pacific

On today's Halloween episode, Jeff and I don our spookiest masks and berate Wilson for his awful costume. Tune in to find out the travesty that is Halloween at the Tang's. We also talk about our love/hate relationship with Chipotle and discuss Superman and other weak-sauce superheroes. And on the second half of the show, we welcome Alex Armour from Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) to talk about some of its most popular video game titles.

Be sure to check out the second half of the show, Alex Armour, a rep from Sony Computer Entertainment of America comes on and answers our pressing SCEA video game questions. If you like smashing things with cars, we recommend checking out Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, an off-road racing game that takes place on a tropical island. We also get Alex's take on the whole LittleBigPlanet soundtrack fiasco and I break some unfortunate news about Jeff's recently inflated paychecks. Finally, we also get a sneak peak about the upcoming Resistance 2, a sequel to the popular first-person shooter Resistance: Fall of Man. Even more exciting is Alex's Halloween costume for this year; it's Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China! It's one of my favorite movies and I can't wait to see what he looks like in that mullet wig and tank top, don't forget to send us pictures tomorrow Alex! Also, check out the video below for Jeff's countdown of the top 7 scariest video games of all time! Have a very happy and safe Halloween everyone!

Roz Savage, the Brit who aims to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific, is back on land for the first time in nearly 100 days and is marking a milestone.

She arrived in Hawaii on Monday morning, completing the first of three legs of her journey across the Pacific Ocean. That's after setting off from San Francisco in her 24-foot rowboat known as the "Brocade" just before midnight on May 24. In all, she rowed about 2,600 miles.

Savage was met by family, friends, other well-wishers, and the media. After she landed … Read more

Ask Roz Savage what her favorite gadgets are aboard her rowboat and she's quick to answer.

"The ones that are still working."

The 40-year-old Brit has set out to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean, and she passed a milestone recently: She's now halfway to Hawaii. That's after setting off from San Francisco in her 24-foot rowboat just before midnight on May 24.

With under 1,000 miles left to go on the first leg of her voyage, she took time out late last week to talk via satellite phone. Her location? Somewhere in the Pacific. More precisely, around 140 degrees west.

So what's still working?

"The TomTom GPS is working. I consult that six times a day," said Savage, adding that she's been using it to update the ship's log. She got the TomTom GO 720 last year for her car. (Savage wrote in a photo caption on her blog: "The TomTom GPS from my car is rather confused to find itself in the middle of the Pacific.")

She also has a handful of iPods onboard, but she said she's only used one so far: the one that TWiT.tv's Leo Laporte loaded up with more than 300 audio books. (Laporte checks in with Savage a couple of times a week for the podcast series "Roz Rows the Pacific.") A few of the titles that have stood out so far include the fantasy novel A Game of Thrones and the nonfiction work A Crack in the Edge of the World, which covers the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

She has two laptops onboard, a MacBook and Panasonic Toughbook. Savage sends updates for her Web site via her satellite phone. (She also has a spare phone this time. When Savage rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in a race a few years ago, her satellite phone went dead about a month before she arrived at the finish.)

What's not working? Her energy-efficient Spectra desalinator that was capable of producing 25 liters of water an hour. "It's totally corroded." But she has reserve water supplies and a hand-pump water maker. Her onboard chart plotter also isn't working, so that's where the TomTom comes in. (In a blog posting Monday, Savage wrote: "The death toll on electronic components continues." Over the weekend it seems chargers for her satellite phone and iPod conked out. Luckily, she's got backups.)

Even so, as Savage has said, her boat is a little model of self-sufficiency. She has solar panels and a wind generator providing the power for her electronics. She is growing her own bean sprouts. So what could this mean for the world at large?

"Sustainability is rather limitless," said Savage. While she doesn't currently have a home, Savage knows what she would do if she did. "I would very much want to make it energy-efficient, self-sufficient." She said she finds value in being an example to people in different ways, and one aspect of that is embracing green energy. … Read more

Unisys apparently wants someone to become its open source expert for Asia-Pacific, and is willing to pay a handsome price for it. $250,000 Australian dollars, which works out to roughly $240,000 US dollars.

Not bad for telling people how to give and use free software.

While Unisys won't confirm that it placed the advertisement, the odds of it being Accenture or another large consulting firm are somewhat remote. But then, so is the location. Imagine getting paid $250,000 to do a great job in a great location.

You know where to apply.... :-)

Over the long weekend, some of us were slouching down in plush movie theater seats (flanked by a 24-ounce Icee and a tub o' popcorn ) and enjoying the latest adventures of Indiana Jones. Others, however, were setting off on an actual adventure.

British rower Roz Savage pushed away from San Francisco and set off under the Golden Gate Bridge just before midnight Saturday, in her second attempt to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. Last summer, Savage set off only to be foiled by bad weather some two weeks into the trip. She was rescued by the Coast Guard … Read more

When a kid's toy claims to offer "night vision," it usually means some red- or green-colored lights to actually illuminate the darkness. Real night-vision devices, on the other hand, use an electronic imager to let user navigate in total darkness with an infrared light that's completely invisible to the naked eye. They also cost several hundred dollars, and are not for kids.

Jakks Pacific has decided to bridge the gap between light-up toy and half-grand military technology with the EyeClops Night Vision. It's a functional night-vision device that uses an infrared imager and LCD monocle … Read more

Pacific Gas and Electric has entered into a contract to buy 177 megawatts of power from a solar thermal power plant that will be built by Ausra.

The power plant will be located in San Luis Obispo county in central California and provide, roughly, enough power for 60,000 homes. Ausra has filed applications to build the plant with the California Energy Commission and hopes to have the plant up and generating power in 2010.

This won't be the last solar thermal contract PG&E will sign. PG&E says it plans to get a gigawatt worth of power from solar thermal systems in five years. … Read more

Roz Savage, who set out recently to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific, was airlifted from her boat about 90 miles off the coast of California by the Coast Guard on Thursday night.

Earlier this week, rough seas caused Savage's 24-foot boat to capsize more than once. By Thursday, everything was wet, many of her electronics were damaged and she had lost her sea anchor. After debating much of the day about whether to be rescued, Savage decided to cut her trip short. She was taken by helicopter to California, where she underwent medical tests, … Read more

My weather gauge is a man who resembles Locke on the ABC series Lost but has a tan deeper than George Hamilton's. His uniform never changes--sleeveless shirt and cutoffs. On warm days, he slouches in his beach chair in front of the apartment building down the street from me. If I see him sitting there, I know it's safe to go outside without a sweater.

Roz Savage's weather gauge is a bit more sophisticated. Savage, who aims to be the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean, relies on people like Rick Shema. Shema, heads … Read more