Geek Spot

Video Game's Sales Not Looking Good

2009-10-20T14:10:00.001-05:00

Think hard to yourself. When is the last time you bought a game, as opposed to eating for the week? Depending on who you are, you might think that is crazy, and you would be right. But there is a small subset of Hardcore Video Game enthusiasts that would do it. The only problem is that they are not enough to keep sales going strong. This Tuesday, nearly all video game makers on Wall Street fell, the biggest of which was Electronic Arts.

Most economist say it is the down economy, which I think is strange, because most of the time in a bad economy, Movie sales skyrocket. I guess that paying eight bucks for a movie ticket and sixty for a game is a little different, but there both about escapism. That is why people go to the movies during downturns in the economy, because they want to forget about there money problems. To me, video games are even more escapist, because you basically go to a different world for a couple hours.

Either way, video games aren't doing so hot right now. So I am giving a call to action to all the Geeks out there. Go to your local Gamespot and buy the first awesome game you see.

I know I'm doing my part.

The State of Computers

2009-10-19T22:56:00.003-05:00

Today, October 19th, 2009, at 9:25 a.m. I had an epiphany. I sat in my "Foundations of Computer Science I" class and was thinking about programming. The main question I had was, "Why am I learning how to program in Java, when, to the best of my knowledge, most companies use C++ or Python?"

As I thought about this question, I realized the answer to this question. It's because of Java's portability. You can use a Java program on any computer, whether it be a Mac, P.c., or even a Linux box. That is the current state of computers. Computer Science students are being prepared for a future that is no longer dominated by P.C.'s. To a Windows fanboy, that's kinda disappointing.

Of course, Microsoft isn't helping itself out much. I don't know how many times I've heard someone say that there going to switch to Apple computers just because of Vista's terrible reputation (a reputation that, I think, should be done away with because of Sp1 & 2). Plus, the Apple advertising campaign that has been attacking television the last couple years actually has given Macs a feeling of "coolness" (NOT).

So far, things are not looking good for Microsoft, but alas, a savior is on the way!

It's a bird, It's a plane! NO! It's a computer with Windows 7 installed!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, maybe that's a little over dramatic, but with reading all the reviews that I have, and talking to people that used the beta and RC client, I am really optimistic about 7.

Let's just hope it's not 2007 all over again.

-Chris

Floating in the A.I.R.

2009-07-30T01:34:00.004-05:00

For the uninitiated, Adobe AIR, or the Adobe Integrated Runtime, is a runtime environment built to run applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, or Ajax. The cool thing about this is that they can be used as desktop application. I'll give some reasons why that awesome in a sec. AIR has changed many Browser apps that before were limited to just use in a web browser. I like Google Analytics, but I hate having a browser out just to see it. Not to mention that in a browser, Analytics runs like pudding, where as a desktop application, it runs quite smoothly. These are some of my favorite application using AIR:

Doomi:

www.doominow.com

Doomi is a neat little app that isn't life changing, but it gets the job done. It is basically a to-do list that will alert you when something is coming up. Sounds simple, cause it is, but you really don't know about it until you use it. Doomi even has a message to you when you put your cursor over the icon in the task bar. The message reads: “Doomi <3's>

ReadAir:

readair.en.softonic.com

This application is pretty cool. It takes your Google Reader page and unlocks it from the chains of a browser. Again, simple, but it is quite nice. Another application you don't think is useful until you use it.

Tweetdeck:

tweetdeck.com

I absolutely love Tweetdeck. It is an amazing replacement for the annoying Twitter interface. It has way more functionality, mostly because it is on the desktop, instead of a web browser. I love the RT and Reply buttons on every one's profile pics, and Tweetdeck will even let you create groups, keep live searches going, and even update your Facebook status. This is highly recommended if you are still using the Twitter Interface.

Desktube:

thedesktube.com

This AIR application brings YouTube to your desktop, where it belongs. It gives you a full listing of all the recently featured videos on You Tube, as well as search and seeing all the top videos. You can even upload videos to YouTube and share videos on Facebook and Twitter. Highly recommended.

The Saga Continues - Apple iPhone Versus Palm Pre

2009-07-29T19:54:00.002-05:00

The gloves are on. The bell has rung for round two in this fight over the smartphone market. Admittedly, it is a HUGE George Foreman vs. a tiny, skinny, anemic nerd. That's pretty much describes the fight between Apple's iPhone and the Palm Pre. Round one began with the Palm Pre releasing claiming to be an "iPhone Killer", which of course, is impossible. Round two may be a little different though. So far in Round two, Apple has denied customers one of the coolest apps out there, Google Voice. This has upset quite a few people on the ole' Internets, and AT&T and Apple are still squabbling over it. Then, guess what? Google released Voice on the Palm Pre. Take that, Apple!

