…or at least, that’s what Google wants us to believe with this new promo video. I have to admit thought that with their latest beta built, it is indeed the fastest browser out there. Enjoy the video.
Restore Joss Whedon (Ignore Stephen Baldwin)
You may have heard that someone thinks Stephen Baldwin has been given such a raw deal that he deserves his own personal charity: Restore Stephen Baldwin (which, apparently, is entirely serious, though Baldwin himself had nothing to do with setting it up). Of course, as all science fiction geeks know, if there’s anyone who’s been persecuted by Hollywood it’s the long-suffering and oft-canceled Joss Whedon.
(Warning: Strong language and Serenity spoilers!)
Okay, so maybe Whedon isn’t in such bad shape, considering he’s got that Avengers gig coming up and all.ย I’m sure he’s not eating Ramen.ย (Or worse, eating whatever creepy crawlies Baldwin had to deal with when he was on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!)
By the way, in case you didn’t want to type it in,
www.restorejosswhedonandhissmokinghotasskickingchicks.org redirects to the video creator’s YouTube page.
Star Wars Baby Announcement
A couple using the Death Star trench run scene from Episode IV to announce that they’ve got twins on the way? Now that’s what I call awesome.
[Via Buzzfeed]
The Secret Mission of the Terminator
This one is for all the Microsoft fanboys and girls out there. Enjoy!
Hyping the cellphone, 1909 style
Most geeks will know of Nikola Tesla: an electrical engineer, he was pretty much the godfather of alternating current and one of the major reasons electricity became a commercially viable power source. He also demonstrated the idea that electricity could be transmitted wirelessly, a theory that today is looking ever closer to practical use.
But now it’s transpired that Tesla was perhaps more of a visionary than anyone realized. The editor of Popular Mechanics, Seth Porges, has recently drawn attention to a 1909 interview by the New York Times in which Tesla predicted the cellphone, texting and picture messaging.
Said Tesla: “It will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages all over the world so simple that any individual can carry and operate his own apparatus.”
Of course, Tesla’s prediction of “soon” may have been a little ambitious, and even in 2010 his suggestion that the mobile device would be “not bigger than a watch” is pushing it a little for most people’s budgets.
But he was on the money with what were effectively predictions of e-mail (“It will soon be possible for a business man in New York to dictate instructions and have them appear instantly in type in London or elsewhere.”) and multimedia messaging (“In the same way [as speech and music] any kind of picture, drawing or print can be transferred from one place to another.”)
To be fair, Tesla wasn’t entirely accurate throughout the interview: he also believed ocean liners would travel at high speed across the Atlantic but be controlled wirelessly from the shore.
But he did make a statement which remains true today: “What will be accomplished in the future baffles one’s comprehension.”
The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars Story Ever Told
Star Wars Episode IV, V, and VI, as told in a little over two minutes by a kid with one of a heck of a LEGO collection.
[Via MissC]
OMG: Star Wars Voices Now Available for TomTom GPS Devices
I never felt like I really needed a GPS before… but after hearing about this, I’m not so sure anymore.
Starting this month, TomTom will be releasing one downloadable Star Wars voice pack per month for their GPS devices, starting right now with Lord Vader’s voice. Each pack will be priced at $13… uh? What? You think that’s expensive? I find your lack of faith… (*forcechoke*) disturbing.
If Vader’s voice isn’t to your liking, C-3PO’s will be available in June, Yoda in July, and Han Solo in August.
Hit the jump to hear Lord Vader’s recording session.
The Definitive “Is it steampunk?” Flowchart
The Curious Geography of the iPad
(Picture credit: Net Applications)
If you’re sick and tired of the iPad, it might be worth a vacation to Wyoming. There are beautiful rugged landscapes to occupy your attention, and you can take a bottle of water and have a geeky moment at the Continental Divide.
But more to the point, Wyoming is currently the state with the lowest level of iPad usage.
That’s according to Net Applications, which provides internet data analysis for thousands of sites, then collates that data to provide overall figures. It’s just released its internet usage report for April, the first to include site visits from iPads. Of course, with the iPad having just 0.12% of all US browsing during the month, there’s a spectacular margin of error to these stats, so it’s best not to read too much into them.
With that in mind, the state by state figures aren’t all that surprising. Generally states with denser populations and bigger cities have more iPad users, while rural and less wealthy states have fewer. (The figures are percentages, meaning there’s a fair comparison of differently populated states.)
There are a couple of surprises: Colorado, Nebraska and Utah all feature in the top 10, while the state with the highest proportion of iPad use is Hawaii: perhaps the iPad experience is truly better on a sun-kissed beach.
On a city-by-city basis, Microsoft might want to hold its next staff retreat in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the only city listed which had no recorded iPad users. Number one was San Francisco, which isn’t a major surprise given that Apple is headquartered in the Bay Area.
There are also national figures, and if you assume the US dominates, you’re wrong. The place where iPad use makes up the biggest proportion of web surfing is the Cayman Islands, with Anguilla, Aruba, and Monaco all scoring highly, suggesting there’s certainly a market among those who can afford grand vacations. Though that doesn’t explain why the second highest country on the list is Mali.
It also appears that either iPad buyers like to travel, or there’s a truly international demand: despite not being on sale overseas yet, the device has been recorded in use by people in 117 different countries.
US Oil Spill Explained
The best and most to the point explanation I’ve seen of what is currently happening in the Gulf of Mexico, and what engineers are trying to do to stem the flow of oil.