Inside CNET Labs Podcast

Time is money, friend.

(Credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Well, BlizzCon 2009 came and went quicker than a Death Knight murders a "clothie"--especially when said "clothie" is me. While I'm a fan of all of Blizzard's games, I was most excited about the World of Warcraft announcements from the event.

Yes, of course the new expansion was "revealed" at the event, but thanks to leaks days before, many of the overall details were already known.

Luckily, Blizzard took some time this weekend to dive into more detailed changes and additions to WoW. Remember that all of these details are subject to change. Here are my favorites. Enjoy.

Will Arthas make an appearance in the "Warcraft" movie? Probably not the first one...

(Credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Last Friday, as I sat through the lame movie trailers before the latest "Harry Potter" movie, I was saddened to realize there are only a few films in development that I'm anticipating with extreme amounts of fanboy excitement.

As I watched multiple trailers for movies I had absolutely no interest in--like the latest "Twilight" movie--and heard the sold-out crowd lose their freakin' minds for each movie previewed, I felt that other than the upcoming "Hobbit" films, there was really no movie trailer I was prepared to embarrass myself over with an unbridled geekout in front of hundreds of people.

Today, I was reminded of one more reason to stay alive for the next few years.

On Wednesday, Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures announced that Sam Raimi has been tapped as the director of the forthcoming "Warcraft" movie.

Raimi, who previously directed all three "Spiderman" movies, as well as the "Evil Dead" movies, is a huge catch. He's also a director who's shown he can take a well-established property and make an incredibly successful movie based on it.

That in itself doesn't guarantee a good movie, but listening to the guys from Blizzard and Legendary Pictures talk about their movie plans two years ago--via the video below--it seems they have the right team in place to really do this right. Let's hope so at least.

No release date for the movie has been announced, but I wouldn't expect it before 2011. Lets just hope we get a trailer next year because I can feel my obsession coming on and it will need to be satiated...soon.

Goin' bad, 'cause good is dumb.

(Credit: Wildstorm/Blizzard)

Eric's finally going Horde. With Blizzard's recent announcement that it will allow faction changes in the World of Warcraft, Eric is seeing this as an opportunity to inject some excitement back into the game. Dong, of course, disagrees.

Then we awkwardly inject some technology into the episode with discussions about wireless router stress testing and GamutVision.

Finally, some dating advice for our loyal readers. Don't say we never did anything for you.

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our main page and click the podcast link on the right. Don't forget to leave us voice mail at 1-800-947-6399 or e-mail us at insidecnetlabs@cnet.com.

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I don't mind admitting that I cringe every time I look at this picture.

(Credit: CCTV)

When I first heard about this story, it was the picture on the right that caused my disappointment. But we'll get to that later.

CCTV is reporting that a man in Beijing has opened a World of Warcraft-themed restaurant. From the video, it seems as if he's gone through some painstaking effort to make it as WoW-themed as possible.

The double-door entrance looks to have the Dark Portal mapped onto it. There's various artwork from the game all along the walls and large screens show off the game in real time.

All of it's very appropriate to the theme so far, but then there's the aforementioned picture above. I'm such a friggin' WoW geek, that I could not help but be disappointed in that suit of armor in the pictures. Anyone who has played this game will know that there is no armor that looks anything remotely like what's in those pictures. It's so different from the style of the art in the actual game that I wonder just how much of a fan this guy really is.

I know, many of you probably read that last paragraph in the Comic Book Guy's voice or least in the voice of CNET's No. 1-ranked nerd Jeff Sparkman, but if you know the game and appreciate the art in it, this will stand out to you.

According to the video, there are a few dishes named after denizens of WoW lore. Hmmm, even though it's China, I would hope there is at least some approximation of Redridge Goulash in there. Hopefully, without the spider meat.

My name is Eric Franklin and I am a World of Warcraft slacker. You wouldn't know it, however, judging by the weekend I had. From Thursday morning until Sunday night I collectively played more than 40 hours of the new WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

I played whenever I could, but with household responsibilities, a guest in town, and annoying necessities like eating, bio breaks, and sleep, I am unsatisfied with my progress after four days.

I decided to level one character straight from 70 to 80 and forgo creating a Death Knight for now. I thought maybe I could get to 77 by the end of the weekend and earn the use of my flying mount. Especially since by Saturday afternoon Death Knights--which start at level 55--were running around at a higher level than my Warlock, who started at 70!

See that lil guy in the middle? That's me, about to die. Again.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET Networks)

Did I mention that I'm on a PVP server and that I mostly only quest by myself? That may have something to do with my slow progression. As much as I wanted to level quickly it was not always up to me. No, guys with names like Foodfoodz would kill me constantly and then offer food to my still warm body. Seriously.

Nerds! Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!

