Latest Stories
Making wine is one of mankind’s oldest pastimes. Now you can make wine in your living room thanks to Greg Snell’s new invention, the WinePod. The personal winemaking system allows wine lovers to produce wine at home, without the uncertainty of the traditional winemaking process. Snell’s goal is to bring the lifestyle of a winemaker to the average person – without the mess.
Dozens of dogs participated in the 3rd Annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition in Coronado, CA, on June 28, 2008. The event was attended by hundreds of spectators.
The World' s Ugliest Dog is Gus, a Chinese Crested purebred, with three legs and one eye. A cancer survivor, this pooch is truly ugly by international standards. The award was bestowed upon Gus and his owners Jeanenne and Janey Teed of St. Petersburg, Florida at the 20th annual World' s Ugliest Dog competition at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair, in Petaluma, CA.
While many American suburbs, bastion of tranquility, have been rocked by the mushrooming subprime mortgage crisis, one town has been particularly hit. Stockton, California.
The Wag hotel, a luxury resort for dogs, opened in San Francisco on Saturday, May 12, 2007. It offers over 230 rooms and suites specifically designed for its four-legged guests as well as spa services such as pedicures, facials, massage and grooming.

A stretch of highway melted and collapsed near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on April 29, 2007, after a gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames creating intense heat. The truck's driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns and no other injuries were reported. Officials predicted a traffic nightmare for the San Francisco Bay Area commuters for weeks to come.
Cheeta, famed for his appearances in the 1930's and 1940's Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, turned 75 years old and remains the world's oldest living primate. He lives happily at the C.H.E.E.T.A Primate Sanctuary in Palm Springs, California, a home for primates who have retired from the movie industry and the show business.
"KITT", the famous car from the `80s TV show "Knight Rider", is on display for sale for US$149,995 at Kassabian Motors auto dealership in Dublin, CA. The 1982 Pontiac Trans AM muscle car was driven by actor David Hasselhoff who played Michael Knight in the iconic TV series. It is being sold by its owner as the 25th anniversary of the show's debut is coming up. Its owner purchased the car 10 years ago at an auction in San Diego and worked on restoring it since then.
Thousands of people came to see hundreds of tattoo and body artists at work at the Tattoo and Body Art Convention in San Francisco, CA, on April 1, 2007.
The Jet Bettle Car
San Mateo, CA
Mechanical engineer Ron Patrick built his dream car in his home garage in San Mateo, CA. It is a street-legal jet powered car made of a 1,350 HP helicopter jet turbine engine fitted onto a factory Volkswagen Beetle car.
Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of San Francisco on March 18, 2007, on the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq to call for an end to the funding of the Iraq war and the immediate return of U.S. troops.
More than 10,000 people gave a rock-star welcome to US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Oakland, CA, on March 17, 2007, on his first campaign stop in California. Obama is campaigning and fundraising throughout the country for the 2008 US Presidential elections
More than 80 protesters posed naked in public for photographer Jack Gescheidt in Berkeley, CA, on Mar 17, 2007, in an attempt to attract attention to save a grove of oaks slated to be cut down on the University of California's Berkeley campus. University administrators want to cut down more than 30 oak trees to make way for a $125 million sports training facility. Gescheidt staged the event as part of an ongoing series called -The Tree Spirit Project-.
A memorial, known as The Crosses of Lafayette and made of thousands of wooden crosses, one for each US soldier killed in Iraq, has become a controversial issue, grabbing national attention because of the reaction from various pro-war groups. The memorial was erected by anti-war volunteers on a privately-owned hillside in Lafayette, CA.
Heavy rain set off a serious landslide of rocks and boulders in a section of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco on February 27, 2007. Seven buildings were severely damaged in the landslide, displacing about 120 people.
French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard at a friend's house in Oakland, CA, on February 10, 2007. Ricard, a Ph.D. degree in molecular genetics and the son of renowned French philosopher Jean-Francois Revel, resides at Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal. Ricard has been scientifically assessed through MRI scans as one of the happiest people in the world.
