Conan O'Brien, every geek's favorite late night show host, has managed to both explain the concept of Leap Day, that special event every four years we call Feb. 29th, and to completely make fun of the concept of Leap Day.  All at the same time!  That's what an Ivy League degree gets you, I guess.  It's slightly blue, but no worse than an average episode of The Simpsons.

Enjoy!

I have a friend of mine who has an iPod, and she’s always on my case about finding speakers for her little MP3 player.  “Come on, Ron, you’re a technology blogger!  You know this stuff, what speakers should I get?”  Well, I’ve explained patiently that I don’t know beans about iPods except how they work, and that any accessories advice I would be able to give her is based solely on hearsay, guesstimation, and some other made-up words I use to sound like my lexicon is voluminous. 

So I can’t say that the Zumreed iPod Bathtub Speaker is better than a Bose.  As a matter of fact, I’m sure it’s completely blown away by Bose or any other mainstream iPod dock system.  However, one thing I’m sure of is if you’re in the tub and you drop your iPod and speaker contraption into the water beside you, you’ll end up with a heaping bowl of human soup from the inevitable shock.  It’s not worth listening to Rush in the bathroom if you have to run the risk of frying yourself or worse, your very expensive iPod.

(Insider tip:  Add whole milk for a delicious cream of human soup!  It’s the perfect pick-me-up for a cold winter’s afternoon.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese and cracked black pepper on top and serve with a side of oyster crackers for maximum deliciousness!)

H/T:  Popgadget

Normally I post every day, Monday through Friday.  Generally, I don’t post until after dinner and a nap, which means I’m generally posting fairly last in the Eastern time zone.  Unfortunately, last night, my Internet access was down, which means no post, but it gave me an idea for something to post here complaining about my internet access. 

I have cable internet.  For whatever reason, every so often (sometimes hours, sometimes days), our internet will randomly stop working.  I don’t know if this is the case normally everywhere people have cable internet, or just here, but it’s so commonplace that the cable system runs commercials telling people what to do to correct their connection:  power down (modem, router, computers, etc) and power up again.  That (usually) corrects the problem.  Obviously not last night.  By the time it started working, it was already to late to post anything coherent, so I just gave up.

So my question to you, dear reader, is this:  do you have high speed internet service?  If so, do you have to turn off all your stuff at least 4 times a week to restore internet service to your home?  Does it annoy you as much as it annoys me?  Is this just MY cable company’s internet service? 

If this is everyone, WHY is it necessary?  What’s the fundamental flaw in cable internet that requires me to crawl under my desk and unplug stuff?  Someone explain this to me, because my local nameless cable company provides no good insight.

Image:  Concrete Badger

So, have you guys seen the new Knight Rider show they're bringing back?  I hate to say that I have not, but I do like the new KITT car, so whenever I can stop sleeping through the replays of the pilot movie, or when I can find it over on NBC's website, I'll definitely be checking it out.  I actually have a talking KITT toy car from back in the day, and somewhere in my house is a Hoff figure just made to fit in the driver's seat.  It's awesome.

In honor of the awesomeness of talking cars that fight evil, allow me to share with you an awesome-looking Knight Rider case mod I found over on Engadget.  I just wish the sample music they had KITT play was the Knight Rider theme, or that Punjabi rap song with the Knight Rider theme as the hook.  Beggars can't be choosers, I guess!

Pretty awesome, huh?

One year ago today, the Shakadoo family of websites was launched.  And what a year it has been!  In the ever-changing world of the Internet, keeping any venture around for a year is impressive, much less a venture as large and vibrant as the Shak Media family of blogs. 

I've been here at Shaktronics since August, and I'm glad to have been able to join up with such a great crew of talented bloggers.  Here's looking forward to another year of Shak goodness from the guys and gals at Shakadoo, Love Shak Baby, Work Shak, ShakYard, Animal Shak, Loan Shak, Shak & Jill, Shakhammer, and, of course, right here at Shaktronics.  Cheers, all, and keep up the good work!

