gHacks technology news » fun

Elf Yourself Redesigned

Martin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:43:56 +0000

Last year, around the same time, we spotted a very interesting service that made it possible to dress five people as elfs and have them perform a dance afterwards. The Elf Yourself craze was born and it quickly became a popular website. On a sidenote, my nephew who was 4 at the time, loved to see his family dance the elf dance.

This year the Elf Yourself website has been redesigned. There is a bit more of advertisement on the website but also additional content to make up for it. Don’t worry! There is still the classic elves dance for those who might have missed it last year or cannot get enough of it.

In addition though you can now see them dance Disco, Country or Charleston as well each with a unique stage and effects. The music is obviously also different on every stage.

The developers have added possibilities to download the videos to the desktop or post them on various social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. Expect a huge increase in Elf Yourself appearances on those sites.

Tags: charleston, christmas, country, elf yourself, Entertainment, fun, web service

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Martin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:43:08 +0000

I’m sometimes amazed what companies do to promote their products in other parts of the world. The local advertisement agencies really seem to lack the esprit to produce advertisements that are fun to watch and deliver a message. They always seem to go straight to the message and forget that viewers are usually bored by those ads.

I have spotted a Pepsi advertisement on Youtube that is airing in South-America only which has all the traits of an interesting fun to watch ad. Honestly, what can go wrong if you combine Kung Fu Fighting, Mini Me and Godzilla in an ad?

Interestingly enough that’s not all there is to be seen and done for the viewer. They did release a free browser widget for Nokia Mobile phones built by interactive design & marketing group AgencyNet that can be downloaded free of charge from a newly created website. Supported languages are Spanish, Portuguese and English. The Pepsimundo website itself is only in Spanish but easy enough to navigate.

How does this ad compare to the ads you usually see when turning on the television?

Tags: advertisment, fun, mobile phone, Nokia, pepsi, pepsimundo, video, youtube

List of problems solved by MacGyver

Martin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:15:15 +0000

Today was such an evil day full of trying to solve a riddle with only a few clues that I had to find something interesting funny to post at the end of it. I loved to watch MacGyver when I was a kid, it was always cool to see how he was able to build something from nothing to get out of dangerous situations.

Much like the A-Team did in the good old days when they build some huge car to break out of their prison. It seems that someone wasted a lot of time to add a list of problems solved by MacGyver to Wikipedia. Every episode of the five seasons is mentioned in the list and it’s interesting and sometimes funny to read.

Stuff like “MacGyver builds a distraction by balancing pots and pans on a bag of ice that melts from heat produced by a toaster oven. He spreads vegetable oil in the ground to incapacitate some kidnappers” or “MacGyver starts out in Berlin, trying to escape with a microfilm containing government secrets. He takes the place of a dead person and is carried in a coffin towards a bridge, where he is dumped into the water by friends. Upon hitting the water, Mac hits a button and turns his coffin into a jet ski, riding away to safety” are precious, don’t you think..

Tags: Entertainment, fun, macgyver, tv series, wikipedia

Convert Boring Units to Real Objects

Martin — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:47:27 +0000

1000 Kilogram are 1.3 cows, 5.6 female lions or 1 shire horse while 100000 kilogram equal 18 male African elephants and 7.1 Big Bens. The website Sensible Units (via Genbeta) converts boring units like Kilogram, Meters, Miles or Pounds into real world objects. There is obviously no real scientific value behind the calculations but it is still interesting to discover how some units convert into real objects.

Currently only units of length and mass are converted into real objects but the developers promise to add additional units in future versions. The conversions are displayed immediately on the website which means everything takes place on the same page. The script lets you know if it cannot find any real world object of that size; Don’t give up at that point, you might be surprised that it will most likely find objects for larger values again.

Pure entertainment, what do you think ?

Tags: Entertainment, fun

Typeracer

Martin — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:41:11 +0000

No more games I said. And still, this one is just to good to pass on. I already wrote about it on my new games blog Take9 but since it’s relatively new I thought it would be ok to post about this game here at Ghacks as well. Typeracer is a game that you play in your browser. It worked surprisingly well in Firefox which is something that I have not expected.

The objective of Typeracer is to type faster than all the other players. Each race consists of a few sentences that have to be typed as fast as possible in a text field. Typing a word correctly moves your car a tad closer to the finish line. That pretty much sums the whole game up.

