First of all, we’re all very sorry and very confused as to why we haven’t been posting. We have tried to post three times a week, but that doesn’t seem to be working out. School has generally been pretty stressful, so much so that we sometimes forget to post when we actually DO have free time. However, we have been having meetings to discuss cool ideas and projects that we can do over the summer. Although we are not finished drafting a summer plan, we have thought of some pretty cool ideas. So audience, expect more this summer! We will be able to post much more often, and generally read the news and interesting magazines more often to bring you cool content that we find, well, interesting. I have also been trying to push ourselves to develop more of our OWN content. That means more Let’sPlays, streams, videos, and possibly more. We haven’t yet decided exactly WHAT we’re going to do, but the mere fact that we will have so much more time will play into the amount of content we can output.
SO EXCITED OMG!!!1!!
Now, this is basically a post to tell you that, but I recently noticed that Pokemon has released the official Pokemon Black and White trailer in Japanese, with the set release date in Japan to be June 23rd. The Video is very well made, and it looks as if they might incorporate it into some sort of movie (which looks kinda cool, I have to say). Also, the main character gets all those “COOL” pokemon that every boss trainer has, which is both unfair and awesome (Lucario, Aracanine, That Fire Pig thing that I really hate (I’m a water starter guy…)). So check it out!
Also, here are links to the past posts to the info about Pokemon Black and White 2:
As we all know, there is a plethora of music available online on YouTube practically waiting to be listened to. Of course, music companies and big musicians are not happy about the loss in revenue due to this and are attempting to put a stop to it in Germany.
Google has been legally ordered to place filers and block copyrighted content in Germany. While it is not required to search through its entire music library and remove all offending material, YouTube does return a message stating that GEMA, an organization that keeps track of and controls music industry revenues in Germany, has prevented the user from accessing the content. In past agreements, Google has offered partial ad revenue to allow videos to remain unblocked. Google has countered GEMA’s arguments by stating that it has a system in place to help copyright holders remove any content that is in violation of laws should they please. It is being argued that since TV and other formats of entertainment are clearly able to comply with copyright regulations, Google should be able to do the same with YouTube.
You may be able to guess what I have to say about this based on my older SOPA posts. Basically, this benefits big companies and famous song-writers while ultimately it’s the small musicians and YouTube viewers that are suffering. Large companies have nothing to gain from the publicity and little amount of fame that YouTube videos can provide, so there’s no reason for them to allow such videos. Rising musicians, however, have a lot to gain from say a popular video that boasts their song. They would get an increased amount of views due to the popularity of the video almost rubbing off onto the music. Users suffer, obviously, because they cannot watch these videos that are being censored. In the end, I agree that this censorship is necessary when it comes to popular music since it really does pose a problem for the loss of profit. However, if the music is from a musician no one’s heard about then please just let the video stay up. It’s going to be helpful for the musician and allow the big companies to pull in a little more money, so everyone wins.
Again, sorry we’ve been off our posting/ video making game. The school year has been very stressful for all of us, and sometimes we just feel so overwhelmed. We should start posting a lot more this summer, and we’re going to have a meeting to talk about new stuff to expect .
I have some good news! PsychicNoodles, TechieTrekkie and I all got into the Bluestamp Program. We might talk about it more in later posts, and we might even make videos of our projects ! It’s going to be a great summer, we’ll have so much more free time .
So lately I’ve been chatting with my friends about the new Pokemon game that is set to come out around either late summer to this coming fall, and they always respond with “what Pokemon game?! They’re making a new one?”. This is a followup post to the one when I first heard of it, which you can read here if you like.
It has been a while since Pokemon leaked that they were working on Pokemon Black and White 2, and now a lot more is known about the game. We still do not know very much yet, but they have released videos of it, and it looks very well into the process of completion.
So here are some of the cool new things we now know:
The game will be available for all forms of Nintendo DS, with 3DS capability! (so getting one!!!)
Reshiram and Zekrom have fused with the ice/dragon type Pokemon Kyurem, to make White Kyurem and Black Kyrem. They will be the main legendary Pokemon of the games. It is not disclosed if they are “triple type” Pokemon (dragon/fire/ice), but it is a theory in the intertubes (that I kinda made up, so I should get the credit ) . They do have a “hyper mode”, which takes 2 turns to charge. When finished it increases the stats of the Kyurems by A LOT, and makes them really cool looking (I think they should look that way all the time… but oh well…).
