World’s First PC Integrating 512GB SSD 0

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Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502), reinforcing its “dynabook SS RX2
series” of notebook PCs offering light weight, slim lines, and
long-lasting battery operation, today announced the introduction of the
top-of-the-range “dynabook SS RX2/WAJ,” world’s first(1) PC
integrating 512GB SSD (Solid State Drive). The new model is available
in two versions from today at Toshiba’s on-line shop for the Japanese
market.

The new, Toshiba-developed 512GB SSD employs a 2-bit-per-cell
multi-level NAND flash memory to realize, the world’s largest capacity
SSD, with four times the density of SSD integrated into currently
available products(2). Furthermore, a new controller that
realizes high-speed parallel processing with the multi-level NAND flash
memory boosts data access speeds by approximately 230%(3) for read (max. 230MB per sec) and 450%(3) for write (max.180MB per sec), compared with SSD integrated into current PCs. It also boosts data access speed by approx. 300%(3) for read and 250%(3) for write, compared to a hard disk drive (HDD)(4).
SSDs are free of mechanical structures such as a rotating disc, and
ideal for integration into mobile notebook PCs, making them more
resistant to vibration and shock.

The dynabook SS RX2 is a mobile notebook PC created to the design
concept of “true mobility”. Its light (approx.1,095g), thin (19.5mm to
25.5mm) design integrates capabilities essential for mobile notebook
PCs, including long-time battery operation (12 hours)(5) and a ruggedness that sailed through tests(6)
by an independent certification organization. Integration of an SSD
reinforces the hallmark performance excellence of the RX2, making the
notebook perfect for use on the go. The RX2 also achieves an
energy-saving design that cuts power consumption by adopting an
ultra-low voltage CPU, a transreflective LCD that uses natural sunlight
to make screen images more visible even without switching on the
backlight, not to mention the power-efficient SSD.

Toshiba will continue to meet users’ needs by developing and
commercializing notebook PCs integrating advanced features and
functionality.

Homeless Korean dies with 100,000 dollars in bank 0

A homeless South Korean unable to withdraw his life savings because he could not remember his real name has died in poverty, officials said.

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The man, believed to be aged 56, died of cancer last month, leaving 128 million won (just over 100,000 dollars) in a bank account that was opened in early 1993 under the alias of Na Hae-Dong.

The account was frozen several months later when a law took effect to ban accounts held under false names, as an anti-corruption measure.

Deposits were still allowed but the account holder had to register a real name to withdraw money, something “Na” could not do.

“He didn’t know what his real name was or where he was born. We tried but failed to identify him,” Yoo Joon-Soo, the senior official of Yongbong district in the southwestern city of Gwangju, told AFP by phone.

The man collected scrap iron and other junk and slept on his cart under plastic sheets before moving in 2007 into a makeshift shelter made from a shipping container.

Though he could not withdraw from the account, he kept putting in savings.

“He used to say he wanted to buy a home with his savings,” Yoo said.

“Last month, we applied for court approval to create his new ID and the court procedure was under way.”

A local court is expected to order that the savings revert to the state, he added.

Internal Palm memo may reveal Pre launch timing 0

We’re prefacing this by saying we’re definitely not 100%, but it looks like Palm could be gearing up for a round of meetings that will lead up to the day we’ve all been waiting for — Palm Pre launch day. We just received what an anonymous tipster claims to be an internal Palm memo regarding some meetings that will take place in early June. According to the document, the meetings will conclude on Friday June 5th with what is labeled “LAUNCH LUNCH!”

Now, it’s likely a safe assumption that Palm isn’t going to leave much time for info to leak out between these supposed meetings and launch time. As such, it looks like the day of reckoning is either going to be Friday June 5th, Saturday June 6th or Sunday June 7th — and yes, Sunday is historically Sprint’s launch day but this is the Pre we’re talking about so switching things up isn’t out of the question. Giving some additional credence to the scenario by the way, is the fact that Best Buy is slated to begin its trial launch of the Pre on June 7th, meaning Sprint will most definitely launch the handset before or on that date. Getting excited yet? Hit the jump for the full memo.

Snow Leopard to support native 3G Wireless WAN hardware 0

Building on evidence that Apple is seeking to hire engineers to test new Macs with 3G Wireless WAN support, people familiar with the company’s plans say Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will incorporate new support for native WWAN hardware.

These people report that the new version of the System Profiler application provided in Snow Leopard developer builds includes WWAN reporting under its network information section, shown in the artist’s conception below. System Profiler is used to compile hardware information; if Apple were only reporting information on third party USB 3G WWAN peripherals, something that Mac OS X already supports, those reports would continue to be included with other USB devices.

Instead, Snow Leopard’s System Profiler breaks out WWAN support on the same level as other technologies that are available from Apple, directly built into Mac hardware models, including the ubiquitous Bluetooth and AirPort as well as hardware interfaces that are only available on specific Mac models, such as the Fibre Channel and SAS of the Xserve and Mac Pro.

Last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told USA Today that Apple explored the idea of building a 3G chip into the 13-inch MacBook Air, but said he ultimately decided against the move because he doesn’t want MacBooks to be tied to a specific wireless carrier for enhanced internet services.

In the year since, global economic troubles have forced new pressures on PC retail prices and have helped make netbooks popular, albeit not necessarily profitable for hardware manufacturers. Netbooks are low cost mini-notebooks that are often subsidized by mobile service contracts.

