geekosystem

Bethesda has released the debut trailer for Skyrim's first piece of downloadable content. Dubbed Dawnguard, the trailer depicts what could be a two-faction war between some sort of every-generic-fantasy-demon-you-can-think-of group (vampires, winged imps, gargoyles, etc.) going up against the titular Dawnguard. The trailer doesn't quite let loose if you can choose either faction, though the narration provided by someone from the anti-Dawnguard camp asks the typical "which will you choose?" question. We won't have to wait much longer until E3, where all of the juicy DLCtails will most likely be divulged.

Those of us who grew up with cartridge-based consoles remember that those could be really freaking hard. As such, sometimes cheating was practically necessary. Back then, old-fashioned cheat codes were still a thing, but the good stuff -- the real awesome cheats -- always involved awkwardly strapping a piece of third party hardware to your game, thereby doubling the amount of dusty connections that might fail, and crossing your fingers that this time it would actually work. If you miss that, I've got good news: Game Genie is coming back, and it's going to come to the PS3.

1. 8 ways to stream video on the Xbox 360 (GeekSugar)
2. Classic Steve Jobs speeches, for free (iTunes)
3. 13 crazy variations on the bicycle (Mental Floss)
4. 4 video game complaints we're just going to have to get over (Cracked)
5. 15 incredible images of waves smashing against piers (Environmental Graffiti)
6. Big Pineapples is the new Diablo III (TDW: Geeks)
7. New York is trying to ban super-sized drinks (The Week)

(title pic via reddit)

Google Maps Street View can be fantastically useful for getting a feel for a neighborhood, or taking a virtual walk between point A and point B if you are spectacularly bad at following directions, like I am. Now, in a bid to make its name even less relevant, Street View is once again expanding its scope beyond streets with the World Wonders Project. Now, you can "Street" View your way around over 100 famous historic sites.

The season two finale of Game of Thrones is half a week away, but if you need some Game of Thrones injected directly into your eye veins and can't bother with reading one thousand pages of one of the books until then, here's a short video of Maisie Williams, none other than child vagabond Arya Stark, attempting to take the cinnamon challenge. Even when she's prim and proper in respectable attire, Arya Stark shines through and spits up a bunch of cinnamon.

Cars and Cars 2 may not have been the most critically praised Pixar films, they have been enormously successful financially. They are, at heart, light films that appeal the child's eye for bright cartoon comedy. However, these apparently uplifting tales have a dark heart, and perhaps contain the secret future history of the world.

In what has become routine, the new Humble Indie Bundle is out, officially number five (even though we've had a few non-numbered bundles in between), and it's quite possibly the best one yet. For the low, low price of whatever you want, you'll nab Limbo, the computer version (as opposed to the original mobile version) of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and pinnacle of gaming and writing achievement Psychonauts. If you pay above the current bundle average price, which is rarely ever at double digits, you'll net yourself Bastion. As always, each game included is free of evil, evil DRM, and is available for the Big Three of operating systems, Windows, OS X, and Linux. As another bonus, each game in this bundle includes its own soundtrack. Check out the trailer for the bundle after the break.

At 11:42 AM EDT today,  SpaceX's commercial spaceship Dragon splashed down in the Pacific ocean 500 miles off the coast of southern California. It's safe arrival puts an end to the historic mission that saw the first commercial company fly to and berth with the International Space Station, perhaps beginning what some are calling a new era in American spaceflight.

Not too long ago, Sci-Fi author John Beiswenger filed a lawsuit attempting to block any further Assassin's Creed releases on the grounds that the franchise's story infringed on the copyright of his novel Link. The lawsuit seemed pretty doomed from the start, and it's likely that Beiswenger knew that because he just recently dropped his own case, still arguing that he was totally in the right, but just didn't feel like (or have the money to go about) proving it at the moment. Now, Ubisoft has filed a complaint against Beiswenger in order to get the matter settled, essentially saying something along the lines of "Oh ho ho no you don't. You wanna dance? Let's dance."

Police were assaulted with a few very odd items earlier this week when they responded to a call that led them to a man in Hackensack, New Jersey, who was threatening to harm himself. It turns out that the man, 43-year-old Wayne Carter, certainly did follow through on his threats, and cut off pieces of his own skin and intestines, and threw them at police.

This December, 193 United Nations delegates will meet in Dubai to discuss the Internet and to what extent the UN should be involved, specifically whether or not the United Nations should be more involved. That being the case, U.S. lawmakers are discussing the matter ahead of time to solidify the country's stance on the matter. Ironically, after all the legislation that's been popping up recently, officials seem to be all for a deregulated Internet when the regulatory body in question is not the U.S. government.

Transparent displays have been around for a while now, but besides looking cool we've seen few practical applications that take advantage of the see-through screens. That might be changing with this smartphone concept from NTT DoCoMo and Fujitsu, which presents users with some pretty novel ways to interact with their screens. However, it's still far from perfect.

After having spent over a year in space, the United States Air Force's secret X-37B spacecraft will be coming in for a landing sometime in the next few weeks. The miniature spaceplane, which looks like a 30 foot long Space Shuttle with angled fins and a bulbous rear end, has apparently performed exceedingly well in its mission -- except what that mission is remains a secret.

It's early in the morning, so you probably would love to see this stunning animation by the French artist collective CRCR featuring a series of terrifying transformations applied to a human head. The short animated film, called "'Ghosst(s),'" is exceptionally well done, and exceptionally good at being unnerving. You'll have animated decay, bugs, animal skulls, and all sorts of other macabre delights. Good morning!

This short and sweet animation to end your day is brought to us by Bird Box Studio, which is in the business of making adorable animated videos. This one features an adorable pup who is faced with the inevitable doom brought by one's own exuberance.