Geek TV: BBT Takes on AoC

by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Last night, CBS’s geektastic sitcom The Big Bang Theory featured the MMORPG Age of Conan. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that it explored the perils of game addiction in a humorous way. Like the rest of the show, it’s not framed in a way to mock the geeky characters but rather makes them pretty endearing. I imagine that to the non-geek it seems like an anthropological view of some foreign culture–like a kid enjoying an adult TV show despite not getting all the jokes. But for us, it’s even more fun because of the nuances.

This isn’t the first time that an MMORPG has been highlighted on the show; last season, an episode opened with four characters playing World of Warcraft, engaged in a rousing battle to get the “Sword of Azeroth:”

Also last season, an episode of the CBS show How I Met Your Mother involved a relationship between the protagonist and a new woman in his life… the revelation being that the two of them had met on WoW (this geek is almost ashamed to say that she actually recognized their meeting place as Stranglethorn Vale).

I don’t play Age of Conan myself, but I’m curious as to how accurate the portrayal of the gameplay was. I do know enough to have spotted a problem with one of the characters becoming a “level three warrior,” since I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a warrior class in AoC (they’re called “guardians”). I have a feeling that Sheldon isn’t the type of guy to call a class anything but by its proper name. Of course, there’s no such thing as the “Sword of Azeroth” either. I’d be interested to hear what our AoC-playing readers thought of the episode! You can find clips from the episode here at CBS’s website (Season 2, Episode 3). Or for those of you out of the country, it’s available on YouTube for the time being: parts 1, 2, and 3.

One part in particular that made me laugh was a comment about wanting a pair of enchanted boots in a different color…. maybe it’s a girl thing, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been playing an MMORPG and have thought the exact same thing. I bet that there are some of you out there who have gone on playing with outdated armor for a while because the better stuff is just too ugly for words. That’s actually one of the things like I like about City of Heroes–total wardrobe control!



Google Labs Releases Mail Goggles

Like everyone, I sometimes send messages that should have stayed in my head. Being impulsive is in the nature of human beings, and to prevent people from blundering, the only thing needed is often a bit of time.

So to help users with their impulsiveness, the folks at Google Labs have released Mail Goggles, a new Gmail feature that will give you the extra time needed to think twice before sending a potentially compromising email. It accomplishes its function by asking you a few math questions before your email is sent on its way, making sure you have plenty of time to reconsider your decision.

By default, when activated, Mail Goggles only works late at night during the weekend, but you can customize it to work whenever you want via Gmail’s “General Settings” section.

The web’s ten weirdest social networks

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

MSN has published a really funny feature showing the ten weirdest social networks on the web.   If you thought Facebook was the worst thing going, you haven’t seen anything yet.

How about Lost Zombies for starters?    Now there’s a community full of wholesome folk that you’d want to meet up with and chat over a cup of coffee!

Or how about Spot A Potty, where members post pictures of their favorite toilets?    I don’t know about you, but if I was a member of Spot A Potty, I wouldn’t be showing my face to the camera or using my real name!    The Google Adsense adverts are also quite interesting – nappy training?!    I also didn’t realise that people could get so passionate about the positioning of toilet seats and the styles of toilet brushes….uuurgh!

The best one of all has to be My Free Implants, where girls ask men for money to get free breast implants!   My jaw totally hit the floor when I saw this one.   Basically if a woman feels that her breasts need a lift-me-up, she can set up a profile and ask for money.   “Benefactors” can then donate money to her and she can have her operation.   The woman’s reaction is then recorded on YouTube for all to see :

“Momma’s gettin’ new boobs!”. Oh man! Does the word “tacky” come to mind? It does for me!

Do you know of any other really weird social networks that makes My Free Implants seem tame by comparison? If so, I’d love to hear about it!



Microsoft Hires Boy Band to Promote Windows 7 and PDC 2008

To promote the upcoming Professional Developer Conference (PDC 2008) and announce that attendees will get a free Windows 7 pre-loaded 160GB hard drive, Microsoft has filmed the following clip, that, shall we say, will leave you with a really bad taste in the mouth. Lyrics after the jump.

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Geek Book You Should’t Miss: Anathem

By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Far be it for me to suggest anyone read anything offline, but if one were were to do so, I would definitely have to suggest Neal Stephenson’s newest creation: Anathem.

