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Tag: Geek Travel View All Tags

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Pack Your Bilbo Baggins: 'The Hobbit' Returns to New Zealand

September 21, 2009 at 5:28 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

The Hobbit, the prequel movie to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, is expected to start filming in March 2010 in New Zealand. While the exact locations in Kiwi country are still up in the air, redevelopment has begun at Hobbiton, according to a company spokesperson.

If you're not familiar with Hobbiton, don't worry, we won't judge you. It's a very geeky, middle earth kind of thing to be acquainted with.

For those who aren't Bilbo Baggins fanboys, Hobbiton is a private farmland in Matamata, New Zealand where the Hobbit Village was created and filmed for the Lord of the Rings movies. After filming, most of the farm was returned to its original state but 17 Hobbit holes and structures have been kept open for two-hour guided tours.

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No Wormhole Necessary: Be A Great Comic-Con Traveler Next Year

July 27, 2009 at 3:39 PM | by egw | 0 Comments

Phew! We were nerded out this weekend from reading the stream of news from Comic-Con happening in San Diego. From Sam Raimi stepping up to direct a forthcoming "World of Warcraft" movie to five blistering minutes of "Iron Man 2" introduced by Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jon Favreau and Don Cheadle, the buzz from the annual nerdfest gave us something to look forward to this fall on the small screen and beyond.

A New York Times article today addresses how a very special group of people also headed to Comic-Con: The actors, producers and creators of "LOST," whose big LOST news coming out of the conference was that next season will involve (spoiler?) no time travel at all. Getting all the necessary LOSTies to San Diego for their presentation Saturday involved a working budget of over $25,000, way more than even its most diehard fans would pay to attend. But judging by the frenzy of coverage the event, which included sketch comedy and a wooden seagull given away to a lucky fan picked online, every penny was worth it.

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Pirate Bay's Server Now On Display in Swedish Museum

April 22, 2009 at 11:32 AM | by egw | 0 Comments

At least their handiwork will live on: As the creators of file-sharing website the Pirate Bay head off to prison, a Swedish museum will put its trusty server on display for the world to learn the wages of modern piracy.

The Tekniska Museet or National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm has added the server to an exhibit on intellectual property called "Inspiration Imitation," and since it's co-sponsored by the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property, we're guessing it's going to come out pro-IP.

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Best Geek Trips to Take in 2009

April 6, 2009 at 10:05 AM | by Jaunted | 3 Comments

Long gone are the days when being called a geek was a bad thing. Millinials celebrate, almost worship geekdom. Ashton Kutcher produces Beauty and the Geek, Woz is on Dancing With The Stars, and Biz Stone is on Steven Colbert talking about the virtues of tweeting up. Thus, it should come as no surprise that we have decided to give a small nod to geek travel, which in our world means their very own listicle.

What does it mean to travel geek? Well we found plenty of hot spots catering to this zeitgeist. However, after talking with the Twitterati, engineers, and plenty of web heads, it seems the old adage of "its not the destination it is the journey" rang particularly true with these folks. From artificial intelligence, to high end gadgetry and geek service to the latest in transportation innovation, on this list you *still* have to have a nice dose of je ne sais quoi de geek.

Off we go.

Best Geek Trips to Take in 2009
1. Hanford Nuclear Park
2. Miracle of Science Bar and Grill
3. Bletchley Park
4. Mundaneum Museum
5. Future Now: Seoul

Dan Gould, Mark Johnson and Juliana Shallcross also contributed to this report.

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Good News for Geeks: Star Trek, The Experience Will Reopen in May

Where: 3000 Paradise Road [map], Las Vegas, NV, United States, 89109
March 27, 2009 at 8:41 AM | by Omri | 0 Comments

For 10 years the Las Vegas Hilton hosted Star Trek: The Experience, an alternative for tourists inexplicably seeking something beyond Sin City's decadent cocktail of hookers, booze, and gambling.

The exhibition had Star Trek-themed rides, Star Trek-themed shops, and Star Trek-themed characters. The word "immersion" was thrown around with abandon. The world was filled with light and joy.

Then last year the stars flickered out and darkness descended. The Hilton's contract with the owners expired. The exhibition was left without a home. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth heard throughout the Kingdom of Dorkdom Universe of Geekdom.

But now, perk up geeks.

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Where Fans of 'Lost' Will Want to Hang Out

March 24, 2009 at 9:11 AM | by juliana | 0 Comments

Most fans of Lost think you need to visit Hawaii where the show films to fulfill your own personal Dharma Initiative, but we think you'd be just as happy knocking back a few cocktails at the El Avion Bar inside the Hotel Costa Verde in Costa Rica.

