Tech Culture

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any means at your disposal. Throughout Road Trip 2012, which will take me through California, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon, there will be a new challenge each day, and the opportunity to win some great prizes. I will update each day's post with the answer sometime after the entry more

MONTEREY, Calif.--Imagine an aerial dogfight of epic proportions: Fifty aircraft on a side, each prowling the sky for advantage over dozens of adversaries.

If Timothy Chung has his way, such a battle could take place over Southern California by 2015. But before you worry that war is coming to American soil, you should know that Chung's vision is really about a high-tech game of Capture the Flag played by as many as a hundred small, lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles playing their role in a grand challenge of an experiment.

Chung is an assistant professor in the Systems Engineering more

Larry Ellison has closed a deal to buy most the Hawaiian island of Lanai for an undisclosed sum.

The Oracle chief executive has agreed to purchase 98 percent of the 141-square-mile island, Hawaii's sixth-largest by acreage, according to a statement issued today by the Hawaii governor's office. Current landowner Castle & Cooke filed a transfer application with the Public Utilities Commission.

Billionaire David Murdock, who has owned 98 percent of the island since 1985, is selling the land after reportedly losing between $18 million and $25 million each year on the island. The state of Hawaii owns the other more

Venice Beach is the home of freedom, abandon, muscularity, and dropping out of society's sad, rational ways.

This ocean-side neighborhood of Los Angeles is a place so outside the norm that a fortune teller there actually told me things she could never have made up.

So why, oh, why is Google -- of all companies -- invading the place with its brainiac gristle?

A shocking expose in The New York Times describes how grown men with vastly overgrown guns are weeping on the beach in frustration.

Why? Because they fear that they will soon be cast aside in favor more

Nintendo wants to give gamers more access to titles for its new Wii U, according to a report.

The game company is currently making it as appealing as possible for developers to make all of their Wii U games available for download, according to Wii U Daily, which claims to have spoken to a European developer who previously provided accurate information on the console.

The developer went on to tell the blog that Nintendo is "offering insane incentives for publishers to sell retail games as downloads on the console." The games, according to the developer, would be available through the more

Update (Wednesday, 7:02 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 112 people got right -- is the Moss Landing Power Plant in Moss Landing, Calif. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Thursday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any means at your more

The next generation of "Star Wars" Lego hardware includes two sweet throwback scenes that will tempt any fan of the sci-fi series, as well as a cluster of exotic early-trilogy ships, according to images and information garnered from past toy fairs and a recent update on Lego's official site.

Jabba's Palace, pictured above, appears to be the easy winner in the summer 2012 collection with an all-star cast of nine characters including Leia as Boushh the bounty hunter and a captured Chewbacca. While the $119 tag might turn off some buyers, the charm factor appears high. We love Jabba's ridiculous form factor, his hyena-like minion Salacious Crumb, and the foreboding Han frozen in Carbonite. While the play area appears limited, other views indicate the 717-piece set offers far more detail than first meets the eye.

MONTEREY, Calif.--One after another, the framed pictures on both walls of the narrow hallway tell the story: submarines and naval ships churning white wakes as they slash through open ocean, each photo accompanied by unbidden gratitude.

"Thank you for your team's efforts & hard work! You ensure my safety and enhance my tactical advantage," one reads.

Welcome to the U.S. Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology & Oceanography Center. That long-and-hard-to-say name notwithstanding, this is one of the United States military's sharpest weapons in the never-ending battle for survival in rough seas all around the globe.

A supercomputer center more

What do you do when you've got $500 million to spare? Get an island.

Bill Gates and Larry Ellison are interested in buying the same one, according to rumors floating around Hawaii.

Billionaire David Murdock wants to sell the island of Lanai, Hawaii's sixth-largest by acreage, and potential buyers could include the Microsoft founder and the Oracle CEO, Pacific Business News reported. The island, which may be worth more than $500 million, is expected to be sold soon.

Gates and his wife, Melinda, rented the island (the whole island, mind you) for their marriage in 1994, and Ellison more