Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Y’know, just the other day I was having this conversation at my day job with co-workers. Can you get fired by posting something online? Specifically social network sites like Facebook?

Well, British Airways suspended 15 cabin crew members because they allegedly posted inappropriate comments on their Facebook pages.

About a dozen cabin crew have been suspended while investigations are being carried out. The suspensions had to do with a number of reasons, including inappropriate comments the staffers posted online.

BA is locked in a long-standing dispute with cabin crew over issues including wages, job security and working conditions. The union has called for a strike vote by members. 15 flight attendants allegedly wrote Facebook comments and sent private emails about a “name and shame” list of pilots who volunteered to help break any strike.

The airline has also demanded that unions reveal the identities of a further 32 members of the cabin crew who posted messages about the list on a thread on its discussion forum.

The wave of suspensions began last weekend, after one cabin crew worker acquired a list of 40 pilots who had volunteered to work as cabin stewards should a strike be called. That worker posted a message on a Facebook page saying they had the list, and asking others what should they do with it.

Those under investigation received calls from airline management, ordering them to attend meetings at the crew report center. Those meetings have resulted in 17 suspensions so far, it is believed. Some of those suspended insist they had not read the Facebook message, nor replied to it. Others, who were not Facebook friends, say they were suspended because someone else had messaged news of the list to them through Facebook. So, most were suspended on the basis of guilt by association.

On the whole, it is an obvious witch hunt. However, it does give one an idea of just how careful you should be on websites like Facebook. This story is only the latest example of how social networking, blogs and the internet can be your undoing in the workplace.

Superhero franchises are like laptops- sometimes they crash, and need a reboot.

Like Batman, The Hulk, and soon Spiderman, the need to revitalize a hit series seems a necessity in Hollywood these days.

And now the latest news. Warner Bros has turned to Chris Nolan to return the MIA Superman franchise to the screen!

Nolan, who brought the re-imagined Batman series to life, has been asked to be a surrogate parent, so to speak, and ensure The Man Of Steel gets back off the ground, after 3 1/2-years.

Warner Brothers is hoping his guidance can set the Man of Steel in the right direction with critics, fans, and the box office. Nolan is also behind the next installment in the Batman series.

When the Superman of the 80′s fizzled after the fourth disaster of a movie, it floated listlessly into space. Bryan Singer brought that series back with reverence to the original work of Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve. Superman Returns was a true gem, and all but erased the third and fourth movies.

So, even though the series is in need of a shot in the arm, Warner Brothers needs to be very careful.

During the series 20 year ‘hiatus’, many tried to reboot it. From Kevin Smith to Tim Burton directing, and actors like Nicolas Cage starring, it went though many hands, and many stalls.

When the series ‘Smallville’ began in 2001, many believed that this was that re-telling, and that Tom Welling would soon don the red cape.

When Superman did return, as well as Batman, rumors flew about a team-up movie. There was even a hint of it in the movie ‘I Am Legend’. Maybe with Chris Nolan attached to both, this dream could come true as well.

But first we need to know; what changes to the Superman mythos will the next movie bring us? Who will the next Superman be? Brandon Routh is a sure bet not to reprise the role, especially since he is now in the cast of NBC’s ‘Chuck’. Maybe Welling is back, or Nick Cage, or… (add your guess here!)

Also- Scribes anyone? Perhaps Kevin Smith will get his shot after all. According to various sources, including Smith, his treatment was a good one, but not what the producers were after at the time.

At any rate, the seeds have been sewn, and the rumors will abound, until our next installment of– ‘SUPERMAN!’

Last week Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, who brought us the Universally popular LEGO STAR WARS, LEGO BATMAN and… AND LEGO INIANA JONES are gonna do it again! That’s right gamers! LEGO HARRY POTTER: YEARS 1-4 is on it’s way!

The game will focus on the early years, following Harry, Ron and Hermione, as well as other characters from the series. Gamers will be afforded a chance to attend classes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as well as engage in other wizardly activities such as casting spells, mixing potions, and flying on broomsticks! Maybe even have a go at Quidditch!

