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

• Jack from Mass Effect 2 CosPlay !!!! (JP)
  • Super impressive costume! Must see!

• 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???

• 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  (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

• Dragon Age: Origin Awakenings XPack now on Mac (JP)
  • Did you know one of the best RPG’s out there was on Mac? DAO = the win
  • Awakenings now available on their store, its the xpack that has been out for awhile now
  • (Research a bit about the story)

• Thriller- The Entire Series on DVD (UDG)

• • 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

• Mirror’s Edge, Puzzle Agent coming to IPhone (SM)
  • Already on the IPad, now moving to IPhone
  • $4.99 for the Parkour style Adventure game

Geek Speak

• InterventionCon

• Apple Event (JP)

  • New AppleTV delivers on $99 price point, streaming

  • a smaller form-factor that clocks in at 1/4th the size of its first-generation sibling.
  • power supply is built into the Apple TV along with HDMI (at 720p cap) and Ethernet connections, and onboard 802.11n WiFi support. It also includes an Apple remote.
  • The Catch for $99 bucks? All Rental model… no purchases.
  • Netflix and YouTube streaming is available, along with photo streaming from Flickr and MobileMe.
  • new AppleTV will also be able to stream content from an iPad using the just-announced AirPlay in iOS 4.2 that’s slated to come out in November.
• 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

• HP writes a painful $55 Million check. (udg)

• • 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!!!)

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!

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

• 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

• 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

• Sillof.com Guest Appearance
  • Jamie aka Sillof

• 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

• 8 and 16 bit demakes
• Top 10 SWCV Moments
• Healthy Bento Boxes
• Stewart grills Lucas (Polish 501st FTW, Lucas: It helps to be nuts)

Contact Info

• On Twitter: Steven is @DarthMolen and I am @JPuent Natali is @UberDorkGirlie
• email us: darthmolen@thepowergeeks.com and jpuent@thepowergeeks.com and uberdorkgirlie@thepowergeeks.com (yay!)
• And Become a Fan

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!)

Gold Sponsors:

• 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)
  • App Wall ScreenSaver… Just Like WWDC
    • For Free!!! moving App icons, select top Paid, Top Free, etc… and sit back and enjoy!

LuxuryLaneSoap.com of @KyleeLane fame

• POWERGEEKS for 20% off in her store!
• Her Han Solo soap is going global!!!
• Sci Fi Wire, WSJ Digital Network, Geekologie
• Even got invited on TV!
• Awesome creative soaps Check her out

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• Stream for Mac releasing tomorrow
  • Portal will the be the first “valve” game available with 1 to come every week thereafter

• Humble indie Bundle does over 1 Million in sales in just 7 days (JP)
  • They also added another game… I got an email since I had already purchased it, and got the new addition thrown in.

• Show your female geek love with iPhone chocolates (iKDR)
  • iChocolates are a 20-piece gourmet chocolates assortment resembling iPhone and iPad app icons, boxed in a luxury iPhone-like package.

• MacBuzzer.com bundle now up to 24.95 but still a good deal… and they added two more apps as well! (JP)
  • Now you get 11 Apps for your mac worth over 300 bucks

• My Status Monkey from the guys over at iWkiPhone for 99Cents, update multiple social media accounts from one place on your iphone and iTouch
  • Update Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bebo, MySpace, Tuenti and iWikiPhone all from one place.

• DVD Day from Topless Robot (iKDR)
  • Daria: The Complete Animated Series (ask me for my best impression)
  • Daybreakers
  • M
  • Legion

Geek Speak

• Some of the statements made in this amazing video:
  • over 50% of the world’s population is under 30
  • 96% of millennials (Generation Y born between 1978 and 1994) have joined social networks
  • Social Media is more popular than porno
  • Years to reach 50 million: Radio took 38 years, TV took 13 years, Internet took 4 years and FB surpased 200 Million in less than 1 year
  • Wikipedia has over 15 million articles and said to be more accurate than Brittanica
  • “Will nolonger need to search for news, products, services…they will find us”
• one of my fav videos -> i have some interesting view points as i was a “new media developer” for my last job and was involved in national orgs trying to teach insurance companies why they need to be involved online (iKDR)

• FB used to be a place to share photos & thoughts with frie3nds & family; but now everyone including your crazy aunt & that jerkface from your old job is friend requesting you
• Then FB decided to turn “your” profile page into your identity online — there’s money & power in being the place where people define themselves.
• And to do that, the folks at Facebook had to make sure that the information you give it was public.
• This spring Facebook took that even further:
  • All the items you list as things you like must become public and linked to public profile pages.
  • If you don’t want them linked and made public, then you don’t get them — though Facebook nicely hangs onto them in its database in order to let advertisers target you
  • This includes your music preferences, employment information, reading preferences, schools, etc.
• Simultaneously, the company began shipping your profile information off pre-emptively to Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft — so that if you show up there while already logged into Facebook, the sites can “personalize” your experience when you show up
• No wonder 14 privacy groups filed a unfair-trade complaint with the FTC against Facebook on Wednesday.

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Google Android Outsells IPhone in Q1 (SM)
  • 28% for Android
  • 36% for Blackberry
  • 21% for IPhone
  • Verizon was doing a buy one get one free promotion w/ droid and Droid Eris along w/ the blackberry being hard drivers

• Drifting satellite threatens cable programming (Cinemax, Encore, ESPN, Fox News, HBO, Starz & SyFy) (JP)
  • Intelsat says it lost ability to control Galaxy 15 satellite last month
  • possibly because the satellite’s systems were knocked out by a solar storm.
  • Intelsat cannot remotely steer the satellite to remain in its orbit, so Galaxy 15 is creeping toward the adjacent path of another TV communications satellite that serves U.S. cable companies.
  • Galaxy 15 continues to receive and transmit satellite signals, and they will probably interfere with the second satellite, known as AMC 11, if Galaxy 15 drifts into its orbit as expected around May 23, according to AMC 11′s owner, SES World Skies.

