Blog Archives
Extreme Rising 2012: Full Results, Highlights and Twitter Reaction for Dec. 29
Extreme Rising’s live show last Saturday (December 29th) from Philadelphia was one of the wildest independent pro wrestling shows and one of the biggest highlights of 2012. The highlight of the night was definitely Stevie Richards being crowned the new Extreme Rising World Heavyweight Champion, the last match of “The New F’n Show” Jerry Lynn (and the celebration that followed), along with a steel cage match the stole the show, and the overall card was full of surprises, and according to the reactions on Twitter, it was one of the best indy shows of 2012. Hopefully, it won’t be long until Extreme Rising gets a television deal (because competition in televised pro wrestling is AWESOME!). Check out the full results from the show after the break. Read the rest of this entry
Facebooking Gehry, Solar Energy Spheres, Secret Shenmue 3 & E-C-W is Born! – The PractitioNERD, Ep. 10
This week’s episode of The PractitioNERD discusses the World Headquarters of Stalking gets a new HQ (http://goo.gl/sNom9), Solar Spheres better than Solar Panels (http://goo.gl/2gdw0), the subliminal release of Shenmue 3 (http://goo.gl/yL6iu), and ECW? Born out of Controversy? Really? (http://goo.gl/1bgfT)
…also, THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK!! Read the rest of this entry
Train Stations, Bluetooth Lights, Sonic/Mega Man & Classic Hart Drama – The PractitioNERD, Ep. 9
This week’s episode of The PractitioNERD discusses a simple, vernacular Canadian Train Station (The Le Massif de Charlevoix Train Station), Bluetooth-operated light bulbs (Bluetooth Light Bulbs), Sonic the Hedgehog & Mega Man form a tag team against evil (Archie Comic’s Sonic / Mega Man Series to Crossover), and The Hitman vs. British Bulldog at SummerSlam ‘92! (Hart vs. Smith for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam).
…also, THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK!! Read the rest of this entry
Old-School Professional Wrestling Event Posters; Listen, You Pencil-Necked Geeks!!
Did you get the reference in the title of this post? “Classy” Freddie Blassie FOR THE WIN!!
Let’s reminisce and go back to the days of when advertising posters for live professional wrestling events were simple, to-the-point, and weren’t focused on a single wrestler. Back in the day when the poster designers used the simplest of typography strategies to establish the show’s (and the poster’s) hierarchy – which may look ugly to some — that works in its own vintage, antique-style way. Either way, here’s a trip via the way-back time machine called “The Internet,” and I hope you enjoy this series of classic professional wrestling posters!
Leaning Colosseums, “Wall-E” Builds, Shocking Gaming & WWF Cartoonage – The PractitioNERD, Episode 7
This week’s episode of The PractitioNERD (the 2nd version) discusses a leaning architectural work that NOT a tower in Pisa (the Roman Colosseum), robots printing 3D structures out of soil and sand (the Stone Spray project), electroshock “therapy” via a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (Furrtek’s “Gene-Zap” project), and Hulk Hogan cartoon from the eighties (Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling).
…also, THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK!!
ARCHITECTURE STORY- http://goo.gl/o7eRz
TECHNOLOGY STORY- http://goo.gl/7OXY1
GAMING STORY- http://goo.gl/IXDdx
PRO WRESTLING STORY- http://goo.gl/VjHgR
THE BLOG: www.thepractitionerd.com
TWITTER: @PractitioNERD
FACEBOOK: http://goo.gl/AQ7OR
GOOGLE+: http://goo.gl/c7M2e
THE TUMBLR WALL OF NERDdom: http://goo.gl/Y99e2
FLICKR GALLERY: http://goo.gl/7m8FY
PINTEREST BOARDS: http://gplus.to/PractitioNERD
Music: “RetroFuture Nasty” & “Chipper Doodle” from Kevin McLeod of Incompetech.com (Royalty-Free Music)
Mechs in a Hospital, Walking Tank, & Transformers; but not Wrestling – The PractitioNERD, Ep. 6
This week’s episode of The PractitioNERD is full of mechs getting into architecture (a Mobile Hospital unit), technology (the Kuratas Mobile Suit), videogames (G1 Optimus Prime in “Transformers: Fall of Cybertron”), but misses pro wrestling (Shawn Michaels vs. Buddy Landell, Smokey Mountain Wrestling).
…also, THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK!!
