You can see from the screens that the connection speed is over 13Mbps, and the front camera indicates (predictable) 3G capabilities to complement just about every other type of connection a phone could have. With the relative newness of America's WiMax infrastructure it's unlikely that we'll see this phone here, but it would be an awfully good way to atone for depriving us of our Touch HD. [Nedge2k via Modaco via Slashphone]

Slated for release in H1 of 2009, the Monolith, built in partnership with Sharp and Japanese software company ACCESS, could be even more impressive. Breathlessly touted as the "ultimate holistic (?) device," the Monolith will be a full-featured touchscreen phone with an in-house Linux OS that is, if Emblaze is to be believed, able to compete feature for feature with Windows Mobile, iPhone OS and Android. This raises questions about what exactly the Edelweiss is running, though WinMo is a likely candidate. Of course these are just (Russian) words on a screen for now, but the promise is seriously tantalizing. [Mobile Review via UnwiredView]

On the other hand, it could be a Bluetooth headset he is reaching for—which would be even ruder. Black market iPhones are prized in Russia among the social elite—and who could be more elite than the President? Plus, various sources claim that Sarkozy has been seen in the past with an iPhone, so it is not outside the realm of possibility. [Siberian Light]

The team, assembled by intelligence blogger Jeff Carr and called "Gray Goose" (ha!) includes folks with a pretty impressive collective resume that lists several big names—Microsoft, Dept. of Homeland Security, Lexis-Nexis security, among others. They will scour the network data that's already been released, as well as comb the blog presence of the shady Russian Business Network, thought to be Russia's most lethal hacker guns for hire.

Carr says: "Although our collection and analysis effort is still nascent, it has already demonstrated [that] in matters of sufficient import, collaboration can occur on both sides of the [intelligence community's] black gate." Whether this type of "investigation" borders on actual clandestine hacking itself is another matter, but as of now, Gray Goose's mission seems to be to analyze data that's already out there for more answers. Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest! [Danger Room]

The article 14 of the ISS agreement says: "The Space Station together with its additions of evolutionary capability will remain a civil station, and its operation and utilization will be for peaceful purposes, in accordance with international law."

According to Russia, the photos were taken to "support potential humanitarian activities in the area, including serious water resource management issues" as part of the Russian "Uragan" project, which studies glaciers and water sources in the country. However, I don't remember all those tanks with reactive armor participating in any humanitarian activities in the area two days after the invasion, the day the photos were taken.

The whole thing smells quite fishy, but apparently NASA has preferred to avoid confrontation and not investigate the matter. Put your conspiracy hats on and give us your explanation in the comments. [Aviation Week]

You could also have a refreshing break with a water bottle next to this Dok-Ing Croatian mine-sweeper.

Give the kids a chance to see what it's like to look down the firing sights of a shoulder-launched missile.

Or, better yet, the sights of this gigantic cannon.

Fondly stroke a grenade launcher, perhaps.

Or stand on the business end of some pretty demonic-looking UAVs on their launch sleds.

Plenty more fun to be had over at: [English Russia]

Nonetheless, Apple believes that it can sell 3.5 million phones in the country within two years. That seems like a lofty goal, but let's not forget that Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world. There could very well be enough wealthy citizens out there willing to drop nearly $1000 on a phone that has quickly become a must-have status symbol. [Washington Post]

All photos by Benedict Redgrove:

Inside Star City you'll find Gagarin idols everyhwere, full-size Soyuz mockups (top), massive Cold War era centrifuges and, often, no hot water. It is here where Space Adventures travelers like Garriott must learn to perform nearly every task that the mission's actual cosmonauts will perform, in case of emergencies (even though the most glamorous duty he'll probably end up doing is emptying the toilet).

And, eventually face this (emphasis my own):

All this is nothing compared with the TsF-18 centrifuge. Weighing 300 tons and measuring 59 feet long, it looks like a giant blue phallus. It spins at 170 miles per hour, and riders are instructed not to open their mouth while in motion because the pressure will break their jaw, according to Driga. "It is like nightmare," she adds. "Imagine being buried deep in sand and wanting to move but cannot."

Many more photos and a really nice read at: [Wired]

The online attacks came on Thursday, a day before fighting began on Friday. Similar DoS attacks on Georgian government sites also struck in July, and if you've seen this video of a Russian MiG-29 shooting down a Georgian UAV, you know these countries are not the greatest of friends. But in much the same way that invading forces have traditionally targeted media outlets first, this type of pre-invasion online warfare attack is surely to become SOP—whether carried out by rogue groups like the RBN or the attacking governments themselves. Or both.

