News.com Extra

You can now purchase and send your friends and co-workers a wide assortment of gifts online.

Wait, you say, that's not news? Well, these particular gifts aren't actually...real, in the strictest sense of the word. Except inasmuch as pixels on a screen are real. And computer code is real. Okay, they're technically real, you just can't show them off in person, and love them, and stroke them, and call them George.

Normally it would seem silly to spend hard-earned dollars on imaginary objects, but this trend might warrant an exception. Your pretend Second Life girlfriend could buy you a pretend Second Life necktie to spruce up your avatar's in-world look. Your Facebook BFF can send you a (digital image of a) bottle of champagne to mark a special occasion.

Anyone who wants to send me a virtual can of whoop-ass is welcome to. Not that I need any extra. But the champagne has to be real. Really real.

Read the full AP story at CNN.

Young women won the top two prizes in Siemen's national math and science competition for the first time in its 9-year history. Besides winning substantial scholarships and the glory of primacy, at least one winner has had her research published in a professional journal and was deemed to be working "at a graduate student level." Young women accounted for 48 percent of entrants in the contest.

So much for speculation that girls just aren't into science.

Read the full story at Business Week.

Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in two tests of short-term memory, and overall, the chimps won. It was a five-year-old chimp named Ayumu who received the top score.

Read the full story at MSNBC.com.

Opponents of climate change have said that the effort could reduce the U.S. gross domestic product by $1 trillion, cost 3.4 million jobs, and result in price hikes of trillions of dollars for American consumers. But a new study from McKinsey & Co. puts the price tag way below earlier predictions and indicates that 40 percent of the reductions may bring actual savings to the economy, not costs.

Read the full story at Businessweek.com..

Over at CNET News.com sister site TechRepublic, Jason Hiner lists the "Top 10 biggest technology belly flops of 2007." From huge security breaches to questionable feature sets, Vista, the iPhone, and the Pentagon... Fans of tech snark will appreciate the way Hiner weds careful analysis and scathing critique.

Read the full story at TechRepublic.

We already know mobile phone companies are under fire for hidden surcharges, exaggerated service area claims, and other questionable business practices ranging from irritating to illegal. Citing mandatory contract extensions in particular, a new survey of 47,000 users indicates that a majority are not happy with their provider. What will it take to cause a change in the wireless industry?

Read the full story at Information Week.

"Successful advertising campaigns today spark discussions rather than blatantly sell products." This point is the core of a new analysis out of Harvard Business School--a study of how consumers use online communities to learn about advertisers and products. It's a reflection of changes in the way people get reliable information--through each other, within closely-networked Web-based networks, in addition to various forms of media.

Read the full story at HBS's Working Knowledge site.

What do Saddam Hussein, Britney Spears, and Harry Potter have in common? They were the most-searched names in news, celebrity meltdowns, and final farewells on Yahoo in 2007. NASCAR and recycling were top searches, too.

Read the full story at Yahoo.

Last week, China released the first lunar photo taken by its Chang'e spacecraft which is now orbiting the moon. But wait--Chinese Web surfers claim that it looks strikingly similar to a photo taken by NASA in 2005, according The Beijing News. One of China's chief scientists was quick to rebut the claim. But it does seem odd that China's space agency would only release one photo. They can easily resolve this controversy by releasing more images.

Read the full story at Physics.org.

Remember writing your name in the dark with a sparkler? Take that, add a long urban tradition of street graffiti, mix well with new lighting technologies. Cologne, Germany-based artists Lichtfaktor have made it their main mode of artistic creation. They've gathered a vast set of "paintbrushes" for their new medium--not just sparklers, but fluorescent tubes, LEDs, glow sticks, and plain old flashlights. It's not just for fun, either--they've created a following among the film crowd and major ad agencies alike.

Watch the videos and read the full story on Wired.