Saturday, May 28, 2005

Is Viagra causing blindness in some users?

If you use Viagra, watch out - it might make you go blind. The FDA is investigating reports of varying degrees of blindness reported by a small number of men who use Viagra. No hard (no pun intended) evidence has been found that shows that Viagra caused the blindness. The men affected are suffering a condition known as nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), which causes a rapid reduction of vision and can, in the most serious cases, lead to blindness.

Dr Howard Pomeranz, co-author of a report on this condition published in the Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology in April, said that Viagra had long been linked to sight problems. Viagra was known to cause temporary color changes in some men's vision, he said, but NAION was a much more serious condition. Serious indeed - imagine all those little old men on Viagra, now walking around blind with a hard-on! (OK, maybe DON'T imagine that...)

Friday, May 27, 2005

Will satellite radio be coming to the iPod?

There have been rumors about Sirius satellite radio coming to iPod, but now it seems that negotiations are going on about how to share the subscription fee. The technology part should be easy, it's all about the price negotiation at this point. Could be a cool thing to have on an iPod, I think.

Airport security screeners will soon be able to see you naked

Makes me not want to fly very often - Homeland Security Department is preparing to install and test high-tech machines at airport checkpoints that will see through clothing. The technology is know as backscatter, it uses X-ray imaging technology to allow a screener to scan a body. And yes, the body image is detailed - "Well, you'll see basically everything," said Bill Scannell, a privacy advocate and technology consultant. "It shows nipples. It shows the clear outline of genitals." Creepy. So, does that mean that a huge number of perverts are going to try to get jobs as airport security screeners now?

Thursday, May 26, 2005

If nothing else, the fanboys will be excited

Apparently George Lucas has an idea of another Star Wars movie - and it would be a prequel to Episode I. A scooper for Cinescape related to them his tale (use this link to read it and some other movie rumors), he apparently met George Lucas in Hawaii recently and asked him a few questions. Most notably, "I asked him if STAR WARS was going to end with this next installment and He said, "'Star Wars' will never end. My involvement may, but the story will go on....""

Then the scooper (credited in the article as MK) asked, "What do you think would be more interesting.... telling a story prior to PHANTOM MENACE or after RETURN OF THE JEDI?"

To which, Lucas replied, "No question about it, prior to PHANTOM MENACE." He said, that if he did ever do another storyline.... that he would do one of when the Jedi regained control of the universe from the Dark Lords (there were many of them) 800 years before PHANTOM MENACE. And a young Jedi named Yoda was instrumental in the effort.

Now I think it goes without saying that this is a rumor, it isn't fact - and there's no real way to confirm it (unless Lucas come out publicly and says it's true). Personally I think it's not true, and that George Lucas is personally done with Star Wars movies. He has talked publicly about the animated Star Wars : Clone Wars TV series, and another live action Star Wars TV series in development that he will have some involvement with. He's also working on Indiana Jones IV (he mentions that in the last article I linked). So it looks like Lucas will be keeping pretty busy - he probably wouldn't even have time to think about another Star Wars movie for a few years at least. So it sounds like just another internet-fueled rumor to me.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Which Star Wars character are you?

C'mon, haven't you always wanted to know? I've seen a couple of these online, but I think this one is the best (plus it plays the Star Wars theme music) - The Ultimate Star Wars Personality Test.

New Winamp plug-in let's you copy music from iPod to computer

A new plug-in recently released for Winamp allows you to manage your music for your iPod through Winamp instead of iTunes. It includes a feature that would let you copy songs from your iPod to your computer's hard drive - something that iTunes does not let you do. It works with all versions of the iPod, but some problems using it with iPod Shuffle have been reported. I just might have to try this, it sounds like a really good thing if it works as advertised.