Nerd Corp

Saw this picture on a post @gizmodo and loved it. Thanks guys!

With a recent onslaught of cell phones on the market and a sensation overload from the advertising, it obvious that the times are changing. The newest competitor on the playing field is Google with their Android phones. These phones use a new OS that Google created to be put on a slew of various manufacture's devices.

Android was originally release on T-Mobile with the G1 and didn't catch on very quickly. However, when Google release it's second phone, the myTouch, again with T-Mo, they gained a little more momentum with their cameo-ridden marketing. To even further their progress, they released the HTC Hero on the Sprint network. Starting in November, Verizon launched their newest camaign called Droid with a brilliant marketing campaign called "Droid Does." See the video below for a better example:



Being a die-hard Sprint user, I am left with the desicion now between the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment. For those of you wanting to know the short end of my thought process, the HTC wins and is the phone of choice in the Android lineup. I will post another entry in the near future explaining my decision in more detail.

This video hit close to home. As a hobby, I love playing piano. Recently, I have segued that passion and skill into an instrument that fits both my artistic side and the nerdy side: the Synthesizer. Well, Calvin Harris from the UK took his passion to the next level. Using conductive paint, he was able to have 15 girls act as human keys to his synth. Check it out:

I know this was posted a while ago, but I can't seem to get enough of products that Apple has to offer, let alone how people are going to spoof on them. I have to give props to the ultimate in satire: The Onion. Thank you for your continued decication to keeping reality in check.

According to a new lawsuit filed in Beverly Hills, Cali., Apple is getting sued for an alleged conspiracy with the Italian mafia. Gregory McKenna is convinced that both his ebay purchased iPod shuffle and his store-bought iPod mini equipped with a receiver allowing the mafia to send him death threats through his music. He claims the words "I'm going to kill him" sung by members of the mafia played in unison with a song on his iPods.

"The recording of death threats and other evidence, prove that APPLE INC. conspired with the Mafia and other Defendants to manufacture, distribute, and sell illegally bugged iPods and other electronic equipment to Plaintiff to perpetuate the stalking, extortion, and torture."

The 124 page complaint filed last Wednesday gets even stranger. While listening to the song, "Still Tippin" by Mike Jones, McKenna claims the word "herpes" were inserted to "to humiliate, degrade, and cause emotional stress."

"Tippin' on four fours, wrapped in four vogues, HERPES. Tippin' on four fours, wrapped in four vogues. Tippin' on four fours, wrapped in four vogues, AHH."

Thank you Apple. All of us iPod owners are at risk of randomly hearing Sinatra singing, "It's my kind of town, YOU'RE GONNA DIE." I can only imagine that the Apple lawyers are going to take this one lightly. I'd like to see any judge consider his case.

Source: Apple Insider
Picture from @Engadget

For those of you that don't know me, there are a few things that I am passionate about as much as technology and one of them is cars. An English inventor named Giles Cardoso invented a project called the Parajet, which I can only imagine would give the rider a trill equivalent to bungee jumping but with the added risk of free-falling 2500 meters while traveling 75kph without a safety net.

Well, Parajet has been trumped again with "The world's first usable road-legal flying car," called surprisingly, the SkyCar. Parajet is currently taking pre-orders for their estimated £50,000 ($81,700) vehicle with a £10,000 ($16,338 U.S.) deposit. The company is hoping to have the vehicle in test flights September 2009 with a anticipated release date in early 2010. As if saving time on our commute to work wasn't enough, the SkyCar is also going to run on BioFuels helping our eco-friendly neighbors. For more info, check out their website: http://www.parajetautomotive.com/



Thanks @Autobloggreen for the info: Source

What some would have thought would never happen is finally coming to a reality. Virgina Tech has just announced a dirt buggy that can be driven by a blind person. The vehicle is equipped with an array of lasers that help the driver "see" the road and responds to verbal commands of the driver.



