All gadgets that fly…
“All that glitters isn’t gold and all gadgets that fly aren’t toys.”
Pathetic right? I know, my poetry’s always been top notch, not! 
So the point here is that for a week of flying gadgets, you’d expect most of 
these to be toys, and you’d be right. But just so you know, there are gadgets that would fall into this category and not be toys.
Why, if you might remember, we did one on a flying alarm clock didn’t
we?
Again most of these are toys yes, but toys with a twist. The ones today are potentially fun but certainly toys so we’ll cover off two of them: -
The first, a toy that flies, as simple as that… Except that this comes equipped with a gyroscopic stabilizer. This ‘stabilizer’ as the designers call it is actually a wheel that is attached to the nose of the device. While you’re releasing it, you’re supposed to give this wheel one mighty flick. The faster you spin the wheel, the further it goes. This is available at firebox for £9.99.
The next, a remote controlled flying…UFO! Geekish, you think? Who do 
you think is this site for anyway? 
The device has an accelerometer that ensures steady flight. There’s also a ‘EZ’ switch that helps beginner pilots. Buy this from Thinkgeek for about £ 60.
Opinion Corner: Online Piracy
Online Piracy
Arrrr anybody? No? Okay… to each, her own.
Though the term ‘piracy’ might create vivid images of a particular kind here (read Mr. Depp), you’re gonna have to try and snap out of it. Here, we’ll be talking about a different kind of piracy. A kind that’s so rampant, many people don’t even know that it’s illegal.
What we’re talking about is copyright infringement, and with developments in how the internet works and is accessed, copyright infringement poses a huge threat to the entertainment industry. Movies are released on the internet weeks before official release, so in fact are games and music tracks.
With almost no one physically purchasing records, where you download a song from very often determines whether the artist gets any royalties from your download. And if it’s a small artist, say someone who is new but someone who sings well, the lack of sales might often be enough indication for him/her to get disheartened and close shop. :’(
With games, Bittorrent sites have made games available to people almost free of cost. The biggest problem being that the Torrent sites have just the links to parts of a file and not the parts themselves. The files themselves come from other people on the network. Hence it becomes difficult to prove that they’re doing something illegal.
However, I thought I’d step out of my gadget / tech box and ask a student I know for her take on on-line piracy. She had the following to say: -
“Policing people on the internet is something that is next to impossible. Why it’d mean policing almost half the world! It falls to every individual to decide what he/she’s doing on the internet is right or wrong. Make sure that you pay for every game you purchase, every movie or song you download. Also make sure that the retailer is an authorised seller of the things you buy from him. Always insist on a bill in stores and keep an eye out for genuine stickers and holograms. It’s not a legal obligation that you do all this, it’s a moral one.
If you like a game or movie, buy it!”
Cool! Then she admited that she was also studying computer science!
LOL! No wonder she was so well informed and opinionated… … still, she’s got a point!
eSarcasm ~ Wicked!
eSARCASM and … 
A lot of deserving sites didn’t make it to our list.
Some weren’t good enough, some weren’t consistent enough, some just tried too hard. And we aren’t going to spoil it all by giving them an honourable mention or something. But here however are a couple(or just the one in fact, you’ll see why shortly) that did make it to the list.
1) eSarcasm.
Ah, this is one I’m proud of as this is one of my discoveries. A very blog like website that features articles by PC World writers JR Raphael and Dan Tynan, a new article is released every day. You can also subscribe to their news letter that tells you what comes out when. You have articles that make fun of Yahoo!, of Twitter and tweeters, and articles that tell you how evil Google really is. One word of caution though, there’s always some or the other sexual innuendo used in every article, so if that’s not your thing, well then…
2) Our Blog!
What a shameful attempt at self-glorification and publicity, I tell ya! But then again, our blog (if you’re following it you’d know(and to add to that if you are we’re proud of you! )) has developed quite a lot over time.
Not only do we tell you about gadgets that seem incredible, almost invariably so, nowadays we also have a poll and an opinion corner that helps you think about things, things on the internet that you’ve taken for granted always. Anyway, the gist, TakTik Bitch Rocks!
Uh, scuse me… I just need to go remove tongue from cheek
Well then, that’d be all for this week and it was fun not doing gadgets for once. Who knows we might be back with something wackier next week! As always, watch this space!
Apparently I’m god-like..
THE URBAN DICTIONARY
“Alex - Someone that is of extreme greatness. Often considered as a god in some religions. Also means cool.”
Talking of parodies, after uncyclopedia yesterday, anything is going to fall short. The Urban dictionary however, isn’t a parody, in fact it is just as its name suggests, an urban dictionary. To enlighten the ignoramus, an explanation is called for here, so here goes.
