China censoring Internet access at Olympics

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Olympic organizers are backtracking on another promise about coverage of the Beijing Games, keeping in place blocks on Internet sites in the Main Press Center and venues where reporters will work.

At the Olympic Green in Beijing, a foreign journalist uses Internet services provided in the Main Press Center.

The blocked sites will make it difficult for journalists to retrieve information, particularly on political and human rights stories the government dislikes.

On Tuesday, sites such as Amnesty International or any search for a site with Tibet in the address could not be opened at the Main Press Center, which will house about 5,000 print journalists when the games open Aug. 8.

"This type of censorship would have been unthinkable in Athens, but China seems to have more formalities," said Mihai Mironica, a journalist with ProTV in Romania. "If journalists cannot fully access the Internet here, it will definitely be a problem."

The censored Internet is the latest broken promise on press freedoms. In bidding for the games seven years ago, Chinese officials said the media would have "complete freedom to report." And in April, Hein Verbruggen and Kevan Gosper -- senior IOC members overseeing the games -- said they'd received assurances from Chinese officials that Internet censorship would be lifted for journalists during the games.

Inventor unveils $100,000 jet pack

OSHKOSH, Wisconsin (AP) -- This isn't how a jet pack is supposed to look, is it?

An inventor demonstrated a personal jet pack this week at a Wisconsin air show. But will anyone want to buy one?

Hollywood has envisioned jet packs as upside-down fire extinguishers strapped to people's backs. But Glenn Martin's invention is far more unwieldy -- a 250-pound piano-sized contraption that people settle into rather than strap on.

As thousands looked on Tuesday, the inventor's 16-year-old son donned a helmet, fastened himself to a prototype Martin jet pack and revved the engine, which sounded like a motorcycle. Harrison Martin eased about three feet off the ground, the engine roaring with a whine so loud that some kids covered their ears.

With two spotters preventing the jet pack from drifting in a mild wind, the pilot hovered for 45 seconds and then set the device down as the audience applauded.

The Martin jet pack can -- in theory -- fly an average-sized pilot about 30 miles in 30 minutes on a full 5-gallon tank of gas. The apparatus was unveiled Tuesday at AirVenture Oshkosh 2008, the annual aviation convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association in east-central Wisconsin.

"Wow, that went better than expected," Glenn Martin said afterward, his accent revealing his New Zealand roots. "People will look back on this as a moment in history."

Will pond scum become the new oil?

(CNN) -- Pond scum. The thought typically evokes images that leave most people cringing, but it may one day occupy an important role in the nation's energy supply.

Algae needs only sunlight, carbon dioxide, nutrients and water to grow.

The current fuel crunch, driven fundamentally by a rising global demand for oil, has spurred debate among consumers, political leaders, academics and entrepreneurs about plausible alternatives.

A good bit of the discussion has focused on biofuels, commonly defined as energy derived largely from plants and crops like corn, soybeans, switch grass among other sources.

"It's become obvious that the biofuels sector is much more viable now that the prices of oil are high," said Beth Ahner, an expert in biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University.

Algae, thought of as pond scum by many people, is an intriguing biofuel prospect, some researchers and entrepreneurs say.

CNN.com producer Cody McCloy, who's driving across the United States in a biofueled diesel-powered vehicle, is a fan of algae-based fuel, after running it much of the day on Monday during his travels through California.

Row over video games ratings plan

Planned changes to the way video games are rated have sparked a row about who should be in charge of giving games their official age classification.

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has announced a consultation on whether the ratings for games should replicate the system for movies.

But games makers oppose plans, backed by MPs, for the British Board of Film Classification to rate games as well.

The games industry wants its own voluntary code to be made official.

Under the current system the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) only rates those games considered to have significant adult content such as sexual material or extreme violence.

About 3% of all the games sold in the UK fall into this category and can only legally be sold to those aged over 18.

All other games are rated under the Pan European Game Information system - an industry administered scheme.

BY-BBC NEWS

Hidden van Gogh painting unveiled for first time

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- A team of European scientists unveiled on Wednesday a new method for extracting images hidden under old masters' paintings, recreating a color portrait of a woman's face unseen since Vincent van Gogh painted over it in 1887.

In this composite photo from the Delft University of Technology, the hidden portrait is seen.

