ATLANTA - Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention his wife's death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.Benoit's Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife's death.A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Conn., where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.An IP address, a unique series of numbers carried by every machine connected to the Internet, does not necessarily have to be broadcast from where it is registered. The bodies were found in Benoit's home in suburban Atlanta, and it's not known where the posting was sent from, Bass said.
Benoit strangled his wife and son during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home, authorities said. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.
Also Thursday, federal drug agents said they had raided the west Georgia office of a doctor who prescribed testosterone to Benoit.
The raid at Dr. Phil Astin's office in Carrollton began Wednesday night and concluded early Thursday, said agent Chuvalo Truesdell, a spokesman for the Drug
Enforcement Administration. No arrests were made.
Hours before the raid, Astin told The Associated Press he had treated Benoit for low testosterone levels, which he said likely originated from previous steroid use.
Among other things, investigators were looking for Benoit's medical records to see whether he had been prescribed steroids and, if so, whether that prescription was appropriate, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because records in the case remain sealed.
Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past but would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office Friday.
State medical records show that Astin's privileges were suspended for three months in 2001 at a Georgia hospital for "reasons related to competence or character."
Astin did not return calls to his cell phone from the AP on Thursday.
Anabolic steroids were found in Benoit's home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the killings. Some experts believe steroids cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."
Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said in a statement Thursday that he could not immediately comment on the raid.
Benoit's page on Wikipedia, a reference site that allows users to add and edit information, was updated at 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found. The reason he missed a match Saturday night was "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy," it said.
Reporters informed the Fayette County district attorney's office of the posting Thursday, and the agency forwarded the information to sheriff's investigators, who are looking into it, a legal assistant said in an e-mail to the AP.
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said that to his knowledge, no one at the WWE knew Nancy Benoit was dead before her body was found Monday afternoon. Text messages released by officials show that messages from Chris Benoit's cell phone were being sent to co-workers a few hours after the Wikipedia posting.
WWE employees are given WWE e-mail addresses, McDevitt said, though he did not know whether Chris Benoit had one.
"I have no idea who posted this," McDevitt said. "It's at least possible Chris may have sent some other text message to someone that we're unaware of. We don't know if he did. The phone is in the possession of authorities."
On Thursday afternoon, the Wikipedia page about Benoit carried a note stating that editing by
unregistered or newly registered users was disabled until July 8 because of vandalism.
In other developments Thursday, Ballard told the AP that 10 empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home. An empty wine bottle was found a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself, Ballard said.
It could take several weeks for toxicology tests to be completed on Benoit to see what substances, if any, were in his system.
Benoit took four months off from work in 2006 for undisclosed personal reasons, McDevitt said.
"He was feeling depressed, that kind of thing," McDevitt said.
In the days before the killings, Benoit and his wife argued over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded 7-year-old son, according to an attorney for the WWE wrestling league.
The child had a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism.
Chris Benoit's father, Michael Benoit, declined to comment on the slayings when reached Thursday by telephone in Alberta, Canada. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
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Friday, June 29, 2007
Dead wrestler's Web page was altered
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Transformers 2007
Transformers is a 2007 live action film based on the Transformers franchise. Directed by Michael Bay with Steven Spielberg acting as executive producer, it stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, who discovers the map to the Allspark: the source of life for which the heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons wage their war. The project originated with producers Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto. It features the return of Peter Cullen as the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime, 20 years since the original cartoon ended, and also showcases a new complex design aesthetic for the Transformers. It premiered on June 12, 2007 before being released across the world, mostly during July
High-school student Sam Witwicky buys his first car, who is actually the Autobot Bumblebee. Bumblebee defends Sam and his girlfriend Mikaela Banes from the Decepticon Barricade, before the other Autobots arrive on Earth. They are searching for the Allspark, and the war on Earth heats up as the Decepticons attack a United States military base in Qatar. Sam and Mikaela are taken by the top-secret agency Sector 7 to help stop the Decepticons, but when they learn the agency also intends to destroy the Autobots, they formulate their own plan to save the world
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Dell Latitude D430 Coming July 2nd
Following are the specs for the Latitude D430 according to what's available on the Dell Taiwan site: 
According to the Dell Taiwan site the Latitude D430 ultraportable notebook, the follow-on to the Latitude D420, will be available on July 2nd. The good news is that it will offer a Solid State hard drive (SSD). The bad news is no new Intel Santa Rosa platform, initially at least.
