I admit it. For a nerd, or even just a part-nerd which I believe I am, I am pretty “out-of-it.” Like, I have no idea, really, what a “Wii” is, other than one more thing my kids want to have and I see no reason for, or to spend money on.  Well, this is my chance to explore the world of the Wii, and get some mature perspective on what all the noise is about.

First of all, you need a console. It looks a bit like a computer and the start-up package comes with a remote controller, a “Nunchuk” controller, a sports gaming package, and a sensor bar, which I assume is how the thing knows when you are moving. What I didn’t know before is that if you have wireless broadband internet access you can play on-line games, too and stream TV and movies via Netflix. OK, so what else?

Well, I just looked at the accessories which can be purchased in addition to the basic Wii thingy. Let’s just say it is possible to spend oodles of money having fun with this thing. So what kind of fun is actually possible? Well according to their own web page, there are 1,010 different games to choose from. Luckily they have a cool way of helping you find exactly the game you would love. (Otherwise uncool people like me would probably get frustrated from all the choices and end up buying nothing, woe is me.)

There are 8 “favorite game types” you can pick from, not including “other,” ranging from role playing, sports and music and rhythm. (Even I have heard of ‘Rock Band.’) I took a look at ‘other’ and to my surprise saw a selection of regular type games, like chess, jungle speed and Texas poker. Not 100% sure why you need a motion detector for these games, but I guess it just comes with the territory.

The next choice to make is the preferred ESRB rating, in case there are some parents out there trying to protect their kids from the bad values so easily exposed to our kids. I was happy to see that (at least) in the “other” category there are no ‘M’ (Mature, 17+) titles. The highest rating in this category was ‘T’ for Teen, 13+. The vast majority of games in this category fell into the E10+ which means “Everyone 10 years old and above.
OK, I admit again that the “other” category is not really what the Wii is all about. So let’s just take a look for one minute at one of the categories that the developers of the Wii really had in mind when they spent all their time and creativity thinking up this nifty toy, I mean device.

In the Music and Rhythm category, in the Teen 13+ rating are a large selection of different versions of “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.” Not too sure what the differences are between them, but maybe I should stop writing and start playing, I mean interacting. I’ll let you know how it goes, and whether I have been convinced this is a real boon to civilization, or not.

We humans certainly seem to be preoccupied with the various ways “life as we know it” might one day cease to exist. It’s definitely a good sign that at least many people believe “life as we know it” is a good thing, because you certainly wouldn’t necessarily think that judging by the way some people act. Several disaster films have waxed eloquently on the many possible ways the world could be destroyed. We have wayward meteors heading for earth, aliens set on destroying the earth, earthquakes and other natural disasters of such enormous power that the entire planet will be either reshuffled, frozen, sunk or burnt.

Then we have the “real” destructive forces at work, such as global warming, a return to the ice age, unprecedented extinction rates, and so forth. Now we have a new one to add to the list, the danger of solar storms to human life on earth. According to NASA scientist Richard Fisher, “The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity.”

Fisher continues, “Our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms.”  The problem seems to be that solar storms can disable or destroy satellites, and if the storm is strong enough, even transformers on power lines could blow up from the effect of an accumulation of charged particles on those lines. The effect of this would be GPS devices left useless, cell phones non-functional, credit card transactions rendered ineffective, and no electricity for millions of people at the northern latitudes.

Scientists are predicting now that the worst of these storms will befall us in May 2013. Short of solutions, the best we can do at the moment is keep predicting the storms, putting our satellites in safe mode, and hope for the best. It is certainly tempting to send Bruce Willis to the sun to drop a nuclear bomb-not a bad idea even if there was no solar storm to contend with. So in case you were worried that there was nothing much to worry about, now that shouldn’t be a problem, thanks to NASA and their happy band of scientists.

What really is a nerd? Did you know that the first use of the word nerd is in a Dr. Seuss book? Yes indeed. It comes from If I Ran the Zoo in which the main character, Gerald McGrew explains that he would want to collect the following creatures, a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too.” That book was written in 1950, but it doesn’t really seem to have anything to do with the modern day nerd who is an unlikely candidate for a zoo creature, although he is a certainly fascinating creature none the less.

