ThePowerGeeks.com

We are LIVE on Ustream . Tonight we talk Facebook freedom of speech, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Hulu Plus, and our usual soapbox by Natali!

Items of Interest

• (SM) IPhone Docks turns it into a Pinball Table!!!

• (SM) Shades to go with your COD: Black Ops…

(SM) Wicked Deadspace 2 Trailer based on “ring-around-the-rosies”

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
• first Piece revealed and accompanying t-shirt @hefnatron
• Ellen campaign!!
• NEW TOP-SECRET: There will be baskets of UDC goodies for X-mas
  • UberDorkCafe is planning to put together some special goodies in basket form for people that both want to support the cause AND give an awesome present to their loved one for christmas.
  • I heard something about wookie cookies among other super secret things

• Today in Geek History
  • JebsApps (owned by our own Jeremy Puent) released their latest app, Today in Geek History
  • Gives you factoids based upon date, spanning all sorts of geekiness
  • For example, did you know on 11/3/1971 Dylan Moran, who played David in Shaun of the Dead and appeared in Run Fatboy Run, was born in Ireland
  • This app is available for Android in a Lite version for free or a paid version, all on the Marketplace
  • Check out the lite version, but the paid version for .99
  • Also, Golden Pic and Golden Pic Lite for Android devices

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• Hulu Plus Released to the Masses
  • Careful for what you wish for, Make sure you’re shows are on the list
  • Plus doesn’t not mean “without advertising” – $10 per month
  • PSN, Sony Bravia TV’s, XB360 in 2011

• Will Farrel stretches his legs as a Vilian in Magamind (udg)
  • This latest Dreamworks creation opened last weekend and has gotten some GREAT reviews.
  • On the surface, this is the tale of a genius supervillain who is left at loose ends when he defeats his impossibly charming arch-rival. But it’s also a clear loveletter to nerds and many flavors of nerdery. As such, easter eggs abound.
  • And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s also got one of my favorite geek girls, Tina Fey in it.
• Now you can hijack a hooker for less until 11/15 (udg)
  • Rockstar has decided to drop the price of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad for a very limited time. The usual price of $9.99 has been cut to $6.99 through November 15.

• New DVD/Blu-Ray Releases
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – one of Natali’s fav’s (HELLS TO THE YEAH!!!)
  • Doctor Who: 5th Season
  • MST3K: XIX – Robot Monster, Bride of Monster, Devil Fish
  • Dr. Who S5
  • Scooby Doo: The Complete Series (all 41 original episodes and a mystery machine to boot)

Geek Speak

• COD: Black Ops
  • Just released this week and the reviews are extremely favorable (metareview here)
  • (JP) Exposition here
  • 3D option available for all versions of game
    • performance issues abound (sony was wors at 20 FPS sometimes)
    • 3D TV (or monitor) is a requirement (expensive)
  • Target giving xbox live cards for half price w/ Black Ops Purchase

• Facebook Posts Legally Protected Free Speech (udg)
  • A federal agency has declared Facebook posts are legally protected speech, even for employees who write negative things about their employers.
  • In a recent lawsuit, the National Labor Relations Board basically said if it’s on your own computer and your own time, your employer can’t fire you for it.
  • The employee in this case, Dawnmarie Souza, used some vulgar language to deride her boss on Facebook when he denied one of her requests. Several of Souza’s co-workers joined in on the thread, also making negative comments about the supervisor.
  • An NLRB representative told The New York Times that basically and company social media policies that prohibit making negative remarks about one’s boss or company online are actually in violation of labor laws that protect employees’ right to talk about things like wages and working conditions.  Just cuz it’s a policy the company has come up with doesn’t make it right.
  • You still may want to be careful when unleashing about your job on any form of social media as employment laws are still fairly tricky.
  • What do you think: Should companies have the right to make and enforce social media policies about what you can and can’t say about them online? Or should your personal social networks be protected from any work-related consequences?

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Tron Animated Series Already Planned (SM)
  • Variety reports that already Disney is planning an animated series around the un-released Tron:Legacy.
  • Air in Summer 2012 (holy long time batman)
  • Voice acting to include: Elijah Wood, Mandy More, Paul Reubens, and of course Bruce Boxleitner
  • This will be proceeded by a 10-episode micro-series airing 10 fall 2011
  • Leave it to Disney’s marketing machine. We’re all holding our breath to see if the movie is really worth the hype

