See this cute young man over to your right?  His name is Jon Penn, he is 11 years old, and he is the administrator for his entire school’s IT department.  That’s right; an 11-year-old boy is in charge of a 60-computer network which he has basically redesigned from the ground up.  And I was impressed with myself when I installed a wireless network in my home. 

I don’t want to take anything away from Jon, because his computer skills are incredible.  He inherited a bunch of old donated Windows 98 machines and a network that had no virus scanners, firewalls, or even a gateway security device.  I have no doubts those computers were in abysmal shape (which is probably why the old admin quit the week before school started). 

This kid is, to put it mildly, a genius.  I’m sure it’s a very nice school, but it’s very under funded and he did a miracle on a shoestring budget.  Kudos to him, and I wish him the best of luck on his A++ certification test!

This is why I love Mystery Science Theater 3000.  They manage to combine awful 1950's educational films with comedy and blend it into a smoothie that is both educational and hilarious.  Now that's edutainment!

Have you noticed something weird with Google's new homepage?  It's all black, with white text, rather than the usual white and black you'll see at every other Google property on the Internet.  Very different, and very much easier on the eyes, don't you think?

The change in color scheme is in honor of Earth Hour.  Tonight, from 8:00 to 9:00 local time, every family on Earth is asked to turn off their lights for one whole hour.  Even though changing color scheme makes no difference in your monitor's consumption of power, Google's just trying to raise awareness.  Fortunately for Google, the new color scheme is WORLDS better than the eye-killing white background and black text they normally use.  Unfortunately for us, it's not a permanent change. 

Image:  Tasmedia

Continuing with the Wii-centric kick I seem to be on, here's one of the coolest Wiimote mods I've ever seen, set to... you guessed it, a Guitar Hero III song.  It seems I can't shake that Guitar Hero monkey off my back, no matter what I do.  Still, it's very cool, and a great nod to the holiday light show everyone's familiar with.

H/T:  Nintendo Wii Fanboy

As much as I want to make a Chuck Berry or R. Kelly reference thanks to the Wii For Women name, I promise I won't.  Well, aside from the one I already made just in the sentence before this one. 

Per Gaming Bits (which are my favorite bits), Best Buy is having the Wii For Women event this Sunday, March 20, at participating locations.  The event runs from 1-4 PM, and there'll be giveaways throughout the day.  There's a Wii console, a Garmin Nuvi GPS system, and 6 spa gift cards to be given away.  Can't beat freebies!  So if you're a gamer of the female persuasion, and you want to join in on the fun and possibly win some free stuff. 

Personally, I can't shake the feeling that this is kind of condescending towards women, as if giving away spa gift cards is the only way you can get a lady interested in video games.  Surely there are girls out there who can get interested in video games the way boys do, right?  You know, by shooting things in Goldeneye, or stomping on heads in Super Mario Brothers, or eating faces in Mortal Kombat. 

Still, if it works, then I guess that's what matters.  Unfortunately, it's nowhere near my area, but if you're a gal (or guy) who checks it out, let me know how it looked in your neck of the woods.   

I spent two weeks traveling around France in the summer between my Junior and Senior years of high school, and it was incredible.  The sights, the sense of history, the people, food, and inspiring ambiance was just overwhelming.  I absolutely loved it, but it was a long flight and very expensive.  I’d love to go back, though, but until I do, I’ll have to settle for this interactive map of Paris done in World of Warcraft style for World Wide Invitational 2008! 

It’s pretty cool, though it’s missing a few of the things I went to see, like La Grande Arche, but since they included La Defense, where I stayed while in Paris, I can forgive it.  It was very cool, and it was at the end of main Metro line, so it was easy to figure out where I had to go to get to the touristy areas of the city.  When there’s only one direction you can go, it makes things a whole lot easier when you don’t really speak the language.

Hat Tip:  Business & Games

I’ve avoided the urge to buy a PS3 or an Xbox 360 since I’m not very good at video games (the shameful truth comes out!).  Well, most games anyway.  I prefer strategy games to first-person shooters, and I’m prone to nausea thanks to 3-D graphics and whatnot.  But these fake rock star games, after complaining about them forever, have me hooked.  So hooked that when Rock Band comes out for the Wii in June, I’ll be getting me a set of fake plastic drums to go along with my fake plastic guitar. 

