Study: Average gamer is 35, fat and bummed – “A new study says the average age of video-game players in the United States is 35, and oh, by the way: They’re overweight and tend to be depressed…”

iTunes reps 1 in every 4 songs sold in U.S. – “iTunes-purchased songs now account for 25 percent of the overall music market–both physical and digital–in the U.S., says an NPD Group report released Tuesday. However, CDs are still the most popular format for music lovers, winning a 65 percent slice of the market for the first half of 2009…”

Gone Forever: What Does It Take to Really Disappear? – “Then, in the fading Sunday afternoon light, with his daughter and mother-in-law occupied in the cabin, Sheppard walked down to the dock with Monica and their black lab, Fluke. When Monica looked away, Sheppard helped the dog — always eager for a swim, just as he’d counted on — off the platform and into the Little Red River’s notoriously deadly current. His wife looked back just in time to see Sheppard heave his own 300-pound frame into the river after their beloved lab…”

UK UFO sightings spiked when blockbusters released – “Lemon-headed aliens, scrambled fighter jets and mysterious lights over a cemetery were among details of some 800 UFO sightings released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Monday. But another intriguing finding to emerge from the 1981-1996 archives was a surge in reports at the time of UFO-related blockbusters such as 1996′s “Independence Day,” not to mention the British television run of “The X-Files.” “

Cheeky Ont. residents protest U.S. surveillance balloon – “About 300 people dropped their drawers Saturday to give a balloon with a surveillance camera trolling the Canada-U.S. border a piece of their derriere…”

Mandelson goes to war on teenagers downloading their music and movies… just days after dining with anti-piracy billionaire – “Lord Mandelson launched a crackdown on internet piracy just days after meeting a leading Hollywood critic of illegal file sharing. The business secretary plans to criminalise the estimated seven million people – one in 12 of the population – who illicitly download music and films over the internet…”

When less is more – “WHY is it so many manufacturers cannot leave well alone? They go to great pains to produce exquisite pieces of technology. Then too often, instead of merely honing the rough edges away to perfection, they spoil everything by adding unnecessary bells and whistles and unwarranted girth. In the pursuit of sales, they seem to feel they must continually add further features to keep jaded customers coming back for more. It is as if consumers can’t be trusted to respect the product for what the designers originally intended…”

Afrigadget – “AfriGadget is a website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. A team of bloggers and readers contribute their pictures, videos and stories from around the continent. The stories of innovation are inspiring. It is a testament to Africans bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges…”

EVE Online maker producing console crossover – “EVE Online, playable on both Mac OS X and Windows, is set in outer space, envisioning a future on the far end of the Universe where mankind has populated a galaxy after being cut off from its homeworld. Players occupy starships as they fly from system to system, carrying cargo, refining materials, mining, pirating, engaging in player vs. player combat, playing a constantly evolving market — the choices are almost endless…”

“Drained” Oceans Reveal Epic Landscapes – “The seas off the Bahamas can seem like a swimming pool, but strip away the ocean (illustration at top), and the edges of the islands’ shallow Great Bahama Bank–where the light blue begins to turn dark in satellite images of the Caribbean–are revealed to be steep cliffs rising some 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) above a vast plain…”

Could spam email help me win big at the Casino? – “I was clearing out spam from my inbox, and one email caught my eye…”

This Week at War: The Drones Take Over – “The U.S. Air Force will reach a milestone this year: For the first time it will train more pilots for unmanned aircraft than for manned aircraft. A decade ago, unmanned aircraft were hardly known. Now they dominate the Air Force’s pilot training system, and it is very unlikely this trend will ever reverse. In fact, it is not hard to imagine that within another decade unmanned aircraft operations will dominate day-to-day Air Force operations, force planning decisions, and budgets…”

IBM looks to DNA to sustain Moore’s Law – “On Monday, IBM researchers and collaborator Paul W.K. Rothemund, of the California Institute of Technology, announced an advancement of a method to arrange DNA origami structures on surfaces compatible with today’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment…”

Serial IF coming to mobile memory? – “ARM, Ltd. has thrown its weight behind a fledgling group promoting a serial memory interface for mobile devices such as netbooks. The SPMT (serial port memory technology) Consortium hopes to radically increase bandwidth while lowering pin count, power, and footprint…”

16 Breakthrough Notebooks: A Look Back – “From the first prototype portable computer in 1968 to the OLPC XO (an inspiration for netbooks) to the CrunchPad Web tablet of the near future, these 16 notebooks mark important stages in the progress of laptops…”

Toxin-free, easy to use and eco-friendly: What’s not to like about the Mooncup? – “Some undignified suction noises are a small price to pay. But I won’t be emptying the blood on to my compost heap…”

Russian ship’s voyage into ocean of conspiracies – “Whether or not it had anything more dangerous than a cargo of timber on board, cargo ship Arctic Sea, which was found Monday after vanishing for two weeks, certainly carries the answers to an intriguing maritime mystery…”

The Swiss Menace – “It was the blooper heard round the world. In an editorial denouncing Democratic health reform plans, Investor’s Business Daily tried to frighten its readers by declaring that in Britain, where the government runs health care, the handicapped physicist Stephen Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance,” because the National Health Service would consider his life “essentially worthless.” Professor Hawking, who was born in Britain, has lived there all his life, and has been well cared for by the National Health Service, was not amused…”

It’s 5 O’Clock. Do You Know Where Your Tools Are? – “Ford trucks now keep a running tally of what construction tools are back on board and which may have been left on the job site. It’s part of Tool Link, a $1,120 RFID tag option for Ford trucks…”

Plane-Makers Come out of the Woodwork for Air Force Light-Fighter Contest – “The Air Force’s plan to buy 100 new, “light” fighters could shake up the moribund U.S. aerospace industry. The plan, announced last month, aims to field a simple, inexpensive, armed plane capable of “strike, armed reconnaissance and advanced aircraft training in support of Irregular Warfare.” Companies that might vie for the prize range from giants like Boeing, to mid-size foreign companies such as Embraer, and at least one start-up that doesn’t even have a flying prototype yet…”

Siberian Tiger back from the brink: More animals alive than 100 years ago – “Russia is teeming with wildlife and Russians demonstrate a profound respect for and love of nature. One of the success stories in recent years is the Siberian Tiger, which at one time was down to a handful of specimens and was facing extinction. A huge success story for the authorities of the Russian Federation and conservationist groups evolution diary reports…”

Green Fridge Invention Uses Almost No Electricity – “Nearly every household on Earth has a fridge that totally wastes at least 30 kwh of energy every month. Most of the energy is wasted every time you open the door. Cold air is heavier and falls out on the floor every time you open your fridge and warm air rises to fill the space it left. But with a top opening fridge; even if you leave the door wide open, gravity effortlessly leaves the heavy cold air inside…”

Robo-copter can navigate inside your home – “Just when you were getting used to the idea of unmanned aerial vehicles patrolling the skies over your city, they’re beginning to enter buildings…”

‘Hidden Portal’ Concept Described: First Tunable Electromagnetic Gateway – “While the researchers can’t promise delivery to a parallel universe or a school for wizards, books like Pullman’s Dark Materials and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter are steps closer to reality now that researchers in China have created the first tunable electromagnetic gateway…”

Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America – “A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter…”

Trophy tank defense system operational – “The IDF Ground Forces Command has declared the Trophy anti-tank missile defense system operational, following a series of tests last week that surpassed expectations for the system’s capabilities, it was revealed on Thursday…”

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