We are LIVE on Ustream . This week we discuss the Mobile World Conference, Wonder Woman on NBC, Lots of gaming news, and even some SNAFU’s from the US government

Intro Jeremy
Intro Natali

Items of Interest

• Kid saves Family using moves he learned from WoW (JP)
  • One of my CoWorkers sent this to me to share on the show… so special thanks to Mike for this one…
  • Hans Jørgen Olsen, a 12-year-old Norwegian boy, saved himself and his sister from a moose attack
  • Skills used??? Taunting to draw the Moose away from his sister and after running in the opposite direction he then he feigned death the other skill he learned from the game till the moose lost interest. Then he ran home to tell his tale.
• Left 4 Dead Valentines
• Be my Portal Valentine?
• SuperHarmony (udg)
  • Are you lonely? Looking for someone special? Are you also okay with tights-wearing crime fighters or perhaps amoral megalomaniacs bent on world domination and/or life of crime?  Well dearies, than SuperHarmony is the dating site for you. Superheroes and villains need love too. Now SuperHarmony is bringing real happiness to some really super people. Why? Cuz love is super!

• MoSerious (udg)
  • Okay, so Michael Bolton from Office Space got nothin’ on me. I’ll blast my stuff and not roll up the window like a lil punk. Well today I had friend send me a clip of Mo Serious. Mo is awesome. He calls himself The SEO Rapper layin down rhymes that actually prove he knows his stuff. From design coding to page ranking, you definitely need to check him out!

Gold Sponsors:

Natali’s Etsy!!!

• Need your noms????
• @UberDorkGirlie’s etsy is the way to go
• Whether it’s Woookie Cookies, Bark Maul, or Hothballs, every sweet tooth needs to try them out
• Need a present and don’t want to bake? then Natali’s Etsy store is the way to go

• Convention Schedule
  • Milwaukee Anime Con – Feb. 18-20
  • C2E2 – March 18-20

Big Exciting News… We are very close (depending on Apple) to being able to test and release our first iPhone app!!! (@JebsApps) it’ll be Movie History… with lots of new features (that we can’t make androids do… yet) but both will be getting a huge update to the Database!!! and right on the heels of that will be Geek History with a bigger update to the Database!!! So… More Geekiness… = More GeekyGoodness!!
Get yours today if you have an Android for only $0.99 to keep up with facts like:
Today in MovieHistory 2/16/1957
LeVar Burton, Star Trek: TNG’s Geordie LaForge, is born.

Deals of the Week / New Release

• Cowboys & Aliens Comic Giveaway (udg)
  • Geekosystem is all about sharing the love and right now that love comes in the form of 5 copies of the Cowboys & Aliens comic book that inspired the movie. Want one of these awesome hardbacks? You’re going to have to fight for it, but the fighting is fun.
  • Here’s the dealio- head on over to their Facebook Page and tell them what improbable but awesome match up you want to see made into a movie. The possibilities are infinite: Zombie Nuns vs Vampire Samurai, Mega Shark and Giant Octopus vs Sharktopus, Teen Wolf vs Team Edward- you name it!
  • Give them your unnatural (or surprisingly natural) pairing and you could take home a copy of Cowboys and Aliens.
• Marvel vs Capcom 3 (udg)
  • It’s been more than a decade since Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes debuted in arcades, yup I said arcades. Yesterday the long awaited Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds arrived for Xbox and PS3. So, what can you expect?
  • First of all, I haz a HUGE sad I don’t have a 360 so it’ll be awhile before I can actually try this game out for myself. While it’s only been out for a day, all the reviews I found agree on two things- it’s fun and the graphics are awesome. What more could ya want?

• This week on Blu-Ray
  • Dr. Who, a christmas carol
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • Dungeons and Dragons 2 Movie Pack – (2000 original w/ jeremy irons and the direct to video Wrath of the Dragon God
  • Unstoppable (Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson – train out of control, blah blah blah)

Geek Speak

• Mobile World Congress
  • Nokia, Microsoft joining forces
    • Microsoft offers Billions to a deep partnership (vs. google)
    • Plan is to make a 3rd ecosystem (behind android and Iphone)
    • Will still support Symbian developers (all 3 of them)
    • Some aren’t too hip to the movement (9 investors speak out – Next up, 9 Apple investors want Jobs to stop wearing turtlenecks)
    • Verizon not too hip about relationship (they were burned by kin – now have Iphone – why need more)
    • Is it a good move? Where do they go but to M$? (RIM, Palm OS, everything else)
  • Rumor: IPhone to get smaller version
    • This now spans 3 publishers (U.K. Daily Mail, WSJ, Bloomberg)
    • $200 (without subsidy) is the rumored price point
    • ? the size of the current IPhone
    • Obviously a software rev would be needed (yet more fragmentation)
  • Next gen Galaxy Tab and Galaxy SII hit
    • Tab = honeycomb, faster 1ghz dual core (bringing it up to spec), 1.23 lbs, dual cameras (8/2),  no USB or HDMI
    • Galaxy S II =  2.3 gingerbread, 8.5 mm thick 4.3”” SAMOLED, NFC Support, etc, etc.
  • XPeria Play Phone Specs and Hands on (exclusively on Verizon)
    • Vroom! Pretty much a standard Android phone but w/ the Playstation suite
    • You will have to re-buy your PSN content on the Android Marketplace
    • Both digital and analog inputs
  • Using Cell Phone as wallet coming 2012
    • Huge push for the “NFC” chip, w/ T-mobile adopting 2012
    • It’s a chip that sends wirelessly over very short distances, “4-inches”
    • Wave it over a terminal and it makes a payment
    • Apples name was dropped
  • Google unveils video editor for Honeycomb
    • Trying to catch up w/ some of the Apple staples
    • Will be able to edit video, sound track, etc to make your videos more “social friendly”

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• 150million PS2’s sold (SM)
  • and 1.5 BILLION units of software sold over its liftetime
  • Whopping 10k+ library of games
  • First launched in 2000 to Japan (that short ago?)
  • Perspective: 2 per minute = 285 years to complete sales

• Batman: Arkham City No Can Haz Multiplayer (udg)
  • If you’re like me and heart Arkham Asylum, you’ve probably been looking forward to its upcoming sequel to it, Arkham City.  If you were hoping to play Robin the Boy Wonder alongside your friend’s Batman, you’re gonna haz a sad though cuz Rockstar has confirmed that it will NOT have multiplayer or coop play, contrary to the rumors that have been flying around.
  • Why? According to an interview with IGN their “Thought process behind this was fairly simple: when we investigated adding multiplayer we asked, ‘If we use all of the energy that is required to create multiplayer and instead focus this on the single player, would that deliver a better overall game?
  • “With the game now coming to the final stages, I can honestly say it would not have been possible to deliver Arkham City the way we wanted to if we’d have added multiplayer
  • “So it might not be the fashionable choice, it might not get us an extra tick on the box, but we are convinced, and we hope that gamers will agree when they get to play the finished game, that we have made the right decision.”
  • Which, I gotta say, sounds fair enough. I’m still gonna hope to see multiplayer brought in the mix with Arkham Asylum 3.

