The price of oil closed above $100 a barrel for the first time Tuesday in a sudden run-up that left some analysts shaking their heads. "Today's price spike in the oil market is a bit puzzling given recent economic headwinds and rising crude inventories," said Brian Hicks, co-manager of the U.S. Global Investors Resource Fund in San Antonio.

Close, but no cigar. That about summed up the mood Tuesday of Houston-area Cubans who have grown old waiting for Fidel Castro to die. Handing the reins of power to his younger brother, Raul, won't do much to diminish his power or change the nation, predicted Cubans, who said as long as Fidel Castro is around, he'll crush anything contrary to his views.

Republican candidates for Harris County district attorney differed about the value of political endorsements but agreed on whether a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate Chuck Rosenthal.

Mel Preen hears from Nick Watt that Tony Blair is meeting opposition in his hope to become the first president of Europe, from Declan Walsh in Pakistan on the final election results, from Stephen Wilkinson, who is just back from Cuba, on Castro's legacy, from Owen Gibson on BBC tv being available on your ipod and from Dan Milmo on his tourist trip to Sierra Leone.

This is a cheap, quick way to make a small remote shutter trigger for Canon Digital Rebels. Basically, you just need a $3 hands-free phone headset with a 2.5mm plug (NOT 3.5mm). Pop open the case and cut the wire leading to the ear piece, tie it off, then close it back up. Plug into the camera and you're good to go. [Instructables]

If you just got an N95, are drooling over its successor, the N96—or any Nokia E or N series phone—GigaOm has a great list of apps you should load up to the get the most out of Symbian. Here's a few: Gmail for Mobile (mercifually designed for numeric keypads); GooSync to bring your Google and Symbian Cal together; Fring does AIM, Skype, Yahoo, MSN, GTalk and Twitter, including file transfers; and Shozu lets you tag and categorize stuff
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Filed under: Cellphones Did you know that NASA was building a base of operations in the south pole of the Moon? Did you know colonists would be living and working there? Did you know that plans are in motion to establish a satellite phone network which would allow said colonists to communicate with one another? Well, it's all true... and more! According to a report, NASA and the British National Space Centre (BNSC) are preparing a trial phone net
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Filed under: Displays, HDTV It's a dilemma faced by nearly every photo / video editor on the planet -- stick with a huge CRT for that precise color accuracy, or make the jump to LCD for aesthetics sake? Fret not, dear worriers, as Panasonic has supposedly crafted a miracle solution with the BT-LH1760. This April-bound production monitor is essentially devoid of attractiveness, but it does offer up a 120Hz refresh rate, an IPS panel with a 1,280 x
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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video After the European PR agency seemingly jumped the gun, we finally get some actual hands-on shots of Sony's newest video Walkman. The NW-A820 series as it's known in Japan does everything its other NWZ-A820 brother can do in Europe (and presumably the US) only with that icky ATRAC and SonicStage baggage in tow. Sony also announced a new ¥20,000 (about $186) VRC-NW10 cradle with video-out and trick little
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Scarlett Johansson wore a wonderful revealing dress at the premiere of her new movie, The Other Boleyn Girl.

What do you think presidential homes around the world look like? like this.

An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when parliament meets Sunday. The end of Castro's rule ? the longest in the world for a head of government ? frees his 76-year-old brother Raul to implement reforms he has hinted at since taking over as acting president when Fidel Castro fell ill in July 2006. President Bush said he hopes the resignat
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There is a whole lot of photoshop cuteness going around

Mitsubishi has just released sketches of the concept coupe they will be showing at the January's Detroit Auto Show that looks set to take the best of the original Eclipse, the Audi R10 and the latest Evo X. Like so many other cars, the Eclipse has grown progressively larger and heavier with each generation. The Concept-RA looks set to return to its more sprightly roots with a lightweight aluminum space frame and plastic resin body panels.

Marketa Brymova in your face And don't forget the other women without the need to wear clothes at Attu Girls

Some interesting things you never knew....

Everyone?s making book on who?ll return their borrowed dresses and tuxes to the designers and the jewels to Harry Winston?s. The track record for the return of borrowed clothing is dismal. Every time a star tells the media whose dress she?s wearing, it?s Hollywoodspeak for ?Try and get it back.? We can hope our favorite movie will come away with the big prize, but in the long run, some of the best pictures ever made did not receive Best Picture O
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Here?s ex-Victoria Secret model named Laetitia Casta in a bikini. She obviously hasn?t had much work in the last 5 years based on her shitty lookin ass and it turns out that her career peaked back then when everyone told her she was the hottest bitch in the world and she got cocky and decided that she didn?t have to work for it anymore and let herself go.