So basically the processor gets upgraded from the existing Dell D420 that has a Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo), but no move to the new Intel Santa Rosa platform. This is quite odd seeing that 
Lenovo quickly moved its X-series ultraportable to Santa Rosa last month with the release of the ThinkPad X61 and HP will soon be releasing a Santa Rosa ultraportable in the form of the HP Compaq 2710p. Obviously Dell has bumped into some design issues that doesn't allow them to move the D430 to Santa Rosa or they simply decided customers don't care about having the latest Intel processor and integrated graphics platform on their business ultraportable. Whatever the case, my guess is that this move might turn off some buyers, but I've been known to be wrong.The SSD drive option is of course a bonus, having the SSD drive will give you better battery life and faster hard drive performance. Since a regular drive for the D430 will be a 1.8" variety that spins at a max of 4200RPM the SSD will be a big performance improvement over other options.Also new will be the option of the Intel 4965 wireless card that provides 802.11n wireless. You'll also have the option of integrated WWAN like you do with the D420. Other than that, unless there's something else being upgraded we don't see in the specs, everything remains the same. This is good since the Latitude D420 is a very solid offering, but a little dissapointing not to see at least a little more of a specs bump.
The Latitude D430 as seen on the Dell Taiwan siteSaturday, June 23, 2007
Intel comes up with anti-cheating technology
Games are supposed to be fun, even more so computer games. Unfortunately, it loses its fun factor when cheats fall into the equation. The computer folk at Intel share your pain of meeting a person in an online server who seems to have unnatural reflexes and superhuman aim, and yet do not carry the handle Fatal1ty. How does Intel confirm your suspicions that this isn’t a really skilled player but someone who has been hiding behind the facade of aimbots? Let us read to find out more on how Intel develops technology that detects cheating in online games.Intel’s software has already undergone demonstrations, monitoring data sent from the player’s computer to the server, which will then analyze that data in order to detect certain anomalies which would place those players under the category of cheaters. The software will subsequently notify the server or admin so that corrective action can be taken with that offensive player being kicked off the server. The exact mechanics of such a software remains unknown, and that leaves us with the question of whether Intel’s software will be in the form of firmware or software that has to be installed.I don’t know - will such software prevent people from risking their reputation in order to climb higher up the player rankings by a few rungs? Is there really so much prestige associated with being in the top echelon of the gaming world? Will this software be able to judge clearly and fairly, or will there be bugs within the system that identifies a legitimate player as one who has cheated? Not only that, one has to address the issue of increased lag since more information needs to be transmitted to and fro, and this could lead to a detrimental change within the game itself. Most gamers already are self-policing, so in a way there is no need for such software. What do you think?
Source: Ars Technica
Jacket harnesses sun’s power to charge gadgets
We know that solar power is often used by geeks, but how many of them have actually experienced the touch of a world class designer? Zegna has taken this task to create the Zegna Sport Solar Jacket by collaborating with Interactive Wear from Germany. This unique jacket features power cells that have been fitted into the neoprene collar, where electricity stored is transferred to your preferred device (MP3 player, cellphone) via conducting textile cables. It takes approximately 8 hours of sunlight to charge up the entire li-ion battery. Word has it that the Zegna Sport Solar Jacket will be part of its 2008 summer collection - you can be sure it will cause a big hole in your pocket to pick one up.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is not aiming to outdo the adult-oriented realism of Hell Boy, the teen-centric appeal of the X-Men series, or even the all-ages joys of the first two Spider-Man films (not the third, because it's kind of crummy). F4 aims squarely at the 12-and-under market. This is school holidays entertainment and a somewhat niche, fan-focussed film at that. 
Taking the above paragraph as something of a proviso, you'll better understand why the original Fantastic Four largely disappointed F4 comic fans and failed on a technical front as a film. It was a live-action cartoon, effectively. And chances are, if you didn't like the first film, you're unlikely to be drawn back for a second helping. This in turn raises the question of why there needed to be a sequel in the first place, but we'll resist the urge to delve into that one.
