geekosystem

John D. Boswell, aka melodysheep, is back together with PBS Digital Studios to bring you another fantastically soothing and inspirational remix of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. This time around the autotune and sick beats are especially appropriate, as the video is called "Sing Together" and deals almost entirely with music and rhythm. Honestly, watching Fred Rogers try his hand at a number of cool instruments is worth the 4 minutes of your time even without the awesomeness of Boswell's composition.

We've shown you some of the videos by Gritty Reboots before, but PBS: TheMovie stands out for a few reasons. The first being that we love us some PBS, but it also stands out because we can't imagine something we'd want to watch more than a movie where Fred Rogers, Carl Sagan, Bob Ross, and Bill Nye team up to kick some ass.

Knock-offs are everywhere! From faux Rolexes on the street to those fake Tickle Me Elmos to that one actually-kind-of-cool laser-gun-robot that clearly was supposed to be like Megatron I had as a kid. Turns out, knock-offs is a ubiquitous and powerful phenomena, and of course we see it every day. In the latest PBS Idea Channel video, host Mike Rugnetta offers a thoughtful point-and-counterpoint on the subject. Sometimes the counterfeit is just as good as the "real thing" or better, and he tells you why. Then again, buying knock-offs has its consequences.

3D printing is most certainly going to have a profound effect on the way we do business going forward, but will it actually change that world? That's the question asked by PBS Off Book's latest video. They look at what can be accomplished in the future when it comes to 3D printing, and even what's already been done. It's a brave new world in a lot of ways, and we're only just getting a real glimpse of the horizon.

Look, I'm not going to pretend that I'm a font of knowledge when it comes to transhumanism. The idea's a neat one though. In a nutshell, we'll eventually reach a point where technology will supplant all our involuntary problems like aging. PBS Idea Channel, however, thinks that Futurama might perhaps be the best argument against transhumanism. Whether you agree or disagree, host Mike Rugnetta makes an interesting argument.

Forgive the brief moment of nostalgic adulation, but LeVar Burton is truly a god among mortal men. Having the uncanny ability to instill a lasting appreciation for literature and take us on glorious adventures without even leaving the comfort of our armchairs, it's no wonder why the world can't get enough of the guy. In a gesture of praise and reverence, John D. Boswell -- the creative mind behind PBS Digital Studios' "Icons Remixed" series -- presents his latest accomplishment: "Reading Rainbow Remixed." And you don't have to take our word for it...

What, exactly, is a viral video? That's what this PBS Off Book video attempts to tackle. Sprinkled throughout you'll find delicious nuggets of videos we all know and love as well as, perhaps, a few you've never seen. They speak with a number of people who are in the know, including but not limited to Jonah Peretti from BuzzFeed, Brad Kim from Know Your Meme, and Casey Neistat on the nature of viral video and the future of what's quickly becoming the goal for many content producers.

PBS Digital Studios and John D. Boswell -- or melodysheep -- of Symphony of Science have released their newest collaboration: Bob Ross Remixed | Happy Little Clouds. In the gloriously remixed video composed of clips from The Joy of Painting, Bob Ross sings to us about painting both happy little clouds and trees. It's a lovely tribute to the creative impact Mr. Ross had on so many over a relatively short period of time. Remember, there are no limits here.

In their latest episode the PBS series Off Book turns its eye toward LEGO art -- something near and dear to our hearts. They look at Sean Kenney, Alex Kobbs, and Nathan Sawaya -- readers will note that Kobbs is the artist that re-created the Modern Warfare 3 trailer in stop-motion LEGO. While the bricks are familiar, some of this art is quite remarkable and even challenging. Take a minute to watch, and it will change how you look at the humble plastic toy.

As all you children of yore are bound to remember, Reading Rainbow was, by far, the best television series about books, hosted by a guy who was also on Star Trek: The Next Generation to ever be on public television. You may not have taken notice, but the show was ultimately cancelled in 2006 due to budget problems. There is good news though, LeVar Burton (turns out his name isn't actually "Reading Rainbow" like I thought it was when I was a child) is reinventing the show for the iPad.

If you remember, the show consisted in large part of picture books being read on screen, and some occasional live-action vignettes. Well, the iPad version intends to recreate the books part by providing kids with narrated, perhaps even partially animated, PDF versions of childrens' books that will recreate that terrific experience.

A hacker group trading under the name "lulzsec" was able to gain control of PBS' servers, defaced several websites, and posted an article to the PBS Newshour site claiming that deceased rapper Tupac Shakur was found alive in New Zealand. The group then posted several taunting messages to Twitter before methodically tweeting out PBS website passwords and other information the group gleaned during the attack. As of this morning, PBS was still struggling to contain the attack. The motive behind the attack seems to stem from a May, 24 Frontline report on WikiLeaks called "Wikisecrets," which the group found to not be to their liking. Some of the defaced pages also made reference to the continued incarceration of Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking the documents to Wikileaks. The Frontline piece has received some criticism from Manning's supporters and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as being an unfair and hostile portrayal of Manning and the Wikileaks operation. Attacks on Wikileaks, perceived or otherwise, has set off cyber attacks in the past, most notably with the hacker collective Anonymous. However, Lulzsec apparently claims no connection with the group. According to Wired, Lulzsec was responsible for a security breach at Sony and also for an attack on Fox.com which resulted in personal information from X-Factor applications being made publicly available. To read the hacked article in its entirety, and to see other pages defaced by Lulzsec, head over to our sister site Mediaite. (via NYTimes, Wired)

Japanese robots may someday build a moon base, which would be the first permanent lunar structure. But their base would still be coming after the first art museum on the moon, which may have been unknowingly founded over 40 years ago.

USA Today reported on the story to air June 21 on PBS' History Detectives, in which through a series of covert actions, work by six prominent 1960s artists was snuck onto the Apollo 12 lunar lander, which would mean it's still on the moon to this day. Allegedly, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Rauschenberg, David Novros, John Chamberlain and Forrest "Frosty" Myers each contributed a sketch which was then shrunk down and fitted to a chip a half inch by three quarters of an inch. The teensy weensy art collection was then supposedly stowed onto Apollo 12 by engineer "John F." The motivation for PBS to break the story before the show is actually to get this "John F" to come forward and confirm, since he was to orchestrate the caper's final step and thus only he knows whether it actually succeeded. So if you're reading this, John, come forward. Also, you're amazing.