Gizmodo: Geeks

Geek License Plates Show Just How Geeky the Road Can Get (Very)

John Mahoney — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EDT

While this is by far our favorite geek vanity plate, we don't pretend that others don't exist. And frankly, if I pulled up behind someone repping a wireless radio standard for all to see on the back of their Hyundai, I think there's a great chance I might spit-take my Big Gulp and risk a rear impact collison. And that's not the only one—Pingdom's blog has a great roundup of geek flags flying high and hard on back bumpers around the world.

Yes, we've got repping of yet another networking standard, one for the Windows keyboard-shortcut devotees, and of course, the social-powered, traffic firehose cycle. Hit Pingdom for many, many more. [Pingdom - Thanks, Peter!]

Hover Boards, Holy Grails and TIE Fighters Fill Hollywood Prop Auction's Geek Memorabilia Motherlode

John Mahoney — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:00:34 EDT

For sci-fi and comic book movie fans, it doesn't get much better than right now. This week has brought both Dark Knight and the Watchmen trailer, and later this month, the Profiles in History auction house in Hollywood is opening up the prop vaults from just about every classic film over the last, oh, fifty years and isn't stopping until everything is gone, gone, gone! Marty's hover board? Check. Capt. Kirk's phaser from Search For Spock? Yep. The actual holy grail from The Last Crusade? Oh yeah! No shitty replicas here—all are the actual props used on screen, and they can be yours. But those are just the beginning.

There aren't a lot of bargains, as you might expect. Top-shelf merchandise like this is expected to fetch big collector prices. But the catalog is almost too good to be true—check out 34 highlights in the gallery below, and a few extra special favorites here:

Forget any exercise you could possible think of—it won't come close to the strength of using Bruce Lee's own actual forearm strengthener. Possibly some Dragon sweat still on it.

No, It doesn't hover but I couldn't give less of a damn. If I can't have the shoes, I want this. Too bad it's expected to fetch $30-$50k.

I love scotch. But I'm pretty certain I would love it even more if I was drinking it out of this ultra-dystopian Blade Runner tumbler. Plus this one's one of the few sub-$1,000 items.

Just one of the countless things the originals have on Lucas's new films, the costumes in the original Star Wars were incredible. Especially the Imperial dudes—stylish in only the way a space fascist can be.

More highlights from this incredible trove, including C3PO's feet, Ahnold's sawed-off from T2, the rabbit mask from Donnie Darko and more:

[Profiles in History Auction House via Tech Digest]

This Is Why You Don't Paint Sysadmins

Mark Wilson — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:45:00 EDT

In an attempt to paint the geekiest piece of artwork in the history of man, one artist painted his friend (a sysadmin) in a server room being assisted by Marvin the Paranoid Android (from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) who happens to be carrying a ZX Spectrum (think of it as the Commodore 64 of the UK). But honestly, from what we know about geekdom—which is a lot—some punches were pulled here. And we appreciate that. [shardcore via boingboing]

I'm No Doctor, But The Health Benefits of Caffeinated Chips Seem Questionable

Mark Wilson — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:28:00 EDT

Pardon me while I pander to a stereotype and assume that you, dear reader, are interested in these caffeinated chips by Engobi. Coming in Xtreme flavors like "Cinnamon Surge" and "Lemon Lift," each bag of this snack has 70% more caffeine than the average energy drink. Using Red Bull as a metric, that puts Enobi chips at 136 milligrams of caffeine—or right on line with a cup of strong coffee. Seeing as most of us can down two or three cups for breakfast, that means all those Engobi-eating, Red Bull-drinking X-gamers have been posing for glamor shots at amateur night. Their cute haircuts, tats and piercings can call us when they switch to diesel. [Engobi via Gearlog]

Sexy Lady Offers to Harvest Virginity of Net Neutrality-Supporting Nerds (NSFW)

AddyDugdale — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Still in Belgium—hurrah!—let us segue from sticky ponchos to stickiness of another kind. Notorious sexylady Tanya Devereaux says that she is turning virgin surgeon in order to divest any nerd of his cherry—provided that they support a free web. One of the terms and conditions states that the act must not last for more than 30 minutes. Er, could any guy last more than 30 seconds on their first time?

So, let's see. No anal sex without prior negotiation. Condoms must be worn, unless the nerd-gin wishes to release his manfat on Tanya's body. No under-18s. Proof that the vi~~ctim~~rgin supports net neutrality must be provided (a black tee-shirt with "I Support Net Neutrality" emblazoned on the front won't cut it, sorry.) Finally, Tanya "may deny service for hygiene reasons."

This is not the first time that Ms Devereaux has offered up her orifices for a good cause. Last year she put 40,000 blowjobs on the negotiating table when she ran for a seat in the Belgian senate, as a protest against other politicians' claims that they would create 400,000 jobs. Clearly she thought that sucking on a pencil would get voters putting a XXXX in her box. [Don't Stay Virgin and Skirmisher—thanks Dirk]

What Kind of Geek are You?

