GeekSugar

Google's New Virtual Reality Site Launches . . . In Real Life

GeekSugar — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:30:04 PDT

Since Second Life is so five years ago, you can either stay with the same 'ole, same 'ole, or jump ship and live out your virtual reality dreams in some new digs brought to you by Google. Lively, the new VR world lets you create avatars, design and customize your "chat" rooms, and invite other users to visit, helping you make new friends to hang out with. . . virtually.

But what's different about Lively than other virtual reality sites like Second Life, is you aren't stuck on one website to roam around in. You can enter Lively from sites like Facebook (which is already up and running), other social networking sites, and blogs. Still in beta, Lively is free, but only available to Windows users running IE and Firefox. Hopefully, the Mac fans will be able to invade your virtual world soon!

The Communal Table: Hunger Hits Home

Susannah Chen — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:06:03 PDT

As much as we love to cook and eat, we can't ignore the stark reality of what's going on around us: each day, millions upon millions of people struggle to secure their next meal. (Ironically, even food writers have been known to live off of food stamps.) To bring more awareness to the cause, Food Network's brought together some of the country's top food outlets for a virtual roundtable to discuss the fight against hunger. Find out how you can help beyond just donating money, and see what the rest of our friends are doing to raise awareness of poverty and food scarcity.

FN Dish: 4 Ways to Take Action Against Childhood Hunger Today
EatingWell: 6 Inspiring People Who Are Fighting Hunger
BlogHer Food: Poor Girl on SNAP: Using EBT at the Farmers Market
Food52: A Day in the Life at Share Our Strength
GMA.com: Fight Hunger With These 5 Charities
Cooking Channel: Join the Great American Bake Sale
Food Republic: Joining Bloggers to Take on Hunger
Eatocracy: Focus on Hunger

Join in on the conversation over at Twitter by checking out #pullupachair.

7 Glasses Straight Out of Science Fiction

Kristy Korcz — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:54:06 PDT

Google unveiled its Project Glass specs last week, which brings your virtual life into the real world (sort of), thanks to augmented reality. If you think these glasses look like they've jumped right out of a futuristic flick, you're not alone. We hunted down a few other sci-fi specs that we might like to wear and a few we hope never come to pass.

Ready, Set, Nurse: Before Putting Baby to Breast, Test Your Breast Care Knowledge

Rebecca M Gruber — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 05:15:46 PDT

In an ideal world, new mamas bring a newborn directly to their breast, they latch on, and feeding/bonding experience begins. Reality isn't quite that simple. Luckily there are products out there to help with virtually every ailment the nipple or breast may encounter. Take this quiz to see how much you know about the products and accessories that are available to breastfeeding mums.

Question 1 of 5

This product is used to protect a sore nipple during feedings or when a lil one is having trouble with its latch. What is it called?

Shock Yourself Into Saving For Retirement by Viewing Your Future Self

Emily Co — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:35:08 PDT

A lot of people figure that since retirement is eons away, they have more than enough time to start saving for it. This might cause them to push it off to yet another day.

Stanford researchers have nipped this procrastination problem in the bud by experimenting with a virtual reality world which assigns an avatar to participants that looks and acts like an older, more aged version of themselves. Findings show that young participants whose avatars were aged said they would save twice the amount of their peers who didn't view elderly versions of themselves.

This might mean more creative ways to incentivize people to save. For example, the Wall Street Journal suggests the possibility of retirement advisers morphing their client's picture in order to encourage them to put more money in their 401k.

If you want to test out this theory on yourself, you can check out the neat little app called AgingBooth (99 cents) on iTunes. As you can see from the picture in this post - I tried it out for myself. I'm not sure what kind of effect it'll have on my attitude towards saving, but I definitely feel an immediate urge to take better care of my skin.

Sucker Punch: Lights, Camera, Exploitation

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 03:05:00 PDT

Sucker Punch is an action-fantasy hybrid that tells the story of a young woman known only as "Baby Doll" (Emily Browning). In an engrossing prologue, we're introduced to Baby Doll's plight; when her mother dies, she and her sister become the targets of their sadistic stepfather. In a tragic twist, Baby Doll is involved in an accident that lands her in a dilapidated mental institution. Unable to accept her new reality, Baby Doll escapes into a fantasy world in which she imagines that she and the other female patients (Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, and Jamie Chung) are beautiful dancers in a burlesque theater.

Even in Baby Doll's parallel world where she and the others are gorgeous seductresses, there's still danger from the evil club owner. Fixated on escaping from the theater, Baby Doll learns from a mysterious mentor that she needs five tools to earn her freedom. The other girls are willing to help, and each time they retrieve one of the tools, they all disappear into a second fantasy world in which they're gun-toting, sword-wielding warriors tasked with defeating a variety of faceless enemies. Does that sound confusing? It is. Though director Zach Snyder tries very hard to make Sucker Punch something of an instant classic for the gamer set, all he creates is a messy illustration of female eye candy atop a half-baked story.