• Activision Bails Out of Guitar Hero, Cancels Games (JP)
  • Following in the footsteps of MTV Games, Activision Blizzard has closed its music-game division
  • Hundreds of employees are being laid off, all 2011 games are cancelled
  • Latest Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock only sold 86,000 units
  • Decline of Genre, soaring cost of licensing and producing games, cited for closure
  • True Crime: Hong Kong also hit
  • 500 employees (7% of the total are slated to be axed)
  • Plans to ramp back up around a secret MMO from Blizzard will put them back above 7000 employees near the end of the year

• Zynga worth $7-9 billion (SM)
  • This up from the 5.5 billion in October
  • Perspective: EA is worth around 6 billion dollars
  • The debil is trying to rais some chump change (250 million dollars)
  • Despite not needing it, ppl are jumping at chance, public trade is rumor
  • Beotch slap: Facebook is valued at around $50 billion

• Pokemon Goes Online (udg)
  • Since the creation of Pokemon, you’ve been able to play it via handheld Nintendo devices, the trading card games with friends, you’ve been able to watch the TV series or films as a kid. But, you’ve never been able to play it online… until now.
  • Enter Pokemon Trainer Challenge. It basically takes the Pokemon trading cards and makes them digital so you can play against friends from your computer. It’s set for a live launch in April and will initially offer 3 preconstructed trading card decks and 14 virtual players to challenge. Nintendo is smart though so there will be a set of physical trading cards coming out the support the game. The Pokemon Black and Pokemon White decks can be used to unlock the virtual deck versions in Trainer Challenge and will be out April 6.
  • The game will be available to play at PokemonCG.com.

• Apple offers deal to wary publishers (JP)
  • The promise of “magazines” and subscription content has been there since release
  • Nothing has really materialized as the publishers and Apple has squabbled over rights and percentages
  • Finally, Apple has made a decision. Any subs you bring to the table, you keep everything, any subs that Apple brings to the table through its services, they keep 30%
  • Here’s what some content producers aren’t digging,
    • No details about Apple customers get automatically sent to them (apple manages and keeps all that data)
    • Price has to stay the same between ITunes and their website
    • Google is giving more generous terms on their platform
  • Rhapsody already threatening legal and drop-out over 30% tax
  • Netflix, Hulu Plus, Time magazine, etc still havent’ brought what they think of the new deal to the table, only time will tell

• Civ IV Theme Wins a Grammy in Music (SM)
  • Won a grammy for “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist”
  • First Video Game music to win such an award
  • Basically, its the opening theme song for Civ IV
  • Included in an album “Calling all Dawns” by Christopher Tin
  • Beautiful sweeping music accompanied by a Swahili vocal… gorgeous

• Don’t Mess With The Bieber (udg)
  • In case you missed the Grammys this weekend, Esperanza Spalding took home the win for best new artist. Which seems to have left some Bieber fans just a little bit pissed. One of them so much so that they decided to hack her Wikipedia page by adding “Quesadilla” to her name and then busting out the all caps for “JUSTIN BIEBER DESERVED IT GO DIE IN A HOLE. WHO THE HECK ARE YOU ANYWAY?” Okay, first of all Sunshine, punctuation is your friend and b. I know scrolling down is tough, but you are on Wikipedia so you could have actually read the answer to the question you seemed so interested in finding out.
  • Many of you listening probably have not heard of Esperanza. She’s now the first jazz musician to take home this award, is highly talented and rightfully earned the win.  So, pull your panties out of a wad Bieberites and expand your musical horizons just a bit, it’ll do ya good and for the love of all that is holy and sacred, stay away from Wikipedia unless you’re going to actually read and learn from it.

• Oops! US Gov Accidentally Shuts Down 84,000 Web Sites (JP)
  • In a HUGE effort to corral child pornography  ICE’s cybercrime center seized various domain that were purportedly involved in child pornography
  • They did manage to find a district judge to sign off on the warrant
  • However, they made a slight clerical error, mooo.com (from Freedns.com) was seized and it contained 84,000 sub domains of personal websites and small businesses
  • These were admittedly, not a planned part of the seizure
  • For 6 days these sites were redirected to a very scary page stating in legalese that these ppl were being investigated for child pornography
  • Eventually fixed
  • Recent homeland security press release mentions nothing of the error and there is no formal apology out there for the “inconvenience” of smirching their good names
    • Who smells a law suit or two thousand coming??

• Cool Tech: Hydrogen Powered Phone Recharger (SM)
  • Uses a disposable water fuel cell to produce Hydrogen energy
  • Being marketed as a hikers dream
  • Basically takes water and splits the hydrogen then runs it through fuel cell to make an electric current to charge a USB device or its own battery
  • Also see Hydrofill (shown at CES)

• Casting Sheet for WW Revealed (udg)
  • The casting sheet for the new Wonder Woman TV series is out and here are some key points:

• Wonder Woman is being cast older as Kelley has her in the script “late 20s to 30s.” No race is specified but there is a reference to black hair and blue eyes. She’s “a real woman who yearns to live a normal life.”
• Open ethnicity casting for Etta, Myndi and Steve Trevor
• Ed Indelicato, the cop from Boston (and he is still from Boston in the pilot) could possible have some romantic tension with Diana/Wonder Woman.
• Filming starts March 15 in LA

• [WONDER WOMAN / DIANA THEMYSCIRA / DIANA PRINCE] Female, late 20s to 30s. A kick-ass Superhero / Powerful C.E.O. / A vulnerable woman. Long flowing black hair, blue eyes. Amazon-like, muscular, an Olympian. The charismatic stage presence of a rock star. A crime fighter. Also, a real woman who yearns to live a normal life. She is accessible and appealing to all people, men and women alike…SERIES LEAD. ASP.
• [MYNDI MAYER] Female, open ethnicity, 30s. Publicist, Press Secretary and Wonder Woman’s confidant and nurturing best friend. Worldy and edgy. Sexy and persuasive, her appearance is part of her strength. She is beautiful and put together – dressed expensively in the latest fashions, plus she’s got a bit of bite, clever wit and sass. She’s the prodder of Diana’s social life…SERIES REGULAR. ASP.
• I like the fact that kick-ass is in there. The “rock star” part worries me just a  bit. The yearning to live a normal life part also sits a little off with me.
• WW = Princess Diana = Adrianne Palicki
  • Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki has been chosen to embody Princess Diana in David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman pilot on NBC.

• • Twenty-seven year old Palicki, who also starred in Supernatural and the filmLegion, stands a lofty 5?11? tall. The news came just late this evening courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter.

• • Oddly enough, Palicki had a brush with DC Comics before. She was in an episode of Smallville but was also cast as Siren in the Aquaman television pilot that was never picked up.
  • In high school, the actress played basketball and played track so it’s likely she’ll be able to keep up with the physicality of the role. Palicki can be seen next in the remake of Red Dawn with Thor star Chris Hemsworth

• Felicia Day Writing & Starring in Dragon Age Web Series (JP)
  • One of the fan-favorite geek girls out there is set to take on a new role
  • Felicia will be writing and starring in a 6 ep. web series based around a popular RPG “Dragon Age”, made by Bioware
  • Show has been dubbed Dragon Age: Redemption
  • another popular RPG out there (made by Bioware)
  • Previous credits include:
    • “The Guild” (wrote and starred – based on WoW)
    • Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (Co-star)
    • And frequent guest star for Joss Whedon

• Huge Rumor: AMD up for Sale, Dell might be interested (SM)
  • We reported back in january about CEO Dirk Meyer leaving
  • COO left last week (Robert Rivet)
  • There’s no management team really left
  • Current interim Thomas Seifert doesn’t want job
  • buzz is that company is up for sale, Dell is interested
  • This is the #2 chip maker IN THE WORLD!
  • Bigger than when AMD bought ATI (video chip maker)

