We are LIVE on Ustream . This week we talk content ownership, lots of new releases, plenty of apple news, and then a very special Chinese Conspiracy theory hour

Intro Natali
Intro Ben

Items of Interest

• Ultimate Mashup: Angry Rebels & Imperial Pigs (udg)
  • A long time ago, on an app far, far away… The Imperial Pigs have stolen the Rebellion’s eggs, so the Rebellion struck back by stealing the plans for the Death Pig. Check out bite.ca for more of this great mashup. T shirts are even available.

• Rebecca Black Star Wars Parody (udg)
  • You’ve all seen the train wreck that is Friday. Most have seen the gazillion parodies running rampant. But, no matter how sick you are of it all, you have to watch this one last one. The words have all been changed and it is sheer awesomeness.

• World’s Biggest Pacman Game (udg)
  • Pac-man fan? Meet your new best friends Soap Creative. They’ve created The World’s Biggest Pac-Man game.  When I say World’s biggest- we’re talking it could take YEARS for one person to complete it. You see, it never stops growing. Users can create their own rooms for free and add them to the board.
  • Originally created to showcase the capabilities of Microsoft’s IE 9, you can choose to start in any room you want and hop over to other rooms even if you haven’t completed the room you are in. And the rooms so far range from simple to damnear impossible. Welcome to user-generated content.
  • Tallies are kept on a personal, regional and global level based on pellets and ghosts eaten and rooms cleared.

• For many April 19th marked the release of the much anticipated game, Portal 2, but for those of us who were fans of the canceled Sarah Conner Chronicles series we know it’s also the date that Skynet was brought online, meaning that April 21st will be Judgement Day. (btm)
  • Many gamer forums have already been asking if game developers chose the release date for this reason.
  • If you’re planning a Judgement Day party on Wednesday to celebrate the Skynet destruction of mankind, just remember, “The cake is a lie.”
    • (our local mall has a cell phone store called “Skynet” maybe I should make signs and protest our destruction?) (btm)
  • If you’re listening to the recorded version of this podcast after the 21st, find John Conner, he’s your only hope.

• Time Lapse Milky Way plus more!
  • Gorgeous video of the Milky way and the clouds over a large span of time
  • I’m such a space nut… the music is nice too

• Top 10 Zombie Music Videos
  • Nothing says loving like zombies, guts, blood, and good music
  • Grouper “Alien Observer” (lesbian zombies ‘nuff said), Kanye West “Monster” (hot zombies), Peaches and Iggy Pop “Kick it”, Aesop Rock “Coffee”

Gold Sponsors:

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• Want to wow all your friends with off-the-wall Movie Trivia?
• Want to know more about Geek History and share them with your friends?
• Today in Geek History and Today in Movie History are for you
• Both have been out on the Android Marketplace for awhile now
• After a long vetting period, Today in Movie History is now available on ITunes!!!
• (BTM) Happy BIrthday George Takei- I found this out from my newly downloaded Geek History app.
• Go check out both apps, TIGH  and TIMH, now available on both Android and IPhone

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

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• How to Get in On Gears of War 3 Beta (udg)
  • Last week the Epic Game’s latest chapter Gears of War saga, Gears of War 3 beta went live. The early access beta started this weekend and will run through April 24 when the full public beta opens and runs to May 15.
  • The web is rampant with official and unofficial ways to get access to the beta. We’re going to give you the real (and safest) way to get in on it. Most people playing the beta right now are players who got their beta codes with their purchase of Bulletstorm: Epic Edition, which will still get you a code if you can find a copy on the shelves.
  • You can also follow developer and Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) and Epic Games Vice President and Co-Founder Mark Rein (@MarkRein) on Twitter: they both have been giving out codes to their followers all weekend, and show no signs of stopping. If you don’t get in on the beta before the 24th though, don’t worry: if you pre-order Gears of War 3, you’ll get a beta code that you can redeem on the 25th to join the fun.
  • So far, reviews on the beta has been impressive and it’s being considered a great update to an already well polished and established series.

• Celebrate Earth Day with Geeky Style. Several companies offering Solar Powered backpacks that charge your hand-held devices (btm)
  • 4 Watts of Solar Power from 1 hour in the sun = 3 hours of talk time,
  • 4-5 hours in the sun will fully charge a typical phone
  • Battery that offers up to 19 hours talk time or 48 hours music playback
  • Prices range from mid-$200 to well over $300

• Win a Copy of The Avengers: The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Vol. 1 & 2 (udg)
  • Our friends over at Big Shiny Robot are giving away The Avengers: The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Vol 1 & 2 on DVD.  The contest runs through Friday April 29th with winners being announced on Monday, May 2nd.
  • To enter, just shoot them an email over at editor at bigshinyrobot.com. Make sure you put “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!” in the subject line.
  • Want some extra chances? Head over to their facebook page and invite all of your friends to like ‘em. Or you can ask your followers on twitter to follow us @BigShinyRobot. Just be sure to mention when you  email them that you’ve done it.

• Beastie Boys New Album: Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
  • May 3rd release date, so pumped
  • Digital pre-sales will be delivered the “day-of”

• Read Eisner nominee for Best Humor Publication, Aphrodisiac, for Free (udg)
  • The folks over at AdHouse were super excited to hear Aphrodisiac was nominated for an Eisner. Unfortunately, they are in between printing. They wanted to make sure that all voters had a chance to read it, so they put it online for free!

• New Movie Releases
  • IP MAN 2!!!!! – Watch this back-to-back with Ip Man #awesomekungfu
  • Goemon – Robin Hood with Ninjas and Kung Fu
  • Mortal Kombat BR
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers (Season 1)
  • Tokyo Gore Police – Yoshihiro Nishimura and “unbridled horror insanity + fetishism” (You can check it out on Netflix streaming now. udg)

• Irredeemable for $0.99 an Issue! (udg)
  • Now through tomorrow night at 11pm E, ComiXology has their critically acclaimed series Irredeemable for just $0.99 an issue.
  • Like to actually hold the paper? Their physical copy of Irredeemable: Vol 1 (issues 1-4) is on sale for $4.
  • Never heard of Irredeemable? It’s by Mark Waid & Peter Krause and basically about a Superman-like hero that spends a lifetime protecting earth. Until the day he snaps, decides humanity needs a good wake-up slap and begins taking out his former teammates who are the biggest.

Movie Minute (new feature)

• We Were All Wrong- New Dark Knight Rises Roles Revealed (udg)
  • We’ve known for a while now that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotilliard were signed on to The Dark Knight Rises. Knowing that, we made our own lil assumptions about who they’d be playing. We figured Marion would be playing Talia al Ghul (daughter of Ra’s al GHul and Bruce Wayne love interest) and JGL would be Alberto Falcone AKA “The Holiday Killer.” Guess what happens when we assume? Yeah, we’re not so cleaver it seems.
  • After MONTHS and months of us assuming away, Warner Bros & Christopher Nolan have officially announced Joseph and Marion have joined that cast. They’ve also told us who they will be playing. Marion will be playing Miranda Tate, “a Wayne Enterprises board member eager to help a still-grieving Bruce Wayne resume his father’s philanthropic endeavors for Gotham” and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play John Blake, “a Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon”.

