ThePowerGeeks.com

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:

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• 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…

• Attention Guitarists out there… Capo 2.0 let’s you reverse engineer music (JP)
  • you can load music from your library into the software and deconstruct it, slow it down, play it over and over… etc…
  • for $50 bucks it’s pretty cool. There are videos and demo’s at the link. Jump from our shownotes into a whole new world of learning

• 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. )

• 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

• GMAIL Android Label Notifier
• The Walking Dead Trailer
• You thought your auto fixing was hard… Space Radiator shutdown
• 9 IPad Alternatives
• Apple Approval Process = Schizophrenia?
• Cutest.Star.Wars.Pic.EVAR

Contact Info

• On Twitter: Steven is @DarthMolen and I am @JPuent Natali is @UberDorkGirlie
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