Think of any English word, anything, a proper word, slang, whatever. Rest assured, urban dictionary would have a meaning for that word listed. And like a proper dictionary, it also shows usage in a dictionary, plus shows synonyms etc.
Just that all this happens with a, for lack of a better word, twist. Meanings are generally funny and synonyms are even funnier. There are meanings for names and for popular characters too. For example for Jason, a simple relatively popular name: -
Jason
The only name that can be spelled through 5 months of the year.
J – July
A – August
S- September
O – October
N – November
Or perhaps you’re curious about the word “slang“…
Translation: Hello, my good sir. Take a gander at the beautiful woman wearing the expensive jewels.”
There are numerous other examples we could have chosen but one warning we do need to give – bad language – and there’s a good amount of it! – is not discounted from the Urban Dictionary!
Go check yourself out!
The sound of Oscar Wildes cat pee’ing
Bear with me on this… walk with me a little and this hopefully will be worth your while…
“An onomatopoeia or onomatopœia, from the Greek ὀνοματοποιία (ὄνομα for “name” and ποιέω for “I make”), is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes.
Onomatopoeia (as an uncountable noun) refers to the property of such words. Common occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises, such as “oink” or “meow” or “roar”. Onomatopoeias are not universally the same across all languages; they conform to some extent to the broader linguistic system they are part of; hence the sound of a clock may be tick tock in English and tik tak in Dutch, tic-tac in French. “
from Wikipedia.org
_________
UNCYCLOPEDIA…
What on the planet is safe from spoofs and parodies? No longer is anything sacred, untouchable. Every single thing on earth has been parodied, or rather every single thing worth parodying, has been parodied.
You had movies that parodied movies, and books that parodied books, now you have sites that parody sites and with the advent of Web 2.0, wikis that parody wikis. The site Uncyclopedia.Org is a spoof of the most famous wiki of them all, Wikipedia.
Not only does it parody the styles and patterns of Wikipedia pages, most rules are parodied too. Also the logo looks similar to Wiki’s, just that it’s actually a giant potato called Sophia(pop across to site to view – link below. xx).
If Wikipedia is the free content encyclopedia, Uncyclopedia calls itself the content free encyclopedia. Uncyclopedia is well known for its made up (and very funny!) quotes by Oscar Wilde present on almost each page. This is justified by the site as they claim to have bought the site from Oscar Wilde in 2007.
The site article about itself states that it was founded in 1860 (by Oscar Wilde). The aim as stated by Sophia is
“The goal of this project is to provide the world’s misinformation in the least redeeming and most searingly sarcastic and humorous way possible”.
A very fun way to entertain yourself, www.uncyclopedia.wikia.com.
Lets’s end with a quote by Oscar Wilde, shall we?
“Onomatopoeia? That's the noise my cat makes when he pisses on the rug.”
Typical Uncyclopedia!
YouTube & the Evolution of Dance
We’ve done weeks and weeks of gadgets, movie gadgets, travel gadgets, spy gadgets, we’ve seen them all.
Sometimes a change is more than welcome
And welcoming change is what we shall do this week. Of course we will be having an opinion corner on Friday, but for the rest of the week, we’ll be reviewing and telling you about some fun websites that we’ve come across, on the World Wide Web.
To be more specific, observe that this is a follow up on the last article on the Web 2.0, that is, all sites covered are Web 2.0 sites.
Now prerequisites for a website to make our list were primarily two: -
- It had to be either useful or about something that is ridiculous enough to make someone laugh(you know the maniacal laughter that comes with in(s)anity…), no matter what, and
- It had to meet a certain standard, one that we’ve set ourselves. (You’ll understand as you see our list.)
A lot of them haven’t made the list, for them better luck next time! Anyway, to begin with, in the spirit of Web 2.0, Youtube.
Youtube very appropriately meets both conditions in point one of our requisites.
What Web 2.0 discussion does not mention Youtube? And as far as internet humour is concerned, Youtube videos have pioneered the art of making people laugh. Though other videos are available too, if you need a good, hearty laugh, heading out to Youtube is a solid idea.
I was surprised, almost shocked to hear that some of my friends haven’t heard of Youtube. I mean come on, one might not be a geek, but we don’t live under rocks do we? (I moved out last week…)
If you have a phone, it’d have an Youtube application, if you watch movies or TV, they often mention Youtube.
What we’re emphasizing is that given you have the time on hand, Youtube is a good place to spend some time, even if it’s just for entertainment.
Oh and by the way, Youtube is a website where people can host videos and share them with the world, just so you know.
As an example (volume needed) here’s a take on the evolution of Dance .. 
Web 2.0, eh?
What’s Web 2.0?
