Cooking à la CPU

Its' summer. And, boy, is it hot! Have you ever thought that your PC was was hot enough to fry an egg on when you heard the fan spin up? Well, it is.

This feature comes straight from Japan courtesy of Captain Taremi. Enjoy!




Want some steak to go with your eggs? Not a problem!

Celebrate Star Trek's 50th Birthday with these Great Fan Productions

Star Trek turns 50 years old today and, while there certainly has been plenty of official stuff to buzz about (The new movie is pretty darn good and a new VOD show has tongues wagging), it is perhaps even more interesting to see what the sci-fi legend's fanatical fan-base has done with their own blood, sweat, and tears than what Trek's corporate overlords turn out.

There's another reason to check out this latest batch of homegrown movies and shows: This may be your last chance. The year-long legal kerfuffle between Axanar Productions and CBS/Paramount has led the the TV and film powerhouses to begin crafting a set of formal guidelines for fan productions. These new rules are a little... tighter than folks have been used to.  There is a very real possibility that every single entry in out little list could come under fire at any moment. In short, get 'em while they're still here!

You can read more of the Axanar case and ongoing fan film drama on AxaMonitor or any other Star Trek news site.

On with the shows!

Star Trek Continues

Much like its elder sibling, Star Trek New Voyages (Formerly Star Trek Phase II, as covered here on GUO four years ago), Star Trek Continues attempts to fill in the missing fifth year of the adventures of the NCC 1701 "No bloody A, B, C, or D". Obsessively detailed recreations of the 1960s sets go without saying, but it is the immaculate recreation of Kirk's Shatnerisms (once you get past Vic Mignogna's squeaky voice (or, if you're an anime fan, Full Metal Alchemist flashbacks)) and the genuinely thought provoking plot lines that will keep you hypnotized throughout. As a special treat, Continues even includes a direct sequel to the (in)famous episode " Mirror, Mirror" that fans of the ISS Enterprise won't want to miss!

Star Trek Horizon

A passion project three years in the making, Star Trek Horizon is a full length movie that takes us back to the Enterprise NX prequel times for a wonderful new adventure with foes both new and old.

Star Trek Renegades

If you ever wanted something truely new from the Star Trek franchise, Renegades is exactly what you've been waiting for. Forget the squeaky-clean UFP and Star Fleet, this feature follows a brutal batch of interstellar pirates drafted by a secret Federation intelligence agency to save the galaxy. In short, it's Star Trek's version of The Dirty Dozen (sans Lee Mavin but adding a Breen (I bet he wouldn't mind shaving with cold water ;) )).

NOTE: Renegades' web site seems to be in a bit more disarray than most fan features following the Axanar fallout. Here's a direct link to the feature on YouTube.

Star Trek Hidden Frontier, Odyssey, and Helena Chronicles

Fan films gained new life and new frontiers with the advent of free, online video hosting sites. Back in the early 2000s, Hidden Frontier was certainly one of the most ambitious projects leading the way. Lacking the crowd sourced cash flow of its contemporaries listed above, the original Hidden Frontier series is a little... cringe inducing to watch. Pushing past those earliest of productions, there is no arguing about the ambitious later parallel series, Odyssey and Helena Chronicles, both of which are linked by a separated homosexual male couple and share a single, epic finale.

In terms of viewing order, I'd suggest jumping into Odyssey, but save the last episode. Next, watch all of Helena Chronicles. Finally, Watch the last Odyssey episode (3.01 Tossed Upon The Shore). YouTube Playlists.

And Many, Many More

Obviously, this is quite far from an exhaustive list, just a few of my recent favorites. Hopefully this feature will inspire you to look beyond the usual sources. Star Trek has come to mean something very personal and important to many people's lives. Some of those people have the talent to share that love and take their beloved universe full of hope and imagination to new and daring places. Places where no one has gone before.

I didn’t know it did THAT! Kingwin 120mm PC Case Fan

The Green Machine’s been making a lot of racket lately. After pulling a few plugs inside my PC’s case, I narrowed it down to the 120mm exhaust fan. While I had gotten in the habit of thumping it in just the right spot on the back every 30 minutes to shut it up, the chore was getting a bit old. It was time to replace that sucker.