Apple has shown no interest in entering the netbook hardware category, but has been wildly successful in marketing the iPhone with a mandatory voice and data contract that enables the company to offer the ~ $600 device for just $200 with a contract.

The likelihood of Apple following the same strategy to offer Macs to consumers at a subsidized entry prices surfaced earlier this year when it was reported that Orange’s UK division was wrapping up talks with Apple to offer subsidized MacBooks to customers who sign up for its top-rated 3G service. At the time, Orange was said to be testing its USB dongle modems with the current line of MacBooks, suggesting the deal had little to do with any plan on Apple’s part to build wireless broadband chips directly into its notebooks.

Speculation that Apple may separately be planning to tie 3G chips into its future notebook designs received a shot in the arm this week when it was discovered that the company’s Mac Hardware Group was actively seeking to hire a position responsible for “testing and reporting hardware, software, and device driver bugs for Communications technologies including AirPort (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth v2.0, gigabit Ethernet, and/or 3G Wireless WAN in a detailed, timely manner.”

Snow Leopard System Profiler WWAN

For whatever reason, Apple plucked the job listing from its website following media reports on the matter, which could be seen as a sign that the listing was a bit too revealing of some actual plans by the company to move towards embedded 3G hardware in its Mac line. However, the Mac maker has been actively seeking someone to fill the position for more than 3 months and made no effort to remove at least 4 similar copies (1, 2, 3, 4) of the same job listing, which could still apply to evaluation of dongle devices rather than native hardware.

Still, the fact that WWAN support is being included in System Profiler of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard may provide the most concrete evidence yet that the 3G Wireless WAN support Apple is reportedly testing could arrive as early as Snow Leopard, which is expected to publicly debut at WWDC and become available to users shortly afterward. That said, all of the evidence pointing to native 3G hardware turning up in versions of Mac notebooks this year remains fairly anecdotal.

2008 in Pictures #3 1

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanoes are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008. (Carlos Gutierrez)

Kartoula, 14, a refugee from Sudan’s western Darfur region, enters a distribution centre to receive monthly food rations at Djabal camp near Gos Beida in eastern Chad, June 5, 2008. (REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly) #

The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from launch pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center on May 31, 2008 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, en route to the International Space Station on a construction mission. (Eliot J. Schechter /Getty Images) #

An aerial view of floods caused by Tropical Storm Hanna is seen in Gonaives, Haiti on September 3, 2008. Haiti’s civil protection office said 37 of the 90 Hanna-related deaths had occurred in the port city of Gonaives. (REUTERS/Marco Dormino/Minustah) #

A U.S. Marine, from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan May 18, 2008. The Marine was not injured. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic) #

The hand of a dead body lies on the ground amongst the rubble of the earthquake ravaged town May 15, 2008 in Beichuan, Sichuan province, China. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

Italian soccer club AC Milan’s newly signed player Ronaldinho of Brazil attends his presentation at San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy on July 17, 2008. (REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo) # (for those who claim this image has been digitally altered, here is a larger detail of the photo - the halo is from backlighting, not photoshop)

The right hand of a young visitor is silhouetted against a jellyfish exhibition hall at the Ocean Park aquarium-amusement complex in Hong Kong on January 20, 2008. (REUTERS/Victor Fraile) #

Buildings and debris are seen floating in the Cedar River against a railroad bridge Saturday, June 14, 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes, emergency officials said. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

Kenyan athletes train at Eldoret’s Chepkoilel stadium on May 30, 2008 in preparation for the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games 2008. Recently the Kenyan athletics federation announced the setting up of two training camps in Eldoret and Nairobi to cater for a selected team of 120 athletes ahead of the Beijing Olympic trials on July 4-5. (TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Time exposure of the Swiss mountain resort of Grindelwald next to the north face of the Eiger mountain, seen on January 10, 2008. (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth) #

Department of Water and Power workers are emptying out bales of plastic balls in the Ivanhoe reservoir in Los Angeles on Monday, June 9, 2008. Department of Water and Power released about 400,000 black plastic 4-inch balls as the first installment of approximately 3 million to form a floating cover over 7 acres of the reservoir to protect the water from sunlight. When sunlight mixes with the bromide and chlorine in Ivanhoe’s water, the carcinogen bromate can form. (Irfan Khan/AP) #

A man dressed as a tiger carries a small whip made from rope in Zitlala, Guerrero state, Mexico, Monday, May 5, 2008. Every year, inhabitants of this town participate in a violent ceremony to ask for a good harvest and plenty of rain, at the end of the ceremony men battle each other with their whips while wearing tiger masks and costumess. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) #

A baseball is illuminated by the sun as Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Ted Lilly throws during the first inning of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, Sept. 27 2008, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck) #

Children of slain Philadelphia police sergeant Stephen Liczbinski, Amber and Steve embrace after their father’s funeral mass on the steps of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania May 9, 2008 Sergeant Liczbinski was gunned down as he investigated a bank robbery on May 3. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer) #

A policeman carries a child away during a gun battle in Tijuana, in Mexico’s state of Baja California, January 17, 2008. A shootout on Thursday, after police agents moved in on a drug cartel group, left four people injured and forced the emergency evacuation of a school in Tijuana, according to the local media. (REUTERS/Jorge Duenes) #

A man stands in front of the Marriott hotel after a bomb blast in Islamabad September 20, 2008. A truck bomb was detonated outside the Marriott in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Saturday, killing at least 54, injuring at least 266 and starting a fire which swept through the hotel. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood) #