Intarweb Goldmine

• Football and Porn – Kind of a No No (JP)
  • Imagine this: Biggest game of the year, you gather your family around the ol’ boob toob, chips, family, their kids, everyone watching the game
  • BLAM! Hardcore porn cuts in the middle and plays for 37 seconds
  • What do you do? A) Hoot and holler and make bets on who wins? B) run around screaming and telling your 3 year old that it was a nature clip of animals in the wild? B) Vote for it as better than 99% of the other commercials out there?
  • Well, one man Frank Gonzales, from Tuscon Arizona, made people choose, 80,000 of them to be exact, by slicing into the main feed and putting that stuff into the stream
  • Time Warner was so horrified, it gave each subscriber $10
  • Man, thats some expensive porn
• Alien Tumor Found in California Man (udg)
  • Like part of the storyline from the 1979 sci-fi classic “Alien,” a California man discovered he had a large,  alien-type tumor growing inside him complete with tenacles.
  • After Josh Abken, 36,  complained of back pains last year.  He thought he’d pulled a muscle, but the X-ray revealed something both frightening and bizarre. It was a soccer-ball-sized tumor that sprouted tentacles and had apparently been quietly growing inside him for almost a decade.
  • The tumor, dubbed “Gill,” began to apply pressure on Abken’s heart, moving his lungs out of normal position and causing his stomach to push downward. And it was partially calcified, or hard like a rock.
  • It took several hours of surgery, but thoracic surgeon Costanzo Di Perna successfully remove the cancerous tumor, giving Abken a new lease on life.
• The Fast and the Fantastically Stupid (SM)
  • Guy pegs out his car at 118 MPH, Tapes it for Youtube, Cop pulls him over
  • Claims to only have been doing 90-100 but this genius got real smart
  • He showed the cops the footage of the dashboard camera
  • Duh, it showed his speedometer needle pegged out
  • Guy gets charged with reckless driving and charged almost a $1000 for the incident
  • And they let geniuses like this drive every day
• Woman Calls 911 for Police Harassing Her At Her Door
• Grapes of Wrath (udg)
  • Sebastiano Russo, 75, seems to have just a lil bit of an anger issue. He and his ex-wife, Claire Russo, 71, live together as “a family unit” even though they divorced in 2003.
  • According to a witness Sebastiano arrived home drunk Tuesday around 11 p.m. and began an argument about bringing his new girlfriend to their mutual home, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He then threw a grape at his ex-wife’s face, then threatened to kill her and burn down the house reports the Orlando Sentinel.
  • Those “sour grape” actions landed the Orange City man a cot in the Volusia County Jail. He’s charged with aggravated battery on a person age 65 or older and a misdemeanor assault charge, according to Volusia County Sheriff’s Office records.
• In Honor of Tax Season: Silly Tax Hikes
  • own a vacation home in NY? Pay 1 million in taxes for being a year-round resident even though you don’t live there year round
  • 2.9 % sales tax on candy, soda, software, drect mail food items, and agricultural compounds like bull semen, and online sales
  • online
• Optimus Prime Gets a Parking Ticket
• Freed Chilean Miners Talk Drugs, Porn, Sex Dolls.. Wait, What? (udg)
  • The 33 men rescued from a Chilean mine were smuggled drugs and pornography during their time underground, but their request for inflatable sex dolls went unmet due to a shortage.
  • A new book disclosed that the men’s request for sex dolls was denied because their doctor was afraid jealousy could spread after only 10, rather than 33, dolls were found.
  • The bizarre details of the men’s lives down in the mine will be contained in a new book by journalist Jonathan Franklin, extracts of which were published in The (London) Sunday Times.

Extra Links

• 5 Amazing Things Invented By Donald Duck. Seriously.
• How to design MK Fatalities
• Zune Rebranding Rumored
• Google Street View Photography wins award

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.
• 10% off power rings
• Who: @aDigitalAngel & fellow nerds at ShinyLines.com

Get Shinylines in Gold Sponsors

• ShinyLines Power Geek Rings!!!
  • I’m almost giggly with anticipation!!
  • Check out shop.shinylines.com for more product -OR-
  • Send darthmolen@gmail.com an email saying you want this ring. If there’s enough interest, we are going to make this available to the public

Luxury Lane Soaps

http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFT ED, 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!)

Intro Jeremy
Intro Natali

Items of Interest

• High End Frames!!
  • 1,416 Star Wars  moments, handpicked high quality film frames
  • Each moment 11” x 22”, each film bound in leather
  • Yours for only $3000, only 1,138 of these were made
  • Comes with a BEAUTIFUL wood case though and signed by Lucas himself

• DIY, Turn a handcrank light into a USB Charger
  • Ever seen those emergency lights that you can hand crank???
  • Ever been without juice on your phone?
  • I personally live in a hurricane zone and have been
  • Guy just made a DIY film on how to attach a USB port to one of these suckers so you can recharge your phone just by cranking.
  • Perfect for the environmentalist in your life
• THE MOST EPIC ACTION SCENE EVER (udg)
  • (SM) I agree MULTIPLE helicopters bit it in this scene

Gold Sponsors:

Natali’s Etsy!!!

• Need your noms????
• @UberDorkGirlie’s etsy is the way to go
• Whether it’s Woookie Cookies, Bark Maul, or Hothballs, every sweet tooth needs to try them out
• Need a present and don’t want to bake? then Natali’s Etsy store is the way to go

Shiny Lines!!

• Shiny Lines is giving out 2 prizes this week just for listeners of “The Power Geeks”
• Listen for the secret phrase later in the show and go post on their site 1) Why you love Shiny Lines 2) The time we said the secret phrase (put your time zone)
• They will pick 2 ppl at random out of the first 10 to post
• Here are the options if you win: An awesome red power ring, a choice from their nightplay line, or a cool code monkey tote!!!
• So go show your love for Shiny Lines!!! shop.shinylines.com

• Convention Schedule
  • Milwaukee Anime Con – Feb. 18-20
  • C2E2 – March 18-20

Deals of the Week / New Release

• DVD New Releases
  • Dead Space: Aftermath -
    • Animate pre-quel to the new game coming out Deadspace 2
    • Previous animated prequel was Dead Space:Downfall
    • You won’t be wooed by the animation, some comparing it to first run clone wars (ick)
    • If you like the game, you’ll like this movie
  • She-Ra the complete series!!!
  • Color Purple (blu-ray)
  • Flash: The complete series (John Wesley Shipp – 1990’s)
• The Infestation Begins! (udg)
• Awesome MacBook Vinyl Decals buy 2 get 1 free (udg)

Geek Speak

• America Losing its Edge in Innovation
  • OpEd (Norm Augustine) who writes for Forbes, claims that America is losing their edge on Innovation…
  • Here is his hypothesis: every country he’s visited most ppl believe that science and engineering are the paths to success
  • Here in the U.S., they are seen as geeks and misfits.
  • Younger generation gets turned off, and turns to other things, losing that scientific edge
  • In China alone, 8 out of 9 top political leaders are engineers
  • In the U.S.??? Good luck.
  • So is Spurned geek culture really a problem and will it really stymy innovation?

• Geek Girls Represented Poorly in Geeky Mediums
  • Are geeks “Closet Chauvinists”?
  • Movies, comics, perceptions on how geek girls should act and behave are all wildly skewed…
  • Quick, name 5 heroines off the top of your head from comics
  • Now how many of those don’t use sex as a weapon?
  • Name one feature super hero movie where the main character was female that didn’t suck

• 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 1/26/1962  The space probe Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. It will later miss the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
  • 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
  • Or check out their new app Movie History

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• First Images for Thundercats released (SM)
  • a fuzzy image shows up after London Toy Fair
  • Total attention in the geek community. TC is one of those happy moments
  • So does Warner Bro. slap a cease and desist? Nope, they release actual art footage to capitalize on the buzz! WIN WIN!
  • Here are some of the producers on the new series (which give me hope): Sam Register (“Teen Titans,” “Ben 10,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold”). Michael Jelenic (“Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “Wonder Woman”) and Ethan Spaulding (“Avatar: The Last Airbender”)
  • Press Release:
  • The new “ThunderCats” will appeal to viewers who have loved the characters all their lives as well as young newcomers to the franchise. A sweeping tale combining swords and science and boasting ferocious battles with the highest of stakes, the grand origin story of Prince Lion-O’s ascension to the throne – and of those who would thwart his destiny at any cost – takes on epic dimensions in this sharp new telling. As the forces of good and evil battle each other in the quest for the fabled Stones of Power, Lion-O and his champions learn valuable lessons of loyalty, honor and mortality in every episode.

