Thousands Of Returning Soldiers Face A New Enemy 5 Sep 2010, 1:17 pm

The legacy of one of America's longest combat missions will continue to affect the thousands of troops who came home suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

Top Ten Best Songs About Cocaine 5 Sep 2010, 12:18 pm

When they say Miami is a city built of snow, rest assured they aren't talking about the weather.

The Truth About The Epic Beard Man Viral Video 5 Sep 2010, 11:39 am

Back in February, a fight took place on a public bus in Oakland. A week later, four million people had watched the video on YouTube. "AC Transit Bust Fight I Am a Motherfucker" featured all the key ingredients for a video to go viral: colorful characters, a silly catchphrase, and most importantly, someone getting badly injured.

Ghosts in the Hollow (Pics) 5 Sep 2010, 11:00 am

An incredible photo essay put to music documenting abandoned coal mining operations and towns in Appalachia.

Why Didn't I Think of That? SwitchFlops, the $30 Million School Project 5 Sep 2010, 10:34 am

At 16, Lindsay Phillips came up with the idea for a flip-flop with interchangeable straps during art class. Today, she's running a $30 million company.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Rooted... A Month Before Release 5 Sep 2010, 10:01 am

Most new smartphones seem to get rooted within a week or two of their release, but four weeks before they go on sale? Hackers have cracked a prototype tablet from Samsung, the Galaxy Tab, a month before it hits shelves.

Another Ex-Scientologist Publishes Damning Tell-All 5 Sep 2010, 9:42 am

Adding to Scientology's woes, some of the people who have been making defections in recent years are turning around and...

Star Wars The Old Republic: Pax 2010: Mysteries of Knights of the Old Republic 5 Sep 2010, 9:30 am

The Jedi Civil War left many unanswered questions. In the difficult days following the showdown between Darth Revan and Darth Malak, the Jedi Order struggled to survive, leaving little time for investigations. Redeemed as a Jedi, Revan traveled into deep space in search of a mysterious evil. We now know that the source of this evil was the reconstituted Sith Empire, but that solves only a portion of the mystery…

WTF: Your Weekly Dose of Asian Insanity (Video) 5 Sep 2010, 9:22 am

I don't know, people. I don't know what's happening here. I don't know which Asian country is responsible for this, I don't know what product this

A History of NBA Twitter Fails 5 Sep 2010, 7:27 am

Any pro athlete, celeb, or public figure on Twitter has to watch out for what they say. Twitter fails often lead to fines and PR disasters for the athletes, it’s provided nothing but comedy for us. With that in mind, peep this history of NBA Twitter fails.

Ford Opts for Liquid Cooling to Maximize Battery Life 5 Sep 2010, 6:50 am

While air is sufficient to regulate battery temperatures in smaller battery systems, Ford says, liquid works better to meet the Focus' needs. The liquid system works by...

Stunning Digital PHOTOS That Look Like (Surprisingly) Real But Are Not 5 Sep 2010, 5:39 am

These are some of the beautiful digital artwork and illustration examples. These are the wonder creations of designers who use their creativity with a different angle and approach to get the result that makes a difference.

Meet--->Isa Blyth the 106-year-old virgin 5 Sep 2010, 5:17 am

Sprightly Isa Blyth will celebrate turning 106 today – and puts her amazing age down to being a virgin Isa has never even been KISSED and thinks staying single has made her stay strong. Last night her niece Sheena Campbell, 67, said: "I'm not sure if anyone ever tried it on - but they never got anywhere! She says she never felt the need for romance and never had time for a man. "She did like the odd sherry though." Isa, born in 1904, instead kept herself busy going to flower club and church, singing in the choir, and playing golf or gardening.

Blogging And Mass Psychomanipulation 5 Sep 2010, 3:18 am

If I ever write another book it will probably be about one of three topics. The first is the truth about how the press and journalism really works the sausage making to show just how much of a beautiful, subjective and chaotic mess it all is. The second idea is to talk about how perfect blogging is, with its constant feedback loop, as a training ground for mass psychology and manipulation. The third idea Im keeping to myself for now, but its more startup focused. Its the second one thats been on my mind lately. Mostly because its become pretty clear to me that any blogger worth her salt could start, say, an extremely successful militant religious cult. Any blogger will tell you how frustrating the early days are. Getting someone, anyone, to link to you. Your first comment! etc. And as your audience grows you are introduced to the first rule of anonymous human behavior its dark and brutal, and reminds me how thin the veil of civilized behavior really is. If there is something nasty that can be said, someone will say it. Over and over. A big part of blogging is simply keeping the peace. You set rules on whether or not youll allow anonymous commenting, or commenting at all. You decide if/how to moderate comments. You decide if/how to respond to opposing arguments and (more often) personal attacks. And you, involuntarily for the most part, evolve your writing in response to the feedback loop. Those are the days of innocence, simple joys and simple sadnesses. But then you start to get really good at what you do. You write something and you get trashed. The next time you try it a little differently and it the commenters love you. You dont even do it consciously but over the years you just get better at it. To the point where you pretty much know exactly what the reaction will be to any given post, and how to tweak things to get the reaction you want. Zynga talks about constant A/B testing in its games to maximize revenue, a huge competitive advantage for them. Bloggers go through the same thing every time they write a post. Old media types dont have quite the same experience because they generally have an editorial agenda, certain writing rules, and editors to please. There are too many layers between them and the direct feedback loop. so they evolve much more slowly. Bloggers have a direct line to the collective mind. I imagine priests and rabbis and career politicians have much the same experience. Speaking publicly so frequently they learn exactly how to manipulate the audience, or the camera, to get the reaction they want. It doesnt work on every individual, but the masses as a group are easy to manipulate. and your audience tends to self reinforce over time, meaning the people who buy what youre selling tend to come back for more, and others wander away. In a post last weekend I wrote about women in tech. I feel like Im on pretty firm ground here, since more than half of our senior staff are women, including our CEO, and we cover female entrepreneurs whenever we find them. I know exactly the post I could have written to get a super big high five from our audience. Talk big about how the problem is so prevalent, talk quietly about what we do directly to help solve it (but note how much more we must do!), and then salute the ringleaders who are making a living out of pretending to care about the issue (without, of course, pointing out that they are frauds). Seriously, I could have had you as a collective group eating out of my hand on that one. I even pointed to a couple of posts by men that did exactly that (also very experienced bloggers who know how to write a crowd pleaser when they need to). I didnt do that though. I wrote a different post that I intended to question some of the basic assumptions that are being made about women in technology. And I knew exactly what the comments would be like. More FU than high five, for example. And thats ok with me. Id rather say what I really think than pander to the crowd. This is an issue thats too important to use for my own popularity. It would be so much better if we could stop a lot of the bullshit that we see in blogging. To do that we need a smarter audience one that sees through it because theyve been trained to, and demands a little more meat on the bone from the sites they frequent. Im telling you flat out that any decent blogger can manipulate the hell out of their audience. Dont let yourself be one of the manipulated. In a follow up post I may explain some of the common tricks to manipulate the crowd so you can see through them more easily in the future. And just for the record, we try to avoid manipulating readers here at TechCrunch. Or at least to abuse that power as little as possible. And most of my favorite blogs also play it straight. Remember this, though. When youre reading something here thats getting you really riled up, stop. It may be that you really should be thinking the exact opposite of what you are. And if you find yourself floating through a post agreeing with all the subtle pandering, wake up! And call us on it immediately. And yes, I know exactly what you as a group are going to say in the comments below. If I told you it would change the outcome, of course. But I think you know deep down that Im right.

Six DEET-free Mosquito Repellants 5 Sep 2010, 12:34 am

Before you head for the hills or plan your next outdoor barbecue, thin...

The "Send Back": How to Send Back Food at Restaurants 5 Sep 2010, 12:17 am

It's happened to us all. Each of us has ordered food at a restau...

Cat recovering after passerby finds it shot, caged and tossed into bay 4 Sep 2010, 11:05 pm

Early Wednesday, a passer-by heard gurgling and pulled from McKay Bay an appalling discovery — a cat that had been shot with pellets, put in a carrier marked "Kitty Penitentiary" and tossed in the water. What the hell is wrong with people?

Global warming's silver lining? Northern countries will thrive and grow, researcher predicts 4 Sep 2010, 8:28 pm

Move over, Sunbelt. The New North is coming through, a geographer predicts in a new book. As worldwide population increases by 40 percent over the next 40 years, sparsely populated Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and the northern United States will become formidable economic powers and migration magnets, Laurence C. Smith writes.

The iWatch Is Real: It's the New iPod Nano [PIC] 4 Sep 2010, 7:25 pm

Apple makes computers, tablets, phones, TV set-top-boxes and a dozen other things, but to date it hasn’t made a wristwatch. Oh, wait, it has! It’s called “the new iPod nano.”

Sony shows off Google TV (or a video of it, anyway) at IFA 2010 -- Engadget 4 Sep 2010, 2:23 pm

It's not the full-on demo you're probably hoping for, but Sony devoted a section of its sprawling, city-within-a-city of a booth at IFA 2010 to