Daily News Brief: Tie the Knot with a Robot!

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That's binary for 'I do', and if David Levy's prediction holds ture, you could be hearing those beloved bits synthesized at the within this century. Levy, an AI researcher at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, told LiveScience that by the year 2050, "the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots." Levy argues that almost all factors causing people to fall in love are programmable, but don't worry if you're not the settling down type - he also predicts sex with robots in as early as 5 years. Of course, there are USB devices that already do that (you're on your own for the NSFW links)...

LucasArts Wields a Wii Light Saber

LucasArts, one of this editor's favorite companies for gaming classics such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, and Maniac Mansion, will soon give British Wii fans a Jedi treat. At this year's GameCity festival, LucasArts plans to exhibit a Wii light saber peripheral with their upcoming Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. No word yet on whether they plan to sell the device, but perhaps one savvy gamer will manage to sneak away with one by yelling, "Look behind you, a three-headed Storm Trooper!"

XBox 360 Arcade in Stores

Microsoft remains tight lipped on the new SKU, but that hasn't stopped store shelves from stocking the new XBox 360 Arcade. The new version retails for $279.99, currently the same as the Core system, and lacks a hard drive. What it does include is a 256MB memory card, a wireless controller (batteries included!), and an HDMI port, sans the appropriate cable. Also thrown in is the XBox Live Arcade compilation disc, which includes Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and Uno.

Hitachi Predicts 4TB Hard Drives

Hitachi was the first HDD manufacturer to hit 1TB in a single desktop drive, and they think they're on pace to hit 4 terabytes by 2011. They attribute the prediction to a new feat in giant magnetoresistance (GMR) technology, in which Hitachi has successfully shrunken a key component in hard drives that allows them to quadruple today's storage limits. Peter Gruenberg and Albert Fert were recently awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for their independent discovery of GMR.

Led Zeppelin Recognizes the Internet

Or more specifically, Led Zeppelin is finally recognizing the internet as a means of selling music. While some bands have gone so far as to let consumers name their own price for digitally downloaded tunes, Led Zeppelin, up until now, has refused to sell their music online. Their songs will first appear as ringtones starting this week, with digital downloads of songs to debut on November 13. Despite the digital strike, only the Beatles and Garth Brooks have outsold Led Zeppelin in the US.

AOL Making Big Cuts

And it's not to their pricing structure. In a continued transition from an internet access provider to an online advertising company, AOL plans to reduce its global work force by 20 percent, cutting 2,000 employees. The latest cuts follow a 5,000 employee reduction made last fall after AOL began offering paid services for free to boost ad-supported traffic. AOL's headquarters in northern Virginia will be hit hardest, which will represent 750 of the 2,000 cuts. AOL plans to move its headquarters to New York, where they'll be in the midst of the media advertising industry.

Porn Spammers Go Directly to Jail, Do not Pass Go

In the first trial to include charges under the CAN-SPAM Act, Jeffrey Kilbride and James Schaffer were sentenced to 72 months and 63 months (respectively) in jail for a combination of fraud, money laundering, illegal spamming, and obscenity charges. The two men were accused of running a junk mail operation since 2003, the bulk of which included pornographic links. Kilbride was hit with the higher sentence for attempting to prevent a government witness from testifying.