Ugly Baby Studios » Juliet Flores

Preview: Halo Reach Beta

Juliet Flores — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:59:12 +0000

In a word. Fun!

For a Beta, it’s pretty well rounded with just some minor things I noticed that will probably be fixed before release. I witnessed multiple grenades bouncing up after hitting stairs in at least one level. I’m pretty sure those things are heavy and gravity pulls the other way, as a rule. The four major ”classes,” “power ups,” (whatever they’re calling them this time around), aren’t as balanced as they could be, either. The player choses which “class” they’ll play at the beginning of the match and after death, right before respawn, which helps to somewhat balance them out, but it’s easy to see which are more advantageous than others. In their own right each is pretty useful, though the one that stands out as the most useful is the shield. Basically you get limited god mode for a short time; you can’t move but no one can kill you, either (from what I’ve seen.) The next standout is the cloak, which draws attention mostly for its flaws. I say flaws because, as I’d sit motionless in the cloak, I’d inevitably be sniped (headshot) from all the way across the map after having just watched the shooter spawn, after I cloaked… The other two powers sprint and the jetpack, are pretty balanced, each with their obvious advantages and disadvantages.

All in all I’m impressed with the beta so far, and look forward to playing the “gold” version with its various problems hopefully ironed out. Visually the beta has smooth, crisp graphics and familiar gameplay, with a blend of new and old weapons. The biggest problem I have with it is that, like many other online multiplayer games, there is no way to filter out players who have no lives and have spent the last eight years of their lives playing Halo ad nauseum, practicing their e-penis waving skills. The only time they are in any danger of losing is if a scenario works out as a 4v1 and they run out of ammo.

Beta is fun, can’t wait for release!

Hey E3…Show Me Some Skins!

Juliet Flores — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:31:11 +0000

Hi boys and girls, got your attention? Alright, lately have you been thinking to yourself, “Hmm…my precious electronic game system/digital device needs a change of style.” Well if it’s some cool graphic artistic change you are longing for then worry no more. I took it upon myself this E3 to walk the many miles, battle the crowds, all in search of some of the coolest kick ass items out there to give our beloved electronics that awesome artistic feel without having to break out the magic markers.

Check out Gametech’s Wasabi at http://www.my-wasabi.com/ these guys carry some of the coolest Japanesque style. They have taken some of the most beautiful Japanese art designs and produced useful products, some of the best and most colorful I have ever laid eyes on. They have taken beautiful prints and applied them for use on important items, such as the Xbox 360, IPod nano 4G, PSP, PS2 & 3 and the Wii. Thanks to Wasabi we can have beautiful prints on more items then just a poster on the wall.

Not only are their styles beautiful their prices are affordable and you get great style. Wasabi’s prices are more affordable than the skins and cases I have seen at the mall. I can afford to purchase more great looking skins and cases with Wasabi compared to what is offered in stores. If the people back at Wasabi are as polite and easy to talk to as the guys working the E3 booth, I know this is one company I definitely want to deal with.

Go to http://www.my-wasabi.com/ to check out their products. You can even make your payment using PayPal, though there is a $9.99 shipping charge for orders up to $50.00 delivered to continental USA. You have to wait 2-3 business days to get your cool new Japanesque style items, but after you see their stuff you’ll know it’s worth the wait. If you order over $100 in the month of June 2009 you get free shipping!

Guys, here is a great place to start looking for a gift(s) if you know your girl just goes gaga for Japanese art.

If Japanesque style is just not your cup of green tea check out GelasSkins at http://www.gelaskins.com/index.php they have some of the most wicked designs and graphic prints to protect and customize your portable devices.

Nintendo DS My Weight Loss Coach

Juliet Flores — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:20:21 +0000

Everyone at some point in their lives wants to improve their health, but adapting to a more healthy life style entails a lot of details. Eating healthier and being more physically active can be somewhat of a challenge when we’re not used to it. Honestly, I cannot remember nor do I have the time every day to journal about what I ate, how many calories I consumed or if participated in any exercise activities. I’ve attempted to keep track of my daily progress, but in the face of a busy life I haven’t had much luck. Hey, tracking this stuff is important to me, not only to see how far I come in the end, but to focus on my ultimate goal. So, I decided to hire myself the most affordable personal coach a person on a budget-especially my budget, oh paycheck granting gods-can buy.

