According to a Wired story, “NASA’s Cassini space probe has already aided scientists to make a second discovery about Saturn, even though the craft is still a day away from beginning its main mission.” The story goes on to say that the radio emissions from Saturn more resemble those from the Sun than Earth meaning that a day on Saturn may not be stable. In fact, Cassini’s measurement was almost six minutes longer than that taken by Voyager 1 and 2 in 1980 and 1981. Darn! $3.3 billion and the thing is six minutes slow….

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has launched its first list of the top ten patents it would like to see booted or changed. There are some very odd things there but, neither Microsoft nor Intel appear on the list of bogus patent owners.

You know that commercial that tells you how the John Deere “experience” begins before you start using the tractor, begins when blue denim touches the yellow seat? Well, apparently it begins even before then. Bold Games has just released a farming Sim featuring John Deere equipment that will let you plan, build and work your on virtual farm so you can get that real feeling of watching your crops shoost into the sky. No word yet on whether or not the Sim also includes a bank loan officer, sheriff, and auctioneer for when your farm hits foreclosure.

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Apple announced that its iPod will now seamlessly integrate with BMW cars. On a related note, BMW N.A. announced that the batteries in its cars will no longer be replaceable.

A controversial study from Hungary claims that “carrying a mobile in hip pockets or a holster on the waist could cut sperm count by nearly 30 percent according to the research.

‘”The prolonged use of cell phones may have a negative effect on (sperm production) and male fertility,”‘ Dr. Imre Fejes, of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Szeged said in a summary of the study. Fejes and his team analyzed sperm from 221 men and questioned them about their use of mobile phones. They found correlations between the use of the phones, even in a standby setting, and reduced sperm concentration and quality.”

‘Bout Time Dept: I always travel with a wireless router and a Vonage VoIP box, miles of cable, a headset for my beloved Skype, travel converters and step down power inverters, and inevitably get a cavity search at the airport. Glad to see that Netgear has a more compact version for the gal and guy who like to travel light but remain fully wired and unwired and firewalled.

Best part: a single user and multi user toggle switch to keep freeloading hotel neighbors out of your business. Priced at about $79.00.

A new service (still in beta) called DialACard promises to take a photo from your cell phone and a text message and send it as a printed post card to any mail recipient. We liked the idea at first glance until you get to thinking….typing on a cellphone is about as much fun as shoving a pen up your nose and produces the about same quality message.

Which asks the ultimate question: Does that mean you get to go on vacation and all we get is a blurry still that says “GR8 TIme. wishhh u wer here.”