Tag: Geek Stuff

Coffee Talk #596: Your Favorite Comic-Con 2013 Happenings

Comic-Con 2013 — or as it’s known in some circles, Nerd Heaven — is over! There were tons and tons of geeky announcements, trailers, and news bits. Some of the highlights include:

  •  Man of Steel 2 being a Superman/Batman movie
  • The Avengers 2 being an Age of Ultron movie
  • A lengthy and awesome Kick-Ass 2 trailer
  •  Lots of information on X-Men: Days of Future Past

    • …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, A-Rod’s unfortunate (not really) quadriceps injury, your favorite summer fruit, or slogging your way through mediocre coffee beans, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Comic-Con 2013 — or as it’s known in some circles, Nerd Heaven — is over! There were tons and tons of geeky announcements, trailers, and news bits. Some of the highlights include:

  •  Man of Steel 2 being a Superman/Batman movie
  • The Avengers 2 being an Age of Ultron movie
  • A lengthy and awesome Kick-Ass 2 trailer
  •  Lots of information on X-Men: Days of Future Past
  •  Sweet details on The Amazing Spider-Man 2
  •  More footage from Thor 2
  •  More footage from Captain America 2
  •  The first glimpse of WWE Batista as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie
  •  The trailer for Cosmos, a new version of the excellent Carl Sagan show hosted by Neil de Grasse Tyson
  •  Updates on A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones season 4

What got your inner nerd fired up at Comic-Con 2013? What got you worried?

As for me, I was totally jazzed by the return of Cosmos and I loved the Kick-Ass 2 clip. I really didn’t like Joss Whedon strongly hinting that Hank Pym will not be part of Ultron’s origin in The Avengers 2. Yeah, there are ways to write around that like altering Ultron’s origin so that it’s an accidental creation by Tony Stark or S.H.I.E.L.D., but as a longtime comic-book nerd, I can’t buy that. The identities of Ultron and Hank Pym are tied together. Yes, I understand that it frees up The Avengers 2 and the upcoming Ant-Man movie, but it just…feels wrong.

Now it’s your turn! Fire away with your Comic-Con 2013 thoughts in the comments section (please!).

When Kobe Unfollowed Dwight on Twitter

There are many things that I love about social media. It’s awesome how it connects people. It’s great that it gives fans a way to interact with celebrities. It’s also amusing to see it used when friendships go sour. In the San Francisco Bay Area tech community, it was common for squabbling people to unfollow each other on Twitter or defriend each other on Facebook. It’s brilliant that professional athletes are doing the same thing.

As many of you know, Dwight Howard left the Los Angeles Lakers for the Houston Rockets. Shortly after the news broke, Laker legend Kobe Bryant unfollowed Howard on Twitter. That’s frickin’ awesome! It’s such a nerdy way to make a statement. I love it!!! There are many ways to read into the situation. Some are dismissing it as pettiness on Bryant’s part. Others believe that it’s a way for one of the most insanely competitive players in the NBA to tell another player that he doesn’t matter anymore.

What’s your take on Kobe Bryant unfollowing Dwight Howard on Twitter?

What’s Your News Reader of Choice?

Google Reader is slated for a July 1, 2013 death. iGoogle will be dying on November 1, 2013. Unfortunately, I use and rely on both products and have been lax about finding alternatives. That’s where you come in! What RSS readers and/or personalized home page services do you like and use? I’ve been loosely experimenting with Feedly, but haven’t given it enough time to tell whether or not it will work for me. Ideally, I can find one product that will gather up all my favorite news sources and let me view them on a full web browser, Android device, or iOS device. Perhaps that’s asking for too much. Perhaps it’s not. I’m mostly ignorant as to what’s out there, so I don’t know.

So yeah, I’d love to hear about what readers and services you guys and gals use. Any of you digging Netvibes or igHome? Educate me in the comments section (please!).

Jobs Trailer (Ashton Kutcher, Apple)

Here’s a two-minute Jobs trailer, starring Ashton Kutcher. It has some moments that make my inner Apple fanboy go giddy, but it also has some moments that scare me. Also, it’s kind of funny that Matthew Modine went from playing a high school wrestler to playing John Sculley. Check out the trailer when you have a chance and let me know what you think (please!). Continue reading “Jobs Trailer (Ashton Kutcher, Apple)”

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 One…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, 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!).

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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?