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In the wee hours of August 1, the moon and the sun will pass each other for a breathtaking full solar eclipse, but U.S. residents won't be able to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon because of their location on the planet.

San Francisco's Exploratorium science museum is broadcasting the eclipse to the masses, however, combining science and technology by streaming the eclipse on virtual world Second Life.

In the real world, a team from the Exploratorium science museum will be traveling to the Xinjiang Province in Northwestern China, close to the Mongolian border, to stream a Webcast of the eclipse. The museum is staying open all night to bring the Webcast to museum visitors, as well as its online viewers and members of Second Life.

Second Life avatars view the 2006 full solar eclipse in the virtual world.

(Credit: Exploratorium)

Total solar eclipses happen usually only every 18 months or so, and the team must travel to China because the full eclipse is only visible on a narrow slice on the surface of Earth.

Second Life users can view the 45-minute Webcast, starting at 3:30 a.m. PDT August 1, on the virtual world's so-called Exploratorium Island. Avatars can also gather at the Pi Day Theater at the Sploland Sim, at the Science School Sim, and at the Spindrift Sim. The eclipse will be accompanied by video and commentary of Exploratorium and NASA scientists.

Starting July 1, Second Life members and their real-life makers can use Exploratorium Island to learn about solar eclipses, Chinese culture, and solar science.

The Exploratorium has previously paired with Second Life and NASA to deliver space news. In 2006, for instance, the team traveled to Turkey to broadcast the solar eclipse, and NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander team has created an avatar for the exploring robot in the virtual world.

Non-Second Life users can view the Webcast on the Exploratorium Web site, and the CNET News.com multimedia team will provide coverage of the event after viewing the live video in the Exploratorium.

Break the law, get a free headset?

It might sound a little odd, but online retailer Headsets.com has decided to make that idea the focus of a new marketing and educational campaign related to the new hands-free legislation that takes hold Tuesday in California and Washington.

In effect, if you get ticketed for talking on your cell phone without a headset while driving, pony up the $20 or $50 (depending on how many times you've been caught), then send documentation of your offense to Headsets.com.

A ticket could lead to a free Plantronics 925 headset.

(Credit: Plantronics)

The most surprising part? You'll be making a hefty profit by breaking the law. According to CEO Mike Faith, Headsets.com will, for a limited time at least, give away the Plantronics Discovery 925, which retails at $149.99.

"Some people might not be able to afford to upgrade to a headset, and we're not going to give them a low-end one," Faith said.

According to Faith, the objective is not to have people deliberately break the law to get a free, expensive headset, though it's unclear how the company will be able to determine who is going that route.

The other goal of the campaign is to draw attention to the law itself, Faith said, in hopes that most people will buy a headset instead of continuing to drive with one hand.

"Our goal is to get people to think about it," Faith said. "They really shouldn't be talking on the phone while driving and (should) start using two hands."

If you do happen to break the law, which CNET News.com does not suggest, the hotline 1-800-headsets or the Headsets.com Web site can start you on the path to a new headset.

Web surfers who do research on Parrot headsets will find this marketing campaign related to the new law: a playful petition to make the parrot California's new state bird.

(Credit: Parrot)

A good number of Californians think the state's new hands-free cell phone law will bode well for public safety, if a random sampling of consumers by CNET News.com is any indication. But gadget retailers have their own reason to cheer--they're reaping the cash benefits.

While they won't quote their sales figures directly, retailers such as RadioShack, Plantronics, and Headsets.com say they've seen a jump in sales of Bluetooth and other hands-free devices in the past month. The law goes into effect Tuesday, with a similar law taking hold in Washington state the same day.

"We have definitely seen increased interest in all things hands-free these weeks leading up to the law," said Charles Hodges, RadioShack's national director of media relations. "Based on the number of people that drive in California, we made sure stores are well-stocked for customers."

Not only are stores well-stocked, they're making the most of the sales opportunities with highly visible promotions and advertisements.

related blog
Get a ticket, get a free gadget

Headsets.com campaign means
free headsets for law's offenders.