For years, art historians have been using x-rays to probe artworks hidden underneath other paintings, a technique resulting in a fuzzy, black-and-white image.

But Joris Dik, a materials scientist from Delft University, and Koen Janssens, a chemist from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, combined science and art to engineer a new method of visualizing hidden paintings, using high-intensity x-rays and an intimate knowledge of old pigments.

The pair used the new approach on "Patch of Grass," a small oil study of a field that Van Gogh painted in Paris while living with his brother Theo, who supported him.

While not exact in every detail, the image produced is a woman's head that may be the same model Van Gogh painted in a series of portraits leading up to the 1885 masterpiece "The Potato Eaters."

The new method will allow art historians to obtain higher quality and more detailed images underlying old masterpieces. In Van Gogh's case, it could reveal details of works that were painted over. For other works, it could provide new insights into the studies that the artist built a painting on.

Dik and Janssens used high-intensity x-rays from a particle accelerator in Hamburg, Germany to compile a two-dimensional map of the metallic atoms on the painting beneath "Patch of Grass," which is part of the large Van Gogh collection in the Kroller-Muller Museum in the Netherlands.

UK team take top pro-gaming prize

British pro-gaming team Birmingham Salvo have been crowned winners of the 2008 Championship Gaming Series (CGS).

The ten-strong team share the top prize of $500,000 (£252,000) for coming out top of the eight teams who made it to the grand final.

Birmingham Salvo dominated rival San Francisco Optx in the battle for the title winning four out of five events.

The win marks the first time that the CGS trophy has been awarded to a British team.

"I'm extremely proud of my team right now," said Michael O'Dell, manager of Birmingham Salvo in a statement.

BIRMINGHAM SALVO PLAYERS Michael Barrett (Fifa 08) Sarah Harrison (Dead or Alive) Mingzhi Deng (Dead or Alive) Dean Sutton (Forza Motorsport) David Kelly (Forza Motorsport) James Wilson (Counter Strike) Elliot Welsh (Counter Strike) Sam Gawn (Counter Strike) Pete Wright (Counter Strike) Marc Mangiacapra (Counter Strike) Behind the scenes at the CGS

"We faced a lot of tough competition throughout the season," he said, "but when our backs were against the wall, every player demonstrated the skills and the poise to step up when it mattered the most."

The CGS season started in March when players competed for a slot in a CGS team. Each player winning a place on a team got a contract and a monthly wage to support them as they took part in the various CGS competitions.

The 18 teams that emerged from this first stage then went forward to regional competitions to find the eight that competed in the grand final.

BY-BBC NEWS

Intel and Portugal in school deal

Intel has signed the largest ever deal for its child-proof laptop, the Classmate.

500,000 of the specially designed educational machines are being given to six to 10 year olds in Portugal.

Originally intended for the developing world, Intel has shifted its focus in recent months to more mature markets.

It stressed its commitment to supplying the Classmate PC to the developing world and said it had projects underway to use it in 50 countries.

The deal will change the way education works in Portugal, according to Paulo Campos, the Portuguese government's secretary of state assistant for public works.

"It will change the educational system, change the way that students look upon school and how we communicate with parents," he said.

BY-BBC NEWS

Fighting the agents of organized cybercrime

By Cherise Fong
CNN

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Back in the good old days of the Internet, the hacker was a teenager motivated by high-tech pranks and bragging rights. Today, the online thief could be anyone with 'Net access after a quick buck.

The Honeypot baits cyber attackers in order to monitor criminal activity in real time and send out alerts.

"Hacking has escalated from a destructive nature to financial gain through phishing, targeting people for bank account details, and siphoning accounts from there," says Derek Manky, security researcher at Fortinet.

"It's a very sophisticated ecosystem, with organizations and services for hire," he continues.

"There's a lot of money floating around, a lot of people involved. Once the infrastructure and networks are in place, you start building that foundation, which can be further leveraged and taken to next level: denial of services, cyber warfare, espionage."

In the Web 2.0 world of ubiquitous, seamless, horizontal communication, information wants to be free. But just as easily as it can be uploaded, downloaded and shared, it can be accessed and exploited by individuals with a different agenda.

While online communities in particular continue to grow through friendly social networking sites, underground cybercrime syndicates continue to thrive on these on-screen relationships based on sharing and trust.

And with social engineering the hottest commodity on the phishing market, it's a question of knowing what literally what makes people click.

