Not a big truck

It would seem every 30gb Zune, Microsoft’s iPod competitor, has failed at the exact same time.

At approximately 12:00 midnight Pacific Standard Time, on December 30th, 2008, first generation Zune 30’s were reported to have rebooted and frozen during the boot process. A response from Microsoft about this possible time bomb is pending.

College on the Record has dubbed the event 2k9, Entertainment Weekly and TechRadar have dubbed it Y2K9, Gizmodo has dubbed it Y2K9 and Z2K9.

As of 11:00 AM (EST) A comment has been posted the the front page of the support site stating that Microsoft is aware of the issue. Phone support reps have stated that the issues should be addressed within 24 hours.

From Wikipedia, Accessed Wednesday, December 31st, 2009 at 11:40am

The device currently sells for $200, originally selling for $250. Sadly, Zune owners will not be able to listen to their New Years jams.

Alternative sources: Gizmodo and Ars Technica

Click the image above to view a stunning New Years greeting from French energy company GDF Suez and director Raf Wathion. The stop-action clip was made with 300,000 candles. There’s also a making-of video–it’s in German and French, but still fascinating and worth checking out.

The Top 25 Songs of 1988:

1. Faith, George Michael
2. Need You Tonight, INXS
3. Got My Mind Set On You, George Harrison
4. Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley
5. Sweet Child O’ Mine, Guns N’ Roses (more…)

Many Americans think 5 cents a text message would be a bargain. Most pay 10, 15 or even 20 cents per txt without plan or on overages. It turns out the cost for these messages are next to zero.

The channel the messages are sent over is used to initiate a call. 160 characters does not exceed the amount of data used to start the call. The channel is left open regardless.

Telecoms: giving you less and charging you more.

Source: Wired blog

“Capucine and I have eaten more candy than we were supposed to. Capucine tries to get us out of trouble before Dad finds out about it.”

AKA: “Lets watch an adorable little French girl tell a story”

A recent study at the University of British Colombia and published in the journal “Psychosomatic Medicine” has found that the effects of owning a dog “included several signs of reduced stress, including lowered blood pressure, slowed heart rate and more relaxed muscles. And those relaxing effects were attained much more rapidly than pills. Having a dog close by reduced stress in as little as five minutes, where prescription medications can take weeks before taking effect.” So, instead of reaching for that bottle of Zoloft, maybe you should be reaching for a warm puppy.

[via Current]

Babak Parviz of the University of Washington has created a prototype bionic contact lens that uses tiny solar cell-powered LEDs to display images over the wearer’s visual field. The images come from a radio-frequency receiver and appear to float in midair.

AWESOME.

I honestly think this is the most fascinating thing I have discovered all winter break.

I spotted these little wonders at Northern Star Coffee, and had to wonder seriously why such a thing would exist. Chocolate Skittles don’t sound like a good concept. The flavors aren’t particularly appealing. It sounds like a disaster in every possible way.

A couple minutes into my chai latte, I had to find out myself just how bad these things were, so I spent the $1.05 necessary to appease my curiosity.

(more…)

By Oscar Wilde

First published in the 1894 December (and only) issue of the Oxford student magazine The Chameleon.

The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible.  What the second duty is no one has as yet discovered.

Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.

If the poor only had profiles there would be no difficulty in solving the problem of poverty.

Those who see any difference between soul and body have neither.

A really well-maded buttonhole is the only link between Art and Nature.

(more…)