Visitors to Best Buy stores are greeted with signs reminding them that the law is coming and headsets are for sale. If Web surfers do research on Parrot headsets, they'll come across a playful petition to make the parrot California's new state bird (the bird is a mascot of the company, which wants to stress that it helps people comply with the law by making hands-free devices).

On TV, California residents might catch Ford's new commercial for its SYNC voice-activated in-dash system. At RadioShack, some workers will even suggest to shoppers at the checkout counter that they just may be in the market for a new Bluetooth headset.

"Some people say they already have one, and others say tell me more about Bluetooth," said Alex Bashiri, store manager at a RadioShack on Market Street in downtown San Francisco. He said that after he gives information and demonstrations of Bluetooth headsets, most people are sold.

"When they buy it, I tell them, 'Now you are legal,'" Bashiri said.

The new law, the California Wireless Telephone Automobile Safety Act of 2006, or SB 1613, was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September 2006.

It makes it illegal to hold a handset to the ear while driving. Technically, that means drivers can still dial a number and text with the cell phone away from their head, although the legislation may soon crack down on texting, as well.

At a San Francisco RadioShack, a sign above a headset display reminds customers that "California hands-free legislation goes into effect in July 2008!"

(Credit: Holly Jackson/CNET News.com)

An additional law going into effect Tuesday, SB 33, targets teenagers, prohibiting them from any cell phone activity in the driver's seat, even if they're hands-free. Both laws were drafted by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) and introduced in 2006.

The first time drivers are caught violating either law, they will be fined $20, and after that, each ticket will rise to $50. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles' Web site, there is no grace period and no warnings, because of the media blitz surrounding the new law.

Even with all the press, headset company Plantronics released an April report saying 44 percent of people who would be affected by the law were unsure of when it was being implemented. And 72 percent didn't know what the law encompassed.

That's why the company expects peak times for headset sales to be four weeks before and six weeks after the law's start date. Plantronics is basing that projection on sales information in New York, where chatting on a cell phone while driving became illegal in 2001. Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Virgin Islands followed suit.

Plantronics, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., also has seen higher sales of its Bluetooth-enabled headsets, with most of the growth aimed at products in the mid-price range of $20 to $30. Corporate spokesman Dan Race says he believes people are going to comply with the law by buying such headsets instead of paying a $20 fine. Race also said many consumers are also using the law as an excuse to upgrade their existing Bluetooth gear.

"The interesting thing is that a lot of consumers in California and Washington are very tech-savvy, so they are upgrading or looking in the mid- to high-priced category," Race said.

For those consumers who are unaware of the new law, one visit to Plantronics' Web site will change that. The company has launched its very own "hands-free city," where users can click on a digital-city destinations--airport, college, home office, cafe--for tips on which headset is best-suited for that location. The hands-free city also has plenty of information about hands-free laws, as well as a link to Plantronics' online store.

Plantronics' Web site now features a "hands-free city" where consumers can get information about headset models and the new hands-free laws.

(Credit: Plantronics)

"Our campaign is focused on education and awareness...we educate people about the headsets that we have available and create awareness about the law," Race said. "And once people use a headset, they find a way to use it outside of the car and in the office or at home."

Other companies outside the gadget industry, such as AAA--which offers travel and automotive services, including insurance--are educating residents of California and Washington about the hands-free legislation.

According to Michael Geeser, AAA spokesman for Northern California, the company has touched upon the new law at major events, like last week's Nascar Infineon race in Sonoma, and also visited high schools to spread the word about how the new law affects teen drivers. The Web site also contains an FAQ for residents of the two states.

"We don't promote products, but at every opportunity we've touched on where people can go to get information," Geeser said.

AAA may not be promoting products to the public, but it is suggesting them to its members. In the hands-free section on its Web site, it offers member discounts on products from Plantronics and Magellan Bluetooth-enabled GPS systems.

Bluetooth headsets certainly aren't the only option, but most retailers make them seem like the most popular way to make your cell phone hands-free.

