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Items of Note:
All episodes of The Geekcast are now live! I’ve uploaded and linked all episodes of the show through the new site and now every episode of the show is available to download. In addition, a new ‘related episode’ feature has been added to the site as well. Just click on the blog entry for the episode you’re interested in and related episodes will be presented on the right!
Are you enjoying our weekly short ‘Geek Out’ episodes? Let us know!
We have begun our live-streaming of the show! You can now watch Aaron and Gozer record the show and also participate in a chat room with us! This will allow you to view the show live and see how the magic happens. Even better, it will let you interact with us as we record which may be a lot of fun. We’ve never done this before, so there are bound to be hiccups and glitches, but if you bear with us, this could be really cool. We currently record on Wednesday evenings and start between 7:30 and 8:00 pm Eastern and we go for about 60-90 minutes.
Check out our youtube channel. Ghostbusters is hiring.com sucks. They have put many other videos of people sitting in front of their computers, but not mine. I also did not tell them to hire me in my video.
Listener Feedback:
We get a funny call from Matt talking about our off-topic chats and also his ‘geek cred’.
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Geek This Week:
Aaron:
Preparing to upgrade my TiVo HD to a 1-TB drive, giving it about 150-hours of HD recording capability. The current capacity is around 25-hours, which is a nice start for people who don’t watch a lot of TV. In my house, especially during hockey season, the TiVo can get filled very quickly and more capacity is needed. I picked up the Western Digital AV-GP SATA 300 (Model WD10EVVS) for $98 at buy.com. I splurged for the overnight shipping so I can do the upgrade tomorrow on my ‘Sunday’.
To prepare for the upgrade, I installed Windows XP on my mac via Parallels and I’ve downloaded the MFSTools software needed to initalize the drive. I’ll have a full report on the upgrade on the next episode of The Geekcast!
Gozer:
Still messing around with visionlab studios. Did a cool fire effect with a fireball moving in sync with my hand palm up. Also did a cool disappearing effect using the nightcrawler purple puff of smoke.
Played the demo of Red Faction Guerrilla, pretty cool, basic third person shooter. Lots of explosions and great controls. A solid rent.
Looking forward to next Tuesday for the gears 2 all fronts map pack. $20 will get you 15 maps and 1 deleted campaign scene. 15 maps if you have not purchased the combustible and snowblind map packs. 7 new dark corners maps. Can’t wait to do horde mode on each new map.
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Tech and Gaming News:
Madden NFL 10 Demo Coming to 360 on July 23
First GameStop announced that it had an exclusive demo of Madden NFL 10, and now Microsoft has made it known that the previously announced demo featuring the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys will come to the Xbox Live Marketplace a week before its release on other platforms — provided you’re an Xbox Live Gold member. The premier tier gamers will be able to slug it out in the snow at Giants Stadium when the demo is released on the Marketplace this Thursday, July 23.
You’ll only be able to enjoy a game that lasts eight minutes; if you want a demo with the typical default five minute quarters, a GameStop pre-order is your only option before the game’s August 14 release. Along with the release of the demo on other platforms on July 30, that’s also when Xbox Live Silver members will be able to get in on the fun.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175229
Microsoft finalizes Windows 7
Microsoft on Wednesday said it has finalized the code for Windows 7, paving the way for the new operating system to make its way onto retail shelves and new PCs in time for its October 22 launch.
The software maker is hoping the response to the new operating system differs from the lukewarm reviews and compatibility challenges that marked the release of Windows Vista, which hit the market in January 2007. In contrast to Vista, Windows 7 has been marked by the company consistently hitting its deadlines and receiving largely positive feedback along the way.
“That is our final engineering milestone in what has been a three-year journey,” said Mike Angiulo, general manager for planning in the Windows unit.
Windows 7 relies on the same underpinnings as Windows Vista, but adds a lot of features aimed at making the operating system both look and perform better.
Visually, it does a better job of managing open windows through an improved taskbar and a feature that lets users peek at one particular window or see the desktop that is hidden below all of the windows. On the performance side, it boots up and shuts down faster, and can run better on Netbooks and low-end machines.
