Brian T. Nakamoto

Thor

Had low expectations for Thor, but figured it couldn't be a total loss with Natalie Portman cast as Jane Foster. Turns out this movie is pretty good! The actors are top notch, the special effects are mostly solid, and there's actually substantial character development. Marvel and Paramount put together a solid writing team (JMS and Mark Protosevich), and got an appropriate director of sorts (Kenneth Branagh). It was cool to catch little references to other Marvel characters sprinkled throughout the film plus there's a cameo by Hawkeye! Be sure to watch the credits until the end, as Marvel continues to setup everyone for The Avengers (helmed by Joss Whedon!) in 2012.

CDC Zombie Apocalypse PSA

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Emergency Preparedness and Response team have devised a clever public service announcement to educate everyone about being prepared for real emergencies. Conspicuously absent from the CDC's recommendations are the types of weapons that would be most effective to fend off zombies.

Do Not Install Mac Defender

Cyber criminals have been working on socially engineering Mac users into willfully installing "Mac Defender" (a.k.a. "Apple Security"). The fake anti-virus app tricks people into thinking their computer is infected with a virus by popping up pr0n sites, and then offering to "fix" the "problem" in return for credit card information. It's difficult to protect unsuspecting users from themselves, but installing the free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition is a good start.

Condé Nast Magazines Now Free On iPad

The catch is that one has to be an existing print subscriber, but at least more magazine publishers are finally making this happen. Alas, Condé Nast has some bugs to work out, as their Wired app lost track of previously purchased issues. Readers also report that the Vanity Fair app isn't recognizing their account info, and is failing to give them free access to the latest issue that already arrived in their mailbox. It'd be nice if Condé Nast rolled up all of their mags under a single app, but the App Store does encourage promotion of individual titles.

PlayStation Network Sorta Back

It's inconceivable what would happen to Apple's VP in charge of iTunes if it had all of its customers' personal data stolen, and then went offline for nearly a month. PSN started limping back over the weekend, but there are indications that newbs are still in charge. PlayStation Store remains unavailable, and the Japanese government isn't allowing PSN to be lit up until Sony gives them assurances that they won't be totally pwned again.

Bay To Breakers Centennial

Sorta sore after walking the 100th Bay To Breakers and back again (bib 34062). The consensus was that the prohibition of floats made for a tamer race this year. Still, for every group of cute girls, there seemed to be some gnarly dude in the buff. Excellent weather, a trip to the beach, and the nonstop block party made waking up hella early on a Sunday worthwhile.

Nudity for Charity

Nudity for Charity is the love child born from philanthropy and exhibitionism. Donors unlock nude photos of fundraisers when they collectively reach the fundraising goal. It works a little bit like DonorsChoose.org except the people raising funds are—hopefully—not teachers, and the payoff for contributors include NSFW pics in addition to a potential tax write off.

Ghostbusters II

Got sucked into a poorly-formatted-for-TV showing of Ghostbusters II the other day. (Suppose this would have been a more appropriate post for Friday The 13th yesterday.) The characters are still enjoyable, which makes it unfortunate that they didn't use this opportunity to develop them more. It was also fun to watch for technology relics from 1989 such as pay phones, and CRT's. One wonders when Sony will get around to releasing the sequel on Blu-ray, or if a third installment will ever see the light of day...

Sony Apology For PSN Cluster-F Mad Libs

IGN came up with a funny game to help lighten the mood while PSN is down, Sony customer credit cards are compromised, and people who don't need a Blu-ray player flock to Xbox:

Google Chromebook

Trippy. With the deployment of Chromebooks, Skynet is now fighting a war with the Borg and Apple on all major fronts: PC OS, mobile OS, set-top OS, and web browsers. It's a savvy and bold move on Google's part. It will be interesting to see if they make any inroads against Microsoft who has the most territory to lose from PC (Windows), set-top (Xbox), and browser (IE)...