Geeks are Sexy

Gadgets Dominate Black Friday (and Happy Cyber Monday!)

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Here’s a piece of trivia for you. Though now the term “Black Friday” (indicating the day after Thanksgiving in the US) has come to refer to the beginning of the period when retailers get back in the black (due to the heavy Christmas season shopping), that’s not the actual origin of the term. It originally referred to the heavy traffic on that day, a comparison to the chaos of Black Tuesday during the 1929 stock market crash. Since the current state of the economy has inspired a lot of references to 1929, the importance of Black Friday this year was particularly fitting. You could practically see the stock market holding its breath.

Luckily, all the worry was for nothing – retail sales were actually up 3% this year! And it looks like geeks were leading the way… or at least, gadget sales were. Nine of the ten most popular sales for Friday were gadgets… like a Sony Blu-Ray disc player, a Canon digital camera, and an Acer laptop. And on eBay, an MP3 player sold every 11 minutes (with the iPod touch leading the way).

The hit of the day, however, was the Nintendo Wii. It was also the most searched-for product on eBay, selling over 3,000 units there at an average price of $349. The Wii Fit also made the top ten sales overall. My Buy.com alerts informed me that they were selling Wii bundles for $379 (bundles, of course, meaning one good game and two or three stupid games, like giving you Super Smash Bros. along with M&M Racing to make you think you’re getting a great deal).

And the odd one out (the non-gadget) in that top ten? Ugg boots. At number 2 right below the Wii. I can’t even think of anything funny about that. I’m just disturbed.

Strangely enough, nothing from our list made the cut.

Also, happy Cyber Monday! Today is supposed to be a companion to Black Friday–the premise being that shoppers would return to work on Monday and immediately go online to buy all the things they missed on Friday. OF course, not only has the term not really taken off, but today isn’t even the biggest online shopping day of the year. Oh, well.

The Simpsons Ridicules Apple & Steve Jobs

The Simpsons have been known to make fun of tech culture from time to time, and last night’s episode, featuring a spoof of many iconic Apple products, was no exception to that. Check it out, and try not to wet your pants while watching it. Yes, it’s actually that funny.

Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World

In this highly interesting video presentation, Mycologist Paul Stamets shows us 6 ways how mushrooms could possibly help save our lives, restore our ecosystems, and even transform other worlds.

An Animated Aurora Borealis, As Seen From Orbit

In the following video, you’ll see an animated photo montage by NASA Astronaut Don Pettit, who while in orbit, took a series of shots of an Aurora Borealis in Earth’s atmosphere, to later assemble them to recreate the impressive phenomenon.

The Levitating Water Machine

Isn’t amazing how something as mundane and insignificant as a strobe light can create such a cool effect? Set this up in your company’s lobby area to wow visitors and potential business partners. Who knows? This may actually help you close that important deal that was so crucial to the survival of your company!

[Via [H]]

The Geek Guide to Holiday Gift-Giving

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

It’s that time of year again! It’s “Black Friday,” when the masses crowd the malls, every man for himself (hey, that sounds like a plot from a zombie movie). Shopping for your favorite geek can be tough, so we at [GAS] are here to help. A lot of guides like this are focused on the hottest gadgets for the holidays… but we figure you already know about those. This list is a little more off the beaten path–gifts for your geek, or even gifts from a geek, if you’re looking for your own stamp of individuality in your gift-giving. And of course, there’s the added bonus that even if you buy these items today, you can do so while sitting in your underwear at your computer.

ISS Astronauts to Drink Recycled Pee

After five days of work, astronauts aboard the Endeavour shuttle have succeeded in the ultimate feat of recycling—turning urine into water. This is thanks to a new machine that should help more people live aboard the International space station at one time.

The urine recycler will be part of a more widely used water recycling system, now valued at $154 million. Since the ISS crew will grow from three to six people in 2009, the use of this new machine is crucial for the station to have a sufficient drinking-water supply. But before putting the new pee-cleaning device online, samples of the liquid will be taken back to Earth for further analysis.

This makes me think of the desert suits worn by the people of Arrakis in Dunes (The book or movie), where all moisture, including urine, is processed and filtered to be fed back to the wearer.

Somehow, this just doesn’t sound right, but hey, drinking a neighbor’s processed pee is always better than dying of dehydration, isn’t it?

Seagate’s New Viral Nercore Rap Ad is… Actually Good?

Ok, don’t get me wrong, I don’t really like that kind of music… but you have to admit that some efforts were actually put into this video, and the result is surprisingly good (When compared to this at least!). Called “Stack the Memory”, the song is performed by the Sniper Twins, two white rappers who sing about how they need to upgrade their beloved Mac.