Geek Junk – The musings of just another Geek and his Junk



Random Futurama Quote

Roberto: Ah, that first time was just to case the joint and rob it a little.

Free Computer Applications

09.01.2010 (9:03 pm) – Filed under: How To Guides

While there is the old saying, you get what you pay for, the world of computer applications sometimes is a little different. There’s a fairly large community of programmers out there that produce useful applications free of charge, relying on either donations or ad revenue to help, some are released by bigger companies that offer their product up for free for personal use and charge for commercial use, and others just do it as a hobby and enjoy providing something useful to others. Whatever the reason, there are many available, and Geek Junk wants to take the time of point out a few of them for your consumption. more »

New Super Mario Bros. Wii Review

09.01.2010 (7:31 pm) – Filed under: Game Reviews

new super mario bros wii 300x129 New Super Mario Bros. Wii ReviewNintendo has done it again. Going back to a formula that has worked since the creation of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Mario is once again back to rescue the Princess from the likes of Bowser. Keeping in line with the original Nintendo games, New Super Mario Bros. is a side scrolling adventure pure and simple, but that’s part of what makes it so fun. Not that games like Super Mario Galaxy aren’t great additions to the series, its fun to jump back into a modern take of an old classic. Don’t think though that the game doesn’t pack any surprises though. As usual there are a few new items, such as the propeller mushroom that gives the player a beanie hat like propeller that can launch Mario and his team high into the air, only to slowly and humorously awkwardly come back down to land. There is an option to spin quickly down as well to hit enemies below with a powerful strike. Other new items include an ice flower that allows Mario to freeze enemies into blocks and either break them, jump on them or smash them into other enemies, and a penguin suit that gives ice flower abilities as well as better traction on ice, and better swimming… just remember penguins can’t fly! more »

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski

09.01.2010 (5:40 pm) – Filed under: Geek Blog, Geek Fun

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski is a literary mash up, of the movie The Big Lebowski, a Cohen Brother classic, with the literary style of The Bard himself William Shakespeare. At first glance this might seem a little out of place, but it’s not, there’s something just a touch Geeky about rewriting a movie into Shakespeare, and I felt this was important enough to share with everyone else of the world. So sit back, enjoy, and get your dude… er knave on!

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski

Facebook rainbow!

07.01.2010 (10:14 pm) – Filed under: Geek Blog

Bra 150x150 Facebook rainbow!Facebook, and a good portion of the social side of the internet is ablaze with colors and questions as to why. Well as many are figuring out women posting colors are referring to the color of their bras. That’s right, but this isn’t just some crazy viral idea started by horny teenagers. Rather this was started as a viral way to raise breast cancer awareness. This has already exploded on Google Trends which rates searches for facebook color status at volcanic! Very cool to watch something spread so quickly over such a large population group. To whomever started this congrats on spreading your message!

Return of the Geek

07.01.2010 (8:17 pm) – Filed under: Geek Blog

It’s been a bit but I’m back and better than ever! Expect more in the next weeks on the latest products and issues in the world of tech.

Google of Alexandria: Library of the Future

04.09.2009 (5:29 pm) – Filed under: Geek Blog

There is something uniquely tactile about sitting down with a good book. The feel of the pages, turning a page with anticipation to find out whats going to happen next, or folding over a corner to mark your spot. With the increased demand, and push for digitization of information however this is starting to shift. Google Books Library Project, seems to be creating a paradigm shift towards a new way of reading and accessing information. Google as an entity already stores and catalogs massive amounts of data freely accessible on the Internet making this shift a logical step in the quest to be a repository of everything. Google has even gone so far as to patent a book scanning device that will account for the curve of the page and flatten it without distortion. Google is not the only one that is pushing for the digital distribution of books and writing. Amazon has their Kindle many schools already provide only resources either through online 24/7 books, or through electronic reserve. Publishers such as O’Riley offer there own subscription based access to many of their books.

CNN recently put up an article as well about the future of libraries. CNN talks more about the shift of libraries to meet the demands of Generation Y, where libraries are turning from dusty havens of the shushing librarian to hip multimedia based forums. Chances are we’ll just see equally quiet people sitting on laptops using Wi-Fi to access online databases of books, but there could be further shifts towards a more immediate sharing of information, though these physical locations will compete with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where an audience can be much larger. Like the printing press before it, digital distribution of books, novels, poems, short stories, ad infinitum, this will allow more people to share and access media than ever before. I think there will always be a special place for books, even in future looks at society such as Star Trek, where people access most of there data through Kindle like PADDs, books still show up often as treasured artifacts of those that enjoy the tactile feel and physical experience. However, the day and age where books were the only way to read a novel is quickly coming to an end.

People of Walmart Viral Website

03.09.2009 (9:45 pm) – Filed under: Geek Blog, Geek Fun

PeopleofWalmart logo People of Walmart Viral WebsiteCNN has an article on a a viral website titled People of Walmart. For all its wealth of information, sometimes the best thing to come out of the internet is a website like this. Seriously, its like therapy, reminding you that as weird and messed up as you are, there’s always someone out there that’s just a little more so…

CNN article

People of Walmart

Star Wars Lego Set Echo Base 7749 Review

08.08.2009 (10:50 pm) – Filed under: Geek Fun, Lego Reviews

star wars lego echo base 7749 300x300 Star Wars Lego Set Echo Base 7749 ReviewPart of the 10 year anniversary of Star Wars Lego sets, the Echo Base set fits in with any Star Wars Lego collection or is a nice set to start a new one! Echo Base is a great army building set coming with both two Hoth Rebels, plus two Snowtroopers. Round this out with a Han Solo on a Tauntaun and a nice set of fortifications this set is more than worth the modest price tag of twenty five dollars. more »

On The Twitter Blackout

07.08.2009 (10:55 pm) – Filed under: Geek Blog

Tech users and social networkers alike are all obviously aware now of the outage of Twitter yesterday (Thursday) morning. Now that the dust has settled it seems that rather than directed at Twitter (and millions of unsuspecting users) it was rather directed towards Georgian (Country not state) blogger Cyxymu. The attack comes a year after the trouble in South Ossetia and could very well be retaliation for the bloggers views. Quite troubling in its own right but there is something else I want to take a moment to say. I read on CNN that users reported everything from extreme frustration to near panic level events. One 24 year old woman even went so far as to compare it to having phantom limb pains. My message to anyone who felt this near panic, or anything more than mild annoyance… STOP IT! Seriously, put down the phones, put down everything, get outside, stay in, go anywhere I don’t care, but disconnect for a while. People don’t need to know when you’re scratching your arm, waiting in line at the store, or watching whatever the latest teen drama is. I’m not saying Twitter can’t be a great tool to keep tabs on news updates, to keep in touch, but if you’ve come to rely on this to live your life you have a serious problem and need to stop and reevaluate your life.

Happy Pi Approximation Day

22.07.2009 (9:05 pm) – Filed under: Geek Blog, Geek Fun

pi 300x288 Happy Pi Approximation DayAll of us here at Geek Junk, all 3.14 of us, want to wish everyone out there a Happy Pi Approximation Day! Go out and cut loose! To help with the festivities I have added a Pi Approximation Day Comic just behind the cut! more »