• Marvel Uses Captain America to Aid in Suicide Awareness & Prevention (udg)
  • Comic books often face real life and try to offer “a little help” within their pages. Often creatives in the industry team with organizations to craft stories specifically directed at certain issues in the hope of getting readers to pay attention. Captain America: A Little Help is an all-new story free to all fans via the Marvel Comics App and Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited that attempts to help raise awareness of suicide prevention.
  • From Marvel:
    • Written by Dr. Tim Ursiny, PH.D., CBC, RCC and illustrated by Nick Dragotta, this powerful story shows what happens when one man on the verge of suicide is drawn into a chance encounter with Captain America—and he may be the Avenger’s only hope!
    • “Super heroes fight a lot of battles, but there are few more important than combating suicide,” said Tom Brevoort, Senior Vice-President of Publishing. “That’s why we’re making Captain America: A Little Help available for free via our digital comics outlets. If even one person calls this number instead of doing something very tragic, we know that means we succeeded.”

• • The story is also available in good ol’ fashion print in I Am An Avenger #5 on newsstands and in comic books shops now.
  • To contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, please call 1-800-273-TALK or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

• Wizard, 20 yr old magazine, now toast (JP)
  • Anybody remember the heyday of comic book collecting in the 90’s?
  • Wizard magazine with the king of kings for publications back then
  • Then the comic bust hit in the mid 90’s and the publication has backslid ever since (some claiming they really didn’t even cover comics anymore, just b-style movie flicks)
  • It has now been confirmed that you can no longer buy copies, with rumors on the Internet that the whole staff was fired
  • Long live the comic heydays It’s always sad to see a geeky print outlet bite the dust

• 60% of AOL’s profit comes from misinformed (SM)
  • Here’s the “deal” according to Huffington Post: 80% of their profits comes from  subscribers
  • 75% of those are dial up that don’t really need dial up (according to an un-named AOL exec)
  • Mostly from elderly who already have Internet access elsewhere and don’t know that they don’t have to pay an AOL dial-up fee to access their AOL email
  • It’s not criminal to not tell someone they don’t need a service, I personally do think it’s neglectful though
  • Business Insider posted a nice screen grab article for the less tech savvy on how to unsubscribe

• Iran Announces Release of New “Cyber-Police” (udg)
  • According to Iran’s state TV, they’ve launched their first cyber police unit in attempt to gain an edge in the digital world.
  • Since the disputed results of the presidential election in 2009, the Internet has been a very important outlet for Iran’s political opposition. They’ve also been trying to boos their web defenses since the Stuxnet worm made its way into computers that are involved with their nuclear program.
  • Gen Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, Iran’s top police chief, was quoted as saying that the Net has provided opportunities to “others” for spying as well as misuse of both public and private information. Umm… only for the last 2 decades dear.
  • The first cyber cops patrolling the web are in Tehran. Gen. Moghaddam says they will be in all police stations in the country by early 2012.

• Zuckerberg’s FB Page Gets Hacked (JP)
  • An anonymous person hacked the CEO of facebook’s page and posted:
  • “Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ’social business’ the way Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus described it? [LINK] What do you think? #hackercup2011“
  • 800 ppl actually “liked” the message before it was taken down
  • Ironically this happened 1 day before new security measures were announced that included continuous HTTPS connections and social captchas (these ask you to identify pics of friends rather than fuzzy words)
  • ^^ (SM) Good luck with that! I’m horrible with names :s

• Microsoft Rewards Hackers of Win 7 Phone (SM)
  • Screw with an Apple device? Get a cease and desist, Hack Sony, get a law suit on your doorstep,
  • Hack a Windows Phone 7 and be the first to do it? You just might get a free t-shirt.
  • Instead of throwing good money after bad, Microsoft contacted the jailbreakers of their latest mobile phone and offered them T-shirts and congratulations
  • A Rep for Microsoft went even further: “Microsoft is interested in further understanding the “Home Brew” developer community’s perspectives on Windows Phone and invited a few members to our Redmond campus last week for an exchange of ideas”
  • Whether this is hyperbole or not, who knows? But it is a step in the right direction IMHO
  • It is something to point out that Sony PS3 and the IPhone are both wildly more popular than Win Phone 7 so they have to make hay somehow…
  • Before we get all happy happy joy joy about this, M$ is planning to break the jailbreak in their next release of the OS
    • (JP) to me, this represents 2 things… a desperate grab for attention, and the last act of a dying device

• Scientists Invent Food Replicator (udg)
  • Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
  • Move over Picard, the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan now has a 3D food printer and in 5 years, you could have one too.
  • A group of Cornell University scientists and students built a 3D printer and began testing it with food. It attaches to a computer, which works as the “brain” behind the technology.
  • It looks more like an industrial fabrication machine than a normal printer. Users load up the printer’s syringes with raw food- anything, like soft chocolate, that has a liquid consistency. It will then “print” icing on a cupcake or anything for that matter.
  • “You hand [the computer] three bits of info: a shape that you want, a description of how that shape can be made, and a description of how that material that you want to print with works,” says Jeff Lipton, a Cornell grad student working on the project. Lipton is pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.
  • The project came out of Cornell’s Fab@Home venture, headed up by associate professor Hod Lipson. Started in 2005, the project aims to create do-it-yourself versions of machines that can manufacture custom objects on-demand. The group started experimenting with food fabrication in 2007.
  • David Arnold, director of culinary technology at the French Culinary Institute, has been testing out the technology since October 2009. He loves the experimentation it makes possible and thinks a 3D food printer will have mass appeal.
  • Because it’s an academic project, the 3D food printer isn’t commercially available — yet. The Fab@Home project has the blueprints for free online, and dedicated hobbyists can use them to build their own. One retailer,nextfabstore.com, offers an assembled version for sale — starting at a mere $3,300.
  • Entrepreneur Jamil Yosefzai plans to be on the forefront of commercializing the technology. His New York City-based startup, Essential Dynamics, is working on a version that can be sold to the first wave potential customers: pastry chefs and tech early adopters.
  • Yosefzai thinks his version of the printer will kinetically retail for around $1,000, but he expects that price tag to eventually fall to $700 or so. And he predicts that the technology could become a household staple within a decade.
    • (JP – The Catch is… Everything tastes like chicken)

• Portal 2 User-Generated Content Will Be Available for Consoles (JP)
  • Portal 2, the followup to one of the best puzzlers of all times, is coming later this year, and are you ready for the mind-bending fun?
  • For those that don’t know, features you putting 2 “windows” randomly around the room where you go in one side and emerge out the other
  • It WILL be available on Steamplay which means PS3, XB360, and Mac
  • Although you won’t be able to create levels on the consoles, you’ll still get to benefit from the level generator on the PC, as those custom levels will be available to you
  • Obviously each platform has their own delivery mechanism but they’ll be available

• D&D Illegal in Prison (SM)
  • Kevin Singer and 2 friends were having a campaign in jail, w/ Kevin as the DM
  • Anonymous tipster calls the guards and says that the group was forming a D&D gang and the guard confiscated the material…
  • Ok, first off, they are using their imaginations to do imaginary things vs. using their imaginations to figure out how to shank someone… (guess that T-shirt with the ninja throwing the D20 is serious)
  • Kevin takes it to court saying its a 1st amendment right and he gets ruled against
  • It is now illegal to play D&D in jail… srsly. They can all go back to beating the living crap out of their cellmates now

• Apple’s 10 Billionth App Contest Winner Hangs Up (udg)
  • Gail Davis is used to politely hanging up on telemarketers. Yeah, well when Apple called to congratulation on winning the $10,000 iTunes gift card for downloading their App Store’s 10 billionth app early Saturday morning, she thought it was a prank call and hung up. “Thank you very much, I’m not interested” were her words.
  • The kicker? Gail doesn’t even own an iPod that can run apps, but her daughters own iPod touches. Luckily for her, those two came flying down the stairs to tell her it wasn’t a prank and she’d better call back!
  • As luck would have it, the girls had downloaded a few apps that morning. The winner? A free app called Paper Glider where you can see “how far can you flick and fly your paper airplane.” While it’s one of the top five free App Store Apps, it is flooded with user reviews like “truly crap” “boring” and “lame.” And now it has the distinction of being the 10 billionth app. Gail has a $10,000 iTunes gift card to prove it. And I’m sure she’ll think twice before she hangs up the next time.

