Cosmic Networks Updates

Google unveils new Gmail Google Voice Calling feature

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:19:25 GMT

Starting today, Google is giving you the ability to call any phone from your computer through Gmail. All you need to do is download a plug-in app on to your computer and you can dial phone numbers straight from your Gmail screen.

Granted, if you have your mobile phone with you, why would you bother using Gmail to make a call? Sure, you could have a weak signal at the house for your mobile phone or you just don’t want to get up from behind your computer to get your phone. Regardless, it’s neat to have the ability to place a call through Gmail. This is the next iteration of Gizmo5 technology and is another good improvement to the Google Voice service. This puts Google Voice as a Skype competitor now, because people don’t need access to their phone to make and receive calls anymore.

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of this year with calls to other countries being charged as little as $.02 a minute. If you have a Google Voice Number, calls made from Gmail will display this number as the outbound ID. You can also choose to receive incoming calls to your Google Voice Number through Gmail.

The new calling feature will be rolled out to Gmail users over the next few days and when active, you’ll see a “Call Phone” feature listed under your chat column. You can get all the details at http://gmail.com/call

Join us for our interview with Andy Abramson, the Founder of Comunicano on “Tech Talk Live”August 25, 2010, at 8 p.m. Eastern

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:12:45 GMT

Berlin, Maryland — August 24, 2010 — Andy Abramson, the founder of Comunicano, an internet marketing company will appear on “Tech Talk Live” (http://go.cosmicthings.com/liveandy/) with hosts Jamie Welch, Nancy Raskauskas, Jackson Berger, and Bobby Schaeffer on Wednesday, August 25, 2010, at 8 p.m. Eastern. The exclusive interview will highlight what Comunicano is all about and how they typically market a product.

Andy Abramson, founder and CEO of Comunicano, Inc., is an IP communications guru, electronic gadget maven, world traveler and blogger extraordinaire (http://andyabramson.blogs.com/voipwatch/). A veteran of the media, marketing and public relations industries, Abramson has over 34 years of experience in all facets of marketing and corporate communications. He started his career in the marketing department of a professional sports team in his native Philadelphia at age 14 and has been at it ever since.

During his career Abramson has worked with numerous clients and corporations that include traditional package goods products and manufacturing companies; developed and promoted sports, entertainment events and place-based properties; worked for professional and amateur sports organizations and with leading entertainment figures, companies and organizations. He has helped launch a record label and marketed companies in the new economy and technology sectors in both the United States and internationally. Along the way he has held positions ranging from Communications Officer and Executive Director, to President and CEO. His diverse array of clients have included apparel, financial services, online marketplaces, meta-mediaries, mobile, telecommunications, technology, food products to an assortment of media, entertainment and sports properties including teams, athletes, celebrities and facilities.

Since 1994 Andy has also served as a Senior Marketing and Strategy Consultant to more than a seventy-five startups and B2B, B2C and C2C companies that sell and market products and services over the web.

Prior to establishing Comunicano in 1993 Abramson guided The Upper Deck Company’s Public Relations and Sports Marketing efforts from 1991 to the fall of 1992 following a two year stint in Account Management with Foote, Cone & Belding’s IMPACT group. There he developed and implemented Integrated Marketing programs for a wide range of clients. His advertising and promotional agency role followed a 14 year career in sports marketing with the Philadelphia Wings, Denver Nuggets and the Philadelphia Flyers where he served in a variety of capacities ranging from Group Sales Representative, Office Manager and eventually President of the team’s youth hockey operation, Hockey Central/Office of Amateur Hockey Affairs from 1976-1988, where he established over 25 programs that remain active today.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (347) 996-3134. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page at http://live.cosmicthings.com/.

“This exclusive interview with Andy Abramson is a must-listen for anyone with a knack for business,” said Jamie, host of the program.

An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page.

About “Tech Talk Live”
“Tech Talk Live” is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on technology news and software. Hosts Jamie Welch, Nancy Raskauskas, Jackson Berger, and Bobby Schaeffer explore the world of Technology every week. Callers are encouraged to call (347) 996-3134 to listen or ask questions of Andy. The stream and archives are available at http://live.cosmicthings.com. The show is live every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern/ 5 p.m. PT. The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio.

Additional Press Tools:

Andy Abramson Interview Promotional Flyer

Tech Talk Logo

# # #

Press Contact
Jamie Welch
(317) 426-7642
info@cosmicthings.com

Lair of the Shadowbroker DLC details revealed

Mark Gee — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:50:08 GMT

For those who don’t know, a new DLC for Mass Effect 2 has been announced. This DLC, Lair of the Shadowbroker, is the follow-up to the plot thread of Liara in Illium. This new pack of missions will include new research options, five new achievements, and access to the Shadow Broker’s Intel center, whatever that is. Hopefully, this DLC will be longer than the others, and have a better storyline. only time will tell. The link to the article in The Escapist is below. Be warned, it uses graphic language and has various references to sex.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102972-BioWare-Details-Lair-of-the-Shadowbroker

Ten ways to use your Cosmic Blog for teaching

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:00:55 GMT

There are many ways you can use a blog in your teaching, here are ten to get you started:

1. Post materials and resources

The web is a fantastic tool when it comes to distributing resources – all you have to do on your blog is upload, or copy and paste, your materials to your blog and they’ll be instantly accessible by your student from school and from home. What’s more, you can easily manage who gets to access them through password and plugin safety measures.

2. Host online discussions

If you’ve ever struggled to create an online discussion space – you’re going to love what Cosmic Blogs will do for you. Students can simply respond to blog posts and discuss topics you’ve set them through comments of through our simple forum functionality – commentators can also sign up to receive emails when their comments are replied to and you can easily manage and edit all responses through your blog’s administrative panel.

3. Create a class publication

Do you remember the good old days of class newspapers? Well, they just got a lot easier with your blog – you can add students as contributors, authors and even editors in order to produce a custom designed, finely tuned and engaging collaborative online publication by your class.

4. Replace your newsletter

Always enjoyed photocopying and stapling pages and pages of newsletters on a Friday afternoon? Thought not! It’s ridiculously simple to post class information, news, events and more on your blog

5. Get your students blogging

It’s all very good sending your students off to blog sites, or even creating them for them, but you need to operate as a hub for their work and a place where they can easily visit each others blogs from. Your blog can be used to glue together your students blogs, and besides which, if you’re asking your students to blog… you should certainly be doing it yourself.

6. Share your lesson plans

We all love planning and admin, right? Well, using a blog can turn planning and reflection on classes into a genuinely productive – and even collaborative – experience. Sharing your plans, your reflections, your ideas and your fears with other educators both at your school and around the world using an edublog is a great way to develop as a teacher, and a brilliant use of a blog.

7. Integrate multimedia of all descriptions

With a couple of clicks you can embed online video, multimedia presentations, slideshows and more into your blog and mix it up with your text and static resources. No cds required, no coding necessary – just select the video, podcasts or slidecast you’d like to use and whack it in your blog to illustrate, engage and improve your teaching toolbox.

8. Organise, organise, organise

You don’t only have to use your blog as a pedagogue… you can equally easily use the tools to organise everything from sports teams in your school, to rehearsals for the upcoming production. You can set up as many blogs as you like, (approval required) so don’t be afraid to use a dedicated one for a dedicated event – your can even use it as a record to look back on down the line.

9. Get feedback

There’s nothing that says you can’t allow anonymous commenting on a blog (although you’re also entirely within your rights to put all comments through moderation!) but why not think about using a blog as a place for students – and even parents, to air issues, leave feedback or generally tell you how great you are.

10. Create a fully functional website

One of the great things about blogs are that they are much, much more than just blogging tools. In fact, you can use your blog to create a multi-layered, in-depth, multimedia rich website – that hardly looks like a blog at all. So, if you’d rather create a set of static content, archive of important information or even index for your library – you can bend a Cosmic Blog to suit your needs.

If you need help setting up the perfect learning environment for your class, email us at support@cosmicthings.com or visit http://cosmicthings.com/helpdesk/ and we will get you up and running in no time!

Intel to Buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion In Cash

Bobby Schaeffer, Vice President of Editing and Design — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:38:07 GMT

On Thursday, Intel entered an agreement to buy tthe security software giant McAfee for $7.7 billion in cash. With this deal, Intel hopes to expand the security department of the company. The deal states that Intel will pay $48 per share of McAfee, a 60 percent increase of $29.93, their closing stock price on Wednesday.

“In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements,” Paul Otellini, Intel’s CEO said in a statement. “Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.”

With its purchase of McAfee, Intel is entering the tech security market, one that is expected to grow quickly. Based in Santa Clara, California, McAfee reported about $2 billion in profit last year.

Halo: Reach The Battle Begins Trailer

Mark Gee — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:55:42 GMT

After I posted the Halo: Reach Literal Trailer, I realized that many people might not have seen the original trailer. The name of the trailer is The Battle Begins, and it is a glimpse of some of the awesome moments that we are sure to experience when Halo: Reach comes out. Here is a link to the trailer on YouTube

Click here to view the embedded video.

Halo: Reach Literal Trailer

Mark Gee — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:39:42 GMT

If you are a gamer like me, you have probably heard of the Halo franchise. Heck, even if you are not a gamer, you have probably heard of the Halo franchise for all of the controversy it has caused. Now, with the new Halo game coming out, Halo: Reach, some fans decided to make a joke out of all of the trailers that come out around launch time. Enter Tobuskus, the creator of the Halo: Reach Literal Trailer. This trailer takes the actual trailer, and adds a voice over of Tobuskus singing what is going on in the trailer. The link to the video is below.

Halo: Reach Literal Trailer on Youtube

All Systems Go!

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:47:27 GMT

We’re now back online and the move of the blogs is complete!

Downtime Now

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:12:22 GMT

We’re moving the blogs to subdomains rather than subdirectories and will be down this evening. No return time is known at this time, but please stay tuned.

Breaking: Yes, Virginia, there really is a Microsoft Tablet.

