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11 Jun 2010 10:58

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Tech: “Rock Band” decides pretending to play music not enough for pros

  • Admit it, nerds, you were waiting for this moment. The “Rock Band” series has always been about fake instruments, but in the upcoming third edition, there’s going to be room for a lot more than just pretending. On top of the traditional style of gameplay, there will be a “pro” version that allows you to play instruments just like the real thing. The keytar, above, reacts like a real keyboard. The “Fender Mustang” has hundreds of buttons and nylon strings, so it acts like a real guitar. But the most killer one? The Squier Stratocaster, which actually doubles as a real guitar. The boys in the “Guitar Hero” labs have some catching up to do. source

11 Jun 2010 10:47

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Biz: Ah crap: After a solid streak of retail increases, sales go down

  • +0.6% the increase in retail sales in April; that’s pretty good
  • -1.2% the decrease in retail sales in May; that’s really bad
  • sevennumber of months of increases before May’s decrease source

11 Jun 2010 10:37

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Tech: Experts say we’ll be doing our computing in the cloud by 2020

  • 71%
    think we’ll be working on computers in the cloud
  • 27% think we’ll still be using PCs for most of everything we do
  • 2% think we’ll be using Amigas or running BeOS for some reason source

11 Jun 2010 10:28

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Politics: Defending Alvin Green: It’s the Democratic Party’s fault, really

  • You have to admit: there’s something vaguely joyous about a no-name guy who lives with his mom screwing up the best-laid plans of the pack of pragmatic losers that is the Democratic leadership of South Carolina.
  • Salon writer Gabriel Winant • Offering a spirited defense for Alvin “what am I doing here” Greene, whose win in the Democratic Senate primary is about to make the South Carolina elections a little more fun. While Democratic leaders want him to step down, Winant notes that it’s all their fault – not Greene’s. “(Vic) Rawl was a classic sacrificial lamb,” he writes, “selected because he’s plausible enough on paper not to embarrass the party or hurt the down-ticket candidates.” Let’s face it, the South Carolina Democrats are more annoyed that he ruined their plans than anything else. Jim DeMint is going to win. source

11 Jun 2010 10:13

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World: Will Iran have protests on the one-year anniversary of #iranelection?

  • NO organizers couldn’t get permits; wonder why source

11 Jun 2010 10:05

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World: No stranger to tragedy: Nelson Mandela’s family hardships

  • 1st His first child, Thembikele, died in a car crash in 1969.
  • 2nd His second child, Thembikele, lived only nine months.
  • 3rd His third child, Makgatho, died of an AIDS-related illness.
  • 4th His marriage to Winnie Mandela ended in 1996 after 38 years. source

11 Jun 2010 09:56

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World: Nelson Mandela’s symbolic World Cup appearance cut short by tragedy

  • We are sure that South Africans and people all over the world will stand in solidarity with Mr. Mandela and his family in the aftermath of this tragedy.
  • A statement from Nelson Mandela’s people • Regarding the tragic, unexpected death of his great-granddaughter, Zenani, just before the opening ceremonies of the World Cup. Zenani, 13, died in a car crash – preventing Mandela from making the ceremony, a much-heralded appearance on the level of his heralding of the victorious South African rugby team in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Why so symbolic? Well, rugby was traditionally associated with the Afrikaner elite, whereas soccer had ties with the black population. So it’s very unfortunate that he won’t be able to appear tonight. source
 

11 Jun 2010 01:29

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Tech: Google’s real problem with their background images: No balance

Why did everyone hate Google putting background images on their site yesterday? Because, unlike Bing, they grafted the idea onto the old design (poorly). source

11 Jun 2010 01:05

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Biz: “The Other White Meat” not doin’ it for pork anymore (Bonus: Pork porn!)

  • The above photo is linked to the “Media Photo Collections” page on TheOtherWhiteMeat.com, the pork industry’s site promoting their product of choice. There are literally hundreds of photos of pork – slathered, simmered, covered in marinade, begging to be eaten. It’s literally the most pornographic non-porn site we’ve ever run across. If only their slogan had the same effect. But at the National Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa (really), the industry is concerned that the slogan no longer has teeth, and it needs a new one. May we recommend “not recommended by PETA”? Seems like it’d be effective, right? source