What great disturbance in The Force is weighing down on the F4 team this time? As the film kicks off, we see an enormous, swirling grey cloud of space matter ripping apart planets and drifting on its merry way, ever closer towards our solar system. This, sadly, is the cinematic interpretation of Galactus, Devourer of Worlds. Yes, it sucks. Yes, it's not scary or interesting. No, we're not going to let this one slide by.
Seriously, Galactus' reinvention is completely whacked. Director Tim Story's reasoning behind the change? Who knows. It doesn't matter. If you're going to alter a key character this much, why not just completely invent a new persona? This decision is just going to draw out the furious fanboys and purists. The movie hands them a loaded gun, gives them enough reason to fire off a round, but then asks them to holster it.
Reed Richards (Ioan "Wooden" Gruffudd) and Sue Storm (Jessica "Lousy Blonde" Alba) are dealing with dilemmas of the emotional kind, as they rapidly near their wedding day. Reed is typically preoccupied with scientific endeavours, and Alba is trying to hold herself together and pull a grand celebration out of the air.
Johnny Storm (Chris "I'm-actually-not-half-bad" Evans), meanwhile, is relishing in the team's newfound fame, and The Thing (Michael "gravel-voice" Chiklis) just stomps around looking rubbery and keeping Johnny's ego in line with quips and asides.
Again, The Thing is used as a slapstick buffoon, which makes us groan with defeatist contempt for the writers. The Thing has the potential to be the most interesting character on the team, largely due to his flaws and hard-edged personality. But although his story is developed in sporadic bursts, mostly he's the token fool.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Teen finds 2.93-carat diamond along path
MURFREESBORO, Ark. - Walking along a path taken by thousands of others at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Nicole Ruhter noticed something everyone else had missed — a tea-colored, 2.93-carat diamond.
"We were walking through the path and I just walked and saw this little shine," said Ruhter, who has just finished the seventh-grade. "We wrapped it up in a little dollar bill and took it back and showed them."
Ruhter said both park rangers and her vacationing family got excited about the diamond, found along a service road. So far this year, visitors to the park have found 332 diamonds, three of them Tuesday alone, said Bill Henderson, assistant park superintendent.
While the park does not do appraisals, Henderson said experts appraised a 4-carat diamond found previously in the park between $15,000 to $60,000. Henderson said Ruhter's diamond did have chips and several imperfections.
"It's a nice diamond," he said. "It looked like it had been broken off at one side."
For now, Ruhter and her family said they'd keep the diamond for a time and find out how much it is worth before attempting to sell it.
"I was kind of praying to God. I was saying, 'I don't care if it's worth whatever it's worth, I don't care if it's a tiny little sliver of something, I just want something,'" Ruhter said. "Ten minutes later, I just found it."
Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public and visitors are allowed to keep the gems they find. On average, two diamonds are found each day at the park.
The largest of the 25,000 diamonds found since the state park was established in 1972 was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found by a visitor from Texas in 1975.
Paris Hilton released from LA jail
LOS ANGELES - Paris Hilton was released from a Los Angeles County jail early Thursday because of an unspecified medical problem and will fulfill the reminder of her sentence in home confinement, a sheriff's spokesman said."I can't specifically talk about the medical situation other than to say that, yes, it played a part in this," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Hilton had been sentenced to 45 days behind bars, but had been expected to serve 23 days because of state rules allowing shorter sentences for good behavior.
Whitmore said that under the new agreement, Hilton would be confined to her home for 40 days.
"Because she has agreed to this through her attorney, her sentence is now back up to the 45 days. She has served already five days so that's 40 days," he explained.
Hilton checked into the Century Regional Detention Facility just after 11:30 p.m. Sunday. She had surrendered to authorities with little fanfare after a surprise appearance at the MTV Movie Awards, where she worked the red carpet in a strapless designer gown.
"I am trying to be strong right now," she told reporters at the time. "I'm ready to face my sentence. Even though this is a really hard time, I have my family, my friends and my fans to support me, and that's really helpful."
Hilton was housed in the "special needs" unit of the 13-year-old jail, separate from most of its 2,200 inmates. The unit contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates. She didn't have a cellmate.