GPS pokes new peepholes into mobile screens

By Cherise Fong
For CNN

(CNN) -- Very soon, the most common phrase transiting through mobile phone networks will no longer be "Where are you?" but "I see you."

Nokia is one of the pioneering mobile-phone manufacturers when it comes to Assisted GPS.

1 of 3

While satellite navigation via Global Positioning System (GPS) have been helping earthbound humans to visualize and plot everything from U.S. military movements to lost hikers since the 1970s, GPS and other mobile location-based services (LBS) have only recently begun to infiltrate our personal handsets.

"Many phone companies offer a cell-based location system," says Lawrence Cheung, principal consultant of the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC).

"The system works by locating the strongest nearby cell signals that are visible by the device's antenna, which can determine its position with an accuracy of around 200 meters. Hong Kong has about 1,500 cell towers."

Coordinating through the concrete jungle

Location technologies such as Cell-ID and WiFi are especially precious in dense urban areas like Hong Kong's Nathan Road -- where high-rise buildings often block satellites' highly precise "Sky Line of Sight," but where WiFi and cell towers are ubiquitous.

A few mobile-phone makers, including Samsung and Nokia in Asia, as well as Garmin in Europe and Apple's new 3G iPhone, already feature Assisted GPS, which combines several location-based technologies to offer faster, more flexible services such as dynamic maps and photo geo-tagging.

On the entertainment side, the agency Area/code has devised a number of quirky mobile location-based games involving GPS telemetry, Wi-Fi positioning, camera phones, semacodes, multi-players, and even live sharks with GPS units attached to their fins.

Video websites 'must vet content'

YouTube has been criticised by MPs, who say it must do more to vet its content.

In a review of net safety, the Culture, Media and Sport select committee said a new industry body should be set up to protect children from harmful content.

It also said it should be "standard practice" for sites hosting user-generated content to review material proactively.

YouTube's owners said the site had strict rules and a system that allowed users to report inappropriate content.

The committee also wants a rethink on how best to classify video games - but there is disagreement over who should run the new ratings system.

MPs say the same body which gives age ratings to films - the British Board of Film Classification - should be in charge, but the games industry supports its own voluntary code.

BY-BBC NEWS

Hummer owners still love to play dirty

PINE GROVE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- They rumble in on treads called Super Swampers, wearing their hearts on their license plates.

Stephanie Oplinger, left, and Rob Schaeffer work to spot a line to drive her H1 Hummer over a rocky trail.

"PLAYDRTY," declares one behemoth from New York. "HUM THIS," dares another, from Ohio.

The digital board fronting the Shell station at Exit 100 winks back: "Welcome Hummers!"

In the fading light, though, it's impossible to ignore the sign at the Sunoco across the road: Diesel, $4.97 9/10 a gallon.

You've got to be tough to love a Hummer. The soaring cost of feeding a vehicle that swallows a gallon every dozen miles is only part of it. Environmentalists, who've always had it in for you, are winning mainstream converts. General Motors, which presided over Hummer's transition from a badge of military bravado into a symbol of driveway excess, is looking to sell.

But tonight there's no apologizing or self-pity in the ranks of Hummer die-hards. They're here to goad machines that can top five tons over boulders the size of Smart cars, through stewpots of mud obscuring who-knows-what and across obstacle courses of stumps, logs and stones -- it's "like riding a slow-motion rollercoaster," one says.

Maybe mega-SUVs are going the way of dinosaurs. Hummer sales have dropped 40 percent this year. But these beasts and the men and women who love them certainly don't behave like endangered species.

"I told my wife when we bought this, 'Honey, we're investing in steel and rubber,' says William Welch, a Philadelphia surgeon who, cigar clenched between his teeth, offers a guided tour of his lovingly tended jet-black H1.

"If it was $10 a gallon," he says, "we'd still be out there."

Creators suspend Scrabble knockoff game

NEW YORK (AP) -- The creators of a Scrabble knockoff responsible for countless hours at the online hangout Facebook suspended their word game Tuesday after being hit with a lawsuit, disappointing fans who logged on expecting to make their next moves.

The game still works at the developers' Web site, Scrabulous.com, but users must start new games.

Hasbro Inc., the company that owns the North American rights to the word game, last week sued the brothers in Calcutta, India, who created the Scrabulous program.