Of course, it’s a LEGO video game, so searching for gold and treasures will, of course, be part of the journey! Earning parts to some bonus is always a fun sideline in this fun series.

The game will be available fr PS3, XBox 360, Wii, DS and the PC. You will have the pick of over 100 characters, including Hagrid’s dog Fang!

Hogwarts is the biggest environment the game franchise has ever tackled. Scheduled for a May release, I cannot wait! especially since this will be my first LEGO game to play on my Wii! Oh, to be a Beta tester…

Rod Roddenberry, The son of Gene Roddenberry, and Roddenberry Productions, has struck a deal to try and revive one of his late father’s forgotten projects.

An agreement has been reached with Ron Howard’s Imagine Television to develop ‘The Questor Tapes’.

The announcement was made by Rod Roddenberry, at the the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences TV Hall of Fame Ceremony, where Gene Roddenberry was being inducted posthumously.

Based on a 1974 Roddenberry pilot, which he scripted with Star Trek writer Gene L. Coon, it ultimately aired as a TV movie. The original “Questor” was about an android (portrayed by Robert Foxworth) with incomplete memory tapes who searched for his creator and his purpose.

A novelization, written by D. C. Fontana (another Star Trek alumna), was dedicated to Gene L. Coon, who died before the program was broadcast. (The novel and DVD of the broadcast is available at Amazon.com).

Rod said that “My father always felt that ‘Questor’ was the one that got away. He believed that the show had the potential to be bigger than ‘Star Trek.’”

In the 1970s, after the original Star Trek ended on NBC, and while developing Star Trek Phase II (which ultimately became ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’, Gene Roddenberry developed a number of sci-fi TV shows which were turned into pilot TV movies, but never picked up as series (like “Genesis II” and “Planet Earth” which are also available at Amazon on DVD).

NBC had made a 13 episode commitment, but after failing to agree on changes with Roddenberry, the project was scrapped.

Now “Questor” may be back. Rod Roddenberry will develop the project, along with Roddenberry Productions COO Trevor Roth and Imagine Television’s President David Nevins and EVP of Development Robin Gurney. The team is currently in negotiations with writer, producer and show runner Tim Minear (Lois & Clark, The X-Files, Angel, Dollhouse) to produce.

Of course there still is no guarantee that the new “Questor” will get picked up as a series, but Imagine has a good track record on TV. Imagine developed shows like 24, Friday Night Lights, Lie To Me; Arrested Development, and many more.

In closing, some bits of trivia for you. The character of Commander Data was influenced by Gene’s android.

In fact, there is a scene in the TV movie “Questor” which worked its way into the second season TNG episode “The Royale”. You may remember that during that season, due to a writer’s strike, Roddenberry drew from his ‘personal’ files, especially the ill-fated ‘Star Trek: Phase 2′ for much of Next generation’s stories.

Keep your eyes to the stars, and here for further developments!

I need your help. I am participating in a contest to become a part of the Panasonic Living in HD contest. I posted a video (shown below), but I need those of you to vote for me in the contest.

This contest could mean a lot for how Geekazine produces content. More information to the site, more opportunities to review and discuss new technologies.
Please visit and vote at: Living in HD – Why it’s important to me, Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine

O.K. I was not digging the other theme so I made up a new one. This is the new direction I am taking for the sites – different looks and different feels.

I am starting a new website called AppWild. It’s not up yet, so I won’t post links. But this will add to the portal along with Geekazine, Dorkazine, TVazine and Dayintechhistory.

ITM – hope you like the new theme. Let me know if you do or don’t so I can improve on it.

I just got an email saying that Dorkazine wasn’t working. I went to the site and it looked fine, however, after a little bit of movement around the site, I noticed that it was indeed – not working correct.

Since I was not in front of the main machine, I switched over to another theme.

Dorkazine is getting a facelift in the coming weeks, so for now, we’ll keep it in a default state until I can make the change. Sorry if this caused any inconvenience.

