News.com Extra

A Russian woman was arrested after leasing a 2006 Mustang for her "husband," a man who responded to her "green card marriage" ad on Craigslist. In the classified ad she promised $15,000 and no sex in return for marriage, but the man settled for a car. They were married by her boyfriend who had become a minister over the Internet.

Read the full story at the Smoking Gun.

Should you buy your dog an iPhone for Christmas? In a recent study of animal cognition, dogs were able to use a touch-screen computer to answer questions and win a treat.

Read the full story at MSNBC.

It would seem course materials, textbooks, and professorial fireside chats are going the way of the newspaper--online. But this Japanese college takes things a step further, offering courses over the phone. Cyber University will live-stream a PowerPoint slide show, accompanied by the instructor's lecture through your cellie's tiny screen and speaker. Imagine sitting on the Tokyo subway, annoying (or intriguing) your fellow passengers with a scholarly discourse on the Egyptian pyramids or (insert obscure scientific topic here).

Yes, of course there's a catch. Like Apple and so many others, for now they've got an exclusive contract with one, and only one, service provider. It's their version of a test-drive, but makes you wonder: is the University's mission to adapt to the changing needs of learners really headed in the right direction?

Read the full AP story at SFGate.

Some people take their games very seriously. Randy Nunez is seeking class-action status along with $5 million in damages plus costs and attorneys' fees because his version of Halo 3 wreaks havoc on his Xbox 360. Ever been tempted to sue Microsoft? You do the math.

Read the full story at Ars Technica.

The chances of 22-million-ton asteroid Apophis hitting our planet in 2029 are now slim to none, but astronomers will have to wait four to six years before they can predict what it might do when it returns in 2036. Hold on to your hats.

Read the full story from Space.com on MSNBC.

The concept faces serious hurdles, such as privacy concerns, the absence of an accepted standard for sharing medical information, and a health care industry that is reluctant to change.

Read the full story at Knowledge@Wharton.

Starting Thursday at the Eyebeam Gallery in Chelsea, the four-day Blip Festival celebrates the new(ish) musical genre "chiptune" and its associated fat-pixel video aesthetic. Brooklynites, run down there, would you, and report back on the "40 artists adopting and repurposing familiar but forgotten hardware--such as the Commodore 64, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Atari game console and home computer line, and the Nintendo Game Boy."

Read the full story at The New York Times .

In Iraq, the critical networks are social--not electronic.

Read the full story at Wired Magazine.

At a stage when most games have long since stagnated, "Eve" continues to grow, recently passing 200,000 subscribers.

Read the full story at The New York Times.

Does it make sense for B2B companies to take a cue from consumer companies and invest in brand awareness? Many B2B CEOs say no, but HBS marketing professor John Quelch disagrees in his latest blog entry.

Read the full story at HBS Working Knowledge .