Mewes News #7: News from the Mewes Studio

London’s Big Ben to be renamed Elizabeth Tower (Toronto Sun) 

(It’s one of the most famous names in the world, up there with the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty - but now London’s Big Ben clock tower is to be renamed Elizabeth Tower to mark the queen’s 60th year on the British throne. The announcement on Tuesday followed four days of celebrations earlier this month to mark 86-year-old Queen’s Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.)

Apes, monkeys are more social, smarter than previously thought (Baxter Bulletin) 

(The more we study animals, the less special we seem. Baboons can distinguish between written words and gibberish. Monkeys seem to be able to do multiplication. They plan. They make war and peace. They show empathy. They share. “It’s not a question of whether they think — it’s how they think,” said Duke University scientist Brian Hare. Now scientists wonder whether apes are capable of thinking about what other apes are thinking.)

Bullied grandma in N.Y. bus video stunned by generosity (CBC) 

(A Toronto man's online fundraising campaign for a 68-year-old upstate New York grandmother is nearing $450,000, after a video showing the woman being bullied to tears by children on a school bus went viral. The victim of the deluge of taunts, insults, slurs and threats of violence was Karen Klein, a school bus monitor in the Rochester, N.Y., suburb of Greece.)

This Is What iOS 6′s Passbook Will Look Like in Action (Gizmodo) 

(The next great iPhone software is still in beta right now, but we’re already excited about digitising some of the crap in our wallets via Passbook — and for frequent travelers, it’ll be a godsend. Check out the future: The video experiment above comes from PassK.it, a company that hopes to make money helping other companies create cards for your iPhone wallet — gift vouchers, airline passes, loyalty cards, sandwich of the month clubs, etc. Passkit’s lead developer (and his adorable daughter) gave the system a spin by replicating boarding passes for Thai Airways in the hopes that no old fashioned paper documentation would be needed to fly.)

Apple retina MacBook Pro: review (Guardian) 

(I'm typing this on a Macbook Pro with a "retina" display, and it's breaking my heart. Having used it as my main machine for the past fortnight, in a few hours' time I'll have to wipe the hard drive, find the cables, and send it back to Apple. The world is going to go fuzzy again. Is this what it's like for people who wear glasses when they lose them?)

Mewes News #7: News from the Mewes Studio

Sharp's 90-inch smart TV: hands-on with the world's largest LED TV (The Verge) 

(When Sharp broke its own record for the world's largest LED TV with a Wi-Fi-enabled 90-inch behemoth, many were skeptical: would a nearly bed-sized television really be viewable in only 1080p resolution? At a recent Pepcom showing, we were able to put Sharp's smart TV to the test.)

Microsoft Surface tablets: High-end hardware but better be cheap (ZDnet) 

(The Microsoft secret event that unveiled the new company-branded tablets sent a wake-up call to the PC industry. The folks in Redmond were no longer happy to let OEMs release me-too PCs to showcase the revolutionary new Windows 8. Microsoft is making a statement that it is in it to win it, but it may run into the same hardware pricing quandary its partners have faced for years.)

1976 Apple Computer Sells For $375,000 (The Indy Channel) 

(Think the iPad's price tag is steep? One famed Apple product, the original Apple I, sold for $374,500 on Friday. Auction house Sotheby's sold a 1976 Apple I Computer -- which still works! -- in New York on Friday, after a bidding war broke out between two potential buyers.)

Aiming for Seamless Surfing and Streaming at 30,000 Feet (NY Times) 

(At first, being able to get an Internet connection on an airplane seemed like one of life’s modern miracles. Soon enough, though, passengers got a little jaded and started complaining about how slow that connection could sometimes be. Now the companies offering in-air Wi-Fi say they are trying out ways to speed things up and broaden the service’s availability.)

Verizon raises FiOS bills, adds higher Web speeds (Reuters) 

(Verizon Communications is raising prices for some FiOS customers as it offers higher speeds, a move that one analyst says will potentially lead to higher prices from cable rivals such as Cablevision Systems Corp. The telephone company said it expects the majority of its FiOS Internet customers to have to pay $10 to $15 more per month to avail of new offerings, but it noted that they could change their television package to keep their monthly fee unchanged.)

'Nuns on the Bus' taking America by storm (AFP) 

(Signing autographs along the way, a group of Catholic nuns is taking a road trip across America to stand up for the poor. The media-savvy "Nuns on the Bus" tour kicked off in the midwestern state of Iowa on June 17 and is making a slew of stops around the country to convey concern about social injustice. "Our bus is about a policy conversation ... to say we the people of the United States, we can be a better union," organizer Simone Campbell told AFP during a stop in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where the sister on Thursday hailed a historic US Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.)

Jellyfish sting? Peeing on it only adds insult to injury, experts say (Houston News) 

(Home remedies for jellyfish stings, including meat tenderizer, baking soda, alcohol and even urine – may be less effective at relieving pain than plain hot water and lidocaine, according to a recent paper. “Some of the remedies promoted by word of mouth and online, such as vinegar, actually make the pain worse with certain species of jellyfish,” said lead study author Dr. Nicholas T. Ward, of California San Diego.)

Mewes News #6: Trending with Mewes

GloZell's Reality Show Life

More of what Jay checked out at E3:
FIFA 12
NHL 12
Pro vs GI-Joe

Happy Birthday Jason Mewes!

Mewes News #5: Mewes Invades E3!

Things (and people) Mewes checked out at E3:
Guardians of Middle-earth
Jorge Garcia
Alienware
Tekken Tag Tournament
http://na.wargaming.net/
End of Nations
Call of Duty ELITE
Activision
LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES