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On the way to our digital world, a strange thing happened--analog became cool again. How else can you explain something like Twitter-by-post?

The idea is simple, the execution not so much. Freelance writer Giles Turnbull decided to take his tweets offline by responding to his Twitter feed using physical postcards. He laid out the mechanics of the experiment--done with the help of about 15 "volunteers" from among his Twitter followers--in The Morning News:… Read more

I wonder which member of the "Mythbusters" production team was told to go to a nice suburban California house and ask: "Can we have our cannonball back, please?"

You see, it seems as if there was a slight miscalculation on the part of the science-meets-stunts show when it fired a cannonball on a bomb disposal range in Dublin, Calif., yesterday.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the projectile was supposed to hit some rather large trash cans filled with water before piercing a wall.

Strangely, it missed the trash cans, tore through a cinder-block wall, bounced … Read more

One's presence in a McDonald's parking lot tends to signify one's enthusiasm to spend a dollar on something that might get one through the afternoon.

Ashley McDowell, from Spartanburg, S.C., however, appears to have managed to spend $180 on something that might heat her living room for part of an evening.

The only problem was that she thought she had bought an iPad.

The Smoking Gun relays this tale of thieves with a wooden heart from the Spartanburg County Sheriff's report. It seems that two men approached McDowell in the parking lot and said they … Read more

When large egos meets instant criticism, sparks tend to fly in real time.

So it proved in a Houston restaurant the other night when the management took exception to a customer's socially networked opinion.

The Houston Press was the first to digest what happened. It seems that Allison Hiromi was having drinks at a place called Down House--perhaps not the cheeriest name for a restaurant.

She overheard a conversation in which a bartender said something none too flattering about another Houston bar-owner.

The culinary world in Houston--with which I have some small familiarity--is at least as touchy as it … Read more

Is Britain turning into a police state? You know, a little like San Francisco.

Both places seem to have influential factions--in Britain's case, politicians seeking votes; in San Francisco's case, the people who run the trains--that wish to monitor and control the means of communication in slightly Mubarakian ways.

You might remember that the Brits, after last week's riots, were overcome with the urge to monitor BlackBerry's Messenger service, as well as every other imaginable social-networking system.

Well, now they've gone and arrested someone for allegedly trying to organize a water fight.

I have … Read more

I know that when you hear this story, some of you will ask yourselves: "Why didn't he do it on Google+?"

Still, these troubling events occurred on Facebook, currently the most stickily social network. There, Facebooker Ruben J. Burgos allegedly decided to test the power of the network, as well as the intelligence and irritability of the police.

According to the New York Daily News, Burgos allegedly thought it might be fun to post this on his Facebook page: "Catch me if you can. I'm in Brooklyn."

It seems that Burgos has a place … Read more

Perhaps nothing even remotely associated with Rupert Murdoch could possibly be funny this weekend. Perhaps nothing even remotely associated with Rupert Murdoch could go right either.

But sometimes, when things go wrong, they can actually be amusing. So here (thank you so much, Gizmodo) is a Fox 5 News morning broadcast from the water in San Diego.

The producers clearly had a great idea. They had their presenter at the San Diego Yacht and Boat Show standing next to a man with a revolutionary aqua jet pack.

They were going to start the show by having Aqua Jet Pack Man take off. So very cute. And then.

Well, and then the JetLev R200 jet pack proved to need a little more rehearsal.

Or, more likely, it was the operator who wasn't quite ready to push the right button when the producer told him he was live.

Whatever the reason, there is something so very charming about the way that John, the man with pack, plummets straight into the water, almost taking the very fine and brave Fox 5 presenter with him.

I defy anyone who can still see and feel their feet not to lose a little equilibrium at the beginning of this video. Clearly, the JetLev R200 is a fine, fun machine that many will enjoy on future summer vacations. Indeed, the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker enjoyed one a few days ago in Saint-Tropez.

But he's merely a point guard, not someone who has to open what is, no doubt, San Diego's finest morning news show.

And no, I don't believe you can remotely hack an aqua jet pack.… Read more

Ingenuity is surely something to be admired. Commercial ingenuity is something to be revered.

Sometimes, though, it seems that certain tech companies only revere their own ingenuity. That seems to be the case with Facebook, which, as reported by TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld, has removed a piece of fine commercial ingenuity from its site.

App developer Michael Lee Johnson, conscious of the need to be big on Google+ or be nobody, wondered what the best way to levitate his Google+ circles might be. He hit upon a fine idea: he placed an ad on Facebook. It was a simple thing … Read more

Some people might like the company.

Some, though, would declare that this is worse than having a telemarketer call you every three minutes.

Laurie Gneiding and Michael Brady might be among the latter, given that one of those little technical glitches in Google Maps brings many people to their door. They just happen to be people that Gneiding and Brady haven't invited to dinner. Or lunch. Or even a party.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger explained that Gneiding and Brady happen to live in a home that is very near to Round Valley State Park. Unfortunately, as far as Google … Read more