@VirginaTech http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/images/09542bdc.jpg

They say in Wisconsin, there are only two seasons: Winter and Construction. Even though this was taken on the Minnesota side of the Wisconsin border, I think that it still counts for ingenuity and creativity, two key factors for any true nerd or geek.

There is always room for improvement in the world of technology. As I appropriately saw on a tweet @mitchnetzer, "Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." With the arrival of smartphones and the infamous iPhone, people want to have one device to do everything, but to light a cigarette?! Seriously...


Thanks to @Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/17/cigarette-lighter-phone-could-light-up-your-death-sticks-life/#continued

New reviews for Sprintusers.com got posted. The reviews for the Motorola ve20 and the Samsung Rant are now online. Follow the link for the written review and I've also posted the video reviews! Let me know what you think!

Motorola ve20: http://www.sprintusers.com/reviews/review.php?id=631

Samsung Rant: http://www.sprintusers.com/reviews/review.php?id=630

Sprint is going to be launching the Blackberry Tour 9630 on August 2nd for consumer release. Definitely my next choice after the disappointing launch of the Palm Pre. Its going to be a nice upgrade from the Curve: Quad-band World Edition, double the processor, slimmer and sexified.

For a little over a year now, I have been helping out with a local company call Olmax Fabrication, also known as Speed & Custom Cycles. A majority of the work that I have done for and with them has been layout and design work on projects ranging from their website to advertisements to dealership packets. Up until this weekend, I knew the "book smart" side of public relations and how to use it to help a company.

I've heard professors drone on about target markets and about knowing your demographic and so on and so forth. It struck me this weekend that there is an essential difference between knowing your public and thinking you know your public. The product that we are working on promoting right now is called the SS Trike (http://www.sstrikes.com). In a broad sense, our key public are bikers.

Let's step back for a moment and cover the basics. I grew up Central Wisconsin to a traditional christian family. Attach the typical stereotypes and you can try to put yourself in my shoes. Growing up, my dad was an avid Goldwing enthusiast and my mom at one point had a little Yamaha FJ750. We used to take family afternoon motorcycle rides at leisure and I eventually shared the passion myself, albeit I have a bike to call my own.

To briefly summarize, going into the weekend, I knew about the product, I had a (what I assumed to be) decent background in motorcycles, and the stereotypes and rumors I had heard. This weekend, I was part of the team that took the SS Trike to debut at the 2009 Donnie Smith Invitational Bike Show. It didn't take long for some of my stereotypes to be confirmed and others to be thrown right out the window.

Typical bikers are crude people. To give you an example, the t-shirt vendor across the isle from us was called "Shake your T****s." That is the stereotype that I was expecting. The one that I was, ashamedly, caught off guard by was their disregard of the expense of their passion. There were a few questions that were asked all day long, including: How big is the front rim, How big is the gas tank, How does it handle, and How much does it cost?

When we answered the last question, our response was some variation of "starting at $24,900." In my opinion, a "typical" person's response would have been shock and disbelief. That's more than most people spend on a car. That's a significant down payment a house or mortgage. I could pay off all my bills for that much. What was the response en mass? "That's not too bad," or "That's less than I was expecting." I was shocked to say the least.

Why was it then this innocuous response stood out in my mind's eye? I had inappropriately judge a book by its cover. I never spent the time getting to know these bikers, who they were, and what makes them tick. I am, by no means, an expert on Biker Culture from the last two days, but it has changed my paradigm. I'm passionate about technology and gadgets, cars, and computers. It shouldn't surprise anyone, that a majority of my disposable income goes towards these things. Doesn't it make sense that if riding [motorcycles] was someone's passion, that they would spend whatever amount they felt was reasonable? Just because I can't afford it, doesn't mean others can't.

Lessons learned:

• You can't judge a book by its cover.
• Don't rely on what you think you know about people. Get to know your publics firsthand before you try to tell them what they need
• Keep an open mind and allow your opinions become more fluid.