Archive for category Nerd Stuff
Segway Inventor Creates Something Useful
Posted by Raiven in Nerd Stuff, Science on April 6, 2010
First of all Dean Kamen, sorry, but seriously the Segway is retarded. Moving on, the “Luke” arm created by Kamen for DARPA is amazing, and not just because he’s nerdy enough to name the thing after our favorite fictional amputee and I think Stephen Colbert would agree.
The robotic arm has been in development for some time but the April 5th episode of the Colbert Report was the first time I got to see the thing in action. I could ramble on about all the details but instead I highly recommend you follow past the break and check out the embedded video. Or, if you feel like watching the full episode you can click the image above. Read the rest of this entry »
TED: Bing Maps Augments the Hell Out of Your Reality
Posted by Raiven in Nerd Stuff, Web Browsers on February 16, 2010
I’ll be honest, when Microsoft revealed Bing I was glad to see something that might finally give Google a little competition to keep things interesting but I really didn’t expect too much. I use Bing now but of course I still use Google as well, moreso in fact, and iGoogle is still my homepage. When Bing Maps unveiled some cool new tech a while back using Photosynth for a Streetview like display I took some more interest but it still wasn’t quite a “game changer” or anything to steal the thunder from the Googs.
Well with yet another TED conference to unleash the cool involved with Silverlight, Dragon and Photosynth here, Bing Maps has just really blown my mind. Augmented Reality photos from Flickr, live video that is photo-stitched into the streetview image and the full night’s sky viewable from wherever you are in the street level view courtesy of WorldWide Telescope. Watch the presentation video after the break, you shan’t be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »
John McCain: WTF Is The Internet?
Posted by Raiven in Nerd Stuff on October 23, 2009
John McCain, presidential candidate and self professed technology curmudgeon, who admitted during his presidential campaign to having little or no knowledge or interest in modern technologies like email or the Internet, seems to suddenly be very interested in it’s ‘freedom‘.
His new bill, the ‘Internet Freedom Act’ sets out to stop the FCC from going forward with any sort of Net Neutrality regulations after the FCC has unanimously voted to go ahead with talks to formalize net neutrality guidelines. In the bill the FCC “shall not propose, promulgate, or issue any regulations regarding the Internet or IP-enabled services.” Now I have to echo Tony Bradley of PC World’s statement here and ask, isn’t that what the FCC is supposed to do?
Now McCain certainly knows nothing about the internet but he does know about removing regulations in the thought that the free market will police themselves, just like AT&T did when they blocked VoIP services or Comcast did when they throttled peer-to-peer networking on the down-low, both of which only retracted after threat of FCC net neutrality rules. Go team “Honest and Fair”!
You know guys, if there is a legitimate reason to block net neutrality guidelines you have 120 days to gather your data and present your case in the debate the FCC has just voted to have. No guidelines have actually been set yet so perhaps waving around legislation like a torch to scare off ‘the beast’ is a bit premature. Remember, 120 days, and since you’re probably not good at math that’s about four months to prepare to defend the internet’s ‘freedom’. Which I supposed would be the ‘god’ given freedom to rape and pillage, right?
Sweet Zombie Jesus!
Posted by Raiven in Nerd Stuff, Tv on July 17, 2009
Bad news everyone, it seems that while 20th Century Fox Tv (not to be confused with the FOX Television Network) and Comedy Central are finally reviving Futurama they are too cheap to pay for the original voice cast. Admittedly the original voice actors are probably calling for a sizable salary and the budget for Futurama this time around won’t be nearly as high but finding voice actors who “sound” like the original cast just isn’t going to cut it. For my money (of which I will pay them none anyway) it just wouldn’t be the same show and I just simply won’t watch it.
This, of course, could just be 20th Century Fox’s way of playing hardball with the voice cast as they have done time and time again with both The Simpsons and Seth McFarlane and as well all know, Seth still works on all his shows and The Simpsons voice cast has remained relatively the same. Maybe they need enough internet nerd support, maybe the voice actors have to take a cut, maybe it’s just all BS for the sake of BS. Only time will tell I suppose but here’s hoping the cast remains the same. Use this link for another take on the subject.
Firefox 3.5 unleashed into the world
Posted by Raiven in Nerd Stuff, Web Browsers on July 1, 2009
For those that may not have heard, the world’s most popular alternative browser, Firefox, was upgraded to version 3.5 yesterday after a relatively long (but not unusual) beta testing period. If you’re already using FF 3.0 then the update will look very familiar to you. Minor aesthetic changes include the tab bar remaining visible even with only one tab open and the addition of a “plus” button to add a new tab without needing to use the menu or “Alt+tab” keyboard shortcuts.
As with all new browser releases these days the focus is on Javascript speed and with their new TraceMonkey JS engine, mozilla has brought FF 3.5 up to par with the likes of Chrome and Safari 4.
Firefox 3.5 is also one of the first browsers to support some new tag elements from the yet to be ratified HTML 5, namely the video tag. This will allow developers to embed video directly into a page without the need for plug-ins like quicktime or flash.
Head on over to Mozilla’s Website to scoop up the download. As of this writing there have been over 5.4 million so far.
UPDATE: It’s 20 days later and the download count is just over 30 million.
Boldly Smell Like No One Has Smelled Before
Posted by Raiven in Miscellaneous, Nerd Stuff on March 4, 2009
Star Trek, and science fiction in general, is very accustomed to strange license tie-in’s and merchandising but the latest in Genki Wear’s spring collection, known for its licensed science fiction jewelry and perfumes, is just awesomely hilarious.
Genki Wear Star Trek Perfume – A trio of scents from the final frontier
There are three fragrances planned for 2009 with the monikers “Tiberius” “Red Shirt” and “Ponn Farr.”
As if the names weren’t enough, it gets better. “Tiberius”, named after the mirror universe version of James T. Kirk, challenges wearers to “Boldly go” with “notes of freshness and sensuality.” Genki Wear states that “[Tiberius] … has sweet citron zest, black pepper, and cedar as its top notes (top notes refers to those scents that are noticeable first) and warm vanilla, white musk, and sandalwood as its base notes (scents perceived last, usually about a half hour after application).” Personally I loved the caption under the image of the nice looking custom crafted box, “Command your essence with Tiberius, the cologne,” classic.
As much as I love the thought of “Tiberius” cologne I think I’d have to go with “Red Shirt” myself, if for no other reason than it’s tag line is “Because Tomorrow May Never Come.” I have to give Genki Wear credit for keeping the campy humor of the show in tact while providing what looks to be an actual quality product (unlike the Star Trek First Contact travel set from 1996 – though it also had a wallet and soap!) The caption for “Red Shirt”? Live every day as if it could be your last, with ‘Red Shirt’ cologne. Simply fantastic.
The final product in the “trio” of scents is a perfume titled “Ponn Farr” making it clearly the most risqué of the group as it’s named after the, once every seven year, Vulcan mating ritual learned about in the episode “Amok Time”. The perfume promises to “drive him wild” and lets face it, if Spock can’t remain calm, cool and collected during “Ponn Farr” what chance do we have?
If you’re looking to add these items to your collection they will cost you between $30 and $40 for a 3.4oz bottle. On the plus side, this is one of the very few Star Trek collectibles that actually has a functional purpose and the company believes it’s fragrances are comparable to Chanel or Cartier. I guess that’s why they didn’t make “Bones” or “Old Scotch Drunk”. Maybe next year.
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