• Pride, Prejudiced & Zombies Gets a Director (udg)
  • If for some odd reason you haven’t heard of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, it’s a novel set in the same world as the classic Jane Austen novel, but the main characters Ms. Bennet and good ole Mr. Darcy are fighting off a Zombie infestation.
  • And it looks like it may finally be coming to a theater sometime soonish. Seems third time may be a charm, as Craig Gillespie (known for the new Fright Night) has been officially set in stone to direct the film.
  • “We are so excited to have Craig Gillespie on board this film. His sensibility spans from genre bending horror to elegant character driven comedy, which is perfect for this movie.” glows  Alli Shearmur, Lionsgate’s president of production
  • Hopefully he’s still excited after Criag let it slip in an EW interview that the script he’ll be using came from David O. Russell, that guy who just got a ton of acclaim for a little picture called The Fighter.
    • No, we have a really great script that we’re just going to do a polish on and then get going, really…. David Russell wrote the script off the book, and it has such a great mix of humor and horror.
  • It isn’t clear when production will begin on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, although with a director finally locked in, it seems they are ramping up to start filming soon.
• Full body shot of new Green Lantern CGI costume (btm)
  • This just confirms my fears about the CGI costume.
  • Put on some freaking boots!
    • (does anyone really need to see Ryan Reynolds toes?)
• Game of Thrones renewed already
  • Series adaptation of popular books by George R.R. Martin “A song of Ice and Fire”
  • First episode got strong critical acclaim
  • 4.2 million viewers on a PPV channel is WAAAY Strong
  • Already committed to a second season

Geek Speak

• The End of Content Ownership
  • the cloud is becoming more prominent as of late
  • Netflix, Zune, Amazon, everyone wants to push the “rent” model for content
  • New services, such as 24 symbols, will offer “streaming” books
  • Is the lack of ownership of for monetary outlay alarming or just par for the course?
  • (SM) Zune and Netflix ownership
  • (btm) What do we really “own” any more? A lot of software you buy seems to write their EULAs in a way that says you’re actually leasing the software vice owning it. Even if you buy the disk and have everything local on your machine it’s not really yours.
    • Blizzard recently banned players for cheating in Single Player Campaign mode in StarCraft II and disabled their CD keys.
      • (I’m totally behind banning cheaters online in Battle.net, but what gives you the right to do anything pertaining to what I do offline?)
    • Two years ago Amazon deleted copies of 1984 from Kindles
      • Big Brother much?
      • Kindle TOS says you’re entitled to keep a permanent digital copy of any digital content you purchase (section 3, paragraph 2)
        • (I guess it’s permanent until they change their minds)
    • What happens when you don’t or can’t pay your monthly cloud access fee?
      • Who controls access? Google and most other cloud providers will turn over your information upon receiving a warrant from the government. Don’t fall for the “If you’re not doing anything wrong you don’t have to worry” myth.

Tech, Gaming, and Geek News

• Rep Jesse Jackson Jr Blames iPad for US Job Loses(udg)
  • Illinois Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr went on an insane anti-technology rant on the floor of Congress on Friday. You see, he thinks “technology gadgets like the iPad” are the reason this country is losing jobs.
  • His rant:
    • “A few short weeks ago I came to the House floor after having purchased an iPad and said that I happened to believe, Mr. Speaker, that at some point in time this new device, which is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs. Now Borders is closing stores because, why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes & Noble? Buy an iPad, download your book, download your newspaper, download your magazine.”
      • Okay. Let’s stop right there for a moment. Dear Jessie- Yes, that iPad can download your books, newspapers, magazines, etc. But, do you REALLY think the $500 iPad is to blame? What about the oh $100 Kindle? Or B&N’s own Nook? Or the publishers that even format for mobile devices?  Just a thought. Let’s hear what else you got, oh wise one…

• “Chicago State University, in my congressional district, in freshman class, they are not being given textbooks any longer. They are all being given iPads as they enter school. President Wayne Watson hopes to have a textbook-less campus in four years, where at this state university they will no longer have textbooks.”
  • Oh Jessie. When is the last time you went to college? If I could carry one device that stored all of my textbooks in it, in a format I could highlight, copy and paste notes out of, etc., yeah, that would be the way I would go.  I’ll spare you the more economically and environmentally sound dance because you’re clearly not in the mindset to even remotely grasp that right now. And you’ll probably just add out of work lumberjacks to your next rant.
    • “Well, what becomes of publishing companies and publishing company jobs?”
      • Umm, Jessie, people still need to write, edit, format and distribute the books.

• • • “And what becomes of bookstores and librarians and all of the jobs associated with paper?”
      • Okay, I’ll give you a 1/2 a point there. I do fear the loss of libraries in this country. But, it’s not the iPad’s fault. The problem does not solely lie on the manufacturers of any of the devices.
    • “Well, in the not too distant future, such jobs simply will not exist. Steve Jobs is doing pretty well. He’s created the iPad. Certainly, it has made life more efficient for Americans, but the iPad is produced in China. It is not produced here in the United States. So, the Chinese get to take advantage of our First Amendment value — that is to provide freedom of speech through the iPad to the American people. But there is no protection for jobs here in America to ensure that the American people are being put to work.”
      • Jinkies. Look Jessie, 10 minutes with me and I’ll break it down to you how the Chinese are going to take over the entire world via the use of technology. But that craziness is too out there for even me.  Before you get your lil knickers in a bunch and decide to have a case of diarrhea of the mouth/constipation of the brain regarding technology and the Chinese, gimme a call. We’re neighbors. I’ll meet you for coffee and give ya a lil education. Don’t worry, I’ll leave my evil MacBook at home. Well, maybe.

• Adobe Relents, Adopts Apple Video Protocol (SM)
  • Remember how adobe moaned about using Apples video standard?
  • Flash currently uses RTSP (a proprietary format for file transmission)
  • Apple uses HTTP live streaming along with H.264 as its video format
  • It was at least submitted to standards body
  • M$ immediately added it to it’s venerable IIS platform so that when requesting video from iPad, they get that format
  • Adobe now has added it to their Flash media server in a “commitment to develop technologies that simplify broadcast workflows to make it simpler to reach a fragmented lineup of devices”.
  • I.E. They’re tired of trying to convince Apple to include Flash on their platform

• Apple suing Samsung for Patent Infringements (btm)
  • Filed suit last Friday
    • (reminds me of the Apple vs. Windows “look and feel” lawsuit WRT Windows 3 and the Macintosh OS.)
  • Claims Samsung’s Galaxy tablet and S phone are too similar to iPad and iPhone
    • “Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smartphone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products.”
  • If this law suit is successful, what does it mean for other smart phone and tablet makers?

• China’s Silent Cyber Takeover (udg)
  • The Chinese have this game galled Go. One of it’s proverbs is “Play on the Point of Symmetry.” Which means, when right and left have the same shape, there’s play in the center. And it looks like that’s a pretty good metaphor for how China and Russia (*cough Red Dawn *cough*) are leveraging US multinational corporations to accomplish strategic goals that are looking like they include covert technology transfer of intellectual property, access to source code for use in malware creation and backdoor access to critical infrastructure.
  • Let’s take a look at Chinese entity Huawei Symantec. Now Huawei has been reportedly blocked by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) in its attempt to acquire 3Leaf and AT&T was said to be officially discouraged from purchasing any equipment from them by the National Security Agency. Both of these events are based on security concerns. Huawei successfully formed a joint venture with Symantec in 2007 called Huawei Symantec Technologies Co. Ltd. (HS). Huawei is the majority partner with 51 percent ownership, with the entity being headquartered in Chengdu, China.
  • If you aren’t familiar with Symantec thereby not so sure what Huawei is, they’re the leading provider of network security and storage appliance solutions to enterprise customers worldwide. Yup, worldwide.
  • Add to this a 2008 corporate briefing of theirs that describes the history, capabilities, and business goals of HS, one of which is to ‘build China’s first laboratory of attack and defense for networks and applications.’
  • This equation pretty much means that Symantec, a major US information security company, is ‘assisting’ China’s cyber security research in computer network attack and defense — research that has high potential for abuse by state and non-state actors in China.
  • The plot thickens. In the last few months, HS has formed two new joint ventures with US companies — SYNNEX and Force10 Networks. Why? With SYNNEX, the goal is apparently to ‘distribute Huawei Symantec’s storage and security products to its resellers throughout North America.’
  • For Force10 Networks, Huawei Symantec said the firm ‘is pleased to establish this strategic partnership with Force10 Networks, and expects the relationship to further drive strong results for our existing North American customer base as well as tap into new business opportunities.’
  • The kicker- both SYNNEX and Force10 Networks currently sell to the US government.
  • Force10 Networks’ website says that they sell their products to ‘defense, intelligence and civilian agencies to advance the bandwidth needs and reliability demands of government IT infrastructure while ensuring the economics and performance of mission critical networks.’
  • Since Huawei’s growth strategy includes financial support from Chinese banks that enable it to offer very low cost bids on key contracts, and since many governments (including India and the United States) have legal provisions that require them to go with the lowest bidder, these partnerships provide an apparently winning strategy for SYNNEX and Force10 Networks to secure government sales thanks to Huawei Symantec’s low manufacturing costs – all without HS’s name likely ever having to appear on the contract.
  • So, even though Huawei is publicly blocked by US lawmakers from selling directly to the US government, they have played on the ‘point of symmetry’ and quietly secured access to US Defense Department and intelligence community customers through collaborative partnerships that no one has so far contested. With their boast of a 30% increase in profit over this last year, Huawai’s business has been really good.
  • It’s not just China that seems to be placing itself in an advantageous strategic position.
  • I highly encourage you to check out the link in the shownotes and read more on the Russians, Intel, a laboratory and how they eliminated the need for espionage.

