Geekish

Anyone who works as a freelancer these days has to be at least a bit familiar with techie things. But it isn’t just that. When I was a kid and those vaguely SF puppet shows were on the television and all the other kids wanted to be Greg Gogetem or Steve Savetheuniverse, I wanted to be the guy in a white coat and glasses called Doc or Brains. Here are some technology-related feeds I find useful and/or entertaining.

Slashdot » Pico Projector Adapts To New Surfaces, Uses Random Objects As Input Devices

Tuesday 21 February 23:58:00 UTC 2012

jpwilliams writes "This tiny projector can use any surface you have on hand to project an image. Using a webcam, it adapts to the surface, not just by adjusting keystone, but also following that surface and displaying different amounts of information (in certain cases). The guy in the video also uses a coffee mug as an app changer." Share on Google+ Read … [Link]

Slashdot » Santorum Calls Democrats 'Anti-Science'

Tuesday 21 February 23:36:00 UTC 2012

ndogg writes with news that Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has counterattacked those critical of conservative views on science, saying that they're 'anti-science' themselves. From a CBS report: "In his remarks Monday, Santorum went beyond his usual discussion of the importance of increasing domestic energy production to deliver a blistering attack on environmental activists. He said global warming claims … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Why is our shrinking moon also stretching?

Tuesday 21 February 23:33:39 UTC 2012

The moon has been cooling and shrinking since its formation billions of years ago, but new images reveal that parts of it have recently been stretching too [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Experience Freedom! [Video]

Tuesday 21 February 23:30:29 UTC 2012

Light off! Music up! Full screen!The Experience Freedom Journey will take you through the world of skydiving and Base Jumping in some of the most amazing and scenic locations in the world.[Via TDW]Related posts:Companion Cube Subwoofer Mod [Video]Experience the world’s fastest rollercoaster: Formula RossaThe Importance of Defending our Freedom to Share [Link]

O'Reilly News and Commentary » #Ebook Deal/Day: Making Embedded Systems – $15.99 (Save 50%)

Tuesday 21 February 23:11:02 UTC 2012

Get "Making Embedded Systems" today and save 50%!This sale ends at 2:00 AM 2012-02-21 (PDT, GMT-8:00). [Link]

O'Reilly News and Commentary » #Ebook Deal/Day: Design and Prototyping for Drupal – $6.49 (Save 50%)

Tuesday 21 February 23:11:01 UTC 2012

Get "Design and Prototyping for Drupal" today and save 50%!This sale ends at 2:00 AM 2012-02-20 (PDT, GMT-8:00). [Link]

O'Reilly News and Commentary » #Ebook Deal/Day: The Art of Readable Code – $13.99 (Save 50%)

Tuesday 21 February 23:11:00 UTC 2012

Get "The Art of Readable Code" today and save 50%!This sale ends at 2:00 AM 2012-02-17 (PDT, GMT-8:00). [Link]

New Scientist – News » Rolling stones could mean Mars still rocks

Tuesday 21 February 23:06:33 UTC 2012

Recent 'Marsquakes' could explain the distribution of boulders within cracks in the Red Planet's surface, a new study suggests [Link]

WIRED » How the European Internet Rose Up Against ACTA

Tuesday 21 February 22:54:47 UTC 2012

[Link]

WIRED » C-Level: Enterprise, Steak Dinners and Becoming Truly Social

Tuesday 21 February 22:54:34 UTC 2012

[Link]

Slashdot » DHS Budget Includes No New Airport Body Scanners

Tuesday 21 February 22:53:00 UTC 2012

OverTheGeicoE writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center has been examining the White House's proposed budget for Department of Homeland Security for 2013, and they point out that it doesn't include any money for additional airport body scanners for TSA. Did the recent scandal involving TSA workers targeting women for scans make the White House realize that TSA is a … [Link]

WIRED » Apple's iCloud Has Solar Lining

Tuesday 21 February 22:39:00 UTC 2012

[Link]

