GeekwithEnvy

Richard Vincenti Jr

Halo 2600

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Halo2600

Looking for an action-adventure style video game for your Atari 2600? Well, then Halo 2600 is just the game for you. Created by Ed Fries, who was in charge of game publishing for Microsoft, Halo 2600 features many different zones and 64 different screens along with power-ups and shields. The gameplay is actually quite fun as you run around shooting aliens and switching from screen to screen. The game even offers up a legendary mode if you successfully complete the game.

If you’re looking for something fun to get rid of your boredom but don’t own an atari 2600 or have one of these awesome cartridges? No need to worry, you can play Halo 2600 online.

Internet Activist Aaron Swartz Dead at 26

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Internet activist Aaron Swartz was found dead in his apartment on Friday. A friend discovered that Aaron had  hanged himself in his apartment. Aaron Swartz was a brilliant programmer and will be remembered for all of his work. Most notably Aaron helped create RSS, a content syndication technology and he co-founded Demand Progress, a group that creates campaigns to combat issues of civil liberties, civil rights, and government reform. He played a key role in the creation of Reddit, an online news sharing site. He also fought hard against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).

Recently Aaron had worked his way into computer networks at MIT and  he stole millions of articles and documents from the subscription-based service called JSTOR or Journal Storage.

Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz

He intended to make the documents, which normally require a fee, available for free. If he would have been convicted he could have spent decades in jail and would have been hit with major fines.

Aaron will be remembered for his achievements and his cause. Even though he is no longer with us, he will continue to inspire.

 

King Tides Show Up On West Coast

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Tidal movements on Earth

For the next few days ocean tides will be much higher ( and lower) than they typically are due to a phenomenon called “King Tide”‘. These tides are popular among surfers as they create the best conditions for the sport. Some people use the very low tides to explore areas of the beach that are normally always underwater, a metal detector could turn up something cool.

So where do these King Tides come from? Well how these tides work is actually pretty amazing. Our orbit around the Sun isn’t a perfect circle, it’s actually an elliptical orbit. As the Moon travels around Earth it also travels in an elliptical orbit. This means that at certain points in our orbit around the sun or our moon’s orbit around the Earth, we are closer and farther away. When we are closest to the sun we call this point, the perihelion. When the moon is closest to Earth we call that point the perigee. When we are closer to the moon or the sun this causes us to see a greater influence from these celestial bodies on our tides.

Every once and a while the sun will be at perihelion and the moon will be at perigee at the same time, or very close to the same time. This causes the greatest posible influence on our tides (King Tide). We are closest to the sun in January and usually within the first week, we are farthest from our sun in July.

Need A MacBook On The Fly? Just Head to The MacBook Kiosk

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MacBookKiosk
MacBookKiosk (Photo Credit: Drexel.edu)

Drexel University is now home to a new type of vending machine that dispenses MacBooks to students to help them get their assignments completed. The machine carries up to twelve 15″ MacBooks. These MacBooks can be used for 5 hours and any time spent over the limit will result in a late fee. The rental is free of charge and only requires that Drexel students scan their student ID. If this system proves to be successful we could see more these  types of vending machines in the future.

 

Tomb Raider Limited Edition Controller for XBOX 360

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Xbox 360 Tomb LE Controller
Xbox 360 Tomb LE Controller [Image Credit: destructoid]
With it’s dark look and intense storyline, the next Tomb Raider looks awesome and to make the release of the game even more exciting, you will be able to buy this new custom Tomb Raider themed controller . Looking just as gritty as the game itself, this slick controller also comes with a download code for an exclusive multiplayer character, the Scavenger Archer. It will likely go on sale around March 5th of this year, which is the release date for the game, for around $59.99.

Haven’t heard about the new Tomb Raider? Get all of the details on the official site.