• Armenia makes Chess mandadory in school (SM)
  • Little Tiny Armenia is making themselves into a Chess power house
  • How? They’re requiring the game as part of their school curriculum
  • Theory: “Fosters schoolchildren’s intellectual development and teaches to think flexibly and wisely”
  • Most chess players are treatest like super stars in the country
  • Already a powerhouse: They won gold in 2006 and 2008 in International competition
  • Levon Aronian is currently ranked number 3 in the world in the WCF

• President says White House Tech is “30 Years out of date” (btm)
  • We’ve all seen the super high-tech equipment the President uses in movies and on TV but apparently that’s all TV magic and special effects.
  • “You know the Oval Office always thought I was going to have like real cool phones and stuff,” Obama said last night, “You know, we can’t get our phones to work!  I’m like ‘come on guys, I’m the president of the United States.’  Where’s the fancy buttons and stuff, and the big screen comes up? It doesn’t happen.”
  • “I mean our IT and purchasing is horrible,” he added, “And this is true across the board. This is true at the Pentagon,  it’s true in the agencies, it’s true in the Department of Homeland security.”
  • (No fancy Jack Bauer phones I guess.)

• Match.Com Now to Check Users Against Sex Offender Database (udg)
  • Following a lawsuit filed against them last week, dating giant Match.com has decided that in the next 3 months, they will begin checking users against sex offender databases.
  • The suit was filed by a California woman that states she was attacked by a man she met on the site. According to her, the first date went fine and the man seemed charming. Second date, not so much. She alleges he forced her to have sex with him. The man has been convicted of sexual battery.
  • Mark Webb, the attorney for the woman, identified in the lawsuit only as “Jane Doe” stated that a check like the one Match.com will be implementing could have prevented his client’s attack.
  • Mandy Ginsberg, president of Match.com told The Associated Press in an email that the company had considered such screenings for years, but “their historical unreliability has always led us to conclude against it.”
  • Ginsberg said after talking to providers and advisers the last few days, company officials decided to make a change. He further warned
  • “We want to stress that while these checks may help in certain instances, they remain highly flawed, and it is critical that this effort does not provide a false sense of security to our members,” she said, adding that members should always plan for a first-meeting to be in public and should tell a friend where they’ll be.
  • I applaud Match.com for taking such an effort. In all honesty, I think that the woman’s case would fail to hold up in court. The fact the site chose to make the huge change rather than fight it is to be respected.

• Portal 2 Early Release Program, Genius or Crass? (SM)
  • Anybody remember the Humble Bundle 1 and 2 (pay as much or little)
  • Kickstarter for games: Creavures (game rewards for donating)
  • Pay $40 for an Indy Bundle (13 games), win a possibility to get early release of P2?
  • Buy and it adds to the processing for a faster reboot of GLaDOS, the original evil computer in the old game
  • Whats the point? Is that a worthy goal to spend double for a game that will come out anyways?
  • (btw, the promotion was a failure,

• Samsung developing a 2GHz, Dual Core Smartphone (btm)
  • “This product will have the data processing capabilities of a regular PC”
  • Considering separate sales of the CPU units to other companies (btm.. I’m guessing not Apple).

• Square Credit Card Reader Now Available Via Apple (udg)
  • Jack Dorsey is a busy guy. Not only has the Twitter co-founder returned to Twitter as its CEO, he still remains CEO of Square, his mobile payment company.
  • Square, in simplest terms, allows anyone with an Android or iPhone to process credit card transactions. No fees, no monthly contracts. Square keeps it simple with a 2.75% charge per transaction. It works through a free downloadable app and a small device, shaped like- you guessed it a square, that plugs into a smartphone’s audio jack and reads the credit cards. To put their fee in perspective, Paypal charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction up to $3,000 in month and then goes down from there.
  • As you can imagine, VeriFone, a company that offers businesses traditional credit card terminals, was none too thrilled with this. It accused Square of offering a free credit card reader that could easily be used by hackers to steal credit card info. Square responded by pointing out that the vulnerability was no different than someone simply writing down your credit card information on a piece of paper. Yet, even with that bit of bad press courtesy of VeriFone, Dorsey’s company got a huge boost recently thanks to a new partnership with Apple.
  • Apple is now offering Square’s credit card reader through its online and brick-and-mortar stores. Customers will pay $9.95 for the credit card reader which includes $10 of Square credit. While the credit card reader is available for free through Square’s website, the immediate availability of it through Apple retail stores and the notable placement of the reader on Apple’s online store is sure to spur adoption. Apple’s endorsement of Square also minimizes the security concerns VeriFone attempted to raise last month in its attempt to derail adoption of the service since it greatly threatens VeriFone’s current business model.
  • I can wait. So, I went to the site and ordered mine for free. And, it did require giving them quite a bit of hefty personal information to obtain. I’ve got the app downloaded and ready to go. The site said 2-5 weeks so as soon as I get it, I’ll make sure to review it.

• Next Mars Rover to use Rocket Crane to land (btm)
  • Mars Rover “Curiosity” lands via being lowered from flying platform
  • Set to launch late this year for arrival on Mars in August 2012
  • Equiped with laser for examining rock samples found on Mars.
  • (btm…once it lands it looks like it has a lot of interesting new tools, but getting it to land scares the crap out of me. There are so many possible points of failure that it seems to me that NASA has forgotten the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid)

Intarweb Goldmine

• Man Bursts Into Flames at Porn Store (udg)
  • For seven years, Roger Huang, a pastor who runs a rescue mission in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, has been trying to shut down the sex shops there. This week he may have seen a sign that his efforts are working
  • On Wednesday, a man burst into flames while inside one of those porn shops, police said.
  • Could this bizarre incident be attributed to a higher power?
  • “I believe so. I definitely believe so,” Huang told AOL News, adding that he hopes the unidentified man is recovering from the burns.
  • The police aren’t ruling anything out.
  • “We don’t know what caused it,” Lt. Troy Dangerfield of the San Francisco Police Department told AOL News. “It’s still under investigation.”
  • Witnesses reportedly saw the burning man running out of the Golden Gate Adult Superstore in the city’s South of Market neighborhood at about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday. The man ran past stunned onlookers and collapsed at the corner of Mission and Sixth streets, police said. A private ambulance crew happened  be driving by and extinguished the flames.
  • The man, whose name has not been released, was taken to the burn center at St. Francis Memorial Hospital, where he is being treated for first-, second- and third-degree burns that reportedly cover 90 percent of his body.
  • According to KTVU, an employee said the man had been watching a film in the back of the store when he suddenly ran out screaming and on fire.
  • San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy  Talmadge said a fire investigator is still looking into the case. Oddly, she said authorities have found “no damage to the inside of the building at all.”

• Social Security website releases new series of ‘spacey’ PSA messages (btm)
  • Series stars Patty Duke and George Takei
  • Intended to raise awareness and help aging Boomers feel more at ease when using socialsecurity.gov to file for claims & benefits
    • (I love that the website actually says, “These Social Security public service announcements (PSAs) are pre-recorded video messages that can be viewed online” sometimes it’s easy to forget that not everyone is as tech savvy as we are.) (btm)

• Not the Brightest Car Thief (SM)
  • Guy comes in for a free gas voucher from the police
  • Presents his paperwork for the car
  • Police run it and find out the car is stolen
  • This isn’t the only one, criminals are constantly nabbed for winning sweepstakes

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology needs your help (btm)
  • In its 110 years, NIST has made many innovations in the way we measure things, from basic quantities like the volt and nanometer to specialized questions like the purity of sugar.
  • Website shows images of many devices in their care
  • Many look almost SteamPunk in nature
  • For many, their original uses have been lost to the ages. Do you know what they were? (btm… my favorite is “wooden box with multiple terminals and dials”

• Put Your Hands in the Air and Back Away From the Potatoes (udg)
  • In Jacksonville, Fla., don’t try breaking into someone’s home with potatoes on the stove.
  • Eighty-one-year-old Bobby Smith said his caretaker came out of his home and informed him an intruder had broken into the home.
  • Smith said he entered his home and found a man with a gun in one hand and items he intended to steal in the other. The intruder than shoved Smith to the ground and took his wallet.
  • Not a good idea. Smith then got up and hit the man on the head with frying pan full of potatoes, The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union reported.
  • “I grabbed the frying pan and hit him upside the head,” the feisty octogenarian said. “I knocked his teeth out … and he went to the floor.” Then, for a bit of emphasis, “There was a pitchfork about 6 feet away … [and] I stuck him.”
  • Get down with your bad self Bobby Smith. And don’t ever, ever try to steal that man’s taters.

