The latest development in the Viacom case against Google’s YouTube means that the Viacom legal team will know how many times you viewed that darn drama prairie dog (or gopher, whatever) video. A U.S. court has ordered that Google must disclose the viewing habits of each and every user who has ever plopped down in front of their computer and watched a YouTube video. The ruling means Viacom will have over 12 terabytes of data to prove their claim that allegedly infringing videos hold more appeal than non-infringing flicks.

As if text talk didn’t already doom an entire generation of grammaticly-challenged kids, Facebook’s use of made-up words like “themself” seemed to only add to the problem, but now the social networking site has decided to get serious about grammar. In the coming weeks, Facebook will ask users to specify their gender so as to eliminate default newsfeed updates that use “their” or “themself.” As Facebook expands to other languages, the lack of gender-neutral options has meant serious headaches for the online hangout. Gender benders fear not as the site will offer the choice of removing gender completely from their profiles.

Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos has thrown some money at microblogging service Twitter, confirming a long-running rumor. Bezos made the investment through his Bezos Expeditions company along with fellow new investor, Spark Capital. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone did not divulge financial details in the announcement made via his blog, but the blogosphere buzz puts the investment at $15 million, giving the company a valuation of around $100 mil. Could this prove a silly investment now that Facebook has announced a feature allowing users to comment directly on statuses?

A Scottish scientist has developed the next stage in prosthetic hands. Not only are all five fingers articulated (usually only the thumb and forefinger can actually move), but his limb also allows for extraordinarily high resolution and realistic coverings. At a distance they are almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
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When it comes to politics, sixty percent of Americans believe that the internet is full of misinformation. In Europe, schools are blaming use of the internet for falling exam grades. Today the internet is being used in all walks of life for many purposes especially to source information. But when anyone can post anything on the internet, how does one know which information is accurate and which is not?
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If your Teddy Ruxpin has been gathering dust since the late 1980s, break out that creepy animatronic bear and take a gander at this DIY “How to Make a Twittering Teddy Bear” video. With a little 2.0 surgery, old Teddy starts spewing real-time Twitter updates. No word on why the “surgeons” decided to make the new Teddy a cross-dresser. Next up: Facebook Status-Updating Cabbage Patch Kid!

If you still think that UFO’s might be extraterrestrial spacecraft, think again. A company in China has just unveiled a prototype UFO-like disc shaped aircraft that can be remotely controlled and can fly about eighty kilometres an hour at an altitude of a thousand metres. Wonder what the purpose of this aircraft might be. Meanwhile did you hear about the strange lights over Texas?
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If you’re looking to celebrate a fake holiday and take part in a Guinness World Record attempt at the same time, consider breaking out a Mozilla-themed cupcake and downloading Firefox 3. The new version of the web’s second most popular browser hopes to break the record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours. The continual error message on Firefox’s world record page may be an indication that fans have gone download bonkers.

Rumors have started that iJustine is now dating Silicon Valley VC Justin Fishner-Wolfson. ValleyWag broke the story, but it is getting a lot of negative feedback since they seem to have nothing to back up the slander. Way to go VW! Update: Justine denies she’s knocking hard drives with Fishner-Wolfson.

A snazzy new version of the web’s second most popular browser will debut Tuesday with enhancements in security, speed and design. Firefox 3 will offer an improved bookmarking system that allows users to sort bookmarks by topic. Web surfers can also quickly access sites recently bookmarked and pages they visit often but haven’t bookmarked with a new feature called “Places.” Design improvements include enlarging the back button, making it bigger than the forward button because web users tend to return to previous pages more frequently. Firefox 3 spent three years in development and will launch Tuesday.

Tata owns the fastest privately-owned computer in the world. It’s called Eka, and it’s a 117.9 teraflop machine. It even generates revenue: $30 milllion as a supercomputer for hire. Maybe it can make Jaguars more reliable too.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the upgraded iPhone Monday at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, revealing the gadget’s faster Internet connection over 3G wireless networks and satellite navigation capabilities. Apple also slashed prices, announcing that an 8 gigabyte model will sell for $199 and a 16 gigabyte model will sell for $299. The multimedia device will initially debut in 22 countries with plans in place to expand to 70 countries.