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:20:25 GMT

Who knew that, while we were kvetching about Microsoft abandoning the Courier and the HP tablet and drooling and ogling over the ipad,there were several Windows 7 Tablets being born (such as Australian Pioneer Computers and Motion Computing F5 Tablet PC).
And out comes this video of the Hanvon (never heard of them) Windows 7 Tablet vs. the iPad. And, by the way, the Hanvon, as you can see, kills the ipad with many functions. it also has a camera, usb port, and SD card reader,a trackpad(even thought it has a touch screen) and…drumroll… Flash! Some of the only things iPad came out ahead was in the gestures, general video quality (not load speed) and typing on the keyboard. The app menu was easier to use on the iPad as Microsoft still uses the archaic start menu list.
It is suspected that these (and there appear to be a few other Windows 7 contenders out there) will show up in the marketplace by the end of this year. So, yes, Virginia there really is a Microsoft Tablet that may be delivered by Santa Claus.

At any rate, take a look at this video that was found on the internet and let us know what you think:

Breaking: Google And Verizon Announce Joint Policy

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:15:24 GMT

Yesterday, after all the speculation had come to a head, Goole and Verizon, who had last month announced that they would be meeting in private to “discuss” Open Internet Policy, thus eschewing the FCC, came out with a rather startling, to many, announcement of their “Joint Policy for an Open Internet”.
Here is a statement posted on the Washington Post.
There is additional information from Google’s Public Policy Blog .
And perhaps you might like to read another lengthy commentary on PC World which ends with a short statement from the FCC on this issue of Google and Verizon teaming up to establish rules for “open internet”.

From Google and Verizon, a path to an open Internet

By Eric Schmidt and Ivan Seidenberg
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
We have spent much of the past year trying to resolve our differences over the thorny issue of “network neutrality.” This hasn’t been an easy process, and Google and Verizon are neither regulators nor legislators. But as leaders in our respective fields, we have searched for workable public policies that serve consumer interests and create a climate for investment and innovation. What has kept us at the table and moving toward compromise was our mutual interest in a robust Internet and our recognition that progress would occur only when players from across the Internet space work together
The proposal we outlined Monday as a suggested policy framework for lawmakers translates these principles into a fully enforceable broadband Internet policy. In developing this framework, we were guided by two principles: our commitment to an open Internet, and the need for continued investment in broadband infrastructure, which is critical to U.S. global competitiveness.

First, our policy framework states that consumers should be able to choose any lawful content, services or applications they want; in other words, they can choose whatever Internet service they want, go to whatever legal Web sites they want, and use whatever software or applications they want. Our companies have long supported the FCC’s openness principles toward wireline broadband, and we also believe that blocking and degrading Internet traffic is antithetical to the principle of openness and to consumers’ expectations.

Consumers also should be able to access the Internet free from discrimination that is harmful to users or competition. Our proposed policy presumes that prioritization of Internet traffic — such as slowing down delivery of one video file so another’s arrives more quickly — is harmful. Further, we agree that transparency with users is key and that all broadband providers, including wireless providers, should be required to share with their customers in concise, plain language information that explains the kinds of Internet access services they are receiving and the provider’s traffic management practices. But Internet service providers should also have a fair amount of flexibility to manage their networks and the opportunity to provide additional services — such as telework applications, health monitoring services or optimized gaming — so long as these services do not affect consumers’ ability to simply access their favorite sites over the open Internet offerings that this framework would protect.

With respect to wireless broadband networks, we agree that the rapidly evolving wireless Internet is a different kind of network, with unique technical and operational challenges, demanding different consideration than wireline networks. Notably, the 4G network that Verizon also is building on the recently auctioned 700 megahertz spectrum is already subject to open Internet rules. This nascent marketplace for wireless broadband should be allowed to develop further before applying a new set of rules. That said, we believe that wireless providers should be fully transparent about their practices, and Congress should regularly evaluate the state of the wireless market to protect consumers’ interests.
Since the April court ruling that questioned the FCC’s right to penalize Comcast for slowing Internet traffic, the FCC’s authority over broadband service providers has been unclear. Our policy proposal spells out clear FCC authority for enforcement against bad actors. We propose a case-by-case adjudication model for determining harm to users or competition. The FCC should be authorized to stop bad practices, such as slowing Internet traffic or blocking legal applications or services, and to hit knowing violators with injunctions and substantial fines. At the same time — consistent with the Internet’s long history of self-governance — our framework would encourage parties in dispute to first consider using a nongovernmental resolution process to resolve their differences.

We believe this public policy framework empowers an informed consumer, ensures the robust growth of the open Internet and provides incentives to strengthen the networks that carry Internet traffic.

There are hundreds of millions of Internet users in the United States, and no two companies should be so presumptuous as to think they can solve this challenge alone. It is up to policymakers to establish broadband policy for the country. We are eager to work with Congress, the FCC and other interested parties to get this right. We hope that our proposal provides some concrete ideas to move this process forward.

Here at Last-The New Mac Pro Line

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:19:34 GMT

The Mac Pro Line was definitely long overdue for an upgrade from Apple. The new Mac Pro is here for you at last, if you can afford it. The new Mac Pro features Intel’s latest quad-core and 6-core Xeon processors, actually giving you up to 12 cores and offering 50 percent greater performance over the preceding Mac Pro. Clock speeds on the quad-core model are up to 2.8 GHz, while the 8-core model gets bumped to 2.4 GHz for each processor.
The Mac Pro also features new ATI graphics delivered via ATI Radeon HD 5770 or HD 5870 graphics processors. Want improved Memory with that? No problem. Buyers now have the option of maxing out RAM to 32GB and HDD space to 4TB and configuring it with up to four 512GB SSDs.
“But at what cost” you query ? The baseline quad-core model costs $2499,the 8-core model costs $3499, and the 12-core $4999. Add a 24″ Cinema display at $799 to that and congratulations to all who can afford it. Oh, and a new 27″ cinema display will be out in September.

But an expansion looks to be an easier task on the new Mac Pro. Just remove the side panel for instant access to everything. Slide out the processor tray to add memory. Slide out drive bays to add storage. Slide a simple bar to change up to four expansion cards at once. And there are plenty of I/O ports both front and back, you’ll have room for all your external devices.

Other new features for the advanced tech savvy include:

1. Turbo Boost – automatically boosts the processor clock speed based on workload. If you’re using an application that doesn’t need every core, Turbo Boost increases the speed of the active ones, up to 3.33GHz on a 12-core Mac Pro, and up to 3.6GHz on a 6-core system.
2.QuickPath Interconnect — gives the Intel Xeon processors quick access to the disk, I/O, and other Mac Pro subsystems. In dual-processor Mac Pro models, there’s a QuickPath Interconnect between the two processors as well. This connection acts as a direct pipeline, so processor-to-processor data doesn’t need to travel to the I/O hub first. It’s another way the Mac Pro boosts performance across the board.
3.ENERGY STAR 5.0- sets significantly higher efficiency limits for power supplies and aggressive limits for the computer’s typical annual power consumption.
4.Hyper-Threading- allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core. So, for example, a 12-core Mac Pro presents 24 virtual cores that are recognized by Mac OS X. Performance is enhanced because Hyper-Threading enables the processor to take better advantage of the execution resources available in each core.
5.Single-die, 64-bit architecture- makes 8MB or 12MB of fully shared L3 cache readily available to each of the processor cores. The result is fast access to cache data and greater application performance. Combine that with the other technological advances and you get a Mac Pro that’s up to 1.5x faster than the previous generation.1

Is Apple prepping for a Verizon iPhone?

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:27:25 GMT

Rumor has it that Apple is buying millions of CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone launch, according to TechCrunch.

The tech blog published a story Sunday saying that unnamed sources said Apple ordered millions of CDMA chips from Qualcomm in what looks like preparation for a Verizon Wireless iPhone. TechCrunch said that the chipset order is due for December, which could mean a January launch for a Verizon iPhone.

AT&T and all the other carriers around the world that are selling the iPhone use a network technology called GSM. Verizon Wireless uses a competing technology called CDMA. The main supplier of CDMA chips is Qualcomm. So if Apple is indeed buying CDMA chipsets, then it would make sense that it might be developing a Verizon iPhone.

Speculation about a potential Verizon iPhone has popped up periodically since the iPhone’s runaway success began in 2007. It’s been reported that Verizon originally turned down the exclusive rights to offer the phone due to unappealing demands from Apple. Recently, there’s been much talk about Verizon possibly offering the iPhone in January.

Whether Verizon will get an iPhone has never really been in question–rather it’s been a question of when. I’ve said in the past that I believe such an iPhone wouldn’t be available until next summer at the earliest, since a Verizon iPhone would likely support Verizon’s new 4G technology, LTE.

That network is expected to be launched by the end of the year. At first it will be available in a handful of markets. Typically the way these network launches go is that data cards for laptops are developed first. And then about a year later handsets come on the market with chips supporting the new technology. So if the LTE market develops as previous wireless technologies have developed, the soonest a commercial LTE chip would be available would be summer of 2011.

But there is a chance that development of the LTE chips for smartphones has picked up momentum. A CDMA/LTE version of the iPhone giving it access to both a 3G and 4G network would be a home run for Verizon.

Of course, there is also the possibility that Apple is developing another type of product for Verizon’s wireless network. At this point, it’s too early to tell. Even TechCrunch is hedging its bets on the rumors.

“I can’t say with 100% accuracy that an iPhone will hit Verizon store shelves in January, but all of the signals point that way,” writes Steve Cheney in his TechCrunch post. “I may be proven wrong, but based on my history dealing with components and selling to Apple, a Verizon-compatible iPhone looks to be a done deal.”

Alleged Facebook stakeholder explains that he “forgot” about his investment

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:01:09 GMT

Paul Ceglia, the man who is suing Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he’s rightfully owed an 84% stake in Facebook, has offered up an answer to the burning question of why he would wait more than six years to come forward. Quite simply, Ceglia forgot about the contract until he went digging through files looking for things to sell as he faced lawsuits for fraud, according to a Bloomberg report.

Last fall, Ceglia was arrested and faced charges from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that he had committed fraud by taking $200,000 in prepaid orders for his wood pellet business, and then failing to deliver the goods. It was those events, Ceglia now says, that sent him looking through his old files.

