Street Fighter Bobble Budds…Round 2!

Last year I was charmed by Multiverse Studio’s Street Fighter Bobble Budds. I was thrilled to see that the company is back for a second round of Street Fighter Bobble Budds. The news toys include adorable renditions of Cammy, Guile, Ken, and Zangief. Check out the images of Street Fighter Bobble Budds Round 2 below and let me know what you think of them. Continue reading “Street Fighter Bobble Budds…Round 2!”

Check Out The Sweethome

From the folks that created the excellent TheWirecutter.com comes TheSweethome. If you’re not familiar with the former, it’s a simple and straightforward consumer electronics guide that helps people find the best products that meet their budget. TheSweethome works the same way, but the focus is on home goods. You’ll find detailed recommendation articles on the best laundry detergent, nail clippers, garden hose, toaster oven, electric razor, and more.

I’m a big fan of both sites because they bring readers quality information in an easy-to-follow way. They’re also fantastic examples of bloggers making it big. Both sites were started by former Gizmodo editor Brian Lam. It’s fantastic that he found a way to succeed with quality content without having to sell out to a giant publisher (though I’m certain a giant publisher will buy the sites one day).

When you have a chance, check out TheSweethome and let me know what you think (please).

Coffee Talk #587: Excessive Nerd Rage and You

Nerd rage is a funny and often ridiculous thing. The world has many problems — damage to the environment, malnourishment, and homelessness, for example. Yet dorky debates often escalate the point where you’d think people were more interested in solving the “Han shot first” dilemma than making sure kids have enough to eat. Sure, it’s sometimes hard to maintain perspective and it can be fun engaging in geeky arguments, but this week was out of hand. Look at the nerd rage that dominated the Internet this week: the “controversy” over Alice Eve’s half-naked scene in Star Trek, the pronunciation of GIF, and anger over the Xbox Onemore

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the Phil Jackson watch, Olivia Munn’s disgusting Esquire interview, or Yahoo! possibly buying Hulu, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Nerd rage is a funny and often ridiculous thing. The world has many problems — damage to the environment, malnourishment, and homelessness, for example. Yet dorky debates often escalate the point where you’d think people were more interested in solving the “Han shot first” dilemma than making sure kids have enough to eat. Sure, it’s sometimes hard to maintain perspective and it can be fun engaging in geeky arguments, but this week was out of hand. Look at the nerd rage that dominated the Internet this week:

  • Star Trek: People were passionately railing on JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and company for having a needless scene featuring half-naked Alice Eve. Never mind that James Tiberius Kirk is a total dog that also appears shirtless and that many men don’t need a narratively-sound reason to see Alice Eve half-naked. People were demonizing the scene as if it were comparable to slashing acres of rainforest for kicks.
  • GIFs: People were arguing over the pronunciation of GIF (Graphics Interchange Format). The creator says it like the mediocre peanut butter, while most of the world pronounces it like the word “gift” without the last letter. I’m struggling to understand why anyone cares enough to participate in this argument. You say JIF and I say GIF, let’s call the whole thing off, no?
  • Xbox One: Unsurprisingly, people are harshly passing judgement and hating on Xbox One. Yes, there’s a lot to criticize, but there’s also a lot that Microsoft hasn’t revealed yet. The full story will be revealed in a few weeks at E3 2013. Enthusiast gamers know this, but that hasn’t stopped them from raging against the machine (*snicker*) and bombarding the Internet with palpable anger. There are fair points to be made, as seen in several excellent comments by RPadholics, but I don’t understand some of the vitriolic criticism being hurled at Microsoft.

How do you feel about this week’s nerd rage. Was it just a typical week on the Internet? Or were netizens particularly angry this week?

Yahoo! Adds 1TB of Space, New UI, Android App to Flickr

Once the darling photo service of the digerati, Flickr has languished under Yahoo!’s ownership…until now. When Marissa Mayer took over as Yahoo! CEO, one of her first goals was to make Flickr relevant again. She has done that with 1TB of storage, a new UI that emphasizes photos, and a lovely new Android app. Here’s a snippet from the official announcement:

Today, we’re thrilled to take Flickr even further with a beautiful, completely re-imagined experience that puts photos front and center. When it comes to photography, technology and its limits shouldn’t hinder the experience. So we’re also giving our Flickr users one terabyte of space — for free. That’s enough for a lifetime of photos — more than 500,000 original, full-resolution, pixel-perfect, brilliant photos. Flickr users will never have to worry about running out of space.

