Well, let me clarify, iWerkz Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard isn’t just for bloggers. Pretty much anyone who finds themselves lugging around their computer to work/write/blog/etc. would enjoy the iwerkz keyboard.
I always find myself away from my computer whenever I’m hit with a great bloggable idea. I attempt to start typing it out on my phone or ipad but give up after having to change all of the autocorrected words.
I actually have a different portable bluetooth keyboard from a brand that shall not be named. And it did it’s job just fine, however, it was kind of clunky and took up a lot of space in my purse (which is always occupied by the current week’s comic haul). And it was most definitely not pink!
OMG Case – Interactive color-changing LED lighted case.
Although I only have one phone, I collect cases as if they are Pokémon. But I never had one that turns into a Christmas tree! OMG Cases light up using LED tech (aka magic). So now, not only will my phone sound like the TARDIS landing when someone calls me, but it will light up like a disco ball!
OMG Cases come in 20 designs so you’re bound to find one that you like. I happen to like the zombie one (of course). This will definitely come in handy when I’m at a party and having trouble as usual finding my phone in my black hole of a purse.
Shiny!
GIVEAWAY!
One person will win an OMG Case of their choosing.
1. Comment on this post
2. LikeOMG Cases on Facebook and follow@omgbrandz on Twitter (if applicable)
GGGB: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Nicole: I’m an automation engineer, derby girl, gamer, and blogger.
Let’s hear all about your geeky tattoo!
Nicole: I have a circuit board heart tattoo. I’ve been in love with technology since I was about 5 and got a toy laptop for Christmas. This love shaped my childhood and eventually became my career. I wanted a way to show my love for something that has given me so much.
Any plans for future tattoos?
Nicole: I’d like to get “Bad Wolf” in Circular Gallifreyan, a Zelda style life meter, and the number 42 with a galaxy in it.
What’s your current tech obsession?
Nicole: All things mobile.
What piece of science fiction technology can you not wait to be invented?
Nicole: I still really want a hover board.
If you were on a deserted island what game, book and TV show would you bring?
Nicole: Game: BioShock
Book: Daemon
TV Show: Doctor Who
Nicole’s Circuit Heart Tattoo by Paul at Metamorphosis in Indianapolis
If you’re interested in being featured in a Tattoo Tuesday or Tattoo Tuesday Featurette please email me at jamila(a@)girlgonegeekblog(.)com or girlgonegeekblog(@)gmail(.)com
I haven’t done a tech review before but I had to do one on the UbiRock. It’s just too freaking cool! The UbiRock is a portal vibration speaker. It’s small and therefore super portable. Basically you put the small UbiRock speaker on any flat surface and it turns that surface into a speaker. I don’t know how it works, magic probably.
It’s extremely easy to use. Just plug it into your Mp3 or laptop (or anything with a standard audio 3.5mm or USB plug) and press play! It’s rechargeable so you don’t need to worry about outlets or batteries. I also had entirely too much fun experimenting with different surfaces to see what sounds they create.
Girl Gone Geek Blog readers get $10 off UbiRock! Use the code: “GirlGoneGeek” (good until April 2nd)
So like many other wordpress users my blog was recently hacked by this terrible terrible timthumbs.php. After I dyed the white Rouge-like streak that developed in my hair from my stress, and I tried my very best to fix it by diving headfirst in forums and getting to the bottom of it. So I followed all the steps I found and was pretty sure I cleaned up my precious. But not sure enough (don’t judge I never said I was a tech geek!)…
Just in case I didn’t get all the baddies out my site I was willing to go to the extremes to not only clean up my site but hopefully not lose my beloved newb and vet readers. I was well on my way to completely deleting my blog and wordpress and uploading it all over again bit-by-bit which almost gave me an aneurism just thinking about it and how I would probably screw it up. But instead I signed up with Sucuri Security and they will keep my site geeky clean and annihilate all the baddies (this is not an ad for them, they and a friend just saved the day and my mind and deserve a shout out). Also Tony Zeoli of has been beyond helpful!
I adore my readers and fans from the bottom of my 8-bit heart and I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or frightening thoughts or this may have caused anyone.
If in the very unfortunate event you get a warning from my site, please contact me asap at girlgonegeekblog[at]gmai.com thanks!
If you are interested in having me feature your geeky tattoo on a future Tattoo Tuesdayfeel free to email me at girlgonegeekblog[at]gmail.com.
***click on images for links***
***I wrote this post for GFBrobot. It was my first guest post for another site so I was excited for that opportunity. There will be more to come :) Explore all of their awesome geekery! ***
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
– Albert Einstein
Okay so maybe humanity isn’t doomed, per se, but humanity won’t be like we know it today. In the future the human race will become obsolete, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. Scared yet? Well let me explain. We are currently living in the early stages of posthumanism. Posthumanism is exactly what it sounds like. Post. Human. After the human. Technology is advancing rapidly, and so is our dependency on it. But it is the seamless emergence of cyborgs in society that is the beginning signs of the end of humanity as we know it today. One of the best anime movies (well at least in my opinion), Ghost in the Shell (GITS), gives us a glimpse into that future.
Cyborgs Today
That was not a typo, technically cyborgs do exist in our society today. By definition, a cyborg is a person whose physiological functioning is aided or dependent upon a mechanical device. Granted, present day cyborgs are not like The Major in GITS or that poor little Pinocchio-like android boy in A.I., but they are cyborgs nonetheless.
About 10% of the current U.S. population is estimated to be cyborgs. This includes people with pacemakers, artificial joints, etc. Although the amount of hardware and/or software in the present day cyborgs isn’t much, this can be seen as the initial signs of posthumanism.