In his interview with Bloomberg, Ceglia said:

If this thing hadn’t happened the way it happened, no way I would have ever started looking through these ancient folders.

The contract would just be sitting in there gathering dust.

Ceglia’s memory of a contract apparently wasn’t jogged by all the hype over the years surrounding the social networking giant and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

The document that caused this dispute is a contract Ceglia says Zuckerberg signed, which not only covered software development work Zuckerberg did for a website Ceglia was creating, but also allegedly his $1,000 investment in the development of Facebook. That investment, he claims, entitled him originally to a 50% stake in the company, but ultimately reached an alleged 84% share when taking into account penalties for Zuckerberg’s failure to get the Facebook site built on time.

Facebook has previously said the lawsuit is frivolous and without merit, and Zuckerberg himself said he did not sign a contract with Ceglia that would give him control of Facebook.

With Facebook now worth in excess an estimated $20 billion, a lot is at stake for Zuckerberg, the company’s employees and its other investors.

Skype Files for IPO

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:55:59 GMT

Skype, the Internet telephony company, is looking to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering, according to an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will be selling American Depositary Shares (ADSs) and will trade on the NASDAQ Global Market. The offering will be managed by Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and others. The offering was widely viewed as in the cards, though I admit it came sooner than I thought.

Skype’s decision to go public is a result of the company turning into a cash machine. It currently has 560 million registered users and about 124 million of them are active on monthly basis, while about 8.1 million of them are monthly paying users — who on average pay $96 a year for the service. Any increase in the number of average monthly paying users is going to help the company erase any losses and goose up its revenues.

For the first six months of 2010, Skype reported revenue of $406 million, and net income of $13.2 million. During 2009, Skype had sales of $719 million and a loss of $99 million. Skype’s revenues are only going to accelerate as the company’s deals with folks like Verizon Wireless and television makers such as Samsung and LG start paying off.

The company had 6.4 million billing minutes during the first six months of 2010, versus 10.7 billion minutes during 2009. The company logged 88.4 billion Skype-to-Skype minutes so far in 2010, versus 113 billion Skype-to-Skype minutes in 2009. This shows that with time, the network effect only compounds usage, which is a good thing for the company. Even a fractional increase in the usage can translate into billable minutes.

All this isn’t without risk, as Skype notes in the S-1.

We have historically derived a substantial portion of our net revenues from a single product—SkypeOut. For the pro forma year ended December 31, 2009 and for the six months ended June 30, 2010, 86% and 87% of our pro forma net revenues and net revenues, respectively, were derived from the use of SkypeOut. Due to this dependence on SkypeOut as our primary source of net revenues, we are subject to an elevated risk of reduced demand for our SkypeOut product.

Why the huge gap between the number of registered and paying users, as noted above? For one, Skype says that not all registered users are unique users.

The actual number of registered users however is likely to be lower, potentially significantly, for two primary reasons. First, some legitimate users may register more than once and therefore have more than one account. Second, we experience irregular registration activities, some of which we believe are the result of fraudulent activities that involve the creation of a significant number of spurious user accounts.

The S-1 does not describe who is selling how many shares and who actually stands to make the most amount of money — though I suspect we’ll hear that in coming months. Either way, the Skype IPO has the makings of one of those hot deals — one that has a dash of irrationality attached to it.

Google acquires Slide, Wants To Build More “Social” Web

Bobby Schaeffer, Vice President of Editing and Design — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:57:37 GMT

Google has purchased Slide, founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and makes widgets that help people express themselves, for $228 million. This seems like their next stem in creating a huge social network that will rival Facebook in years to come. Google’s message regarding the acquisition was rather vague, and not much is known about the deal as of now.However, Google does want to incorporate the acquisition with Google Games, the cornerstone of which is their deal with Zynga, makers of the Facebook game Farmville.

Samsung, Toshiba and Others Accused of LCD Screen Price Fixing

Bobby Schaeffer, Vice President of Editing and Design — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:45:37 GMT

Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp, LG and other major electronics companies have been accused by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of fixing, or causing a change in price, on their LCD screens. It is reported that these companies had secret meetings to discuss the minimum prices, increases, and rates of LCD screens that were to be sold to computer manufactures.

“Our investigation shows that an illegal cartel eliminated competition in the marketplace for LCD screens, made its own secret decisions to boost prices, and then took steps to make those high prices stick,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “As a result, hard-pressed New York cities, towns, schools and hospitals spent hundreds of millions of dollars on LCD screens affected by the illegal conspiracy. My office is bringing this case to get those illegal overcharges back.” said Cuomo regarding the lawsuit.

Of the companies associated in the lawsuit Hitachi, LG, Toshiba, Sharp, AU Optronics and Chi Mei did not respond to a request for a comment. An official from Samsung said it was company policy not to comment on any pending legal issues. The lawsuit also claims that the companies created reports to make it seem as if the price raises were due to supply and demand. The case is being handled by assistant attorneys General John Ioannou and Geralyn J. Trujillo and Acting Chief of the Antitrust Bureau Richard L. Schwartz, under the supervision of Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Michael Berlin and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Maria Vullo.

All Systems Go!

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:29:15 GMT

The database lock has been lifted and we are back to normal on the Cosmic Networks.

Cosmic Blogs Database Lock Planned

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:21:18 GMT

Cosmic Blogs will go into a database lock from 12 noon on July 30th until approximately 6pm on July 30. A database lock means that the blog will be read only; ie, changes will not be saved. This is meant to allow the site to stay online while we preform some changes. Even with this precaution in place, the site may be down periodically throughout the day tomorrow. Stay tuned to http://status.cosmicthings.com for the latest news and information.

Welcome to Cosmic Blogs 3.0

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:08:42 GMT

Cosmic Blogs has now been updated to its latest version, 3.0, and we’re still ironing out the bugs, so please be patient with us and report any problems that you see to support@cosmicthings.com. We will be going in and out of maintenance mode throughout the next few days to complete upgrades. We hope that these upgrades will hope to make Cosmic Blogs more reliable. An update to BuddyPress, our social networking software for the blogs, is coming soon and more details will be posted on that in the next few days. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Team Fortress 2 Engineer Update

Mark Gee — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:16:47 GMT

Recently, Valve released an update to their game, Team Fortress 2, in which there were random drops of golden wrenches. Valve also released at the same time the knowledge that an announcement and patch would be released every time 25 golden wrenches were found. They also said that the max amount of golden wrenches would be 100, and anyone who received one would be tracked on a special website, whose link is below.

http://www.teamfortress.com/engineerupdate/wrenchlog/

the four days of updates go as such:

Engineer Update: Day One. They announced the golden wrenches, told about the amount of them, and hinted towards future updates. They also revealed one gun, the Frontier justice. It was a replacement for the shotgun. It’s specials were the fact that the gun has 50% less of a magazine, and does not do random criticals. “Then what good is the gun?” you might ask. Well, instead of random crits, you get revenge crits. One of these is triggered when the engineers sentry gun is destroyed. Also, you get two crits for every kill with your sentry gun, and one crit for every assistt. All in all, the gun is really good. A link to the release is below.

http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4026&p=1

Engineer Update: Day Two. A new weapon is released, called the Wrangler. This gun is a replacement for the pistol. What this gun does is let you take manual control of your sentry gun to shoot it. While the enginner has control, the sentry gun is surrounded by a visible shield that absorbs 66% of all damage to the gun. Also, when the gun is being controlled by the engineer, the gun has doubled rate of fire, including missiles. The downsides are, that the gun does not auto-target, and when the engineer relinquishes control, the sentry gun is inactive for three seconds. Also, a new map was released, called Upward. this map is a payload map. A link to the blog post is found below.

http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4034&p=1

Engineer Update: Day Three. Today, a new map was released, called Hightower. This map is a payload map, and it nicely fits with all other Team fortress maps, because, Surprise! It’s in a desert. A link to the blog post is below.

http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4040&p=1

Engineer Update: Day Four. The final pf the Golden Wrench updates. In this update, there are many things. First, there is a new Payload map, called ” Thunder Mountain”. Secondly, a new weapon was released, called the Gunslinger. The Gunslinger is a replacement for the wrench. What it does is it adds 25% melle damage to the wearer. Secondly, every chain of three hits on an enemy releases a critical upon the said enemy. Thirdly, it lets the engineer drop mini- sentries. Mini-sentries are sentries that cost only 100 metal. Also, they build four times faster than normal sentries, and they have full health from the start. The downsides are, they cannot be repaired, and they have half damage of a normal sentry. The link for the blog post is below.

http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4048&p=1

To accompany all of these releases, a comic was released, called Loose Cannon. You can find the link to the comic below.

http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4013&p=1

The link to the achievements released with the update is below this.

http://www.teamfortress.com/engineerupdate/achievements/

All Points Bulletin Vehicle Editor Overview

James Hemmen — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:35:54 GMT

APB Came out today, and I’d like to talk about the great vehicle editor contained in the game. There are tons of starter cars to choose from, ranging from trucks to Sports cars. Once you selected your car, you start out upgrading the necessities: engine sound, police lights, and speakers. Speakers, you ask? Yes. Say you are driving along the road in your nice new Jericho, you can pump up the track, and let everyone near you hear it. Once you have the maximum setup to annoy bystanders, you can move on to other things such as paint, decals, and rims. Doesn’t sound like something most cops would do, but in San Paro, you don’t worry about looking professional, you worry about stopping crime. With the decal system, you can make your car look almost any way you want. A camouflage “San Paro Police Dept.” on the side, or even a gradient logo on the back, however you want it. Below are some pictures of two symbols and 4 cars I created while in the Beta.

Get EA iPhone Games for Cheap for Two Days only!

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:12:33 GMT

Want to score some top-rated games on the cheap? Now’s your chance: Electronic Arts Mobile is having a pretty big sale on 14 popular, high-profile titles.

Games that originally sold for as much as $9.99 are now available for just 99 cents. Here’s the complete list of sale titles.

