Although I now live in New York, I originally grew up with Ryan in South New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia. This makes us huge Philadelphia Phillies fans (albeit I’m a Giants fan come football season) and after last night’s World Series game, we’re happy Philadelphia fans. The Philadelphia Phillies have finally broken the curse of William Penn and have paved the way for the Flyers and Eagles to win championships. No one cares about the 76ers, so no matter there. There will be a huge ticker tape parade down Broad Street come Friday, so if you’re anywhere near Philly, make sure you stop by and party for us.

If you’re a fan of baseball, you couldn’t have asked for a better World Series in 2008. Go Phils!

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For the opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympics, the Beijing committee included RFID chips with spectators’ passport information and home/e-mail addresses in each ticket to prevent counterfeits and hacker intrusions. Like the RFID-driven Japanese urn system, the Beijing system makes sure that anyone who isn’t supposed to be there, won’t. Much like U.S. airport security, if you were a foreigner with an RFID ticket, you’d still get the ill treatment as if you were up to no good.

According to a Dutch businessman, he was asked to drink his sunscreen to prove it wasn’t an explosive and when he explained that he couldn’t drink sunscreen, he was let through without further inquiry. “The security was less than professional and not completely thorough,” he said.

That really does sound just like airport security here in the states. One time, I was forced to eat a bar of soap simply because it was the same color as Anthrax. After eating it, they let me through. When I went through the gate, I started vomiting up a foamy white solution. This led them to believe I was a terrorist. What a horrible vacation that was.

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If you’ve been keeping track of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, then you’ve certainly noticed the amazing camera work detailing every event clearly and at every angle. That is to say if you haven’t been too distracted watching Michael Phelps tear everyone a new asshole. I bet you’re wondering how they cover events such as synchronized diving so thoroughly? The answer is quite simple:

The camera technicians simply drop the camera at the same time the diver begins to fall. If you remember from your high school physics class: all objects fall at the same speed, the speed of gravity. The DiveCam is no exception. This is the camera which follows the diver from the top of the platform all the way into the water without the use of complex pneumatics or motorized tracks, but rather the natural forces of gravity. Newton would be proud.

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Alright, folks. If you plan on getting a T-Mobile Sidekick 2008 or already own one, chances are you’re aware the case can be customized to your liking. Whether it’s Sierra Nevada, Batman or your sister’s best friend, I’m sure you’ll find something unique to decorate your Sidekick with.

Anyways, we have a coupon code for a free case from Skin It. Just leave a comment on this post with your name and e-mail (make sure it’s real) telling us why you want it and we’ll pick someone on Friday. Get typin’!

First, it was digitally altering the fireworks. Now those commie bastards are at it again! According to The Telegraph, the little 9-year-old girl in the red dress than sung “Hymn to the Motherland” during the opening ceremony, Lin Miaoke, is nothing more than a puppet. Turns out a small girl with “buck teeth” called Yang Peiyi was hitting all the notes backstage while the bitch in the red dress danced around.

At the last moment a member of the Chinese politburo who was watching a rehearsal pronounced that the winner, a girl called Yang Peiyi, might have a perfect voice but was unsuited to the lead role because of her buck teeth.

So, on the night, while a pre-recording of Yang Peiyi singing was played, Lin Miaoke, who has already featured in television advertisements, was seen but not heard.

“This was a last-minute question, a choice we had to make,” the ceremony’s musical designer, Chen Qigang, said. “Our rehearsals had already been vetted several times - they were all very strict. When we had the dress rehearsals, there were spectators from various divisions, including above all a member of the politburo who gave us his verdict: we had to make the swap.”

Seriously. Way to go, China. Your reputation is getting more and more sour by the minute. I fear that by the end of the Olympics, you’ll have rendered gold medals for every Chinese athlete using computer graphics.

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We’re not actively covering the Black Hat 2008 security conference currently going on in Las Vegas but there is some crazy stuff happening. Similar to when I attended Defcon years ago with Hack a Day, there was a Wall of Sheep. The WoS displays people who got hacked and insecure connections to prove a point and expose weaknesses in wireless security.

During the conference, three journalists from a French publication hacked the press room Internet connection and stole a ton of login credentials from other people. They then tried to have the team running the Wall of Sheep display the stolen information, which included login info for eweek.com, cnet.com and many other sites. Security found out and banned the three jerks from attending Black Hat and Defcon.

Remember: hacking has a time and a place. The press room at a big event is not it.

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So I grabbed the DSLR and a FedEx box and went crazy. Here’s a bunch of pics of the new Sidekick, as well as the new Sidekick being compared to a Sidekick LX for scale. Enjoy!

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As you probably saw, T-Mobile has launched it’s latest Sidekick device. Also known as the “2008″ model, the new Sidekick is probably the best yet. I’ve spent the past few weeks messing with one and it’s like a scrunched-up Sidekick LX with easy-to-hit buttons. I’ll have a full review for you guys next week, as well as a huge photo shoot tomorrow (or possibly today). So keep your eyes peeled for that shit.

After the jump, the full specs on the new Sidekick, as well as a few pics. Be sure to hit the Link up so you can vote on my Sierra Nevada-edition SK08!
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T-Mobile was kind enough to send me the new Sidekick 2008 model early so I could spend some time getting acquainted with it. Lately, T-Mobile has really been ramping up Sidekick production with models like the Slide and LX. The 2008, the latest model, isn’t vastly different than the Sidekick LX. It’s a little smaller, which is a major issue as it makes using it much easier. Battery life still sucks and the camera is improved a bit but is still lacking a quality CMOS chip.
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For a software platform that was discontinued 14 years ago, the Commodore 64’s legacy and fan base is still going strong. The Cincinnati Commodore Computer Club’s held its 2008 C=4 Expo at the Drawbridge Inn in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky from June 28-29.

In celebration of the LAN party status at C=4, a new Commodore 64 game was unveiled, called NetRacer. Up to eight players can race together, either over the internet or they can LAN it up with some ethernet cartridges. A little late on its release, don’t ya’ think?

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