ThePowerGeeks.com

• Emulate Netflix, Rent Textbooks (JP)
  • Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra, Chegg.com
  • Started as a CraigsList for Campuses, didn’t work, came up with a netflix idea for college textbook.
  • You rent it, use it, then return it to the service free of charge
  • They’ll even plant a tree for each book you rent (Steven – make a snarky remark about never saying where and what kind…)
  • 21.99 to rent ($50 retail) – Was hard to find some books in stock
    
  • The company’s revenue in 2008 was more than $10 million (RedBox, NetFlix, Where’s our billion dollar idea??)
• IPhone 3GS Battery Sux
  • LA Times reporting that battery dead before full day operation (at full load)for many users
  • Apple is even recommending that u shut down GPS and Faster 3g to save on battery life
  • 3rd gen. IPhone has less stamina than first gen… here’s why
  • Only so much energy you can pack into small space, overheating and melting would occur
  • Battery 15% smaller than original, no real solutions in sight
  • SMS Flaw also found
• Demo Coming for L4D2 (JP)
  • So much feedback (good and bad) that Valve is going to put out demo for PC and X360
  • Pre-orders will gain access to said demo first
  • Valve bragging that pre-orders have doubled over original games pre-orders
  • Don’t fret,DLC will be available for original game (Steven – end of summer)
• Macbook Semi-Pro
  • Plenty of Macbook lovers out there, good computer
  • Louie Mantia, Macbook lover, 13″ macbook pro is only 6 bit video (vs. 8 bit)
  • So whats the deal?
    • 8bit (mac 65″ cinemavision supports this) – 16.7 million colors.
    • 6bit MacBook Pro screen? 262,144 thousand colors
  • Mac refuses to give out the answer on the true rating, including the 15″
• Never Ending HALO onslaught – Multiplayer goodness revealed (JP)
  • 24 multiplayer maps in total (all of those found in Halo 3, the three Halo 3 map packs, and these three new ones).
• D&D MMORPG Going “Free-to-Play”
  • What is “Free-to-Play” vs. Subscription based?
    • F2P = micro-transaction oriented (.99 for a new spell, look, access to special areas)
    • Sub = Lump sum on a monthly basis and access to the whole game w/out worrying about small transactions
  • You still have to buy the game
  • Aug. 6th this will come out, Eberron Unlimited and its new microtransaction store will be rolled out as a free update
  • Model works really well in Korea, Europe, China + various other casual games over here. Can it work for hardcore gaming?
• Sony Exec Rejecting Talks of PS3 price drop
  • His excuse? It was $599; it’s now $399
  • “Long term vision – 10 year cycle”
  • Problems with this thought? Xbox 360 is $199 and Wii is $249, both are serviceable gaming systems
  • PS3 has blu-ray. Sales slowing down of that medium (need 1080p TV to take full advantage, yet another expenditure)
  • Still not a death-knell, Sony seems willing to wait out the lower sales

Geek-Speak

Gadget Envy

• USB Chainsaw
  • 10″ guide bar, fully functional chainsaw
  • All the amenties you’d expect from its big brother
  • Only difference” Powered by a USB 2.0 socket.

Flame Bait

Intarweb Goldmine

Next Week

Contact Info

• On Twitter: Steven is @DarthMolen and I am @JPuent
• email us: darthmolen@thepowergeeks.com and jpuent@thepowergeeks.com

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