My personal coach goes by the name of “My Weight Loss Coach” (Ubisoft). It’s a fun way to keep track of your progress to becoming a healthier individual! The game comes with a pedometer which you plug into the Nintendo DS on a daily basis to keep track of the distance traveled throughout the day. In my first two days I managed to climb Mount Everest without even having to pack for the trip…hey what more can a person ask for? It has motivated me to keep on walking, take the stairs at the office, park further away, and to go that extra lap around the block, just to get those steps adding up on the pedometer. I want to see what else I can climb!

In the Daily Session you keep track of on the calendar your pedometer reading, the challenges given to you by your “Coach” in order to track your physical activity for the day. Depending on how physically active you were it will give you a distance bonus to your next milestone…who knows, without even knowing it and without breaking much of sweat you may have completed an Olympic Marathon. Awesome!

Your Daily Session also tracks food balance. Food balance is somewhat genius. At the end of the day you give a detailed account of what you ate and it will give you on the food balance a total of calories consumed according to what you ate. You get to drag from the food groups the servings of food you ate and feed your coach from general fruits, vegetables, different kinds of meats-almost anything you can find on the food pyramid-yes even fast food. This feature of the game has to be my favorite, which probably tells you I eat too much fast food. I always wanted to keep track of my calorie intake and this is as easy as it gets. I am now eyeing the fruit bowl more enthusiastically then I do the cookie jar. Usually.

If you want to invest in a fun way to keep track of your progress, become more aware of your weight and overall gain a healthier life style, go out and get Nintendo DS My Weight Loss Coach. It’s easy to use, not to mention fun, provides you with healthy tips, and personally I look forward to keeping track of my progress at the end of the day. Keep in mind that buying the game and turning it on will not magically make the extra “fluff” around the middle go away; it is up to you to make the changes. The game is a tool to keep track of your progress, see how far all your hard work takes you and motivate you to become a healthier person. So, clip on the pedometer, put on your running shoes, turn up the tunes on your MP3 player and report back to your coach! Soon you will see not only was it fun but it was so worth it.

I’ll try to keep you guys posted on the healthy improvements I make with My Weight Loss Coach. Till then, get out of the way-I have mountains to climb.

TAC’s Freedom V Wireless Guitar rocks!

Juliet Flores — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:34:34 +0000

I’ve recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the new “Freedom V” Wireless Guitar Hero controller, courtesy of “The Ant Commandos” (TAC). These are the same folks who brought us the “Shredder” guitar controller earlier this year, which I also recently reviewed. Luckily it looks like TAC’s really made some headway with their newer guitar, and Guitar Hero fans are in for a treat. We’ll follow the same format as the former review here, judging each aspect of the Freedom V on a scale from 1-5. Let’s take a look at the various categories vying for our loving attention today!

Style:

The Freedom V catches your attention immediately with its very sexy design, metallic paint and chrome details. The Fret buttons are nice and glossy in color with a very smooth sense to the touch, and the Strum bar is a polished chrome color that immediately draws your eye. The Start and Select buttons also carry a nice chrome veneer, easily grabbing your attention like
the strum bar does. Last but not least is the Whammy Bar, which is also chrome
and carries a firm rubber tip that should help to ensure that even the most
enthusiastic players don’t mar the fantastic paint job this guitar comes with.

Our review unit, graciously provided by TAC, is a dead-sexy Candy-Apple red with metallic highlights. The guitar is also available in a striking metallic blue (which I saw at Best Buy and is quite the attractive unit as well), which we hope we’ll get the next time we review one of TAC’s guitars. Hopefully that will be when the inevitable Xbox 360 variant becomes available).

The guitar also comes with a sheet of hot and fancy stickers that many will undoubtedly love, but to be honest I couldn’t bring myself to cover the beautiful red paint job by applying any. Maybe I’ll put them on the Shredder instead.

Score: 5

Performance:

So, how does it perform, you ask? Let’s start with the good news: The Freedom V is superior to the Shredder in every regard, with the one possible caveat being that some people might prefer the style of the Shredder
(or for that matter, the Gibson SG from Red Octane) to the Flying V style. These are issues of mere aesthetic preference, however, and let’s face it, there’s no pleasing everyone.