• YouTube Copyright School (btm)
  • Provides “Happy Tree Friends” video to educate users on copyright rules
  • Copyright violators required to watch video much like the old driving school videos for traffic violators.
  • Hopes that requiring copyright violators to watch video will help them to understand what they did was wrong and prevent future violations.

• Dammit! Swearing found to help increase pain tolerance (btm)
  • Keele University study shows swearing can produce painkilling effect
  • Volunteers placed hands in bucket of ice water while swearing repeatedly
  • Repeated the test but this time used non-swearing phrase to repeat
  • Volunteers were able to keep hands in ice water longer when swearing.
  • Study found that volunteers who normally didn’t swear were four times as likely to feel painkilling effect.
  • May be a reason why swearing developed and continues to today.

Extra Links

• Lucas’ New Sandcrawler Office (udg)
• Droid X WoW

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  • 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

We are LIVE on Ustream . Tonight, PSP rumors, Caprica getting cancelled????, horrible costumes, and yet more Chinese paranoia and this time they’re playing with Nukes! and much much more.

Items of Interest

• Best Geeky Costumes (udg)

• And some worst (udg)

• Jinkies!! I can please to haz my own Batmobile?!?!? (udg)

• • FiberglassFreaks creates officially licensed 1966 Batmobile replicas and they are FREAKIN HAWT! I think every kid that has seen the original episodes at one point thought “When I grow up I’m so gonna drive one of those!” Now, for a mere $150,000 you can.

• Speaking of famous geek cars (if you want to segue to it from Batmobile? btm)
  • James Bond’s 1964 Aston Martin DB5 from “Goldfinger” & “Thunderball”
  • Auctioned in London for 2.9 Million Pounds ($4.9 Million USD)
  • Many of the secret weapon gimmicks work
    • revolving number plates
    • twin machine guns (non-firing)
    • bullet-proof shield, etc.

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!!
• NEW TOP-SECRET: There will be baskets of UDC goodies for X-mas
  • UberDorkCafe is planning to put together some special goodies in basket form for people that both want to support the cause AND give an awesome present to their loved one for christmas.
  • I heard something about wookie cookies among other super secret things

• 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

• Geek Chic Daily is at it again- this time for us gamers! (udg)

• • Hurry! Ends tomorrow night!
• PSP GO Price Reduced
• WALKING DEAD STARTS!!!! (udg)
  • Be sure to check out the videos of Walking Dead events around the world.
  • http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/10/26/zombies-take-manhattan/
  • http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/10/26/the-walking-dead-all-over-the-world/
  • http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/10/26/more-walking-dead-all-over-the-world/

• Fable 3 Released, Ginormous review
  • Apparently a little more funneled than the first
  • If you liked Albion in the first 2, you’ll love it in the third
  • Gun/melee/magic 1 button presses
• Force Unleashed 2 Released on Steam
  • and the rest of the world…
  • Continue as Starkiller, throw stormtroopers around,have great fun
• FINALLY- ebooks at a price I can hang with… FREE (udg)

• • Wowio is an eBook publisher after my own heart. The one catch with the free? You have to put up with ads. I can completely handle that! I do it with the mags I read all the time.

Geek Speak

• TV Wars: Internet Style
  • Remember when the networks blocked Boxee from pulling Hulu?
  • They’re doing it again, this time with Google TV
  • You can’t watch shows from abc.com, hulu, or any of the other network sites
  • So, you can watch all that content from you computer, just not the set top boxes
  • What are our current viewing habits?
  • Will we eventually end up paying for TV on the Internet?
  • How will streaming outside the normal channels effect regular TV streams?

• Natali’s quick Public Service announcement… Next week is voting time. Get your ass to the polls. I don’t care who you vote for, but the right is there… exercise it! If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem and if you don’t vote, you have no right to bitch about the state of anything.  That is all.

• Breaking news SyFy cancels Caprica. (btm)
  • Prequel to hugely popular BSG was slow to build audience
  • Caprica sequel/BSG prequel “BSG: Blood & Chrome” focusing on “Ensign” Adama still a go
  • (Continues tradition of canceling shows that I watch.)

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Firesheep: a brilliant lesson or phenomenally stupid? (udg)

• • A simple-to-use Firefox plugin presented this week has hit the security world with the realization that squabbles about Facebook’s changing privacy settings and various privacy breaches simply miss the point.
  • “When it comes to user privacy, SSL is the elephant in the room,” said Eric Butler, the developer of the extension in question, dubbed Firesheep.
  • By installing and running it, anyone can “sniff out” the unencrypted HTTP sessions currently allowing users on that network segment to access social networks, online services and other website requiring a login, and simply hijack them and impersonate the user.
  • Was this impossible to do before? Nope, but it did require skills and knowledge the average web surfer wouldn’t have had.
  • “Websites have a responsibility to protect the people who depend on their services. They’ve been ignoring this responsibility for too long, and it’s time for everyone to demand a more secure web. My hope is that Firesheep will help the users win,” says Butler.
  • Whether he will succeed in pointing out the need of full end-to-end encryption and spur websites into action, it remains to be seen. Among the websites whose cookies Firesheep can identify are Facebook, Flickr, Amazon.com, bit.ly, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, WordPress, and many others.
  • So, will this be another Twitter incident where a person tries to tell a major site something, the site ignores it, the person politely points it out but nasty people actually exploit it??? What will it take for these sites to take notice and make changes?
  • Steps to protect yourself
    • Use a browser with extensions: EFF, HTTPS Everywhere, Secure Sites, or Force TLS
    • These work by forcing you to use the HTTPS version of that site
    • Obvious problem? If a site doesn’t have SSL enabled, this won’t protect you, also not all browsers have extensions
    • Don’t use open networks (you never know who is watching)
    • If you’re really adventurous, use a tunneling protocol such as SSH. You can check out the instructions for Meerkat here
    • Use a VPN, such as Witopia

• Macs can’t get viruses, right? (might go with Filesheep story? btm)
  • Latest malware trojan targeting Macintosh uses Java to attack Mac OS X via Java (trojan.osx.boonana.a)
  • Growing trend of malware affecting Mac OS X
  • Users on social sites like Facebook click on link “Is this your video”
  • Runs Java applet that bypasses password verification and downloads files
  • Launches automatically on startup and communicates with its control servers
  • Uses your computer to spread itself as spam
  • Also affects Windows machines
  • MacSecure reports they have a fix, but the best protection is to not click shady links.

• IPod 9th B-Day, Sony Cassette Dinosaur Dies (SM)
  • IPod first unveiled Oct. 23, 2001
  • Mac-only, Firewire 400, 5 GB of space, $399, only 1000 songs in itunes
  • At the same, Sony killing Walkman cassette in Japan
  • Guess the release year of the Iconic Walkman?
  • Yes, still available in US for your 80’s costuming pleasure

• The PlayStation Phone Rumor is Legit (udg)

• • The rumor that surfaced back in August is getting ready to hit the market soon. It is likely boasting Android 3.0 (aka Gingerbread), along with a custom Sony Marketplace which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform.
  • It’s also sporting a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 (a chip similar to the one found in the G2, but 200MHz faster), 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and the screen is in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches. The handset has a long touchpad in the center which is apparently multitouch, and it bears those familiar PlayStation shoulder buttons. For Sony buffs, you’ll be interested to know that there’s no Memory Stick slot here, but there is support for microSD cards.
  • The device could still be headed for a 2010 release- maybe in time for the holidays?  But 2011 is looking much more realistic.
  • (SM) Sony has been going this way since the released the discless PSP and there have been rumors since that release of a phone in the works
  • Also, don’t forget the PSP2 rumor

