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Weird News Of The Wired

"Underroos" for the wired male. At least that's how one broadcast report characterized the latest in men's underwear/fashion/linked-up accessories: Undies equipped with a pocket to stash your iPod. For about $22, these cutting-edge undergarments are supposedly targeted at athletes and the gym crowd who need a place to stash their 'pods--in very hot weather I imagine. Because what ever happened to pant, shirt, and sweatshirt pockets? I can’t help but wonder how safe iPods are in the rain--I mean, that's one charge you wouldn't want to get out of an iPod.

Where in the world are Fluffy and Fido? One of the problems with cats is that they tend to do what they want, like shredding your furniture and staying out all night. Dogs, meanwhile, have a tendency to just run off. Pet owners who want to keep track of their errant pets might want to check out the MicroID Collar. It placed first in an invention contest hosted by PetSafe, Inc., beating out over 5,000 other entries and garnering a $40,000 prize.

When it eventually comes on the market, it will feature a flash memory card and a USB controller built in. The device has an electronic journal for storing all pet and owner information and has the advantage of providing multiple points of contact for the owner, any medical concerns if treatment is necessary, and other specific pet care needs. I can't help but wonder how subtle this collar will be--dogs may be willing to don a sweater or hat on occasion, but cats have no use for accessorizing.

This week's big Oops? Some hapless Google employee inadvertently deleted the company's corporate blog. "Our bad," blushed Google. Others saw an opportunity, and the blog address was temporarily "claimed" by another user. All's well that ends well, as the blog was restored the following day, though we don’t know about the overzealous deleter.

Damn Lies & Stats! No sooner did we post a survey about how consumers aren't really warming up to mobile apps on their cellies, then up pops another one claiming that consumers do want their mobile apps--at least TV anyway. I don’t know about you, but sometimes these dueling surveys make our heads spin. What do consumers want? Apparently we still can't say for sure!

Sleeping with the enemy--or at least cheering with them. How 'bout that Morgan Stanley case? There seems to be no end of Wall Street lawsuits, but the issues at Morgan Stanley add a new twist: whistle-blowing and wrongdoing at the IT end of things. It appears you can go far with tickets to sporting events! We've posted several stories and blog entries exploring the charges against Morgan Stanley, including an interesting take on outsourcing's "dirty little secret."

Night Rider cometh. Maybe the solution to bad driving is the self-driving car that won DARPA's 2005 autonomous-vehicle race. "Stanley" is expected to be on the interstate no earlier than 2008, and its developers at Stanford University are hoping it will be able to drive driverless in real traffic.

Well, why not? Without the usual distractions in the car--music, cell phones, jabbering passengers, food, makeup, shavers, reading material, etc., I predict ole Stan will breeze through the toughest city traffic without a scratch. The developers say it's only a matter of time until consumers have self-driving cars. Meantime, I'll settle for a self-navigating car that will help me find my way out of the proverbial paper bag.

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