A search engine competing with Google. The earthquake that shocked L.A. Why war with Iran could only lead to disaster. These are the top stories making headlines around the world.
Technology & Internet
Say good-bye to Scrabulous…for now. As Chris V. reported, Facebook shut down the Scrabble-clone game in light of the lawsuit between Hasbro and the game’s creators, the Agarwalla brothers. Chris V. rightly pointed out the end result: “Hasbro 1, Fun 0.” Word fiends shouldn’t despair, though: the Agarwallas launched another Facebook game called Wordscraper, which is like Scrabble on steroids.
What other tech and Net stories made headlines? Google’s Blogger platform has been named the number one source for malware, Kesavan Unnikrishnan wrote; Google is also in hot water for its Street View tool, which recently infiltrated private property to obtain images, Sue D. found; an automatic sliding door uses RFID technology to allow a dog to come and go from an owner’s home, MDee said (luckily, rodents can’t get through the mini-door); couples engaging in “text arguing” could allow simple conversations to escalate into an all-out war, Nikki W. pointed out; Samsung launched a much-hyped 8-megapixel cellphone, Vinay Chand reported; a new website called Vigster hopes to be the “IMDB.com of video games,” Nathalie C. posted; and a senior International Olympic Committee member confessed officials are allowing China to ban certain websites during the upcoming Olympics, despite assurances otherwise. G. Robert M. Miller couldn’t help but comment: “Sure, the games are not supposed to be a political event, but the games have always been about promoting human rights.”
And the latest DigitalJournal TV episode looked at the turbo-charged alliance between General Motors and the top electric utilities in North America in order to bring the electric car dream to fruition. Find out how cars like the Chevy Volt can wean our dependence off oil. Check it out here:
Environment
Won’t someone think of the spiders?! It’s the crux of KJ‘s article on the spiders and ants that joined the flood as of a result of Hurricane Dolly in Texas. As the Citizen Journalist wrote: “That water is full of stinging fire ants and tarantulas. Although tarantulas look scary, they are sometimes as large as a dinner plate, their bite is only painful not deadly.” As if city swimmers didn’t have enough on their mind…and body.
Several other environment stories caught our eye: Chris V’s headline said it all — Harnessing 0.3 per cent of Saharan sunlight could power Europe; the world’s largest junkyard spans a massive area in the Pacific Ocean called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, Saikat Basu wrote; Nokia and the World Wildlife Fund are teaming up to save tigers, Aditi Chengappa reported; around 180,000 square miles of the Bering Sea will be closed to bottom trawling to protect marine life, Bob Ewing said (and it’s about time!); and Lenny Stoute profiled the Arctic in coverage spanning the consequences of luxury cruises in the area to the discovery of 90 billion barrels of oil under the Arctic surface. It’s an eye-opener of a report exposing readers to a region often ignored by other media.
World
Want a glimpse of the stadiums you’ll be seeing at the Beijing Olympics? Then saunter over to Vinay Chand‘s article on the various Olympic stadiums China will be showing off to the world. My favourite? The Shenyang Olympic Sports Center.
Several other stories touched on other news across the world: one million runners will take part in a 10K charity race on Aug. 31, Nikki W. posted; the U.S. Army is gunning down live pigs as part of their training exercises, Kesavan Unnikrishnan wrote; Pakistan spies are helping militants, Gar Swaffar informed us; Nigerian colleges may be home to gangs and cults, Samantha A. Torrence reported; Russian divers are exploring the world’s deepest lake, Vinay Chand wrote; Bob Ewing told us about the 180,000 malnourished children in Somalia; and a U.S.-led war with Iran will be anything but a cakewalk, Dave G. reminded DigitalJournal.com readers. Here is one of his many reasons why an Iran war would be a disaster: Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Government borrowing will increase if we get involved in Iran and more dollars will be printed.
