ThePowerGeeks.com

We are LIVE on Ustream . New movie formats, possible? maybe, Next Gen consoles, Wonder Woman Update, and the death of the shuttle program…

Intro Jeremy
Intro Natali

Items of Interest

• “SUPER” – coming to theatres April 1 – (trailer here)
• Nerdy Bedtime Stories FTW (udg)
  • After seeing an article for Five Sci-Fi Children’s Books on College Humor, Julia Yu decided to do a more fleshed out version of Goodnight Dune. While she thought the original parody art was amazing, she chose to stick closer to the Original Goodnight Moon and incorporated some stylistic elements from the David Lynch movie version of Dune.
• Backflip Studios releaseing Army of Darkness Game for iOS this summer! (JP)
  • Yup— you heard me right… all you Evil Dead fans! coming to your iPhone, iPad, iTouch device soon! Screenshot at the link in the show notes… check it out…
• Craigslist Scam (udg)
  • I had the joy of my TV breaking on Friday and decided to go through Craigslist to find a new one. I was surprised to find a fairly well-thought out scam. The TV was reasonably priced, photo from a home not stock, wording seemed legitimate. Responded. Got back an email that was, again, well written, didn’t seem autobot and ended with “Please visit: CL Phone Safe which will certify you wtih CL. I’ll call you as soon as done and give you my address to pick  it up.” Seemed reasonable. Go to the site, at first glance looks legit. But, I’m me. Googled the gmail addy it was sent from and yeah COMPLETE SCAM! So, remember- be careful when dealing on CL. Do NOT enter your number in on a site like that, mo matter how it looks, without first researching.

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
  • 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 3/9/2007 2007
300 directed by Zack Snyder is released starring Gerard Butler and telling the tale of the battle of Thermopylae

Deals of the Week / New Release

• Dragon Age II released
• New DVD Releases
  • The Walking Dead Season 1
  • EXCALIBUR!!!!
  • Nausicaa – Myazaki – Both Dub and Japanese, Subtitle
  • The Man from Nowhere – John Woo and Ringo Lam. ‘nuff said

Geek Speak

• Movie Industry Backing new Video Cloud Standard (SM)
  • There’s a new video format in town “Ultra-Violet”
  • Cloud-Friendly – download on all your devices through the cloud by storing it on 3rd party servers
  • One big roadblock was HBO and Time Warner, which blocks certain programs when they go on their networks
  • Talks are progressing to relax that for the cloud based media
• Facebook To Take On Netflix? (udg)
  • ($3 for 48 hr rental??)
  • Meet your new media company: Facebook. Warner Bros just announced it will begin distributing movies for sale and rent via Facebook, beginning with “The Dark Night.” It will be available for rental for $3 or 30 Facebook credits. Hmm… I love the movie, so much so that I happily sprung the $1.99 to buy it at Target when it was on sale. I gotta say I’m not too impressed with the first selection or the price initially attached to it.
  • “The Dark Knight” isn’t a new release (2008), and Facebook appears to be getting the same terms as iTunes, which rents the film for $2.99 and sells it for $9.99. One thing Facebook (and Netflix) have that Apple doesn’t is a beachhead as an app on most internet-connected TVs.
  • Another way they’re similar: Facebook takes a 30% cut of credits transactions, just like iTunes. Still, if Facebook allows studios to sell their wares directly and set their terms, there’s no reason its catalog won’t expand quickly. Netflix shares opened nearly 3% lower on the Nasdaq the morning this deal was announced.
• Netflix kinda scares them
  • Insiders are saying that the movie industry is angry and scared of Netflix
  • Who wouldn’t be? More content, all you can eat. Fixed price. No more $20 to watch a movie once
• Are we still movie collectors or has that gone the way of the Dodo?