Separately, Hasbro asked Facebook to block the program, something the site resisted despite risks of losing immunity protection from copyright lawsuits.

In a statement, creators Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla said they agreed to block Scrabulous in the United States and Canada in deference to Facebook's concerns, while continuing to pursue their legal defense. Rajat Agarwalla, describing the measures as "unfortunate," declined further comment.

Facebook said the Agarwalla brothers, not the company, made the decision.

In the year since Facebook began letting outside developers write Web programs that Facebook members can plug into their personal profile pages, Scrabulous has become one of the most popular applications, despite efforts by Scrabble's owners to end it.

Earlier this month, video game maker Electronic Arts Inc. released an official version for American and Canadian Facebook users under a licensing deal with Hasbro. But the authorized Scrabble has been attracting only 15,000 daily users, compared with some half-million for Scrabulous. That authorized version is actually still in a "beta" test mode, and encountered technical problems Tuesday.

After EA's release, Hasbro sued the Agarwalla brothers and their company in U.S. District Court in New York, accusing them of violating Hasbro's copyright and trademarks. The lawsuit seeks an end to Scrabulous and unspecified damages.

Facebook users who tried to access Scrabulous on Tuesday were simply told the game was disabled "until further notice," and many Facebook users updated their one-line status messages on the site to mourn the suspension.

Laura Chefer, an Atlanta Facebook user who logs on about 20 times a day to check on Scrabulous, said she had no sympathy for Hasbro despite its rights to the game.

"I was definitely shocked and annoyed," she said. "These two guys went to all the trouble to make this interface, and now the big company is suing them, and we're no longer able to play."

The game continues to work at the developers' Web site, Scrabulous.com, but users must sign up and start games afresh.

High-tech monitors help safe drivers save on insurance

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- A high-tech monitoring device makes it possible to reduce insurance premiums for drivers who avoid jackrabbit starts and slam-on-the-brakes stops, an insurance company says.

One insurance company is installing high-tech monitoring devices in cars to help gentle drivers cut premiums.

The catch? Bad drivers who take a chance on the program may wind up paying a surcharge instead.

Auto insurer Progressive Corp. has begun offering its drivers the chance to cut their costs based on how they actually drive, not only on their age, credit score and number of tickets or accidents on their record.

The monitoring device -- sort of like a black box for cars -- tells Progressive what time people drive, how many miles they've driven, how fast they accelerate and how often they hit the brakes. It does not track where people go.

Under Progressive's program, customers can earn a first-term discount of up to 10 percent just for signing up. When they renew their policy, their rate could decrease by up to 60 percent based on their driving habits. But it could also increase by up to 9 percent.

Richard Hutchinson, a Progressive general manager, said the program is designed for drivers who are consistent and safe.

"We want people to know that the program is not right for everyone," Hutchinson said.

"It's for people who drive at low-risk times of day and who keep alert for others on the road," he said. "They don't make fast lane changes or follow too closely behind other drivers so they don't have to overreact or slam on the brakes."

Hacker loses extradition appeal

A Briton accused of hacking into top secret military computers has lost a Law Lords appeal against being extradited to stand trial in the US.

Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon could face life in jail if convicted of accessing 97 US military and Nasa computers.

He has admitted breaking into the computers from his London home but said he was seeking information on UFOs.

The 42-year-old's lawyers said they would apply to the European Court of Human Rights to prevent his removal.

Mr McKinnon first lost his case at the High Court in 2006 before taking it to the highest court in the UK, the House of Lords.

American officials involved in this case have stated that they want to see him 'fry' Gary McKinnon's lawyers

He was arrested in 2002 but never charged in the UK.

The US government claims he committed a malicious crime - the biggest military computer hack ever.

A statement by solicitors for McKinnon, who was not at the Lords to hear the judgement, said: "Gary McKinnon is neither a terrorist nor a terrorist sympathiser.

"His case could have been properly dealt with by our own prosecuting authorities. We believe that the British government declined to prosecute him to enable the US government to make an example of him.

"American officials involved in this case have stated that they want to see him 'fry'.

"The consequences he faces if extradited are both disproportionate and intolerable."

BY-BBC NEWS

UK team take top pro-gaming prize

British pro-gaming team Birmingham Salvo have been crowned winners of the 2008 Championship Gaming Series (CGS).

