TowleTech v.104

NASA announced this week that its Chandra X-ray Observatory in space had discovered the Milky Way galaxy's youngest supernova (above): "They put the star-dying event at sometime around 1868. Before this, the youngest supernova in the Milky Way was thought to have occurred around 1680. A supernova is the catastrophic explosion of a star that releases an extraordinary amount of energy, enough to outshine an entire galaxy. This new baby supernova is located near the center of the galaxy and obscured by dense gas and dust, making it virtually impossible to see in optical light. Two to three supernovae are thought to occur every century in the Milky Way. As a result, there are probably even younger ones out there waiting to be identified, said David Green of the University of Cambridge in England, who led the radio observatory study."

Rocketman Yves Rossy takes first flight over the Swiss Alps on wings he built himself: "The self-built contraption took the former fighter pilot five years to build and perfect - and yesterday he gave it its maiden flight. Stepping out of an aircraft at 7,500ft, Rossy unfolded the 10ft rigid wings strapped to his back as he plummeted earthwards. Passing from freefall into a gentle glide, he triggered the four jet turbines and accelerated to 190mph above the mountaintops. Steering with his body, Rossy dived, turned and soared again, flying what appeared to be effortless loops from one side of the Rhone valley to the other. At times he climbed 2,600ft before diving again, leaving a trail of special-effects smoke in his wake."

Google has been running a Developer Challenge for programmers who want to create applications for their Android mobile phone platform, and this week they announced the Top 50 entries in that challenge. The Challenge offers $10 million in awards. The top 5 are Android Scan, a program that discovers pricing and metadata for any product with a barcode; Breadcrumbz, which lets users navigate and record a route using images instead of a map; Pocket Journey, which is a localized networking app for localized exploration; Golfplay, a GPS, statistic, and weather resource for golfers; and Commandro, a mobile social networking app.

Xbox Live this week banned the gamer tag "the GAYERgamer" of one of its users this week. According to Consumerist, "He hoped that a call to customer support would sort things out but all he received was a confusing explanation from an Xbox Live supervisor. According to the supervisor, it wasn't that she found the name offensive, but it was the 'greater Xbox community" that found it offensive.'"

CBS announced yesterday that it plans to acquire the tech site Cnet for $1.8 billion.

Creative has launched a rival to the popular Flip series of ultra-cheap, ultra-portable pocket camcorders. The Vado offers 640 x 480 resolution, along with 2GB memory and a 2-inch screen. Great for YouTube, but not much else. Though for $100 we'd call it a bargain.

Although it already rates faster than any other network, AT&T announced this week that it will boost speeds of its 3G network more than fivefold by 2009, to 20 megabits per second. It better, considering that this is on the way. And what's this talk of a mini-tablet?

Cnet takes a first look at the Wii Fit.

The U.S. Air Force wants the ability to control "any and all" computers.

A symphony orchestra was handed over to a robot for the first time this week when Honda's "Asimo" robot conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a performance of "The Impossible Dream" prior to a Yo-Yo Ma concert on Tuesday: "'It's exciting to see. The technology is mind boggling,' said bass trombone player Randall Hawes, who has played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for 22 years. 'I was struck by how fluid the walk was when it came out and how still it was.' But Hawes doesn't think the diminutive white robot will replace human conductors any time soon. 'We react to it. It doesn't react to us,' he said. 'That's the only thing that's missing. We knew when it was going to stop so we stopped.' The symphony extended the invitation to ASIMO earlier this year after Honda donated one million dollars to establish The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund, which will support music education to underserved children around Detroit."

And in other robot news, a real-life Wall-E!

TOWLETECH GUIDE TO THE TUBE

JACK RUSSELL: A Jack Russell interacts with a new kind of ad/interactive floor display that is coming soon to major airports.

MISSILE COMMAND: How 'bout a two-player game of Missile Command using multi-touch on an 8' x 4' wall?

TESTE TOUCH: NYU interactive art installation where the user's touch and the temperature of the environment make a pair of giant testicles retract and giggle. Folks apparently went nuts for them at a recent fair.

SURVEILLANCE: Using your iPhone to control a high-tech surveillance system.