It’s not enough that I have one game I’m mediocre to bad at, I need a second game to struggle through on easy mode so I can bang on some plastic drums instead of just wailing away on my plastic guitar.  I’ve always wanted to play drums, but real drums are expensive and fake drums are relatively cheaper.  If only they had some kind of free play mode to where I could just jam.

Fear not, HD DVD owners.  Showing a surprising bit of corporate kindness (and no doubt knowing you'll use the card on a new Blu-Ray player), Best Buy has announced that if you bought your system before February 23, 2008, you're should expect a $50 gift card to arrive to your doorstep sometime before May 1.  The best part of this whole arrangement is that, not only will you get the gift card, you won't have to do anything to get it!  Using their computer records, website information, warranty cards, and all that stuff, they'll automatically reimburse the appropriate folks (and if they don't, just call 1-888-BEST-BUY).

After you get your gift card, if you really want to get rid of your HD DVD player, there's even a trade-in depot Best Buy has set up to swap out your losing player and the movies you bought for it for store credit!  They'll even take in more stuff not HD DVD players, if you're so inclined.  I had no idea it actually existed, but it looks pretty good. 

You'd probably do better selling most of the stuff on eBay, but for a dead format player?  Anything is good.  If you're not going to keep it around to play your normal DVDs in HD quality, then you might want to consider cashing in.   

I hate writing these things, but this is my second obituary this month.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, noted author, screenwriter, inventor, and the theoretical father of the geosynchronous communications satellite relay that enable us to communicate instantaneously anywhere on Planet Earth passed away.  Clarke wrote 34 fiction novels, dozens of short stories, and is one of the most honored and respected men of his time.  He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Price, has an asteroid named after him, has had several spacecraft named after him, and is the author of Clarke's Three Laws of Prediction.

1.  When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2.  The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3.  Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

While adept at the utilization of technology (he started using email in 1984!), Clarke was equally adept at the magic of creating worlds.  He's one of my favorite authors, and his presence in the science fiction and science fact communities will be sorely missed.  Godspeed, Mr. Clarke.

It's hard to believe that it's been 9 years since the release of Sony Online Entertainment's groundbreaking MMORPG, Everquest, but it has.  Nine years is an eternity, and good ol' EQ is still around and kicking, despite having been released my senior year of high school when everyone was on dialup modems and dinosaurs roamed the earth.  It's staggering to consider, especially in a world where most MMORPGs stumble and fade away in a matter of months. 

EQ is on its 14th expansion, with a 15th on the way next year and no end in sight.  It's spawned EverQuest II, with 7 expansions, and 6 other spin-off tabletop or console RPGs.  Not too shabby for a game launched with only modest expectations, huh? 

Even more frightening is the fact that EQ came out when I was a senior in high school.  That means next year will be my 10-year class reunion!  That's a frightening prospect. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Celebrate wisely, don't drink and drive, and be sure to tip your waitresses!

I take local honey for my allergies, or I try to.  It's hard because I'm pretty busy, and I'm incredibly absent-minded, so I don't get my teaspoon or two a day like I'm supposed to.  That's not good, because for about 8 straight months out of the year, I have constant headaches, nosebleeds, congestion, wheezing, and other nasty allergy symptoms. 

I take standard medicine, of course, but all that does is make me pass out on the couch.  That's why, on Friday, I slept from the time I got home from work until, roughly, 2 PM on Saturday afternoon.  Not that I wanted to do that, but if you get enough pills down, it can't be helped.  That's why I wish someone would make honey drops out of local honey, like the Honibe drops.

I love honey, I love the taste, I like taking it in my coffee, but it's messy and sticky, and worse, since I don't have a bottle sitting on my desk at work like my vitamins, I always forget to take it.  This would be a great answer to my problems, but I have enough trouble getting local honey in liquid(ish) form, let alone honey drops.  I wonder if there's something high-tech about making honey drops from local honey, or if it's something I could do at home.

HT:  PopGadget

Well, one of the things I expected as a result of Toshiba throwing in the HD DVD towel is that Blu-ray player prices would rise, and guess what?  Blu-ray player prices are on the rise again as lack of competition either A) fuels demand or B) the various production companies can stop slashing prices to spur unit sales.  Either way, prices are up for the winning format.