AT&T is probably the iPhones biggest problem. So far, they haven't allowed MMS messaging, what is know as "Tethering" and a few other things. This has obviously upset some who own iPhones. The Palm Pre is available on Sprint, and will be coming to Verizon soon, both of which offer these services.

The amount of Apps available for the iPhone is massive, somewhere near 50,000. This is one obvious advantage to the iPhone, but recently the Palm Pre has released a SDK for there Apps, so they are going to start to develop more and more. Another good punch to the iPhone's head.

There was also the fight between iTunes syncing on the Pre, which Apple released a patch to fix this. Then, the Pre relesed a workaround so you can sync with iTunes. The Pre one this round.

Eventually, this is going to end somewhere, but this humble author thinks the Palm Pre is a good contender, but it will still be beaten by the monster that is the iPhone.

Of course, If Palm doesn't stop airing those really creepy comercials, then I won't be able to sleep at night. Thanks alot, Palm...

Chris out.

Microsoft vs. Google. Then There Were Two...

2009-07-29T17:08:00.003-05:00

I like to think of the business of search as a town in the Wild West. There are the towns people, That's anyone who uses the Internet. There are the shop owners, which is anyone who advertises on a search engine. And then there are the big players in the town. The people who run the town, like a crime boss controlling everything, yet allowing people to go about there daily business. Obviously, The biggest Sheriff in town right now is Google. Well, cowboys and girls, there is a new deputy in town. Today, Microsoft officially finished it's deal to buy Yahoo's search. That's right, now anytime you search anything on Yahoo, it will now be powered by Bing. This gives Bing a 28% market share in the wild west town of Search. That may not be much compared to the 65% share that Google owns, but now at least Google has a competitor that thinks they can take on the big dog. Microsoft thinks there search algorithm is better than Google's and many people tend to agree.

For now, all we can do is gather at the town square and watch the shootout at noon...

Chris

Future Awesome Stuff - Google Squared

2009-07-29T02:35:00.006-05:00

Google is know for producing game-changing stuff. I mean, how many of us use GMail, Google Reader, AdSense, or just the search engine itself? Today I looked at an App that Google is curently working on in the "Google Labs". It's called Google Squared. I think I'll leave it to Google to explain what it is:

Google Squared is an experimental tool that takes a category (like US presidents, roller coasters, or digital cameras) and attempts to create a starter "square" of information, automatically fetching and organizing facts from across the web. You can modify your square by removing rows and columns you don't like--or by adding new rows and columns and having Google Squared attempt to fetch the relevant facts. Verify and correct the facts in your square by exploring the original sources and investigating other possible values. If you're happy with your square you can save it and come back to it later. Google Squared does the grunt work for you, making research fast and easy.

The possiblities are endless. I think what makes this app awesome is the customization of the squares. You can actually add your own item for Squared to search, and if there is that information, Then it will display it. It really is something you must try for yourself. Go to http://tinyurl.com/o89xy2 to try it out. Have fun and let me know what you think about it.

Chris

Twitter Finally Has A Helpful Home Page

2009-07-28T23:27:00.002-05:00

Ever tried to explain what Twitter is to someone? It's not exactly an easy thing to do. I have attempted on several occasions, but the only way to tell someone what it's all about is to show them. That is the concept behind Twitter's new homepage. The whole emphasis behind the change is the Twitter search concept. They are trying to brand themselves as a "Watch what to world is talking about" instead of the social website that it try's to be. I believe this is the best thing they can do. It will be much easier than trying to stumble out an explanation when someone asks "What is Twitter?"

Go Biz!

AMD and Microsoft Working Together For a "Visual Experience"

2009-07-28T02:22:00.002-05:00

Windows 7 is gonna be big. As a Windows user and lover since I was a wee tot, I hope with my heart of hearts that it is big. I want Microsoft to redeem themselves after Vista-gate. From the Beta and Release Client versions of Windows 7, we have seen that this may be the OS that we were looking for. Today on Microsoft blog, It was announced that AMD is currently working with Microsoft to perfect the visuals of Windows 7. This is what Nigel Dessau said today on the Microsoft blog:

AMD just announced the WHQL-certified ATI Catalyst (TM) 9.7 Unified Driver (you can download the ATI Catalyst driver here). This is a crucial piece of the puzzle designed to help you get the most out of your ATI Radeon (TM) graphics technology when running Windows 7. This, combined with the upcoming DirectX® 11- (DX11) enabled ATI Radeon graphics cards, will help deliver something we like to call The Ultimate Visual Experience (TM).
One feature of AMD’s DX11-enabled graphics cards that is designed to enhance Windows 7 in all new ways is the compute shader, which allows our ATI Stream technology to help enable what I was getting at before – that seamless user experience. This technology enables a wide number of Windows 7 applications to be sped up in a way that’s completely transparent to users. For example, it can accelerate the conversion of video for playback on portable media players through a simple drag-and-drop interface. Something that consumers everywhere are used to taking an hour can now happen in just a few minutes

With this news, we at Geek Spot are starting to like they way Win7 is shaping up. I love a pretty UI (Who doesn't) and that will be an amazing step forward in graphics technology.

