Geek culture

ILM reveals mermaid secrets for 'Pirates 4' Blu-ray

SAN FRANCISCO--Disney spent the last couple of decades making mermaids into friendly, lovely creatures bursting with curiosity and love (see "The Little Mermaid" and "Splash"). It took about a year's work from the visual-effects pros at Industrial Light and Magic to return the fair ladies of the sea to their classical, bloodthirsty ways.

To show off the effects studio's work on the billion-dollar-grossing "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" as it arrives on Blu-ray next month, ILM's Ben Snow (visual-effects supervisor) and Aaron McBride (art director) sat down with reporters at George Lucas' Presidio compound here earlier this month to discuss the challenges of creating mermaids beautiful enough to lure Johnny Depp to water and ferocious enough to devour him.

"Classically, mermaids were beautiful but deadly creatures," Snow said. "We were excited to bring them back to that tradition. But the challenge was developing creative concepts that preserved their beauty while making them scary again." … Read more

EA says improvements en route for Madden 12 iOS

An update is on the way to repair serious shortcomings with the iOS version of Madden 12, EA Sports says.

Earlier this week, we reported that reviews in the iTunes store were brutal for the iPod, iPad, and iPhone versions of the massively popular National Football League game. Our hands-on play only verified the problems.

Initially, our attempts to get an explanation from EA were met with silence. But, according to EA Mobile representative Michelle Jacob, the Madden 12 iOS team gathered its details together and wanted to update fans with the latest news.

"The Madden development team closely monitors customer feedback in the App Store and is focusing on these concerns," Jacob told CNET yesterday. "We are currently working on an update that is due out shortly and will address the following..." … Read more

$1.6M Battlefield 3 tournament coming in 2012

Ever wished you could win money--big money--for playing video games?

While that dream may never come true for most of us, there is a chance for anyone with an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 to become a gaming god. Virgin Gaming, EA, and DICE are teaming up to host a Battlefield 3 Worldwide Conquest tournament with $1.6 million in cash and prizes on the line.

Potential fraggers must be 18 years or older to register for the online tourney, which begins in 2012 and which Virgin is calling the "largest online console game tournament ever." Unfortunately, the contest is not available for PC gamers, who make up a huge portion of the fan base for the series. In some aspects, I can see why Virgin Gaming may want to avoid integrating PC gamers, as cheating has soured FPS games for many years on the platform.

Nonetheless, Virgin's official response to PC gamers being excluded was rather disappointing. "Our technology is only set up to integrate with console games at this phase in our life. We're still new and trying to create a unique service that resolves a lot of the challenges in the competitive gaming space today," a Virgin rep said. "We have much love for gamers on all platforms, and as we grow we'll try to bring everyone under the tent." … Read more

Gibson Firebird X guitar tunes itself, runs apps

I have a Gibson guitar. I have to tune it myself. It doesn't have onboard effects. I can't load third-party apps onto it. My guitar is so old-fashioned, it has a hole in the top for the sound to get out. In short, it's no Firebird X.

The limited-edition Firebird X launches on September 30 with a list of specs that reads more like a Dell computer than a guitar. It even has system requirements for Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

The guitar retains the classic look of a regular Firebird, but stuffs the innards with enough technology to make your poor roadie's head spin. This may be the geekiest guitar ever made.

The latest version of Gibson's RoboHead tuners takes care of pesky tuning chores for you. An onboard multiprocessor spews out sounds and effects. It has its own preamp and Bluetooth for connecting to its pedals.

Gibson declares that all this digital stuff won't affect the guitar's "tube mojo." If you have a tube amp, then you know exactly what that means.… Read more

The 404 913: Where Jill and the Amazon Kindle are on Fire (podcast)

The Rev. Justin Yu is out for the rest of the week, but in his place we have the always informative financial guru Jill Schlesinger. Today we talk about the new Amazon Kindle Fire, and how it changes everything in the tablet market (especially for Google). But we also quiz Aunt Jill about the ongoing crisis in Europe, and she tells us about the sugary grab bag at the News & Documentary Emmys.

The 404 Digest for Episode 913

Amazon's new Kindle Fire Amazon Kindle Touch Amazon Kindle Amazon Silk browser iPhone announcement Bathroom Break: 'Jedi Kittens Strike Back' Episode 913 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Jeepers creepers, app gives you Bachmann's peepers

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul. I'll let you draw your own conclusion as you gaze deeply into the 99-cent Bachmann-Eyezed app for iPhone and iPad.