• TomTom unveils StarWars Voices FTW! (iKDR)
  • Now Vader, C3P0, Yoda and Han can help you navigate your journey
  • *plays sample*
    • I want I want I want I want I want (JP) ’nuff said

• EA Intros 1-time online pass for sports games (SM)
  • One time code comes with the game and once activated, can’t be used again
  • Will be for “online” play as well as some other free things?
  • If you buy the game the next year used from gamestop? $10 for another key
  • Inexplicably Gamestop is supporting this push by EA:
  • “GameStop is excited to partner with such a forward-thinking publisher as Electronic Arts,” DeMatteo (CEO of Gamstop) said. “This relationship allows us to capitalize on our investments to market and sell downloadable content online, as well as through our network of stores worldwide.”

• Windows 7 Upgrade advisor Trojan horse (JP)
  • BitDefender has spotted a new email making the rounds claiming to be an upgrade advisor for Windows 7
    • Instead of the promised compatibility checking tool, the zip file hides Trojan.Generic.3783603. This piece of malware contains malicious or potentially unwanted software which it drops and installs on the system. Frequently, it installs a backdoor which allows remote, clandestine access to the infected system. This backdoor may then be used by cybercriminals to upload and install additional malicious or potentially unwanted software on the captured system.
  • so… Beware!

• First USB 3.0 Portable Drives Hit Market (iKDR)
  • A majority of laptops come with USB 2.0 ports, but HP will bring USB 3.0 to a majority of its high-performance and business laptops later this year.
  • USB 3.0 increases bandwidth and transfers data close to 10 times faster than USB 2.0
  • The USB 3.0 interface can offer a transfer rate of 5G bps (bits per second) compared to 480M bps per second for USB 2.0
  • Super Talent is offering three USB 3.0 flash drives with capacities up to 256GB under the SuperCrypt, Raiddrive and Express Drive brands
  • Samsung announced a Samsung Story Station family of USB 3.0 external hard drives, which are available in capacities ranging from 1TB to 2TB.
  • Western Digital offers the My Book external hard drives, priced at $199.99 for 1TB and $279.99 for 2GB capacity.

• Office 2010 online version for free (SM)
  • M$, driven by Google Docs, will be delivering an online version of the 2010 suite 4 free
  • a third of M$ sales comes from Office ($19 billion of 58 billion) – $12 billion in profits
  • Docs for Facebook (M$), www.docs.com (M$)
  • Will be ad-supported, Google Docs has no plans to include ads
  • M$ new tagline, “Embrace the cloud”

• Where’d All My Followers Go?? (iKDR)
  • On Monday, as Twitter attempted to fix an embarrassing bug that allowed anyone to force other Twitter users to follow his or her account, follower lists suddenly disappeared
  • “Follow count display is set to 0 and follow/unfollow is temporarily offline while we fix a bug,” Twitter’s own Twitter account reported at 1:02 p.m., confirming that everyone, from Ashton Kutcher to Justin Bieber bloggers, was affected.
  • Gizmodo noted that the auto-follow was exploitable in Twitter’s Web interface, not on third-party apps.
  • By 2:15 p.m. ET, follower lists were restored

• Consumer Electronic Spending Up for 2010 (JP)
  • 25 CE products in an average household, up from 23
  • $631 for women (up $72), $969 for men (up $67)
  • Video was the #1 CE for a household, 65% of households in U.S. own at least 1 HDTV (up 13%)
  • 86% households own a computer, netbooks (13%) and laptops (58%) are also helping in that category (TV’s and DVD players are 1 and 2)
  • Don’t forget the million units of IPad sold… and thats only in the U.S.

• Liquid Cooling coming to servers (SM)
  • Hardcore Computers has been doing personal computers for a bit now (we talked about them all the way back on “Power of Information”
  • fully immersed video cards, Motherboards, memory, hard drives, everything
  • Now they’re bringing it to server blades and targeting render farms
  • They’re guaranteeing that you won’t need the rack fans or specialized air conditioning for a farm if you use their blades
  • Dual proc with the capability to add a discrete video card and fully immersed in clear dielectric fluid that is odorless and biodegradable
  • They talk about 60% reduction in cooling costs 1,350x better than air

• Do Want: AmpliTube iRig Turns Your iPhone Into A Guitar Amp (iKDR)
  • IK Multimedia has introduced AmpliTube iRig – a combination of an easy-to-use instrument interface adapter and guitar and bass tone mobile software.
  • With AmpliTube iRig, you plug your guitar into your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and can jam anywhere.
  • The free version will include 2 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 microphones.
  • The LE version will include 4 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 microphones for $2.99 / €2.39. More gear can be added to FREE and LE through an in-app purchase of a-la-carte models with stompboxes costing $2.99 / €2.39 each and amplifiers+cabinets for $4.99 / €3.99 each.
  • AmpliTube FULL will include the entire collection of available gear with 10 stompboxes, 5 amps+cabinets and 2 microphones for $19.99 / €15.99.

• LBP2 Announced (JP)
  • Create you own game type (top-down, platformer, 8 bit, etc)
  • More in-depth editors that include the ability to craft complex AI
  • Ability to add controls to anything
  • Build your own website and populate your world, advert your worlds with the link
  • oh, and there’s a grappling hook “whee”!