RBNexploit is announcing a conference call with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili later today for more details. [Ars Technica]

The vast majority of scientists will agree that the electromagnetic fields given off by small gadgets are far too weak to attract lightning strikes. Plus, there has been a marked increase amount of thunderstorms experienced across Russia this year—so there is definitely a reason to chalk this up to coincidence more than anything else. That is, until you see this. [CNN]

When you dig a little deeper into this story, you start to see that Zheleznovodsk is in fact the perfect location for this statue. Nestled deep within the Caucasus Mountains region, the city is best known for its spas, and their mineral water-infused enemas drawn from mountain springs. A banner declaring, "Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas" was posted on one of the spa's walls to commemorate the statue.

And those angels? By design. Sculptor Svetlana Avakina said she designed the monument with "irony and humor" and the little cherubs on the work of Italian Renaissance painter Alessandro Botticelli. That's totally deep, man. [The Huffington Post]

Using digital manipulation to literally erase any critic of the administration is a pretty great way to stifle any kind of dissent, and it's pretty easy when you're in control of the national networks. It's also scary, reminiscent of the "memory holes" from 1984 and a startling sign of an oppressive government.

It's not just politicians and talk shows that are affected, either.

Televizor, a rock group whose name means TV set, had its booking on a St. Petersburg station canceled in April, after its members took part in an Other Russia demonstration.

When some actors cracked a few mild jokes about Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev at Russia’s equivalent of the Academy Awards in March, they were expunged from the telecast.

Indeed, political humor in general has been exiled from TV. One of the nation’s most popular satirists, Viktor A. Shenderovich, once had a show that featured puppet caricatures of Russian leaders, including Mr. Putin. It was canceled in Mr. Putin’s first term, and Mr. Shenderovich has been all but barred from TV.

It's a pretty scary reminder that while we usually see technology as fun and convenient, a neat diversion from our daily lives, new digital video editing tech allows for some pretty horrible things to take place. [NY Times]

With production dating back to 1988, the last Zubr looks to have launched in 2004. Capable of carrying multiple tanks and a nice mix of 140mm rocket pods, 30mm cannons and air defense missiles, the Zubr can cruise for 300 miles before rapidly deploying troops and equipment close to shore. Scratch that. Directly on shore. In other words, it's just like that R/C vehicle you lusted after in the '90s, but it's way bigger and actually good for something. Or, in this case, potentially very, very bad. [English Russia, Naval Technology and Defense Industry Daily]

According to the Daily Mail:

There was speculation the soccer boss may have bought the machine in league with Putin in the hope of gaining approval from America for a plan both men are said to have long savoured—building a tunnel from the frozen wastes of the Russian region of which Abramovich is governor, Chukotka, to Alaska beneath the Bering Strait.

But then he added: "Before building a tunnel between [Chukotka] and Alaska, there should be a road built between Anadyr, the capital of Chutotka, and the rest of Russia."

So, like, once the road is built...what? Presumably the spokesman then only put his pinky in his mouth and began to laugh diabolically. [Daily Mail]

According to the shepherd's sister, he's taking Roskosmos to court for compensation for the stress he's suffered. After all, the metal casing nearly crushed his outhouse. Roskosmos agrees that if it is a genuine case he will be paid "No question about it. We live in a civilized, law-abiding country." Hmmm.

If it is an unwanted, "normal" piece of rocket, sounds like Boris will be rich. The Roskosmos spokesman does hedge his bets a bit, though, noting that sometimes "somebody gets greedy, and it turns out the parts did not fall on his land, but that they were dragged there. Those moments are not good."

If bits of rocket do actually fall off regularly and make it to the ground, then remind me never to go live near Kazakhstan. [Reuters]

"A drunk tank driver destroyed my house," said the victim, who went on to point out a more tragic coincidence: that the army never helped him buy a house when he was in the service, and now army dudes have destroyed the house he managed to build on his own.

Of course, all of this is just crazy talk: "The driver was absolutely sober, because he was going to military exercises," says a military spokesman. Judge for yourself in the video below.