WIRED » The iPhone Monoculture Is in Your Mind

Tuesday 21 February 22:32:00 UTC 2012

One mobile web expert argues that while it might seem like the mobile web is all iPhone, it just seems that way. In fact, the problem with the iPhone isn't that it's creating a monoculture around WebKit; the problem is that it's the only phone developers talk about. [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Ask Yourself: Should I Send This Email? [Flowchart]

Tuesday 21 February 22:30:48 UTC 2012

Email Overload The Internet: A vast expanse of distractions, armed to the teeth and laying in wait to ambush unsuspecting employees with adorable kittens and kids falling over – many of which make their attack through email. To combat this obscenity, we made a flow chart to help guide you through the daily task of deciding whether or not to hit send.Created by: … [Link]

WIRED » NASA Launches Rocket Into Northern Lights

Tuesday 21 February 22:12:00 UTC 2012

Scientists recently sent a 46-foot rocket sailing through the shimmering green band of energy known as the northern lights. [Link]

Slashdot » How Mailinator Compresses Its Email Stream By 90%

Tuesday 21 February 22:10:00 UTC 2012

An anonymous reader writes "Paul Tyma, creator of Mailinator, writes about a greedy algorithm to analyze the huge amount of email Mailinator receives and finds ways to reduce its memory footprint by 90%. Quoting: 'I grabbed a few hundred megs of the Mailinator stream and ran it through several compressors. Mostly just stuff I had on hand 7z, bzip, … [Link]

WIRED » Small Town Flips for Centuries-Old Sport of Pancake Racing

Tuesday 21 February 22:00:00 UTC 2012

Pancake racing, the most wonderfully random of all weird sports, is held on Shrove Tuesday and is exactly what its name suggests. [Link]

WIRED » Will Network DNA Sabotage Your Journey to the Cloud?

Tuesday 21 February 21:59:00 UTC 2012

After more than four years ?in the cloud?, I have come to the conclusion that one of the most difficult challenges for large enterprise customers to overcome on their journey to cloud is the DNA of the network. Fortunately, ?gene therapy? treatments are available which can significant improve the quality of experience and service from any cloud. [Link]

WIRED » Barfipelago: Using Twitter to Fight Virus Outbreak

Tuesday 21 February 21:50:00 UTC 2012

Norovirus can spread among people very, very fast. But not as fast as Twitter. When an outbreak hit the annual Archipelago journalism conference — subsequently dubbed "Barfipelago" — attendees and organizers alike used Twitter to stay on top of the situation. [Link]

Slashdot » New Opa S4 Release Puts Forward New 'ORM' For MongoDB

Tuesday 21 February 21:49:00 UTC 2012

phy_si_kal writes "The new, open source, Opa web programming language just hit version 0.9.0 'S4,' six months after its last major release. Apart from a new syntax more similar to JavaScript, the new release focuses on mongoDB integration. Opa now features something similar to object-relational mapping (ORM) except that mongoDB is a non-relational, document-oriented database and Opa a functional, … [Link]

WIRED » Slick Web App Slaps Stereotypes by Remixing Toy Commercials

Tuesday 21 February 21:39:00 UTC 2012

A handy web app called the Gendered Advertising Remixer mashes toy commercials together, tweaking the concept of ?girls? stuff? and ?boys? stuff? ? with often-hilarious results. [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Akira Fan-Made Live Action Teaser Trailer [Video]

Tuesday 21 February 21:30:33 UTC 2012

French director Fabien Dubois filmed this short trailer to show his vision of what a movie based on Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira would be like. Check it out![Fabien Dubois]Related posts:OMG Awesome: Live Action Deus Ex Trailer [Video]Ender’s Game Fan-Made Movie TrailerAmazing Fan-made Pokémon Movie Trailer [Link]

