RealNetworks, the company you love to hate, is back with a new product sure to capture the attention of Hollywood and its MPAA thugs. For $30, RealDVD plans to do what DVD Jon enabled years ago -- namely, making digital copies of your DVDs. Unlike Jon's illegal DRM stripping software, RealNetworks' approach lays on additional DRM allowing you to make a single copy, only, playable on the machine doing the rip -- up to five additional Windows PCs can be authorized at a cost of $20 per.

Real thinks that the use of the additional DRM coupled with Kaleidescape's legal victory -- a ruling that seemingly authorizes users to copy DVDs for their own personal use -- will help it escape the wrath of the MPAA. Not that RealNetworks has ever been afraid of a fight as demonstrated by its 2004 scuffle with Apple when it began offering software that allowed iPods to play Real's DRM'd content. Good thing too because we're pretty sure that shutting down the planned start of RealDVD's sales at the end of this month is the number one topic around the bunny-juice dispensers at the MPAA offices this morning.

[Via cnet]

Well, not really -- the actual experiments that could result in potentially disastrous "micro black holes" won't happen for another month (and probably won't end anything except the lives of a few protons), but as rumored, CERN's flipping the switch on the four billion dollar Large Hadron Collider this Wednesday to test the superconducting magnets that control the proton beams. After a clockwise test, they'll send protons counter-clockwise, and after that -- smashy time. Of course, there are still paranoid lawsuits pending to shut all this down, and we wouldn't mind another rap video or two, but after two decades of work, it's probably time to boot this thing up, death threats or no. Let's make it a good last month of humanity, people.

Really people, enough is enough. Death threats? Seriously? According to a fresh report from the Telegraph, gurus working on the mysterious Large Hadron Collider are receiving all sorts of strange messages, e-mails and faxes as the go-live date (this Wednesday, supposedly) draws ever closer. For those curious about why some folks are up in arms over this thing, we'll simply point you to this very informational rap video; for those opposed to nerdy hip-hop, let's just say its primary goal is to "seek out new particles including the long-awaited Higgs boson responsible for making things weigh what they do and the possible source of gravity called dark matter." Somehow or another, the paranoid among us think that carrying out those tasks will rip the world wide open or leave you stuck in 1990 with nothing in your CD player but Ice Ice Baby. Okay, so maybe that last scenario is worth getting worked up about.

[Via TGDaily]

Seriously, our hands are trembling at the mere thought of having to actually use any of these shameful peripherals. A camera that takes the good with the (mostly) bad? A star-shaped mouse guaranteed to accelerate the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome by 409%? A USB fan that blatantly lies about purifying the hot air coming from that clogged up tower of yours? All present and accounted for, sir, and that's not even the half of 'em. We have all ideas you too would want to keep your digits far, far away from any of the disasters linked below, but give the list a look and let us know which one you think is the most pitiful of all.

Read - Mouse pad / USB hub / mic
Read - USB Whack It
Read - Yang Ying Camera
Read - Star Mouse
Read - Key-shaped USB key
Read - Totally original touchscreen MP3 player
Read - USB fan with super-secret germ killing powers

By now you've probably watched the Bill Gates / Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft ad a dozen or so times (if not, get to it). If you're like us, you've got a healthy conversation happening about what the new campaign means, and whether or not you actually like the thing. According to a leaked internal email from Redmond's senior vice president Bill Veghte, this first installment in what will be a series of commercials is meant to function as an "Icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context." It seems that the company is following the path they've stamped out with their previous media burst, the Mojave Experiment, which appears to be less concerned with changing the product (Windows), and more concerned with changing consumers' perception of the product. In Veghte's words, "Telling our story means making significant investments to improve the way consumers experience Windows." So here's our question to you: is Microsoft on the right track here? Let us know in the poll below! (You can also read the full text of the email after the break)

For awhile now, ultra-wideband (UWB) has been on the way down in terms of popularity, and all the while, AMIMON's WHDI technology has been racking up an unprecedented amount of support. At this year's CEDIA conference, we've got adapter manufacturer Gefen backing both sides by introducing separate wireless HD solutions built around Tzero's UWB tech and the aforesaid WHDI. It's hard to say if both of these formats will continue to be supported (though if we had to guess, we'd say WHDI has the upper hand), but at least for now, Gefen's playing it safe rather than casting a vote. We've a term in Washington for your kind, Gefen, and that term is fencesitter.

Read - Gefen supports WHDI!
Read - But wait, Gefen supports UWB!

