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Audio: Stephen Hawking’s Best Quotes

shaun — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:14:38 +0000

It would be hard to find a geek who doesn’t recognize the world-famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who turns 70 today.

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Engadget’s 2012 CES Preview

shaun — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:14:21 +0000

Though the holidays are once again coming to a close, we now find ourselves just a week away from every geek’s ultimate holiday — the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, arguably the biggest event of the year for the tech world. Thousands of companies gather in the Nevada desert to show off their latest innovations, setting the stage for what will no doubt be another stellar year in electronics. In anticipation of the onslaught we’re about to experience, we want to offer up our predictions of what you can expect at the show. There’s always a few wondrous surprises that nobody could ever see coming — part of what makes CES fun — but aside from those jaw-dropping moments, we have a pretty solid idea of what will take place next week. So join us as we break down CES 2012, one category at a time.

Continue reading Engadget’s 2012 CES Preview

Engadget’s 2012 CES Preview originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget

Arduino geek develops Cold War Angst, starts spying on satellites (video)

shaun — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:14:27 +0000

Start with some Arduino and Gameduino hardware, add a splash of PLAN-13 satellite tracking software from 1983, and finish with a healthy dose of libertarianism. The result? A neat little hack called Angst, designed and built by Mark VandeWettering (aka Brainwagon). It can store details of up to 750 satellites on 128KB of EEPROM memory and display their predicted orbits in all the glory of SVGA display. Don’t get lazy though — the most reliable way to track those pesky snoops in the sky is still to don your anorak, step outdoors and snoop right back.

Continue reading Arduino geek develops Cold War Angst, starts spying on satellites (video)

Arduino geek develops Cold War Angst, starts spying on satellites (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget

This is how you should buy music online

shaun — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:14:22 +0000

With the recent launches of Google Music, Amazon Cloud Player and iCloud, there has never been an easier time to buy a song. Each service is different, though, and each has their strengths and weaknesses. Depending on your phone, listening habits and geekiness, you are better off going with one service over another. Here is a handy guide to help you choose which service is best for you.

Do you own an iPhone? Are you a geek?

Then you should use Amazon Cloud Player. iTunes still sells their music in AAC format. This is different from MP3. Even though many devices play AAC, you are still safer buying an MP3 file. Plus, Amazon always has deals, and you can pick up many albums for . After you purchase a song, you can listen to it on Amazon’s Cloud Player website, but you’ll likely want to get it on your phone. Amazon has a nice app that auto-downloads purchased tunes and sticks them right into iTunes. From there, you can use the new iOS5 Sync over Wifi and transfer the song to your iPhone without much hassle.

Do you own an iPhone, but are not a geek?

You should use iTunes. You don’t care about AAC. Saving on an album is not worth the extra steps getting it on your phone. iCloud makes it easy to download purchased songs on to all your devices and computers. Maybe you’ll even use Ping to tell your friends what you bought (just kidding!).

Should you pay a year for iTunes Match?

That’s a tougher question because both geeks and non-geeks alike will find things to love and hate about Match. On the geeky side, you are thinking that a lot of your music was ripped poorly at a low bitrate and has skips in it. Paying to convert to cleaner files with a higher bitrate is enticing. Of course, they are still AAC and it’s not like there is a nice website to go stream all this from. You’ll still be downloading manually and you may have more than 25,000 songs which means you are SOL with Match. For the rest of you non-geeks, it’s probably worth it. You don’t use Dropbox to transfer songs from one computer to another. You don’t care about AAC. You are not sure what syncing songs over Wifi means. Match makes it easier to listen to your music on your computer at home and at work. You should do it.

Do you own an Android?

If so, let’s eliminate iTunes. Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music offer great experiences getting music on your phone. You can purchase from right within the app. You can also purchase from the web and the music will be instantly available on your device for streaming. So which of the two should you use? You are probably better off using Amazon at this point. As with the Kindle, Amazon is a retailer that is committed to being on all devices. That means that the music you purchase on Amazon today will find its way on to many devices in the future. Will we see Cloud Player on the iPhone? Most likely, at some point. Will we see Google Music? Maybe. But if it’s as good as Gmail or any other Google apps on the iPhone, then it won’t be worth it anyway. Another reason to use Amazon is that you can easily download songs to your phone for offline listening. As an added bonus, the music you download is available in other apps — like games and such. Google Music allows you to “pin” music for offline listening but that music only will play within Google Music. As far as I can tell, you cannot access it from other apps. One thing Google Music has going for it is integration with Google+. It remains to be seen how effective that is, but the idea of sharing purchased songs with your friends is a step in the right direction. Music is social, and none of the above services have cracked that yet.

