The Hobbit Gets a Director

Guillermo del Toro, who helmed Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, will direct the 2-part Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit.

The movies will be released in 2010 and 2011. Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, will produce the movies.

Eurocopter Tiger

The Eurocopter Tiger demos its superior maneuverability

Dream Machine

Alienware outs a rig that sets my tongue wagging: the Aurora. It features a 2.4GHz quad-core AMD Phenom 9850 processor, two ATI Radeon 3870 X2 in CrossFire X configuration, and up to 4 gig of RAM in a 790FX-based mobo. There is also an option for up to 4 terabytes of storage (now that's a lot of pr0n!)

more here

USAF C-17 in Zamboanga

I was recently in Zamboanga City, my hometown, and I saw a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster at the tarmac of Edwin Andrews Air Base. It's probably on a mission to resupply American troops stationed there.

I used to see P3 Orions and Predators in the base too.

(corrected)

Bolinao Lighthouse

I was able to visit the lighthouse in Bolinao. I find the idea of lighthouses quaint, like a throwback to the olden days when sailor navigate the high seas with crude tech (that required skills, nonetheless).

I noticed that there are some solar panels on the site, probably to power a beacon of some sort?

Difference Engine Built

Charles Babbage, father of the computer, once envisioned a machine that can calculate mechanically. Called Difference Engine, the machine was never built, until lately.

Wired has a nice gallery of one built for Nathan Myhrvold, a Microsoft millionaire, which will be displayed at the Computer History Museum (the first Engine was built in 1991).

It was said that Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer program for the Babbage's other machine, the Analytical Engine. Yup, the programming language Ada was named after her.

The machine was featured in a novel of the same name by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson.

Boeing's Fuel Cell Powered Airplane

Boeing demoed the first hydrogen fuel cell-powered aircraft to fly, in Madrid, Spain.

Apple Sells Soul to the Devil

WTF?!

Fudzilla is reporting that the upcoming Apple iPhone 3G version will use the Windows Mobile operating system.

more here.

April Fools Pranks

Wired has an excellent post on pranks to play this April 1st.

I've pwned an officemate with one of the suggestions. Really funny. :D

Betamax to HD DVD Converter

ThinkGeek has one curious item for sale, a Betamax to HD DVD converter. This is a great device if you own either of the loser tech. :D

more here

16k Pesos Laptop Now Available

Neo, a Philippine computer company, has just release the Neo Explore, a small form-factor laptop designed for kids and beginners. The Explore is powered by a 900 MHz Intel Celeron, and has 512 MB of memory, a 7-inch LCD screen and 30 gig of hard disk space. This is same Classmate PC showed off by Intel in Ateneo last February.

I saw one in Shangri-La mall last week, selling for 16,000 pesos.

The foreign press has covered Neo, here and here.