Show #110

[Download Show #110 as MP3]

• Top 10 Consumer Apps of 2008
• CoolIris
• Qik
• Mogulus
• Meebo
• Last.fm
• Ning
• Hulu
• IntenseDebate
• Firefox
• Twitter
  
• Top 10 Free Windows Apps of 2008
• Firefox 3
• Mojo (download from ITunes over the Internet) - OurTunes (Like Mojo but open source)
• HelloPDF (PDF to Word Doc Converter)
• CCleaner 2.0 (Cleans crap from your machine)
• AVG Free Antivirus Clamwin
• Windows Vista SP1 (A whole new operating system for free!)
• HotSpot Shield (Browse US sites without being in the US)
• Quick Media Converter
• DExpose2
• DropBox - Syncing Files across Internet
• Executor (keyboarding for app opening)
• Sharepod (free your Ipod from ITunes)
• Top 10 Games in 2008
• Grand Theft Auto IV (even TIME Magazine agrees)
• Braid
• Little Big Planet
• Rock Band 2
• Gears of War 2
• Dead Space
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Hunted Forever (Flash)
• Fieldrunners (iPhone)
• Spore
  
• Top 10 Comfort Foods (Google Zeitgeist)
  
• Mac + Cheese
• Potato Salad
• Pot Pie
• Apple Pie
• Chicken Soup
• Fried Chicken
• Meat Loaf
• Spaghetti
• Chili
• Ice Cream
  
• Top 10 Most Searched Hoochie-Momma's on the Internet -- End of the show
  
• Top Pirated Games in 2008 (TorrentFreak)
  
• Spore -- 1,700,000
  
• The Sims 2 -- 1,150,000
  
• Assassins Creed -- 1,070,000
  
• Crysis -- 940,000
  
• Command & Conquer 3 -- 860,000
  
• Call of Duty 4 -- 830,000
  
• GTA San Andreas -- 740,000
  
• Fallout 3 -- 645,000
  
• Far Cry 2 -- 585,000
  
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 -- 470,000
• Top 5 Recipes from my Wife
• Tobascco Gravy
• Mom's Meat Loaf
• Lasagna
• Stuffed Mannicotti
• Stuffed Chicken
  
• Top 5 Deal Sites on the Internet
  
• Top 7 Super Villains That should Exist
  
• (Edited for Content)
• Sensitive Step-Dad
• DJ MVP
• Orange Guido
• The Drunken Mistake
• Vomitron
• The Pharmacist

Seminal Moments in Gaming

• Steven
• Zelda - Games could be more than games. First "open world" experience
  
• Super Star Wars - First real graphics wow
  
• Mortal Kombat - Stepping into an arcade and seeing "realistic" graphics
• Warcraft 2 - Coming off a 2 year sabatical from computers and seeing the progress in games on PC
• Favorite Game of All Time? "Masters of Magic" (MoM)

Seminal Moments in Technology

• Steven
• EGA Monitor on a x286
• Pagers with messaging
  
• First time to see the Internet
• Hacking for the first time

While perhaps not the most searched "hoochie mama" on the Internet, she does have the distinction of being Google's fastest rising search term this year: Sara Palin

http://hotlist.uk.msn.com/2007/top-100-women-2008.aspx

Show #109

[Download Show #109 as MP3]

News

• Scientists use Wii to Codify Learning System
• (Source Behind Article)
• Using the Accelerometers in the Wii-mote to measure and record movements
• Charts and Graphs of peoples movements
• slow learners that eventually get it, learners that don't, A-Ha people that pick up cues and "get it"
• Mostly a gimmick to pick up test victims (i mean subjects)
• (cheap test hardware - talk a little bit about that 3D test)
  
• Governments Ready to Bail out DRAM Makers
• Big economic impact to memory makers
• Taiwan / Germany / South Korea all effected
• Manufacturers were betting on strong Vista sales (oops)
• Projecting a 20-25% decrease in new PC sales for Q1 2009
  
