2008. SecondLight works by projecting two different images from beneath the table. The table surface itself is formed of a liquid crystal display that switches between frosted and transparent states when electrical voltage is passed through it. By rapidly flicking the screen between the two states, the table appears as permanently diffuse, displaying an image like an ordinary Surface table. The screen is, in fact, transparent for half the time. And during these periods then second image is beamed on to the paper, confusing the eye into believing it’s seeing two images simultaneously. Using an infrared camera, the secondary “display” can also be used as a multitouch surface. What’s more, it can display video.

Obama autograph on toast ?

Odd as it might be it kind of looks like it …???

Check it out here

Crystal 007 tattoo

British actress Judi Dench arrives for the Royal World Premiere of the 22nd James Bond film Quantum Of Solace in London, with a crystal 007 tattoo on her neck

Half a million to become a “Real-Life Barbie”

Former Bunny Girl Sarah Burge has spent half a million pounds turning herself into a real-life Barbie doll.

The 49-year-old housewife and beautician from St Neots, in Cambridgeshire has spent £539,500 transforming herself – breaking the world record previously held by American Cindy Jackson.

The half-million pound costs include: £32,000 have her whole face lasered to remove a layer of skin to give it a more youthful look; £26,500 on perfecting her bust – including having it reduced and the nipples moved; £30,000 keeping her jawline firm; nearly £15,000 on her tummy; and £14,000 on keeping her bottom pert.

She has become a walking advert for the surgeons who carried out work on her – sometimes they’ve even carried out procedures free.

When she married husband Tony three years ago, she dressed as a Barbie bridge in a pink gown and veil
Sarah said: ‘It’s addictive – you find yourself wondering what you can have done next? It’s not that I’m unhappy with the way I look – I’ve always been confident about my appearance.

‘That’s why I want to keep my body and face as they are. All the work I’ve had done has been to stop the ageing process.’

A realistic robot head that can mimic human facial expressions

Robotics engineers at the University of Bristol, UK, have been grimacing a lot recently, thanks to their copycat robotic head, Jules, which can mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of a human being.

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