The bar (and restaurant and coffee shop) is crafted out of a Fairchild C-123, one of the controversial cargo planes used in the 80's Iran-Contra affair. The bar-plane overlooks the Manual Antonio National Park with its beaches, lush vegetation and killer ocean views. It's almost like you're back on "the island."

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Tekkeon's USB Batteries Give Your Gadgets New Life

March 23, 2009 at 11:32 AM | by Omri | 0 Comments

The other week we talked about how a tiny USB hub, when plugged into a computer and matched with the right set of cables, can become a de facto travel power strip.

That works well enough once you've settled into your hotel room. It's less useful when you're on the road, away from outlets, and trying to conserve precious battery power. During those times you want to charge your USB-powered peripherals without draining your laptop. You want a separate battery.

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Live Long, Prosper, and Visit the Lido Deck

March 17, 2009 at 4:31 PM | by egw | 0 Comments

We confess we're not all that familiar with "Star Trek," the popular sci-fi franchise that gave us William Shatner and "Beam me up, Scotty!" But we can understand the impulse to get together with megafans and geek out together on vacation -- after all, you already know you have something in common with your fellow passengers.

We can't tell you whether the Enterprise was ever used as a pleasure boat, so "Star Trek" megafans will have to settle for Royal Caribbean's Star Trek Cruise of the Mexican Riviera.

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New York City Festival To 'Blind Us With Science'

March 12, 2009 at 3:01 PM | by kjb | 0 Comments

If your chemistry book is still holding up the leg of your kitchen table, then this festival is probably not for you. However, if you actually learned something a little more scientific during college than the physics of the perfect beer pong game, then you might want to pack your bags. Hitting New York for the second time, the World Science Festival looks to entertain, educate, and enlighten both those with and without high IQs.

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Options for Minimizing All Your Travel Gadget Chargers

March 11, 2009 at 11:56 AM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Last week we did a post on universal cell phone chargers, the upshot being that soon you'll only need one charger for all your family's cell phones. In the comments section cantera asked "OK, But... What about all the other crap I'm carrying chargers for?!"

Quite right. What about all the mp3 players, PDA's, cameras, GPS's, and bluetooth headsets that people carry when they travel?

First thing's first. Fundamentally you need cables for two things: recharging batteries while they're in your peripheral and connecting your peripherals to a laptop. Ideally you'd want one cable that can do both. That might seen obvious. And yet there are entire classes of peripherals - *cough* Blackberries *cough* - where the default is to have one cable for charging and a different cable for syncing. Lame.

The next consideration is bulk. We're not sure how many peripherals the average traveler carries. Even with convergence devices the over/under has to be around three. Imagine an iPhone-addicted jet setter who uses that device as an mp3 player, PDA, and GPS. That still leaves at least a camera and a bluetooth earpiece (the first fanboi who leaves "my iPhone has a camera" in the comments, by the by, will be summarily executed as a warning to others). Two cables per device times three devices still equals a huge pain in the ass. And that's before we begin counting your travel companions' devices.

This simply will not do. So join us please as we venture into the magical world of retractable, dual sync/charge cables.

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Electronic Hug T-Shirt Provides Love (and Creepiness)

March 10, 2009 at 3:56 PM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Sometimes all our travel adventures make us a little lonely. Going it alone is fun and helps create a sense of adventure, but often, you just want a little love. That’s where the Hug Shirt comes in, and hopefully it’s the solution for times when a phone call just won’t cut it.

CuteCircuit has put together the technology for this interesting little gadget. Just send a text message to one of your buddies, and the shirt will react to the message. Special sensors sewn into the garment will actually respond by giving you a hug—or at least some sort of creepy stimulus that’s supposed to feel like a hug. It uses Bluetooth to transmit the electronic hugs, so iPhone users are good to go.

The shirt has been a work in progress for a while, so there’s no specific launch date just yet, and the cost isn’t available. However, we can’t wait to witness this, uh, unique device in the wild—especially since it’s machine washable. We’re all about the love, but what if no one even gives you one of these e-hugs—would it just make your more depressed?

Related Stories:
·The Hug Shirt [Official Site]
·Sending A Hug Is As Easy As Sending A Text [Digitpedia]
·Travel Gadgets coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: newblood91]

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'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Keep It In England

March 10, 2009 at 3:16 PM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Warm weather over the weekend really got us thinking about summer, the outdoors, and of course, summer movies. Before you know it, the neighborhood multiplex will be filled with the latest and greatest summer blockbusters, and one of the biggies this year will undoubtedly be Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. That is, unless you can get a pirated version of it somewhere so you can watch it in the comfort of your bed with the Harry Potter sheets on it.

We understand that you can hardly contain your excitement, and that’s why we’re here to let you know where you can shoot your own bootleg version of the sixth film in the Harry Potter series. Pack your bags, head out, and start your own geeky adventure.

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