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GSM cellphone technology celebrates 20 years, aims for 20 more
Just this summer we saw text messaging party down after turning 15, and now its time to get your weekend started right by celebrating 20 whole years of GSM. Reportedly, "15 phone firms signed an agreement to build mobile networks based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications" on this day in 1987, and while it took "12 years for the first billion mobile connections to be made," things have pretty much taken off since then. So here's to 20 incredibly fruitful years, GSM, you've earned it.[Thanks James; image courtesy of RetroBrick]
Guildwatch: Happy birthday, GW!
Yeah, I can't believe it either, but as of August 8th (which was actually a few weeks ago), Guildwatch, just like some realms, has been going down every Tuesday for a year. Well, not quite every Tuesday-- most guilds took a little break from raiding when Burning Crusade dropped, and we took a little break from reporting it. Started up again in February, and have been rolling ever since then.But I have to say, when I thought up this little slice of guild drama, downed news, and recruiting from around the realms, I had no idea anyone would share my appreciation for news like this. Big thanks to everyone who sent their tips in (to wowguildwatch@gmail.com-- and you can send tips right now for next week's column), and an even bigger thanks to everyone out there who got really angry about something happening in their guild, and decided to do something irrational about it. You're the oil that greases our wheels! Thanks!Click the link below to see this week's GW.
Happy Birthday CMs
Does anyone but me think it's a little weird that three of the WoW community managers have birthdays within days of each other? Today is Neth's birthday, and apparently Eyonix and Drysc just had their birthdays this past weekend. Happy birthday to all three of them!Of course, having early August birthdays means they're all Leos. And of course that means that they're born leaders, known for their enthusiasm, determination and charisma. They have a fondness for competition, dance, and gambling.Oh, and they're also very prone to work with both animals and children. Ahem. Read into that what you will. Happy birthday again to the Forum CMs!Update: Ugh, Astrology. Apparently they're not Leos, they're Cancer, which means they're kind, emotional, imaginative and romantic, and they're strongly associated with "tribes, clans, and closely-knit family groups." Which I guess fits, too.
Show and Tell: Gaming is so delicious
The awesome (and yet disturbing) Kirby cake we showed you a few weeks ago inspired reader Ricky to send in his own bit of sugary birthday gaming goodness, and does it ever make our mouths water. His girlfriend put this together for a 20th birthday celebration that we wish had been ours -- and from the care that obviously went into this cake, Ricky's princess is probably not in another castle. We're certain he's found her. It's not just pretty on the outside, either; beneath the super-sweet recreation of a classic gaming screen lie layers of chocolate cake, strawberries, and chocolate mousse. Ricky reports that, while it hurt a little, deep inside, to munch on his beloved Mario, the cake was totally worth it. If only he'd sent us a piece. Has someone put together a unique gift for your special day? Are you sitting atop a throne made of NES carts as you read this? Maybe you just own a particularly cool gaming shirt or two, or are proud of how your gaming set-up looks. If you have something you want to show off, snap some pics and send them over to us at showmeit at dsfanboy dot com. We'll take care of the rest.
Text messaging celebrates 15 years of debilitating thumbs
Just days after the IBM ThinkPad threw a shindig for its 15th, now we've reason to don our party hats once more for yet another notable birthday. The mobile phone industry is celebrating the 15th year of the Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which was the "principal application behind text messaging first brought to market by Acision in 1992." Over the years, the basic SMSC box has evolved into an IP-based SMS architecture, and while early iterations had a capacity of ten messages per second, current setups can handle a nearly infinite amount (good thing, huh?). So here's to you, dear SMS, and while we certainly hope you manage to hang around another 15 years or so, how's about cooling off the perpetual price increases along the way?[Thanks, John]
IBM ThinkPad celebrates 15th birthday
If you were looking for any reason whatsoever to hop into a celebratory mood, why not join IBM (or would it be Lenovo these days?) in celebrating the 15th birthday of the ThinkPad. Of course, tech historians are likely to bicker over the ThinkPad's true day of emergence, but reportedly, the IBM 2521 (later renamed the 700T) ThinkPad holds the honors of being the first of its kind to ship in July of 1992. Interestingly enough, one could argue that this very machine was actually more akin to a tablet PC than a bonafide laptop, but it proudly donned the ThinkPad logo nevertheless. So, ThinkPad owners, today's your day to gift that oh-so-industrious machine of yours with a few extra moments of rest, but before you do, why not let us know what model you're partying with if you're in the club?[Via jkOnThRun]
Show and Tell: In Dreamland, cake eats you!
