Offbeat posts

Netflix woes continue, this time from angry investors with a class-action suit

Offbeat / January 17 by Connor Livingston

The terrible summer and fall that Netflix had in 2011 seemed to have turned as poor decisions were reversed, new deals were made, and the fallout over price increases had passed. As 2012 begins, Netflix faces a new threat: its own investors. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, by the City of Royal Oak Retirement System, on behalf of “all plaintiffs similarly situated” claims that the online and mail-order movie delivery service failed to disclose crucial information to them before raising prices dramatically. They were also left unaware that some of the content…

IBM's vision of the technology world in the next 5 years

Lifestyle / January 16 by Rocco Penn

Every year, IBM takes a stab at telling the future by examining what they’re working on in their 5in5 series. This year’s list was surprisingly bland compared to past ones as they explored technologies that many would agree aren’t necessarily 5 years away; in two cases, we should see these technologies enter our daily lives within 1 or 2 years. It’s not an insult of what they’re trying to do – they’re the scientists and we’re just bloggers. It’s just that their predictions are a bit conservative. Energy Applying kinetic energy solutions to our lives is something that makes complete sense other than…

This cake is not a lie

Design / January 14 by Scarlett Madison

We normally don’t look at cooking as a way to generate tech discussions or exemplify geek awesomeness, but this sort of cooking does the trick. Fans of the game Portal should be very familiar with the concept of “the cake’s a lie.” If you played the game, you probably cannot look at cake (or the promise of it) the same as you once did. This cake was baked by Mike’s Amazing Cakes and their portfolio of creatively conceived delicacies is impressive to say the least. At first glance of the image above, one would probably think that it’s a cool plastic or metal replica of the gaming icon, but as you see below,…

Samsung unveils the smartest window you've ever seen at CES

Design / January 14 by Connor Livingston

“Quite frankly, I feel like I’m in Minority Report and that’s really awesome,” said Ashley Esqueda from Mobile Nations. If there was any doubt that technology was reaching a tipping point where things from our imaginations were becoming a reality, the Samsung “Transparent Smart Window” technology may be enough to squash it. The touchscreen aperture designed for use in the kitchen and other rooms where we spend time in front of a window gives you Twitter, virtual blinds, weather reports, and likely many other things that people will find useful (in a novelty sort of fashion, of course). Take a…

Website owners, here's how to protest SOPA on January 18th

Lifestyle / January 14 by Sal McCloskey

Social news aggregator Reddit.com took the lead and announced that they were “going black” on January 18th to protest SOPA and PIPA. Despite backpedaling in Congress, the need is greater than ever for people to learn what the bills will mean if passed. Other websites need to follow Reddit’s lead. Several have, including Cheezburger, GOOD, and MoveOn, but it’s not enough. If you’re a website owner, Sara Jo Chipps has an easy way for you to participate. Drop the following code in between your two <HEAD></HEAD> tags on your site, your users will be redirected to the blackout page that…

Visualizing the answers to the ultimate showdown: "Geeks vs Nerds"

Lifestyle / January 13 by JD Rucker

For much of the 70, 80s, and even 90s, “nerds” and “geeks” were synonymous for most who used the terms. The words could be interchanged and nobody would give it a thought. After the turn of the millennium, it became clear that the two groups became distinct (if they weren’t already) and headed in different but parallel directions. To understand the distinctions, we refer to the graphic below that makes the question easier to answer. Click to enlarge. From: MastersInIt.org…

90s kids in 45 years

Gaming / January 13 by Scarlett Madison

If you ask older people today, many would use phrases of disappointment akin to “weeping for the future” or “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.” The perception of the future for the younger generation isn’t much different; cynicism is strong and our future doesn’t seem as bright as it once did. There is, however, a concept that may or may not be true but should make us smile nonetheless. From Reddit, here’s a vision of 2057 that appears closer to reality than most others we’ve seen lately. (H/T: La Canada Audi)…

Link's Love Nest

Gaming / January 8 by Scarlett Madison

Ah, young love. It warms the heart to see young gaming characters finding each other after a long quest and heading into the world of everlasting relationships as it so often does in gaming lands. Unfortunately for Link, his humble abode may not be exactly what Zelda had in mind. (Via: GabeDraws)…

Ericsson's vision of a "Networked Society" is beautiful, terrifying

Gadgets / January 6 by Sal McCloskey

There’s a fine line between technology that enables a better world and technology that makes us head in the wrong direction. Movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and iRobot have given us a fiction view of what could happen if technology connected us all and eventually had the ability to take over. Such a vision has been a distant whimsical threat until very recently. Today, it all seems possible. We’re On the Brink of amazing things in society, as Ericsson puts it. The telecom gear maker has put a lot of effort into communicating their dream of the near future with their Networked Society website….

Internet access IS a human right

Lifestyle / January 5 by JD Rucker

Technology and philosophy have been at the center of more debates lately than ever before. It’s clear that technology is advancing faster than anyone would have imagined a decade ago, while an argument could be made that the philosophies that brought the world this far are starting to regress to less-civilized times. In the question of whether or not internet access is a human right or simply a privilege, technology and philosophy collide dramatically. The arguments that Vinton G. Cerf, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist and a prominent computer scientist recognized as a “father of the Internet,”…

Fighting America’s "Brain Drain"

Lifestyle / January 5 by Tommy Swanson

The new global economy isn’t defined by the battle for the newest machines or precious ore, but a battle of ideas. Not ideas like concepts, fantastic new technologies, or complex economic models, but innovators and inventors–thinkers and entrepreneurs. With world markets shaky and the United States standing on the brink of a double dip recession, the country is suffering from brain drain: talented, well-educated college graduates, finding dismal opportunities domestically, are seeking their fortune abroad. Silicon Valley isn’t just in California anymore; it can be found in fledgling…

Fun and frightful UFO video for the skeptic in all of us

Offbeat / January 5 by Sal McCloskey

Most people fall in the “maybe” category. There are others who are absolutely certain there are no extra-terrestrial UFOs, that they’re just government experiments, fabrications of modern video editing, or misunderstood phenomenon. Others are positive that there are visitors from other planets (or other dimensions) flying around abducting people and mutilating cows. Regardless of which of the three camps you’re in, one thing is certain – the sightings are on the rise. Many say that the frequency of sightings aren’t going up but that we now carry personal camcorders in the form of smartphones…