MC Frontalot is the Nerdcorest -
MC Frontalot, pioneer in the realm of the lyrically nerdcore, sits down with Irina to share some thoughts on life, movies and music.
Episode links: MC Frontalot, Nerdcore Rising, Doctor Popular, ytcracker
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
What has the Internet done for you lately? -
While at our favorite geek summer camp known as SXSW Interactive, Irina polls a few peeps on what the Internet and SXSW has done for them lately. The answers are as varied as they are earnest.
Episode links: SXSW Interactive, M dot Strange, Guy Kawasaki, AllTop, Tim Ferriss, Michael Verdi, Jason Toney, Liz Gannes, Clarence, Jessica Mah, George Oates, Daniel Burka, Gary Vaynerchuk, Paula Cavagnaro, John Halcyon Styn, Loren Feldman
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
Interesting Technologies Emerge -
O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology conference is often ground zero for useful and meaningful tech stuff and the geeks who invent them. In 2004, Flickr debuted here. In 2008, many DIY projects bloom, such as Socialbomb, aerial drones, binary LED watches, modular programmable open source gadgets and cheap open source robots. We talk to a few of their inventors, capture a brief moment with Nikita Chrusov of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf and close on a serious note as former AT&T technician Mark Klein accepts the EFF’s 2008 Pioneer Award.
Episode links: ETech 2008, Socialbomb, Nate True, Bre Pettis, Soviet Unterzoegersdorf, monochrom, IPRE, Bug Labs, EFF Pioneer Awards, Mark Klein
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
A Day in the Life of a Pro Video Gamer -
It’s a hard life being most excellent at most video games, but Johnathan Wendel aka Fatal1ty doesn’t shy away from the challenge. So what does happen in a typical day of a professional video game player? That’s what we really wanted to know too, so Irina invades Fatal1ty’s hotel room to find out.
Episode links: Fatal1ty, Fatal1ty (wikipedia), PMS Clan
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
Pillow Fight: Make Feathers, Not War -
What better way to spend Valentine’s Day than beating the crap out of someone else’s lover with a pillow? That’s exactly what happened when over a thousand lost souls gathered in San Francisco on this fateful day for the annual rite of passage known as Pillow Fight.
Episode links: Pillow Fight San Francisco, Chocolate Rain 8bit Remix
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
Anonymous is a nebulous and faceless group that normally lives comfortably on the Internet but has chosen to step into meatspace on this particular day to face off with the Church of Scientology, an organization which it considers to be illegal and immorally coercive. Scientology labels Anonymous a ‘cyber terrorist’ group. Protests against Scientology were organized simultaneously in cities all around the world. Irina pays a visit to the Church’s San Francisco headquarters to get a sense of what all the fuss is about.
Episode links: Scientology, Anonymous, Project Chanology, Xenu.net, Lawrence Wollersheim, Mike Rinder, BBC Panaroma on Scientology
Full interview: Lawrence Wollersheim
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
Back before there was the Internet, early caveman dialed into computer bulletin board systems or BBSes to get their online fix. Many of these boards distinguished themselves with ANSI art, an early form of electronic cave paintings. ANSI was an extension to the even earlier form of caveman communication known as ASCII used in MS-DOS based computers. It is with great pleasure that we happened upon the San Francisco hacker art gallery “20 goto 10″ where an ANSI art exhibition was in progress. Irina Slutsky talks to curator Kevin Olson who takes us on a tour of some of the amazing early work of two ANSI artists, lordjazz and somms.
Episode links: ANSI Art (wikipedia), ANSI Art Gallery Show, 20 goto 10 Gallery, Sixteen Colors ANSI Archive, ACiD, Phlogiston (soundtrack)
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
We all know that one crazy cat lady who puts her complete love, money and affection into her feline friends. Do you know what happens when crazy cat ladies come together and subject their little love muffins to the scrutiny of the harsh lights and exacting judges? Neither did we which is why Irina Slutsky and Violet Blue decided to visit the Fog City Cat Show in Alameda, California.