Right off the bat you’ll notice that the Freedom V feels good in your hands, and the buttons feel easy and sensitive to the touch. The Fret buttons in particular are soft and easy to manipulate, surpassing even the
original GH controller’s sensitivity. Early on this additional sensitivity can take a little getting used to for fans who’ve played extensively with the SG controller that comes with the game, but you’ll notice in short order that the more sensitive buttons provide for a more pleasurable experience that won’t leave your fingers in as much pain as the original. While not completely alleviating the discomfort that some will experience, if you find yourself particularly bothered by the SG (or for that matter, the Shredder) but you still want to rock the house in GH, you will certainly want to give the Freedom V a try.

It’s worth noting that unlike TAC’s “Shredder” guitar, the fret buttons on the Freedom V are oriented correctly (i.e., they’re the same as on the original Red Octane controller), so those put-off by that design
idiosyncrasy will not need to worry about it on the Freedom V.

The Strum Bar feels as you’d expect—it produces a solid “click” sound when flicked, and it does so easily and without too much thumb strength required. Truth be told, neither myself nor my esteemed
Editor-in-Chief (or whatever) were able to discern a difference between it and the original. The chrome plating used is a bit more slick than the naked plastic of the original SG controller, but this neither hinders performance nor is particularly noticeable beyond the initial contact.

The Whammy bar feels very solid and, unlike the annoying SG or the Shredder, it doesn’t exhibit the tendency to fall down out of reach during normal gameplay. The one major gripe I always had about the SG, which the Shredder duplicates in top form, is that the whammy bar would disappear from my normal reach during extended periods where it’s not used. The Freedom
V’s, meanwhile, is rock solid and maintains itself in whatever position I leave it in. This is excellent especially for those of us with smaller hands that might not easily recover well on the harder modes of the game, though in fairness it could potentially get in the way of people who prefer it to disappear when not in use as it does on the SG and Shredder. I happen to find it a major improvement.

One of the most criticized features of the Shredder guitar has been that, unlike the SG, tilting the guitar upward to activate Star Power is iffy at best. Honestly, coming into this review I was expecting the same
trouble from the Freedom V, but to my surprise I have no complaints. If anything, it’s a bit more sensitive than the SG, meaning I don’t have to tilt it quite as far to get my star power action going. Anything that makes my life easier when rocking out to some of my favorite tunes, I’m all for! In that vein, it’s only proper that I follow the Star Power and talk about the Freedom V’s oh-so-nicely raised Select button.

Like the Shredder (and unlike the SG), the Freedom V’s Select button is elevated above the surface of the guitar to allow easier access for players who’d really rather not tilt the guitar upward to activate their Star Power. Unlike the Shredder, the Freedom V’s Select button is actually located in a place where it’s easy to simply “palm” without significant movement of your hand, thus reducing the possibility that you’ll actually miss an upcoming note. As avid players of Guitar Hero can tell you, this can be particularly important in some of the tougher songs and harder difficulty levels of the game.

Score: 5

Wireless
Functionality:

OK, let’s face it, you’ve been waiting for this part of the review since the beginning. It’s good that all the regular functions of the guitar work as well as they should, but the main point of buying a $59 wireless
guitar is, after all, the wireless functionality. You want to jump around while you rock, after all! You want to fall down and play with your knees bent, your ass on the floor and the frets reaching to the sky, all without getting tangled in the wire and sending your PS2 tumbling to the ground, right? Damn straight!

The wireless functionality of the Freedom V guitar is nearly flawless. Plug in the dongle, fire up the controller and your PS2, and in a couple of minutes you’ll be burning up the tunes just like with your wired controller. Perhaps the sole complaint here is that sometimes it takes a few seconds for the guitar to connect with the PS2. We’re not talking a long time here, maybe 5-10 seconds, but it’s enough to make you wonder if it’s working or not. This can be particularly troublesome if you’re not using fresh batteries (at first, we weren’t). So far we’ve logged several hours with a nice, new set and they seem to be going strong, so we think you can expect to get some good times out of a set of 4 AA’s, though we can’t tell you exactly how long.

What we don’t know yet is how well the guitar will work with Guitar Hero 2, due out this week. There are rumors on the web that there are problems with this guitar in GH2, but until we get our copy we can’t verify
that, so take it with a grain of salt. I’ll update this review as soon as I’ve tested, but I don’t see any reason to suspect there’s any truth to the rumor whatsoever.