• Oregon Trail Coming to Facebook! (JP)  (40 years ago this year it was released for MAC)
  • Not only that but “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” is also slated
  • Brought to us by the same company who wrote Zoo Kingdom
  • Can’t wait to die of diphtheria on Facebook! I wonder if that’s a wall achievement??
  • The trailer is showing some social stuff added like forming wagon trains with your friends
  • Carmen Sandiego looks even more interactive the ability to form posses and hunt down global criminals
  • Not first time that nostalgia and “social media” has bene combined, already an Oregon Trail on the IPhone  as well as an upcoming release of the old Mike Tyson’s Punchout

• Android yanks Kongregate App (SM)
  • (always dinging IPhone, well here’s one against google)
  • Kongregate puts an app up that gives you access to over 400 games on their site, mostly flash games
  • There’s even a utility that allows you to play them offline
  • Android doesn’t like deliverly channels outside their own (just like Apple)
  • So the app gets yanked from the store
  • Here’s the kicker though, unlike apple,  if you go to m.kongregate.com and you’ve allowed for non-signed apps to run, it’ll install on your phone still
  • note: you need at least 2.2 to run the app
  • What a fun site. If you’re bored with the same ol’ on FB, go check out Kongregate
  • The only sad part about this article? I only have 1.7

• Wonder Woman Now A Go. Yay? (udg)
  • If you tuned in for last week, I covered the final passing of David E Kelley’s Wonder Woman TV show on every network.
  • Well, enter a regime change at NBC and enter the show to the list of pilots that are being picked up by them.
  • I’d be lying if I didn’t say this scares me. Give a listen to last week’s rant for more details.
  • So Pro: Robert Greenblatt is in charge over at NBC now. He’s the one that brought Dexter and Weeds to Showtime.
  • Con: He also ordered a drama pilot from the Sex in the City guy called “Mann’s World about a celebrity hair stylist in LA.  (Which bears some slight irony)
  • Pro: Greenblatt doesn’t mind spending money. One of the reasons the show was speculated to have been passed up on was the very high cost of it. Take out the huge licensing fee alone,   Kelley’s take incorporates the superhero’s signature lasso, cuffs, and plane in the script. That makes me happy because he’s bucking the August of 2010 reboot of her character and outfit.
  • Con: It’s David E Kelley. Not Joss Whedon. It baffles my mind that a Joss Whedon script for this show would be shot down before, but now David E Kelley is given a go. On NBC.
  • The Plot: Will revolve around Diana Prince and her life in L.A. as vigilante crime fighter Wonder Woman. Kelley says his Wonder Woman is a “real complex woman and not just a superhero.” It will NOT have the campiness the original one did.
  • Many speculate that this is hoping to draw in the Smallville crowd with this being the show’s final season.
  • All I know is I’m nervous, very, very nervous. I’m trying to remain positive, but I will being mass baking extra Woookiee Cookies to be used for a bake sale to raise my bail should they mess this up and a junkpunching spree is necessary.
  • I just hope this doesn’t turn out to be a “be careful what you wish for.”

Intarweb Goldmine

• Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon Gets Face Lift (udg)
  • For 35 years, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen has been a cutting-edge cosmetic surgeon. Now, he’ll finally see what it’s like to actually go under the knife.
  • Today, the Beverly Hills doctor is getting his first facelift.
  • Ellenbogen is known as the field as “The Father of Fat Grafting” because he pioneered many of the techniques used by plastic surgeons all over the world. He specializes in repairing bad plastic surgery and facelifts, but says good genes are what kept him from slicing and dicing his own mug until the ripe old age of 66.
  • So why now?
  • “I recently appeared on TV and after watching the segment, I realized I was starting to look like William Shatner and decided, ‘My time has come,’” he said.
  • Representatives for Shatner told AOL News that he was unavailable for comment.
• Genghis Khan, Greenest Conquerer
• No Apps for This: Croc Swallows Phone, Starts Ringing
  • the only way this story could be better was if JAWs was the ringtone!!!!!
    • The crocodile in “Peter Pan” happily went “tick-tock” after swallowing an alarm clock but a crocodile in Ukraine has been a little less fortunate.
  • Gena, a 14-year-old crocodile at an aquarium in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk, has been refusing food and acting listless after eating a cell phone dropped by a woman as she tried to photograph him.
  • Aquarium workers initially didn’t believe Rimma Golovko, a new mother in her 20s, when she complained that the crocodile had swallowed her phone.
• Zombie Game Show Host?
  • Famous italian game show hosts body gets taken from a grave
  • Yeah, now we’ll have a already dead game show host on live at 5
• Yeah, Not EVERYTHING is better with Bacon. Really (udg)
  • Remember the gum that did in Violet Beuregarde? Well now you can drink it.
  • Yup, that’s right, New Yorker Till Krautkraemer, founder of Meat Water is cranking out “hearty, and obviously meaty” meal supplement drinks in yeah, really bizarre flavors like cheeseburger, bbq chicken wings and italian sausage.
  • To ring in the new year and toast to a healthier lifestyle, Krautkraemer has just released four new offbeat offerings that are vegan-friendly and devoid of animal byproducts.
  • The new flavors in his MeatWaterVOID line include — which supposedly tastes like a piece of salmon over lettuce, asparagus and mustard seeds — and grilled chicken salad, a green-colored beverage said to taste like grilled chicken, spinach and onions, complete with a balsamic vinegar dressing.
  • Then there’s grilled Thai beef salad, a dark reddish, “mildly spicy but SUPER beefy” flavor that supposedly tastes like flank steak, red leaf lettuce, cucumber and garlic.
  • And, finally, there’s Krautkraemer’s favorite: Caribbean shrimp salad, a light-pink concoction designed to taste like grilled shrimp, mixed greens and raspberries.
  • Yum. Thirsty yet?
  • Yeah, me either.

Extra Links

• Facebook credits mandatory for games
• Nook 3G being phased out?
• 30 billion in unused gift cards in America
• New memory type invented

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

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• 10% off power rings
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Get Shinylines in Gold Sponsors

• ShinyLines Power Geek Rings!!!
  • I’m almost giggly with anticipation!!
  • Check out shop.shinylines.com for more product -OR-
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Luxury Lane Soaps

http://luxurylanesoap.com, @KyleeLane, GORGEOUS, IMAGINATIVE, HANDCRAFT ED, 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!)

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

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!

• Childs Play 2010 now open

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• New DVD Releases
  • The Expendables on DVD (JP)
    • Also on Apple ITunes
  • Super Duper Avatar Blu-Ray
  • The Last Airbender
  • Original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

• Indie Pack on Steam for 4.99 (you save $44)
  • 3 of the 5 are mac enabled

Geek Speak

TPG Black Friday Guide

• Threadless T’s Black Hole Friday- $10 T’s!