After she checked in Sunday, Whitmore said Hilton's demeanor was helpful.
"She was focused; she was cooperative," he said.
Hilton's lawyer, Richard A. Hutton, said Monday after his client's first night in jail that she was doing well under the circumstances.
"She's using this time to reflect on her life, to see what she can do to make the world better and hopefully, in my opinion, to change the attitudes that exist about her among many people," Hutton said after visiting Hilton.
The 13-year-old jail, a two-story concrete building next to train tracks and beneath a bustling freeway, has been an all-female facility since March 2006. It's located in an industrial area about 12 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
When she was sentenced May 4, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ruled that she would not be allowed any work release, furloughs or use of an alternative jail or electronic monitoring in lieu of jail.
Officers arrested Hilton in Hollywood on Sept. 7. In January, she pleaded no contest to the reckless-driving charge and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
She was pulled over by California Highway Patrol on Jan. 15. Officers informed Hilton she was driving on a suspended license and she signed a document acknowledging she was not to drive. She then was pulled over by sheriff's deputies on Feb. 27, at which time she was charged with violating probation.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Evolution of animal personalities
New work by Max Wolf (University of Groningen; currently at the Santa Fe Institute), Santa Fe Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Sander van Doorn, Franz Weissing (University of Groningen), and Olof Leimar (Stockholm University) offers an explanation for the evolution of animal personalities. Their findings are detailed in “Life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of animal personalities” in the May 31 issue of Nature.Mauresmo Upset at French Open; Nadal, Sharapova Win
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- An ailing Amelie Mauresmo was beaten by Lucie Safarova at a second straight Grand Slam tennis tournament, losing in straight sets at the French Open to extend her winless run at her home major. On a day when the sun shone in Paris after a week of rain and blustery winds, Safarova damped French spirits with a 6-3, 7- 6 (7-3) victory about four months after ousting Mauresmo as the defending champion at the Australian Open. Mauresmo, who missed two months following appendix surgery in March, needed treatment in the first set for a lingering groin injury. ``There's no miracle today,'' the fifth seed said in a news conference. ``I've been struggling for weeks and coming here I didn't know what to expect. It showed that when you're not prepared the way you should be, it makes it very hard.''Defending men's champion Rafael Nadal survived an hour-long first set before beating Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. He was joined in the last 16 by two veterans -- 30-year-old former champion Carlos Moya and 35-year-old Jonas Bjorkman -- and Lleyton Hewitt, his next challenger.
The home fans' misery was complete when France's final players in the men's draw were ousted. Novak Djokovic, No. 6, was two points from defeat before outlasting wild-card Olivier Patience 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in four hours. Igor Andreev routed Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, 6-3. Marion Bartoli is the lone Frenchwoman remaining.
Medical Help
Mauresmo, who has never advanced past the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 13 tries, became the highest women's seed to exit so far. Her defeat came after Maria Sharapova and fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova eased into the fourth round.
Mauresmo played aggressive tennis at the start and broke 25th-seeded Safarova to take a 2-0 lead. At 3-4, she left the court for treatment with the tournament doctor and trainer.
Following the resumption of play, Safarova held to love and broke. Mauresmo faltered in the second after again leading 3-0.
Mauresmo said she would take two days off before preparing to defend her title at Wimbledon in London next month. She also intends to play at a warm-up in Eastbourne, England. Safarova's
next opponent is Russian ninth-seed Anna Chakvetadze, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Japan's Ai Sugiyama.Second-seeded Sharapova advanced 6-1, 6-4 as she continued her comeback from a shoulder injury that's limited her to six tournaments in 2007.
Aches and Pains
``You're always going to have aches and pains somewhere, especially on clay courts,'' said Sharapova, who won the last five games of the match. ``As long as I know I can't damage it further, then I'm cool to play.''
Yet to lose a set, Sharapova next faces 14th-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder, who downed Italy's Karin Knapp 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
Third-seeded Kuznetsova, last year's runner-up and singled out as the favorite this year by men's top seed Roger Federer, downed Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-3 to set up an encounter against Israel's Shahar Peer. Peer, seeded 15th, beat Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Ana Ivanovic, one of two Serbian threats in the women's draw, routed Romania's Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-2, 6-0. Yesterday, fourth-seeded countrywoman Jelena Jankovic eliminated five-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams of the U.S.
