Content and news by Rob Williams

Welcome to your next post-apocalyptic adventure. Taken place after the Chernobyl power plant disaster, this game effectively mixes the FPS and RPG genre together, and does so quite well.

The briefs are purportedly constructed with threads made of silver, which the company claims will fend off harmful cellphone radiation; moreover, in an effort to really prove just how effective these undergarments are, it suggests that phone calls originated within the confines of your new underwear simply won’t connect.

Nothing like starting off a new week with one weird story, right?

Source: Engadget

But now, Flickr, you have upset Malingering. And Malingering isn’t as nice as Rebekka, and she doesn’t take photos like Rebekka, and she’s much more bitter when she gets screwed over. So Malingering gets home from work yesterday to find that her photos have been deemed unsafe.

Flickr seems to have gone nuts with censoring, as none of the photos shown here could be labeled improper by even the most rabid pervert. I can’t say I regret never signing up here.

Source: LAist

There was a lot to see at Maker Faire 2007 — too much, really — but if you’re obsessed with robots like we are, this was THE place for you. Seriously, the last time we saw this many robot kits, sculptures, warriors, and automatons, we woke up in a cold sweat fearing the very destruction of mankind.

If you are a fan of robots or build them yourselves, chances are you were at this convention. But if you weren’t, Engadget has got you covered.

Source: Engadget

Down Under at the Bubbles ‘n’ Babes car wash in Brisbane Australia, you can get a car wash from a naked woman and a lap dance, but it’ll cost you a cool $82. If that’s too much money for you, you can get the nude wash minus the up-close-and-personal element for $45. The establishment is owned by a strip club owner (shocking…we know), and it uses recycled water to keep in compliance with strict usage rules brought on by a prolonged drought.

+1 to the list of reasons I need to visit Australia. Of course I am kidding. $82 is a little extreme, any way you look at it. But hey, kudos to Australia.

Source: Autoblog

MadTux and Vector Linux today announced a Linux PC for the rock-bottom price of $139. The “Vector Linux Affordable Performance PC” comes with a 1.5GHz processor, 256MB RAM, 13.5GB hard drive, graphics and networking interfaces, and preinstalled Vector Linux, but requires a user-supplied monitor and keyboard.

It’s hard to beat $139 for a PC of any sort, let alone a full-fledged one.

Source: Desktop Linux

The Optimus keyboard we have been promised for quite a while is almost here. According to their website, the pre-orders should be commencing soon. If you have $1,500 to spare for a keyboard, this one is made for you.

Source: Artemy Lebedev

Don’t have anything planned for this weekend? Then why not make a few spare wallets, using items you might have laying around the house — or not.

As you would expect from TechEBlog, these are some weird wallets. The best would have to be the wallet modeled out of an NES controller. How geeky you would have to be to use that in public.

Source: TechEBlog

Unfortunately, the press release mentions that it’ll require a little soldering of wires in order to get the little box that clips on the back into a working state. Most people won’t find that fun, but then again most people wouldn’t find the idea of accidentally injecting code that kills their Wii fun either.

Yes, you need to get a little dirty but it would be worth it if you are wanting to hack your Wii. Seriously, how many nights could you waste toying with it?! Pricing is unknown… as is the method to actually purchase it.

Source: Engadget

It was also noted that people within Dell can now officially start discussing the desktop Linux situation with customers. It’s great to see this initiative being followed through on so quickly. I was hoping for a bit more than three models, but what’s more important right now is how those three models are actually rolled out.

Yes, indeed it is a good thing. Dell mentioned that expectations for the systems is less than 1%, so it’s no wonder they are not gung ho about things. Who knows, it might just surprise everyone.

Source: Linux Questions

Google has licensed technology that will enable Google to map out 3-D versions of cities world wide. According to a Mercury News report, the technology was developed by a team of Stanford University students and was used to run a robotic car that won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.

Google might just be looking to put all GPS systems to shame. If there was the ability to save such maps to a laptop so that you can actually use it on the go, it would prove an invaluable tool.