• 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

• Practice Safe Browsing for Cyber Monday

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• I Want To Be Her When I Grow Up (udg)

• • 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.
• (We Do! They’re Geekalicious! but don’t eat them… they are SOAP!)

We are LIVE on Ustream!!! This week we talk Internet TV, Chinese Space Program, microsoft fails, geek movies, and even a serious topic for once!

Items of Interest

• JEREMY IS BACK! (do we need more?? ) (udg)
• Glassless 3D TV’s (12”,20”,52”) (toshiba, etc)
• The one convention that I’m sorry I missed (SM)
• Warehouse 13 Farnsworth replica blueprints!!!! (JP)
  • Very cool, detailed blueprints for the Farnsworth communication device for only $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
• Ellen campaign!!

• Today in Geek History
  • JebApps (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 October 6th, 1967 – The Star Trek episode ‘Mirror, Mirror’ airs, introducing the Mirror Universe and the evil goatee.
  • This app is available for Android in a Lite version for free or a paid version, all on the Marketplace
  • Check out the lite version, but the paid version for .99
  • Also, Golden Pic and Golden Pic Lite for Android devices

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• L4D2 “The Sacrifice”
  • Oct. 5, Free for PC, 500 pts for X360
  • 2 new campaigns, “Mercy” from L4D1 + new one
  • Both playable w/ original survivors (SM) Just played, it was blast
  • *jumps up and down* it’s available for MAC too!! Squeee! (udg)
  • The Full games are on sale for $10+ on Steam for limited time
• Remote Linux Desktop for Your iPad! (udg)

• • iLIVE launched this past week for a slightly steep price of $14.99. But, from everything I read, you get some pretty big bang for that 15 bucks.
  • For starters you can connect to remote Unix or Linux servers and control a remote desktop or individual X application from your iPad. You can also connect to an existing LIVE session you initiated from a Windows, Macintosh or Linux workstation using other StarNet LIVE client solutions.

• Highlights:
  • Speed — Fastest remote Linux/Unix desktop program available
  • Persistency — Switch back-and-forth to other apps without losing data
  • Sharing – You can share your Linux desktop with other iPad, Windows, Macintosh and Linux desktop users.
  • Security – All traffic to remote server is SSH-tunneled
  • Switching – Seamlessly switch your remote desktop between iPads, Windows, Linux and Macintosh PCs

• • FREE LINUX DESKTOP

• • iLIVEx customers qualify for a free iLIVEx desktop account on StarNet’s iLIVEx Linux server. On your Linux desktop you can:
  • Run the Open Office Suite, including word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, drawing and more.
  • Run FireFox to surf the Internet.
  • You can run multiple applications on one Linux desktop or run one application on each of Linux’s 4 virtual desktops virtual desktops.

• Skype for Android
  • After fits and starts, Skype is now available on Android
  • skype.com/m
  • The catch? You’ll need 2.1 or later.

• Star Wars Uncut
  • Star Wars cut in to 15 second clips and then crowd sourced

• DVD / Blu-Ray Releases
  • BEATY AND THE BEAST!!!! (Blu-ray) (huge disney nerd)
  • Last of the Mohicans
  • Karate Kid remake (lots say its good, don’t mess with 80’s cheese)
  • Grindhouse! (Blu-Ray) (buyer beware, very bloody, over the top) Planet Terror and Death Proof all squenched together, theatrical release
  • The Maltese Falcon (Blu-Ray)
  • Mad Max (before road warrior) Blu-Ray

Geek Speak

• • TV Devices Market Heating up!

• Google TV
  • Based on Android, optimized for larger screen, intel atom chip
  • Patent for $2 commercial skip fee, questionnaire to skip, or 10 mins commercials
  • Logitech set-top box (revue)
  • Plans to search both internet and traditional channels
  • Custom content from: Turner Broadcasting, HBO, NBC Universal, and the NBA-
  • Won’t sell ads for the first year, but this is how Google makes its money
  • Promising more data mining for advertisers.
  • Did you know, only 25,000 homes own a nielson box? yet these homes set the ad money for the year just by sampling 3 months of usage
  • Other downfall? Probably pricy
• Apple TV (99)
• Boxee (199)
• Roku (99)

(Netflix, Hulu, bittorrent, amazon, apple, etc)
Are we really ready for streaming TV content????

When is a Joke Too Much?

• Penny Arcade released a strip about “dickwolves” commiting rape
  • Pretty tastless but when called on it by people who have actually been targets of this absolutely, HORRIFIC experience that literally scars people for life
  • A reader pointed this out to them, in their own words:
  • A survivor of sexual violence who experiences a trigger is experiencing the same thing as a soldier who experiences a trigger, potentially even including flashbacks. Like many soldiers who return from war, many survivors of sexual violence are left with post-traumatic stress disorder.…I will never understand why anyone wants to be the total jerk who evokes someone’s memories of being assaulted by blindsiding hir with a rape joke (or image, or metaphor, or whatever), in the guise of “humor.” No “joke” is worth triggering someone. Not if you understand what triggering someone really means.
  • Their callow retort? They’re making a DickWolf shirt about the whole thing
  • When is a Joke too much? (discuss)
  • www.rainn.org  Rape Abuse & Incest National Network 1-800-656-HOPE

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• China Plans for Lunar landing 2017 (SM)
  • I’m a bit bitter, US has given up on going to the moon
  • China on the other hand, launched its 2nd unmanned moon mission
  • The probe will take 5 days to reach the moon
  • Testing technology for an unmanned flight in 2012
  • If all goes well, Chinese plan to be on the moon in 2017

• Quality Family Time! Brooklyn father and son launch their own spacecraft (udg)

• • They may not be rocket scientists, but Luke Geissbühler and his 7-year-old son, Max sent a “homemade spacecraft” into the stratosphere nearly 19 miles (around 100,000 feet) above the Earth’s surface to be exact – and they have the awesome video to prove it.
  • After eight months of research and flight tests, they launched the craft  made up of a a 19-inch helium-filled weather balloon attached to a Styrofoam capsule that housed an HD video camera and an iPhone. It was rigged with a parachute to the capsule to aid in its return to Earth, and the iPhone broadcast its GPS coordinates so they could track it down. The GoPro Hero camera recorded 100 minutes of the flight before its batteries conked out two minutes before landing in a tree 30 miles north of the launch.
  • Go to the link and check out the video, it’s pretty amazing.

• Twitter founder stepping down as CEO (JP)
  • Evan Williams has been CEO since 2008
  • Stepping down to focus more on making twitter “profitable”
  • “Growing big is not success in itself” and “Success to us means meeting our potential as a profitable company that can retain its culture and user focus while having a positive impact on the world.”
  • one experts take “This is about turning Twitter from a communications platform into an advertising platform and a real money-making business.”
  • Rumored “Promoted Accounts” now a reality
    • How this is funny to me when people get mad about it…
  • Discuss! What can twitter do to make money without pissing us off?