Thousands of protesters marched in the streets of San Francisco, CA, on January 27, 2007, to show their discontent over US President George Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq. The march was one of several anti-war rallies held around the country.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs presents the new iPhone at Macworld Expo on January 9, 2007 in San Francisco, CA. The iPhone, available in the US in June 2007, is a combination of a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls and an internet communications device that supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in the Castro District of San Francisco to celebrate Halloween on October 31 2006.
The Blue Angels
San Francisco, CA
The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels above San Francisco on October 8, 2006. The event was part of the annual Fleet Week celebration. The mission of the Blue Angels is to enhance recruiting within the US Navy and represent it in the United States and other countries. They use F/A18 Hornet aircrafts.
The Tarantula Festival
Morgan Hill, CA
The annual Tarantula Festival takes place every October during the mating season at Coe Park in Morgan Hill, CA. Hundreds of visitors come to see, touch and learn more about the largest spiders on earth that usually inspire more fear and disgust than anything else.
Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs presents in San Francisco Apple's new online movie store, the new iPod Shuffle and new versions of the other models of iPods.
Dogs on Bikes
Oakland, CA
Jesse Lane of Oakland, CA, founded the Biker Dogs Motorcycle Club International in 2000. It is the world’s first motorcycle club for dogs who ride motorcycles. Canines are “Biker Dog” members and humans are either “Guardian” members or “defender” members. Every year, the club sponsors an Annual “Biker Dog Run” with an itinerary fixed in advance.
Space Memorials
Houston, TX
Space Services Inc. offers something unique to those who want to honor the memory of their loved ones in a very different way: they will send their ashes into space.
Netflix is the world's largest online DVD movie rental service, offering more than 4 million members access to more than 60,000 titles.
French skipper Olivier de Kersauson and his eight-man crew broke a new world record by crossing the Pacific Ocean from Yokohama, Japan to San Francisco, USA, under 14 days aboard the world's biggest trimaran, Geronimo.
The Bratz Doll
Van Nuys, CA
For decades, Barbie has been the reigning queen of fashion dolls, but all has changed when the Bratz dolls hit the market in 2001. Their edgy, stylish and “cool” look immediately seduced the pre-teen girls between 8 and 12 years old who saw in them what they want to become.
Legend of Motorcycle: International Concours d' Elegance, was the world's first concours d'elegance exclusively for motorcycles. It was held on the lawns of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Half-Moon Bay, CA, on May 6, 2006. Close to 200 of the world's finest motorcycles, covering nearly a century of motorcycling history, were judged by an international panel of experts.
The Fertility Institutes uses Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) technology in conjunction with in-vitro fertilization to help couples to choose the sex of their future baby with a 99% success rate.
Cheeta, famed for his appearances in the 1930's and 1940's Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, turned 74 years old on April 9, 2006, and remains the world's oldest living primate. He lives happily at the C.H.E.E.T.A Primate Foundation in Palm Springs, California, a home for primates who have retired from the movie industry and the show business. . ..View Story.
Craig of Craigslist.org
San Francisco, CA
Craig Newmark started craigslist.org in 1995 as a way to post local information for his friends. Since then, it has grown into one of the world's largest sources of online classified ads, reaching million of people around the world. Read Text By Mimi Rohr ........View Story.
Blind Designer Eric Brun-Sanglard sees what other people can’t even imagine. This inspired him to launch a successful career in home design after becoming blind more than 10 years ago. Among his numerous clients are movie stars such as Virginia Madsen. Read Text By Mimi Rohr .........View Story.
Prince Charles of Wales and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, came on a four-day vsiit to the San Francisco Bay Area. View Story.
Demonstrators gathered for a candlelight vigil in front of the Veterans Building in San Francisco on Oct 26, 2005, to protest silently the deaths of US troops in Iraq after the 2,000th war related death of a US soldier was announced yesterday.View Story.
The state-run Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Laboratory in Richmond, CA, is watching for the first sign of the avian flu disease in California by operating under a program of "enhanced surveillance" for the H5N1 strain of influenza. They test respiratory samples sent in by California doctors from patients who developed flu like symptoms shortly after traveling through regions infected by the avian influenza.View Story.
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs announced during a keynote address in San Jose, CA, on Oct 12, 2005, a new version of the popular iPod that plays videos, a new iMac computer and the new version 6 of iTunes that allows people to purchase videos and television shows online. View Story.
