Scientists figure out why too much marijuana sometimes causes feelings of paranoia. It involves the geography of the brain.

If you can't finish watching your rented movie in 24 hours, try this simple trick to extend the "doomsday clock."

Whois also ruled dodgy by North Dakota court

David Ritz, the veteran American spam-fighter, has been hit by $60,000 in fines plus lawyers fees after losing a civil suit that accused him of illegal hacking.

Two stories popped up on the radar this morning that involve Gawker publisher/editor Nick Denton using threats of bans to get a lot more attention (which is likely exactly what he wanted). The first one seems minor, but is still important. Just a few weeks ago, Tom Lee was talking about how people need to assume that any info they put online on a social network site should be considered public info. Given that, it's interesting to see Nick Denton is facing a ban from Facebook for publishing some info from someone's Facebook profile on Gawker. While publishing the info may have been mean or tacky, and may have even violated Facebook's terms of service, it's laughable to think that banning Denton would actually stop that kind of activity. If anything, it would make it more common. First of all, it's not even clear if it was Denton himself who found the info, or if it was submitted by someone else. However, if Facebook does go through with a ban, many Gawker fans will take it upon themselves to send him info and screenshots from Facebook. All the ban will do, a la the Streisand Effect, is draw more attention to the fact that Gawker publishes info from Facebook profiles.

The second case, involves the Church of Scientology. Denton posted a video of Tom Cruise talking about Scientology. Scientologists are infamous for their attempts to misuse copyright law to take down any content they don't like. However, Denton is fighting back, and getting the video (and, of course, Gawker) a lot more attention in doing so. It certainly looks like Denton has figured out how to use such threats to his own advantage.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It's no secret that gadget aficionados like ourselves have mounds of kit that was hot stuff in its heyday, but figuring out what to do with it once its prime has passed is still a mystery to some. 'Course, the entrepreneurs in the crowd simply offer their previously loved wares up to the world via eBay (or similar), but for those lacking the time / motivation to do so, rest assured, companies are on the prowl to totally take advantage of you. TechForward and NEW are two firms that are looking to make a mint from entering the gadget buyback realm, and as you'd probably expect, the cash doled out to suckers individuals who bite on this is woefully less than market value -- but then again, it's ultra-convenient, shipping is free and it's guaranteed, hassle-free money. Sounds like the pawn shop just got with the times, eh?

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Hewlett-Packard (HP) has achieved a comfortable lead over its nearest rival in Gartner's latest global PC market estimate. While Dell is growing at a slower pace than any other of the top 5 PC vendors, HP is approaching a new milestone with almost 50 million shipped PCs in 2007.

Filed under: Cellphones

So apparently, that whole "plan to shut down a Bochum Nokia plant" didn't exactly sail over everyone's heads, particularly not in Germany. Reports are now flowing out that unions in the nation are taking it upon themselves to urge consumers not to purchase wares from the firm, with Dietmar Muscheid, regional head of the Confederation of German Unions (DGB), being one of the most vocal. Muscheid went on to state that "whoever buys a cellphone today should think about the choice they are making and what catastrophic consequences the company's actions in Bochum will have for thousands of workers." 'Course, the EU has already proclaimed that Nokia won't be getting a dime in relocation (to Romania, supposedly) aid, but unspecified government officials are reportedly lined up to speak with suits from the handset maker later this week to "discuss the plant's future." Whether or not all this commotion will actually change any minds, however, remains to be seen.

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Nanoptek has an electrode that extracts electrons from sunlight, and then extracts them to break water molecules. Will it work?

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video

Yeah, the BBC seems to be quite the indecisive bunch, but according to a recent blog posting by Ashley Highfield (Director, BBC Future Media And Technology), its iPlayer may actually see face time on Apple's revised Apple TV platform. Quite frankly, details are far too thin to actually make anything of this just yet, but he does note that the "effective relaunch of the AppleTV... coupled with its (long anticipated) move to a rental model, means that we can look to getting BBC iPlayer onto this platform too, as we should be able to use the rental functionality to allow our programs to be downloaded, free, but retained for a time window, and then erased, as our rights-holders currently insist." The post goes on to touch on a number of IP to TV-related topics, but not once does it mention actually being in talks with Cupertino to make this happen. Guess it's wait-and-see from here, eh?

[Via Electronista]

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