Slashdot » Transparency Grenade Collects and Leaks Sensitive Data

Tuesday 21 February 21:28:00 UTC 2012

Zothecula writes "If you thought WikiLeaks was a disruptive idea, the transparency grenade is going to blow you away. This tiny bit of hardware hidden under the shell shaped like a classic Soviet F1 hand grenade allows you to leak information from anywhere just by pulling a pin. The device is essentially a small computer with a powerful wireless … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Akira Fan-Made Live Action Teaser Trailer [Video]

Tuesday 21 February 21:26:02 UTC 2012

Slashdot » Electric Rockets Set To Transform Space Flight

Tuesday 21 February 20:47:00 UTC 2012

An anonymous reader sends this quote from an article at Txchnologist: "The spectacle of a booster rocket lifting off a launch pad atop a mass of brilliant flames and billowing smoke is an iconic image of the Space Age. Such powerful chemical rockets are needed to break the bonds of Earth's gravity and send spacecraft into orbit. But once … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Slinkies on Treadmills [Videos]

Tuesday 21 February 20:30:16 UTC 2012

Ohhhh, that looks like fun! Too bad I only have my son’s plastic slinky right now… and no treadmill.[Via]Related posts:It’s Caturday: The Source of all Cat Videos on the InternetHilarious Microsoft Kinect Spoof VideosThese Aren’t the Gingerbread Men You’re Looking For [Link]

Slashdot » Mathematical Parrot Reveals His Genius With Posthumous Paper

Tuesday 21 February 20:25:00 UTC 2012

ananyo writes "Even in death, the world's most accomplished parrot continues to amaze. The final experiments involving Alex – a grey parrot trained to count objects – have just been published (abstract). They show that Alex could accurately add together Arabic numerals to a sum of eight, and correctly add three small sets of objects, putting his mathematical abilities … [Link]

WIRED » Comcast's 'Mini-Hulu Plus' Offers Full TV Seasons to Go for $5/Month

Tuesday 21 February 20:24:58 UTC 2012

Forget voice, video and internet: When it comes to television, a mix of live, recent and back-catalog video is the real triple play. [Link]

WIRED » Cyborgs, Software Spies and Shadow Wars: Our 5 Years (Un)covering the Hidden Pentagon

Tuesday 21 February 20:24:57 UTC 2012

I'd like to pretend there was some master plan, that the site you see before you crept out of our skulls fully-formed. But the truth is, when Sharon Weinberger and I launched Danger Room five years ago this week, we were just winging it. [Link]

WIRED » Documentary Film Bear 71 Tags and Tracks Viewers

Tuesday 21 February 20:24:56 UTC 2012

The documentary Bear 71, which premiered at Sundance, invites its viewers to engage with Banff National Park in an interactive experience that allows its viewers to join the forest's tagged wildlife at the project's temporary home at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art or by way of webcam through the documentary's website. [Link]

WIRED » Bypass Automated Phone Bots

Tuesday 21 February 20:24:51 UTC 2012

We've all been there before. You find a charge on your cable bill for a pay-per-view movie that you most definitely did not order, and when you call the company to have the charge reversed, you find yourself trapped in the grips of a robot operator. After 30 minutes of waiting, you hang up, pay the damned bill and vow … [Link]

WIRED » Learning to Forget

Tuesday 21 February 20:24:42 UTC 2012

Are new drugs that help patients forget traumatic memories ethically troublesome, or do they merely enhance what behavioral therapists already do in practice? Frontal Cortex blogger Jonah Lehrer discusses the science behind learning to forget. [Link]

WIRED » Fractal Musical Rhythms

Tuesday 21 February 20:24:40 UTC 2012

Music takes on fractal patterns when it comes to pitch, but what about rhythms? New research suggests it's not quite as predictable as experts might have expected. [Link]

WIRED » Will You Trust Cloud Security to a Cloud Service?

Tuesday 21 February 20:22:00 UTC 2012

ScaleXtreme is aiming to ease concerns about the cloud with today's announcement of what it says is the first cloud-based automation patch management engine that works across public cloud machines, virtual machines and physical servers. But will you trust your security (cloud or not) to a cloud service? [Link]

WIRED » Q&A: Sony's Game Design Chief Talks PlayStation Vita

Tuesday 21 February 20:11:00 UTC 2012

[Link]

Slashdot » Damaged US Passport Chip Strands Travelers

Tuesday 21 February 20:04:00 UTC 2012

caseih writes "Damaging the embedded chip in your passport is now grounds for denying you the ability to travel in at least one airport in the U.S. Though the airport can slide the passport through the little number reader as easily as they can wave it in front of an RFID reader, they chose to deny a young child … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Geektastic Decepticon Engagement Ring

Tuesday 21 February 19:30:52 UTC 2012

The setting of this ring was custom made for a customer using our 3Design CAD CAM software and cast in 14k white gold.The setting is designed to look like the symbol of an evil robot organization. The mask setting is two sided, and the prongs holding the Moissanite gemstone in place are the robot’s horns, which I thought was pretty cool.The … [Link]

Slashdot » Heartland Institute Document Leaker Comes Forward, Maintains Documents Are Real

Tuesday 21 February 19:22:00 UTC 2012

The Bad Astronomer writes "Last week, an anonymous source leaked several internal documents from the Heartland Institute, a non-profit think tank known for anti-global-warming rhetoric. The leaker has come forward: Peter Gleick, scientist and journalist. In his admission, he cites his own breach of ethics, but also maintains that all the documents are real. This includes the potentially embarrassing … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Geek vs. Hipster: The Infographic

Tuesday 21 February 18:40:44 UTC 2012

ShareLast month we posted an infographic pitching geeks against nerds and giving the basics on what made each group different. It went viral in a BIG way. Since a lot of you thought that the “geek” featured on the infographic looked a little more like a hipster, we thought you’d appreciate this one comparing the typical hipster with YOUR vision … [Link]

Slashdot » Slashdot Visits Metrix Create:Space in Seattle (Video)

Tuesday 21 February 18:40:00 UTC 2012

Metrix Create:Space is full of people busily making electronic gadgets. And shot glasses. And everything in between. Some of them saw the street-level sign and stopped in out of curiosity, while others are long-time createspace scenesters. It doesn't matter which you are, says Metrix founder Matt Westervelt. Come in and make something. Need new skills? They have workshops. And … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Plankton-fuelled ocean eddy is 150 kilometres wide

Tuesday 21 February 18:00:59 UTC 2012

Deep below the surface, the ocean has its own weather. See a huge underwater eddy spotted by NASA's Terra satellite [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Weight Loss Advice May be Unrealistic

Tuesday 21 February 18:00:13 UTC 2012

An expert on metabolism believes there may be a fundamental flaw in guidelines about weight loss through a change in diet. Dr Kevin Hall says in turn this may be deterring people from sticking with attempts to drop weight.Speaking to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Hall highlighted guidelines used by health agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Today on New Scientist: 21 February 2012

Tuesday 21 February 18:00:00 UTC 2012

All today's stories on newscientist.com, including: plant blooms after 30,000 years in permafrost, mystery of the missing brain cells, and more [Link]

Slashdot » Canonical Puts Ubuntu On Android Smartphones

Tuesday 21 February 17:57:00 UTC 2012

nk497 writes "Canonical has revealed Ubuntu running on a smartphone — but the open source developer hasn't squashed the full desktop onto a tiny screen. Instead, the Ubuntu for Android system runs both OSes side by side, picking which to surface depending on the form factor. When a device — in the demo, it was a Motorola Atrix — … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Nash's beautiful mind pre-empted million-dollar puzzle

Tuesday 21 February 17:49:00 UTC 2012

In recently declassified letters, Nobel laureate John Nash penned ideas about cryptography and computational complexity decades before their time [Link]

WIRED » Google Tricks Internet Explorer into Accepting Tracking Cookies, Microsoft Claims

Tuesday 21 February 17:33:27 UTC 2012

Last week Google was caught bypassing Safari's cookie blocking mechanisms, now Microsoft claims Google is doing something similar to Internet Explorer users. This time, however, Google isn't the only one; it turns out numerous websites bypass IE's cookie protections. [Link]

WIRED » Mouse Howls Like a Wolf, Bites Like a Tiger

Tuesday 21 February 17:33:19 UTC 2012

[Link]

New Scientist – News » Are you mad to love city living?