Locals and tourists walk around the Dutch ship Artemis which ran aground on the beach of les Sables d’Olonne, southern French Britanny, western France, March 10, 2008. The boat had been driven onto the coast by the wind blowing more than 130 km per hour. (REUTERS/Stephane Mahe) #

A fire rages out of control at the backlot filled with movie sets at Universal Studios in Universal City, California, 12 miles (19 km) from downtown Los Angeles June 1, 2008. A portion of the set used in Steven Spielberg’s film “War of the Worlds” including a jet airplane is shown foreground. (Fred Prouser /Reuters) #

Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, the world’s first man to fly with a jet-powered fixed-wing apparatus strapped to his back, flies during his first official demonstration, on May 14, 2008 above Bex, Switzerland. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images) #

Cyclone Nargis victims huddle in torrential rain as they await assistance in Dedaye Township, southwest of Yangon, Myanmar on May 19, 2008. Political resistance to outside aid and a slow response by the government worsened an already devastating situation - an estimated 146,000 people lost their lives. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Tear gas cannisters fired by Israeli soldiers fall from the sky on Palestinian and Israeli peace activists during a protest agaisnt the construction of Israel’s controversial security barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, on June 6, 2008. (Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images) #

Maasai warriors cover a battle field as they clash with bows and arrows with members of the Kalenjin tribe in the Kapune hill overlooking the Olmelil valley located in the Transmara District in Western Kenya on March 01, 2008. The Massai, the Kalenjin and the Kisii tribes have recently clashed over ongoing land disputes that erupted after botched local elections during the general elections held in Kenya in December of 2007. Over twenty warriors from the tribes have been killed in bow and arrow battles near the borders of these tribes in the last couple of months. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images) #

Firefighters battle a blaze at the Namdaemun gate, one of South Korea’s most historic sites, in central Seoul, on February 11, 2008. An arsonist started the fire, destroying the gate - the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, first constructed in 1398 and rebuilt in 1447. (Kim Jae-hwan/AFP/Getty Images) #

The head of a male student, still alive, trapped under the debris is pictured at the scene of the church school that collapsed on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, November 7, 2008. At least 30 people were killed when the three-story La Promesse school building collapsed while class was in session and some of the walls and debris crushed neighboring homes in the Nerettes community near Port-au-Prince. (REUTERS/Joseph Guyler Delva) #

Wounded Palestinians lay near Reuters news agency reporter Fadel Shaana’s car after it was hit by an Israeli missile on April 16, 2008 in the central Gaza Strip. The Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian cameraman working for the Reuters news service and two other civilians, Palestinian medics and witnesses said. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images) #

A rescue helicopter prepares to hoist aboard surviving Japanese climber Hideaki Nara near the summit of Aoraki Mount Cook in New Zealand on December 5, 2008. A Japanese climber stranded for six days just below the summit had died just hours before rescuers reached him and a compatriot, local media reported. The two Japanese climbers were forced to huddle in a tent 50 meters below the 3,754-meter (12,349 feet) peak, as poor weather and high winds foiled attempts to rescue the men by helicopter. (REUTERS/The Christchurch Press/John Kirk-Anderson) #

A Kenyan boy screams as he sees kenyan policeman with a baton approach the door of his home in the Kibera slum of Nairobi 17 January 2008. Hundreds of police who had earlier clashed with supporters of Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga at the entrance of the slum moved into the shantytown and did a house to house search for protestors. (WALTER ASTRADA/AFP/Getty Images) #

An Afghan refugee child hides from a dust storm behind a tent at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan on October 7, 2008. Over a quarter million Afghans have returned home this year from Pakistan and Iran, many of them reportedly due to economic and security uncertainties faced in exile, the United Nations said. (MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images) #

The Guizer Jarl is silhouetted as members of his Viking Squad walk around a long boat with burning torches during the annual Up Helly Aa Festival, in Lerwick, Shetland Islands on January 29th, 2008. Up Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian vikings in the Shetland Islands. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Comoran and Tanzanian African Union soldiers (not seen) arrest an injured Anjouanese man after shooting three rockets at his house in Mutsamudu on 25 March 2008. The Comoran army said it had located the renegade leader of the isle of Anjouan, Mohamed Bacar, during the operation it launched earlier March 25, 2008 with the African Union to oust him. Some 400 AND troops backed by around 1,000 soldiers from Sudan and Tanzania launched a offensive before dawn to wrest back control of the isle of Anjouan from Bacar, its self-proclaimed leader, and capture him. Bacar was captured, and after some legal wrangling, evaded extradition back to the Comoros, and is now living in exile in Benin. (JOSE CENDON/AFP/Getty Images) #

Fishermen try to catch fish during the Argungu fishing festival in Nigeria on March 15, 2008. Over 30,000 fishermen from different parts of Nigeria and neighbouring West Africa took part in the final of the yearly Argungu fishing festival in Kebbi, northwestern Nigeria. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images) #

A firefighter uses a flare gun to set a backfire in the rugged area of Little Tujunga Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) north of downtown Los Angeles in the early hours of October 12, 2008. Fifty miles per hour gusty winds spread the fire towards ranches and houses in the heavily-forested canyon. (REUTERS/Gene Blevins) #

Flames from a wreckage of a passenger plane are seen after crash Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 15, 2008. 40 people were killed, most of them were on the ground in the marketplace where the plane crashed. (Lionel Healing/AFP/Getty Images) #

