Shameless Words from Shameless Geeks

I wonder if Nintendo considers their new game system’s name a mistake. They officially changed the name from the code name “Revolution” to “Wii”, which is pronounced “wee".

Of course, the online jokes have already started. Since ShamelessGeeks is such a serious site, wii won’t stoop to any bad puns. Wii just hope that picking a bad name doesn’t mean that Wii ends up in the toilet.

Sorry, I couldn’t pass this one up. While surfing the web, I came across an extraterrestrial Armageddon reference at FiringSquad.com that I have to pass on.

It seems as if a crop circle last year was meant to warn George Bush that, if he adopted a nuclear first-strike policy, pieces of a comet would hit the earth and destroy all life. All of this was revealed to a former French air traffic controller in a vision. If this doesn’t sound like clocks striking the hour (for the slow: Cuckoo! Cuckoo!) and this guy doesn’t sound like a duck talking (again for the slow: Quack! Quack!), then we aren’t reading the same article.

My question to the learned… former air traffic controller Jean Ederman… er… sorry… Eric Julian is: Can I talk you into sharing those drugs? This is the most masterful mixing of mysticism, politics, and pseudo-science that I’ve ever seen. You managed to squeeze the war in Iraq, Bush hatred, prescience, Extra Terrestrials, and the plot from the movie Armageddon into a very entertaining package. I can’t help but believe that you had some chemical assistance with it.

It looks like there is a nasty exploit bug that has surfaced in Firefox 1.5.0.2, the latest version. Though it was first given a low risk rating, recent exploit code that can cause the browser to crash and execute arbitrary code has surfaced. The risk may be far worse than originally anticipated.

There is no fix yet. I’ll let you know when I see one.

Often video games have huge amounts of buzz behind them but recently I have heard a lot more buzz for a movie amongst the gaming circles. However the movie is not the new Final Fantasy film Advent Rising, it is “Snakes on a Plane”. The concept is fairly simple, Samuel L. Jackson is an FBI cop delivering an important witness to a mob trial. While in flight the mob dumps a crate of poisonous snakes in the plane. Mayhem ensues, lots of people get killed and Samuel L. Jackson is forced to battle a plane full of snakes. Hence the title “Snakes on a Plane". CNN has posted an article that sums up all the craziness about the movie. According to the article the movie even has a blog that gets more hits then us.

Well, sorta. Though the President himself may not have been the target, Air Force One was the subject of an elaborate and expensive internet prank. Ya gotta love someone with that much money to waste. The only thing that puzzles me is that they probably could have done the same thing by modifying stock footage. Renting and re-painting a jumbo jet seems a lot more expensive.

After a long delay, Shamelessgeeks is proud announce the return of the Games of the Week feature. For all our Games of the Week fans we are sorry for not posting for the past few weeks. The reason nothing was posted is that I moved to Texas and did not have Internet access until a few days ago. So I am proud to once again type, onto the list of games coming out this week:

Ace Combat Zero: The Balkan War for the Playstation 2
Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny for the Playstation 2
2006 FIFA World Cup for the XBox, XBox 360, Playstation 2, Gameboy Advance, PSP, Nintendo DS and Gamecube
Dr. Sudoku for the Gameboy Advance
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children for the PSP
Guilty Gear Dust Strikers for the Nintendo DS
The Hustle: Detroit Streets for the XBox and Playstation 2
Lost Magic for the Nintendo DS
Major League Baseball 2K6 for the Gamecube
Metal Saga for the Playstation 2
Neverend for the PC
OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast for the PSP, XBox and Playstation 2
Painkiller: Hell Wars for the XBox
Rampage: Total Destruction for the Gamecube and Playstation 2
Top Gun for the Nintendo DS
Winback 2: Project Poseidon for the XBox and Playstation 2

Some of the games of note this week are:

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children: Okay it is not a game but then again one could argue nor is any Final Fantasy game. The reason it was included is that gamers have been drooling over it since it was announced. Finally it looks like it will be hitting stores shelves this week, granted we did announce a few months ago it was schedule for release but this time it looks like it is for real.

Lost Magic: I don’t know if this is a good sign or not but the game has not yet come out and EBGames is already selling used copies of it.

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast: I have been living under a rock, literally for the past 3 weeks and even I have heard some buzz about OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast. Not sure why, it is not like the last Outrun release tore up store shelves.

