GeekSugar

Daily Tech: $30,000 Gets You the Hoverboard From Back to the Future

GeekSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:00:03 -0700

The original Mattel Hoverboard, used by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future is now on sale on eBaywith bidding starting at $30,000. - Geekologie
Rumors are swirling that Apple is beta testing iPhone's 2.1 firmware, which is said to include more GPS functionality. - Gizmodo
Blockbuster is finally getting its very own movie download service that will go live in the next month. - The Boy Genius Report
Call 267) SLY-DIAL from either a cell phone or a landline if you want to connect directly to someone's voice mail. Great for breakups, avoiding awkward conversations, and canceling dates! - MSNBC Tech
Now that the iPhone 3G is pretty much sold out across the country, here are some tips and tricks if you're hoping to get your hands on one. - DVICE
It's giveaway time! Be sure to log in for your chance to win a new iPhone 3G by Apple! - geeksugar

Source

Daily Tech: Nike Coming Out With Marty McFly Sneakers!

GeekSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:03:58 -0700

The Nike McFly 2015s may not give you airborne flying capabilities, but they will look like MJF's ankle-high sneakers and offer Flywire technology, which is said to be ultra-light materials. Watch for their availability in late July. - Wired
Sony Ericsson takes home the greenest electronics company award in Greenpeace's Greener Electronics Guide. - Gizmodo
Snackr is a PC- and Mac-friendly Adobe AIR-based RSS reader that will pull stories from your feed list and display them on your desktop. - CrunchGear
Over 100 students at Fort Sumner High School in Libery, MO, received Zune music players to watch educational videos and listen to podcasts recommended by teachers. - Yahoo! News
I feel for you Canada, why oh why isn't Rogers offering an unlimited data plan for the iPhone 3G like AT&T?! Unlimited plans should be a universal right! - Crave

Vintage Geek: Back to the Future II

GeekSugar — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:03:16 -0800

Some of my favorite movies growing up were the Back to the Future movies (I loved that Michael J.), particularly the second one, because of all the crazy technology I thought we could expect in the 21st century. All the kids had hover boards, the re-hydrater could take a tiny piece of food and zap it into a full gourmet meal, there were TV screens that doubled as window shades - I could not wait for it to be 2015 so I could have all those amazing gadgets (Sidenote: If they had flying cars, then why did everyone still look old as dirt?). I swear, every year after that movie was out, some other kid was telling me that this was the year hover boards were really coming out. Well, it's 2008 and we still don't have hover boards, my microwave still makes my burrito hot on the ends and icy cold in the middle, and I have never seen a video waiter. And we know how the film series' benchmark technological innovation - the time-traveling De Lorean - has panned out. Watch my slideshow to see how Back to the Future II's imaginary gadgets have stacked up, nineteen years later!

View Slideshow ›

DeLorean Goes Back Into Production?

GeekSugar — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:00:39 -0700

If you've watched the Back To The Future series as many times as I have, your obsession has probably led you to a google search where you learned the funky set of wheels made popular in the films stopped production nearly 25 years ago. Lucky for car loving geeks out there, we may not have to go travel through time to see new DeLorean cars.

The BBC has reported that the demand for the DeLorean is so high that it may go back into production. It's a funny story really, because the DeLorean DMC-12 car was first released in 1981, but less than 9,000 cars were made because it was largely considered a junker. Today the car's failure has been forgotten, and its stainless steel skin and wing doors have a serious cult following. The vice president of the Delorean Motor Company is quoted as saying:

"You can't have any conversation about the car without talking about the impact of the whole series of Back To The Future movies. There are guys who were in their teens when they first saw the movie, who are now in their late 30s or early 40s, who are at that point in life when they can get the car they wanted when they were a kid."

Sure, the DeLorean may not have the sleek exterior and function as Tom Cruise's Minority Report Car, but when modified, it does travel through time, right?

Source

The Hills Tech Quiz: Episode 8, "Can't Always Get What You Want"

GeekSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:19:49 -0800

All claws were out on last night's episode of The Hills as Jayde confronted Kristin about her relationship with Brody. Meanwhile, Heidi visited with a psychologist to share her future pregnancy woes. Now back to the geeky goodness – how well were you paying attention to the gadgets and tech talk? Because it's time to take our weekly Hills quiz!

