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When you think of Pennsylvania, do you think of (1) The Pittsburgh Steelers or the Pittsburgh Pirates? (2) Coal-Mining? (3) Vampires?
If you answered “Vampires,” then you know the realities of suburban western Pennsylvania, a target-rich environment for vampire hunters like Dean Marklin. Dean didn’t used to believe in vampires, but then he met a hot one, and a bunch of not-so-hot ones who keep trying to kill him. Life is hard enough in Vampire, PA without having to carry a wooden stake in your pocket all the time.
From The Twilight Saga to Dracula and every point in between, vampires are the new Vin Diesel and my pal J.C. Vaughn has come up with an excellent twist on the genre that’s worth a look. He’s written Zombie-Proof, the adventures of Jack Bauer in 24, some nice Shi comics with Billy Tucci, and a host of other stuff, and now he’s reunited with his Antiques co-horts, Brian Fraim and Brendon Fraim for a 3-part full-color series.
Click to continue reading Sneak Peek: Vampire, PA From Moonstone Books
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iTunes 9.1 now available with iPad and iBooks goodness
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Software,
Apple has just unleashed iTunes 9.1 into the wild, and with it comes the ability to sync your iPad, as well as the ability to start managing ebooks. Interestingly enough, it looks like the iBooks store will only be accessible on the iPad itself, and not within iTunes, if we are understanding this correctly:
- Sync with iPad to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on the go
- Organize and sync books you’ve downloaded from iBooks on iPad or added to your iTunes library
- Rename, rearrange, or remove Genius Mixes
Remember, iTunes does support DRM-free ePub ebooks also, so if you have any, feel free to add them to your iTunes library after installing 9.1!
Mac OS X 10.6.3 released, causes problems for some
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Software,
Apple finally released Mac OS X 10.6.3 yesterday morning, aimed at providing fixes that enhance the stabilit and security of your Mac, but it seems that a few people are experiencing some major issues after installing. On the bright side, we’ve heard that manually downloading the update, rather than bringing it in using Software Update, results in no problems at all. Here’s the quick list of fixes you’ll find in 10.6.3:
- improve the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X
- address compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications
- address an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail
- resolve an issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications
- resolve an issue that prevented files from copying to Windows file servers
- improve performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode
- improve sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand
- address a color issue in iMovie with HD content
- improve printing reliability
- resolve issues with recurring events in iCal when connected to an Exchange server
- improve the reliability of 3rd party USB input devices
- fix glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera
You can go ahead and grab it now if you’re running Snow Leopard.
Latest Gear Live Videos
Star Wars Soundboards: Pimp your prank phone calls
Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Peripherals, Software, Toys,
Looking for a way to spice up those annoying conversations with some call-center hack in Puna, India who is trying to sell you a cel-phone upgrade? Well look no further, Lando, your savior is here in the guise of the Star Wars Soundboard. The soundboard contains numerous links to .wav files of your favorite characters most memorable lines, from everyone’s pre-pubescent fantasy Princess Leia, all the way to random only-nerds-know-who-the-hell-I-am-talking-about Aayla Secura. So treat yourself! Call up that cell phone call center and torture them with Wookie-talk interspersed with cursing from Han Solo.
Seton Hill University to give iPads to all full-time students
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds,
Looks like Apple’s hopes that colleges and universities around the country will adopt the iPad as an educational tool may be coming to fruition. Seton Hill University, based in Greenburg, Pennsylvania, has just made it public knowledge that they will be giving all full-time students an iPad, starting with the next upcoming fall semester. Other schools have tried this with the Kindle, but in our opinion, the slowness of the Kindle screen refresh kind of killed that one. We don’t know that the iPad will fare much better, but it certainly has a better shot at success.
