This guy has to be the biggest douchebag of all time. Check him out selling the merits of his business card.
Gadget Grand Prix
Who will win the office race -the digital camera, the mouse, the PDA, the remote control, the cell phone, or another handheld gadget? I believe this is another of those creative Samsung ads that goes viral about once a week.
[via Bits and Pieces]
AP Eats Itself
The Associated Press is seriously trying to corner the market in news, and making sure that no one sees it. AP is going after anyone and everyone that uses content they’ve sucked up from their affiliates -and that includes their affiliates! WTNQ-FM received a cease-and-desist notice from AP for embedding a video from the AP’s YouTube channel.
You cannot make this stuff up. Forget for a moment that WTNQ is itself an A.P. affiliate and that the A.P. shouldn’t be harassing its own members. Apparently, nobody told the A.P. executive that the august news organization even has a YouTube channel which the A.P. itself controls, and that someone at the A.P. decided that it is probably a good idea to turn on the video embedding function on so that its videos can spread virally across the Web, along with the ads in the videos.
Frank Strovel of WTNQ explained the situation to the vice president of affiliate relations at AP, but still had to take the videos down. Do you think the radio station will renew its contract with AP? Why pay for a service you can’t use? If this sort of thing continues, we’ll never find out what’s going on in the world. But then again, no news is good news.
[via reddit]
Scarpar Powerboard is the next best thing to Marty McFly’s Hoverboard
This thing is called the “Scarpar Powerboard” and has apparently been under development since the 90s. From the look of it, it seems that this off-road powerboard can truly go everywhere. I mean, have you seen it glide over that log? Pretty darn impressive.
[Via Gizmodo]
Jason Statham’s New Movie: Diabetes
A sweet summer blockbuster guaranteed to get your blood sugar level rising.
Facebook books 200 millionth face
By Sterling “Chip” Camden
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Today Mark Zuckerberg, the lucky stiff visionary entrepreneur who started Facebook, announced that his social media brainchild will log its 200 millionth user today.
That’s a lot of people. As stated in the accompanying video, a country of 200 million would be the fifth most populous in the world — about two-thirds of the number of people in the U.S., and six times the population of Canada. The video also claims that it took 20,000 years for the human population to reach 200 million, though I guess it would depend on when you started counting, and what you consider human.
For that matter, how many Facebook accounts belong to real humans? Not only have many marketing departments created their own fictional characters, but there’s even a petition on Facebook to recognize the rights of nonhuman profile holders.
With all those users, Facebook still has no revenue model — but that’s apparently all part of Zuckerberg’s genius plan. He’s been focused on growth before revenue, and growth has officially been delivered.
When my wife found out that I have a Facebook profile, she asked “Why?” (I think she was a little uncomfortable with the “social” aspect of “social media”). I replied, “Everybody has one.” OK, maybe not everybody. The world population is about 33 times as large — and 200 million is only about 12.5% of the world’s Internet users. Still, can 200 million people be foolish?
Oh, don’t forget to become a fan of our Facebook Page!
Inside a Google Data Center
From a presentation last week in Mountain View, California, here’s a video tour of Google’s Data Center. Could you ever estimate how much wire is involved here?
iTunes abandons flat-rate pricing and DRM protection
Apple’s decision to switch to variable pricing for iTunes tracks has led to general price rises among its competitors, though there’s something of a price war.
From yesterday, iTunes tracks no longer costs a flat rate of 99c. That’s now the standard price for most recent songs, but older tracks are down to 69c, while the most popular new releases are $1.29.
The music industry has been calling for such a variation for some time, believing that the flat-rate system was deterring people from buying older songs, while the latest hits were underpriced and thus throwing away potential revenue. Apple used to have enough clout to resist this, but competition from the likes of Amazon has left it more at the mercy of the music publishers.
Immediately following the iTunes price changes, both Amazon and Wal-Mart changed their pricing structures, which were already on a variable basis. The two firms have each upped their most expensive price level with Amazon matching iTunes’ $1.29 and Wal-Mart priced five cents cheaper.
However, Amazon has kept several of the most popular songs at 99c, meaning that although it may well be as or more expensive as iTunes overall, it will come off well in many song-for-song comparisons and give the impression that the entire service is cheaper.
Yesterday also marked the end of digital rights management with Apple following through on a promise to drop the copy protection method which many buyers felt unfairly restricted their ability to use the music they had paid for.
Wednesday Geeky Pics: More Geeky Tattoos
By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
The last time I found a bunch of geek cred tattoos, I noticed that there were a lot more floating around out there. So here’s a brand new batch of geek ink.
A-Pod: The Coolest, Scariest Hexapod Robot Ever
The A-Pod is an ant-inspired hexapod robot featuring a fully animated body composed of an abdomen, a head with a pair of large mandibles, a thorax, and 6 legs. Check it out in the video below. The thing almost looks lifelike!
[Via Trossen Robotics]