A quick trip out to my local TigerDirect store left me in a bit of a conundrum. They didn’t have any green LED fans. I sure as heck wasn’t putting in a red one and blue LEDs are SO blah. Then I saw it: The Kingwin 120mm Multi-Color LED Case Fan. I was suddenly struck by the most rational thought any PC pimper could have: “Why would I have just one color when I could have ALL THE COLORS!!!”. While the packaging showed the fan lit up with one color in each corner, nothing could have prepared me for the psychedelic lightshow this thing would put out upon being fed some power!

Ravetastic! Ya know, I think the 80mm fan on the top of my case is starting to make a little noise too

Homemade Rabbit Poop-Powered Flamethrower!

We’re all for reusing and repurposing over here at GUO, and if we can light up the sky doing so… Well, so much the better!

In the beginning, there was the Poop Tank. Today, there’s the flaming poopthrower. National Geographic went out to film Nick as he constructed his latest experiment in home defense. The video below covers everything from concept to explosive result.

*Warning: Video contains mild use of profanity. And crazy people.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Hits the World of Video Games

The strange viral phenomenon of posting videos of yourself dumping a bucket of ice water over your head to spread awareness of ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, formerly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) has stretched beyond the realms of reality and into the worlds of our favorite digital playthings.
GUO’s own Unpaid Intern spotted Warframe’s “greedy milk” Corpus baddies getting doused first.

Gearbox was quick to respond by offering up David Eddings, the IRL voice of the most annoying robot ever created, to the bucket.

Finally, Bungie took up the challenge, and cashed in on their own little viral in-joke, with That Bucket Came From the Moon.

I’m sure we can look forward to many more of our fantasy friends getting wet for this great cause in the weeks to come.

To date, the Ice Bucket Challenge has raised some $13 million in support of ALS. You can find out more or donate at ALSA.org.

Sharks vs Internet | Caught on Video

From Popular Science:

“Shark bites are a real threat to undersea fiber-optic cables. No, really. Google actually goes so far as to wrap its wires in a Kevlar-like material to prevent damage from sharks, a company spokesperson recently disclosed. As you can see in the video below, the animals have been known to bite cables. “

Some believe that these deep-sea eating machines are attracted to both the electric and magnetic fields emitted by underwater cables and mistakenly detect them as prey. Others simply shrug off this explanation as ‘sharks will be sharks’ and the ferocious fish would attack any ol’ chuck of plastic they find.

After previous bills from shark attack related repairs, modern cables are wrapped in a Kevlar-like material to protect them. Now if we can just get similar armoring to protect our household electronics cables from household pets.

Video Compilation showcases all 135 Space Shuttle Launches

Gone but not forgotten, NASA’s space shuttle program easily ranks as one of the crowning achievements of mankind.  Relieve all the majesty of this monumental program from STS-1 to STS-135 with YouTuber lunarmodule5’s fantastic video montage from 1981 to 2011.

She’s Finally Back! The All New ‘Sailor Moon Crystal’ is Now on Hulu

And, really, what more is there to say. After a ridiculously long absence, the legendary magical girls that inspired a generation of otaku and cosplayers is back in this new series based on the original manga! Yes folks, the heroic heroine that showed audiences around the world how even clumsy girls with bad test scores can become princesses (And not just ‘damsel in distress’ princesses, but magical, butt-kicking princesses!) from twenty years ago has returned.

Premiering July 5, 2014 and continuing to air the first and third Saturday of each month, you can catch Sailor Moon Crystal streaming on Hulu. I’ve embedded the first episode below for your convenience. Note that this initial premiere is in Japanese with English subtitles. A dubbed version is slated to be released in the future.

Know that I did have to disable my ad blocker to watch Hulu. Oh, and that high-pitched sound in the background? That’s just the Mrs. squealing with delight.

On the off chance you don’t know what all the hubbub is about, check out Wired’s surprisingly heartfelt Sailor Moon FAQ.