Most people will focus on the storage limit, which is a remarkable thing and reminds me of how Google (Mayer’s former company) used to trounce the competition in terms of storage space (remember when Gmail was first announced?). The new UI is a notable improvement. For too long, it was too easy to get lost in Flickr’s text, which is something you don’t want a photo-sharing service to do. While I’m still getting used to the new UI, I’m really enjoying it so far. Between the new storage limit and improved UI, I’m certain that I’ll be using Flickr more in 2013 than I have in the last few years combined.

Have you gotten a chance to check out the new Flickr yet? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Fire away in the comments section (please!).

Source

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda! and the Perils of Crowdfunding

My friend and socio-political crush Tara Reed wrote an excellent and insightful blog post on the perils of crowdfunding. She has been using indiegogo to acquire funds for her book Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda: A Novel Approach to Dating. Her first experience with indiegogo…wasn’t the best. While some of the company’s practices are clearly stated, some of them are vague and a potential roadblock for creators trying to get funding for a book, game, project, etc. Tara’s story will help creators understand indiegogo’s system, help them understand how to game it, and hopefully help assist some crowdfunding successes.

I highly recommend reading Tara’s blog post. It’s an informative, interesting, and personal story about how crowdfunding can go wrong. I also recommend checking out Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. It’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure book with romantic comedy and dating advice elements. As a complete sucker for rom-coms, of course I’m going to dig it!

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Get Your Toledo Mud Hens Chewbacca Jersey

The Toledo Mud Hens might be my new second-favorite sports franchise in the world (the Yankees will always be best). The team has combined two magical things — baseball and Star Wars — in a Chewbacca-inspired Jersey. It’s frickin’ awesome and I want one! I’m sure that millions of Star Wars nerds around the world have suddenly become Mud Hens. Hopefully the Mud Hens Chewbecca jersey will be followed by Storm Trooper, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Boba Fett jerseys. That would be awesome.

The jerseys are available for preorder here, with a starting price of $79.95. Any of you tempted to become Mud Hens fans?

Moby Dick…the Collectible Card Game? (Kickstarter)

What happens when you blend the addictive nature of collectible card games (CCGs) with a literary classic? You get Moby Dick, or, The Card Game, that’s what. An old Happy Puppy colleague dropped me a line to tell me about this Kickstarter project he’s working on. As you’ve probably guessed, it combines Herman Melville’s timeless tale of a man and a marine mammal with CCG mechanics. Here’s a clip from the Kickstarter pitch:

Moby Dick, or, The Card Game is a dynamic and action-packed card game for 2-4 players, lovingly adapted from Herman Melville’s classic novel.

Experience the wonders and terrors of 19th century whaling and interact with some of the greatest characters in American literature in a game that’s easy to learn but fathoms deep.

The game is played using three custom decks with over 100 unique cards, two dice and 40 oil markers.

At last, a game that lets me “experience the wonders and terrors of 19th century whaling.” You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for such a thing.

Seriously though, between the Pokemon CCG and Magic the Gathering, battling with cards is enjoyed by millions of nerds around the world. The idea of using classic literature as the backdrop for a CCG is so wacky that I love it!

When you get a chance, check out the Kickstarter pitch and let me know what you think of Moby Dick, or, The Card Game.

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Coffee Talk #579: AT&T U-Verse vs. Time Warner Cable

So it looks like I’m going to be switching apartments in the near future. As a nerd, Internet and TV services are a prime concern. Unlike my current domicile, one of the buildings I’m looking at has AT&T U-Verse and Time Warner Cable options. As several of you know, I loathe Time Warner Cable — easily the worst cable company I’ve ever had. However, AT&T isn’t a telecom white knight in shining armor either. That’s where you come in! I would sincerely appreciate your help in thinking this important decision through. Here’s what I have so far…more

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, round one of the NBA playoffs, Caffe Vita’s Sulawesi Toraja Peaberry, or apartment hunting, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

So it looks like I’m going to be switching apartments in the near future. As a nerd, Internet and TV services are a prime concern. Unlike my current domicile, one of the buildings I’m looking at has AT&T U-Verse and Time Warner Cable options. As several of you know, I loathe Time Warner Cable — easily the worst cable company I’ve ever had. However, AT&T isn’t a telecom white knight in shining armor either. That’s where you come in! I would sincerely appreciate your help in thinking this important decision through. Here’s what I have so far.