• History Channel greenlights Stan Lee-hosted series (iKDR)

• • the “X-Men” creator will co-host “Stan Lee’s Superhumans,” which will find people who have remarkable abilities because of being genetically different.
  • Daniel Browning Smith, dubbed the world’s most flexible man, will host the series with Lee.
  • “Superhumans” will debut on the network during the third quarter

• Entire StarWars Trilogy Told in 3 minutes… with LEGOS (iKDR)
  • The kid behind this video has one hell of a Lego collection. And a knack for efficiency

• Beer thwarts robbery, gets man shot (JP)
  • Virgina truck stop was being robbed by a man with a gun, when a customer bashed him over the head with a beer bottle… (well two actually)
  • Then the customer wrestled with the man getting shot… repeatedly, before getting the gun away from him. (non life threatening wounds)

• Homeless Man caught driving under his 50 Year Suspension (iKDR)
  • A 50-year driving suspension wasn’t enough to stop a 32-year-old homeless man from stealing a Kawasaki motorcycle and ripping recklessly through Langley on Tuesday.
  • Police followed the driver as he sped “excessively”, pulled illegal U-turns and failed to stop for red lights and stop signs.
  • His record of 13 criminal convictions for dangerous driving and driving while suspended got him a 50-year driving suspension in 2005, which means he will be 77 when the suspension expires
  • um…where the eff did he have to go in that big of a hurry, or do homeless men like to peel-out like everyone else??

• MW2 Mapathy Commercial
• Most useless IPhone Mod
• Fake Science
• Cool: Detailed Metal Sculpture Art

Contact Info

Sponsors

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• Battlefield Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360) for $39.99 at Amazon (JP)
• St. Paddy’s Day Merch, Geek Style (iKDR)
• Amazing SteamPunk Keyboards… While not cheap… they are extremely Geekeriffic!! (JP)
  • 

    Aviator Keyboard

    Custom built to order!

Product Review:

• PasteBot – iPhone and Mac app that sync’s your clipboard
  • At first I was skeptical…. I do find myself constantly emailing links to things from my iPhone to myself to get access at my actual PC
  • Things that are too big, long, or flash related stories, etc… there’s a million different reasons
  • This neat little product uses WiFi to send everything from one to the other… stores it, pictures, links, text, etc…
  • Very cool. Very Useful. Well worth the $2.99 for the iPhone app and the sync client for Mac is free

Geek Speak

The New Tron Trailer
(JP) I know where I’ll be on Dec 21st… Where will you be?

• -mmm. motorcycles in the real world to match the cycles in the cyber world
• -Flynn’s arcade is BACK!
• -onboard keyboard reminiscent of the famous monolithic desk w/ built in keyboard interface
• -DISCS!!!
• -Despite subtle updates to pallette… THE TRAILER SO MATCHES WHAT I FELT the old TRON looked like

(iKDR) –  filmographies of some of the actors

• A poll of 27,000 adults in 26 countries for the BBC World Service showed 78 percent of Internet users believed the Web gave them greater freedom, while nine in 10 said it was a good place to learn.
• Leaders of thought process? (south korea and china) – Although China’s citizens were pretty strong in believing in regulation of the Internet
• FCC Details Plans To Provide BB to 90% households by 2020
  • I think there was this same initiative in late 1998… and then the .com bubble burst
  • Only 65% of americans have BB at their houses currently
  • Guess the avg speed? (3.9 MB/s) – their goal 100 MB/s
  • Still no hard plans

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Survey Says!!! Macs cost less to support than PC’s (SM)
  • OK, full disclosure, this was a survey done by an alliance looking to promote Macs, and the software needed to integrate macs, in the workplace
  • With that said, a majority found that TCO was lower on a mac in the enterprise, mostly on hardware repairs and lower numbers of helpdesk tickets
  • 2/3 of the companies surveyed (over 100 macs in the enterprise) said they planned to deploy more in 2010
  • Funny thing? Apple traditionally hasn’t focused on the enterprise in the least

• MyOuterSpace.com Launches, Sci-Fi social media site (iKDR)
  • obviously not a SN for everyone, upon sign up when you choose your planet, you have to be in the entertainment business in order to have an account (ie writer, director, video game developer, etc)
  • once you pick a “planet” that matches your profession, then you enroll and the set up in kinda like a glorified chat room
  • Mission videos, planet and starship information, applications, member groups and more are all part of this well put-together site.
  • logged on last night and only 35 members were online, so i’m not sure how many actual members there are altogether
  • (SM) I thought anybody can sign up, but they just have to participate in their “chosen” profession
    • “Whether you are a fan of Sci Fi, Horror or Fantasy or seeking a career in the Science fiction industry MyOuterSpace.com has much to offer” Upon registration, the required field include your profession, there’s no “other” or “fan” options
  • your “home page” is set up like FB, status updates, people can post messages to your wall, etc.
  • you can add apps like twitter updates, photos, and even blogging features
  • seems very cumbersome, no real direct use i can see at this point other than the forums, keep getting logged out as i navagate through the site
  • and as a web designer, urks me when there’s errors on every single page after loading
  • aside from planets, there’s also ships, but you have to be invited to be part of a crew to see what the ship is all about…weird
  • there’s also a prominent career section to enter your info so they can set you up with the appropriate training to further your career in the arts

• Google denied Trademark on Nexus One (JP)
  • The application was rejected as too similar to a “Nexus” integrated voice and Internet T1 product owned by Integra Telecom, which registered its trademark in December 2008.
  • not to mention the lawsuit by the Phillip K Dick estate since he actually coined the Term in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which was the basis for the AWESOME flick Bladerunner!
  • (SM) The actual OS and device march on though, picked up by both Sprint and AT&T (huh? wha? If you have access to Iphone… why would you get the nexus)
  • What does this mean for Google? Could either change the name of the Nexus One, contest the trademark application, or license the brand name from Integra, which sells $60 million worth of products per year under the Integra brand, according to a report.