The ten-strong team share the top prize of $500,000 (£252,000) for coming out top of the eight teams who made it to the grand final.

Birmingham Salvo dominated rival San Francisco Optx in the battle for the title winning four out of five events.

The win marks the first time that the CGS trophy has been awarded to a British team.

"I'm extremely proud of my team right now," said Michael O'Dell, manager of Birmingham Salvo in a statement.

BIRMINGHAM SALVO PLAYERS Michael Barrett (Fifa 08) Sarah Harrison (Dead or Alive) Mingzhi Deng (Dead or Alive) Dean Sutton (Forza Motorsport) David Kelly (Forza Motorsport) James Wilson (Counter Strike) Elliot Welsh (Counter Strike) Sam Gawn (Counter Strike) Pete Wright (Counter Strike) Marc Mangiacapra (Counter Strike) Behind the scenes at the CGS

"We faced a lot of tough competition throughout the season," he said, "but when our backs were against the wall, every player demonstrated the skills and the poise to step up when it mattered the most."

The CGS season started in March when players competed for a slot in a CGS team. Each player winning a place on a team got a contract and a monthly wage to support them as they took part in the various CGS competitions.

The 18 teams that emerged from this first stage then went forward to regional competitions to find the eight that competed in the grand final.

BY-BBC NEWS

Web curbs for Olympic journalists

Chinese officials say foreign journalists covering the Beijing Olympic Games will not have completely uncensored access to the internet.

A top spokesman said sites relating to spiritual movement Falun Gong would be blocked. Another said other unspecified sites would also be unavailable.

China enforces tough internet controls, but said when it bid for the Games that journalists would be free to report.

Journalists have complained they cannot access some news or human rights sites.

A senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member confirmed that while journalists would have free range to cover the Games, the IOC was aware some sites would be blocked.

BY-BBC NEWS

Remoulding Microsoft for the web

• Darren Waters

What is Microsoft for? I ask the question, because I think it's one that the company has been asking itself a lot recently.

Is it a software company? Producing an operating system, and tools like Office.

Or is it a hardware company? Producing games consoles and peripherals.

Perhaps it's a web company? Producing an online ecosystem, such as Live Mesh.

Or is it a server company? Producing Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS).

The answer, according to Microsoft, is all four.

Yesterday two of Microsoft's leading executives, Jean Philippe Courtois, head of all Microsoft outside North America, and Gordon Frazer, head of Microsoft UK visited BBC News' Business Unit, as part of a series of lunchtime talks we arrange with leading businesses.

Mr Courtois has been with Microsoft 24 years, and Mr Frazer 13 years; long enough to see the firm reinvent itself over and over again.

BY-BBC NEWS

Going for online gold

Regular columnist Bill Thompson is fascinated by everything about the Olympics except the sport.

Web visitors to the games may put a strain on servers

I won't be going to Beijing for the Olympic Games next month, and in fact I probably won't even be going to London in 2012 when it's our turn to host the festivities.

I don't watch athletics or any of the other events that will be taking place. I don't support a football team either, or have much interest in cricket despite being an English male. Sport just doesn't excite me at all.

But even though I don't care which country wins most gold medals or whether world records are broken for running, jumping or throwing odd-shaped objects, I'll be watching what goes on at the Olympic Games with keen interest, because this world-wide sporting event offers a fascinating perspective on the state of the internet today.

Back in 2000 the Sydney games generated an astonishing amount of traffic to Olympics websites, and in the last four years the number of net users has almost doubled from around 750 million to 1.4 billion.

That is going to place a massive strain on the official Olympics website and the associated infrastructure, and it will be interesting to see how it stands up.

By-BBC NEWS

Attacks begin on net address flaw

Attack code that exploits flaws in the net's addressing system are starting to circulate online, say security experts.

The code could be a boon to phishing gangs who redirect web users to fake bank sites and steal login details.

In light of the news net firms are being urged to apply a fix for the loop-hole before attacks by hi-tech criminals become widespread.

Net security groups say there is anecdotal evidence that small scale attacks are already happening.

Address list

"We are in a lot of trouble," said security guru Dan Kaminsky who found the flaw in the net's Domain Name System (DNS) in March 2008.

"This attack is very good," he said. "This attack is being weaponised out in the field. Everyone needs to patch, please."