AddyDugdale — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Wired has done a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to spotting geeks. Third from the right is gadget geek, who apparently "writes ferocious comments on Giz" (FIRST! and Will It Blend? are not examples of ferocious comments, before you ask.) James Chiang's fabulous photo just begs the question, however: What kind of geek are you?

I'm Mr T, you pantyhose suckas! [Wired]

Girl Geeks on the Rise, Says Report

Jack Loftus — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EDT

A new report from Solutions Research Group hints that the male-dominated era of technology and gadgets may be coming to an end. Some activities, such as using a DVR to record a TV show, or streaming movies or games, are more popular amongst women than men. Gents, has this happened to you? Take the poll, and see just how our favorite British girl geek handles tech stuff in the video after the jump.

Fave British girl geek after Addy, of course. [Solutions Research Group PDF, via I4U

Best Hotels Around the World for Geeks, Neo Wannabes

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:40:30 EST

If you are the kind who follows white rabbits, has weird deja vus, pops red pills, and you are planning to go to Sydney, Australia, anytime soon (not necessarily in that order,) the 31-story, 416-room Westin is the best hotel for you. After all, it was the place where the Deja Vu scene from Matrix was filmed and number 3 of the list of "best geek hotels in the world 2.0," whatever that means:

1. Hotel Sax, Chicago
Sixth floor Studio is a room open for guests from 4pm to midnight which is "powered by Microsoft," meaning it has XBox 360 with the best games, Windows Media Center HDTV and Zunes a go-go.

2. Hotel Avante, Mountain View
Near Google's HQ, the Avante is nothing fancy but includes a bunch of random stuff in every room, like Etch-a-Sketch, a Rubik's cube, a deck of cards, a slinky, tape and scissors. For some reason.

3. Westin, Sydney
Nothing special about this one, except it's a five star and they probably will kick your ass if you try to break into the walls to escape room service's tips.

More geeky hotels at the link. [Hotel Chatter]

Wired Feature on Deep Sea Cowboys Saving Giant Ships

Brian Lam — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:03:15 EST

The cargo ship Cougar Ace was entering Alaskan waters when its ballast tanks malfunctioned and a wave turned it on its side. Millions of dollars in shiny new Mazdas were dangling feet from the cold water. Then the A-Team of sea salvage (including a geek) flipped it right side up without the help of cranes or tugs. My good friend Josh Davis wrote this breathtaking feature on the small group of divers, ship captains, salvage masters and ship architects who brought the Cougar upright again.

Instead of using the typical heavy cranes and tugs, they do their jobs very cheaply using computer models of the ship's intricate ballast systems, heavy cutting and drilling tools, pumps (and more than a bit of personal risk.) And salvage like this, recognized as a form of legal modern piracy, is compensated by a percentage of the value of the loot they save. Generally millions for jobs only days long. Here's how they flipped her around:

This is the best feature I've read in a long time. It's worth checking out. [Wired]

Italian Guy Plays Jingle Bells on Graphics Card

AddyDugdale — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 08:22:53 EST

This week we have seen the Guyzmodos' versions of seasonal hawtness—namely girls wearing fetching (and highly flammable) red and white nylon-n-fluff combo outfits. Well, Girlmodo is striking back as only it can. A cute, fully clothed geek, tastefully clad in the obligatory black T-shirt, playing Jingle Bells on a graphics card. Merrrrrry Chreeeeestmas! [YouTube via The Inquirer]

Steam Trek Geekily Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before

Benny Goldman — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:30:00 EST

Have you heard of Steam Trek: The Moving Picture? It's the result of 14 people showing their unnatural love of both steampunk and Star Trek by making an silent movie set in 1899 about boldly going where no man has gone before. There's an engineer named Sootie, coal instead of dilithium crystals and a redshirt so obvious he wears a target on his back. My beef with the film is its lack of steampunk followthrough. Sure the USS Enterprise is wooden and looks like a cross between a galleon and a Montgolfier Brothers flying balloon, but I was hoping to see more gears and pulleys, and maybe some actual steam. We're giving you a taste—Wired has you covered if you then think you're up for the full nine minutes. Qapla'. [Gadget Lab]

Cheap, Recycled Geeky Gifts

Travis Hudson — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:01:38 EDT

Just in time for holiday season comes this line of very geeky gifts from acorn studios. Most of the gifts are made from circuit boards—including tree ornaments, earrings, keychain, clocks, etc. They also have some cute little gifts made from keyboard keys such as rings, necklaces and cufflinks. Most of the gifts are under $20, some even as low as a few bucks and could be the perfect small presents for that nerdy co-worker. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Acorn Studios]

We Want to Work at Google

johnb — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:02:10 EDT

Any place where you can ride around on Segways and Pocket Bikes and still get to hang out with the freaks who used to play Magic near the computer lab in college and are now making more money than God is a place for us. Fun Mechanics (?? where are these site names coming from?) has a delightful photoset of all the jackanapes that can be had deep inside the Googleplex.

Inside Google [Fun Mechanics]