Rampage: Total Destruction: Okay I have confession to make, I am a total Rampage freak. For some odd reason I love Rampage, maybe it is the mindless destruction, maybe it is the total naked characters, or maybe I am just a freak. I know it is a bad game yet I love it and have to play and own every version of Rampage. When I say everyone, I mean everyone I have (did) an arcade cabinet with Rampage.

Since I have been out of the loop for a while and really don’t now what is rumored to be good or bad. I am going to make a total blind stab at my game of the week pick of: Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny. Atelier Iris 2 is a sequel one of last years more successful tactically RPGs and should be a fun play.

In Virginia they have this crazy hobby where a bunch of guys dress up as Union and Confederate soldiers and battle it out as though they where in the Civil War. We call it re-enacting and it is very popular in Virginia. It also is mocked like all good geek hobbies are by the less than understanding masses. The thing about re-enacters is that they do not just reenact the Civil War, they reenact every war. Scary to think somewhere out there is a bunch of guys clad in spandex re-enacting the Secret Wars… but hey, they do reenact every war.

Sony announced today that it is dropping the price of the Sony Playstation 2 from $149 to $129. With the next generation looming on the horizon a $20 price drop is really not a big deal. In fact I am shocked it took Sony this long to drop to the price of the Playstation 2. At this stage of the cycle Sony at this point should be dropping it to below $100, with another $50 price drop to flow in a few months when the Playstation 3 does comes out. Then again Sony has been acting kind of clueless lately and this probably is another sign that Sony may not survive the next generation of video games. Granted Microsoft never did drop the XBox when the XBox 360 launched but MS has been fairly clueless from the get go. I am still sticking with Nintendo win the next generation. They are the only one that get that games should cost under $50.00 in America.

Paramount Pictures has announced that it has tapped Lost creator John Abarams to co-write, direct and help produce the next Star Trek movie. Some of the other details leaked so far is that it will be a prequel to Original Star Trek, explore the origins of Kirk and Spock, and feature new actors playing the roles of Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy. It will also show how the three developed a long lasting friendship in Star Fleet Academy and on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
The choice in Abrams is an interesting choice, he has a long track record of writing successful sci-fi like tv series. The only question is he up to the task of rebirth the now dead Trek franchise or is he going join the long list of recent failures. The juror is still out on this. Trek has a detail past but there is little of Kirk and Spock origins that is canon. Abrams should be fine as long as he sticks to a few key details. The only scaring me is that Abrams last great sci-fi movie the he wrote was Armageddon.
The only other question I have is what original cast will be appearing in the movie. With both Shanter and Nimoy in their 70’s this would most likely be the last time we would ever get to see them suit up as Kirk and Spock. Hopefully Abrams will include them and other Original Star Trek cast at least in a brief cameo.

Found a cute little ultra condensed version of the Doom movie online. If you get the joke, you are as much of an old school gamer geek as I am. If not, then go ahead and look at the first comment. I’ll ’splain it there.

My review was a little more critical, to say the least.

According to the IAB, online advertising increased 30% in 2005, up for the third year in a row.

The company that benefits the most at the moment is probably Google. Judging by the ShamelessGeeks account there, they don’t seem to have to pay much for the clickthroughs. Aside from the fact that many clickthroughs generate no income at all for the publisher, Google has a minimum pay out of $100. That means that small publishers, accruing clickthroughs at the rate of 1 or 2 a day, will have to wait years before they get anything at all. As an example, this site, with a typical clientele of a few hundred visits per day, has generated a total of $27.34 in 18 months. That means I can expect my first check in October of 2010. With that in mind, how many small sites will be around long enough to ever collect anything from Google?

Major League Gaming is coming to the USA network this fall. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but does anyone remember “Battle Bots"? That was a really great geek competition that lost all credibility when it turned itself over to a “Pro Wrestling” type of cheapening. Those who were originally enthusiasts got turned off by all of the gratuitous jiggle shots and testosterone-induced smack talk. Hopefully, the gamers won’t make the same mistake.

Just remember… those who like computer games probably aren’t the same people who spend every SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! at the CAR STOMPING! METAL CRUNCHING! MONSTER TRUCK PULL!.

Tiger Woods had to apologize for using the word “spaz” to describe his putting game at the U.S. Masters last Sunday. Maybe he would have been better off avoiding the word “spaz” and used the word “retard” or something similar.