A polar bear shakes his body to remove water at the St-Felicien Wildlife Zoo in St-Felicien, Quebec on March 6, 2008. (REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger) #

Cambodian families living on the grounds of the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, along the Thai-Cambodian border October 16, 2008. Nearly 200 Cambodian residents living near the temple have taken refuge on its grounds, after recent fighting killed two Cambodian soldiers, a local Cambodian newspaper reported. The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but the court failed to determine the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) Hindu ruins, a ruling that has rankled with Thais ever since. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif) #

A man in a traditional “Perchten” costume performs during an Austrian league soccer match in Ried, Austria November 12, 2008. (REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler (AUSTRIA) #

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A man carries the body of a child recovered from the rubble of a destroyed house after an air strike in Baghdad’s Sadr City in Iraq on April 29, 2008. (REUTERS/Kareem Raheem) #

Finland’s Harri Olli soars through the air during the large hill ski jumping FIS World Cup event in Liberec, Czech Republic on February 9, 2008. (REUTERS/David W Cerny) #

Kerby Brown rides a huge wave in an undisclosed location southwest of Western Australia July 6, 2008, in this picture released November 7, 2008 by the Oakley-Surfing Life Big Wave Awards in Sydney. Picture taken July 6. (REUTERS/Andrew Buckley). #

2008 in Pictures #2 0

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama waves to the crowd at a rally in the rain at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A general view shows a “solucar” solar park in Sanlucar La Mayor, near Seville, Spain on November 6, 2008. The solar thermal power plant uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays onto the top of a 100 meter (300 foot) tower where it produces steam to drive a turbine, producing electricity. (REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo) #

Astronaut Karen Nyberg, STS-124 mission specialist, looks through a window in the newly installed Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery is docked with the station on June 10th, 2008. (NASA) #

In this March 11, 2008 photo, a boy plays soccer at La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) #

A Kosovo Albanian man in the Kosovo town of Stimlje, south of the capital Pristina, tries to rescue his horse after it veered off the road and fell into a river March 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Hazir Reka) #

Staff stand in a meeting room at the Lehman Brothers offices in the financial district of Canary Wharf in London September 11, 2008. Lehman Brothers eventually filed for bankruptcy - the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history - and was delisted from the NYSE, and later liquidated. (REUTERS/Kevin Coombs) #

A U.S. Marine with a ground combat element assigned to Delta Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Task Force Mechanized, Multi-National Force - West walks through the Hatra Ruins in the Jazeerah Desert in Iraq on July 20, 2008. The task force is conducting disruption operations in the area to deny the enemy sanctuary and prevent foreign fighters from accessing the area. (Lance Cpl. Albert F. Hunt, U.S. Marine Corps.) #

A young sapphire miner holds on tight to a rope as he is lowered into a deep hole in the ground in a field in Anzanakaro near Ilakaka, Madagascar on September 14, 2008. Local miners and many of their family members work deep narrow holes where they scrape gravel and sand in search of sapphires. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images) #

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (lower right) waves as he arrives at a rally of 100,000 supporters in St. Louis, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) #

In this April 30, 2008 photo, a young Iraqi boy poses for a photo after graduating from kindergarten in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban) #

Most of the homes in the Oakridge mobile home park, which reportedly had 600-800 homes, lie in ruins after burning in the Sylmar Fire on November 15, 2008 in Sylmar, California. The fire began last night and was fueled to more than 2,600 acres by strong erratic winds in excess of 70 miles per hour which kept firefighting aircraft grounded in the morning. (David McNew/Getty Images) #

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The bodies of two Palestinian militants lay near their mortar launcher after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza November 16, 2008. They had been firing mortar rounds into a neighboring Israeli neighborhood. An Israeli air strike killed four Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and two rockets fired from the Hamas-controlled territory hit Israel as a five-month-old ceasefire continued to unravel. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Mateja Robnik of Slovenia negotiates a track of the women’s giant slalom FIS World Cup event in Maribor, Slovenia January 12, 2008. (REUTERS/Petr Josek) #

A military helicopter transporting soldiers and engineers prepares to land near the Tangjiashan quake lake area at earthquake-hit Beichuan, Sichuan province, China on May 27, 2008. China had evacuated more than 150,000 people living below a swollen lake formed by this month’s devastating earthquake amid fears it could burst and trigger massive flooding, state media said on Wednesday. (REUTERS/China Daily) #

21-year-old Ajmal Kasab, one of ten terrorists who attacked Mumbai, India on November 26th, 2008 walks through the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station, carrying weapons and duffel bags of ammunition. Kasab and his cohorts - all from Pakistan - killed over 170 people over the course of three days, until all except Kasab were killed by Indian forces. (AP Photo/Mumbai Mirror, Sebastian D’souza) #

A competitor dives from the 14 meter-high bridge over Drina river during annual high diving competition in Bosnian town of Visegrad July 12, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Men are caught in a dust storm while playing cricket at a playground in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 31, 2008. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #

Internally Displaced People leave Kibati heading north from the city to their villages, Kibumba and Rugari, north of the provincial capital of Goma, Congo, on November 2, 2008. Several thousand people displaced in the fighting between rebels and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo began returning home Sunday as a ceasefire held, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images) #

An earthquake survivor tries to figure out where his home used to be at the Donghekou Earthquake Relics Park, which covers one town and five villages including Donghekou Village, on November 11, 2008 in Qingchuan County of Sichuan Province, China. The park, which is the first memorial site after the massive Wenchuan Earthquake, was opened to the public on November 12, 2008. (China Photos/Getty Images) #

