dot-anime is a North American version of the Japanese site, where anime fans can view 400 titles and 4,000 episodes of anime, along with downloading anime songs and purchasing DVDs and CDs.

The site will feature titles from Bandai Visual USA franchises such as "Patlabor The Movie," "Gunbuster," "Wings of Rean" and the recently released "Freedom."

The site will also offer information, sweepstakes and other promotions. Anime fans who register before August 1, 2007 will be eligible to win an HD DVD player and collectible items signed by anime creators and 200 bonus points as part of a point-prize program on the site.

Anime fans can purchase Bandai Visual USA and Broccoli DVDs, books and manga, apparel and character related items on the site. From time to time users who make purchases will receive dot-anime gifts.

The site is now in an early phase and will have multimedia content in the fall.

We aren’t real surprised to see Compete discover that research topics were frequently queried on Wikipedia in April 2007. Easy access to research has long been the online encyclopedia’s strong point.

Once Adam Torres and his fellow Competitors made their way through the data, they were surprised at what they found:

We categorized the top 100 Wikipedia terms for April into six general categories to figure out what the major search themes are on Wikipedia. As you would expect the greatest number of searches (28%) are within the research category. This includes terms like “Columbine High School massacre” and “American Civil War.” The two surprising categories are Anime and Sex

While Compete found 28 percent of Wikipedia terms were related to general research, the next 26 percent involved anime. Torres thinks it’s related to interest in Naruto and Pokemon, either by kids or their perpetually unhip parents.

Wikipedia has replaced the World Book encyclopedia and other texts as the place to find out about sex. 16 percent of the top 100 terms "do not appear to have gratuitous intent," Torres wrote. People are looking for very basic, physical information.

"It appears many people are learning about what sex is and how to have it by referencing Wikipedia," said Torres.

One has to wonder how long it’s going to take before general computer users starts getting board with their old boxy computer and starts looking for ways to style it up.

Think about it. Instead of a box you try to hide in a cabinet, you’ve got a classy looking bottle of Scotch taking up just a tiny bit of space on the desk.

Or for the Renaissance Geek, the anthropomorphic anime statue may tell all who enter the room exactly the kind of dateless chap they’re dealing with.

One of the neatest computer gear hybrids out right now, though, is the MouseFone, an optical mouse/VOIP hybrid that connects Skype users.

The fashionable hybrid is where it’s at. It’s only a matter of time before we see potted plant PC’s at Garden Ridge.

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