Exploding Cell Phone Didn't Kill Man Afterall

So it turns out the story that broke this week that a man in South Korea was killed by an exploding cell phone was fabricated. Now, let's think about this story and figure out for a second just how you could possibly claim that an exploding cell phone killed a guy when... you killed him by backing up a "drilling vehicle." I'm no forensic expert and I admittedly don't watch much CSI, but it seems like a pretty terrible cover up to me - which I guess is why it was discovered so quickly. The LG factory where both workers were employed has released a statement that claims the company knew from the start that an exploding cell phone was not the cause of the worker's death.

Read the full story at Wired News.

Verizon Moves Towards 4G Network

Verizon has announced that it has begun developing a 4G wireless network. Not only is this good for competition in the U.S. wireless market (which isn't exactly cut-throat), but it means consumers will have access to 100 mbps down and 50 mbps up speeds. Of course, none of this means much until they start churning out 4G handsets which is projected to start happening around 2009.

Read the entire article at Yahoo News.

Proposed U.S. High Speed Rail Projects Increase

Mass transit and high speed rail in particular is cleaner than driving, faster, and cheaper per mile. So why hasn't it taken off sooner? Well for starters, the projects have incredible start-up costs, and some of the tech still has some kinks being worked out. According to the story, the cost of a high-speed train line is $5 - $100 million per mile. With that being said, we'd love to hop on a train and go 400 miles in about 3 hrs.

It looks like most of the proposed projects won't open for about a decade (if ever), but here's to hoping the rest of the country doesn't become a parking lot like L.A. prior to that time.

Read the whole article and check out a list of all the proposed routes at Popular Mechanics

Google Foundation Pours Money Into Renewable Energy

Cheaper than coal renewable energy is the latest initiative from Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the ever expanding search engine company based in Mountainview California. Already a supporter of solar power, it seems that the next step for Google is push for solar thermal energy. It has been reported that Google.org will spend "tens of millions" of dollars on the initiative in 2008 alone.


Read the whole story at the BBC

Amazon's Customers Vote Contest

Amazon is currently running a contest and where you can win the chance to buy stuff from them at a very steep discount. The odds you will win are probably zero, but the chance to buy cool swag at a crazy steep discount is worth the 2 minutes it takes to fill out a contest entry - especially if you already have an amazon account.

Here's how it works: 1) go to amazon and vote on your favorite product for each of the six product smack downs the company is offering, 2) come back the day the winners are announced, 3) if you pick the product that wins (hint, you can click to see the current leaders) then you are entered into the drawing to be one of the lucky bastards who can pick up the gear on the cheap and flip have it for yourself.

The product showdowns are as follows:

Thurs Nov 22: Nintendo Wii ($79) v. Xbox 360 (arcade) ($219) v. Playstation 3 (40gb) ($319)
Fri Nov 23: Panasonic L1 SLR ($499) v. Panasonic SD-1 Camcorder ($299) v. Panasonic FX-30 ($74)
Sat Nov 24: Jakks Cyclops ($14) v. Leapfrog Clickstart ($17) v. Razor E100 ($29)
Sun Nov 25: Toshiba HDDVD ($149) v. Samsung Blu-Ray ($149) v. Tivo HD ($89)
Mon Nov 26: HP Laptop ($299) v. Magellan GPS ($99) v. 1 ct diamond earrings ($499)
Tues Nov 27: Samsung 46" HD TV ($719) v. KitchenAid Mixer ($69) v. Roomba 4110 ($69)

There is also a link to the promotion's website on the Amazon.com main page.

Which promotion would all of you out there most like to win?

Oprah's "Favorite Things" Features Tech/Gadget Additions

Personally I can't stand Oprah or her show, but her yearly million dollar gift give away occurred this week (see full list here). Notable tech additions to this year's list include:

Samsung SC-HMX10C Progressive HD Camcorder ($739.99)

LG LSC27991 HDTV Refrigerator ($3,409)

Now for the real question... does anyone base their buying habits on what Oprah considers her favorite things? Of course the answer is yes - or else marketers are getting raped buy lining her pockets with hundreds of millions each year to advertise on her empire.