Brian Gongol
Google Plus: Opening up now to everyone
But is it hype-worthy? Maybe. As a social-networking site, it will fulfill one overdue need: Making Google's Picasa photo-sharing service something useful. Facebook's terms and conditions regarding photos are just too hazardous (Facebook claims worldwide, royalty-free rights to any photos you post there) and subject to whimsical change, so it's always a crapshoot whether sharing photos there will be worthwhile. To its credit, Google is pretty clear about not claiming any rights to photos posted on Picasa. There are still some bugs to be worked out -- not all of the links even work correctly within Google Plus -- but it has potential.
They Might Be Giants performing a cover of "Tubthumping"
With the people who work on the AV Club at The Onion singing backup
Final Space Shuttle mission underway
The Space Shuttle has worked -- with more than a few bugs -- for three decades. But the US now has no "Plan B" for going regularly into space for manned missions, since the Shuttle is being retired without a successor. Poor long-term planning, America. We could have done better. We only ever used the Shuttles 135 times.
