Our friends at Small Batch, Inc. have just launched their new project Wikirank, a website that tracks what’s popular on Wikipedia, grouped by trending topics and articles with the most views. It also generates nifty charts that you can embed on your website or blog.

Wikirank shows you what people are reading on Wikipedia. It’s based on the actual usage data from the Wikipedia servers, which the Wikimedia foundation makes available as a public service. We take that data, process it, and give it back to you in a format that’s easy to use and share. Wikirank reveals emerging trends, and lets you embed relevant charts in blog posts and on social media sites.

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Wikirank, Tracking What’s Popluar on Wikipedia

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guest post by Todd Lappin (Telstar Logistics)

Earthling, are you one of our Robot Overlords? Or would you like to become one?

The RoboGames Town Hall is an informal conversation where robot builders, circuit benders, robosumo enthusiasts, combat people, kit bashers, software mutators, makers, doers, thinkers and all other nerds bent on robotic world domination get together to discuss RoboGames 2009.

Topics will include how to compete at RoboGames; how to get involved with the RoboGames populace as a competitor, volunteer, sponsor or other supporter; how to show off your robotically-oriented wares at RoboGames; and ideas on how to make this year’s RoboGames a truly spectacular event.

The Town Hall will take place on Saturday, April 11 at Tech Shop in Menlo Park, and you can RSVP at Upcoming. For additional details and other robo-related musings, tune into RoboGames on the Twitter.

photos by Scott Beale

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RoboGames Town Hall Town Hall Meeting at Tech Shop

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The trailer is out for “Where the Wild Things Are” directed by by Spike Jonze, a film version of the classic 1963 children’s book by Maurice Sendak. The film will be in theaters on October 16th, 2009.

via Waxy

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Where the Wild Things Are, Directed by Spike Jonze

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The Boing Boing Video crew, along with bloggers from Offworld, BB Gadgets and Boing Boing are in San Francisco this week for the Game Developers Conference 2009 (GDC). While here they are doing daily live video broadcasts on Ustream from their remote BBV@GDC studio featuring many special guests stopping by all week through Friday.

Today Cory Doctorow will be doing a live report from the floor of the keynote by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and special guests on the live stream include the following:

Guests include Doctor Popular, who will be doing a live yoyo demonstration and possibly some game-themed freestyle nerdcore rapping; Legendary visual effects guru John Gaeta (Matrix, Speed Racer, etc), a ton of indie game developers, mobile game developers, this guy who created some game that like nearly every Dutch girl plays, Ustream’s CEO, then we’re going to stream the GDC Awards show live. This crazy sculptor/maker/hacker guy named Marque Cornblatt made some giant avatar video installations, and he’s going to install an Obama Avatar wall on our set. Also, steampunk robots.

Here’s the Boing Boing Video Game Developers Conference 2009 Preview.

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Boing Boing Video Live Streaming Game Developers Conference 2009

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On the first day of SXSW Interactive 2009 I ran into Gary Vaynerchuk and Kevin Rose in the lobby of the Hilton. They were hoping in a cab on their way out to see our friends Lynn and Jessica get their bacon tattoos inked by Jack at Southside Tattoo on S. Congress.

Afterwards we realized we needed to find a way back up to the convention center. In the meantime we walked across the street to Jo’s to grab some coffee and food, when we were done we spotted a cab just sitting in the parking lot next door. Could it be possible? Was this cab available? Gary tells the story of The Taxi Miracle at SXSW Interactive 2009.

photos by Scott Beale

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The Taxi Miracle at SXSW Interactive 2009

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guest post by Aaron Muszalski 

While there’s an ongoing debate over who actually created the character of Batman’s iconic nemesis The Joker (comic book artist Bob Kane, writer Bill Finger and artist Jerry Robinson have all variously claimed the idea) one aspect of his origin seems to be relatively free from dispute: that the creators drew their visual inspiration from German actor Conrad Veidt’s portrayal of the character Gwynplaine in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs. An adaptation of a Victor Hugo novel, the film was directed by German expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni, with Veidt in the title role.

A well-known film actor with a long career, Veidt also appeared as Cesare the somnambulist in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Grand Vizier Jaffar in The Thief of Bagdad, and as Major Heinrich Strasser in Casablanca. The latter role being especially notable as Veidt himself was a fervent anti-Nazi, who emigrated from Germany to England in 1933, one week after marrying Illona Prager, a Jewish woman. Veidt also played what is likely the first homosexual character written for the screen, in Richard Oswald’s pioneering gay rights film, Anders als die Andern (”Different From The Others”).

Veidt died of a heart attack in 1943 while playing golf in Los Angeles.

The Joker is still at large.

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The Original Inspiration For Batman’s Joker, German Actor Conrad Veidt

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