EDIT: We’ve just confirmed via a representative from TAC that all currently shipping TAC guitars, from October 1st onward, are fully compatible with Guitar Hero II. For the earlier models an adapter has been made available by TAC for around $6–basically their cost–that will enable your older model controllers to work flawlessly with GHII.

Score: 4.5

Conclusion:

Overall, the TAC Wireless Freedom V Guitar Hero controller is an excellent accessory for those who enjoy the popular Guitar Hero game and would like to get a little more mileage out of the game with some wireless fun. It’s also highly recommended for those with large TV’s (50”+) for whom the typically 6’ cords on these peripherals leave you standing much too close to the TV. TAC’s solution will get you back to a more respectable distance with no worries about connectivity or getting tangled in wires that threaten to doom
your PS2, and it will do with great style and flair. The TAC Freedom V is available in both metallic red and metallic blue and has a variety of skins available to make your guitar more sexy (though honestly, the metallic red is already pretty damn hot, and we suspect the blue will be equally cool for an appropriate metaphor).

As a last note, I’d like to say that I’m very, very stoked about the forthcoming release of Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360, and I like this guitar so much that I’d love to see TAC release, if possible, a USB dongle that could make this guitar work for that version. I realize it’s too late in the design stages to make the built-in transmitter work with 360, but even an unsightly USB attachment would be highly welcomed if I could get this beauty on that new system with what will undoubtedly be the definitive Guitar Hero experience.

Overall Score:
4.75

TAC’s Shredder GH Controller–old and new

Juliet Flores — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:24:41 +0000

The fine folks at TAC (“The Ant Commandos”) were good enough to send along one of their “Shredder” Guitar Hero controllers for us to review. As this guitar has been on the market for several months already we’ll give it a new rundown and see if we can confirm or deny what others have said about the guitar to date. Perhaps more importantly, we have both the current revision of the Shredder guitar and the introductory version from several months ago. What are the differences? You might be surprised!

Style:

The Shredder guitar hero controller is, in style, quite a
bit more attractive than the SG style guitar that Red Octane provides with the Guitar Hero game. It comes in a glossy black with nice chrome accents on the Strum Bar and Start/Select buttons, and the fret board is an attractive silver color that complements the main body of the guitar very well.

The box on our review unit states that there is a “sticker sheet included”, but ours didn’t have them. Of course, it could just be the fact of ours being a review copy, so no points lost there.

One item that might bring concern to some players is that
the Fret Buttons appear to be backwards, at least as compared to the SG reference guitar, but whether this is significant or not will be born out inthe performance reviews.

Score: 5

Performance:

Of course, even the best looking guitar (or for that matter,
any controller) is only as useful as it’s ability to perform the functions it was intended for, so let’s get right to the meat of it. We have two of these units on hand, including the review copy we were recently sent and one I purchased several months ago at a Fry’s Electronics. Both guitars look
identical, though the packaging is quite different. Neither version actually came with the sticker sheet, though to be fair, the original version’s packaging doesn’t claim to.

What’s interesting, though, is that the build quality between the older unit and the newer unit are like night and day.

The older unit’s Fret Buttons stick, pop and crackle and can sometimes screw you up when playing the faster paced songs, especially on the harder difficulty modes. The newer unit’s Fret Buttons are smooth and operate quietly and easily. The older unit’s strum bar clicks loudly and sounds like it’s barely installed in the casing at all. The newer unit’s strum bar clicks
softly and moves easily and without fear that it might fall off.

The older unit’s start and select buttons are a little hard to press because they scrape along the chassis of the guitar and stick a little. The newer unit’s start and select buttons press and release without
issue.

The older unit’s Whammy Bar, like the Red Octane SG controller’s, exhibits a tendency to slip and rotate downward when you let go of it. The newer unit’s Whammy Bar is stiffer and stays in the position that

you left it in. On the older unit, tilting the guitar upward to activate Star Power is, at best, an iffy proposition. More often than not you’ll need to shake the hell out of the unit to activate star power. For those who hate
tilting it up, that’s not too bad, but if you’ve become comfortable with the SG’s method you could be in for some trouble. The newer unit does not have this problem. The tilt-up isn’t quite as sensitive as it is on the SG, but it works well and doesn’t require the user to drop themselves into epileptic fit like the older version.