(Credit: Fox)

Neeeerrrdddsss!!! We got black nerds, brown nerds, and yellow nerds represented here. It's a nerd fest as I prep for the Wrath of the Lich King launch.

Then Dong and I give out some helpful World of Warcraft add-on security hints and general Internet shopping security tips. This includes Dong's password-protection techniques. Can you believe people still fall for phishing?

Finally, a user has a problem with one of my extremely biased monitor videos.

BTW, we'll be announcing the winner of our tagline contest in the next episode.

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our main page and click the link on the right. Don't forget to leave us a voice mail at 1-800-947-6399 or e-mail us at insidecnetlabs@cnet.com.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET Networks)

To paraphrase the immortal Sergeant Roger Murtaugh, I'm getting too old for this stuff.

I started noticing it last summer while standing in line for The Dark Knight's midnight showing. For one, I took note that a good 70 percent of the participants were in the 18-22 age bracket, which as a mid-30s guy standing in line at 11 p.m. on a weekday night tends to make me feel just a tad old. Especially when I start getting sleepy eyes while most around me are positively brimming with vim and vigor.

It was virtually no different a few hours ago at the San Francisco launch party for Blizzard's much-anticipated second expansion to World of Warcraft--Wrath of the Lich King. Even as I type this, I'm fighting sleep as it's way past ol' grandpa here's bedtime. I really don't have many midnight launches/premieres left in me. I'm thinking Watchmen and The Hobbit. Then I retire from these types of things.

It's funny. Years ago, I would have been mixing it up with more of my fellow geeks, talking about WoW to no end. Don't get me wrong, there was quite a bit of that going on, but once I actually got in line, I went into, "Don't talk to me, get out of my way, and just give me my friggin' game. No seriously, you need to get the hell out of my way and give me my game" mode.

OK, enough complaining. This event was basically like a miniature Blizzcon. There was face painting, a dance contest, a costume contest, and developers on their feet for hours on end being constantly interviewed.

Then there was the ridiculous three-block-long line. As you can see from some of the pics, there are some real hardcore fans who take the time they put into this game seriously. Most were there with friends, and for them WoW is basically a social network. A useful way to keep in touch while pwning nubs.

The most impressive thing of the night was a woman dressed as a Night Elf Druid. It wasn't her incredibly detailed and well-thought-out costume that impressed the most, but her admission that she'd once played WoW 28 hours straight. That beats my record by about eight hours.

Lots more geeky pics after the jump.

With the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King being released in a couple of weeks, I'll probably be spending a lot more time in front of my computer, getting less sleep and probably gaining a couple of extra pounds. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation, which is why for the sake of significant others everywhere, I've made the decision to talk about the following product with a great deal of trepidation.

Available starting at $150, the Easy Chair Mount allows those of us who just can't pull ourselves away from our computers to not have to. The mount allows you to indirectly attach an LCD to a couch or chair by hooking it to a metal arm. The arm then attaches to a base that is inserted under the legs of the chair or couch.

Marketing-wise, it's not very surprising that the arm resembles aliens from War of the Worlds.

According to the maker, features of the mount include:

• Compatible with most LCD monitors
• Reversible--works on either left or right side of chair or couch
• Assembles in less than 10 minutes
• Powder-coated black satin finish
• Cables run through wire management conduit for neat appearance
• Quality aluminum construction
• Arm has 22 inches of horizontal range
• Arm rotates 360 degrees at three joints
• Monitor tilter mechanism can tilt more than 200 degrees
• Vesa-monitor compatible
• 75mm and 100mm Vesa bolt patterns are supported

Not that you couldn't just use a laptop, but this is a little more "control center-ish" and therefore more geeky. Also, the fact that the arm resembles the aliens from War of the Worlds doesn't hurt.

The upshot with this contraption is that it would allow you to join the family in the living room from time to time; unfortunately that's the bad part as well. When you're trying to be the first person to level to 80, the less distractions the better.

Dong's new best friends.

In this episode, we pack a lot of content into a relatively small amount of time.

First off, Eric has his nerd cred questioned because of a Warcraft comment made in a previous episode, and Dong discusses making love, not Warcraft.

Serious business then as Dong presents another PSA: how to be on the lookout for fake antivirus software.

Then, can being left-handed be equated with being gay? Not usually, but Dong finds a way to connect them. Then, getting drunk. Dong tells a "scary" Halloween story about puking in a bucket.

Thanks to a resourceful reader, we have an even better way to determine what kind of panel is in your monitor or the monitor you want to get. Here are some links.

Sonic Vox voice distorter for your iPhone

Dong's hair growth plight

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our main page and click the link on the right. Don't forget to leave us a voice mail at 1-800-947-6399 or e-mail us at insidecnetlabs@cnet.com.