Okay, we admit it. We're cheating a little. Instead of letting someone come to us with their nifty gaming goodness, we saw something that was simply so awesome we had to ask if we could share it with you ... and luckily, NeoGAFfer cloudwalking had no problem with us showing off this incredible cake. Hey, if it was ours, we'd want to show the world as well!Birthday girl cloudwalking's good pal jarosh had this Kirby cake made, but the fun didn't stop there. As he was slowly dismembered devoured, the pair had fun changing his features around, as you can see in the gallery ... though the reddish filling on the knife is a little disturbing. Poor Kirby! We're not sure we could have made ourselves eat the little guy. Then again, it could be revenge for the times we've been inhaled in various Smash Bros. matches. Can you top a nummy Kirby cake? If so -- or if you have anything else you want to show off -- you too can be in this spot, with everyone cooing over your awesome stuff. Just take some pictures and send them to showmeit at dsfanboy dot com. We'll take care of the rest.%Gallery-4771%
Sonic the Hedgehog turns 16
Today is Sonic the Hedgehog's 16th birthday. He was cute as a baby and burst into the world with the delightful Sonic the Hedgehog. As of late though, he has certainly been experiencing the highs (Sonic Rush) and lows (Sonic on Xbox 360) of being a teenager. However, like a 16-year-old, Sonic may finally be coming into his own after Sega said that their mascot is going on a blue ambition reinvention tour. The most shocking news of Sonic's reinvention isn't even his pairing with Mario for an Olympics game. Something that we might have cared about and made our head explode in the the early '90s. Nope, the most shocking news came two days ago when BioWare (Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic) announced that they were working on a Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS, the game is expected in 2008. Who knows, maybe when Sonic turns 18 he'll be cool again. And then he can go pick up a pack of smokes from the corner store, fly to Europe, and party to the point where he forgets everything between the late '90s and now. Happy birthday Sonic!
Happy 10th un-birthday Duke Nukem Forever!
Hold on, Wii! Your name isn't the only thing celebrating a birthday today! Well, it's not so much a "birth" day in this other case, seeing as how we're still waiting for the baby to drop ... So, happy 10th un-birthday Duke Nukem Forever! CVG reminds us that ten years ago, on this very day, you were conceived and hurriedly scribbled into tiny notebooks (computers weren't even invented yet!) and from there typed up into magazines (remember them?) the world over. Sure, a lot of things have happened in the last ten years (no, seriously, A LOT) -- including some awards, you assiduous devil -- but we still remember where we were when you were announced to the world. Find out where after the break:
Engadget's 3rd Birthday Giveaway - birthday cake winners!
It's time to find out who took home the last of the loot from our 3rd Birthday Giveaway -- including our grand prize OQO Model 02. The scores of delicious gadget-themed cakes that our loyal readers cooked up in honor of little old us definitely made this an agonizing contest to judge -- and not just because we didn't even get to eat any our own birthday cakes. But we did finally settle on some winners though, so click on to check out the top cakes (and hit the read link to see our full gallery)!
Blast from the Past: Happy 6th Birthday OS X
It's hard to believe, but today marks the 6th birthday for Mac OS X, at least as measured from when OS X 10.0 (Cheetah) first went on sale at retail outlets on March 24, 2001. Apple's original press release is still online, and is the source of some mild amusement. It heralds "amazing new functionality such as the Dock, a breakthrough for organizing, documents and document windows." And Apple's trumpeting of there being over 350 native applications for OS X is a far cry from the 5000+ Universal apps available today. Nonetheless, as far as Apple has come it's clear that much was already in place 6 years ago. And with the Leopard launch coming soon, OS X is now really reaching its stride. You can't help but wonder where we'll be 6 years from now (OS XI?). In any case, happy birthday to our favorite OS![Via Digg]Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Wii classic controller birthday cake
We've seen plenty of cakes shaped into Wii remotes and even the Wii console itself before, but a classic controller cake? That's a new one for us! A thoughtful girlfriend treated her gamer paramour with this chocolate dessert for his 21st birthday. We're not sure if he will be able to actually play Virtual Console games with it, but he'll have to find a Wii remote cake to hook the controller onto first before we can find out![Via Digg]
Final weekend for the cake contest - win an OQO Model 02!