In 1951 Newsweek reported that the word nerd was a new way by which a person could refer to a “drip” or a “square” in the city of Detroit, Michigan.  An alternative spelling was used by the famous science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, using the word nurd in a story he wrote in 1973. There is anecdotal evidence that the alternative spelling of nurd is a shortening of the word “knurd” which is “drunk” spelled backwards, since a nurd is the opposite of a “partier,” shunning the wild parties characteristic of college campus life for the life of a “knurd,” studious and socially awkward.

Believe it or not, due to a lot of bad publicity, many people seem to think that being a nerd is a negative thing. Well I think all of us reading “Nerd Universe” would beg to differ. In case you have been feeling a need to get up and do something about the bad press we’ve gotten, don’t bother. Its been done already. Back in 1993 Gerald Sussman made it his business to help nerds feel proud about themselves, instilling nerd pride in nerds whenever he was given the opportunity.  For instance, in an interview he gave to Katie Hafner of the New York Times on August 29, 1993 Gerald Sussman said,

“My idea is to present an image to children that it is good to be intellectual, and not to care about the peer pressures to be anti-intellectual. I want every child to turn into a nerd – where that means someone who prefers studying and learning to competing for social dominance, which can unfortunately cause the downward spiral into social rejection.”

So nerds, unite. You gave the world just about every electronic device, computer technology, search engines and anything else that distinguishes the 21st century as the “Age of Information.” Oh and fun electronic gadgets, too.

Us nerds take technology for granted. We believe there is no debate about the benefits of advancing technologies. Everything new and amazing, that makes life less dull, more convenient, less tedious and more fun, must be good and therefore there is a moral imperative to possess that hi-tech object in order to immediately experience the benefits of a better, more productive, and happier life.

But sometimes us nerds stop for two seconds and think about this fast-paced, constantly changing world that we live in and wonder if everything is really so good. For instance, I was talking to one of my neighbors today, telling her that I was going to buy a new microwave oven for my newly married daughter and son-in-law. Although we both agreed that it is hard to imagine living today without a microwave, it is certainly possible to live without one, as the both of us have proved since we both grew up without one and have lived to tell the tale. Then my friend continued to bemoan at least two ways that microwaves may actually harm our lives rather than help.

For one thing, in the old days, if you wanted a baked potato for lunch, you would say to yourself, “In about one hour or so I want to eat lunch. Therefore I should put my potato in the oven NOW so it will be ready to be eaten in about 1 hour.” Then we can wash the potato, put it in the (conventional) oven, set a timer, and come back in one hour to eat. Then we were free to get back to whatever it was we had been doing before. Very little time was wasted. Today, since the potato takes about five minutes, we just hang around next to the microwave until the potato is ready. This waiting around wastes time.

The larger problem with the microwave is how it affects the family structure, and how families don’t spend their meals together. My friend said that without a microwave, the children were forced to come home for dinner when Father came home, and everyone ate their evening meal together. This was a time to share the events of the day, ideas, dreams and whatever else people in the same family want to talk about together. Now, because the microwave has made it so easy, family members eat separately when they get back from school, work, play, etc, and don’t really share the evening meal together. A great loss, both my neighbor and I believe.

Of course if the two younger brothers don’t have to eat together, perhaps there will be less fighting between them. That’s hard to know for sure. But what can be known is that technologies such as microwaves, which have had such a profound effect on our  modern way of life, might not only improve the quality our lives, but if we are not careful, can perhaps harm it, too.

Ok, back to solar power. There must be something more interesting going on than cockroaches? Well here’s what I think is a really great idea. It’s summer. The sun is shining HOT. You’re hot. Your apartment is hot. What to do? Of course, turn on the air conditioner. Too expensive to run you say? Not if it’s powered by the hot sun which is making all the trouble in the first place. That’s right, someone has finally begun to really take this solar powered stuff to the place we need it most, to stay comfie cool in the summer. Cleverly named Coolerado, this device is even smarter than its name.

Of course it’s been in development for years. A 2007 version was able to produce 5 tons of cooling using 1200 watts of power. Today’s version can create 5 tons of cooling using only 600 watts, quite a big leap forward, making it closer to within the reach of some ordinary folk and small businesses. Have patience and remember that Orville’s first flight only lasted 12 seconds.

