Wolfwood writes "For the Astronomers - the Pojmanksi Comet is a very recently discovered comet, magnitude 5.3, and is currently viewable in the morning sky around 5 am in the North America."

Roland Piquepaille writes "The vast majority of the earthquakes are located underneath the oceans where they are not recorded because of a lack of instruments. This is why the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has developed a new kind of ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) to record both small and large earthquakes on the sea floor. Forty of them will be deployed at the beginning of 2007 in an area of the Eastern Pacific Ocean known to have large earthquakes. One goal of this one-year mission is to better understand earthquake processes, but this technology could soon be used to better monitor other parts of the oceans. Read more for additional details and pictures about this new technology."

Opposable Thumbs, over at Ars Technica, points out something we have have overlooked last week when Infinium Labs opened its books. Besides dropping the Phantom in favour of getting the keyboard to market, one of their business plans calls for the company to "infiltrate best-in-class video game communities with simple, easy to understand message and seeding on tech blogs, gaming sites and on-line player forums with compelling imagery and links to lapboard eye candy." Because that's sure to net them some goodwill and customer loyalty.

Jane Walker writes to tell us that in a recent interview with SearchOpenSource.com Jono Bacon takes a look at why some of the reasons people give for not switching to Linux might not stand up under closer scrutiny. From the article: "For example, they fault Linux OpenOffice desktops for not having all the features in Microsoft Windows Office, even though few actually use all of the Microsoft stuff. So, in essence, they're saying they want desktops cluttered with unnecessary features."

Nintendo DS News writes "Lik Sang has posted news that only the White Nintendo DS Lite will be out at the launch. From the article: 'Nintendo of Japan informed retailers and official distributors across the island, that the Nintendo DS Lite Enamel Navy and Ice Blue will not make it out of the gate by March 2. Only Crystal White will be available on launch day. The two other colors are supposed to come out on March 11. I repeat for tired eyes and those who were not focused yet: no cool Ice Blue, no savvy Enamel Navy, only pure Crystal White available at Nintendo DS Lite debut.'"

Robert writes to tell us CBR Online is reporting that Microsoft has released a new set of tools to link up their back-office applications with Office 2003. From the article: "The Microsoft Dynamics Snap tools allow users to interact with data and processes within Dynamics AX 3.0 (Axapta), and Dynamics CRM 3.0 without leaving Office, by taking small components from the back office applications and snapping them into the Office environment. The initial release delivers four applications. Timesheet Snap-In and Vacation Management Snap-In, which are built for Dynamics AX only, and two versions of Business Data Lookup Snap-In, one each for Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM."

jchenx writes "Sony, who was rumored to be developing an online service to compete with Xbox Live, may also be developing a counter to Nintendo's Revolution. From the Gamespot article: 'Sony intend[s] to make it their 'Revolution Killer.' They're working on tying in Eyetoy and some kind of controller similar to the Revolution controller. With a 100M+ userbase, tens of thousands of mature and documented dev kits and the very low cost of producing Rev style games on the PS2 platform they're expecting to mobilize another 50M units over the next 5 years precipitated by a $99 price point in 2007.'" This is a Gamespot rumour control article; At the moment, this is nothing more than conjecture.

Carl Bialik writes "'Reports of blogging's demise are bosh, but if we're lucky, something else really is going away: the by-turns overheated and uninformed obsession with blogging,' Jason Fry writes on WSJ.com, responding to a recent wave of blog-doubting that includes a Gallup poll and a Chicago Tribune editorial entitled, 'Bloggy, we hardly knew ye.' Fry says blogging might not fly as a business, but 'the failure of blogging to launch a huge number of well-heeled companies or keep attracting VC money won't mean the end of blogs -- instant messaging, for one, hasn't foundered despite the difficulty of turning its popularity into profits.'"

Gamasutra reports on elements of the Microsoft project code-named Origami, which has been revealed through some snooping to be a tablet PC. The device is shown playing Halo indicating there is likely to be some gaming aspect to the product. From the article: "Previous to the appearance of the DigitalKitchen video, Bill Gates had discussed a mobile PC concept at a conference in Seattle last year, where a non-working device called the Ultra Mobile 2007 was shown. At the time, Gates indicated that the device should have an 'all-day' battery life, weigh less than a pound and cost between $500 and $800. Microsoft has indicated it will unveil more details of the Origami Project 'in the coming weeks'."

If you look down the line, into the future of Xbox 360 titles, you see some pretty complicated games coming our way. The likes of Elder Scrolls IV and Mistwalker Studios' Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon are designed to change gamer perceptions of Microsoft's console. Out of the gate, though, Xbox 360 titles have fallen back on the themes that made the original Xbox so popular: sports, FPS games, and racing. The Xbox already has two popular racing franchises to its name. The exclusive Forza Motorsports is a powerful sim, while the multiplatform Burnout series finds its shiniest home on the Xbox. Full Auto, by developer Pseudo Interactive, tries very hard to interest the 360 owner with a brand new way to race. Strapping weapons to cars can only lead to good things, right? Unfortunately this modern title, in the vein of SJ Games classic Car Wars, fails to do much more than explode prettily in the interested gamer's face. Read on for my impressions of this disappointing title.

Aeonite writes "The quote on the cover of Patterns in Game Design proclaims that this book is "that rare sort" that is actually "useful." It is perhaps somewhat presumptuous to disagree with someone like Greg Costikyan, but nevertheless I have my doubts as to the book's overall utility. While this book certainly seems like the sort of be-all, end-all of game design theory, what it amounts to is little more than a list, each item on the list referring to the other items like bloggers hawking each others' hyperlinks. What could have been a sort of cookbook for gaming turns out to be less a book of recipes, and more a list of ingredients: "a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter." Read the rest of Michael's review.

Next Generation reports that Sony has admitted there may be a delay in getting the PS3 to market. From the article: "Sony has told the media that the launch of the console will be delayed due to difficulties in finalizing the Blu-ray drive's specs. An unnamed spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan admitted that PlayStation 3 launch could be delayed. SCE said that if final specs were not finalised with the Blu-ray Disc development consortium, the launch of the console could be delayed." I would have rather they come out and admitted this last month, when everyone realized this was the case, instead of denying it and looking unrealistic.

sjg writes "'The Complete FreeBSD', long regarded as one of the most valuable reference works for new and seasoned FreeBSD users alike, has recently celebrated its 10'th anniversary. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, Greg Lehey, author of The Complete FreeBSD and longtime FreeBSD contributor has released the work for download under the Creative Commons license."

CRIA Watcher writes "The Canadian Copyright Board has just announced that it is bringing back the tax on blank CDs, called the private copying levy, in 2007. Michael Geist demonstrates how the tax has created a huge distortion in the retail price of blank media on his blog with as much as 70 percent of the purchase price now heading directly to the music industry."