• No Apples pass these Gates (btm) (or “How do you like these Apples?”)
  • New York Times Q&A with Melinda Gates reveals no Apples in her house.
  • If you don’t subscribe to New Times online, read it here also.
  • Says she won’t allow her kids to have iPods
  • “You may have a Zune” (I’m guessing a brown one)

• Barnes & Nobles Announces a Color Nook (SM)
  • Based on Android and a 7” LCD color screen (not color e-ink or mirasol tech)
  • Meaning = brighter but less reading time (only 8 hrs continuous reading time)
  • 8 GB of memory w/ SD slot available, Almost a full pound, Wi-Fi (no 3g), $249
  • EPub, PDF, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint can all be read on this device
  • No android marketplace though
  • Being branded as a reader tablet

• Natali’s Weekly Paranoia Report (udg)
  • An engineering failure at F.E. Warren Air Force Base (the base that is a main locus of the United States’ strategic nuclear forces) in Wyoming that took 50 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), one-ninth of the U.S. missile stockpile, temporarily offline on Saturday.
  • According to the peeps briefed on the situation,a squadron of ICBMs suddenly dropped down into what’s known as “LF Down” status, meaning that the missileers in their bunkers could no longer communicate with the missiles themselves. LF Down status also means that various security protocols built into the missile delivery system, like intrusion alarms and warhead separation alarms, were offline.
  • “We’ve never had something as big as this happen,” a military officer who was briefed on the incident said. Occasionally, one or two might blink out, the officer said, and several warheads  are routinely out of service for maintenance. At an extreme, “[w]e can deal with maybe 5, 6, or 7 at a time, but we’ve never lost complete command and control and functionality of 50 ICBMs.”
  • The cause of the failure remains unknown, although it is suspected to be a breach of underground cables deep beneath the base, according to a senior military official.
  • It is next to impossible for these systems to be hacked, so the military does not believe the incident was caused by malicious actors. A half dozen individual silos were affected by Saturday’s failure.
  • An administration official said that “to make too much out of this would be to sensationalize it. It’s not that big of a deal. Everything worked as planned.”  (Yup, that’s what they ALWAYS say!!)
  • National Journal’s Megan Scully contacted a spokesperson for Sen. Jon Kyl, a top GOP critic of START, who said that “We don’t know what happened and why.”  The spokesperson refused to comment on “media reports.” Okay, I just wanted to say Scully

• Are six movies in a trilogy too many? How about nine? (btm) (see also: io9 report, primary link being hammered with traffic, (SM) but they are essentially quoting iesb, hmmmmm. We could intro this as a possible rumor and then talk about if we really want. Also, this is kind of suspect because they are still talking as if the live action is going to be filmed and Lucas has already put the nix on that production citing soaring production costs and wanting to wait until the tech is cheaper)
  • iesb.net is reporting based on reliable sources that after the 3D re-releases of the Star Wars saga Lucas is planning to release 3 new movies
  • story to be set long after the existing movies
  • will not involve Skywalker family
  • start date would be after the 2015-2016 completion of the 3D re-releases

• Man Prosecuted for jailbreaking XBox (SM)
  • It’s legal to jailbreak your IPhone, but not your gaming console?
  • Matthew Crippen is facing 3 yrs jail sentence for running a xbox mod company
  • His company was selling mods for $60 – $80
  • Got caught performing surgery on 2 undercover agents machines
  • Charged under the anti-circumvention provisions of DMCA
  • Andrew Huang, author of “Hacking the Xbox: An Intro to Reverse Engineering”, wants to testify showing how easy it is to mod (if its easy, anti-circumvent doesn’t apply)
  • He’ll probably be blocked because his demo is a bit superfluous.

• Akira Toriyama is back!! (udg)

• • Shueisha Publishing Company of Tokyo has convinced legendary manga creator Akira Toriyama to come back and restart the Dragon Ball comics franchise.
  • Since 1995, the creator has only returned to the well for comics once, for a one-off crossover with One Piece. His other works have been shorter, more personal pieces, though he has continues to oversee new animations, and his studio are working on a Dragon Ball Online MMORG for release soon.
  • Most speculate that it’s because of the game that Toriyama has been persuaded to return – to promote it. Whatever the reason, I look forward to seeing his return.

• Hobbit Who? (btm)
  • Sylvester McCoy to portray Radagast the Brown in upcoming Hobbit movie
  • made announcement to fans at Armageddon Expo in Auckland, NZ
  • no contract signed yet
  • rumors of David Tennant not verifiable, listed only as a “potential”
  • Cast List Here

• Adobe releases HTML 5 Video Player (SM)
  • In response to Apple blocking their flash player, Adobe now has a player that will run HTML 5 for systems that can support it and switch to flash when they can’t
  • Cross-browser, Cross-platform so works on IPhones, IPads, and other devices.
  • Other similar non first-party plugins available (brightcove and Vimeo) but first party trumps all
  • Built into the Dreamweaver Creative 5 suite
  • Not a user? u can use Adobe’s free Widget Browser app (air app)
  • This after Apple announces to officially ditch Flash pre-install on all Macs

• HP Releases Slate 500 A Year Late (SM)
  • It’s essentially a PC in a tablet form factor
  • Intel Atom (1.8ghz), 2GB RAM, 64GB Flash Drive, 1024 x 600 screen, SD Card slot, Integrate Wi-Fi, 2 cameras, and a measly 5 hrs runtime
  • Targeted for businesses, not the “user friendly” version touted a year ago
  • No easy video conf, e-reading, or anything, just straight Win 7 w/ touch support
  • (SM) Wonders how this will do better than a standard netbook

• Hide your kids, Hide your wife (btm) (I’ll intro this as a PSA and then let you take it Ben)
  • BeenVerified.com has released a new mobile app for iPhone and Android users that helps locate registered sex offenders in your area (just in time for Halloween).
  • uses the sex offender registry with geolocation and “augmented reality“
  • partnered with the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RANN) and Antoine Dodson (of the “Bed Intruder” video and song from YouTube) to promote awareness.
  • app is $1.99
  • run and tell that

Intarweb Goldmine

• Hey sexy, wanna peep my navel fluff collection? *blech* (udg)

• • An Australian man has made a habit of collecting his navel lint, earning him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
  • The Australian librarian started “harvesting” his fluff in 1984, at a youth hostel in Brisbane. After 26 years, the complete collection now weighs 22.1 grams, or .77 ounces.
  • “I became curious about how much navel fluff one person could generate (enough to stuff a cushion, maybe?), and the only way to find for sure was to collect it and see,” he wrote on his blog feargod.net.
  • Each day, the 45-year-old plucks the lint from his navel before he gets into the shower, and stores it in a clay pot. At the end of the year, he adds the harvest to his main collection, which is housed by color in glass jars and then labeled by date.
  • Barker sold three of his jars to a museum for an undisclosed sum and is a quarter of the way to filling a fourth, Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper reported. Despite his place in the record books, Barker plans to continue collecting his navel lint, and hopes to fill another five jars.
  • According to his site “I don’t just collect lint – there are also pages featuring my collections of Beard Clippings, Bogus Names, and Bakery Bags, amongst other things.”

• When hiccups turn deadly? (SM)
  • Girl has continuous hiccups in 2007 … up to 50 a minute
  • Shows up on NBC, Goes to doctors, Finally gets cured
  • FF to 2010 and this girl then lures a guy off a social site and then 2 accomplices rob and kill the guy
  • Mother’s quote? “Honestly, the best way I can describe it, is that they call it a case of the hiccups, but I call it the curse of the hiccups,” she told the newspaper. “It felt like a nightmare.”

• You’re supposed to spring your best friend from jail- right?

Extra Links

• Costume FAIL!

• IPhone passes RIM in market share
  • RIM = 16.1% , Apple = 18.3%
  • Just passed Q3 2010
  • Nokia still has a commanding lead at 34.4% (large presence in asia and europe)
  • Why is this important? news raised stock to $421 a share
  • Predictions? Iphone will continue to rise Win7Mo won’t go anywhere w/out strong app store, RIM will continue to fail and if IPhone ever goes enterprise, GG

Contact Info

• On Twitter: Steven is @DarthMolen, Ben is @RealityAmuck, Natali is @UberDorkGirlie
• email us: darthmolen@thepowergeeks.com and jpuent@thepowergeeks.com and uberdorkgirlie@thepowergeeks.com (yay!)
• And Become a Fan
• http://racomics.com

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!)