According to Mike Faith, CEO of Headsets.com, corded headsets are falling by the wayside, making up less than 10 percent of his company's online merchandise. His company plans to offer free headsets to people ticketed by the news hands-free laws.

Bluetooth headset sales may stay on the rise because several additional states, including Hawaii and Massachusetts, are considering their own laws similar to California and Washington's. No state has yet proposed a ban on driving with a hands-free device. In 2007, the Bluetooth market raked in $1.7 billion in revenue, growing 15.5 percent since 2006, according to IDC industry analyst Ajit Deosthali. With more pending legislation requiring residents to purchase the gadgets, he says the market will keep growing.

"There's no question about it. These legislations are definitely going to help the industry," Deosthali said. "Also, the prices are going to start dropping, and competition will increase as more and more players join the headset industry."

According to Deosthali's research, the cell phone market currently makes the largest chunk of Bluetooth revenue (60 percent), with headset sales coming in second. However, a new market is emerging in automobiles.

Bluetooth technology is already available in many high-end vehicles including those by Lincoln and Mercedes. As Bluetooth becomes cheaper, Deosthali predicts the technology will spread to mid-priced cars. Ford's SYNC, which has its own California-focused campaign, carries the Bluetooth technology in its economy car, the Ford Focus.

"At one time air bags were only in specific cars. It's the same thing," Deosthali said. "It will take time for it to come down in price, but then it's not difficult to integrate."

If more states decide to pass hands-free laws, Bluetooth, the auto industry, and gadget retailers may reap the benefits again and again.

"Some states have partially adopted this law," Deosthali said, "but the full implementation for California is a good thing, when you think about overall safety." He noted that California has more drivers on the road than any other state and will thus set an example for the rest of the country: "The largest automotive market in the U.S. will lead the way."

Starting July 1, users who have registered domains with Yahoo's small-business site will see their annual fee for the service jump from $9.95 to $34.95.

The news came in form of e-mail for anyone who has registered a domain with Yahoo Small Business, and a Yahoo representative told CNET News.com Friday that the e-mails have been sent 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days before users were set to renew their domain registration.

But some blogs are expressing dismay at the price increase, which is three and a half times what domain owners have paid in past years.

Yahoo said the $25 price increase is primarily being instituted to match the cost of doing business, and that registering domains--the process of creating a new Web address--can cost even more with other Web sites.

However, other competitors have much lower prices, including GoDaddy.com or Google Apps, both of which charge annual fees of around $10.

Since domain registration is not the core of Yahoo's small-business site, the company said its prices can not be as low as those of sites that focus on registering domains.

Low domain registration fees, though, can be a foot in the door to coax customers to upgrade to more profitable services.

According to Yahoo, new domain registrations will still only cost $9.95 and after a year, the fee will go up to $34.95.

On earth, people are beginning to use the sun's light to power their houses, office buildings, and even gadgets. Now, outside of our planet, the sun's energy is going to be utilized for something else--space travel.

If NASA can successfully implement solar sails, which have been referenced in some sci-fi books of the past, using the sun's energy for space exploration may become a reality this summer.

The NanoSail-D team shows off their solar sail, after a deployment test in April.

(Credit: Science@NASA)

According to a report by NASA Science, the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Ames Research Center have teamed up to make history, by deploying its first solar sail, the NanoSail-D.

The solar sail, made of aluminum and space-age plastic, has the ability to harness the radiation of the sun for movement. Since outer space is frictionless, the sail could potentially accelerate forever, traveling much faster and much farther than a rocket running on fuel. Travel back to Earth would require a turn of the sail.

This technology isn't the first of its kind. In 2005, The Planetary Society launched a solar sail spacecraft, hoping to be the first successful launch. However, later that day, there was no confirmation that the craft, names Cosmos 1, had entered orbit, and the mission was deemed unsuccessful.

If NASA's spacecraft makes it into orbit, it will unfurl the solar sail from its pod, and "use solar pressure as a primary means of attitude control and orbital maneuvering," said Sandy Montgomery of the Marshall Space Flight Center, housed in Huntsville, Ala.

