It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.

- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling, 2005.

10 Things Your iPod Won’t Tell You: Revealed – A word of warning for those who may be considering buying an iPod in the future.

10 Quick Ways to Print Calendars Online – Why are you still paying for desktop calenders? Customize and print off your own design.

18 Essential Skills for a Maker – AntonOlsen recently posted an article on GeekDad enumerating 100 Essential Skills for Geeks. As he was inspired to do so by a list of “Essential Skills for Men”, so I am inspired to make this list of essential skills for Makers.

Computer Hardware Chart – Here’s a rather thorough chart of computer ports and plugs, both old and new.

Game Crafter – This site is the Cafe Press of board games. Design and market your own card game or board game at no cost to yourself. Then, sit back and wait for the royalties to roll in.

Goofram – Goofram is a search engine that combines the results of Google and Wolfram Alpha on the same screen.

Never lose a lock combination again – Combination locks are great because it means that you don’t have to worry about losing the key, but if you don’t remember the lock combo, you are in trouble. The solution to this problem is to write an encrypted version of the combo directly on the lock itself using a sharpie.

Windows 95 on iPhone – The iSoft team has made both Windows 95 and Windows XP work on an iPhone. Why, I don’t know, but here’s a video as proof.

What does you Handwriting Say About You – How you craft letters and words can indicate more than 5,000 different personality traits, according to the science of graphology, also known as handwriting analysis.

Discussion

Does the Book Industry Want To Get Napstered?
Why Bing Is Gaining On Google

Tech News

China’s Internet Population Hits 338 Million
First Amendment Protects Publication of Twitter Docs
Google to newspapers: Put up or shut up
Music fans cling to CDs, but discover music online
US State Department Rejects Firefox, Due to “Expense Questions”

Seniors take note!

1899
The NEC Corporation (the Nippon Electric Company, Limited) is reorganized as a joint-stock company, becoming the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital, which was provided by Western Electric. Visit the official NEC website.

1955
Arco, Idaho becomes the first town in the world to be run entirely on nuclear power during a one hour test performed by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

1970
Ralph Baer demonstrates the television-based video game system he invented to electronics manufacturer Magnavox. Magnavox’s Bill Enders negotiates an exclusive license to manufacture the system and sub-license Sanders Associates’ related patents.

1975
Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 successfully dock, and crew member of the two shuttles shake hands in space, marking the first orbital docking of the spacecraft of two nations. Read NASA’s history of the Apollo-Soyuz project.

1984
Soyuz T-12 carries three cosmonauts to the Salyut 7 space station.

1989
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Shades of Gray” first airs. (No. 222) In it, Riker is struck by the thorn of a vine which carries a lethal virus. In order to save his life, Pulaski stimulates Rikers neurons, triggering a long series of memories of his service aboard the Enterprise. Memory Alpha entry

1992
Walt Disney Pictures releases the science fiction comedy Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, directed by Randal Kleiser and starring Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Keri Russell, John Shea, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Oliveri, to 2,311 US theaters. The film is the sequel to the 1989 blockbuster Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In it, inventor Wayne Szalinski struggles to put his invention, the shrinking ray, to a new use – enlarging objects. After being fired from his job, his two year-old Adam is accidentally exposed to the experimental beam in Wayne’s laboratory. Soon after, Adam begins to grow in spurts, taller and taller, until he towers over building. It will gross US$11,083,318 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDb profile (MPAA Rating: PG) Running Time: 1 hr 29 mins

1995
The Nasdaq Composite index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time ever.

1998
Two hundred fifty-two websites are hacked by the members of the “txe” hacking group, “toxic, edge & syx”. View an archived version of page left in place of the hacked websites.

2000
The Brazilian website of New Center Informatica S/C Ltda is hacked by “Anti-Zoncked”. The website is hosted on a server running Windows NT. View an archived version of the defaced website.

2002
At the Macworld Expo, Apple Computer introduces a new iMac computer featuring a seventeen-inch flat panel display, a 800MHz PowerPC G4 processor, a 80GB hard drive, 256MB SDRAM, Nvidia GeForce4 MX graphics, a SuperDrive, speakers, 56Kbps modem, and 10/100 Base-T Ethernet. Price: US$1,999

At the Macworld Expo, Apple Computer introduces a 20GB iPod and PC compatible versions of the iPod, which will use MusicMatch rather than iTunes but still require FireWire ports. The company also announces new, reduced prices for its iPods. The price of the 5GB model will be reduced to US$299, the price of the 10GB model will be reduced to US$399, and the price of the 20GB model will be reduced to US$499. The company also announced the the 10GB and 20GB models will now feature touch-sensitive Scroll Wheels rather than the actual moving wheel they previous featured.