Let's go Windows 7, Let's Go!

Features of Windows That Are Helpful

2009-07-28T01:26:00.003-05:00

This week in our "Windows Help" feature, I would like to talk about some things that are included in Windows XP that can actually help with P.C. maintenance. Yeah, something in Windows is helpful! I know!!

First up is the "Disk Cleanup" feature. If you don't regularly use this to get rid of temporary Internet files, Recycle Bin files, and Offline Web pages, your wasting a ton of space. This cleanup will free up your system enough that you will notice a significant speed up. Another cool thing you can do is set Disk Cleanup to compress your old files that you haven't access in a while. This can potentially save you a ton of space. The only thing is that when you want to access a compressed file, it will take a little more time to access it. Of course, that is the reason you compress older files, because you rarely use them.

Up next is the Disk Defragmentor feature. I know, I know, you have heard to defragment your hard-drive countless times. This advice is true. A fragmented Hard Drive can slow your computer down a lot, because windows does a ton of random writes to your hard-drive. This is another feature that can speed you up considerably.

Now, many of you power users probably already use these features, but there are some who don't, and they truly are missing out on a good feature to Windows. Let's all hope that Windows 7 has some more of these great features...

Chris out.

Why is Apple So Rotten?

2009-07-27T21:04:00.003-05:00

Okay, Let me start off by saying that I have never been a big fan of Apple products. I have much disdain for those of you out there (and you know who you are) who think anyone not using a Mac is dumb and uncool. At least now, we have reason even greater to hate Apple. They are using awfully unfair buisness practices that are hurting the customer.

They are stopping Google Voice from the app store. The reasons to pull Voice are obvious, mostly because it would let you send free SMS messages and make cheap long distance calls. Even though this is probably one of the biggest phone apps EVER, Apple is still not allowing it. Allegedly, the only reason that Apple is pulling the App is because AT&T asked them too. So, because the iPhone's soul belongs to AT&T (For whatever reason) people who own them won't get to use a trully socially changing app.

These are the kinds of practices that make me very annoyed at big companies. I say, if you trully were looking out for me, you would let me do what I want, and since you don't, I'll take my business somewhere else...

I'll get a Palm Pre.

Chris out

Firefox Going The Way of Google Chrome

2009-07-27T18:44:00.005-05:00

Mozilla just released a few shots of what Firefox 4.0 might conceivably look like. From the Title of this article, you may guess what I'm going to say. It looks a tiny-weeny bit like Chrome.

Okay, It looks a lot like Chrome. But is that so bad? Now that I think about it, I have been using Chrome exclusively for almost a month. If the newest version of Firefox is a lot more stable than their previous releases, then I am all for it. It really is quite pretty in the shot above. According to the Mozilla Wiki, these designs are not by any means final. In fact, this blogger thinks they won't look exactally like this, but I hope they do, cause they are so darn pretty.

Chris out....

XBox 360 Gets Updates This Fall

2009-07-26T21:25:00.004-05:00

At E3 this year, Microsoft announced many changes to the XBox 360. We have word that some of the new changes will be available to some in the media this August, though I am not one of the lucky few. I do know, however, what will be included in this update. I would like to say before I tell you is that Microsoft isn't always reliable on these updates, so take all news with a grain of salt.

This comes directly from Microsoft:

Netflix Updates
Now you can watch movies with your friends no matter where they are and manage your queue from the comfort of your couch.
• Movie Parties – Xbox LIVE Gold members can sit together in a virtual theater with up to seven friends no matter where they are while your Avatars watch a movie, flirt or even throw popcorn at each other.
• Manage Your Queue – Browse the Netflix Instant Watch video catalogue, choose from the most popular movies and genres and add to your queue all from the comfort of your couch – no computer required.
• Enhanced Playback Experience – Enjoy a smooth viewing experience when your Internet bandwidth fluctuates.
• Friends Info – Richer information is now displayed in the Friends channel and in the Guide showing what you and your friends are doing.

Avatar Marketplace
• Express yourself! Deck your Avatar out with the latest clothing and props from the top brands and game franchises. Please note that only limited content is currently available in the preview.
• Clothing – Download premium items, including branded apparel from your favorite fashion labels and Xbox 360 games such as "Halo."
• Props – You can now equip your avatar with animated items they can carry around and interact with.
• Awardables – The ability to earn Avatar clothing and props as rewards within games has been added. Please stay tuned for an update on supporting titles.