Episode links: Fog City Cat Club, lolcats, Doctor Popular, Drown Radio, Violet Blue
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
The Commodore 64 home computer celebrated its 25th birthday at the Computer History Museum with several luminaries of the 8-bit computing era present. We take a peek at this popular pesky piece of silicon and plastic and try to get an idea of why the Commodore 64 was the best selling personal computer in history at 30 million units moved. GETV’s Roving Retro Reporter Violet Blue puts the question to Jack Tramiel, founder and head of Commodore, as well as his son Leonard Tramiel. Violet gets a bit of insight from a couple of the C64’s competitors, Steve Wozniak, creator of the first Apple computer, and Bill Lowe, known as the father of the IBM PC.
Episode links: Commodore 64, Jack Tramiel, Leonard Tramiel, Steve Wozniak, William Lowe, The Commodore Billboard, C64 sounds [YouTube:Lavoraste], C64 games [YouTube:tr0d], C64 Turns 25 [news.com], Computer History Museum, Violet Blue
Full interviews: Jack Tramiel, Leonard Tramiel
Formats available: iPod/iPhone (.m4v) | Quicktime (.mov)
Supporting the Striking Writers -
GETV pops down to Los Angeles to see how geeks can help support the striking television and movie writers of Hollywood. Solidarity through double-clicking or not double-clicking, that is the question. Irina catches up with several writers and actors on the picket line to find out from them how we geeks can help.
Episode links: United Hollywood, WGA, Seth Rogen, Chris Provenzano, Phil Rosenthal, Richard Potter, Strike Dancing
Formats available: Portable (iPod/iPhone) | Quicktime (.mov)
A Festival of Vintage Computers -
Where do old computers go to die? We’re not sure, but we do know where the digital old folks home is. We take a trip down the valley to Mountain View for the 2007 Vintage Computer Festival. We happily discover 8-bit wonders living life as if it were 1980 all over again. We find Commodore PETs and SuperPETs, Atari 400 & 800s, Tandy TRS-80s, Sols, Altairs, Data Generals, HPs and even a LINC from 1962.
Episode links: Vintage Computer Festival, Commodore PET, TRS-80, David Welsh: Priming the Pump, Computer History Museum, Phlogiston
Formats available: Portable (iPod/iPhone) | Quicktime (.mov)
NewTeeVee Live: Old Media & New Talent -
Here’s a bit more coverage from the NewTeeVee Live conference. Irina asks some new media talent about the old media game.
Episode links: NewTeeVee Live, CNET Webware, French Maid TV, ICM, The Dot Comix, Tiki Bar TV
Formats available: Portable (iPod/iPhone) | Quicktime (.mov)
NewTeeVee Live: Pleats and a Long Tail -
We dropped into the inaugural NewTeeVee Live! conference this week so Irina could ask some burning questions on fashion, content, and of course everyone’s favorite subject, the long tail.
Episode links: NewTeeVee Live, Revision3, Laughing Squid, OpenRoad.TV, Xlntads, Heather Gold, Seesmic
Formats available: Portable (iPod/iPhone) | Quicktime (.mov)
Maybe this will help, maybe it won’t. Thanks to the ever prolific Doc Popular for the hook up with some custom intro and outro theme music, debuting for the first time in this little inspirational piece.
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod)
The fun dispensable candy known as PEZ is undoubtedly one of the geeky wonders of the world. We got super excited when we learned that the world’s only PEZ museum was a mere half hour drive down the road. Justine Ezarik aka iJustine was in town, and it turns out that she’s a huge PEZ fan and collector. Only Steve Jobs or a new Apple product launch could keep her away. iJustine and Irina pay a visit, take a tour and get the history of PEZ from Gary Doss, curator of the Burlingame PEZ Museum of Memorabilia.
