As NASA's ground and Discovery crew anxiously await the shuttle's new launch date on the 4th of July, today's aborted lift-off has cost the agency about $1 million. The process of standing down from the cancelled launch attempt, topping of Discovery's fuel cells and revving back up to a space shot on Tuesday has been called by NASA as a challenging task. Pad workers drained Discovery's external tank and will replenish the super-cold liquid hydrogen in the orbiter's fuel cells, and change out some payloads in preparation for the next launch date.

But NASA officials are not concerned about the cost of the delays. "After a year of preparation, and after a very careful countdown, you don't want to do something that's not smart from a weather standpoint," said John Shannon, NASA's deputy shuttle program manager, during the briefing. "Nobody is going to remember that we scrubbed a day or two days a year from now. But if we go launch and get struck by lightning or have some other problem that will be very memorable." 

Call of Duty 2 is a worthy follow up to 2003's critically acclaimed Call of Duty. Developed by Infinity Ward along with Pi Studios and published by Activision, this game received a near-perfect review from the media and gamers alike.

You can play the game in Single Player mode and become either Private Vasili Ivanovich Koslov of the Red Army, Sergeant John Davis of the British Army, Tank Commander David Welsh also from the British Army or Corporal Bill Taylor of the US Army. Playing the game in Multiplayer mode, you can choose to be part of the American, Soviet, British or German forces.

A single-player demo has now been released by macgamefiles that features the mission entitled, The End of the Beginning, that takes place in November 6, 1942 in El Daba, Egypt. You are ordered to eliminate the German artillery crews at the docks as a member of the British infantry.

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X 10.3.9
• 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5/Intel chipset
• 512 MB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 or ATI Radeon 9600 or higher
• 64 MB VRam
• Supported Video cards: NVIDIA GeForce 5200, 6600, 6800, 7800 ATI Radeon 9600, 9650, 9700, 9800, X600, X800, X850, X

Download: [Call of Duty 2 Demo 1.0]

By now we're all very much aware that professional wrestling is fake. But that hasn't stopped worldwide wrestling fans from loving it, and the industry has embraced it, even changing the name to WWEntertainment from WWFederation, to give emphasis that it's all just for show (not to mention expanding their scope). From the years of Hogan, to the reign of Degeneration X, up to the current lordship of John Cena and his Chain gang, WWE has indeed become a commercial item. With it branching out to next-generation consoles, what can gamers expect but the same angsty attitude, iconic flair, and drama immortalized by this entertainment industry.

The next-gen version, titled WWE Smackdown vs. Raw, will boast (what an apt term!) an all-new multi-platform wrestling smackfest with its high-impact movesets, user-controlled environmental hotspots and an interactive fighting area within the crowd. Of course the rosters would be updated to showcase more-recent wrestling stars like Cena, Rey Mysterio, Benjamin, Batista etc. The General Manager Mode and online multiplayer gameplay has been amped with more features like voice chat support.

We have here three videos giving us a brief glimpse of what to expect from this title for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. First of is John Cena's entrance with this "The Time is Now" cut from his own album (talk about entertainment). The second video shows high-flying Mysterio battling it out with equallt athletic Benjamin. Third demo features rugged wrestler Cena pwning usually-brutal Triple H, with his signature "You can't see Me!" gestures, and FU moves.

This THQ title will hit videostore shelves on November 17, 2006 (US) and December 31, 2006 (Japan). For now, we could do three things to satisfy our craving: 1. Watch the three gameplay videos below; 2. Watch the weekly episodes of Raw and Smackdown or; 3. Find a muscle-ripped, 200 lb. guy somewhere and trash talk him into wrestling with you.

Download: [Video of Cena's Entrance]
Download: [Video of Mysterio against Benjamin]
Download: [Video of Cena against Triple H]

Our favorite line from the film Arthur was from the snooty, biatchy butler Hobson played by Sir John Gielgud. Referring to Liza Minelli's character, he sniffs, "Normally, someone would have to go to a bowling alley to meet someone of your stature." Starting
August 27 no one has to go to a bowling alley to meet people of "that stature" because bowling is coming to your mobiles.

Bowling Champs is a 3D bowling game, part of the Sports Champs series by Xing Interactive, where gamers play against other bowlers at the Bowl-O-Rama for a shot at "eternal fame and the occasional round of free drinks!" Best of all, no need to wear smelly bowling shoes previously worn by "people of your stature." Bowling Champs retails for €9.99 and the currency equivalent in other countries.

It happens sometimes, you want to order some pizza or Chinese food but you can't remember the delivery number or at times you can't even remember the name of the restaurant or the pizza place. If you're a terrrible cook like me, this scenario could be like your very own version of Groundhog Day - in the sense that it happens over and over again and you don't know why.

So what should a pizza place do when people wanna talk about their product and if they want an instant customer recall? Well, you need not to get those really big billboards or high tech signages to get the consumer's attention. You need innovative ideas that may be low-tech but still ticks. Just like Papa John's Pizza's ads. Although a pizza guy eternally present at your eyehole peeper is quite creepy (it is as if you have a stalker or something), you gotta admit that it works.

Created by Saatchi & Saatchi, Peru, this clever, yet simple idea in promoting Papa John's Pizza won gold at the recent Cannes International advertising awards. Nice, amusing, and short - elements of a brilliant ad. Nice work!

