South Korean commandos stormed a chemical freighter that had been hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean last week, rescuing all 21 captives while killing eight pirates and capturing five more, according to officials in Seoul. The raiding party boarded the ship in the pre-dawn darkness this morning, systematically…
Continue reading …President Barack Obama is restructuring his economic advisory board to place an emphasis on job creation, and he is naming General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt as its new head. The new board, called the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, will replace the former Economic Recovery Advisory Board that had…
Continue reading …Nejdra Nance—or, as her biological parents know her, Carlina White—has been reunited with her real family after 23 years , but the story is far from over. While her appearance answers a lot of questions for her biological family and Nance herself, it raises others—the most pressing of…
Continue reading …Recruiting and training replacements for gay service members discharged under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy cost the Pentagon a whopping $193 million from 2004 to 2009, according to the Government Accountability Office. The analysis found that 1,442 of the 3,664 service members dismissed for being gay…
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Photo courtesy Marty Odlin from a trip to Ghana in 2009. There’s no question that TreeHugger loves bamboo bikes. We’ve shown readers bamboo bikes of every stripe – high performance bamboo bikes , high statement bamboo bikes , and even DIY bamboo bikes. And though we explained why bamboo bikes are
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When your core business is as wrapped up in emerging markets as Nokia’s is, then you’d better know a little something about KIRFs — those cheap handset clones that our Chinese friends can often stamp out faster than the time it takes for Nokia to ship a handset after its announcement. Nokia executive board member, Esko Aho, says that one out of every five cellphones now sold around the world (primarily in Asia, Latin America, and some parts of Europe) is an illegal or unlicensed clone. We’ve certainly seen more than our share when browsing the Shenzhen markets of China. Gartner claims the number to be even higher than 20 percent. While we poke fun at KIRFs around here for their shoddy software, comically similar branding ( Nokla !), and cheapo materials, they’ve clearly become a very serious issue for top-tier cellphone manufacturers. How serious we’ll see on January 27th when Nokia announces its fourth quarter results. One out of every five cellphones sold is a KIRF, says Nokia originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 07:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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A Texas elementary school teacher is on leave after being accused of taping a first grader’s mouth shut. (Jan. 21)
Continue reading …A Norwegian teen has hard-rockers Creed to thank for saving his life. The 13-year-old says he was walking from school and headed to his family’s farmhouse on Monday when he stumbled upon four wolves. “I was afraid they would attack me,” Walter Eikrem says, but instead of fleeing, he blasted…
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When first we saw Fujisoft’s PALRO robot doing its thing we were charmed but, as it didn’t speak English, we had to adore it from afar. No longer. The little critter has obviously mastered our language quite quickly and can be seen below chatting with an even more robotic humanoid about such idle things as the weather, career aspirations, and just how great PALRO is. How great is PALRO? PALRO is really great — but humble. Inside that barrel chest is a full-fledged PC with an Atom Z530 processor, 4GB of flash storage, and an Ubuntu kernel keeping everything in check. It’s available as ever for educational and research institutions for about $3,600, but we’re trying to get one ourselves. If we can get it to type prepare yourselves for many more posts about software based on real Japanese cutting-edge technology. Continue reading PALRO robot masters English, will never shut up again (video) PALRO robot masters English, will never shut up again (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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