Thanks to Scott for sending me a note saying. You are truely a Dork…

Here’s one for all of you who have heard about the waste of electricity caused by laptops left on, or even the news of possible download caps-

Spam wastes even more electricity than leaving your computer running 24/7!

McAfee calculated that spam eats up a total of 33 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, costing roughly $3 billion a year in wasted power alone.

That is enough to power 2.4 million American homes!

Don’t forget about the money spent on spam filtering software, the loss of productivity due to users spending time deleting spam messages and finding false positives!

We should also note the losses from people who get caught up in spam-based scams, either purchasing useless or undelivered products or being the victims of a spam-based crime. After all, it’s these idiots that keep spam alive.

McAfee also found that the ‘Carbon Footprint’ of Spam suggests that spam transmission creates the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 3.1 million passenger cars using two billion gallons of gasoline each year!

The good news is that spam filtering saves 135 billion killowatt-hours of electricity that would otherwise be wasted if all users and computers went unprotected from spam.

So, if you don’t have one, go get your spam emission check, and update your filter! Go green!

Added some cool new features to Dorkazine. One of them you’ll see below. It’s a star rating system. You can now rate any article that you like or like even more.

Don’t forget – there are a lot of old articles you should probably go back and give some love to. Make them feel they are part of the Dorkazine family. Give them a “Cyber-hug” if you will.

…or just give em .25¢ and send them on their way. They’re good with that, too.

Because of the over-tired Dorkazine Staff, we decided that sleeping through April Fools day was the best thing. Therefore, we turned off our phones, threw away the alarms turned off the lights and taped Aluminum foil over all the windows. This allowed us not only to sleep the day, but also block any alien signals from getting into the house.

We at Dorkazine decided to take this action after finding out Google Chrome was creating the same April Fools Day joke that we were. We at Dorkazine were so devastated that we retreated to our rooms for hibernation of the 1st day in April.

“I cannot believe this happened” said Elesia Stone, cheif Editor. “Damn that Chrome!”

Dorkazine will be back with more cool information around the Interweb on April 2nd.

I remember when the CableCuffs showed up – being able to wrap a cable and hold it down with the cuff was a great invention. It was like Velcro, but it’s locking mechanism made it more useful in some situations. So now, picture a cuff on a hanger…

That is the Claw by Lidwig, a company that creates quick clamp technology. The Quick Clamps are great for woodworking, but the Claw is something for the everyday household.

Got a Garden hose, rope, air hose or other cable? Well, just wrap it up, put it on the Claw and hang it in the garage. Running an extension cord and want to keep it out of the way? Run it through the Claw and hang it on a nail.

The Claw is made with a Reinforced Glass Composite. That means it’s a glass fiber weaved by plastic, therefore stronger than plastic. I talked to one of their team members and they say it can hold 30 kg, or 66 lbs. If that is the case, you might even be able to hold up something like a Bicycle by using 2 clamps.

At first the site says it’s coming soon, however their Lidwig team member said I can get it through their American Distributor (EagleAmerica.com) and it says the Claw is available for order. If you are looking for a useful item that can also act as an organizer, then the Claw may be for you.

If you were to make lemonade out of lemons, this would be the way to go!

Jerry Jalava, A computer programmer in Finland lost his ring finger in a motorcycle accident. Drawing on the world of James Bond, or the 6 Million Dollar Man, perhaps, he was fitted with a prosthetic finger, embedded USB flash drive.

The USB connector’s access is behind a ‘rubber nail’. and the “finger” can come off his hand completely, so he can The finger detaches so he can work, while his USB is in port.

He’s also planning to get another prosthetic with a shell, and will have removable fingertip and RFID tag. Actually, now I’m thinking Maskatron.

Speaking of Steve Austin, there is also a Canadian documentary filmmaker, who lost an eye as a child. He says he is planning on getting a prosthetic eye with an embedded camera. Then we can get a human’s eye view of the world!

Finally, the science of the 21st century is catching up to the 70′s!