Tuesday 21 February 17:17:05 UTC 2012

An evening of urban psychology and tales of Bedlam questions what living in the city does to your brain [Link]

Slashdot » Aging Eyes Blamed For Seniors' Health Woes

Tuesday 21 February 17:15:00 UTC 2012

Hugh Pickens writes "Scientists have looked for explanations as to why certain conditions occur with age, among them memory loss, slower reaction time, insomnia and even depression looking at such suspects as high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and an inactive lifestyle. Now Laurie Tarkan writes that as eyes age, less and less sunlight gets through the lens to reach … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » One Document to Rule Them All: The Cyrus Cylinder Still Relevant 2600 Years Later

Tuesday 21 February 17:00:22 UTC 2012

A baked clay cylinder from two and half millennia ago could very well be one of the most influential objects of the last few millennia. Written in Babylonian cuneiform script, the “Cyrus Cylinder” originally recounts how Cyrus, the king of the Persians, invaded, destroyed, and liberated Babylon. This the region we now call the Middle East with Persia now being what … [Link]

Slashdot » Apache 2.4 Takes Direct Aim At Nginx

Tuesday 21 February 16:33:00 UTC 2012

darthcamaro writes "The world's most popular web server is out with a major new release today that has one key goal — deliver more performance than ever before. Improved caching, proxy modules as well as new session control are also key highlights of the release. 'We also show that as far as true performance is based — real-world performance … [Link]

WIRED » Barnes & Noble Delivers New 8GB Tablet, Disappointing Earnings

Tuesday 21 February 16:27:00 UTC 2012

The new tablet and price drop are aggressive, revenue-boosting moves coming on the same day as B&N's quarterly earnings report. [Link]

Slashdot » Moon May Not Be As Dead As We Thought

Tuesday 21 February 16:19:00 UTC 2012

rivin2e writes "It would seem our neighbor, the moon, has something hidden below the surface. 'Images collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter hints the moon has probably seen tectonic activity within the last 50 million years.' It would appear from the article that the moon is changing a lot more than we think, even if it doesn't seem like … [Link]

Slashdot » Oracle's Java Claims Now Down To $230 Million

Tuesday 21 February 15:50:00 UTC 2012

jfruh writes "Hey, remember when Oracle decided to sue Google over claims that Android violated Oracle's Java patents and copyrights? How's that working out? Not so well, it seems! Oracle has been forced to take many of its patents out of the lawsuit due to lack of evidence, and the damages in play now are down to a little … [Link]

WIRED » Not Dead Yet: Moon Still Seismically Active

Tuesday 21 February 15:45:00 UTC 2012

Earth's moon seems seismically quiet — its major volcanic and tectonic activity is confined to its distant past. But recent images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal smaller features that have escaped earlier notice. [Link]

Slashdot » Google: IE Privacy Policy Is Impractical

Tuesday 21 February 15:12:00 UTC 2012

itwbennett writes "In response to Microsoft's claim that Google circumvented Internet Explorer privacy protections (following the discovery that Google also worked around Safari's privacy settings), Google on Monday said that IE's privacy protection, called P3P, is impractical to comply with." Share on Google+ Read more of this story at Slashdot. [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Amazon Deal of the Day: 45% Off Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera – $274.99 + Free Shipping

Tuesday 21 February 15:10:03 UTC 2012

For today’s edition of Deal of the Day, Amazon has the Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera for just $274.99. That’s 45% off the camera’s usual retail price of $499.The Olympus PEN E-PL1 is truly greater than the sum of its parts, with a surprisingly small camera body packed with technology normally found in … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » AT-AT Imperial Camper [Pic]

Tuesday 21 February 15:00:14 UTC 2012

Presented without comment.[Via Jack Schofield | NA]Related posts:AT-AT Imperial Stroller [Pic]The Ultimate in Laziness [Pic]Imperial Guard Snuggie [Pic] [Link]

Slashdot » Ask Slashdot: Copy Protection Advice For ~$10k Software?