• Obama Sides with RIAA, ACTA (SM)
  • No copyright reform for you
  • A lot of techies were hoping that him being young and tech-savvy would result in some help on the erosion of fair-use
  • Obama – “We’re going to aggressively protect our intellectual property,” Obama said. “Our single greatest asset is the innovation and the ingenuity and creativity of the American people…It is essential to our prosperity and it will only become more so in this century. But it’s only a competitive advantage if our companies know that someone else can’t just steal that idea and duplicate it with cheaper inputs and labor.”
  • Industry sources are claiming that piracy is costing US jobs, others outside the industry claim that piracy is being abetted by an antiquated business model
  • ACTA – a proposed trade agreement for establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement throughout the participating countries.
    • Most opponents say its a thinly veiled attempt to get something like DMCA tied to trade agreements (you don’t police what we say, no trade with you)
    • So basically it would bypass the national assemblies for passing these laws
    • The topper? All the talks are hush hush secret, so nobody except the ppl negotiating will know what comes out of this until its already been agreed upon
  • Positive note? EU shot down ACTA 633-13

• Alex E-Reader, a Tempting Alternative to IPad? (iKDR)
  • Not so fast my friends, This is being released about a month after the IPad
  • Only $100 less than the IPad, a little bit larger android screen underneath but not even guaranteed to run all android apps
  • $399 Android-powered device, which features both a 6-inch e-ink display and a 3.5-inch, 16-bit color touch-screen LCD
  • 11-ounce Alex has an interesting shape, measuring 4.7 inches wide, 8.9 inches high, and less than a half inch thick
  • can download Google Books and it’s compatible with other bookstores that support Adobe DRM (you can read e-books in EPUB, PDF, HTML, and TXT formats), the Alex has no tie-in with Barnes & Noble
  • key selling points are its built-in Wi-Fi, the ability to stream video and surf the Web (on its smaller color screen), and use certain Android applications
  • 2GB removable memory card and the microSD expansion slot supports cards up to 32GB. Earphones, an AC/USB power connector, and a padded cover ship with the unit
  • (JP) I would not even consider it in the same league as the iPad, the Nook and the Kindle, yes… but the eink display (IE B&W) and surfing the web do not coincide…
  • E-Ink is trying to go color by the end of this year.. but too little too late?
    • (how will it affect their claims on the eye strain, etc… I wonder – JP)
• Xbox 360 Slim sightings? (JP)
  • Pics appear to show the console’s CPU and GPU combined in a single, small chip for the first time
  • If real this would be a complete re-design of the console… we’ll have to wait and see as I am chalking these up to rumor for now…

• Bing! Search Uses Blue to the Tune of $80 million (SM)
  • for those savvy it’s #0044CC – the old Live Search used a lighter blue
  • They did many focus group studies and found that the color of the search link was the most important factor on ppl wanting to use the page
  • How much of an impact? Microsoft cited at least $80 million in generated revenue alone (how they figured this out? who knows)
  • Type-Face not as important. They experimented with Verdana before going back to the tried and true Arial

• Katrina Victims Sue Oil Companies for Causing Hurricanes (SM)
  • Here’s logic. Oil companies produce oil, which then gets burned and releases carbon, which some have said relates to global warming and also upticks in Hurricanes
  • Filed by lawyers right after the disaster, class action lawsuit
  • Almost as ludicrous as the burglar in california who fell through the ceiling, broke is leg, turned around and sued the owner of the house, and won

• Guy Trains Alpaca to Buddy Surf (ty @PhysicistLisa)
  • Domingo Pianezzi, 44, has slowly introduced his alpaca Pisco, to surfing!
  • The guy has been training dogs all his life to buddy surf
  • Only thing? Alpacas aren’t natural swimmers, the animal gets skittish even with a lifevest on.
  • Way too much time on this guys hands
    • (I wonder if Peru is a place where men are men and Llamas are nervous??)
• Love in a cold climate lethal for Russian couple (JP)
  • A Russian couple having sex in a car parked in a tiny garage have died from carbon monoxide poisoning
  • It is believed they turned the car on to get warm while having sex…
  • Can you say Darwin Awards?
• Online Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely (iKDR)
  • More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments
  • 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off last month, and allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the dealership
    • WOW… I’ve heard of stupid things when you get fired… but I bet he will be staying in jail for a while for this one…
    • Talk about misdirected anger… who did he punish? The dealership? Not in this lifetime… that only hurt consumers who did nothing to him! IDIOT!

• Jennifer Aniston Stars Alongside Boba Fett
• Apple Delaying Certain IPad Launch Accessories

Contact Info

Hey guy I just wanted to tell you a little story. I work night shift and work every other WED 7pm to 7am. I wanted to point out my dedication to this show and how much I enjoy it. One night It was -18 degrees out side with the wind chill, and my work does not offer WiFi. So I wanted to hear the show, so bad I went outside to search for a open WiFi connection from my Ipod touch.  In the freezing cold, I found one about a block  from my work and stole internet to get TPG podcast via Itunes. Thanks to you Steven, Jeremy and Kristin with your busy lives, still having time for us the listeners.

P.s I continue to Steal internet at work to download this awesome show. Keep up the great work.

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• Freeware Game: Desktop Dungeon
  • Free game, looks very 8 bit, just added a new dungeon and you can import from the old version
• TA coming to Impulse
  • this was the game that made me give up Starcraft
  • You’re a commander and you can either build or fight
  • One of my seminal games
• FREE Kindle for iPhone app from Amazon (iKDR)
  • If you have a kindle or not you can purchase and read books here along with free ebooks that are available
  • it will also sync with your kindle for your position in the book (from what I have been told)

• ThinkGeek resurrects the T-Shirt Grab Bag (iKDR)
  • When you order a grab bag shirt, you’ll get a single, genuine ThinkGeek-made shirt that, for one reason or another, we didn’t sell in the normal course of events.
  • While Supplies Last!
  • Can specify size

• New Releases: (JP)
  • The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (just in time for St.Patty’s Day) (got mine last night… I seemed to be one of many tattooed Irish guys in line at Best buy…hmmm)
  • Up in the Air
  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • Also Quick Mention MW2 DLC coming (new maps) March 30th!!  (PS3 and PC later no date yet for them)
    • Named the Stimulus Package
• New Comics:
  • Amazing Spider-Man #624 (Pasqual Ferry ‘You’re Fired’ Variant Cover)
  • Marvel’s Girl Comics #1

Geek Speak

• I definitely get my news ‘online’ almost never reading the newspaper (by the time it’s printed and delivered it’s old news)
• I have a few sites I visit daily. a couple different RSS readers I use
• ( although I have yet to find a perfect aggregator so I could just go to one place…)
• iKDR – internet for last year or so, paper is boring, internet news is fast, easy, and customizable, i can tell it what kinds of news i am interested in
• I thought of one thing I would miss though… when I was kid I put Silly Putty on the comics (we called them the funnies back then)
• can’t do that with digital news and comics…

Toys that look like real weapons and the consequences….

in the story above… this week a 3 yr old mistook a real handgun left laying on a table for Wii remote, dying after accidentally shooting herself.
The news is full of stories like this… cops shooting kids in alleys because they saw a handgun that didn’t have the orange tip… etc..
I believe toys need to look like toys.. bright crazy colors… not that close to real weapons.
I in no way blame the video games, or the toys… I think in the story above the parents should be put in jail for leaving a gun lying on a table. loaded. in front of children.
that being said… Look at the similarity in the toy and the real weapon:

WTF!!! SRSLY WTF!!!

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• “No” to Iphone tethering for IPad (SM)
  • Sux for ppl who already own an Iphone, already pay a hefty fee to AT&T, and now will need to pay a second if they want 3g on their IPad
  • They should just allow it to bluetooth tether to the iPhone… send docs, etc.. (JP)
  • just one more reason the iPad is the suck – iKDR

• Teabagging confirmed for Halo Reach (JP)
  • in one of the funniest stories I’ve read in a while… here’s a bug report from a QA tester for Halo:Reach
    • Here’s the exchange:

      Title: Teabagging / humiliation moves impossible
      Type: Bug
      Opened: 3/4/2010 8:53:13 AM
      
      “The respawn camera flies back to the spawn location immediately after dying, so your opponents can’t teabag / shoot / melee your body and have a possibility of you seeing it.”
      
      Shishka’s Note:
      
      There’s a bug in the Alpha regarding how brief the “death cam” focuses on the player’s body that is being resolved for Beta/Delta. As with previous Halos, players should have a couple seconds to look around and locate where they were shot from. The fringe benefit of this is that the enemy that killed you (or the nearest passerby) can ravish your helpless corpse as you bear witness from beyond the veil

• Japanese Ringtone Promises to Clear Your Sinuses (iKDR)
  • Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory has created the “Hana Sukkiri Melody” ringtone, which claims to be able to clear out your sinuses whenever anybody calls you
  • “the ringtone will make a nose has resonant frequency with pollens adherent inside your nasal cavity, so eventually pollens fall down”
  • woot – good-bye kleenex
  • JRTL future ringtones include “sleep-promoting ringtone,” “ringtone makes your date,” “crow scarer ringtone,” “ringtone makes your skin beautiful,”
  • how about a ringtone thats makes ATM machines spew money at me as i walk by, or heres-a-new-job ringtone, or shut-up-that-screaming-baby ringtone…. or the “brown note” ringtone!

• HP Offering Tablet WITH Flash Support (SM)
  • Got a great flame-mail this week from John stating that I was “Flash-Hater”
  • Windows 7 / all the bells and whistles
  • Some experts on the Internet are predicting 500 Tablet clones to compete with the IPad (Dell Mini 5)
  • and I (JP) still say Flash is a dying app sorry bro just reading the writing on the wall

• Mac Gaming News (JP)
  • (quick hit) BFBC2 Coming to Mac Steam…
  • L4D1 and 2 to Feature cross-platform play between Macs and PC’s
  • Full Source Engine Support across both Platforms

• Court Upholds Ban Against DVD Backup Software (SM)
  • (SM: Watch out, this is my pet peeve) and how! (JP)
    
  • RealMedia created this very hamstrung software to allow 1 backup of your dvd
  • You can back up your computer, which has all sorts of proprietary stuff, but you can’t back up a purchased DVD, THAT would be illegal
    • iKDR – but when you back up your computers, you’re not making a secondary “copy” of the OS or software, etc. only user created info. so, in this senario, its not the same thing
  • Anyways, RealMedia was pushing the Fair Use angle, Courts and the movie industry slapped the DMCA down hard
  • So now ya gotta pay $20 for that Disney DVD if your kids scratch the heck out of it, like that ever really happens…
  • iKDR – i back up all my used, super scratched CDs into MP3 and download into iTunes or mix CDs…
  • also, many DVDs now come with one free digital download (which should be another argument for the fair use case of dvd copying-JP)

• Cisco Says New Router to “Forever Change the Internet” (JP)

  • 322 Terrabytes per second

    Cisco today announced a new version of its key routing system – has a dozen times the traffic capacity of competitors and three times as much as the company’s previous version.

  • CRS-3 Carrier Routing System is aimed at the huge growth in video on the Internet

  • It enables the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously; and every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes.

  • When will consumers be able to take advantage of this new high speed internet?

    • Note: This is for Carriers (backbone of Internet) not end users… you can’t buy one of these for your house, they require special clearance to purchase (and they start at 90 Grand – for just the chasis) JP

• Courts Fines Lifelock $12 million for Running a Con (SM)
  • Todd Davis, famous for painting his SS on a truck, and trumpeting it to the world. – $10 to protect your identity – $1 million guarantee
  • Guess what? claims were bogus and has been prosecuted for operating a scam and con operation.
  • Failed to secure sensitive information, was only placing fraud alerts on their cc with three different credit check companies
  • Did not stop ppl from opening up acct’s or loans with their info
  • Kicker: Todd Davis was the victim of identity theft in 2007, where a guy spited him, took that ss off TV and went and got a $500 loan (Hilarious – I had not heard that before… Laughed out loud… I always thought that was a bold challenge)

