Global Geek News

Global Geek News Podcast #79

Jeremy Bray — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:09 +0000

Share on Facebook

Here are the shownotes for episode #79 for the Global Geek News Podcast.

Subscribe on iTunes

Download the MP3

Help support us with a $5/mo subscription!

Stories:

Check out the new Global Geek News Online Store!

Like Global Geek News on Facebook and follow it on Twitter!

Host: Jeremy Bray & Wesley Faulkner

Tweet This Post

Tips of the Week #5

Jeremy Bray — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:00:28 +0000

Share on Facebook

Welcome to Tips of the Week #5! Without further delay, here are all of the great tips and tricks I have found across the internet over the past week. Browse the list and see if you find something interesting to you.

We are always looks for new tips to share so if come across something good or perhaps wrote something Tip of the Week worthy, put the link with a description in the comments!

Tweet This Post

Blockbuster is about to die, bankruptcy coming next month

Jeremy Bray — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:12:57 +0000

Share on Facebook

: Image via Wikipedia

For a couple of years now, primarily on the podcast (Most recently, Global Geek News Podcast #72), I have been repeatedly predicting the death of Blockbuster and that prediction is about to come true.

According to The LA Times, Blockbuster plans for file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the middle of September. They have reportedly been trying to plan this with the movie studios so that they can close between 500 and 800 unprofitable stores (out of 3,425 stores) and make more of a push to streaming content to try to compete with companies such as Netflix. It is also looking to restructure around $1 billion in debt.

Blockbuster has taken a major turn for the worse recently as it has lost over $1.1 billion since the start of 2008, has closed 1000 stores in the past year and was recently delisted from the NYSE. The once great company now has a market value of just $24 million.

I don’t think that closing 500-800 stores and trying yet another push into the streaming world is going to be enough. I think that it may help them get through the year but I still believe that Blockbuster will be nothing but a memory by the end of next year.

If you want to get all of the details about the pre-planned bankruptcy, check out the LA Times’ story about the upcoming death of Blockbuster

Tweet This Post

Sony: Mod chip in your PS3? No PSN for you! Banned!

Jeremy Bray — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:24:10 +0000

Share on Facebook

: Image via Wikipedia

Did you get excited at the news that a $153 mod chip for the PS3 would let you back up your games? Sony has decided to burst your bubble.

While I am not going to risk my own console to confirm this, Sony is reportedly banning people for using the USB Mod chip to backup games. Apparently when the Playstation 3 logs into the Playstation Network, it is given the error 8002A227 and then banned from the PSN entirely.

This mod seems to be easily detectable by Sony and not worth having if you risk getting banned from the network ($153 seems a bit steep as well). Getting banned from the network isn’t the worst thing in the world (I don’t have access to it because I refuse to upgrade my firmware and lose my Linux install), but you will lose access to cool features like the Playstation Store, Playstation Home, and online multiplayer for your games.

Tweet This Post

No Global Geek News Podcast Tomorrow

Jeremy Bray — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:00:55 +0000

Share on Facebook

Greetings fellow geeks! I come bearing some bad news. There will be no Global Geek News podcast released tomorrow like usual. I’ve been sick since Friday and still don’t feel up to doing the show. If I start feeling better, we might be able to get a show up later this week but my crystal ball is currently out of order so I don’t know what is going to happen.

However, I do know that next week is the 4th birthday of the show and I don’t care if I have to do a show from a hospital bed, we will have a show! I am still working on booking guests for the show so stay tuned to find out who the special guests will be for the event!

Tweet This Post

Tips of the Week #4

Jeremy Bray — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:36:04 +0000

Share on Facebook

Welcome to Tips of the Week #4! Sorry for not getting this post up on Friday but I have been sick and haven’t felt like doing anything. To make it up, there will be two Tips of the Week posts this week, one on Monday (this post) and one on Friday (The normal post). Without further delay, here are all of the great tips and tricks I have found across the internet over the past week. Browse the list and see if you find something interesting to you.

Do you have a tip you would like us to include in the tips of the week? Put the tip in the comments!

Tweet This Post

Age of Empires Online announced! Videos included!

Jeremy Bray — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:22:21 +0000

Share on Facebook

I usually don’t report on game news but today is an exception and I will explain why in a moment.

Age of Empires Online has been announced! This is the newest game in the very popular RTS franchise, Age of Empires. The future of the franchise was cast into doubt after Microsoft closed Ensemble Studios, the company that had made all of the previous Age of Empire games, but things are back in full swing under a new development studio called Robot Entertainment. If you are worried that this game will be nothing like the old ones because it is done by a different company, there is no reason to worry. Supposedly 75% of the team that is working on the new game has worked on previous Age of Empires games. The game was announced at Gamescom in Germany this week and below are videos of the official trailer and then 13 minutes of explanation and gameplay that Gamespot recorded earlier this week.

And now for the video with some real details

NOTE: If you having trouble viewing the Gamespot video, go full screen or just go to their website.

Now why did I make this announcement an exception and post about it on Global Geek News? For more than a month now, I have been playing the game in the alpha and now the closed beta. While I am still under NDA and can’t say much of anything, I will say that you should not be fooled by the new artistic style, this is still Age of Empires and it is AWESOME! If you would like to sign up to be in the beta and give this game a test or just find out about the game, head to www.ageofempiresonline.com

Tweet This Post

Coming Soon: Duracell myGrid charger mat review

Jeremy Bray — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:00:21 +0000

Share on Facebook

Duracell myGrid. Image Source: iTech News Net

I have some exciting news to share with all of you! Yesterday, I was contacted by Duracell because they want to send me one of their interesting looking charger mat products called myGrid to review for all of you. For those unfamiliar with the product, it is one of those wireless charging mats that you set your gadgets on to charge such as the iPod Touch, Blackberries and more. Personally, I have always been a bit skeptical about wireless charging devices but now I have the chance to find out if they really live up to the hype. I hope it lives up to all the hype as wireless battery chargers would mean a smaller jungle of cords in my room.

I expect to have the review up in about two weeks, give or take. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you guys about this interesting looking product.

Tweet This Post

Podcast audio problem fixed

Jeremy Bray — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:09:07 +0000

Share on Facebook

Just a heads up, this morning I fixed the audio on this week’s podcast. It had the left right ear thing going on where I was in one ear and Wesley was in the other. Listeners that have been around for a while know this isn’t the first time this has happened but I always get it fixed as soon as I can.

If you have downloaded it and not listened yet, you might want to re-download the show, otherwise you probably won’t notice a difference since the fixed file is now up. Sorry for the audio problems, I goofed during editing.

Tweet This Post

Global Geek News Podcast #78

Jeremy Bray — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:00:33 +0000

Share on Facebook

Here are the shownotes for episode #78 for the Global Geek News Podcast.

Subscribe on iTunes

Download the MP3

Help support us with a $5/mo subscription!

Stories:

Check out the new Global Geek News Online Store!

Like Global Geek News on Facebook and follow it on Twitter!

Host: Jeremy Bray & Wesley Faulkner

Tweet This Post

No related posts.