Supergeekblog

Here is the second part of “The Warcraft Retrospective: A Call to Arms.”

Once again - for any Warcraft fan it is worth sitting though.  Taking a break from WoW myself at the moment, but I love these history vids.

Technorati Tags: Blizzard, Warcraft, History, gaming

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For the science geek on a budget, hey even if half your money goes for geeky things, free education is awesome because it saves cash for other geeky things.  I got sent this page this morning from Kelly Sonora.

Science geeks continually on the lookout for more information can hit the motherload when it comes to open courseware classes. No matter what field of science you may be interested in learning about, there are a number of enlightening and challenging courses that you can take absolutely free. From life sciences to astronomy to health sciences and so much more, you are sure to find courses that will teach you exactly what you want to know.

Visit the post to check out the links.  Here are the subject headings available:

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

Earth Sciences

Environmental Science

Astronomy

Aeronautics

Technology

Health Sciences

Social Science

Variety of Scientific Topics

I would say if any of those topics are remotely interesting, check out the post. Might find something worth your time.  They are from a variety of Institutions.  (MIT being a big one.)  Knowledge is power - good luck!

Technorati Tags: Open Courseware, Supergeekblog, Supergeek, MIT, Online Education, Eduk8

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From LifeHacker - Ashampoo’s Burning Studio.  This works like a lot of other burning applications.  I like the smooth feel of it.

Head over to LifeHacker and check it out!

Technorati Tags: supergeekblog, ashampoo, cd burning, burning studio

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(Cross post from Jake’s Corner)

One of the questions I get from time to time goes a bit like this: “Jake, where do you find this stuff?” That typically is a reference to a blog I linked to, news article, etc.

The short answer is - I read. A lot. I use Google Reader to subscribe to many different blogs/websites/newspapers/etc. Last count I have 109 subscriptions. So the follow up question to that would be - “Dude, how can you read that many sites in a day? Don’t you have to work sometimes?” Well of course I actually have to work. If I didn’t get my work done, I wouldn’t have a job, and if I didn’t have a job, I wouldn’t have money to pay for the internet to read stuff. Many of the sites aren’t quite that frequent in their updates… though I would say an average daily level for me is hovering around 250 items per day.

There are a few useful techniques that I use to get through higher volumes (some Mondays it gets more towards 500 unread) posts. The main one I use is (again with reader) sharing and starring items. I scroll through and note the ones that sound interesting, mark them, and review them later when I have the time.

I also know there are some sources (like a couple of the newspapers) that flood me with items that I quickly scroll past. So 10,437 items sounds like a lot, and it is, however the time spent on the bulk of those really isn’t. That shared number really just says that there are (using an average) a little over 20 posts a day that make me pause. That being said, I think anyone who really makes use of RSS feeds and reader can attest… some days you get buried and it takes a bit to catch back up.

So that is how it works. Other side of the coin is making posts myself. I am doing a similar process on that end. (Batch processing.) I write up 2-3 posts at a time and set the date/time I want them to show up on the web.

Technorati Tags: olorinpc, Jake Barnard, Google Reader, Blogging, RSS Feeds

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I have seen this a couple of times now, but it is a useful service.  Now the intended use is to see what sites your user name is available or taken on.  I would also point out that it is useful to tell if you have lost or forgotten about a site you registered on.

Robin on TechCrunch has a good post on it - and the site itself can be found here.  Check it out and see if your default username is in use somewhere.

Check your usernames

Technorati Tags: usernamecheck, supegeekblog, supergeek, olorinpc, techcrunch

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Saw this a little while ago on the “Geeks are Sexy” blog.  Kiltak did a post on it and linked to the demo videos for us.

I though just haven’t seen enough to decide if it would really work as promised.  For one, I don’t see a single drink shown with ice in it.  Also - as a former bartender, you learn that point to ask your customers for more drinks.  If it is slow enough that you have time to be checking a monitor for everyones drink level, there is probably something you should be cleaning.

That whole part aside - it is actually pretty neat.  If they get towards a production product I will be quite interested to see what sort of bars it would go into.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Surface table, supergeekblog

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From GeekNewsCentral:

Overnight, Microsoft issued a rare out-of-cycle patch for Windows systems that should be installed immediately. The vulnerability affects all versions of Windows and could have an impact similar to the 2003 Blaster Worm attack. If you’re not set to auto-update, be sure to go out and grab the update.

Now like the author of that post, my machines are set to auto-update in the early morning.  However, I like to run update manually sometimes just to make sure.  Not every one does though, so if you have a less-geeky friend or family member - remind them to update!  I know it never works, but it is worth a try.  (First thing I do when sitting at a persons computer to work on it is start running windows and virus scan updates.)

Technorati Tags: olorinpc, windows update, blaster worm, supergeek, supergeekblog

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From TechCrunch:

Switzerland-based deskNET is debuting the public beta version of Sobees today, an application that aims to bring the web to a personalized desktop environment. We first came across Sobees when they presented their project in the DemoPit at the TechCrunch50 conference.

I like the concept of this really… though would have to dig more into its functionality to judge. (As well as actually test it.) My main concern would be for the requirement of .NET 3.5 SP1. a)forced upgrade for most people b)example being it will be a long time before work pushes that update. That being said, a silverlight version or installing it at home should be possible.  However, that being said, for most of us on Windows machines that won’t be much of an issue.

First impressions… the install is fairly painless.  It takes a *while* to install .Net 3.5 SP1, but that is typical of all the .Net framework installations.  The Sobees install is 1.2mb, so the download doesn’t take long.  However the built in downloader for .Net 3.5 SP1 takes a while as it is 52mb.  Make sure you give it time to finish.  I recommend downloading and installing .Net 3.5 SP1  beforehand - you can monitor the install a little better that way.

***Huge Warning here***

If you use VMWare proceed with caution!!! After installing .NET 3.5 SP1 it crashed my install of XP.  I could no longer boot to the gui with an error on “vmgina.dll.”  After spending 2 hours working on it and doing an XP install over my existing one I was able to get back online.  I am still in the process of recovering.  I did however find a MS KB article on the issue.  Read this before going forward.  The gist of it is though that the 3rd party video driver that VMWare installs, somehow gets messed up by that install.

I will have to review the actual software in a follow up.

Technorati Tags: vmgina.dll, gina.dll, sobees, supergeekblog, olorinpc, sgbtech, vmware, troubleshooting, xp crash

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CineMassive OmegaPlex: 27.6 million pixels for $12,995 - Engadget

My first thought when seeing this come up in my reader this morning… if I get a divorce, sell the house, and get a really cheap apartment… could I afford it?  While that answer may be debatable, I am pretty sure my wife and dog wouldn’t appreciate getting kicked out for it.  That being said, this is freaking awesome.

Multi-monitor rigs are always fun.  I myself never go less than duals, but do miss having 3-4 chained across a couple of different PC’s using synergy.

engaget, supergeek, supergeekblog, olorinpc, hardware, monitor, synergy

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For any fan of Blizzard and Warcraft, this video is worth your time.  At 16min long it will take a while… but the nostalgia factor is worth it.  (Warcraft II was an old favorite of mine.)

Technorati Tags: Blizzard, Warcraft, gaming, history

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