• Papers Served in Australia via Facebook
  
• Couple defaulted on $100,000 house loan
• Couldn't be served at home and email wasn't responding
• Law firm asked if they could be served on Facebook
• Judge assented, profiles have since disappeared from site
• Last Year for Apple Macworld in 2009
• Jobs will not be giving the keynote
• MacWorld will supposedly continue without Apple directly sponsoring
• Apple Stores and other things seen as more effective for Apple
• Apple taking a downturn
• 1% downturn while the PC industry as a whole goes up 2% (November)
  

Gamer's Corner (Conferences, New Developments, Game Reviews)

• FFXIII and Versus Trailer take your breath away
• FFVII and FFIX (Steven's Favorites)
• <>
• FFXIII not exclusive to PS3 but Versus is.
• Versus will be FF chars in a real world
• XIII will be more traditional
  
• EA Caught Selling Wii Game with X360 graphics
• EA's excuse? "Wii graphics would not have been 'broadcast quality'"
• 4 mainstream games coming to IPhone
  
• Dance Dance Revolution
• Silent Hill
• Frogger
• Metal Gear Solid
• Deadspace and Mirror's Edge Sell Poorly
• Nintendo sells 2 million units in November and 1.5 million DS
• X360 sells $800,000+
• PS3 posts decline over quarter last year
• PS2 sold 200,000 units but is finally declining month-to-month
  

Intarweb Goldmine

• WoW Themed Restaurant in China
  
• Left4Dead on X360 Hacked

Show #108

[Download Show #108 as MP3]

Charity Plug

• Child's Play

News

• Kristen Kreuk in Streetfighter Movie Adaptation
• Steven thinks she's HOT :)
  
• OK, what normal male does not? Plus she can act.... really well
• RIAA Sues 19 Yr old Transplant Patient
  
• Innocent, Sick, Unable to answer = Guilty as Charged
• Morally Reprehensible what the RIAA is doing
• They deserve this horrible press coverage
• Comcast offers Bandwidth Monitor in 2009
  
• Comcast implemented 250GB limit for a single month
• Now you will be able to see your BW usage (with a 3 hr delay)
• Comcast shooting for January 5th for release of tool
• BD Live - (Interactive Blu-Ray - Really Worth the Hype?)
• How many you us have ever played the extra content on DVD's
• I do a lot (ok, your a freak but how many regular people...)
• BD-Live is not all there yet, generally a tool to sell other movies at the moment, some additional features are cool
  
• Iron Man flops for BD Live
  
• Contrary to Popular Belief, Textese will not ruin your grammar or spelling
  
• Although faster to type, text-speak takes twice as long to decipher for an adult (according to study on college students)
• Found that people need better grammar and spelling skills to decipher faster
• Rule of thumb is to never let it creep into your essays or resume's :D :D
• Our Christmas/New Years Special will Air between the 26th and 28th depending on your local station, we'll be covering:
  
• Top 10 Consumer Apps of 2008
• Top 10 Games in 2008
• Top 10 Most Searched Hoochie-Momma's on the Internet (ok, maybe not so much...)
• Top Pirated Games in 2008 (TorrentFreak)
  
• Spore -- 1,700,000
  
• The Sims 2 -- 1,150,000
  
• Assassins Creed -- 1,070,000
  
• Crysis -- 940,000
  
• Command & Conquer 3 -- 860,000
  
• Call of Duty 4 -- 830,000
  
• GTA San Andreas -- 740,000
  
• Fallout 3 -- 645,000
  
• Far Cry 2 -- 585,000
  
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 -- 470,000

Gamer's Corner (Conferences, New Developments, Game Reviews)

• Favorite Features of 360 NXE? Netflix Instant Queue
  
• A lot of people are using it like a pseudo DVR and / or getting acquainted with documentaries
• PS3 not looking to implement
• Country coming to Rock Band
  
• 
  

• Want a glowing wireless mic for Rockband 2?
  