Image:  Worst Birthday Cake...ever!

Tomorrow, for Wii addicts like myself, Amazon.com has a great deal lying in wait.  Thanks to their special sales section, the Gold Box, there's going to be five Wii games on serious sale, so make sure you check your computers on schedule to ensure you don't miss out on any good bargains!  If you're unfamiliar with the Gold Box, I'll give you a run down.

Starting at midnight Pacific time, a deal goes on the Gold Box.  It stays there until it's bought up or expires.  Every four hours after that, another deal goes up on the Gold Box.  You've got four hours to buy whatever's on sale if you want it.  After that, the deal is no more. 

I don't know what the deal is going to be, but the thought of cheap Wii games is enough to make me click refresh on my browser so I don't miss something great. 

This is almost too fun for words.  It's a dish-scrubbing brush with a little circular hole in the middle.  As we all know, a circular opening with soap and water always means bubbles, so if you get a little bored while working over that chili pot, feel free to entertain yourself with all the soapy fun that bubbles have to offer.  It's cute, right?

The official link over at WishingFish suggests this might be a fun way to get the kids to help do dishes, but I probably wouldn't let little kids help with the dishes too much, considering there are usually glass breakables and sharp knifes in my pile of stuff to clean.  However, I'd imagine that if you used this scrubbing brush on your hubcaps while washing the car or had it around the bathtub, then this is more than fine for kids to play with. 

Here's a little bit of incredible cuteness from 4 Color Rebellion, one of my favorite video game blogs.  That's because, with stories like this, who wouldn't make it a stop on the feed reader every day?  You'd best go click it, because it's too cute for words.  Here's a little set-up, from poster Vinnk's experiences as an English teacher in Japan:

As with a lot of lessons I do with first graders, I have to make it as interesting as possible or I can’t hold their attention for more than about 7 seconds.  Kids this age love video games.  Especially Mario games, so when teaching the word “brother” I decided to use a word they already know from the game "Super Mario Brothers".  However as it turned out, the one who got the lesson was me.

Did I mention that this post was too funny and cute for words yet?  The last paragraph had me in tears from laughing. 

It’s movie night, so you get your friends or family together, break out your Spilsbury 4-in-1hot dog maker and prepare a feast for everyone close to you.  You can boil up a ton of hot dogs, pop some popcorn, warm buns on the bun warming spikes, and of course, boil some eggs.  Wait… boil some eggs?

I know that you’ve probably got a very versatile product that can steam or boil whatever you might want to be steamed or boiled, but is there really that much demand out there for boiled eggs and popcorn?  Do other people just eat a lot more eggs than I do?  Is that designed for a particular egg-loving audience in mind? 

Can someone explain this to me?  Do you love eggs so much you want something that can boil several eggs at once quicker than a normal pot and water set-up?  Are eggs the biggest selling point here and I just missed it?

H/T:  PopGadget

There are lots of MMOs in development for the younger generation of gamers.  Webkins, Teen Second Life, the upcoming Disney virtual world, and of course, Hello Kitty Online.  That’s right, everyone’s favorite mouthless kitten is getting her very own MMO, to the delight of sugar addicts everywhere.  But while achingly cute, don’t think Hello Kitty’s MMO is going to be kids stuff.

Oh no, this is going to be an actual MMO, albeit a free to play one that’s very colorful and shiny.  Check out the details provided by Destructoid:

This adorable MMO features characters from the Sanrio universe, including Badtz-Maru, My Melody, Keroppi, and many more, all running about a Sanrio fantasy world. Travel around Tokyo, Paris, Moscow, or even Flower Kingdom; build a house; and even craft tools and... weapons? Yes, Hello Kitty Online features MMO staples like monsters, combat, and experience points.

On top of that, there's customizable avatars, guilds, skill systems, and even a player economy. When launched, HKO can be downloaded and played online for free.

I’m sure kids everywhere will be overjoyed at this news, but not as overjoyed as Hello Kitty lover and Love Shak Baby blogger Ivy!

