I think pictures of gamers in the flood are becoming viral in the Philippines, where I’m currently based. First you’ve got someone playing Left 4 Dead:

And a bunch of people playing Defense of the Ancients:

Obvious fakes? Well, here’s what I think: the flooding levels in both pictures are high enough that wall sockets would be submerged. Even if somehow the gamers are drawing power from a wall socket located higher than usual, other sockets exposed to water would necessitate shutting down power—to prevent any overloads.
Here’s more definitive “proof”: look at how still the water is. No one playing on a …read more

Online stereotypes as old as anyone can remember: web designers hate IE with a passion (with good reason), have to use Macs, and use bootleg copies of software if they can’t afford it (not to mention torrents usually equating to pirated software). I’m hoping the underpaid work cliche dies soon though!

Thanks to Andry for sending this in!

The quality betrays the following video’s age, but dissing Microsoft for coming out with unreliable OSes is a timeless practice. Here’s how David Bradely, inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del, gave Bill Gates the rhetorical smackdown, during the 20th anniversary celebration of the IBM PC:
I honestly wonder what was going through Gates’ head, after Bradely joked that the Microsoft founder was responsible for making the key combination famous (implying of course, the numerous crashes that necessitated Ctrl+Alt+Del)? Was he the socially awkward geek unable to produce a witty comeback? So like yours truly, except for the billions of dollars in net worth of …read more

Poor Mikey! First he blogs about his company furnishing a Blackberry to his department’s managers—a distinction that amazingly includes him:
blockquote>you do NOT understand the ramifications of being issued a BlackBerry. Among other things, if you have one, your boss can Email, IM, call or SMS you 24/7 and expect you to reply. This wasn’t the case for me prior to being issued one as I always had the “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to call you back. My phone went dead” excuse and the “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to email you back, my DSL got cut today. You see, …read more

Mix poor memory and a lack of tech-savvy, and you’ve got a teacher disciplining a high school student for launching “foxfire.com”. Not sure if this is real or a hoax, but here are some details:

The incident report narrates how the teacher apparently asked the class to do some work through an internet browser, only to catch a student starting a program called foxfire.exe. Said teacher meted out two warnings, but the student continued using foxfire, insisting that it was a better browser. The teacher, probably having no idea what Mozilla Firefox was and tired of challenges to his authority, handed …read more

Sure, the video below says surfing for seniors, but this unconsciously hilarious video is actually a great learning tool for that rare friend or family member who has absolutely no idea what the internet is about—much less use it:
The hilarious text starts off thus:
Welcome to Surfing for Seniors: An Introduction to the Internet
If you’re not comfortable with your computer, you may need to play this tape and practice many times.
The mouse is made to fit in the palm of your hard. Rest your hand on the rounded top, and push. You will see how the pointer on your screen moves …read more

Feeling pretty bored but too lazy to unglue yourself from the computer? Then load your favorite media player and set it to random mode! Start playing any song. Now all you have to do is answer a bunch of questions (received from a friend) by pressing next on your media player. The results can be really hilarious, totally weird, or in my case, strangely accurate. A sample of this game in action is available for those who continue reading.

So much better than your basic 10-minute edits!

Over drinks yesterday, my friend shared an insight. Thanks to my hangover, I’ll have to paraphrase everything:
Him: “Would you know how well retailers did during Black Friday?”
Me: “Not yet, I think it’s too early to tell. I’m sure a report will come out soon.”
Him: “Well, all I’m saying is that if people don’t buy this year, even with the low prices, things must be really bad.”
Me: “From what I’ve seen, things look good. Did you read about that Wal-Mart temp employee killed in a buyer stampede?”
Him: “Oh yeah… so there were lots of buyers right?”
Me: “Well if that case is …read more

Ok, Second Life user Amy Taylor, aren’t you taking things a bit too seriously? Apparently Ms. Taylor is filing for divorce “on the ground of unreasonable behavior after her husband admitted to falling in love with the virtual female character.” Said virtual home wrecker was caught with ex-husband’s David Pollard’s avatar (both pictured above) “in a compromising position on a sofa.”