I’m not even really that much of a Halo fan and even I’ll admit that’s some pretty sweet cover art. Halo 4 drops in November, and it will sell millions of copies whether you decide to buy it or not. Now that the series doesn’t reside under the ever caring arms of Bungie does it still stand a chance to dominate the futuristic shooter genre?
I sure can’t wait to find out.
As far as cosplayers go, Jessica Nigri is the arguably best in her field. Check out these images of her dressed as Juliet Starling from the upcoming Suda 51 / James Gunn masterpiece Lollipop Chainsaw. The game drops on June 12th, I really can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
“Driving on long, lonely desert roads through the state of Nevada, sometimes the only hint of other human beings comes in the form of a single car, speeding in the opposite direction and passing for only a second.
Only now, that car might not have anyone inside of it.
Nevada has officially issued licenses to Google for its driverless cars, meaning that the tech company is free to experiment with their creations in the state. The cars will be marked by a distinctive red license plate with an infinity symbol on the side.
“I felt using the infinity symbol was the best way to represent the ‘car of the future’.” Department Director Bruce Breslow said. “The unique red plate will be easily recognized by the public and law enforcement and will be used only for licensed autonomous test vehicles. When there comes a time that vehicle manufacturers market autonomous vehicles to the public, that infinity symbol will appear on a green license plate.
The future of automated cars might seem scary from a safety perspective, especially if we’re living with paranoid video games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. But considering how many human beings are barely capable of getting behind the wheel, either from being intoxicated or on a cell phone, automation definitely seems like a step up. Google’s autonomous cars are still regular cars, just with special electronics. So the driver can control the car manually by tapping on the brakes and taking over.
The press release indicates that while Google is the first company to get licenses, other manufacturers have expressed the desire to test their automated cars in the state.” -D.THIER Forbes Very Geeky. gEEK oR dIE
Mother’s Day is Sunday May 13th and a Kindle with E-Ink display is a marvelous gift to show mom your love and appreciation. Amazon offers several options ranging from about $80 for the 6 inch E-ink display to $379 for the 9.7 inch display. The Kindle Fire is $199 but it’s not the best for reading.There’s also an e-reader minus the keyboard, the Kindle Touch with E-Ink. You can’t go wrong with any choice here. Just choose the features you want and buy with confidence!
I received my first Kindle as a gift several years ago. I probably wouldn’t have bought one for myself being somewhat of a book snob. No surprise…I loved it! The Kindle has a place in the book lover’s life! You can’t beat it for travel. No more hauling 5 or 6 books to the coast for this beachy reader! In the car and on trips, it’s a smart and easy alternative. It easily fits into most handbags. The E-Ink display is easy on the eyes. Glare is not an issue no matter the lighting.
Not only are you never without something to read, you have the whole bookstore at your disposal. With the click of a button, you are reading whatever you like. When I read a magazine book review that peaks my interest, I often pull out my Kindle and instantly download a free sample right that second! No more trying to remember that title.
Another place the Kindle really comes in handy is the gym. Have you ever tried to turn pages on a treadmill or elliptical machine? Yikes! The Kindle’s next page button is a life saver if you like to read while you work out. The time zips by when you’re into a good book.
I still buy and read REAL BOOKS (mostly at Goodwill and garage sales) but without a doubt, the Kindle e-reader is a wonderful addition to my reading time. Don’t hesitate to buy Mom one this week!
“Austin, Texas-based Flextronics is apparently working on a new Microsoft project, and all signs point to it being the next generation version of the Xbox. According to media reports, the company has assigned an entire new testing team for the assignment, and these employees are working behind-closed-doors from the rest of the company. It doesn’t take a genius to try to put those pieces together.
And if there needed to be any other reason to believe this might be related to the Xbox 720, Flextronics was also a key part in the manufacturing process of the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. It makes complete sense that it would be involved, at least on some level, with the next Microsoft gaming console. But just because this news is coming a month ahead of E3, gamers shouldn’t get too excited.
