PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
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My life has revolved around video games ever since I could remember. When I was a kid, I was in competition with Bryan Roda. I had an Atari 2600 which I loved, but sometime after I moved next door to him, he got an Atari 7200 which he played on his mammoth 32-inch TV. And it was in his bedroom, too! Between that and the G.I.Joe Aircraft carrier, old Bryan had a few edges on me, and it was quite upsetting.

Flash to middle school, and my life with Nintendo Power magazine. I had a subscription since the first issue, and it guided me through tough times in Zelda and Mario games. High school brought Sega, Street Fighter and NHL 95, and I feel in love with my wife because of her love for Mario Kart.

The video above is named Pixels, and it was done by Patrick Jean. It tells the story of video games – old school video games, no less – popping out of a TV and attacking New York City. It includes classic appearances by Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and even Pong. Plus the production value is pretty spectacular. You know, I have no idea why I’m vamping on about this thing. Just watch the video because I said so.

Please.

I’m always looking for cool things for my house. See, as an adult male this pains me to say this, but I’m just gonna go ahead and do it. I watch MTV’s Teen Cribs. I know, that’s retarded. But these kids have crazy houses with crazy stuff in them, and I like to see what kind of stuff they come up with. Whether it’s an in-house bowling alley, or a nutty tree house. I love that stuff, but I understand that it makes me a horrible person.

Now I don’t make $5 billion a year – just $2.5 billion, sorry – so I take the things that I see on Cribs and try to figure out how to integrate them into a house that I can afford. Someday, I’m going to have a game room again, with stuff just dedicated to my geeky and nerdy habits. I’m a Star Wars guy, so I love finding Star Wars related items for the home. Like this one.

It’s a Lightsaber Nightlight, and it just mounts on the wall. It’s controlled by a remote control, so if you want to project a Darth Vader vibe in the room, go with red. Or maybe you’re watching a Samuel L. Jackson marathon and want to get all Mace Windu on your room. Go purple. It’s all possible, and looks pretty cool to begin with.

Right now the light is just $24.99, and it’s going to arrive later this year. But if you want to be the first, you can pre order one now. Of course you can just wait until they’re released in stores, but what fun is that?

I grew up outside of Boston, Mass, and when I was little, we lived in this two-story house off of Pleasant Street. It wasn’t much, but it did have a cool patio on the second story, which was pretty neat to me at the time. I was pretty young when we lived in that house, and I was a huge fan of comic books. So my mother decided to get me these Underoos with Superman, Batman and Spider-Man on them. I’ve told this story before, but the end result was that I loved superheroes, and I’ve always wanted to become one.

I caught this on Twitter today, and I’ve spent a good portion of my day lost in the website. It’s called the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, and they sell all sorts of products for the average superhero. Need a secret identity? Choose between mild mannered, pilot, a cranky head chef or others, and pick them up for a fair price. Maybe you need a lair for your do-good activities. Buy a matter transformer, fancy clock, or maybe just a bucket of gravity in 1-gallon sizes. This place has it all, and it all looks super cool.

I haven’t bought anything from the site yet, but I get the impression that some of it is actually for sale. If you end up buying anything from the site, let us know in the comments. In the meantime, I’m going to spend some money on an invisible phaser. I’ve got an ex-editor that I’d love to use it on.

(Video is mildly NSFW)

I’m not sure when I first discovered it, but someone introduced me to Zero Punctuation and I’ve been following it ever since. Every Wednesday, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw posts up a new animated short reviewing a video game. These fall under the “NSFW” category most of the time, but it’s the way Yahtzee picks apart these games that makes it so enjoyable.

First, there’s the accent and speed of the clips. He’s from Australia, but his accent isn’t very heavy so it’s still pretty understandable all the way through. Then he speeds up his voice when recording – hence the name Zero Punctuation – which gives the video a sense of urgency. Ultimately though, Yahtzee touches on the main problems with games in general, and really gets to the source of the matter. He doesn’t just play these games for 5 minutes and write a review, he plays them for hours – sometimes until he beats them – and then passes judgement.