FIFA 10

Tiger Woods PGA Tour

Madden NFL 10

NBA Live 2010

Need for Speed Shift

Need for Speed Undercover

Command and Conquer Red Alert

SimCity Deluxe

The Game of Life

Clue

Connect 4

Yahtzee Adventures

Trivial Pursuit

Battleship

Obviously there’s some terrific stuff here. Command and Conquer Red Alert for 99 cents is too good to pass up, and the Battleship game is really a lot of fun–especially with two players. What titles are you going to grab?

EA’s sale ends Wednesday, June 23, at midnight (ET), so go get these Games while you can!

Join us for our interview with Anthony Scarsella from Gazelle on “Tech Talk Live” June 23, 2010, at 8 p.m. Eastern

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:23:21 GMT

Berlin, Maryland — June 22, 2010 — Anthony Scarsella, Chief Gadget Officer at Gazelle, a consumer electronics buyback company, will appear on “Tech Talk Live” (http://live.cosmicthings.com) with hosts Jamie Welch, Nancy Raskauskas, Jackson Berger, and Bobby Schaeffer on Wednesday, June 23, 2010, at 8 p.m. Eastern. The exclusive interview will highlight what Gazelle is all about and what they do with the phones and other electronics that they buy.

Gazelle (www.gazelle.com), a service of Second Rotation, Inc., is committed to providing an easy, fast, and safe way for consumers to get cash for selling unwanted electronics or to recycle them responsibly. To date, more than 80,000 consumers have used the service as a way to clean out closets, get cash and help out a good cause. In addition, Gazelle empowers consumers to avoid time consuming and risky online experiences associated with peer-to-peer selling. Consumers can rest assured that all personal information is thoroughly removed from their item while benefiting from conveniences like free shipping and packaging. Based in Boston, Gazelle is backed by premier venture capital firms Venrock Associates and RockPort Capital Partners.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (347) 996-3134. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page at http://go.cosmicthings.com/livegazelle.

“This exclusive interview with Anthony Scarsella is a must-listen for anyone with an old phone,” said Jamie, host of the program. “Anthony is an executive at Gazelle, a service which has bought back 10,000 iPhones since the announcement of the iPhone 4 on June 7th. Many of these phones were bought for between $200 and $300 dollars, allowing customers to literally upgrade for free to iPhone 4.”

An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page.

About “Tech Talk Live”
“Tech Talk Live” is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on technology news and software. Hosts Jamie Welch, Nancy Raskauskas, Jackson Berger, and Bobby Schaeffer explore the world of Technology every week. Callers are encouraged to call (347) 996-3134 to listen or ask questions of Tom. The stream and archives are available at http://live.cosmicthings.com. The show is live every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern/ 5 p.m. PT. The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio.

Additional Press Tools:

Gazelle Interview Promotional Flyer

Tech Talk Logo

# # #

Press Contact
Jamie Welch
(317) 426-7642
info@cosmicthings.com

Review: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Cullen — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:27:23 GMT

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is the newest Terry Gilliam film starring Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp, and the late great Heath Ledger. Its an orgy of bright colors, cool landscapes, and amazing skies. Through all of the amazing scenery comes a smart plot about a traveling show that rides through London by horse and tries to capture souls through their mirror which is a portal to Dr. Parnassus’s mind. When they find a man(Ledger) being hung under a bridge and they consequently save him, they find out he was put there by the devil. Ledgers character Tony helps Parnassus in his show and every time he goes in he turns into a different actor. In goes Heath, out goes Colin Farrel, Johnny Deppe, and Jude Law as all the different faces of Tony.

This was a spectacular example of film. A great story and great acting plus awe inspiring visual effects makes this one to remember. When I saw that Ledger, Farrell, Depp, and Law were all playing the same character, I thought it was going to be a way to cover up the spots Heath Ledger didn’t act in, but to my surprise they pulled it off and it all flows. Although theres no real meaning to it, they back it up with other examples of face changing. Another thing that surprised me was Tom Waits as the Devil. I knew he looked familiar but the last place I would have expected to see Tom Waits is in a Terry Gilliam movie.

This triple threat didn’t clean out the Oscars but i definitely deserves recognition. I give this 4/5 for being an all around great film and an excellent end to Heath Ledgers acting career.

4 out of 5 stars

What is Weird?

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:48:06 GMT

How would you define weird? Is it someone or something that is different from you? Or is it simply something you didn’t know about yet. Watch the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Has your definition of weird changed? What do you think defines weird now? Do you think that there is a negative connotation surrounding the word “weird” that inhibits acceptance of new and different things in today’s society?

Cosmic Sites Backup and Removal Update

Wed, 26 May 2010 02:38:45 GMT

We will begin uploading the second image of the backups of student websites to our website within the next few days. These backups will contain the sites as they were on June 2nd. The backups will be at http://backups.sites.cosmicthings.com. The original backups from the 17th are already up at that address. Unless we hear from you or Ms. R by the end of the year, we will be deleting your Cosmic website from our server, however we will keep the backup ZIP file up for the whole summer.

All Points Bulletin Beta Hands On

James Hemmen — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:49:09 GMT

This past week, Lane and I have been wasting our lives beta testing the upcoming game APB, All points Bulletin. Every so often, Realtime worlds opens up their servers for people like us to see what they are doing. The game is being released for $50 on June 29th in the US, and July 2nd in Europe. We can’t say much, due to their non disclosure agreement, but if you don’t know what it is, APB is an online GTA style game. There are 2 teams, Criminals and Enforcers. In the city there are 100 players, 50 on each team, along with thousands of civilians. I cannot stress how great the customization system is. Sadly, there is no plan to port those game to any consoles. Overall, the game is very good. So far, there have been very few bugs, even in the beta. We have experienced a few crashes, but not enough to make it a bad game. Also, only in the beta, if you have 32 bit windows, you are restricted to the lower graphics settings, which can turn some people off.

Bad Company 2: Gameplay

Chris Duke — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:48:34 GMT

Bad Company 2 has been out for about a month and a half, and has been an amazing game. The single player campaign picks up where the last one left off (with a big twist) the game starts on a raft of some sort, you are playing as a American soldier somewhere off the coast of a japanese controled island during WWII, on a secret operation called “Aurora” . After this mission you pick back up with the old squad of your character Preston Marlowe along with Haggard, Sweetwater, Redford. You find yourself making your way through a mine field, as the campaign progresses you travel through South America, and Alaska. At the end of the single player campaign you get drug into WWIII and are assigned to fight in Alaska, directly tying into the multiplayer game play. There are also several jokes referring to MW 2 such as making fun of spec ops soldiers with heart beat sensors and snow wheelers.

The multiplayer mode is a great experience that combines the destruction of Bad Company 1 with the customization of weapons like Call of Duty. As most multiplayer games BC 2 requires you to rank up to unlock new weapons and features. You are also able to unlock features for vehicles such as smoke, armor, optics, etc. New vehicles add to the experience such as the UH-60, Hind, Havoc, Apache, as well as the same and some new land vehicles like the quad bike( Which really only serve a purpose to get to your spot fast). Also a new added feature, or reality check for some noobs, You cant just point and shoot any more! When sniping you must arc bullets a they drop over distance, this is also in effect for tanks.

Overall Bad Company 2 in my opinion beats MW 2 in game play for the destructive and realistically of the game play.

Most Violent People on Earth

Lane Spangler — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:01:43 GMT

This is a comic strip that came from http://pc.ign.com/articles/108/1086495p1.html

Review: Gentlemen Broncos

Cullen — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:01:11 GMT

Gentlemen Broncos is the newest movie from director Jared Hess who most may know as the guy behind Napoleon Dynamite, the 2004 cult hit. It’s about a teenage sci-fi writer named Benjamin who goes to a writer’s camp and meets his favorite writer played by Jemaine Clement of FOTC fame. Ben enters a book he wrote to a contest, but Ben’s favorite author, who is losing his writing touch, put’s his book aside and publishes it as his own. Ben goes home to his mother, played by Jennifer Coolidge, and has his book turned into a movie by kids he met at writing camp. Soon enough Ben finds his book on bookshelves and begins to find out who did it.

There were a couple things that initially attracted me to this movie. The first thing is Jared Hess directing. With Napoleon Dynamite he created the perfect Mid-Western sense of suburbia. The other key thing with that is the story went along with the setting, making it perfect. The next thing is Jemaine Clement as Chevalier the author. I probably would not have paid special attention to him if I had not seen FOTC but he is a great comic actor. He managed to capture the feeling again, and everything else was great. The one thing I had a problem with was Michael Angarano as Ben. He didn’t have the attitude that Jon Heder did and it took away from the movie immensely. Also on a smaller note, it was kind of disgusting in some scenes. I won’t spoil it but it includes fecal matter and vomit.

Overall it was decent but not great. It’s definitely worth seeing if you liked Napoleon Dynamite, but don’t expect it to blow your mind. It is a comedy but it’s a comedy in the spirit of maybe a Wes Anderson movie in that you don’t laugh out loud but you smirk at some remarks, and are still entertained. I give it 3 out of 5 because it’s not really a solid comedy or a solid smart drama, and I doubt Jared Hess had the intention of creating a new genre.

3 out of 5 stars

Top 5 iPhone Games

Lane Spangler — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:50:11 GMT

Casual

1. Squareball

Squareball is a fun and innovative game where your character is a bouncing square. However, you do not control the square. You control the world of the square. By moving the world you try to make the square collect all of the green blocks in a level. The square will fall through any gap, even if the gap is above the square. It continues in one direction until it hits something. Hitting red blocks will also cause you to lose. The level design is fantastic, and the game will keep you hooked for hours.

2. Doodle Jump

Doodle Jump is a platformer controlled by the iPhone’s accelerometer. There are multitudes of monsters and a few power-ups to make things more interesting. There are also different platform types. This is an extremely fun and addicting game.

3. Eliss

Eliss is an innovative game that takes advantage of the iPhone’s multitouch functionality. In Eliss, the objective is to make a certain amount of supernovas by putting planets into their corresponding rings. Planets of the same color can be combined or split, but planets of different colors will make you lose health if they collide. This makes for tons of frantic multitouch fun.