Games on Demand
Please note that Games on Demand will be available in the preview beginning early August.
• Enjoy 24 x 7 access to a growing online library of popular full game titles on Xbox LIVE whenever you want them, in the comfort of your living room.
• Purchase Options – Browse and download a great selection of full Xbox 360 games using Microsoft Points, direct debit, or credit card.
• Game Manuals – Game manuals for Games on Demand titles can be viewed, downloaded or printed on Xbox.com.
• It's Yours Forever! – As with other Xbox LIVE content, Games on Demand titles are linked to your Xbox LIVE account, so you can delete and re-download anything you have already purchased to the same console or another console.

User Ratings
User ratings help you find games that other people think are awesome!
• Rate it – You can now rate every game on the Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace using a 5-star system.
• Sort and Find it – Now you can easily find the games that everyone's been raving about by visiting the Top Rated games in the Browse All category of Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace.

Xbox LIVE Parties
Everyone loves to Party! Check out the new and improved Xbox LIVE Party features.
• Party Reconnections – If you are accidentally disconnected from your party, Xbox LIVE will automatically reconnect you.
• Streamlined Party Invites – Invites are now just one click away! No need to click through multiple screens to get all your friends together.
Video Display Options
• We've made it easier for you to see your entertainment in the highest resolution possible on your TV using an HDMI connection.
• Display Discovery – Make sure you can see and hear your entertainment in the highest resolution and sound quality possible with the option to override and select audio and video formats independent of the information your television sends to your Xbox 360 console.

Other Improvements
We're always listening to you for feedback, and this Xbox LIVE update will include numerous dashboard updates.
• Gold Member Veterans – Xbox LIVE Gold members get to show it off with a stamp on your Gamer Card that tells people how long you've been a Gold member.
• Indie Games – Xbox LIVE Community Games has been renamed Xbox LIVE Indie Games. We feel this new name better represents the independent spirit of these titles.
• Achievement Browser – We've revamped the Achievements browser so it's now easier to read through all the achievements while playing a game. You can now also launch a game directly from the browser.
• Achievements Tracking – A new view inside the profile panel which includes a summary of Achievements earned across all the games played, and shows of all your completed games.
• Streamlined Navigation - Streamlined navigation, including new entry points in the dashboard for Active Downloads, redeeming codes, recovering Gamertags and more.
• Voice Messages – No more blank voice messages! When recording a voice message, a warning will pop up if no audio is detected.
• Friends List Sorting – It's now easier to find your friends! Find and sort your friends by activity, Gamertag or online status by pressing the Y button while viewing the friends list in the Guide.
• Memory – Time stamps now appear in the memory area, which particular handy when managing saved games.

This update so far doesn't include the Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, and the Zune features that Microsoft showed at E3, but we must assume they will be included in future updates. I hope.

We'll that's pretty much it. Let's all cross our fingers that all goes as planned. Chris out.

Amazon Apologizes for Orwell Debacle

2009-07-26T10:45:00.003-05:00

Last week, Geek Spot reported on a scary incident that happened on some people's Kindles. Amazon removed the books Animal House and 1984 from people who purchased the books from Amazon's online book store. Well, this week Amazon apologized for the mistake. On Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said this:

"This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle," he wrote on Amazon's site. "Our 'solution' to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission."

We are really glad that Amazon realizes there mistake. This may not seem important, but it really is a big leap forward for businesses that actually care about there customers. *cough* Microsoft *cough* None-the-less, I believe any Kindle or Amazon boycotts resulting from the incident should be disbanded. In other words, we're cool now, Amazon.

Dropbox, This Weeks Power App

2009-07-24T20:49:00.002-05:00

It's getting awfully cloudy on the web these days. By that I mean, more and more applications are completely web-based. Google has been pushing this for years, and more programs are jumping on the bandwagon. Today, we're going to look at one of these said application. The program in question is called Dropbox (www.getdropbox.com). This is an extremely nifty app that has endless uses. The whole premise of dropbox is to store things on the web, such as photos, music, even other applications. Then, you can access your stuff on any other computer that has dropbox.

Starting to see the power?

Plus, dropbox is easy to use. Once you download it, you'll get an account and a folder in your "My Documents" section that is labeled "My Dropbox". After that, you can place anything in the My Dropbox folder and it will automatically sync to your online storage area. Extremely simple. Once you sync everything, you can access that stuff from any other computer.

Once you get all that taken care of, the real fun begins. You don't really realize the power of dropbox until you start combining it with other apps. You could add another layer of security with TrueCrypt (www.truecrypt.org). You could access your Keypass (keypass.info) database anywhere. You could save your Pidgin (www.pidgin.im) logs and access your IM from any computer. The possibilities are endless. Experiment, and most importantly, use this software to it's full advantage. It deserves it.

