GeekSugar

OMG! I Got An iPhone!

GeekSugar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 04:30:02 -0700

Okay, so I don't have an iPhone yet, but the promise of getting one later this week and the fact that people are already starting to line up at Apple stores got me thinking about the pure, unadulterated joy I felt as a kid when I got a new toy, gadget or tutu. Can iPhone-obsessed adults ever top the infamous kid who got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas? You know, the one who freaked out on home video circa 1996? Well, that kid is all grown up and when I asked my friends how he might react to getting an iPhone, they all jumped at the chance to pay tribute to him. OMG! OMG! OMG! Watch it.

To watch the original Nintendo 64 video or get the code to embed this video on your site, read more

Special thanks to my brilliant actors partysugar and yumjimmy for their enthusiasm and willingness to let their geek flags fly. If you want to embed this video on your site, you can grab the code right here:

Geeks We Love: Mike Fahey of Kotaku

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:05:00 -0800

A man after my own heart, Mike Fahey is a game addict. Currently helping to hold down the East Coast office of Kotaku, and ripping through game after game so you don't have to, Mike is a man of many hats. He's been everything from an arcade attendant (totally expected) to a vinyl sign cutter (huh?), but still, his love for games made him who he is today. But besides being multi-talented, Mike is one seriously good catch, and why we included him in the Geeks We Love series: he loves to game (but doesn't demand that you do), he's a good listener, and he even loves to cuddle. Score!

GS: For our readers who don't know you, tell us a little about yourself.

MF: Hello there, readers of geeksugar! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Michael Fahey, and I'm the East Coast Associate Editor for Kotaku, a website about video games and video game-related cakes. I am a six foot, six inches tall fellow who is much less intimidating once you realize that I am writing this with one of my two cats laying belly-up on my desk, desperately trying to finish typing without succumbing to the lure of tummy rubs.

In my 35 years of existence I've been a shoe salesman, an arcade attendant, a tech support specialist, a gas station manager, a web developer, a vinyl sign cutter, a dishwasher, a graphic artist, and several different flavors of customer service representative, all following a brief period following my birth during which I was too stunned to speak. Now I spend my days writing about video games in my pajamas. How the video games got into my pajamas is another story entirely.

Find out how gaming accidentally introduced Mike to Playboy, why he'd spend the rest of his days with just a Nintendo 64 and a coconut tree, and discover a softer, more tender side of Mike when you read more.

GS: Do your earliest memories involve a game controller, or did you develop a love for gaming later on in life?

MF: My entire life seems to be punctuated by video games. They're how I organize important milestones. My first kiss was given to me by a girl who was trying to tear my attention away from a Speak and Math game she had in her bedroom - the start of a long tradition of women trying to tear my attention away from whatever I was playing at the time. I first discovered sex while trying to get the Atari 5200 in my father's den working late one night and accidentally switching to the Playboy channel. My first real sexual experience took place in the hallways behind the video game arcade at the mall I used to hang out at - her name was Sula and the amount of hairspray in her bangs was the stuff of legends. I guess it isn't so much my earliest memories, but really all of my memories.

GS: What's your all-time favorite game EVER?

MF: This is a terribly unfair question. Would you ask a mother which of her children was her favorite? Would you demand that she single out one of the tiny humans that sprang from her loins into the world as the end-all, be-all? Yes, you would, and she'd look around to make sure no one else was looking and then quietly whisper Final Fantasy III (U.S. version), which is a terribly odd name for a child.

GS: Are you down with girls that don't know how to game, or is holding their own on Gears a prerequisite?

MF: I've found over the years that the perfect woman for a gamer is one who is game curious - she enjoys watching them, and every once in awhile grabs the controller from you when something strikes her fancy, but on the whole just enjoys knowing that she has a man who she can leave alone for a week knowing that when she returns he'll be in the exact same spot, in front of the television. I've been with women who are nearly as passionate about video games as I am, and it isn't really a good combination. Any relationship needs some sort of anchor to the real world. . . a person who can pull the other one away from the controller long enough to eat, bathe, clean the house, and have sex. You put together two rabid gamers and soon you are getting horror stories about folks leaving their babies out in the car after returning home late for a guild raid. I'd like to think I would remember a little person that I helped make, but man those guild raids can be intense.

GS: You're stranded on an island. It's just you, a coconut tree, and a gaming console. Which console would you want to spend your days with?

MF: At first I thought this was a trick question, so I began to research which console had the ability to draw power from a coconut tree. Then I realized the true extent of your trickery: I have no television, and no games. Just me, the console, and Dr. Treeheart (I would have named the tree after the first day). Having finally come to realize the full extent of the question, I'd have to say the Nintendo 64, because if you turn it around and look at it just right, it could pass for a face. Not a very pleasant face, but when you are stranded on a island with only Dr. Treeheart to keep you company you take what you can get.

GS: Is there a game you just can't live without?

MF:It's not that there is one game that I cannot live without - I just couldn't live without some sort of gaming. I constantly have at least two devices on me that could run a video game of some sort, and if hard-pressed I can build a chess board from sticks and rocks. . . which I've actually done. It's just comforting to me to know that I have some sort of game available to me should the need arise. Otherwise I am stuck alone with my own thoughts, and my own thoughts are kind of odd.

GS: We're so close to Valentine's Day! Tell us what your perfect date would be like.

MF: The perfect date isn't about a place or an activity. The perfect date involves getting to know someone. The best dates are the ones where you can sit an talk with the person you are with, sharing stories, telling secrets, and basically basking in this new person you've just discovered, immersing yourself in them while sharing yourself. In this day and age, where you can find pornography with a few keyboard strokes, learning about a person is so much more intimate than having sex with them. That having been said, the perfect date for me involves a great deal of talking and perhaps a bit of cuddling, an activity of which I am a huge fan.

The Most Mild-Mannered Xbox 360 Surprise Ever

GeekSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:26 -0800

Remember that kid on Christmas morning who totally freaked out when he got a Nintendo 64 (the one I parodied, ahem)? Yeah, this family is not exactly that excited about their Xbox surprise. Oh, they're excited, they just have a lot of control.

Multiple watchings are encouraged. Every time that kid asks where they're hiding the money tree, I lose it.

Must Haves for December!

GeekSugar — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:00:02 -0800

December is such a festive time of the year, with chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nibbling at your toes and with kids everywhere ripping open Wii boxes on Christmas morning. If you've been checking out my holiday gift guides, you've probably spotted a few of these items which are sure to be at the top of many Christmas lists. Here are my top five must have picks for the month of December. Enjoy! To learn more about these fabulous must-haves, just read more

Nintendo has just released two special edition Nintendo DS bundles which come in metallic rose and gold. Each bundle not only comes with a DS Lite that is two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS but it is also paired with a game! The rose model includes the "Best Friends" version of Nintendogs and the DS Lite Gold comes with Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Both bundles are priced around $160.
The solar powered tote by Noon Solar is the ultimate geek chic laptop bag. The built-in solar power panel on the outside of the bag attaches to a battery box in an interior pocket that will charge-up in six to eight hours of strong sunlight. A portable and stylish gadget charger on the go! This Courtland bag costs $383. Other styles available as well.
Super Mario Galaxy is worth all the hype and then some. The hottest game for the Wii this holiday season, Super Mario Galaxy combines the best features from Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers 3, and Super Mario 64 into this super galactic 3D adventure. Priced at $50.
The future of reading has arrived with Amazon's latest creation, The Kindle. Weighing that of a traditional paperback book, the Kindle features a revolutionary electronic-paper display that looks and reads like real paper. With no computer, no cables, and no syncing required and access to more than 90,000 books, you can't help but want to get your hands on one. The Kindle costs $400 each.
Fire engine red iPhone cases are definitely a growing trend in Hollywood. These silicone cases are a cheap, chic way to protect your precious iPhone. You just can't beat their $6 price tag!

This Week On Geeksugar - OMG! I Got An iPhone!

GeekSugar — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:00:07 -0700

Before I actually got a real iPhone I made a parody video of the Nintendo 64 kid who went nutsy over his new gift circa 1996. Nearly 80 percent of the people online didn't get it and presumed it was some sort of viral marketing campaign from Apple - something they don't even do. One thing is for certain: It will make you LOL. OMG! I Got An iPhone!
Do geeks love more than talking shop about pixels? Eating delicious and forward-thinking candy, of course. Edible Geek: Pixel Block Chocolates
What do you do if you are a company like Sprint and your competitor launches a product that has inspired shirtless camping efforts, tribute videos and lots and lots of talk? Cult Of Mac Speaks: Sprint’s Missing iPhone Rebuttal
Photography guru Andre Gunther has put together a great list of the The Ten Most Common Photographic Mistakes. Topping the list is cluttered images, which attempt to capture too much. Most Common Photography Mistakes
If you have a pet name for your computer like "snuckems" or "magic machine" you may not be alone. According to a recent study conducted by Sega and iShare, more than two out of five Japanese women regularly have conversations with their computers. Do You Talk To Your Computer Or Call It Names?
While she may play neurotic high-powered women on film, actress Parker Posey is decidedly ungeeky. In fact, if the interview she recently did with Switched is any indication, she abhors gadgets all together. Parker Posey: Not A Geek, Still Chic
Who says Oscar winning actresses can't be gamers? Nintendo has picked Nicole Kidman to lead a print and television ad campaign for "More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain?" Nicole Kidman Crowned New DS Spokeswoman