We know you want to take home the cake, er, OQO Model 02 -- and you've got your assignment. This weekend is the last you'll have left to construct and to submit your cake in our annual baking contest, though. In case you've forgotten, here are the prizes up for grabs: OQO Model 02 Samsung Blackjack A copy of Gears of War and an Xbox 360 Wireless Headset v-moda vibe la mocha headphones Mystery swag bag #2 So what do you have to do to win? Well, first up we'd recommend you check out last year's cake contest. So that's right, bake us a gadget-shaped or Engadget-themed cake, send us a picture (or pictures) of the cake and the baking process and we'll pick five winners (as judged by the editors of Engadget). Last year's winners were pretty freaking awesome, so don't disappoint us!A few rules: No photoshops. Seriously, we shouldn't have to explain this one. Take lots of pictures -- be able to prove it's your cake, and that it's real! Note that you don't actually have to mail us a cake. Contests are open to anyone in the U.S. Unless you work for Engadget or Weblogs, Inc. Enter by dropping your pictures of your cake in comments, or email your pictures in to contest (at) engadget (dot) com, subject "Birthday cake" (no quotes). Yes, even professional bakers are allowed to enter, so let's see some creativity! Best cake (as judged by Engadget) wins! You've got until 11:59PM EST Tuesday the 13th to enter your cake. You can enter this contest more than once and you may enter our other Birthday contests, but you can't win more than once. If you happen to win more than once (which is pretty unlikely, but still) we'll ask you to choose just one of your prizes. Thanks and good luck!
Your birthday means nothing on the Wii
This threw us for a curve ball. See, we all know that when you enter Pictochat on your DS during your birthday, there's a message there waiting for you, so we always assumed that on the Wii something similar would be done. Why else make you input your birthday when making a Mii, right? Well, according to one blogger expecting a small Mii party to be taking place in his Mii Plaza, instead he was greeted with nothing but a crew of apathetic digital Miis.That's right, there was no party, nor were there party hats or confetti, nothing. So we're wondering just why we're asked to input our birthday when creating a Mii. Now, we assume this blogger's Wii is online, so we can rule out Nintendo sending a message congratulating us on another year of life on this planet.What do you guys think?[via Infendo]
Cake text printer doesn't speak Italian, pens errors instead
While we doubt we've seen every single computing error that could possibly occur, there's definitely been a fair amount to surface, and while this story may not take the proverbial cake, it's good for a hearty chuckle if nothing else. Apparently, a certain Aunt Elsa was supposed to receive a custom baked (and messaged) cake from Wegmans Grocery to celebrate her birthday, and as the part-English, part-Italian message was emailed into Wegmans presumably automated printing machine, a bit of miscommunication ensued. Sure, it makes sense that the machine might not have been ready (or programmed) to handle languages outside of English, but surely someone actually looked at this thing before sending it out, right? Nevertheless, Aunt Elsa was graced with a cake that just barely got the whole "birthday" message across, and we presume even the supportEmptyParas tasted mighty sweet going down.[Via BoingBoing]
Broadcast radio crosses the century mark
We'll admit, there's not a whole of gizmos invented 100 years ago that we still rely on (and bicker about) on a near-daily basis, but broadcast radio has managed to stay in our homes, cars, hearts, and complaint letters for a full century. Exactly one hundred years ago today, Reginald Fessenden fired up his transmitting station at Brant Rock, Massachusetts in order to broadcast a "brief speech," followed by an Edison phonograph recording of Handel's Largo." He also sent out a few other holiday jams and well-wishes to those spending Christmas "onboard US Navy and United Fruit Company ships equipped with Fessenden's wireless receivers." Fessenden earned more than 500 patents in his lifetime, including credit for the "radio telephone, a sonic depth finder, and submarine signaling devices." So while the FCC tries to regulate it, and we prefer the cleaner, less ad-filled satellite rendition of radio, we're still raising our glasses to a technology that's changed technology over the past hundred years, and here's to a hundred more.[Via Slashdot]
Birthday 360 box turns up empty
A November birthday boy from New York, Danny Santos, recently received a box full of heartbreak. Upon ripping the paper off of a large birthday present, the boy was no doubt delighted to see and Xbox 360 box. Opening the box, he fished through a pile of white paper to find ... nothing. The box was empty. Some of you might suspect that this was either a cruel prank or a sign of an IOU from the boy's parents, but that was unfortunately not the case. Danny's parents had bought the box in September, hoping to beat the holiday rush before the child's birthday, and were just as surprised to see the box empty. Danny's mother subsequently spent hours on the phone with both Microsoft and Circuit City, both of whom have refused to replace the unit, which cost the family a total of $540. It is reportedly very hard to replace a missing product, as companies have only the word of the customer on which to rely. To make matters even more difficult, because the item was purchased in September, it is well past Circuit City's 30 day exchange policy. Unfortunately, it seems that Danny's family has no other choice but to buy another console. While there was little this family could have done, let this be a warning to the holiday shoppers out there. It's not uncommon for certain people to swindle people out of their hard earned cash during the holidays. When you buy a console, check the box's contents immediately. Also, be sure to read every word of auction descriptions, because there are plenty of people who will try to trick you into paying hundreds of dollars for an empty box (or worse). Our best wishes to Danny's family. Hopefully, the next 360 will be winner. Maybe Microsoft could send them one as a Christmas present.[Via MAXCONSOLE]
Happy birthday, Shiggy!
