Geeking Out

There’s no shortage of apps that let you easily share pictures, and apps like Vine make sharing short video clips just as easy. What about voice? That’s where Matthew Murphy and his company Appsurdity saw a hole in the market. He created Dubbler, an app that lets you share short audio clips through social media. I wasn’t sure who would want to do that, so I asked him during a brief phone interview. After Appsurdity reached out to me about Dubbler, I installed it on my phone. The basic pitch for the app is “You don’t text your personality. You voice it.” It’s supposed to let you easily share your voice with the Internet, and it does. I just wasn’t sure what to do with it. So I recorded myself telling a joke. A “Dub,” as they’re called, can be up to 60 seconds. Some suggestions I got from Murphy are to use it to tell a joke, sing a song, or ask a question. I suggested it might be a good way for we at Geekosystem to quickly explain a posted photograph, and when Dubbler updates with an easy way to embed a dub through HTML we might start doing that. He told me there are people doing movie reviews and crowdsourcing information. Rappers and musicians are on board including Common. RuPaul has even used it. There are different filters you can apply to your dubs. Murphy compared it to Instagram, but for your voice. The filter I used was called “Techtronic” and it just drops some light techno music in the background. The “Romance” does the same thing with soft piano music. The rest of the filters manipulate your voice itself. Murphy told me the most popular filter was the “Cat” which makes you sound like you’ve inhaled helium more than it makes you sound like a cat. The “Cow” filter does the opposite and lowers your voice. Murphy told me the “Cow” filter is popular among male users because it makes them sound like Barry White. I think it makes you sound like you’re making a ransom demand. There are more filters coming, including one that will be the result of a contest. Murphy told me that he couldn’t tell me one of the filters, but that I’d probably like it based on what I write about here at Geekosystem. I asked, “Is it Darth Vader?” He replied, “You’re good. I can’t confirm or deny, but there are some fun filters coming out.” So, it’s probably Darth Vader. I also wouldn’t hate a Bane filter. While we’re talking suggestions, maybe also Paul Lynde? Dubbler is being touted as a social app, but ten percent of the dubs are marked as private. They’re used to have private conversations with small groups like Dubbler’s own team. They use it as an alternative to text messaging. One thing I didn’t like about the app was that between the link, and an automatic “Listen here and #DubUp” tag at the end of my tweet, I was only left with 70 characters to describe my dubs. The app works, and it works well. I think the challenge is to get people to associate Dubbler with a specific type of content. When someone thinks about Instagram they likely think of selfies, pet photos, and food pics. SnapChat pretty much has the dick pic market cornered. I think once Dubbler finds its niche it could really take off, and personally I think if comedians started using it to send out jokes it could draw a decent following. Especially if they send those jokes out in a Paul Lynde voice. You can grab Dubbler for iOS or Android from their site, or in your respective app stores. (via Dubbler) Meanwhile in related links Arya Stark used Vine to freak out over the Red Wedding Took long enough, but Vine is finally on Android Bryan Singer teased some Days of Future Past details with Vine

For today’s edition of Deal of the Day, Amazon has the Square Enix Gamer’s Bundle for just $19.99. That’s 81% off the bundle’s list price of $106.95. The Square Enix Gamer’s Bundle includes the following titles: -Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Augmented Edition -Hitman Absolution: Professional Edition -Just Cause 2 -Just Cause 2: Black Market Aerial Pack DLC -Sleeping Dogs -Square Enix Gamer’s Bundle (5 Games) – $106.95 $19.99 (81% Off)

A real, official LEGO movie! WOOT! Coming to the big screen in early 2014. The LEGO Movie Teaser Trailer. Starring Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Will Ferrell, Alison Brie Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pratt and Will Arnett. [ENTV | Via Korben.info]

I know the human dating game can seem rough at times, but the fact of the matter is, we have it pretty good. Don’t believe me? Consider if you will the sorry state of Dolomedes tenebrosus, the dark fishing spider. A recent study of the spiders, common around the American midwest, found that males of the species get a grand total of one shot at breeding — immediately after copulation, their work on this Earth done, the creatures promptly curl up and die. The discovery that male dark fishing spiders are essentially single-use seed packets was made after researchers from the University of Nebraska gathered specimens of the arachnids from parks around the state and used them to play the world’s most terrifying version of The Dating Game.* In each of 25 observed matings, the male spider delivered sperm into the female before almost immediately going limp and dying. The study, published this week in the journal Biology Letters, also found that the spider’s pedipalp, which it uses to deliver sperm, remained frightfully swollen following mating, unlike the pedipalps of males in other species, which shrink back down. Not that the spiders probably mind, being dead and all, but it does seem to add a little unnecessary insult to a pretty serious injury. While there are a number of species in which females help their mates along to their final reward following a roll in the hay, female dark fishing spiders don’t seem to play any role in the deaths of their partners. Rather than being assaulted or having their head torn off and consumed like many species of mantis, the spiders seem to have simply wrapped up the worldly business, peacefully curling up and moving on to the great beyond, grotesquely engorged genitalia and all. While dying after sex may seem strange to us, the phenomenon dovetails pretty well with what we know about evolution in sexually dimorphic species — animals in which one gender is much larger than the other. Since small animals — like the male dark fishing spider, which is outweighed by its female counterpart by about a 14 to 1 ratio — have a better chance of living long enough to mate, they’re lucky just to find one viable partner. That means monogamy is common in these animals, though the dark fishing spider does seem to be taking the principle to an extreme. *Except for, y’know the actual The Dating Game (via Science Mag, image courtesy of Steven K. Schwartz) Meanwhile in related links How many species of bat-eating spider are there? Too many. I prefer my spiders tiny, thanks very much Not like this guy, which should be killed with fire on sight

