Why Isn’t This Guy on the Discovery Channel?

…or at least the Science Channel.The furry bearded guy above calls himself VSauce and he’s very smart. Well, he comes off very smart in his YouTube videos. He discusses a lot of really interesting science topics. Take the scientific portion of Mr. Wizard and mix a bit of Bill Nye the Science Guy and you have VSauce.

Topics range from why we dream to how much the internet weighs. This is exactly what your children need to be watching, not four hours of Sponge Bob. Wouldn’t it be nice if would be nice if television programming were actually scientifically informative beyond the most superficial level?

Source: Reddit

Like Free Stuff… Free Broken Stuff?

Picture not related, but isn't Tux cute?

That’s right folks, free stuff! Maybe. ThinkGeek is considering giving away all their junk returns to those that are interested in doing something with them. I’m not sure what we’ll use this stuff for, but we’ll figure something out when/if this gets instituted.

From ThinkGeek…

We have a problem. And it’s growing at a rate proportional to our return pile.

We can’t, in good conscience, resell damaged electronics. And we can’t donate them to charity–the saddest kid in the world is one with a handheld video game that won’t turn on. Garbage, then? Not good for the environment.

Luckily for us, there’s an entire class of scavengers out there ready to pick the bones of our helicopters, keyboards, and interactive t-shirts: hackers, makers, and crafty techy types.

Whether it’s in a school’s technology lab, or a FIRST Robotics team, or your neighborhood hackerspace, we’re betting somebody out there would enjoy getting a box of broken stuff from us every couple of months–and then use the parts and piecesfor good, not evil.

Hit the link here to find out more and sign up for consideration.

Knock-Off iPad – I’ll buy that for $150

At Steve Jobs’ last keynote speech, he introduced us to the Apple iPad. It was sleek, mobile, and considerably more than I wanted to pay for a giant iPhone. No longer do I have to worry about buying a big screen iPhone as China Grabber is now selling the iPed here. The iPed is a knock-off product made in Shenzhen, China at the Foxconn plant, which just so happens to be the same place that manufactures the iPhone.

Personally, I’d prefer this to the iPhone as it comes with Android OS installed which keeps Jobs and his cronies from locking out features I’m sure to like. Also, I’m cheap, and being a cheapskate, $150.00 is perfect for this hardware. Check out the video below so see how it works, it’s in Japanese, so good luck understanding the dialogue.

AT&T Restructures Wireless Data Plans

That’s right folks, the honchos at AT&T have decided that offering Unlimited Data packages are not profitable enough, and have decided to implement pay-per-byte data plans. Gizmodo reported back in March that this sin against geeks was coming, we just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.  Below is a chart showing the classic plans vs. the new, and from the looks of it, anyone who wants to tether their phone or iPad to another device is going to get ripped off, big time.

After speaking with an AT&T representative, we’ve found that the pay-per-byte data plans will  apply only to new contracts. Meaning, if you currently have an unlimited data plan, you’re fine as long as  you keep renewing the contract indefinitely. I guess all the people who thought they would wait to buy an iPad won’t be getting the $30 a month unlimited data plan that was pushed so hard at launch.

The Rep. also stated that they will begin offering the new packages on June 7th. Do you think it coincidence that they change the data plans the same day of Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote? Will we be hearing of a launch date for the iPhone 4G? Perhaps this whole data restructure is AT&T is preparing to cash-in with another influx of iPhone customers playing with every web service they can find an app for.

Although AT&T is the first Wireless provider to switch to this new formula, you can be sure that the others will be following suit shortly.

(edit) We just got a hold of this graphic, thought we’d share:

Mini Calendar for 2010

When I worked in an office I was always given one of those ginormous calendars to put on my wall and use for appointment tracking. In all honesty I wrote in it maybe three times as I rarely use analog writing devices anymore. If you’re like me, you probably only use it to check what day specific events are falling on, right? Well, there is no longer any need to waste valuable wall space that can be better used to mount posters of mildly SFW models, (or pictures of your kids and family if you’re into that type of crap). Grafish Design came up with The Small Calendar, and the method of usage is simple. Start with the date, say the 19th, then follow that column until you intersect with the desired month: March 19th will be on a Friday! Months are handily color coded for length, too. Follow the link to check out their page.

Link