Content and news by Geek Girl

You’re virtually hired? Does that mean I get virtual benefits? Virtual vacation pay? What about virtual severance?

One big benefit of virtual world recruiting is that job seekers aren’t hindered by geographic boundaries. Pearson said that, when EMC participated in TMP’s Second Life job fair in late August, 150 people from as far away as Japan and the Netherlands requested interviews.

In its quest for top-notch salespeople and system administrators, Hopkinton, Mass.-based computer and software storage giant EMC has entered a new dimension: the virtual world of Second Life.

“It was fantastic,” said Polly Pearson, an EMC vice president for employment, in a real world interview about the company’s virtual world job fair.

For the uninitiated, Second Life is a bustling cyber-world, accessible via the Internet , where as many as 9 million people from 100 different countries gather to eat, sleep and shop.
And, apparently, land real world jobs.

Source: Linux Insider

Bring on the tech gear, but don’t make it girly: That’s what women want, according to a survey released today.

FINALLY! Someone is paying attention. I don’t do pink, thanks. I equate marketing with pink because it’s girlish to marketing with baby blue because it’s boyish. How would the guys like it if they were being targeted with baby blue items only? Educate your marketing department! – Geek Girl

Just 9 percent of the fair sex want products that “look feminine,” like a pink Playstation or Hello Kitty keyboards. The remaining 91 percent seek something sleek and sophisticated, more boardroom than teenage bedroom. The data comes from a study, done by the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, of 750 British women age 24 to 45.

The agency says its study indicates it’s time for tech companies to go beyond the pink ghetto.

Source: WIRED

If you don’t have a credit card, chances are you know how arduous attempting to make an online purchase can be. Bill2Phone caters to people like you, and also those who simply don’t want to use their credit cards online. We sit down with the Bill2Phone team to better understand what their services offer and how they work.

We’re giving away 35 Beta Keys for Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa!

The first original 35 people who reply to this post, who are not staff, will be sent their key via Techgage’s private message system.

To win, you must:
1. Be registered with the site, and have a minimum total of 5 posts on our forums.
2. Not currently be under a ban from the forums.
3. Have an up to date valid email in your forum profile.
4. Place the words "Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa Beta Key Please" in your reply post.

You must read your PM within exactly 10 days of the date and time of this posting or your key will be passed on to the next non-winning person on the list. So even if you see more than 35 original non-staff posts, go ahead and post, you never know!

~Kiersten

At last week’s Austin GDC, we had the opportunity to sit down with Vivox, a company that’s been implementing advanced voice communication technology in many popular online games, including EVE Online. Read on for our comprehensive interview and also thoughts from our experiences with the technology.

International Hobo Ltd is pleased to announce its new study into patterns in the game playing audience. Following the success of the company’s seminal DGD1 model, the subject of the acclaimed book 21st Century Game Design, we are now conducting a new survey in more detail than the original, from which we will develop a new DGD2 model of the gaming audience.

To take part in the survey, click here, or upon the Survey link in the site menu. As an added incentive, you could win the game of your choice (terms and conditions apply) just for taking part!

One of the more important aspects of any MMO game is having some great back-story. To gain an idea of what goes on behind the scenes, we sat down with both Web Fiction Author and also the Communications Director for CCP Games, creators of EVE Online.

We are at the Austin GDC, so you can expect lots of information, lectures and interviews over the next few days. First up, we have a lecture by Richard Vogel, focusing on the current state of social networking and a look at where it’s headed. It’s a long one, so grab a fresh beverage and read on!

I realize this isn’t quite tech news, but for 2% of the population, it’s important. Being a natural redhead, this information is quite disconcerting. I never imagined myself to be on an endangered list.

Some experts say that redheads could be gone as early as 2060, but others say the gene can be dormant for generations before returning.
National Geographic says the gene at first had the beneficial effect of increasing the body’s ability to make vitamin D from sunlight.
However, today’s carriers are more prone to skin cancer and have a higher sensitivity to heat and cold-related pain.

Source: The Daily Mail, in The Courier-Mail

Ergonomic keyboards are one of Microsoft’s specialties, so how does their latest 7000 desktop fare? Notable features include 2.4GHz wireless technology, zoom button, hot-keys, soft palm-rest and also a new mouse that promises 6-months of battery-life on a single charge.

Finally, someone’s come up with something for those of us who seem to abuse our cell phones.

“This is a soft mobile phone concept. The phone is encased in a flexible plastic housing. A soft polymer insert is located between the microchip module and the casing. You can drop it, bend it, sit on it, toss it around, and give it to Naomi Campbell to throw at her assistant without detriment.

A flexible display (a 2,75-in. diagonal, a 433 × 266 pixels) and the keys are located on the surface. The display itself looks like paper, but the ink incorporated in it can change its position when affected by electric signals. This process called “electrowetting” is so quick that you can even display video. And it’s not a fairytale technology either. The display was developed by Robert Hayes and Johan Feenstra.”

Source: Yanko Design

Is this logical?

Original Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy, who will reprise the role of Spock in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek film, told fans at a convention in Las Vegas that he will begin shooting his scenes in December and will do more in February and March of next year, StarTrek.com reported.

