It was a scumbag move, but in the end the sheep will still buy it. And so will I. When PC game peripheral maker Razer put the word out earlier in the week that something big was coming, speculation rose. It wasn’t necessarily about the potential product, it was about the message itself. “PC gaming is not dead.” Gamers and bloggers rallied around the message excitedly. People started wondering what it meant. Was there a battle coming? Was a revolution starting? With the ominous messaging style used by Anonymous when they declare things such as taking down Facebook on November 5th, Razer sparked interest…

For fans of one of the most popular games of the last decade, Halo Fest marks more than just the 10-year anniversary. It’s a time to remember where the game has been and where it’s going. “It’s our place to take over the baton that’s being passed to us for Halo, and it’s also a chance to introduce the team who have been working away in anonymity and secrecy for a couple of years now, give them a face and show people who’s stewarding the Halo franchise for the next 10 years,” said Frank O’Connor of 343 Industries. The official “baton” was handed off earlier this month, marking the start of the next decade of…

In late March 2011, NASA’s Swift satellite alerted astronomers to intense and unusual high-energy flares from a new source in the constellation Draco. They soon realized that the source, which is now known as Swift J1644+57, was the result of a truly extraordinary event — the awakening of a distant galaxy’s dormant black hole as it shredded and consumed a star. The galaxy is so far away that the radiation from the blast has traveled 3.9 billion years before reaching Earth. Speculative video representations of something unseen are often weak at best and completely wrong at worst. When NASA steps…

Ever since the Portal phenomenon started in 2007, memes, strategy groups, and a sequel have popped up. What started out as an add-on portion of a bundle turned into one of the most loved puzzle-solving games of all time. Filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg put together the most epic live-action Portal video to date. There is no doubt to that. One thing is clear – the character might pretend like she’s never played the game, but after seeing her moves, it’s clear that now she’s thinking with Portals. …

As sports go, surfing is one that has always had the stigma of being both relatively safe and potentially deadly. Injuries aren’t very common, but the risk of getting knocked out and drowning is ever present. Billabong’s Hub Hubbard and pro surfer Shane Dorian took an idea born from a scary moment and turned it into a nice little piece of technology. The Billabong V1 wetsuit has an inflatable air bladder that surfers (and potentially anyone who works in the ocean) can use to float to the edge in moments of desperation. The only thing it needs is something that automates it, as it requires manual pulling…

Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation are very familiar with the deep, resounding voice of Patrick Stewart. It’s coarse, like weathered leather, and has a sophistication to the pitch and diction that make it challenging to get right. For co-star Brent Spiner, he can fool (for a time) just about anyone, even Stewart’s wife. Here his is at Comicon, 2011. The video quality is poor but the sound is good enough to hear the expertise associated with the impression. …

Technophopia is not the fear of old dance music. It’s the fear of anything using advanced technologies, particularly computers. It’s not a huge problem – 85%-90% of people taking on a new job have some degree of technophopia – but it’s definitely something that shouldn’t be flamed or even encouraged… …except in this case. We’re still trying to find the origin and context, but it’s enough to make us laugh for now. …

Those who frequent Starbucks have had a quad shot drink before. This is not one of those. Instead, it’s a remote control aircraft that combines the functionality of a helicopter and an airplane. The small company has raised over $37,000 so far, well above its goal of $25,000, and will be funded on September 17th. What makes it special beyond the functionality is the way it was designed. Using open-source hardware and software, they created a unique airframe design that combines the best of both types of flight. By creating a “brain” called Lisa/M that is the size of 3 quarters, they were able to equip…

With over 300 million reported PC gamers in the world, many dismiss the notion that it is dead or losing the battle against console gaming. Accessories and peripherals creator Razer built a website today that doesn’t tell us much other than that something big is coming on August 26th, 2011. Otherwise, there’s not much information. You can sign up for updates on the website. Upon verification, you receive this message: The ominous-sounding message ends by saying, “Stand with us on the 26th of August and together we shall remind the world that PC gaming is not dead.” We’ll just have to wait and see….

There are fears in the scientific community about coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and our recent inability to track them properly. CMEs are huge magnetized clouds of electified gas (plasma) that can be as big as 1.5 trillion tons of gas and travel at 3 million mph. If a powerful CME hits the earth’s magnetosphere, it can disrupt salellites, radio communication, and even the electric grid. The head on perspective of tracking CMEs from earth has always offered a challenge. As you’ll see in this video, a combination of new technologies makes it possible to have better understanding of the events. For…