NASA said it means big things for space travel. According to Montgomery, the speed of the solar sail would make it feasible for a spacecraft to leave our solar system in a decade, instead of the 30 years it took for the Voyager missions to get to the edge of the solar system. In theory, rockets would be used for short missions and sails would be used for longer missions.

The power of the sun has also been used on NASA's recent mission to Mars. The Mars Phoenix Lander gets its energy to explore the planet from two solar panels built into the robot.

The NanoSail-D will travel to space onboard the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket, launching from the Pacific Ocean as early as July 29. It will be brought on board in a 10-pound suitcase, and if successfully unfurled, it will measure at 100 square feet.

The sails will not harness enough energy to carry passengers in space, but Montgomery said with solar sails at thousands of square feet, "a number of interesting scientific missions are possible."

Due to its science and technology assets, Massachusetts reigns supreme as the state in the best position to achieve economic growth. That's according to a new report by the Milken Institute that ranks states on their technology industries. The study claims that regions can use science and technology to propel high-wage jobs and viable industries.

This is the third time that Massachusetts has taken the top spot in the Milken rankings, a few months after the state's Senate signed a bill to invest $1 billion in high-tech research over the next 10 years. The first report by the Santa Monica, Calif.-based institute came out in 2002 and the second was released in 2004.

In the new report, second place goes to Maryland, with Colorado, California, and Washington right behind.

The researchers explored 77 areas of each state's economy and technology sector. Each indicator was a part of five major components: research and development inputs, risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure, human capital investment, technology and science workforce, and technology concentration and dynamism. The results were compiled into an interactive map to show the differences among the states.

Rounding out the bottom of the list were Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Mississippi. The study also noted that California's slip from second place to third place is because, "the state shows signs of faltering."

The lead author of the study, Ross Devol, said states that are investing in science and technology assets are the same states that have a vision and plan for retaining high economic growth. Researchers also said, compared to information from the 2004 report, regional competition for technology industries is on the rise, due to global competition from China and India.

BioArts International CEO Lou Hawthorne snuggles with Mira, Chingu, and Sarang, the three clones of his deceased dog Missy.

(Credit: BioArts International)

When Lou Hawthorne met Mira, the clone of his dog Missy, he couldn't have been happier. The puppy was just like Missy--and in some ways better because she mirrored Missy in her younger, more playful days.

So BioArts International, Hawthorne's biotech start-up that focuses on animal and human genomics, decided to spread the love.

Starting July 5, the highest bidders in five separate online auctions will win the opportunity to clone their own dogs.

Hawthorne, the company's CEO, said the event is the first step in making his Mill Valley, Calif.-based company's technology available to consumers.

That is, if buyers can afford the hefty price.

Each auction will run for 12 hours a day, starting at 11 a.m. PDT. The auctions will last through July 9 on live bidding Web site ProxiBid.com. The first auction has a starting bid of $100,000, and that bid will increase by $20,000 each day. Although the prices are high, Hawthorne said they would have to be considerably higher for the company to break even. Despite that fact, the company will also offer one lucky pet owner a free dog cloning.

The winners will submit DNA samples, and the company says it can guarantee a healthy cloned puppy within 3 to 12 months.

Animal cloning has come under fire since its inception. Whether based on ethical concerns or a fear of consuming products from cloned farm animals, some people adamantly oppose the practice of genetically altering animals.

But Hawthorne brushes off the naysayers, saying he's never seen a person get upset when they learned his puppies were clones. Responding to the argument that cloning pets is frivolous because so many animals wait to be adopted, he said five cloned dogs won't take a home away from the thousands upon thousdands of dogs in shelters.

"If anything this is the celebration of the mutt," he said. "This is a way to get the same mix you have in your spayed or neutered pet that you got at a shelter."

For Hawthorne, cloning Missy cost about $20 million and took 10 years of hard work. Missy died at age 15, while the cloning process was still under way.

His quest to clone his beloved family pet ended in 2007, when Hawthorne met Dr. Woo Suk Hwang.