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• “Tweetviewer” virus spreading like wildfire (SM)
  • You see a tweet link from a friend – “I just viewed my TOP20 Profile STALKERS. I can’t believe my EX is still checking me every day –<<bit.ly Link Here>>”
  • You click, get the oauth, but instead of delivering an app, the hackers now have your un/pw
  • Its amazing how curious ppl are to see who is looking at their profiles
  • Hackers know this, targeting these ppl with the above phishing scheme
  • If you got targeted: Settings > Connections > Revoke Access.
  • ahhh, the dangers of short links

• Xbox 720 Here We Come (udg)
  • Back in 2006 when Sony unveiled the PS3 and stated they expected to be around for over a decade, it seemed absurd. And, 5 years later, it’s certainly showing no signs of being at the end of it’s lifespan. Heck, even the 11 year old PS2 is still outselling The PSP on occasion. The same longevity goes to the Xbox 360, which outages the PS3.
  • So, it seems Sony was right, this generation of consoles is looking at a decade long run. We can expect the same for the next generations as well. It just takes at least that long for game developers to figure out how to optimally leverage the technology of a console and get the most out of it.  When it starts to see like the console is starting to stagnate a bit, in comes some new life like the Kinect of Move.
  • Having said all that, don’t get too excited but Microsoft has just posted a slew of job openings that pretty much indicate they’re ramping up for a third generation Xbox.  Namely to join a team responsible for “defining and delivering next generation architectures.”  We probably won’t see the Xbox 720 until 2015 still it is encouraging to know they are looking for a design verificaion engineer, a graphics hardware architect and an audio/video hardware architect this far out. If it takes 10 years for developers to really get a current gen console to reach it’s full potential, five years to design the next generation seems about right.

• Best Buy Announces New Geek Squad Service (JP)
  • Best Buy hot off the heels of it’s new Buy Back program announcement is announcing more new ideas…
    • This time it’s unlimited Geek Squad Tech Support, that will allow computer and tablet purchasers to pay a flat fee for service from the Geeks, not just on the computer they purchased at Best Buy but on all computers that customer owns.
    • details about what is or is not included are sketchy at best at this point, but the tipster tells us it will cost around $200 for one year of GSTS coverage.
    • Are you willing to pay 200 bucks a year for support?

• Facebook Bans Adsense from Apps (SM)
  • Ad Providers for FB apps were finalized other day
  • Unsurprisingly, adsense (owned by google), was left off the list
  • FB is stating that any missing network has not met the TOS
  • Devs now have to severe relationships with “non-compliant” advertisers
  • The community manager has directed the devs to talk w/ their providers
  • Should be handling that directly with adsense

• Wonder Woman Update? As You Wish (udg)
  • The cast of NBC’s Wonder Woman pilot is starting to shape up with a couple of big announcements this week.
  • Cary Elwes, best known as Wesley from The Princess Bride, has been signed up to play Henry Detmer, the acting CEO of Themyscira Industries. Henry is thought to be “devoted” to Diana and could be a love interest for her later in the series.
  • Liz Hurley has confirmed that she has also joined the cast as Wonder Woman’s nemesis, adding: “I’ll be playing the evil villain. Can’t wait.”
  • The role of Diana’s personal assistant Etta has gone to Tracie Thoms, formerly on Cold Case and Pedro Pascal will play a police liaison who is a loyal ally of Wonder Woman’s alter ego Diana.
  • Caprica director Jeffrey Reiner is expected to helm the Wonder Woman pilot, which is under consideration for NBC’s 2011-12 television season.
  • Adrianne Palicki showed up at the premiere of her new movie Elektra Luxx with new, darker hair. I’m not sure I’m feeling the bangs and I don’t expect the big hair of our original gal, but a little bit of bounce wouldn’t hurt. Is it just me, or does she look like Xena? I know, I know, I’m trying not to be nit picky, really I am!

• • 
  • (jp – when I see Lucy Lawless nowadays I think of Spartacus on Showtime, not Xena)

• Shuttle Undocks for the last time from the ISS (SM)
  • The last official shuttle visit has left the ISS building on March 17th
  • This was the 13th visit to the space station for the retiring platform
  • The station disengaged at 7 AM to the sounds of the original “Star Trek”
  • Good ol’ William Shatner himself voiced a slightly different intro
  • “Space…the final frontier,” Shatner said as the music played. “These have been the voyages of the space shuttle Discovery. Her 30-year mission: to seek out new science, to build new outposts, to bring nations together on the final frontier, to boldly go and do what no spacecraft has done before.”
  • Upon undocking, the Shuttle did a 360 fly-around that lasted for a good hour
  • (sm)I will admit, I cried when reading this article
  • Oh well, who really cares about scientific endea

