Big Bang Theory + Wil Wheaton + Penny Arcade = Geek Win

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Next week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory, titled “The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary,” guest stars Wil Wheaton. He was tweeting and blogging about it while shooting, which was pretty amusing/informative, and the episode is already up in the queue! CBS just posted the promo on YouTube:

The first thing I noticed upon watching this was that Wil is wearing a t-shirt featuring a certain fruit-violating robot from the guys at Penny Arcade. If the combination of comic book shop and Star Trek wasn’t geeky enough, I’m pretty sure this brings it to a whole new level.

Wil Wheaton is one of those geek icons who rises to the status because he’s, you know, an actual geek. Felicia Day is another great example. If I had to predict another, David Blue (Eli in the new Stargate: Universe) has a great Twitter feed – like a fanboy who can’t believe his good luck.  In any case, I’m glad to see all of these guys popping up in acting gigs all over the place. (And of course, anyone who hasn’t seen Wil in this season of The Guild should check it out immediately.)

The episode airs next Monday, October 19.


Wikipedia in your pocket

At times Wikipedia can seem like the most amazing thing ever, or the dumbest idea imaginable. The same can be said of a new device which puts the entirety of Wikipedia into your pocket.

The WikiReader is a $99 handheld device which contains what’s effectively a copy of the entire website (thought it is “limited” to around 3 million entries). Users can browse the site using just three buttons (search, history and random) plus an onscreen keyboard.

However, because it doesn’t have web access, the entries aren’t automatically updated. Instead there are quarterly updates which users can either download from the web free of charge or receive in the mail as a replaceable plug-in memory card for $29 a year.

So on the one hand, it’s an awesome device, giving you an immense sum of knowledge at your fingertips, and on the other, you not only lose all the benefits of timeliness that give Wikipedia an advantage over printed reference books, but the links to original source material which are theoretically the basis of every article are inaccessible.

To make things worse, the device doesn’t appear to give access to the history or discussion pages for each entry. That means that each entry is frozen as a snapshot of how the page appeared at the moment the data was loaded onto the device. So, to give an extreme example, if the download happened precisely a second after some joke edited a page to say that Germany won the second world war or that the Earth is flat, you’ve got a device that doesn’t reflect the community vetting process that keeps Wikipedia together,

Another obvious problem is that Wikipedia can, by definition, be viewed by any phone with a web connection. Given that it’s largely based on text with a very simple formatting, it will work just fine on virtually any handset. If you’re willing to go for a service agreement, the $99 the WikiReader costs will make a pretty decent dent into buying a new phone. And if you prefer to stick to a prepaid model, $99 will pay for a fairly substantial amount of web use.

The device seems to have a disconnect between its natural markets and its minimum feasible retail price. It would make a decent entry for the type of Christmas gift catalog aimed at buyers who like the idea of gadgets but don’t really know what’s going on in the real world. And it would be a very viable option for people in developing countries where web access is impractically expensive, particularly in schools. Unfortunately, in both these cases, $99 may be too much.

In summary, it’s an overpriced, inherently flawed technical solution to a barely existent problem.

But if somebody offered me one free of charge I’d bite their hand off.

[WikiReader]

Blackberry Storm 2 Site Goes Live, Debuts Smoother Specs

Picture 1Before the iPhone went gangbusters, it could be argued that the smartphones of choice were likely the Blackberry and Palm. Without touch screens, for the most part, these initial mobile pioneers taught us that, indeed, we could use phones for anything and everything.

But for many people, the iPhone didn’t just level the playing field, it blew it out of the water. Though certainly not free from its own problems, like single network availability (just AT&T offers the iPhone in the US), still the iPhone has ushered in a new era for smartphones where, at least from my perspective, the actual phone component becomes second nature to the myriad of available applications.

And in the years since, at least from this humble mobile phone observer’s standpoint (I am stuck in a contract with an abysmally crappy phone, but my husband has an iPhone, and I have the Mock-iPhone, er, I mean, iPod Touch) it’s seemed that every new smartphone has done its best to look and act just like the iPhone. Some even could pass for one at first glance. But it could be argued that none have actually managed to dethrone the mighty iPhone as far as design and usability, in no small part due to the applications available (2,000 for the Blackberry Storm vs. a mind-boggling 85,000 for the iPhone). While RIM still holds a higher percentage of the market share, in all fairness, they’ve been in the smartphone business a lot longer.