Is Amazon’s Fire Phone The Biggest Personal Data Harvesting Machine Yet?

So Amazon's new smartphone seems quite exciting what with it’s simulated 3D, new-ish operating system, 13mp camera, universal identification system, and Amazon Prime’s video, audio, and e-book services. Yet is there a dark side to this marvelous new piece of always online tech capable of watching, listening, locating, and recording every aspect of your daily life?

Enter Mike Elgan, current host of Tech News Today. He’s got a heaping helping of food for thought about that new Fire Phone, not the least of being “Why won’t Amazon say what they will/won’t do with all that data of yours.”

Just to lend some perspective to those unfamiliar with Mr. Elgan, I can assure you that in the past several months since he took over TNT it’s been pretty rare to see him exhibit many signs of life, let alone get so fired up on a topic. When such a mild-mannered newsman gets on his soapbox for 10 minutes, it’s probably a good idea to sit up and listen.

PBS Goes Inside the NSA’s Global Communication Syphon

See that door? Yeah, the one with no knob. Guess what’s behind it. No, not snickerdoodles. Geez, always with the cookies with you. That, my friends, is where the NSA server lives that copies every single 1 and 0 to pass through AT&T.

If you’re at all interested or concerned about the state of affairs involving the NSA kindly backing up all of your data (And you should be), you’ll definitely want to check out the “United States of Secrets” feature from PBS’ Frontline series.

Part One-“The Program” is a two hour feature that traces the origins of things like PRISIM back to the original engineers and concepts following the 9-11 attacks on the U.S. Part Two-“Privacy Lost” is a much more digestible one hour program that covers the modern incarnations of these systems as we understand them from the Snowden leaks.

Check out United States of Secrets on PBS.org

And let me just add one little proverb from the Undernet for those of you who think you have nothing to hide: “Anything that can be saved, can be stolen.”

It’s no coincidence that my little vacation from the Internet last year coincided with the breaking revelations about how the democracies of the free world had conspired with the tech giants of the Information Age to create an international spying system on a scale larger than anything yet dreamed up by science fiction writers. Honestly, if it weren’t for the gentle urgings of the family, I probably wouldn’t be writing this now. You have to be a special kind of crazy to still be posting on the ‘Net these days. Still, here I am. But not without a good deal more awareness, a good deal more software, and one heck of a rewrite on the back end of this little site for all our sakes.

At least I’m not carrying a smartphone *shiver* Seriously, that thing isn’t just the biggest security problem you have, but it makes you REALLY freaking annoying to have a conversation with.

Yeah, I’m about one Wikileaks away from moving into a shack in the swamp. Still, there are reasons GUO named You and Me the #1 Tech Turkey for 2013.

So what can we as lazy, convenience loving, connected people do? Use ad blocking plugins, enable your browser’s do not track function, use some kind of basic online security such as HTTPS Everywhere, and stay informed (I recommend the EFF). All of that is REAL easy to do.

Mario Kart Mercedes DLC Spawns This Must See Japanese Commercial

Japanese Mario Kart 8 owners are in for a a little dose of advert-gaming when a free Mercedes GLA DLC drops later this year. Ya know what’s stranger than turning laps in a Mercedes against opponents in go-karts? This car commercial tie-in. Enjoy!

Minecraft Sales Hit 14 Million on PC, 10 Milion on Xbox 360, and A Whole Bunch More on Mobile

So… Minecraft. You might have heard of it. Seems to be popular. Since its alpha debut as a java-based browser plugin the survival-adventure-LEGO set has sold 14 million copies for personal computer systems. This is especially astonishing when you consider that the creator’s own minecraft.net remains the only place to purchase it since the original release in 2009.

Furthermore, a port of the game to the Xbox 360 by 4J Studios has sold another 10 million copies in 2013. A PS3 version was released in December of that year and sold one million units in its first week. Adding to the already incredible sales number, Minecraft Pocket Edition has racked up another 11 million on iOS and Android back in May of 2013 when the company stopped giving out sales figures. Still, Minecraft Pocket has never left the top paid charts of either app store since release.

