Truth or Scare?

Urban legends are usually harmless fun. Who as a kid didn't thrill to chestnuts like the stranded girl and the hook ("Whatever happens, don't look out the window") or Mary Worth (wherein unwary adolescents summon a witch by chanting "I believe in Mary Worth.")?

But email has turbo-charged the spread of dubious tales, sometimes provoking needless anxiety, as in the erroneous but often-forwarded email warning about muggers hiding under cars to slash women's ankles.

You can quickly sort out truth from urban legend with a visit to snopes.com, a website that thoroughly debunks even the most current myths and hoaxes. Be sure to try the search engine — it turns up lots of entertaining stuff, such as Brown Betty, an untrue story about a bride so eager to be tan for her wedding she cooked herself to death on a tanning bed. You can also hit buttons for the top 25 legends or cruise by category. So next time you're tempted to pass along that amazing story that just landed in your inbox, be sure to visit snopes.com and check it out before hitting send.

Getting a (Second) Life

Blogs are so-o-o turn of the century.
Virtual worlds are the hot new trend on the Internet.

Why shouldn't a virtual world peopled by virtual characters spending virtual money have its own virtual news?

The latest big company to set up shop in Second Life (secondlife.com), the fast-growing Internet virtual community, is Reuters. Reporters for the global news service will cover the virtual and real worlds for players and build a Second Life space where players can meet and discuss news.

Virtual news? From a real news service? Reuters simply wants in on the hottest Internet phenomenon. Second Life is a complete virtual world, where players have created more than 1 million characters known as avatars that interact with each other, own virtual real estate, create businesses, and sell or trade virtual products and services. A lot of the activity and commerce in SL involves creating, dressing and equipping your avatar. (New visitors get to build one from standard issue options, but walking around that way quickly gets you ID'd as a newbie.)

It's estimated players spend up to $350,000 in real world money in Second Life every day. That virtual economy is attracting real world companies like Reuters, IBM, Amazon, Toyota, Sony BMG, MTV, W Hotels and others. Some want to tap into what they see as a hip, trend-setting community. W Hotels, for example, is previewing its new aloft hotel chain with a Second Life virtual version. Others, including magazines and record companies, just want to stake a place in the hottest new scene on the Internet.

If you plant to visit, be forewarned: Second Life creator Linden Labs sets few rules, other than an age limit of 18, and many Second Life activities are decidedly adult.

Kiss Me, Fido

Getting a smooch from your pooch just turned into a sweeter proposition: Kibbles ‘n Bits has introduced a breath-freshening dog food.

The Del Monte brand's new Brushing Bites promises to clean Spot's teeth and freshen his breath. Brushing Bites is the first dog food to make that pledge — traditionally supplements and chews have cornered the doggie breath correction market.

Kibbles ‘n Bits is on a nationwide search for a dog to serve as the spokespooch for the new product. You can vote and enter your own pet at smoochablepooch.com. The winning owner, a guest and the pooch get a trip to Los Angeles, $3,000 for a lifetime supply of Brushing Bites and of course, the joy of seeing Fido's mug displayed on Kibbles ‘n Bits Brushing Bites bags throughout the land. The contest runs through mid-February. Details at smoochablepooch.com.

Behold the Smart Car

New technology may let you leave the driving — to the car

Imagine owning a car that really watches out for you. As you drive, it "sees" in all directions and alerts you of danger inside and outside your vehicle. Going on a long trip? Tiny sensors will blast a wakeup warning if you start to drowse. Using GPS technology and sensor systems, cars could avoid accidents or handle such mundane driving tasks as parallel parking on their own.

A futuristic fantasy? Not really. The era of the "smart car" is at hand. A number of automakers are developing active safety technologies that could leave the driving — or at least some of it — to the car itself. Daimler Chrysler, Toyota and other automakers are developing onboard systems that use radar to detect the movements of nearby cars and even take evasive action. GM's V2V technology, Honda's ASV-3 Advanced Safety Vehicle System and Motorola all promise vehicle-to-vehicle communication that will sense the positions of other cars and help drivers avoid collisions.

How about a car that parks itself? For $700, Lexus offers an option on its 2007 460 LS that uses a back up camera and tiny sensors that allow the car to parallel park or back itself into a parking space — with only minimal braking required of the driver.

There's Life in Those CUBES

Leave it to the funny folks at ThinkGeek to elevate the desk toy to something extraordinary. ThinkGeek's CubeWorld features stackable cubes inhabited by virtual stick people. Stack the cubes and the stick people start interacting. Cube World's stick people stick together, play together, and sometimes even pick on each other. Thousands of possible interactions can take place and you can change the action by moving around the cubes or using the motion sensors and buttons on each 1.75" square cube. The more cubes you have, the more the cube people will interact. Pretty soon, life in your own cube won't seem so lonely! Sold in sets of 2 for $29.99 at thinkgeek.com.

Let's just hope they stay away from underwear

In the strange-but-true department, we bring you...a shirt that gives you a long-distance hug.

The anything-but-shy line of clothing comes from CuteCircuit, a London company specializing in "wearable technology." The "Hug Shirt" is laced with sensors that keep tabs on physical conditions such as your heartbeat and skin temperature. Put one on and give yourself a hug, and the sensation is recorded as a series of electronic instructions you can then deliver to a loved one via a special mobile-phone text message. Assuming your mate is garbed in a matching Hug Shirt, he or she will feel the "hug" you produced as soon as your text message is opened. The technology works over phone lines using Bluetooth technology.

It may sound outlandish, but CuteCircuit is plenty serious about the prospects for a world of virtual huggers. It didn't hurt that Time magazine recently named the Hug Shirt as one of the best inventions of 2006 — along with a new type of iron that's smart enough to stand up by itself when you stop ironing, so you don't burn your shirt. In the new-technology era, clothing never had it so good.

HDTV: Take Two

TV-industry watchers who are tracking the introduction of high-definition TV sets have found an intertesting new trend: More people are buying second HDTV sets for their homes.

The multi-HDTV phenomenon suggests that once smitten by HDTV's crystal-clear pictures, TV watchers are hard-pressed to enjoy "standard-definition" TV. About one in six U.S. homes currently have at least one HDTV and, according to the New Hampshire-based Leichtman Research Group, 26 percent of HDTV owners have more than one HD set. That's up from just 11 percent in October of 2005, and it seems likely to go higher: The annual survey of adults in 1,300 U.S. households found that 29 percent of people with at least one HDTV planned to buy another in the next 12 months.

Declining prices are one reason HDTV is becoming more popular, but the Leichtman Research survey found there's still a disparity in HDTV ownership by household income level. In fact, the mean annual household income of people who live in homes with an HDTV set is 42 percent above the U.S. average. Memo to TV set makers: Keep those prices falling!