Photos courtesy of MTV

Take the quiz

Get Your Gadgets in Gear For Back to School

GeekSugar — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:25:10 -0700

I can't believe I'm already talking about heading back to school. It feels like just yesterday I was waxing poetic about beach gadgets, and here I am talking about which ones to toss in your new Fall bag. Your very stylish bag I'd expect, much like the Hayden-Hartnett Ibiza ($200) number that I just can't get enough of. But what will you toss in this roomy tote that will help you score As on your many future term papers? How 'bout catching up on your latest homework assignment on a new Kindle DX ($300) (and wrapping it in a sleek case of its own) instead of lugging around a textbook, then setting some test reminders on the calendar of your new iPhone 3GS ($200)? I've already told you which apps to stock it with for school, so you should be good to go. To see what other back to school goodies I suggest, just read more. But you can't just buy a laptop tote and not carry a laptop, right? Thankfully, the latest version of the MacBook Air ($1500) is super light, powerful, and green. Green as in eco-friendly, although you could cover up that bad boy with whatever case you want. Green included. Heading back to class doesn't have to be all work and no play, though. Capture the homecoming memories with a pocket cam, like this stylish Kodak Zi8 HD ($180), which comes in three colors to fit your personal taste.

Do You Take Breaks From Social Networks?

GeekSugar — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:05:27 -0700

Sometimes you don't realize you need a break from something until you actually get it, and you realize how nice it was to just have a little time away from an obsession.

Such was the case for me on a recent vacation where, while I didn't completely disconnect, I didn't have time to check in on my Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I didn't know who was on their way to an amazing party, I didn't see photos posted by distant family member, I saw no Facebook status-offs. I admit that there used to be a time when I'd try to catch up on every update I'd missed in the time I'd been logged off, but this time when I came back, I felt no need to scroll through days and days' worth of tweets and status updates.

And it's fine. I'm not suffering from social networking anxiety. I rather enjoyed it, in fact, and think that I will implement social network breaks in the future. Do you take these kinds of breaks?

Photos courtesy of The CW

Back To The Future CD-ROM Sneakers

GeekSugar — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:30:22 -0800

White high tops with built in speakers and a CD-ROM, could it be true? These old school sexy sporty sneakers featured on Ubergizmo are concept shoes which feature an integrated CD-ROM, speakers, volume control knob and yes, velcro tops! They remind me of something Will Smith would wear on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Can you imagine how excited he would have been to have a portable boombox right at his toes? Quite the creative idea but totally not geek chic in the year 2007. What do you think? Leave your comments below!

Facebook Begins Use of Usernames: Why I'm Worried

GeekSugar — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:44:40 -0700

Hey, good news! Facebook now lets you use usernames in the URL for your Facebook page, rather than the series of crazy numbers to distinguish your personal URL. Why am I a little unenthused? The announcement also says, "We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook username in the future."

So if you don't get to use your first and last name (as Facebook has championed all along) as this new username, we may see a lot of reverting to the use of handles or screennames - something I don't necessarily miss.

Here's the thing: I dumped MySpace for Facebook a couple years ago like I was moving on to a new, uncomplicated boyfriend from a messy relationship with a crazy, complicated guy. I loved Facebook for being what MySpace wasn't: clean and straightforward. Now it feels like they're going back toward that messy complicated world I loathed. And Facebook hasn't exactly been making the masses happy in these last few months.

What do you think of Facebook using usernames?

Found: John Connor's Handy Mobile Computer

GeekSugar — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:46:05 -0700

In the future . . . you must carry an Ultra Mobile PC! Even after "Judgment Day," it's good to see that the Resistance can still get their hands on some hot gadgets to fight the good fight. I saw Terminator: Salvation last week and was happy to see the Sony Vaio UX ($2500) make a cameo just as John Connor rushes to save the world (don't worry, I won't reveal any spoilers!).

Hitting the scene at CES back in 2007, the Vaio UX is not a smartphone - it's a micro computer. It's built with a solid-state drive, Bluetooth, GPS, Wide Area Network 5 (WAN5) technology (to get a wireless signal faster and farther), USB 2.0 ports, and two cameras designed to make video conferencing easy while on the go (or, in this case, on the run).

I was hoping to find a picture of this bad boy in full cinema action, but no dice. I guess you'll just have to go see it in theaters for yourselves!

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.