ThePowerGeeks.com

We are LIVE on Ustream . (This week we talk about geek culture possibly being sexist, Zuckerberg hacked and did anybody really care???, plenty of conspiracies, and D&D is now illegal )

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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