Posthumanism
Posthumanists promote A.I., nanotechnology, biomachines, and other technologies whose goal it is to blur the distinction between humans and machines. Posthumanists don’t know why someone would choose the very fragile human body with no upgrades. They also don’t see it as an all-or-nothing, man versus A.I. fight to the death. They envision that posthumanistic society will be a (seemingly) smooth transition that people will barely even notice.
Ghost in the Shell/ Ghost in the Machine
Now what does all this have to do with Ghost in the Shell? Well, everything. First off, let me begin by dissecting the title of the anime. Ghost in the Shell’s title is taken from a theory called “ghost in the machine” inspired by philosopher René Descartes. But Gilbert Ryle thought Descartes’ idea was nonsense and remixed the theory. In simplified terms (because I’m trying hard to make sure you guys don’t feel like you’re in class):
Descartes believed the ghost (i.e: spirit, soul) and the body act as one.
Ryle believed that it is possible for a ghost to exist and/or be transferred into a machine (i.e: non-organic human body).
We are Team Ryle (for argument’s sake), if you are Team Descartes feel free to act as his representative by commenting, since he cannot do so himself being dead and all. If the ghost in the machine theory is ever proven to be true, it would eliminate the necessity of a human body, and even possibly humanity.
GITS Summary: The Characters
For those of you who haven’t seen GITS (tsk tsk tsk) here’s the shortest summary I can come up with. If you want to know more, you can watch it of course, or cheat yourself and just read the wiki.
The movie takes place in the year 2029 in a city that looks like Hong Kong. Technology has advanced to the point that most humans have become cybernetic, creating a new class of super-human.
The heroine of the movie is Major MotokoKusanagi (known as the Major), a cyborg cop who works for Section 9. The Major was “involved in a near-fatal plane crash when she was only a child. As a result, she underwent full cyberization at the age of nine with the only organic part of her remaining being a portion of her brain (ComicVine).” She is almost completely mechanized, only her brain and a portion of her spinal cord remain organic.
The other two main characters are Batou and Togusa. Batou is the Major’s second in command and her partner. He has cybernetic eyes and other enhancements. Togusa is the new recruit, and the only member of Section 9 that is still considered fully human (apart from a mandatory E-Brain which can communicate with other E-Brains). Are you still with me?
GITS Summary: The Plot
The Major, Batou, Togusa and the rest of Section 9 are assigned to track down a criminal hacker known as the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master is capable of not only hacking factory made cyborgs (with no ghosts) but also “humans” because of their E-Brain.
As the movie progresses, the Major finds herself in the middle of an identity crisis. She contemplates the only human portion of her, her ghost, and whether it is an artificial program. And if it is, does it really matter?
It is gradually revealed that the elusive Puppet Master is not a “human”, or even a cyborg like the Major. Rather, the Puppet Master was born independently as part of an illegal government program. The Puppet Master wants political asylum, but the government wants to shut it down permanently. In one of the final scenes of the film, the Major and the Puppet Master merge their consciousness together to create a new life form; thereby achieving a type of techno-transcendence.
The critical issue shown in GITS, which is an issue society will (probably) be forced to confront, is this: if a cyber brain can generate its own ghost (just as the Puppet Master did), what is the importance of being human?
How GITS will go from fiction to non-fiction
Not yet convinced? Try thinking of it this way: we are already advancing our bodies cybernetically bit by bit, eventually transforming our bodies into the cyborgs seen in Ghost in the Shell will not be a radical decision. We will live in a future where you will be at a severe disadvantage if you do not cybernetically enhance your body.
Ray Kurzweil, a futurist, author, and inventor, is widely known for his predictions about the future (many of which have come true). He predicts that by 2029 (the year GITS takes place) a computer will have a mind indistinguishable from humans. This is due to machine intelligence being derived from the design of human intelligence, and humans becoming more and more dependent on machine intelligence.
The most significant of his predictions for 2029, which directly relates to the Puppet Master, is that machines will claim to be conscious and have a “wide array of emotional and spiritual experiences,” and that those claims will be largely accepted within society.
The Blue Brain Project = The Puppet Master
The Puppet Master proves in the Ghost in the Shell world that organic brain cells are no longer required in order to have a ghost. An article on “The Blue Brain Project” describes how this may become a reality in the near future. Dr. Markram, head of “The Blue Brain Project,” claims that he will be able to create a replica of a human brain by 2020. If you create a machine that is modeled after and works exactly like a human brain, self-awareness (at least in theory) will follow.
Evolution is inevitable, and the growing possibility is that humanity, as we know it today, is not the end of the evolutionary line. I guess we’ll have to just wait and see…
In case we aren’t the end of that line: If a man named John Connor ever approaches talkin’ all this crazy talk? Just try to do what he says. You know, just in case…
Ghost in the Shell is in the cyberpunk genre. Want more? Check out the links below.
I’m the kind of girl who can talk about the latest nail polish colors longer than most. I just really like getting manicures, which is something certain people think I do too often (*cough cough* dad)… but that’s debatable.
Enjoy these geeky nail designs I found. My favorites are Domo, Mondrain, Binary, Super Mario, Space Invaders, Poke Balls and “My Neighbor Totoro”. Some of these aren’t the neatest nail designs… okay most of them. BUT the fact that these women, and one man (Dali), proudly wore all this geekery on their nails, and most of them painted themselves, is something I had to showcase.
Art nail with Van Googh, Mondrain, Okeefe, Picasso and Monalisa.
Salvador Dali Laser Etched Nail Art. Yes it’s a laser so it’s painful, is this a new trend in scarification nail art? Probably not. Watch the video here.
Well, let me clarify, iWerkz Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard isn’t just for bloggers. Pretty much anyone who finds themselves lugging around their computer to work/write/blog/etc. would enjoy the iwerkz keyboard.