Don’t get Minecraft or just want to gush along with the masses? Below you’ll find Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, the feature-length Kickstartered documentary of the Minecraft phenomenon by 2Player Productions.

Robot and Lightning Shooting Tesla Coils Play the Theme to Pacific Rim

Okay, I’m working on a series of features to run all next week, but I need some more time to get ‘em all squared away. I’m a little rusty, my PC’s just been reloaded, The Mrs. is home on vacation, I don’t like working with people in the room, and this f*&(#ing cat won’t stop biting me. So, in the meantime, please welcome back ArcAttack to GUO and enjoy this video featuring an awesome robot and two lightning spitting tesla coils performing the theme to Guillermo del Toro’s homage to classic Japanese giant monster movies, Pacific Rim.

Pikachu Blows Up in Summer Fireworks Festival

The explosive artists behind the Itabashi Fireworks Festival in Japan popped the top off a celebrity guest star at their 2013 show. This latest show’s finale featured fireworks cunningly created in the forms of Pokeballs and the very familiar visage of none other than everyone’s favorite high voltage rat-thing, Pikachu. Electrifying!

Now Robots are Taking Jobs Away from Dogs Too

The future is fast approaching where everyone’s job will be taken by some form of machine leaving us all to unemployed and unable to afford robots to do our work for us. But it is not just mankind who stands on the edge of obsolescence. Check out this footage from New Zealand where man’s best friend has been usurped by man’s second best friend; The remote control car.

Get Your Cola REALLY Cold With Bottles Made of Ice

Coca-Cola is testing a new method of bottling its bubbly beverage in Colombia with bottles made out of ice. A silicone band keeps these frozen drink containers cooling your soda while saving your fingers from frostbite.

While these new ice bottles are being spun as being eco-friendly, critics (ie. crybabies who don’t know how to have fun) point out that the electricity costs needed to ensure the bottle remain solid until sold outweighs any ecological savings gained.

Hands On With NASA’s Robonaut

CNet’s Always On went hands on with NASA recently turned on hands of their robotic astronaut.

Team Fortress 2 meets Surgeon Simulator 2013

The folks over at the studio that made Surgeon Simulator released an update yesterday for free that gives you a new mission to enjoy. This mission is a scene from Team Fortress' Meet the Medic video where your the Medic and your mission is to take Heavy's heart and turn it into the Uber-Charged Heart.

Sony Xbones Microsoft Over Online DRM

Three news briefs later and I still have questions over the online DRM issues and workarounds for giving away my old Xbox One games to friends. Fortunately, Sony produced this instructional video so I wouldn’t have any questions about how to handle my PS4 discs.

Contest Abuse Leads to Epic Kung Fu Beer Commercial With Jackie Chan and Shokotan | Weekend Watchlist

Kirin breweries ran a contest called Nodogoshi Yume no Dream that invited “Ordinary Joes” to submit their dreams for a chance to make them come true. The result was a series of commercials that featured winners fulfilling said desires and becoming a fashion models, rock stars, and dining with sumo wrestlers for use in a series of commercials promoting Kirin’s new Nodogoshi Draft beer.

Kazuo Ishida dreams big. Not content to enter a single request, Ishida submitted a series of 39 dreams that outlined his vision of staring in a kung fu flick (Dream #1) where he faced off against his “buddy from university” (Dream #4) along side Hong Kong cinema legend Jackie Chan (Dream #2) and the Internet’s “New Queen of the Blogs” Shoko Nakagawa (Dream #3).

Kirin took up the challenge. The cast from Ishida’s dreams was assembled and flown out to Shanghai to produce this 6-minute, kung fu epic featuring everything you’d expect from the genre: Wirework stunts, fights using furniture and vegetables, a training montage, Chan’s traditional outtake reel during the end credits, and even heroic theme music to cheer on Kazuo Ishida in his darkest hour.

At the premiere of the featurette, Shokotan reportedly burst into tears and bowed to Ishida. As fate would have it, the production fulfilled not just this Ordinary Joe’s dream, but a dream of the Japanese idol as well. Shoko had always dreamed of working with Jackie Chan.

What follows is Ishida’s original 39 dreams: