U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

Tech Talk

By Bram Fulk

Interwebs wavered when public jacked in for Jacko

"Jackson dies, almost takes Internet with him" was the headline on CNN.com the day after the sudden passing of the King of Pop. In the minutes before the confirmation of Jackson's death came across the wires, Google was inundated with inquiries about the singer - so much so that the website thought it was under attack by some sort of Mike-curious virus and it took steps to protect itself, even turning away users that it thought were automated spyware apps.

TMZ.com (the first site to break the story), EOnline, and Perez Hilton's blog all had bouts of sluggishness with occasional fits of non-responsiveness. It makes one wonder: If a super-massive website like Google - I mean, it's freakin' Google - is almost taken down by mass curiosity, what would happen if something monumental happened and the world turned to the Interwebs for information?

This didn't really happen with September 11th. We didn't have social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as they exist today - hell, people didn't even text message that much in 2001. On the terrible day everyone turned to the television for their information. Could you imagine if, heaven forbid, something like that happened now? Millions upon millions of Google searches, tweets, text messages - all attacking our Cyberspace infrastructure. The series of tubes that make up Gore's Great Invention, would all get clogged with people trying to suck information out while others are trying blog about their feelings and upload the cell phone videos of their thoughts and opinions to their YouTube channel. The tubes would undoubtedly crack under the pressure. Unless they've learned something from this unfortunate and unexpected trial by fire, that is.

If you're like me, though, you'll have nothing to worry about. In the wake of Jackson's death, people everywhere are treating the Internet's coverage of the story as the last nail in the coffin of televised news media. It's been pointed out that it took "legitimate" news sources over a half hour to catch up after TMZ broke the story. Does anyone seriously think CNN, NBC, or CBS should go to air with a story that's only being reported on TMZ.com? That's like citing Wikipedia as your news source. I'm not going to believe any so-called "breaking news" until Katie Couric interrupts my Oprah time to tell me about it.

Futuristic pen more like a magic wand

How cool would it be to have a real-life Photoshop Eyedropper thingy to recreate any color you wanted right in the palm of your hand? Unfortunately, you don't have that technology ... yet. A young techno-wizard named Jinsun Park has come up with a very intriguing concept: a pen that can scan any color and instantly allow you to write or draw with the hue in question. Very cool.

Park's design, as it appears on futuristic design website Tuvie.com, looks as though it works in much the same way as the color recognition 'eye' that paint mixers use to match different shades. On one end of the pen is a small color sensor. You place the sensor up to any color and push a button, the pen then scans the color and mixes it by dispensing just the right amounts of red, blue, and green ink from the three separate internal cartridges, producing any color your little heart desires from the tip of the pin, much the same way your inkjet printer produces any number of tints from one $65, two-week-lasting cartridge.

It's definitely a cool concept, even though it still might be a ways off.

Video Games

Put 'em up, put 'em up!

Fight Night Round 4 is the much anticipated follow up to - you guessed it - Fight Night Round 3. This recent release is available on both Xbox 360 and the PS3 and, if you couldn't guess by the title, is a boxing game that lets players pit contemporary fighters against all-time legends like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

The quality of the game isn't in question. As the latest in a long line of EA Sports boxing games, one already knows what to expect going into the thing, just that the graphics will be a bit better and there'll be new music on the menu screen. The part that I am having a tough time swallowing is the TV commercial for the game. In it, we see a young Ali taking on a Tyson in his prime. There's all sorts of voice over that sets up the spot's drama that, you're led to believe, is Tyson taking down The Greatest with one punch. One punch!

I'm sorry EA Games. I know your motto is "Challenge Everything", but I don't think you should try to challenge common sense. I'm only an in-passing boxing fan and even I know that no one, absolutely no one would take the young man down that easily.

Treasures of the Interwebs

rollasole.com

So, last week's web treasure was definitely one for the guys. This week, we're featuring something that's solely for the girls: rollasole.com. Rollasole is a UK company that makes cheap (between $10 and $15 a pair) ballet pumps that you can roll up and tuck away in a handbag. The cutest part is that, in the UK, they're available at clubs in vending machines for those who didn't think ahead and bring a pair of comfy shoes. Coming soon to the US.

Originally Published: July 1, 2009

↑ Back to the top