The DNS acts as the net's address system and helps computers translate the website names people use, such as bbc.co.uk, into the numerical equivalents preferred by machines.

If exploited the flaw would allow malicious hackers to direct people to fake sites even if that user typed in the correct address for the place they wanted to visit.

Now security researchers have come up with two separate methods for attacking the flaw.

The code used in the attacks has been added to a popular testing tool called Metasploit used by both good and bad hackers alike to find weaknesses in computer systems.

The attack code was developed following the accidental leaking of the bug Mr Kaminsky discovered. Initially he had planned to release more information in October.

After being discovered in March, information about it was shared with large net organisations such as Cisco, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to give them chance to produce patches and fixes.

Now net supply firms are being urged to get on with the job of updating their systems so customers are not left at risk.

BY-BBC NEWS

Community network sites honoured

A social networking site for young gypsy travellers has won an award for the social use of technology.

The SavvyChavvy site was one of eight projects honoured in the UK's Catalyst Awards that recognise technology used to serve communities.

The site helps younger travellers stay in touch and post blogs and videos about their experiences.

Also honoured in the awards were a virtual nightclub for disabled people and a scheme to help people share cars.

Social action

The Catalyst Awards were set up to champion those using social media, such as the web, to keep communities together and tackle social challenges such as gang culture and poverty.

For its work helping young gypsy travellers communicate SavvyChavvy won the Community award. Chavvy is an old Romany word for "youth".

The site, which is closed to those who are not travellers, is credited with helping to gypsys change the way their community is seen.

CATALYST WINNERS Community Award - SavvyChavvy David and Goliath Award - Liftshare Chalk and Cheese Award - FreqOUT! Enterprise Award - Slivers of Time Revolutionary Award - Wheelies Self-Help Award - School of Everything Individual Hero - Helen Anderson People's Choice Award - Freeconomy Community

Wheelies - a virtual nightclub hosted in Second Life - got the Revolutionary award. The David and Goliath award went to Liftshare - an online system that helps people with spare car seats find passengers.

Helen Anderson won an award for her work to bring broadband to South Witham in Lincolnshire. Ms Anderson was driven to get the project going after her community was ignored by large net suppliers.

The winners of the awards were presented with their trophies by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He said the projects had huge potential to influence lives and communities.

"The worst of Britain can always be challenged by the best of Britain," he said.

The Community Awards for Social Technology (Catalyst) were sponsored by the Council on Social Action, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.

Helping to judge entries were the Make Your Mark campaign group; Unltd, which backs social entrepreneurs and Polecat which helps organisations measure their social impact.

BY- BBC NEWS

Mission possible: Film restoration

Spencer Kelly visits the Warner Bros archive in Los Angeles to meet the people painstakingly restoring old films using the latest technology.

How the West Was Won featured many stars, including John Wayne

All film deteriorates, end of the story. The 1962 epic How the West Was Won is a case in point.

The last 46 years have not been kind to the reels of film making up the multi-Oscar winning epic - the colour has faded, the landscape is marred by dirt and scratches, and there are strange vertical lines in every shot.

Ned Price is part of Warner Bros technical operations team and he said he is usually dealing with films which are turning to "powder".

"I'm dealing with film which is dehydrated, shrunken and buckled," he said. "As that happens the film shrinks and warps at an inconsistent rate.

"We're now working on digital techniques to actually record it as it moves and morphs and then digitally, after the fact, sort of stabilise the image itself."

BY-BBC NEWS

Can biofuels solve America's oil crunch?

By Cody McCloy
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A summer with budget-busting gasoline prices seems like the worst time to launch a cross-country road trip from California to Georgia, but this one is different: We're road-testing alternative fuel that might help reduce pollution and break the nation's reliance on foreign oil.

CNN.com producer Cody McCloy will drive this 1978 International Harvester Scout cross-country on biodiesel fuel.

The gasoline alternative is called biodiesel, and it's made from a mixture of diesel gasoline and vegetable oil, such as soy or corn. The vegetable oil is nontoxic and biodegradable.

Most diesel cars can run on it, and it can be found in more and more places around the country. Web developer Brian Hardy and I will begin our two-week journey from California's San Francisco Bay area to Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday at 9:40 a.m. on CNN.com Live.

During our road trip, we'll blog and report about what kind of mileage we're getting with biodiesel fuel and how easy it is to find places that sell it.