Chris-

@geekspotblog

A USB Is All You Need

2009-07-24T09:34:00.001-05:00

Every reliable Geek worth his weight in gadgets carries around a USB flash drive, at least for transferring files to other computer. If you don't, perhaps you should. My personal favorite use of a Flash drive is to set up all your social and technical applications for portable use. This guide will show you a quick and easy way to utilize your portable media

First, you will need a USB drive. (Duh) The more space, the better, but there really is no reason to buy a 128 gigabyte drive. That's a little two much space, but it's your call. I personally use a 2gig Sandisk Cruzer Micro, and it does all I need it too.

Next, we're going to install a kind of User Interface for your drive. This software is called PortableApps. It will house all your applications and display them when your drive is inserted into a computer. The good thing about this program is that it is free, quite powerful, and has many applications that are supported. Another example of great open-source programming. Go to www.portableapps.com to get this program. You can choose to just download the software, download a light version of the full suite, and the full suite. You'll just have to decide which one you want. If you get the full suite, you'll save some time, but you won't specifically pick out which apps you want.

Well, that's pretty much it. Told you it was quick and easy. Well, If you have any unawnsered question, leave a comment and I'll get back to you. See ya next time!

Video Makers Fighting for Good Causes on YouTube

2009-07-23T21:46:00.002-05:00

Recently, YouTube launched "Video Volunteers" and "CitizenTube", two places to encourage people to be more socially outspoken on issues that matter to them.

YouTube being the social video site that it is, This is only a natural progression. I think this is another example of the web being a place to get the word out on important issues. We saw this extensively on the issue of the Iran election on Twitter, where the news media wasn't allowed to cover the violence or tragedy, but the power of information was put into the hands of the people, who told the whole world from Twitter. I believe this is one of the most underrated parts of the Internet, which I hope will be more utilized in the future.

For info from YouTube and Google, go to http://www.citizentube.com/, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/digital-activism-on-youtube.html, and http://www.videovolunteers.org/.

Diagnose Problems with a Clean Boot

2009-07-22T15:10:00.003-05:00

This week, I wanna start a weekly article to help with frustrated p.c. users who need a little help. If you have any idea's for articles, please leave a comment or email me.

Thanks, Chris...

This weeks article:

Let's say you have an application that is acting funny. Like, so funny that it is unusable. This can be frustrating, especially if it is a game you payed fifty bucks for, only for you to bring it home and it isn't working. This exact scenario has happened to yours truly on many occasions, so I figured a way to diagnose the problem.

A Clean Boot.

First, what it is. A Clean Boot, as the name implies, is when you boot up "clean" as in, no background applications. Usually, a problem with a program not running is due to an issue with a background application. Certain programs can interfere with each other, causing the application your trying to run to not work properly.

Step one is to boot cleanly. To do this, go to "run" in the start menu and type MSCONFIG in the dialogue box that appears. This should pull up the System Configuration Utility, which is a handy windows program that can tweak certain aspects of the system. Once you're in the S.C.U. then go to the "Services" tab. At this point, you should see a list of services with "checks" beside them. Click on the box at the bottom of the window titled "Hide all Microsoft services". Believe me, you don't want to be messing with those too much. Now, after you have hidden all Microsoft services, you should click the "Disable All" button to turn off all non-essential services, then hit okay. It will reboot, and the S.C.U will appear again. When it does, click cancel. We will deal with it some more in a minute.

After your clean boot, try your problematic application. If everything worked properly, then you have an issue with a background program. Congratulations! You have completed step one!

Next, you need to go into MSCONFIG once more and turn on half of the services you previously disabled, then reboot. If the program works again, then that half wasn't the problem. Keep going with the enabling the services until that problem comes back. Once it does, then you have narrowed it down to one or two services. Now you need to decide if those services are necessary. If they are not, then leave them unchecked. If they are important, then you have to figure out the problem between your applications.

The best place to go for this is Google and the forums for both of the companies that makes your programs. Finding the cure is the trickiest part, and will require some research, but I believe in you!

If anything, at least now you know why the program isn't working. Hope that helps!

Beatles RockBand to Hit Stores on 9/9/09

2009-07-22T14:23:00.004-05:00

As an avid Guitar Hero and Rock Band Star, I am happy to announce a Rockband Game featuring The Beatles!

Took long enough...

None-the-less, The Beatles Rockband will hit stores 9/9/09. From what we know so far, the single player of the game consists of you playing through the career of the Beatles, from Liverpool to, what I could only assume would be the Yoko Ono Breakup...Maybe not, but this is a neat concept. Probably the coolest thing announced for the game is the inclusion of 2 and 3 part harmonies on the vocals. Not only that, but a vocal trainer for all of us who aren't exactly vocally endowed. You can also buy special edition instruments that are made to look like Paul's, John's, and George's Guitars and Ringo's drums. Of course, If you don't want the awesome guitars, the game will also work with your own controllers, but that's way more lame than the special edition guitars.

