For most of the country it’s pretty cold and gray this time of year and we could all use a little something to cheer us up, a holiday tune should do the trick. We don’t want just any holiday tune though, we want something geeky right? So how about this hilarious “Let it Snow” mash-up video featuring some of our favorite Star Trek characters.
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Spellslingers an Awesome Magic The Gathering Showdown
Magic: The Gathering is my all time favorite trading card game, and I have watched many tournaments and other various shows related to MTG over the years, but Spellslingers is quickly becoming a my top watch.
Spellslingers is a highly entertaining show featuring Sean Plott from Day9TV doing battle with other popular geeks and gamers like, Jessie Cox, Rob Simpson and Felicia Day. The gameplay is fun to watch whether your a veteran player or if your new to the game, you might even pick up a few tecniques and a better understanding of how to play. Although the game itself is the centerpiece of this show, the banter and comedy that ensues as Sean goes head-to-head with fellow geeks is hilarious.
Spellslingers, which shows new episodes on Wednesdays, is part of the YouTube channel Geek and Sundry that features many other highly entertaining shows for geeks including the very popular web series The Guild.
Draw Circuits With a Pen
Creating basic circuits by hand is the best way to learn about how electronics work and using a breadboard has traditionally been the best way to do this, at least until now. Circuit Scribe is a kickstarter project that features a cool new ball point pen that uses a conductive silver ink which is perfect for drawing simple circuits. Utilizing just a Circuit Scribe pen, piece of paper, and a few electronic components like a LED light or a small motor, you can create just about any small project that you can imagine. This catchy idea has already pulled in $260,000, which is far beyond the set goal of $85,000.
This pen would make a great tool for children to use in the classroom to learn about simple circuits and there’s even a Classroom kit that includes 10 basic kits and a activity book. You can also buy just one basic kit for yourself to see what you can come up with. You can also get two larger kits, the Maker Kit and Developer Kit.
Each kit includes the Circuit Scribe pen which can be purchased separately for $20.
Here’s what’s in the Basic Kit (Cost $30):
- 2 LED Boards each with two (2) LED lights attached
- 2 Coin Batteries
- 9V Battery Connector
- 2 PIN which you can add Resistors, Capacitors, and Switches to
- Slide Switch
- Jumper Stickers
- BJT NPN Transistor
Maker Kit ( Cost $50):
- Includes Basic Components
- Maker Notebook
- RGB LED
- Photo Sensor
- Sound Buzzer
- Potentiometer
- 8 PIN ( NAND Logic Gate, 555 Timer, OP AMP)
- Stencil
- 9V Battery
Developer Kit ( Cost $100):
- 2 Basic Component Kits
- Maker Notebook
- 2 Sets of Maker Components and Developer Components
- 10 Magnetic Connection Cords
- USB Micro B Power Adapter
- Motor
- 2 DPDT Switches
- 10 DIY Solder Boards
Parents Angry Over the SNES in Old News Video
This video is from a news broadcast in 1991 that shows parents getting upset over the release of the Super Nintendo. Many parents at that time thought that Nintendo was trying to brainwash their children by making them think they couldn’t live without the far superior SNES, while many parents believed the upgrade to be trivial. The content seems laughable now, especially since rate of obsolesce has increased tenfold in many other devices.
Ever since video games became popular they have been under criticism for everything, including the content that they contain, the amount of time people spend playing them and how much money we dish out for them. In the 80’s and 90’s when Nintendo and Sega dominated the video game market and created a console boom, there was real concern among some parents that video games would have a large negative impact on the lives of their children and that they would fall prey to corporate schemes. Obviously, video games are just good fun and most of us from that generation have likely turned out to be just fine, of course that’s all a matter of opinion I suppose.
YouTube Could Offer Paid Subscription Service
Billboard has reported that YouTube may be offering a paid subscription service later this year that focuses on music, more specifically, music videos. The service will likely have both premium and free content that will be available on any device.
The challenge for Google is that many users already enjoy their favorite music for free at anytime on YouTube, so how could they design a service you would want to pay a fee for? It’s likely that some features may include the removal of ads, access to full albums, and exclusive “premium only” content. In many ways this service will be similar to what Spotify currently offers and with the massive audience that YouTube has, this could be a very sucessful move for them.
As of this posting there is no official confirmation from YouTube on whether or not such a service will launch or if it does, when, although some have speculated a holiday launch later this year.