Got your trusty PS3 headset? Or maybe you're thinking of getting that wireless keypad to have an easier time chatting on PlayStation Home? Now in case you just missed it last week, Sony updated their Terms of Use for the PlayStation Network. Apparently, not only did Sony state that they can use your content without asking for your permission; reading the finer print now, it turns out that Sony has the right (given that you agree to the Terms, of course) to tap into your PSN convos.

Remember the news about the satellite that the US lost contact with back in late January? Well, someone believes that it might be harmful to denizens of planet Earth once it re-enters after all. The Pentagon's top brass that think shooting it down is the best way to stop NROL-21, the recon satellite, from burning up in the atmosphere and releasing its poisonous rocket fuel.

*UPDATE*: They're gonna shoot it. And they've probably launched now!

It has been confirmed that a certain U.S spy satellite will fall back to Earth sometime during late February or early March. It is feared that this could cause some damage due to its hazardous content and unknown expected crash site.

Pentagon, however, and other organizations have assured everyone that this is close to being a routine and that people need not fear anything. The complete details can be found in the "read more" link below.

Tommy Remengesau Jr., President of Palau, showed interest in space power, an alternative source of energy during the recent U.N. climate conference.

This works in such a way that satellites orbiting Earth will be beaming down energy from their solar panels. A demonstration has been proposed to be done in the island nation, specifically on Helen Island in Palau. More information on the space power after the jump!

Sick and tired of being vulnerable to numerous hacker attacks, the U.S. Army decided that they needed a revamp on their computer systems and started integrating Apple computers into their network. More details in the full article!

Ever wondered how the game consoles of old handled like? The homebrew scene is your ticket to finding out, and in this Nintendo DS homebrew update, we get a second chance to put the Sinclair ZX Spectrum through its paces. Say hello to Nintendo DS homebrew developer Patrik Rak and his own foray into the scene, ZXDS. Find out more in the full article.



Download: ZXDS 0.7.0 beta 1

We've seen global warming rear its ugly head in ways that run from in the subtle to the stark in recent years. A recent report, however, suggests that the Pentagon's Northern defense strategy may be put into compromise by the planetary crisis. Find out what's happening to NORAD radars up in Alaska and Canada in the detailed version.

Would you feel safer is the Pentagon told you that they plan to send a satellite into orbit which can beam down microwaves and lasers from above? Does the premise bring about of the Death Star or Dr. Evil saying "Fire the laser?"

You don't need to worry about that too much because the plan is not meant for warfare. The Pentagon intends to back the NSSO's plan to send huge satellites into space to harness an almost-unlimited energy source: the sun.

Over the next 10 years, the Pentagon will dole out US$ 10 billion to build a satellite equipped with kilometer-long solar panels which will collect energy from the sun. High-tech photovoltaic cells will ensure that the power is maximized and sent down to antennas on Earth in the form of lasers and microwaves. If all goes well, the NSSO says we could be looking at a means to generate more electricity than fossil fuels, nuclear plants, and windmills combined can provide.

Peter Glaser, an engineer from the Arthur D. Little consulting firm first came up with this idea in 1968. The plan was forwarded to the U.S. government but huge costs and the danger entailed with having astronauts assemble the satellite in orbit stopped the proposal dead in its tracks. Today, however, things have changed.

Breakthroughs in robotics have been made so that astronauts won't have to risk their lives in space construction efforts. Photovoltaic advances will also mean that costs of bringing the plan to life will cost considerably less than it would have during the 70s. This also holds a potential solution for solving the puzzle in the search for an effective alternative to fossil fuels.

Finally, this effort by the Pentagon could mean that electricity can be accessed even in locations where it's hard to get by such as in Iraq where fuels have to pass dangerous routes before it reaches military installations. Remote civilian areas in developing countries will see more hope at powering up in the foreseeable future.

There are several names in gaming culture that just stand out like sore thumbs. Some just love to hate the people who own those said names with the reason being that said people tend to do a lot of things that piss folks off. Take videogame to movie director Uwe Boll and his silver screen adaptations for instance.

Below is a snippet from a report on NY Post about the trailer for Mr. Boll's movie version of the Postal videogame series. It talks about a brief scene included in the trailer where an airliner crashes into a skyscraper.

"How can you parody an act of mass murder?" fumed Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. "Eleven-hundred families got no scrap of remains. Does that mean nothing to him? Is there any line this man wouldn't cross?"...

Boll of course, has his reasons.

"It's harsh, but in the context of the movie it definitely makes sense," Boll says of the scene showing a plane heading straight for what appears to be a World Trade Center tower... Boll said the 9/11 crash clip was being viewed out of context, and the makers of the film discussed it at length before including it in the final cut. "We did it to show the unbelievable stupidity of suicide bombers," he said.

Well, sometimes Mr. Boll does have people on his side, and to be honest, a good number of his supposedly "bad" movies do serve as decent pop-corn fun fests where the requisite to enjoy yourself is to turn off your brain.

Given that the original Postal game had little in the way of plot, and point of it was, well, "going postal" perhaps silliness such as the supposed "parody" is at home in the movie version of the game.

So what's your take on this? Are folks just being a bit too sensitive regarding the issue almost six years on, or did mister Boll decide to inform folks about the actions of suicide bombers in a wrong way?

We now wonder what he'll do with Far Cry.

Airplanes recently proved to be useful in seeding silver iodide in clouds so that snow and rain would be forced to fall. Planes have also been used to transport water to thirsty soldiers in Iraq, and now, the US government finds relief from using C-17 cargo planes, as it is now possible to create water out of thin air!

Aqua Sciences, one of several companies commissioned by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, finally found a solution to bringing water to soldiers in Iraq. This technology is believed to reduce the cost of logistical support for supplying water to the troops in Iraq by billions of dollars, since if one is to compute it, the usual $ 30 a gallon was reduced to a mere 30 cents.

How is this possible? There's nothing tricky about it, according to Aqua Sciences. All they did was mimic nature, using natural salt to extract water and act as a natural decontaminant. They were mum on how the machine actually works, but they say that it's like "rice used in saltshakers that acts as a magnet to extract water and keeps salt from clumping". The 20-foot machine can churn out 600 gallons of water a day without using or producing toxic materials and byproducts.

The technology proves to be superior than other systems that are currently on the market. Other systems use condensation and require high levels of humidity, where Aqua Sciences' machines, on the other hand, only require 14 percent of that humidity. Aqua Sciences has also found out that the atmosphere is a river full of water, even in the desert. The water-churning machine, according to them, won't work absolutely anywhere, but it works virtually everywhere.

Well, this proves that there's no such thing as a dry earth if we all have fertile enough minds to find ways to exploit it.