Gold Sponsors:

• Will be THE place for Geeks to hang out
• What is UberDorkCafe? It is the brain child and DREAM of Natali, aka @UberDorkGirlie from twitter, and it blends art + science = geek
• Place to hang, eat, have awesome kid parties (if thats your thing), or to get your gaming on
• Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves

JP – Listener Rob wrote in and said he follows us on FB and wanted to know why my nickname is ‘Zoda’ most of you may know I used to not be as mild mannered as I am today (look at the hair, the goatee which had two blond streaks in it, and yes… if you look closely my fingernails are all different colors)… I am a former pro In-line Skater. here’s a picture of me from back in the day skating a 7’ deep oval bowl in Rockford IL at The PIT skatepark. and here’s the story of my Nickname.

Jeremy 'Zoda' Puent

Deals of the Week / New Releases

• AMC Cult Classics 6 Movie Set! (UDG)
  • Zombies, Pirates, Vincent Price, Dennis Hopper for under $5.00!
  • All original casts! Night of the Living Dead, House on Haunted Hill, Carnival of Souls, Night Tide, Bluebeard, Chamber of Horrors
• http://www.votebundle.com/ (JP)
  • a new Mac Bundle is in the works, this time you can vote for 10 of 20 apps, the top ten will be in the bundle.
• New out on DVD this week and JP wants to see them both
  • Cop Out the Kevin Smith flick with Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan
  • The Losers  - After being betrayed and left for dead, members of a CIA black ops team root out those who targeted them for assassination
• One last Freebie for MAC users (JP)
  • App Wall ScreenSaver… Just Like WWDC
    • For Free!!! moving App icons, select top Paid, Top Free, etc… and sit back and enjoy!

To intro the screwees, we have our wonderful co-host @UberDorkGirlie, Natali

and  her partner in crime, our long lost @GeekGirl Kristin Rielly

Unfortunately our ever lovely Jeremy Puent is away on personal bidness, we wish him well, so we have a guest co-host this week, Justin Hurst, owner of Rockthelan.com and co-host of his own podcast “The missing Ink” – Natali: He decided to slum with us this week
<<Justin doesn’t talk til here>>

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
• Kickstarter site for UberDorkCafe, these places just don’t build themselves

Deals of the Week / New Releases

New Geeky DVD / Blu-Ray Releases (2nd week of June)

• FLASH GORDON – Blu-Ray!!!! (if you don’t know this -50 DKP 4 u) All hail Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton and Max Von Sydow!!!
• Darkman – Blu-Ray!!! (1990 production, mad scientist, off the hinges)
• The Book of Eli – Blu-Ray (Haven’t seen yet but heard good things)
• MacGyver (TV Movies) – DVD – ‘Nuff said, GET NOW!
• “The Blind Menace” – DVD – Shintaro Katsu before Zatoichi (mmm, 1950’s b&w samurai)

Geek Speak

• SDCC Comicon Panel – @geekgirls coming on show! (iKDR)
• GeekGirls Tweetup! (iKDR)

• Blizzard backs off Real ID Mandate for Forums
  • @CustomPCMax happy (although maybe not unbanned)
  • Forums will no longer use mandatory Real ID
  • Lets talk a little bit more about ID’s
  • (UDG) on an ironic note, 961 people that filed a complaint against Blizzard for this with the ESRB had their email addresses exposed by ESRB
  • (SM) It’s not surprising really, gamers are all about form and habits. Games don’t revolution, evolve. Forums – “rules” – Anonimity.

• Most awesomest.improv.EVAR! (Star Wars Subway)

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Judge Rules File Sharing Award Unconstitutional (UDG)
  • Joel Tanenbaum was found guily of file sharing by Jury
  • RIAA was awarded $675,000 in damages
  • The judge reduced the amount 90% to 67,500
  • Declared unconstitutional “that the damages are excessive in proportion to the crime”
  • Heartening to know that Due Process protects both corporations and private individuals alike

• RIAA Pays 13 million to recover $400,000 (SM)
  • So 2008 was a bad year for the RIAA, spent a but load of money and only got back little
  • 2007 was even worse: 21 million and $515,000 recovered
  • 2006: $19,000,000 for only $455,000
  • Overall: $64,000,000 for only $1,361,000

• Lawsuit against Apple,AT&T 2 yr vs. 5 yr. contracts (JH)
  • Already know about the other I4 antenna lawsuit
  • this one concerns the single provider status of the IPhone
  • Suing: You sign a 2 year contract w/ them to get your device
  • After contract over, Where can you go? Still only AT&T. implicit contract

• Consumer Reports Cannot Recommend IPhone 4G (SM – just put this in)
  • Not alone in these thoughts, Others rate high but don’t give recommendations
  • Antenna recall could cost up to $1.5 billion
  • (UDG) Apple just announced a press conference for Fri Re
  • Simple answer: Give a free rubber bumper, TCO $1 to company
  • Bring up all the “interesting” stuff Apple has done lately
  • Jobs Health non-disclosure, Attacks on Adobe Flash, Lost Prototypes, app dev restrict

• Google creates WYSIWYG Android App Creator (UDG)
  • Wow, its a drag-and-drop way to create apps
  • Could spur a lot of creativity without knowing code
  • I’m guessing 90-10 rule though, with more volume
  • Still in invite-beta (SM)pretty-plz-get-me-in

• Edward Norton (old hulk) will not appear in Avengers (JH)
  • Edward has been flapping in the wind for awhile now (since 2008)
  • There were some creative differences even in the filming of “Incredible Hulk”
  • Marvel Studio Prez Kevin Feige delivers the slap down – “We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers,” wrote Feige. “Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.”
  • the rumors on the Internet are that Ed is a bit of a prima donna and in an ensemble movie cast is that good?
  • Cast: (SM – I’ll take over for cast)
    • Joss Whedon (is your master) Director
    • Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man
    • Chris Evans as Captain America
    • Chris Hemsworth as Thor (Thor, the movie in 3D)
    • Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

• 4k Video comes to YouTube (4096p) (SM)
  • Meant for a 25ft screen. Imax is actually 2 projectors at 2K each
  • Projectors for that size are the size of small refrigerators
  • Video Editor also new
    • Browser based editor that allows you to splice multiple videos together
    • Limited functionality but better than nuthin! (trims but doesn’t cut)
  • Lean-back service
    • Their new “suggestion” Service
    • Takes your subscriptions, your friends likes, your shares, plays them in full screen back to back.
    • In Beta, Deployment been pushed back
  • $5 million in grants to v-loggers
    • Have to be invited to apply
    • Will be for independent v-loggers who generate good content to help them make better content

• Google + Zynga = Cash Cow & Not just in Farmville (UDG)
  • I totally called this last week
  • The $100-200M investment was made by Google itself, not Google Ventures (according to slashdot)
  • Trouble for Paypal? Zynga is Paypal’s biggest client. Replace w/ Google Checkout ?
  • The data alone Google could obtain from Zynga may be worth the investment alone
  • Why not an outright purchase? Testing the waters? Scared of regulatory concerns?
  • “Google is supposed to know everything about us and its lack of social data is a key hole in its world domination strategy”
  • Zynga’s latest game launch “Frontierville” sucked in 5.2M daily active users in just 2 weeks.
  • New Orleans on $30 a day (my experiment with Vampire Wars)

Intarweb Goldmine

• Zombies Crash Car, Apocalypse imminent (UDG)
  • Portland, Oregon on Friday night near downtown- I-84
  • Car full of Zombies swerving in traffic eastbound 9:30
  • Rolled.
  • On way to party. Some escaped on foot?
  • (SM) How do they escape? They’re ZOMBIES! (I guess if they are runners)

• Drunk Tourist Rides crocodile, Bad Things Happen

• USB Wedding Ring = +200 Geek Points

Extra Links

• Geek Girls Tweetup at SDCC
• Unmanned Golf Cart Ready for Military
• 15 Domain Names for Batman
• Best.Comic.Crossover.EVAR
• Pink Unicorn Vader
• The Expendables: Call To Arms

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

What’s new for Geek Girls Network? um…San Diego Comic-Con!!

