Gang Kidnaps Gamer to Get Password Using Fake Orkut Date

An armed gang of four kidnapped one of the world's top RPG gamers after one criminal's girlfriend lured him into a fake date using Orkut , Google's social network. After sequestering him in Sao Paulo, they held a gun against the victim's head for five hours to get his password, which they wanted to sell for $8,000. And yes, the story gets even better.

Surprisingly enough, after five hours the hostage wasn't talking. The group leader had a gun against his head all that time but the guy didn't say a word. At that point, the crooks gave up and decided to let him go. The brazilian police then caught the four suspects, aged 19 to 27.

According to the police, the captive is the world leader in GunBound, a turn-based RPG-style multiplayer online game. Developed in South Korea, in this artillery game you get more experience points, offensive and defensive capabilities depending on your skills during battle, as well as money to buy more weapons, armor and all kinds of gear for your multiple avatars. You can only play with one of your avatars each time, but all of them belong to a single account.

The game looks to be quite popular, so the four gangsters decided they could make some quick cash if they kidnapped him to steal his user. Their plan: use one of the criminal's girlfriends, called Tamires, to get him into a date using Google's online social network Orkut, which is also extremely popular in Brazil. After contacting and seducing him, she told the GunBound wizard to meet her in a shopping mall.

But she never appeared. Instead, Igor the boyfriend did. Gun in hand, he abducted and held the player prisoner, planning to rely the password to his mates using a cellphone. Against all odds, our hero (or very stupid guy) resisted.

Whatever he did to resist the torture for a stupid game password, boys and girls, there's a moral to this story: if you live in Brazil, keep playing Tetris.

Courtesy : FOLHA

Yes It Blends !

One awesome vdo !! iphone in a blender ! rotflol =))

5 Deadliest Cities Of The World

1). Chernobyl , Russia


When you hear Chernobyl, you immediately think nuclear disaster. It was, in fact the worst nuclear accident in history. A huge fallout cloud of radioactive dust spread across vast swathes of the Soviet Union, Europe and Eastern North America. As a result, an estimated 9 thousand people have contracted cancer and died. The disaster displaced over 336,000 people. Life expectancy is low. However, according to scientist James Lovelock, Chernobyl was an ecological success: animals can now roam around free without being hunted.




2).Dzerzhinsk, Russia


Until recently, the city of Dzerzhinsk in Russia used to produce huge quantities of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and lewisite. Chemical weapons ceased to be produced by 1945. However, the waste was buried underground, contaminating water and crops. The site however, remains the largest producer of chemicals for the Russian Federation. Life expectancy is low at 42 for men and 47 years for women. This is attributed to the high levels of persistent organic chemicals.






3) . Haina, Dominican Republic

Haina, has been referred to as the ‘Dominican Chernobyl’. According to the United Nations, the population of Haina is considered to have the highest level of lead contamination in the world, and its entire population bears the scars. The contamination is believed to have been caused by the past industrial operations of the nearby Baterías Meteoro, an automobile battery recycling smelter. Although the company has moved to a new site, the contamination still remains.




4). Kabwe, Zambia

Kabwe, the “bush capital” of Zambia was the site of a huge mine. The mine became the largest in the country until overtaken in the early 1930s by larger copper mining complexes on the Copper belt. Apart from lead and zinc it also produced silver, manganese and heavy metals such as cadmium, vanadium, and titanium in smaller quantities. The reason why the mine is on our list is that large quantities of zinc and lead tailing have made their way into the local water supply.




5). La Oroya, Peru

Since 1922, adults and children in La Oroya, Peru - a mining town in the Peruvian Andes and the site of a poly-metallic smelter - have been exposed to the toxic emissions from the plant. Currently owned by the Missouri-based Doe Run Corporation, the plant is largely responsible for the dangerously high blood lead levels found in the children of this community. Studies carried out by the Director General of Environmental Health in Peru in 1999 showed that ninety-nine percent of children living in and around La Oroya have blood lead levels that exceed acceptable amounts.

iPhone says "Hello World," here come the 3rd party apps

If there wasn't a vast, cold expanse of internet in the way, we could just hug those iPhone Dev Wiki folks. Apparently a particularly dedicated hacker who goes by "Nightwatch" has compiled and launched the iPhone's very first independent "Hello World" application, paving the way for 3rd party applications to run on the heretofore closed device. Of course, user implications are a long ways away, but Nightwatch has built a pre-alpha ARM/Mach-O Toolchain for other hackers to follow his example, and other folks should be able to get 3rd party code running on the iPhone before long. Exciting times indeed !

Some1zz bothered abt polar bears !! (HUMMER VANDALISED :D)

Vandals smashed the windows of a new Hummer parked in a neighborhood, slashed the tires and left a message — "FOR THE ENVIRON" — scratched into the body, authorities said.

The sport utility vehicle was parked for five days on the street before two masked men attacked it.

"The thought of somebody vandalizing it never crossed my mind," said Gareth Groves, who lives near American University in Northwest Washington. "I've kind of been in shock."

Police said they see small acts of vandalism in the area from time to time, but they have not seen anything so severe, or with such a clear political message, in recent years.

