There’s nothing quite as adorable as a troop of Girl Scouts selling cookies door to door or out in front of the grocery store.  While that’s cute and brings to mind a pastoral image of times gone past, the Girl Scouts aren’t just resting on 1950′s style laurels.  They’re getting modern.  The next group of Girl Scouts you see may be willing and able to accept your credit card in exchange for some cookie deliciousness.  That’s right:  Girl Scouts take credit cards now.  Welcome to bizarro world!

The solution for the Scouts, as it is for any mobile foodery, is the smart phone.  The Girl Scouts worked with Sage Payment Solutions for a year to design a specialty card reader and cookie billing system.  They can take plastic, have you sign for it, and even email you a receipt for your Samoas or Thin Mints.  And if, for whatever reason, you can’t find a local Girl Scout troop, the Girl Scouts even have an app that allows you to find the nearest cookie sales location within 30 miles!

There was also an interview with Sevrin at WoW Insider.  It is well worth reading, and well worth watching, in case you or someone you know or love might be a video game addict.

As for me, I spent a whole lot of time on WoW and spent a whole lot of money on WoW, but one day I just realized I wasn’t enjoying myself.  I was tired of avoiding friends and begging off of hanging out to sneak in a little more WoW time, tired of getting a few hours of sleep every night while trying to raid and get up to write and go to work, and tired of not having anything to show for myself and my efforts (as my guild was butting heads with tough content and player burn-out), so one day I just quit cold turkey and haven’t looked back.

Wired has the news on the Watchmen prequel comic series.

When it comes to computer mice, most people don’t think anything about them.  For example, if they get a new computer system, they simply use whatever mouse came with their new desktop.  If they don’t get any accessories, I’d imagine most people simply keep using their accessories until they give out from old age (like my 10-year-old computer monitor did not too long ago).  However, it may behoove you, if you’re a power user who spends a lot of time at the computer, to get a mouse that’s more befitting of the way you use and grip your mouse.  USA Today has a guide on picking your perfect computer mouse that might be worth checking out.

As for me, I bought a mouse ages ago, and have finally started to use it with my new Alienware netbook.  So far so good.  I’m a palm gripper, so I need a large mouse with contours for my fingers to go.  The mouse I use, a Logitech MX1000-style mouse but not wireless, has been a big hit with me.  It’s nice and large, but it’s very responsive to my hand movements thanks to the laser system used in place of the traditional mouse ball.

Sony has the Playstation Network.  Microsoft has XBox Live.  Nintendo has… well, not much.  Nintendo has a virtual marketplace and a way to download DLC content and buy downloadable verisons of classic games, but a robust online multi-player environment just doesn’t exist for Nintendo at the moment.  It’s probably their biggest weakness from a marketing standpoint, and it’s something that they’re going to address.  Nintendo will be launching the Nintendo Network, an online hub for the 3DS and (hopefully) the WiiU console.

Here’s the kicker:  the Nintendo Network won’t just be a delivery system for downloadable content.  Nintendo has constructed it in such a way as to facilitate the purchase and use of digital, downloadable games.  That’s right, Nintendo (the first company to use motion control in its games) just may be the first company to adopt the PC-style Stream model of game downloading rather than physical purchases of games.  The Nintendo Network will also feature a personal account system to allow for multiple users on the same system and online communication.

Granted, Nintendo isn’t revolutionizing anything with the Nintendo Network; these sorts of console-based game networks have been around since Sega Channel was a thing.  Still, if the big N can catch up to the competition in the online network setting then bring streaming game purchases to bear… they just might shake up the video game world yet again without even taking into account the WiiU’s revolutionary construction.

The song is great, and while it’s no longer right on the cusp, the SOPA/PIPA movement is still alive and still active, and if you think you’ve seen this bill for the last time, think again.  It will be back in some different form; don’t you worry about that.  The media cartels are scared, and since they don’t know how to bring their business back, they’re going to lash out in a public manner.  Since they own so many Congressmembers, it’ll be in law form.  SOPA and PIPA will be back, eventually.  Just wait.