To find out why Sucker Punch left a bad taste in my mouth, just

I'm solidly behind any movie with a roster of strong female characters, which is what Sucker Punch presents itself as. But Snyder's characterization of the women is vapid and weak. Their sexuality is exaggerated from their names (Baby Doll, Sweet Pea, Rocket, Blondie, and Amber) to their revealing costumes, while their personalities are minimized. Besides Baby Doll, we get virtually no backstory or insight into who these women really are (and even our knowledge of Baby Doll is limited). When you factor in the inane dialogue, the female cast goes from generic to downright pathetic.

That's really the problem with the whole movie; there's so much style, it's as if Snyder hopes that all the visual noise will distract you from actually thinking. That's not always a terrible thing, if Sucker Punch could keep up the mindless entertainment that it has in the first act. But it doesn't. The extended battle scenes wear on, and with the complete disconnect to the characters, you don't feel any real sympathy for Baby Doll and her cohorts as they struggle to complete their escape mission.

Sucker Punch lets so much go to waste in its quest to be epic. Jon Hamm's part is hardly more than a glorified cameo, the soundtrack is more exciting than the action, and the empowerment that could be present with five sexy, tough ladies is instead just an exploitation of nubile young women.

BeCouply: A Social Networking App Just For Dating

Annie Scudder — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:00:28 PDT

The Internet can help you find your mate, either on a dating site, through your online social network, or by allowing you to offer a $10,000 award to anyone on the web who will introduce you to your future wife. Once you're paired up though, technology seems to make love more complicated - you must consider the realities of flirtexting (yes, that means flirty texting), navigate the awkward subject of changing your Facebook status, and if you end up changing that status to "married," hope you don't succumb to the fate of 1 in 5 divorced couples who say Facebook played a role in their breakup.

After meeting on OKCupid like many twenty-something couples today, Becky Cruze and MIT-grad Pius Uzamere decided to create a product that would make relationships easier for "couples with epic social lives." So they quit their jobs and started working together full-time on BeCouply, a mobile and web app that will launch in a couple of weeks (you can sign up for an invite). The app is part date idea generator, part online scrapbook. Founder Becky Cruze explained the concept to me:

"You'll have a date idea feed similar to Twitter or the status updates on Facebook with date ideas from other couples in your network. You'll see ideas they're planning or things they've already done. Or, you can enter ideas that you have and see if any of your friends want to join. There will also be suggestions coming in from us at BeCouply, like events going on in your city, concerts, anything related to holidays, or any deals that might be going on."

As for the scrapbook component, it's actually how some of the date ideas get generated. Find out more when you keep reading.

Play This Video Game to Find a Job

Emily Co — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:11:44 PDT

Soon, we'll be resorting to the gaming world to find jobs thanks to Brayden Olson, 23, who started the company Novel, Inc. with the aim of changing the way employers and job seekers find each other.

Novel Inc.'s brainchild, a virtual reality game, is scheduled for release later this year and will have workplace simulations that will test the skills of candidates to see if the gamers suit the company. In fact, his idea has already won over big firms like Nike, Starbucks, and Alaska Airlines - Brayden is working with human resource executives from those companies.

I know the interviewing and filtering through resumes process isn't always perfect, so this simulation might give employers a better sense of who they are hiring. Sometimes, a person can be really skilled at interviewing, that a company can't sense the person is an unsuitable fit for the firm. It'll also work to the job hunter's advantage in that, he may realize ahead of time that the firm is not what he expected it to be and his abilities and background will be better suited elsewhere. What do you think of this idea?

Daily Tech: Virtual Reality Making a Comeback?

GeekSugar — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:27:27 PDT

Could virtual reality make a comeback on the PS3? - Dvice
6 attempts to cash in on Harry Potter madness - Cracked
Star Wars by Picasso - The Mary Sue
Propaganda posters for Captain America - GeekTyrant
Felicia Day talks The Guild, Eureka, and Dragon Age - MTV Geek
Underwater gear for your next outdoor vacation - Unplggd

5 Reasons You Need an Ereader

GeekSugar — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:00:00 PDT

I'm officially a Kindle addict. Although I've enjoyed my Kindle 2 for quite some time now, I couldn't help but get a taste of the latest Kindle, which just so happens to be smaller and lighter than the previous model. It's an amazing little gadget, and one that I keep in my bag at all times thanks to the simple and chic Amazon cases that turn my ereader into a Moleskin look-alike.

But you don't have to get behind a Kindle in order to spring for an ereader - I have pals who own Nooks and Sony Readers, too, who have fallen equally in love. Why do you need to get one right now? I've got five reasons to start you off right here.

You'll read more - In just the first week of carrying around the new, smaller Kindle, I've blown through two whole books, most of which I read during my commute.
Lots of freebies - There are tons of free titles in the Kindle book store, as well as the Barnes & Noble Nook store, for you to browse and download. Buying virtual books has never been cheaper!

See the rest of my reasons to grab an ereader after the break.