Tesla: Wireless Charging Electric Bus

Utah State University harnesses wireless charging to power electric bus. The bus charged over a 10 inch gap (cool!) at 90% efficiency of five kilowatts.  This means electric cars will be able to charge wireless.  As the article states:

 "Wireless power transfer technology delivers a multitude of benefits to consumers that include greater reliability due to no moving parts or cords, added convenience through the elimination of plug-in charging, the assurance of safety by removing the risk of electrocution and aesthetically pleasing devices as a result of no visible wiring."


There are so many possibilities with the different applications of this technology that my mind is flustered and bloated with ideas.  Check out the artifcle below.
Article: http://www.secretsofthefed.com/free-energy-university-uses-tesla-technology-to-wirelessly-charge-electric-bus/

Bram Stokers' 165th Birthday!

  If you haven't noticed Googles Dracula and characters logo today (and probably only today) then FYI its ol' Bram Stokers 165th birthday.  Not only is the book good but the movie was extremely well done especially for the time (1992) when computer effects where just not up to snuff.  Real makeup and costumes very well done.  I always had a fasination with vampire lore well before the vampire craze and "goth" kids and wannabes.  I never dressed up (except as a child on halloween) as a vampire to go into the public in my teens or anything. Sillyness I tells ya!  Any way here are some related links to learn more about the history of Bram Stoker and his masterpieces. Educate yourself!

Google: http://www.google.com/#q=Bram+Stoker+books&oi=ddle&ct=bram-stoker-2012-hp&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=946618dc30a8941&bpcl=37643589&biw=1007&bih=607

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker%27s_Dracula

IMBD: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103874/

Buy the movie: http://www.amazon.com/Bram-Stokers-Dracula-Gary-Oldman/dp/0800177177

Wiki Vlad The Imapaler (the real Dracula): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler

New tech goodies on the way!

 I recently had a new gaming laptop by MSI crap out on me so they are shipping me a replacement.  In short it has a 3rd generation i7, 4GB Nvidia GTX 675, 12 GB DDR3 RAM, 1.5 TB Harddrive (750GB x2 Raid-0), blu-ray burner/player, hdmi/vga out, dynaudio sound with small subwoofer built in, illuminated keyboard and blah blah blah you know, its the works.  I will be happy to get it back and setup so I can use my main Steam account. I also ordered a super far ranged wifi adapter for my old computer upstairs (I am using it now to type this) so I can have a more reliable connection, a USB 3.0 hot-swappable hub, logitech gaming mouse and that's about it. Mmmm I love tech goodies.

Nintendo 3DS XL available in America

The Nintendo 3DS XL is now available in North America!
Its like the Cadillac of portable Nintendo's ;)
Article: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/19/psa-nintendo-3ds-xl-now-available/

Streaming video game company goes bottoms up!

The service "OnLive" has hit rock bottom but tries its best to restructure after accepting a deal from a unnamed buyer with some monetary backing.  Phew thank God above that I use Steam!

Article:http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/18/technology/onlive/index.html

Gamescon 2012 Photos

GamesCon in Koln Germany is a gaming event of all sorts.  Although I was not able to attend I have find some photos of their 2012 event over at good ol' guru3d.com. So check em out.  AHHHHH A GIANT LEGO ORC!

GamesCon Photos: http://nl.guru3d.com/gallery/Tradeshows/2012/index.html

Dark Web

There is a "Dark Web" within the internet on private networks that are usually through encrypted connections that supply the dirtiest of porn, illegal gun and weapons sales, stolen merchandise and you can even hire a hitman to kill somebody! It exist as sad as that is. These networks that may or may not be on what we call the internet but rather a private network using encryption methods to pass files and chat to one another. This may sound over-hyped but it almost certainly exist in my opinion with all the sick cretins out there. I can understand reasonable gun trading/buying that is within a law that the people themselves voted on but selling extreme weapons that are beyond just guns can be a problem. Networks that are hidden from most people on the internet could deal in everything from sick child pornography and other forms of harmful extreme porn, to hitmen killing people for money. I know it sounds paranoid but networks like this exist. I haven't seen a case of someone doing these things but from what I understand the networks that are private and encrypted do exist and I have heard of trading of various things. Here are three articles related to what I have summed up in this post:
Dark Web
Article 1: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=110040
Article 2: http://www.infowars.com/new-regulation-frontier-the-dark-web/
Article 3: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-new-underbelly-20120531-1zktt.html

Diablo III - Coming 5/15/12!