Casey Stoner of Australia and the Ducati Team in action on a wet track, during a practice run for the Australian MotoGP at the Phillip Island Circuit on October 3, 2008 in Phillip Island, Australia. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images) #

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A young man with an arrow in his head arrives at hospital following ethnic clashes in the town of Nakuru in the Rift Valley area January 26, 2008. Kenyans in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru feared more violence on Saturday after a disputed election triggered pitched battles between ethnic gangs that killed at least a dozen people. (REUTERS/Peter Andrews) #

A man’s hand drips blood as he stands in front of riot policemen during a demonstration in Athens, part of a days-long series of demonstrations throughout Greece on December 9, 2008. (REUTERS/John Kolesidis) #

Republican presidential candidate John McCain makes his acceptance speech during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) #

Duncan Zuur of the Netherlands rides a wakeboard across flooded Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy as the recent “acqua alta” (high water) reached a depth of 1.56 meters (5 ft, 1 in.) on December 2, 2008. (REUTERS/Handout/Euro-Newsroom.com/Joerg Mitter) #

Soldiers maintain order amongst stranded passengers outside a railway station in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, February 3, 2008. A stampede at Guangzhou railway station killed one person when frustrated passengers rushed to board trains after days of cancellations because of fierce cold and snow, police confirmed on Sunday. (REUTERS/Daniel Chan) #

An indigenous woman holds her child while trying to resist the advance of Amazonas state policemen who were expelling the woman and some 200 other members of the Landless Movement from a privately-owned tract of land on the outskirts of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon March 11, 2008. The landless peasants tried in vain to resist the eviction with bows and arrows against police using tear gas and trained dogs, and were evicted from the land. (REUTERS/Luiz Vasconcelos-A Critica/AE) #

This sequence of 12 frames was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft over a span of about 45 minutes on March 12, 2008. In that brief time, Cassini covered almost 40,000 kilometers in its approach to a flyby encounter with Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn. The overexposure and smearing of the images gives a hint of the raw speed involved - 14.4 km/sec (or 32,211 mph). Shortly after this sequence, at its closest, Cassini approached within 52 km (32.3 miles) of the surface of Enceladus. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

A firefighting airplane drops water on the burning Turkish ship Undadriyatik in the waters near town of Rovinj, Croatia in the northern Adriatic Sea on Feb. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/FILE) #

A U.S. Army helicopter gunner, his helmet face painted as a skull, awaits soldiers to board his Chinook transport helicopter October 30, 2008 for transport out of the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. Taliban insurgents had attacked a nearby U.S. Army outpost, and the Americans responded with machine guns, mortars and helicopter gunships. (John Moore/Getty Images) #

Thousands of black clad Israeli Orthodox Jews attend the funeral of Arieh Levish Teitelbaum, one of the Israeli victims of the Mumbai attacks, on December 2, 2008 in Jerusalem. Wailing and chanting psalms, thousands of people bid a final farewell today to the six Jews killed in last week’s bloody Mumbai attacks and whose bodies were flown to Israel for burial. (JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images) #

Pakistani men try to rescue a donkey buried during an earthquake in Ziarat, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Quetta, Pakistan on October 30th, 2008. Rescue workers searched through the rubble of villages destroyed by a powerful earthquake in southwestern Pakistan that killed at least 215 people. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti/FILE) #

The Chinese Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship, the Long-March II-F rocket and the escape tower are transferred to the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province, China on September 20, 2008. Taikonaut Zhai Zhigang performed China’s first-ever spacewalk on the successful mission. (REUTERS/Stringer). #

An Indian policeman holds a shield against stone-throwing Kashmiri Muslim protesters in Srinagar September 9, 2008. More than two dozen people including 10 policemen were injured in Kashmir on Tuesday when police clashed with hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators in fresh protests against Indian rule in the area. (Fayaz Aziz/Reuters) #

People drop lines in holes on a frozen river at an event to fish trout in Hwacheon, South Korea, about 20 km (12 miles) south of the demilitarised zone separating two Koreas, northeast of Seoul January 13, 2008. More than 1,000,000 people attend at the annual ice festival which lasts for three weeks in January. (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won ) #

A patient with advanced pulmonary TB in a tuberculosis hospital in Mumbai, India receives a daily injection as well as oxygen. Photojournalist James Nachtwey brought us (through photography) a story this year of a new, dangerous type of tuberculosis called Extreme Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. Tuberculosis is both preventable and curable, but inadequate treatment has been driving the emergence of XDR-TB, especially in developing nations. For more information about XDR-TB, please visit xdrtb.org. (© James Nachtwey/VII) #

Images of books on shelves are seen projected on the walls of the Tower of David in Jerusalem’s Old City - part of a show called “Or Shalem, Jerusalem Lights the Night”, staged by a group called Skertzò on October 7, 2008. The Tower of David is a massive citadel that, over the centuries, has served as a fortress, military barracks and cannon position. These days, the Tower serves as a popular tourist site. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) #

Austrian pilot Hannes Arch flies during the Red Bull Air Race World Series, with the Hungarian Parliament Building in the background, in Budapest, Hungary on August 20, 2008. (REUTERS/Karoly Arvai) #

The moon and stars light up Mount Everest, also known as Qomolangma, as seen from near Everest Base Camp in the Tibet Autonomous Region April 29, 2008. (REUTERS/David Gray) #