ARCHITECTURE STORY- http://goo.gl/OZvvY
TECHNOLOGY STORY- http://goo.gl/xfmDr
GAMING STORY- http://goo.gl/ea4Zx
PRO WRESTLING STORY- http://goo.gl/UYEHk
THE BLOG: http://www.thepractitionerd.com
TWITTER: @PractitioNERD (http://goo.gl/kLpIU)
FACEBOOK: http://goo.gl/AQ7OR
GOOGLE+: http://goo.gl/c7M2e
THE TUMBLR WALL OF NERDdom: http://goo.gl/Y99e2
FLICKR GALLERY: http://goo.gl/7m8FY
PINTEREST BOARDS: http://gplus.to/PractitioNERD
Music: “RetroFuture Nasty” & “Chipper Doodle” from Kevin McLeod of Incompetech.com (Royalty-Free Music)
Jason Voorhees Killed Episode 3 – The PractitioNERD, Episode 2.5
After some technical mishaps, this week’s abridged version of The PractitioNERD will be the first of many smaller, more frequent videos, as explained above. Read the rest of this entry
Carmen Sandiego is going to Hollywood; may steal the iconic sign again…
Classic adventure game icon Carmen Sandiego is prime and ready to steal the bright lights of Hollywood (you know, like how she stole the sign back in 1985). Walden Media is in the process of adapting the classic educational series to the big screen, with Jennifer Lopez producing and possibly starring (please don’t, please don’t). The movie’s script is being written by Darren Lemke, who wrote the films Shrek Forever After and the upcoming Jack the Giant Killer. Based on those films, it is likely that the Carmen Sandiego project may in fact be a family-friendly flick and not some run-of-the-mill dark, edgy reinterpretation of the titular master thief (please look up the word “titular” before complaining). Read the rest of this entry
The PractitioNERD Show on YouTube, Coming June 29th (also, 200th POST!)
Because it’s amazing what geeky & nerdy hobbies/obsessions, a digital video camera, a microphone, some editing software and a decent internet connection can get you. Also, not a bad way to celebrate the 200th post on The PractitioNERD!
Starting on the evening of Friday, June 29th (and every following Friday evening), the PractitioNERD YouTube show will review the stories covered and shared across the PractitioNERD network (i.e. this blog, Tumblr, Facebook, Google +, etc.). This project has been in the making for the past few months, as I’ve been testing equipment, video/sound quality, graphics, music, formats, etc., but things are falling in place; I’ve even filmed an “Episode 0″ as a test to see how everything looked and sounded. I saw this as also a great way to celebrate The PractitioNERD’s upcoming 1-Year Anniversary on Thursday, June 14th of 2012 (**kazoo sounds**) and to further expand the network.
So rise up your Klingon goblets, take a bite of your Apenture Lab-decorated cakes, blow your computer-aided drafted horns, toss those steel chair-shaped party favors in the air like you just don’t care and spread the word on your two-way pagers — oh, nostalgia — and cry out: WE ARE NERDS, HEAR US WHINE!!!
My 5 Favorite CES 2012 Stories: Day 5
We have come to the end of the CES 2012 road, everyone. It’s time for my final news briefs about my 5 favorite products/stories introduced on the final day of the show. This is the 5th and last day of “The PractitioNERD” coverage of CES 2012, and here are my favorite stories from today’s CES coverage.
1) Live ESPN 3D boxing at CES! (but if it’s “live,” isn’t it 3D already?…. ESPN hosted a Top Rank Boxing event live from the CES show floor, which actually attracted a good crowd. To show off how the event could be broadcast in 3D, the crew was using a Sony HDC-P1 camera system with 3D rigs by the Pace Cameron Group, which were all sent through a Sony MVX-8000x production switcher. According to Engadget, the quality of the love 3D images were very impressive
….and visions of the Tiger Electronics “R-Zone” system dances in my head. Vuzix showed off a functional prototype for its Smart Glasses industrial class monocular display. In other words, it’s a special lens attached to a main display driver that projects a bright, 1.4mm holographic picture for one of your eyes. The origins of the glasses go back to them being part of a DARPA project that would let soldiers involved in air-to-surface operations to track jets, check ordinance, and mark targets. While the tag price for the military / industrial monocle $2500-3000, the consumer version (with the same bells and whistles) will cost only between $350-600. However either unit won’t be available until next year. Smart Glasses > R-Zone. Anything > R-Zone.
3) Canon’s New Cameras can Recognize your Face…..uh, creeeeeepy?Canon’s announcement of its new ELPH series of cameras, as well as the new PowerShot G1 X, brought along the discovery of a new feature: the face ID system. The G1 X’s Face ID would be able to differentiate between children and adults, providing more focus to younger subjects that are in frame. Also, the camera has a built-in facial recognition system, allowing users to store details of up to 12 people on the camera (with names, birthdays, and multi-angled profile pictures), helping the camera focus on those individuals saved on the camera
4) AMD shows off its new Trintiy APUs and Lightning Bolt chipsAMD came into this year’s CES aggressive with the presentations of it’s upcoming Piledriver core-based Trinity APU chips, which come in three flavors (desktop, laptop, and “thin & light” — likely netbooks/tops). The “thin & light” APUs are for use with slim-form PCs (i.e., ultrabooks) and only draw 17W, while providing similar performance of current generation 35W chips. AMD also presented the Lightning Bolt, which can drive up to four displays (with up to 2 at 1080p full HD) and several USB 3.0 ports (while not yet reaching that speed) while providing power. AMD aims to have Lightning Bolt be inexpensive to integrate to PCs, and is currently in the prototype stage.