• Chopra’s graphic novel adaptation goes “BEYOND” (iKDR)
  • Author/lecturer/physician Deepak Chopra is known as an expert on the spiritual, but now he has ventured into the supernatural for a graphic-novel project that’s also being turned into a movie.
  • “BEYOND is a story about reality being multidimensional and how we can take journeys to realms we never dreamed of by separating the veils that partition our minds.”
  • so i guess anyone can make a graphic novel now, huh?
  • i swear i wrote a movie script like this one time

• (JP & KDR) Review Layers for iPhone
  • JP – has a lot of promise and abilities… I have not gotten to dive into it as deeply as I want… bit of a learning curve, and I have fat fingers (which doesn’t help)
  • But I am having fun with it.
  • Like the layers tool in photoshop this allows you to create images of art, or edit photos in layers… adding or subtracting elements
  • drawing on them with your fingers, importing images, or taking them with the camera… lots of fun to be had. ($4.99 in iTunes) little steep IMHO I would think 2.99 or 1.99 a more fair price… but I may change that tune after spending some more time with it
    • KDR – this is really neat and super fun mobile photoshop-esque app
    • features:
      • 320×480 or 512×512 canvas
      • 1 finger to draw, use 2 fingers to pan around (this was very clumsy tho)
      • can choose brush style, weight and opacity
      • can select color from palet or eye dropper tool
      • eraser and blur
      • can add, subtract, duplicate and merge layers
      • layers can be drawings or photos from library
      • undo/redo
    • havent tried to import any pictures from iphone yet
    • and i do not have fat fingers, but was having a hard time with lines and erasing certain sections from a library photo

• FBI impersonator picked on Police Chief’s House (iKDR)
• Hustler Magazine requesting crime scene photos of dead college student – State denies request (JP)
  • Good for the State of Georgia… and shame on Hustler ( words you never thought you would hear from me, right?)

• • Their mission is simple: To aggravate and humiliate scammers worldwide
  • they find internet scammers – and force them to make ridiculous commercials, promising  money or technology equipment, and then mail them garbage and make them pay for the shipping & tax upon recpt.
  • this video shows a Nigerian man making a “commercial” for AnusLaptop.com
    • “Your Anus will be free and clear of viruses.” “Your Anus will perform like an Anus should.”
  • Then ScamBaiters mailed him a tree stump as payment
theScamBaiter.com (iKDR – Thanks Pops!)

• The New Tron Trailer
• How To: Run Windows in OS X, the Right Way
• Top 10 Geekiest Decorations for Your Home or Office
• 10 Popular Firefox Add-ons for Web Developers

Contact Info

Official planning a TweetUp during the San Diego ComicCon: Check out the FB Event Page, details on the way

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• Background Music for YOUR Life (iKDR)
  • The Personal Soundtrack Shirt from ThinkGeek is an amazing new wearable audio solution that features a working speaker embedded into the front of the shirt. When you push the appropriate button on the pocketable remote you get music or sound effects appropriate for any situation
  • as seen on BIG BANG THEORY!

• Supreme Commander 2 Demo Hits Steam
  • The current iteration of a beloved classic (Total Annihilation) is on its second iteration.
  • Better emphasis on fluidity and performance, instead of total eye candy
  • TA literally made me quit the original Starcraft

• New DVD Releases (iKDR)
  • Neverending Story, Clash of the Titans, 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Where the Wild Things Are, 2012,(JP – The Hurt Locker came out last week… pick this up!!!)

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• M$ Taking off Gloves against Google (SM)
  • Came out on blog stating that the whole impetus for yahoo deal was Google.
  • “we are concerned about Google business practices that tend to lock in publishers and advertisers and make it harder for Microsoft to gain search volume.”
  • “Microsoft would obviously be among the first to say that leading firms should not be punished for their success,” Heiner wrote,”Our concerns relate only to Google practices that tend to lock in business partners and content (like Google Books) and exclude competitors, thereby undermining competition more broadly.”
  • Their argument? Sheer scale makes Google anti-competitive (pot meet kettle? – now that’s what I was saying the whole time I read through this)
  • Lawsuit by Apple against HTC, but really aimed at Google

• PSN Locked out for Older Consoles (JP)
  • People with non-Slim PS3′s were reporting that they couldn’t play online, and select offline, games
  • Error: 8001050F would not allow them to connect to PSN
  • The temporary fix? don’t turn on your console  (how on Earth would this qualify as either a fix or a workaround?? Epic Fail- JP)
  • Now its back, after 24, everything is back to normal, serverside fix for clock problem
  • Heavy Rain just released and users reporting issues – release day patch was a dud

• Portal Sequel Hinted (SM)
  • Mysterious patch d/led off STEAM with patch note: “changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations.”
  • 26 radios around the levels that give off different clues from morse code to formulas
  • Consensus seems to point towards the antagonist GlaDos having transmitted herself outside of the Aperture science facility, which means a possible sequel
  • (SM: Literally a 474 page forum thread over on STEAM about this very thing)

• BBC Makes Deep Cuts in Internet Department (kdr)
  • The Conservatives are up in arms that the massive amounts of free online content make it harder for smaller retailers to compete
  • BBC is citing cost-cutting measures and ways to “focus” licensing fees
  • “The point of the reductions is not to diminish the service we offer to the public, but rather to focus the license fee and the creative energy of the BBC on delivering the highest quality and the maximum public value.”
  • Real impetus involves an upcoming election, and the newspapers and magazines grousing about investment in that new fangled “Intarweb”
  • (SM) Should a company change its business model just so that others don’t have to change theirs?
  • some are predicting this to backfire as it might not be enough to placate those up in arms.