So, you've got your apartment cleaned up, the trash is taken out, dinner's waiting on the table, and you've hidden your collection of comic books and horror movies in an attempt to woo a member of the opposite sex into being your Valentine.  You've dotted every i and crossed every t, but something's missing.  Despite the candles on the table and the bottle of wine chilling in the fridge, you need that extra touch to get you over that last romantic hurdle?

Well, ThinkGeek has your answer, with the USB Aromatherapy Oil Burner.  Slide that into your computer, put a drop of scented oil in the proper location, and luxuriate as your all-night sessions of World of Warcraft become significantly better-smelling.  Nothing covers the smell of unwashed nerd body, moldy Taco Bell wrappers, and 300 empty Mountain Dew cans quite like roses. 

With all the fun that one can have with e-cards, and the hundreds of Valentines I'm sure we all recieve from various friends, loved ones, and stalkers, you have to really be careful about what you open on your computer.  What looks like an innocent animated greeting card of, let's say, kittens snuggling, can actually be a virus designed to zombify your computer, wipe out your life savings, and report you to the RIAA for having MP3 files.  Nobody wants that, especially not me.

So, tomorrow, when your e-cards come fluttering in from your legions of admirers, practice the same precaution with them as you would practice on a blind date.  Click warily, make sure the link goes to a legitimate source before you open it, don't run any EXEs, and make sure you've got a firewall and anti-virus software running.  There've been a lot of new viruses going around, so make sure you've got protection for your computer.   

Valentine's Day is in T-minus 2 days, so if you haven't gotten that love note in the mail yet, it might not get there in time.  That's why the Internet is so handy.  It allows you to send cards and greetings to people all over the world in an instant!  Now you don't have an excuse when people get on your case for not observing holidays.

For those like me, old-school gamers who believe side-scrolling perfection begins and ends with Super Mario Brothers 3, 4 Color Rebellion has a set of awesome Nintendo valentines that you can either print out and give to your sweetie personally, or send as e-cards for those long-distance love affairs.  Or for people too lazy or forgetful to print the card out manually.

They're just the thing the doctor ordered... the luuuuv doctor! 

Well, despite my best efforts to sway everyone away from Blu-ray to HD DVD, Sony’s big money has seemingly won the day.  Netflix, which rented both HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs since the competing formats came on the market, has announced that as of now they’d no longer support the HD DVD format.  That’s right, the only high definition DVD content you can get from Netflix now is Blu-ray.  Sigh. 

I have to think that the major reason for this, besides the rumored heavy bribes Sony paid for exclusivity, is the install base of the PlayStation 3 and the lack of integrated HD DVD player in the Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii.  Even though I don’t know anyone who watches Blu-ray discs on their PS3 (or at all), the fact that Sony can point to their millions of consoles sold and say, “Here’s your install base, just waiting to pay too much money for movies they already own!” has to have swayed the market.

H/T:  Engadget

There's a new virus making the rounds on MSN and Windows Live Messenger at the moment, and I personally got the suspicious chat link myself, though thankfully the newest version of IE doesn't auto-run anything and I closed the prompt without enabling the link.  I dodged a bullet, but I figured I'd spread the word so everyone else just outright avoids the problem.

Check out this post over on Gear Diary, which goes into bigger detail about the virus and how it spreads, and afterwards, if you think you're afflicted with the problem, go here for details on how to remove it, with a virus remover having been posted in the comments.  More info here.  I don't know about everyone else, but I hate reformatting my hard drive, and if I can avoid it, I do.

I just barely dodged a bullet, since apparently this is a nasty virus.  IE7, for all its faults, saved my bacon tonight. 

The catch is the game, Left Behind:  Eternal Forces, is a game based on the Left Behind book series that I've never read, and you have to pay $5 or so shipping, given on whether you get the direct download or the hard copy version.  The first 1 million are free after shipping, so check out the deal over at Joystiq. 