How could we possibly let the birthday of our overlord, Shigeru Miyamoto, pass unnoticed? He's at the center of all our favorite (photoshopped) pictures, he's funny ... oh, and yeah, he is responsible for a few video games or something. Who are we kidding? We can't be coy. Miyamoto is the reason we're here every day; if not for his crazy creations, we might be doing something else, and that would be a tragedy. Here's to you, Mr. Miyamoto, and may you have 54 more.
My first iPod didn't have a halo back then
In light of the iPod's 5th birthday, I figured it would be fun to join Scott in some reminiscing about the early days of my first little white music player. I remember seeing them when the 10 and 20GB models completed the 1st/2nd gen lineup, and I knew that thing would rock my world. I had already been trying out other MP3 players at the time, and I hated all of them. The last one I remember before scraping together cash for a 5GB iPod was a Rio (from Creative, I think?), and I hated that thing too. Getting music onto the device was a chore, and flash memory cards were mind-numbingly expensive (I think it took SD cards). The Rio's interface was an exercise in walking barefoot on broken glass, and the moment I saw the iPod I knew someone had finally done it right. After tearing the couch apart for that last penny to cover tax (and after a month of saving some cash by eating nothing but Ramen noodles), I rode my bike as fast as I could down to the University bookstore I was part-timing it at (I wasn't in school at the time), because I could get the discount there which made all the difference. The funny thing is: when I brought that 1st gen iPod home, I wasn't plugging it into a Mac - I had a Windows XP box (funny: 5 years ago, same ol' WinXP). While the original iPods were *officially* just made for a Mac (or so most of us remember), I picked up one of the first Mac+PC versions, so I was using Musicmatch and - I hope you're sitting down for this - an unofficial plugin for Windows Media Player. This admittedly blasphemous configuration worked decently, though it certainly didn't hold much of a candle to the integration of the dynamic iTunes+iPod duo that Apple finally brought to Windows. Fortunately, this iPod helped convince me to hop onto the Mac OS X train before that happened.I'd like to consider myself one of the early benefactors of the 'iPod halo effect.' While I was using crappy software on Windows to manage my first iPod, I started (finally) getting curious about the company that made such an impressive little device. After all, I was in the middle of a design undergrad (I had to take time off to get in-state tuition in CO, and btw: that's a PITA), and the next semester a fellow classmate sat me down for a crash course in all things Apple and Mac OS X (and I was finally more open to learning about them). When the forces of the iPod halo effect and Mac OS X united, I once again embarked on a Ramen diet, this time of epic proportions. My destination? A RevA 12-inch PowerBook - my first Mac - for which many pennies were sacrificed.So this blogger has that original 5GB iPod and a classmate or two to thank for making the switch to greener OS pastures. Of course, I can also bring incredible amounts of music along in my pocket now too, which isn't half bad either. It's been a fun musical roller-coaster, complete with scratches, too many wacky accessories to count, and a deeper understanding of my music library that just can't stop - won't stop - growing. Thanks, 1G iPod.
Joystiq at Sonic's 15th birthday party
The blue dude with an attitude turned fifteen years old yesterday and he celebrated at NYC's DigitalLife show. Fans and confused onlookers watched as Sonic was presented a ridiculously large birthday cake by psuedo-celebrity Lacey Chabert. Hungry attendees of the show (myself included) scarfed down the cake, and laughed at the man inside the Sonic suit, knowing it was impossible for him to blow out the candles on his cake, let alone eat it. Sonic, the cake was delicious.When questioned about how it felt to be 15, Sonic responded, "It's strange. I'm growing hair in places I've never had hair before." He then sped away and, like in his upcoming Xbox 360 game, my camera was unable to follow him. Read on to see more pictures, and video from the celebration.