Blackberry’s first generation Storm released to fanfare but quickly fell flat with complains of usability and general funkiness (lots of buttons, a weird crack between the display and keys). So, RIM went back to the drawing board, and today announced the specs for the Blackberry Storm 2. PC World’s review says, “This is the Storm that I wish RIM had released last year–the device’s build, the on-screen keyboard, and the software are miles beyond the first generation” but concludes that overall, it’s still a bit unintuitive, especially when it comes to typing.

With speculation that the phone will drop sometime in late October or early November in the US (it releases in Europe today) here’s a rundown of some of the basic specs:

  • 3.25″ touch screen displays with over 65,000 colors
  • 3.2 MP camera (complete with video recording)
  • WiFi support (sort of a no-brainer there, folks)
  • Their own SurePress technology which claims to make typing easier
  • Long lasting battery/easy access battery (having once owned a Blackberry Pearl, I am well versed in the agony of removing the battery from their devices; a good improvement)
  • “Fast network connectivity” (their words, not mine; no actual specs cited yet)

While the Storm 2 might not take the world by… um… storm, it does appear that RIM is making steps in the right direction. Any GAS readers out there had their hand at trying the newest Crackberry? Let us know your thoughts!

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Amazing Home-Made Starfield Ceiling

Made by Mike Galloway, this amazing custom fiber optic starfield ceiling features over 250 stars with a natural twinkle effect. Check it out:

I initially attempted to recreate constellations, but the perfectionist in me made this a daunting task. If I put up Ursa Minor, it would have to be in proper scale and relation to Draco… which would need to be properly spaced to Hercules and Cygnus and so on. That was way too much work! Instead, we went with a loose-cluster setup and placed the stars randomly. This setup puts out a lot more light than the videos show. We could probably read by this light. Check out the how-to guide on Instructables.com. I hope you all like it.

[Instructables]

We Welcome our Remote-Controlled Cyborg Insect Overlords

beetleborgRemote controlled bugs buzz off, followed by a picture that looked straight out of a cyberpunk novel, a beetle with a remarkable bit of tech strapped to its head.

Well, it turns out that the future (for those of us who’ve ever imagined a future in which people can control cyborg beetles by using a laptop) is here. At the University of California, Berkeley two developers, Michel Maharbiz and Hirotaka Sato have buffed up beetles with an “implantable radio-equipped miniature neural system” which allows them to take complete control of the insects, even in flight.

Advances in nanotechnology have made the process possible, and the initial circuitry is implanted during the beetles’ pupal stage (for the coleopterists among us, the beetles in the study are mecynorhina torquata and megasoma elephas). The developers explain:

“You are plugging electrical devices into its nervous system and then triggering its muscles so that when it is flying, if you put a little bit more zorch into the muscle on the left-hand side, that will flap a bit harder and that will control the direction it is going in.”

The applications for this project have myriad possibilities, and it’s not surprising that the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is involved. While surveillance is perhaps one of the most obvious uses for these cyborg bugs, the military has been working on other nano-fliers, including moths and dragonflies. The beetles, however, are already capable of carrying small loads, including cameras and GPS devices.

To get an idea of how these little cyborgs work, check out the video below:

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Too cold to brave your driveway? There’s an app for that

As slimline as the iPhone is, things still get crowded in the pockets of modern folk leading busy lives. One new app aims to ease that crowding a little by removing the need to carry car keys.

Yes, as bizarre as it may sound, you can now start your car using an iPhone.

It’s a pretty simple idea: electronic key fobs already send commands to a car over the air, so an iPhone can do exactly the same thing. The Viper SmartStart system produced by Directed Electronics adds iPhone control to its existing set-up.

As with other remote start systems, there’s a fair bit you can do with the controls. The most obvious is switching the engine and heating on from the comfort of your home on a cold winter’s day. The system also lets you control the security system and open and shut the trunk.

However, because it’s controlled by the iPhone, the range of control is limited only by AT&T’s network rather than the 100 feet or so of most traditional systems. That brings a couple of advantages. If you’ve forgotten where your car is, the system will give you precise directions. And if you have a comedy sitcom spouse who is always locking their keys in the car, you’ll be able to come to their rescue without leaving the office, thanks to a multi-handset option. (Alternatively, rowing couples could repeatedly switch one another’s heating off.)

There is a pretty significant downside to the app though. To use it you’ll need to pay at least $299 for a special receiver to add to the in-car Viper remote start system. If you don’t already have the alarm, you can get it in a twin-package with the receiver for $499. And although the app is free to download, after the first year you’ll need to pay an annual subscription of $29.99.

[Viper SmartStart]