Still, if you're looking for an upconverting DVD player, Toshiba's A3 HD DVD player is now below $80 on Amazon, and HD DVDs are dirt cheap too.  High definiton is high definition, and you probably can't find a cheaper upconverting DVD player than the A3, and I know you can't find a cheaper copy of Planet Earth, Blade Runner's 5-disc boxed set, or the complete Matrix Trilogy.  These prices are cheaper than comparable DVDs! 

Bargains abound, ladies and gentleman.  You'd be crazy not to take advantage of the fire sale.  Dead format or not, the player's going to work for quite some time on its own.  If you can save $10 or more on a high definition versus standard definition movie, and you have a HD TV, this is a great deal.   

In his short time on the Internet, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's Zero Punctuation animated video game reviews have become famous and the object of fanboyism throughout the English-speaking world. The British-born, Australian-living gamer has become a sensation thanks to his fast-talking, profanity-laced, pants-soilingly hilarious take on popular games like Guitar Hero and Burnout: Paradise.

The language isn't safe for work by any means, but if you're at home and you want to laugh until your stomach hurts, I suggest following the link below and checking back at The Escapist every Wednesday for another Zero Punctuation game review. There really isn't anything better out there if you like video games and you want to snort Mountain Dew out of your nose (that hurts like CRAZY). Needless to say, with the guy's constant sarcasm and hilarious rambling, and all the amusing curse words, Yahtzee has become my favorite video game reviewer ever.

Here's his take on the console wars between the PS3, XBox 360, and Nintendo Wii. Be careful when you drink, as I'm not responsible for any broken keyboards. Anyone who can combine Schrödinger's cat and poop jokes is awesome in my book.

No, Hulu isn't a Hawaiian dance.  Hulu is the new product from NBC, Fox, Warner Brothers Television, Lionsgate, and several major sports organizations (NCAA, NHL, and the NBA) that seeks to make money off of television programs rebroadcast on the Internet.  NBC's done this on a limited basis with shows like The Office, and Fox has done it with shows like Terminator:  The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but this is the first serious, corporate-backed challenge to YouTube's online TV distribution stranglehold, and it comes out of beta testing tomorrow.

I just... is there that much of a demand for watching TV shows online?  I mean, I do it all the time (I watch more TV online or recorded on my computer via the magic of Windows Media Center than I do on that glowing box that sits across the room from me, but will the end user be clamoring for a little Hulu action?  I think that, given the limitations on the service as detailed in this article, it's going to turn a lot of people off who aren't American.  Then again, I can't get the BBC's Internet video service because I'm not British, and I love me some Dr. Who, so everyone's always got something to complain about. 

Do you think you guys will make use of Hulu, or will it still remain second place to Youtube and other streaming video services?  I don't know how much of a splash it will make, unless of course the existing 'watch TV on our website' shows suddenly redirect you to Hulu for your watching.  Then it'd get plenty of eyeballs.  But, if I want to watch Sarah Connor or The Office, I'll probably still head over to their respective official websites.

I can't tell you how excited this trailer for Starcraft II makes me.  Seriously, I got chills.  I loved Starcraft, and I can't wait to get my hands on this game.  I've already saved up money to upgrade my desktop to do this thing the right way.  Yes!  I love the zerg!

HT:  Destructoid.

Hey kids, sorry about missing Friday.  I've been under the weather, and we're currently buried in about 8 inches of snow here in Louisville, so when I have been feeling decent, I've had to be outside shoveling my car out.  Sigh.

Long story short, Friday at work we all got new computers.  Not that I was there, but they were there Thursday to install them when I left, so they should've been running by Friday.  So, my question to you, gentle viewer, is this:  what do I do to make this new computer acceptable to my standards?  What do you recommend installing on a new computer?  What can't you live without that I should have on my work box? 

So far, I've got Firefox, Weatherbug, and... well, nothing else.  Do any of you have anything I should add that would make my work or blogging that much easier?

Image:  PC mag

Someone finally did something cool with the iPhone, nearly a month before the third-party developer's kit was officially released.  If you're a fan of old console emulators and some of the best video games ever made, and you own an iPhone, why not combine the two with a SNES emulator for the iPhone?

Of course, sadly, emulators are on hazy legal ground, even if you own the console and the very games you're wanting to dust off and play. Still, that doesn't make it any less impressive that what we used to require a whole big video game console to play can now fit on something as small as an iDevice. It's not quite the same, and the touch controls are awful for anything requiring any sort of timing, but the fact that it can be done is pretty impressive.