4. Ragdoll Blaster 2

The premise of Ragdoll Blaster 2 is simple. Shoot a ragdoll out of a cannon and hit the target. But Ragdoll Blaster 2 is a challenging physics puzzler that will keep your attention for a good while.

5. ZombieSmash

ZombieSmash is a post-apocalyptic themed castle defense game. You flick and smash zombie attackers with your fingers. There are lots of special weapons as well. You can use hand grenades, falling rocks, and sniper rifles against the undead horde. There are also many different attacker types. ZombieSmash is the best of its genre.

Racing

1. Real Racing

Real Racing is the most realistic racing offering on the iPhone. There are many different events, cars, and leagues to take up your precious time. The game has superb multiplayer that can be played over Wi-Fi or Blueuetooth. This is the best racer on the iPhone for the hardcore crowd.

2. Asphalt 5

Asphalt 5 is one of the most arcade like and unrealistic racers for the iPhone. That’s why it is one of the most fun. You can use nitro to boost your car forward, and there are many different power-ups to collect on the track. Ramming other contestants out of the competition is probably the best part. You can also tune up your car by collecting money in races. This is Real Racing for the more casual crowd.

3. 2XL ATV Offroad

2XL ATV Offroad is a great iPhone racer. You can try to beat opponents in a race, or get the highest score in a trick session. Your ATV and your rider are fully customizable. You can attempt to knock opponents off of their own ATVs during a race, and when you do, it is extremely satisfying.

4. 2XL Supercross

From the same people who brought you 2XL ATV Offroad is a similar racer that is played on dirt bikes. If you like ATV Offroad, then buy this one.

5. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2

I’m lumping this in with the racers even though it is not a racer at all. THPS2 is probably the best GBA game of all time ported to the iPhone. Need I say more?

Most Innovative

1. Touchgrind

Touchgrind gives you a virtual Tech Deck and a skate park to go with it. You can customize your deck with your own photos, and as you get higher scores you unlock better boards. Touchgrind is one of the coolest games in the AppStore.

2. Sway

From the makers of Touchgrind comes yet another innovative game. This game is Sway. You play as one of many unlockable characters that is on a journey to save more unlockable characters. The learning curve is steep, but the game is fun once you master the controls. Each side of the screen controls one of the characters arms. If you are touching that side, the character will hang on to the environment. If you move your finger back and forth while hanging on, your character will start to sway. Once you have the controls down, you can swing across a level with ease.

3. Zen Bound

Zen Bound is a relaxing and fun game where you try to paint as much of a figure as possible by wrapping it with rope. As the figures get more complicated, the challenge increases as you have a limited amount of rope.

4. Rolando Series (Rolando and Rolando 2)

Rolando is an enormously fun game where you have to escort your Rolandos to a goal at the end of the level. You control them by selecting the ones you wish to move and tilting your device. You swipe up to make them jump. It gets much more complicated and fun as you progress.

5. Peggle

Peggle is awesome and too complicated to briefly describe. Buy it.

Hardcore

1. GTA Chinatown Wars

GTA Chinatown Wars is a DS game ported to the iPhone. It is full length and extremely fun. It is played from a top down view, but do not let that turn you off. There is as much fun to be found here as in any GTA game on consoles.

2. Eliminate Pro

Eliminate is an online FPS for the iPhone that can be played over the cell network or Wi-Fi. You can upgrade your character and buy new weapons and armor with credits. Best of all, this game is free! There is a catch however. You can only earn credits if you have energy. You lose energy each time you play a match and it takes a long while to recharge. You can buy power cells for real money in order to recharge quickly. So basically, if you are not willing to pay real money, your progress through the game will be very slow.

3. Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles

Assassin’s Creed is a console port for your iPhone. It has an original story and sacrifices very little for its portability. This is a must-buy for hardcore gamers that own an iPhone.

4. Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV plays on the iPhone exactly as it does on PC or consoles. There are fewer characters however. Multiplayer is also missing. But the characters that are there have tons of special moves to learn and many opponents to beat.

5. Brothers in Arms 2: Global FrontYes. That’s an iPhone game. Brothers in Arms 2 has some of the most impressive graphics on the iPhone. It is a singleplayer FPS that plays like Modern Combat: Sandstorm. However, I think it is the better game. It takes place in WWII on multiple fronts, as the name suggests.

Tower Defense

1. Fieldrunners

The original tower defense game for iPhone, Fieldrunners is a lengthy offering with lots of different units, modes, and maps to defend.

2. Star Defense

Star Defense is the first 3D tower defense game. This game can be aggravating at times but it is a fantastic game.

Weezy’s prison job

morgan — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:50:13 GMT
Recently the hip-hop/rap world suffered a blow with the arrest of Lil Wayne on gun charges that are expected to keep him locked up in Rikers Island for a year. A sentence that began on March 8th 2010. Recently the mother of one of Wayne’s children reported that Weezy had began working with other inmates [...]

Get Your Custom Avatar

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:30:23 GMT

If you’ve ever posted a comment you’ve probably noticed that your avatars look something like this:

These are automatically generated depending on your email address. Maybe you want something a bit more personal, like this:

Well, it’s really easy to do, and I’ll show you how in the video tutorial below. If you have any questions, you may contact support here.

(This video automatically loads into HD. If your computer can’t handle it, go under the quality menu and set it to a lower setting.)

Review: Spread

Cullen — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:50:57 GMT

Spread is the new movie from Ashton Kutcher which is essentially a porn. Once you wade through the sea of relations between Ashton who portrays Nikki, and his various lovers, including Ann Heche, there is actually a plot. While watching it I kind of lost track of time, and what seemed like an hour was only 15 minutes of essentially talking, and “loving”. Kutcher womanizes all of L.A. and during one conquest involving a lady lawyer he meets a waitress that catches his eye, and he slowly begins to give up his habits of debauchery and chase after this girl.

Its a plot that’s been around the block a few times if you get my drift, but I thought it was bearable enough to watch without it seeming boring. Ashton Kutcher was pretty funny trying to hold an accent because if he really got into talking he dropped it completely, but in the trailer he sounds like a different person. Its definitely some B-grade acting by the whole cast, and I probably don’t have to tell you how it ends because like I said it’s been around.

It”s straight to DVD release didn’t help put in the running for an Oscar unfortunately, but for the few people that like Ashton Kutcher I would say it’s close to the highlight of his film career, but that’s like saying the highlight of Warren Beatty’s music career was him whistling down the street in that it means next to nothing.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Back at Full Power

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 21:59:30 GMT

We are now back at full power and don’t expect to have any more problems or downtime in the foreseeable future.

A Better Way to Fry

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:14:34 GMT

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video shows what happens when water is added to oil that is near its flash point. The water rapidly expands causing the oil to fly up and ignite. The result is a tower of flames that is extremely tall and dangerous. Very small amounts of oil (even as small as a teaspoon) can lead to such fires. The water can be in any form–even frozen on food as frost. This poses a big problem when someone places a frozen turkey in a deep frier in their house, causing such a flare up.

How would you design a fryer that would make it safer? What safety features would you add? Will your device still be easy to use?

Please remember that the frier must still cook the food at the same temperature. The inside of the turkey must reach 170 degrees fahrenheit on the inside to be safe for human consumption. The oil in a traditional frier is about 325 degrees fahrenheit. Today’s friers take about 3 minutes to cook the bird per pound.

Distant Games

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:12:44 GMT

Halie and Ares came up with a cool idea together. It incorporates advanced gaming systems, and an idea about computer generated senses. Nerve impulses are transmitted by tiny electrical currents. In the future, these could probably be generated with a computer and implanted electrodes. This technology could allow different people in distant locations to play sporting games against each other on the same “field”. They could use machines that would track the amount of force they were applying in various directions. This computer would then create an exact copy of the applied force in the same direction it was applied on the other player’s side. The computer generated senses would enable players to feel a virtual pall hit their head as they headed t towards the goal, if the game was soccer. Someone could hit thin air with a lacrosse stick in Bermuda and feel the impact as the ball fell out of the pocket of a stick in Hong Kong. Do you think this idea is feasible? When and under what circumstances would it work. What aspects of today’s sporting games would have to be changed to make this a reality? What technical aspects of this idea could be improved and how? Could there be other implications for this technology?

RSS Feeds not working properly

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:21:00 GMT

It has recently come to our attention that the RSS Feeds have not been working properly. You should still receive your content, however the links back to the website are not working. This is part of a bigger problem associated with the move and we hope to have it resolved later this weekend. All of the blogs are still working at full power though; it is only the RSS functions that are broken at this time. Stay tuned for more updates.

Update (6:15pm): We have resynchronized our settings and completely rebuilt our database, and the RSS issue is finally resolved. The fixes should sync out to all of our FeedBurner feeds in under three hours. If you have any other problems, contact us at support@cosmicthings.com. We’re happy to hear your questions or comments.

All Systems Go!

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

We’re running smoothly, and are glad to have finished the move early in the weekend. Stay tuned to Cosmic Status for the latest updates.

Blogs are Moving

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:22:00 GMT

The blogs will be moving to a new address and will be getting a new name. The blogs will be down for part of the weekend while the move occurs. Downtime to the general public will be minimal, however administrators will not be able to preform any database actions effective 4:30 pm Friday. Stay tuned.

Update (Friday, 8:40pm): We’re back online and won’t be down again this weekend.

Review: Ninja Assassin

Cullen — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:51:10 GMT

Ninja Assassin is about supposed to be about a ninja who takes revenge on his clan but all you really can understand is that there is some guy protecting some girl. This is without a doubt the WORST movie of the year. It crosses the genres of sci-fi, action, romance, and horror. All of the transitions happen very roughly. There is so many things wrong with this movie I don’t know where to start. It awkwardly tries to make a movie out of a bunch of gore and ninjas.