Microsoft has promised that there will be no Xbox 720 news at next month’s humongous trade show. In addition, whatever work is being done at Flextronics, it is going to be in the extremely early phases. If it is in fact working on the next Xbox, it most likely is only helping develop prototype models at this point, for Microsoft’s preferred developers. And if those units are just now being ushered out of the door, we have quite a wait before any sort of retail model will be in the works.” -M.RABY slashgear
The truth is out there. “Xbox 720″ or whatever they officially call it will be a huge next step, we hope.
So what can we expect from the Xbox 720 when it is finally revealed by Microsoft, and when will it finally hit the shelves?
Adam and Eve virus: Takes a couple of bytes out of your Apple.
Airline virus: You’re in Dallas, but your data is in Singapore.
Anita Hill virus: Lies dormant for ten years.
Arnold Schwarzenegger virus: Terminates and stays resident. It’ll be back.
AT&T virus: Every three minutes it tells you what great service you are getting.
The MCI virus: Every three minutes it reminds you that you’re paying too much for the AT&T virus.
Bill Clinton virus: This virus mutates from region to region and we’re not exactly sure what it does.
Bill Clinton virus: Promises to give equal time to all processes: 50% to poor, slow processes; 50% to middle-class processes, and 50% to rich ones. This virus protests your computer’s involvement in other computer’s affairs, even though it has been having one of its own for 12 years.
Congressional Virus: Overdraws your computer.
Congressional Virus: The computer locks up, screen splits erratically with a message appearing on each half blaming the other side for the problem.
Dan Quayle virus: Prevents your system from spawning any child processes without joining into a binary network.
Dan Quayle virus: Simplye addse ane ee toe everye worde youe typee..
David Duke virus: Makes your screen go completely white.
Elvis virus: Your computer gets fat, slow, and lazy and then self destructs, only to resurface at shopping malls and service stations across rural America.
Federal bureaucrat virus: Divides your hard disk into hundreds of little units, each of which do practically nothing, but all of which claim to be the most important part of the computer.
Freudian virus: Your computer becomes obsessed with marrying its own motherboard.
Gallup virus: Sixty percent of the PCs infected will lose 38 percent of their data 14 percent of the time (plus or minus a 3.5 percent margin of error).
George Bush virus: Doesn’t do anything, but you can’t get rid of it until November.
Government economist virus: Nothing works, but all your diagnostic software says everything is fine.
Jerry Brown virus: Blanks your screen and begins flashing an 800 number.
Madonna virus: If your computer gets this virus, lock up your dog!
Mario Cuomo virus: It would be a great virus, but it refuses to run.
Michael Jackson virus: Hard to identify because it is constantly altering its appearance. This virus won’t harm your PC, but it will trash your car.
New World Order virus: probably harmless, but it makes a lot of people really mad just thinking about it.
Nike virus: Just Does It!
Ollie North virus: Turns your printer into a document shredder.
Oprah Winfrey virus: Your 200MB hard drive suddenly shrinks to 80MB, and then slowly expands back to 200MB.
Pat Buchanan virus: Shifts all your output to the extreme right of your screen.
Paul Revere virus: This revolutionary virus does not horse around. It warns you of impending hard disk attack—once if by LAN, twice if by C:.
Paul Tsongas virus: Pops up on December 25 and says, “I’m not Santa Claus.”
PBS virus: Your PC stops every few minutes to ask for money.
Politically correct virus: Never calls itself a “virus”, but instead refers to itself as an “electronic microorganism”.
Richard Nixon virus: Also known as the “Tricky Dick Virus”, you can wipe it out but it always makes a comeback.
Right To Life virus: Won’t allow you to delete a file, regardless of how old it is. If you attempt to erase a file, it requires you to first see a counselor about possible alternatives.
Ross Perot virus: Activates every component in your system, just before the whole thing quits.
Ted Kennedy virus: Crashes your computer but denies it ever happened.
Ted Turner virus: Colorizes your monochrome monitor.
Terry Randle virus: Prints “Oh no you don’t” whenever you choose “Abort” from the “Abort, Retry, Fail” message.