Take the review above for example, for Batman: Arkham Asylum (mildly NSFW). He says very clearly that he loves the game, but he’s not just going to kiss butt like everyone else. Instead, he takes the things that he takes issues with, and makes fun of them. But it’s all done very constructively in a manner that not only makes you laugh, but also is done to make games better as a whole.

See, Yahtzee is a game developer himself, and he just wants to play good video games. By pointing out the good ones and slamming the bad ones, he’s working towards making a better gaming industry for all of us. Plus he does it with colorful cartoon characters and wit. Fact is, this is one site I visit every Wednesday, and every time I do, I never leave disappointed. Give it a shot.

Sometimes, normal people do things that just amaze me.

Chad Barraford of Brookline, Massachusetts, saw the movie Iron Man and decided that he wanted to turn the fictional Jarvis – the talking computer in charge of Tony Stark’s home, workshop and  Iron Man suit – into reality. To do it, he used a combination of RFID tags, Twitter, IM programs and did it all using a Mac Mini.

The Boston Globe broke the story, but if you want some of the fun details and videos about the project itself, go to the Project Jarvis homepage. There you can see Chad’s videos of the process, as well as different fun steps along the way.

Of course, something like this seems like it would be pretty pricey to build. The Boston Globe tells a slightly different story.

Compared with much of what’s marketed as “smart home’’ technology, Jarvis is both a marvel and a bargain. He runs on a 4-year-old Mac Mini computer with built-in speech recognition — and virtually no additional bells and whistles. Barraford has calculated, down to the penny, how much he has spent on a DLA that does everything but brush his teeth. To date, the figure stands at $691.98. That includes wall speakers and an xTag wireless microphone.

I love homebrew stuff like this, and I’m pretty stoked to see that Chad made this pipe dream into reality, particularly for so low a cost.

When the XBox 360 first came out, the hard drive that came standard – at least on the higher up model – just seemed like it wouldn’t be enough. After all, with all the DLC that Microsoft was planning for the console, there was no way that 20GB would be enough. The upgrades kept coming along, Netflix was added, DLC got bigger and bigger … Well, you know the result.

So Microsoft decides a little while back to offer a 250GB drive for the 360, and decided to price it at $129. Even the most expensive 250GB drive on NewEgg is still $30 cheaper, and the pricey drive just feels like a slap in the face. Why not just allow people to plug in their own USB drives and do whatever they want with storage? Well, now you can, per Major Nelson.

We’ve just released a system update for the Xbox 360 over Xbox LIVE.

As previously announced, this system update contains support for USB Memory storage devices.

Sometime over the next few hours when you sign in to Xbox LIVE you’ll receive a prompt to accept this mandatory update. If you are signed into LIVE already, you may be signed out and asked to accept the update and you’ll be back online in a few moments.

So what was previously announced? Here’s the good stuff:

On April 6th, we will be releasing a system update over Xbox LIVE for your Xbox 360 that will allow USB flash drives to be used for storing profiles, game saves, demos and more.  I’ve been testing this feature out for a few weeks, and I have to say it’s really great. Once you take the system update on April 6th, you’ll be able to connect your USB flash drives to your console and head over to the memory section to configure your new storage device. Once you do that, the system will conduct a one time performance and integrity check to confirm the drive is working properly. You will then be able to configure how much storage to use on the device, up to 16 GB. The remaining space on the flash drive will be accessible by your PC or Mac. USB Hard drives may work, but like flash memory, you’ll only be able to use up to 16GB of space. Since performance on flash based USB storage is usually better, I highly recommend using flash based instead of spinning media like a hard drive…it’s just going to give you a MUCH better experience.

Nice. I will say that the 16GB limit sucks pretty hard, but hopefully they’ll start upping the limits soon. That way the 360 can become a true home media server, without any extra hacks.