C’Mon folks! everyone says things that others can take offense to. If the guy had said something derogatory about those with spastic paralysis, then you can get upset. If he had said “stupid as a spaz” or “useless as a spaz", then you drag him to the mat and slam him. Other than that, you’re just looking for something to whine about.

Fox network has signed a deal that would put over half of it’s prome time lineup online as early as the moring after the show airs. No doubt that this will be a big blow to the DVR market. Why spend the money for the extra receiver and the DVR if you can just download the same thing for free tomorrow morning. Here’s a good idea for a software product: Design something that allows you to make a list of TV shows, then retrieves them for you when they appear online. Google Hollywood? Nice.

A recent study states that Software Engineers have the best jobs in the U.S. It’s not likely that I’ll be arguing with the wisdom of this conclusion, but I have to wonder… Who wrote the software that crunched the data? Hmmm…

A recent survey shows that outsourcing delivers far less savings than promised. All of the promises of 60% cost reduction ended up being more like 15%. Still a reduction, but is it worth the reduction in efficiency caused by distance and cultural differences?

Best Buy’s Geek Squad was slapped with a TRO today by a small software tools maker named Winternals. The suit claims that the geeky dudes pirated Winternals software after contract negotiations between the two companies broke down in February. If the claim is true, then you’ve run into a pack of geeks that are even more shameless than Shameless. Pirating software, especially for business purposes, goes right past shameless to criminal. It’s something I’ll never condone or practice.

It looks like someone has resurrected smell-o-vision again. NTT Communications Corp has begun synchronizing smell generator machines to movie scenes. The concept has been tried numerous time, dating all of the way back to the 1950’s. The idea of having smells associated with scenes isn’t bad, but the logistics concerning synchronization pose a serious problem.

One difference this time is that they seem to be using only perfume-like fragrances to set a “mood". Trying to get the smells to match the scene, like the smell of burning rubber and oil during a car chase, presents the problem of clearing one smell out before the next scene starts. Imagine a love scene that is supposed to have the smell of perfume, but still has leftover scent from the previous fishing boat scene. Then again, that kind of thing might appeal to some people

If you ever had any doubts that Open Source was drifting from the left wing to the right wing, a recent post about the past musings of Marc Fleury may be the final evidence.

I’ve always found it funny how people who challenge the integrity of others can be persuaded otherwise by a few bucks. The thing that isn’t funny is that the records of this are disappearing from the Internet. Sounds an awful lot like Wall Street right after the dot bomb bubble burst.

If you were one of the 3 people in the world who believed that adware companies were just innocent little guys trying to make a living, here is a TechWorld article about some of the hardball tactics used in the adware world. Some of the stuff they have been accused of is pretty awful.

I disagree with some of the conclusions of the author. I believe he is right when he says that adware will probably end up going underground once their tactics are brought into the light. However, Unlike the author, I believe that these companies really do know how evil they are. Otherwise, why would they hide their actions?

According to astronomers, The recently discovered ring around Uranus is blue. I would have guessed that the ring was brown, and that it was created by Klingons, but that’s just me being obvious.

I especially liked the part about astronomers missing this ring because all of the other rings are red, and that they have big particles in them.

I guess the jokes are all a matter of how you answer the question: Just exactly where has Uranus been?

Is anyone else laughing at these astronomical puns? I just love it when scientists make jokes that they don’t quite understand.

Researchers have “trained” a strain of virus to form “nanowires” for miniature battery electrodes. It’s kinda cool to see the little buggers doing something that can be used to build a computer instead of just destroying it. No word yet on whether these viruses can be spread by IE

That’s not a typo… Researchers have found evidence of dentistry in Pakistan around 7000BC. Ouch.

Luckily, modern dentistry has electric drills and anesthetics to dull the pain. I’ll bet that one thing hasn’t changed… I’ll bet that they’ll find the same 5 issues of Field and Stream that my dentists has in his waiting room.

Apple has just unveiled “boot camp", which allows Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Considering the number of hackers out there who were trying to do the same thing, it was inevitable that somebody would get Windows running on the Intel Mac.

It’s a reasonable business idea, but it appears that Apple is slowly getting rid of the things that distinguished it from the everyday PC. First the CPU, now the OS. How long before Apple starts selling re-badged Dells? (or vice-versa)

Resistance was futile. You have been assimilated.

Time Warner’s America Online division has officially renamed itself to AOL. If you are wondering what the AOL stands for now, the answer is: nothing… exactly what it stood for before