Geek Gear Round Up: Your Favorite Video Games

GeekSugar — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:00:58 -0700

Last week I asked you all to bookmark your all time favorite video games and tell me why you love them so much.

The result is the greatest geek out mission we've ever seen. Without a doubt any games that include Mario are a hit with you readers - from Super Mario Kart to Super Mario All-Stars: SNES and Super Smash Bros Melee.

Other hits include Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, which Phil notes isn't his favorite game, but is worth remembering. Touché, Phil. Touché.

To quote Super Mario 64: "Thank you so much for to playing my game!" Now check out everyone's favorite games in the widget below and go search for your Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 in the garage.

Love 2.0: Anil Dash and Alaina Browne

GeekSugar — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:10:19 -0800

As part of our Geeks We Love series, I caught up with a few couples that, through the beauty of the internet and technology have influenced both our lives and each other.

There are plenty of couples that both blog, but Anil Dash and Alaina Browne are in an elite club of longtime bloggers that have been around the blogosphere for years, but are still humble about their success, influence and accomplishments. Anil, is Vice President at Six Apart, a blogging software used by millions of people across the world, but he describes his occupation by saying "I help people start blogging." Alaina is the general manager at Serious Eats, a website filled with video, blogs, photos and feature stories all geared toward the foods people love. What geeky things do these two love about life online and each other? read more.

Geeksugar: So, let's lay it all on the table. What do you think is the "geekiest" thing about yourself?
Anil: I'm probably a little bit obsessive over weird little technical things, like the order of icons on my desktop, or the way my songs are tagged in iTunes. I've even gotten hundreds of people to tell me how they use Excel to organize their personal lives. So probably the most geeky thing about me is that I really, really love software and consider myself a student of software culture.
Alaina: I won my school’s Computer Science Student of the Year award in 7th grade.

Geeksugar: Tell us a bit about your background.
Alaina: I’ve been a web geek pretty much since the beginning, working with MindSpring (later Earthlink) and puttering around with websites and later blogs for about ten years. I had a personal site for a long time, and then when I moved to New York City in 2002, I started NYC Eats, which later became A Full Belly. It was one of the first food blogs, and I was very lucky and happy to meet a lot of people and discover a lot of new things through the site, though I don’t update it much anymore. After we moved to San Francisco in 2004, I started working for Mule Design, a great web design shop run by some friends of ours. While there I got to work on a diverse mix projects for Six Apart, CNET’s Chowhound, and a lot of other great clients. Then late last year I got the chance to help get Serious Eats off the ground. Combined with the chance to come back to New York, it was an irresistible opportunity and one that I’m very excited about. The community on Serious Eats is already something really special.
Anil: I work at Six Apart because I've been a blogger since 1999 (at dashes.com) and I wanted to help people get started blogging. I was the first employee, so I've been at it for about four years. These days, I get to go everywhere talking about Movable Type, TypePad, LiveJournal and Vox, and it's the best job I've ever had. You could say I got into it because I couldn't not do it.

Geeksugar: What about the geekiest thing about your significant other?
Anil: Hmm, that's a tough one. Alaina is very adept at masking her geekiness around others, so that I am the only one who gets to see how funny and clever she really is. It's like being married to a geeky J. Frog.
Alaina: His blortal.

Geeksugar: How and when did you meet eachother?
Anil: We were introduced by a couple whom I had met through my blog. In late 2001, they set us up, and 5 years later, we're married!
Alaina: We met in December 2001 thanks to an introduction from a college roommate, dear friend, and master matchmaker. Before we met, she sent me the link to his blog which I’d seen before. Its tagline at the time was “New York, New Media, New Funk,” which made me go “blech” but I trust Shannon so I kept an open mind.