I grew up in Framingham, Massachussetts, which is about 30 minutes outside of Downtown Boston off of Route 9. I grew up watching the Red Sox lose again and again, no matter how much talent we had on the field. My first visit to Fenway was a field trip in the 4th grade, and I became a fan shortly thereafter.

We move to Arizona when I was 12. A few years later, when I turned 16, I started to become a fan of gangster rap. It was 1992, and NWA, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre were huge at my high school, and as a suburban white kid growing up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood, it was required that I buy “The Chronic” on release day. Needless to say, I’m a pretty big Dr. Dre fan, and I’ve got almost everything he’s ever produced or rapped on in my iTunes library.

When the Dr. Dre Beats headphones came out by Monster, I really wanted a set. But like many people, I just couldn’t justify the $300+ price tag. At the time I was working in an office and I could really have used a set of fancy noise-canceling headphones, but not for $300.

Now, I may have to amend that decision. That’s because Monster has introduced the Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Red Sox Edition headphones. It’s like a singularity has been introduced to my head, combining all things awesome in one place. Problem is, they’re super expensive. MSRP is $399, and although they are pretty sweet, I don’t know if I can justify it that much.

But man, they would be sweet.

Well now that was quick.

MuscleNerd from the iPhone Dev-Team has officially jailbroken the iPad. How’d he do it? Turns out it’s a twist on the “Spirit” jailbreak that’s been used for the most recent version of the iPhone, 3.1.3. Now I don’t know much about the process of jailbreaking – I’m not a programmer, remember – but doing this to the iPad seems a little less important than it is for the iPhone.

With the iPhone, the jailbreak process frees you from the shackles of AT&T,and allows you to get out of Apple’s restricted system. With the iPad, well, it’s neat to do it because then you can claim firsties. But the only real tyrannical dictator that you’re avoiding here is Steve Jobs, in which case you have to wonder why you’d want an iPad in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for homebrew and hacking. And if it wasn’t for people like MuscleNerd, we wouldn’t have some of the advances in technology that we’ve got today. But this is one of those products that I just don’t see wanting broken. I just like enjoying it as is, and keeping that homegrown system as fresh as it was from the factory.

Then again, if you can put Super Mario 3 on it, I’ll be next in line to jailbreak one.

Via Macnn

Anyone watching Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars? I’m a big fan of anything Star Wars, and I could really give a crap about people talking down on the episodes I-III. Sure, they didn’t fit into the canon the way everyone wanted it to, but they were entertaining movies on their own, even if some of it didn’t make a lot of sense.

Back when those movies first came out, Cartoon Network put on a series called The Clone Wars, and I never got to see it. Then when I went looking for it later on, it disappeared from the shelves like it never existed. Regardless, now they have the newest series, with an interesting take on the Star Wars universe.

For the uninitiated, the show takes place between Episode II and Episode III, before Anakin turned evil and all that. Anakin is given his own padawan – Ahsoka Tano – who initially played the “annoying kid” role pretty well. Now though, she’s becoming a well fleshed out character and is less annoying and more kickass.

The preview above is about the season finale for Season 2, and has to do with Boba Fett. Remember, in Episode II, Boba watched his dad get decapitated. Now he wants revenge, and he’s teamed up with some adults to get it done. This episode looks like another good one in a season of excellent shows, and should be a good way to end the year.

If you’re a fan of Star Wars, give the series a shot. There’s some solid action and a good storyline as well, plus new characters that make things more exciting. It’s on Friday nights on Cartoon Network.

Whenever I need to know how my Mac is put together, I go to the website where they take it apart – iFixit.com. As is to be expected with the release of any major new product, they got one and took it apart, all within a few hours of the iPad’s launch. So what can we glean from their tireless efforts?

First, this thing doesn’t seem too difficult to disassemble. The screen comes off with a spudger, although they do report that you might break a few tabs in the process. They also note how balanced the device is, with perfect 50-50 distribution between the front and back panels. Apple also uses the smallest screws that iFixit has ever seen on an Apple product – T4 Torx heads.

