In the spirit of true Twitter Mania, TechCrunch just wrote a tongue in cheek article listing 15 things to do when Twitter is down.  This is the simply the latest piece of web 2.0 content on the topic, complementing everything from the original Fail Whale to Lisa Nova's Twitter videos on YouTube.  I know I've missed the opportunity to comment on several other "Twitter Events", including Opera's first tweet and an actual Queen using the service, but I'm sure there will be more to add to the list shortly.

GE's energy division has released a unique online ad to promote its windmill technology.  While you'll have to view the video to truly understand, it can best be described as a digital hologram that's displayed on your computer screen.  When you print out the template and hold it in front of your webcam, the hologram will appear and move in sync with your template.  You can even make the windmills spin faster by blowing into your microphone.  Click here to see the video.

Starting later this year, Lexus vehicles will be delivered with a system that allows the company to communicate directly with drivers.  However, there are concerns that the audio messaging service may turn out to be an in-car version of something everyone is already familiar with:  spam.

Drivers will be able to tell if they have any new messages when they start the car, but they don't necessarily have to listen to them right away.  The company has stated that they understand some people prefer to think of their vehicle as a cocoon and would therefore not want to have anything sent to them.  However, messages could include lifestyle info similar to what owners already read in the magazine they receive from Lexus, so they may prove to be more appreciated than some critics think.

USA Today covers the full story here.

While Google works very well most of the time, I've found myself using Jason Calacanis' Mahalo.com more and more for certain types of searches lately.  In case you're not familiar with Mahalo, it's a human-powered search engine, meaning that the results are compiled by real humans instead of an algorithm.  While this limits the number of search terms they can cover, I've found that they have good real-time coverage of every popular news story as well as other general interest topics, and it's really nice to get the information you're after right away (no ads, no keywords buried in a mountain of text).  Between Google, Wikipedia and Mahalo, it rarely takes me longer than 90 seconds to find any information I need.

While "human-powered search" is the official tag line, it also feels similar to a few other websites, like Wikipedia or Digg (but without the geek-dominated extreme left wing bias).  They also just launched Mahalo Answers, which is quite a bit like Yahoo Answers.  I wont judge it yet, as it's only a few days old, but the concept seems to blend quite well with some of Mahalos other strengths (recipes and other DIY tips come to mind).  If you've never used Mahalo, try it out.

With Christmas coming and Black Friday only two days away, holiday shopping is going into full swing, even if we are in a recession.  To make spending on others a little more interesting (I've always preferred spending on myself), several retailers are experimenting with gift cards that double as actual useful objects.

Target's card for 2008 doubles as a digital camera!  It even comes with its own USB cord, driver disk, instructions, and a voucher for 40 free prints.

Say what you will about the digital camera card above, this one is my favorite.  Best Buy's 2008 card comes with an integrated speaker with a cord and plug.  It also goes really well with an iPod under the tree, as it allows you to share the music with more than one person on Christmas morning, even if the iPod only comes with headphones.

Several months before the digital camera above was released, Target offered a gift card with a Speed Racer-themed 60+MB flash drive.  It came preloaded with wallpaper files, video clips, printable coupons, and a cheat code for the upcoming video game.  Self promotion doesn't get much better than that.  While it appears that they are no longer available, used ones can still be found on Ebay.

Of course, radio personality Clark Howard has his own solution.  Click here to view an alternative to all the gift card craziness; a printable certificate you can wrap around cold, hard cash.

As reported several different places, billionaire Mark Cuban was charged with insider trading today for selling 600,000 shares of Mamma.com more than four years ago.  Understandably, Cuban is contesting the charges (click the links above for details). 

The SEC is stating that the sale allowed Cuban to avoid around $750,000 in losses.  I find it rather amusing that they no doubt feel the avoided loss will strengthen their case.  Since the amount is by no means substantial to Cuban, I can't help but wonder if stating this will actually weaken it.  To me, it's pretty obvious that the sale was not strictly based on trying to save a few hundred thousand dollars.

I wish Mark all the best, but I suspect everything will turn out alright for him.  The SEC is notorious for doing a consistently terrible job, and besides, Mark appears far too innocent for this to go anywhere.  I've seen shows on CNBC actually bring up charts detailing insider trading almost in real time, but the SEC rarely does anything.  One host even poked fun at the SEC, stating that it was so easy for him to spot but, mysteriously, so difficult for them.  Hopefully, this will all blow over soon so they can focus their limited resources elsewhere.

There's a great article on YourHome.ca that reminded me how broadband connections are not as popular as we all sometimes believe.  As if the higher cost of gas, along with the real estate crisis, wasn't hurting rural area housing enough, it turns out people are also moving away because they can't get broadband!

If you're reading my blog, you're most likely already more tech savvy than usual, and therefore more likely to have a broadband connection, but I'm still surprised that people would be willing to move for what we take for granted.  Perhaps I forget the sting of 56kps.  It has been nine years or so.

The end of the article gets to me a little bit though.  Why would anyone move back to a house that they moved away from over broadband?  While I guess you could question the intelligence of the original move (couldn't they get a satellite connection before?), to me, moving back is a pretty expensive way to own a mistake.  On the other hand, I've had broadband the whole time, so maybe I just don't understand.