Your iPhone Died of Dysentary [Oregon Trail Rumor]

By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

If you’re any kind of geek and you’re in my age bracket (18-25), you probably got excited when you read the title of this article.  The Oregon Trail is an iconic game for many young geeks because it was available in schools (something about being educational), fun to play, and a bit ahead of its time, in my opinion.  You could build a custom wagon to traverse the wild west while avoiding perils and hunting for your food.

oregontrail

Now this Apple IIe marvel is being ported to the iPhone, according to the LA Times.  There are some screenshots, courtesy of IGN, that depict an iPhone version of the classic game.  The interface has been updated (much to my dismay, as it’s such a retro game), so it looks a lot more like a children’s game than anything else.  The characters are cartoonish instead of 8-bit.

Thus far, there are no details on price, manufacturer, or even future availability.  Even so, it’s amazing to see how far the Oregon Trail franchise has traveled…from floppies to flash-based mobile hard drives!

Personally, I’d like to see someone make a mod of the original game (which can be easily emulated on any modern machine) to allow for that version to work on the iPhone too!

[Image source: Flickr]



30,000 people fall for ComputerTan hoax

By Johnny Daniels
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

This is overwhelming proof that people really will fall for anything they hear and read.

A UK skin cancer charity called Skcin wanted to raise more awareness of the medical condition so they set up a fake website called ComputerTan.   This site promised people a suntan from nothing more than the heat rays from their PC monitors while they type. You can feel “tan-tastic!”

But the 30,000 people who were gullible enough to click on the link for more information were instead confronted with pictures of people with tumors and were given statistics and facts on the condition.

All in all, this is a pretty slick, savvy and humorous marketing campaign and since it managed to hit the news headlines in the UK, it seems to have done the trick.   It’s hard to believe though that anyone seriously thought that they were going to get a suntan from their PC monitor!

The Ray Gun is Mightier Than the Sword

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

raygun

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but a ray gun totally beats them both. Luckily, now when you need to write and fight at the same time (what if you’re balancing your checkbook and an alien pops up from behind your couch?), Acme Writing Tools has you covered. Well, by “covered” I mean that you’ve got something cool-looking to point at them. Still, for $130 I kind of expect it to actually be able to kill things.

[Via SCI FI Wire]



Feature: The Ponginator – A Robotic Combination of King Kong and Ping Pong

By Brian Boyko
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Ponginator is a robot, and as far as robots go, this one is fairly simple. It plays music, says a few words cribbed from audio files, and shoots ping-pong balls from pressurized air guns.

We’ve been doing a series on crazy inventors with crazy inventions. Vernon Graner and the creation he built with the Austin Robot Group, Ponginator, certainly qualify as crazy.

Of course, what makes Ponginator different is that Ponginator is three stories tall.

A Parallax stamp-based microcontroller in a computer behind the robot controls the robot’s ping-pong balls, which leave the barrel at 170 miles per hour.

We speak with Vernon Graner, one of the inventors of Ponginator, in this next video.

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Apple Stores Block Facebook (Except Not)

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

applestoreAfter reports that Apple retail stores had all blocked Facebook to discourage customers from “wasting time” (i.e., hogging the computers so that people who actually wanted to buy something couldn’t try out the software), a CNET writer checked it out for herself, and found out that the answer was… well, sort of.

It turns out that there’s no official ban on the website, but some stores are apparently choosing to block it from the store’s computers (some redirecting the site to the Apple homepage).

Personally, I don’t see the problem with blocking the site if it’s actually a problem; after all, they’ve already done the same thing with MySpace. As I find myself incredibly annoyed pretty much every time I have to go to an Apple store due to the crowds, anything that’s going to keep people moving in and out seems like a swell idea to me. With being a store and a tech support site and some sort of learning annex, I think the retail locations are wearing enough hats without being Internet cafes, too.

Along those same lines, the Apple store in Nashville particularly annoys me because there’s nowhere to sit. If you’ve got to wait for your name to show up on the Genius Bar screen, there should at least be somewhere for you to stay out of the way instead of standing in the middle of the store while people are constantly bumping into you.

And on the subject of Internet cafes, I think that Starbucks would benefit from sticking a few computers in there, or at least offering free wireless (and apparently they can use all the help they can get right now). Maybe the mall locations would suck some of the people out of the overflowing Apple stores.

[Image Source: Flickr]

Woz to Become Dancing Queen

No, this is not a joke folks. Steve “Mac Daddy” Wozniak will be featured on the next season of Dancing With The Stars. We have no idea if Steve actually knows how to dance, but I predict this will spread through the Web like wildfire, bringing endless hours of mirth to hackers worldwide.

Good luck Steve, you’ll need it.

I’m a PC and I’m 4 ½

What can I say, this one was so darn cute I had to post it. I really think Microsoft has a winner on their hands here. I’m not saying that it makes Windows the better platform, but from a marketing point of view, I think this is way better than anything Apple has ever come up with. Hmmmm, I have to admit, I’m probably just a little biased here… anything related to cute kids usually do that to parents.

The Motivations Behind Computer Hacking

Pablos Holman is a futurist, IT security expert, and notorious hacker with a unique view into both breaking and building new technologies. In the following presentation, he explains what drives computer hackers to do what they do best: break into gadgets, networks, and systems.

The Geek Guide to Valentine’s Day Gifts

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

As promised when we pointed out the romantic properties of flash drives, here are some ideas for Valentine’s Day gifts for or from the geeky guy or gal. If you think that flowers and candy are too boring for your significant other, maybe you’ll find something here to inspire you. (And hey, if you’re single like me, then this might not be a bad time to treat yourself to something fun!)

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