Gadgets Blog » Humor

Facebook Games: an Addict’s Sarcastic Story

brock — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:30:23 +0000

A few years ago, my wife convinced me to join the 21st century and create an account on Facebook with the promise of reclaiming long lost friends and keeping in touch with those I already have. Now, all the people that never talked to me in high school are commenting on pictures of my children and complaining about the drama in their lives.

I probably would have given the whole thing up had it not been for the digital heroin that is Facebook games. It all started with the now famous Mafia Wars, where I made my way up the crime chain level by level until I had hundreds of properties and was a Mafia bad boy.

Mafia Wars seemed so benign. All my friends were doing it, so I didn’t think it was a problem. I was checking it several times a day, but I could have quit at any time if I really wanted to. After a while, Mafia Wars wasn’t giving me what I needed, so I looked around for a different game to play. Mafia Wars was my gateway game.

I had always been interested in the sci-fi and fantasy genres and began playing a game called Castle Age. I needed friends to really make a dent in the game, so I began sending out requests to join Castle Age and I had a few takers. I had become a game pusher.

My downward spiral continued until I was friending random strangers because they played the game and sharing raids and loot with people I had never met. I felt so dirty selling my services for a few pieces of armor.

Soon, I was receiving requests to join other games from Farmville to Age of Champions, and I fell deeper into the seedy world of Internet gaming. I was into so many games I couldn’t keep everything straight. I was building chicken coups, running tattoo parlors, battling dragons and begging anyone for help. You know, “Can you send me some bricks for my house? I promise I’ll pay you back. If you’re looking for some fun, I have a lead on a new game that might help you get what you need.”

I knew I had hit rock bottom when my son walked up to me one day and asked to play. My addiction was being passed down to the next generation. I closed the laptop and looked deep into his eyes. “Son, why don’t you go play outside and get some fresh air.”

Since that fateful day, I have given up much of my Facebook gaming. I wouldn’t say I kicked the habit completely, but it’s manageable now. I got rid of many of the “gaming” friends and started hanging out with the people I have known for years.

The moral of the story: Friends don’t let friends play Facebook games.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/davidberkowitz/4697513799

Three New Personalities for Your Roomba

Ritika Puri — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:53:12 +0000

A little while ago, I shamefully watched two full seasons of one of my favorite NBC shows Parks & Recreation. When the character Tom Haverford finalizes his divorce and moves out of his home, he introduces the show’s viewers to his cleaning companion: DJ Roomba. With a top-mounted iPod, he raps while he cleans. After DJ Roomba dies, he returns to the lives of Tom Haverford & co. covered in a sheet, as a ghost.

After recovering from watching 16 continuous hours of TV, I wondered: surely, Tom Haverford is not the only person with a DJ Roomba. In fact, someone even devoted a website to this very moment in Tom’s life. Apparently, it’s pretty simple to make your own DJ Roomba.

What other identities can you give this otherwise inconspicuous robot?

1. Your pet’s new best friend (or arch nemesis)

2. Thursday night pool champion

3. Creepy photographer

Who will your Roomba become?

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/eiriknewth/28227308, flickr.com/photos/charliellewellin/11229845, flickr.com/photos/schram/110133234

Tech News Round-Up: Time-Travelling and April Fools

Dan Evans — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:39:36 +0000

The process of writing this article has led to an extraordinary discovery: April Fools day is a holiday recognized on the Internet moreso than perhaps any other. While searching for news articles, I at times became confounded as to whether or not the article was true. Was this some spectacular joke, the result of some cheeky IT crew?

Such is the case with our first story, a magnificent postscript to our article earlier this week on the world’s largest gadget, the Large Hadron Collider. After some record breaking tests generated much excitement in the scientific community, a strangely dressed man named Eloi Cole was captured by CERN security guards after he was rummaging through some waste bins near one of the Collider’s entrences. Cnet.uk reports that he was dressed in a bow-tie and excessive amounts of tweed. Cole declined to identify himself with any nationality, instead offering up the following classic quote: “Countries do not exist where I am from. The discovery of the Higgs boson led to limitless power, the elimination of poverty and Kit-Kats for everyone.” The future certainly sounds bleak.

In other (fake) April Fools News, Google Documents has been expanded in a mind-blowing way. According to an official product release on Google’s website, the first 1000 people to sign up for a special program would be able to store anything, literally, anything in a Google Doc. This includes (according to a very official source) condominiums, pizza, and small, furry animals. It’s a clever joke, although the whole ordeal over Google changing their name to Topeka has stolen the spotlight for the time being.