U.S. President George W. Bush walks back to the Oval Office after making remarks at the White House in Washington March 13, 2008. (REUTERS/Jim Young) #

A spectator raises her fist in celebration seconds after it was announced that Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Pouya Dianat, Atlanta Journal & Constitution) #

2008 in Pictures 0

Imam Hashim Raza leads mourners in prayer during a funeral for Mohsin Naqvi at al-Fatima Islamic Center in Colonie, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 22, 2008. Naqvi was a Muslim, a native of Pakistan (he emigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 8 years old and became a citizen at 16) and a U.S. Army officer. He was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Students practice martial arts at Xuecheng Martial Arts School in Zaozhuang, Shandong province, China on June 11, 2008. Around 300 students from all over the nation, aged from 5 to 17 years old, receive martial arts training as well as cultural courses at this school, local media said. (REUTERS/China Daily) #

In this Jan. 23, 2008, the construction site of the new China Central Television headquarters building is seen in Beijing. The building’s two angled towers were connected in December to form a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections. The 230 meter (755 foot) building, one of Beijing’s tallest, houses more than 10,000 staff. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) #

A bull sarcophagus in which a member of the Ubud royal family was cremated burns during the funeral ceremony Tuesday July 15, 2008 in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Ed Wray) #

Spacesuit engineer Dustin Gohmert drives NASA’s new lunar truck prototype through the moon-like craters of Johnson Space Center’s Lunar Yard. The lunar truck was built to make such off roading easy, with six wheels that can be steered independently in any direction. In addition, the steering center can turn a full 360 degree, giving the driver a good view of what’s ahead, no matter which way the wheels are pointing. (NASA/JSC) #

A woman on a horse runs alongside the peloton during stage five of the 2008 Tour de France from Cholet to Chateauroux on July 9, 2008 in Chateauroux, France. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) #

A Tibetan (R) carrying a stick prepares to attack a fallen man in this photograph taken during protests in Lhasa March 14, 2008. Tibetans attacked Han Chinese and their businesses during violent protests in Lhasa over several days. (REUTERS) #

In this photo released by the official Xinhua news agency, members of China’s armed police demonstrate a rapid deployment during an anti-terrorist drill held in Jinan, east China, on Wednesday July 2, 2008, roughly one month ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Xinhua/Fan Changguo) #

A firefighting airtanker drops Phos-Check fire retardant over the Gap fire as more than 1,000 wildfires continue burning across about 680 square miles of central and northern California, on July 3, 2008 near Goleta, California. (David McNew/Getty Images) #

Samuel Peter from Nigeria receives a punch from Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine during their WBC heavyweight boxing world championship fight in Berlin, Germany on Oct. 11, 2008. Klitschko won the fight after round nine due to technical knock out. (AP Photo/Herbert Knosowski) #

View of the Large hadron Collider’s CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment Tracker Outer Barrel (TOB) in the cleaning room. The CMS is one of two general-purpose LHC experiments designed to explore the physics of the Terascale, the energy region where physicists believe they will find answers to the central questions at the heart of 21st-century particle physics. The Large Hadron Collider was scheduled to be up and running by the end of 2008, but electrical difficulties have set the date back to summer of 2009. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN) #

Left-to-right: Netherlands Antilles’ Churandy Martina, Zimbabwe’s Brian Dzingai, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, Wallace Spearmon of the US and Britain’s Christian Malcolm compete in the men’s 200m final at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 20, 2008. Bolt went on to win the event, in a world record time of 19.3 seconds. (Olivier Morin/AFP) #

Protesters holding candles march during a rally demanding a full-scale renegotiation of the beef deal with the U.S. and the resignation of President Lee Myung-bak around the city hall in Seoul, South Korea on June 7, 2008. Hundreds of thousands of people fearing infection of mad cow disease participated in the protest. (REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak) #

A convoy of Russian troops makes its way through the Caucasus Mountains toward the armed conflict between Georgian troops and separatist South Ossetian troops, in the South Ossetian village of Dzhaba on August 9, 2008. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared a “state of war” as his troops battled it out with Russian forces over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. (Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP) #

An unidentified crying Georgian woman is calmed by her husband after learning that her child was killed in a neighboring village, in Gori, about 80 km (50 miles) from Tbilisi, Georgia on August 11, 2008. (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich) #

A solar eclipse can be seen above the Jiayuguan Fort on the Great Wall of China in the town of Jiayuguan, Gansu Province, China on August 1, 2008. (REUTERS/David Gray) #

Drummers perform during the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on August 8, 2008 in Beijing. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images) #

Giovanna Trillini of Italy and Nam Hyunhee of South Korea compete in the semifinals of the women’s individual foil fencing event at the Fencing Hall on Day 3 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images) #

Ireland’s Gabriel Shelly, left, along with his coach celebrates after winning the bronze medal in Boccia-1 match against China’s Wang Yi at the Paralympic games in Beijing, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/ Elizabeth Dalziel) #

A single home is left standing among debris from Hurricane Ike September 14, 2008 in Gilchrist, Texas. In its brief, but eventful life, Ike wreaked enough havoc to be blamed for over $31.5 billion in damage and nearly 150 deaths across the Caribbean and Gulf Coast. (David J. Phillip-Pool/Getty Images) #

