vatican

One of our listeners is upset that Pizza Hut is hiring interns to Twitter for them. We try to show the difference between astroturfing on blogs and hiring someone to Twitter legitimately. We also decide that when GREP is outlawed, only criminals will GREP. And Blu-ray's getting cheap. But do we care?

Blu-ray in every home? Backers aim for $99 players http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/04/blu-ray-in-every-home-backers-aim-for-99-players.ars

Google: Search changes in images http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8009400.stm

Google news timeline http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10223607-2.html… Read more

If only Circuit City had hung on a little longer, it might have promoted the hell out of this.

The Vatican's official newspaper, Osservatore Romano, has decided to credit a household gadget--the washing machine--with being one of main reasons for female emancipation in the 20th century.

The article enjoyed a headline that positively rippled with gaiety: "The Washing Machine and the Emancipation of Women--Put in the Powder, Close the Lid and Relax."

It suggested that the humble washing machine might have done more to liberate contemporary womanhood than, say, the contraceptive pill, or being able to … Read more

When I discovered that the Vatican had launched a channel on YouTube, a hosanna played around my lips.

It is surely time that the Catholic religion approached its current flock and potential new lambs in a way that rhymes with our socially networked century. No more of the wizened sermons by priests whose idea of being in touch with their parishes is not perhaps their parishioners' chosen method.

Now, I thought, we can expect tip-top, hip-hop homilies that will explain the church's positions and cast a twisty-bulb's eternal light through the darkness of our current times.

I expected … Read more

The Vatican--which recently endorsed an iPhone prayer app and gave its blessing to gadget evangelism--is displaying further receptivity to technology with Saturday's announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will get his own YouTube channel.

According to the Associated Press, the Vatican TV Center and Vatican Radio are collaborating with Google on the project, and texts and video of the Pope's speeches, as well as news about the pontiff, will be posted directly to the channel. More details on the project will be released next week, the Vatican press office said.

Given past tech-friendly moves by the Vatican, the … Read more

Doing any last-minute holiday shopping for that religious yet tech-savvy someone in your life?

On Monday, the Vatican formally endorsed an iPhone application that allows users to load the Breviary prayer book, prayers for saying a Catholic Mass, and other prayers.

The application, called iBreviary, was created by Rev. Paolo Padrini and Web designer Dimitri Giani. It's available for purchase in Europe, and in the U.S. at Apple's App Store for 99 cents with free upgrades planned. Languages included in the U.S. version are Italian and English.

The Catholic Church is "learning to use the … Read more

More than 500 years after Johannes Gutenberg produced the first Bible with a movable type press, the Vatican has deemed the printed word no longer sufficient as the only way to spread The Word.

At a gathering of Catholic bishops this month, church officials said that the Bible should be available in all relevant forms of communication in today's Digital Age.

Besides printed text, "The voice of the divine word must also resonate over the radio, Internet channels with virtual online distribution, CDs, DVDs, iPods, and on television and cinema screens," an official statement read.