• Google Doodle Celebrates 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day (udg)
  • Yesterday Google’s homepage greeted visitors with a new Google doodle celebrating the 100th year of International Women’s Day. It didn’t just highlight women’s achievements over this last century, clicking on it too you to a page that explains more about IWD and its corresponding events that Google has a big part in.
  • They invited both men and women to take part in the “Join me on the Bridge” campaign, which encouraged supporters to gather on almost 300 bridges in 50 countries yesterday to celebrate women’s achievements, and to shine a spotlight on issues that effect women in developing countries and around the world.
  • According to Google,
    • We invite you to join tens of thousands of people coming together on bridges all over the world — from the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo — to show your support for women’s causes and celebrate women’s achievements.
  • Couldn’t make it to a participating bridge? You could also show support by “checking in virtually” using Street View. The Google Map showed events hosted by Google, by the Women for Women International organization, by hosted supporters, and by hosted online supporters.
  • Not only did Google change its logo for International Women’s Day, the “Pegman” icon found on Google Maps was also changed to a female version.
  • Below the map of events, they listed ways to support women’s causes. Each section listed places to donate, and information about each cause. Under the “empowerment” tab we learn that 75 percent of all women cannot get bank loans because they have unpaid or insecure jobs and lack property ownership rights. We see in the “economic security” section that women perform two-thirds of the world’s work and produce half the world’s food, but earn just 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property. And in the “health section,” we learn that 99 percent of maternal deaths are preventable, but every minute a woman dies from pregnancy-related causes.
  • International Women’s Day also brought out the celebrities, including Geena Davis – whose gender-and–media institute was one of the affiliated causes—and Annie Lennox, who will help lead the London event.

• del Toro’s Lovecraft Adaptation Nixed (JP)
  • Guillermo Del Toro of Pan’s Labyrinth fame… who ‘left’ (or was fired depending on who’s story you believe) The Hobbit was set to make a $150 million live-action film of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness.”
  • has been canned by the studio… This is very disappointing to myself and anyone else was looking forward to a well done telling of a Lovecraft story….
    • Lots have been done… none have been done justice…

• Hitting the Road to SXSW With Geek Entrepreneurs (udg)
  • So a couple dozen coders and geek entrepreneurs step off a shiny, high-tech bus at a barbecue joint in Texas.
  • Nope, it’s not a joke.  It’s the Startup Bus, which is, yes, a group of a couple dozen coders and geek entrepreneurs riding a shiny, high-tech bus through the Lone Star State from their hometowns to the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, part of the broader SXSW music and film festival.
  • This is not your standard road trip though, it’s a high-paced competition. Yesterday they boarded the bus, were broken up into small teams and have 48 hours to come up with the best, most viable, tech start-up.  And we’re not talking just one bus. 150 “busrepreneur” loaded their laptops and red bull in cities from New York, to Miami, Cleveland and Chicago to San Fran. In two sleepless days they will have to build a start-up from the ground up and the best team will take home the glory and possible future funding when everyone hits Austin.
  • This is the brainchild of Australian entrepreneur Elias Bizannes who created the Startup Bus and took his first group of buspreneurs to Austin last year.
  • “It’s about developing the people in a contained environment that mimics a real start-up situation with constraints,” Bizannes said, “to get people to focus on what’s important…For Startup Bus, we’re trying to develop the entrepreneurial potential of people by helping them develop their experience, network, skills, and confidence. What we are really trying to do is build a community where the Startup Bus experience is simply the initiation rite into that community…a closed community where job and partnership opportunities can be shared, co-founders can be met, and ideas can be shared–in an environment where everyone can be vetted, trusted, and accessible.”
  • Once the buses hit the pavement, a Startup Bus stock market game will begin. According to Bizannes “It’s a game where all the start-ups are listed on a stock market and their share price increases through a combination of milestones that the teams achieve and actions that players–i.e. people not on the bus–perform.
  • The  Startup Bus organizers have arranged to ensure that just about everything that happens onboard is posted online–be it a blog post by a team member, a tweet, a video, or a photo–and geotagged so that the viewing public can follow along more or less in real time.
  • I want to know that Bizannes is a scout for the Angel List and I think this is an awesome idea, but take issue with his whole “initiation rite” into a “closed community”

• Meth Dealer in Danger of losing 18,753 Comic Books
  • Guy gets caught for manufacturing meth
  • Gov’t claims that he was laundering money by buying rare comics
  • Personally, THIS IS GENIUS!!!, although I don’t support illegal drug habits
  • Whats to say the guy just didn’t love the medium? Maybe he just wanted an awesome collection?
  • Guy is still going to get his day in court.