Biodiesel is just one of several biofuels powering more and more U.S. cars and trucks. Mesa, Arizona, for example, has switched its fleet of 1,000 municipal vehicles such as fire engines and street sweepers to biodiesel and other green fuels such as ethanol, and compressed natural gas.

Going for a bike ride? Check the Web first

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- With the old gas-guzzler in the garage, you've got your bicycle ready and your sneakers laced up. Now all you need is a map of the quickest, safest routes for riding around town. Well, not so fast.

Cyclists, such as this rider in Philadelphia, are finding more Internet maps showing bike and walking routes.

As more commuters consider ditching their cars to save money on gas, Internet mapping services, cities and community groups are being pushed to lay out the best routes for biking and walking -- just like drivers have found online for years.

Technical and practical roadblocks stand between such a network becoming ubiquitous, but there are signs of progress in this world of $4-a-gallon gas.

Google Inc. just launched a walking-directions service. MapQuest is reporting more use of its "avoid highways" function and offering a walking directions service on cell phones. And some cities have developed detailed online maps to help walkers, bikers and transit-riders find the fastest routes.

"They haven't yet reached the Holy Grail of `I want to go from here to there, show me my options,"' said Bryce Nesbitt, a walking and biking advocate in the San Francisco area.

The first challenge: how to account for factors that make bicycle and walking routes different from driving paths.

Review: Pass on football game for Wii

(AP) -- If the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of "NCAA Football 09" are the starting seniors, then Wii owners might feel like redshirt freshmen with EA Sports' first college football game for Nintendo's popular gaming console.

This screen grab shows an Ohio State back nearing the goal line in the game "NCAA Football 09: All Play."

"NCAA Football 09: All-Play" marks EA Sports' debut of its new "All-Play" lineup, five Wii-specific sports games looking to bring more casual gamers into the mix.

The game offers a friendly, laid-back presentation, arcade-style gameplay and a simplified "All-Play" control scheme that lets novice players simply shake their remotes to punt, pass and kick.

But the Wii-specific version disappoints with a complete lack of online play and graphics that are simply too inferior to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

Any thoughts that "NCAA Football 09: All-Play" could be classified as a sports sim are quickly quashed by the main menu, which offers "Mascot game" as the top choice. Sure, playing 11 Albert the Alligators versus a team of Sparty the Spartans might be cute, but it's a feature better suited for a hidden cheat code than a game's primary option.

A better choice is "Play now," which can default to your favorite college team playing at home against an arch-rival.

The next step is to choose how much you want to control.

Michigan solar car team wins 2,400-mile race

By Charles Gregg-Geist
Michigan Daily

Charles Gregg-Geist is a writer for the Michigan Daily, the leading news source for the University of Michigan. This article was brought to CNN.com by UWIRE, the leading provider of student-generated content. UWIRE aims to identify and promote the brightest young content creators and deliver their work to a larger audience via professional media partners such as CNN.com. Visit UWIRE.com to learn more.

The University of Kentucky's solar car races along the road, on its way to the finish line.

(UWIRE) -- In the world of higher education, summer is usually the off-season.

But for some students, this summer was the culmination of years of hard work in a 2,400-mile solar car race from Plano, Texas to Calgary, Alberta.

Fifteen teams of students drove photovoltaic-powered cars across the North American Solar Challenge finish line in Calgary Tuesday, led by the University of Michigan Solar Car Team and its vehicle, Continuum.

Placing second was the car Ra 7 from Principia College, followed by the sole European finisher, the German FH Bochum Solar Car Team.

Michigan's victory, which took about 51 hours and 42 minutes on the road, is its fifth NASC championship. The school also won the last NASC, in 2005.

It took Principia almost ten hours more than Michigan to complete the race, in about 61 hours and 38 minutes. Bochum's car took about two hours more, but the University of Waterloo Midnight Sun Solar Car Team was a very close fourth, taking about fifteen minutes longer.

Principia's success may be as noteworthy as Michigan's margin of victory. The college has fewer than 550 students, all of them undergraduates. It's a sharp contrast from the enormous research universities that traditionally win solar car races.

"It's unique, I think, for their college to field a team, (because) they don't have an engineering school," said Dan Eberle, NASC's organizer.

But he noted that small teams have had some success in the past.

"If you can get a group of folks who are really committed, then you can do a lot," he said.