Entertainment

'Warcraft'-themed restaurant: Nerdy, but not nearly nerdy enough

When I first heard about this story, it was the picture on the right that caused my disappointment. But we'll get to that later.

CCTV is reporting that a man in Beijing has opened a World of Warcraft-themed restaurant. From the video, it seems as if he's gone through some painstaking effort to make it as WoW-themed as possible.

The double-door entrance looks to have the Dark Portal mapped onto it. There's various artwork from the game all along the walls and large screens show off the game in real time.

All of it's very appropriate … Read more

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us the next episode in the Strong Bad saga, a kahuna part, and a classic arcade racer from Sega. WiiWare Strong Bad Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough (Telltale Games, 1,000 Wii points): Is it episode 5 already? The fifth installment of the game based on the lovable flash cartoon characters is ready for download on WiiWare. Big Kahuna Party (Reflexive Entertainment Inc., 700 Wii points): Big Kahuna Party is a family-oriented collection of minigames with a kahuna theme. The game offers more than 100 levels to play through, all with varying difficulty. Virtual Console Enduro Racer (… Read more

Inside CNET Labs 25: Of NAS and mapped networks

Another short, but incredibly worldchangingly (look it up people) awesome episode in the can. First off, we have a very strange deja vu-ish intro that, if you've been listening closely to previous episodes, will sound strange and deja vu-ish to you as well.

After that, we briefly touch on the pseudo-fakery that is Bike Hero and Dong gets illmatic with NAS. LOL, not that Nas all you hip hop fans out there. No, I mean networked attached storage. I can understand why you'd get the two confused--what with the picture used for this episode and all--but seriously, try … Read more

Last minute gift guide: data devices

By Chelsea Holden Baker

Does a loved one suffer from infomania? Do you have an incorrigible number-cruncher on your gift list? Whether your favorite data-tracker is a runner or a gardener, here are five devices that could be a hit at home this year.

1. Fitbit

About the size of a thumb drive, this fitness and sleep tracker discretely clips to your clothes. At home, it auto-syncs with its base station and uploads information (such as how many calories you burned that day or how many hours you actually slept) to a website where you can track data for yourself, … Read more

Friday Poll: What should Apple patent next?

Apple has recently filed a couple of patents that could shed light on the company's future plans. One addresses the implementation of proximity sensors into its multitouch technology on devices larger than the iPhone. The other suggests a user interface that would present the Mac OS X desktop screen in three dimensions.

Given that patents often portend what's to come, what would you like Apple to take on in its next patent? If none of our answers fit, be sure to suggest your own in the Talkback section.

A wiki for social media

In addition to his already pretty comprehensive list of social media marketing programs, Peter Kim, the "de facto curator of social media" as Steve Rubel calls him, has now launched a wiki. Social media power to document social media power, so to speak. Great effort, check it out:

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/

Free playlist: Holiday Music '08

We have a diverse batch of goodies for you this year. New additions include a duet with Elvis Presley and Martina McBride; a New Kids on the Block reissue; Stephen Colbert's debut Christmas album; and a Hanukkah jam from Erran Baron Cohen. And the great thing about holiday tunes is that you can recycle them every year! So, get acquainted with the new stuff, and then dig into our archive to resurrect the classic favorites.

Holiday Music '08 feature page

Nickelodeon thinks green with online multiplayer title

In an effort to educate and encourage action, Nickelodeon is set to release what could be the first ever online multiplayer video game that deals with environmental issues. As a component of the broader Big Green Help initiative, the game will tie together an overall theme that the company launched on Earth Day last April.

The Big Green Help Global Challenge will be available for download starting Sunday, and we were able to grab a sneak peek.

Everyone who wants to play the game must take a pledge to reduce their carbon footprint. With that pledge comes a virtual checklist of changes that can be made such as "travelling by foot, bike, etc., instead of by car for four miles each week." At the end of every gaming session, players can track their progress and see how they are making an impact. Keep reading for more on the title including a gameplay video.… Read more

Excessive cuteness, meet excessive violence (circa 1996)

From the "unlikely, but not really unlikely" (especially given the open-source nature of the platform) section of geeky tech comes news that a developer at Chumby has fully ported Quake to the cuddly little system.

The developer posted details of how he did it on the Chumby dev forums. He's even working on getting it networked. Can you imagine a retro LAN party of Quake with everyone using Chumbys? Well I can't, but it would make for an interesting, albeit frustrating, experience--for about 30 minutes until everyone moved to Call of Duty 4.

Bunnie Studios posted … Read more

A reason you'll want to scratch your iPhone

If you've been champing at the bit for a way to really scratch up your iPhone, this may be the application for you. No silly, I don't mean "scratching," but more like "scratchin'."

Hiroshi Okamura has released an iPhone application that lets you try out your mix-mastering skills by scratching on a virtual record. The application is called Re

If you've never tried scratching before, you have to start somewhere, right? And this way you don't run the risk of embarrassing your in front of a crowd or forcing you neighbors to … Read more