Both units do suffer from some common design flaws, however. To start with, the Whammy Bar is just too damn long. More than once I’ve either hit the strum bar with the Whammy Bar and knocked myself out of a nicely scoring note or have managed somehow to crush my thumb between the Whammy and Strum bars, neither of which are conducive to a good gameplay experience.

Additionally, the elevated Select button, while a well intentioned idea, simply isn’t placed such that I can easily hit it with my palm without moving my thumb a little further away from the Strum Bar than is comfortable or wise, particularly in fast paced songs. What this means is that I’m forced to either shake the guitar like a madman (on the old unit) or tilt it up fairly far (on the new unit) to get my Star Power action going. While not a fatal flaw (after all, the original forces you to tilt up and doesn’t bother to either
elevate the Select button or place it in an easy to reach position) it does detract somewhat from the experience.

Like the SG, the Shredder guitar (both old and new) has a cord that’s approximately six feet long, a measurement which is, in my opinion, woefully too short. For this kind of game you should have at least a nine foot cord, and preferably twelve, especially for users with a large TV (I game on a 61” Samsung DLP). Luckily a $10 extension cable will eliminate this deficiency, but still, that’s an extra cost on top of an already pricy game/extra controller combo. If you’ve bought Guitar Hero and you’ve bought the Shredder,
you’re already down $110+ not counting tax, and the need for an extension cable just isn’t cool.

Score: 3

Conclusion:

It’s good to see that TAC’s clearly improved their manufacturing process in the time since the Shredder was introduced, but it’s worth noting that as recently as yesterday my local Fry’s still has a stack of the older units sitting in store (an assumption based on the fact that the new packaging and the old packaging are world’s apart and not really confusable with one another).

For those in the market for a Shredder but who’ve read the many negative reviews based on the old version, this can present a problem: which is the old, which is the new? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, and
there are box shots below. My recommendation is to avoid the older units at all costs and get the newer one if you really like the Shredder style.

In the end, the Shredder is a decent product in its current form, and I’ve aggregated my impressions of the older and newer units to reflect that this is a product which has clearly evolved since its introduction, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are still the older units out there in the wild which could lead to some very dissatisfied consumers. If you can find the newest model you shouldn’t be afraid to pull the trigger (and you can find it now for $29.99, whereas the older model was introduced at $49.99) but do be aware that there are at least these two variations on the product, and if you find yourself stuck with a dud, don’t
hesitate to return it for a refund and go somewhere else to find the newer revision.

Overall Score: 3

This is the older package. Avoid it at all costs!

This is the newer package. If you want a Shredder, get this one!

Review: Yoshi Topsy-Turvy

Juliet Flores — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 18:38:04 +0000

Have you ever found yourself shaking, tilting, and jumping up and down with your game controller in your hands as if this is going to make a slight difference on the way your game on screen will be affected? Wish that your acrobatic grace would help you win the game? Well wish no more, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy is here to tilt your world around.

Developed by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS systems Yoshi Topsy-Turvy is a true tilting adventure. I was skeptical at first that the game would really change depending on how you tilt the system while you play, but boy was I proven wrong! You cannot play this game the conventional way of just pushing buttons; Yoshi depends on you to tilt him around to accomplish the tasks that the spirits assign to him, as he tries to rescue Yoshi Island from the pop-up book world it’s been sucked into.

The graphics in the game are excellent; I really enjoyed the detail they put into making it look like Yoshi is inside a pop up book. As a texture artist who’s created textures for both 3D models and 2D animations I really enjoy looking at the detail that goes into a design, and this game’s artwork is really excellent. What I thought was an excellent design element is the cardboard-like edges on things. The art style flows with the whole concept of the game. The art style is very cartoon-like and the sound effects and music in the game are what one would expect from a Yoshi game.

This game really relies on your handling of the system. One small tilt will determine whether you get Yoshi up to the next level or you bring him to his doom and have to start the level over again. It’s really very enjoyable how they incorporated this type of mechanic into how you play the game. With each level you play, you’ll gain more experience that will help you reach the end and help Yoshi save his world. The game is not multiplayer by design and I doubt it would work well as a multiplayer title anyway. Unless the group you were playing with was really coordinated Yoshi would never get anywhere!

