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Items of Note:
This Saturday, April 4th, Gozer, The Stay Puft marshmellow man and I will be podcasting at I-CON 28 in Brendwood, NY. If you’re attending the show, be sure to say hello!
We also have a Facebook group & fan page. Search Facebook for “The Geekcast” and you’ll see the show listed.
This is the last week to let us know if you’re interested in playing Xbox online. We need to know how much interest there is, so we can proceed accordingly, if at all. Right now, we have ZERO interest. Well we did have that one guy!
Listener Feedback:
Shout outs to twitter listeners therealhex & woden325. They let us know they’re fans of the show and we’re grateful to have them on-board with us. Hello to Surtur who listens on his PSP where he gets the show via the RSS feed. Finally, shout outs to Gozer’s new twitter guys: Keyshark, PeterFranken and RunningRambling.
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Geek This Week
Aaron:
World of Goo from the MacHeist 3 bundle is a fun puzzle game where you build structures using pieces of ‘goo’ that stick to each other. The object is to make the structure reach to another section of the map. I tried it on a whim last night and it’s a complete time-sponge.
I’ve really been enjoying Chuck on NBC. This geeky show has really come into its own and it’s not just about an attraction between a nerd and a hot spy. It’s one of the main shows I’ve been looking forward to during the week, now that I’ve dropped Heroes & Sarah Connor Chronicles from my TiVo.
Gozer:
Playing some Gears 2 Snowblind map pack goodness. Lots of snow. 800 points or 5,000 sheckels! 4 maps w/snow: Fuel Depot w/ snow, yes the sniper rifles are still in the tractor trailers and the hammer of dawn switches with the mortar inside the warehouse. ( Annex) Courtyard w/snow, is just a really big open courtyard with lots of small cover. Grindyard w/ snow, more of a close quarters map with awesome sniping spots and lots of cover. One particular spot awesome for horde mode.
There’s a one way ramp that goes up to this balcony where there’s either a boomshot or a mulcher. Put a shield up and you’ll be set. Lastly, w/snow, there is Underhill, with snow, which is visually spectacular. Looks like these multiple garages all parallel to each other. Then opposite of the garages is this big suspension bridge where the sun is setting. Looks fantastic. Also a great spot in the garage for horde mode. There’s basically a big garage door that you have to close and only one way into this small room. Block the one way with a shield and you’ll be good to go. Uhhh….snow.
Guitar hero Metallica! Rock! Opens with all the album covers then goes right into the band playing Master of Puppets. Awesome. Got in single player quick play. Was able to pick from a lot of songs right off the bat. I made a setlist of 6 songs:
#6 The Unforgiven ( off the black albulm), #5 The Shortest Straw ( off and justice for all) #4 Wherever i may roam ( off the black album), #3 For whom the bell tolls (from Ride the lightning), #2 Master of Puppets (from Master of Puppets), and #1 one of my favorite all time songs…Creeping Death (off ride the lightning)
The climax of the song is the personification of death killing the egyptians first born. Die…by my hand…i creep across the land…killing first born man! Goosebumps were felt as i rocked out, blinking strobe lights and all, in the basement by myself. “Lambs blood painted door, I shall pass”
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Tech & Game news:
From Ars Technica:
SeeqPod files for bankruptcy after being sued by record industry
SeeqPod, the “playable search” engine, has filed for bankruptcy after becoming a target for the record industry. SeeqPod has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being sued by a number of record companies. SeeqPod allows users to scour the Internet for a variety of media (including videos, music, and presentations), turn music tracks into audio streams, and listen right from the browser. It also supports playlist creation and sharing. The issue is that SeeqPod makes no effort to filter out illicit copyrighted content. Any MP3 it finds on the Web is fair game, regardless of what copyrights the original uploader may be breaking. Warner Bros. Records launched a lawsuit against the company in January, 2008 calling SeeqPod an “unlawful music service that directly engages in, encourages, and facilitates the mass infringement of Plaintiffs’ and other intellectual property owners’ copyrighted works.” Since then, EMI and Capitol Records have also filed lawsuits against SeeqPod, but took things a step further by also targeting investors, SeeqPod employees, and even one developer who made use of the SeeqPod API for his own websites.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/seeqpod-bullied-into-bankruptcy-by-record-industry.ars
Onlive announces cloud-based console gaming
OnLive is launching the world’s highest performance Games On Demand service, instantly delivering the latest high-end titles over home broadband Internet to the TV and entry-level PCs and Macs. You will be able to play the hottest current titles instantly on your TV, PC or Mac through your broadband Internet connections. Access to OnLive will be available on PC or Mac via a small browser plug-in, or from a TV via the OnLive MicroConsole. While currently in private Beta, they expect to have an external Beta to gamers around the US this summer. They plan to make OnLive available in Winter 2009.