Texas virus: Makes sure that it’s bigger than any other file.
UK Parliament virus: Splits the screen into two with a message in each half blaming other side for the state of the system.
Warren Commission virus: Won’t allow you to open your files for 75 years.
know any good ones geeks?
Video claims to be the “Halo Movie Trailer”.
But probably fake.…or just actually fake
“Microsoft is planning to launch a $99 Xbox console package with a monthly subscription as early as next week, according to our sources. The software giant will offer the 4GB console with a Kinect sensor at its range of Microsoft Stores in the US, subsidized with a monthly cost of $15. We’re told that the two-year subscription will provide access to the Xbox Live Gold service and possibly some additional streaming content from cable providers or sports package providers. Customers who sign-up for the deal will also be covered under a two-year warranty.
There will be an early termination fee for those wishing to break the contract ahead of its two-year duration, and we understand that Microsoft will position the package as a competitor to Apple TV, Roku, and PlayStation 3. For those buying the bundle now and getting the cheapest two-year Xbox Live Gold option, that’s about $299.00 + $120 = $420 vs. $459 over a duration of two years. With E3 2012 on the horizon, and Microsoft working on a “Woodstock” music service — it’s clear that the company wants to ensure as many people as possible have an Xbox in their living rooms.”
T.Warren- Verge
“The FBI has been lobbying top internet companies like Yahoo and Google to support a proposal that would force them to provide backdoors for government surveillance, according to CNET.
The Bureau has been quietly meeting with representatives of these companies, as well as Microsoft (which owns Hotmail and Skype), Facebook and others to argue for a legislative proposal, drafted by the FBI, that would require social-networking sites and VoIP, instant messaging and e-mail providers to alter their code to make their products wiretap-friendly.
The FBI has previously complained to Congress about the so-called “Going Dark” problem – the difficulty of doing effective wiretap surveillance as more communications have moved from traditional telephone services to internet service companies.
Under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, passed in 1994, telecommunications providers are required to make their systems wiretap-friendly. The Federal Communications Commissionextended CALEA in 2004 to apply to broadband providers like ISPs and colleges, but web companies are not covered by the law.
CNET reports that in addition to this push from the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission may be looking at reinterpreting CALEA to demand that video and non-telephone-replacement VoIP products such as Skype and Xbox Live be modified to include backdoors that allow FBI surveillance.
The news comes on the heels of another FBI plan that began kicking around in 2010 that would require backdoors in encrypted communication systems. That proposal, which would revisit the encryption wars of the 1990s, has failed to gather administration backing.”
- K.Zetter WIRED-
Hello I’m McBrayn, web developer by day geek by night and weekends. This is a post I originally wrote for www.jonmcbrayer.com. Enjoy and let me know what your favorite shortcuts are.
I read an article that was mainly on computer literacy and it got me thinking about keyboard shortcuts. I’ve picked up lots of cool shortcuts that are universal across all programs and platform. Shortcuts are amazing time-saving tools. It’s a shame they aren’t taught more often. Some programs even let you define your own shortcuts.
Keyboard Close Up via Wikipedia
So here is My Top Five Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts (in no particular order):
Select All, Cut, Copy, and Paste (this might be cheating having them all together but I make the rules): respectively ctrl+ a, ctrl+c, ctrl+x, and ctrl+p.
Here is where it gets good.
New Tab, Cycle tabs, Cycle programs, Close tabs. These are less well-known but say you are in your favorite web browser and want a new tab: ctrl+t. Now that you have 2 tabs you want to switch back and forth: ctrl+tab will go forward and ctrl+tab+shift goes backwards. Now you want to flip to iTunes for some jams: alt+tab and alt+tab+shift. And finally to close a tab ctrl+w.