Photographers take pictures of an injured man during clashes believed to be linked to recent anti-foreigner violence in Reiger Park informal settlement in South Africa on May 20, 2008. South African police fired rubber bullets at hundreds of shantytown residents on Tuesday in a crackdown on violence against foreigners which ended up killing over 60 people and injuring hundreds more. (REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko) #

Afghan youths dive at a swimming pool on Wazir Akbar Khan hill in Kabul on June 24, 2008. Temperatures in the Afghan capital are approaching the 30 degrees Celsius mark as the summer sets in in Central Asia. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #

Ethnic Tibetan worshippers enter a monastery to celebrate Monlam, or Great Prayer Festival, during a sandstorm in Aba, Sichuan province, February 17, 2008. Thousands of Tibetan pilgrims gathered to celebrate Monlam, one of the most important festivals in Tibetan Buddhism. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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A suicide bomber’s foot is seen at the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 22, 2008. The bomber killed three civilians and wounded one more in the attack, a police official said. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #

Rockets fly over bell tower of Ayios Marcos church during Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations on the eastern Aegean island of Chios in Greece late on April 26, 2008. Two rival parishes of Vrontados village fire thousands of rockets every Easter Saturday aiming at the opposing church’s bell tower in a centuries-old tradition. (REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis) #

Thousands of sportsmen and women are seen on their way from Maloja to S-Chanf near St Moritz in south eastern Switzerland on March 9, 2008 as they participate in the annual Engadin skiing marathon. (AP Photo/Keystone/Alessandro Della Bella) #

The downtown core of Vancouver and the Lions Gate Bridge rise above a morning fog in this view from Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver, British Columbia November 17, 2008. (REUTERS/Andy Clark) #

Pakistani people watch as an acrobat rides his motorcycle around a circular track during the memorial of Muslim saint Syed Lal Shah next to his shrine in Muree, about 60 kilometers north of Islamabad, Pakistan on June 15, 2008. Hundred of pilgrims gather during six days every year to pay respect at the tomb of Syed Lal Shah. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) #

A giant mechanical spider, part of a piece of free theater by French company La Machine entitled “Les Mecaniques Servants”, walks along the waterfront in Liverpool, England on September 5, 2008. The 37-ton spider which stands at 50 feet (15 meters) tall was in Liverpool as part of the city’s European capital of culture celebrations. (REUTERS/Phil Noble) #

Red Star Belgrade’s fans light torches during the Serbian First Division soccer match against Mladost Lucani in Belgrade, Serbia on March 29, 2008. (REUTERS/Ivan Milutinovic) #

Muslim women attend prayers on the eve of the first day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia on August 31, 2008. (REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas) #

In this June 27, 2008 file photo, a man runs next to balloons placed at Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro. Demonstrators released around 4,000 red balloons during an event representing the 4,000 people who were expected to become victims of violence over the next six months. (AP Photo/ Ricardo Moraes) #

A diver practices in the new National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China on Aug. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) #

A visitor looks at a mock skeleton of the cartoon character Tom from “Tom and Jerry” by South Korea’s artist Hyungkoo Lee during a special exhibition “Animatus” at Natural History Museum Basel, Switzerland on August 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth) #

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Police work to help their fallen colleagues, victims of a suicide bombing, as others watch outside a court in the centre of Lahore January 10, 2008. A suicide bomber walked up to a group of policemen stationed outside the High Court in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Thursday and set off his explosives, killing 21 people, most of them police, officials said. (REUTERS/Mohsin Raza) #

Maoist leader Prachanda sits with garland after being declared the winner of the election in Kathmandu, Nepal on April 12, 2008. Nepal’s Maoist former rebels took a shock early lead on Saturday in an election aimed at cementing a peace deal that ended a decade-long civil war. (REUTERS/Desmond Boylan) #

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper (bottom L) and other MP’s listen as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa June 11, 2008. Canada, seeking to close one of the darkest chapters in its history, formally apologized earlier that week for forcing 150,000 aboriginal children into grim residential schools, where many say they were abused. (REUTERS/Chris Wattie) #

U.S. soldiers search for weapons on an Afghan man, who works for a private security firm escorting truck convoys, after they found illegal weapons in his vehicle, in a village near Kandahar, Afghanistan in this April 27, 2008 photo. Forty countries are now contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which has around 47,000 troops. the United States also contributing some 14,000 troops serving in a separate force. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic) #

In this Jan. 11, 2008 photo, eagles await transfer to a warm U.S. Fish and Wildlife warehouse after being rescued from the cold in Kodiak, Alaska. They were among 50 eagles which dove into the back of an uncovered dump truck full of fish guts and became too wet to fly away. (AP Photo/Jay Barrett) #

French President Nicolas Sarkozy gently touches the hand of his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy during a welcoming ceremony in Ben Gurion airport in Israel on June 22, 2008. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis) #

Buffett Sees ‘Unending Losses’ for Many Newspapers 0

OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett has long held himself out as a newspaper man. As a child, one of his first jobs was delivering newspapers. An Omaha newspaper Berkshire owned, Sun Newspapers, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 based in part on a tip Mr. Buffett provided. One of Berkshire’s biggest investments in the 1970s was the Buffalo News, which it still owns.

buffettentrance_D_20090502131038.jpgAssociated Press
Buffett toured the exhibit floor prior to the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting

But his view on the future of the newspaper industry is dismal. “For most newspapers in the United states, we would not buy them at any price,” he said in response to a question about whether he would consider investing in newspapers. “They have the possibility of going to just unending losses.”

