geekosystem

The beer aisle at your local supermarket may have more in common with a forest than you think. Both are dominated by huge examples of what they have to offer -- oaks in the forest, Budweiser in the refrigerated section -- but are also peppered with smaller competitors who have found a way to carve out a niche that works for them. Check out the latest video from the deep thinkers at MinuteEarth to learn what beer markets and capitalism can teach us about biodiversity and ecology. You may even begin to understand the missing link between ferns and a good locally sourced lager, though we can't guarantee it.

Meeting glasses with a hearty "Cheers!" is a time-honored and proven way to win friends and influence people, so of course Facebook was going to get their unsavory digital mitts on it at some point. It appears that time has come, as Budweiser has introduced the Buddy Cup -- a beer cup with an embedded chip that turns real world drinking buddies into Facebook friends every time you clink glasses. Because there is nowhere left to hide from the Internet, that's why.

Beer is wonderful and good for you -- I've always known this, and I've said it regularly and loudly to anyone who will listen. Also, to people who would rather not listen. Now, science offers the latest proof that beer is medicine. Or rather that the structure of some of the molecules that make up beer and give hops it's bitter bite, could be, in moderation and after years of careful research, used to offer treatments for diabetes. If the research pans out, it could mean a brand new breeds of drugs. If it doesn't, that's a shame, but we could still finally develop the world's first truly perfect IPA. While that outcome is certainly less good than new lifesaving drugs, I would humbly submit that that doesn't make it "not good."

We'll just go ahead and say it -- the thought of watching the premiere of Game of Thrones without a strong, cold, adult beverage just never really occurred to us. Considering how often the characters are quaffing, we just find ourselves in the mood. Not that anyone can blame them for imbibing perhaps a bit too passionately -- on the heels of a hard day of blood and fire and political intrigue, there's nothing quite like kicking back and putting your feet up with a frosty mug of beer. Once again, HBO has anticipated our needs pretty well, teaming with New York's Ommegang Brewery to produce a Game of Thrones inspired blonde ale that pairs nicely with pigeon pie, a whole pig on a spit, and the blood of your vanquished foes.

Do you like beer? Do you like letting the Internet know every time you have a beer? Then you're probably already familiar with Untappd, an app that is "a social discovery and check-in network for anyone that enjoys beer," according to the description in the Google Play store. The app is free for Android and iOS, but they rolled out a premium version yesterday with some new features. Guess I'm hitting the liquor store on the way home tonight.

No matter how well-designed they are, keyboards are, on the whole, pretty boring as far as gadgets go. There's only so much you can do when the composition and arrangement of the keys are standardized, right? Wrong. The mad scientists at Robofun Create found a way to make keyboards fun again. How did they do it? They replaced the keys with cans of beer.

Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, co-founders of popular developer BioWare, have announced that they're retiring. This might be why little tidbits have been confirmed recently, like the title for the next Dragon Age; the company doesn't want the duo's retirement to come at a time when all is quiet otherwise. Keep in mind, Electronic Arts still owns the company, so it's not like this changes things. BioWare will continue be just as terrible or glorious as they have been of late. Zeschuk and Muzyka are putting all that behind them.

Many have been the times when we here at Geekosystem have found ourselves longing for something that combines our twin love affairs of beer and milkshakes. Thanks to the wise folks at Red Robin, that day has arrived, no doubt to be followed by the day we gain 300 pounds.  The restaurant chain's recipe for Octoberfest is as follows: mix vanilla soft serve ice cream, caramel, vanilla syrup, and Sam Adams Octoberfest beer. Shake well, drink, and repeat. Right up until your eyes glaze over and you drop onto the table with one last big, sloppy grin on your face, but those are the breaks, and sometimes you can't change fate. It's Oktoberfest, Jake.

If you're out at a bar or alone in your apartment wallowing in your own loneliness, and want to know some facts about the beer you're either popularly socially drinking or using to drown your sorrows, there's now a service for that. No, not Wikipedia. If you send BeerText.Us a text message with the name of your beer, it'll send one back with information that should satiate your never-ending thirst for beer knowledge.

With the addition of beer at some of its U.K. stores, we here at Geekosystem now figure that you can buy everything you need at IKEA. Cheap beds, affordable desks, surprisingly good meatballs, cheap hotdogs, and now Öl Mörk Lager.

Maybe "a nation divided" is a little overdramatic, but there certainly are some regional differences between U.S. counties with the most Tweets with the word "beer" and those with the word "church" as shown by Floating-Sheep's new map. Does your hometown take the path to salvation or to inebriation?

Do you really need a highly sophisticated, Arduino-powered, Android tab-operated kegerator with its taps coming out of the Android mascot's arms? Probably not. Of course you do. That's why Paul Carff built "Besty" the KegDroid, to fill this gaping hole in beer dispensing technology. Aside from just looking awesome, the KegDroid has some pretty useful functionality that can help prevent unauthorized imbibition of your favorite alcoholic potable.

Things are usually pretty quiet in the depths of the Geekosystem mailbag, but every now and again something wonderful emerges. Today, we received two bottles of Dogfish Head brewery's Urkontinent beer. As careful beer-minded readers of ours will remember, we first heard about this brew way back in October of last year when the brewery partnered with Google to crowdsource a truly unique beer. Now, this Belgian-style dubbel is making its way into the wild, and we're having a first taste.

If you ever wanted a way to dessert up your beer, or just plain keeping it colder for longer, Japanese beer maker Kirin has got the item for you. Presenting: Frozen beer foam in the vein of soft serve ice cream that sits atop a beer, keeping it cool.

There are some geeky beers out there, but most of them associate with a single series or franchise. 8-Bit Pale Ale, on the other hand, has its sights set a little higher and aims to be the beer of an entire geek era. Produced by Tallgrass Brewing, 8-Bit Pale Ale uses Australian grown Galaxy Hops giving it "a unique tropical, almost melon aroma in a classic American style" according to its makers. If you don't have one sitting in front of you, however, its most noteworthy characteristic is probably its wonderfully designed can, featuring both a hops rocket and a salivating Pac-Man. What else could you ask for? A really weird commercial involving a video game featuring puppets? Sure. Check it out after the jump. Really, it's super weird.