These are some of my favorites: select 1 character at a time, select 1 line at the time, select where your mouse clicks.These might actually need video explanations. Does anyone know how to set up a slick split screen video? Get in touch with me.First off, selecting with a mouse click. Where ever your cursor happens to be if you hold down shift and then click at another place everything between your cursor and the click will be selected.If you continue to hold shift and use the left and right arrow keys a single character will be selected.Holding shift and using the up and down arrow key will select an entire line.
Extremely nice when used with copy, cut, and paste. The keyboard is so much faster and accurate than the mouse.
And lastly some navigation. This will differ from program to program but most of them are setup this way. To reach the end of line hit the end key. To reach the beginning of line hit the home key. To reach the end of a whole document use ctrl+end and to reach the top use ctrl+home.
Inspired by: Why Don’t We Teach Kids How to Use CTRL+F? – Education – GOOD.
Hope you enjoyed. This is McBrayn signing off. Check out the original post here www.jonmcbrayer.com and let me know what your favorite shortcuts are.
Saturday is National Astronomy Day!
Tellus Science Museum
If your plans for Saturday consist of a full day of nothing, why not check out the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia? This Saturday they are celebrating National Astronomy Day. Go check out some actual meteorites and a unique view of our Sun during the day and various constellations at night. Admission for Adults is $12.
“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing” - Socrates
Yesterday, a coworker and I jokingly discussed the above excuse to get out of disregarding a text message. In recent years this has been a believable response to ignoring someone, but with current coverage and SMS technology today, it’s safe to assume you were snubbed.
Text messaging utilizes a technology referred to as SMS, Short Message Service. When someone sends a message from their phone it travels through a communication line or control channel to a centralized SMSC or Short Message Service Center. After it’s recognized by the SMSC, the information travels to the nearest cell phone tower to the recipient’s cell phone. The tower then connects to the cell phone and delivers the information.
Cell Phone Coverage in the USA
Even if the recipients’ phone cannot connect to the tower, the information will bounce back to the SMSC and will be resent until the receiver is available. If the phone is out of range from any tower the SMSC will continually attempt to transport the text during the provider-specific validity period.
Now there may be an error within the cell phone device, but this goes for all text messages not a select few. And of course there will always be a chance some error has occurred along the communication line between mobile devices, but it becomes less likely every day. So the next time someone neglects your text, chances are you are simply being ignored.
Defined as technology executed on the scale of less than 100 nanometers, the goal of which is to control individual atoms and molecules, especially to create computer chips and other microscopic devices.
“Regulators are proposing that food companies that want to use tiny engineered particles in their packaging may have to provide extra testing data to show the products are safe.
The Food and Drug Administration issued tentative guidelines Friday for food and cosmetic companies interested in using nanoparticles, which are measured in billionths of a meter. Nanoscale materials are generally less than 100 nanometers in diameter. A sheet of paper, in comparison, is 100,000 nanometers thick. A human hair is 80,000 nanometers thick.
The submicroscopic particles are increasingly showing up in FDA-regulated products like sunscreens, skin lotions and glare-reducing eyeglass coatings. Some scientists believe the technology will one day be used in medicine, but the FDA’s announcement did not address that use.
The draft guidance suggests the FDA may require food companies to provide data establishing the safety of any packaging using nanotechnology.
Under longstanding regulations, companies aren’t required to seek regulatory approval before launching products containing established ingredients and materials, such as caffeine, spices and various preservatives.
But FDA officials said Friday that foods and packaging containing nanoparticles may require more scrutiny.
“At this point, in terms of the science, we think it’s likely the exemption does not apply and we would encourage folks to come in and talk to us,” said Dennis Keefe, director of FDA’s office of food additive safety.
Keefe said companies are studying whether nanoparticles can reduce the risk of bacterial contamination in certain foods. He said the agency is aware of just one food package currently on the market that uses nanoparticles but did not identify it. He said more are expected in coming years.
The FDA has previously stated its position that nanotechnology is not inherently unsafe; however, materials at the nano scale can pose different safety issues than do things that are far larger.
“This is an emerging, evolving technology and we’re trying to get ahead of the curb to ensure the ingredients and substances are safe,” Keefe said.
