So it’s officially 2009 now. And many people are, well, stumbling around with hangovers. But some others are jumping for joy. Why? Because their Microsoft Zune music players are working again!

Yes, you read that right.

Pretty much every 30GB Zune (as well as various others supposedly) all stopped working suddenly. The problem Microsoft deduced, was because of a bug in their internal time code. It had something to do with a leap year, and yada yada, blah. Their advice? Just unplug it to let the battery run down, and wait to turn it on January 1st, 2009. That, they said, should fix everything.

Sure enough, Zune owners are already reporting that this workaround does in fact work, and Zunes like undead iPod-killer-wannabe zombies are rising from their graves everywhere after their T-Virus infection. Umbrella Corp Microsoft was right.

And for those of us who don’t have Zunes?  Well happy day!  It’s New Years!

The little robot that could, the Phoenix Mars Probe, is most likely dead, according to NASA officials.  As of the 2nd of November it has failed to communicate back.  And the boffins at NASA figure that it isn’t likely to, for Autumn has set upon the red planet, and with it comes shorter daylight and dustier/cloudier skies, two enemies of the solar energy that powers the Mars lander.

Still, it was a good run.  It performed remarkably better than expected.  It lasted longer than anyone thought that it would.  It was able to sample all sorts of yummy Martian soil.  It even proved that water, in the form of ice, lay dormant in the ground.  And it snapped more than 25,000 pictures, of which were near-atomic level shots from an atomic force microscope.  Some even say that it took pictures of snow falling just before it died.  The data that it collected will no doubt keep scientists enthused for years and years.

So rest in peace, little Phoenix.  You did good.

Oh my gods!

Everywhere hardcore 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons geeks are in mourning!

For those of you who aren’t geeks like me, Gary Gygax co-authored Dungeons and Dragons from the very beginning. He was one of the most ingenious people to ever grace TSR (Tactical Studies Rules), the makers of Dungeons and Dragons. His inspiration was the heart and soul of AD&D. After he left TSR, Dungeons and Dragons was just never the same. And now, it never will be. Gary, you will be missed.