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Blu's Muto a New Movement in Street Art

Living in New York, I've seen plenty of drawings on city walls, but never an animation masterwork quite like this one by the artist BLU.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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News: Sean Penn, Nova Scotia, Parrots, Channing Tatum, HIV

Homeless man gets 35 years in prison for spitting on a police officer and saying he was HIV positive.

Sean Penn slams Obama's "phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional" voting record, expresses optimism: "I don't have a candidate I'm supporting and I'm certainly interested and excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring. I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be. This is the most important election, certainly in my lifetime, and maybe ever."

You'll never guess who is broke and living in a trailer with 20 parrots? Well, actually, you might.

Marriage equality bill introduced in Minnesota legislature: "The Marriage and Family Protection Act was introduced by Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, on Friday. The bill would make marriage a gender-neutral proposition in Minnesota, allowing same-sex couples to marry. It would also protect religious institutions that have moral objections to same-sex marriage from being compelled to perform such ceremonies."

Spains's Operacion Triunfo (the equivalent to our American Idol) recently featured a hot gay kiss.

McGreevey: Dina paid for the wedding, and honeymoon.

All's well in the land of Ry-chen.

Toronto Lutheran parish to defy church, risk expulsion, ordinate gay man: "Lionel Ketola will be ordained tomorrow night by a non-traditional American Lutheran group that ordains gay candidates. Their ordinations are not officially recognized in Canada or the United States. But despite that, he will then be hired by Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Newmarket, Ont., as an associate pastor, where he has interned for the past two years. Members of Holy Cross will also take part in the ordination ceremony."

Channing Tatum's GI Joe gear looks less than comfortable.

Police in Brighton, UK appeal for witnesses following attack on gay man by gang of youths: "About seven boys verbally abused the man, spat on him, forced him to the ground and kicked him in George Street. One member of the group was wearing a hooded top and another had white three quarter length tracksuit bottoms with a navy stripe, police said."

Gay pride group to march on county offices in Nova Scotia: "The group will raise the gay pride flag during a 7 p.m. ceremony at the town’s Water Street gazebo to mark the International Day Against Homophobia. The gazebo is a couple of blocks from the Municipality of Pictou County’s administrative building, where the gay pride flag will not fly. A February resolution banned all except government and First Nation flags from the county’s official flagpole. The municipality said the controversial policy doesn’t target gay pride groups specifically, but allows equal treatment of all organizations that want the county to fly their flags."

Joe Lieberman defends pastor John Hagee: "He represents a lot of people in this country, particularly Christians who care about the state of Israel."

The legacy of Illinois' first openly gay legislator, Larry McKeon, who died this week: "Chicago had never held a meeting like this, for gays and lesbians interested in becoming cops, and for an hour and a half, bleached by ceiling lights, they asked questions. Two officers, among the few on the force willing to say they were gay, answered. Was the department planning to form a special gay unit? No. Did the department intend to set gay quotas? No. Was there a space on the application for sexual orientation? No. Leaning against a wall, watching, was the man who'd organized the meeting, Larry McKeon."

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Obelisk Mounted in Annapolis: 2008 Herndon Climb

With all the same-sex marriage excitement, we almost missed thes Herndon Climb, the annual mounting of the lard-slicked obelisk at Annapolis which was almost canceled this year.

More shots and a clip of the action AFTER THE JUMP and at A Cause Des Garcons...

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More AFTER THE JUMP...

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Ellen DeGeneres' Marriage Announcement

Here's the clip of Ellen Degeneres announcing she's getting married on her show today. Ellen's partner, Portia de Rossi was in the audience.

Said Ellen: "Yesterday, the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. So I would like to say right now, for the first time, I am announcing that I am getting married...I’m so excited. It’s something that we’ve, of course, wanted to do, and we’ve wanted to be legal, and we’re very very excited."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Two Perspectives on the 'Value' of Marriage

On the left, a look at Molly McKay and Pam Brown on the day they await the California Supreme Court's Ruling on same-sex marriage. The ruling happens around the 3:30 mark.

On the right, scorned, self-described 'YouTube Superstar' Tricia Walsh-Smith's third batshit crazy video about her divorce to Schubert Organization president Phillip Smith. If you missed her first two (and I don't know how you could have) they are here and here.

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