ThePowerGeeks.com » Apple http://thepowergeeks.com The Power Geeks Radio Show Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:33:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The Power Geeks #65 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/09/the-power-geeks-65/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/09/the-power-geeks-65/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:30:53 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16538

We are LIVE on Ustream!!! This week we talk InterventionCon, Apple Media Press Conference, Commodore 64 rising from the ashes and MUCH MORE!!!

Items of Interest

  • Historic Nasa Pictures come to Flickr “Commons” (SM)
    • Nasa posts free pictures on Flickr Commons of some of the most historic moments in its history
    • a GREAT trip down memory lane for any space nuts out there
    • Goddard, JFK, Von Braun, LBJ, John Glenn, Lots of rockets and xp planes
      • (JP – What an awesome collection of pics… Geeks and space geeks alike should dig this!)

Gold Sponsors:

UberDorkCafe

  • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
  • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
  • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
  • Woookie Coookies – a piece of UDC before there is even a physical cafe
  • UberDorkCafe – Auction Sept. 11th – DC,Tampa Bay,Online
  • first Piece revealed and accompanying t-shirt @hefnatron
  • Ellen campaign???
    • Both are available in the Android Market for Android devices running 1.5 or later
    • Lite is a free version (ad supported) with slightly limited functionality
    • Full version is only $1.99 USD  (On Sale till Midnight Monday Central for only $0.99 for Labor Day Sale!)
    • Go Buy it! or try it, then buy it!

Deals of the Week / New Releases

    • Originally aired 1960-62, hosted by Boris Karloff
    • Guests included Shatner, Richard Chamberlain and other soon to be stars
    • Many of the program’s writers, including such icons of the genre as Robert Bloch (“Psycho”) and Richard Matheson (“I Am Legend”)
  • Pinball FX2 comes to XBLA (SM)
    • Pinball? In this day and age? Original Pinball FX was one of the most bought and downloaded games on XBLA
    • FX2 is a “platform” meaning, you get the engine for free, you can import all your original FX boards and then the new boards come as content that u can purchase
    • New Achievements for old tables, Multiplayer support over XBLA, Leaderboards
    • (sm) Pinball tip of the week – Every Chuckie’s i’ve been to has 1 pinball machine for 1 token plays, boot the kids off it and camp the sucker

Geek Speak

  • Apple Event (JP)
  • iTunes 10 (available for download starting today)
    • New logo, few interface tweaks
    • Most of the new release’s focus is on Ping, a social network for music. “It’s like Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes,” Jobs said
    • iOS 4.1 announced, available next week
  • High Dynamic Range photos: The phone will take three photos in rapid succession — one at what the phone thinks is the normal image, one underexposed and the third overexposed. The image is then combined to create the high dynamic image. Mel Martin demonstrated the power of this type of program in July.
  • Bug fixes including those relating to the proximity sensor, Bluetooth and the iPhone 3G.
  • High-definition video upload over Wi-Fi.
  • TV show rentals and purchase
  • Game Center debut

New iPod Nano
It’s hip to be square. the newly introduced iPod nano finally dispenses with the wheel because now the control surface is the iPod touch. The new model is so small that like the newly announced iPod shuffle, it has a clip that allows it to be worn and has a 24-hour battery life.

What isn’t there: the video camera that was included in the last release of the nano a year ago.

Other features include:

  • VoiceOver
  • FM radio
  • Nike+ and pedometer

It comes in six colors, two more than the shuffle. It will cost $149 for 8GB and $179 for 16GB.
New Shuffle
The new iPod shuffle is smaller than the 2nd generation device and brings back buttons!
The new shuffle has a click wheel
It will hold 15 hours of music, is available in 4 colors and sells for US$49.
4th Gen iPod Touch
FaceTime. It isn’t just for iPhone any more.
Apple has just introduced a new generation of iPod touch with an new chip (the same A4 that powers the iPad and the iPhone 4), a better display (the iPhone 4′s double-resolution Retina display), and a built-in, front-facing camera that introduces FaceTime video conferencing capabilities.
a hefty refresh for an already great device,
lots of new features that really expand the way you can use the device.
newest iPod touch units bring nearly all of the iPhone magic to a Wi-Fi only platform.

Preorders start today, and they’ll be shipping within a week
Prices start at $229 for the 8GB version.

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

  • Intel a Busy bee (SM)
    • First, the purchase of Mcafee for $7.68 billion
    • Now, Infineon’s wireless unit for $1+ billion
    • Who is Infineon? make certain Iphone / IPad parts
    • Even intel sees writing on wall and is scrambling to be relevant
    • Have agreed to pay the US govt $55 million to settle charges that it paid kickbacks to tech partners for recommending their products to federal agencies
    • This final agreement, announced Mon, by the Dept of Justice follows a tentative settlement earlier in the month where HP agreed “in principal” to resolve the case.
    • “Contractors must deal fairly with the government when doing business with federal agencies,” Tony West, assistant attorney general for the civil division of the Department of Justice, said in the statement. “As this case demonstrates, we will take action against those who seek to taint the government procurement process with illegal kickbacks.”
    • The case stretches back to 2004 when two whistleblowers–Norman Rille, then a senior manager with Accenture, and Neal Roberts, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers–filed a civil complaint alleging that HP had doled out kickbacks. The suit, which also included Sun Microsystems and Accenture, was launched under provisions of the False Claims Act (PDF) in which private citizens can file actions regarding fraud on behalf of the U.S. and share in any money recovered.
    • In 2007, the DOJ joined the investigation and charged that the defendants used affiliate relationships “to enrich themselves through a kickback scheme.”
    • The settlement also resolves charges that a 2002 contract between HP and the GSA was falsely priced because HP failed to provide complete information during negotiations with the government.
    • HP’s response to the whole thing? “HP denies engaging in any illegal conduct in connection with these matters. We believe it is in the best interest of our stakeholders to resolve the matter and move beyond this issue.”
  • Commodore 64 Rises from the Ashes (JP)
    • Commodore USA announced right to make branded computers 6 mos ago
    • Then promptly went back under that radar as a deal couldn’t be hammered out
    • Now popped back up with full blown computer hidden in a authentic commodore 64 shell, right down to the huge keys!
    • PC64, 4GB DDR3, SATA 1TB HDD, HDMI, Blu-Ray or DVD
    • Want more modern? Go w/ the Phoenix or Amigo
    • All OS’es (including Amiga emulation)
      • (JP – I want one!!!)
    • Snoop Dogg and Symantec’s Norton want you to show off your lyrical skills on the subject of cybercrime and enter the “Hack is Wack” cybercrime rap contest.
    • Contest ends Sept 30th. Upload your 2 min video at www.HackIsWack.com
    • Snoop is going make the initial call for entries through his Facebook account, Twitter and YouTube page
    • What’s the winner get?  RT airfare for 2 to Los Angeles along with two days and two nights hotel stay to meet with Snoop’s management and learn more about his business. You’ll also get two tickets to a Snoop Dogg concert and a new laptop pimped out with Norton Internet Security 2011.
    • The winner, to be announced on Oct. 20, 2010, will be selected based on overall creativity, rapping and performing skills, and delivery of a compelling anti-cybercrime message.
    • On Twitter? Use hashtag #SnoopNorton to look for and mark tweets about the contest.
      • (why does this Reel Big Fish song keep running through my head??? Sell out, with me tonight… sell out… JP)
  • PS3 3D Movie Support Pushed to October (SM)
    • Yeah, is that bated breath I hear?
    • Was scheduled for this month,
    • Put away your copy of Rainy with a side of meatballs, you have to wait til oct.
    • Will get pushed in a firmware upgrade
    • If you’ve held off buying Borderlands in the event they’d release a GotY Edt., you’re risk seems to have paid off.
    • Posting on Twitter, developer Gearbox Software has confirmed such a collection by tweeting “Borderlands Game of the Year Edition announced! Game + all FOUR DLCs and bonus map for 360, PS3, and PC. Available in October!”
    • As well as coming pre-patched with all the usual fixes that follow a game’s release, there’s the following four download content packs included:
  • The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
  • Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot
  • The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
  • Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution
    • The only real unknown is what the bonus maps will be, but with an October release, there won’t be long to wait to find out.

Intarweb Goldmine

  • Press your ashes into Vinyl, put yourself on reverse… (UDG)
    • headstones are so last century
    • UK Company is offering to bake your ashes into a vinyl record
    • Record will have your own voice, favorite tunes, or last will and testament
    • They also offer R.I.V. custom artwork for the center, 24 mins of content
    • Yours for only 2,000 pounds
  • Woman Dr. Dies of asphysition in boyfriends chimney (JP)
    • Straight from the land of WTF
    • The doctor, involved in an “on-again, off-again” relationship, apparently tried to force her way into the home by sliding down the chimney, police said Tuesday. Her decomposing body was found there three days later.
    • While she was trying to break in, the man she was pursuing escaped unnoticed from another exit “to avoid a confrontation,” authorities said.
    • Who says Dr’s are some of the smartest people on the planet??  not me!
  • Proof that Golf is bad Joo Joo (SM)
    • I have PROOF that golfing can be bad for your health
    • guy in California swinging at a ball in the rough struck a rock
    • Sparks then set 25 acres ablaze
    • needed 150 firefighters to put out the blaze
    • I’d say that’s definitely a mulligan
    • His game was on FIYAH! Literally

Extra Links

Contact Info

Sponsors

Prof. Mordarm’s “The Wandering Geek Con Journal”

  • Kickstarter Project by Lorenzo R.(aka @Prof_Mordarm), create a useful medium to inform people of Geeky Cons across the U.S., both big and small.
  • Series of physical journals that will be written in and by the geeks, the panelists, the cosplayers, the vendors, & the fans. Everyone & anyone at a Con can write in this journal Allowing good, bad, and geeky experiences to liv on
  • When enough content is gathered, these experiences will be published into easy to read (online, PDF, & hardcopy) editions each year. It will be the Geek’s version of the Farmer’s Almanac, but for Geeky Cons!
  • To help get your own TWGCJ and/or support or if you have questions, check out the Kickstarter @ http://kck.st/cNUADw & also follow the project creator on Twitter for updates.

http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

  • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
  • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
]]> http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/09/the-power-geeks-65/feed/ 0 The Power Geeks #64 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-64/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-64/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:49:13 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16531

We are LIVE on Ustream!!! Tonight we break out the zombies, Lightning Rock’n’Roll, high tech garbage, and stalking gets easy, all this and more!

(JP) With gratitude and much respect, best birthday wishes to Mr. Declan MacManus aka Elvis Costello.

Jeremy brought it up, Prof. Mordarm made the pic

Items of Interest

  • You’ve seen Steampunk…helloo MarvelPunk (udg)
    • 19 yo Zachariah Perry Cruse, a sculpture student of Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, Indiana has created an Xbox 360 mod Tony Stark would be proud of.
    • It started as a rusty, fat Falcon HDMI Xbox 360.
    • It has its own Arc Reactor that glows in cool white when the console is turned on, in addition to a ring of light around the Arc Reactor that looks like the console’s power button.
    • Available on ebay, the sexy beast comes with matching red controller and a 120g hard drive with “Stark Industries” label.
    • Looking to bid on this? Good luck- current top bid is $3,200.
      • I think Microswerve should hire this kid immediately… his consoles beat any of the custom faceplate models on the market to date (JP)
  • Walking Dead Official Trailer (SM)
    • (SM)I am officially in love with this series and its not even out yet
    • We saw pieces of this from SDCC
    • That they would keep Kirkman around speaks volumes towards how they want to get this right
    • Watch all the other stuff at that site… Zombie school? Count me in :)
      • (JP) So Glad Darabont is attached to this. He has done the best adaptations of Stephen King novels… He has a great way of handling horror/suspence subject matter. This should be amazing! now I have a new reason to look forward to Halloween!
  • Age of Empires Getting a new treatment for online linked to Xbox360 and Windows Games Live (JP)
    • Sign up for the Beta at the link in the show notes…
    • Under an NDA for now, but as soon as  I can talk about it… I will
    • I can say I have always love AoE games and am excited about this…

Gold Sponsors:

UberDorkCafe

  • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
  • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
  • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
  • Woookie Coookies – a piece of UDC before there is even a physical cafe
  • UberDorkCafe – Auction Sept. 11th – DC,Tampa Bay,Online
  • first Piece revealed and accompanying t-shirt
  • Golden Pic and Golden Pic Lite for Android devices
    • Both are available in the Android Market for Android devices running 1.5 or later
    • Lite is a free version (ad supported) with slightly limited functionality
    • Full version is only $1.99 USD
    • Go Buy it! or try it, then buy it!