Instead of using CAPTCHA and forcing people to type a string of gibberish words before getting online, I think it’s time we update our permissions to force people to pass an intelligence test to prove they are not robots.  A great way to do this is the above their/there/they’re test first spotted on I Raff I Ruse.

What better way to prove that A) you are not a robot, but a person and B) you’re the sort of person who is smart enough to leave intelligent comments on blog posts or news articles?  It’s killing two birds with one stone, and I for one can’t wait until this sort of thing becomes an actual CAPTCHA and not just a fun image of a fictional CAPTCHA.  Don’t get me wrong, everyone has a right to their opinion, but they’re not always the smartest person in the class and there’s no reason others should have to read their thoughts if they can’t master simple grammar.

I’ve seen a lot of hilarious WiFi network names, such as The Matrix, A Series of Tubes, Lebowski, Skynet, and a host of other great ones.  However, I’ve also seen some dumb ones.  It’s not a funny one or a dumb one that’s got police in an uproar in Teaneck, New Jersey.  Police are investigating a racist, anti-Semitic WiFi network name that was uncovered during a dance class at a recreation center.

A 28-year-old woman was at a dance class for yer 3-year-old daughter when the racist WiFi network name popped up on her iPhone.  She went to the facility’s office and they called police, who came around to investigate.  As it turns out, the signal came from the nearby Richard Rodda Community Center.  Now, the police are hunting for the party responsible for the offensive WiFi network.  Police consider the offending name a “bias crime,” and are investigating it as such.

So, for all you people out there, be careful what you name your WiFi network, because you just might go to jail over it if it’s something stupidly racist and anti-Semitic.  Then again, if you’re SO stupid as to publicly announce your racism, you deserve to go to jail.

You see that above?  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  That is a special edition of the Nintendo 3DS that has been embossed in a snakeskin pattern in honor of the most famous video game character in Konami’s history.  That would be Solid Snake, the star of the Metal Gear series of video games.  It’s not just any celebration in honor of Solid Snake, it’s a celebration of Metal Gear Solid:  Snake Eater 3D for the Nintendo 3DS.

There’s only one drawback to this 3DS:  the only way you can pick one up is to jump through a whole lot of hurdles in the process.  First of all, you can’t just walk into any store and pick it up.  You can only pick it up at Konami Style stores in Japan.  Even if you go to one, you’re probably not going to get your hands on it.  You go to the Konami store and enter a raffle before February 3.  If your name is drawn, then you get the privilege of plunking down $300 US (or just under 23,000 yen).

Still, if you win, you get more than just the system itself.  You win a copy of Metal Gear Solid:  Snake Eater 3D and two folders embossed with Metal Gear Solid characters.  Oh yeah, you also get the pride of having an epic Nintendo 3DS that no one else will have.

When it comes to the future of education, all the talk for the past 30 years has been technology in the classroom.  The computer lab is all well and good, but to really get kids where they learn the most, you have to get into classrooms and backpacks and even on the school bus.  That’s the exciting thing about ultrabooks, tablets, and of course, the iPad.  Apple has wanted to get the iPad into schools forever, and they’re starting to make progress.  Apple’s latest educational tool is called iBooks 2, a digital textbook app.

“There’s a lot that’s talked about that may be wrong with education.  One thing we hear louder than all else and where we can help is in student engagement,” said Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller.  ”That’s why we get excited when students get their hands on an iPad.  The textbook is not always the ideal learning tool, yet their content is amazing.”

In addition to iBooks 2, there’s also the iBooks Author suite, which allows creators to make their own interactive educational lessons using iBooks 2. Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the three companies that produce 90 percent of US textbooks, are already onboard.  DK Publishing, a leading publisher of books for younger students, has also signed up.  Each textbook for the iBook will retail for $14.99 and will be fully customized for the student; more importantly, it’s the only text book that students can mark up, make notes in, and then keep after the fact.  Apple is also expanding iTunes U, a service that allows college professors to put their notes, lessons, and what-have-you online for sharing and downloading.