"This seems to be an isolated event," Cmdr. Andy Solberg said.

Investigators said they are searching for the vandals but don't have many leads. Witnesses said they saw two men smash up the 7-foot-tall SUV early Monday and then run off.

Now, as Groves contemplates what to do with the remains of his $38,000 Hummer, he has had to deal with a number of people who have driven by the crime scene and glared at him in smug satisfaction.

SOURCE : MSNBC

The Ultimate Anti-iPHONE PAGE

Herezz the link for the ultimate anti iphone page , but people BEWARE .. THE LANGUAGE USED IS REALLY OFFENSIVE .. DISCRETION IS ADVISED !!

CLICK HERE

LIVE EARTH Concert : The Most Watched Event In Online History

On July 7, 2007, MSN made history. On that day, it delivered enough video streams of the Live Earth concerts that, according to Microsoft's records, made the event on MSN.com the "Most Watched Entertainment Event in Online History."

"During the exclusive live coverage on MSN, more than 8 million people watched over 15 million streams, with peak simultaneous viewership of 237,000 people making it the most watched entertainment event in online history," Microsoft said in a press release. The company claims that, to date, more than 30 million people witnessed some portion of the event online. The peak simultaneous viewership was during Madonna's performance in London.

While online viewership of the event was up, or record-setting for that matter, Live Earth suffered from poor television ratings. Nielsen Media Research is reporting that the event only drew in 2.7 million viewers making it the least watched program on Saturday night. During its three-hour time span, NBC's Live Earth went up against the likes of ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, CBS' 48 Hours Mystery, and Fox's America's Most Wanted.

Shanghai Night(s)

A gorgeous pic of Shanghai by night ....

“iTorrent”: A BitTorrent Client for your iPhone?

The possibility of file sharing whilst walking down the street is closer than you might think. Carrying a BitTorrent client in your pocket is getting closer, with the release of new high-powered communication tools, such as the much publicized Apple iPhone.

The technical specificationa of the device certainly make it possible. It has more than enough cpu power for it, assuming a nice, tightly coded client was written. The built in WiFi (802.11b/g) and use of the EDGE wireless network data transfer system allows a fairly widespread availability of reception.

According to one of the developers of the "iPHONE BIN-UTIL" project, going by the name ‘geohot’, the only obstacle stopping it from making an application like “iTorrent” happening is their current lack of coding ability for the iPhone. The file system is open, and media players already exist, if for nothing else than playing media from iTunes.

On of the downsides it that, for many, the 3.4Gb free on a brand new phone (or 7.4Gb, if you went for the bigger one) may not be enough to hold much data, but it all depends on what you torrent. Bigger problems are that the battery will last only in the region of 6-8 hours at best (according to Apple’s figures) which isn’t the greatest. Additionally, many users have reported the wifi connections being on the slow side as far as data transfers go. Using EDGE is a lot slower, about 30k/sec max.

Of course, the benefits are that you can carry it around with you, and you have the wide range of content available, with the benefits of torrent file’s typical pricing (free). Of course, time will tell. Meanwhile, the lack of MMS on the iPhone has been a small thorn in the side of many owners

Ouuuchhh tat hurts !!

Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, Pa. is gored in the leg by a fighting bull during a traditional bull run in Pamplona, Spain, Thursday July 12, 2007. Two American brothers were gored Thursday during the longest and bloodiest morning bull run at the San Fermin festival in the northeastern city of Pamplona. Lawrence Lenahan, 26, of Hermosa Beach, Calif. and Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, Pa. were gored by a bull who strayed from the pack, turned around and ran the wrong way. The older brother suffered a eight-inch (20-centimeter) goring in the left buttock after a dangerous sharp right turn in the course Lenahan described as a 'dead man's curve.' The younger brother was injured shortly before the bull ring, the end point of the daily runs, after the bulls horn entered beneath his skin in his right shin.

Courtesy : AP

10 FRIDAY-THE-13th Facts & Theories

1. It’s been estimated that $800 or $900 million (U.S.) is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do.

2. No historical date has been verifiably identified as the origin of the superstition. Before the 20th century, although there is evidence that the number 13 was considered unlucky, and Friday was considered unlucky; there was no link between them.

3. The first documented mention of a “Friday the 13th” is generally listed as occurring in the early 1900’s.[

4. A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in English, German, Polish and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the globe.

5. Many people are so paralyzed by fear that they are simply unable to get out of bed when Friday the 13th rolls around. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates that more than 17 million people are affected by a fear of this day.

6. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia.

7. Every year has at least one, and at most three Fridays the 13th, with 48 occurrences in 28 years an average of 1.7 times per year. The reason, this is the evidence: twenty-eight years have 336 months and 336 also equals seven times forty-eight.

8. A study published in The British Medical Journal (1993) has shown that there is a significant increase in traffic-related accidents on Friday the 13ths.