  I plan on buying two copies of Diablo 3 for co-op LAN/online play with my buddies having a beer or two. Looks like a decent game and has been long anticipated by many.  I am more of a first person shooter kinda guy with some real-time strategy games such as the command and conquer series. I like the witch doctor and demon hunter class.  They look interesting with their unique powers.  I think it will be true to its roots as the game play shows.

  I played both Crysis 1 and 2 and beat them on the PC and both amazed me with nice graphics and it was very entertaining and fun.  Everything in the game graphic wise was great and so was the gameplay.  Sure it may be your standard fare FPS but the Crysis series sure has a lot eye candy.  The first Crysis was better in my opinion. I look forward to playing the latest installment when it is released, MP1st.com said "ShopTo, a UK based retailer, lists Crysis 3 to release February 15th, 2013. Last year’s Crysis 2 released March 22nd in NA and March 24th in the UK so the date isn’t too far off.". Can't wait!

Source: http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/crysis-3-preview/
Source: http://mp1st.com/2012/04/23/crysis-3-release-date-leaked-by-uk-retailer/

SandForce SSD (Solid State Drive) harddrives coming soon

  I have a SSD (Solid State Drive) in my Alienware gaming laptop and it loads way faster than the old school hard drives.  SSD's have no moving parts so no spin up time for any platters.  Instead of platters and a read/write magnetic heads, SSD's have memory chips.  Great to see more and more companies make them and hopefully that will also have an impact on lowering the price for consumers as it slowly becomes a standard.

  Excerpt from site: "The other advantage SuperSSpeed’s new product range brings is the significantly faster write speeds, along with the faster access time. Benchmarks show a 91% score improvement in the popular AS SSD benchmark, when comparing the speed of a normal Kingston HyperX 120 GB SSD drive using MLC memory to the 120 GB SSD from SuperSSpeed that uses SLC NAND flash. The write speed is greatly increased from a normal 162 MB/s to a super-fast 475 MB/s. This is a 293% improvement."

Source: http://guru3d.com/news/slc-sandforce-ssds-coming-to-the-market/

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Well Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City for the PS3 has been released and I missed the midnight release and it is too late to go to the local Gamestop and pick it up. So I am waiting patiently until they open today (in about 9.5 hours).

I am hoping this game lives up to the great story of 2 and 3 which are my favorites. I am also hoping my broke ass friends (I am a broke ass now adays as well) will get a copy and play some co-op through the story. I am still a bit confused on the whole gameplay details will pan out such as the three groups -military, umbrella, and the bio weapons(zombies ect) and how it will all come together as a story which should be very interesting.

New iPad running a bit warm?

There has been several reports about the 3rd generation iPad getting warm or even hot. Mostly while doing processor intensive tasks such as gaming. In my opinion I believe this is to be expected since more intensive use of the graphics and cpu units create more heat on just about any device. Even my iPod Touch (3rd generation) get warm (not hot) while playing games such as Battlefield Bad Company 2 (great game by the way) or watching long movies. So people shouldn't "freak-out" over the new iPad getting warm. Just don't go out in the summer time outside in 100 degree heat in direct sun trying to play on your iPad. Common sense people. Check out these articles below.
Articles:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57401047-37/ipad-heat-tests-round-one-warmer-but-not-yet-a-problem/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-ipad-consumer-reports-says-tablet-runs-hot/2012/03/20/gIQAvpKzPS_story.html?tid=pm_pop

http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2012/03/our-test-finds-new-ipad-hits-116-degrees-while-running-games.html

Google Glasses

These geeky but amazing 720P (so far) display on glasses is a big step forward.