So far, Harmonix has released 25 of the 45 songs from the game, including "Yellow Submarine", "I am the Walrus" and "Here Comes the Sun". Shortly after launch, more songs will be available as DLC, such as the complete Abby Road album. I know most people are with me when I say, I can't wait for this game.

Anyone Else Excited About Google Wave?

2009-07-22T02:46:00.003-05:00

Google wave looks really cool. Part email, part instant messageing, part social networking app, this thing will do it all. I can't wait for this power-house of an app to hit the web but untill then, if you want a sneak peak, go to http://wave.google.com/.

Yahoo fighting back with Search Pad

2009-07-21T12:40:00.003-05:00

Yahoo is often forgotten by web surfers, who tend to lean towards Google for all their search needs. Sometimes it seems unwarranted, because Yahoo has some nice things going for it, but Google is just too big for them to fight. That is, until the release of Yahoo's newest gadget, called Search Pad. According to a blog post on Yahoo's Blog,

Search Pad helps you track sites and make notes by intelligently detecting user research intent and automatically collecting sites the user visits. Search Pad turns on automatically when you’re doing research, tracking sites to make document authoring a snap. You can then quickly edit and organize your notes with the Search Pad interface, which includes drag-and-drop functionality and auto-attributed pasting.

In other words, Search Pad will add to the frequent online task of doing research on something, from a school project to a vacation. This tool would make this sometime audacious task a little easier, and that's something I can get behind. Now, this may not exactly jolt Yahoo back into the fight with Google and Microsoft, but it will certainly add to their muscle.

http://www.ysearchblog.com/2009/07/07/unveiling-yahoo-search-pad/

Linux Headed for Big Ideas

2009-07-20T10:29:00.003-05:00

For all the Uninitiated out there, Linux is a free, Open source Operating System that has in the past been for the technologically sound and nerds, such as yours truly. Recently, some distributors, such as Ubuntu, have been moving towards the more user-friendly experience. Well, we've just got word of more improvements to Linux that should help move the system on to what it should be, a good, free alternative to windows.

Let's run down the improvements, shall we?

First, USB 3.0 support. I'm really glad to see Linux push this technology, which will make USB transferring of data MUCH quicker. Like, 5 times faster. Now, I know that devices will have to keep up with this new tech, but it is nice to see Linux pushing it.

Next, a reboot-less Kernel upgrade. This new tech is called KSplice and is a nice edition to a Linux experience. What all that means is that you will not have to reboot to upgrade your operating system. Not huge, but nice none-the-less.

Finally, Android support. As in, developers will be able to make programs that run on their Android Mobile OS phone. Again, not a huge deal, but pretty cool.

Linux is moving forward. That is great news for those of us who have been using it for some time, and I hope they continue to do so.

Amazon Goes All "Big Brother" On Kindle Owners

2009-07-20T01:53:00.001-05:00

Last week, Kindle owners who purchased George Orwell's "1984" or "Animal House" were in for a nasty surprise. Amazon deleted the books from thousands of Kindles', and unfortunately, this is totally okay for them to do.

The Publisher of the Books (MobiReference) pulled the Kindle edition of the books, and because the books aren't in public domain in the US yet, Amazon was force to pull the books from the store. Amazon's statement from their forum:

The Kindle edition books Animal Farm by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) & Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) were removed from the Kindle store and are no longer available for purchase. When thisoccurred, your purchases were automatically refunded. You can still locate the books in the Kindle store, but each has a status of not yet available. Although a rarity, publishers can decide to pull their content from the Kindle store.

Whether or not Amazon had to delete the books from people who had bought it legally remains my question. I understand the publisher pulling the books and Amazon pulling it from the store, but why delete the already purchased one's?

Microsoft Surface is Possible in the Next Few Years

2009-07-19T21:48:00.000-05:00

Man, I find myself thinking all the time, "What is going to be next?".

This technology represents a huge leap in Tech, and is very promising for my vision of the future. I can't wait until every surface in our houses has this technology, which would make changing the temperature on the thermostat MUCH more fun...

A+ to Microsoft...

5 Apps I Can't Live Without

2009-07-19T15:26:00.000-05:00

Probably my favorite thing about using Windows is the amount of free, open source applications that are available. Using these "apps" you can make your windows experience better and be more organized, as well as using your media in a much more user friendly way. The following are my five favorite apps for free...

1. Speedfan (www.almico.com/speedfan.php)

This application is perfect for monitoring the health of one's computer. It giver you up to date info on temperatures of various components of your computer, which is very useful when you're trying to perfect airflow inside your case to lower temperatures, or are just worried that your computer may be overheating. Speedfan also has a S.M.A.R.T. tab, which will monitor the health of your hard drive, perfect for predicting hard drive failure, if that would occur.