Bachmann-Eyezed lets you add the Republican presidential candidate's well-known steely stare to any photo. A "Craziness" slider lets you ramp up the intensity from regular eyes to radiating red eyeballs that jump aggressively off the screen.

Choose from pictures in your photo gallery or take fresh snapshots to adulterate. A yellow guide outline helps you get everything in the right place. Pinch and swipe to change size or move the eyes around.

I turned my normally cuddly kitty cat into a unrecognizable creature from beyond the polls in a mere matter of seconds.

All of this madness was inspired by the kerfuffle over Newsweek's Bachmann cover that highlighted her wide-eyed look with the accompanying headline, "The Queen of Rage." Bachmann supporters protested that the photo was deliberately designed to make her look unappealing.

Those radiant peepers caught on with a meme that photoshopped her gaze onto a variety of celebrities. Thanks to the new app, you don't have to be a celebrity to get your Bachmann eyes on.

May I recommend a soundtrack of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" and "Hungry Eyes" from "Dirty Dancing" to go along with your Bachmann-Eyezed experience? Just remember, she's watching you.

(Via Huffington Post)… Read more

QWERTY keyboard pumps out hydraulic cocktails

If you've ever wondered what words taste like, you're now in luck. Russian artist Morskoiboy has created a contraption that mixes cocktails based on letters.

Behold, the Typewriter Cocktail Machine. It's the illegitimate child of a Remington crossed with a bottle of Smirnoff. It features more tubes than the DareDroid 2.0 cocktail-making dress and has a rainbow of flavored syrups at its disposal.

It's hard to describe exactly how this contraption works, but I'm going to try. Each key on the keyboard is a syringe pump. Push it down and it sucks syrup from a corresponding bottle, mixing it with the top-mounted alcoholic beverage of your choice.

The resulting combination of liquids lights up an LCD-style display that shows the letter you just pushed. It all gets mixed together in a glass off to the side. The video below should answer your questions.… Read more

The 404 912: Where we're trashing your rights (podcast)

Wilson's out sick today, but CNET's Bridget Carey steps up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth and knocks it out of the park with a full story rundown that includes Facebook iPad announcements, the next iPhone's killer app, Google's 13th birthday, camera lens thieves, and more! Did I use that baseball metaphor correctly?

The 404 Digest for Episode 912

Sprint to launch own 4G LTE network in early 2012 (scoop). New Amazon tablet called the Kindle Fire? Facebook's iPad app launching with new iPhone, report says. Apple holding iPhone 5 event on October 4. iPhone 5 to offer 1GB RAM and voice control? Facebook: We do track logged-out users, but trust us. Spotify users steamed over Facebook requirement. Google doodles into its teenage years. Canadian throws 4,800 messages in a bottle, gets 3,100 responses back. Doritos creator Arch West takes his cheesy legacy to the grave. Crafty thieves go for the lens rather than the camera body. Follow Bridget Carey on Twitter. Bathroom-break video of the day: A fat cat struggles to lose her weight.

Episode 912 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Wingsuit batman flies through Chinese mountain

I can't imagine that there are too many people around who have flown through a mountain, but U.S. BASE jumper Jeb Corliss can add that to his resume after recently soaring through a peak in China.

Wearing a wingsuit, a parachute, and GoPro Hero cameras strapped to his body, Corliss managed to fly through a hole in Tianmen mountain, Hunan Province.

The famous Tianmen Hole in the limestone peak is about 360 feet tall, 96 feet wide, and 260 feet deep.

Corliss dropped out of a helicopter at 6,000 feet and glided toward the cave like a flying squirrel. A GPS display in his helmet goggles kept him on a precise course for his flight, which was about two-thirds of a mile.

As seen in the video below, he shot right through the cave like a bat out of hell, then deployed his parachute on the other side for a safe landing on a bridge. … Read more

Hair's to you! A geometric haircut for math geeks

I'm growing my hair out, but I may have to reconsider my decision after seeing what British artist Nick Sayers has been up to.

Sayers is known for his geometric-art explorations. He decided to wear his passion on his head with a complex pattern of rhombuses shaved into his hair. The geometric cut was featured in Make's Math Monday column.

Carving four-sided shapes all over your head is deceptively complex. The human head is a challenging canvas with plenty of curves to throw off a geometric pattern. … Read more