First of all it’s extremely violent but don’t make this turn you away. It is so outrageously bad that it makes you laugh. The blood could be easily done with a mediocre movie editing program. It also makes huge story gaps and tries to make you forget by throwing in more violence, but it didn’t fool me. The two main characters who initially work for a newspaper when one reporter initially asks to do a story about ninjas but eventually she is commanding entire SWAT teams, and then they turn into forensic experts. Also the ninjas who are supposed to be silent and deadly really cross the border between mystical dust monsters who disappear and magically heal wounds with the swipe of a hand and then they can be jogging slowly down the street being tripped up by car horns. The main ninja who is supposed to be taking revenge on his clan is practically invincible. While other people are dying instantly by being punched in the arm, he gets essentially cut in half and is fine.

I guess some of these elements are associated with action movies but they make it so obvious that it makes it comical. The only excuse this movie had is that it was supposed to be showcasing the martial arts but it’s mostly gun play. There’s no point in listing the actors because you’ve never heard of any of them. This is the kind of movie you would expect to see in a $5 bin at a grocery store but this one made it’s way to a theatre near you. This is in my bottom 5 list for sure.

0 out of 5 stars

Get Your Free Music From SXSW and NPR

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:24:42 GMT
Editor’s Note: The Sampler Can be Downloaded at http://www.npr.org/music/sxsw10/sxsw_itunes_promo.php Yes, it’s that time again. SXSW 2010 is in full swing. Incase you can not be there you can always go to the website. But here is a little bonus listen and download from the wonderful folks at NPR. If you subscribe to their newsletter, they [...]

Academy Awards Roundup

Cullen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:47:52 GMT

Oscar night this year was an uneventful one. Most people have already heard who won all the major awards and to me, it wasn’t that surprising. I know people thought it was a close call between The Hurt Locker and Avatar, but you have to think like a member of the Academy. After some thinking I knew that Avatar wasn’t going to win. Sure, they blew everyone out of the water in the visual department but when you really breakdown Avatar to the pure acting it wasn’t Best Picture worthy. It followed the textbook story arc like every other movie that was snubbed from the Awards this year, but painted it a pretty color, a very pretty color.

Jeff Bridges won Best Actor which I can agree with even though I didn’t see it. For Best Actress I was kind of disappointed that Bullock won. She may have caught a good role but that doesn’t make up for all the crap she’s made. Other than Best Picture, The Hurt Locker won a myriad of other awards including Best Director for Bigelow, and a bunch of sound awards.

Thank God Up won Best Animated Picture and Best Original Score because they absolutely deserved it. Best Supporting was no surprise in the men’s or woman’s category. They both did fantastic jobs.

They put on a good show, but I could have done without Neil Patrick Harris’ song and dance. My favorite moment was Ben Stiller dressed up as an Avatar much to the chagrin of James Cameron. I had hoped for some more upsets, but at the end of the night I think everyone got what they deserved. Maybe not in James Cameron’s opinion though.

Review: Up In the Air

Cullen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:21:25 GMT

Up In the Air is just one of George Clooney’s great movies this year along with The Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Men Who Stare At Goats. From the trailer, I assumed this was just a classy romantic comedy, but after I saw it I realized I was wrong. It’s about a man named Ryan Bingham (Clooney), who is sent from the corporate office to fire lower level employees so the branch mangers don’t have to. They try and use their people skills to make the firing process more easy. All the people they fire, with the exception of four, are real people who were fired, and some of them are really heartfelt. Everything is going fine until a college grad comes up with a new system to fire employees which uses computer chat rooms. Until the system is fully running, Ryan takes the grad(Anna Kendricks) along with him so she can experience what it’s like to actually fire a person face to face.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, but it’s not best picture worthy in my opinion. I think if you sorted through all the other movies that came out this year I’m sure there was a better movie than this. I do agree with all of the actors that were nominated. Anna Kendricks did a good job, and I’m sure that the nomination will help her find good roles but I think Mo’Nique is going to take the cake this year. I liked Vera Farmiga as the on-the-road lover to Clooney’s character too. To me, she just oozes promiscuity. George Clooney was also good but I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t, except Spy Kids. J.K. Simmons was awesome as one of the people getting fired. So was Zack Galifianakis, and Danny McBride as Ryan’s brother-in-law. Jason Bateman played a great boss. I really felt the “office ” style energy from him, but I think that’s his personality.

All in all, this is one of George Clooney’s best movies to date. I give this 4.0/5.0 because it’s a solid movie with allover good performances, but sometimes it kind of dragged and I lost momentary interest in what was happening.

4 out of 5 stars

Review: District 9

Cullen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:01:16 GMT

District 9 is a movie that focuses on Wikus Van De Merwe who works for MNU in South Africa, which is a company contracted to control an alien race that landed on Earth, and now they have to move them into a new “camp”. Wikus (Sharlto Copley) has been assigned to lead a team through the shanty town and serve the aliens eviction notices. When he comes across a shack that’s hiding a weapons lab he investigates it, and accidentally poisons himself when he messes around with a canister he found. He soon is losing teeth, and fingernails, and after a visit to the doctors office, and getting a cast removed he finds his arm has turned into an alien’s claw. He slowly turns into an alien and he finds out what MNU is really doing, and he joins the alien who’s poison he discovered, and fights back to stop them and get the aliens home.

Not only is this one of the best sci-fi movies I’ve seen, it’s also one of the only alien movies to come out lately that’s not a flaming piece of trash. It achieved a lot on its $30,000,000 budget. It got away with finding a great cast of unknown actors which didn’t hurt anyone’s pocket. It was overseen by Peter Jackson who’s notorious for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This was director Neil Blomkamp’s first big project in his whole career. Before this he did visual effects on a bunch TV shows and Sci-Fi network movies. Sharlto Copley, who’s actually a South Africa native, only acted in one of Blomkamp’s older movies and was a directorial assistant. Unless your extremely familiar with German film you won’t recognize anyone else.

When you see how good the animation is, it’s hard to believe this was made on a 8 figure budget. It’s also pretty violent when it wants to be, especially the scene with the Nigerian gangsters. The aliens look really good and for a second time actor Sharlto Copley does a good job interacting with someone who isn’t even there.

I give this a 4.0/5.0 because I’m glad to see that the Academy recognized how good this was, and that not every alien movie has to have Lou Diamond Phillips in it.

4 out of 5 stars

Review: Inglorious Bastards

Cullen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:23:35 GMT

Inglorious Basterds, the newest Tarantino spawn, is about a team of American soldiers, all Jewish, who viciously persecute Nazis. I think he’s trying to do with this what he did with Pulp Fiction with the way he tells the story, but he just botched it. It has a side story where an escaped Jew who’s family was killed by Col. Hans Landa during a visit to a farmer. The escapee, Shoshanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), runs a movie theater in France, and is approached by a Nazi who is famous for a battle where he killed dozens of U.S. soldiers. The Nazi is having a movie made of his efforts and after a failed attempt at asking out Shoshanna, tries to impress her by having his premier at her theater. This intertwines with Brad Pitt and his gang who are planning on blowing up her theater because all of the Nazi officials will be in it including Hitler.

This came as a surprise to me because this definitely isn’t his best movie by a long shot, and this is the one that gets nominated. This definitely felt like the Quentin we all know and love (watch for the scalping scene especially), but it seemed unnatural for him. It had his style of dark humor but I felt some other more generic vibes injected into it. Most people don’t know, but this is actually a remake of a much better movie which I very much enjoyed, and as a side note, this is by far, not historically correct, but I won’t spoil it by saying how it ends. Not to say I didn’t like this, but I’ll just say I’m glad I saw the original. I guess it’s kind of like reading a book before you see the movie.

I thought this was a comedy, but for all the wrong reasons. Brad Pitt’s performance is pretty funny when he tries to be serious. I guess I’m too familiar with his other characters to take him seriously. He can play the h-e-double hockey sticks out of a serious character (12 Monkeys, Seven), but this felt like a role he earned from his fame, not his skill. Every other performance is superb, specifically Christoph Waltz who played Col. Landa, and is nominated for best supporting actor. Pitt’s team of Nazi hunters fared a little better. A noteworthy one was B.J. Novak who stars in and produces NBC’s The Office, and has a few bit parts in some Apatow movies. Eli Roth, who plays the infamous Bear Jew, really pulls off the 40′s Brooklyn feel with his character who is notorious for using a Louisville Slugger to extinguish his enemies.

I give this a 3.5/5.0 for the great performances by Christoph Waltz, and Shoshanna Dreyfus. You won’t be sorry if you see it, but don’t expect to be blown away by it’s sheer awesomeness. Also, out of respect for Tarantino, you can’t call it a flop because it wasn’t and apparently one of the producers has a member of the academy in his pocket if you get my drift.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Review: Up

Cullen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:01:09 GMT

Up is “Up” against Avatar as the only other animated movie nominated for best picture. I’m 99% sure this isn’t going to win best picture, but at least it’s nominated. It’s one of Pixar’s best films yet. There’s nothing really unusual as far as Pixar movies go, and the visuals are outstanding as they are in all Pixar movies. They really didn’t look far for voice actors. Ed Asner voiced Carl Fredericksen who is a widower living alone in a house he built with his wife. The whole intro develops the story of his wife and you find out that she had a bit of a adventurous spirit and her dream was to move to South America and live on top of Paradise Falls. They both were fans of theexplorer Charles Muntz and wanted to go all the places he did. When Carl is an an incident with a construction worker, he is told that he has to move into a retirement home. In one of the most beautiful displays of colors I’ve ever seen, he releases the balloons. The colors will amaze you, and seeing them reflect on windows is fascinating. If you don’t want to see this for the story then see it for the visuals.

It was really well written and the voice acting is wonderful. Christopher Plummer voices the adventurer Charles Muntz, along with Asner as Carl. Other than that, they really didn’t look far for voice actors. Bob Peterson, who is in most Pixar movies like The Incredibles and Finding Nemo voices Dug and Alpha, and Bob Ratzenberger who you know as Cliff on Cheers voices the construction foreman Tom. Again, see it for the visuals because it’s one of Pixar’s best visual jobs yet.

I give this movie 4.0/5.0. for the visuals alone because I can’t stress enough how good they were. Apart from the visuals it was a decent movie as far as animated movies go. Just because it’s Disney doesn’t mean it’s just for kids. Once again, Disney’s pet Pixar has produced another memorable movie. Disney has a monopoly on animated movies so there really aren’t any that come out not made by Disney but at least there doing a good job at it.