2. Dropbox (www.getdropbox.com)

After downloading the program and getting an account, you can upload any files you which to your "dropbox" by placing them into the appropriate folder. The beauty of this is that you can download your files from any other computer with dropbox. This method of moving files is much easier and safer than carrying a USB drive or an optic disk, not to mention it's FREE...

3. Picasa - (picasa.google.com)

Picasa is absolutely amazing Photo Editing and Organizing app from the devs at Google. The editing side of the program is pretty basic, but the power on the organizing side is quite awesome. You really can't explain why this app is awesome, you just have to try it for yourself.

4. Malware Bytes Anti-Malware- (www.malwarebytes.org)

This software has actually save me once, and since then, I have scanned my computer at least once a week. It really is a good piece of software. In my experience with this app, It has found two Trojans and a dormant worm. Truly scary stuff, and I'm glad I had Malware Bytes.

5. Truecrypt - (www.truecyrpt.org)

Truecrypt is an encryption software that is quite powerful for what it does. It makes and unbreakable encryption on whatever files you want, and even goes so far as to make a "ghost" file, so if someone tries to torture the password out of you, they could get in anyways. That's hardcore.

Well, those are five of my favorite applications right now. You can bet I'll stumble upon something worth our attention, and you can bet I'll give you the lowdown.

The P.C. Gaming Round-up (Week of July 19th, 2009)

2009-07-19T00:15:00.000-05:00

This week we're going to talk about a big hit from late 2008, called Fallout 3. This game changes the series from it's roots and makes it into a HUGE RPG set in post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. The setting is probably my favorite one for a video game ever, because it is an erie reminder of the power that the human race has for destruction, and how with the press of a button, millions of lives could be lost.

On a lighter note, the game play is fun. I believe that the funnest part of this game is how much there is to explore. I just recently went through the game again, (This time as a raging serial killer in a business suit) and am seeing stuff I didn't see in my first 40 hours of game play! Seriously!!! The combat is a blast, and the added V.A.T.S. System is quite interesting. It slows time to allow you to chose where you want to shoot, and gives you a cool cinematic as well. The number of interesting weapons is pretty cool to, going anywhere from a alien blaster that turns foes into a blue goo, to a “Rock-It Launcher” that can shoot teddybears. Awesome.

Sadly, the weakest thing in this game is the main quest, which tries really hard to be meaningful and symmetric, but ends up a little disappointing at the endgame. And yes, there is an endgame. And a level cap at 20, which is a tad annoying.

Overall, these gripes are rather small, because the game play is just so darn fun. If you haven't picked up this one yet, If can be found for the X-Box 360, PS3, and P.C. at a store near you.

Some Screenshots:

Clean Sweep

2009-07-18T21:44:00.000-05:00

Next time your walking around in town somewhere, I want you to wave your wallet in the air and yell out "Hey, Everyone! Free Money!!!". Sound crazy, right? Well, If your surfing the internet without a relavent Anti-Virus software, then that is basically what you are doing. Even worse, you really have no excuse for this reckless behavior, because of the many good, free anti virus software there is out there. Avaria Free is a personal favorite, which you can download at www.free-av.com.

Not only do you need a good AV program to monitor your activities, you will also need to do weekly sweeps with an Anti-Spyware software and an Anti-Malware program. The Anti-Spyware program will protect you from people you don't want watching your activities online, and the Anti-Malware will protect your computer from dormant programs hidden in your computer by hackers to eventually harm your computer. You can download two of my favorites at www.malwarebytes.org and www.superantispyware.com/download.html. Believe me, the first time you encounter a malware program, you will want to do all you can to avoid them.

With the weekly scans and watchful eye of your AV program, your online exploits will be much safer. Hope this informs you to be a little more careful about how loud you yell "Take My Money!!!" on the web.

The P.C. Gaming Round-up

2009-07-13T15:07:00.000-05:00

Hello all, and welcome to this new weekly article on Geek Spot about P.C. games and all aspects that deals with.

This week, I would like to talk about a kinda older game that came out early last year. The game in question is Sins of a Solar Empire by Ironclad and Stardock games. This is the quintessential computer game. It is a Real Time Strategy game (Of Course), although if you want to go a little deeper, it is what is referred to as a 4X game. 4X means Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate (The last of which is my favorite). If you have ever played the p.c. classic "Starcraft", It is a lot like it, except on steroids. And planets. Cool, Huh?

PROS:

1. Great for an RTS. It's a real treat, but only if you really enjoy that type of gaming. It's not for everyone, but that's the point really. Stardock made this game for a specific audience, and it shows.