Ivanovic's next opponent is Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, who needed more than three hours to oust 12th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.
Long Rallies
Nadal saved six break points in the first set -- one game lasted 20 minutes alone and ended with a Nadal break after eight deuces.
Nadal, trying to become the first man since Bjorn Borg from 1978-81 to win three straight
French Open titles, had fewer problems in the final two sets against his fellow Spaniard and closed it out in under 2 1/2 hours. Like Federer, he hasn't dropped a set yet.Australia's Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam champion who took Nadal to three sets at the Hamburg Masters last month, battled past Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.
``He's playing at his best level,'' Nadal said. ``And at his best level, he's one of the best players in the world.''
Djokovic, who trails only Nadal in match wins in 2007, held his nerve at 30-all, 4-5 in the fourth set, and saved three break points at 3-3 in the fifth. He then broke, and saved another break point while serving out for the match.
``I played better at the crucial moments,'' Djokovic said.
Swedish Veteran
Bjorkman, the oldest player remaining in the singles draw, matched his best Roland Garros performance by beating Spain's Oscar Hernandez 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 to make the last 16. The Swede, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, came back from two sets down in his first two matches.
``It's a huge surprise for me and everyone,'' Bjorkman said. ``I'm amazed.'' Moya, Nadal's mentor, beat Argentine Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 to set up a clash against Bjorkman.
Cyprus's Marcos Baghdatis, last year's Australian Open runner-up, advanced when his Czech opponent Jan Hajek retired trailing 6-2, 6-2. Spain's Fernando Verdasco pulled off a minor upset in the last match completed, beating Davis Cup teammate and 12th-seed David Ferrer 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-3.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ravi Ubha at Roland Garros through the London office at rubha@bloomberg.net
Accident forces George Michael to cancel Prague gig
PRAGUE (Reuters) - An accident involving one of the trucks carrying concert equipment for George Michael forced the British pop singer to cancel a show in Prague on Saturday, the Web site of a Czech newspaper reported.
The daily's Web site (www.idnes.cz) quoted concert promoter Petr Novak as saying the truck, which crashed while traveling through Romania, was carrying special sections of the stage.
He added that he had no further details of the accident or when the concert would be rescheduled.
Michael has been in Prague since Thursday evening and was not involved in the accident.
Apple criticized for embedding names, e-mails in songs
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It used to be that music fans believed cryptic messages about Satan or the death of a band member were hidden within rock albums. Nowadays, the secrets buried in digital music are way too easy to find, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The consumer watchdog group, which focuses on the Web, claims Apple has left information belonging to customers of the new iTunes Plus service exposed. Music purchased from iTunes Plus is embedded with unencrypted customer names and e-mail addresses. An Apple spokesman declined to comment. Apple has for a long time included a customer's name and e-mail address within song files purchased from iTunes. But the personal information was encrypted. On Wednesday, the company launched iTunes Plus, a service that features music without controversial copy-protection software.
In these songs, names and e-mail addresses were unencrypted, according to Fred von Lohmann, an EFF attorney. He pointed out that data could easily be compromised if an iPod is lost or stolen. "It's not as bad as losing a credit card number," von Lohmann said, "but it's still information that people wouldn't want floating around out there--especially without them knowing about it." Because Apple isn't talking, nobody knows for sure why the company would leave customer information exposed.
Some have speculated that Apple is adding watermarks to music files. Watermarking describes 
the practice of inserting identifying information into digital files so they can be tracked. Privacy groups frown on such practices, but von Lohmann doubts that these were Apple's intentions.
"I think this is just classic carelessness," von Lohmann said. "They have been embedding information for some time. I think nobody went back and noticed this information on iTunes Plus was in the clear."
Mike Goodman, a Yankee Group Research analyst, argued that watermarking is "certainly better than digital rights management.
"Watermarking does not treat the consumer like a criminal," Goodman said. "DRM is also restrictive, telling you how many times you can play a song or which device it can be played on. Watermarking works on the assumption that a consumer is innocent but provides the industry an opportunity to catch someone that breaks the law."
Ars Technica and Tuaw earlier reported on the personal information within iTunes' music.
