Tag: ipod
The Power Geeks #77
by DarthMolen on Nov.24, 2010, under The Latest Shows
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We are LIVE on Ustream . Tonight, we talk about our annual Black Friday special!! We’ll be revealing lots of deals as well as some tools to allow you to get your groove going online of offline, that and a smattering of tech news
Intro Natali
Jeremy has stomach flu and is not with us
Items of Interest
- Have fun and shirt, send hug
(udg)
- I’m all about hugs, so this shirt kinda rocked my socks off.
- The shirt is embedded with sensors that feel the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the sender and actuators that recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion of the hug to the shirt of the distant loved one.
- All you need is: a Hug Shirt™ (Bluetooth with sensors and actuators), a Bluetooth java enabled mobile phone with the HugMe™ java software running (it understands what the sensors are communicating), and on the other side another phone and another shirt. If you do not have a Hug Shirt™ but know that your friend has one you can still send them a hug creating it with the HugMe™ software and it will be delivered to your friend’s Hug Shirt™!
- Only problem? I can’t seem to find where to actually BUY one!
- For all you “everything is better with bacon peeps (udg)
- The folks at Jones Soda are bringing you the epic gift for the bacon lover in your life- including their one time only Jones Bacon Soda. They also teamed up with the creative group at Bacon Salt, for this holiday treat you don’t want to miss.
- Each case includes:
- 2 Bottles of Jones Bacon Soda
- 1 Tube of Bacon Lip Balm
- 1 Package of Bacon Popcorn
- 1 Package of Bacon Gravy Mix
-
- All this bacony joy will only set ya back $9.95
- All this bacony joy will only set ya back $9.95
Gold Sponsors:
UberDorkCafe
- Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
- What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
- Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
- Woookie Coookies – a piece of UDC before there is even a physical cafe
- first Piece revealed and accompanying t-shirt @hefnatron
- THE AUCTIONS ARE HERE!!
- Black Friday Launch of Gift Baskets!
- Today in Geek History
- JebsApps (owned by our own Jeremy Puent) released their latest app, Today in Geek History
- Gives you factoids based upon date, spanning all sorts of geekiness
- For example, did you know on 11/17/1937 Peter Cook, who played The Impressive Clergyman in The Princess Bride and Nigel in SuperGirl, was born in England
- This app is available for Android in a Lite version for free or a paid version, all on the Marketplace
- Check out the lite version, but the paid version for .99
- Also, Golden Pic and Golden Pic Lite for Android devices
- Golden Pic has some huge updates released this past Sunday Bookmarking locations, mapping to those locations (driving or walking)
- The Lite version gained the ability to change location via two methods as well.
- Plus we put it on sale again for the holidays!!! only $1.79 USD through new Years! Get it now!
Deals of the Week / New Releases
- Indie Pack on Steam for 4.99 (you save $44)
- 3 of the 5 are mac enabled
- 3 of the 5 are mac enabled
Geek Speak
TPG Black Friday Guide
- Amazon “Black Friday” Deals
- Time Sensitive deals, check them each day
- Amazon Kindle 2 $89 (udg)
- I want it noted that I predicted a major ereader to drop to $100 or lower for the holidays!
- FatWallet.com
- Use this to plan your Black Friday spree
- Tons of filters to allow you to pinpoint deals from all over
- blackfriday.info
- Another tool that posts breaking ads
- Both online and offline
- Ipad / IPhone deals
- List of games for the Iphone from name brand developers
- Best Buy Black Friday
- $180 Wii bundle – Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii mote plus, Nunchuck
- $300 PS3 160 GB – Bundled w/ LittleBigPlanet, ModNation, and Cars BR
- $200 XB360 4GB – Lego: Star Wars Complete, Batman and Indiana Jones: The original series
- Red and Green DSI for $150 – Mario Party DS
- Sears Black Friday
- $130 PS 3000 w/ LittleBigPlanet and Karate Kid UMD (new one)
- 4GB Xbox 360 for $200 w/ Halo: Reach
- Engadget Black Friday
- Crucial refurbished SSD’s $1 a gigabyte
- Borders is offering plenty of e-reader discounts as well
- Black Friday Spreadsheet for the Truly Insane
Tech,Gaming, and Geek News
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- A few years ago, French photographer Sacha Goldberger found his 91-year-old Hungarian grandmother Frederika feeling lonely and depressed. To cheer her up, he suggested that they shoot a series of outrageous photographs in unusual costumes, poses, and locations. Grandma reluctantly agreed, but once they got rolling, she couldn’t stop smiling. The costume she wears- that of a superhero.
- Frederika was born in Budapest 20 years before World War II. During the war, at the peril of her own life, she courageously saved the lives of ten people. When asked how, Goldberger told us “she hid the Jewish people she knew, moving them around to different places every day.” As a survivor of Nazism and Communism, she then immigrated away from Hungary to France, forced by the Communist regime to leave her homeland illegally or face death.