2. Really in-depth strategy. Seriously. It gets so real that you can make a ship fly around, flanking another ship to draw it away from your fleet. The "Expand" part is also very strategic. You can actually back up your opponent into just a single planet because they are cut off from getting to your potentially less defended planets.

CONS:

1. Great for an RTS, but most who are not hardcore RTS players, such as someone who plays counterstrike rabidly, you may not like the more intricate parts of Sins. It's really a personal preference. I think most people will know if they like this game or not.

2. LONG game play. This may not be a con to some, but it is when you find yourself staying up till four in the morning playing it. I have lost so much sleep to this game.

Overall a great game, for a specific audience. Most, I believe will enjoy it, at least a little, but to trully enjoy it, you have to be an RTS zeolot.

8 out of 10.....

Screenshots:

The Awesome Power of Twitter!!!!!

2009-07-11T00:44:00.000-05:00

This beast of a site, Twitter, has revolutionized the web...

No Kidding...

I was just reading some tweets by some of my fave celebrities and overall awesome people when I stumbled across something the Editor of Maximum PC (will smith, no not THAT will smith) said which was his opinion of Shaun of the Dead, which is one of his faves, according to his post. I replied to his post by saying that Evil Dead was one of my favorites...And he FREAKING replied!!!

seriously...

Wow. Where else in the world can you chat with the people who you read about. It really is amazing. I was shocked to see him reply. I had never replied before to someone, so I didn't know what the outcome would be. Well.

It really has changed the way people communicate on the web. Whether it is news (Iran Election) death of a celeberty, (MJ) or anything else that is followed by the "breaking news" splash screen of CNN. I seriously consider this beast of a site to be one of the biggest tech changes of the 2000's.

So get Tweeting...

And follow me while your at it. (@sk8nrck2)

Speaking of Chrome....

2009-07-10T01:56:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been troubled...

There is just too many Web Browsers, and not enough time!!!

So, I thought I would narrow it down for you by trying the best of the best...

First up, Internet Explorer 8.

Okay, I'll be honest, I have NEVER liked IE, untill IE8, that is. There is just something about it. Prehaps it's the primal feeling that microsoft brings up in ever geek, or prehaps it's just pretty. I think even if you don't use IE, you should upgrade from 7 to 8. Seriously, give it a try. 7 out of 10

Next, a Geek Favorite, Mozilla Firefox.

Well, Ive been in a pickle with Firefox latley. I updated, due to a possible security hole that I was alerted to. After the update, Firefox became unstable. Like, crash everytime I use it unstable. Not sure if the problem is due to something I did in the update process, or just a bad version by Mozilla. If you have been experiencing this with Firefox 3.0.11, then comment on this post with a possible fix. Until then, I gotta give a pass to Firefox 3.0.11...5 out of 10...

Opera 9.64

10.0 is not out of Beta yet, so we will evaluate 9.64. I like the look of Opera. It's kinda like Vista vomitted all over IE, but it came out kinda pretty. And not only is it pretty, but it's fast too, scoring very high in speed tests. Gets a 8 out of 10 in my book.

Chrome

Yippee!!! For some odd reason, I like Chrome. It's very simplistic, even going so far as to get rid of the title bar and menu, Yet still pretty, with its blue tabs and 'close' button. I also really like it's download style. Much better and less obtrusive than IE's download box. Probably my favorite browser for sheer simplicity...9 out of 10

Well, there you have it. A quick run down of some of the best browsers out there. I do believe Chrome has a place on my desktop untill Opera 10 comes out...Then we will start again, I suppose.

Darn you, innovation...

First Post on Geek Spot!!!

2009-07-10T01:27:00.000-05:00

Wow! The Internet is truly amazing, no? In a matter on minutes, I've created a blog about all things geek, designed the way I want it too, for free. Truly spectacular...

My name is Chris. I have an avid (to a fault) passion for all things geek. This passion has led to an intrest in computers that I plan to use one day to make money as a career...But enough about me...

Well, Let's get things rolling, shall we?

First off...OS wars.

Google anounced two days ago that it was working on a Chrome based operating system. This is profound news to all who own a netbook that came preloaded with the bloatware of Vista or XP.

(If you have a netbook with Linux...Good for you!)

I just have one worry with "Chrome OS". If you have tried the Chrome browser, then you probably know what I'm about to say. I believe it to be a little...well...feature-less. I know, I'm sure someone out there is thinking "But I like that about Chrome!", and if you do, great, but riddle me this,where would we be without some of the nessecary features of XP? (and possible Vista) I am just worried that because of the FREE pricetag, some features will be left out, which I think is okay for something that is free, but I am really hoping we will finally get a no-cost OS that packs a PUNCH.

Let's Go Google, Let's GO!!! (clap,clap,clap)