My 5 Favorite CES 2012 Stories: Day 4
…and on the FORTH DAY (or third since Monday was technially Day 0), there were more announcements at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. It’s time for some news briefs about my 5 favorite products/stories introduced today at the show. This is the 4th day of “The PractitioNERD” coverage of CES 2012, and here are my favorite stories from today’s CES coverage.
1) The Plextor’s PlexEasy backs up Pics/Phones/Tablets WITHOUT a computer
Pextor’s PlexEasy stand-alone DVD burner is making it’s way the the States after being announce in Europe a month ago. The drive can back up data to CDs/DVDs directly from a variety of sources — i.e., SD cards, cameras, smartphones, tablets, etc., all via USB. While it can be used without a PC, it can be connected to a PC to draw it’s power from any of the its USB ports. No price has been announced.
2) Sony shows off PSVita cloud saves and 3G functionality
Wow, MORE PSVita news? You’d think I wanted to buy one of these! Destructoid’s Dale North tried out the game “Warrior’s Lair,” a third-person action RPG due out in late this year for the Vita, which has cross-platform play with the PlayStation 3 (enabling the player continue playing from one system to another via cloud save support). North started playing the game on a Vita, paused the game, chose the cloud save option, and (after save confirmation) was able to continue where he left off on the Vita on the PS3 within 30 seconds. The “fast and flawless” operation of the AT&T 3G connection was used while North was playing “Unit 13,” a third-person action-shooter due out March 6th, and was able to play online with the 3G connection (along with viewing game messages, leaderboards, rankings, prompts, etc.).
3) How it feels to hold the Wii U controller
Destructoid’s Conrad Zimmerman commented that the controller for Nintendo’s upcoming console was “deceptively lightweight,” even with its internal battery. He also noted the great positioning and pressure/tension of the more-traditional controller inputs (analog sticks and face buttons). I’ll let his own words speak for itself:
4) Behold the Power of Razer’s Blade gaming laptop
Razer’s Blade gaming laptop may weigh only 7 pounds and is under 1″ thick, however it packs a heck of a punch in terms of its features: an Intel Core i7 processor, an NVIDIA GT655M, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. The laptops’s stylish aluminum casing and beautiful 17″ LED display doesn’t hurt either. Another star feature of the laptop is the “Switchblade” interface, which is essentially a traditional trackpad on steroids (since it’s a full-fledged touchscreen with 10 easily-configurable dynamic buttons) with numerous possibilities of functionality. And how much would you pay for one, pry tell? TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-NINE US DOLLARS!!
5) Sharkfin Promises Custom-Fitted Earbuds For Just $5
What do I love the most about the included set of headphones that came with my Samsung Epic 4G phone? They are adjustable/customizable inner-earbud headphones that block out outside sounds and they don’t FALL OUT OF MY EARS (which is a problem I’ve ALWAYS had with earphones; they kept friggin’ falling out)!!! Before, finding these type of earbud headphones that would STAY IN MY EARS were expensive, but Sharkfin is intending to offer a set of grey and black soft-squishable material for $5.00 that when molded together are able to chemically react within 5 minutes (hmm, for $5, huh) to form a flexible shape of the wearer’s ears that will never loose that shape.
[Thanks Destructoid, Engadget, & Sharkfin]
My 5 Favorite CES 2012 Stories: Day 3
It is DAY THREE of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, everyone!! You know what that means (if you’ve been reading this since Monday) right? It’s time for some news briefs about the products/stories introduced today at the show. This is the third day of “The PractitioNERD” coverage of CES 2012, and here are my favorite stories from today’s CES coverage.
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1) Lenovo’s IdeaCentre Q180 HTPC hands-on
I love home theater PCs (HTPCs) and everything about them (see here), and Lenovo’s IdeaCentre Q180 is one of the smallest desktop PCs (at 22 mm-thick) and affordable (starting at $299). The Q180 comes with a Blu-ray drive (it even uses magnets to hold the Q180 to the Blu-ray drive and a USB adapter), and an N5902 keypad makes the IdeaCentre an HTPC that can be easily hidden. The Q180 is powered by a 2.13GHz Intel Atom dual-core CPU, features HDMI, USB 3.0, and VGA outputs, and supports full HD and 7.1 surround sound. Now I get a step closer to my cut the cable/satellite plan.
