This week, we have usual healthy mix of content from Blu-ray releases again. The line-up, however, is anything but 'usual' because we have blockbusters that star big shots ranging from Adam West, Clint Eastwood, Keanu reeves, and Leonardo DiCaprio. You can check out what these flicks are by clicking on the jump!

Dr. Tanya Byron has raided airwaves again with her latest endeavor with video games. After her six-month review of game violence, she was able to write and front a BBC TV show wherein she linked playing video games to heroin addiction. More details can be found in the full article.

Ever wonder why cell phones are advised to be turned off inside the hospital? Basically, that unassuming piece of communications equipment can kill. Not by radiation (a different matter entirely), but by the interference it causes other hospital equipment. In the worst cases, the interference can cause hazardous situations.

A study in the University of Amsterdam found effects of cell phone interference in 26 different hospital equipment. Some 48 kinds of disruptions were found, more than a half of them hazardous. Although the research studied "worst-case" scenarios, it asserts that hospitals should restrict cell phone usage in areas where it won't affect equipment.

Some effects weren't alarming, like causing monitor displays to display some interference, but others were potentially dangerous. Some of the effects they found include inaccurate measure of blood pressure, a mechanical ventilator completely switching off and then restarting, syringe pumps totally shut down without warning and without setting off an alarm, and causing an external pacemaker to pulse incorrectly.

The research suggests that cell phones should be used about a meter away from medical equipments or hospital beds.

Vending machines that churn out bicycles are starting to get a foothold in Europe. This initiative could help lessen traffic as well as pollution in urban environments.

To rent a bike, customers can just pay a small fee to get one from a bike dispenser. They would then be able to ride it wherever they pleased and then return it to another bike machine at or near their destination. For security, the bikes will come loaded with RFID tags to prevent people from running off with them.

The Via link below leads to a website for a bike dispenser in Amsterdam. France is also reportedly getting in on the whole bike vending idea, and the initiative is also set to be put on a trial run in London.

 

Back in the day, in some backwater places, only the cool kid gets to have a gaming system. Today, it's either you've got the latest high-end console or you prefer sticking to retro. In other words, video games can almost measure your machismo. People in Amsterdam have a similar idea - the PSP in the Netherlands is a fashion statement.

Some models during the Amsterdam Fashion Week walked the ramp carrying PSP units with "Go! Cam" attachments. We do not know if Sony is behind this, but we can say that a portable 1.3 megapixel camera with a microphone, 180-degree rotating lens, and huge capacity that can hold 40,000 images and about 2 1/2 hours of video is very sexy. Oh, the models are pretty hot too.

Here's a switch: Chimps in the dense jungles of Congo seem to have gotten tired if being preyed upon by lions, leopards and other big cats, so they decided to eat the big cats instead.

It may be hard to believe stories chronicled by the area's natives about giant chimps howling at the moon and preying on deadly predators, but biologists and animal trackers from the University of Amsterdam were able to get to the truth and they discovered a lot of strange new things.

Once thought of as a hybrid of gorillas and chimps, this newly-discovered specie is actually more of a bigger and bolder version of their better-known cousins that we're familiar with. They've never been seen hunting lions, but they were photographed feasting on the carcass of a grown leopard.

What's even more riveting was the culture that these animals have. They sleep on the ground and not high up in trees. They use large nests which are easily accessible by other beasts but seem confident in their way of resting.

"I don't like to paint them as being more aggressive, but maybe they prey on some of these predators and the predators kind of leave them alone," comments biologist Cleve Hicks as he tries to find a reason on the seemingly complacent practice.

He was even more amazed at the fact that these chimps weren't afraid of humans. Instead of scurrying away at the sight of men, these monkeys didn't seem to mind. He also observed that the deeper in the jungle they got, the more confident the apes seemed to get. The apes were named "Bili" after a town near where they are seen frequently. Scientists, however, worry that the civil war in Congo could post a threat to the population of the animals.

Napster, Torrent sites, and YouTube were all mired down in legal suits for copyright real-life property being freely shared through their P2P services.  Now here's something new: Kevin Alderman, infamous internet Adult Entertainment businessman, is suing for copyright infringement on his virtual property.
 