Episode links: PEZ Museum, PEZ Candy (official site), iJustine
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod)
We got wind of a big chess tournament happening with some of the big names in hip hop, so of course we had to see what this was all about. Turns out the Hip Hop Chess Federation was putting on the inaugural Chess Kings Invitational, an event with the brightest young minds of chess competing for scholarships and the big belt. Chess, hip hop music and martial arts are the elements that build life strategies according to founder Adisa Banjoko. Irina gets the scoop behind the 64 squares and meets legends PopMaster Fabel of the Rock Steady Crew and The RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan among others.
Episode links: Hip Hop Chess Federation, HHCF blog, Adisa Banjoko, Pop Master Fabel, Emma Bentley, The RZA, DLabrie, Davey D’s wrapup, Chesspark, [full interviews: Adisa Banjoko, PopMaster Fabel, Emma Bentley, DLabrie, The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, Rugged Monk]
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod) | YouTube
Podcasters and videobloggers from all around the world converged recently on the eastern Los Angeles wasteland of Ontario, California for the Podcast and New Media Expo. As one can imagine, much incestuous self-referential media making went on among the attendees. And we at Geek Entertainment TV are no different. See which micro-celebrities Irina accosts with her microphone. Odds are, you are probably one of them.
Episode links: Steve Garfield, Women of Warcraft Podcast, The Clip Show, Cinema Psychic, Daily Breakfast, Lab Rats, Total Podcastrophe, The Medical Minute, Nick Starr, Rocketboom, Paul Dateh, Midwest Teen Sex Show
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod) | Viddler
On the eve of the heavily anticipated launch of Halo 3, Microsoft opened it’s Silicon Valley doors to developers and gamers for a sneak preview of the game that every kid in America wants. Irina catches the zeitgeist of a Halo 3 multiplayer tournament and has a chat with some of Microsoft’s Xbox hardware engineers who made it all possible.
Episode links: Halo 3, Bungie, Xbox 360, Microsoft
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod/iPhone) | YouTube | Viddler
A million virtual boozers can’t be wrong, nor can they be drunk unless you bring them into reality. Reality is what happened at Booze Mail’s Million Booze March event where virtual boozers came out of the closet to embrace actual reality based booze drinks. If reality scares you like it does us, stick to the uber popular Booze Mail Facebook app and you won’t have to drink real drinks with real people again. Irina shows us why it’s a bit scary.
Episode links: Booze Mail (FB app), Million Booze March (photos), Renkoo, Schlomo
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod/iPhone)
It would really suck if your cell phone, iPod or Zune got you killed while driving which is why Microsoft’s got your back. Their new Sync platform hooks up your bluetooth device to your car, assuming you have a new Ford and a Windows 98 install CD. OK, install CD is optional. It’s all voice activated goodness from there. Velle Kolde of Microsoft Auto shows Irina how to call Bill Gates and find Bootylicious on her imaginary Zune.
Episode links: Ford Sync, Microsoft Auto
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod) | Ogg Theora (.ogg)
The force is strong with this one, young geek viewer. We caught up with Mr. Cranky Geek himself, John C. Dvorak, while he was brushing up his crank skills with Master Yoda outside of George Lucas’ infamous Industrial Light and Magic in San Francisco’s Presidio. Irina goes into deep history with Dvorak to discover it all started with a fly in the sandwich.
Episode links: John C. Dvorak, Cranky Geeks, ILM
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod)
Wine Tasting With Gary Vaynerchuk -
Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV and Irina suck on rocks, eat dirt and taste wine like superheros. If you’ve seen the Conan bit, this is similar until Irina turns the tables on Gary. Filmed at Technorati whom we love for putting up with our disruptions.
Episode links: Wine Library TV, Gary on Conan, Technorati
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod) | Ogg Theora (.ogg)
We dropped by Linuxworld 2007 in San Francisco to see what’s new in the world of Linux operating systems, stacks, racks and porn. Irina goes deep among the penguins.