[Reuters]

A Russian security researcher known only as "John Wane" (sic) says that his team has developed a system that correctly identifies the images from Yahoo's CAPTCHA system 35% of the time. According to one analyst, the irony is that the image recognition used to fight off the current generation of image-embedded spam will now be used to create the next wave of spam itself.

Yahoo apparently confirmed that this was the case:

We are aware of attempts being made toward automated solutions for CAPTCHA images and continue to work on improvements as well as other defenses.

And because the developers are obviously all about being economical and eco-friendly, the building will generate electricity using exterior solar panels and wind turbines. It will also save money on heating using dynamic enclosure panels that can be adjusted to allow sunlight to enter deep into the structure. I'm sure that will offset the rage that many locals would feel if this ridiculous behemoth actually made it from concept to reality—which could come as early as 2012-13 [Times via Inhabitat]

Just three units are available—yes, you too could be one of the top three plonkers in the world should you choose to become one in Le Million club. Anyway, they're on sale in Russia now, so perhaps Vladimir Putin, with the Man of the Year's fortune recently estimated by some to be as much as $40 billion, would like to snap up all three, gifting one to Hu, one to Bush, and keeping the red one for himself.[Born Rich]

The program could become the Don to your lonely Juan: Once it chats up the ladies (or supposed ladies, or supposed human non-chatbots), it hands them off to you: "Within half an hour the CyberLover program will introduce you to ... girls, exchange photos and perhaps even a contact phone number."

But Sergei Shevchenko, a malware analyst at PC Tools, says: "As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering."

Is that an endorsement or a condemnation? Either way it proves my point about y'all going around visiting .ru sites. It's only available in Russian, where it takes far fewer words to get a lady excited, as long as those words include "fur coat," "vodka," and "diamond-studded rims on my Bentley". If you do speak Russian, however, and want to CAREFULLY check out these claims, jump to Reuters for a link to the nasty.

CyberLover goes on sale February 15, perhaps as a suicide remedy on the morning after Valentine's Day. [Reuters]

• $1-million Icelink rims (but Bentley and bodyguard come free with purchase)
• Swarovsky-covered Mercedes Benz, for people who think Bentleys are, you know, gauche
• Attractive six-faced watch—why settle for just one face when you're a millionaire?
• The world's largest Christmas tree made of pure gold—Guinness Book of World Records is still verifying the claim
• "Golden" 6,500-euro Casa Bugatti coffee maker, presumably the consolation prize for millionaires who didn't get to buy the Christmas tree
[Millionaire Fair via Bornrich]

There are a few downsides, though. Firstly, the Polonium Pen is extremely fiddly to make. If the wire probe that feeds into the ion chamber touches anything remotely conducive, it won't work. Secondly, the electronics must be shielded by a metallic cover to keep them safe from stray electric fields. And thirdly, the ion chamber is so small that only significant amounts of radiation can be detected. That swings it, then. [TechLib via Hack a Day]

The dam consists of a spinnaker sail, similar to the mainsail of a yacht, which captures the wind, funneling it through a turbine and generating energy. Measuring 75 meters wide and 25 meters high, the dam may be joined by a second one in a gorge further up the valley.

Mr Chetwood, the dam's creator, thinks that the sail looks like a bird dipping its beak into the water. "It will be much less of a blot on this beautiful and unblemished landscape," he claims, adding that the sail will be more effective than other methods of harvesting energy. "It replicates the work of a dam and doesn't let the wind escape in the way it does using traditional propellers." [Building Design via Dezeen]

The bomb was tested this week, dropped from a Tupolev Tu-160—the same bombers that have been buzzing around the UK borders in recent months. Footage released afterwards showed multi-story buildings crumpling, so it looks like the test went pretty well. [Telegraph]

The only thing that surprises me is that its creator didn't inlay it with bling. [New Launches]

Special Materials' (what a great name for a weapons company) first prototype fired a half-ounce blast of water at 200 feet per second, which left a spot diameter of about twelve inches on a target 12 feet away. The eventual aim is to create a weapon that can fire a jet of between two and seven pounds of water, contains kinetic energy of up to 100 Joules and can stop someone around 17 feet away.

When fully developed, the electro-hydrodynamical weapon is expected to be available as a fixed unit as well as a portable one—after all, what could be cheaper and easier than plugging the nasty super-soaker into both electrical and water supplies? [Wired]

It may not be very green to have a personal jet, and this is probably the least green ever conceived, right up there with Google's party plane and Travolta's Boeing. [Defense Tech]