• Move over Leia, Star Wars hologram to become a reality (UDG)
  • Scientists from the University of Arizona have developed a new type of holographic telepresence that allows the projection of three-dimensional images without the need for special glasses or other auxiliary devices.
  • They can now record a three-dimensional image in one location and show it in another, in real-time, anywhere in the world.
  • The image is recorded using an array of regular cameras, each of which views the object from a different perspective – the more cameras the better the final holographic representation. This information is then encoded onto a fast-pulsed laser beam, which interferes with another beam that serves as a reference. The resulting interference pattern is written into the photorefractive polymer, creating and storing the image. Each laser pulse records an individual hogel – short for holographic pixel, a three-dimensional version of a pixel – in the polymer.
  • The research has achieved what the group calls full parallax – as you move your head up and down, left and right, you see everything from a different perspective, making the image very life like. The hologram fades away by natural dark decay after a couple of minutes, and is insensitive to vibration because of the short pulse duration.
  • Further development is needed – especially to bring the hologram into full color – but researchers hope it could be used in advertising, updatable 3D maps, entertainment and in telemedicine.

• Mobile Data Usage to Exceed 1 Exabyte end of 2010 (SM)
  • With the rise of 3g devices, IPads, Smartphones, ereaders, etc, the national mobile broadband usage has skyrocketed.
  • The expectation is that by the end of 2010, an exabyte of mobile data will have been consumed (that’s 1 beeellion gigabytes)
  • $55 billion dollars in data charges alone will have been wracked up
  • All of that with only a small share of data connected smartphones out there
  • Leaders? Verizon and AT&T own 85% of the market (duh, they have the best smartphones out there)
  • National average permonth per user? 325 MB per month, up 112% yoy
  • Here’s the fail… The analyst predicts Win 7 to eventually push RIM aside

• New FireFox AddOn Detects FireSheep (udg)
  • I reported a couple of weeks ago on FireSheep, the new FireFox Add on created to point out flaws in major sites security. Well now a counter add on has been created. Allow me to introduce you to BlackSheep
  • It comes to us from cloud security firm Zscaler and it will warn you if someone on your network is using Firesheep.
  • Here’s how it works: Firesheep’s packet sniffing can’t be detected, but what can be detected is Firesheep’s requests to websites like Facebook using your cookies. BlackSheep detects this type of activity by making requests to random sites known to FireSheep every five minutes (you can adjust the timing) with fake values.
  • If anyone else on the network starts using those same fake values to make requests, then BlackSheep knows someone on the network is using Firesheep, and you get a warning in your current browser tab.
  • BlackSheep was based on Firesheep’s code to ensure its effectiveness. In a word, for every hack, there is an equal and opposite counter-hack.

• Microsoft’s Kinect Hacked Already (SM)
  • $2000 bounty for someone who can write an opensource driver for the new gadget
  • Already there are plenty of Wiimote projects out there, Kinect is WAAAY more powerful than that little device in a lot of ways
  • Kinect Parts Breakdown : 2 cameras, infrared emitter, 4 microphones (1 camera plus emitter gives the 3d, 1 camera to monitor normal stuff)
  • Some interesting things
  • Beware of dancing Naked  in front of your Kinect
    • the thing has 2 cameras, many games will take pics of you while moving.. you get the picture
  • There might not be a controller, but watch for low fans ,could spikes into your LCD TV
  • Night Vision Goggles with Kinect

• Natali’s lil SoapBox- Dear lil kid, take your Toyota and Shove it (udg)
  • So, the other night I actually watched a tv show- How I Met Your Mother and it had a commercial. One that quickly reminded me why I loathe regular TV.
  • It opens with some moppy headed lil brat which I’m gonna say is maybe around 9 or 10 sitting in a red bean bag chair, controller in hand. When he opens his mouth, my eye immediately starts to twitch.

• • • “I don’t tolerate dorkiness very well.” Now had that been the only line in the commercial, this wouldn’t be a bullet point for me. He goes on…
    • “Yet my parents still cart me around in a car that says ‘Hi! We’re the geek family.” He walks past his dad washing a faux wood grain panelled mini van. Then you hear some really cheese attempt at “hip music” and see this black highlander pull in (with a hot mom driving it of course)
    • He blabbers on about the vehicle as he runs his hand across the hood like he’s Vanna flippin White, then slides his self up in it. His end line “Just because your a parent doesn’t mean you have to be lame.”
  • Okay…. seriously?? Toyota you have lost me for life. A. I take pride in my dorkiness. B. I take even greater pride in being a geek, a geek girl, a geek mom raising geekettes. Yup, one of those dreaded geek families. 3. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT A CAR HERE! THAT’S NOT A PURCHASE DECISION YOU GIVE YOUR KIDS AT ANY POINT. So, you can shove your Highlander, I love my Passat wagon, the Getter treats us well. As for that lil punk in the commercial, well I’ll be nice and let him pick which monkey of mine educates him on the joys of being a geek. If he picks right, he may walk away relatively upright.