Just from the title it sounds imposing.  In a way it is, because it’s a tome of 900-plus pages.  That being said, if you’ve ever had any experience with Stephenson’s other novels, such as Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, you know that he makes every page worth the time you take to read it.  I’ll be honest, when I was just over 250 pages into the book, I swore that I’d already had one book’s worth of story and it was still unraveling the central plot.

So what is Anathem about?  Well it’s something best described over a hundred pages or so, but to summarize, it is a speculative fiction novel that explores the potential future of a world where religion and science took on different cultural roles early in society.  For instance, where in our history the religions of the world were largely cloistered and science was discussed in an open forum, the Anathem world (called “Arbre”) placed scientists and philosophers in special monasteries called “maths” or “concents” while religious people took a more direct role in human affairs.  This is of course a gross abbreviation of Stephenson’s incredible alternate world, but hopefully you’ll take a chance and get the book.

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Will Star Trek fans fire all torpedos at the script writers?

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

The new Star Trek movie isn’t due for release until next year but there’s already nervousness and concern from fans that script writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are going to write a bad script and send the Star Trek universe in entirely the wrong direction.

Never mind the bitching from William Shatner – that’s just sour grapes in my opinion that he isn’t getting the starring role that he is used to.   But the pressure from fans and from the studio must be enormous.  I wouldn’t like to be in Orci and Kurtzman’s shoes for all the money in the world.

Wired has an interesting interview with both writers in which they talk about taking on the role of writing the script for the next Trek movie.    It’s well worth a read.

What do you think?   Are you looking forward to the next Trek movie?   Do you think JJ Abrams is the right man to be doing this one?   Or are you filled with fear, dread and foreboding about what is coming?    Are you ready to fire all torpedos at Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman come May 2009?

4 Long-Dead Celebrities Resurrected Via Typeface Art

Used to advertise movie posters included in the Sunday edition of the Brazilian Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, the following 4 illustrations of long-dead movie celebrities were made using only simple fonts. The result is, shall we say, rather surprising. I’ve included the first picture below, and if you want to see the other ones, just hit the more link.

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A Long Ride with Elevator Music

by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

The idea of a space elevator isn’t exactly a new one, but CNN just published an article speculating that it may happen within our lifetimes. Apparently this “new space race” is being measured in stories rather than miles–one hundred thousand of them. Hundreds of engineers from all over the world are meeting at a conference in November to brainstorm the problem.

How’s it coming? Well, they apparently have the right material, carbon nanotube, about 180 times stronger than steel cable. But presently the technology isn’t there to make it quite strong enough or long enough for that journey into space. However, some scientists are particularly optimistic. The Japanese think they’ll have an elevator under construction by 2030.

Of course there are a wide range of potential uses for such a thing if it ever exists. Disposing of nuclear waste, placing solar panels, transporting objects… or, of course, people. You may have heard that Charles Simonyi, the former Microsoft employee who oversaw the development of Word and Excel, is planning his second trip into space. His first trip last Spring, in which he orbited the Earth for 12 days, cost $20 million.

So here’s something to think about. If there were a space elevator, or any kind of technology that would make a short trip into space easier and more economical (if the cost were more like, say, a very pricey vacation rather than more money than you’ll probably ever see in your lifetime), is that a trip you’d want to take? If so, how much would you be willing to spend? I was never one of those kids who dreamed of being an astronaut… but I do admit that the science fiction geek in me would love an opportunity to see the stars up close, even if I wouldn’t be willing to break the bank for it.

Liquid-Filled USB Flash Drives

Marketing agency CNK Promotions just came out with a bunch of incredibly cool-looking promotional flash drives that promise to make you the center of attention pretty much everywhere you go. Just check these out, and tell me that you honestly wouldn’t like to have one hanging on your keychain.

Now if that’s not an amazing marketing idea, I really don’t know what is.

[Product Page]

We’re Back Up!

I’m sure most of you noticed, we’ve been down on and off for the past 3 days. 2 weeks ago, I decided to move GAS to Dreamhost’s new VPS hosting solution. This new service promised to allow a site to run on a fixed amount of protected memory and CPU time. [GAS] got moved on Friday evening, and since then, it’s been down about 50% of the time. We’re still working out the glitches with Dreamhost, and I hope this will be the last time I’ll need to post such a message.

Thank you for your patience. In the end, it will be all worth it.