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The lighter side of IT

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Computer security film from 1990 just as relevant today

Posted February 15, 2012 - 12:02 pm

Security issues in 1990 were just as big then, only the equipment has changed.
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Girl builds LEGO Millennium Falcon in about 4 hours (video)

Posted February 14, 2012 - 4:32 pm

Gotta give some props to YouTuber Valkylrie1337 for this video, in which the self-professed "nerd girl" constructs a Lego set of the Millennium Falcon in about four hours.
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Two-thirds of Google+ users are men

Posted February 14, 2012 - 4:27 pm

Google+ really is a man's social network.
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Real-world superpowers: Eye surgery lets some see well into the ultraviolet

Posted February 14, 2012 - 1:09 pm

Having your corneas removed and replaced with artificial lenses to fix cataracts or other eye problems is no picnic, but it does give some patients a cool new ability: vision that scales far higher up the electromagnetic spectrum than normal humans.
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Kinect Star Wars: Even girls can be Darth Vader

Posted February 14, 2012 - 12:13 pm

The Xbox video team has done it again, providing Star Wars fans with another entertaining ad for its Kinect Star Wars game, set to release on April 3.
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iPad apps for book lovers

Posted February 14, 2012 - 12:05 pm

There has never been a more exciting time to be a book lover. Check out these iPad apps for book lovers. If you don't see one here that you love, leave it in the comments for us to check out!
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Robot hockey player: it shoots, it scores!

Posted February 14, 2012 - 11:05 am

It's February and it's cold, so let's watch a video of "the world's first autonomous humanoid robot ice hockey player."
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New video gives us Jar Jar Justice

Posted February 14, 2012 - 10:46 am

After sitting through the 3D version of Star Wars, Episode I over the weekend (basically because my 4-year-old isn't ready yet to understand how awful some of the things were in that film), I realized once again how much Jar Jar Binks is despised.
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The Playstation Vita won't make phone calls, but a future Vita OS device might

Posted February 14, 2012 - 8:30 am

The OS that powers the Vita could be ported to other devices such as smart phones, according to Sony execs. But where does that leave Android?
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1984 video on microprocessors shows early mobile phones in action

Posted February 13, 2012 - 5:15 pm

The AT&T Tech Archives are the gift that keeps on giving. After last week's video showcasing the Infoquest center, the team over there are adding new videos based on those shown at the exhibit.
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Google Maps help you find love at the Mall (of America)

Posted February 13, 2012 - 2:12 pm

I've never been to the Mall of America, but I hear it's pretty big. So big that you might need GPS on your phone in order to find anything, instead of going up to the giant kiosk and looking for the "You Are Here" sticker and remembering that you're in standing in front of the Orange Julius.
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MySpace: The next hot social network?

Posted February 13, 2012 - 9:31 am

Don't call it a comeback, but MySpace's new owners may actually be breathing life into the late, great social network. Specific Media, which bought MySpace from News Corp. in June is expected to announce Monday that it has added one million new members since December. Specific Media CEO Tim Vanderhook says MySpace went from having zero new signups per day to averaging 40,000, according to The New York Times.
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Playstation Vita's biggest challenge? Gamers love to hate Sony

Posted February 10, 2012 - 8:06 am

We're a week or two (depending on what you pre-ordered) away from the launch of the Playstation Vita, but gamers seem determined to be angry with Sony no matter what they do.
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Is this the best file on Steve Jobs the FBI could come up with?

Posted February 9, 2012 - 1:58 pm

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's file on Apple co-founder Steve Jobs contains no bombshells, unless the fact that some people in Silicon Valley didn't trust jobs comes as a shock to you.
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Every Super Bowl ad from 2012 in about 2 minutes

Posted February 9, 2012 - 12:13 pm

I didn't think I would be writing about the Super Bowl advertising any more, but then Adweek put out this video, an edited-down-version of every Super Bowl ad that ran during the game, in a very tight 2 minutes, 14 seconds.
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When you're president, you get to fire marshmallow cannons

Posted February 8, 2012 - 11:46 am

I don't normally comment on political items or videos, but when the President of the United States gets to fire a marshmallow cannon (as part of the White House Science Fair), and it gets captured on video, well, I just have to comment.
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President Obama shoots marshmallow at White House Science Fair

Posted February 8, 2012 - 10:11 am

With help from Joey, an 8th grader from Arizona, U.S. President Barack Obama loaded a homemade rocket launcher and fired it inside the White House.
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Telepresence robots less creepy when used as more than just a way to bug co-workers

Posted February 7, 2012 - 5:09 pm

Telepresence gets big every time travel budgets get small, but the number of situations in which someone would need to remote-control an avatar in a distant office are pretty small. oVideo conferencing does the trick in most cases; in the rest, apparently, there's the VG0.
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The 3 Star Wars prequels in under 3 minutes (and in LEGO!)

Posted February 7, 2012 - 12:28 pm

Prepare for the 3D prequels by watching all three in under 3 minutes.
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Why a chain of brick & mortar Amazon stores makes little sense

Posted February 7, 2012 - 8:30 am

A rumor making the rounds yesterday suggests that Amazon is exploring the idea of a chain of boutique stores. Here's why I don't think you'll be seeing Amazon in the local mall any time soon.
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The AT&T InfoQuest Tour from 1986 is 6 minutes of Awesome

Posted February 6, 2012 - 4:41 pm

Singing about databases was never cooler in the 1980s.
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Mobile app may help schizophrenics tame the wild voices in their heads

Posted February 6, 2012 - 4:15 pm

Auditory hallucinations -- hearing voices in your head is one of the most frustrating symptoms of schizophrenia. Even schizophrenics who know the voices aren't real have a hard time ignoring them due to abnormalities in the frontal lobe. A mobile app under development in Norway may help train them to filter the noise and hear the right voices.
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Atlantis disappears again!

Posted February 6, 2012 - 3:52 pm

The lost city of Atlantis just can't catch a break. First, as legend describes, it sinks to the bottom of ocean some 10,000 years ago. Now Google is making it disappear.
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Three things of note about the Galaxy Note Super Bowl ad

Posted February 6, 2012 - 11:19 am

After the one-and-a-half minute spectacular, my wife asked me, "So, it has a pen that's going to be easy to lose?"
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Super Bowl commercials: Our Take

Posted February 6, 2012 - 10:14 am

My 4-year-old son summed up the Super Bowl ads quite nicely yesterday when he said, "These commercials are all weird."
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