2) Warpia unleashes WarpiaTV, wants to be your web service middlemanWarpia’s television service, WarpiaTV, acts as a middleman between the internet and your living room by combining their browser with a motion controller with seven buttons and providing access to online services (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, and stored media on a hard drive. The device comes in both a wired version ($80) and a wireless version ($120).
With the increased popularity of Near-Field Communication (NFC), there are still some concerns about security and privacy (due to personal information stored in NFC tags and mobile payment applications — like Google Wallet — could easily be compromised if your stuff goes missing, i.e., stealing). While most existing services like Google Wallet are focused on security, its not the case for every other service that uses NFC technology. NXP Semiconductors is working on a smart card that adds an extra barrier of entry/security, requiring you to draw gestures (i.e., signatures), patterns or enter PIN codes in order to unlock files on your computer. Hope you don’t mind waiting for 6 – 12 months…
4) Olympus looking to Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and others to solve its money problems?Poor, poor Olympus; after the recent and infamous $1.7 billion accounting scandal implicating its OWN management on the highest levels, leading to them suing their OWN executives AND president for fraud. Now it seems that they just cannot catch a break, as Reuters has reported that Olympus is in financial dire and might partner up with Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Fujifilm or Terumo Corp. to get some extra cash just to keep going.
5) GLASSES-FREE 3DHDTVs, ULTRA BOOKS, TABLETS, PHONES. You Know, The Usual at CES
I honestly could not find any particular item in this category that raises any interest to me, other than the sheer number of new items of these types of devices that are being shown at CES this year.
My 5 Favorite CES 2012 Stories: Day 2
1) Analogix Slim Port Allows Video Out From Your Smartphone to the TV (via microUSB!!)
Thank you, o’ great mini device!! The Analogix Slim Port uses technology that allows mirroring the image on any smartphone and/or tablet screen onto a television via MicroUSB (negating the need for mircoHDMI or MHL ports on a device). What Analogix uses is a DisplayPort based-chip embedded in the jack part of the cable, allowing it to connect with HDMI, VGA, or even DVI. You can purchase one of these via Belkin and BizLink (since Analogix is selling this on an OEM basis) this summer between $20 and $30. This is a definite BUY for me!
2) Vizio’s 2012 HDTV lineup features 3D, Google TV and ultra-widescreen (Say Whaaat?!?)
Ultra-widescreen is ultra-loooooooonnnnnnnnggg. Has Vizio shown up on my list again (you guys **hands on waist**) Well, Vizio has introduced the new M3D series of 3D HDTVs in a 47- and 55-inch model, with both models featuring “VIA Plus,” which is Vizio’s own skin of Google TV (kind of like TouchWiz on Samsung Android phones). Vizio has also introduced up three 21:9 “CinemaWide” ridiculously ultra-widescreen WFHD (2560×1080) models, in sizes of 50-, 58- and 71-inches, all models including 3D and Yahoo! Widgets (with HDTVs without Google TV will still include Yahoo TV widgets). Currently, prices and ship dates for all the new TVs are still unknown.
3) Engadget’s Live Demo of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2
Do you want to watch someone try to break some glass? Well, I do apologize you lil’ ne’er-do-wells, but that won’t be happening. Corning’s newest iteration of its Gorilla Glass series is about 20% stronger than its prior version. In fact, when the crew of Engadget attempted to break (or at least crack) it utilizing 120 lbs. of pressure, the glass wouldn’t even crack.
4) Introducing The Rocstor Amphibious Secure (and I Mean Secure) Hard Drive
Do you like having your portable external hard drive around, with all of your files, pictures, music and videos? Don’t like having that device just sitting on your desk all willy-nilly while someone else may attempt to access your files. Well, worry no more. Rocstor’s new Amphibious Secure hard drive offers real-time encryption with BOTH a Smart Card AND a keypad. The device uses a SATA HDD (up to 1TB) or SSD, connects via USB 2.0 or Firewire 800, and protects all stored data with AES-256 bit key strength with a FIPS 140-2 validated crypto module. For safety in the aspect of durability, the Amphibious is encased in aircraft grade aluminum alloy casing. Oooo, fancy!!
5) Gaikai & LG Partner Up to Make Smart TV Gaming Service
If you’ve never heard of OnLive, they are a subscription-based cloud gaming platform at allows members to play video games via its Microconsole, PC client software, and tablets (from many, MANY servers), without the need of physical media or even downloading the game. Now Gaikai, essentially a rival to OnLive (despite that it’s on-demand and without subscription fees), is attempting to get a jump into providing their own platform into as many living rooms as possible before OnLive does. To do so, they are teaming up with LG to create a line of Smart TVs that will integrate the Gaikai gaming service sometime this year.
[Thanks Engadget]
