Mini Geek Vacation in Southern Ohio

National US Air Force Museum - Dayton, Ohio

I decided to take an extra two days off next week to go on a small geek vacation involving a drive down to Dayton, Ohio. There, I plan on visiting the National Museum of the US Air Force to feed the aviation geek in me and take in the hangers full of history they have on display. I’ll also probably visit the Wright Memorial while I’m in the area.

It’ll be nice to take the short trip to get just far enough away from work, yet not too far as to cost much more than a few tanks of gas. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of photos to add to the Road Trip gallery, as well.

Why I’m Voting for Woz (and You Should Too)

While the name “Steve Wozniak” is pretty well known in geek circles, the Woz isn’t exactly a household name for many of the viewers of Dancing with the Stars, which Wozniak is competing on this season.

My mom absolutely loves the reality TV show Dancing with the Stars. So I had to call her up as soon as I heard that Steve Wozniak would be competing alongside Karina Smirnoff in the next series of competition, which starts today. Of course, her first reaction to this was, “Who?”

To help get the word out on who this bear-like guy dancing across the stage is, as well as explain why so many geeks are voting for him, I put up a Geek Squad blog entry about the Woz Waltz Watch.

If you’re a Twitterholic like I am, you can follow GeeksforWoz and votewoz for more Woz talk.

Staying Home on a Friday Night

I had another Geek Squad blog entry posted today, based on the growing number of people who are spending more on their HDTVs and home theater systems in order to save money otherwise spent at the movie theater.

Doing some quick calculations in the back of my mind, I could easily see the claims from my friends about how a night out at the movies could easily cost a family of 4 nearly $75, and that’s not including the cost of industrial strength solvent you always end up needing to remove your shoes from the theater floor at the end of the movie.

You can read more about the The Geekonomics of Staying Home to Watch a Movie on the Geek Squad Blog.

Being Human

Being Human on BBC 3

I’ve found another great little British television series to watch from the BBC, called Being Human.

The premise sounds like a bad sitcom, taking place in apartment in Bristol that’s shared by a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost, but as the commercial for it hints at, it’s played seriously. That’s not to say there’s not humor involved, thanks to a fair amount of “slice of life” moments, that just don’t always involve the living.

Too bad it’s only set for a 6 episode run, according to the wiki entry, of which 4 episodes have been shown already.

Hulu a Better Deal for Advertisers?

There’s some talk in online communities about the state of Hulu and whether they’re limited number of advertisers is a bad sign for the company.

My personal opinion is that advertising on Hulu has some serious advantages over regular broadcast television, at least if you discount the difference in the number of viewers.

As a viewer, I’m far more likely to sit through the shorter commercials on Hulu, even if they’re unskippable, simply because the interruptions aren’t long and frequent. Also, I’m noticing that I’m paying far more attention to the commercials simply because there’s less of them. There isn’t a “wall of advertising” that ends up blurring the messages into noise.

I don’t think Hulu will entirely kill broadcast or even cable television, at least not for the current generation of viewers who have grown used to it, but it’s certainly another sign that digital distribution channels like iTunes, Xbox Marketplace and Netflix streaming video are here for the duration.