Science is one step closer to granting victims of paralysis movement. Scientists out of Pittsburgh have successfully installed electrodes into the brain of two Monkeys that allow them to move a nearby robotic arm with only their thoughts. They hope to extend this technology to humans within the next two years.

According to NASA, the liquid waste handling component of the toilet at the International Space Station (ISS) has malfunctioned. So it appears that the three astronauts aboard will have to use the toilet at the Soyuz capsule which is moored at the station. Some say that its not an emergency and of course if they are prepared to wait a bit longer, there’s another one being shipped in later this year.
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The Macbook Air may not have an optical drive or an Ethernet port, but at least you can make sandwiches with it and even use it to sharply poke some Microsoft Vista users. Yes, the Germans are claiming that one Apple fan-boy suffered a rather nasty flesh-cutting injury due to the razor-sharp edge of his Macbook Air. Another Macbook Air owner claims that uber-slim laptop can be used to cut bread. One wonders how he discovered this additional feature, but let’s not forget the Air’s redeeming feature. It’s thin. Really thin. Period.

A harmless feeding of the seagulls transformed into a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. The toddler’s daddy sat him on a railing overhanging Seattle’s waterfront like the son of Michael Jackson. Seagulls ignored the boy’s french fry offering, going straight for a baby brain snack. It was all photographed on someone’s handy, dandy iPhone.

Truemor has it that the folks behind Twitter have raised almost $20 million from VC funding. We can all only hope that it will be used to create a more stable service.

Have you heard of the burnt pancake problem? Its a mathematical puzzle which involves stacking in the least possible flips, a series of different sized pancakes, each of which have one side golden brown and the other burnt, in such a way that they are all arranged with the largest one at the bottom and all of them with the golden side up. By genetically altering bacteria, scientists have found a way to create bacterial computers that can solve the burnt pancake problem with ease. They say that bacteria are less expensive and quicker than conventional computers.
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According to video blogger Robert Scoble, truemor has it that Microsoft’s billion dollar plan to buy the search portion of Yahoo is just one step in owning the entire world wide web. The final — buying complete control of Facebook for more billions.

So you don’t have an iPhone? Well, your XBox, iPod, BlackBerry, TiVo, and everything else that connects to the net but doesn’t force you to program it is killing the Internet too. So says Jonathan Zittrain in his new book The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. To sum up: a desktop running Linux is best, a laptop running Mac OS X is acceptable if Terminal is on your dock, appliances are evil.

What occupies 6,000 square feet, weighs 500,000 pounds and can calculate faster than you and me? An IBM Roadrunner. In a few weeks from now, this computer is expected to break the petaflop barrier. A petaflop is 1,000 trillion calculations per second. Interested in seeing what this machine looks like?
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A student who is the son of humble farmers from rural China, has invented a new transistor that uses a compound material known as gallium nitride (GaN), which could be the replacement for silicon. Unlike silicon, GaN transistors have excellent physical properties which allow components made from it to operate in extremely harsh environments including those that produce radiation. They are also more power efficient. For the past twenty years silicon has been a vital component in various electronic systems, but this invention will certainly open up the field of electronics engineering.
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If you like watching stars (of the celestial kind), you will be glad to know that last night Microsoft launched a new Web 2.0 visualization software that allows your computer to be a virtual telescope. WorldWide Telescope as it is known, combines images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey among others. No extra hardware or software required, simply download the application here. Thank you Bill Gates!
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Semantic web applications have long been predicted to shape the next generation of search, and now the public will finally get the chance to test the new keyword technology as start-up, Powerset, releases its beta version. Powerset claims to change conventional models of search by offering a smarter, more efficient experience through deeper analysis of page indexing. Although Powerset’s index is currently very limited, product director, Scott Prevost argues that the next generation search engine will eventually rival in size the likes of Google and Yahoo.

A Japanese company is developing a vending machine that counts wrinkles and skin sags to check a smoker’s age. The facial recognition technology will be used to prevent under-age smokers, under the age of 20, from buying cigarettes. The system gets it right nine out of ten times, and id. cards will be required for the baby-faced individuals whose age cannot be determined by the machine.