Geek Videos

At this weekend's party, surprise your friends with a playlist of everyone's favorite pop songs with an 8-bit twist. Every child of the '80s and '90s will appreciate synthesized sounds reminiscent of marathon Nintendo sessions.

We found 8-bit renditions that are so good, you can't stop yourself from jumping up to dance to the electronic beats. Check out hits by Gotye and Flo Rider that are still topping the Billboard charts, but indulge in a few pop classics by Justin Bieber and LMFAO too.

1) Wild Ones — Flo Rida Featuring Sia

2) Call Me Maybe — Carly Rae Jepsen

Play the rest of the 8-bit music after the break.

Jon Snow in the snow? Yes, please. In the latest Game of Thrones season two production diary, the crew heads to Iceland to shoot scenes that would be North of The Wall. Fun fact: there won't be any CGI effects used to create this area of Westeros, as the barren, freezing, and windy landscape of Iceland is exactly what the doctor ordered. Let the countdown begin for season two!

We've been waiting for Kinect to acquire some practical purpose in everyday life. Sure, we love the virtual sports, and the dancing games make for adorable celebrity home movies, but we've got to be able to do something more with the amazing motion sensor technology!

Mobile app developer Chaotic Moon harnessed the power of Kinect along with the unreleased Samsung Windows 8 tablet to create a skateboard powered by the user's movements. They call it the Board of Awesomeness.

The science of the mechanics and engineering aside, the board moves when the riders push their hands forward to speed up and pull their hands back to slow down. It's exciting to think of a future with more motion-controlled devices; which products do you think need motion sensors?

Holiday time is here, and whether you're celebrating with family or friends, memories will be made. If you're branching out from photo to video this year, there are a few things you need to remember in order to make your holiday clips the best they can be. Here, a few beginner tips brought to you by the video masters at Vimeo. Check our their fun video explaining the basics, or read through the tip roundup if you're short on time.

1. Keep your shots short and sweet — Don't spend the entire night walking around with a camera in your face. Mingle, get a few interviews, a few moments, then put the camera down and enjoy yourself too.
2. Plan your important shots ahead of time — Whether it's the cooking, the opening of presents, the after-dinner games, whatever, make sure you have your camera close at hand to capture those moments.
3. Play with close-ups and angles — Don't be afraid to get some closeup shots of family and friends chatting, over the shoulder, or shots from above. Play around — you never know what you might end up with.
4. Shoot your surroundings — Don't forget to take some video of the decorations, the food, the atmosphere, the presents (before and after they've been opened) to cut into your video.
5. But don't film people eating — Film the food, not the people eating it. It's kinda rude, don't you think?

The traditional Doctor Who Christmas episode is set to air Christmas Day, Dec. 25, at 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central on BBC America. As the episode's name — "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe" — suggests, it has a plot reminiscent of the C.S. Lewis novel, with the Doctor leading a family away from their normal lives and on a Winter adventure.

The BBC released a tense prequel to the special episode, showing a desperate Doctor calling on the help of an old friend. Check out the short below and let us know if you'll tune in on Christmas to watch the return of Doctor Who.

ICYMI, Google aired its first Google+ TV ad over Thanksgiving. The one-and-a-half-minute spot makes the case for sharing certain information with certain people and shows how easy it is to create new circles in order to keep your work, personal, and "epic bro" lives separate. Check out the video below and tell me — are you still using Google+?

I hadn't seen the new Mario Kart 7 ad until this morning, but by the looks of it, it's probably CGI, right? Wrong. The ad for the latest title to hit the Nintendo 3DS is bright, shiny, and fun, just like the game itself, but it's made up of real cars and real drivers, as evidenced by a new behind-the-scenes clip from the ad team.

Check out the official ad above, then get a glimpse of the making of the ad in a short behind-the-scenes clip after the break.

LucasFilm has released yet another clip of outtakes from its Stand Up to Cancer campaign, which encourages fans to snatch up some sweet shirts in order to fund cancer research. Good news — there's yet another shirt you can buy, this one featuring Darth Vader who urges you to never underestimate the power of Stand Up to Cancer. I can't get enough of these celebs goofing off in front of the camera, so take a look at the latest clip below!

There's no way around it, we've fallen for the upcoming Nokia Lumia 800 phone. With the beautiful cyan and magenta colors, 3.7-inch screen, and Windows Mango OS, we can't wait to get our hands on it when released in 2012.

After spending years under the smartphone market radar, Nokia is pulling out all the stops in the months leading up to the Lumia's arrival. The company just released this eight-minute documentary giving viewers a look into the making of a mass consumer device. Nokia created the phone in just six months and worked closely with the Microsoft team to seamlessly integrate the Windows phone operating system.

Unlike most phones on the market today, the Lumia 800 is built of a polycarbonate plastic material, though specific design details were included as if the designers were still working with a metal. After consulting on a range of materials, the plastic was chosen for the ultimate antenna performance.

The video (seen after the break) verges on the dramatic, but it's still an interesting look into how a smartphone moves from sketched concepts to final product.