In another step "forward" for national security, Canada.com reports that a number of American citizens (including people born in the US and holding a US passport) were held at the border crossing between the US and Canada until they relented and gave their fingerprints to the US border agents …

I know, everybody's getting sick about hearing people say nice things about Steve, but here's a nice article from the Times explaining why they made him their business person of the year.

According to an article from the New York Times, Chicago's murders numbered 447 in 2004 in comparison to 498 in 2003, an impressive 25% drop. This now seats them appropriately behind New York and Los Angeles (at 566 and 511 respectively). DC's count appears to be coming in around 193 …

According to an article in Fortune, originating from Asia Pulse, Samsung will replace any monitor that shows a dead pixel within the first six months of its purchase. The offer starts January 1.

GamePro has released their list of 20 lowest moments in gaming in 2004. Included are such popular favorites as: Video Games Make You Fat, and The Release of EQII.

Not to be outdone by its largest trading partner, Japan, the strongest democracy in Asia, has upped their donation pledge from US$30M to US$500M. The US made a similar maneuver earlier, increasing from US$35M to US$350M its pledged donation. According to an article from CNN, the …

According to an article from the International Herald Tribune, the FBI is looking into the possibility that terrorists are working on taking down US aircraft using lasers--by aiming them at pilot's eyes. There are reports of ten or so incidents since Christmas of this year in which pilots have reported …

I know that a lot of people are excited about giving money for the specific Tsunami relief funds around our most recent big natural disaster, but it's important to remember that the General Fund of your favorite charity might suffer due to specified giving. As an example, the Red Cross …

Google, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com are all getting into the act (No, I'm not trying to imply that Apple did it first, just that they are all doing it). Hats off to all of the organizations that are trying to help or encouraging people to help the relief effort for …

Apple's usually highly-visited site is currently providing a message of condolence ("Our hearts reach out to those hurt by the Indian Ocean tsunamis") and pointers to a wide variety of relief organizations. Cool.

Gizmodo is reporting that EStone will be releasing an in-dash audio device that will rip disks and store them on an internal hard drive. The drive is removable, so once you're done, you can back it up on your computer.

I realize that Keyspan released the Keyspan Express Remote in November, but I have to admit that I didn't pay much attention to it. After taking some time to read about it, this is a pretty cool device. Hook it in to the USB port on the Airport Express and …

An article from BBC News recounts the tale of a 22-year-old Australian gamer who just purchased a plot of virtual land for the game Project Entropia at an online auction for US$26,500. The interesting part is that unlike Sony Online Entertainment (makers of EverQuest) and others, this company …

Government forces private company into bankruptcy over disputed taxes. Government auctions off plum assets to a bidder who swoops in from nowhere and buys them at a fraction of their value (partially thanks to US courts that prevent US corporations from bidding). Government-owned gas and old conglomerate buys the bidder …

Not surprisingly, Dr. Jeffery M. Masters, Weather Undergound's Chief Meteorologist, bashes Mr. Crichton's new book State of Fear for basically taking the side on the global warming issue that he doesn't like. I say "not surprisingly," because he has written on Weather Underground in the past about global warming and …

An article from the Radiological Society of North America describes radiologists using iPods to carry around images in iPods instead of dragging film around.

Thanks to Fark for the pointer to this important and timely story on news.com.au. NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command) has announced that Santa will receive a fighter escort when transiting controlled airspace this upcoming Christmas Eve.

According to an article from CNet, Google has entered into agreements with Harvard University, Oxford University, Stanford University, and the University of Michigan to scan portions of their libraries as part of Google Print, the search maker's effort to bring the world of print online. Although some of the participants …

And you should too! Seriously, if you are still using Internet Explorer, ask yourself "Why?" If you need it for some specific task, use it for that. Otherwise, take the advice of the Penn State IS department and use just about anything else. Popular alternatives are: Safari (MacOS X) Firefox …

I'm sure everybody saw this, but if you didn't, it's the end of an era. An article from the Washington Post (also reported in many other places) details the sale of IBM's PC unit to Lenovo Group Ltd., China's largest PC manufacturer. The company that started the PC (not personal …