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The perks of being 'somebody' online
The web was supposed to be the great equalizer. But, it turns out, the haves and have-nots exist online too. And they're separated by a mark of distinction: verification. A month ago, William Shatner got into an unfortunate public spat on Twitter with John Colucci, our social media manager, over why he was verified on Twitter. Shatner argued that recognition should only be given to public figures who are in danger of being impersonated. In Shatner's words, "nobodies should not be verified because it shows a huge flaw in the Twitter system." This spiraled into a big kerfuffle involving several other Twitter users. When our Editor-in-Chief Michael Gorman stepped in to defend Colucci by saying he was verified because he's good at his job, Shatner interpreted that as an abuse of the verification system. Things died down eventually, but Shatner held tight to his belief that verification is a privilege for a select few.
William Shatner reviews Facebook's new VIP-only Mentions app
Whether you're a fan of Captain Kirk or Picard (we're Team Picard here), you have to admit it's apt that William Shatner is reviewing the celebrity-exclusive Facebook app -- he definitely loves some VIP prestige. The Priceline huckster gives a surprisingly in-depth feature-by-feature comparison between The Social Network's Mentions app and Pages, which everyone has access to, but not before throwing some shade toward the starship Enterprise's yellow-shirted helmsman and all-around social-media-guy George Takei. Apparently, when you first sign into Mentions you can't proceed any further until you follow one of Facebook's suggested celebrity accounts. "The first person on the list I was given was George Takei (rolling my eyes.) I ended up choosing Robert Downey Jr. to follow and then I hid his posts (sorry Robert!)."
Stop doing everything else, start watching free Star Trek all the time on Hulu
That's essentially the message Hulu's sending in making the entirety of the Star Trek series free for everyone, starting today through the end of March. That's not just Shatner-era Star Trek, but literally all of it: the Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Normally this bountiful selection of space operatics would only be available for Hulu Plus paid subscribers, but Hulu's going crazy in celebration of Shatner's 82nd birthday. With all those hours of medium-octane space drama ahead of you, you could just go crazy and marathon until the offer expires come April! We wouldn't suggest that, though.
Shatoetry iPhone app lets you put... words... in... William Shatner's... mouth
William Shatner and technology go way back, but it's taken him until today to get his own smartphone app. Then again, he is a man known to take long pauses. Dubbed Shatoetry, the new app (iPhone-only, for the moment) lets you string together a variety of pre-recorded words -- each with three different versions -- and have the resulting "Shatism" read aloud by Shatner himself. You're then able to send the message to your friends through all the usual means, or even take advantage of a co-op mode that lets you collaborate on a phrase. Of course, spoken word Shatner on-demand doesn't come free -- the app will set you back $2.99.
William Shatner explains what microprocessors are and do... from way back in 1976
For a man that spent the best part of his acting career representing a savvy dude from the future, William Shatner looks pretty well at home in the past as well. This video, dusted off from AT&T's Tech Channel archives, shows Shatner dressed in a casual tan ensemble and dropping some knowledge on the subject of microprocessors. Aside from the retro visuals and presentation, what's great about the vid is that the seemingly lavish claims about where computers could take us -- and their own move toward increasing importance, utility and ubiquity -- actually seem pretty tame in light of what we know today. Beam yourself past the break to see this golden nugget from the Bell Labs archives. [Thanks, Dan]
Podcast Rodeo for June 3: Eared Science
Much to your chagrin, the old man is back, and he will continue to be back until we go one week without someone commenting on his whoop-tushie headphones. Podcasts. Dig 'em.BitCast: It's like Bits Bytes Pixels Sprites that you read with your ears! The only difference this week is that they've temporarily done away with the Canadian that normally resides on their program. We're notoriously xenophobic here at Joystiq, so that's good enough reason for us to link them. Also, one of the guys sounds exactly like Kevin Bacon.CAG Cast: The First Rule of Podcast Rodeo©: You do talk about Podcast Rodeo. Second rule: If you do, we will probably totally link to you. This CAG Cast is good, but it gets especially good at about 8:58. Oh, and if you were curious, the third rule is "no shirt, no shoes," which I don't even fully understand.
