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Get Ur Geek On: Don't Call it a Comeback

jackson — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:36:00 GMT

It's been a while since we published a tech roundup. But the Internet turned 15 last Sunday, we got a new laptop from an entrepreneur and friend who'll be enabling this 'Fister's addiction to blogging, and SFist Chuck, whom we dearly miss, was kidnapped by Disney, who force him to Imagineer at gunpoint. All the while, you've been lost in the unmapped multiverse, wondering who Supr.c.ilio.us and TechCrunch are, and which is the hipper one to name drop when asking your IT department for help (Supr.c.ilio.us); anxious about the hygenic example set for the children by superstar CEOs in the valley (they're terrible); and, dude, what's up with MySpace? 'Cuz there's, you know, awesome bands and some serious hotties, which are cool, but there's also, like, ads that install viruses, and that Tom guy, who's totally creepy.

So our old column, or at least it's bitchin' title, has been thawed out after nearly a year of cryogenically induced suspended animation, and will be posted every Tuesday and Thursday. The schedule was certainly less than regular in the past, but now we have a 30Boxes calendar, which is synched to our Upcoming listings, so that email, RSS and SMS reminders for guilt trip us into meeting our deadlines instead of blowing them off for VC-funded, PR-organized, free booze mixers. Needless to say

So we present our new tech roundup, with an old title, by an even older 'Fister. Don't worry, this will be the last long-winded intro. From now on, we'll focus on posting links to as many cute geeks in their natural habitat as we can find, exploring their world, and hopefully work towards a better understanding of their mysterious ways.

SFist Looks With Dread to the East

SFist Chuck — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 16:50:00 GMT

Replace Minas Morgul with the Moscone Center, the Witch King with Kevin Smith, and put a "d" in front of "orcs," and you've got WonderCon 2006. It's coming this weekend, and you can almost smell the protective plastic bags and acne medication in the air.

San Francisco's comics and science fiction convention is growing to the point where it rivals San Diego's Comic-Con, which means we locals can experience the full majesty of grown men in Jedi, stormtrooper, and Wonder Woman costumes without having to deal with hours of travel or the hassle of finding a hotel room.

The guest list this year includes Frank Miller to talk about and his previous comics work, and J.J. Abrams and Bryan Singer to talk about Mission: Impossible 3 and Superman Returns, respectively.

We know that the real highlights are seeing a guy dressed as Spider-Man talking to a guy dressed as one of the Rohirrim in front of a string quartet playing theme songs from anime series. The Folsom Street Fair may think they've cornered the market on social outcasts finally free to find acceptance and solidarity among their peers, but that's nothing compared to a comic book convention.

As for us, we're digging through our long boxes, so to speak, to see if we can get Mike Mignola to sign our copy of The Amazing Screw-On Head. This is gonna be so rad.

Sin City

Get Ur Geek On Special Edition

jackson — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 16:45:01 GMT

Now, Rio will be allowed to continute producing their own products, but Rio's R&D department will basically be gutted and the valuable parts moved to SigmaTel. Why does this matter? Because SigmaTel are the folks who make the flash-memory for the iPod Shuffle. While of course they can license their new technology assets to anyone, it does seem to indicate a firmer grip on the flash-based player market by Apple.

Get Ur Geek On

jackson — Mon, 09 May 2005 21:55:55 GMT

Washington, D.C. Federal District Court says the FCC has no power to foist the broadcast flag upon our wonderful gadgets. ~~The forces of evil~~ Rightsholder lobbyists shall decend on Congress. Gigi Sohn points out that constituents probably don't want their TV's f**ked with by their elected representative.

Speaking of rightsholder lobbyists, Hillary Rosen (former chair of the RIAA) gets all mad that she can't put her DRM-laden Windows Media files on her DRM-laden iPod, or her iTunes music purchases on her iRiver. "Oh, the irony!" copylefters cry, and have a good laugh at her expense. In other Apple news, there's an Exploit in Safari that let people force dashboard widgets upon you (we asked politely). We have a conspiracy theory about browser exploits like this. And speculation abounds over the addition of QuickTime playback to iTunes.

In brief: Google -- hacked or just asleep at the domain registration switch (Om Malik estimates the cost)? Shooting animals over the internet banned in California, but still legal in Texas. David Sifry of Technorati apologizes for naming a category in their new OpenMedia 100 list "Forefathers" -- renamed "Pioneers" so as to make clear a penis is not required.

And we'll leave off with a blind item:

Which two huge Valley players have been seen canoodling in the boardroom, thisclose to a merger? Think Macromedia and Adobe crossed with Tom and Katie big when these two are spotted holding hands while they discuss which positions are redundant and who can be outsourced, probably by next week.