• Adobe Air coming to Android (SM)
  • Everybody acknowledges that IPhone has better App Store
  • It’s a pain to develop for that platform
  • Android is making it even easier to write for their OS by allowing this app
  • 1 tool that allows you to port an application from Android, Windows, Linux, Mac, etc (maybe iOS in the future)

• Holy Fail Microsoft. (udg)

• • So, in yet another attempt to copy Apple, Microsoft has their own stores.
  • They look like Apple Stores. Their Geniuses are called Gurus. And they clap when people buy a PC.
  • Part of Microsoft’s store offering is Microsoft Signature which is Microsoft’s own version of Windows 7 installed on any machine bought there.
  • So what’s the advantage of buying a Signature PC? According to Ken Fowles, Microsoft’s “Signature Samurai” it means a cleaner machine with around 15 less tasks running on initial boot, faster boot and shutdown times, and basically less crap to deal with.
  • So why is it Microsoft can offer a faster, cleaner version of Windows 7 than other vendors? It’s all due to a lack of other software from 3rd-party vendors being preinstalled on machines. Something commonly referred to as “crapware”. It consists of all those trial applications nobody wants that vendors install to make some extra cash on the sale of every PC. Microsoft Signature PCs have none of that so by default will run faster and with fewer tasks active.
  • But in an attempt to push Signature beyond new PC sales Microsoft is also offering it as a solution to crapware removal. Rather than spend the time uninstalling all that software you don’t want, just haul your new Windows 7 machine down to a Microsoft Store, buy a second full-price retail copy of Windows 7, and the techs there will happily do a clean install for you. Return home $170+ lighter and enjoy. Spank you very much Microsoft.
  • PCWorld did a list of 10 ways Microsoft stores will DIFFER from Apple’s
  • 1) Instead of Apple’s sheer walls of glass, Microsoft’s stores will have brushed steel walls dotted with holes — reminiscent of Windows security.
  • 2) The store will have six different entrances: Starter, Basic, Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. While all six doors will lead into the same store, the Ultimate door requires a fee of $100 for no apparent reason.
  • 3) Instead of a “Genius Bar” (as Apple provides) Microsoft will offer an Excuse Bar. It will be staffed by Microsofties trained in the art of evading questions, directing you to complicated and obscure fixes, and explaining it’s a problem with the hardware — not a software bug.
  • 4) The Windows Genuine Advantage team will run storefront security, assuming everybody is a thief until they can prove otherwise.
  • 5) Store hours are undetermined. At any given time the store mysteriously shuts down instantaneously for no apparent reason. (No word yet on what happens to customers inside).
  • 6) Stores will be named Microsoft Live Retail Store with PC Services for Digital Lifestyle Enthusiasts.
  • 7) Fashioned after Microsoft’s User Account Control (UAC) in Vista, sales personnel will ask you whether you’re positive you want to purchase something at least twice.
  • Xbox 360 section of the store will be organized in a ring — which will inexplicably go red occasionally.
  • 9) DreamWorks will design a scary in-store theme park ride called “blue screen of death.”
  • 10) Store emergency exits will be unlocked at all times so people can get in anytime they want even if the front doors are locked.

• Verizon to issue refunds to 15 million customers (JP)
  • Verizon announced Sunday they will be issuing $90 million in refunds to 15 million cell phone customers who were erroneously charged for data sessions or Internet use.
  • They will do this via $2-$6 credit on either the Oct or Nov bills for existing customers in that group. For those that are no longer customers, a refund check will be mailed.
  • So what happened? The charges affected customers who did not have data usage plans, but were billed because of exchanges initiated by software built into their phones. In the past three years, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission received complaints from Verizon Wireless customers who said they were charged for data usage or Web access, the New York Times reported Sunday.

• Robotic Heart Transplant for Boy (SM)
  • Boy suffering from Duchene muscular dystrophy, a rapidly degenerating muscle disorder, making him ineligible for a heart transplant
  • Fitted with a fully “robotic” heart in his left ventricle
  • Powered by battery pack at waist and connected at left ear
  • Said to give him another 25 years life, had only days to live

• Zach Snyder Confirmed to Direct Superman (udg)

• • The speculation is over Zack Snyder of Watchmen & 300 fame has been officially confirmed as the director of the upcoming Superman reboot. I don’t think this comes as terribly shocking news to anyone. Oh wait, considering back in 2008 he was quoted as saying “They asked me to direct a Superman movie, and I said no. He’s a tricky one nowadays, isn’t he? He’s the king daddy of all comic-book heroes, but I’m just not sure how you sell that kind of earnestness to a sophisticated audience anymore” there may be some out there confuzzled.
  • Either way the film will move forward with a script from David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan. Christopher Nolan will “godfather” the production, aiming for a late 2012 release.
  • A little more dish has been revealed this weeks since the Snyder announcement. Some of the dirt- General Zod will be the film’s main villain and that it is unlikely that Brandon Routh will return for the role.
  • Many speculate the reason why Snyder was chosen to direct the film is because Warner Bros. doesn’t like Goyer’s script, calling it “rushed” and “still a bit of a mess.” The studio believes that Snyder can take on the project and not need months to figure it all out. The reason for the pressure comes from the fact that a new Superman movie needs to be in production by 2011 or they can be subject to legal action from the heirs of the hero’s creators.
  • What is the messy rushed plot? Sources state the film will see “Clark Kent [as] a journalist traveling the world trying to decide if he should, in fact, even become Superman.”
  • This leaves me with two questions 1) can that storyline provide more action than the less than awesome Superman Returns and 2) The word “become” suggests that the film may take place before Superman puts on the tights for the first time, which means that we might need to brace ourselves for an origin story.
  • Given the timeline they are up against, I expect some rapid firing casting being announced and a WHOLE LOT of praying going on by all those involved in this project. Afterall, do you really wanna be known for half assing Superman?

• Apple loses $625 Million patent suit (SM)
  • Texas jury ruled that Apple broke a document patent on the Iphone, Ipod Touch, and Mac OS
  • Mirror Worlds Company awarded damages for the 2008 infringement
  • The app at the center of controversy? CoverFlow
  • $208.5 Million for each infringement
  • Apple appealing and issuing a stay all at once??? (doesn’t have to pay and wants more time)

Intarweb Goldmine

• Segway company owner dies in Segway accident (SM)
  • Owner just barely bought the company a year ago from original, Dean Kamen
  • died after driving his ruggedized Segway off a cliff and into a river
  • Had just donated a 1000 Segways to disabled vets
  • Really sad because the guy was a humanitarian, 13 million pounds in donations plus his latest donation to the US Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center
  • Study just released showing injuries on the rise from riding segways
  • (SM) Yeah, because ppl are inherently stupid, you’re riding something standing up and going pretty fast

• That takes some nuts. (udg)

• • A district judge from Intercourse, Pa., was given a summary charge of disorderly conduct for handing out acorns stuffed with condoms to women.
  • The judge, Isaac H. Stoltzfus, 58, handed out the nuts to unsuspecting women and claimed that he was simply trying to pull a prank and has no sexual intentions behind his actions.
  • The women were not impressed with his nuts.

• Lawnmower sets new world record speed (JP)

• • Never thought of a lawnmower as badass before? You will now.
    • If Tim the Toolman were not fictional… he’d be… This guy!
  • Bobby Cleveland, a man who apparently does not know the meaning of a regular speed lawn mower, recently broke the World Record again for the fastest riding lawn mower in existence. On the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, Cleveland recently recorded a blazing speed of 96.529 mph, which smashed a British driver’s previous record 87.833 mph for the World’s Fastest Lawnmower.

• Dead Bodies on Google Maps Street View (SM)
  • After expanding into South America, there have been dead bodies showing up
  • 2 in Brazil were shown, one with police around, one without
  • All images complained about were taken off the service
  • “no different to what anyone might expect to see for themselves around the country. Sometimes that means our cars inadvertently capture odd or inappropriate moments as they drive past,”
    • I am hereby officially created a new game/sport. (JP)

• Piñata Optional At This Party (udg)

• • Police in Ohio walked into a hail of broken beer bottles and flying fists when called to respond to a blood-soaked brawl involving 75 people at a 3-year-old’s birthday party.
  • More than 20 officers from seven police departments were called to the scene at 1 a.m. at a Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall in Elmwood Place, Ohio, early last Tuesday and had to wait before entering the social hall as a melee of flying bottles and chairs erupted inside.
  • Wait. WHAT THE TRUCK? 1am on a TUESDAY?? For a THREE YEAR OLD!?!?
  • Weapon of choice for all involved? Broken beer bottle. 15 of the 150 maroons present were treated for injuries and released.  What started it? Age old story- the 3 year old’s dad had an altercation with her mom’s new boyfriend.
  • Saddest part- Only one arrest- the bday girl’s dad.