The game is a DIRECT SEQUEL to Pokemon Black and white. The story takes place 2 years after the events of Pokemon Black and white. The region has been renovated, expanded, and changed since the previous game, with many new areas. The gym leaders probably are different than the last game (because they shouldn’t make it tooo similar…).
Another notable difference is that Pokemon is making it so a lot of old Pokemon are actually available during the story, instead of the grass right after the Elite 4 rapidly spitting them out at you (that was some lazy programming…). The regional Pokedex is going to be around 300 Pokemon, which is the largest of any game! Featured in the trailer are Eevee, Riolu, Mareep, and others .
The graphics aren’t notably different as far as I can tell. They must still be using the same engine, but adapted it for the 3DS. I find the fact that it can work on the 3Ds to be REALLY COOL, because now that they know how to do it, I hope they make every game from now on compatible with it.
It seems like Pokemon has really perfected what they tried to do in the original Pokemon Black and white. It seems like the game’s direction is really well thought out, even though they didn’t change much about the mechanics or anything. It doesn’t seem to feature too many NEW things, but it seems like they did a good job at perfecting the 5th gen series. I really anticipate this to be a great game, and hopefully SOMEHOW I will get footage of it, or eventually go to tournaments . I think it would be a lot of fun to do a Pokemon LP, I’ll look into it !
Here are some videos about the new game! The first is the trailer for it, and the second is a bunch of excited japanese people at some conference ooh-ing and ah-ing at actual gameplay footage. (It’s funny, they were so excited ). In the latter video, they also show footage of Reshiram (the normal one) against BLACK KYUREM (he’s a total boss!!!)!
Recent research has shown that Apple computers are now getting infected with a new virus that’s sweeping Macs everywhere. Researchers are saying that this is the largest single attack on Macs so far with half-a-million Macs were affected, half of those being in America. There’s a chance that your Mac has the virus right now as you are reading this post. It works through two methods: a pop-up prompt in Flash asking for an update requiring your password, the most obvious approach. But there’s also the added hidden threat from Java, where the virus creators exploited the ability to download files automatically to a computer. This essentially cuts out all possible ways that you could notice the virus and block download, which is a very very devious factor.
Apple computers were once noted as not being a target of viruses due to the newishness of the company and the fact that there are so many more Windows users than Man users. But with the influence of Apple growing, new viruses are sure to crop up and attack Mac users. Many Mac owners believe that by owning a Mac they are immune to computer viruses. However, do not be fooled as that is the exact state of mind that will let you be infected for sure. If nothing else, virus detection software will take up only a tiny fraction of the gigabytes of room on your hard drive, so there is no reason not to install that protection. Who knows, one of these days your computer may pick up a virus and be part of a statistic too.
Hey there guys. Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been pressed to do a lot of school work because I went on a trip with students who are in my mandarin language class to China for two weeks starting the week before Spring Break. Then, of course, I was in China and couldn’t really do much in terms of internet as we were usually busy and had limited internet access. It was great, and I miss it already, but I’m also glad to be back to America. Anyway, now we should be able to get some regular posts again.
In TF2 news, there is the TF2 Mixup game coming up sometime this spring (the date hasn’t been set yet). TF2 Mixup is a game between pros of TF2 and various other games along with a few lucky people who get picked randomly. It’s all in support of Child’s Play, an organization dedicated to providing games and happiness to kids stuck in hospitals around the world. Players include Valve’s own Robin Walker, the creator of TF2, Notch, the creator of Minecraft, Nathan Purkeypile, a Bethesda developer, and Lewis (aka Xephos) and Simon (aka Honeydew), co-hosts of the popular YouTube series Yogscast. The key to getting into TF2 Mixup is donating to fund to Child’s Play. That’s part of the incentive to participate in the Mixup. Regardless of whether or not you want or plan to attempt to get into the game you should donate to the fund as that’s the whole point of the Mixup. I think it’s a great way to raise awareness for Child’s Play, and it’s great that the TF2 developers and Valve are giving so much support for the charity. I personally plan to donate, and I do indeed hope to get into the game.
Recently, Techboy and I applied for BlueStamp Engineering this summer. BlueStamp is an organization that helps young inventors and makers get the supplies and training they need for college and the rest of their life. You can make whatever you like as long as it is within your realm of ability. For example, one year someone made a watch that could communicate with their phone to read texts and phone calls. BlueStamp provided him with the tools and supplies necessary (the phone, how to take it apart, a teacher to instruct him on coding, etc.) and he completed it. Application is through a judged process, and you have to complete an application and provide two references before submitting. However, it is definitely worth it as the experience and help they provide is invaluable. Techboy and I really hope we get in, and hopefully we will!
I was doing research for a biology project when I stumbled upon this. I was thinking of doing a project about fungi, and this interesting genus caught my eye. The Cordyceps fungi is a type of fungus that essentially leeches off of its host, like a parasite. It’s most common form is known to be the Cordyceps Sinensis, which can be found feeding off of truffles, essentially cannibalizing another mushroom. These were used by the Chinese as herbal remedies before medicine was fully understood. This isn’t the cool part however.
There is a sub-group of Cordyceps fungi that is known to grow inside of INSECTS, and actually can change their behavior. What it does is the spores enter a specific species of insect, they have strange seizure-like symptoms for a while, then they climb a stalk of a plant, bite into it, and THEN: A MUSHROOM GROWS OUT OF THEM, PUNCTURING ITS EXOSKELETON!!!
This situation is specific to ants, and a certain species of cordyceps fungi. But this is the kind of thing that one could literally just copy and paste into a science fiction novel in the making. Also, after the mushroom is done growing, the tips explodes with toxic spores that kill a massive amount of the colony. I don’t really understand why, I guess just for the giggles :3.
BBC made a movie about nature that contains a scene depicting how awesome this type of fungi is. It really is a miracle of nature. Depending on how you define miracle that is. What I’m trying to say is that this is PRETTY AMAZING.
Here’s the video (annoyingly enough it might have an ad):
Hello World, TechieTrekkie here talking about a minor/major update to some people’s iPhone 4s’.
First, this just applies to the AT&T iPhones, so any of you who made the smart decision of choosing Verizon or AT&T can look away now.
This change occurred when the 5.1 release was made for the iPhone, and as you may have noticed, one of the features on the update list that was added is an updated AT&T signal meter. What happened from this is that the AT&T meter now lists the phone as being 4G, but that is a little deceiving. What actually happened is that Apple has given in to AT&T trying to pass off their “HSPA+” network as 4G. I can talk about the kinds of networks, CDMA, EVDO, LTE, HSPA+, WIMAX, for an eternity, and I may just write a post about that, but essentially, HSPA+ is simply an upgraded 3G network, and is NOT truly 4G like an LTE or WIMAX network. Thus, Apple is just giving in and saying that HSPA+ is actually 4G, and although it does have slightly faster speeds than the regular 3G network, nothing will change in terms of your data speeds, they will be the same as before, except that it will be labeled as 4G.
If you want me to possibly make a post about the different types of networks, just leave a comment and tell me so.
Hello World, TechieTrekkie here, talking about the just-released iPad 3 (as a new Apple TV, but I am not gonna talk much about that), and as is usual for any new Apple product, it has some brand new awesome features. They are what I am going to talk about first, then I will get into some of the cost specs.
First off, just let me tell you that the name iPad 3 is not official, they have not explicitly said that that really is the name, but it is the third generation of iPad, so that is what I am gonna call it, and that name is probably gonna become the common name, because all they have called it is the “New iPad”.
This iPad has Apple’s unique Retina display, which has been used on the iPhone for some time, but now it is in the massive 9.7 inch screen of the iPad. It has crisper colors, and a massive pixel density. With this it allows amazing graphics in games and apps, which will be AWESOME! It also includes a brand new quad-core A5x chip for increased power, and it supposedly has twice as much power as Apple’s A5 processor. In terms of camera, it has a face time camera on the front, but also a 5mp camera on the back, which has autofocus and image stabilization for sharp blur-free pictures. The camera also provides 1080p video, with full HD. In addition to this awesome hardware, it has awesome network connectivity options, with 4G LTE from both AT&T and Verizon being the major ones, which will provide this iPad, if you choose that option, blazing fast connectivity wherever 4G is provided. Also, the iPad is 3G world ready apparently, which means that you should be able to connect wherever you are. It can also make a WIFI hotspot if the carrier allows it, supporting up to 5 devices. It has 10 hours of battery, 9 with 4G, and is amazingly thin at 9.4 mm and amazingly light at 1.4 pounds. This iPad comes in 16, 32, and 64GB models like any other Apple product, and costs between 499 and 829 based on the features. Amazingly, it will be available on March 16, and pre-orders start today. THere are also updates to existing apps, and new apps Apple is releasing, iPhoto for example will give some features of the full version, such as editing photos, to the iPad.
This is based off of a really cool article I read on popsci.com. Apparently a university in Japan has developed yet ANOTHER cool futuristic technology. This device is pointed at someone, turned on (one would assume), and it confuses the person so that they stop talking. It sounds SO FREAKY. Imagine you’re in some public place talking to a friend, when some guy points a nerdy looking gun at you, and then you suddenly are dumbfounded out of speaking. It sounds really vague and weird, but I will try to explain.
What the device does is that it has a microphone that picks up what you are saying, and repeats it back to you with hardly any delay. This is a psychological mind trick that psychologists have known about for some time. The mind gets confused when it hears the words you just said, it makes it harder for you to continue saying what you were saying. I have actually noticed this before. Sometimes when I’m talking to friends on the phone, my phone glitches out and starts repeating what I say into my ear. Since my brain is hearing its own thoughts as they come out of my mouth, it spends too much time hearing what I just said, and forgets to think about new words to say. It’s really weird. I end up being confused into submission, and am left struggling with “ums” and “uhh-what-was-I-sayings”.
It sounds like this invention will be used for military reasons, for shutting people up at a distance, or used as a mental smoke grenade to get past people. Or it could be used by teachers to shut up students (oh my god I just shivered a little D:).
Japan has yet again made something really cool, that’s a little bit hard to think of practical uses (that was a joke, it’s probably useful).
Hello World, Techie Trekkie here, back talking about something that I first mentioned a while ago, Google Wallet. This is gonna be a short post (or not), and the main thing that I am gonna talk about is the fiasco going on about it, my personal experiences with it, and how you can get it, even if SOMEBODY doesn’t want you to get it.
First, let me talk about a major problem that has arisen with the security of Google wallet. There have actually been two major problems with Google Wallet, the first being the safety of the Prepaid Cards. For those of us who do not happen to have Citi Mastercards, the only card supported in Google Wallet so far, the Prepaid Card is the only option to get full use of the functionalities of the app, apart from having access to local deals and some loyalty cards. The main problem with the security of this is that since the prepaid card is tied to that specific phone, if somebody gets your phone, they get that card. Now before you start thinking to yourself “Isn’t there a password you need to enter to pay”, know that although you must enter a password to pay with a card, this password can easily be changed. The problem is that if you wipe the data of the Google Wallet app, and reload it, since the prepaid card is tied to the phone, it will re-appear, along with a prompt to enter a new password (since you just wiped the old one along with the other data of the app). Now you new phone owner not only has a shiny new phone, but also access to however much you had on your prepaid card. I am led to believe that there has to be a way to unlink a card from a phone, but from what I have read, this is still a problem, although this may have been fixed following Google’s shutting down of all prepaid cards temporarily. The second security flaw is that recently somebody released an app that, if the perp manages to install it, can actually tell the person exactly what the password is for the app, allowing them once again to pay using your money. This is not as much a problem however, as I believe that it only actually can work on jail-broken phones, not to mean that the person can’t just jailbreak the phone.
Ok, now onto my experiences. From what I can tell this is a really cool idea, and I have used it (and spend the 10 free dollars that you get for installing it). The only thing needed is a receiver that can accept tap payments, including those in NYC taxis, and the self-checkout stations at some places. It is fairly fast and very easy to pay, and adding money to the card can be done in a snap. The only thing I am unsure about is that while reading some legalese that popped up (yes, some people actually read it/skim it) is that somewhere in there it mentioned 1 or 2 dollar maintenance fee per month on the prepaid card, although it said somewhere about it being waived if a payment was made in the last 2 to 3 months.
Now, some of you may be asking: “Hey, if you have the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, how did you manage to get Google Wallet installed, didn’t Verizon ban it”, and you would be completely right, Verizon, being as annoying as it is, forbid the app from the Galaxy Nexus, but there is a workaround. Before you say it, I did not root my phone or download an apk (application file) from an outside site, I downloaded it straight from the market onto my phone. The workaround was discovered it seems by Droid-Life, which made a page all about how to install it. It involves going to the android app store in your browser, and fooling your phone into going straight to the install page. The full article is HERE, and I would suggest doing it quick before google catches sight of it. There are times I am a bit glad this site is small. Anyways, I am really happy with the app, and even if you don’t trust it, who doesn’t want a free 10$ .
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