Geeksugar: What are your top 5 favorite gadgets?
Anil: I really love my Nintendo Wii and covet Alaina's DS Lite. (I have a regular DS, so I can't complain.) I have an iPod Nano, which works well enough, but I love the form factor more than the device itself.
Alaina: iPod Nano and accompanying Nike+ sport kit, white DS lite, Macbook, Fuji F11 digital camera, my pink Gameboy Advanced SP.

Geeksugar: Top 5 luxury gadgets you really want?
Anil: Oddly, I don't covet very many gadgets. I got a chance to see the new Nokia NSeries phones because they work with Vox, and the video camera in the N93i looks awesome.

Geeksugar: Your first computer was a...
Anil: A Commodore VIC-20. I had pretty much every Commodore but the Amiga, including a VIC-20, a C-64, a C-128, and even a Commodore Colt, which was a PC clone.
Alaina: Commodore 64.

Geeksugar: What are your favorite websites?
Anil: Well, seriouseats.com, of course. And I am pretty proud of what I've done with dashes.com over the past several years. I think the web page I visit the most is my Vox neighborhood at anil.vox.com. But I'm inspired by some of the really great blogs I read - Overheard in New York, Ftrain, Rebecca's Pocket.
Alaina: Seriouseats.com, Flickr.com, Vox.com, Kottke.org

Geeksugar: What are your Valentine's Day plan?
Anil: Well, we like to eat well, so I think a nice dinner somewhere and then returning home for a date to play Wii Sports and Wario Ware might be pretty nice.
Alaina: Not to have a Valentine’s Day plan.

Geeksugar: Who makes the final decision when it comes to gadgets for the home?
Anil: Actually, we almost never even have discussions about this. We're fairly moderate in our gadget purchases, so we can each pretty much get whatever we want. It's always a nice surprise to come home and find that the other person has something shiny to show off.
Alaina: We’re pretty in sync when it comes to gadgets and our finances and trust each other to make these kinds of decisions. If it’s a big ticket item, like the flat panel tv we just bought, we’ll discuss it together first so there are no surprises when it comes time to balance the checkbook.

Geeksugar: Who solves tech problems at home?
Anil: I think it depends on the nature of the tech problem. I tend to do most of the CSS troubleshooting and wifi wrangling. Alaina is more adept with hacking blog templates and making DVD/TV/web video go. It's a pretty balanced relationship.
Alaina: I try to solve tech problems myself and if I get stuck, I call in Anil.

Geeksugar: Are you going to buy an iPhone?
Anil: Probably not. I love the idea of a common platform for portable hackery, but I hate phones and phone carriers, especially. I tend to be a late adopter with iPods anyway, which is fine by me.
Alaina: No. No. No.

Geeksugar: How do you feel about people calling you a "geek"?
Anil: I'm very comfortable about that. I like that, when I'm in a room full of normals, I'm the geeky one, but when I'm in a room full of geeks, I'm seen as not geeky enough.
Alaina: It’s an accurate description I don’t object to.

Geeksugar: What do think are the greatest things you guys have contributed to the blogsosphere?
Anil: I've helped promote the good work that other people do in creating the social web. I'm very proud to be friends or acquaintances with a lot of the most talented people in the world of blogging and social media. As far as Alaina's accomplishments, I think she has been phenomenally influential in the world of food blogging and in food community online in general - A Full Belly (originally NYC Eats), was a seminal food blog and informs the spirit of a lot of food communities today, including Serious Eats.
Alaina: His ability to effectively communicate about technology with the non-geek majority. No one does it better.

Geeksugar: How many hours do you spend online a day?
Anil: Roughly 24? Actually, in all seriousness, I pretty frequently spend 14+ hours a day online, and sometimes 18 hours, since I don't sleep much and you could count watching a DVD on a laptop or playing video games as "being online."
Alaina: 16.

Geeksugar: How many hours does your partner spend online a day?
Anil: Less than that. She actually does other things like running marathons and eating good dinners at nice restaurants. I should learn from her example.
Alaina: All of them.

Geeksugar: What is one geeky habit you're trying to quit?
Anil: Obsessively checking things like stats, RSS feeds, and email. Nothing that important is ever in there, but sources of stress often are.
Alaina: Reading scripting.com.

Geeksugar: Are you the "Beauty" or the "Geek" in the relationship?
Anil: I think we're both a lot of both in our marriage! Even though I'm definitely a geek, Alaina's had a personal website a lot longer than me, and really gets a lot of geek culture at a gut level. On the other hand, I dress a lot better since I've had Alaina's help, so while I can't quite come to her level of beauty, I'm at least not looking like something the cat dragged in.
Alaina: I think we’re both beautiful geeks.