Extra Links

• Star Wars Finger Food

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
• Follow our guest host Kristin on the web geekgirlsnetwork.com and on twitter @geekgirls (yes yes, im in the plural)

Gold Sponsor:

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• 20% off all her store. code = POWERGEEKS
• HAN SOLO SOAP GIVEAWAY!
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• Smarmy remarks welcome
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Geek Speak

• V (Returned yesterday) (@PhysicistLisa had a truely different take on the relationship between Ana and Lisa) check Twitter from the 31st if you want to know what she thought!
• Stargate Universe (returns starting Friday)
• Survivors (the BBC show we talked about last week Started season 2 this week on a new night Tuesdays)
• The Big Bang Theory (Did you know Sheldon is a fan of TPG on Facebook!!!!?!?!?!) and “Blossom” will be appearing this week as his GF-iKDR
• Warehouse 13 will be back this summer too… they started filming a little over a week ago. I can’t wait! Meh-iKDR
• Fringe !!
  • Listener’s What are you watching that we aren’t talking about and maybe we should be watching?!?!?!

Multi-Monitor Gaming, when will it be widely supported?

• 6 monitor video card now available commercially
  • (JP) This actually made me drool a little… and of all days… today my monitor died!
• Key talk points:
  • A lot of game support windowed mode, but this doesn’t take advantage of SLI (2 chips or card working as 1 to generate 1 picture)
  • Full screen is annoying when you have that second monitor there and have to alt-tab just to respond to something in twitter
  • Not enough games support spanning across multiple screens (Id is really good about this, among other select few)
  • LCD monitors have come WAY down in price… compared to the past

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Quick Game hits (SM)
  • FF IX rumored to be coming to PSOne Classics store on PSN
    • This from a Japanese website, one of my fav FF of all times
  • PA Ep. 3 will not be coming out
    • Ep. 1 and 2 came out in 5 months in 2008
    • No news since then from Hothead… Ep. 2 sold only 1/3 of Ep. 1
    • Hothead now developing Spankk
    • PA will release the final 2 episodes in illustrated narrative on their site
  • L4D2 DLC The Passing Missing March Date
    • was slated for early spring
    • this would have had the original cast as supporting actors
  • UFC not Banning Fighters on EA MMA

• MW2 DLC new Maps the Stimulous package hit Xbox 360 Yesterday (JP)
  • It’s 1200 Microsoft points ($15) which is a lot for DLC but totally worth it in my humble opinion
  • It did however cause some pretty big problems for Xbox Live yesterday. I downloaded everything fine. played two maps (new) and then could not connect to the new maps again the rest of the day/night. The group I play with regularly just gave up and went back to Ground War with the regular maps… we’re gonna try again tonight.
  • I ran through a few of them on my own and am excited. Happy to have Overgrown & Crash maps back. Stoked for Salvage; my fav so far out of the new ones

• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions to be unveiled at WonderCon (iKDR)

  • Saturday, April 3, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions will be featured in an afternoon panel hosted by the likes of Marvel writer Dan Slott, Spidey voice actor Christopher Daniel, Activision senior producer Meghan Morgan and creative director Thomas Wilson of developer Beenox Studios

  • takes a new approach to chronicling the webbed hero’s exploits that comes closer to his comic roots

  • “an exciting new universe never before seen in Spider-Man video games,” featuring “unique, unexpected worlds,” and the reveal of two “new” villains

• Flash to be part of Chrome (SM)
  • Apple says “No”, Google says “Why not?”
  • Google will distribute , update, and consume fully within its browser to better contain security issues
  • Seeing it as a good bridge between HTML5 and H.264 which is coming in future
  • Also looking to improve its browsers by promising resources to the Netscape Plugin API
    • (JP ) is this Google trying to look nice while playing both sides of the fence? they own UTube and are pushing for HTML 5 video on it so what’s really going on? More in the war with Apple using the press to their advantage to look like the good guys while playing both sides?

• IPad Sells out before launch? (JP)
  • Hundreds of thousands already sold and Apr. 3 isn’t even here yet
  • Best Buy will be your only non-apple seller that will have the device at launch
  • Analysts are predicting 2.5 million – 5 million to be sold this year alone
  • (kindle has sold 3 mill units to date)
  • For those wondering, IPhone still dominates the mobile phone market (but android catching up)

• Rumor: Verizon to get IPhone (iKDR)
  • The Wall Street Journal is just barely reporting that a CDMA iPhone will be introduced this fall, possibly  September, and that Apple’s exclusive relationship with AT&T “appears set to end.”
  • Reported by “The Apple Blog” – same source as the IPad leak in the WSJ – Yukari Iwatani
  • “Nothing cures network congestion like a million people taking their business elsewhere…”
  • Still threadbare but gaining steam… and a company name.
  • At&T = 3.6 mill subscribers as compared to Verizon = 3.8 mill
  • Facts and rumors sorted

• Other OS Support Going Away From PS3 (SM)
  • PS3 had the ability in the “Fatty” days to install Linux as a second OS
  • My friend had it, It was nice for web browsing and multimedia sharing
  • Sony took away this option with the “slim” line but maintained support in older models
  • Now, inexplicably, that feature will be totally gone as of April 1, 2010
  • Gone, back up your stuff on that partition because if you update, no access for you
  • SHAZZAM! your data is now bricked  Sony cites “security issues”

• Company develops world first electronic underpants (SM)
  • Texts, Announces on the loud speakers, and even calls somebody when you wet your pants.
  • what if get laughing really hard and only pee a little ???
  • Wonder if it Tweets No. 2?

• CNN Reports: Autopsy in: Seaworld trainer died of drowning and traumatic injuries (iKDR)
  • This was on CNN Breaking on twitter (@cnnbrk) ….breaking ??….from 2 weeks ago ???
  • The passing is sad, but did we really need a report on an autopsy that already was giving a foregone conclusion?
  • We’re a bit “Captain Obvious” today huh? slow news day to report that bit we already knew…

• Man forced to pay part of court costs for suing people boycotting his Sons’ funeral (JP)
  • The Man sued a group for picketting his Marine Son’s funeral and an appeals court has ordered him to pay for their court costs
  • Anyone else wanna hit something? or someone when they hear stuff like this?!?!?!

• Who put the sexy into little kids video game? (iKDR)
  • Mom of a 9 yr old girl went to Big Lots in Tacoma and thought she was buying an “E”-rated game, which is rated suitable for everyone.
  • Instead of opening a Petz monkey game where kids raise and care for monkeys, her daughter got an eyeful of the T (teen)-rated “Sprung”
  • according to Amazon – Sprung: A Game Where Everyone Scores – meeting, flirting and hooking up as you engage in a risque, daring adventure with sexy singles

• Airline Attendants pose NUDE after not getting paid (SM)
  • Flight attendants aren’t paid for 9 months
  • Get sick and tired of waiting for their embattled company to pay
  • Pose nude for calendar made inside airplanes
  • thats definitely one w ay to get an execs attention

• D&D meets Microsoft Surface = SurfaceScape
• 160 Governator quotes
• Supersized Superheroes Another WIN from NerdSalad.com
• Floppy Disk Ceramic Tiles Would Make For One Nerdy Backsplash
• Remix Music + Win A Zombie Defense Kit!

Contact Info

Sponsors

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

Shout out to Listener Shane from MN. thanks for the kind words and keep listening. (JP)

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Deal of the Week

• Miser Brother Christmas special DVD for 14 bucks (JP)