So how does this wonder appliance work?  A fan draws into the air conditioner the outside air. Then a filtering system cleans the air. A new, patented technology called “Heat and Mass Exchange” or HMX treats the air. Half the air is saturated with water and is returned to the atmosphere. The other half of the air is now “conditioned” or cooled, with no added moisture. The cooled, conditioned air is then returned into the structure via a duct system.

Because the solar panels, interestingly, work less efficiently when they get too hot, like on the very hottest days of the year, the device could actually work less well the more it is needed. Luckily for us the designers use the cooled but highly humid air discarded from the device to cool down the solar panels, helping keep the Coolerado functioning at its best and keeping us cool and comfortable more efficiently.

In the Northern Hemisphere of the World summer is about to great us. And when I think of summer, I think of the sun, and when I think of the sun, nowadays I think of what cool electronic device can I use with solar energy from our beloved mother star, the sun? So what happens if I Google solar powered… whatever? Well to my surprise but great interest the suggest menu offered me “solar powered cockroach” as one of the more popular of the solar powered possibilities. Intriguing. What exactly is a solar powered cockroach? My experience with cockroaches until now is that they scatter, and how, at the flick of the light switch. Anyone who has ever had to go to the bathroom late at night in an apartment located in New York City knows that. Well maybe that is the idea. Without the sun or artificial light our little crunchy friends just sit there looking disgusting, but when exposed to light, they turn on and run. Somehow I don’t think that is what is meant by solar-powered cockroaches.

Well, sorry to disappoint, but a solar-powered cockroach is not much better than a natural cockroach, accept in this case you can command your personal roach to scare anyone you like at your leisure, while natural roaches take years, even decades to learn the simplest commands. According to some people who have tried this toy, it is basically a small piece of plastic shaped to resemble a big black bug, with a solar panel integrated into its body. When light shines on it, and I hear it take quite a bit of light, the thing begins to vibrate like a cell phone getting a call in “vibrate” mode. And the shaking is what causes the motion. It is nothing more than a cute way to demonstrate the transformation of solar energy into kinetic energy, which is certainly an interesting thing, but can lose its charm quite quickly.  Especially if one of your not-pleased friends decides to swat the thing with a newspaper, or crush it under his shoe. Luckily they only cost about $15, or $2.54 from dealextreme. At that price why not get a few dozen, scatter them on your bathroom floor, and pretend you are back in New York City. Well worth the effort considering how much rent you save by not really living there.

Last week was Earth Day, a day when over 500 million people all over the world celebrate the natural world which modern folk take for granted 364 days a year. Techie types are tackling this problem everyday, and are constantly coming up with ways to save us energy and the planet.

I took the liberty of investigating some intriguing energy-saving gadgets that can bring us hi-tech nerdy types a little bit closer to hugging our mother earth.

1.    Lenova ThinkCentre A61e: This innovative computer is quiet and can be powered by an optional solar panel instead of using electricity from an outlet. It is manufactured using 90% reusable/recyclable materials, including the packaging it comes boxed in. Lenovo says that the average user can save about $20 each year in energy costs, and will save about as much carbon dioxide emissions as two round-trip plane rides from New York to Boston. I’d certainly rather be on my computer than go to Boston, especially not TWICE!

2.    IntelliPanel:  Standby mode is a thing of the past, and with it the wasted energy stand-by uses, with this accessory, which will automatically switch on power to your peripherals like printers, monitors and routers, only when the computer is turned on; and will likewise switch off the peripherals when the computer is turned off. Cool! Now I really never have to remember ANYTHING!

3.    USB Cell Batteries: Get this for smart. You do love rechargeable batteries, but hate their companion rechargers, right? Well USB Cell Batteries are recharged by plugging into the USB port of any computer. Where ever you take your laptop you will have a place to charge up these clever batteries.

4.    Solar Powered Backpack: What will they think of next? Get some charging done while hiking through the woods. The backpack’s solar panel faces the sun and takes those powerful rays and transforms them into electricity for your iPod and cell phones.