Alderman owns the internet company Eros LLC, which specializes in Adult products, 90% of which are for the online virtual world, Second Life, where Alderman has his own avatar, Stroker Serpentine. He recently made news by selling the virtual property Amsterdam for US$ 50,000 on eBay.

Alderman was the virtual author of a bed (for Adults only, let's leave it at that,) that sold for US$ 45 in Second Life. For those who aren't familiar with Second Life, you should know that the virtual money they use in-game (called Linden Dollars) has a corresponding value in real life. This bed has already sold an estimated 100,000 copies. That's a lot of cash for a non-existant piece of furniture. 

 

Now another guy in Second Life, named Volkov Catteneo, made a copy of the bed, or at least a near copy, and sold his version for US$ 15. You can imagine how Alderman would feel with this guy cutting into his profits with his own design.

The problem now is that no one knows the real identity of Catteneo. Alderman wants to file a subpoena to acquire the information on Catteneo's real identity but the developers behind Second Life, Linden Lab, has yet to give a solid reply to this legal action and are unavailable for comment. Catteneo, on the other hand, has this to say about the subpeona: “I’m not some kind of noob. My name isn’t on file.”  Not knowing the real identity of Catteneo, the lawsuit refers to him as John Doe.

Another thing about the case is the actual nuances of copyright on virtual property. Anything virtual is in essence only lines of code, so even though the bed may look the same when seen in the virtual world, the code isn't necessarily the same. Therefore, pinpointing where the actual infringement was made may be a problem.

Alderman feels that his company, Eros LLC, "has been damaged, and continues to be irreparably damaged by diversion of sales." He is suing Catteneo for three times the profits he has made with the copy of the bed.

The MMORPG Second Life by Linden Lab is one of the most popular games on the market with 5 million subscribers as of last March 27. Essentially a virtual world where anything is possible, it has become the subject of much talk and controversy.

Recently, it has become a staging ground for groups who want their messages to be heard. Certain groups have gone so far as to stage terrorists attacks and political protests online. The organization Adventure Ecology didn't do anything as radical as that. They simply decided to flood various parts of the virtual world last April 4.

London, Amsterdam, Ibiza, Tokyo and other regions in Second Life were subjected to a sudden flash flood which thankfully lasted for only a few hours. The flooding of the areas was done to show the financial, and more importantly, environmental implications of global warming. David de Rothschild, a London-based environmentalist and founder of Adventure Ecology, spoke about the event saying that "Our message was, you may have a second life, but [you still need to] offset your second life in real life."

Most of the players handled the flooding well according to most reports. Many of them even spent time speaking with members of Adventure Ecology about global warming and its dangers.

It's no surprise that the event was well received by the SL community since their support for other events such as Red Nose Day has been well documented. Hopefully, this successful venture may inspire other environmental groups to stage events which will inform the public on the environmental problems we are experiencing.

Playlogic Entertainment Inc. has a new International Sales Director: Pierre Thiercelin, a games industialist with over 8 years of experience in European and UK sales working for such publishers as Novalogic, Ignition and Midway.

Playlogic VP Stefan Layer speaks of Thiercelin's appoinment thus;

We are glad to welcome Pierre in our team in Amsterdam and we are looking forward to working with him. His presence will help strengthen our relationships with distribution partners, especially with regards to our forthcoming line-up.

We know Playlogic as an independent publisher of entertainment software for consoles, PCs, handhelds, mobile devices, and other digital media. The company distributes products worldwide through online and offline channels. So far, it's produced the following titles; Infernal, Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, World Racing 2, Knights of the Temple 2 and Gene Troopers.

Pierre Thiercelin sounds excited about working for Playlogic, saying that he is delighted to join Playlogic, especially since their upcoming line-up promises quality, quantity and variety. He will be handling the extension of Playlogic's sales activities towards local distribution partners.

European Vanguard users sure know how to make their voices heard, because Sigil has just announced the release of a brand new EU server!

According to Sigil Games, the response they got from the game's European player base was so overwhelming that they just had to bring another Euro server online. The new server, called Infinium, will be a PVE server located in Amsterdam (like the other EU servers).

With that in mind, they also want to thank all their overseas players for supporting the game. Infinium is now live and online so go and log in right now to check it out.