• “Geeks Girls Exist” Panel on Thursday:
  • 5:30-6:30 Geek Girls Exist – Really? Kristin Rielly (Geek Girls Network – @geekgirls) leads a discussion about growing up geek, turning passions into careers, and who shot first. Representing the many awesome aspects of the geek culture, panelists Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (The Star Wars Craft Book), Marian Call (Singer-Songwriter), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), Jill Pantozzi  (Has Boobs Reads Comics), Veronica Belmont (Qore), and Kiala Kazebee (GeekWeek) will school you on what it means to be a real geeky girl and even make you LOL IRL. Room 8
• Geek Tweet-Up on Friday:
  • Join the biggest Geek Tweet-Up event of all time on Friday, July 23rd from 8pm-11pm at Jolt ‘N Joes (Gaslamp location) in San Diego.
  • Hosted by @geekgirls, @thenerdybird, and @geekgirldiva, this Tweet-Up is sure to be even bigger and better than NYC!

Sponsors

Wow4Cure.com

• Plans to play non-stop to level 40 and raise $10,000 for cancer
• Scheduled to take place Aug. 6th and they will continue playing if the donations keep coming
• Check out their website, we’ll talk more about them in the weeks to come

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!)

(SM)SCII Beta is now out. DL’ed and played before the podcast (are you jealous JP? You should be…)

Deals of the Week

• iPhone Apps (iKDR)
  • Thereminator – For a mere $3, you can put a theremin in your pocket!
  • Plants vs Zombies – $2.99 WOOT
  • Augmented Reality Browser – Free for iPhone 3GS
    • info about augmented environment research, click here (thanks @AdamSolid from WireJacked.com)

• (iKDR) Zombie Pizza is now on sale for .99!
  • (Appy Entertainment’s Zombie Pizza is a staff pick on Apple’s iPhone Staff Picks page, and has been favorably reviewed by Entertainment Weekly, The Huffington Post, and Macworld, who gave the game 4/5 mice.) TPG also covered this one a while back!

Geek Speak

*Terminator Franchise rights acquired…. What will the future hold? (JP)
Mike Fleming at Deadline Hollywood has an intriguing answer: He’s read a 24-page treatment for fifth and sixth movies that would wrap up the story by none other than William Wisher, the screenwriter who contributed to the first two (and best-loved) installments in the franchise, James Cameron’s original Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
How great would that be?? But will it come to light?

(SM) My question is do we wanna see Linda Hamilton all “Ellen Ripley” again…

Deals of the Week

Geek Speak

• KDR – this brings up a host of questions:
  • how will it be regulated?
  • can users who have “collateral” still be baned from games for misconduct?
  • what’s the rate of exchange?
  • can i quit my day job?
• KDR – legality issues/benefits:
  • does in-game goods and services get taxed?
  • will insurance be available to protect your virtual property from server malfunction or fraud
  • how do you go about collecting funds – what happens if they other party cant provide the owed funds – can you send them to collections?
• KDR – virtual/real world:
  • i wonder if virtual banks will be established for easier funds transfers (is there gonna be a magicla money faerie atm, how long is that line gonna be??)
  • if i have a shitty apartment and no money in real life – but alot of virtual money and property, will my social-economic status change in real life?  will my self image be affected?
• KDR – i’ve heard of kids building up character stats & weaponry in certain games, then “e-baying” those profiles for real money -is this any different?

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Google to pay Bounty for Bugs in Browser
  • $500 or $1,337 based on the size of the bug
  • Obvious a nod to the “l337″
  • Mozilla also has a bounty program for “new and inventive” bugs
  • Must submit your finds for the browser only at the chromium bug tracker

• Real Genius Laser! (KDR)
  • National Ignition Facility recently produced the world’s first megajoule laser
  • only lasted for a few nanoseconds, the system is capable of generation 500 trillion watts of power
  • milestone for nuclear fusion development (clean energy on a massive scale). (Steven)Hold our breaths and wait for summer when they try a bigger test

Contest

ok folks, we have a contest to win a Suction Clip for your smartphone or iPod, etc… SuctionClip.com (we’ll be doing a full review of this product once Kristin and Steven get theirs…)
From now through Valentine’s day you can send a picture of you holding a geeked out version of The Power Geeks logo or a sign saying The Power Geeks, etc… send pics to jpuent@thepowergeeks.com
Be creative… the better the better your chance of winning… Photoshop something crazy, take a picture of yourself in a bikini (not you Steven, you’re not eligible)
After Valentine’s Day we’ll vote on a winner…

Here’s a sample:

Jeremy and Silent Bob with the Lego TPG Logo

Intarweb Goldmine

• telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl
  • Telnetting to this site will launch an ASCII Version of Star Wars Episode 4. Holy Crow is this awesome!!!!
  • takes a minute to load… be patient it’s worth the wait! sooo impressive
• Peter Rabbit the Panzer Tank Killer
  • Hilarious new take on a childrens classic (not for kids!) hahahaha (oh so sad, these were my FAV books
• 10 Reasons NOT to Date a Girl Gamer (KDR)
  • It would be embarrassing if she were better at video games than you
  • She says she’s a gamer, but the only games she plays are on PopCap and other websites.
  • (JP) no such thing as a reason not to date her… these are almost like unicorns… if you find one… hold on tight!!! hehehhee
• Live webcams throughout the Chicago Autoshow
  • If you dig the autoshow, you can watch set up of the booths, or once it starts… peek in on the cars and booth babes!

Extra Links

• Nintendo Game Boy gets Steampunked (KDR)
  • @NerdSalad had posted a link
  • Thretis (Chip Musician & Console Customizer) took a Gameboy and constructed a SteamPunk mod, added a Pro Sound mod audio output, and switched out the power LED with an orange-colored one.
• Speaking of Mods – Kratos on your PC, Literally
• Red Letter Media Tears up Avatar
• Using Windows Server Home to Sync Zune Media around the house

Contact Info

Thanks to @PhysicistLisa – she said i do a good job of not being the “token female” opinion

JP – Geared for iPhone (wanna talk about addictive… 120 levels of “I can’t put the dang thing down!!!”) and Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space (review later in show so keep listening)

SM – Same ol, Same ol’

Cole- I’ve been playing…..dress up

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• COD: Modern Warfare 2 Will not feature dedicated Servers on PC (SM)
  • WTF, They are pushing IWNet, which will be both for console and PC
  • Dedicated servers have been a staple since the days of Quake on the PC
  • Its how clans get together, its how PC ppl congregate and self-choose who they want 2 play with
  • There’s no XBOX Live w/ friends lists, etc. on the PC
  • Some ppl agree and have decided to not get their pre-order

• Ka is a Wheel – Stephen King Dark Towers Video Game??? (JP)
  • Link to trailer for what looks to be a computer game
  • more details are supposed to arrive on 11/10/09 when his knew book hits stores (Under the Dome)
  • Game looks to be available at the end of Nov., Episodic 2

• Simple Hack Exposes 65,000 Time Warner Cable Users (SM)
  • Tim Warner offered a wireless router that ppl didn’t have to configure much
  • Turn off Javascript when viewing web page, and voila… u can dump its config file which has the admin password in clear text
  • That same username and password? it works for all the routers.
  • The model in question is SMC8014 so if you have one, you might want to contact Time Warner.
  • They have since issued a software fix… but they are still vulnerable.

• Apple Q4 Results are HUGE (JP)
  • net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion
  • Can you say iPhone??? I can.
  • 3.05 million Macs (17%), and 7.4 million IPhones
  • IPod is losing ground though (but they are counting the iphone seperately which is also the ipod for a lot of people 7.4 Million just in this quarter… see what I mean?)
    • Analysts are saying iPhone to drive Mobile game sales to 11.7 Billion by 2014
  • M$ missed Q4 Analysts estimates by nearly 1 BILLION and are hanging everything on Win7 (Cole)
    • I think weak PC Sales hurt them a lot… and I expect a lot of people avoided the dog that was Vista and are holding out for Win7 PC’s… this will make for a much better year for them on 2010

• M$ banning Unauthorized Memory Units on 360 (SM)
  • Next revision of their XBOX Live will have code that will disable any capability to read unauthorized memory units on the XB360
  • This means that you need to back up ur current unit (if it isn’t official) and go over-pay for one of their units($149)
  • With the capability to buy a terabyte hard drive for about that much, doesn’t that seem laughable?

• Halo Waypoint – The first in a group of Game Specific “hubs” on XBox Live (JP)
  • Actually is part of Halo Story
  • Will be part of the next update for those of us in the Beta Program…. so I’ll be looking for access to this with the next update due out soon.