5.    Nintendo Wii: What’s this doing on my list exactly? I know it seems a bit out of place on a blog dedicated to Earth Day, which brings to mind hugging trees and walking around barefoot and eating sprouts- but even nerds care about the earth (we think)- and what better way to love the earth than to sit in your living room “virtually” doing just about anything, and only using 10% of the electricity that other gaming consoles (which will remain nameless) use. And think about how much fuel for your car you save by never going anywhere.  And less wear and tear on your clothes, less consumption or air, and just about everything else.  Yes a Wii can really save a lot of energy, and help to save the earth too.

There are lots of nerds out there today. Being a nerd seems to be the thing to do. By nerds, we mean people who need to feel like they are constantly at the forefront of new technologies. In other words, whatever gadget has just come on the market, they simply have to have it. Those are what one might term the super-nerds. No matter what they personally think of the new gadget, they must have it. Personal preference or desire features minimally in the equation for these super-nerds.

Then there are the slower-paced nerds; those who are kind of wannabe super -nerds. They want to be at the top of the new gadget list, but simply neither have the capital nor the guts to go out and purchase all the latest toys. Or perhaps their significant others are stopping them from doing so. Either way, they buy what they need, or what has been out for some time and has thus come down in price.

Finally there are the lowest-tier nerds. They just can’t keep up with their counterpart nerds. They are left way behind. They might vaguely hear about the latest gadget and think that the iPad sounds cool, but they just haven’t gotten their act together to make the purchase. They will say to themselves in some kind of justification, well, perhaps it is worth waiting for the next model, but that means that they will miss the super- or even slower-paced nerd boat. They might have other priorities and just once, many years ago, used to be a really top supe- nerd, when they had more time, money and less things to spend their money on.

Today, everyone loves social media and is connected in some way – whether through Facebook, Linked In, or another source.  This is socially accepted – and even expected.  What you might not believe, however, is how much people are willing to interrupt their lives for this social media craze.  Check this out:

The latest Retrevo Gadgetology Report on social media usage shows that people are willing to sacrifice just about anything for their social media time.  Half of respondents said that they check Facebook and/or Twitter before they go to bed and right when they wake up.

More than half of respondents said that they have to check Facebook at least once a day.  In terms of checking an instant message – one in three respondents said they’ll check a message they receive during a meal, and one in 14 said that they’d check it during sex!

The authors of the Retrovo Gadgetology Report actually found their own findings disturbing, questioning whether a growing number of social media junkies might be suffering from an addiction.

Indeed.

I have spent many long, lonely hours trying to decide if I am, or if I am not a true nerd. I even took a nerd test online, (http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php) and discovered I am actually a mid-level nerd with a score of 73 out of 100. This did not make me particularly happy, because it isn’t known if being a nerd is actually a good thing or not. One of the questions on this questionnaire was “Do you have a biohazard sign in your room?” That is pretty nerdy, and I certainly do not. But another question asked what I like to do on Friday nights. Apparently curling up with a good book is also considered nerdy behavior, but I think that’s great.  Another presumably nerdy sign is if you have dead bugs or rodents in your room, as opposed to having a clean room, which I guess makes you very not nerdy. I answered that I do have some dirty clothes in my room, which I think is just plain normal, unless of course you are a clean freak, for which I am sure there is another on-line quiz people can take.

So what should I do? I’ve decided to stop worrying about it and start enjoying my inner nerd, and sharing that special part of me with you, without regrets. So, for one thing, we all know that nerds love electronic gadgets and brain exercise. So maybe we should start with something electronic that also gives your brain some exercise.

A researcher for Hitachi Ltd is working on a device that translates brain activity into real world motion. At Hitachi’s research lab outside of Tokyo “the brain-machine interface” device, which fits on your head, analyzes tiny changes in blood flow in the brain, detecting brain motion and changing that into electronic signals which can then be transmitted to electronic devices to control them, without ever having to lift a finger. In the demonstration which was conducted by Akiko Obata at the lab in Hatoyama, the device was used to start and stop a toy electric train. Very interesting.

What was the name of that movie again? Oh yea. Wally. Hmmm. Well at least with this spiffy device your brain won’t get fat.

Maybe I’m not the nerd I thought I was after all. Thank goodness.