• Chronotrigger for DS!!! (Best RPG Eva)
  • What makes a good game? Bio-Sensory Reactions to Games
    
  • Immersive learning - Tutorials as you fight
  • Highs and Lows Differentials - Not always in the explosions, lulls could be travel or puzzles
  • Close Combat = Win, Makes you more invested in the product by raising your blood pressure
  • Epic Cut Scenes involving your character / Informational transfer during lulls
  • Design your game for the vertical - Don't throw in teddy bear collecting games into a hardcore FPS. Nothing worse than adding extended platforming elements to a FPS

Intarweb Goldmine

• Obama "ZuneGate"
• • Funny Quote from the Comments:
    I own a Zune and happily, especially if it keeps me from turning into one of these freak boys. I’d rather him be actually be an Islamic extremist than a member of the Church of Jobs. To listen to these guys talk, you can already picture them strapping on Mac Airs and running into a PC dealer to blow up on customer service.

• Buy your Kids Ripoffs, Support Terrorists
  
• DS Gets Ripped off in the UK
  
• PSP RipOff = PopStation
• Is Having Sex with a Robot Hooker Cheating?
• Asylum

Show #107

[Download Show #107 as MP3]

Charity Plug

• Child's Play

News

• New Version of Java comes with MSN Toolbar...
• Google Calendar Now Supports Apple ICal
• Google Calendar has supported Outlook for awhile now
• There's a setup program and it allows you to sync your iCal with Google calendar
• Having a web calendar is handy in case you don't have your laptop or desktop with you

• CBS Hacked, Malware Distributed
• Sub-Domain hacked (i.e. yoursite.cbs.com)
• IFrame was serving up the domain and subsequent malware
• Russian hackers were responsible
• Vulnerability for users really dependent upon a number of factors including the type of security used on a PC, the operating system, and possibly the browser version.
• Ben-Itzak, who found the hack, "It also highlights the fact that no web portal, no matter how high ranking, can be totally secure against a system hack and consequent infection of its visitors. Web users need to exercise caution at all times."
• Study confirms mobile phones distract drivers
  
• *Husband distracted by phone call of wife giving birth here*
• Passenger conversation fared better than mobiles because they were in the car
  
• Windows Drops Below 90% Market Share
• 89.6% Windows (.84 % drop) (20.45% vista and growing)
  
• Mac OSX - 8.9%
• Linux - .9%
• Caution - this was a poll done by servers monitored by Net Applications and not the whole internet
• APPLE QUIETL Y RECOMMENDS VIRUS SOFTWARE
• For the longest time Apple has sold their PC on it's "invincibility", marketing campaigns, etc.
  
• Quietly released a post on their support forums
• 'Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.'

Gamer's Corner (Conferences, New Developments, Game Reviews)

• Wii Turns $6 profit for each console sold
• Nintendo continues to outsell all the competitors
  
• Nintendo can't patent term "Wii Remote"
  
• Remote is the sticky point
• already a product out there called a "Wee-mote" (spell it) for kids
• New Games Releases December
• Not the deluge that was available in October - November (Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, Far Cry 2, Banjo Kazooie, Left4Dead, Little Big Planet,
  
• Prince of Persia
• Persona 4
• SingStar Abba - Hyuck, Hyuck (PS3 and PS2)
• Free Game:
• http://www.playauditorium.com/
  
• Bio-Sensory Reactions to Games
  
• Half Life 2, Halo 2, Gears of War, F.E.A.R, Call of Duty 3
  
• Emsense uses brainwaves, heart activity, and even blinking to estimate engagement.
• First 90 Minutes of the games measured of each
• Games do affect emotions. FEAR used adrenaline most effective, Call of Duty 3 used honor, etc.
• Tutorials came with mixed reviews - People don't like to be told what to do. They do like to be engaged and taught subtlely how to operate the game mechanics (cover systems, buddy calls, weapon changes, weapon reloads).
• Tutorials were likely to be skipped by Males (40% more likely)
• Highs and Lows important (brief lulls, puzzles, etc)
• Close Combat is good - Halo 2's energy sword showed a high level of engagement
• Cut Scenes were dicey - Entertainment and action were better than informational - Gears of War does well by relaying information through radio chatter
• Novel vs. Gimmick Weapons -
  

Intarweb Goldmine

• Black Friday Mishaps
• No Wii's available
• Stack of 360's cause a brawl
• Employee trampled to death in NY Mall
• Gun Fight and resulting death at Toys R Us in California