Geek Speak

Book Review of Tainted by Julie Kenner

2009-11-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

Tainted by Julie Kenner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The story definitely had me guessing and on the edge of my seat most of the time. It also has a very twisted plot that kept things interesting. Definitely a must for those into urban dark fantasy genre with demon slaying.

View all my reviews

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to Letter About National Pain Care Policy Act

2009-06-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Lopez:
Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the "National Pain Care Policy Act of 2009." I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

On March 19, 2009, Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) introduced the "National Pain Care Policy Act" (S. 660), which seeks to improve pain care research, education, training, and access. S. 660 would authorize an Institute of Medicine Conference on pain care, and create a grant program to help educate and train healthcare professionals to better assess and manage pain. Currently, S. 660 is pending in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. While I am not a member of this committee, please know that I will keep your comments in mind should this legislation come before the full Senate.

Again, thank you for contacting me. If you should have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator
Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the Nation are available at my website http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/. You can also receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my e-mail list at http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ENewsletterSignup.Signup.

Quiznos is the sandwich of choice for playmates

2009-05-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

The people over at The Denver Egotist spotted this commercial. Quiznos is denying they had anything to do with this commercial. To me it definitely sounds like something they would come up with. Especially after the creepy mutant hamster commercials.

15 Terminal commands to supercharge OS X

2009-05-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

Time was that Mac users would stare blankly or visibly shudder when the words 'command line interface' were uttered.

read more | digg story

Blizzard working on new online game project

2009-05-19T10:54:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday, Blizzard rep "Zarhym" posted on the World of Warcraft forums that the new MMOG was already underway and that "it'll be a brand-new franchise, which means the lore, art, and gameplay are being developed entirely from scratch." He added, "We have nothing to advertise for the new MMOG because it's a shell of a game thus far."

Build A Five Hundred Dollar Gaming PC

2009-05-05T15:56:00.001-07:00

Build a $500 PC that plays modern PC games at acceptable frame rates

read more | digg story

How-to: set up dual-band WiFi (and juice your downloads)

2009-05-01T13:26:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Let's come right out with it -- you should be running a dual-band 2.4 and 5GHz WiFi network. Why? Because the 2.4GHz spectrum is cluttered with everything from other networks to Bluetooth to cordless phones and microwaves, and all that RF interference slows everything down, making file transfers interminable and HD streaming nearly impossible.

Can Twitter and Subway save "Chuck"?

2009-04-24T17:47:00.001-07:00

Josh Schwartz, co-creator of NBC's "Chuck," is hoping that the show's small but loyal audience can keep the sci-fi/romantic dramedy alive for a second season. How? The latest campaign involves Twitter and Subway restaurants.

read more | digg story

Remembering the Game Boy: We loved you, man

2009-04-24T17:20:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Today, a whole generation of kids will grow up with nary a clue about what the Game Boy is and how it affected our lives. But the rest of us look back fondly at the handheld, so I thought it appropriate to remember our old friend.

read more | digg story

Mind-reading headsets will change your brain

2009-04-24T13:54:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

In the coming months, cheap headsets that let you control technology with the electrical signals generated by your firing neurons will go on sale to the general public. Our relationship with technology – and our brains – will never be the same again.

read more | digg story

Another Reason why Time Warner Sucks

2009-04-23T17:48:00.001-07:00

In Wilson, NC, residents, upset with their choices in regards to internet and cable decided create their own network and charge only enough to cover the costs. Now, TWC is lobbying against the service claiming they can't compete. Need any more evidence to support Time Warner's suckiness?

read more | digg story

Lord of the Rings Now Available As Ebooks! Kindle, EPUB, PDF, LIT, and MOBI

2009-04-21T17:47:00.001-07:00

Lord of the Rings is now available as ebooks for the first time in the formats EPUB, PDF, LIT, and MOBI. They can be found on Amazon, Harper Collins, Fictionwise, and Books On Board. If you consider yourself to be a geek and haven't read Lord of the Rings, I say get reading!

64 Things Every Geek Should Know

2009-04-21T13:47:00.001-07:00

If you consider yourself a geek, or aspire to the honor of geekhood, here's an essential checklist of must-have geek skills.

read more | digg story

TPB FTW - The Pirate Bay Blog

2009-04-20T17:19:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

The Pirate Bay guys explain in their latest blog post that they do not want donations since they won't pay those "silly" fines. Instead, they want you to seed a bit more, buy a shirt, and vote!

read more | digg story

Forbes Calls Google the New Pirate Bay

2009-04-20T16:43:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

It's definitely articles like this that show how little most people understand about technology in general and specifically how bittorrent works. What the writer of the article fails to realize is that The Pirate Bay wasn't just a search engine. They also had their own bittorrent tracker. Google as a search engine only, does not host any of these files in any way. It only indexes what's available on other sites.

Article by Forbes

Lifehacker - Custom BitTorrent Search Engine Demonstrates Google's Proximity to The Pirate Bay - Google

Bacon Blowtorch Cuts Through Steel

2009-04-17T13:35:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Now here is science at its best. Everything is better with bacon.

Popular Science columnist and author of "Mad Science" Theodore Gray has built what he calls the "Bacon Lance" — a complex arrangement of pork that, when coupled with a blast of pure oxygen, can cut through steel.

FOXNews.com - Bacon Blowtorch Cuts Through Steel - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

Amazon Can Ban You From Your Kindle Account Whenever It Wants To

2009-04-16T18:28:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Amazon recently banned a customer for making what they considered too many returns, and when they did this they also disabled his Kindle account, although the returns were never related to Kindle purchases. So what happens when your Kindle account is taken away?

read more | digg story

A message from Jerry McNerney

2009-04-15T14:46:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Being a migraine sufferer, I thought posting this would be appropriate. The Following is a letter I received from congressional representative Jerry McNerney. In response to a letter I wrote in regards to increase funding for the NIH to do more headache research. The letter writing was headed by the Alliance For Headache Disorders Advocacy.

April 15, 2009

Dear Mr. Lopez,

Thank you for contacting me regarding headaches. It is helpful to learn the views of my neighbors in California, and I value your input.

Our nation's health care should be the best in the world, and it will take common sense policies to ensure that we reach that goal. Prevention of disease, illness, and injury is a critical first action that can help trim medical costs for families and is a key element in improving quality of life for all people. In addition, providing affordable, accessible, and available health care options is an important step towards improving health care.

Seven in 10 people have at least one headache a year, and forty-five million Americans suffer from chronic headaches. I am committed to adequately funding the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), two life saving agencies that conduct research and work to find cures for conditions such as chronic headaches.

For that reason, I voted for and the President signed the final fiscal year 2009 government spending bill. This bill includes more than $30 billion for the National Institutes of Health, the leading medical research institution in the United States. It is important for the federal government to play an active role combating chronic diseases, and as Congress considers future legislation, I will factor your recommendations into my decision making.

I appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective on this issue. For a monthly update on my events around your neighborhood and the issues I am working on in Congress, I encourage you to sign up for my e-newsletter at www.mcnerney.house.gov. While visiting my website, you can also learn about other actions that I have taken to better represent you.

Sincerely,

Jerry McNerney
Member of Congress

Please do not reply to this message as the mailbox is unattended.
If you wish to contact me again, please visit my website at http://mcnerney.house.gov

Microsoft owns up to "E74" 360 errors, expands warranty

2009-04-14T22:02:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Having just purchased a new Xbox 360, I'm glad to see things like this. Even though I really hope I never have to take them up their extended warranty on the Red Ring of Death.

A popular gaming blog tracked a new kind of Xbox 360 error, the E74, and Microsoft has finally owned up and added the issue to the three-year "Red Ring of Death" warranty. This is a win for consumers, but it's yet another bl ack eye for Microsoft's hardware.

Sony Portable Reader

2007-10-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

A couple of months ago I got a Sony Portable Reader. Its a nifty little ebook reader that uses e-ink. A fairly new technology aimed at making it easier to read on a screen, and more closely mimic a real book.

So far I have to say that I am fairly impressed with how easy it is to read on the unit. Now this holds true for books that are in the right format. But, just try and look at a pdf document that hasn't been formatted for an ebook screen and its looks terrible. Another crappy thing about the reader is the software that comes with it. The software was recently updated, but still lacks in features. All it does is let you read Sony BBeB formatted books, buy books on their connect store, and transfer books between the computer and the reader.

Like so many other devices, this one seems to have quite a following. There are tons of free books, and software that developers are making for this unit. If you want to see some more in depth reviews, grab some free books, or get some conversion software head over to Mobileread.

One of the best pieces of software I found at Mobileread is Libprs500, written by Kovid Goyal. It's written in python, and is multi-platform. It can be used as a drop in replacement for the crappy Sony software. The graphical interface is nicely laid out and it even has support for converting from several different formats to the native BBeB format. Here's some nice screen shots of what the software looks like.

Overall, I have to say I'm happy with the unit. It makes it easy to carry a whole library in your pocket, and it doesn't strain your eyes like some of the PDA ebook readers I have used in the past. It also has a good user following with a very active community.

Typing "Prompt Commands" Sufficient to Seize Your Property

2009-04-14T21:42:00.001-07:00

You need to take the time to read the warrant available via PDF. Insanity. Someone's computer crashes and suspects it's a CS student's fault because he does things like "'jail breaks' cell phones" and he is sometimes seen with a "[computer with] a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on." Yikes.

read more | digg story

How a programmer reads your resume (COMIC)

2009-04-12T00:33:00.001-07:00

Now this is classic comic about programmer mentality on how to read your resume.

read more | digg story

AutoBrake Automates HandBrake for DVD Ripping

2009-04-09T16:07:00.002-07:00

Over at lifehacker.com there is an interesting article about a new tool called AutoBrake. It automates HandBrake, a free DVD ripping and encoding tool. AutoBrake is windows only.

AutoBreak

What will you do when the zombies come?

2009-04-09T12:29:00.001-07:00

Cover via Amazon

Personally I would just follow what's in the Zombie Survival Guide.

In defense of my vice: coffee

2009-04-09T23:42:00.001-07:00

Love Coffee

Mmmm coffee ... I started in college to keep me awake for those 8am classes. What would it take to quit? Nothing. They will have to pry the mug from my cold dead fingers.