To most people it might seem like it’s an updated version or something of the World Wide Web, and you know what, most people would be right
There wasn’t any technical update or such, and neither did the entire process happen overnight.
Tthe term in fact refers to the cumulative changes that the web went through, especially in 2004. So much so, that web 2.0 supposedly exists since 2004.
To a non-geek the term can be explained as such: -
Think of all that has happened to the web in the recent times, all the progress that the web has made, (If you have a good memory, think of all things post 2004) and you’ll begin to get an idea about what we’re talking about. (We’ll be talking examples shortly.)
Tim O’Reilly is called the father of Web 2.0.
The father of the Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee didn’t think all was rosy when this term came along. He called it jargon and said he had all this planned out anyway as far as the web was concerned. Uh-huh
If you haven’t a decent idea about what we’re talking about, the following examples should help you,
a) Web Apps : Applications that can be run using a web browser. For example Google Docs, Google calendar etc. Web Apps were not as common as they are now, before 2004.
b) Video Hosting and Sharing sites: Heard of Youtube? Well, who hasn’t?! That’s Web 2.0 for you.
c) Wikis: If you haven’t heard of Youtube, you still might know what Wikipedia is. If you don’t look up ‘Wikipedia’ on Wikipedia.org. Wikis are interlinked pages that anyone, even you and me, can edit.
d) Blogs: You’re reading one, need I say more?
To follow up, just so you know, there’s a Web 3.0 as well.
Web 3.0 focuses on the semantics (meaning) of all content on the web. This makes the web ‘smarter’ and makes it easier for it to understand what a person on the internet needs exactly – more intuative, if you like.
Also personalization is possible now, something that Google has already pioneered with My Google and personalized web searches.
For next week, I’m thinking about doing a take on piracy
Do watch this space!
Keeping your kids safe – Video Games
Playing video games is what a geek like me does (well when she’s not watching geek movies or doing some other geeky stuff. It’s SUCH an exciting life. Yep. Really. ) and that to a some extent is excusable since I know how much I can play without it taking a toll on my health.
The story is a little bit different with children however. Across the years there’s been one horror story after another about children dying after 18+ hours at the screen. Now, granted these reports are usually about those in their late teens but keeping a sensible eye on the younger ones seems to now have it’s place too.
For this we have a solution. And guess what? It’s a gadget. You never would have guessed that, would you now? This one’s called Game Dr. Game Timer. Hook it up with any device of your choice and the device switches itself off after exactly the amount of time you specify.
It’s totally safe and kid-proof, a locking mechanism ensures your kids don’t tamper with it!
Buy this for about £15.00 on Thinkgeek.
Link? Here. http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/1-3-years/c31f/
I like the caption the Thinkgeek page has.
It goes like, “When you want your kids to build character, not characters”. Relevant, no?
Be safe xx
1980′s Geekery – NES Emulator!
For all I know, the only gaming consoles you might have heard of would be the Xbox(360) or the PS (I’m hoping that you know there was a PS 2 and 1 too…). Ever heard of the NES Nintendo Entertainment System?
The NES is a gaming console of the 1980’s and for geeks who aren’t teenagers, the word NES brings back fond memories. If you’ve spent time on the NES you’d know what I mean! Times have changed, but thoughts of playing vintage video games on a NES brings tears to one’s eyes. (At least to an emotional geek like me… *sniffle*)
It’s very hard to find a NES emulator let alone a NES today. If you’ve searched and been disappointed, don’t fret you’re one of many, many people. But we’ve done it, yes, found an emulator for the NES! And to think it was on Thinkgeek!
Costs about £30.00 and comes included with a wireless light pen and batteries and cables! Wicked.
Here’s the link.
COD 6 – Prestige Edition NV Goggles…
Well then, we got off to a good start with Half Life, let’s move on shall we?
If Half Life was the beginning of modern first person shooters, Call of Duty : Modern Warfare is exactly on the opposite end.
12 years down the line, first person shooters have made considerable progress, and COD 6 stands as an excellent example.
If I was supposed to talk about COD 6, I could ramble on for hours, but that’s not what we do here. (At least, not yet!)
Infinity Ward released a special edition of COD 6 called the Prestige Edition, one that comes included with a cool pair of working Night Vision Goggles! So you see where we’re going with this now?
For a (considerable) price you can buy the prestige edition and own a pair of brand new Night Vision Goggles.
There’s a small hitch though. Because the number of prestige editions released was quite limited and it has been a few months since COD 6 came out, you might have some difficulty laying your hands on one of these. And what does a geek do when she wants something? One word. Ebay!
Here’s an active link.
Otherwise search for modern warfare goggles on ebay. Bound to be something always!
