Health concerns over the Red Bull energy drink were fuelled yesterday after Europe's highest court upheld a French ban on the product.

The fizzy drink has been linked to several deaths and some experts have criticized its high levels of caffeine and other stimulants.

Red Bull is Britain's best-selling energy drink, with 213 million cans consumed last year. It has been dubbed the 'clubbers' drink', and is often mixed with vodka. The popular adverts claiming that Red Bull 'gives you wings', have led to the brand being described as 'the Porsche of soft drinks'.

Red bull + Vodka = the most self destructive drink evah!

French ban on Red Bull (drink) upheld by European Court

The Pittsburgh Penguins added to their impressive stable of forwards Tuesday, obtaining All-Star Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers

Hossa, who was unable to come to terms on a new contract agreement with Atlanta, joins a potent offensive attack that already includes young superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who currently is tied for the league lead in scoring with 82 points.

"I'm really looking forward to joining this group," Hossa said. "You look at the centermen and you have Sid, Malkin and (Jordan) Staal. They are some really strong, great young players. They have good goaltending and good moving defensemen. They create lots of offense. I am really looking forward to playing with these guys."

Crosby + Hossa Power!

Marian Hossa headed to Pittsburgh

Support from studios has been widely cited as the reason for Blu-ray's victory, but few consumers know that the studios were likely won over by the presence of a digital lock on movies called BD+, a far more sophisticated and resilient digital rights management, or DRM, system than that offered by HD DVD.

That is interesting... But we all know that first there will be blu-ray software, second there will be blu-ray burners, third there will be blu-ray decrypters.

How Crypto Won the DVD War | Threat Level from Wired.com

A NEW facial harness now on the market lays claim to the ability to improve milady’s beauty. How the device is worn is illustrated in the photo at the left. Sagging chins are lifted and unbecoming wrinkles are smoothed out around the lips, cheeks and forehead, manufacturers claim. It is worn overnight, removed in morning.

Better than botox.

Spring-loaded beauty mask from 1933

The South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival is one of the biggest and most popular in the United States. For the fourth year in a row, SXSW has released a DRM-less collection of songs that can now be downloaded for free via BitTorrent.

SXSW 2008 on BitTorrent: 3.5 GB of Free Music

Volkswagen will unveil a diesel-electric hybrid version of their Golf hatchback (known as the Rabbit in North-America) at the Geneva Motor Show. The information that has filtered out so far is promising: Fuel economy of 83.1 mpg imperial, 69.9 mpg US. Only 89 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer (for comparison, the Toyota Prius hybrid emits 104 g/km).

Take that Toyota!

Volkswagen to Introduce 70 mpg Diesel-Electric Hybrid Golf

The German press is reporting this morning that there's been an explosion at Porsche's factory in Stuttgart where the 911 and many of its variants are built. Apparently a furnace used for drying coating sheaths was the source of the boom, which set off the sprinkler systems and ground 911 production to a halt. Reports say production will be down at least 2 - 3 days, which means Porsche could lose about 320 to 480 units of production, not to mention the cost of damage to property. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but two Porsche workers were hospitalized with injuries. As to why the furnace blew up, the cause is unknown at this time.

UPDATE: Automotive News confirms that the explosion happened at Porsche's spray-painting facility in Zuffenhausen, Germany.

Explosion at Porsche factory halts 911 production

The Windows Client-Server Communication Protocols can be implemented in a range of server applications to communicate or interoperate with Windows-based client operating systems and other compatible server or client software. This document describes the technical relationships among these protocols.

Windows Protocols

The first layer protects from sun and repels water, the second layer features "nano-dust" to push dirt to the edges of the windshield and is activated by the third layer which senses the dirt, while the whole kit is powered by the fourth layer which conducts electricity to keep it going. The tech could be ready for mass production within 5 years, but there's already a working prototype in the Hidra concept car.

Wiperless windshields in your future? Thanks, nanotech.

-- Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chinese leader Mao Zedong made what U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States.

Chinese leader Mao Zedong, here depicted in an Andy Warhol painting, offered women to the U.S.

"You know, China is a very poor country," Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department's historian office.

"We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."

A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. "Do you want our Chinese women?" he asked. "We can give you 10 million."

After Kissinger noted Mao was "improving his offer," the chairman said, "We have too many women. ... They give birth to children and our children are too many."

"It is such a novel proposition," Kissinger replied in his discussion with Mao in Beijing. "We will have to study it.

YELLOW FEVER!

Mao offered U.S. 10 million women ...