Deals of the Week / New Releases

  • Tactical Bacon - ‘Nuff said
    • Delicious bacon, canned, so it has a 10+ year shelf life.
    • Approx. 18 servings per can (1 serving = 3 slices of bacon).
    • Net Wt.: 9oz
    • a must have for every Zombipocalypse survival kit!
Call of Duty Black Ops:Retailer Extends $20 Promo to Prestige and Hardened Edition (udg)

  • Activision announced the availability of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Prestige Edition and Hardened Edition for pre-order on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
  • Both versions are available for pre-order at Amazon and the retailer has extended their $20 video game credit promo to both the Prestige Edition and Hardened Edition.
  • Black Ops Hardened Edition Features:
    • Limited edition Black Ops Collector’s Medal w/display case
    • 4 extra playable co-op maps not in the standard edition
    • Exclusive Black Ops Xbox® Live® avatar outfit
    • Premium, special-edition SteelBook™ case
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops full game
    • Black Ops Prestige Edition Features:
      • Includes the full Call of Duty: Black Ops Hardened Edition w/ Collector’s Medal and 4 extra playable co-cop maps not in standard edition
      • RC-XD Video Surveillance Vehicle – Fully custom RC vehicle modeled after in-game RC-XD Killstreak Reward
      • Fully custom RC vehicle modeled after in-game RC-XD Killstreak Reward
      • Video camera to send wireless video to Transmitter
      • Microphone to send wireless audio to Transmitter
      • Digital proportional steering and throttle
      • Independent suspension
      • Display stand
      • RC-XD Transmitter – 2″ backlit TFT 220 x176 color screen to receive video from car
      • 2″ backlit TFT 220 x176 color screen to receive video from car
      • Integrated speaker to receive audio from car
      • Custom pistol grip style RC controller
      • High and low speed settings
      • Up to 200ft control range
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops is set to ship on November 9, 2010 on Xbox 360 and PS3.
    • Reg Edition = $59.99 + free $20 Credit
    • Hardened Edition= $74.99 + free $20 Credit
    • Prestige Edition= $149.99 + free $20 Credit

Geek Speak

  • 7 Ways to Destroy Zombies
    • Natural Predators
    • No Heat
    • Cant handle the cold
    • Biting is a terrible way to spread disease
    • They cant heal
    • Landscape Zombie Proof
    • Lots of weapons

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

  • HDMI Cable Scam (SM)
    • Cable companies claiming 240/480 hz refresh rates through their cables.
    • No such thing! Thats all determined by the device
    • Only “High Speed” and regular def rated cables (need high speed for 1080p)
    • Companies are just trying to get consumers to spend more on cables
  • Rock Goes Lightening-Proof (udg)
    • Arc Attack’s MIDI guitar means just cuz it’s stormin doesn’t mean the rock needs to stop.
    • The fret board is 72 optically isolated switches. The fret board, instead of frets has 6 brass contacts per fret. When the string is pushed down to the contact, it makes a connection.
    • From there the signal is optically isolated, to protect from EMF and sent to a micro controller thats only job is to priority encode the fretboard, and keep tabs on which string is pushed down to each fret.
    • And that all means what? if you are playing the 6th string on the 12th fret, then the computer ignores if say the 11th and 10th frets are pressed on that string also, since the 12th fret needs to take priority – just like a real guitar.
    • To truly appreciate the awesomeness of this check out the video in the link in the show notes.
  • Apple News (JP)
    • IOS 4 fix for 3gs coming “soon”
      • Some are claiming slow-downs with 4 on 3gs and below
      • (SM – I personally have seen this on a guys phone)
      • “I’ve waited patiently through 4.0.1 and 4.0.2, looking for a fix that will make my phone work again. I’ve read the forums that advise me to jailbreak my phone or use some other method so I can downgrade back to a version of iPhone 3, however I’m not prepared to use a method that is not supported by Apple.”
      • Jobs reply: Software update coming soon (sent from my iphone)
    • Patent for limiting “jailbreaks”
      • describes measures to identify “particular activities that may indicate suspicious behavior,” so that “safety measures” can be taken to restrict the device’s functions. Those activities include the “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of a SIM card”
      • Systems that includes: activation of camera that could cap and geotag devices surroundings or users , recordings of voice, heartbeat monitor, and compare those against photo of real user
      • Big Brother anyone????? (JP – I was actually thinking this sounds more like HAL… I’m sorry Dave, I can’t allow you to do that)
      • SM- Hmm, we know that the remote activation of camera functionality is already there…
    • ITunes Hack or Phishing Scam?
      • Limited amt of users waking up to a bevy of charges to paypal from ITunes (one person $4600)
      • Apple spinning it as Phishing scam and gullible users
      • Paypal claiming that their system was not breached
      • Apple advice: change your password and cancel ur credit card. not our fault
        • (JP) My advice. Secure passwords you change semi regularly and use itunes gift cards, don’t link multiple accounts together.. IE iTunes and Paypal. Keep all online accounts separate, so if one is compromised you limit your liability
  • Green Police going Hi-Tech, Trashcans with RFID’s? (SM)
    • Cleveland Bins get RFID, if you don’t bring it out after a couple of weeks, they rifle through your garbage
    • more than 10% recyclable, then its $100 fine
    • Is it really wanting to save the earth? Nope, its all about economics
    • Cleveland pays $30 a ton for garbage dump, gets $26 a ton for recyclables
    • Have goal of 4000 tickets, paying 2.5 million for 25,000 tech bins, plans to roll to all 150,000
  • Be your own sell out? (udg)
    • Don’t care about privacy? Think your info is gonna be found and sold anyway so you may as well pocket the $ for it? Then Statz is for you.
    • According to their site “”Statz was founded on the simple premise that everyone should own, control, and benefit from their personal data. To enable that premise, the Statz web site is the first marketplace for consumers to securely and anonymously own, control, and sell all their personal and activity data. Every time a consumer’s data is sold, Statz will pay the consumer. That’s you — and it’s that simple.” “
    • You “own” all the data you upload, and choose what you’d like to “sell”. You can remove your data at any time, and it is gone from their servers for good–of course, if you “sold” it to a vendor already, that’s not coming back to you. Everything from cell-phone calling/texting history, eBay selling reports, to Skype usage is all available to be sold. No personally identifiable information is sent, and you can control specifically what is sold and given out.
    • So- are you willing to put your data up for grabs in exchange for a profit? Well, if you sign up for Statz and follow their instructions they’ll pay you 3x the prevailing rate for 1 year after we launch the Statz Marketplace on all sales of data uploaded during the alpha.
  • Icanstalku.com (SM)
    • Did you know that you could be stalked by your photos???
    • Some cameras and smart phones have geocoding enabled by default and they put this info where you can’t see it.
    • So, upload to public place like Twitpic and ppl can look at that information very easily and find out where you are at (or were at)
    • This website starkly shows that problem… it tells ppl where others are at based upon their pictures they uploaded
    • Disable it on your device if you don’t want this functionality or use a utility such as “GeoSetter”
    • Coca-Cola Village Joined W/ FB for a stalker’s wet dream
  • Halo Reach Leaked to the internet already (JP)
    • Word got round that Halo Reach was in the wild on Saturday after hackers managed to circumvent a block on Xbox.com, which was supposed to provide code for the full game to reviewers only.
    • Reach was Reach on two P2P sites monday morning. One uploader says:
      • ‘Game extracted from the leaked .xcp files then converted from god file to iso. Not sure if it will work on flashed consoles but its an iso so it should..confirmed to work on jtags too.’
    • Microsoft made it clear that it was dealing with and “aggressively investigating” the leak.
    • Halo: Reach is due for release on September 14, when you’ll be able to play it nice and legally.
    • Viral Marketing for Reach = Remote Control Robotic arm
  • Google Makes Chrome Developers Dig Into Their Pockets (udg)
    • Google announced last Thursday the new, one-time $5 registration for new Chrome developers.
    • This comes after proposed one-time registration fee for Android App developers.
    • Gregor Hochmuth, product manager, stated in a recent blog post “(The sign up fee) is intended to create better safeguards against fraudulent extensions in the gallery and limit the activity of malicious developer accounts.”
    • Will peeps looking to scam millions really care about a lousy $5? They will if whatever they use to pay that fee can be traced to them in a prosecutable way should they intend to scam away.
    • Payment must be made using Google Check out, which links payments to a credit card, which starts the paper trail to the developer.
    • The company also launched a preview of its Chrome Web Store to give developers a chance to experiment w the online mart before it goes public later this year.
    • Developers can use the store to give away or sell their browser extensions, themes and web apps.
    • Google has set the minimum price for an add-on, theme or Web app at $1.99 — though developers can continue to give away their work if they want — and it will take a 5% cut of the purchase price, along with a 30-cent transaction fee for each download and payment. So a developer who charges the minimum $1.99 for an extension would receive $1.59 per download.
  • Google Brings Google Voice to Gmail (SM)
    • If you are a Gmail user in the U.S., you can now make free Web-based phone calls to any phone in the U.S. and Canada right from the Gmail interface.
    • International calls start at 2 cents a minute
    • To use this new feature, you will have to install the Google Talk plugin, which is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
    • They are rolling this out over the next few days so it may be a bit before you see it pop up.
    • Not currently available for Google Apps accounts
    • If you are a Google voice user, your Google Voice number will appear as the outbound called ID number on calls made from Gmail. You can also opt to receive inbound Google Voice calls from inside the GMail interface.
    • Google is clearly trying to position Gmail as more than just an email client. With the launch of a better contacts manager earlier this month and the addition of these new telephony features, Gmail is now becoming more of a full-blown communications suite than just a place to manage email.
  • MMO for Neverwinter Nights announced (JP)
    • Atari and Cryptic Studios are teaming up to make a new DnD based RPG called Neverwinter Nights.
    • It’s planned to release Q4 2011
    • Gameplay will center on five-person groups that can include other players and/or AI allies, and there will be an extensive content generation system.
    • Action points have been changed to “boons” which allow you to use special boosts in certain situatons, healing surges (gain your HP back) are present, spells and abilities will closely match 4e, if you’ve played 4th edition before, you’ll be comfortable with the mechanics in the MMO
    • (udg- just wanna toss out there that my keen detective work called this in my GenCon recap)
  • Original Kermit Donated to Smithsonian (SM)
    • Trivia: What year did Sesame Street Start? (1969)
    • Trivia: How many years did “The Muppet Show” run? (4 – 1976 – 1980)
    • (JP) Jan 30th 1974 The Muppet Show Valentine’s special ran… some consider this to be the first pilot for The Muppet Show
    • Trivia: What show did Kermit the Frog originally appear?
    • Kermit was actually from Sam and Friends, a puppet show on Washington TV that ran from 1955-1961
    • Others on the cast? Pierre the French Rat, a voracious purple skull named Yorick, and a yellow monster called Mushmellon

Intarweb Goldmine

  • North Korea wants YOU for a friend (JP)
    • This “Friendly” dictatorship is looking for you as a buddy.
    • First twitter and Youtube, now Facebook
    • Mostly propaganda about how great North Korea is
    • Definition of Irony? Internet access is blocked for everybody but the elite of the 24 million citizens in that country
  • Minneapolis pays $165,000 to zombies! (SM)
    • Yes, you heard it right, Zombies like blondes are more interested in your money than your brains, well these 7 at least :)
    • in 2006, 7 protested mindless consumerism by milling around in an intersection dressed like zombies, w/ amplified Ipod
    • Police arrested them and charged them with carrying eq that “simulated” a weapon of mass destruction
    • Now the courts are awarding these ppl for the wrongful arrests by making the city pay them money for their undead troubles.
    • Thats one way to get rid of zombies…  wonder if it works for them all?
    • (Legit link here)
    • Tuesday Aug 3rd around 12:30 pm police in West Nevada County, CA received a frantic call.
    • The 911 caller’s son was allegedly beaten by a group of bodybuildfers from Reno and was feared to be left for dead she told police.
    • Things then took another odd turn after a pack of “midgets” followed and tried to POISON the caller.
    • Undaunted, a bodybuilder and the “lead female midget,” who was described as “really violent,” formed a cooperative and have been driving the caller’s own truck.
    • Caller then requested a SWAT team be sent after the “midgets”
    • Word of advice for caller- they prefer little people. :)
    • It is not clear if the Sheriff’s department followed up on this call or not.

Extra Links

Contact Info

Sponsors

Prof. Mordarm’s “The Wandering Geek Con Journal”

  • Kickstarter Project by Lorenzo R.(aka @Prof_Mordarm), create a useful medium to inform people of Geeky Cons across the U.S., both big and small.
  • Series of physical journals that will be written in and by the geeks, the panelists, the cosplayers, the vendors, & the fans. Everyone & anyone at a Con can write in this journal Allowing good, bad, and geeky experiences to liv on
  • When enough content is gathered, these experiences will be published into easy to read (online, PDF, & hardcopy) editions each year. It will be the Geek’s version of the Farmer’s Almanac, but for Geeky Cons!
  • To help get your own TWGCJ and/or support or if you have questions, check out the Kickstarter @ http://kck.st/cNUADw & also follow the project creator on Twitter for updates.

http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

  • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
  • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
]]> http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-64/feed/ 0 The Power Geeks #63 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-63/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-63/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:24:45 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16529

We are LIVE on Ustream!!! Tonight we talk with Sillof.com about his custom figures, amy geek Star Wars Celebration V, 7 ways the zombie apocalypse won’t happen, Star Wars on Blu-Ray, Radios in Cell phones (are you kidding me)

  • Possible hacked iPhone saga- weird call+5 images on camera roll+ 1.6gb data uploaded to her phone + Apple “not so” genius +AT&T (need I say more) = still no clue. I’m telling ya- CHINESE!

