The new NBC series, set in Chicago in the 1960s, which premieres Sept. 19 at 10 p.m., is about much more than just getting down and dirty, the cast and producers said at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour on Monday. So what else is there? Continue reading →

The Obama campaign unveiled its first salvo against Mitt Romney's controversial private-sector background yesterday, an offensive the Republican campaign surely knew was coming eventually. This morning, the former governor released a two-minute clip in response, which had almost certainly been prepped and was ready to go.The point of the video is to show three unemployed Iowans who are clearly struggling, and whom Romney hopes to use as proof the "Obama economy" not working. (Presumably, by this logic, if the president's economic policies were worthwhile, unemployment would be zero percent, and Republicans wouldn't be able to find anyone who could appear on camera.)There's nothing to connect the president to the plight of the individuals in the video -- unlike, say, the plight of those who got ... Continue reading →

We're at Google in California working on a project with MIT to map the brain! Continue reading →

Motion control startup Leap Motion has demoed its Leap 3D motion control system, which can track motion to around 0.01mm accuracy — 100 times more accurate than the Kinect. Rather than taking Microsoft's approach, Leap Motion creates a personal 3D workspace of about four cubic feet. The Leap consists of a small USB device with industry-standard sensors and cameras that, in tandem with the company's software, can track multiple objects and recognize gestures. In a demo given to CNET, Leap's designers showed off OS navigation and web browsing using a single finger, writing, pinch-to-zoom, precision drawing, 3D modeling, and gaming. From what we can see, it looks to be a very precise system, capable of recognizing objects in your hands and tracking them instead of ... Continue reading →

Wilderness ComitteeTorrance Coste, an activist with the Wilderness Committee on Canada's Vancouver Island, surveys the stump of an 800-year-old red cedar that poachers cut up and hauled out of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park.By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.comThe death of an ancient cedar tree inside a remote park on Canada's Vancouver Island is being showcased by an environmental group seeking more protection against illegal loggers.The 800-year-old tree was attacked by poachers with power saws over time at Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, the Wilderness Committee reported Thursday. Cedar is valuable as material for roofing shingles.The poachers, still at large, were able to cut through 80 percent of the base of the tree -- which had a diameter of nine feet -- before park staff finally noticed what was ... Continue reading →

2 hrs. Rosa Golijan They may not have Q in their corners, but real spies do have gadgets that would fit right into a James Bond movie. Msnbc.com's Rosa Golijan tours an exhibition of spy tools."SPY: The Secret World of Espionage" is an exhibit at Discovery Times Square in New York City. It includes historic and contemporary espionage-related artifacts from the collections of the CIA, the FBI, the NRO and historian and author Keith Melton. Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+. Continue reading →

Mayor Bloomberg and Mr. Met have a great reason to celebrate. Today, Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner of Major League Baseball Allan (Bud) H. Selig and New York Mets Chairman and CEO Fred Wilpon today announced that Citi Field will host the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Read more on nyc.gov. Continue reading →