Month: June 2006

Posted inComics

Marvel Us!

by Deck

Marvel ComicsA couple of interesting items from the Marvel universe today. SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read if you are a Spider-Man fan not in the know…

It’s not terribly often that a comic book storyline makes the front page of Yahoo.com, but apparently it’s big news even in the real world when Spider-Man decides to unmask himself for all the world to see.

“I’m proud of who I am, and I’m here right now to prove it,” the legendary webslinger tells a press conference called in New York’s Times Square, before pulling off his mask and standing before the massed ranks of reporters as newspaper photographer Peter Parker.

To catch up on the back-story of the current Marvel “Civil War” storyline, which is what ultimately forced Spidey to reveal his Pete Parker-ness, watch one of the cool Civil War video trailers.

Posted inGames

Blizzard bans 30,000 World of Warcraft accounts

by Deck

BlizzardBlizzard Entertainment has banned 30,000 World of Warcraft player accounts for “taking part in activities that violate the game’s Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items, which severely impacts the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players.”

I’m not surprised that there’s “cheating” going on in WoW, but 30,000 accounts times 15 bucks a month ($450k/month!) seems like a huge chunk of change to sacrifice for fair play. Of course, those players are just going to reopen new accounts and keep doing what they’re doing, so I don’t think Blizzard will go broke anytime soon…

Posted inToys

Have a safe glass of water, and then go play catch in the yard from your armchair

by Deck

Light DelightLike me, I’m sure that you’re often curious just how hot that tap water is coming out of your faucet, but don’t want to suffer a third-degree burn or two finding out. Fret no more… The Light Delight tap changes color based on water temperature. And as an added bonus you can browse the rest of the site, which uses partial nudity to sell water taps and radiators. Those crazy Italians!

Digital Speed Sensing BaseballThe Digital Speed Sensing Baseball let’s former and wanna-be jocks like me find out just what kind of stuff we can still bring. Simply enter the distance and its speed-sensing technology registers the ball’s speed immediately upon impact. Only works up to 100mph, so Nolan Ryan need not apply.

The Famous Lawn ArmchairAnd finally, for the person that has everything… And who would still prefer to hang out on their lawn. The Famous Grass Armchair is fun, functional and most certainly a talking point. Constructed from a strong cardboard template, you simply fill it with soil (not supplied), sow with grass seed (supplied) and watch it grow. Now I just need the tree stump in my back yard to get cable, and I’d be all set.

Posted inMusic

Barenaked Ladies Are Me!

by Deck

BNLAnyone that knows me well knows that I’ve been a huge fan of the Barenaked Ladies for years (long before they hit it big with “One Week”). The new BNL album entitled “Barenaked Ladies Are Me” is scheduled to be released September 12th in the USA! The first single “Easy” is due out at the end of June.

In fact, BNL is making the raw audio tracks from “Easy” available in the hope that fans will “remix, re-create, re-edit, re-configure, and realize what you will with these parts in coming up with your own versions.” BNL will pre-release four more songs in this manner over the rest of the summer. Then the band will vote on the re-mixes and the winning five will comprise an EP with all proceeds donated to charity.

I love Barenaked Ladies! And the band is pretty cool too. :-P

Posted inTelevision

Heroes Assemble!!!

by Deck

Wow… Check out the video preview for Heroes, airing on NBC Monday nights this fall. I know that it’s easy to be fooled by three minutes of random video, but I can still hope that this lives up to its potential.

(Thanks for the tip, Alan.)

Posted inToys

Batteries Not Included

by Deck

Puzzle Alarm Clock This Puzzle Alarm Clock wakes you up by firing four puzzle pieces up in the air. The alarm will not turn off until all the puzzle pieces are placed back in the clock.

Makes you wonder how many pieces the clock breaks into when you throw it against the wall…

Posted inOn The Web

Digg It!

by Deck

This one’s short but sweet… Digg.com is a technology news website. Users submit stories for review, but rather than allow an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do by voting for (“digging”) the story.

Anyway, there was a story on Digg today claiming that Crows may have human-like intelligence. The source article itself didn’t do much for me, but I did enjoy a couple of the comments that were made by Digg users…

datastorageguy said:
When Crows start driving around in cars and doing algebra with their beaks, I will go along with the “Human-like intelligence” bit. Until then, they can continue to attack my bird feeder and scare away all the other little birds.

jer2eydevil88 said:
I think itÂ’s obvious to anyone who drives frequently that few people ever exhibit intelligence when driving.

Too true!

Posted inEntertainment / Technology / Toys

Found a few things today…

by Deck

Have you heard about Windows OneCare? Microsoft has packaged almost every piece of software you might need to protect and secure your computer, including virus scanning, firewall, tune ups, and file backups. A one-year subscription retails for about 50 bucks, but Amazon currently has it available for $19.99.

In the past, I haven’t been a fan of American Idol. That changed this season the first time I saw the gorgeous and talented Katherine McPhee sing. As much as I enjoyed the energy and antics of this season’s winner Taylor Hicks, I was rooting for Katherine (and Chris Daughtry, who should have taken the Fuel gig) all the way. Anyway, I’m not the only one to recognize her talent, as RCA just signed Katherine to a record deal. Congrats Kat! If you happen to be reading this blog, I believe that Eva Cassidy’s slow and soulful version of Cindi Lauper’s Time After Time would be a perfect song for you.

Sixth Sense for a Wired World is a strange but interesting article on Wired about people who have decided to try to embed magnets in their fingertips. (And yes, according to the story, it is exactly as painful as it sounds.)

Comic Book Creator is a cool piece of software that allows mere mortals like us to write, layout, and create (duh!) our own comic books.

Special forces to use strap-on ‘Batwings’ is a real story about the near-future military application of bat-wings, as seen in the most recent Batman movie. Too cool! Where can I get a pair of those?

Posted inTechnology

Disconnected…

by Deck

My Internet connectivity at home has been hit and miss for the past few days. (Thanks Insight!) In fact, last night I couldn’t connect at all. It was strange how technologically marooned I felt. I was still able to work locally on my PC trying to come up with a cool banner for this silly blog, but every time I had an urge to check something online, I had to experience the disappointment of net disconnectedness (made-up word alert!) all over again.

Hope it’s fixed tonight…