Read More 
| Seton Hill University via TUAW
I met Mike Valerio at a pre-convention party on the upper east side of New York City. He was funny, caustic, opinionated. He made me laugh right away and we became instant friends, bonding through sarcasm. Over the course of the long con weekend, we bumped into each other regularly, scouted out the dealer’s room together, and dropped in on a few panels. Towards the end of the con, at lunch, he asked me what else I’d done while I was in New York. When he found out I’d done nothing, he said, “You can’t go back to your hillbilly hometown and tell them all you saw in the big city was a bunch of comic books and Jim Steranko’s girlfriend.” He led the way out of the con and within minutes we were atop the Empire State Building. Thus began a friendship that would span many years and several states.
We stayed friends over the years and eventually and without planning it, we both ended up in Los Angeles about a year apart. He came west for a career as a writer/producer in film and television while I turned my attention to the comic book industry before jumping into television as well. A lifelong comic book fan, he was a regular at Golden Apple on Melrose Avenue and then Earth II on Ventura Blvd.
Click to continue reading R.I.P. Mike Valerio
Read More | News From Me
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 unboxing gallery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cameras, Features, Galleries, GPS,
We just got the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 digital camera in for review, and we must say, we are pretty stoked. We were big fans of last year’s DMC-ZS3, and the ZS7 improves upon that model with a 16x intelligent optical zoom, 12.1 megapixel images, much improved facial recognition, and GPS integration. We’re excited to put this one through the paces, especially with the built-in geotagging, and we will have that to you soon. In the meantime, we’ve put together a Lumix DMC-ZS7 unboxing gallery to show off the goods. Check it out!
Read More | Panasonic Lumix ZS7 unboxing gallery
Gallery:
Back Off, I’m Drinking SCIENCE!
Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Accessories, Smart Home, Science,
If you’re a child of the 80’s like me, some of your fondest memories revolve around movies like ‘Real Genius’ or Hughes-ian bits of brain candy like ‘The Breakfast Club’ or, better yet, ‘Weird Science’. Oh, for the halcyon days of wrist-watch calculators and pocket protectors—when nerds first began to rattle the bars of their cages and shout their skinny-armed superiority from atop a mound of servers—the true first days of ‘nerd-chic’. These beer-steins of science are hand-crafted from Pope Scientific bench top dewar flasks which should ring-true for any hard core science geeks out there and help you drink your way back to your childhood. So strap a bra to your head, fire a laser through the wall, and fill your favorite college prof’s house with popcorn. Then get trashed in the name of SCIENCE!!!!
Treat Your Inner Jerk to the TV Poltergeist
Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Accessories, Mods / Hacks, Toys,
Want to piss off your friends with more than just your abrasive personality and obnoxious hygiene habits or complete lack thereof? Yes, it is rude to clip your toenails in someone else’s living room, genius; what are you, five? If you feel the need to step up your toxicity—to neutron bomb your friendships, poisoning the landscape for decades to come and leaving behind a barren landscape of people hating the very mention of your name in your wake—then look no further: the TV Poltergeist is the gadget for you. The TV Poltergeist is a battery-powered and easily hide-able palm-sized piece of hardware with a tiny, flexible LED that you can point towards the TV of your intended victim. Once you turn it on the TVP will randomly emit a signal via the LED and shut your future ex-friend’s TV off. Works on just about any TV—CRT, Plasma, LCD—just not your Gramma’s 30 year-old knob-operated Zenith, though if you pull this stunt on your Gramma a) you’re an a$$ and b) expect to get written out of the will and hit with a cane. That woman lived through 5 wars and walked 40 miles to kindergarten everyday. Show some respect!
Read More | TV Poltergeist
Netflix Instant Streaming discs for Wii shipping today
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Movies, Video Games,
Our inbox has been blowing up with a bunch of readers letting us know that the Netflix Instant Streaming discs for Wii have finally started shipping. Netflix has been sending emails to members who signed up to receive the disc, letting them know to expect it to arrive in the mail tomorrow. Exciting for Wii owners who don’t own any other Netflix-enabled device, since the Wii is pretty much the only modern Netflix streaming device that doesn’t support high definition playback.
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