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In our steadfast effort to cover all things technologically urgent and culturally important, e.g. the Transformers movie, here is the latest development.

On Monday, McSweeney's, the Web publishing arm of San Francisco author and famous eccentric Dave Eggers, published "A Letter to Optimus Prime from his Geico Auto Insurance Agent," penned by John Frank Weaver. It details the particulars of 27 claims made during the month of June and the parameters of coverage and "reasonable use" for a truck and trailer.

You have to read the original for the riotously strained legalese and in-depth … Read more

Looks like the day of Net radio silence worked. Enough publicity was generated that SoundExchange, the organization responsible for collecting royalties on Internet radio broadcasts, has offered to impose a $2,500 maximum fee per broadcaster on July 15, rather than instituting the per-song fees that could have put many small broadcasters out of business and raised costs for big broadcasters into the tens or hundreds of millions (!) of dollars.

Nonetheless, it's only a temporary reprieve: the original fee increase will still go into effect in January 2008, if SoundExchange has its way. SaveNetRadio, the group that organized the … Read more

In case you've haplessly been attempting to listen to Internet radio streams throughout the day, you might have noticed most are dead. This is by no means a fluke, and on a wider scale, it's a mass protest to the royalty rate increase that passed legislation in early March. The rate increase, which gives the RIAA (whose Web site is coincidentally down today) more money for every track served to listeners, has been the focus of much debate and controversy. The new fees go into effect July 15th.

The new fees don't just affect the smaller broadcasters … Read more

Tomorrow, some of the most popular and prominent Internet radio stations will go silent to protest the imposition of new fees that many Webcasters claim will drive them out of business.

The protest stems back to a Mar. 2007 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to impose per-song performance royalties on Web radio, starting at 0.08 cents per song (retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006) and increasing gradually to 0.19 cents per song by 2010. The former rules forced Webcasters to pay a minimum annual fee and 12% of their revenues. (Small Webcasters might be able to abide by these old rules … Read more

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Farecast, an airline ticket prediction and purchasing service, has launched a new Deals section that helps people find the best prices on tickets within a 90-day window. Unlike the recently launched Fare Guard, the Deals section is completely free and competes with other discount travel sites like TravelZoo and CheapTickets to aggregate flights that sell for a fraction of their typical cost. The service is currently limited to 38 major airports in the United States.

The search results are separated by the best deals, last-minute flights, weekend and weeklong flights, and flights for families. There's also a section for … Read more

Sure, there are fancy robots out there that can spy, fly and even take your tempurature, but do they care about your financial well-being?

Unlike a lot of those other hot-shot bots, the "Robot Bank" isn't here to show off--it just goes about its business, encouraging you to save for the future and diligently toting up every penny you drop in. Don't try to cheat, either: It recognizes withdrawals and will make disapproving noises if you try to sneak a few bucks.

How can you make ice at 15 degrees higher than freezing? You're looking at it.

This tub pictured here, made by Transphase Phoenix, is designed to hold water permeated with various salts so that it will freeze at 47 degrees rather than the standard 32. That means ice can be made at night without as much electricity when power is cheaper. The idea is to reduce peak demand in the afternoon, when electricity is most expensive, and obviate the need for "peaker" plants.

The ice melts throughout the day, providing air conditioning in as many tubs as … Read more