Episode links: Linuxworld, ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, FreeBSD, FreeBSDGirl, LinuxQuestions
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod) | Ogg Theora (.ogg)
Mechanical Amusements From the Past -
Violet Blue visits the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45 in San Francisco for a refreshing, nostalgic trip through mechanical games of fun and fortune from the past. Some of these relics are downright morbid, others are delightfully funny. Violet takes us on a tour and relays a bit of the museum’s history.
Episode links: Violet Blue, Musee Mecanique
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod)
If you have any doubt that robots are taking over, can carry a tune and are mean fuckers, then check this video out. Captured! By Robots dragged their creator JBOT to the last show of their tenth anniversary tour here in their home destination of San Francisco. Irina corners JBOT around back of the Bottom of the Hill before the show and tries to find out why he lets his creations torture him so.
Episode links: Captured! By Robots, JBOT, Bottom of the Hill
Dontcha Wish Your Cell Phone Was Hot Like Me? -
Yes, this music video will make you buy an iPhone if you don’t already have one. No, we don’t get kickbacks from Apple nor do we make any apologies.
Directed, produced and edited by Nora McDevitt, featuring Randi Jayne, MC Prager & MC Slutsky. A collaborative effort.
Episode links: iPhone, Nora McDevitt (imdb), Randi Jayne, MC Prager, MC Slutsky, Doctor Popular, Myloekoe, Laura Swisher, FBC
Sex Blogger Audacia Ray Gets Naked -
Episode links: Violet Blue, Audacia Ray, Naked on the Internet, Center for Sex and Culture, Fleshbot
The culmination of all the hype finally hit on iPhone d-day. We went down to the Apple Store in San Francisco and spoke with a few potential iPhone owners waiting in line and a couple excited newbie owners with booty in hand. Irina takes the pulse.
Episode links: iPhone, SF Apple Store, Santa Inc : Dorothy’s Magic Bus (soundtrack)
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) | Portable (iPod) | Ogg Theora (.ogg)
We took a trip down to Los Angeles for the first inaugural Pixelodeon online video festival. Irina chats up a handful of the creative minds that made this a weekend to remember.
Episode links: Pixelodeon, Can We Do That?, Rick Rey, Eric Rey, Josh Cohen, TheHill88, Fred Seibert, [full interviews: Can We Do That?, Rey Brothers, Josh Cohen, TheHill88, Fred Seibert]
Episode links: geekSessions, Ruby on Rails
There was so much goodness at the Maker Faire this year, we couldn’t just do one episode. Violet Blue goes deep and talks to makers Kimric Smythe and Shannon O’Hare of the Neverwas Haul project, Katie London and Kate Hartman of Botanicalls and Ron Sears, who with his son Nick Sears, created the ultraORB.
Episode links: Maker Faire, Violet Blue, Neverwas Haul, Botanicalls, ultraORB, [full interviews: Kimric Smythe, Shannon O’Hare, Kati London and Kate Hartman, Ron Sears]
The Maker Faire came to town and it was chock full of brilliant, freaky gadget makers and inventors from around the world. GETV’s Roving RoboReporter Violet Blue wanders the fairgrounds to see how things are going in the Make Play Day room, explores vintage pinball machines and checks in with the Power Tool Drag Races.
Episode links: Violet Blue, Maker Faire, Michael Shiloh, Make Play Day (pix), Lucky Ju Ju Pinball, Power Tool Drag Races, Jeremy Boyle (Trio1), [full interviews: Michael Shiloh, Michael Schiess]
Yahoo! opened her new San Francisco research lab to an unsuspecting public lucky enough to sample her fresh warez. Irina hits the Pipes, samples the del.icio.us DNA, gets mixd and finds a very happy Messenger.
Episode links: Yahoo Brickhouse, Pipes, del.icio.us, mixd, Messenger
It was 25 years ago when Michael Knight began prowling the mean streets with his trusty molecular bonded chatty partner KITT. Michael was last seen in Germany while KITT waits on a lonely used car lot in Dublin, California for a new owner flush with the correct configuration of Benjamins. Irina gets inside KITT and has a little heart-to-heart with the hardened turbo powered crime fighter.