• Steam heading to MAC (JP)
  • Steam is coming to Mac. Not just Steam, though. Judging by these awesome teasers released by Valve, so are Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2 AND Left 4 Dead

• Facebook on Track for $1BB in Revenue (SM)
  • Made $700MM last year, on track to whomp that figure this year
  • Their virtual currency still in beta phase and has only reaped a lowly $10MM
  • Whats Facebook’s secret? (Kristin and then JP)
    • (iKDR) with features like virtual farming and finding my pimp name, FB is an obvious win LOL
    • FB transends generations – promotes community building thru groups and fan pages, allow people of all ages to stay in touch with friends and family and reconnect with classmates and collegues, provides fun and addictive gaming platforms, real time news sources, etc.
      • (JP) I think this is not just generation related but user type related, power user, gossip, gamer… there is enough here and it doesn’t lock you into a certain way to use it… keep up w/ friends, play games with them, etc… it’s up to you
      • I actually know some friends with more than one account for different types of interactions ( a family account, a friend account, and a professional account – although they admit that one is going dead as most of it is being done on Linkd in now)
      • I think it’s great they have been able to monetize it like this too… if only Twitter could get it in gear and monetize it without hurting the users…

• Don’t Press F1 in XP (SM)
  • Hole in IE that allows a script to run in the help files after a user presses the help key.
  • Moral of the story? Don’t press F1 when in IE (some sites can prompt you to do it and then the script executes)
  • (SM)Patch forthcoming, yet another reason I run chrome

• Charlie Miller (Security Expert Pwn2Own Winner repeatedly) says best way to stay secure? Don’t install Flash (JP)

  • In your opinion, which is the safer combination OS + browser to use?

    That’s a good question. Chrome or IE8 on Windows 7 with no Flash installed. There probably isn’t enough difference between the browsers to get worked up about. The main thing is not to install Flash!

    so whether using Chrome or IE he says Win7 with either of these as long as you don’t use flash… you’re pretty safe

  • This guy won the contest each year for several of the last years in a row and is very well known in the industry.

• Turn your arm into a Touchscreen (iKDR)

  • The Skinput system beams a keyboard or menu onto the user’s forearm from a projector housed in an armband.

  • An acoustic detector, also in the armband, then calculates which part of the display you want to activate.

  • uses 2 technologies: detect ultralow-frequency sound produced by tapping the skin with a finger, and microchip-sized “pico” projectors now found in some cellphones

• Netflix hints at an IPhone App (JP)
  • Survey sent out asking if ppl would be interested in watching the same movies on Iphone as they do on other devices
  • The catch? Wi-Fi only
  • Can we say IPad prep?

• A Vintage Video Game Sells for $41,300 (SM)
  • Owner had 185+ video games just lying around in the basement, heard about an old game selling on EBAY for $13,000 and decided to look through his collection
  • The winning game… NTSC Stadium Events which was released in the USA and quickly discontinued
  • (SM) ok, why can’t I get that lucky… seriously? wait, I think I have an extra copy of E.T. for the atari 2600 somewhere. wonder how much that is worth…
  • haha, i have a CD of old Apogee games like Duke Nukem and Commander Keen…whaddya think my chances are of mega bucks??

• Bloom Energy Box (iKDR)
  • Electricity-generating device that takes fuel and air and turns them into power.
  • Fuel is mixed with oxygen and then a reaction is triggered through an electrolyte layer to create electricity. The actual fuel cells are primarily built with compressed sands. The fuel is interchangeable, although natural gas seems to the fuel of choice currently.
  • Green technology (low emissions) and it has the potential to power an entire home with a box that can fit in your hands.

• Self-Destructing Text Messages (SM)
  • Called TigerText – costs per month and a client on both ends but your text messages will “destruct” based up on rules that you create
  • Can even set up a “destroy on read”
  • Totally named before the Tiger Woods debacle, but he definitely shoulda used this
  • (kdr) If i find this on my partners phone, I’ll just assume… I don’t need to read.
  • dude, if i find this on my geekguy’s phone, it better be about some super top secret alien/conspiracy/indiana jones stuff, or *something clever here*

• Boy Genius Creates iPhone App (iKDR)  (hahaha.. might wanna change the title.. I was like… I’ve had the Boy Genius App for a long time Boy Genius Report app that is)
  • As 10-year-old Lim Ding Wei blasts alien space ships on a computer screen in his living room, his father Lim Thye Chean looks over his shoulder proudly.
  • The game is the latest in Ding Wei’s repertoire of mobile applications, which include the hit Invader Wars 1 and Doodle Kids that has registered more than half a million downloads since it was posted on the iPhone App Store last year.
• Man electrocuted after urinating on downed power line (this one is no longer linked) – (JP)
  • While it’s never a good thing to make fun of someones passing… this could be a darwin award winner here…
  • After crashing his car into a power pole he got out to relieve himself and evidently didn’t see the downed power line
    • (or maybe he thought let’s see what happens?)

• How Star Trek Shoulda Ended
• Darth Spankin the Kitty
• Decorating Cables Instead of Hiding Them

Contact Info

JP – the game of Life got me this week. Huge project for work, some insane hours… but hey… My son crawled for the first time tonight and I got to see that! (oh and I snuck in a game or two of bejeweled blitz but Steven beat me last week)

I do wanna say how stoked I am about the two rants from John!