- Aside from great strength, Frederika has an incredible sense of humor, one that defies time and misfortune. She is funny and cynical, always mocking the people that she loves. Now, after the set, Goldberger shares that his grandmother has never shown even a hint of depression. Perhaps it’s because her story serves some sort of purpose
- I want to be just like Super Mamika when I grow up.
- Streaming only plan comes to Netflix
- Everything on their plan has gone to unlimited streaming
- $7.99 streaming only
- $9.99 for 1 DVD and steep $14.99 for 2 DVD’s
- Most online source consider Netflix the golden child, they know how to work with the major studios
- FCC to make a leap into the texting generation for 911 (udg)
- The FCC has decided to bring the life-saving emergency service 911 into the 21st century and is looking at letting citizens report crimes through text messages and even stream video from their mobile phones to emergency centers. This would allow people to report crimes without being overheard, which could be useful in situations ranging from kidnapping to seeing someone being robbed on the street.
- Established as a national standard in 1968, 911 handles more than 230 million calls a year — 70 percent of which now come from mobile phones.
- The last real overhaul of 911 by the FCC came in 2001, when mobile carriers were required to allow 911 to identify the location of callers either through GPS or cell-tower data.
- The FCC stated in a press release “The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences,” the release said. “During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding.”
- It is yet unclear where the money is going to come from or whether or not it will be a federal requirement or left up to the states/cities to handle. What is clear though, is this is a much needed upgrade to a now antiquated system.
- Witch hunt continues against Google TV
- The programming that you can see from Google TV is getting less,not more
- Viacom (included Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon) is blocking all their web content from being seen on the new set-top box
- Viacom is joining Hulu along with all the other major networks in the ban
- Message to consumers? Pay up or no TV on your TV
- Well, according to your FB status, your premium needs to be raised (udg)
- Insurers have long used blood and urine tests to assess people’s health—a costly process. Their solution? Tap into the data-gathering companies have such extensive files on most U.S. consumers—online shopping details, catalog purchases, magazine subscriptions, leisure activities and information from social-networking sites.
- In one of the biggest tests, the U.S. arm of British insurer Aviva PLC looked at 60,000 recent insurance applicants. It found that a new, “predictive modeling” system, based partly on consumer-marketing data, was “persuasive” in its ability to mimic traditional techniques.
- A key part of the Aviva test, run by Deloitte Consulting LLP, was estimating a person’s risk for illnesses such as high blood pressure and depression. Deloitte’s models assume that many diseases relate to lifestyle factors such as exercise habits and fast-food diets. According to Deloitte, the cost goes from $125 for the traditional medical tests down to $5 for this new method.
- What kind of information are the data-gathering companies hunting down and providing? Everything from online and offline purchases to hunting permits, boating registrations, property sales and oh when you click the “like” button on FB, yup that gets used too.
- Thankfully the government sees this as being a bit suspect as I do. The information sold by marketing-database firms is lightly regulated. But using it in the life-insurance application process would “raise questions” about whether the data would be subject to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, says Rebecca Kuehn of the Federal Trade Commission’s division of privacy and identity protection. The law’s provisions kick in when “adverse action” is taken against a person, such as a decision to deny insurance or increase rates. The law requires that people be notified of any adverse action and be allowed to dispute the accuracy or completeness of data, according to the FTC.
- Most of the major data gathering agencies out there seem to not be jumping on board with this, which is somewhat surprising. Money is usually money, but there are some that stand firm on their data only being used for marketing purposes.
- At this point it is a fledgling venture that would tread into a bit of a legally murky area, but if there is a way to use your FB data and save money, I forsee this being something we will have to worry about in the future. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go unlike “runs with scissors”
- Dancing with the Stars Hacked for Palin
- It’s not real hacking
- the “Tea Party” is putting up instructionals on how to game the voting system
- Here’s how it works:
- They don’t validate the emails that get registered.
- User can create infinite amounts of emails to vote infinite amount of times
- The organizers are levying normal ppl through social media to spend time doing the process manually
- Some are considering this “political activism”, I just consider it silly
- Microsoft “Yeah, well we meant to do that!” (udg)
- When the Kinect first debuted, a bounty was put on its head, offered to the first person who successfully released open-source drivers for Microsoft’s new gesture-control accessory for the Xbox 360.
- Well, in a recent radio interview, Microsoft engineers have now claimed they left the USB connection on the Kinnect open by design.
- “What has happened is someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs that essentially opens the USB connection, which we didn’t protect by design, and reads the inputs from the sensor,” Alex Kipman, director of incubation at Microsoft, said on NPR. “The sensor, again, as I talked earlier, has eyes and ears and that’s a whole bunch of, you know, noise that someone needs to take and turn into signal.”