Gold Sponsors:

UberDorkCafe

  • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
  • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
  • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
  • Woookie Coookies – a piece of UDC before there is even a physical cafe
  • UberDorkCafe – Auction Sept. 11th
    • Both are available in the Android Market for Android devices running 1.5 or later
    • Lite is a free version (ad supported) with slightly limited functionality
    • Full version is only $1.99 USD
    • Go Buy it! or try it, then buy it!

Deals of the Week / New Releases

  • Toshiba releases Dual Screen Tablet / Laptop
    • Released in Japan first, now available here in the U.S. as of Monday as pre-order, Aug. 29 in some stores
    • Based on Windows 7, Clamshell device, 1.8 lbs, 7 inch
    • Bottom window is a touch screen keyboard and a monitor when needed
    • Bit pricey, $1099
      • (JP) One very cool feature (reading like an actual book) and one very disturbing song in the video ad at the link
        • Lyrics “You need me, you want me, come touch me, come hold me” Is this a porno ad?
  • First Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light DLC Free for 30 Days Upon Launch on Xbox 360
    • Square Enix brings good news to those looking forward to Lara Croft’s first downloadable adventure.-the first content pack will be offered for free on the Xbox 360 for the first 30 days after launch, once it is released.
    • The Xbox 360 timed-exclusive is set to launch today as the final title in the 2010 Summer of Arcade promotion on Xbox Live.
    • (JP) WTF May go on tiny soapbox for a minute here. five DLC already when game dropping tomorrow??? Ripoff? Why not included in game… this isn’t like a map pack add on)
  • Apple Releases Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0
    • Solves specific issues regarding frame rates in Portal and Team Fortress 2 on certain Macs, as well as issues that could cause StarCraft II or Aperture 3 to quit unexpectedly or become unresponsive.
    • Also corrects image corruption issue when connecting/disconnecting external displays
    • The update is 69.2MB and is available via Software Update for Macs running Mac OS X 10.6.4.
  • DEXTER SEASON 4!! (udg)
    • Ok, I NEVER watch TV, but I’ve seen every episode of Dexter. It freakin’ rawks and season 4 is no excepction.
    • You will never look at John Lithgow the same way again.
    • Get it now while it’s a steal.
    • Trailer for Season 5 premiered at SDCC but I can’t link it cuz MAJOR SPOILER.
    • You’ve got til Sept 26 to cram it in before Season 5 premiers :)  (JP – Can’t wait!! Love DEXTER too!!!)

Geek Speak

  • SWCV Rundown – (hopefully amy_geek – dm sent)
    • Top 5
      • Break out cosplay best and worst
  • Trinkets and stuffs
  • Knock off Merchandise, Social Media and Starwars – Panels,

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

  • Star Wars on Blu-Ray (SM)
    • Announced at SWCV when Jon Stewart asked the question
    • Deleted scenes, all 6 films, extended features
    • Only the “Special Edition”, original not included (HAN SHOT FIRST)
    • 2011 (WAAAAAA!)
  • PS Plus Games go bye bye after subscription ends (JP)
    • Prchased a 3-month subscription to PlayStation Plus and wondering what will happen to the free games you’ve downloaded once your subscription runs out?
    • those “free” titles will cease to be accessible once the subscription expires.
    • Wanna play them again? Ante up for another subscription or purchase the game in the store.
    • Strangely, PSone games still work once the Plus subscription ends even though the games are clearly marked as “Expired.” Guessing this is a glitch so expect a mandatory firmware update.
  • Xbox Live Titles For Windows Phone 7 Finally Revealed (udg)
    • Have finally announced a full list of launch titles for WP7 handsets, including Castlevania, Halo: Waypoint, Star Wars, Crackdown, and Guitar Hero, alongside a handful of newer properties like the ultra-cute ilomilo, produced in-house by Microsoft Game Studios.
    • In total, there will be over 60 game titles, with new offerings appearing every week in the Xbox Live Marketplace, just like its big brother console version
    • Microsoft has also shown off the full feature set of Xbox Live integration in Windows Phone 7, and users of the service should be pleased to discover that there’s not much missing from the version they know and love.
    • Will allow for full avatar integration (we’re talking fully rendered, interactive avatars) along with customization (clothes, accessories, and more). Messaging, friend lists / status, achievements, and leaderboards (with friend comparisons) are all here as well, making for a pretty complete mobile Xbox Live experience.
    • And also just like the console, every game will have a try-before-you buy demo to check out before spending your hard-earned cash.
    • You can visit the link in the show notes for a full review of the features that Engadget was able to preview. While many of the features were still very much in development, the review crew had great things to say about it and site a promising future for Xbox fans.
  • Radio,RIAA Ask Congress for Radios in Cell Phones (SM)
    • There’s no money in radio anymore, user base dwindling
    • Most advert goes to either TV or online
    • Radio currently is only paying a portion of the licensing, online pays the full amt
    • Music industry is looking to make another 100 million from radio
    • Music business hurting, so squeeze radio, radio hurting, so make mobile device manufacturers build radio receivers in each device they make?
    • Have these ppl ever heard of I <3 radio??? Also, WTF with FM? Its power and bandwidth hungry
    • (JP) I love me my XM Sirius Radio. I only listen to Audible or XM in my car anymore
  • MagicTalk = Free local phone calls to and from Computer? (JP)
    • Most services charge a fee to register a phone number and make calls to or from it on your computer (see skype and vonage)
    • Simple reason? It costs them money to register that phone # and act as a real telephone company
    • the Makers of Magic Jack want to change that by giving you a number for free tied to their software
    • How do they make money? They charge the phone companies when you receive a call and they charge for international calls
    • VOIP is one of the reasons the broadband providers want to regulate their bandwidth
    • JP – friend runs asterisk at home, and has a script that uses Google talk to make all outbound, his number from a similar service is free for incoming calls, but charges for outgoing calls. so this way, every call is an incoming call.
  • The Zombie Cookies Plot Thickens (udg)
    • If you’ve been listening to our shows over the last few weeks, I mentioned an issue of some big names using technology that brings cookies (not noms, the ones on your computer) back to life and some people being not so happy about that. The plot has thickened.
    • Disney’s internet subsidiary and several of its partners are now being sued.
    • The attorneys representing people who browsed websites that employed the technology claim it was used to track them in ways that violate the sites’ privacy policies.
    • It appears as though the trackings, (including many minors) weren’t exactly random. The habits of one individual who browsed articles on depression, were uniquely tracked across a network of partners, according to the complaint.
    • The suit was filed in US District Court in Los Angeles against Walt Disney Internet Group, Clearspring Technologies, Warner Bros. Records, and several other companies that shared the cookies.
    • Seems they have an “information-sharing agreement” they failed to tell their users about.
    • The suit (which is seeking class-action status) was filed in US District Court in Los Angeles against Walt Disney Internet Group, Clearspring Technologies, Warner Bros. Records, and several other companies that shared the cookies
    • The suit alleges the companies violated a raft of laws, including the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Computer Crime Law, the California Invasion of Privacy Act and trespass and personal property statutes.
    • You may read a full copy of the complaint here
    • Flash cookies can store up to 100kb of data, which is roughly 25 times that of reg cookies.
    • To Adobe’s defense, company officials have stated in comments (PDF) submitted to the FTC that their policy “condemns the practice of using Local Storage to back up browser cookies for the purpose of restoring them later without user knowledge and express consent.”
    • (SM) for the record, Silverlight also has a local storage option… its a common and necessary technology from a developers standpoint
    • (JP- so do most of the aps on your smartphone .. .see Stevens previous note must for devs.)
  • Blizzard Wins $88 Million Lawsuit Against Private Server (SM)
    • Lady ran a private server that people could connect to
    • Sold items online via paypal
    • IT WAS A MULTI-MILLION dollar business (3 million in profits)
    • This wasn’t a small operation, 32,000 players in one day
    • 427,393 strong in the community (x$200 for each circumvention)
    • She didn’t even show up in court to refute the claims
      • (JP – was she on a beach on her own private island sipping Mai Tais?)
  • One Step Closer to Robots Taking Over (udg)
    • Researchers in the U.K. are working on a robot that will develop emotions as it interacts w peoples
    • Scientists at the University of Hertfordshire announced this week that they have finalized a prototype of a robot capable of learning how to express emotions
    • It is designed to form attachments, interact with people and show emotions through bodily expressions.
    • So far it’s mastered happiness, sadness, fear, excitement and pride.
    • The robots are designed to learn how to respond to humans by feeding off of facial expressions and other social cues
    • Modeling emotions and learning on children and chimpanzees (ut oh!)
    • Increase in speculation that robot companions will hit the market soon
    • Companions and caregivers= ok future. Spouses, not so much.
    • David Levy, British Artificial Intelligence Researcher predicts people will be marrying robots by 2050?!?
    • Dating and mating one is already almost possible thanks to TrueCompanion.com (you do need to bee 18+ to view their site)
    • I took one for the team and Roxxxy is only $1,495 right now- $5,000 off her base price.
    • Rocky, the male version is not yet available. Oh. Darn.
    • Ok, the FAQ even creeped me out.
    • But not as much as the video did. JINKIES!!!
  • 5,000,000 Legitimate domains infected by Malware (SM)
    • Network solutions hosts a widget that serves up malware after you install it on your hosted site (Small Business Success Index)
    • One catch, this widget is installed by default on all the parked domains for Network Solutions…
    • Google it and thats like 500,000 parked domains serving up malware
    • Yahoo says 5,000,000…
    • Scary part? only 50% of the virus scanners can detect the malware…
    • You would think a HUGE company like Network Solutions would be more diligent on one of their base pages.
    • Read our link for full details on what the malware does and how prolific the problem is
      • (JP – Laundry list of things this touches is frightening!!!)

Intarweb Goldmine

  • Melting IPod halts rush hour train
    • Smell of smoke made them stop the train for 8 minutes to find the source
    • Apparently an IPod exploded in someone’s hand
    • Not the first time, lawsuit in progress by mother of 15 year old claiming one had blown up in her sons pants.
    • 60 instances of overheating w/ 4 injuries recorded in the US alone
    • (SM) Is that an Ipod in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
  • Boardng for the Lord
    • A Hungarian Roman Catholic priest has become a YouTube hit with his method of spreading the word on wheels.
    • The Reverend Zoltan Lendvai, 45 believes skateboarding can open the way to God for young people.
    • The video of him in action, Funny Priest Skateboarding, has so far attracted close to 170,000 hits and now also has a music version.
    • He learned his skills at the age of 14 at school but it was only later, when he served as a priest  and ihad 3 boyrs btwn the ages of 16 & 18 who’d never gone to chuch but started coming regularly after he showed him a few tricks, that he realized the impact his skill could have on youngsters.
    • His first board bore the papal coat of arms and he has since given away at least six to his young parishioners
    • Video here
    • (JP – This may be proof of a miracle… no cars wreck in the background of the video… I must admit if I was driving down the road and saw a priest on a board I would probably crash my dang car! also… rather hilarious that the song they edit to this video has cursing galore!!)
  • Sumo Suit Athletics World Championships Went Down This Past Weekend
    • Began in 2008 and founded on the profound basis of “it just seemed a fun idea when suggested in the pub one day “
    • The premise is simple: you don a sumo suit and compete in a variety of events over an afternoon.
    • Medals are awarded for each individual event and also for the overall ‘athlete’ of the day.
    • Video here
    • Only one question… WHY?
  • Robot That Sells Ice Cream, Reason #4,393 I Love The Japanese (udg)
    • Robots + Ice cream (“???????”) = EPIC WIN
    • Yasukawa-kun is currently working a Tokyo Summerland.
    • While the video is awesome, going to see Yasukawa-kun in action live is yet another reason a trip to Japan is #1 on my Bucket List.
    • For the record, I will try to translate the song for you all, but it’s hilarious! :)
    • And hells yeah I’m following him on Twitter. :)
    • Another clip of “Robo Cream”
    • Unfortunately I won’t be seeing Yasukawa-kun as Tokyo Summerland (a water park) lists the following warning on its site “Management strictly prohibits the entry of persons affiliated with crime syndicates and persons with tattoos (including non-permanent body stickers and body paint) into Tokyo Summerland. “
    • I have a permanent ban as well… (JP) I have been accused of being Yakuza on multiple occasions due to my ink.

Extra Links

Contact Info

Sponsors

FanboyScouts.com

  • Ever wanted to award your loved one for the Kessel Run?
  • Ever braved a Danger Room and wanted to show your friends proudly?
  • Now you can with merit badges from fanboyscouts.com! 11 collectible badges
  • Get ‘em while they are hot, and limited

Prof. Mordarm’s “The Wandering Geek Con Journal”

  • Kickstarter Project by Lorenzo R.(aka @Prof_Mordarm), create a useful medium to inform people of Geeky Cons across the U.S., both big and small.
  • Series of physical journals that will be written in and by the geeks, the panelists, the cosplayers, the vendors, & the fans. Everyone & anyone at a Con can write in this journal Allowing good, bad, and geeky experiences to liv on
  • When enough content is gathered, these experiences will be published into easy to read (online, PDF, & hardcopy) editions each year. It will be the Geek’s version of the Farmer’s Almanac, but for Geeky Cons!
  • To help get your own TWGCJ and/or support or if you have questions, check out the Kickstarter @ http://kck.st/cNUADw & also follow the project creator on Twitter for updates.

http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

  • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
  • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
]]> http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-63/feed/ 0 The Power Geeks #62 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-62/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-62/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:03:05 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16524

We are LIVE on Ustream!!! This week we talk GENCON!!! UberDorkGirlie gives her rundown of the venerable geek conference, but no PICS of the famed slumber party, and much more…

(JP) Happy Birthday to WOZ!!! Steve turns 60 today! so we wish him a Power Geeky Birthday!