Personally I would enjoy working on designing a game such as this. The art style is to my liking and it really is an addictive game; I couldn’t put it down. It’s a lot of fun to play because it’s very different from most games on the market, where you just sit there and push a couple of buttons to get your character moving.
You actually have to move the entire system to get things rolling with this title, and that’s a cool and entertaining dynamic. The only thing I found to be annoying in this game is “The Spirit Who Loves Swiftness,” and believe me when I say this that this Spirit can be a pain. Check it out for yourself by picking
up a copy of Yoshi Topsy-Turvy.

Quality: 5/5

Sound: 5/5

Game Play: 5/5

Developers Perspective: 5/5

Over all score: 5/5

E3 2005 Booth Babes

Juliet Flores — Sun, 29 May 2005 01:00:29 +0000

Well, I attended E3 2005 with the anticipation of joining the Anti-Booth Babes crowd. With the idea of acquiring my free pair of granny panties (and maybe a free shirt). Through out the entire time there I did not run into any Anti-Booth Babes people. The entire crowd there was wide eyed in taking it all in; I am not just
talking about the Booth Babes but all the cool games coming out soon. Personally I was mesmerized by Nintendo’s new Nintendogs; I just could not tear myself away from their booth. It is just an amazing game the puppies have all the real characteristics of a true life puppy; they are playful, stubborn, and just cutie. Depending on the way you treat them they will respond back to you. The nicer you are the cuter they get.

Back to the subject of Booth Babes, I never did run into the Anti-Booth Babes crowd. Instead was submerged in a wave of men who lined up just to have their pictures taken with the ladies there. With all that surrounded me I took on a new perspective to the whole experience and joined the crowd. Yeah if you can’t beat them you might as well join them. I did not line up for pictures but did line up to get all the free stuff the Booth Babes were handing out.

It was great! Almost like a whole shopping experience, I got shirts, posters, magazines, bags, cute little
Nintendog keychain puppies, Mountain Dew was handing out free drinks with the chance of wining Xbox stuff; you name it I probably got it all. The best thing of the entire experience is that all this stuff was free! As I collected all the free stuff I took pictures of the Booth Babes. All the ladies there were more than happy
to pose and have their pictures taken. Well, all except for one, (whom I am giving the benefit of the doubt) who told me she did not do pictures. She was probably just worn out from the entire experience, but I just thought “lady you are in the wrong business then.”

Other than that all the girls were happy to pose, even with the guys who asked to have their pictures taken with them. Probably giving them the only opportunity in their entire existence of having their pictures
taken with a good looking lady. Where in reality there would be the probability for them of being slapped across the face for making such a request.

Please log in and visit the gallery and check out the E3 2005 Booth Babe photo collection available on our
site. If you are not already a memeber of our site please sigh up, its free (see you too can get something free out of this whole deal.) Keep in mind that there are some reasons why they only allow adults into the
E3 events and I believe that some of the Booth Babe outfits might be one of the reasons as to why. Do not fear though some of the pictures are not that bad. Although, I claim no responsibility if you get caught
by your parents, wife, or other superior life form or for some strange reason become offended by the pictures. Enter as the adult and responsible person you are. Enjoy :0)

Hi, thanks for visiting our site. Currently there is a tiny problem with the gallery program. We are looking into it and hope to have it up and running soon. Please come back and visit us. Thanks.

If there’s one thing a girl doesn’t like about E3…

Juliet Flores — Tue, 17 May 2005 10:20:01 +0000

It has to be the endless piles of guys drooling over the booth babes. If they aren’t at E3 drooling, they’re gawking at gaming news websites (such as this one in about 48 hours…mark my words!) and making their keyboards very, very wet.

This year, though, there’s somebody on my side. Someone out there thinks like I do (well, sort of. I never give away free shirts) and has setup the Anti Booth-Babes website! Granted, it’s not much of a site, really, but it does have a contest for a free T Shirt, and if I can at all manage it I will be at their booth to get my free Granny panties, too. So for all you girlfriends-of-geeks out there (and these days, you are many…), don’t
worry too much, because at least someone is on our side for once.

Oh, and if you’re into stocks at all, I’d invest heavily in keyboard companies, as I have a feeling that demand for replacements will go through the roof later this week!