OnLive works over nearly any broadband connection (DSL, cable modem, fiber, or through the LAN at your college or office). For Standard-Definition TV resolution, OnLive needs a 1.5 Mbps connection. For HDTV resolution (720p60), OnLive needs 5 Mbps.
http://www.onlive.com/about.html
http://www.onlive.com/service/how_onlive_works.html
1UP News:
Harold Ramis Finds Video Games Unfamiliar Territory
Says the game script recording process is a “little weird.”
Harold Ramis has been in the movie business for a long time, but video games are apparently unfamiliar territory. According to a new interview with MTV, he realized as much when he took a look at the script for the upcoming video game adaptation of Ghostbusters.
“It was a little weird. I had no idea because I’m not a gamer. The game scripts are like 250 pages,” Ramis said. “You need all these alternatives so it took forever. A lot of it is just yelling, ‘Look out! Throw that trap, rookie!’ Stuff like that.”
Fortunately, the voice still fits, he said. The uniform though? Not so much.
As for the script itself, Ramis said that co-star Dan Aykroyd “kind of consulted on the project.” The result was Aykroyd having input on a lot of the story, while Ramis “kind of helped him change the dialogue.”
In the meantime, development continues ahead of the game’s multi-platform release. This after Atari rescued it from purgatory following Vivendi Games’s merger with Activision, giving what’s been termed “Ghostbusters 3″ a new home. Expect it on all platforms June 17.
Side note – I heard Sigourney Weaver showed some interest in the game a little too late. Apparently she didn’t know that the original cast was doing the game. Alyssa Milano is going to be the new love interest in the game.
http://www.gametab.com/news/2934612/
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Test A Geek: Enjoy a new edition of Test A Geek on this episode.
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How To: Use Twitter Clients on Linux
If you’re down with the penguin and also getting sucked into the Twitter world, using a Twitter client greatly advances the productivity of the web application. Mac and PC users have many options but Linux can be just as powerful for keeping up with this hyper-network. There are a number of desktop clients available for Linux users which makes using twitter a lot easier. Some of these programs are out on multiple OS’s thanks to Adobe Air, which runs on all three OS’s.
1) twhirl: Thanks to Adobe Air deploying applications over multiple platform is easier than ever. twhirl is one of the most widely used twitter desktop clients out there. It supports multiple accounts over multiple social networks with a decent user interface.
2) twitus: A simple GTK+ twitter client with several distribution specific packages.
3) gtwitter: Inspired by twitterrific and written in Mono/C#, this is another good GTK+ based Linux client.
4) Qwit: Native KDE users will appreciate this twitter clients developed with Qt4.
5) Mitter: A light weight python twitter client which can also be also used from the console.
See more clients at linuxhaxor.net. With these programs, you should find one of these clients useful to get your Twitter on. You can also use Twitter Directories like Twellow to look for people with similar interests to follow.
http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2009/03/22/10-twitter-clients-for-linux/
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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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Hack: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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The Geek’s View: Skype for the iPhone / iPod Touch
This past Tuesday, a Skype application was released for the iPhone & iPod Touch. While most of the features aren’t too surprising, there are a few capabilities that are notably missing, but there are a few iPhone-only features as well.
Calls on Skype for iPhone work only if you’re in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot and calls will not work over cell. If you want to chat with someone over text, that will work regardless of the connection. If you have an iPod Touch, you will need will need earphones with a microphone to talk. During a call, you can mute the line, go on hold, or put the call on speakerphone. There is also a “My Info” window that allows you to buy SkypeOut credit online. Some iPhone-only features include taking a photo from within Skype to serve as your avatar image or pulling a picture in from the camera roll. The app also allows you to accept incoming conference calls but you cannot make those calls.
Overall, the program is really nice and is a fantastic way to get voice services on an iPod Touch while saving on minutes from your AT&T account. This can come in handy especially if you’re using the free AT&T hotspots in starbucks or free wifi in other places such as Panera Bread. It runs smooth and it’s a must-have for anyone into VoIP and looking to get free or cheap calls on their device.
Skype for iPhone / iPod Touch can be downloaded for free from the iTunes Store.
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Outtake link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjfunv7HB6U
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