4 out of 5 stars

The Creator of “Call on Jesus” joins hosts Jamie Welch and Nancy Raskauskas on “Tech Talk Live” March 10, 2010, at 8 p.m. Eastern

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:20:08 GMT

Berlin, Maryland — March 1, 2010 — Tom Ellsworth, the CEO of GoTV Networks, will appear on “Tech Talk Live” (http://blogtalkradio.com/tech-talk-live) with hosts Jamie Welch and Nancy Raskauskas on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at 8 p.m. Eastern. The exclusive interview will highlight what it’s like to develop an iPhone application and why they created the “Call On Jesus” app.

GoTV Networks, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Sherman Oaks, California. GoTV Networks, Inc. operates as a mobile television network and studio group. It offers on-demand television programming for music, news, sports, entertainment, and comedy. The company was formerly known as V-Star, Inc. and changed its name to GoTV Networks, Inc. in 2005.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (347) 996-3134. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page at http://blogtalkradio.com/tech-talk-live.

“This exclusive interview with Tom Ellsworth is a must-listen for any technology fan,” said Jamie, host of the program. “Tom is the CEO of GoTV Networks, a company responsible for tons iPhone Apps on the market today.”

An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page.

About “Tech Talk Live”

“Tech Talk Live” is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on technology news and software. Hosts Jamie Welch and Nancy Raskauskas explore the world of Technology every week. Callers are encouraged to call (347) 996-3134 to listen or ask questions of Tom. The stream and archives are available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tech-talk-live. The show is live every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern/ 5 p.m. PT. The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio.

###

Press Contact

Jamie Welch

(317) 426-7642

info@cosmicthings.com

Review: Cop Out

Bobby Schaeffer, Vice President of Editing and Design — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:19:52 GMT

Cop Out is a comedy staring Bruce Willis as Jimmy, a New York cop whose rare baseball card is stolen, and how he and his partner Paul (Tracy Morgan) try to get it back. Directed by Kevin Smith who you may know as Silent Bob, this movie seemed to be Bruce Willis trying to make a quick buck and it was a complete failure. They get into trouble and get suspended from the force for 30 days. Jimmy then needs $48,000 to pay for his daughter’s wedding and to show his ex-wife’s boyfriend that he isn’t a loser. It was painfully slow moving and was a bad attempt at a comedy. The entire plot was essentially every cop movie ever made put into one really bad movie.

During this movie I laughed about 3 times thanks to Seann William Scott. He provided the very few funny parts, and they weren’t even that great. Tracy Morgan is not the greatest actor, although he does play a good role in NBC’s 30 Rock. To me, Tracy Morgan is a good representative of stand-up comedy, not the movie industry. If Kevin Smith had written this movie rather than directed it, it might have been a little better, but not a lot could save a film like this.

I give this movie 1.0/5.0 because this was an all around bad movie. The only thing keeping it from a 0 was seeing Tracy Morgan step out of 30 Rock and do something new.

1 out of 5 stars

Create Your Own Photoshop Brushes

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:22:27 GMT
Well, you can make your own brushes and it is very easy.

Robotic Butlers

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:56:07 GMT

One of the cool ideas that was raised in comments about, “What Do You Think” was to have robotic butlers. There could be a sensor implanted in the brain. When the sensor detected that you wanted something, it would send a signal to the robot that would get you what you wanted.

So suppose you are sitting in your living room reading a book and all of the sudden you get hungry and start thinking about how nice milk and cookies would be. A few minutes later your robot appears carrying a tray of cookies and a glass of milk.

What do you think about this idea? Do you have a moral problem with implanting a sensor into the brain that detects thoughts? Do you think that this technology would have any unintended consequences? What improvements could be made on this idea? What problems do you have with it?

That Mona Lisa Smile…Or Is It Leonardo Da Vinci’s?

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:55:35 GMT
Scientists want to reconstruct Leonardo's face and compare it to the Mona Lisa

New! Desktop Background/Wallpaper

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:40:39 GMT
Here is the latest cosmic Desktop Background created by Nancy Raskauskas, Graphic Designer and Cosmic Networks Administrator. The DesktopJPEG Image is 1028 X 763 and only 647KB to download. The iPhone wallpaperimage is 320 X480 and only 151 KB: Enjoy! Wintergreen-iPhone by Nancy Raskauskas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United [...]

Neil Young’s Cover of Pants on the Ground

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:21:45 GMT
Even Neil Young has a rendition out.Take a look.

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:46:33 GMT
Today, Sony Music and the Hendrix estate announced that there will be a new album released on March 9.

NY Times Tribute to Musicians who Passed in 2009

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:34:11 GMT
A Sound Collage Featuring A Sampling of The Musicians Who Died This Year

10 of the Best Places to Find Photoshop Brushes and Other Resources

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:06:49 GMT
Here is a list of 10 of the most fine and easiest to navigate sources for Photoshop CS4 Brushes.

Remote Controled Cars

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:11:35 GMT

The Freie University of Berlin recently developed iDriver–application for iPhones that allows the user to control a specially adapted car. The commands are transmitted by Wi-Fi. Tilting the phone controls steering. There is also a camera that displays what the driver sees on the iPhone. What do you think will come of this technology in the future? Do you think it is safe for the world? What regulations, if any, need to be placed on technology like this.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Legos

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:49:09 GMT

A new age in Microsoft Surface had dawned with the introduction of Lumino. These are 3-D blocks that interact with touch screens. They have glass fiber bundles inside that allow the screen to recognize when they are stacked atop each other and differentiate between different blocks. The computer recognizes that they are 3-D and inputs that formatting into the computer. They can be also be used as physical dials for the screens. Watch the video to find out more.

What do you think the design implications for this technology are. Will it be helpful in future engineering and architecture? How will this be used and in what applications years from now?

Welcome

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:41:26 GMT

As blogging begins in Integrated Tech. class, there will hopefully be many new users that aren’t familiar with Cosmic Realities. So first of all, welcome to the site. Cosmic Realities is dedicated to exploring the future of science and technology through the eyes of young people. We pose a scenario or new technology and want to know what you think of it. You can respond by posting a comment. How do you think it will affect the future? Will it have positive or negative implications for society? How will it improve, if it will, the lives of people. We want you to share any new ideas that you have about the technology. If you come up with a way that the technology can be improved or carried further, please share it. Also, we encourage you to feed off of other people’s ideas. Please don’t get into long protracted arguments with other users, as everyone has had different experiences and thus different beliefs. If you have any thing you want posted, please e-mail halie@cosmicthings.com. Have a good time on the sight, and feel free to post any ideas you have in a comment.

amaccari on "record streaming audio"

amaccari — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:28:57 GMT

jamie your always so resourceful

Olympus Ad

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:40:47 GMT
Olympus Ad

Don’t Forget Creative Commons

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:36:09 GMT
For those of us not talented enough to make our own music for use in our presentations, videos and papers, don’t forget Creative Commons media which by it’s own definition: Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the [...]

Taylor Swift’s MTV Music Award Acceptance Interrupted by…

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:28:11 GMT
Who would ever interrupt Taylor Swift who is accepting an award for best video to tell everyone that Beyonce had a better video?

Blue Aura Wallpaper download (designed by: Kevin Clayland)

Kevin Clayland — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:31:34 GMT
Blue Aura Wallpaper I designed. Inspired by the hype of Snow Leopard. DOWNLOAD Enjoy!

New Help Center Allows for Cosmic Things users to find help faster

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:40:18 GMT

BERLIN, Maryland- Cosmic Networks, a network of social media applications designed for schools, has improved its help and support center to allow for quicker and more efficient support. Cosmic Networks has a new support ticket system at http://cosmicthings.com/helpdesk/, as well as an all new Knowledgebase at http://kb.cosmicthings.com. The Knowledgebase contains answers to common questions and step by step video tutorials to help users navigate the features of Cosmic Things products. If a user does not see a question on our site that they want answered in our database, they can ask the question and Cosmic Networks staff will answer it and add it to the site. The new redesigned system is already getting more traffic than the previous one. In addition to these features, Cosmic Things also now offers Live Help so that users can interact with Cosmic Networks staff instantly to solve their problems without the usual wait.

“Making things easy to use is what Cosmic Things is all about,” Jamie Welch, Head Network Administrator said. “Our goal is to provide a simple way for teachers and students to interact inside and outside the classroom. Our hope is that this new support system will help make Cosmic Things even better for teachers and students alike.”

# # #

More information on Cosmic Things is available at http://cosmicthings.com and their press site, http://press.cosmicthings.com. You can also contact info@cosmicthings.com for more information on this topic.

Tech Talk will be live on Wednesday, 8PM EST

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:00:32 GMT

BERLIN, Maryland- On Wednesday, August 26 at 08:00pm EST we will host our first 15 minute long Tech Talk show. It will be broadcast live on this BlogTalkRadio page. Our main show page is where you can find all of our future and old episode archives is at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Cosmic-Things-Tech-Talk. Tune in live Wednesday night and listen to Nancy Raskauskas and Jamie Welch talk tech. If you have any comments or questions that you want on the air, call (317)-4-COSMIC and leave us a voicemail. We may put your call on the air. In the future, this show may feature live tech help via a call in system, or anything! For now, visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Cosmic-Things-Tech-Talk and check it out on Wednesday. We hope to see you there!

# # #

Contact info@cosmicthings.com for more information on this topic.

Bob Dylan- “Like A Complete Unknown”

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:11:45 GMT
I heard this great story on NPR and I just had to post it. Give a listen to this…

Yarn-Country Rock For Everyone!

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:19:24 GMT
In my ever continuing quest for Country-Rock the way it’s “s’posed” to be, quite by accident I found Yarn, a Brooklyn (Yes, Brooklyn, New York)- based Alternative Country band . Last night, at the 8X10 Club in Baltimore, where we were to see headliner band New Riders of the Purple Sage, the epitome of good [...]

Welcome!