Our final bit of April Fools humor comes courtesy of one of my favorite sites, Reddit.com. For the uninitiated, Reddit is an online community where users submit links from around the Internet. Links can either be voted up or down, so ideally, the best and most interesting articles rise to the homepage. In recent Reddit memory, there was a significant amount of hoopla over an administrator receiving money for submitting links on behalf of a company. Reddit’s sneaky retort came out today, when all users were allowed to “Turn On Administrator Powers.” The result? Anyone could upvote (or downvote) a link an infinite number of times, censor or ban another user, and edit the headlines of existing posts. Sadly, instead of the guaranteed chaos, it seems as though everything was just a joke. But then again, were we expecting any different?

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/myklroventine

News Briefs: Photoshop Updates, Twitter Hacks, and More

Dan Evans — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:45:14 +0000

This week we’ll be taking a look at some of the most interesting tech stories from the last few days (there was no shortage of exciting news from the realm of technology and gadgets). In an article on CNN.com, Internet analysis firm Experian Hitwise announced a new winner for top-traffic. The new king of the web? Social networking site Facebook, with 7.09% of all Internet traffic for the week ending March 13. Does this mark a significant change in the Internet landscape? It’s hard to tell for the time being, but it’s worth noting that over the last year, Facebook’s web traffic has gone up a staggering 135%.

Content-Aware Update to Photoshop: In an interesting YouTube video, Adobe Photoshop manager Bryan Hughes shows off what is an excellent new update to the much-used image editing software. While in the past, removing objects out of the background of pictures has been a tedious process, the new Content-Aware option uses some nifty technology to easily edit just about any picture. Â Check out the video for a great demonstration of this feature, it promises to make image manipulation easier than ever (which is a good thing, right?)

In case you didn’t catch it earlier, a 25 year old unemployed Frenchmen was arrested this week for hacking into several Twitter accounts, targeting several celebrity accounts (such as Brittney Spears) and even finding success with the account belonging to President Barrack Obama. There are some stiff legal repercussions ahead of him, as hacking in this type of context carries up to a two- year prison term in France, and it’s likely he will get the maximum sentence, given the political target of his crime. The kicker? BBC News reports that he performed this feat by guessing the passwords!

And finally, in what is in many ways the Hacker Olympics, the Pwn2Own competition has been underway this week, pitting an army of highly skilled hackers against some of the most common gadgets and programs. Over the course of the program, every major web-browsing program has fallen at the hands of the hackers, including Internet Explorer and Firefox. One hacker even managed to infiltrate an iPhone via a corrupt web page. The moral of the story? Practice solid online safety, and be wary of suspicious websites. These guys are pretty smart.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/respres/3231178720

Holiday Spotlight: Star Wars Galore

colleen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:50:29 +0000

So I talked before about these amazing Star Wars Plushie Talking Dolls being the best you could buy this holiday season for your Star Wars fan. But I think I may have been outgunned today by TheAwesomer.com, with the Star Trek gift of the season: a Star Trek Webcam.

The Webcam is in Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 style design, with 300k pixel camera at 30 frames/second capture speed, perfect for skyping or capturing real-time video and audio for recording purposes. With a USB port, stylish bendable gooseneck mount, and an ample 4 feet of USB extension cable, this Star Trek webcam is both mac and PC compatible and the perfect gift for the family Trekkie.

Check it out!

Star Trek Webcam from ThinkGeek.com: $22.99, marked down from $29.99

Gift Idea: Plushie Star Wars Characters

colleen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:15:56 +0000

Oh, lord. As if you thought Tickle me Elmo and Furbies would be the last time you’d give plushie toys to your loved ones (and you thought it ended under the age of 10!!) think again. The Star Wars fan we all know and love would DIE for this set of Star Wars Talking Plush Cuddly Toys. They talk, they cuddle, and they make Star Wars references that no one would understand unless you’ve seen all of the movies a 100 times and can reference them by heart. But who’s counting, and who cares? You found a delightful little holiday gift, and on sale too! What could be better?

Warning, the store selling the plush Star Wars cuties is based in England, so shipping is going to be hefty, or non-existent before Christmas. But it doesn’t matter–receiving these beauties a few days late is better than getting a tie with music recording button, for the fifteenth time. Not that I’ve given that as a present or anything

Star Wars Plushie Talking Characters from Gadgets.co.uk: 12.95 pounds each, marked down from 14.95 pounds.

Shop for Star Wars toys at Smarter.com.