AT&T U-Verse
+ Not Time Warner Cable
+ Modern DVR with more capacity
+ FTTN means constant Internet speeds
+ Cheaper
– 250GB monthly Internet cap (doubt I’d hit it, but the principle….)
– $10 up-charge for HD channels
– Can’t buy your own modem, $6/month rental fee required
– Tech visits are potentially expensive

Time Warner Cable
+ No Internet cap
+ Potentially faster download speeds and better ping rates depending on how many users are on the node
+ Can buy your own (better) modem
+ Tech visits are free
– Wretched DVR with low capacity
– Download and ping can dip depending on how many users are on the node
– More expensive

Right now, I’m leaning towards U-Verse. On the work side,  one of the biggest time-sucks in my current workflow is uploading video. Depending on how many people are on the node, my upload speeds range from decent to abysmal. One of the attractive things about U-Verse is having constant Internet speeds.

On the entertainment side, it’s U-Verse all the way. TWC’s DVR has an archaic UI and limited capacity. It’s just awful.

The big question is service. When something goes wrong with TWC, it’s generally resolved quickly and tech support has been friendly in my experience. I’ve read nightmares about AT&T tech support. Since this is something I’ll be relying on for work, service is important.

Anyway, those are my scattered, initial thoughts on AT&T U-Verse vs. Time Warner Cable. I’d love to hear your opinions on the matter, since this is a hugely important choice. Thanks in advance!

Today’s Poll: Darth Vader vs. Lord Voldemort

Today’s poll comes from a debate RPadholic smartguy had with his wife, which was then carried over to the RPad.TV Live Chat. Who would win in a fight between Darth Vader from Star Wars and Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter? In one corner, you have the second-most powerful practitioner of the dark side of the force. In the other, you have the undisputed master of the dark arts (in wizardry terms…though Voldemort is pretty good with charcoal pencils). While the man formerly known as Tom Riddle is a bit more spry, the man formerly known as Anakin Skywalker has cybernetic appendages that help compensate for his mobility (seriously, have you ever seen Darth Vader run?).

This is a great nerd debate that I’d love to argue about over several alcoholic beverage. For now, let’s discuss things in a sober and civil fashion. Kindly vote in today’s poll and explain your answer in the comments section (please!). Avada kedavra vs. force choke — fight!!!

[poll id=”179″]

Coffee Talk #578: Google Fiber Rage

I love Google Fiber…but it’s pissing me off. Last year, I wrote about Google Fiber and the dream of gigabit Internet. Seeing the service spread from Kansas City to Austin to Provo makes my heart soar and crushes it at the same time. While idiot executives at Time Warner Cable (the crap-bag company that currently provides my Internet service) claim that nobody wants gigabit Internet, anyone with common sense can see that these speeds would drastically change the types of Internet services offered and what people can do online. Those kinds of speeds are transformative and…more

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Derek Jeter’s broken (again) ankle, the start of the NBA playoffs, or Jennifer Love Hewitt’s surprising second act, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I love Google Fiber…but it’s pissing me off. Last year, I wrote about Google Fiber and the dream of gigabit Internet. Seeing the service spread from Kansas City to Austin to Provo makes my heart soar and crushes it at the same time. While idiot executives at Time Warner Cable (the crap-bag company that currently provides my Internet service) claim that nobody wants gigabit Internet, anyone with common sense can see that these speeds would drastically change the types of Internet services offered and what people can do online. Those kinds of speeds are transformative and the sooner more people have them, the sooner online services can evolve.

It’s not even a chicken-and-egg proposition in my mind. There are hundreds of companies in America that would enable consumers to do all kinds of interesting things online in a way that they can’t today. American ISPs are a barrier — one that will remain for the foreseeable future unless drastic changes are made. For the most part, there’s no incentive for ISPs to advance because most people are covered by monopolies or duopolies. Cable companies and telephone companies are mostly content with being nearly as fast or just a bit faster than the other guy.

Imagine how much better online video, video communications, and online gaming would be if the majority of American Internet services and consumers had access to gigabit Internet? You’d be able to stream 1080p video without buffering. You’d be able to enjoy crystal-clear full-screen video chat with friends and family on the other side of the country. Online games could include more players in a lag-free environment. Perhaps RPadholic smartguy would be able to update his PlayStation 3 in a timely fashion. Those are just some of the improvements gigabit Internet would allow for existing services. There are loads of new services that won’t work (well) with current Internet speeds, but would soar with widely available gigabit Internet.

So yeah, I’m thrilled that Google Fiber is doing well in Kansas City and will be rolled out in two additional cities in the future…but it’s also making me hate Time Warner Cable even more.