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:16:10 GMT
Cosmic Creations Design Inspiration Blog is a compendium of all things Graphically Inspiring from around the web-great things from some of the most awesome designer, tutorial and tip sites. Please feel free to send me links to your design accomplishments, tutorials or whatever you think will spark my reader’s interest in the world of design [...]

Akiane

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:16:46 GMT
I walked into a docot’s office the other day and there, right in front of me in the entrance taking up more than half of the wall space in this very small waiting room, was a huge portrait of Jesus. At first I thought to myself, what a strange place for an over sized Christian [...]

Spinal Tap Is Back!

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:13:17 GMT
I know I am a few days late on this. I was listening to NPR and heard the blurb about the return of not just one of the “best bands of all time”, but a product of some of the comedic minds in the world. I have been lax this summer on posting due to [...]

RICE PADDY ART

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:41:05 GMT
Photo credit:http://karaponeyami.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2009-07-05 Pink Tentacle shows us some amazing rice paddy art in Japan, made by “strategically arranging and growing different colors of rice plants.” Pictured above is the depiction of a Sengoku-period warrior in the village of Inakadate.

Robotic Weapons

ares — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:37:57 GMT

“With tensions high on the border, a new commander in Afghanistan, and complaints of civilian deaths from robotic US strikes in Pakistan raising anti-American sentiment, the Air Force is sketching out concepts for new robotic hitmen, reports Esquire.com. Among the new drones (which are all very small) are the Suburb Warrior (loaded with four or five mini missiles for semi-urban environments), the Sniper targeting system (“that can lock on to multiple targets, allowing a single drone pilot to coordinate the attacks of a squadron of robots”), and a backup fleet of flying buggies that act as suicide-bomber snipers. From the article: ‘Picking through the dozens of systems in this briefing, many of which will be flight-tested within five years, there’s a clear set of goals: build smaller, even microscopic drones with smaller weapons that can hunt in swarms and engage targets in the close quarters of urban battlefields. And hunt as soon as possible.’”

This post was taken from <http://slashdot.org/> and posted on the site by mattnyc99.
The photos were taken from <http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/new-air-force-drones-in-pakistan-061709>

Food Pills

Halie Murray-Davis, Administrator — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:44:21 GMT

Rsanwal came up with a cool idea for a blended reality. She thinks that pills could be developedthat contain all the same nutrients and such needed for life that are normally obtained from food. These would be easily mass produced and used in under served areas where actual food is too costly.

How do you think it could be made better? What other applications for this technology can you imagine? How could it benefit human kind? To what extent do you think it can safely be used? How will this idea be carried out?

PhonePoint App Will Let You Write in Thin Air

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:39:02 GMT

Writing in air not pie in the sky
June 10th, 2009

It’s a familiar scene in airports and train stations. Hands full with luggage, briefcase, laptop or coat and there’s something you need to remember, like the level and row numbers where you parked your car in the deck. What do you do?

Instead of relying on your memory, or finding a place to put all your stuff down to find a pen and paper, wouldn’t it be so convenient to simply write “level 4, row H” in the air and be able to retrieve it later?

Engineering students at Duke University have taken advantage of the accelerometers in emerging cell phones to create an application that permits users to write short notes in the air with their phone, and have that message automatically sent to an e-mail address.

Accelerometers are the devices in phones that not only keep track of the phone’s movements, but make it possible for the display screens to rotate from landscape to portrait modes depending on how the phone is rotated. These devices are always “on,” so there is no additional burden on the phone to use this new application.

“We developed an application that uses the built-in accelerometers in cell phones to recognize human writing,” said Sandip Agrawal, electrical and computer engineering senior at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, who with Duke graduate student Ionut Constandache developed the PhonePoint Pen. “By holding the phone like a pen, you can write short messages or draw simple diagrams in the air.

“The accelerometer converts the gestures to images, which can be sent to any e-mail address for future reference,” Constandache said. “Also, say you’re in a class and there is an interesting slide on the screen. We foresee being able to take a photo of the slide and write a quick note on it for future reference. The potential uses are practically limitless. That this prototype works validates the feasibility of such a pen.”

Agrawal, a Pratt Engineering Undergraduate Fellow, received the inaugural Hoffman + Krippner Award for Excellence in Student Engineering for the development of the PhonePoint Pen application. The award, created by the German technology firm Hoffman + Krippner, was presented Tuesday, June 9 during the 2009 Sensors Expo and Conference in Chicago.

While this first generation application permits the writing of short messages or simple drawings, it is only a matter of time before this prototype system will be able to handle larger and more complex air-writing capabilities, according to Agrawal’s mentor, Romit Roy Choudhury, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.

This comes from physorg.com and FastCompany.com

Purple Aura Wallpaper – Download (designed by: Kevin Clayland)

Kevin Clayland — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:11:25 GMT
Aura Wallpaper I designed. Inspired by the hype of Snow Leopard by Apple yesterday. DOWNLOAD Hope you like!

spray paint art.wmv

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:39:09 GMT
Watch this awesome spray paint artist that seems to be producing chaos but turns out an awesome sci-fi painting. more about "spray paint art.wmv", posted with vodpod

Loz Verney Video-6 weeks of work in 6 minutes

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:35:12 GMT
http://blogs.cosmicthings.com/art/blog/2009/05/25/loz-verney-video/#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 01:35:12 GMT http://feeds.cosmicthings.com/~r/CosmicNetworks/~3/HDJAKw5saKg/

Ocean Blur – Wallpapers download (made by Kevin Clayland)

cespieker — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:09:31 GMT
I have recently created a Wallpaper set that I would like to share. created by using the motion blur options in Photoshop. Preview: To download: 1.) Click this Link 2.) Click on the Download button on the left side next to the picture 3.) Wait for download to finish, Unzip the file and there you [...]

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator on "record streaming audio"

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:09:18 GMT

I use DVDVideoSoft You tube to mp3 converter on Windows. Find it at here and the main download page here.

zharman4 on "record streaming audio"

zharman4 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:54:27 GMT

how do i get the music from this video on my computer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPKzoJ6nOFE

cdorey on "Hi"

cdorey — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:30:42 GMT

hi, Thank you Claire for helping me change my picture! U R a lifesaver! I love giraffes! -Carolyn

cdorey on "Hi"

cdorey — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:27:46 GMT

test

cdorey on "Hi"

cdorey — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:58:47 GMT

Does anyone know how to get rid of my stupid alien picture? -Carolyn

cdorey on "Hi"

cdorey — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:56:58 GMT

Thank you Carolyn for the wonderful blog. It is amazing! -Carolyn

cdorey on "Hi"

cdorey — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:53:27 GMT

Hello to the world. I am trying this out and looking for any of my friends. -Carolyn

New File Space Announcement

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:13:38 GMT

Before, you could only upload 2MB of data at a time. Now, we are happy to annnouce that you can upload 1 gigabyte of data at one time and you have 5 GB of standard file storage space. If your blog ends up needing more, Jamie Welch or Ms R. Would be great to talk to. If you have any problems, just click Support along the top of the page. Soon we will have live support chat where Ms R. and the other team members can solve your problems live! Thanks for your continued support of WPS Blogs!

Sincerely,

Jamie Welch

Network Administrator

WPS Blogs to Allow More Storage Space

admin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:51:14 GMT

BERLIN, Maryland – Before, you could only upload 2MB of data at a time. Now, we are happy to annnouce that you can upload 1 gigabyte of data at one time and you have 5 GB of standard file storage space. If your blog ends up needing more, Jamie Welch or Ms R. Would be great to talk to. If you have any problems, just click Support along the top of the page. Soon we will have live support chat where Ms R. and the other team members can solve your problems live! Thanks for your continued support of WPS Blogs!

# # #

Contact info@cosmicthings.com for more information on this topic.

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator on "Can't post here?"

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:44:18 GMT

You need an account from http://blogs.cosmicthings.com/wp-signup.php to access these forums.

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator on "Rules For The Network"

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:54:41 GMT

For more information, see this page for our full Terms of service: http://blogs.cosmicthings.com/terms-of-service/

New video tutorials and Knowledgebase

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:18:01 GMT

We have a new section of our support center called the Knowledgebase (KB). There we have answers to common questions, video tutorials, etc. Now you can get answers to common questions faster than you would submitting a ticket. You could either go to the main support site and go to the knowledgebase section towards the bottom of the page and clicking View entire Knowledgebase or go there directly by clicking here: View entire Knowledgebase. There is new tutorials button along the top of the page to go directly to the WordPress tutorials, which are availible in HD.

Thanks for choosing Worcester Preparatory School Blogs- Blogging to Empower the Future of Students.

Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Jamie Welch

Blog Network Administrator

Support Tickets

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:41:13 GMT

You can now create support tickets and either Ms. R or me will work to resolve the problem that you might have. Just click Support along the top of the main blog. When it takes you to the page click Submit a support ticket. Fill out the information on the form and click Submit Ticket. you will receive email notification of ticket creation and ticket responses. When you submit a ticket please state the problem fully so we can better assist you with your problem.

Thanks for using Worcester Preparatory School Blogs- Blogging to Empower the Future of Students.

Sincerely,

Jamie Welch

Blog Network Administrator

Forum Created

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:41:04 GMT

If you have been looking at the blog lately, you see that we now have a new link at the top- Site Forum. If you click that link, you can access our forums. There is a section just to post some random chat, there is a section for Support, and there are more sections such as a Feature Request section and others.

When you sign up for an account on our blog, you are automatically signed up on our forums. If you are logged into WordPress, you can post on the forum. Any logged in user can post in any forum except the Rules and the News sections. In the news section you can only reply to posts the Administrators make. In Rules you cannot post at all. Thanks for keeping tuned on our growing development of this website.

Thanks,

Jamie Welch

Network Administrator

Welcome to Our Network!

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:54:01 GMT

The creation of this site is complete and registration is now open. Please stay tuned for more updates on expected downtime, upgrades, etc. If you should encounter any problems with the site please email admin@cosmicthings.com ASAP.

Thanks for creating with Worcester Preparatory School Blogs- Blogging to Empower the Future of Students.

Jamie Welch

Blog Network Administrator