9. Friday the 13th is also known as “Dooms day” all around the world.

10. Many popular stories exist about the origin of the concept: The popular painting of the Last Supper, with stories that Judas numbered among the thirteen guests (Jesus plus his 12 apostles), and that the Crucifixion of Jesus occurred Friday. The Knights Templar is another popular theory: recently offered up as historical fact in the novel The Da Vinci Code, holds that it came about not as the result of a convergence, but a catastrophe, a single historical event that happened nearly 700 years ago.

Looks like the console war is finally over !! (?)

Sony Computer Entertainment spokesperson recently stated that the 60GB PS3 is going the way of the 20 Gig model and being discontinued in late July in favor of the 80GB version, meaning that the console is still $599 American.

But that is only half of the story here , according to some very well placed sources , Microsoft is gonna cut prices across all their consoles by 100$ . When? Sooner than you think. AUGUST 1ST.

It aint confirmed , but basically in less than 3 weeks the console prices will be the following:

-Xbox 360 core, $199 American (with pack-in memory unit!)
-Nintendo Wii, $249 American
-Xbox 360 Premium, $299 American
-Xbox 360 Elite, $449 Canadian, possibly $399 American
-PS3, $599 American, $649 Canadian

So August 1st, Xbox 360 will be the lowest price console on the market with the core system, and the difference between the 360 Core and the only PS3 will be a staggering $400 US!

Worlds apart: The moment the tallest man met the shortest

In terms of height they are worlds apart.

The world's tallest man, Bao Xishun today shook hands with He Pingping who claims to be Earth's shortest.

But these two men actually hail from the same region of Inner Mongolia.




While Mr Xishun, 56, towers above everyone at an astonishing 7.9ft, 19-year-old Mr Pingping is a mere 2.4ft high.

Fans get together to get MUSE song into UK TOP 40 !

Members of Muselive.com and other fansites are trying to get Citizen Erased into the chart. This is possible by paying for digital singles on sites such as HMVDigital and iTunes . Remember, don't buy the track until Monday - as this is when single sales start being counted for that week.

Herezz the link : http://muselive.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=25737

Microsoft to Incur Xbox Cost of Up to $1.15 Billion

Microsoft Corp. will incur pretax costs of as much as $1.15 billion related to repairs of its Xbox 360 video-game consoles and said sales of the machines missed its forecast for the year.

Warranty coverage for the consoles is being extended after an ``unacceptable'' number required repairs, the company said today in a statement. Microsoft expects the move to cost $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion in the quarter ended June 30.

The quality problems may hinder Microsoft as it strives to catch up with Nintendo Co.'s Wii, which has outsold the Xbox every month since going on sale in November. Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, pledged last July to make the Xbox division profitable in the fiscal year ending June 2008. The unit has lost money since it began in 2001.

``It's a pretty big black eye,'' said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Washington. ``It's certainly not going to help the Xbox compete against Nintendo, and it may be the stumble'' that PlayStation 3 maker Sony Corp. needs to win sales.

Shares of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft fell 8 cents to $29.91 in extended trading. They dropped 3 cents to $29.99 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

Microsoft missed its forecast for Xbox unit sales for the fiscal year just ended, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices unit, said in an interview. The company has sold 11.6 million machines since the Xbox 360's release in November 2005, missing Microsoft's target of 12 million. It initially forecast sales of as much as 15 million.

Profit Goals Intact

Bach said the company is still shooting for Xbox profit in the year that began July 1. Microsoft has forecast total profit of 37 cents to 39 cents a share on sales of $13.1 billion to $13.4 billion for the quarter that ended June 30. The company reports earnings on July 19.

``You have to wonder how expensive the Xbox business is going to be,'' Rosoff said. ``This is another billion in the hole.''

The expense is enough money to fix 2.5 million consoles, Rosoff said. Bach declined to say how many have failed so far.

``It's a meaningful number and it's got our attention,'' Bach said. ``When you look at the financial implication, obviously it's not a small number.''

Any customer whose console experiences a general hardware failure, indicated by three flashing red lights, will now be covered by a three-year warranty from the date of purchase. The previous warranty lasted one year in North America and Asia and two years in continental Europe, Bach said.

Quality Concerns

While Microsoft made the right decision by acting, the announcement could cause customers to worry about the quality of the machine, Rosoff said. Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said the new warranty should ``enhance'' customer confidence in buying an Xbox 360.

Bach said the issue was the result of a ``complex set of factors'' and it would have been difficult to predict the problem in advance. The failures cropped up in the past few months and weren't apparent in the first year the machine was on sale, he said. The company has made changes that he expects will cut the incidence of failures in machines from now on.

Repair shops in the U.K. have been swamped with affected consoles, the Times of London reported earlier today. Some had to turn away customers complaining of the ``red ring of death'' syndrome, named for the blinking lights, the paper said.

Flextronics International Ltd. manufactures the Xbox 360. Bach said Microsoft takes responsibility for the problems and won't be seeking to replace Flextronics.

Source : BLOOMBERG

90+ Eseential Music & Audio Websites

Online music has always been popular, and now social networks, peer recommendations and personalized radio stations are helping fans find bands faster than ever before. Here are more than 90 sites for musicians, fans, and everyone who enjoys music .

Herezz the link for the same : http://mashable.com/2007/07/06/online-music/