There’s really no revolutionary info here – other than the device itself, it seems – but it is a good look at the inside of a beautifully designed product, The fact is, Apple takes as much care on the details from the inside, as well as the outside. For example, check out the antenna. Hidden behind the Apple logo, it’s press fit into a carefully machined insert in the back of the aluminum case, yet sits flush with the surrounding metal. Little details like this are the reason why Apple has so many fans.

Like the iPad or hate it, you’ve got to respect some of the pretty parts contained inside of this new device. Now let’s see what the modding community does with that information.

Normally I’d write this over at Apple Gazette – your source for excellent Apple news, reviews and commentary – but let’s face it; there’s nothing geekier right now than the iPad. I originally thought that it wasn’t worth my time. There was no reason for me to get an iPad when my laptop and iPhone do everything I need them to do. I just didn’t see a fit for it in my life, frankly, and I didn’t want to spend the money.

I did this same thing with the iPhone. God, did I want the iPhone badly, but it just didn’t fit all of the qualifications that I wanted in a device. I figured that if it was an iPod and a phone in the same package, then I wanted it to replace my 40GB iPod Photo entirely. Plus there was no MMS and no other compelling reason to buy the thing – at least in my case. But I spent the next year trying it out, playing with it at the Apple store and slowly falling in love. When the 3G came out, I figured it was mostly all the way up to my requirements, so I jumped on it. I loved the thing so much that I bought a 3GS when they came out, too.

Now it’s iPad time, and I’m in a familiar situation. This time though, I know what I’m getting into. It’s a new device with limited usage. It wouldn’t replace my laptop in travel situations, nor would it be my device of choice for hammering out blog posts. But it would be nice to use instead of my iPhone when it came time to surfing the web or playing a game. For me, I figured that two things would sway my opinion: the apps and touching the thing for the first time.

Well, the apps are here. Do a search for “iPad” in iTunes and you get the screen pictured above. Take a look at WeatherBug Elite for iPad and tell me that’s not one of the most gorgeous things you’ve ever seen. Twitteriffic for iPad? C’mon. Done deal. The final nail in the coffin for me was At Bat 2010 for iPad. Seriously, I could watch the Red Sox from my desktop and have all the stats I want on hand. Brilliant.

Alright, so the Apps are a done deal. What about touching it? Well I, like everyone else out there, won’t get a chance to touch it until this weekend. But when I get the chance, I’m gonna touch it so much that it’ll have to get a restraining order. I think that it’s going to quickly become a situation where, like petting a puppy for the first time, I touch it and want it.

There’s just one last hurdle here, and that’s the price. I’ve already decided on a 3G model, so I’m instantly in the upper price range. Then there’s the memory. I said 64GB, but truth be told, 32GB might fit just fine depending on how I use it. I doubt it’ll be for playing my iTunes playlist, but it’s definitely made for movies so that will suck up some storage. Then there’s all the books and apps I’ll be getting, mostly for reading to my son and playing games. It’s between 32 and 64 for me, so now I just have to decide if the price is worth it.

But now, unlike with the iPhone, I know I want it. Now I just have to decide on the when part.

Oh, the things people do to be different. Take this guy, for example. He went ahead and created one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, and I highly doubt that anyone anywhere will ever own one of these shirts other than him. Why? Probably because it’s not machine washable, but things with a chipset rarely are.

Anyways, here’s how it works: The gentleman who designed this shirt – Chris Bell with the help of his wife Madeleine – uses an Android phone for his main source of communications. That connects to the t-shirt via a bluetooth dongle on the face, which then connects to an Lilypad Arduino. That in turn lights up a series of LEDs that are connected via conductive thread. Those threads run to screenprinted numbers on the side which show how many messages their are in the inbox. It counts by binary as well, so if he has three messages for example, he’ll have the “2″ and “1″ illuminated.