Gold Sponsors:
UberDorkCafe

  • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
  • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
  • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
  • Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves
  • Woookie Coookies – a piece of UDC before there is even a physical cafe

Deals of the Week / New Releases

  • JP – Golden Pic and Golden Pic Lite for Android devices
    • Both are available in the Android Market for Android devices running 1.5 or later
    • Lite is a free version (ad supported) with slightly limited functionality
    • Full version is only $1.99 USD
    • Go Buy it! or try it, then buy it!

Geek Speak

  • Gen Con- The best 4 days in Gaming
    • Indy this past weekend Aug 5-8 43rd year
    • I’ve not been to one since it left Milwaukee
    • Media Guests of Honor- Felicia Day, the cast of The Guild and Will Wheaton. Checked in to get my press pass, hit the goodie table, turned around – Felicia
    • )
    • Cos Play-
    • s
    • Tons of great artists, I’ll have to compile a list of all of them for ya for the site.
    • Jackass Chef there WHY? Hello stereotypes. I wanted to junkpunch.

    Oh wait, there were games!

    • Magic: The Gathering celebrated “Summer of Mulitplayer” with 5 multiplayer events each day
    • True Adventures (producers of True dungeon live-action gaming event) raised $9,000 for the Gary Gygax memorial to be raised in Lake Geneva, Wi- the birthplace of Gen con.  (JP – I met Gary at GenCon in Indy like 20 something years ago… he introduced me to the 100 sided die! :) )
    • Atari announced they are working on something new. Wouldn’t say what, but based on new domain names they recently registered, it points to a Neverwinter Nights MMO on the horizon.
    • So… AWESOME weekend!!! And lots of hugs for everyone…

      • !
      • !

    Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

    • Rubiks Cube Solvable in 20 Moves (SM)
      • Did you know that most human’s can solve a rubiks cube in about 40 moves?
      • What you are actually doing when you combine rubiks twists is called an algorithm
      • Well, the magic number for the fewest twists is called “God’s Number”
      • It only took 35 total years of google computer time to get to it
    • 12 Core Mac Pro Now Commercially Available (JP) – The Sticky note of infamy was up on the Store page the other day… MAC refresh was there when the sticky was gone.
      • You’re gonna pay a cool $5k for the low end of this system
      • two 2.66GHz six-core Intel Xeon Westmere processors, 6GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card (up to 3 monitors, dx11 support)
      • 21.5” iMac
        • i3 processor, discreet graphics, 1080p
        • $1099, No blu-ray option (Steve says this isn’t coming to any MAC despite demand from user base)
    • Cookie Headset- I can haz any cookie? (udg)
      • “Meta Cookie” is an “interactive gustatory display” by Takuji Narumi of the University of Tokyo
      • Helmet with goggles connected to a camera
      • Person chooses whatever cookie they want out of ones shown to them
      • Handed plain cookie. Airtubes attached to helmet pump smell of desired cookie into nose
      • Wrong… just plain wrong I tell you.
      • (SM) This is a perfect way for Vegetarians to try Woookiee Cookies!
      • Speaking of Wookie Cookies… I think the postman ate mine! JP
    • Droid 2 to release on Verizon with Special Star Wars R2D2 Edition (JP)
      • the worst kept secret from Verizon the Droid 2 will be available for pre-order aug 12th and will ship with Android 2.2
      • Amusingly, Motorola and Verizon also announced that they will offer a special edition Star Wars version of the Motorola Droid 2 in September. The R2D2 Droid 2 will come with Stars Wars content and it will be made to look like R2D2 Astromech droid from the Star Wars film. Motorola didn’t share a picture of the R2D2 version of the Droid 2
        • (side note regarding 2.2 FroYo on current droids – 2 hrs ago )
    • Netflix getting closer to streaming 1st run movies (SM)
      • Paramount, Lion’s Gate, MGM
      • It’ll cost Netflix nearly 1 billion to do so
      • The deal will commence Sept. 1.
      • Ted Sarandos, taking a “pile of money” from USPS, giving it to studios ($600 million)
    • Facebook hacked, Names and photos revealed (udg)
      • A bug in FB’s login system allows attackers to match unknown email addresses with users’ first and last names, even if set to private
      • If the address belongs to any one of the 500 million active users the site will return the full name and picture associated with the account.
      • Facebook has been under repeated attack for revealing way too much private info about it’s users over the past couple of years.
      • Their response was giving users more control over who could see what.
      • The name-to-email address extraction bug proves that doesn’t really work.
      • We can expect to see a fix to this soon?
    • Games responsible for 5 billion of US economy (JP)
      • A study commissioned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) found that the video game industry added about $5 billion to the US economy in 2009.
      • Entitled “Video Games in the 21st Century: The 2010 Report” [PDF link], claims the industry directly employs about 32,000 people in the US and indirectly employs 120,000 (GameStop employees, video game media, manufacturing and distribution).
      • Average industry employee makes $89,781 a year. Obviously that’s not the GameStop employee, but that is the average of them all.  (Kiddies this means video game programming pays… testing… not so much!)
      • CA lays claim to 41% of the employees in the industrty
      • The annual growth rate of the industry exceeded 10% between 2005 & 2009
    • Starcraft 2 Tourneys offer $500k total (SM)
      • We know how South Korean’s love their starcraft
      • One TV network locked down Blizzard broadcast rights in SK, GomTV
      • New league, Global Starcraft 2 League, hellbent on luring SC 1 players over to 2
      • Offering $125,000 PER TOURNAMENT, 64 player field, 1 a month for rest of 2010
      • Plans for grand finale in 2011, Nothing says progress like money :)
      • Scintillating Starcraft commentary

    Intarweb Goldmine

    • Prisoners thank Plants vs Zombies (udg)
      • Where? Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
      • The guard actually left the keys lying around while he became engrossed in a round of Plants vs. Zombies,  DUH!! Hello Prison Guard 101
      • Four of the inmates were caught soon after the escape, but one still remains at large
      • interesting side note… the guard should no longer have access to his idevice since he’ll be rooming with some of his former wards!! hahahaha
    • Guy wants a roomate in SoHo who isn’t a Mac Fanboy (JP)
      • An ad posted to Craigslist yesterday is from an open-minded sort of guy who wants a roommate for an apartment in Soho. Sounds typical, right? Here’s the catch: He insists that prospective roommates not have an iPhone or an iPad.
    • The ad states that “I refuse to live with anyone that has sold their immortal soul to Steve Jobs.” He’s also looking for a guy with Starcraft II experience, and wants any potential live-ins to post a link to their battle.net profile and to prove to him that they don’t own an iPhone.
      • The New York Observer found the guy, Vince Thomas, and he said he currently lives with another fellow who is a Mac fan, and Vince says he “just can’t take it anymore.” Vince has a Droid phone from Motorola, and apparently he’d rather talk about that instead.
    • Vince has a point. Some of us love our iPhones. In social situations I don’t bring it up unless someone asks. I’m even feeling a bit guilty about the ‘Sent from my iPhone’ tag on my mail. If I write Vince I’ll be sure to change it to ‘Sent from my wonderful Droid, which is so much better than the iPhone I ditched.’
      • (JP) my bet is… this guy is no picnic to live with either!
      • (udg) Are you sure this guy’s name wasn’t Steven????
    • Woman driven mad by McDonalds
      • Woman in Ohio gets incensed because MiccyD’s is serving b-fast and can’t get nuggets
      • Reached through drive-thru and punches 2 employees then smashes Drive-thru window
      • Gets 60 days in jail
      • Proof that fast food and McDonalds CAN drive ppl nuts…

    Extra Links

    Contact Info

    Sponsors

    FanboyScouts.com

    • Ever wanted to award your loved one for the Kessel Run?
    • Ever braved a Danger Room and wanted to show your friends proudly?
    • Now you can with merit badges from fanboyscouts.com! 11 collectible badges
    • Get ‘em while they are hot, and limited

    http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

    • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
    • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
    ]]>     http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-62/feed/ 0     The Power Geeks #61 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-61/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-61/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:55:45 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16520

    We are LIVE on Ustream!!!  This week we bring on the Geek Scouts, Talking some really cool action figures, Getting all tin foil hats about China, and our first racy Intarweb Goldmine. Click here to download this episode

    Gold Sponsors:

    UberDorkCafe

    • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
    • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
    • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
    • Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves
    • Woookie Coookies – a piece of UDC before there is even a physical cafe

    Deals of the Week / New Releases

    • Amazon Releases Rad XB360 Bundle
      • FFXIII, Faceplate, UFC Undisputed 2010, and Bioshock 2 all in 1 bundle
      • $299
      • Be warned, this is the wired version of the XB360…
    • Pocket God iPhone App Spawns Comic (udg)
      • Game where you play God over multiple Pygmies that you feed, and kill. Don’t worry though, they are immortal and keep coming back to life.
      • New chapters constantly updated to game, all for 99 cents.
      • It has gotten so big game wizard Dave Castelnuovo is branching out
      • Digital comic launched this week w/ paper version having launched at SDCC
      • What’s next for the game that makes gruesome death so adorable? Plushies :)
    • WWII versions of Star Wars Toys
      • Best Star Wars toys EVAR
      • It get’s better, the guy has also done Samurai Star wars
      • Made by Sillof.com, custom toy maker
      • Not for sale currently… somebody needs to buy this guy out. srsly.
      • (JINKIES!! the steam punk ones are cool as hell too and the Marvel Pulp ones have some huge potential. udg)
    • Captain’s Log, an iPhone app meant to promote the latest Trek feature. (JP)
      • I wondered how long it would be before someone made a nice Trek-style communicator for the iPhone. This isn’t the first, but it’s pretty, fun and makes use of the iPhone 4′s gyroscope. Here’s what I found while playing around.
      • Look and feel:
      • Turn it on and you’re greeted with familiar Star Trek sounds. I’ll let the Trekkies among you ID what you hear, but there’s communication noises, the famous “woosh” of the ship’s doors opening and closing and of course the chirp that accompanies flipping open a communicator.
      • Speaking of which, yes, you can flip it open. At first you’ll see a pulsating Starfleet logo and a window displaying a rotating 360
        • Only $.99 but now people are up in arms about it… it doesn’t mention anywhere that a user account (which monitors your location and tells others your whereabouts is required… not optional. so use at your own risk…  (that being said I don’t know anyone who’s really that afraid of Trekkies!!!) hahaha

    Geek Speak

    Bring on Brion Salazar

    • fanboyscouts.com
      • (SM) What was the impetus behind making geeky merit badges?
      • (SM) Give us some sample requirements…
      • Believe it or not, I’m a Daisy Troop Leader- would you ever consider doing a kid’s line? (udg)
      • I noticed the only stores that currently sell them are in Illinois and Minnesota- how can we get them at a store near us? I’d love to sell them at my place when it opens! (udg)
      • Does your website have a location to list criteria to qualify for the badges? (JP) If not, let’s start one! (I didn’t see one.)
      • (SM) Won’t be in show, I will be talking with him tomorrow about that very thing :) a way to make troops, partition out badges, and share them on social networking sites :)

    Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

    • Batman No. 1 fetching $40k at auction (SM)
      • HOLY COW, BATMAN. No sh!t robin…
      • Original comic where batman was solo, is going for a lot of money
      • It was found in Alaska where humidity is low so its in good shape
      • A comic that old unwrapped would crumble upon touching
      • This one is in good shape, Fewer than 300 in existence
    • China Pushes Real Name System for Online Games (udg)
      • Starting Aug 1st, if you live in China and want to play any online game, you’re gonna have to do so using your REAL name. Incl Social Network games.
      • The Ministry of Culture issued the regulation on June 22nd claiming it’s part of a nationwide campaign to regulate the mgmt of online gaming industry and protect minors from questionable content.
      • China tops the world for net users with 420 million as of the end of June
      • Major online gaming operators in China said they began implementing the real id months ago.
      • However, it would be meaningless to promote real name registration without an effective national identification system said Li Li, deputy director of the Shanghai Information Law Association
      • He goes on to say “It should ideally include other credible information of the players, such as their bank accounts, in order to be really effective”
      • Yeah, umm…. people in China are already pissed at this because nothing has been put into place to protect the data they are being forced to fork over.
      • Based on my ever growing conspiracy theory, I see this as China recruiting. They’ll have access to the real names of people that are game savvy and could be molded into one of the members of their sneaky internet ninja army poised to take over the interwebz.
      • (JP – hahaha wonder where they got this idea??? Blizzard news? hmmm… the Americans are very against this… we should be onboard!)
    • Smartphones 4 credit cards (JP)
      • AT&T and Verizon setting their sites on Visa and MasterCard?
        • three people with direct knowledge of the plan said the partnership, which also includes Deutsche Telekom AG unit T-Mobile USA, may work with Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc to test a system at stores in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities that would let a consumer pay with the contactless wave of a smartphone, the people said.
      • Anyone want to be the first to lump on the please steal my identity train?
      • While I agree with this article that this could potentially be a “game changer” for both industries… I urge anyone who is too excited about this to look up the stats on hacking data from cell phones from say DefCon or some other Hacker convention.
      • How much money are we really talking about putting at risk though?
        • Visa and Purchase, New York-based MasterCard handled $2.45 trillion, or 82 percent, of U.S. consumer spending on general- purpose cards last year, according to the Nilson Report, an industry newsletter. That dominance has helped fuel profit growth for both companies. Visa’s annual operating income has grown sixfold since fiscal 2005 to $3.54 billion last year. MasterCard’s has surged more than fivefold to $2.27 billion.
    • SCII Could Fry Your Graphics Card (SM)
      • Its not what you think, the in-game graphics are silky smooth and framerate capped
      • Its the ship-board scenes, which seem pretty static, but the initial render can be intense
      • Some systems that aren’t cleaned properly could experience extreme heat issues
      • There is a config file fix you could implement
      • AND DUST YOUR PC FOR GOODNESS SAKES
      • (SM) We all know that Macs don’t gather dust… their static forcefield just levitates the dust away :)
      • (Actually Steven Mac lovers just take care of their lil computer children better. :P )
    • Nerds rise up!! HELLZ YEAH!! (udg)
      • Two masked gunmen walked into PC Gamerz in Keneohe (Connie oh hay) Hawaii last Wed round Midnight
      • They began to hit the guy behind the counter (who turned out to be the owner of the place) and demand every one’s money.
      • People started handing it over when one of the masked guys approached Dylan Hays and demanded his DS.
      • Yeah, not really a good idea mr masked guy. Dylan responded swinging. Guy hit back. Dylan started a bum rush that resulted in mayhem.
      • In the, end one of the friends of the masked maroons had to come in and help drag one of the attackers out of the store.
      • Hays had this to say “I mean we’re gamers, we’ve been immersed in that culture where like we all want to be Superman, you know we’re missing something partial in our brain that says yeah this might be dangerous. It’s Devin’s place, but it’s also ours, like this is were we come to hang out.”
      • (SM) Punch an owner, fine. Bully a kid. ok. TOUCH OUR DS?? We gots problems!
    • Advertiser stalks winners w/ GPS (SM)
      • Brazilian ad agency slips GPS device into 50 boxes of detergent
      • They then follow the “winner” to everywhere, eventually catching up with them
      • What do they win for the stalking? a pocket video camera and day of outdoors
      • Plus a lifetime of looking over their shoulder
    • Jailbreak your IPhone 4 from the browser (JP)
      • a security exploit has recently been used to create a very novel jailbreak for the iPhone 4 iOS. it uses an exploit in the code that allows you to access pdf’s from safari to overrun the buffer and then root the phone.
      • you literally browse from safari on your iOS 4 running device, and slide an image across the screen, and it will jailbreak your iPhone and install Cydia allowing you to install non app store apps, etc…
      • How easy is it to do? Someone in Canada visited an apple store there and did the jailbreak procedure on one of the display iPhone 4’s and no one noticed while he did it.
      • Apple says they are looking into the exploit. I expect a patch very quickly for this one. This same procedure could easily be used to put the first major virus on iPhones since the same exploit could be used against non-jailbroken devices
    • Real R2 Unit Headed for Orbit (SM)
      • a humanoid “dexterous” robot slated to land on the ISS
      • Joint venture between DARPA and GE
      • They needed a robot that could take the place of an astronaut
      • Maintenance jobs and other situations too dangerous for a human
      • Slated to go up with ST-133, which lifts off in November
      • Even tweets for your amusement @AstroRobonaut (what tech doesn’t nowadays)

    Intarweb Goldmine

    • Lady Calls Dell to Help with Nude Pic Retrieval
      • Can’t find her nude pics, calls tech support to find them
      • He finds, and emails them to himself while she’s watching
      • Then calls back later to blackmail her.. she caves
      • She finds her pics on a nudie site, and she goes to somebody
      • Only thing done? He no longer works for the company
      • Who knows where all those pics went.
    • Atlanta Man robs Wendy’s then complains it’s too little (JP)
      • ATLANTA — Police say a man who robbed a fast-food restaurant with a gun was so mad about the amount of loot that he called back twice to complain.
      • The man walked up to the drive-through window of an Atlanta Wendy’s late Saturday night, wearing a ski mask and holding a gun.
      • He demanded the cash drawer, grabbed it and ran away.
      • But police say he later called the fast food restaurant to complain about the amount of cash.
      • Police say in one call he said that “next time there better be more than $586.”
      • He called again with a similar complaint.
    • Street Fighter- Taking Protection to a New Level
      • Yeah I’m guessing not an official CapCom product
      • Shows Ryu going to town w/ Chun Li
      • Ironically, they are doing so under an array of flags- many of the countries of which don’t even have characters in the game.
      • And they say gamers don’t get laid.
      • If the Street Fighter ones don’t woo the ladies, try the Nintendo ones
    • Jeremy’s Nominee for biggest balls on Earth (JP)
      • ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida inmate has filed a lawsuit seeking $500,000 in damages from three men who caught him red-handed with a stolen bicycle, claiming they roughed him up, according to a newspaper report.
      • Michael Dupree is serving a 12-year sentence for burglary and cocaine possession stemming from a 2007 break-in of a van in St. Petersburg, Fla.
      • Dupree allegedly stole the bicycle locked inside and was apprehended after the owner, Anthony McKoy, saw him with the bike down the street, the St. Petersburg Times reported.
      • Dupree, who was homeless at the time, according to a police report, claimed McKoy and two others pointed a gun at him, handcuffed him and placed a knee painfully in his back.
      • In his suit, which he filed on his own without the help of an attorney, Dupree said that the take-down “resulted in permanent disabilities and psychological disorders which the Plaintiff continues to suffer.”
      • ‘What gall’
      • After being served with the suit, McKoy said: “I thought it was a joke. I’m the victim.”
      • “It’s laughable. It’s a waste of taxpayer money,” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “What gall. I guess time in prison just makes you go crazy.”

    Extra Links

    Contact Info

    Sponsors

    Wow4Cure.com Plans to play non-stop to level 40 and raise $10,000 for cancer

    • Scheduled to take place Aug. 6th and they will continue playing if the donations keep coming
    • Check out their website, we’ll talk more about them in the weeks to come

    http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

    • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
    • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
    ]]>     http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/08/the-power-geeks-61/feed/ 0     The Power Geeks #60 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-60/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-60/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:25:27 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16476 We are LIVE on Ustream!!! This week we talk a little SDCC, some real live superheroes in honor of the comicon, a Trailer bonanza (gosh wasn’t there a lot this week?), and even some woookie cookies…(Click Here for Download)
    (JP) I would like to dedicate this show to my Dog Figaro

    He was the best dog and he passed away in my Arms Friday night. I will miss him tremendously

    (SM) So, Figaro, this show is for you….

    (SM) All Right, lets get into some fanmail
    (SM) @Prof_Mordarm, a fan of the show, is offering some room at GenCon in case you don’t have a place to crash…It fits 2-3 ppl and he’s promising cheap

    (JP)Listener Keith was so inspired by my story about how I got the nickname Zoda, he sent the following in that made me Laugh very hard:
    He is the life of parties he has never attended. If he were to punch you in the face, you would have an uncontrollable urge to thank him. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He is … ZODA!!!

    Find of the Week: Star Wars Yoga : (UDG) SHUT UP!!! Sue time

    • Listener name: Carrie Small submitted this, you can sue her…
    • “Stimulate your midichlorians – Yoda Yoga 4 life”
    • collapsed AT-AT, downward facing Wookie… these are great!

    Gold Sponsors:

    UberDorkCafe

    • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
    • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
    • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
    • Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves
    • Woookie Coookies – a piece of UDC before there is even a physical cafe

    Deals of the Week / New Releases

    • Two lucky listeners from the Chatroom with an android phone will be selected by Natali to join the Beta Testers group for my development team (Jebs Apps) first app Golden Pic (JP)
      • Example Screenshot:
    • 8 Bit glory… top loading Retro NES game system for 16 Bucks! (JP)
    • SC2 Release – (SM) – I’ll talk about my experience so far (Love the single player to death, great storylines, interstitial exploration, etc.)
    • (JP) iPhone 4 thoughts experience so far. since we said I would talk about it this week. short bit
      • What I love…. FACETIME Greatest thing ever. 1st FT call, explain
      • Antennagate? what issues? no dropped calls, no problems, better faster web
        • grantedI threw a case on it immediately, but I always do… that’s an expensive investment
      • Batterylife?? Meh… while noticably better than my 3g batery life… it’s still no where near enough for me to use it the way I normally do for a full day…
      • I will be buying an ExoLife Battery case

    Geek Speak

    • SDCC Chatroom Request
      • Kristin couldn’t make it tonight, she sends her apologies
      • What we want from the chatroom is your experiences, now don’t blurt them out, hold onto them and at the end of geekspeak, we’ll take all the best experiences and read them on the show
    • Kick Ass- Cos Players + Bally gots their own message board (UDG)
      • And holy awesome web site
      • Jinkies it’s a whole HUGE underground network!!
      • Are real life superheros a good thing or a bad thing?
      • (SM) I like seeing everybody’s costumes at the con’s but wearing it IRL for me?? no TY
      • (SM) Vigilantism is kinda mixed bag for me. I live in the gun state of the U.S.A. Self protection is something we hold dear. But group dynamics when it comes to actively seeking to protect can get dangerous.
      • (SM) How far do you go? If you go “KickAss” but don’t have training? You’re gonna be dead real quick. Do knife defense at a Krav Magaa school and you’ll see what I mean
      • (SM) Mild demonstrations or patrolling of the neighborhood in a costume to do good deeds? That to me is your prerogative
      • (JP) just a reminder to point out where this all usually goes wrong… “With great power comes great responsibility”

    Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

    • Geeky Counter Protest at SDCC (SM)
      • Super Heroes Vs The Westboro Baptist Church
      • “Odin Is God Read The Mighty Thor #5
      • God Hates Jedi (held up by a red shirt)
      • All Glory to the Hypno-Toad
      • Lo, tho I walk thru the valley of death, I fear no evil for the Dark Knight is by my side
      • (SM) Look, Comicon is a celebration of Geekdom. We are made up of all sorts of ppl: Black, white, yellow, brown, gay, straight. Deal with it folks! We are geek, hear us roar!
    • Zombie Cookies…not the noms though (udg)
      • Most people will shrug when you mention “browser cookies” Yet they are a huge part of our online life.
      • So why are a group of Americans suing a range of media brands (MTV, ESPN, MySpace, ABC, NBC)?
      • Flash (common browser plugin) stores it’s own cookies.
      • Aforementioned using a technology that reaches in, and revives these dead cookies as “zombies” essentially “remembering” all the stuff you told it to forget.
      • Quantcast created the technology, so they’re suing them too.
      • Raising cookies from the dead=illegal surveillance
      • Article says they shoulda just complained, not sued.
      • Calls them “privacy nuts.” Screw that.
    • Gamestop buys Kongregate (SM)
      • Kongregate is a community game place with tons of free games
      • Achievements and chat rooms
      • Now eaten by the corporate monster, but for what purpose?
      • “Kongregate advances GameStop’s digital strategy by providing a gaming platform for casual, mobile and browser games that can be promoted and played by our existing gamers. We welcome the Kongregate team to the GameStop family.” (translation: they want a captive audience to pimp their services 2)
      • Transaction will be done Aug. 1 and the owners promise business as usual
    • On to ISPs.. UK’s TalkTalk has turned StalkStalk (UDG)
      • UK’s 2nd largest ISP has been quietly stalking it’s customers scanning what they look at for a new anti-malware system.
      • (first phase) W/o warning, it has started harvesting their URL’S then follows them to the sites and scans for threats.
      • (2nd phase) Data used to block potentially dangerous sites @ ntwrk level
      • 1 poster on their official forums noticed in early July. “I’ve got 2 Opal Telecom IPs following my every move, they follow me to every page that I visit.”
      • Opal Telecom is TalkTalk’s business ISP subsidiary
      • Other posters started noticing
      • Response “We are developing some really exciting new security and parental control services, which will be based deep within our network infrastructure, to provide our customers with greater protection for all the devices they connect to their broadband line with,” the firm said.
      • Don’t worry though cuz Chinese vendor Huawei is the only one to see the data that is collected by the system that customers can’t opt out of.
      • A spokeswoman for the firm told The Register it had not told customers it would be following them online because it is not gathering details of their personal activity, but instead making basic lists of all web pages passing over its network.
      • She went on to claim that the “whitelist” sites are deleted after 24 hours.
      • Basically, this will result in a free optional protective layer that customers can opt-in to. Plan to have it ready the second half of this year.
    • Move only works with RE5 Gold on PS3 (SM)
      • So, to use a deluxe peripheral you have to have a deluxe version of a game?
      • Apparently, when the first game came out, they used up all the memory slots
      • Deluxe game freed one up just for the advent of the MOVE controller
      • Now why couldn’t they modify the code on the disc if you installed it on HD?
      • RE5 becomes more like House of the Living Dead when you use MOVE
    • Japan-O-Bus – Could your anime obsession FINALLY be a GOOD thing?? (udg)
      • Finally your worship of anime and obsession with all things Asian could pay off (all things Asain?? hmmm)
      • Folks over at TOKYOPOP are on a quest to find the biggest Japanofan
      • Filming an online reality show “America’s Greatest Otaku” (confuzzled over otaku?? It translates as someone who has an obsessive love for something, here it’s been morphed to that something being specifically anime, manga, super awesome video games, etc)
      • In TP’s words “searching for “the person who best exemplifies a truly unique fervor and passion for all things influenced by Japanese pop culture.” (a badass costume wouldn’t hurt)
      • Show up to the bus and you will get some sweet swag, score the highest and you could snag a trip to Japan.
      • Want in? Schedule here:
    • Super Hackers Finally arrested in Slovenia – ring leader only 23 years old (JP)
      • This group was responsible for the Mariposa botnet hack, which was finally disabled a few months ago after a group of security professionals organized a task force just to take it down.
      • Why was it so effective? It changed where it was attacking from, domains, ips, etc and changed it’s code on the fly….
      • It took down the computers of powerful Fortune 1000 companies
      • The mistake that led to their capture… one of these guys used his real name to register one of the domains the attacks originated from
    • RIM set to launch yet another iPhone killer next week – anyone think it will actually kill the iPhone? (JP)
      • Not me, says I.
      • RIM is expected to announce the launch of the slider 9800 handset at a joint BlackBerry-AT&T Inc event in New York next Tuesday morning
      • Though not much is known about the Bold 9800, it is believed to have a physical, slide-out Qwerty keyboard – a first from RIM – and other beefy specs like a touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and 360×480 touchscreen display.
        • Not very impressive compared to droid x or iphone4… so what’s the excitement about? Rumor is, it’ll have Blackberry 6 as the OS!!!
    • New Battlestar Galactica Series (SM)
      • Don’t get your hopes up, it’s a web series
      • 10 webisodes, 9 mins long
      • Set in the war itself, eyes of the soldier
      • Apparently, they digitized a lot of the BSG sets after completion
      • If it’s liked, then they might do more
      • (SM) Personally, I think trying ideas like this on the web first is a GREAT idea, fraction of the production costs, more targetted feedback