• M$ starts a mysterious “Rewards Program” for Xbox Live (JP)
  • I have not gotten my invite yet WTFrack)
  • Looks like the more you play the more you’ll get points to get M$ Schwag, although details are very few and far between right now

• Possible Motion controller pricing?? (Cole)
  • M$ Natal for Xbox 360 to run $50 (camera only) while the PS3 version will run $100 (2 sticks and a camera)
  • according to Industry Analyst and general Guru of all things pricing Michael Pachter
  • This is by no means official word from the companies, so feel free to send us your thoughts on what the pricing will or should be…

Geek-Speak

• Microsoft Surface for D&D (SM)
  • This was actually brought about by a suggestion from one of the founders of Penny-arcade
  • Plans to take some of the guess-work out of the table-top portion of D&D
  • Projects a hex map, allows players to register themselves, and monsters to be used in encounters
  • Who here has played something like this before?

• Katee Sackhoff to Guest star on The Big Bang Theory (JP)
  • Katee Sackhoff played Starbuck in the modern version of Battlestar Galactica…
  • Following in the footsteps of Wil Wheaton (ST:TNG & Stand By Me, don’t forget Toy Soldiers ) & Fellow Batllestar Alumn Michael Trucco (“Battlestar’s” Sam Anders)
  • She’ll play Wallowitz’s fanatasy woman, and may appear nude! Can I get a Whoo hoo???
  • Don’t forget Katee will be on this season of 24 too!!
• Geek Girls Network just posted a review of ZombieLand…
  • and it references my winning Zombie Escape plan story we discussed last week! I can’t believe something I wrote as a joke is getting this much play… SWEET!

Product Reviews:

• XBL Arcade -  Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space for Only $20 this is a pretty good deal…

• I’m not super into this type of game generally, but I am going to beat this one fully as it’s a pretty twisted little tale with some very funny twisted stuff going on
• Santa at the North Pole with a machine gun may not sound funny, but it is…
• Bottom line is it has great story lines and is humorous.. definitely worth 20 bucks… 31/2 out of 5 Geeks is my rating overall… just b/c I am usually not entertained by this type of puzzle solving game but I dig this one.

Deal of the Week

• for only $20. Sam & Max in XBLA\
• Killing Floor (co-op survival horror FPS) is 25% off (14.99) and you can even play it for free, the whole game, this weekend only – only on STEAM
• Zombie Pizza app for Halloween on your iPhone
  • Sounds like a fun game… a little like Tapper I’m guessing, but with Pizza that you serve to Zombies
    • Keep them happy with Pizza and they don’t eat you, but they are picky eaters and you have to optimize the pizza toppings combinations to keep them happy.

Contest

Cole has picked a winner in our contest for the iFrogz headphones giveaway….

The Winning Entry:

Coles’ other job, well let me see from what she sounds like I would guess pretty cute and she likes mma so pretty bad ass. Maybe she could be a supermodel vampire slayer.  Cause I don’t know about you but I have had enough of twilight and true blood (I do like true blood good show)and the 15 other vampire movie shows or books out there right now so maybe you bring back some quality to the entertainment world just a suggestion but think about it.

Kacie W. From Dothan, Alabama. I’ve emailed Kacie to get her address and will be shipping out the headphones to her later this week.

Keep listening for more contests to come.

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

Intarweb Goldmine

R Rated re-edit of Mos Eisly Scene from Star Wars

Fans re-shoot “A New Hope”

If this doesn’t make you laugh out loud… your Geek Card has just been revoked by TPG!

ITS ONLY 1 LINE… They should re-imagine the Jabba / Princess Leia first meet scene for rated R… now that would have been funny

For Inglorious Basterds fans looking to be the “Bear Jew” for Halloween

Eli Roth was kind enough to post this pic with all the specs you need to be sure you have the perfect costume this year!

( This one was sent in by a listener) Bloody death wish animated interactive
Twisted and hilarious… Make a death wish, watch it unfold…
Thanks to Eric From Philly for that

• I wanna send a shout out to all our west coast listeners… a charity Rave Party – Rave De Los Muertos is taking place in San Jose on Oct 28th
  • My friend and a listener of the show DJ Tim Silverline is spinning at the event… tickets and details at the link in the show notes…
  • If you’re out on the west coast… check it out… it’s for a good cause (This years charity is The Health Trust. The Health Trust is a
    remarkable organization that has put time and effort into helping those
    living with HIV/AIDS.)

Contact Info

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

Sponsors

Doghouse Systems

- New System – Under $1000 – Still handcrafted with care
DoghouseSystems VS

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

Jinx
- Lifestyle apparel for your inner-geek
- Men’s, Women’s, all sizes
- Specific Collections? They got them,
- World of Warcraft – Home is where the hearthstone is, Baby-T = “My other stroller is [Epic]“, Tanks, Your Welcome
- New Sticker This week (JP)
- They even have hats – Quest-giver hat
- Stickers, Patches, Pins
- Go online jinx.com or call them @ 1-888-JINX-COM - 888.546.9266

Happy Halloween -xoxoxoxox

Cole, the "cute" bunny rabbit

Who really cares about the food?

( I take back everything I said about how Cole needs to dress for the ZombieApocolypse… Less is more… Less IS more!!! – JP)

Game of Life for Everyone

Geek-Speak

• More Details on COD:MW2 (Stebven
  • Can it just come already? (I’m with you… CAN’T Wait!)
  • Microsoft Unveils Modern Warfare 2 XB360
  • The Perk system on Steroids (even perks for dying too much)
  • More melee type weapons (throwing knives)
  • Glinting blood spatter on the camera when you get damaged too much
  • Looks gorgeous
  • (Steven) I will be taking a vacation week the day it comes out Nov. 10, 2009

• VW 170 MPG Car
  • Is this something you would buy?
  • see the seating? did you ever see a Crosley?? I just don’t see this taking off…
  • Why is it always one extreme or the other…??? either they build hummers getting 7 MPG or they build something like this that gets 170MPG but only seats 2 people one in front of the other…
  • Why can’t they make a decent looking car of average size that gets 80 or 90 MPG??? Where is the happy medium?

U2 Tech

Awesome Concert… but I was blown away by the screen….

This was the screen normal as it appeared throughout most of the event….

Then it went into motion….

It separated into hundreds of smaller parts adn still had images and went in motion…. This is AWESOME Technology in displays…I have seen some really neat displays over the years at concerts, stadiums, etc… but this took the cake!

This was it fully expanded…

Product Reviews:

Tick talk – this is a great idea, an app that is an alarm that reads you the news of (almost) any rss feed you point it to. It does a very decent job with the pronunciation of most things (considering it sounds a little “British”).
One drawback (that is actually an iPhone shortfall not the software) is that it has to be open for the alarm to actually work (no background processes on iPhone yet)
It’s funny, you can change the greeting and sign off, you will be able to add feeds more easily in the nt update which has been submitted to Apple for approval..
When the alarm goes off, you have the choice to Snooze it, or hear the news. here’s a little sample… (turn on Robot!)

• Zune HD Day came and went… mmmm
  • Not a product review (because I’m broke) but damn, I have gadget envy
  • Comes with a built in IE + cool 3D apps coming
  • OLED Screen is beautomous and it comes with an accelerometer to tilt automatically
  • No app store planned (Microsoft is a bit confused right now on their direction)

Deal of the Week

• Not just one deal this week… but a lead to get tons of deals every day…. follow http://twitter.com/gamingdeals and you’ll get coupons, codes, links to deals every day!

• In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day this Saturday, Sept.19, the developer is making the complete first episode of Tales of Monkey Island FREE from 12:01 am GMT, Sept. 19 (that’s 4:01 pm Sept 18 PST) until midnight PST, Sept. 19 at the URL: http://www.playlikeapirate.com

• Check Steam every Friday for their Deals, a lot of the time they have 50% off popular games

Contest

We have 2 more codes to give a way to lucky listeners with iPhones….
so let’s say the first two people who email or twitter me with the costume Cole wore to her Star Trek convention we talked about in an earlier episode will win. Must have an iPhone and a US iTunes account to redeem the Code for the game. Triazzle, a wonderful puzzle game we have talked about in a few different episodes… if you’re not one of the lucky winners download the free “lite” version and check it out!