The Top Blogger of the Week Award goes to Erin Scott, a relationship/love expert who has been dishing out useful tips on DJ for the past two weeks. Recently we learned how to “save a sinking ship” in three parts, giving troubled couples pointers on how to avoid drifting apart, how to know when to call it quits and the misguided adoption of a “bad boy” persona. We look forward to more relationship insight, Erin.
TopFinds Awards
For a Canadian, G. Robert M. Miller sure knows a lot about American politics. His in-depth reporting on the vice-presidential possibilities for the Republican and Democratic nominees predicted the political future of Condi Rice, Michael Bloomberg, John Edwards and others. Miller takes home the TopSeries Award for explaining his rationale, the downfalls of each choice and the most likely running mates (he dubbed it “VP Showdown 2008!”). This was top-notch journalism that could be prescient in months to come.
“Space exploration can’t work efficiently if everything’s getting buried in cost restraints.” It was a telling line in Paul Wallis‘s powerful tirade against NASA, in light of the discovery of water on Mars surface. In this TopOpinion Award-winning article, Wallis criticized NASA for being slow to act on important discoveries that could lead to uncovering new frontiers in space. He wanted to wake up NASA in order to get research going in areas that deserve proper funding and manpower. His well-written op-ed ended with a memorable conclusion:
Mars is the start of the marathon. To be in the race, you have to have a working set of running shoes, not a series of excuses for not running the race.
It was the hot Web story of the week: an ex-Google employee created a new search engine which claims to index more pages than the Big G. Bringing us this big news is Chris V., who wins the TopInternet Award for culling compelling info and screenshots of Cuil. Chris nicely summed up the main appeal of Cuil while also highlighting some drawbacks. Have your say on Cuil in the article’s comment section and check out a Digital Journal interview with CBC News on the subject for more criticisms of the new search engine:
Speaking of hot off the press, Sue D. was first out of the gate in writing about the earthquake that struck Los Angeles. She even beat out many mainstream media sources, and regularly posted updates as they occurred. She wins the TopBreakingNews Award for her thorough well-written approach to this developing story. She refrained from speculation and opinion in the article, giving it another gold star of strong journalism. Great job, Sue.
Want to live a green lifestyle on a shoestring budget? Then head over to Samantha A. Torrence‘s article titled Neighborhood Improvements for a Greener World. It wins the TopEnvironment Award for providing us with solid tips on where to go to find urban city gardens and ethanol refining machines for enviro-friendly communities. The article sparked a torrent of positive replies about the benefits of urban farming and going green.
The article began with a horrific story, but concluded with some light at the end of the tunnel: Cynthia T. told us how a woman was murdered by her estranged husband after she filed a restraining order against him. But it wasn’t enough — he attacked her and shot her to death. Michigan is now the latest state to legislate a way for every paroled prisoner convicted of aggravated stalking to also wear a GPS device. This illuminating article wins the TopCrime Award for providing excellent examples, quotes and background on why this technology is used by other states to prevent stalker attacks.
Come on, Navin Vaswani, tell us what you really think? Well, he let it all out in a TopSports Award-winning column evoking all the frustrations boiling beneath his journalistic skin. In this I-need-a-hug-edition of Navin’s sports rants, he railed against the poorly-performing Toronto Blue Jays and dissected the Mats Sundin mania. You couldn’t help but feel sorry for this sports fan who must take trade rumors and win-loss percentages as a personal affront. Then again, I got a feeling Navin could beat the Schwab.
DigitalJournal.com pop quiz question: Name the new Citizen Journalist who posted nine articles in his first three days on the site? I’ll give you a second….OK, you guessed it, David Birchall is this week’s Top New Citizen Journalist for penning excellent thoughtful articles on a wide range of topics: he opined on the Guantanamo trial and the death of globalization; he covered breaking news of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offering his resignation, and the video of an eclipse over Siberia released to the public. He tends to write on political issues, such as his critique of Silvio Berlusconi’s handling of Italy, but he also shows range by discussing how the upcoming Olympics will affect China. David isn’t afraid to report on heavy subjects, and we welcome his bold voice into our Citizen Journalist community.
