A 60-year-old British woman is suffering from a neurological defect that is sure to put her in the next version of "The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." She is unable to recognize any voice she hears — any voice, that is, but Sean Connery's. Unless she sees the face of the person speaking, she has no idea who is talking to her, even her daughter and co-worker's voices are unrecognizable. Dr. Brad Duchaine at University College London, thinks she might have the first documented case of vocal prosopagnosia, a condition which makes it extremely difficult for people to recognize faces. "His accent is distinctive," Duchaine explained. "And she is a British woman in her sixties ... let's say it's probable he got her attention."

Gamasutra reports on comments from Stardock CEO Brad Wardell in which he described his efforts to revive two old but popular franchises: Star Control and Master of Orion. Quoting: "'I actually pitched Atari on a whole idea for a true successor to Star Control,' [he said], noting that the game would follow original series developer Toys for Bob's Star Control II rather than the Legend Entertainment-developed Star Control 3 ('We just pretend that never happened,' the CEO says of that release). ... Novato, California-based Toys for Bob has actually floated the idea of making its own Star Control II sequel, with co-creator Paul Reiche III indicating he has tossed potential design ideas around, but with the company now owned by publisher Activision the proposal seems to be stuck in limbo."

Earlier this year, we discussed the Gamer's Bill of Rights, a document put forth by Stardock CEO Brad Wardell to address what he felt were the unacceptable characteristics of the gaming industry. ShackNews reports that Wardell has taken feedback from gamers, developers, and publishers, and updated the document accordingly. One particular area on which he focused was DRM. Stardock also published a customer report that examines the issue in greater detail (PDF). MTV's Multiplayer Blog fans the flames of the debate by asking if anyone is embarrassed about pirating video games.

A few weeks ago, we discussed Stardock CEO Brad Wardell's "Gamer's Bill of Rights," a proposal for removing some of the PC gaming industry's more obnoxious characteristics, such as annoying DRM and no-return policies. Shacknews sat down with Wardell for a lengthy interview in which he discussed his reasons for starting the project, how it's being received by game companies, and how he wants the gaming community to help. Quoting: "I've already gotten calls from Microsoft, from Take 2, and other publishers who are interested in moving forward on this. Obviously the first step is we have to really define these items. And I've had other developers and publishers who have come back and said, 'No, because it's not flexible enough.' For example, what happens if someone wants to do a policy where there's CD copy protection, but after the first month [consumers] can download a patch that gets rid of it. So obviously that's a perfectly good solution too, but our thing eliminates the ability to do that."

Edge Magazine is running a piece by Brad Wardell, CEO of game developer Stardock, in which he presents a "Gamer's Bill of Rights." Stardock teamed up with Gas Powered Games to develop a list of ideals they think all game publishers should follow. Some are rather basic operational guidelines (not requiring a disc to play, minimum requirements that make sense), and some are aimed at repairing the damaged relationship between game companies and customers ("Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers"). Wishful thinking or not, it will be interesting to see if they manage to get other publishers to sign on.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The database used by the government to generate lists like the No-Fly List is 'crippled by technical flaws,' according to the chairman of a House technology oversight subcommittee. And the upgrade may be worse than the original. Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) says that 'if actually deployed, [the upgrade] will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today.' It seems that the current database doesn't have any easy way to do plain-text matching, forcing users to enter SQL queries. That might not sound so bad until you learn that the database contains 463 poorly indexed tables. How long until there's a terrorist named Robert'); DROP DATABASE; —?"

Brad Templeton writes "I (whom you may know as EFF Chairman, founder of early dot-com Clari.Net and rec.humor.funny) have just released a new series of futurist essays on the amazing future of robot cars, coming to us thanks to the DARPA Grand Challenges. The computer driver is just the beginning — the essays detail how robocars can enable the cheap electric car, save millions of lives and trillions of dollars, and are the most compelling thing computer geeks can work on to save the planet. Because robocars can refuel, park and deliver themselves, and not simply be chauffeurs, they end up changing not just cars but cities, industries, energy, and — by removing dependence on foreign oil — even wars. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords." (More below.)

Brad Jayakody was told he would have to change his shirt if he wanted to catch his flight to Dusseldorf, Germany. The shirt that security at Heathrow got upset about depicts the Transformers character Optimus Prime holding a gun. Brad said, "I was flabbergasted. I thought the supervisor would come over and see sense, but he didn't. After I changed he said if I changed back I would be arrested." I would understand if the guy was wearing a Megatron shirt, after all that guy turns into a gun which could be very dangerous but Prime? There is no way a semi could fit on a passenger plane it's just silly.

