Invites to the New Digg
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Leave your email in the comments or DM us on Twitter and we’ll try and hook you up.
[ new.digg.com ]
I know a guy who knows a guy…
When you know somebody trying to gain exposure, you try to help them out whenever you can. Fred brought you the last video, and now Mike Tompkins has released another solid entry to his library of covers. In case you missed the last one, he only uses his mouth and voice (and usually 1 other item, just not this time) to create his music.
Even though the songs he usually picks I don’t care for, his versions are catchy, the videos are fun, and this one is no exception. Be sure to check out his facebook and twitter pages for more info about him.
Check out his YouTube channel if you like it and want to see some of his other work.
Video: Darth Vader Calls About His iPhone 4
Despite the fact that Darth Vaders gloves should prevent the iPhone 4 antenna issue from being a problem, this is still a pretty funny video.
iPad Car Mount
Potentially more dangerous than texting while driving, it’s the iPad car mount!
For myself, I’m primarily using it as a ridiculously large GPS and for some sweet cover flow music navigation (notice the audio out cable at the top right), but I could see some serious problems arising if someone decided to try and watch a video while driving. Although I must admit that I’ve used the 3G to stream the audio version of Tech News Today on my drive home.
Is it legal? I don’t really have a definitive answer and it likely depends on where you live and how you use it, but I talked with a local law enforcement officer here in Lincoln, NE and he seemed to think everything was kosher with my car mount as long as I wasn’t using it for playing videos, email, etc. That’s here in Nebraska, your mileage might vary depending on local and state laws.
Where it all started for me: the TRS-80 Model I
Ah, the memories. The first computer I ever lay hands on was the now famous TRS-80 Model I. While I was probably only about five or six years old, I remember it like it was yesterday. I wanted a computer, bad, as my father used them in his line of work as an engineer, and got me hooked on them. He had acquired quite a collection of old TRS-80 memorabilia from garage sales, and set me up with a TRS-80 Model I. All I really did was type at the command prompt, for after all, I was only five, but you gotta start somewhere right? I soon learned a little BASIC language, inputting simple programs, but alas, the expansion interface was defective, and wouldn’t communicate with the 5 1/4″ floppy disk drive. However, the cassette interface still worked, so data could be saved to, or loaded into memory from a cassette tape. I’ll never forget the sound of data being read and written to a cassette tape (if you’ve never heard this, listen to a fax machine transmission to get an idea.)
From the TRS-80, I moved directly into working extensively with the Tandy Color Computer line, which kept me occupied for at least the next few years, until Dad finally got that Pentium 133Mhz Swan laptop (yes, Swan… that was the brand.) You can guess the natural progression after that, but as I look back on it, I’m glad I was lucky enough to start with one of the first personal computers in production, and was able to follow the evolution of what is now the personal computer.
If you’re interested in learning more about the history of vintage computers, check out oldcomputers.net
Walter 3.0
In April of 2008 I built Walter 2.0, now meet Walter 3.0.
I was out at my families house over Christmas and was bored out of my mind, so I broke out my Lego collection. Amazingly no one had taken Walter 2.0 apart yet, so I decided it was time for an upgrade of sorts.
First off, I removed the pulley system that ran the wheels in Walters shoes as I needed the motors for the upgrades I had in mind.
Next, I took apart his head and modified his eyes to allow light from the Lego “fiber optics” kit through. Then I installed a small switch in the back of his head to allow the optics to be turned on.
And now that Walter has evil red eyes, why not a laser cannon…
Much better. The cannon is run by a small motor in his arm, and is controlled by the same switch that turns on the eyes.
I’m not entirely happy with how it turned out, but it’ll have to wait until next Christmas for another upgrade. At this point I’m leaning towards turning Walter into a Borg, sadly though, I have a limited number of black and gray bricks.
Musing about EGM, journalism, and life in general
When I was growing up I didn’t give a whole lot of thought to my future career. I either wanted to be a private detective in the style of Frank and Joe Hardy, or a farmer like my biggest hero, my dad. Sometime in the last couple years of high school I suddenly grew an affinity to writing, and almost literally overnight I started writing pages and pages of the most random crap you could imagine.
Being 16-17, a lot of it was just me trying to make sense of life by emptying out my thoughts onto paper. I created my own fantasy setting, complete with six different races and a complete world map. I tried to describe exactly what true love was (all I figured out were dozens of things that it wasn’t), and theorized on the meaning of life, and more importantly, where I should go with my life. Pretty run of the mill teenage stuff. Read More
Finals Week
Yep, it’s that time again. The editors of Hijinks Inc are hard at work procrastinating and putting off studying for finals. See you in a week!
If you want links to cool gadgets that geeks appreciate, follow @fwdfwdfwd on twitter. Yep, that’s www.twitter.com/fwdfwdfwd. You’ll be glad you did.
