I’m not sure when this happened but Apple seems to have added a huge stash of DHR stuff to the iTunes store. Finally I can satisfy my urges for Atari Teenage Riot, EC8OR and Lolita Storm with a simple click.

Following up on my post the other day about galaxies, here’s a couple more links on the whole fiasco that Sony/LucasArts has wrought…

• Wired News: Star Wars Fans Flee Net Galaxy
• TerraNova: Order 66

Update: Two more links…

• Slashdot Games - John Smedley Answers Your Questions
• GameSpot News - Q&A: SOE’s John Smedley on the kinder, gentler Galaxies

I spent a good year and a half or so letting my real life slip into a moderate degree of disarray while I played Galaxies (caution: flash intro with music ahead). When I heard about the changes they were going to make to the game recently I was almost interested again. But all the uproar and old players describing it in comparison has helped me get past that point now.

For Online Star Wars Game, It’s Revenge of the Fans

Last month, LucasArts and Sony’s online game division, which have jointly run Star Wars Galaxies since its introduction in 2003, suddenly turned the game upside down, making the most sweeping changes ever made to a persistent online game. […] Unsatisfied with the product’s merely moderate success, the companies radically revamped the game in an attempt to appeal to a younger, more trigger-happy audience.

A couple pieces fround via The Chutry Experiment, specifically his rundown on Mobile Video stuff from the other day.

• TV [Networks] consider legal action against TiVo
• PaidContent: TV Networks Mulling Legal Action Against Tivo For iPod Service
• Buy your video iPod… preloaded

TiVo to allow iPod, Playstation downloads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc. on Monday said it will begin testing a feature to let subscribers transfer recorded television programming to Apple iPod digital music players or Sony’s PlayStation portable devices, sending shares up 11 percent in premarket trading.

Now, how long until we can get downloaded content from the computer onto the TiVo? Cuz watching your daily stash of videoblogs on the TV would be pretty sweet.

Shout it from the rooftops! After a brief lapse in the domain name registration Cheese Is Still Fantastic is back up and running and making no sense.

Oprah’s New TV Gig
October 6, 2005

She did it for DR. PHIL. Now, OPRAH WINFREY is hoping to bring daytime talk show success to Food Network personality RACHAEL RAY as well. The host of “30-Minute Meals,” “$40 a Day” and “Tasty Travels” has signed a deal with Oprah’s production company to host a syndicated talk show targeted to launch in fall 2006.

Doesn’t look like a permanent location, but for now there’s a bit about it here.

‘Virtual’ Virus Sheds Light on Real-World Behavior

All Things Considered, October 5, 2005 — A recent outbreak of a “plague” in a popular online game has scientists considering how the virtual world may provide clues to what people would do in real-world pandemics. In the role-playing game World of Warcraft, a “corrupted blood” spell killed characters and affected players in unexpected ways.

Hey look, the real world catches up to the blogosphere.

(Hat tip to Chris.)

In the post Plaguelands over at Wonderland we learn that (by intention or accident) players of World of Warcraft are starting to be affected by an in-game disease that sounds like it’s apparently spreading out of control on some servers. Maybe I should have given the game more of a chance before cancelling my account after all.

Heres the skinny: Blizzard adds in a new instance, Zul’Gurub. Inside is the god of blood, Hakkar. Well, when you fight him he has a debuff called Corrputed Blood. It does like 250-350 damage to palyers and affects nearby players. The amazing thing is SOME PLAYERS have brought this disease (and it is a disease) back to the towns, outside of the instance. It starts spreading amongst the genral population including npcs, who can out generate the damage. Some servers have gotten so bad that you can’t go into the major cities without getting the plague (and anyone less than like level 50 nearly immediately die). GM’s even tried quarantining players in certain areas, but the players kept escaping the quarantine and infecting other players.

And yes, it’s even got it’s very own YTMND page already.

Maybe that should be Nerd-on-webservice action? Anyway, Nerd-on-Something action is available for anyone who wants to go crazy with their last.fm data using a whole stack of feeds and services and such.

Big nerdy hat-tip to Wevah.

Computer characters mugged in virtual crime spree

A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software “bots” to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash.

So, despite the fact it was only announced yesterday, the “Get a free iPod Nano” sites have already started to get up and running.

Midnight Ukulele Disco really was worth that Watch This tag a couple of the clips had been tagged with.

(Everyone needs to go check out the “While my guitar gently weeps” clip.)

Maybe all that guitar time (and that brief pre-fire accordion phase) was really the wrong decision after all.

…and while I loved the show as a whole I feel I just have to get this off my chest.

I liked it, it all worked peachy for me, until they did that whole thing at the end where apparently the future is filled with white plastic furniture and 4,000,000 watt lightbulbs.

(PS- If I ask really nice can we see MORE promos for Rome? PRETTY PLEASE! The 800 or so that were shown last night just wasn’t enough to tide me over for the week until it actually starts.)

Update: if anyone wants a good rundown of everything that actually happens there’s a great one on Thus Spake Drake.

I know everyone and their grandma has probably read Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby by now, but I love Sealab 2021, so I had to link to it too.

Strings are any sort of characters (letters, digits, punctuation) surrounded by quotes. Both single and double quotes are used to create strings.

“sealab”, ‘2021′, or “These cartoons are hilarious!” are examples.