Linux.com has an interesting look at Google Gears and one of its leading evangelists, Brad Neuberg. "For Neuberg -- as for most developers -- the idea of expanding the Web's capabilities is intriguing in itself. But both inside and outside Google, his argument is that there's more at stake than just a particular piece of technology. In fact, he does not even seem particularly concerned whether Gears or some rival project takes on the role he envisions. What matters, he says, is that finding a solution to the problems of the Web is essential not only to the continued evolution of the Web, but also to its continued freedom. "

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist commemorates spam's 30th anniversary, a week from today. The first spam message — archived here — was sent to 393 users of ARPANET on May 2, 1978 by someone from computing pioneers DEC. They had to type in all the addresses by hand first."

Brad Leinhardt is the boyfriend of Olivia Palermo, some trendy New York socialite who may star in 'The City,' the Whitney Port spin-off o...

New York Magazineb s daily coverage of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Includes political news, cultural commentary, nightlife, gossip, media news, and ...

New York Magazineb s daily coverage of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Includes political news, cultural commentary, nightlife, gossip, media news, and ...

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited ...

All insiders know that this was Brad Leinhardt’s plan along. Brad "helped" Francesco create Izzy Gold. Now he is using this fallout with Liam to completely rob Francesco of the ...

from left to right Eric Mondor; Tina Ebby?; Ryan Dowty; Lyle Brunner; Keith Heyer; Maryann? Sarah Maracci; Marcel Rougeau; Jenny Homs; Brad Leinhardt?

Fame Game Match Up Compare two profiles in Fame Game. Fame Game ranks the fame of ... Brad Leinhardt Izzy Gold Records

Brad Leinhardt and Olivia Palermo the "Awearness Book Launch: ins...

Why aren’t Francisco Civetta and Brad Leinhardt friends anymore? Has there been a rift? Has Brad hijacked Izzy Gold? Does the mohawked Chris Young spin at Gold Bar?

... Concert Hall or a rainforest projected on other nearby buildings."-LA Times Cites Studio IMC's Proposal for The Park of the Future . Proposal by by Carrie Elston, Brad Leinhardt ...

Brad Leinhardt is the boyfriend of Olivia Palermo, some trendy New York socialite who may star in 'The City,' the Whitney Port spin-off o...

New York Magazineb s daily coverage of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Includes political news, cultural commentary, nightlife, gossip, media news, and ...

New York Magazineb s daily coverage of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Includes political news, cultural commentary, nightlife, gossip, media news, and ...

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited ...

All insiders know that this was Brad Leinhardt’s plan along. Brad "helped" Francesco create Izzy Gold. Now he is using this fallout with Liam to completely rob Francesco of the ...

from left to right Eric Mondor; Tina Ebby?; Ryan Dowty; Lyle Brunner; Keith Heyer; Maryann? Sarah Maracci; Marcel Rougeau; Jenny Homs; Brad Leinhardt?

Fame Game Match Up Compare two profiles in Fame Game. Fame Game ranks the fame of ... Brad Leinhardt Izzy Gold Records

Brad Leinhardt and Olivia Palermo the "Awearness Book Launch: ins...

Why aren’t Francisco Civetta and Brad Leinhardt friends anymore? Has there been a rift? Has Brad hijacked Izzy Gold? Does the mohawked Chris Young spin at Gold Bar?

... Concert Hall or a rainforest projected on other nearby buildings."-LA Times Cites Studio IMC's Proposal for The Park of the Future . Proposal by by Carrie Elston, Brad Leinhardt ...

Brad Leinhardt is the boyfriend of Olivia Palermo, some trendy New York socialite who may star in 'The City,' the Whitney Port spin-off o...

New York Magazineb s daily coverage of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Includes political news, cultural commentary, nightlife, gossip, media news, and ...

New York Magazineb s daily coverage of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Includes political news, cultural commentary, nightlife, gossip, media news, and ...

from left to right Eric Mondor; Tina Ebby?; Ryan Dowty; Lyle Brunner; Keith Heyer; Maryann? Sarah Maracci; Marcel Rougeau; Jenny Homs; Brad Leinhardt?

All insiders know that this was Brad Leinhardt’s plan along. Brad "helped" Francesco create Izzy Gold. Now he is using this fallout with Liam to completely rob Francesco of the ...

Fame Game Match Up Compare two profiles in Fame Game. Fame Game ranks the fame of ... Brad Leinhardt Izzy Gold Records

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited ...

Brad Leinhardt and Olivia Palermo the "Awearness Book Launch: ins...

Olivia and Brad Leinhardt

Why aren’t Francisco Civetta and Brad Leinhardt friends anymore? Has there been a rift? Has Brad hijacked Izzy Gold? Does the mohawked Chris Young spin at Gold Bar?