Left Behind is essentially the story of all the people left behind after the Biblical apocalypse, which has proven to be a wildly popular book series.  That's about all I know about it, since I was never really interested in reading the books.  I know other people who have, and apparently they're pretty good, so maybe one day I'll get around to checking them out.  But a free game?  I'll check that out all day long!

I just hope i don't end up on any more mailing lists because of my inability to resist real-time strategy games of any sort.  Have any of you played this game out there in Internet land?  Did I just waste $5 because Kotaku and Wired said the game was actually good?

I ordered my Wii on January 18th.  Then I ran into problems, but I never cancelled my order.  It's February 6, and I still haven't gotten a Wii.  I recieved everything else in my Wii bundle well before January 29th.  Obviously, two boxes of Wii-related goodies don't do me any good without the console to play it on, and after two emails to Wal-Mart.com's support wing, I've finally gotten another promised Wii delivery day, February 9, after threatening to return all my unopened Wii peripherals to the nearest Wal-Mart.

Let's put it this way.  I'm not pleased that I had to email more than once to get a good result, and I somehow doubt I'll get my Wii on the 9th, but if I do, then I'll never complain about Wal-Mart.com again (until something else bad happens).  If I don't get my Wii, then the good news is I can just return my stuff purchased online to the nearest Wal-Mart meatspace store and get a refund.  You can't say the same about Amazon.

It's just a shame you have to make sure you get through the layer of automated customer service form emails to get a person these days.

Image:  Gadgets Reviews 

Hey gang, I'm coming to you live from Ground Zero of the Tornado Belt, as tonight some seriously bad weather has moved through my area.  We've gone from simple rain in the morning to a serious, nasty red bout of severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings in a matter of hours, but here I am on my computer, typing away.  If the TV hadn't gone to transmitting the awful squawking buzz noise that always signals bad weather, I'd probably still be asleep (rain knocks me right out). 

I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually turned off my computer during a storm.  I'm not sure why I don't fear the Boogeyman that is storm surges and power outages doing some serious damage to my computer.  My entire house is on a hardwired surge protector, and my electronics are on their own secondary surge protectors, so I'm relatively immune to that sort of thing.  We also have underground utilities, so when we lose power it's generally it's the transformer blowing out.

What about you, dear reader?  Do you go into hiding when bad weather hits, or do you just keep blogging and surfing like normal?  Surely I can't be the only fearless storm blogger in the world. 

In my ongoing series of Valentine's Day-related geek goodies, I've got something out there for the ladies.  That's right, geekettes, your old buddy Ron hasn't forgotten about you, and he's got the one thing women everywhere go crazy for.

No, not money.

No, not free maid service.

No, no... I'm talking about chocolate!  Thanks to the geniuses at ThinkGeek, you've got your choice of actual chocolate in the form of some tasty gaming avatars, or some theoretical chocolate in the form of this chocolate brown Theobromin molecule teeshirt.  Theobromin is that molecule in chocolate that enduces all those feelings of relaxation and comfort that gobbling a chunk of cocoa bean extract gives you. 

Of course, it's probably not as good as actual chocolate, if you're trying to get back in your lady's good graces, but it sure can't hurt.

It's the ultimate solution for travelers who are unable to get the space in their carry-on luggage to store a 4x3x2 mouse.  Space is at a premium when traveling anywhere, after all, so why take up space that could be used to hold an extra stick of deodorant if you don't have to?  Simply deflate your mouse, roll it up, and...  wait, what?  You don't have an inflatable mouse?!

I guess I should point out that no one has an inflatable mouse yet, since Yanko Design is more of a potential company and not an actual manufacturing firm, but if they had one of these available for the price of a normal mouse, or if I thought I could hack something together, I'd totally make/use a blow-up mouse, if only because it'd be awesome to fill with helium for pranking purposes.  Imagine the look in your co-worker's faces when you walk away from your desk and your mouse suddenly goes airborne!

H/T:  Engadget, of course.