Oh ED, you're a lifesaver! A general who lead an infantry division in Iraq recently said that of the 155 men killed in combat, 122 could have lived if autonomous robots were doing the shooting instead. (Strangely, the other 33 would have died whether robots were around or not.) Replacing infantrymen with robots is a no brainer if you want to save your own boys, but Smokey from The Big Lebowski would probably say if nothing did the killing, even more lives would be spared. [Wired]

Am I reading this right? Slashdot says the entire domain .se—a million souls, I mean sites—up and vanished from the internet. Some didn't deliver successful replies for more than a day. Maybe I need to call Tim Berners-Lee for interpretation, but I don't get why more people aren't freaked out that an entire country up and disappeared, even if it was just for a moment. [Slashdot]

[Edit: This has been one of the most traumatic moments in my life. J.D.]

Someone did a comprehensive study of 836 people to see how people managed to keep username/password logins straight in their head. The test noted that only 4.4% of people showed no "deviations" from the ideal password rules, deviations including jotting down the password, reusing it time and again, using a deliberately short password or—and here's probably where most people failed-having no mix of characters and symbols. Having "best practices" that insanely rigid probably upped the failure rate substantially, but I think the important thing here—as Ars points out—is that the username/password system is a joke to begin with. [Ars Technica]

The 23-year-old guy who founded the International Church of Jediism obviously needs to watch Star Wars a few more times. The other day, he wore his hood into a supermarket and got yelled at something fierce. His very Jedi response? To run to the press and cry like a little bitch:

They said: 'Take it off', and I said: 'No, its part of my religion. It's part of my religious right.' I gave them a Jedi church business card.

No lightsabers, no waving of the hand in the air, not even "Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!" Just a business card? He continues:

They weren't listening to me and were rude. They had three people around me. It was intimidating.

"Intimidating"? For a Jedi? Just remember, intimidation leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Don't look now, but I think someone's headed for the Dark Side. [Guardian UK]

It also has a new feature called Media Go that'll automatically pull media off your PC over Wi-Fi whenever you plop it in the charging stand—obviously it requires a client on your PC, but whatever.

Oh yeah, it's a 3G GSM phone too. It's got a 3-inch screen, 8-megapixel camera with geo-tagging, light photo editing and video recording, built-in Facebook, YouTube, and Google apps like Search and Maps. It'll be out at the end of the year, likely for an ungodly sum given all the features packed into it. [Sony Ericsson]

Seriously, can somebody explain to me how can you get in the middle of the action while moving in front of a 2.4-inch screen? Gesture gaming already exists in Japan and, just by imagining it, I have the feeling it should have never left that country.

Twist, tilt, turn, smash - gesture gaming is here with the Sony Ericsson Yari

Challenge your friends to the newest invention in mobile phone gaming. Yari debuts Gesture gaming - forget about pushing buttons, with Gesture gaming you make the moves in front of the screen to get right in the middle of the action!

London, UK - May 28, 2009 - Today Sony Ericsson launches Yari the ultimate phone for mobile fun, whether it's gaming you're after or multimedia action. Nothing to hold, nothing to twist - except your body - gesture gaming technology gives users a unique gaming experience no matter where they are. With a variety of games to choose from, whether you want to keep fit and stay in shape or just want to beat your best score at tennis or boxing, Yari brings you fun wherever you are.

And with Yari there's always a new game to play. In addition to gesture games, there is a mix of pre loaded motion and standard games. Yari introduces a games carousel that allows you to access all your games from your desktop and to browse downloadable content on PlayNow(TM) arena. You can view content by category and choose to browse free or premium content - so no matter your preferences there's one to suit you.

"Yari is the industry's first mobile phone with gesture gaming outside of the Japanese market," said Catherine Cherry, Market Business Manager at Sony Ericsson. "It's time to move like you've never moved on a mobile phone before! With Gesture gaming you move your body to play instead of pressing buttons on the phone, giving you a fun experience that even helps you keep fit. If you've exhausted yourself with the games there are loads of other multimedia features to enjoy. Snap your friends with the five megapixel camera or chill out to your favourite tunes with the state-of-the art music player".

Yari
Twist, tilt, turn, smash - gesture gaming is here
Gesture and motion gaming for action on and off the screen
A/B buttons - gaming shortcut keys
Gaming carousel gives direct access to your games from the desktop
State-of-the art music player and stereo speakers for easy listening
Music call - one button press to share your favourite tracks while you talk
5.0 mega pixel camera - easily upload images to your web album
Send your location by SMS
To enhance your gaming experience Yari comes complete with the EC500 phone stand. The phone stand is small and portable and comes with an integrated keyring which makes it easy to carry thereby ensuring that you never miss an opportunity to play to your heart's content. To pump up the volume while on the move use the Outdoor Wireless Speaker MS500 - small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and so light it can be taken anywhere and everywhere.

Yari supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS/HSDPA 900/2100. Yari will be available in selected markets from early Q4 in the colours Achromatic Black and Cranberry White.

- ENDS -

The machine was a limited run of ten models, done before the final run to see how everything fitted inside. Charlie Springer—the owner of this transparent SE—removed the metal plates on the side, which were necessary to meet FCC specifications on electromagnetic emissions. As you can notice, the 2001 iMac doesn't have any plates, probably meaning that the components like the CRT tube were shielded directly on their surfaces. [Regnirps via Gadget Lab]

According to Bengal Boy, the Sony Ericsson xPeria X1 is his dream phone, the heir of his Sony P800 in terms of quality but using Windows Mobile Professional 6.1, which he thinks is the best smartphone operating system. Of course, he also thinks that "Brandy Wine" and "Lex'ah" here are hot, so I guess we will have to wait and actually try the SEX1 ourselves. In the meantime, head to Bengal Boy for the full photoreportage and impressions. [Bengal Boy]

Along with what we have already heard, the cellphone will now carry an alleged QWERTY keypad with multifunction keys, a metal construction, sliding lens cover for the 5MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0, 3G capability, UIQ 3.3 touchscreen WQVGA display, Google Maps and Wayfinder 7.0 support, as well as the excellent Mobile Opera 9.5 web browser. If all that holds to be true, this looks to be shaping up very nicely indeed.

On a side note, the source, USEB, tends to be so accurate with their Sony Ericcson-related information/leaks, word has it they know about SE products before the R&D department does. Weird. [USEB]

[Xinpin via Gearfuse via Uber Gizmo]