Whereas Vista suffered several delays and saw its feature set change significantly in the years it was being developed and tested, Windows 7 looks very similar to the early developer preview version first shown at last October’s professional developer conference.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10292369-56.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Portable Xbox a ‘Matter of When’
Corporate VP Shane Kim suggests it’s inevitable, but is he really talking about a gaming handheld?
In an interview with Kikizo (via Game Stooge), Microsoft corporate vice president Shane Kim made the strongest direct comments yet about their plans in the portable gaming space, calling it not a matter of if, but a matter of “when.”
“For us, it’s a matter of focusing on ‘when’, because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like… Project Natal,” said Kim, in response to whether he sees room for the Xbox brand in portable gaming in the future. “So we’ve chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we’re building a service in Live that will… will extend to other platforms. No question about it.”
Well, except for one question: “So the question will be, how do we enter into that market — do we do our own device, do we create our own phone — that’s a question for the company itself,” Kim said. “Do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path, which is that path that we’re on today, etcetera, etcetera. But believe me, we understand the importance of that device in people’s lives. And the more we make Live about valuable service and add more content, and add more ways to connect with your friends through it, we’re going to need to make sure that it’s on all the important platforms in people’s lives, including PC.”
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175208
Amazon to snap up Zappos
Amazon has agreed to a stock takeover of Zappos.com, a Las Vegas-based online retailer that has become famous for its unusual corporate culture. While Zappos started out selling only shoes, it has sinceexpanded to other products.
“This morning, our board approved and we signed what’s known as a ‘definitive agreement,’ in which all of the existing shareholders and investors of Zappos (there are over 100) will be exchanging their Zappos stock for Amazon stock,” a memo posted to Zappos by CEO Tony Hsieh read. “Once the exchange is done, Amazon will become the only shareholder of Zappos stock.”
Until this point, Zappos was privately owned. Amazon provided more details in an official release: The company will acquire all outstanding Zappos shares in exchange for roughly 10 million shares of Amazon common stock, which comes out to be about $807 million. Additionally, the transaction involves about $40 million in cash and restricted stock units to Zappos employees. The transaction is expected to be complete this fall.
“We think that there is a huge opportunity for us to really accelerate the growth of the Zappos brand and culture, and we believe that Amazon is the best partner to help us get there faster,” Hsieh wrote in his memo, adding that he and other Zappos executives plan to stay on board. “Amazon supports us in continuing to grow our vision as an independent entity, under the Zappos brand and with our unique culture.”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10293262-93.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
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Test a Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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How To: Clean up your Mac- Top 3 cleaning tools according to iCreate magazine
1) AppCleaner ( tried it )
www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner
AppCleaner finds and removes all apps and everything that goes with them.
2) Onyx ( tried it )
www.titanium.free.fr
Onyx is is a clean up/detox tool. Check out the clean up section.
3) Omnidisksweeper
www.omnigroup.com
Omnidisksweeper shows you percentages of what exactly is taking up space on your hard drive.
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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:
The Wire on HBO
The Show is about the many lives of people in Baltimore, Maryland. The Law and drug dealers primarily. The main writer David Simon based the show on his years at the Baltimore Sun. There are five seasons of this show and each season is slightly different than the other. The first season focuses on this crew of screw ups, James McNultey being the lead character, starting to outsmart this gang of drug dealers lead by Avon Barksdale. They start this wiretap to monitor the activities of the drug dealers dealing in the towers projects.
Season 2 focuses on the ports of Maryland and McNultey being cast into this undesireable job of working there. Season 3 focuses on the streets and the creation of this amsterdam “legalization” or “toleration” of drugs. Also the life of a councelman who aspires to become mayor. Very exciting last 2 episodes. Just started season 4, it focuses on middle school kids growing up on the streets of Baltimore and the horrific things they see. One of he kid’s mom realizes that they have no income ( because her significant other is incarcerated) and pushes her 12 year old son to deal drugs. About halfway done with this season. Season 5 is about the impact the press has on the society at large.
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