The Red Bull Air Race is a combination of aerobatic, slalom and racing flying. Within a rectangular area of 1400 by 400 meters (4,593 by 1312 feet), are mounted several pairs of 18-meter-high (59 ft), white air-filled pylons, with each pair spaced 10 to 14 meters (32 to 46 ft) apart. These are the gates and the pilots have to fly between them as fast as possible while performing certain figures. The Red Bull Air Race is the epitome of aerobatic flying as the pilot's necessary skills are extreme. The winner of a Red Bull Air Race is the pilot which completes the course in the fastest time while performing the correct figures and gate crossings. View Story.
NASA demonstrated on October 3, 2005, two autonomous "intelligent" robots that they hope will one day work side-by-side with humans in harsh extraterrestrial environments. The robots, named “K-9” and “Gromit”, are able to perform certain tasks without detailed human instructions. This would would allow them to prepare craft landing sites, build structures and mine for resources, and generally behave as astronaut butlers. The demonstration was at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. View Story.
Google Headquarters
Mountain View, CA
SGoogle, Inc. is a public company that provides Web search and online advertising services on the Internet. It offers advertising solutions and global Internet search solutions through its Web site, and Intranet solutions via an enterprise search appliance. Google was co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. View Story.
Several tons of trucked-in snow were dumped on two blocks of Fillmore Street in San Francisco on September 29, 2005, that transformed it into a ski jump competition organized by Ice Air. Thousands of people watched and cheered Olympic skier Jonny Moseley and 20 other professional skiers and snowboarders as they flew off the jump during this unique and unusual event. View Story.
Former rivals Microsoft and Palm teamed up with Verizon to release a new TREO smart phone that will run on Microsoft’s operating system, marking the first time Palm has employed a platform other than its own. View Story.
Actor Warren Beatty politically attacked California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on September 22, 2005, during a convention of the California Nurses Association, an organization that has emerged in the last year as one of Schwarzenegger's most vociferous critics. Beatty, a Democrat and longtime political activist, has been mentioned as a possible challenger to Schwarzenegger. View Story.
Ghostrider Robot, an autonomous motorcycle developed by Anthony Levandowski and his team of graduate students from the University of California, is getting ready for the 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge. The team’s Ghostrider, The Blue Team, is one of 40 semi-finalists selected for the race, a 150-mile off-road race for autonomous vehicles sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA). The first vehicle to successfully complete the 150 mile course in the October 8, 2005, competition will win a $2 million prize. View Story.
A new Wal-Mat store opened in Oakland on August 24, 2005. store opened Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world’s largest retailer, with more than $280 billion in yearly sales. The company employs 1.6 million people through more than 5,000 facilities worldwide and serve more than 138 million customers per week. View Story.
Auditions for the fifth edition of the popular show, American Idol, took place on Aug. 18, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA, before continuing to five other cities across the US. The show offers the opportunity for one talented singer to perform before millions of TV viewers, become a household name and win a major recording contract. View Story.
Wine.com
Oakland, CA
Wine.com is the world’s largest online wine retailer with sales of more than two million bottles of wine per year and a catalogue of more than 14,000 labels. Read Text By Mimi Rohr View Story.
Hundreds of overweight people who proudly describe themselves as fat attended the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) convention in San Mateo, California, Aug 10-14, 2005. They attended seminars and workshops that educate, inform and promote self esteem and acceptance. View Story.
The town of Parkfield, located on the San Andreas Fault in central California, is one of the world’s most seismically active areas. Its inhabitants like to call it the "Earthquake Capital of the World". It has been the site of an intensive earthquake study since the late 1970's and a team of scientists recently reached the fault’s active zone through a 2-mile deep borehole. This project, named SAFOD, is a major step in learning more about earthquakes and maybe predicting them. View Story.
Like every year, thousands of people came to watch the giant kites in action at the Festival in Berkeley, CA, on July 30 and 31, 2005. View Story.
Based in rural Indiana, Goliath Casket specializes in the manufacturing of oversized burial caskets ranging from 29 inch width to 52 inch width (74 to 132 cms), accommodating big human corpses from 300 lbs to over 1000 lbs (136 to over 453 kgs). Read Text By Mimi Rohr View Story.