Still, I'm thankful for the Wii's Virtual Console, so now I can revisit all those old rental favorites I never had a chance to buy legitimately.

Words can't express just how important Dungeons & Dragons was to a whole lot of kids over the past 35 or so years.  It opened the eyes of a generation and inspired hundreds of thousands of people to create their own worlds, their own adventures, and carve from the bedrock of the collective unconsciousness a thousand different video games, fantasy novels, tabletop games, miniature war games, works of fiction, and works of art.  None of the things gamers take for granted today would be present without the genius and determination of Gary Gygax.

No matter what game you might love above all others, you owe its existence to Gary Gygax and the success that is Dungeons & Dragons.  He was a creator to the very end of his days, and left a body of work the likes of which rivals any single person in any creative field.  Not only famous for D&D and its offshoots, he also created several other games, wrote 10 novels, contributed thousands of columns to magazines throughout the world, designed a dozen board games and tabletop miniatures games, and somehow managed to defy the common misconception about geeks and successfully marry and father 6 children. 

He was a true icon, and an American original the likes of which can never be replaced.  There was no bigger fan of gaming than he, and he acted as an evangelist for all the positive benefits of RPGs that sometimes went overshadowed by the negative actions of a small minority.  Rest in peace, Gary.  May all your rolls be natural 20s.   

So, let's say you're like me.  You've been subscribing to WoW for quite some time and, perhaps, you're a bit bored by it all.  Yes, the game's fun enough to where you don't want to stop paying for it, but sometimes you need a break WITHOUT paying for new software or subscribing to a new MMORPG.  Even trying games gets very expensive, unless you have friends with free trials to give away. 

That's why lists, like Massively's top 5 free MMOs, are incredibly helpful.  There are so many free games, but so few games that provide the depth and fun that a good MMO can offer.  Anything that separates the cream from the crop is very helpful, and it gives you a list of places to start your exploration.  You've got nothing to lose but time. 

If you want something like old-school Diablo, try Mythos.  Pirates of the Carribean Online looks like a blast, too, and it has the added benefit of being based off an IP already known and enjoyed.  Maple Story is crazy cute, and Dungeon Runners is like WoW with more goofiness.  So many choices, I'm not sure where to start. 

Anyone have any recommendations? 

The World gets bigger all the time.  Not just our physical world, but also the World of Warcraft, which has recently passed 10 million subscribers, with more joining all the time.  That's a whole lot of people, and most of them have never actually played another MMO before, so there's a learning curve.  That's where this guide comes in handy!

When I started WoW, I had no idea what I was doing or how to do it.  I thought a PUG was an angry dog!  I didn't know anything about pulling or aggro, tanking or threat meters, QQ or pew pew.  I knew nothing, that's why I've abandoned my first character even after hitting the level cap of 70 with him.  Turns out I hate the class I forced myself to level up, because I didn't know any better! 

If you're looking to start any new MMO, and you want a brief and funny explanation of what in-game language means in the real world, this is a great place to start.  I wish I'd had this two years ago!

Back in my younger days, before we got the internet (and we were late in getting it), I was a serious reader.  I'd go to the library, come out with a stack of 14 books, and be back next month for 14 more.  I was a serious reading junkie, even though I wasn't big on things like studying math or working out.  I read the unabridged version of The Stand in one marathon session. 

Then, I went to college.  Upon entering the hallowed halls of the Academy, my love of learning was killed, and my desire to read books was smashed beneath the weight of Foucault and Derrida.  I started college in 1999, and it wasn't until I had some traveling to do that I actually picked up more than the occasional dog-eared copy of a Chuck Palahniuk or Stephen King novel before I actually tried reading a new author, and tried reading for fun once again. I'm reading the book now, actually, but I have something else to add to the list.

Harper Collins Publishers and author Neil Gaiman have gotten together and discussed things, and as an experiment, for the rest of the month (March) you can read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for free over here.  It might not be your cup of tea, but I love his graphic novels, so I figure I'd pass it along to you guys.  I've gotten rave reviews from friends, so maybe you and I can read it together and discuss it, Shaktronics reader.

Thanks to Newscoma for the tip!