Warner Bros. Pictures releases the science fiction comedy Eight Legged Freaks, directed by Ellory Elkayem and starring David Arquette, Kari Wührer, Scarlett Johansson, and Doug E. Doug, to 2,530 US theaters. In it, nuclear waste causes spider to grow a gigantic size, then go on a rampage. Produced on a budget of US$30 million, it will gross US$6,485,458 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDb profileIMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 39 mins

2003
LucasArts releases Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for the Xbox in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)

2004
Two days before Apple’s official release, the first photograph of the forthcoming fourth-generation iPod is posted on the Internet. The photo was leaked by Newsweek magazine.

2005
Apple’s iTunes Music Store sells its five hundred millionth song to Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana. The song is “Mississippi Girl” by Faith Hill.

2007
The final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is leaked to the internet as a bittorrent file despite the extraordinary measures taken by the publisher to keep the book secret until its global release. The files, which are initially released through Demonoid, include an individual, hand-photographed shot of each page in the book. The torrent becomes immensely popular, garnering over a thousand seeders and another thousand leechers within minutes of its release.

The Society for Geek Advancement (SGA) was founded upon the principles that we should all embrace our inner and outer geek and have fun while doing it. As individuals who love learning, innovating and believe in possibility as well as change, the second step of responsibility is to be the geek that keeps on giving. Member of the SGA work together as a global community to help others realize their true potential.

The video features: Alex Albrecht, Julia Allison, Veronica Belmont, LeVar Burton, Jason Calacanis, Pete Cashmore, Jonathan Coulton, Felicia Day, IJustine, David Karpe, Sarah Lacy, Leo Laporte, Samm Levine, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Pereira, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Rose, Julia Roy, Brian Solis, Wil Wheaton, Steve Wozniak, Tay Zonday, Randi Zuckerberg,

Check out the Society’s Twitter Feed.

Platform21 is fantastic site devoted to conservation through home repair. It’s one of the best sites I’ve discovered in months. It hits all of the hot trends in tech: conservation, diy projects, hacking, saving money, and technology. It’s especially worth a stop if you’ve found yourself trying to stretch a buck lately.

In 1850 people didn’t know how their favorite symphony sounded. Back then, it was common for musicians to work hectic schedules and perform multiple shows in a row. Instruments were frequently out of tune and good, consistent timing was fairly new. In addition, going to the symphony was a big deal: you dressed up, you hitched up the horses, you went into town.

You might only hear your favorite symphony 5 or 6 times in your life. Each time it was probably slightly in a different key, with a slightly different tempo, played with slightly different instruments, and each time you actively strained to hear and remember how it all sounded.

You would sit very attentively, absorbing each and every note and drumbeat of the symphony. It was a play, a painting, an imaginary world come to life, and you were living in it. It was magic.

Source: What to Fix

1890
Thomas Alva Edison is issued a patent for the Quadruplex Telegraph. (US No. 420,594) This new telegraph is designed to transmit and receive four independent signals over a single wire, two in one direction and two in the opposite direction. The separate transmitting keys transmit a signal with either a high or low current strength which is then received with sounders that respond only the high or the low strength signal. Read more about the Quadruplex Telegraph at the Edison Papers website.

1902
Thomas Alva Edison is issued a patent for a Reversible Galvanic Battery, a battery with a revolutionarily large capacity for its weight. (US No. 692,507) It makes use of Cadmium as the oxidizable element, an oxide of Cobalt or Nickel as its depolarizer, and flakes of a conducting substance, such as Graphite.

1936
Radium E, the first synthetic radioactive substance, is first produced in the US by Dr. John Jacob Livingood at the University of California at Berkeley by bombarding the element Bismuth with neutrons.

1957
The first electric portable typewriter, the Model 5TE, is introduced by Smith-Corona, in Syracuse, New York. Read more about the history of the portable typewriter at Will Davis’s website.