- The host then asked Kipman if the USB connection was open by design. Kipman explicitly said that yes, it was.
- So, Microsoft went from threats of going after Hackers to the fullest extent of the law to realizing that it doesn’t matter if someone hooks Kinect up to an Xbox or a computer- they’re still selling it and making money. Not to mention all the free marketing they’re getting off the people advertising their hacks.
- IOS 4.2
- AirPlay – Capability to stream media from your IOS devices to your Apple TV (or airplay receivers)
- Photos (swipe on device, change on tv), videos (although once you start streaming videos it turns into a gian remote control), music
- Find My Iphone (also works for Ipad and ITouch) – Puts an icon up on a map and flashes an image or sound (previously was only available via $99 MobileMe)
- Air Print – print over the air from your IPad (I personally think that’s AWESOME-udg)
- Whedonless Buffy?!?? (udg)
- Last year, rumors began surfacing that Warner Bros. was planning on rebooting Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a new movie without the participation of the character’s creator Joss Whedon.
- We, of course, all thought it sounded waaaay too universally stupid to be true. We thought wrong.
- I could list off all the reasons this is a one of the worst ideas EVER, but there are many blog posts out there that cover that and odds are if you’re listening to this, you’ve made your own list. What I will share instead are Mr. Whedon’s words regarding this:
- This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths-just because they can’t think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself.
- Obviously I have strong, mixed emotions about something like this. My first reaction upon hearing who was writing it was, “Whit Stillman AND Wes Anderson? This is gonna be the most sardonically adorable movie EVER.” Apparently I was misinformed. Then I thought, “I’ll make a mint! This is worth more than all my Toy Story residuals combined!” Apparently I am seldom informed of anything. And possibly a little slow. But seriously, are vampires even popular any more?
- I always hoped that Buffy would live on even after my death. But, you know, AFTER. I don’t love the idea of my creation in other hands, but I’m also well aware that many more hands than mine went into making that show what it was. And there is no legal grounds for doing anything other than sighing audibly. I can’t wish people who are passionate about my little myth ill. I can, however, take this time to announce that I’m making a Batman movie. Because there’s a franchise that truly needs updating. So look for The Dark Knight Rises Way Earlier Than That Other One And Also More Cheaply And In Toronto, rebooting into a theater near you.
Intarweb Goldmine
- Would be Robber Chased off by cussing
- 41 yr old driver was approached at a stoplight
- Assailant flashed a gun and demanded money
- What did he do? Did he comply? NOOO, he cussed him out and told him to fire his weapon anyways.
- Guy was so frightened he fled on foot and the robbery was averted
- DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME #kplzthx
- (SM) Natali probably woulda gotten out and junk punched him after the cuss out
- Full body scanner safe unders for the shy traveller (udg)
- It’s a special kind of underwear – with a strategically placed fig leaf design – and a Colorado man says it’ll get you through the airport screeners with your dignity intact.
- Jeff Buske says his invention uses a powdered metal that protects people’s privacy when undergoing medical or security screenings. Buske of Las Vegas, Nev.-Rocky Flats Gear says the underwear’s inserts are thin and conform to the body’s contours, making it difficult to hide anything beneath them. The mix of tungsten and other metals do not set off metal detectors.
- The men’s design has the fig leaf, while the one for women comes in the shape of clasped hands. It’s unclear whether it would lead to an automatic, more intrusive pat down by federal Transportation Security Administration officials.
- Lady trapped in bathroom 3 weeks, survives
- 69 yr old Grandmother goes into the bathroom, and the door lock breaks
- She bangs and bangs but it isn’t until ppl notice her mail has not been picked up for 3 wks that they break in and find her there
- What was really messed up? Her neighbors claim “You could hear banging sounds, like a hammer, even at night”
- Check where its coming from maybe???
- Lady subsisted by drinking tap water only…
Extra Links
- Microsoft ups it’s investment in Novell, Company no longer Independent
- Ultimate Black Friday Cheat Sheet (udg)
Next Week
- XBox 360 is 5 yrs old : is it a success??
Contact Info
- On Twitter: Steven is @DarthMolen, Jeremy is @jpuent, Natali is @UberDorkGirlie
- email us: darthmolen@thepowergeeks.com and jpuent@thepowergeeks.com and uberdorkgirlie@thepowergeeks.com (yay!)
- And Become a Fan
Sponsors
Shiny Lines
- What: Shiny Geek Jewelry, clothing and other bits & bytes, made by Geeks for Geeks.
- Why: Geeks, Nerds & Gamers alike deserve to shine at their very best, on and offline.
- Who: @aDigitalAngel & fellow nerds at ShinyLines.com
Luxury Lane Soaps
http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFTED, GEEKY Soap
- Can I say any more superlatives? You will love her products.
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