SM – WoW

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• China Shutting Down WoW?
  • China’s General Administration of Press and Publications has ordered Netease to cease and desist
  • No more subscription collection and no more new users, calling them “illegal behavior
  • GAPP is the government armed that outlawed foreign investment in Chinese gaming
  • Ministry of Culture is stating to the world that GAPP’s actions are “not appropriate”
    • Steven you’ve been playing for years… how would you feel if a government agency walked in and said it was shutting the game down because presumably it is inappropriate??
• Closure of Pirate Bay Sparks 300% growth in piracy
  • Did file sharing stop? heck no, it just went underground and grew by a measly 300%
  • All pirate bay is a pointer to the actual media, a database of links
  • People still want that content, supply and demand, copycat sites popped up everywhere
  • What happened? Ppl used anonymizers to copy the indexes from the publicly available Pirate Bay
  • Publish to Public Domain, and voila, anybody with a decent connection can now be a hub for P2P traffic
• Terminator Franchise on the Sales Block
  • Joss Whedon on his blog in an open Letter to the owners of the Terminator Franchise offered 10Grand to buy it
  • Hahahah, TMNT went for like $60 million
  • Halcyon is selling the rights after the last movie “Terminator Salvation” tanked at $380 million worldwide (& dispute with Creditor)
  • Rights for Terminator expected to go for 3X what TMNT sold for
  • Halcyon originally bought it for $25 million from Mario Kassar, the original terminator producer (Cuthroat Island and Showgirls… Haha… but he also did Basic Instinct, CliffHanger and Stargate)
  • Who was the director of the first 2 movies?? (James Cameron whose current project Avatar looks to be huge!! and hits theaters on Dec 18th link to trailer in Hd in the show notes!)
  • All studios have expressed interest. One interested party you’ll never guess? (Summit Entertainment – Twilight)
  • Original film was added to the National film Registry in 2008 as one of the 25 most influential films
• Welcome to the Future: UHDTV
  • Original HDTV resolution? 1920 x 1080 (amount of pixels that go across and down the screen)
  • UHD will be debuting in 10 year at 2 different rates – 3840 x 2160 and 7680 x 4320 (Holy HUGE batman!)
  • thats 4 to 16 times bigger than the current blu-rays
  • also offer 22.2 multichannel 3 dimensional sound… geez
  • when can we expect this mass market? don’t hold your breath. 2023. But theatres probably 2017
    • How big is your house going to be??? That’s you heck of a big screen to display those images!
• Doom Classic Released for IPhone
  • Looks like a decent port of the original game… I may grab it in the future… but for now I’m just filing it under the cool category.
• Ridley Scott on board to direct a new Alien Movie
  • He recently provided some details about the much rumored flick and said it will be a prequel to the 1979 classic Alien
  • The question is will it ever get made… he’s currently set to film Brave New World, and then has at least 3 more lined up…

Geek-Speak

• Apple Looking to Kick-Start $30 all you can watch Video Plan
  • People are starting to look
  • I think one of the key things here is that Apple is saying it will not be dependant on a device (ie Apple Tv, etc…) but be linked to iTunes.
  • I think this has a ways to go before it really gets legs… they have a lot of obstacles to overcome (Like cable companies… and current legal agreements lots of shows/ networks have with cable companies)
  • but its the future, TV on the Internet. Apple Store, Zune store, Youtube, etc all do a la carte stuff.
• Internet Movie Firearms Database
  • a pretty cool site and great resource if you’re curious about the weapons you’ve seen in a movie!
• Virtual Goods Market Exploding in US, are you being Psychologically scammed?
  • WoW
    • Wow’s Pet store accepts real money
    • Realm transfers, faction transfers, race transfers all cost money also in WoW
  • Facebook Games
    • totally microtransaction oriented, spend money to excel
  • D&D Online – Free to Play, extra stuff and new dungeons require in-game points which can either be earned or bought
  • This all based on research done a long time ago by tah dah… Casino’s of all things… you see someone figured out if you used tokens or chips instead of real money
    • you were more likely to gamble it all back to the casinos… it seems less like real money… that’s why most of these micro transactions are for points or credits or tokens of some kind.
  • Start up Two Fish has even developed a turn key solution you can buy to add Microtransactions to your games
  • micro-transaction games may seem like a new phenomenon here in the States, but they have been huge in Japan, China and Korea for years dominating over there since early 2006

Deal of the Week

• Celebrating 20 Years of Wallace & Gromit begins November 4 with:

  Telltale today joins Aardman Animations in celebrating Wallace & Gromit’s 20th anniversary by opening up free downloads of one of the critically-acclaimed series’ episodes, Muzzled! at www.freewallaceandgromit.com today through noon (PST) Monday, November 9.

• -Four game Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures series discounted to $20 November 4-8

  -All episodes of Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures available on Xbox LIVE(R) November 4

  -Wallace & Gromit Children’s Foundation and Penny Arcade charity drive kicks off November 4

  -Order taking for the Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures Collector’s DVD begins November 4

Contest

Keep listening for more contests to come.

Look for more contests to come in the future…spread the word… the more listeners we get… the more stuff we can get to giveaway to you guys!

Intarweb Goldmine

• SUV Swipes Elephant in OK
  • Your driving along minding your own business when “BAM” an animal lumbers onto the road. WHAM! AN ELEPHANT?
  • Ok, deer I get, armadillo’s “check”, but an elephant?
  • 29 yr old Asian elephant, 8 ft tall and 4,500
  • Tusk went through sheet metal of door, slight leg wound

Man shocks family when shows up alive at his own funeral

• a man in Rio de Janero shocked his family and other mourners when he arrived at his own funeral Monday alive and well
• He was at a truck stop all night with friends and there was a badly disfigured and burned body the family mistakenly identified as him because of the similar clothing
• as soon as he found out he rushed to the cemetery to tell them he was ok!

Contact Info

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

Sponsors

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- New System – Under $1000 – Still handcrafted with care
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-Performance in WoW is still great: 40 Frames / sec @ 1920 x 1280
-Don’t forget their laptop which has 2 graphics card built in, the mobius, at a mid-line desktop price
-If you want all the bells and whistles, they can handcraft that too, just call them up during normal business hours, they’ll talk with you, find out your needs, and recommend the system that you need (not the one that costs the most)
-877-DHS-DHS2 (347-3472)

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- Lifestyle apparel for your inner-geek
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- Specific Collections? They got them,
- World of Warcraft – Home is where the hearthstone is, Baby-T = “My other stroller is [Epic]“, Tanks, Your Welcome
- New Sticker This week (JP)
- They even have hats – Quest-giver hat
- Stickers, Patches, Pins
- Go online jinx.com or call them @ 1-888-JINX-COM - 888.546.9266

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