The problem, he said, is that newspapers were once essential to the American public. As long as newspapers were essential to readers, they were essential to advertisers, But news is available in many other venues, such as the Internet, which means a dramatic drop in advertising revenue.

Berkshire also has a substantial investment in the Washington Post Co. He said the company has a solid cable business, a good reason to hold onto it, but its newspaper business is in trouble.

Mr. Munger gave a philosophical take on the issue: “It’s really a national tragedy,” he said. “These monopoly daily newspapers have been an important sinew to our civilization, they kept government more honest than they would otherwise be.”

Source: WSJ

Microsoft debuts Vine in Seattle: Twitter+Facebook on steroids 3

It’s been awhile since Microsoft introduced a game-changing social Web application, but Vine — a service that’s debuting today with a beta test in Seattle — could be a contender.

Vine is a hyperlocal, personalized message and alert system. It’s intended to be a dashboard that people can use to keep tabs of their family, friends, activities and major events in their community.

The dashboard — which appears as a widget on a PC screen — displays a map of the user’s community and the status of their contacts. It also has buttons to send alerts or reports, which can be sent and received on the PC or as text messages on a cellphone.

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Vine could be used by families, schools or soccer teams to notify people of schedules and changes. Individuals could use it as a central hub to keep track of local news and data feeds and updates from services such as Facebook.

But Microsoft’s main emphasis now is providing Vine to emergency management officials, who are intrigued by a new tool that could be used to broadcast and receive information during a disaster or other major event.

“I think long-term this is probably going to be a very valuable tool to help people keep connected, not only during times of crisis but on a daily basis,” said Hillman Mitchell, the city of Tukwila’s emergency management coordinator.

Mitchell, who has reviewed the product and will participate in the public testing, said emergency management officials are already trying to glean information from services such as Twitter and Facebook, but it’s challenging because they’re basically sending limited streams of text. Vine “provides an avenue to consolidate some of that information and analyze it in a more comprehensive way.”

“The underlying technology, where it provides a more structured data form, will long-term be a very valuable asset, whether it’s generated from Microsoft or others,” he said.

Seattle is the first place Vine will be publicly available. During a testing period that begins today, people can sign up at www.vine.net to be among more than 10,000 testers the company hopes to enlist. Similar tests will begin shortly in a rural community in the Midwest and an isolated island community, the locations of which haven’t been disclosed yet.

Inspiration for Vine came from the confusion during Hurricane Katrina. Tammy Savage, a Microsoft manager who has led experimental Web efforts for the company, spent two years researching technologies for communities to communicate and prepare for emergencies. That led to a concept Microsoft calls “societal networking.”

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Then she spent two more years developing the product and the business, which is an experimental venture under the guidance of Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie. That means it’s not allied with any particular product group, giving Savage’s 25-person team leeway to easily blend technologies from across the company.

It’s a little hard to see how Vine will stand out from the multitude of networking and communication services available already, not to mention the carcasses of similar projects such as Seattle startup Trumba, an online calendar and notification service..

But Savage still sees a need and an opportunity for a comprehensive service like Vine, which is designed to become a hub or console for various services that people use.

“We don’t want to re-create things that already exist,” she said. “We’re looking for the opportunities that are particularly appropriate for Microsoft to bring its resources to bear.”

For example, the service is debuting with data feeds from more than 20,000 media sources and public safety organizations, including NOAA and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Vine could end up competing with local media outlets, which are among the primary places people go for local information during a disaster or emergency. Microsoft is offering government agencies a way to directly communicate with residents during these events, but I wonder if users will be overwhelmed by the flow of data from emergency response agencies and miss the context, analysis and filtering of media sites.

It’s unclear where Vine could end up within Microsoft when it graduates into a full blown business, but it’s mostly likely to complement Microsoft’s suite of e-government software and its Sharepoint collaboration server.

Local officials who have seen the project are enthusiastic about what they’ve seen, but they’re waiting to see how it works and whether it’s widely accepted. Another big question is the cost, especially if Microsoft charges a significant amount for every home and business in their jurisidiction that uses the system.

“They’ve been talking about a few dollars per user ID for a period of time, maybe a month or a year,” said Seattle’s chief technology officer, Bill Schrier. “That doesn’t sound like much but if you spread it out across 300,000 premises, that’s a fair chunk of change.”

Schrier, an avid user of social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook, said Vine has “really intriguing potential” for community communications and disaster preparedness. After talking to Microsoft about Vine for about five months, he’s planning to see how the service could work with Seattle’s block watch and neighborhood emergency management programs.

15 Most Strange Buildings of the World 4

1. The Crooked House (Sopot , Poland)

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2. Forest Spiral - Hundertwasser Building (Darmstadt, Germany)

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3. The Torre Galatea Figueres (Spain)

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4. Ferdin and Cheval Palace a.k.a Ideal Palace (France)

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5. The Basket Building (Ohio, United States)

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6. Kansas City Public Library (Missouri, United States)

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7. Wonderworks (Orlando, Florida, United States)

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8. Habitat 67 (Montreal, Canada)

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9. Cubic Houses (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

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10. Hang Nga Guesthouse a.k.a Crazy House (Vietnam)

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11. The Ufo House (Sanjhih, Taiwan)

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12. Nakagin Capsule Tower (Tokyo, Japan)

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13. Erwin Wurm: House Attack (Viena, Austria)

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14. Wooden Gagster House (Archangelsk, Russia)

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15. Ripley’s Building (Ontario, Canada)

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