Rumours of life on Mars rampant
This avalanche of rumours started from a tiny snow ball sent rolling by Craig Covault over at Aviation Week and was subsequently propelled by Slashdot; NASA is preparing to unveil their findings from the Phoenix Lander that life on Mars has been discovered. Furthermore, rumours hold that NASA has briefed the White House on the discovery, prepping them in anticipation of an official statement from the space agency. But before you get carried away, we’re going to have to call jinkies on that one.
First off, the Phoenix Lander, as stated by its creators (repeatedly) lacks the necessary tools to directly detect life. So that shifts the onus onto what the boys and girls on the ground can do with the data. The original source, coming from Craig Covault, claims that the excitement stems from tests conducted by the Phoenix Lander’s wet chemistry lab team. However, Cavualt curtails any grandiose notions by stating “sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars.” Tell that to the blogosphere that read the headline ‘White House Briefed On Potential For Mars Life.’
However, clearing the air, for the time being, was NASA, who in a roundabout way (they’ve chose to personify the Phoenix Lander as @MarsPhoenix on Twitter) had this to say: “Heard about the recent news reports implying I may have found Martian life. Those reports are incorrect,” she Tweeted. “Reports claiming there was a White House briefing are also untrue and incorrect.”
Xbox 360 Price Drop
For many, the ceiling on purchasing a next-gen console is at the $200 price point. Anything above and it’s ta-ta for now. Well, you spendthrift gamers, your time has come. Get out your felt tipped pens and circle September 7th on your calendar, for that’s the anticipated date for the Xbox 360 Arcade edition to start selling for $199. Now, while rumours are rumours, this one is backed up by a screenshot of a retailer’s inventory screen displaying the Xbox 360 Arcade being reduced to $199.99 on 09/07/08.
Now, it’s caveat emptor here, as noted by the CNET article titled ‘Why you shouldn’t buy an Xbox 360 Arcade’ (catchy title, ain’t it?) The Arcade does not come with a hard drive, and as such, any serious gaming is going to be fairly limited as there’s only 256mb of storage space coming with the system. And you can forget about downloading demos from marketplace. So what’s a hard drive gonna cost you? ‘Bout $90, bumping you back up the $300 at which the Arcade system sits now. It’s your call.
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U.S. Federal Agents can seize electronics at the border
Anyone entering the United States, including American citizen, can have their cell phones, PDAs, laptops, calculator watches…anything that beeps, confiscated without suspicion of wrongdoing for an unspecified period of time and they’ve been able to for a long time now. Due to pressure from civil liberties groups the policy has finally been brought to light as the number of international travelers exploited under these laws continues to rise. You can almost feel Big Brother breathing down you neck.
Wow, I had no idea that they could automatically confiscate these types of things. Can you imagine the cell phones they must have if they do follow this.
I always believe that there is life on Mars, but I don’t think that they are living now. Those creatures must have been dead by now, since we aren’t seeing anything until now.