Here is one Houston-related goof on Apple Maps, which is going to need some debugging before it ever catches on. This comes to us via a tumblr called “The Amazing iOS6 Maps,” which adds the caption: “Downtown Houston’s newest filling stations on the skyline rooftops! (Those are corporate headquarters, not gas stations).” My question is: What kind of tires are we going to need for the FPSF van to access these fine new filling stations? Read More »
By Will Guess Science in America has taken a backseat in recent years to many other things, but there is one person who is trying to reinvigorate people’s interest and show how important it is to humanity’s survival – Neil deGrasse Tyson. Dr. Tyson has a laundry list of accomplishments from writing over 10 books to serving under President Bush on the Moon, Mars and Beyond Commission to being the current director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. FPH had 30 minutes with a guy who is, at this moment, probably the most prolific and famous scientist in ... Read More »
By Tyler Barber Friendly? Think you would be in a zombie apocalypse? Most people seem to start off well-intentioned, but the world of DayZ has a way of changing people. I went from upstanding citizen of the overturned world — offering bandages, food, water to any fellow survivor in need — to a paranoid, calculating murderer. How can a game alter your playing-style so dramatically? In one made-up term: permadeath. Die in DayZ, and all of your accomplishments are lost forever. DayZ is a free mod for the military simulation PC game ARMA 2. It’s set on Chenarus, one of ... Read More »
By Alex Wukman For many people the names John, Paul, George and Ringo are revered as much as those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. For others, names like Tony Hawk and Shaun White or Jeter and A-Rod are those that resonate throughout their lives. However, for some it’s the names of authors, and the promise of a new book, that prove too enticing to ignore. In the modern world of popular fiction, where every author is a cult leader, there are names that stand out–the Stephen Kings or the J.K. Rowlings–solely because of their sales figures. There are also ... Read More »
By Alex Wukman Hacker collective Anonymous recently made a huge cache of sensitive law enforcement documents available to anyone. According to the Anonymous release around three gigabytes of “law enforcement sensitive” and “for official use only” files were released including police records, internal affairs investigations, meeting notes, training materials, officer rosters, security audits, and live password information to government systems. Among the files released were the personal email addresses and passwords of nearly 30 active and retired Texas police chiefs and other high ranking law enforcement officers. Anonymous was able to release the personal information, or docs as they like ... Read More »
By Alex Wukman I’ll admit it, I’m a news junkie. I’m so much of a news junkie that I watch the BBC while reading the AP on my phone. My love of news has put me at odds with people in the past, I was one of the few people who supported UH buying KTRU because I’m selfish and wanted more NPR. And I especially love news radio, both the format and the brilliant sitcom. Listening to KTRH’s headline recap while riding around with my father during hot Houston summers is one of the few good memories I have of ... Read More »
By Alex Wukman (inspired by Dan O’ Brien and Michael Swaim from Cracked dot com) Since I work at the internet I like to think I know a little bit about it. At times I even like to say I have a personal relationship with the internet. I know that thousands hundreds dozens some a few of our readers think they have a personal relationship with the internet. They’re wrong. They believe a personal relationship with the internet is taking the internet out for a few drinks, it’s not. A personal relationship with the internet is more than rolling into ... Read More »
By Alex Wukman After word came out in early March that Texas Governor Rick Perry was blocking reporters from his twitter account Free Press decided to see if we could sign up. Not surprisingly we are among the few reporters in Texas that Rick Perry hasn’t gotten around to blocking. What is surprising is how little Rick Perry has to say on twitter. No one has ever accused Perry of being the most tech savvy guy, we were going to say high tech Texan, but then we realized Michael Garfield registered that shit in, like, 1994, but in the middle ... Read More »
Tx\Rx members constructing what looks like a baby tardis By Alex Wukman Houston’s one and only Hackerspace Tx\Rx Labs has announced there spring/summer class series. The two-year-old organization, headquartered at 2025 Commerce St., is composed of over 20 members with backgrounds ranging from fashion design to computer security. The physical space boasts an impressive array of workstations and tools throughout the various labs; including a fully functioning metal shop, complete with plasma torch, and a 96 blade computation cluster in the electronics lab. According to the Tx\Rx website, the group is hard at work constructing their very own bio lab, no ... Read More »
By Alex Wukman Let’s go back to February 13, 2025. America was listening to Beyonce’s number one hit “Irreplacable” while waiting for Nicolas Cage to make a fool of himself in Ghost Rider. Just days erlier newly announced Presidential candidate Barrack Obama had made his first gaffe and Asia watchers were excited by the announcement that the US and North Korea had reached a tenative agreement on the Hermit Kingdom’s nuclear disarmament. And on the local scene, progressives throughout Houston were pleased when the City announced that Earthlink had been selected as the provider for the soon to be built municipal wi-fi network, which was supposed to be operational by the ... Read More »