Special Gift Ideas: T-shirts

colleen — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:36:17 +0000

We all love a well-placed digital culture/ inside reference on a vintage-looking t-shirt. While you may prefer to sift through the vintage lots around your hometown for those coveted gems of a t-shirt (like Granny & Pat’s 50th Wedding Anniversary Pig Roast with a pig roasting another pig on a spitfire on the front, or “Timmy Just Turned 1!” t-shirts with a very odd picture of Timmy with an over-sized head and miniaturized body) there are plenty of places online to get recent references with the same well-worn, distressed-font styling.

There are plenty of websites that support the vintage oddball t-shirt trend, but none like Loiterink.com. With some pretty suggestive designs, interesting relevant topics and form-fitting cuts, their t-shirts are for the elite among us. Averaging around $18, there are plenty of colors and T-shirt style cuts to choose from. Don’t miss out on some fabulous designs!

Top designs that made us laugh:

Myspace Tombstone T-Shirt from Loiterink.com: $18

That’s No Spoon T-Shirt from Loiterink.com: $1

Television: Flight of the Conchords Not Coming Back

colleen — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:41:06 +0000

The Austrailian humor duo Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie are not going to make it back to HBO for a third season of their popular show, Flight of the Conchords. The show, which started in 2007 and has run for two seasons totally 22 episodes, will not be coming back to the air for ambiguous reasons–whatever the reason, I am sad to see them go, as I am sure many people are. They will hopefully continue to make music and do performances, maybe take their show in another direction, but for now no more TV for FOTC. The show had disappointing results at the most recent Emmy Awards, where they were nominated for best comedy and beat out by 30 Rock, Jemaine Clement was also nominated for best lead actor in a comedy series but didn’t seem to take home the gold. With this venture behind them, the duo is on to bigger and better things.

With Flight of the Conchords still fresh in our minds and hearts, think about giving the gift of laughter to your friends and family this holiday season. Jemaine and Bret sure brightened up my days, and now you can give them to someone else to enjoy:

Flight of the Conchords First Season DVD : $16.99

Or, for the big spender, Flight of the Conchords First and Second season DVD with a complete CD of their best tunes from Amazon.com: $38.49

Special Sales and Clearances: Smart T-Shirts

colleen — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:56:56 +0000

Media theory posits that technology and gadgets are an extension of ourselves. The delineation between our memory or our relationships and our cell phones, hard drives, and electronic phone lists is blurred constantly. Where would we be without the help of our gadget friends? Sometimes these extensions are considered solemn turns for the worse in society (example, why are we talking to grandpa at the nursing home through Skype rather than going to visit him a few towns over during the holidays? Is this the end of family ties?) but other times, technology’s intervention into our lives is seen in a humorous light. The mom’s at the playground with their Blackberrys and Smartphones, twittering away with their kids who are just getting out of kindergarten to arrange playdates, are parodied to no end. But what about some fun gadget humor to give to your favorite geek for the holidays? I recommend taking a look at some of the “Smart” t-shirts for sale on ThinkGeek.com. Take a look:

Wifi Smart T-Shirt: Marked down from $29.99 to $19.99 on ThinkGeek.com: Pick up wireless signals in the area that make your T-shirt glow! Now that’s a fun and functional gadget.

Personal Soundtrack t-shirt from ThinkGeek.com: $29.99 marked down from $39.99. We all have a soundtrack to our lives—now sync up your iPod to your t-shirt and really get the party started!

Gift Gadgets: Wrap It Up!

colleen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:56:44 +0000

Giving gadgets as gifts is always a bit of a hassle–you want to make sure you give an eclectic gadget that is useful, compatible and fun. Hard drives don’t count, even if they are carved into blocks of wood (kinda cool, but not the thing to give your hubbie on Valentine’s Day. If you wouldn’t give it as a sign of affection, then what’s the point of giving it?) ThinkGeek.com has wonderful odds and ends to make your gift giving season a total success: I suggest we start with the basics, the wrappings. Sometimes how you wrap an object makes people see it in a different light.

ThinkGeek.com’s “Geek” wrapping paper is perfect for the budding techie or techno-loving hipster in your family. Check out some of the wonderful designs on ThinkGeek.com, with everything from LOL cat paper to “Happy Birthday” written in Klingon, there are all sorts of exciting things to sink your teeth into. And at only $5.99 for 4 sheets of wrapping paper, what’s not to love?

ThinkGeek.com’s Funky Wrapping Paper: $5.99

Shop for discount electronics at Smarter.com.