Check out the video. It’s pretty neat stuff, and it makes me a little bit jealous.

via fashionablygeek.com

Got a storage problem? I know I do. That’s why when I first head about these new portable hard drives by Toshiba, I got a little excited. They come in four different flavors: 500GB, 640GB, 750GB, and 1TB, all for under $200. These are USB 2.0 drives, with no eSata or Firewire options. Right now the suggested list prices start at $119.99 for the 500, and move up to $199 for the 1TB, but Toshiba Direct has the 1TB now for $189, thanks to a $10 instant-savings deal. If black isn’t your thing, they also come in silver, blue, green and red, so you’ve got some options there as well.

This isn’t the cheapest drive on the market, though. Western Digital has a 1TB model up on NewEgg for $149, and it comes with a free case. They also have a Seagate FreeAgent model for $149 and it comes with a dock and a case. My theory is that once these things hit the streets that the Toshiba will come down in price, but that’s never a guarantee. Frankly, for the difference  you could step up to a bigger model instead, assuming you’re OK with a larger footprint for the device.

PR Newswire via Geek.com

When I was younger, I was all about Tecmo Bowl. Like any good geek, I wasn’t good at sports. Sure I tried, but it just never happened, no matter how many different sports I suited up for. Because of that, Games such as NHL 95, NBA Jam and  Tecmo Bowl ruled my afternoons. There, in the comfort of my home, I could be a winner just like everyone else.

At this point, Madden has the lock on NFL properties, so you’re not going to get much in the way of competition. In fact, you’re not going to get anything but lame imitation teams, so most people don’t even try. That’s why when I hear about a competitor to the turducken-maker’s franchise, it perks up my ear.

Tecmo Bowl is back with Tecmo Bowl: Throwback. The crew at Game Trailers put up a trailer on Monday, and after discovering it then, I knew my life would never be the same. It’s coming out soon on the PlayStation Network and XBox Live Arcade. No work on a price, but who cares – I’m buying it. But what makes this new version so great?

First off, it’s new but it’s old. Same layout, same overhead view, same basic principles. But this time, the characters are HD cartoon versions of themselves and there’s a 3-D version as well. Not that it matters to me though, because I’ll be playing it full time on OG mode.

Want to see more? There are two videos after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since the iPhone came out, there’s been talk about it moving over to Verizon. Speculation has been going rampant since day 1, and now there’s a new rumor about it coming back up to the surface, but this time it’s from the Wall Street Journal.

Apple Inc. plans to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U.S. phone carriers other than AT&T Inc. to sell the iconic gadget, said people briefed by the company.

The new iPhone would work on a type of wireless network called CDMA, these people said. CDMA is used by Verizon Wireless, AT&T’s main competitor, as well as Sprint Nextel Corp. and a handful of cellular operators in countries including South Korea and Japan. The vast majority of carriers world-wide, including AT&T, use another technology called GSM.

With Apple developing a phone with CDMA capability, its exclusive U.S. arrangement with AT&T dating to 2007 appears set to end.

I’ve been hunting for this quote for a while now, but I haven’t been able to find it. I was under the impression that Apple and AT&T were stuck together until 2012. If it really is 2010, then come this summer, the iPhone may be Verizon bound.

So what does this mean if it is true?

First off, people will flock to Verizon in droves. I know I’m tired of dealing with AT&T and their crappy service, but they’d have to do some fancy things to lure me over for good. Like drop the price a bit, or offer to cover my ETF from AT&T. On the flip side, AT&T is going to have to really kiss some ass to keep people on their side. Cheaper plans, cheaper upgrades, and better service. If I had a dollar for every dropped call I’ve had with AT&T, I’d have 20 iPhones.

I do wonder though if this just makes Verizon that much more of an evil empire. I was never with them before because their plans were always $40 more for what I needed. Will they really be good to Apple’s fanbase, or will they be as evil as they’ve been in the past?

Of course, there could be another interesting twist here. Apple could open it up to everyone if they wanted to. Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon could all get the iPhone potentially. That levels the playing field and gives Apple a huge base. Would the networks be willing to give up exclusivity to have arguably the best device on the market? To know that they’ve got the same as their competitors and the only difference will be the service?

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to hear about Apple’s newest iPhone this summer.