Nimoy’s role as the older Spock is “not gigantic,” but, “it’s more than a cameo,” Nimoy said on Aug. 12. Heroes star Zachary Quinto will play Spock as a young man.

At the same convention, William Shatner, who played Capt. Kirk, appeared onstage with Nimoy and ribbed his co-star because Shatner apparently won’t be in the new movie, the site reported.
Abrams’ Star Trek, which reportedly deals with the first mission of a young Capt. James T. Kirk and Spock, will begin filming in November, the site reported.

Source: SciFi Wire

I stumbled across this article by Jakub Wojnarowicz dated 09 July 2007, and I’m in complete agreement with the fact that game players in general are suffering from “gamer fatigue”. Everything out there has been done ten times before. We’re tired of killing x number of creature y and collecting z trophies. There simply has to be a better way. But do the developers have the ability to move into the next phase of games, particularly MMOs?

Read for yourself and see if think they can.

What’s Killing Game Development?
Source: Firing Squad

Have you ever wanted to drive a TVR Tuscan? Chances are you can’t, but Logisys has the next best thing in the form of a mouse. We are taking their T-Coupe for a spin to see how well it handles.

LCDs now have the ability to look back at you, they’re watching, they’re watching!

A computer screen that knows just where its viewer is and automatically adjusts itself to provide better images has been developed by researchers in Taiwan.

Their technique prevents users from seeing a blurred or distorted image when viewing a liquid crystal display (LCD) from an angle instead of straight on.

The Taiwanese researchers have developed a prototype display connected to a miniature camera that tracks the location of a viewer. Software then calculates how to adjust the liquid crystals within the display to produce the clearest possible image.

Source: NewScientistTech

1991: The world wide web becomes publicly available on the internet for the first time.

How far have we really come?

The web has changed a lot since Tim Berners-Lee posted, on this day, the first web pages summarizing his World Wide Web project, a method of storing knowledge using hypertext documents. In the months leading up to his post, Berners-Lee had developed everything necessary to make the web a reality, including the first browser and server.

Source: WIRED

There is very, very little hard data on how players see cheating… so, it was a pleasure to see a study on the subject by Intel.

Here is a summary of the results:

Intel Fair Online Gaming Study – US

The study included 380 computer gamers who play games online at least once a month.

– 59% of players are aware of cheating online
– 71% of these players are extremely or somewhat concerned with cheating
– Fewer than 20% are aware of anti-cheating solutions
– 46% would purchase a game with strong anti-cheating (extremely likely or very likely) plus another 41% were somewhat likely to purchase such a game

It would be interesting to see how these people were selected (what kind of games they played, etc.).

For additional information from Intel, contact: Megan Langer

ReBoot is and was one of my favourite shows, one of the character names I use in MMOs is, in fact, AndrAIa (the adult version obviously). Now it’s being ‘re-envisioned’ and while I have seem some of the artwork for the upcoming changes, I’ll never stop watching my ReBoot DVDs. Here’s the scoop on the rebooted ReBoot.

“ReBoot,” one of the earliest computer-animated episodic TV series, will be redeveloped as a trilogy of feature-length films by Rainmaker Animation.

“The idea is to relaunch the brand in a new way,” said Rainmaker Animation executive vice president Paul Gertz, who will oversee the project.

Source: Yahoo News
More info: Mainframe

Author’s Note: If you love ReBoot, grab The Art of ReBoot

It’s easy to make a pretty game, it’s not easy to make a fun game, that being said, Blizzard is still trying.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for the second expansion to World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Unveiled at the company’s BlizzConâ„¢ gaming festival before an audience of more than 8,000 gamers, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich Kingâ„¢ will open the forbidding wasteland of Northrend to exploration by the hardiest adventurers. New levels of power, challenging new dungeons and encounters, an exciting new character profession, and the game’s first hero class are just some of the new features awaiting players in Wrath of the Lich King.

Source: Wrath of the Lich King

I’m sure this will make some people drool (and some others roll their eyes and groan)…

Sony Online president John Smedley announced the newest addition to the SOE family, Legends of Norrath: Oathbound. Oathbound is a collectible card game that is built into EverQuest and EverQuest 2, and is steeped in lore common to both games. The CCG spans both EQ and EQ2, where players from one game can play against those from the other. Players can also access the game from an outside client, or play against computer-controlled opponents.

Oathbound, the first of three planned sets, contains 375 cards, all featuring original art. Fan service abounds within the CCG, and Smedley listed a few examples as fan favorites Fippy Darkpaw, Mayong Mistmoore, journeyman boots, and snow bunny hats.

All current EQ and EQ2 players will initially receive a starter deck, and additional booster packs can be purchased with real-world cash. However, those wishing not to spend any extra money will be happy to know that booster packs can also be acquired as loot off of boss mobs in both games, and the game will be free of charge to play. Of further note, the game will feature loot cards that can be redeemed for in-game items for players’ characters. SOE plans to offer substantial support for the product, including in-game tournaments, card trading, a unique user interface, and deck-building functionality.