G4TV

Picture Time: No, really, we mean it – picture time and send the photos to the Human Clock, where each minute is represented by somebody’s photo.

Tron Reloaded: Why hire the original director of a classic, cheesy sci-fi epic to create its long-awaited sequel, when you can just ruin it be remaking it? We must unplug Master Control before it’s too late!

Hamsterball by Raptisoft looks like a cross between ‘80s classic Marble Madness and Sega’s Monkeyball. But with a hamster.

Orisinal.com has scads of lovingly designed Flash games by Ferry Halim that would make any Nintendo GameBoy owner happy – only they’re free. 
 
Wik & The Fable of Souls by Reflexive Entertainment offers 120 levels of platform-pounding action.

To discover other indie games, head over to GameTunnel.com. 

Thenkurussi Kesavadas, director of the Virtual Reality Lab and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo in New York, gave us a demonstration of the system.

“The learning curve is not there -- this is really for artists,” remarked Thenkurussi as he manipulated a virtual sphere by squeezing a real rubber ball. “Right now we have cylinders and spheres but in the future you’ll have any shape you want.”

While still in the experimental stage, the virtual clay system will be commercialized – a perfect match for car designers, for instance, who often begin projects with wood or modeling clay. Future iterations of the system will include force feedback, said Thenkurussi.

For more info, visit the VR Lab’s website, or read this explanatory article. 

Bezos in Space: Billionaires are just lining up to start their own space program these days. The latest is Amazon.com chief Jeff Bezos, who’s starting a rocket facility in West Texas.

First, he showed some DVD/CD shredders by Alera Technologies. A $49 table model doesn’t actually “shred” discs, but it imprints hundreds of dents into the metal layer of the CD/DVD. A $119 basket model does literally shred discs, along with your standard sensitive documents.

Then Kevin popped a CD into the microwave for five seconds, creating a delightful light show while simultaneously fusing the metal content of the disc. “It burns the plastic, so I wouldn’t use the microwave for food afterward,” warned Kevin.

Kevin also had a degausser on hand, though he didn’t use it. This is an expensive device that creates a strong magnetic field that erases data from magnetically encoded media, such as hard drives or magnetic tape. Ours was supplied by Garner Products.

Finally, Kevin used two methods that you can’t actually employ yourself because they’re too dangerous. He dumped a drive into muriatic acid, which completely melted it. He also packed a PC with thermite, which essentially exploded and lit on fire at about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. “I didn’t exactly work out the way I wanted to, but it did destroy the hard drive,” concluded Kevin.

To delete the entire hard drive, use Dban. To delete files, use Eraser.

Call #2: Steven from Delano, Calif. wanted to know if reformatting the hard drive would completely delete his data.

No it won’t – the data can be recovered quite easily. If you’re selling a computer, you must overwrite it with Dban first.

Call #3: Alex from Baltimore, MD loves AIM, but wants to go mobile with his instant messaging. What are some good options?

Kevin P. recommends Trillion, but it really depends on whether your cell phone is compatible. If you have a Palm device, try Verachat. Or, you could buy a T-Mobile Sidekick, which Kevin R. says has AIM built right in.

Call #4: John from Edinburg, Texas uses Movieworks Interactive to make animation, but he wants to upgrade. What programs should he check out?

You can try a demo of Maya, or use the freeware program Milkshape 3D.