Source: Tech Crunch

Mac OS X is a great operating system out of the box, but a few simple customizations can make it even better. OS X ships with some odd and sometimes inconvenient default settings, and it’s got a few nifty little perks for power users who enable them, no third-party software required.

Is it just me, or have top ten lists recently exploded in popularity? My favorite from the list would have to be the tab key enable. How such a useful feature could be turned off by default is strange.

Source: Lifehacker

Oh brother, this is getting to be routine. Julie Amero has hung in limbo since January waiting for the Connecticut DA to either put up ( and put her away for up to 40 years ) or shut up and let her return to picking up the pieces of her shattered life. Her conviction on 4 felony counts came after an unprotected classroom computer running Windows 98 began spewing porn pop-ups.

It’s hard to not feel bad for this woman. As we reported back in February, Julie had porn pop-ups run rampant on her computer during class time. Most reasonable people blame the lack of firewalls and the old OS, but of course the courts don’t see it that way.

Source: Download Squad

I have just heard from a VERY trusted source that Google is buying Feedburner in order to get into the rapidly evolving RSS Ad market. The delay in announcing the deal, I am told is solely due to the delay in closing out the DoubleClick deal.

Yes, this is just in rumor status. It would make sense for a lot of reasons though. Most notably the one with regards to Google wanting to own everything.

Source: Vecosys

Widely considered to be the birth of SIlicon Valley, the garage (along with the rest of the property) was snapped up by HP in 2000 to the tune of $1.7 million, and underwent an extensive restoration in 2004 — apparently one of the steps necessary for it to gain landmark status.

Quite impressive! If you happen to be in the Palo Alto area, you can drive by to check it out. I mean drive by as it’s not open for regular visitors. It’s noted that there are occasional tours however.

Source: Engadget

Over the past few days, Blizzard’s official site has been running a strange promotional story. Each day they’re updating with a different title from the company’s past. Starting with WarCraft: Orcs & Humans, released in 1994, the site’s progress is currently up to World of WarCraft, released in 2004. The only thing left is a glowing question mark.

Blizzard gave themselves away, but it’s sure to be intentional. Heading to Starcraft2.com will redirect you to their official website, which shows a time line of all the games they created. Can you hear that? It’s SC fans the world over cheering in unison.

Update: Now it’s even more official.

Source: IGN

LimeWire, the peer-to-peer software that has turned this mild-mannered engineer into the music industry’s most-wanted geek. According to the NPD Group, in Port Washington, N.Y., LimeWire is the leading peer-to-peer (P2P) program—with 62 percent of the transaction share, ahead of programs such as BitTorrent and Kazaa.

I had assumed that BitTorrent was the predominant file sharing application, but LimeWire has that beat by a landslide. If the RIAA succeeds, it will go the way of the dodo. I am not sure what Judge will take the $150,000 per song violation request that seriously though.

Source: IEEE Spectrum

A hacker group known as NoPE somehow managed to create a cracked Windows Vista DVD that works immediately, out of the box, with no serial number or activation keys required.

Let’s face it. Vista has been out for almost four months now, so it’s no surprise that completely hacked versions will now exist. This is yet another example that nothing will stop the cracker.

Source: Gizmodo

Microsoft is acquiring advertising network aQuantive, the parent company to Avenue A | Razorfish, Atlas and DRIVEpm, for roughly $6 billion in an all-cash transaction, the company said this morning. aQuantive is a public company (AQNT) and had a market cap of just $2.8 billion as of yesterday.

The “big-three” seem to be in a buying war. Google bought Doubleclick just last month, then Yahoo! purchased RightMedia in the same month. aQuantive must have some apparent draw for Microsoft to pay twice as much as Google paid for the well known Doubleclick.

Source: Tech Crunch

A new record was set for work by Andy Warhol when a painting of a car crash sold for $71.7m (£36.3m) in New York. The 1963 painting, Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I), depicts an overturned car on fire. It easily beat the previous auction record for work by the pop art pioneer, set last November when a painting of Chairman Mao sold for $17.4m (£8.8m).

How much money or how little self esteem would you need to plop over $71m for a painting? I admit I am no art major, but I certainly can’t see what it is that makes this painting worth so much.

Source: BBC News