What I like about Typeracer is that you can start playing right away. No registration, no plugins, no downloads. That’s awesome. If you are a little bit shy you can practice at first and start a real race once you feel comfortable with the game mechanics.

A word per minute (wpm) count of 50-60 usually is enough to finish the game first. It’s lots of fun and you probably improve your typing skill as well. Who’s up for a race ?

Tags: fun, game, typeracer

OT: Bridge to Terabithia remake for geeks

Tobey — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:04:11 +0000

Are you a fan of “Bridge to Terabithia” movie? Are you fond of IT stuff? Both? Then check this out. None? Then check it out too, you might come to like it anyway.

I loved that movie when I saw it and I still do. It even made me ignore my lack of talent and draw (yes, on a real paper, using my very own clumsy hands!) a picture, which is fairly untypical of me and hardly ever found in my regular schedule. Having had my own computer out of order for some time now, I had lots of time to spend on a homework we got in school – writing an English essay that would resemble a classic fairy-tale.

I meant it to be inspired by the movie from the very beginning but still wanted to make it somehow original. Then I got a few ideas on how to adapt the basic story to the IT environment and internet culture and thought that those ideas weren’t that bad after all. After one whole afternoon spent on writing (again, on a real paper instead of word processor canvas), I came up with something that may not be exactly called “art” but I still liked it myself and wanted to share it with the web community. Though, I do recommend watching the movie first, if possible.. no, I’m not adding a torrent link here.

Link: Gate to the Net – Bridge to Terabithia for Geeks via Scribd.com

Description:

The excellent and beautiful movie “Bridge to Terabithia” inspired me to write this remake as a school essay. Specially designed for people with a slight insight into the technology world and internet stuff.

System requirements:
Fantasy Unlimited 2.0
Friendship Understanding 2008
Emotion Extension Pack Free
+ Technical Inaccuracy Ignorance Engine

If you happen to like it, I’d appreciate another digg.

Tags: bridge to terabithia, Entertainment, fun, geeks

Alter all websites in the world

Martin — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:52:12 +0000

The following is a nice trick that I learned in a webmaster forum. I thought it would be nice to describe it to my readers as well because you can have some fun with it. It allows you to manipulate all elements of a website. You could for instance create number one positions on Google, add your own products to Amazon or write a cover story at CNN.

The changes are only temporary but you could make a screenshot and send them to your friends to have some fun with them. This is also a reminder that everything that is shown on screenshots can be easily faked. This is especially true for website revenue screenshots for instance.

All you need to do is load a website and load the following code in the address bar:

javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0

Make sure you paste everything in one line and hit enter afterwards. Once that is done you can easily edit elements on the website. I created a short video that shows how I edited the Microsoft homepage.

Tags: fun, Hacking, webmasters

Weekend fun Starshine

Martin — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:04:28 +0000

Starshine is a neat little browser game suitable for all ages. It is a relaxing addictive puzzle game with 50 levels. The screen consists of a outer ring that is used to fire one shooting star at neatly placed stars that send out additional shooting stars. You need to create a chain reaction to hit all stars of the level with your shooting star.

This might sound easy at first but it becomes difficulty pretty soon starting at level three. Later on different types of stars are introduced. The first star available sends out two shining stars for instance while the next type of star sends out only one. Additional stars are introduced in the later levels.

Starshine is a nice little game that is fun to play but can be quite frustrating if you are not able to find the solution for a level.

Tags: flash game, fun, starshine

True Gamers

Martin — Mon, 07 May 2007 07:29:56 +0000

Did you ever come upon a video which seemed to tell an unbelievable story but still made you almost believe that it was true ? I experienced this when I was watching the video entitled Fear of Girls showing two roleplaying fanatics talking about their life presenting some footage of their gaming sessions and showing them during an interview. What can I say, geeks like this do exist and this video is really well done.

The prayer when he is eating with his brother and sister in law is really awesome, hehe. One of the gamers is wearing his druid costume and while his brother is praying he is praying as well to the earth god. Well, enjoy the video and have a good laugh – or two..

Tags: fun, roleplaying movie, true gamers

Sometimes a picture says more than 1000 words

Martin — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:57:06 +0000

Sometimes pictures say more than a thousand words. This is actually the first picdump ever here at ghacks, consider it a little experiment that tests the water to see if you like it or not. I know it is not really related to anything here other than that I would say that geeks like us do love funny pictures. It is part of our culture, don’t you think ? And it is tech related, the first image shows a analogy of the Windows XP Firewall, the second is about Google. Enjoy..