Tuesday 21 February 14:57:00 UTC 2012

An anonymous reader writes I'm part owner of a relatively small video editing software company. We're not yet profitable, and our stuff turned up on thePirateBay recently. Some of our potential paying customers are using it without paying, and some non-potential customers are using it without paying. Our copy protection isn't that tough to crack, and I'd rather see … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Research priorities must serve all the world's people

Tuesday 21 February 14:42:00 UTC 2012

I want science for all, not just the elite, says Princess Sumaya of Jordan, president of her country's Royal Scientific Society [Link]

Slashdot » Tech Billionaire-Backed Charter School Under Fire In Chicago

Tuesday 21 February 14:31:00 UTC 2012

theodp writes "'As a nonprofit venture philanthropy firm,' boasts the billionaire-backed NewSchools Venture Fund, 'we raise philanthropic capital from both individual and institutional investors, and then use those funds to support education entrepreneurs who are transforming public education.' One recipient of the NewSchools' largesse is The Noble Network of Charter Schools, which received a $5,300,000 NewSchools 'investment', as well … [Link]

WIRED » Hortonworks Teams With Teradata on Hadoop

Tuesday 21 February 14:30:00 UTC 2012

Hortonworks — the Yahoo spinoff dedicated to Hadoop — has joined forces with analytics outfit Terradata to help big businesses make use of the increasingly popular open source data-crunching platform. On Tuesday, the two companies announced that they will offer a reference architecture for building Hadoop clusters, while also helping customers build additional tools atop the platform. [Link]

New Scientist – News » Rare amateur video captures Challenger tragedy up close

Tuesday 21 February 14:07:26 UTC 2012

Watch one of few existing clips of the Challenger shuttle explosion captured by a member of the public [Link]

Slashdot » With Push for OS X Focus, CUPS Printing May Suffer On Other Platforms

Tuesday 21 February 13:53:00 UTC 2012

CUPS is the popular open-source printing system that many projects have used successfully as a core, for desktop printing and as the basis of dedicated print servers. Reader donadony writes with word that Apple "has chosen to abandon certain Linux exclusive features, [while] continuing with popular Mac OS X features. The changeover is being attempted by Apple to set … [Link]

Geeks are Sexy Technology News » Insignificant and Depressed [Comic]

Tuesday 21 February 13:49:06 UTC 2012

[Source: Shoeboxblog]Related posts:So Long, Zombies [Comic]Please Copy This Into Your Status Update [Comic]The Ex Girlfriend [Comic] [Link]

New Scientist – News » Linking genes, cerebellums and schizophrenia

Tuesday 21 February 13:33:00 UTC 2012

People with schizophrenia sometimes have small cerebellums – stress or diet may suppress its growth in a fetus, making this a possible factor in the illness [Link]

Slashdot » Get a Glimpse At the Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix

Tuesday 21 February 13:26:00 UTC 2012

TheNextCorner writes "What software runs on the Raspberry Pi $25 computer? This video shows some of the preparation of the software package, run from a SD card using the open source Fedora OS." Share on Google+ Read more of this story at Slashdot. [Link]

Slashdot » Anonymous Cowards, Deanonymized

Tuesday 21 February 13:04:00 UTC 2012

mbstone writes "Arvind Narayana writes: What if authors can be identified based on nothing but a comparison of the content they publish to other web content they have previously authored? Naryanan has a new paper to be presented at the 33rd IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy. Just as individual telegraphers could be identified by other telegraphers from their … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Dealing with death in a digital world

Tuesday 21 February 12:28:00 UTC 2012

The laws about who controls your online property when you die are too vague [Link]