Two years earlier, Hwang and his team of research scientists at Seoul National University claimed they had succeeded in cloning a dog. There were doubts about the authenticity, after it was reported that Hwang fabricated information in a report on stem cells.

However, it was later confirmed that "Snuppy" was a bona fide clone. Hawthorne asked if the team could help him clone Missy, who died in 2002, several years after he set out to clone her. Now, Hawthorne has three mini Missys running around: Mira, the oldest, and the younger pups, Chingu and Sarang.

That successful cloning has resulted in the partnering of BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation outside of Seoul, South Korea, to start the "Best Friends Again" project.

Hawthorne said that the company holds the only license in the world that allows it to clone dogs and have access to the "Dolly patents." Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult and the Sooam facility uses that cloning process, with specific tweaks, for the canine species.

"We are the only company that can do this legally," Hawthorne said. "Once we successfully cloned Missy, we realized with our partners at the lab we had a...safe project. We have finite capacity and potentially unlimited demand."

A Missouri woman accused of contributing to a teenager's suicide by creating a fake MySpace account to taunt the girl pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday, according to Reuters and other media sources.

After she was implicated in the hoax aimed at harassing a teenage neighbor, Lori Drew of the St. Louis area was charged with conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress.

The case captured the attention of the blogosphere and the world.

The story first broke in Drew's hometown paper, the St. Charles Journal, a year after the October 2006 death of 13-year-old Megan Meier.

It was a twisted tale of an adolescent girl who was tricked into believing a boy she met on MySpace was her boyfriend and was then crushed when he turned on her. The article said that one night comments by "Josh Evans" became increasingly cruel, and his statement to Meier that "the world would be a better place" without her may have led to her suicide that evening.

Prosecutors say Drew was behind the fictional MySpace account, which she created to find out what Meier was saying about her daughter. The girls had experienced a recent falling-out. Drew was a family friend of the Meiers' and was aware of the teenager's battle with depression, according to reports.

When the story hit national airwaves, angry bloggers got involved, outing Drew's name, address, and phone number on the Internet. While the online community fought their battle against Drew, Missouri prosecutors discovered there was no state law that applied to the case.

Now, state and federal legislatures are working to make so-called cyberbullying a crime. Although state laws didn't apply, Drew was indicted by a federal grand jury in May, months after MySpace and other witnesses were subpoenaed.

Drew will stand trial on July 26, and if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison.

Once Barack Obama started Twittering, John McCain created a MySpace page, and Hillary Clinton joined Facebook, it became apparent that the 2008 presidential election was relying heavily on social media. But now, a Pew survey has the numbers to prove it, concluding that 46 percent of Americans have used the Internet for politics so far this election season, with topics like Obama and online videos taking a front seat.

The poll, conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project, was based on information provided by Princeton Survey Research Associates.

Earlier this spring, the surveyors contacted 2,251 Americans to find out how they are using the Web to investigate and communicate about the election. The survey results found that almost half are turning to the Web to get information about the presidential race. That's a significant jump from the spring of the 2004 election, when only one-third of adults said they looked online for election news.

Several of the conclusions show numbers doubling or tripling from the last presidential election season. One of these was in the area of online political videos. In 2004, only 13 percent of adults said they watched online videos concerning the election, but this year, already 35 percent use sites like YouTube for partisan information. And people aren't just watching campaign ads, but seeking out primary sources like recorded speeches.

Young Democrats and Obama supporters reportedly lead the wave of political blogging and researching, with 74 percent of Internet-using Obama supporters logging on to follow the campaign, compared with Clinton's 57 percent and McCain's 56 percent.

And young voters are using the Web in different ways than other generations. The study found that young voters are consuming more political online video than older adults, while creating their own political commentary with posts, e-mails, text messages, and social-networking sites. One-third of all 18- to 29-year-old adults used a social-networking site for political activities like adding candidates as their friends.

Despite the statistics on increasing Internet usage, the Pew study concluded 74 percent of users said they would be just as involved in the campaign without using the Internet, a result that was also highlighted in a Pew report this January.