1971
NASA astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell land on Moon aboard the Apollo 14 Lunar Module Antares.

1983
According to Twin Galaxies, Sean Middleton scores a record-setting 516,130 points playing Atari’s Liberator at the Space Station arcade in Anchorage, Alaska. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1989
The final game for the Sega Master System 8-bit video game console, Bomber Raid, is released.

1991
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Devil’s Due” first airs. (No. 187) In it, an entity claiming to be a mythic figure from the past claims to have returned to collect payment on an ancient contract, but Picard is doubtful as to the figure’s authenticity. Memory Alpha entry

1994
Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt sends an email to US President Bill Clinton, marking the first email exchange between two heads of state.

1997
Apple Computer acquires NeXT for US$427 million in order to use the company’s OpenStep operating system as the basis for Mac OS X. Visit an archived version of the NeXT website.

Apple Computer CEO Gilbert Amelio announces plans to restructure the company in order to focus on the Macintosh. Co-founder, Steve Wozniak, returns for the first time since 1985 to serve on the executive committee with Steve Jobs as an adviser to Amelio. Visit the official website of Apple Computer.

Bill Gates makes a public statement that, “I am very interested in continuing to work with Apple as we have done through history. But I am confused by the Apple operating system strategy… and have decided not to worry about the future (in this respect).”

Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and Texas Instruments (TI) announce an agreement to jointly develop a gigabyte Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chip.

1998
Bill Gates is struck in the face by a cream pie thrown by Noel Godin during a visit to Belgian government officials in Brussels. Watch a video of the incident at Bitstorm.

International Business Machines (IBM) researchers announce the first successful demonstration of the world’s first CMOS microprocessor capable of operating at one billion cycles per second (1GHz). Visit the official IBM website

The website of the D.D.D. is hacked by “th3 h4m1sh n1nj4s”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The website of the Mexican Finance Ministry is hacked by “LoTek, LeadRain & DES” (High Tech Teens). Visit an archived version of the defaced website.

1999
The Connectix Corporation announces that the San Francisco Federal District Court has rejected Sony’s request for a temporary injunction preventing the shipment of the Virtual Game Station, a PlayStation emulator for the Apple Macintosh. Visit an archived version of the Virtual Game Station website.

Hitachi announces that it will discontinue its personal computer manufacturer in the United States, merging its operations into Hitachi Data Systems. Visit the official Hitatchi website.

2000
EarthLink merges with MindSpring to become the second largest internet service provider (ISP) in the US, after America Online (AOL). Visit the official EarthLink website.

Electronic Arts (EA) announces releases the simulation game The Sims for personal computers in Brazil and the US. The game, somewhat reminiscent of David Crane’s Little Computer People for the Commodore 64, casts players in the role of God over a virtual community as they live out their lives. It lacks the objectives for most game. Price: US$49.99

2001
Per Lidén and CRUX Linux community release version 0.5.2 of the CRUX Linux operating system. The Crux distribution is targeted at advanced Linux users. Visit the official Crux website.

2002
Jason Diekman, known by the handles “Dark Lord” or “Shadow Knight”, is sentenced to twenty-one months in federal prison, an additional three years of supervised release, restriction on his access to computers, and fines of over US$87,000 in restitution for intercepting of user names and passwords from a number universities, including Harvard, and admittedly hacking to “hundreds, maybe thousands” of computers, including systems at California State University at Fullerton, Cornell University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of California campuses in Los Angeles and San Diego.

2003
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the 2133MHz Athlon MP 2600+ processor, featuring a 256KB Level-2 Cache and a 266MHz Front Side Bus.

2004
Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg founds the social networking site Facebook under the domain “thefacebook.com”. Membership was originally intended for Harvard students. Within a month, over half of the college’s undergraduates had registered with the website. In March, the service was expanded to include Columbia, Stanford, and Yale students as well.

The Star Trek: Enterprise first airs. (No. 314) In it, Archer uses a daring gambit to try to trick the scientist behind the Xindi superweapon into revealing the weapon’s location. Memory Alpha entry

The upgrade of Abiline, the Internet2 backbone, from 2.5Gbps to 10Gbps is completed.

2005
The Star Trek: Enterprise first airs. (No. 413) In it, Archer struggles to united the races before raiders destabilize the region. Memory Alpha entry