In a separate guidance, the FDA laid out suggestions for the use of nanotechnology in cosmetics, a practice which has been in use since the 1990s. Nanoparticles are used in skin moisturizer, mineral make up and other cosmetics.
The FDA has less authority over cosmetics than food additives. Generally, the FDA does not review cosmetics before they launch, and companies are responsible for assuring the safety of their products.
The FDA will take comments on both proposals for 90 days. There is no deadline for finalizing the documents.” -Matt Perrone AP Geeky. Geek or Die.TGIF – Geek or Die
Snake Eyes and Roadblock are so bad ass they don’t even need a table to arm wrestle.
“Mm, drink it in. It always goes down smooth.” - Ron Burgundy
“It is official! There will be a sequel to Anchorman. There will be a sequel.” – Will Farrell
We are pretty excited about the new Anchorman announcement, the continuing adventures of San Diego news anchor Ron Burgundy.
Geek or Die
Review: The Hunger Games
As we all know a movie never does its book justice. The same goes for the incredibly popular The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross. Screenwriters Ross, Billy Ray, and Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games series author) faced various challenges translating the book to the big screen, two of the biggest being time and creative direction.
To prevent a grueling, 4 hour movie some of the content from the book was cut. This is typical for any book to movie conversion but a significant portion of the back story was eliminated, leaving those who didn’t read the book with only a 3 to 5 minute history of Panem. The intensity of the hardship and dictatorship control felt by each district was disregarded. The principals and/or intentions of Katniss’, the movie’s heroine played by Jennifer Lawrence, are not properly understood to viewers.
The second shortcoming of The Hunger Games, the movie, was the creative direction in casting. Josh Hutcherson playing Peeta Mellark, the leading male role, brought little justice to the Peeta we met in the book. He overacted and conveyed a confused personality; sometimes arrogant and other times having no confidence at all. Donald Sutherland’s inaccurate portrayal of the most evil President Snow left movie-goers without a true understanding of the character’s malevolent ways. Even without associating Sutherland’s softer roles such as Space Cowboys’ Jerry O’Neill or his most famous role as mild-mannered Hawkeye Pierce in MASH, Sutherland does not depict the characteristics of a malicious, totalitarian ruler.
Overall the movie was entertaining with parallel themes to the book. I would suggest it to those who have not seen it; however, those who have read the book and/or series do not expect the odds to be in favor of this movie…
It fathoms me how someone could live in a world full of colors and do not know how they work.
But to understand colors, one must understand light. To understand light, one must understand electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation is characterized by its wavelength (or frequency) and its intensity. Light is the visible form of electromagnetic radiation, so when the wavelength is within the visible spectrum, it is known as “visible light”.
Now, we know that light is the visible form of electromagnetic radiation, but lets break that chart down just a little more.
OK, so it is clear to see how the wavelength or frequency at which a source emits light affects the color.
Light travels through space in a straight line as long as nothing disturbs it. As light moves through the Earth’s atmosphere, it continues to go straight until it bumps into a bit of dust or a gas molecule. Then what happens to the light depends on its wave length and the size of the thing it hits.
So now that we have the fundamentals, onto our gracious sky. The color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the atmosphere, while the blue is scattered around.
But wait… wait.. the sky isn’t always blue. I have personally seen some of the most amazing sunsets and sunrises on the Hawaiian shoreline, with the most vivid reds, purple, and pinks.
Gosh, first I was telling you it was blue. Now, I’m telling you it’s only sometimes blue. Don’t worry, it’s easy to understand. During most of the day time, the light from the sun is hitting our atmosphere at a more direct angle. When the sun get closer to our horizon, it has to travel a further distance through our atmosphere affecting which wavelengths are being scattered.
Light has to travel less distance through the atmosphere during the day, and further distance at dusk or dawn. So when the light travels further, it emits more red and pink causing those great sunsets and rises.
Well, I know that was long and pretty thorough, but I believe the latin phrase, scientia potentia est, knowledge is power.
Geek or Die, Baby, Geek or DIE
