posted by Chris on July 16, 2008 10:35 AM in Geek Culture
Being able to read my RSS feed subscriptions on my phone is an amazingly geeky experience. It's one of the aspects of the iPhone that make you just sit back and revel in the glow of the future. But as much as I love Google's various services and Apple's glorious Jesus Phone, I can't help but feel frustrated with not being able to perform really basic tasks. Beyond not being able to copy and paste text, Google Reader acts a bit funky on this mobile device. While it's been fantastic to be able to read my RSS items during my commute (making me less enticed to get that unread count down while I'm at work) I'm a multitasker and the iPhone doesn't seem to like that.
For example, clicking a link in Google Reader on the iPhone opens said link in a new page, which you can scroll over to. Handy, right? Well what if the link is in the middle of an article you'd like to eventually go back to and finish reading? When you close the page you just opened and go back to Reader, sometimes it automatically refreshes the page, marking the item as read and making it disappear. This also seems to happen whenever I want to bump out to the home screen to turn on some music, or to answer a text message. Every time I go back to Reader there's a chance it will reload the page.
In addition, this morning I was having issues with Reader bumping me back to home while I'm in the middle of reading an article. I didn't even touch anything! Real frustrating. Good thing I'm Apple's bitch and will keep using the thing anyway. Curse you and your addictive devices, Jobs!
Anyone else having issues with Reader on the iPhone?
Read More:
Google
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Google Reader
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iPhone
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posted by Chris on June 16, 2008 6:28 PM in Podcast
This week, resident geeks Chris, Jinny, Qais and Ross manage to go a full thirty minutes without saying the word "ass monster", proving that geeks really are the bastions of intelligence and maturity they claim to be. Of course this is in reference to the Spore Creature Creator being released this week, allowing anyone to create any malformed genital-monster their heart desires. The geeks talk about M. Night Shyamalan's new movie The Happening and how it's might be intelligent design propaganda, the new Ghostbusters video game and how it might not suck, how Google might be making us stupid, why the $100 laptop project might just be stupid (according to some people), hard-hitting food issues such as a discussion as to why Ted Allen's new food show is going to be awesome and a dip into the mailbag. That's right, YOUR barely legible letters read on air! Show notes after the jumpitty jump.
Remember, kids! This podcast is not really work safe! Only listen with headphones or around questionable company!
download here!
continue reading "Podcast for 06.16.08 | Questionable Maturity"
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Ghostbusters
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Google
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Intelligent Design
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podcast
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puzzles
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Spore
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Top Chef
comments (9) | permalink
posted by Chris on January 24, 2008 4:21 PM in Rant
See this gray box, Google? Do you see it? Because I see it constantly. If you can't see it you could always click to zoom and then experience my pain. I imagine it's some sort of display glitch caused by embedded flash videos or something but I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. It appears ALL THE TIME and blocks headlines and content in my RSS reader. Please fix or my mind is going to go explodey.
Sincerely,
The non-exploded version of Chris.
Read More:
Google
,
hate
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RSS
comments (8) | permalink
posted by Chris on September 17, 2007 8:21 AM in Geek Culture
Sci-Fi author and BoingBoing-er Cory Doctorow has written an excellent short story for The Radar entitled "Scroogled" - a fictional account of the day Google turned evil and started pairing up with the DHS. It's an excellent read and is even licensed under Creative Commons, allowing you to freely distribute and remix. From the story:
"Evening," Greg said, handing the man his sweaty passport. The officer grunted and swiped it, then stared at his screen, tapping. A lot. He had a little bit of dried food at the corner of his mouth and his tongue crept out and licked at it.
"Want to tell me about June 1998?"
Greg looked up from his Departures. "I'm sorry?"
"You posted a message to alt.burningman on June 17, 1998, about your plan to attend a festival. You asked, 'Are shrooms really such a bad idea?'"
It's creepy and informative and while a bit alarmist (it is fiction after all) some of it makes a bit of sense doesn't it?
Read the whole story here. What do you guys think of the story, and more importantly, what do you think about Google's rise in power?
Sidenote: the Department of Homeland Security offices are about a block away from my house! Hooray!
Read More:
Boing Boing
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Cory Doctorow
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Google
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posted by Chris on March 4, 2007 7:26 PM in Podcast
Going a bit off the beaten path this week, The Geek and Frodo discuss other facets of the geek sphere, including how to make the perfect grilled cheese, the majesty that is Google's cafeteria, secret fast food menu items, consolidating those pesky club cards and pizza vending machines. Ok, so we talk about video games, too.
Download now
continue reading "Podcast for 03-05-2007 | Eat Food Every Day"
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Best Buy
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fast food
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food
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Google
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grilled cheese
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Kotaku
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pizza
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podcast
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Star Trek
comments (3) | permalink
posted by Chris on May 22, 2006 6:00 PM in Podcast
This week Frodo and The Geek get back into the swing of things and discuss New Super Mario Bros and other non-video game related items. That's right, for the first time in MONTHS the geeks talk about Sci-Fi and nerdy things again. Phew! Have some delicious show notes.
--frodo
Read More:
Google
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iTunes
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Mario
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MTV
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New Super Mario Brothers
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podcast
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Sci Fi
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Skype
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Sony
,
Stargate SG-1
,
Wii
,
World of Warcraft
comments (9) | permalink
posted by Chris on March 19, 2006 7:53 PM in Podcast
We're back from break and geekier than ever! This week, Frodo, The Geek, White Mage and Nevery discuss new movies good and bad (and intentionally bad), new Microsoft hardware blunders, Sony being idiots again, Rare marketing to children who like bright colors, Super Princess Peach and this week's new game releases. CHECK IT THE HECK OUT.
--Frodo (
frodo@weeklygeekshow.com)
Read More:
Google
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Japan
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Microsoft
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PLAYSTATION 3
,
podcast
,
Snakes on a Plane
,
Sony
,
Star Trek
,
Super Princess Peach
,
Viva Pinata
comments (1) | permalink
Being able to read my RSS feed subscriptions on my phone is an amazingly geeky experience. It's one of the aspects of the iPhone that make you just sit back and revel in the glow of the future. But as much as I love Google's various services and Apple's glorious Jesus Phone, I can't help but feel frustrated with not being able to perform really basic tasks. Beyond not being able to copy and paste text, Google Reader acts a bit funky on this mobile device. While it's been fantastic to be able to read my RSS items during my commute (making me less enticed to get that unread count down while I'm at work) I'm a multitasker and the iPhone doesn't seem to like that. 