So there you have it. A helpful guide to purchasing music. We’ve come a long way and it sure is great to see three big companies competing on features and price. We are all better off for it. As for me? I mostly purchase from Amazon and Bandcamp with the occasional iTunes and now Google Music sprinkled in. I guess if you are an ultra music geek with many devices, that’s your best bet!

Dan Kantor is the CEO of exfm, a social music service, as well as an adjunct professor at NYU ITP. He spends his days listening to music and wrote this post after repeatedly being asked by friends the best ways to buy music today.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Beneath_B1ue_Skies.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
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Connected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes

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Amazing Spider-Man Slings Teen Romance, Giant Lizard

shaun — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 09:14:19 +0000

The next Spider-Man to swing into theaters won’t be fully formed. In the upcoming reboot of the Marvel Comics superhero story, audiences will get to see the early days of Peter Parker when he was still just a tortured geek. A report from Comic-Con International.

Wired Top Stories

Geek Bucket List No. 79 — Build Your Own Arcade Cabinet With Project Arcade

shaun — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:14:21 +0000

Fulfill your geeky dream of having a MAME cabinet in your living room.

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Listen: Secret Libya Psyops, Caught by Online Sleuths

shaun — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:14:20 +0000

One Dutch radio geek is monitoring the airwaves for information about the attack on Libya — and getting surprisingly-detailed results, including a broadcast from a secret U.S. propaganda plane.

Wired Top Stories

One Of The Best Bingo Advice Portals

techgeek — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 06:57:18 +0000

Over the past few years, online bingo has soared in popularity. Countless websites write about it and do reviews of the many bingo sites, but speaking about the basics is not something that generally happens.

By basics what I mean is the simple important things that you need to know like the rules and how to play online bingo. There is also a good lack of banking information on these sites, like how to make deposits and withdraw your money.

If I was a newcomer to online bingo and I landed on a site that was full of advertising and lacked basic information I would be disappointed. It is also really difficult to get around many bingo review websites as well because there is so much advertising on them.

One site that stands out from what I’ve just described above is Online Bingo Geek which is very easy to navigate around. There is so much detail about the basic aspects of online bingo on it too, so even the least clued up person will be confident in knowing how it works.

There is a really simple navigation menu with categories on it down the left hand side of the site. Also, Online Bingo Geek only features the best bingo websites around which is another up side to it.

Some reviews sites advertise hundreds of different sites and from a players point of view this isn’t a good thing. People simply want to play at a handful of the best sites, not trawl through hundreds of bingo sites. The people at Online Bingo Geek are fully aware of this, so they just recommend sites like Bet365 Bingo and other good sites.

I think that one of the best bits of Online Bingo Geek is their section on bingo sites bonuses. You will see that there is a lot of detail on no deposit bingo and free bingo too so you know what offers like these are about.

I am positive that this is one of the most useful and helpful sites out there. If you’re new to bingo, it’s worth taking yourself over to www.onlinebingogeek.com and taking a look at it yourself.

What is the computer/gadget equivalent of a “gearhead”?

shaun — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:04:53 +0000

by Simon Davison

Question by Philmore: What is the computer/gadget equivalent of a “gearhead”?
A “gearhead” is a person with an inborn talent for cars and mechanical technology like motors. A UK variant is “Petrol head” which is is more specific to cars and driving.

So, what do you call someone who has an uncanny knack for computers and generally IT stuff like gadgets and phones, despite having no formal education in them? You probably know somebody likes this, who will just pick up your phone or laptop having never seen it before, and within 5 minutes can tell you exactly whats wrong with it or 10 things you didn’t know it could do.

Best answer:

Answer by jcurrieii
The Computer World equivelent is generally called a Tech or a Geek…

Or, occasionally, a TechnoGeek. If they are into the software more than the hardware, they are either Programmers or Hackers, depending on which way they lean.

Good Luck!

Give your answer to this question below!

Part 2 with Alex Albrect

shaun — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:54:42 +0000

with blogger, geek, and pro-podcaster Alex Albrecht
Video Rating: 5 / 5