Episode links: KITT, Knight Rider, Kassabian Motors (for sale)
Double Vision Dances in the Technology Age -
We were recently invited to check out Double Vision’s “To Futurism and Back Again” dance performance. Irina checks in with Double Vision’s artistic directors Pauline Jennings and Sean Clute to find out what ‘intermedia’ means and how dance relates to technology.
Episode links: Double Vision, To Futurism and Back Again
NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California opened up her vast hangar to celebrate the anniversary of the first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Oh what a long way we've come since the Cold War. This night was a mix of space geeks, Burning Man freaks and tons of fun.
Episode links: Yuri's Night, NASA Ames, The Straggler [C.M.PUTER] (buy)
Onomy Labs like to make fun interactive devices that are engaging, intuitive and cutting edge. Onomist and GETV R&D reporter Julia Yacenda prods principle Onomists and former Xerox PARC researchers Dale MacDonald and Scott Minneman into showing off a couple of their signature interactive pieces. Fresh out of the lab is the GeoConnectTable, an amazingly intuitive interactive interface to satellite maps and geo-data. Another popular piece is RED, the Reading Eye Dog. Watch and listen as RED sings a popular dog song in his robotic canine synthesized voice.
Episode links: Onomy Labs, GeoConnectTable, RED
Episode links: Justin.tv, JenniCam, mike photo (LMDocherty), schlomo photo (cirne), Kent Bye (for footage capture)
While at SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, Roving RoboReporter Violet Blue caught up with a unique hacker by the name of Kyle Machulis. Kyle isn’t your ordinary teledildonic hardware hacker. No, Kyle created the ultimate real-time sex device mashup by linking public Twitter updates to a Rez Trance Vibrator allowing users to FEEL Twitter messages. Kyle demonstrates and explains how it all works. You will never regard Twitter the same way again. (This video is safe for work, no matter what your industry).
Episode links: Violet Blue, qDot (slashdong), MMOrgy, IGDA Sex, Twitter, Rez Trance Vibrator
GETV was in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW), the annual geek summer camp. It was all about the panels, hallways and parties. So what's the score on who hangs out where? That's what Irina finds out.
Episode links: SXSW 2007, Hugh MacLeod, Srini Kumar, Bre Pettis, Dale Dougherty, Violet Blue, Jonathan Moore, Robert Boyle, Kris Krug, Casey McKinnon, Rudy Jahchan, Eric Rice, Molly Wright Steenson, Scott Beale, Gabe Rivera, Joshua Pollack, Aaron Valdez, Douglas Sarine, Twitter, Jennifer Robbins, Jackson West, Chuck Olsen, Kent Nichols
Adaptive Path, that rascally little South Park user experience studio at the center of all things web 2.0, celebrated it’s sixth year in existence with a retro prom party. Last year, we had to find out what the meaning of Adaptive Path is. This year, we channel our inner VC and get the answers to questions that any potential sugar daddy might ask.
Episode links: Adaptive Path, Flickr photos, AP5: What is Adaptive Path?
The One-Man Star Wars Trilogy -
We were recently invited to check out Charles Ross’ One-Man Star Wars Trilogy theatre show in San Francisco. In one hour, Charles single handedly runs through many of the best moments of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Dialogue, music, special effects and even a few references to the prequel, Charles manages a thoroughly convincing rendition of the trilogy. Irina has a few words with Charles after the opening night show in SF. Playing now until March 11th in San Francisco. Go see it! Use code DARTH and save $5.
Episode links: Charles Ross, San Francisco Show, Star Wars
girlz 0f destruction House in Sweden -
We recently won a trip to Stockholm, Sweden to hang out with the girlz 0f destruction at the Home of Chrome girlz gaming house. For these girls, Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament is their blood, low ping times is their mantra and weird Swedish food keeps them going through the night. Livia, Alana and Therese show us how it's done and give us the low down on the team and the house.
Episode links: girlz 0f destruction, Home of Chrome, Livia, Alana, Therese