4:12 PM
http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail_B.asp?ID=22897&NID=284998
Hezbollah might have lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to a Ponzi scheme run by a prominent Lebanese businessman. Claims against Mr. Ezzedine are estimated at $700 million:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/91979402-97eb-11de-8d3d-00144feabdc0.html
Drug raid in Afghanistan got 4,300 kilograms of hash, 90 kilos of raw opium, sacks of poppy seed, and a weapon with ammunition...and led to the arrest of an Afghan Border Police Commander:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/afghanistan-drug-raid-snares-border-police-commander/
Terrorism expert discusses the concern about agro-terrorism and the impact that could have on the food supply in the US. He points out that it could cost a terrorist group a billion dollars (and a lot of experts and difficult-to-obtain material) to develop a nuclear weapon, but it would only take about $10 million and a very small lab with a MS in Chemical Engineering to create a biological arsenal:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Security/Default.aspx?id=662124
Researcher uses 100,000 degree (F) temperatures to study plasma to better understand what happens around black holes and in active galactic nuclei...100,000 degrees is amazing when you consider that the sun burns at 10,000 degrees!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/uonr-uon090209.php
Audi of America's President calls the Chevy Volt "a car for idiots" and slams all electric cars in general...it will be interesting to see what he says when Audi introduces its electric car in a few weeks:
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/09/03/audi-of-america-president-calls-chevy-volt-a-car-for-idiots-s/
The review is *very* complimentary of the hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity...the comments are much less complimentary:
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/09/03/fcx-clarity-driver-in-his-own-words-a-sweet-ride-thats-easy-to/
The CTO of AT&T admits that their network has been strained by the data demands of iPhone users. NY and San Francisco users especially have been affected--sad to read that text messages are regularly delayed and that an application that identifies songs played on the radio or TV takes so long to load that the song can be over before the app is ready to start:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/technology/companies/03att.html?ref=technology
Sprint will release the Android-based HTC Hero smartphone in October and T-Mobile and Verizon should have Android-based smartphones from Motorola in time for the Christmas shopping season:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-launching-first-android-phone-htc-hero/2009-09-03?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
It is good that Sprint will have a new smartphone because Palm Pre sales for Sprint appear to have missed their sales targets. The poor reception of the Pre also appears to have decreased Palm's appeal to potential acquirers:
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/09/02/palm-pre-sales-to-whiff-targets/
Motorola VP talked about how the Android platform provided a way for Motorola to accelerate their products:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/motorolas-wyatt-android-offered-us-way-accelerate-our-products/2009-09-03?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Yahoo is creating its own version of Twitter--they have a 100-character limit per post, less than Twitter's 140-character limit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103183.html
YouTube is in talks with Hollywood studios to rent new release movies online, similar to iTunes and Amazon:
http://www.cedmagazine.com/News-YouTube-online-movie-rentals-090309.aspx
Poll found that 40% of sports reporters gamble on sports and those that gamble admit that it hurts their objectivity in their reporting:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004008552
Florida man was injured tring to sneak *into* jail--he was afraid that family members of the person he killed would try to retaliate against him and was asked to be taken into custody and when they jail refused he tried to break into jail:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/02/ap/strange/main5282964.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesHeadlines
The woman who is about to become the first lady of Japan published a book where she wrote about taking a ride on a UFO. Her husband is about to become Prime Minister of Japan and already had the nickname "The Alien" even before her UFO claim was known. She also claimed in an interview earlier this year that she knew Tom Cruise in an earlier life and that he was Japanese in his previous life:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32659678/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
People who want to use the public toilets in Malmo, Sweden must call or text the park service and have their credit card charged to be able to enter the toilet:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/single.php?id=8662