It's become something of a long standing comic book tradition - famous super hero gets injured, crippled or even killed off, and is then replaced by a new hero wearing their famous name and costume, with the original hero eventually returning to the role after a series of struggles, not to mention fan demand for their return to their rightful place. One could say the whole concept of passing the superhero mantle to a newer,younger hero goes back to the fifties, when original Green Lantern Alan Scott and original Flash Jay Garrick let those new whipper-snappers Hal Jordan and Barry Allen take over their roles as Green Lantern and the Flash, respectively. Of course, there was a separation there of several years between Flashes and Green Lanterns, but still, you get the idea; new characters taking older heroic identities ain't nothin' new in comics. But the trope really became popular (and overused) over the past twenty-five years or so, and is now something of a tired cliche. But as much as replacing iconic heroes is a cheap gimmick, let's not forget superhero comics are nothing if not soap operas, and ongoing soap operas are full of gimmick storytelling. Doesn't mean those some of those stories weren't entertaining, or some of those gimmick characters didn't grow into something more over time. As with all things...some gimmicks (and characters) are just cheaper than others. And some cheap gimmicks can last for years before they are undone. Case in point, our entry at #11... 11. Spider-Woman Julia Carpenter Replaces Spider-Woman Jessica Drew The original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, was created out of corporate need more than any other reason; at some point in the seventies, Stan Lee realized if they didn't make a Spider-Woman spin-off character to their flagship hero Spider-Man, sooner or later another comic book company would take the name. So as a way of securing the copyright, Spider-Woman debuted in an issue of Marvel Spotlight in 1977. She was just meant to be a one-off character, created soley for that reason, but quickly Marvel saw potential in her, and within a year she not only had her own comic book series, but her own cartoon show on Saturday morning television. Despite being created to be a female version of Spider-Man, much like Supergirl and Batgirl were female analogues of their popular DC Comics male counterparts, Spider-Woman ended up being an analogue in name only. Her origins, powers, and costume were totally different from Peter Parker's, and aside from also living in the same Marvel Universe as Peter, had no other real connection to him. This was a much smarter and more interesting way to approach the character, as opposed to just making her a cheap knock-off of a popular male character (and before anyone flames me for that comment, no, I don't think Supergirl and Batgirl are just cheap copies...but they did kind of start out that way). In the late seventies and early eighties, Spider-Woman was found on most products and merchandise featuring the Marvel icons, right alongside the Hulk and Captain America. She was clearly being positioned as Marvel's top female hero. Then, in 1983, after fifty issues of her own series and an earned place in the Marvel Pantheon, her series was abruptly cancelled and her powers and costumed identity removed. Rumor has it that Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter thought a female version of Spidey (even though she really wasn't at all) emasculated Spider-Man himself. This sounds ridiculous, of course, but the fact that Jessica Drew was all but erased from Marvel gives some validity to this rumor. Nevertheless, Marvel needed to have a character named Spider-Woman floating around occasionally, otherwise they'd lose the copyright. So in the epic crossover miniseries Secret Wars, the same event that introduced Spider-Man's new black costume, Marvel introduced Julia Carpenter, the new Spider-Woman. Although not a terrible character by any means - and with enough personality traits t

Remember the double rainbow guy? Of course you do! Well geeks, Paul “Yosemite Bear” Vasquez is back, but this time, he looks like he’s in a bit of trouble. Apprently, the fire you see above shoots flames that are higher than a 100-foot tall. Also, the view we’re getting from his camera is the same as the one we saw a few years back in his memorable double rainbow video (see below.) This fire started yesterday Fathers Day June 16, 2013 around noon. I noticed it immediately and started filming. This footage was shot today Monday June 17, 2013 3 PM. I was on the phone with a CNN reporter when the flames started shooting up and this video starts. I was ordered to evacuate last night but refused the order because I have been planning for this for decades. My 2,500 gallon water tank went online two days before this fire. My well puts out a good water hose stream and my water tank puts out 2 streams and my hot tub another. I have 4 potential water hose lines, if only I had somebody here to help me man them. All the people who live here ran away like chickens. Ha. I fear nothing, I see it all as exciting, interesting and amazing! [Hungrybear9562]

At least 'nobody is listening to our telephone calls'; many people breathed a sigh of relief since first learning of the surveillance because it's just metadata, after all. Phew! Wrong. Metadata still leaves a lot to be concerned about. There's more to privacy than just the sounds of our voices: Content may be what we say, but metadata is about what we actually do. And unlike our words, metadata doesn't lie.

Facebook Home is a whole lot more than that it seems. Think of it as an "apperating system," a software platform that sits between the operating system and the apps, capturing an enormous share of the user's attention. And, Facebook hopes, an enormous chunk of advertising revenue.

Valentin Heun's projects include a door lock, desk lamps, and a small radio that bring the benefits of computation to objects without sacrificing their intrinsic, tactile pleasures.

[Source: Abstruse Goose]