Tags: fun, images, picdump, pictures

Game for the Weekend Ballistic

Martin — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:13:36 +0000

Ballistic is a addictive 3D maze type of game that reminds me a little bit of games like Marble Madness. The game Ballistic however brings some new elements to the “move ball to exit” type of games. First, the environment is fully 3D compared to the two dimensions of the other games. Second you do not move the ball(s) but the complete level and the ball just follows the laws of physics.

The screenshots are not able to show you how great the game is, you will have to download and play it by yourself to come to this conclusion. Ballistic is a race against time to reach the exit of the level before the clock runs out.

All kinds of obstacles are placed along the road to the exit, those include bumpers, blockers and others that have various effects on your ball. Bumpers for instance work like pinball bumpers, if the ball hits them it will recoil.

Tags: ballistic, free-game, fun, game, igf, independent-games-festival

Babe Violent 2 Fast Paced Multiplayer Game

Martin — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:13:40 +0000

Fun Fun Fun ! That is exactly what Babe Violent 2 is all about. It is a free multiplayer top down shooter. Players are armed balls that carry one of six weapons and try to beat the opposite site in exciting game modes such as capture the flag, deathmatch and team deathmatch. It is currently possible to play on 13 different maps with 2 to 32 players that fight it out. Just add a name and connect to one of the servers that are available. Then choose a weapon like submachine gun or bazooka and enter the battle.

Servers had a good amount of players on them and I immediately felt at home and was able to frag the first enemies. You move your player with the WASD keys, aim with the mouse and shoot the weapon with the left mouse button and throw a grenade with the right one.

You may change weapons every time someone fragged you. I found the shootgun to be pretty effective and the sniper rifle the most difficult to handle at the beginning. There is lots of (ball) blood everywhere on the map after a few seconds which means it is not a game for minors but great fun for us adults.

The size of the game is just a few megabytes and it is worth the download if you like multiplayer games of this kind. Hope you enjoy it, see you on the servers.

Tags: action, babe-violent-2, freeware, fun, game, multiplayer, shooter, top-down

The Silent Japanese Game Show

Martin — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:13:36 +0000

Silence can sometimes be really funny. The following videos are taken from a Japanese game show where the candidates have to be silent most of the time. The “do not laugh” or “gaki no tsukai” show is funny but might be unsuited for some of the viewers, it can be quite disturbing at times if you are used to European or American tv shows. The first videos show the candidates in various situations where they are not allowed to laugh, the last two shows take part in a library where they play a silly game. It is a little bit like jackass..

Tags: custom, do-not-laugh, Entertainment, fun, gaki-no-tsukai, jackass, japan, silent-show, video

Game for the Weekend Toblo

Martin — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:21:50 +0000

Fast Paced Multiplayer CTF action, that’s what Toblo is about. Two teams, the read and the blue team try to capture the flags of the other team and reach the own home base with it. The only weapon that exists in the game are the cubes that compose every structure in the game. Every player may pick up those cubes and either throw them at the enemy or destroy structures for better access to the enemy base. The flags themselves are located on top of structures at the beginning which have to be destroyed as well to reach them.

Toblo is a fast paced game that delivers those moments known to all capture the flag players. Running with the flag on your shoulders to your own base, dodging enemy fire is a sure way to increase your heart rate. It is fun, it is great, it is my game for the weekend. Enjoy playing it.

The download from the original location was not working, try this download instead if it happens to you as well. (Click on Zum Download)

Tags: action, ctf, freeware, fun, game, multiplayer, toblo

Bang Howdy Free Strategic Multiplayer Game

Martin — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 21:25:39 +0000

I seldom come upon a great freeware game with stunning graphics, gameplayer and multiplayer action. Bang Howdy has all of that and much more featuring fast turn based action with a twist. The excellent tutorial covers all basic game elements and describes the various game modes that are available when playing online. All players choose a number of units before the game starts who all have advantages and disadvantages against certain types of units for example.

The original game featured four game modes and the first add-on features three more. It would take to long to describe each possible scenario but I would like to write about one to explain the game mechanics.

In the Claim Jumping scenario players try to bring gold nuggets that they find in the level or steal from the enemies gold mine to their own to receive points. Your units have to defend the own gold mine to prevent the theft of gold nuggets from it and use some units to find or steal gold units and bring them back to the own mine.