• Spiderman Postpones Opening (udg)
  • For those of you on the edges of your seats for the March 15th opening of “Spider-Man: Turn of the Dark” on Broadway, you may want to sit back and relax a bit. It seems the producers are planning a huge overhaul of the $65 million musical.
  • As of late Tuesday, the new opening night is also not clear. An official start in June wold mark the 6th delay to the opening of “Spider-Man” in the show’s long and troubled history which began in 2002 when Marvel first reached out to Broadway producer Tony Adams with the idea. It has since survived Mr. Adam’s death in 2005, almost bankrupted in 2009 and faced technical issues regarding its arial stunts this past Fall and Winter which lead to the injuries of 4 performers and numerous state and federal safety code violations. Not to mention it just completed its 99th preview performance on Tuesday night, more than any other show in history and it’s also twice as expensive as the next big-budget Broadway show, “Shrek the Musical.”
  • Bottom line-  fiercely negative reviews from most of the nation’s theater critics last month have led the producers to feel the show needs fresh eyes and have asked Julie Taymor, who is its director, one of its script writers, its mask designer and far and away its chief creative force to work with new collaborators or face another resolution, possibly even leaving.

Intarweb Goldmine

• Klepto Kitty (udg)
  • Dusty, a Siamese cat in Redwood City CA has redefined Cat Burglar. His owner, Jean Chu, recently displayed hundreds of items on tables in front of their home hoping the owners would come by and claim the goods.
  • The items included balls, towels, car wash mitts, gloves, shirts, bathing suits and other miscellaneous clothing. Chu estimates that Dusty — who has been dubbed “Klepto Kitty” — has stolen more than 500 items over the years.
  • Chu said Dusty leaves at night through a pet door that is left open for the family dogs. He retrieves items left on neighboring porches and in backyards — a favorite being bathing suits in the summer.
  • Neighbors claimed the clothing, but most of the towels remained. Chu is thinking of donating those to the Peninsula Humane Society, which rescued Dusty as a kitten.

• Everyone’s Gotta Have a Goal- World’s Youngest Grandma (SM)

• Girl Scout Cookie Crime At It Again (udg)
  • First there was a brawl over thin mints, now that’s not powdered sugar in that box of Girl Scout cookies.  A New Port Richey man was arrested after police found cocaine in a Girl Scout cookie box inside his car. Police say they pulled Stevenson Papin over because one headlight was out.
  • During the traffic stop, the officer noticed an empty box of Girl Scout cookies with a small plastic baggie inside. The box was next to Papin’s leg.
  • Police say the baggie had a white rock-like substance inside. A field test on the substance was positive for cocaine.
  • According to police, Papin said “I ain’t going to say it’s mine, but I ain’t gonna make your jobs harder. Take me to jail.”
  • Papin’s request was granted. He was taken to jail and charged with possession of cocaine.
    • (JP – now we know why those thin mints are so damn addictive!!!) (STEVEN… Hands off my joke!!!)
• Residents Evacuated to Dunkin Donuts, After it Was Just Robbed
• Intruder and Home Owner Call the Police on Each Other (JP) (If I may steal this one…)
  • Oregon police say both an intruder and a Portland homeowner phoned 911 to report the same thing: a strange man in a home.
  • Lt. Kelli Sheffer says the intruder told police he had just broken into a home Monday evening when the owner arrived — and the caller was worried the homeowner might have a gun.
  • Accompanied by his two German Shepherds, the homeowner found the intruder and asked what he was doing in the house. That’s when the stranger locked himself in a bathroom and phoned police.
  • The homeowner called police with his account.
  • Sheffer says 24-year-old Timothy James Chapek, of Portland, was booked into jail for investigation of first-degree criminal trespass.
  • Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/03/07/national/a220103S00.DTL#ixzz1GA59wsla

Extra Links

• XBox and PS3 Sell More than Wii in Feb

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!)