Edge of Reality today officially announced the development of their own self-funded next-gen project, Cipher Complex. Cipher Complex is a military combat game that will be out on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2007. Along with the announcement came some screenshots.

Binu Philip, president of Edge of Reality said: "The evolution of action games has seemed to plateau, perhaps because of the emphasis on sequels. We are exploring and developing brand new styles of gameplay and methods of storytelling. The concept and mechanics of Cipher Complex have been incubating in our mind for years, and with power of the next-gen consoles, we can finally make our dream project a reality."

The game follows the story of government operative John Cipher as he infiltrates Siberia in search of a downed reconnaissance satellite. Other than that, nothing else is known about the main narrative. But based on the storyboard art, Cipher will be joined by three other characters - blonde Coldwell, mysterious Mishka, and an older gentleman named Anakov.


Also check out the preview.

Do you love to check your mail and do some video conferencing while on flight? Well, if your answer is yes then this is a piece of bad news for you. Aerospace and defense conglomerate, Boeing, is said to have been seriously considering a major change for its in-flight Internet service.

A recent Wall Street Journal report reveal that Boeing may dump Connexion, which has failed to turn a profit in six years. According to Boeing spokesman John Dern, "the company is evaluating Connexion to assess what's best for both the business and our customers."

It seems that Boeing has entertained a number of commercial-satellite operators and other potential suitors who might be interested in buying the business or becoming a major partner.

Now, if Boeing and Connexion does not reach a suitable deal, Boeing would be prepared to shut Connexion down, even though the service works as advertised and is used by a handful of international airlines on long-haul flights. Whatever happens in the future, we will surely keep you posted.

A whole spate of recent events has served to attract a great deal of attention to Mac's OS X, among them ex-Chief Software Technology Officer Avadis 'Avie' Tevanian's March resignation and the revelation that the source code for the x86 version of the Mac OS X kernel hasn't yet been released. Ever since then, the rumors about OS X have been flying thick and fast. Quite a few thinkers, it seems, are of the opinion that Apple is about to change it - fundamental changes (read: replacement, no less), if the more 'radical' among them are to be believed.

Far be it for me to call people names, but Ars Technica's John Siracusa sure seems like one of them radicals. In a nutshell, he thinks it's pretty likely that Mach, the microkernel that underpins OS X and which Tevanian helped develop, is to be replaced - and quite possibly by L4, another microkernel.

This is verging on esoteric, of course - as is Siracusa's article, to a layman's point of view - so let me state my point before my readers give up on me (and besides, I'd be treading water if I'd endeavor to discuss the finer points of this topic, if you catch my drift). If Siracusa and other such pundits are right, the OS we know and love might soon be replaced. But if Apple knows what's good for itself, this 'X-change' had better not come at the expense of usability, stability or any of the other characteristics its OSs have rightly become famous for. Well, I'm pretty sure that if Apple has its druthers, most Mac users won't have anything to complain about it. So let's keep our fingers crossed, knock on wood and hope to God they get it right. IF it's going to happen at all, that is.

Let's see how things pan out. Watch this space.

It seems that a new kind of hate crime is hitting various metropolis nowadays. The crime? podRage. The victims? iPod users. Just recently, we reported about a teen who was convicted because of an iPod related killing, now lawyers for other podRage victims want to sue not only those responsible for these senseless crimes, but also the top Apple honcho himself - Mr. Steve Jobs.

Gary Tugai of the London lawfirm Tugai Zanner Dogg, says that his client has not been able to work because he was traumatized. In his own words, Mr. Tugai said that his client - John Speakman, "was sitting quietly on a 341 bus, listening to his iPod, when he was attacked without provocation. He had the ear buds ripped from his head, and his iPod thrown from the moving bus. Not only was that a danger to passers by, but Mr Speakman was in the middle of The Fugees moving rendition of Roberta Flack's 'Killing Me Softly', and his inability to finish the track was most distressing." I don't know about you, but if ever that happens to me, I won't care about the song, I'd run for my life.

Although the attacker remains unknown and is still roaming freely up to now, witnesses said that the assailant was becoming increasingly agitated by the noise coming from Mr. Speakman's ear buds. According to the witnesses, they overheard the suspect saying that it was unfair that the whole bus should have to listen to Mr. Speakman's choice of music.

And here is where Steve Jobs could be prosecuted according to Mr. Tugai. "The design of the iPod earphones is clearly defective - It is perfectly possible to design earphones that do not emit ambient noise, and there are some aftermarket brands that do this - Instead, Apple and Mr Jobs have recklessly endangered my client by marketing a product that, when used normally, is a menace to other people." You're suing Mr. Jobs? Lots of luck to you. You're going to need it.

When Passenger 57's famous ex-cop John Cutter (played by Wesley Snipes) said, "Always bet on black", Nintendo must have been listening. The black version of their awaited DS Lite will be hitting stores...in Europe. Lucky guys. Americans will just have to pray really, really hard that the black DS Lite will also be coming their way. If you think that you don't need any colored DS Lite and are content with the white one, perhaps these photos will change your mind?

Just a few days before the black DS Lite grace European shelves, a UK game store employee snuck this beautiful baby home and took some photos. Those pictures took my breath away and all I managed to say was, "Me likey". Now if these images had the same effect for you, better start praying now so we can all get our hands on this sexy, sexy thing.