Tag: Geek Stuff

Will.i.am Named Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation

Sure, he made a cool video about Twitter, but I was still surprised that The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am was named Intel’s director of creative innovation (video above). I’m really not sure what he has to offer Intel, but both parties seem thrilled about the partnership. In a press release, will.i.am said:

Nearly everything I do involves processors and computers, and when I see an Intel chip I think of all the creative minds involved that help to amplify my own creativity. Teaming up with the scientists, researchers and computer programmers at Intel to collaborate and co-develop new ways to communicate, create, inform and entertain is going to be amazing.

You know what would be really amazing? It would be absolutely phenomenal and beneficial to everyone on Earth if will.i.am and Intel teamed up to eradicate auto-tune. That would be an excellent use of celebrity and technology. Get on it guys!

Taco Bell Being Sued For its Beef Being 35% … Beef

A California woman has started a class-action lawsuit against Yum Brands due to Taco Bell’s beef not having much…well, beef. While most reasonable people expect fast-food meat to have a certain amount of fillers, this woman believes that 65 percent of the ingredients in beef not being beef is a problem. Here are the details from The LA Times:

The class-action suit, which does not ask for money, objects to Taco Bell calling its products “seasoned ground beef or seasoned beef, when in fact a substantial amount of the filling contains substances other than beef.”

It says Taco Bell’s ground beef is made of such components as water, isolated oat product, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch and sodium phosphate, as well as some beef and seasonings.

Just 35 percent of the taco filling was a solid, and just 15 percent overall was protein, said attorney W. Daniel “Dee” Miles III of the Montgomery, Ala., law firm Beasley Allen, which filed the suit.

Hmmmm, it’s lunch time. I’m hungry. This lawsuit makes me want to go to Taco Bell for some of its fake beef.

Are any of you surprised that Taco Bell’s seasoned beef is comprised mostly of non-beef products?

Source

Coffee Talk #290: What’s Your Keyboard of Choice?

After years of solid use, my Logitech Wave is on its last legs. I wanted to see what keyboards you guys and dolls like. Do you have a preferred keyboard? Or do just use the one that came with your PC?

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, Rafael Nadal hopefully breaking his leg so he doesn’t win the Aussie Open, Verizon confirming $30 unlimited data for iPhone, or your favorite gourmet soda, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

After years of solid use, my Logitech Wave is on its last legs. I wanted to see what keyboards you guys and dolls like. Do you have a preferred keyboard? Or do just use the one that came with your PC?

Although the Wave has served me well, I miss typing on a mechanical keyboard. Most models are membrane or scissor-switch these days. I’m pretty sure that my next keyboard will be a mechanical, partially because I miss the crisp feel of those keyboards and mostly because I want to see if I can type loud enough to annoy my neighbors. Razer is supposed to send me a BlackWidow Ultimate for review and I’m hoping that it’s everything I want in a keyboard.

Now let me know about your keyboard preferences (please!).

Is AOL Scamming Old People?

My friend Dan at PC Magazine wrote an interesting article about AOL possibly taking advantage of older customers. By older, I don’t mean longtime customers; I’m talking about their age. Let’s face it, there are a lot of old people that use the Internet but aren’t exactly certain of what’s free and what’s not. Apparently AOL takes advantage of this. Here’s a damning quote from The New Yorker:

‘[M]any of [AOL’s subscribers] are older people who have cable or DSL service but don’t realize that they need not pay an additional twenty-five dollars a month to get online and check their email. “The dirty little secret,” a former AOL executive says, “is that seventy-five per cent of the people who subscribe to AOL’s dial-up service don’t need it”‘

That’s really shady. While I don’t expect AOL advertisements to say, “Hey, you can get this stuff for free, btw,” it looks like the company is engaging in deceptive practices. The whole thing makes me feel bad for old people that use the Internet.

Source via PC Magazine

Do You Use Online Coupons?

Online coupons are a huge business. Groupon recently turned down a $6-billion offer from Google. Unhappy with being spurned, Google has announced plans for a competing service called Google Offers. Think about that for a few seconds — a company turned down $6-billion dollars!!! That should clue you into the sheer massiveness of the online coupon business.

Do you guys and dolls use online coupons? Are you cool with signing up for services — and possibly giving up a little privacy — to save some cash? Is there are particular online coupon service you like or do you just take them as they come?