    Intarweb Goldmine

    • Australian cave offers tours… in Klingon
      • Jenolan Caves is now offering audio tours in Klingon
      • Why? the were featured in an episode of The Next Generation where a ship was named after them- the USS Jenolan
      • Cave Guide & Trekkie Gordon Mills “We wanted to do something a bit obscure and we will now be the first tourist attraction on this planet at least to have a Klingon tour
    • US Black Bear “borrows” car for joy ride (JP)
      • Near Larksspur Colorado, just outside denver…
      • a bear smelled a PB&J sandwhich and climbed in after jimmying the door open, got stuck, knocked the car into nuetral and away he went…
      • After hitting a tree, the blaring of the cars horn alerted the family that the 17 yr old son’s toyota was no longer in the driveway….

    Extra Links

    Contact Info

    Sponsors

    Wow4Cure.com

    • Plans to play non-stop to level 40 and raise $10,000 for cancer
    • Scheduled to take place Aug. 6th and they will continue playing if the donations keep coming
    • Check out their website, we’ll talk more about them in the weeks to come

    http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

    • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
    • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
    ]]>     http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-60/feed/ 0     The Power Geeks #59 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-59/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-59/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:18:07 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16470 We are LIVE on Ustream!!! This week we talk San Diego Comicon Survival Guide (can you survive BO), Antennagate, and HULK MAD! The Zoda is back in the hizzouse and we are pumped!!! download show here.

    Gold Sponsors:

    UberDorkCafe
    • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
    • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
    • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
    • Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves

    JP – Listener Rob wrote in and said he follows us on FB and wanted to know why my nickname is ‘Zoda’ most of you may know I used to not be as mild mannered as I am today (look at the hair, the goatee which had two blond streaks in it, and yes… if you look closely my fingernails are all different colors)… I am a former pro In-line Skater. here’s a picture of me from back in the day skating a 7’ deep oval bowl in Rockford IL at The PIT skatepark. and here’s the story of my Nickname.

    Jeremy 'Zoda' Puent

    Deals of the Week / New Releases

    • AMC Cult Classics 6 Movie Set! (UDG)
      • Zombies, Pirates, Vincent Price, Dennis Hopper for under $5.00!
      • All original casts! Night of the Living Dead, House on Haunted Hill, Carnival of Souls, Night Tide, Bluebeard, Chamber of Horrors
    • http://www.votebundle.com/ (JP)
      • a new Mac Bundle is in the works, this time you can vote for 10 of 20 apps, the top ten will be in the bundle.
    • New out on DVD this week and JP wants to see them both
      • Cop Out the Kevin Smith flick with Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan
      • The Losers  - After being betrayed and left for dead, members of a CIA black ops team root out those who targeted them for assassination
    • One last Freebie for MAC users (JP)

    Geek Speak

    • AntennaGate, Jobs explanation
      • Every smartphone has a problem with reception
      • $100 million spent on audio testing equipment, how can something be wrong?
      • We make mistakes (but not saying this was one)
      • Free Rubber Baby Bumpers for the world
      • Money back guarantee
      • In close, not our fault. All smartphones suck.
      • RIM  Response
      • next week Jeremy will give his experiences as his iPhone 4 will arrive by Friday

    SDCC Preview & Survival Guide! (UDG)
    Survival first! My name is Natali and I’ll be your Fairy Con Mother :)
    #1- COMFORTABLE bag of choice (backpack, messenger) A. for the haul of freebies, B. for the stuff you’re gonna buy there 3. for your survival kit.
    Survival Kit:
    1. WATER (plastic bottles only) You need to stay hydrated peeps
    2. Energy boosts!  You’re gonna wanna hit w00tstock or some of the late night events, sleep is for the week during this epic 4 day weekend. Whether it’s energy shots, craisins… etc.
    3. CAMERA- Don’t be proud. Yes you have an iPhone. That iPhone has a battery life peeps.
    4. Chargers!!!! – Be it battery for cams, phone, laptop, you need it!
    5. Tiny Power Strip- For realz, you snag an open outlet, you best charge all your stuffs.
    6. Sketch Pad & Pens- if you’re hoping of any autograph or artist’s work.
    7. Sunscreen- Seriously. The lines for some of the halls run outside. W/ no shade
    8. COMFORTABLE SHOES (no these don’t go in your bag, they go on your feet)
    9. Meds, Inhaler, etc. Passing out during The Guild panel doesn’t mean Felica will give you mo 2 mo. (There goes my super plan for next year… I’m out! JP)
    Superman underwear Nothing will power you through the conference like having Superman’s emblem on your junk. Note: Con vets always pack a spare pare in case they see something that gets them so excited they crap themselves. (just cuz that’s funny stuffs)
    #2- A Plan
    Plot out the panels you really want to see. Rule out seeing a panel right before it if it’s not in the same hall. For the biggies a 3 hour line wait is not unheard of.
    Don’t forget your shuttle schedule!!
    Schedules for events change daily! Make sure you pick up the flyer they have all over w/ changes on them
    How are you getting your loot home??
    #3 Hygiene
    San Diego heat + 140,000 people = O M Stinky G (x it by hangovers = yeah…. )
    SHOWER & be kind, toss a stick of travel size deodorant in your survival kit! And Febreeze, Axe and all kinds of girly sprays all come in tiny lil travel sizes #justsayin
    #4 The sign
    The day you check into your hotel, on the back of the door- “HEY DUMBASS DO NOT FORGET YOUR BADGE”
    #5 The Realization
    There are three major things you need to realize before you start this adventure to mecca:
    1. There will be an INSANE amount of people (if you’re crowd phobic) and you need to stand in line for hours w/ them.
    2. You will NOT, I repeat NOT see everything on your list. It’s impossible.
    3. Your main mission: Snag the fun badge. That’s it.
    (JP ) come up with a treasure hunt list of things for you and your friends… IE Pic with Felicia Day, Pic with Wil Weaton, Photo with @GEEKGIRL at her Panel, etc… be creative

    List of exclusive Con items!

    Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

    • Android’s IPad Killer? ICD Gemini (SM)
      • The features alone blow away the IPad
      • Widescreen, true 1080P
      • 2MP/5MP camera
      • Cell Service / SMS / MMS / 3G
      • SD Card Slot, USB Peripherals
      • Dual Speakers / Dual ambient mics
      • Micro USB for charging / FM Radio
      • Catch? August 2010
        • (JP) – that’s next month… since we saw and read about the Boxee Box and it still isn’t on the market yet, I doubt we’ll be seeing this in August of this year… maybe August of 2011!!! hahahah
      • http://www.alternatives2ipad.com/
    • XBox 360 Gets New SKU’s, Kinect Priced at $150 (UDG)
      • Release set for Nov 4th, will come w/ Kinect Adventures
      • New version of Xbox will hit the stores on Aug 3 – $200
      • 4GB of flash storage  Slim’s styling with a matte finish.
      • Ability to store and save games on USB sticks most able entry-level 360 ever released and has WiFi
      • $300 bundle for both is great for newbs, but already hardcore XBoxers not likely to fork out $150 for a peripheral (personally I’d rather drop that on the 250gb slim)
      • 250gb version of matte finish? Bundle?
      • PS3 Netflix going Discless (JP)
        • The rumor was that M$ had the lock with live on discless Netflix
        • Both Wii and PS3 both require discs to boot up the Netflix streaming
        • October will be new XMB discless update, will include seamless UI updates
        • Joins Hulu Plus as yet another streaming service competing for money
        • Netflix in Canada
      • Starcraft cost $100 million dollars to make (SM)
        • Might seem like a lot but it’s guaranteed to make at least that.
        • Starcraft 1 is a national pasttime in Korea
        • Activision has 7 pillars of money making games, guess what they are?
        • Each pillar is expected to make half a billion to a billion in its lifetime
        • July 27th will be interesting. can they make $100 mill in a week
      • Warrant withdrawn in Gawker, IPhone 4 case (UDG)
        • Jason Chen, reporter who “bought” IPhone 4 prototype, apt was searched and comps seized
        • Felony charges were / and still are / being pursued over the “stolen” IPhone
        • Gizmodo “cooperating” with DA, The warrant was withdrawn and comps / cameras returned
        • Still no charges filed but the info off computers could be subpoenaed
        • (SM) It’s still fishy to me how Apple is a member of the task force that asked for the warrant in the first place
      • Military researches Soldier Exo-Skeleton (SM)
        • Here we thought Aliens and Avatar were far fetched…
        • Military developing computer driven exo-skeleton to help with heavy payloads for individual soldier, HULC
        • Jeremy, from experience, how heavy is a full load-out? (talk about whatever, WTF am I doing telling a professional soldier what to say :D ) (USMC handbook suggests approx 30% of your Body weight – usually a bit more 70 – 100lbs  on average which can severely hamper movement and agility)
        • Skeleton comes in 2 parts, upper and lower body, with a built in microcomputer to aid in the movement of the associated hydraulics built into skeleton
        • Allows soldier to carry up to 200lb with little exertion yet remain nimble enough to perform “deep squats, crawls, and upper body lifting”
          • JP – other thoughts. We’ve read about this type of suit or enhancement since we were kids. I have heard of experiments of prototypes for years… when the Segway came out I figured we were really close to something actually functional, because of the gyroscopes that would be needed to assist with a fully capable suit of this type. lifting and running jumping, the types of movements required on the battlefield and still be strong enough to withstand blasts and rounds shot at it, and add strength to lift, jump, etc… very cool. would love to try one out, see how steep the learning curve is.
      • Cyberwarriors wanted, Apply within (UDG)
        • No country move vulnerable on the planet than the US
        • U.S. security officials say the country’s cyberdefenses are not up to the challenge
        • Huge shortage of computer security specialists & engineers up to doing battle against would-be adversaries.
        • there are now only 1,000 people in US skilled in handling most demanding cyberdefense tasks.
        • U.S. gov agencies and large corporations needs a force of 20,000 to 30,000
        • Nonprofit SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute outside Washington, D.C. provides traiing, but the demand for qualified cybersecurity specialists far exceeds supply.
        • And there’s China- the training of computer experts is a top national priority.
        • Most recent round of the International Collegiate Programming Contest, Chinese universities took four of the top 10 places. No U.S. university made the list.
        • One of the Chinese youths who won that competition had earlier been caught hacking into a Japanese computer, according to Paller, only to be rewarded with extra training.
        • U.S. Cyber Challenge, a national talent search at the high school level. The aim is to find up to 10,000 potential cyberwarriors, ready to play both offense and defense.
        • Starting with game cheats
        • the best way to defend a computer system from attack is to figure out how an adversary would be able to hack into it.

      (JP – Funny this should be brought up this week with DEFCON next week in Vegas. A friend contacted me saying it was a bummer he was under an NDA and could not discuss how vulnerable major things in this country were and how surprised I might be if I found out….  me being me, I thought what could scare me… SCADA the system that controls nuclear power plants and Electric company interfaces, etc… so I Googled SCADA and Hacking, guess what, I AM Afraid.)

