DVDFile has news about the Swingers DVD re-release. It includes an anamorphic transfer, commentary by Doug Liman, and several featurettes. Street date September 24th. Finally I can replace the old bare-bones release in my collection.

Woohoo! New iPod stuff! A 20 gig model was introduced and the 5 and 10 gig prices were lowered $100. They have a new touch sensitive scroll wheel and a wired remote control, along with PDA-like features including a address book and calendar. And Windows is officially supported!

Oh man, the final matches of the Max Games Videogame Tournament will be played on an IMAX dome screen. Motion sickness hell!

The concepts for the World Trade Center seem rather boring and generic. They look like they could be any set of skyscrapers anywhere in the world. I think the plans should have more personality and uniqueness, or at least something to match recognizability of the original twin towers. But anyway, I like the garden and promenade plans the best.

Army Plastic Used at Strip Clubs

At least 200 Army personnel used their government charge cards to obtain hundreds of dollars in cash at strip clubs near military bases, a congressional investigation has found.
…
GAO also found that Army charge cards were used for fraudulent purchases of more than $100,000 of computers and other electronic equipment; for fine china, cigars, wine and a $2,250 tree for planting on Earth Day; for cruises and a trip to Las Vegas; and for two pictures of Elvis Presley purchased at his Graceland mansion in Memphis.

The Army issues credit cards? What\’re soldiers supposed to use them for?
[ From Scrubbles.net ]

Ars Technica reviews the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. It uses lots of neat tricks to achieve its 47/48 mpg fuel consumption, like electric motor assist and regenerative braking. The car actually shuts off when it\’s stopped at a red light and turns back on when the brake pedal is released.

Lights Out Entertainment has some info about the extra scenes in the upcoming Lord of the Rings DVD set. Looks like they added some of the singing that was in the book. Ugh. The extended cut of the movie is only available on the 4-disc set, so make sure you know what you\’re buying when the different versions are finally released.

Heh heh, Baby Smasher is so cool. I would plaster the stickers on baby changing stations all over town but they\’re kind of expensive at $3 each.

This is interesting. Yahoo email replaces words in received HTML email. For some reason this is supposed to prevent cross-site scripting attacks. The list of word replacements looks pretty weird. It replaces \”mocha\” with \”espresso.\” Whatever.

Apology for \’Roasted Nuts\’ psychiatric hospital fire headline

A New Jersey journalist has apologised for writing a headline saying \”Roasted Nuts\” about a fire in a psychiatric hospital.

Tony Persichilli is a columnist and copy editor for The Trentonian.

He says he was wrong to put the headline on the story about the fire at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.

Tony Persichilli is my hero.