Technobabble

Bike light show
I bicycle 20 miles roundtrip to work every day, and rarely a day goes by that I don’t come close to getting creamed by some kid texting behind the wheel or some over-caffeinated rush-hour maniac late for the 9-to-5. I will soon have a product to help me make it to my next birthday: the Reactiv light-up bicycle jacket. Using technology similar to the Nintendo Wii, the shirt detects if you are accelerating, stationary or decelerating. Lights on the back and sleeve of the rider light up accordingly—green on your back means acceleration; red, deceleration; and the yellow lights near your wrist on the sleeves light up when you raise your arm to signal. Do the duds come in neon pink Lycra? See a demo yourself by searching “Reactiv” on YouTube.

Rock bands <3 Rock Band
Everyone other than the music corporations seem to realize that music promotion and music marketing need to re-invent themselves in the Internet age. Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins and others have sold or planned to sell their music as online downloads, cutting out the corporate middle folk.

None of this really surprises me; I kinda think it’s late coming. But I was surprised to hear that the former girly haired bad boys of Mötley Crüe are releasing the first single from their new album through the video game Rock Band. “Saints of Los Angeles” will be a 99-cent download for Microsoft’s Xbox Live or Sony’s PlayStation. In a similar story, Jonathan Coulton reached geek fame for his single “Still Alive,” which can be heard once you conclude the console game Portal. I hear he is making a pretty digital penny on iTunes downloads of the song, which is also available for use in Rock Band and its rival game Guitar Hero.

YouDivorce
It had to happen sooner than later, right? Someone getting divorced on YouTube. I guess that means Trisha Walsh-Smith, who speaks about her prenuptial love (and much more) before her husband is about to be single. Trouble is, if she does get the half-million a year “pension” from her soon-to-be ex-husband, there will be more than 150,000 other YouTube watchers who viewed this video in the first five days it was online who might be trying to beat me to the altar with this … loving woman.

Wacky Web site of the week
We all love to spend money, even a socialist like myself. So if you could spend as much as the Bush administration has spent on our invasion and occupation of Iraq (dollar cost, not human lives), what would you buy? Get your $3 trillion here: http://3trillion.org