Did Your Zodiac Sign Change?

Millions of Facebook and Twitter users panicked over their zodiac signs changing. Depending on if you follow the tropical zodiac calendar or the sidereal zodiac calendar, you might have a new zodiac sign. Here’s the new calendar:

  • Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
  • Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
  • Pisces: March 11- April 18
  • Aries: April 18 – May 13
  • Taurus: May 13 – June 21
  • Gemini: June 21 – July 20
  • Cancer: July 20 – Aug. 10
  • Leo: Aug. 10 – Sept. 16
  • Virgo: Sept. 16 – Oct. 30
  • Libra: Oct. 30 – Nov. 23
  • Scorpio: Nov. 23 – Nov. 29
  • Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 – Dec. 17
  • Sagittarius: Dec. 17 – Jan. 20

Personally, I don’t really give a crap about astrology. I was just amused by various Facebook status updates and the fact that this was a trending topic on Twitter yesterday. The funny part is that most Westerners follow the tropical zodiac calendar, so nothing has changed for most of the people that panicked and complained about the cosmic realignment.

Also, I managed to trick someone into thinking that Ophiuchus was a new sign that was invented by Chad Ochocinco. *snicker*

Just for fun, let’s follow the sidereal zodiac calendar. I’d love to know if your sign has changed under the revised zodiac calendar. If so, how do you feel about your new sign?

TechCrunch vs. Engadget: When Super Nerds Attack!!!

I’m absolutely loving the nerd war between TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington and Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky. These are two high-profile nerds with senior positions at two high-profile tech-blogs (that are both owned by AOL). Here’s some background from Business Insider for those of you not familiar with the matter.

On Tuesday evening, for no apparent reason, Arrington threw public punches at AOL’s crown-jewel technology blog, Engadget, and Engadget’s editor, Joshua Topolsky.

Specifically, Arrington called Engadget “a plasticized caricature of a real blog” and blasted it for buying traffic through Google Adwords (which Engadget actually hadn’t even done).

Then, today in a tweet, Arrington appeared to call AOL itself “pathetic.”

I love both sites (though I agree that Engadget isn’t what it used to be since Peter Rojas and Ryan Block left). While I completely understand why Arrington is so polarizing, I think it’s great that the tech world has his loud, outspoken, and unique voice. I’m definitely a fan.

Hopefully this skirmish escalates. It’s highly entertaining. I should buy some microwave popcorn so that I can sit back and watch the fireworks. Hmmmm…. Perhaps I should start a copycat war (on a much smaller scale) and pick a fight with some two-bit hack from a crap web site.

Source

Three Things I Learned From CES 2011

Now that we’ve all had a weekend to digest all the announcements and happenings from the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what we’ve all learned. Here are my three takeaways from CES 2011:

Now that we’ve all had a weekend to digest all the announcements and happenings from the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what we’ve all learned. Here are my three takeaways from CES 2011. Check ’em out and let me know what you learned (please)!

1) I Need a Dual-Core Mobile Processor Now! Never mind that the 800MHz Scorpion in my T-Mobile G2 is performing well and I’ve been perfectly happy with the phone for months. I lust for the superior power and efficiency of dual-core processors. Of course I want to see benchmarks and real-world battery tests, but that won’t stop me from glaring at my G2 for not having a dual-core processor.

2) The Motorola Atrix 4G’s Laptop Dock is Clever. Prior to CES 2011, I found the thought of a dockable mobile phone unappealing — probably because the Palm Foleo made it sound so ridiculous. That said, I have to admit that the netbook-like functionality of the Motorola Atrix has me interested. It appears to be a smart and sharp implementation that would extend the capabilities of the phone and eliminate the need for a secondary laptop. Color me intrigued (which, in my head, is a bright shade of blue).

3) Vizio’s Boldness is Awesome! Vizio isn’t the most well-known brand in America. Some people view it as the “cheapie” brand they see at CostCo and Sam’s Club. That’s a shame because the company offers some really excellent televisions, some of which are tough to beat from a price/performance ratio. I was surprised by the company’s aggressive and diverse moves at CES 2011. It’s entering the mobile computing market with Android and the gaming space with OnLive.

How about you? What were your favorite lessons learned from CES 2011?