      • Amazon Sells more Ebooks that Hardcovers Q2 2010 (SM)
        • Amazon claims that digital books are outselling their physical counterparts
        • Q2 – 143 ebooks to 100 hard covers, Last month 180 – 100
        • Don’t toot your horn so fast 2009 projected numbers
          • hardback: $4.4 billion, paperbacks, $5.1 billion in revenue, audiobooks $218 million, and e-books just $81 million
        • Tripled sales of Kindle since pricecut ($260 – 190) Not hard numbers still

      Intarweb Goldmine

      • Guy smuggles 18 monkeys in girdle
        • Guy in Mexico City get stopped at airport for mysterious bulge
        • Authorities found EIGHTEEN tiny endangered monkeys in a girdle
        • 2 of the poor tiki’s were dead :( :( :(
        • His excuse? He didn’t want them to be harmed in his suitcase!!!! WTF
      • Teacher who claims student tormented her with bunnies loses case (UDG)
        • German court tossed out the case of teacher against 14 yo pupil
        • Has a “paralysing fear of rabbits” claims girl purposely drew rabbits on blackboard
        • Two years ago (dif school) the teacher took a pupil to court and won- student had to agree to never again to claim that the plaintiff “freaked out” when she saw a rabbit or heard the word.
      • I’ll let that happen when Donkeys Fly!!! ooops (JP)
        • Authorities in Russia investigate Animal cruelty regarding parasailing Donkey….. Yup… you heard me right.
        • Video from Southern Russia shows donkey braying in fear while forced to parasail for over an hour. WTF?!?!?!? Video at link.
      • Which came First? The Chicken or The Egg??? we’ve got the answer and scientific proof!!! (JP)
        • Scientists in Britain claim to have proven that the Chicken came first, discovering an protein found only in a chickens ovaries necessary for the formation of the egg… so the egg could not exist before the Chicken!??!?!?

      Extra Links

      Contact Info

      Sponsors

      Wow4Cure.com

      • Plans to play non-stop to level 40 and raise $10,000 for cancer
      • Scheduled to take place Aug. 6th and they will continue playing if the donations keep coming
      • Check out their website, we’ll talk more about them in the weeks to come

      http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

      • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
      • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
      ]]>       http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-59/feed/ 0       The Power Geeks #58 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-58/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-58/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:05:50 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16464 We are LIVE on Ustream!!! This week we talk SDCC, A little more Real ID from Blizz, some Zynga Evil, aaaand I’m totally screwed… and not in the good way. sandpaper. download edited show || unedited show

      To intro the screwees, we have our wonderful co-host @UberDorkGirlie, Natali

      and  her partner in crime, our long lost @GeekGirl Kristin Rielly

      Unfortunately our ever lovely Jeremy Puent is away on personal bidness, we wish him well, so we have a guest co-host this week, Justin Hurst, owner of Rockthelan.com and co-host of his own podcast “The missing Ink” – Natali: He decided to slum with us this week
      <<Justin doesn’t talk til here>>

      Gold Sponsors:

      UberDorkCafe

      • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
      • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
      • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
      • Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves

      Deals of the Week / New Releases

      New Geeky DVD / Blu-Ray Releases (2nd week of June)

      • FLASH GORDON – Blu-Ray!!!! (if you don’t know this -50 DKP 4 u) All hail Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton and Max Von Sydow!!!
      • Darkman – Blu-Ray!!! (1990 production, mad scientist, off the hinges)
      • The Book of Eli – Blu-Ray (Haven’t seen yet but heard good things)
      • MacGyver (TV Movies) – DVD – ‘Nuff said, GET NOW!
      • “The Blind Menace” – DVD – Shintaro Katsu before Zatoichi (mmm, 1950’s b&w samurai)

      Geek Speak

      • SDCC Comicon Panel – @geekgirls coming on show! (iKDR)
      • GeekGirls Tweetup! (iKDR)
      • Blizzard backs off Real ID Mandate for Forums
        • @CustomPCMax happy :) (although maybe not unbanned)
        • Forums will no longer use mandatory Real ID
        • Lets talk a little bit more about ID’s
        • (UDG) on an ironic note, 961 people that filed a complaint against Blizzard for this with the ESRB had their email addresses exposed by ESRB
        • (SM) It’s not surprising really, gamers are all about form and habits. Games don’t revolution, evolve. Forums – “rules” – Anonimity.

      Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

      • Judge Rules File Sharing Award Unconstitutional (UDG)
        • Joel Tanenbaum was found guily of file sharing by Jury
        • RIAA was awarded $675,000 in damages
        • The judge reduced the amount 90% to 67,500
        • Declared unconstitutional “that the damages are excessive in proportion to the crime”
        • Heartening to know that Due Process protects both corporations and private individuals alike
      • RIAA Pays 13 million to recover $400,000 (SM)
        • So 2008 was a bad year for the RIAA, spent a but load of money and only got back little
        • 2007 was even worse: 21 million and $515,000 recovered
        • 2006: $19,000,000 for only $455,000
        • Overall: $64,000,000 for only $1,361,000
      • Lawsuit against Apple,AT&T 2 yr vs. 5 yr. contracts (JH)
        • Already know about the other I4 antenna lawsuit
        • this one concerns the single provider status of the IPhone
        • Suing: You sign a 2 year contract w/ them to get your device
        • After contract over, Where can you go? Still only AT&T. implicit contract
      • Consumer Reports Cannot Recommend IPhone 4G (SM – just put this in)
        • Not alone in these thoughts, Others rate high but don’t give recommendations
        • Antenna recall could cost up to $1.5 billion
        • (UDG) Apple just announced a press conference for Fri Re
        • Simple answer: Give a free rubber bumper, TCO $1 to company
        • Bring up all the “interesting” stuff Apple has done lately
        • Jobs Health non-disclosure, Attacks on Adobe Flash, Lost Prototypes, app dev restrict
      • Google creates WYSIWYG Android App Creator (UDG)
        • Wow, its a drag-and-drop way to create apps
        • Could spur a lot of creativity without knowing code
        • I’m guessing 90-10 rule though, with more volume
        • Still in invite-beta (SM)pretty-plz-get-me-in
      • Edward Norton (old hulk) will not appear in Avengers (JH)
        • Edward has been flapping in the wind for awhile now (since 2008)
        • There were some creative differences even in the filming of “Incredible Hulk”
        • Marvel Studio Prez Kevin Feige delivers the slap down – “We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers,” wrote Feige. “Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.”
        • the rumors on the Internet are that Ed is a bit of a prima donna and in an ensemble movie cast is that good?
        • Cast: (SM – I’ll take over for cast)
      • 4k Video comes to YouTube (4096p) (SM)
        • Meant for a 25ft screen. Imax is actually 2 projectors at 2K each
        • Projectors for that size are the size of small refrigerators
        • Video Editor also new
          • Browser based editor that allows you to splice multiple videos together
          • Limited functionality but better than nuthin! (trims but doesn’t cut)
        • Lean-back service
          • Their new “suggestion” Service
          • Takes your subscriptions, your friends likes, your shares, plays them in full screen back to back.
          • In Beta, Deployment been pushed back
        • $5 million in grants to v-loggers
          • Have to be invited to apply
          • Will be for independent v-loggers who generate good content to help them make better content
      • Google + Zynga = Cash Cow & Not just in Farmville (UDG)
        • I totally called this last week
        • The $100-200M investment was made by Google itself, not Google Ventures (according to slashdot)
        • Trouble for Paypal? Zynga is Paypal’s biggest client. Replace w/ Google Checkout ?
        • The data alone Google could obtain from Zynga may be worth the investment alone
        • Why not an outright purchase? Testing the waters? Scared of regulatory concerns?
        • “Google is supposed to know everything about us and its lack of social data is a key hole in its world domination strategy”
        • Zynga’s latest game launch “Frontierville” sucked in 5.2M daily active users in just 2 weeks.
        • New Orleans on $30 a day (my experiment with Vampire Wars)

      Intarweb Goldmine

      • Zombies Crash Car, Apocalypse imminent (UDG)
        • Portland, Oregon on Friday night near downtown- I-84
        • Car full of Zombies swerving in traffic eastbound 9:30
        • Rolled.
        • On way to party. Some escaped on foot?
        • (SM) How do they escape? They’re ZOMBIES! (I guess if they are runners)

      Extra Links

      Contact Info

      What’s new for Geek Girls Network? um…San Diego Comic-Con!!

      • “Geeks Girls Exist” Panel on Thursday:
        • 5:30-6:30 Geek Girls Exist – Really? Kristin Rielly (Geek Girls Network – @geekgirls) leads a discussion about growing up geek, turning passions into careers, and who shot first. Representing the many awesome aspects of the geek culture, panelists Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (The Star Wars Craft Book), Marian Call (Singer-Songwriter), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), Jill Pantozzi  (Has Boobs Reads Comics), Veronica Belmont (Qore), and Kiala Kazebee (GeekWeek) will school you on what it means to be a real geeky girl and even make you LOL IRL. Room 8
      • Geek Tweet-Up on Friday:

      Sponsors

      Wow4Cure.com

      • Plans to play non-stop to level 40 and raise $10,000 for cancer
      • Scheduled to take place Aug. 6th and they will continue playing if the donations keep coming
      • Check out their website, we’ll talk more about them in the weeks to come

      http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

      • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
      • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
      ]]>       http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-58/feed/ 0       The Power Geeks #57 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-57/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-57/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:28:10 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16450

      We are LIVE on Ustream!!! We talk Blizzard Real ID (man, people hate this one), Zombies, Iphone and Android stuff, and much more! download edited show || unedited show.

      (SM) Story about my boy: First geek utterance: “This rock is my precioussss”

      Gold Sponsors:

      UberDorkCafe

      • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
      • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
      • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
      • Natali was nice enough to come on the show last week, and bear our presence.  and tell us all about UberDorkCafe. We loved her voice so much that we brought her back this week to tell us what has gone on since last we talked
      • Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves

      Deals of the Week / New Releases

      Gov 2.0 Mobile Apps

      • FBI’S Most Wanted- (udg) Cuz ya know the stalkers like me. Totally got distracted for a second by the $1.99 “study for the FBI Exam app” Next time!!
        • Features the 10 most wanted (Seriously this really large old Ukaranian dude is #1? How hard can he be to catch? ), Top Terrorists, and Missing Kids (huge sad face).
        • You can submit a tip straight from app or click through to the “official page” on each person.
        • Also contains links to the official FB, Twitter and YouTube’s for the FBI.
      • Fema App – (JP) odd… I tried installing the FEMA app but it said it’ll take at least three weeks before it shows up on my iPhone??? What the hell?
      • Recall App (SM – Android and web)
        • Scary stuff… makes me not want to buy anything ever again
        • One consequence of a toyota valve spring cover recall – “The engine could fail and stop suddenly while the vehicle is in motion, increasing the risk of a crash” *yikes*
        • (udg- if only people came w/ warning labels and could be found on here!)
      • DVD releases this week:
        • Brooklyn’s Finest
        • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (english subtitles – if Ihave to read, I’ll read the best seller book)
        • A single man

      Geek Speak

      Blizzard’s Real ID – Casting Anonimity aside (big topic for gamers)

      • SC2 and Facebook Integration
      • Are we ready as gamers, to cast our anonimity aside?
        • (JP) – I am good and confused by some information out there?
      • Story on GameSpot (JP)
        • This story seems to have some very inflammatory words regarding this service
          • IE Required, or automatically shared
      • info from Battle.net on this (JP)
        • Real ID is a completely voluntary and optional level of identity that keeps players connected across all of Battle.net. When you and a friend mutually agree to become Real ID friends, you’ll have access to a number of additional features that will enrich your social gaming experience in new and exciting ways.
        • This seems reasonable and actually useful, however if it is more of the facebook approach than what I am reading at this link… I imagine a lot of people will be upset and possibly leave….
      • SCII Forums, Real ID will be mandatory
        • “The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players,” a Blizzard representative posted in a separate thread explaining the changes. “However, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before.”

      Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

      • Final Fantasy XIV Release Announced (udg)
        • Looks pretty sweet!
        • Collector’s Edition PC scheduled for Sept 22- $74.99
        • Reg PC edition scheduled for Sept 30- $49.99
        • PS3 version not scheduled until March of 2011 but GameStop has preorder up?
        • Producer Hiromichi Tanaka has said it won’t be appearing on the Xbox 360, citing       problems with the “closed” nature of Xbox Live
        • While the lack of an Xbox release is not new, the fact that the PC vs is being made available 6 months before PS3 vs has left sony faithfuls pretty pissed.
      • Google Developing FB Killer (SM)
        • Details still very sketchy, no denials but no thumbs up either
        • (SM)Yet another Buzz? (their twitter killer)
        • (JP) I saw this and thought the same thing… but then I thought maybe they learned from Buzz
      • Cisco Promises WiFi Flip, and would love to make it FaceTime enabled (JP)
        • Cisco disclosed plans this week to loaunch a new Flip video camera that is WiFi enabled This will probably enable all sorts of sharing direct to InsertSiteHere Widgets
        • JP – short talk about this camera
        • They have also said they did not buy Flip for it to be strictly a video camera and would love to integrate it with Apple iOS devices
        • Cisco also hinted that they are working on a video client that will be submitted to the app store soon
        • Cisco has also started working on a Video transcoding system. the Media Experience Engine will work inside Carrier or Enterprise networks to automagically convert Flash video into formats supported by iOS devices like iPhones and iPads.
      • Take That England! Our Zombies are better! (udg)
        • On Sat July 3rd, over 4,200 Zombies marched in Seattle to set a new record
        • Prev “Guinness Record for World’s Largest Zombie Walk” was held by England 4,026
        • They took it from Seattle
        • This Saturday Sacramento is gearing for it’s own take over of the record (Seriously, I lived in the Bay Area and have been to Sacramento, this would be the ONLY reason to go there.)
        • If they are successful, Seattle will challenge again in Oct when ZomBcon comes
      • Droid suffers another set back in the war against iPhone for mobile supremecy (JP)
        • The HTC Incredible gets delayed again, new release date is August 5th
        • What’s the real cause some are claiming parts shortages, some are claiming Verizon pushed it because of the release of the Droid X next week
        • Forums are abuzz with all sorts of ideas, and apparently everyone who calls gets a different answer from the fine folks over at HTC… so go put your tin foil hats on and contribute to the hysteria.
      • The only place IPhone doesn’t reign supreme: China (SM)
        • More expensive than the knock offs ($730 – $1003)
        • Only 1 carrier currently distributes (China Unicom)
        • 100,000 units distributed (compared to the 146 million person base)
        • No wi-fi support because there’s no proprietary WAPI installed in the OS
        • Lenovo appreciates your reticence (released their own smart phone – LePhone)
      • Futurama Debut Successful (JP)
        • 2.9 million viewers
        • Highest rated for young men on all TV + highest rating for network all year
        • Only bigger program? Southpark (3 million viewers regularly) (JP – remember it’s not fat… just big boned)
      • Flying car for the marines (SM)
        • Hello Jetsons!
        • Made by Logi Aerospace and called the Tyrannos
        • Designed specifically for the military- fly above roadside bombs
        • “Shrouded Propeller” allows it to take off vertically
        • Logi’s site describes it as a “s a four-person SUVish sort of thing ‘that anyone can literally drive into the air.’ (Arial attacking soccer moms??)
        • Logi’s press release turned from patriotic to talk of transforming “modern lifestyles.”
        • It can cut the commute from Santa Barbara to L.A. from 2 hours down to 35 min.
        • And it’s “eco-friendly” cuz it can land on battery power only.
        • (JP) hmmm.. having beena US Marine… I have an issue with the conceptual design presented here…. it doesn’t appear very… WHat’s the word I’m looking for??? sturdy?
        • I think a small child with some rocks could possibly take that thing down.
      • $10 Cellphone Microscope Winning Awards (UDG)
        • Aydogan Ozcan of UCLA has developed a lightweight & cheap attachment that turns cellphones into mini medical labs.
        • Can analyze blood and saliva samples for microparticles, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and water borne parasites.
        • Won 3  prestigious awards for the device: a Grand Challenges award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (worth $100,000), the National Geographic Emerging Explorer award (worth $10,000), and the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation ($400,000).
        • The team is taking the attachment to Africa for testing in hopes to revolutionize global medicine.
        • It uses an LED to illuminate a sample and then analyze the sample’s shadow to get information.
        • Someone in the field takes a blood or saliva sample, places it into the device and sends the picture to an automated database which will return data on the required information.

      • Netflix Streaming gets First-Run movies (SM)
        • One studio so far, Relativity Media, “Get him to the Greek” and “Grown Ups”
        • Plans to release 20 movies over the contract lifetime
        • All will come within the TV PPV window
        • Cites dwindling DVD rentals and wanting to get on the next gen streaming wagon
      • Hulu Plus Announced (SM)
        • Full Seasons (not just the last 5 trailers)
        • Availability on multiple platforms: PC, IPhone, X360, PS3
        • $9.99 a month, Full HD ABC,NBC,Fox Series
        • X360 will only be available to gold subscribers, extra amenities, next year
        • PS3 will only be available to plus during preview period
          • (JP) – this is quite a bit pricier than I expected… Are you willing to pay this much for free tv shows?

      Intarweb Goldmine

      • Vuvuzela Hero (udg)
        • The infamous instrument that annoyed the world this summer meets Guitar Hero.
        • Please Activision, just say no.
      • In one of those headlines you have to read twice… and then again….
        • Ohio woman poses as 14 yr old Boy… to have sex with a girl
        • Authorities say 31-year-old Patricia Dye of Franklin used the alias Matt Abrams as the girl’s boyfriend, and that the girl did not know Dye was a woman.
        • Dye is charged with unlawful sexual conduct with and contributing to the delinquency of a minor and is being held in the Butler County jail on $100,000 bond.
        • 20 yo college student Christian Tyler Hardee is (by day) pursuing art and chemistry majors at Union University in Jackson, TN
        • wants to be known as “The Viper”
        • Police stopped him shortly after midnight cuz wearing a mask is illegal in Columbia, Tennessee
        • The self-professed comic book nerd was armed with a utility belt housing a screw driver, wrenches and a cell phone. Ninja stars were found in his car though.
        • He told the local TV station Monday that , “I am just a guy trying to do what’s right, in tights.”   (JP – I’m afraid to ask… but what? is right for a GUY in tights?)
        • Rock on lil tight wearing comic nerd! May wanna add some heavier artillery in your belt though and I suggest some kevlar over the tights.
        • Does Megan Fox have a Big toe for a thumb? (JP)
          • Hot as she is… she’s not perfect this story claims she has “Murderer’s Thumb” which was the old Gypsy fortune tellers name for Brachydactyly type D Also known as stump Thumb, club thumb, toe thumb, potters thumb and many others!
          • (SM) Plus she can’t keep her mouth shut…..

      Extra Links

      Contact Info

      What’s new for Geek Girls Network? um…San Diego Comic-Con!!

      • “Geeks Girls Exist” Panel on Thursday:
        • 5:30-6:30 Geek Girls Exist – Really? Kristin Rielly (Geek Girls Network – @geekgirls) leads a discussion about growing up geek, turning passions into careers, and who shot first. Representing the many awesome aspects of the geek culture, panelists Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (The Star Wars Craft Book), Marian Call (Singer-Songwriter), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), Jill Pantozzi  (Has Boobs Reads Comics), Veronica Belmont (Qore), and Kiala Kazebee (GeekWeek) will school you on what it means to be a real geeky girl and even make you LOL IRL. Room 8
      • Geek Tweet-Up on Friday:

      Sponsors

      Wow4Cure.com

      • Plans to play non-stop to level 40 and raise $10,000 for cancer
      • Scheduled to take place Aug. 6th and they will continue playing if the donations keep coming
      • Check out their website, we’ll talk more about them in the weeks to come

      http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap

      • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
      • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
      ]]>       http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-57/feed/ 0       The Power Geeks #56 http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-56/ http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-56/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:13:03 +0000 DarthMolen http://thepowergeeks.com/?p=16444 (Not Live on UStream, but we will be next week) This week we talk US Space Race, Wonder Woman gets a new look, IPhone Antenna Problems, and death of a Kin. PLUS, with the exit of Geek Girl, we have a new Co-host, ( JP – can i guess who?) Nooo! we have somebody better, Natali, you may know her as UberDorkGirlie from twitter… We liked so much when she was talking about her pet project, we decided to bring her on PERMANENTLY!!!! Yaay! Click here to download show file
      Gold Sponsors:

      UberDorkCafe

      • Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
      • What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
      • Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
      • Natali was nice enough to come on the show last week, and bear our presence. and tell us all about UberDorkCafe. We loved her voice so much that we brought her back this week to tell us what has gone on since last we talked
      • Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves

      Deals of the Week / New Releases

      • Free Realms Free for the Weekend (@CustomPCMax)
        • Sure this is free in some areas but it is more of a freemium game than a f2p
        • Weekend to allow viewing of “paid” content including job classes and member items
        • SOE is the main purveyor of this MMO
      • Steam Play it Safe Stay Inside Save Big SALE (JP)
        • sales every day from June 24th – July 4th
        • Different games on sale each 24 hours up to 75% off
        • Dragon Age, BioShock, Star Wars Galaxies (for $5)
        • The Valve Complete Pack (includes 22 games) for only $66.99 saving you $60.80 off normal price
        • Check back each day, but be sure to buy before July 4th!

      Geek Speak

      U.S. out of the space race

      Wonder Woman Gets A New Look (udg)

      • Do we really need to fully remake classic heroines/heroes?
      • Were they finally “listening to the female fans”?
      • She needed to look like she was in “modern times.” With non functional gold spurs over spandex?
      • (SM)The hottest hour of TV I’ve ever seen, “Bones” wore WW costume for the whole episode
      • (SM) Don’t get me started, Seen the new Capt. America? (udg- I call that the “Polly Pocket Plastic” look)

      (JP – I was thinking this would be my Halloween costume… but since you guys hate it so much, now I don’t know what to do!)

      Natali is going to be WW for halloween

      Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

      • Android 2.2 released next week (SM)
        • Nexus one getting the update first
        • Better exchange support
        • Faster Performance
        • ability to be a wifi hotspot for other computers
        • 2.2 will support Flash 10.1 inherently
      • (udg) There are 2 caller ID spoofing apps for Android now
      • (SM) Feel free to give a quick overview of what entails, basically to show how easy it is…
      • AT&T knows about it. Their response basically “yeah we know, so put a password in.”
      • Brits go Ga-Ga for Iphone 4 (SM)
        • 6 carriers offered….
        • One carrier = $45 a month, $149 for IPhone 4 (3) (Is This US dollars? I don’t think it has been converted.)
        • The point is, they’re going like hotcakes. U.S. = hokey
      • (udg)Earlier “open in keynote” prompt leak
      • Is Apple (quality control freaks) really getting that sloppy? (or is this free marketing??? hmmmm….coincidence? or special sauce? – jp)
      • Already available for iPad
      • Is it really an app you would use on your phone?
      • Leak documents show that M$ is prepping for their own app store
      • Wants in on the Apple cash bonanza
      • Offerings for all platforms
      • Everything hosted in the cloud
        • (JP) – is this too little too late? when you’re the last one ot the dinner table, how many scraps are left?
      • (udg)”It’s a business tablet, not an iPad competitor”
      • Name? Cisco + Us= “see us”
      • Aimed at enterprise users, not consumers
      • 7 inch touch screen tablet that runs the Android OS
      • Works with 3G, 4G, WiFi and Bluetooth
      • HD 720p video, weighs 1.15lbs, detachable 8 hour battery, Intel Atom 1.6-GHz processor
      • Available 1st quarter 2011, “under $1,000″
      • Focus seems to be mobile video conferencing unit
      • Microsoft Kin is Dead, Long live the Kin (JP)
        • 6 weeks after the product launch, they fold the team
        • No European launch as planned this fall
        • Continue to work with Verizon to sell phones
        • Another phone spin-off bites the dust
          • Who is going to buy a phone that has absolutely no future, no team, no dev, no prospects? no shit?
      Intarweb Goldmine
      • Bejeweled Vuvuzela sells for $20g
        • The annoying horn is now synonymous with the World Cup
        • White Gold and Diamond annoying horn is being sold to a Russian customer for $17k Euro
        • Works just as well as the cheap variety
      • Strip Club Loses Welfare Cashing Privileges
        • Since 2007, various clubs across California have had cashing privileges
        • $12 grand of welfare cash has been dispensed at these locations
        • The Terminator has since terminated their privileges…
        • We all know the great food at these establishments were what that cash went for
      • Chinese Companies Rent White Foreigners
        • Job Market might be bad here, but migrate to China, buy you a Suit and Tie, and you got a job
        • Face, we say in China, is more important than life itself,’ said Zhang Haihua, author of Think Like Chinese. ‘Because Western countries are so developed, people think they are more well off, so people think that if a company can hire foreigners, it must have a lot of money and have very important connections overseas. So when they really want to impress someone, they may roll out a foreigner.’ ‘
        • So Rent-A-Ferner in full effect in china
        • Don’t believe us, watch the CNN clip

      Contact Info

      • “Geeks Girls Exist” Panel on Thursday:
        • 5:30-6:30 Geek Girls Exist – Really? Kristin Rielly (Geek Girls Network – @geekgirls) leads a discussion about growing up geek, turning passions into careers, and who shot first. Representing the many awesome aspects of the geek culture, panelists Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (The Star Wars Craft Book), Marian Call (Singer-Songwriter), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), Jill Pantozzi (Has Boobs Reads Comics), Veronica Belmont (Qore), and Kiala Kazebee (GeekWeek) will school you on what it means to be a real geeky girl and even make you LOL IRL. Room 8
      • Geek Tweet-Up on Friday:

      Sponsors

      Wow4Cure.com

      • Plans to play non-stop to level 40 and raise $10,000 for cancer
      • Scheduled to take place Aug. 6th and they will continue playing if the donations keep coming
      • Check out their website, we’ll talk more about them in the weeks to come
      http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap
      • Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
      • (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)
      ]]>       http://thepowergeeks.com/2010/07/the-power-geeks-56/feed/ 0