Court OKs Warrantless Cell-Site Tracking
A federal appeals court is ruling the government may obtain cell-site information mobile phone carriers retain on their customers without a probable-cause warrant under the Fourth Amendment. Cell-site location information, which carriers usually retain for about 18 months, identifies the cell tower to which the customer was connected at the beginning of a call and at the end of the call.

Take Better Flash Photos
Most flash photos — even those shot with your new, fancy $500 camera — look like junk. But you can create amazing images using a flash if you know a few tricks.

Asteroid Double Whammy Near Earth Wednesday
Get out your telescopes! Two small asteroids will come within moon-distance of Earth Wednesday.

Eerie Ukrainian Salt Mines House Convalescing Asthmatics
The Eastern European practice of speleotherapy claims salt air helps breathing issues, which leads to patients lining the halls of subterranean caves.

ACLU Challenges Border Searches of Gadgets
An Obama administration policy allowing U.S. border officials to seize and search laptops, smartphones and other electronic devices for any reason is being challenged as unconstitutional.

Should You Give Up Gadgets for a Day?
Clearly, some of us make bad decisions with our gadgets. But even without having to live down a mobile phone-fueled tirade of Mel Gibson proportions, many of us have sought forgiveness for our gadget-enabled sins through a ritual purge: a day without gadgets.

Why Everything Wireless Is 2.4 GHz
You live your life at 2.4 GHz. Your router, your cordless phone, your Bluetooth earpiece, your baby monitor and your garage opener all love and live on this radio frequency, and no others. Why? The answer is in your kitchen.

William Gibson Talks Up Twitter, Zero History
The Neuromancer author digs deep into the vertigo-inducing machinations of modern life to spin a story about militarism, marketing and "gear queers." He also calls Twitter "the most powerful novelty aggregator that has ever existed."

Read an Excerpt From William Gibson's New Novel, Zero History
Get a look at the sci-fi writer's latest future-present story, in which a detail-obsessed Russian translator named Milgrim, a postmodern marketing mogul known as Hubertus Bigend and a taste-making detective called Hollis Henry tussle with technology and its far-reaching tentacles.

Sound of Justin Bieber's Data, and Other 'Hack Day' Mashups
LONDON — Every so often, in cities across the world, a group of digital music professionals get together for a Hack Day, where they'll cobble together hardware, software and anything else they can get their hands on into innovative musical mashups. London's event took place last weekend, and it was an orgy of creativity. Here are 10 of our favorites.

Google Lets Yahoo Users Sign In With OpenID
Google is now allowing any Yahoo user to sign in to Google using OpenID, the company announced Tuesday. Anyone with a Yahoo account can start using Google's web apps with a new one-click sign up process.

Photo: Galactic Cannibals Discovered in Deep Space
A new survey has caught several distant galaxies ripping up their dwarfish galactic neighbors and devouring them whole.

Video: Wheelchair Phenom Nails First Double Backflip
Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham, an 18-year-old from Las Vegas, recently pulled off the world's first wheelchair double backflip, after several failed (and painful-looking) attempts at Camp Woodward, just east of State College, Pennsylvania.

New iPod Touch Has a Vibrator
Steve Jobs wasn't kidding when he called the iPod Touch the "iPhone without a phone." We have been calling it that for years, of course, but with each iteration the two iOS devices get closer and closer in terms of features. Now a vibrating alert has been added to the Touch.

Google TV Revealed: One Screen to Rule Them All
BERLIN - Google gave a live demonstration of Google TV at Berlin’s IFA Tuesday, and CEO Eric Schmidt promised it would be a couch potato’s dream come true. 'Once you have Google television, you’re going to be very busy, he said. 'It’s going to ruin your evening.'

Self-Healing Solar Cells Could Have Indefinite Lifespan
A new technique may one day lead to solar cells that bring themselves together like a molecular flash mob and repair damage they sustain during the rough business of turning light into electricity.

Army Turns to Lasers for Copter Defense
Some jerk has fired a heat-seeking missile at your Black Hawk. You've got a few options. You can try to dodge the thing, but good luck with that. You can fire off a flare in order to fool the missile into no longer following you as you maneuver. Or you can shoot off a laser from on board your bird to do the same thing. Not really a choice, is it?

Former HP CEO Mark Hurd Lands On His Feet At Oracle

Taiwan Tabloid Sensation Next Media Re-Creates the News
An animation assembly line in Taiwan renders breaking stories the way they might have happened.

Sept. 7, 1948: Where the Rubber Is the Road
A mile-long stretch of Exchange Street in Akron, Ohio, is the first in the United States to be paved with a rubber-asphalt compound.

Peer-to-Peer Renting Uses Bits to Help Share Atoms
Peer sharing is an old idea, but connecting millions of renters to owners was always hard. The internet's eBaysian ability has solved that problem.

Noteworthy Note-Taking Kit Is Analog All the Way
Okay hipsters, toss that Moleskine away. The Doane Daily Arsenal Kit is the smart choice to take notes the analog way.

Doxie's Scanner Is Easy, Portable — and Cute, Too!
A portable scanner? That uploads every document it sees to the cloud effortlessly and seamlessly? You're not dreaming, you’re using a Doxie.

Star Trek 365 Book Sets Phasers on Stunning
Packed with beautiful images and behind-the-scenes details, this rich tribute to the classic '60s sci-fi show is a must-have for any Trekker. Get a first look at the book and enter to win a copy.

Nike+ App Ditches Dongle, Gains GPS
Nike has quietly released a new Nike+ app that costs $2 and doesn't require the use of an external sensor. Instead, the app is GPS- and accelerometer-based, meaning anyone with two bucks and an iOS device can now enjoy full Nike+ functionality.

Procrastination Pit: 8 Cutest and Weirdest Live Animal Cams
Whether you're into cute furry mammals, hairless rodents or menacing reptiles, live webcams are the ultimate way to get your fix from the comfort of your desk. Here we've put together some of our favorite live animal feeds.

Apple, Google To Clash In Music Space By Christmas
Google is in talks with music labels on plans for a download store and a digital song locker that would allow its mobile users to play songs wherever they are as it steps up its rivalry with Apple, according to people familiar with the matter.

Top 10 Greentech IPO Candidates
Recent greentech IPOs have had mixed and less than stellar results. Here are some wild prognostications of ten potential greentech IPOs coming in late 2010 through 2012. These companies have real products, serious revenue and the prospect of profits in high-growth markets.

The Ink of War: Afghanistan Air Base's Best Tattoos
Tattooing, an aggressive and intimidating mixture of endurance and art, is as old as warfare itself. But each generation, and each war, yields its own warrior body art. In Afghanistan, America's longest war, troop tats have matured alongside the culture's growing acceptance of ink.