Dead units will respawn after some time next to their own base. Bonus items appear from time to time on the map and have several positive effects if a unit walks over them. This could range from healing to bonus cards that do area damage.

Players earn scrip after each scenario which can be exchanged to gold to buy bonus cards or unlock special units. Badges are given out to players when they complete special tasks which can also unlock units or add options to customize the game further.

Bang Howdy requires Java Runtime.

Tags: bang-howdy, freeware, fun, game, java, jre, strategy, turn based, western

Game for the Weekeend Rumble Box

Martin — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 06:25:23 +0000

Rumble Box is a great freeware beat em up game which uses characters made of cubes and balls. Controls are pretty easy to figure out. Use the arrow keys to move your character, double tab forward for a dash, press the spacebar to hit and use Control to grab. The enemies enter the level through doors that appear in the walls that limit the box that you are fighting in. Defeated enemies stay in the level dispelled in the objects that they were composed off.

The ultimate goal of the game is to pile up enough enemies in the level to be able to exit the box that you are in. Every now and then you enter certain bonus stages to earn extra points. The game looks and plays great. It is fast paced and lots of fun.

found: freewaregenius

Tags: beat-em-up, Entertainment, free, freewaregenius, fun, game, rumble-box, Windows

Top 10 Football goals and tricks

Martin — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:55:03 +0000

I had some time at hand and decided to write a short article about great football goals and tricks that I found surfing youtube. Most football videos are from 2006 and feature stars such as Essien, Maxi Rodriguez, Xabi Alonso, Scholes and Thierry Henry. Please don’t be disappointed that your football team or player is not among the top ten, post a link to youtube in the comments to pay tribute to him.

Tags: best, essien, football, fun, fussball, goals, great, henry, score, top

Sudoku Portable

Martin — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:12:41 +0000

Sudoku is a addictive puzzle game which became popular in Europe just a few years ago. The goal is to fill the nine 3×3 grids with the numbers of 1 to 9 each and exclusively for the whole row and column. The concept itself is pretty simple but there are various difficulty levels that make it quite a challenge.

You may solve the easy levels by simply eliminating all other possibilities but this is not possible in hard or impossible mode. You start with fewer numbers in the grids and have to think around the corner to make it. Quite a challenge. Portable Sudoku does not require installation and can be stored on an usb stick for instance.

The game is automatically saved when you exit it and it has some modes that make life just a bit easier. Check mode checks the numbers that you have entered thus far. Solve game on the other hand solves the complete game which could be nice if you are stuck and can’t continue on your own. The download is only 400k in size and available for windows.

Tags: Entertainment, freeware, fun, game, portable, portable-sudoku, puzzle, sudoku, Windows

Art Rage play with paint

Martin — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:02:48 +0000

If you ever wanted to paint again the way you did when you were in Kindergarten then Art Rage is the right program for you. The free version is limited but sufficient for everyone who just wants to play around. I think it would especially be a very nice application for kids because they surely will enjoy the ease of use and ways of painting that art rage offers to them.

It is possible to create a wide variety of images. The website hosts a so called gallery forum where artists show off their work and some looks very impressive. They also offer a tutorial about creating the cartoon figure in the left picture. I like it, will show it to my nephew who is four years and I bet he will enjoy playing with it.

Tags: art, art-rage, children, Entertainment, fun, game, paint, photoshop

Curator Defense

Martin — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:59:39 +0000

It seems that everyday a new tower defense kind of game appears on the internet and gets linked pretty quickly. I found areference to the game Curator Defense in the donation coders blog and can absolutely recommend it. You have to download the 50+ megabytes freeware game but the download is well worth it. Pieces of art invade the museum and you have to stop them to prevent them from replacing the master pieces in your museum.

It sounds pretty silly but it is actually tremendous fun. You have to place certain structures to slow down and destroy the art that is invading the museum. Destroyed art and the end of a wave adds credits to your account and you can purchase more and better stuff to fight the tougher waves that come in later.

I was getting best results by using connected rows of sharp banisters with stop signs, ghost detectors and of course the various cannons. It gets tough pretty fast even on easy, did not pay attention how far I made it but I think it was around 15-20.

Tags: curator-defense, Entertainment, freeware, fun, game, Windows

gHacks technology news » fun

Elf Yourself Redesigned

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