• AMC Approves 2nd Season of “The Walking Dead” (SM)
  • This comes as no surprise whatsoever
  • 2 record-breaking episodes of the new series
  • Based on Robert Kirkman’s Illustrated novels
  • Our only question is: Why did it take 2 whole episodes to decide to renew??
  • There’s even rhetoric of 10 seasons in the press release…

• Need a lil help with math? A lil shock therapy can help. (udg)
  • If you happen to be someone who struggles with mathematics, a new type of therapy could help math become easier for you. Nope, it’s not something you’ll find in a book.
  • Researchers for the Oxford University have uncovered a useful benefit from a non-invasive low current applied to the parietal lobe of the brain. It stimulated the brains ability for learning math and was able to improve the subjects math abilities for up to six months when combined with study.
  • According to Oxford study researcher Roi Cohen Kadosh: “I am certainly not advising people to go around giving themselves electric shocks. But we are extremely excited by the potential of our findings.”
  • In fact they were so excited by the results, they have already applied for a patent for a “learning device” that incorporates this method.
  • Umm…. please don’t go trying to hook yourself up to some jumper cables now peeps, if you’re that dimwitted, it’s going to take more than a little low current to help you.

• Dallas Cowboys forget to renew domain (SM)
  • First they’ve lost their season…then their coach, then their domain name?
  • For a little bit, DallasCowboys.com was unregistered and feature 2 guys playing soccer
  • Guess they forgot that little detail in the shuffle of all those “losses”
  • That has since been rectified, wonder who got fired for missing that bill?

• Ask.com to shut search engine doors (SM)
  • The venerable search site was launched almost 10 years ago in 1996
  • They will be closing down their search functionality citing “intensified competition”
  • Translation: Google thrashes all unless you have a silly sized wallet (M$)
  • The will continue to maintain there Q&A business
  • They still make $227 million in gross revenue, but they were bought for $1.85 billion back in 2005

Intarweb Goldmine

• Does it burn when you pee? Think you may have picked up a lil STD? Well, pee on your phone to find out. (udg)
  • With the help of a four million pound grant ( that’s about 6 1/2 mil US), the UK Clinical Research Collaboration is currently developing a computer chip that, once urinated or spit on, can be plugged into a phone and can then tell the user whether or not he or she has STDs including herpes, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.
  • Ultimately, they plan for the chips — which are projected to be the size of a USB chip — to be sold in vending machines for around $0.80 to $1.60, in order to encourage people to perform self-exams who would otherwise avoid an exam because of embarrassment or cost issues.
  • If you’ve got enough sense to know how to use this thing, you should have enough sense to wrap it up folks.

• Laptops cook the man bits, FACT!
  • There’s a study out there that actually hooked  thermometers to 29 scrotums to measure temps of a laptop on your lap
  • First off, “WHO THE HELL WOULD PARTICIPATE IN THE STUDY IN THE FIRST PLACE?”
  • Anyways, this study shows that it raises temps down in the nether region to a danger level in only 10-15 minutes, even if you’re using a lap pad
  • A separate study has shown that even a 1 degree variation down there can cause decreased swimmers
  • So word to the wise??? Don’t connect electrodes to your scrotum (1) and try not to hold a laptop on your lap…. unless you want less swimmers (2)

• Nintendo looking to trademark “It’s on like Donkey Kong”
  • Nintendo has filed  a TM for the popular phrase “It’s on like Donkey Kong”
  • Nintendo’s stance? It derives from their trademarked property therefore it should be theirs.
  • Probably comes because of their new marketing campaign for their new DK Country returns, “On Nov. 21, it’s on like Donkey Kong”
  • Phrase has been featured in everything from movies to music…
  • This is like Trademarking phrases such as “Beam me Up Scotty” or  “It’s a TRAP!”
  • Nintendo, get over yourself or we’ll just have to lay the smackdown and it’ll “Be on like donkey kong”

Extra Links

• Game Boy Emulation in Javascript, Explained
• Balmer Fights Income Tax, Sells 75 Million Shares
• Amazing Close-up of comet Hartley
• 10 Worst video game peripherals revisited
• Wireless router inside a NES cartridge… GENIUS!
• Price hikes coming because of rare mineral embargo
• Golden nano-particles in trees

Contact Info

• On Twitter: Steven is @DarthMolen, Jeremy is @jpuent, Natali is @UberDorkGirlie
• email us: darthmolen@thepowergeeks.com and jpuent@thepowergeeks.com and uberdorkgirlie@thepowergeeks.com (yay!)
• And Become a Fan
• http://racomics.com

Sponsors

Shiny Lines

• What: Shiny Geek Jewelry, clothing and other bits & bytes, made by Geeks for Geeks.
• Why: Geeks, Nerds & Gamers alike deserve to shine at their very best, on and offline.
• Who: @aDigitalAngel & fellow nerds at ShinyLines.com

Luxury Lane Soaps

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!)