As promised, Gates and Seinfeld made their television pair-up debut tonight, in an advertisement for something or other. We were sad to see Seinfeld sans-bee suit, and Gates is lacking in Costanza-isms, but we might just be looking at a beautiful friendship here. Video is after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

It's no secret that RFID isn't the most secure thing in the world, so we mostly took Adam Savage's story about Discovery telling the Mythbusters to back off an episode exposing the tech's flaws after a conference call with various cred card company lawyers as a bit of laughable corporate insecurity, but it looks like Adam got himself in a bit of trouble by sharing -- Discovery's now sending out a release in which he basically retracts the whole thing. "There's been a lot of talk about this RFID thing, and I have to admit that I got some of my facts wrong... Texas Instruments' account of their call with Grant and our producer is factually correct [and] the decision not to continue on with the RFID story was made by our production company, Beyond Productions, and had nothing to do with Discovery, or their ad sales department." Sure, that doesn't explain why he said that Tory "still gets a little white" when he remembers the phone call, or why he said RFID was "on Discovery's radar," but we're guessing it has more to do with simple exaggeration than devious conspiracy. At least we hope so.

The only thing worse than getting a punctured tire is trying to use a flimsy scissor jack to change it. Break down on a dirt or snow-covered road and you probably have as good a shot at losing your hand as you do fixing a flat. Not so with the Titan, which may look like an exhaust-powered whoopee cushion, but can actually haul cars (even lifted rigs) up into the air on nearly any surface. Just run a hose to the exhaust of a running car, and the $120 (and up) balloon will gently raise the vehicle aloft -- and by "gently" we mean "really, really slowly." It's probably a little faster than calling AAA, but not as easy as Superjack's remote-controlled kit for lazies. If you have the patience, check out the vid after the break for six minutes of tire-changing action.

[Via Autoblog]

We won't lie: this started as an excuse to do a visual gag pertaining to the abundance of Nintendo Wiis in action at IFA 2008 (that most excellent headline pun is just a bonus). But we got carried away and ended up with some deeper impressions we took away from the show, which took place last week and this week in Berlin, Germany.

The Wii was naturally not the only thing we saw at IFA. Panasonic was back with its 150-inch plasma, a large rock garden of displays backed by a row of 103-inchers and its fully-featured Blu-ray players. Sony's gigantic room-within-a-room forest was mesmerizing, and the surrounding technology like that paper-thin LCD (though Philips got the last laugh) and intriguing Sountina were no doubt of interest. Samsung brought its A-game once again, with a breathtaking wall of LCDs, and enough miscellaneous gadgets to significantly, literally raise the temperature in the back of the booth. Toshiba's more modest affair hid many technology demos and futuristic technology like a Cell-powered television and resolution upscaling. LG was a tad subdued, but by "subdued" we mean "not as insane as Samsung." A slew of a Europe-only companies weren't slumbering either, with wild displays of their own, primarily of televisions.

Don't forget kids, you could still win yourself a succulent Lexmark X7675 wireless printer and two cartridges by simply submitting a comment in the giveaway post here. What are you waiting for? C'mon, you have until 11:59PM tonight! The thing is free! Get!

Although it's no secret that RFID is easily hacked (see: train passes, passports, credit cards, one billion other cards, etc.) it's still not necessarily common knowledge, and it sounds like the major credit card companies want to keep it that way -- according to Adam Savage, Mythbusters was all set to do a show exposing the weak security behind most RFID implementations but was shut down by lawyers from "American Express, Visa, Discover, and everybody else... [who] absolutely made it really clear to Discovery that they were not going to air this episode." Since Discovery is an ad-supported channel, it's not surprising that it backed down, but we'd say that the credit card industry would be far better served spending money on actually improving security rather than lawyering up and trying to keep consumers in the dark. Video after the break.

[Via Wired]

We've managed to somewhat wrap our brains around shape-shifting robots and printable circuits, but we're still working on fully understanding the latest Intel spill. As IDF came to a close, Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer, presented a keynote speech in which he explained just how close the outfit was to realizing "programmable matter." Granted, he did confess that end products were still years away, but researchers have been looking at ways to "make an object of any imaginable shape," where users could simply hit a print button and watch the matter "take that shape." He also explained that the idea of programmable matter "revolves around tiny glass spheres with processing power and photovoltaic for generating electricity to run the tiny circuitry." For those now sitting with a blank stare on their face (read: that's pretty much all of you, no?), hit up the read link for even more mind-boggling "explanations."

[Via MAKE]