"The front-facing camera will track hand and arm gestures and translate them into controls of the Android-based software environment."

Article: http://www.slashgear.com/google-glasses-wow-geeks-23214944/

Power outtage due to snow storm.

Well here in Virginia we had some snow (up to 6 inches or more in some spots) it is melting fast but last night around 10:00pm my power abruptly went out shutting my server down (hard shutdowns make me freak out). So the main website is down but this blog is hosted on blogger.com so this will be up. I am hogging my parents internet and updating via netbook. I won't have power till at the earliest Wed. 22. Oh well gotta ruff it. Will be fully operational as soon as possible!

New Windows 8 Logo

A short article on the new Microsoft Windows 8 logo. Check it out.


Article: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/17/new-windows-logo-shows-microsoft-is-going-all-in-with-windows-8/

Frightfest in Scotland and more dead news

Frightfest is taking place in Scotland as part of the Glasgow Film Festival programme. I love zombie movies, especially the typical apocalyptic zombie movies. I am a classics guy my favorite is "Day of The Dead-1985" which stars Joe Pilato as the order shouting to the point of making me laugh, not that its not a serious movie, his lines still make me chuckle and they mention him in the linked article below. I also like Dawn of the Dead (new and old) and similar others. I never get tired of zombie movies. Check out the article for more info below.

Article: http://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/features/301096-gff_2012_horror

Guru3D.com VGA Charts

I found an interesting article about VGA charts which talk about graphics performance with certain graphics cards on a selection of games. If you are interested in PC graphic performance numbers and charts like me and want to get "geeky" with it then check the reviews out by following the link below.

Article: http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_charts/

Twisted Metal PS3

Well I guess tonight is video game news night, might as well keep it rolling. Twisted Metal is one of my all time favorites that I have enjoyed since the PS1. The latest installment for the PS3 features over a dozen new and old characters, 2-4 player split screen and up to 16 online. Also if you pre-order with gamestop you get 30 days early access to Axel (Twisted Metal 2- man with wheels on the end of his arms and a shockwave special attack) and yes I used to play the hell out of the Twisted Metal series, this better be as good or better than Twisted Metal 2. I already got my pre-order in.


Links:
Official Website: http://twistedmetal.com/
Gamestop: http://www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/twisted-metal/78157
IGN Article: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1214802p1.html

The Darkness II

I have the original "The Darkness" for the PS3. But I just now noticed (I am a bit late to the game) that "The Darkness 2" has been released for the Xbox 360, PS3, and the PC. I have already put the game on my steam wish list. When I have the spare bucks I will buy it. First I will play through "The Darkness", the first one for the PS3 then I will buy the second one for the PC on Steam.

Links:
Official Site: http://www.embracethedarkness.com
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/67370/

Gotham City Imposters (PC, PS3, XBOX 360)

I recently bought and started to play the new "Gotham City Imposters". A team based first person where you play as either batman wannabes or joker wannabes in this fun game. I only played a little bit because I only got 2.5 hours of sleep last night. But from what I played the game had cool weapons and items such as the glider pack where you can jump and glide around then pounce downward from the air inflicting damage. Boomerangs, slingshot bombs, grappling hooks and other nifty devices. I played a quick game online as "The Bats" in team deathmatch and it was a typical first person shooters but with some real fun abilities. I purchased my copy on Steam (link below) for $14.99. Their is already downloadable content (DLC) for the game which already includes a total of 9 items for the game currently totaling $33.91. Yes the DLC total is more than twice the price of the game. But the game is cheap for a brand new game. Gotham City Imposters is available on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Links:
Official Site: http://www.gothamcityimpostors.com
Steam (PC): http://store.steampowered.com/app/21170/?snr=1_7_suggest__13