Rayven3 CommentsEntertainment, ,

In Like Flynn

Power Surge

Greetings Programs. Let the Gladiator Games Begin!

On October 28, 2010 Disney Parks Blog hosted a free Meet-Up for the new experience called ElecTRONica. This exclusive event was invite only, but if you follow the blog or @Disneyland on twitter, you will get updates like this one on occasion. All you needed to do was send them an email with your first and last name and a certain subject in the space and you and a guest of your choice were “In like Flynn.”

So, I used my ipod touch to send a quick email with my name and a friend of mine did the same so we could take our significant others. When it came time to find out who was chosen, she got in and I did not. NOT FAIR! So like a good friend, I convinced her to take me and leave her husband at home. She did! (Actually her husband didn’t really want to go.)

The party was limited to 1500 attendees and a guest of their choice who each received a commemorative Flynn’s Arcade token and exclusive park entry from 4:00pm until 11:00pm. Attendees were also granted special access to the creators of TRON: Legacy by lining up early. The first 200 people were able to meet them and obtain autographs.

One of the highlights was the Power Surge Show where we saw a team of dancers perform in their 80’s style jean jackets and denim pants tucked into their slouch socks. We also learned the End of Line Dance to Daft Punk’s “One More Time.” When the time was right, there was a huge clock which counted down to the presentation of ElecTRONica.
“10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1!” the crowd roared.
“Let the Gladiator Games Begin!” he announced.

Dj spinning Daft Punk At End Of Line Club

Upon entering the spectacle in a mass of 2998 other participants, we were greeted by huge video screens and large beams and structures flashing grid like patterns and playing small clips of the movie.

When we reached the end of the street, we were faced with a huge Recognizer that identified me this time as “This program has no disk.” “Great!” I thought, “My identity disk water pack has been erased.”

We then headed into the area of the dance party. There was a he DJ spinning many of Daft Punk’s hits and other remixes as programs were dancing the night away. Many of them were imbibing in their favorite glowing beverages and meeting new friends.

Directly behind the dance floor was a special showing of the Laser man where he seemed to bend light with his hands and body at times. It was quite popular as well.

In the far corner was the gem of the night. Flynn’s Arcade. Well, a remake of the original, complete with 80’s music, token machines that spit out special coins to play the arcade games, and neon lights all around us. We found the GALAGA machine and I called “We got next (game)” as my friend Amy slammed her token on the machine while the other player was playing their last round. HA! “It was a trip and was like the world didn’t exist for a brief moment in time,” she claimed.

To the right of the Arcade experience they had a special room dedicated to movie paraphernalia and posters filled with some of the concept art before the film was made. We spent a few moments browsing some helmets, posters, and a full body gladiator suit from the film which appeared to have a very life-like manikin inside. The best of all though, was a white cloak worn by “Flynn,” Bridges himself in the film. It had never previously been seen in public until now.

As we left the arcade as we had drained our pockets of tokens, there was a Tweet Up announced from Mouse Planet, a third party blog and forum that many of us frequent to attend scavenger hunts and the like at Disney parks. We hung out for a few moments and then spotted Heather, the writer and main blogger of the Disney Parks Blog. We went over to meet her and she was kind enough to offer us an exclusive Blog Pin for our lanyards. It was very awesome!

We then went back to chatting about new TRON merchandise that I had spoken to a CM (Cast Member) about earlier when I purchased my official TRON: Legacy T-Shirt. He said they had the merchandise in stock but were not allowed to release it until November. (BOO!) Adrienne, the “big cheese” of Mouse Planet said she had seen some hats that said “ElecTRONica” on them and was thinking they should sell them at the park. (They currently only sell TRON embroidered hats.)

The Cloak worn in the film by Bridges

As we were chatting about it, I spotted a CM wearing one and beckoned him to come over and let us inspect his hat and Jacket which had an embroidered Identity Disk on the back. “When and where can we buy these?” I asked. He said he wasn’t sure but asked “Which one of you wants to be in some games?” Amy, my friend, pushed me into him practically and said,” She’ll do it.” “Great!” I thought to myself. So I waited with anticipation with the other 7 “Gladiators” to play the new Wii Game TRON: Legacy for a chance to win prizes.

As the time grew closer, I was starting to get shaky. Thank goodness they let us practice once before we had to play in the tournament. Oh, but get this, Amy, my friend was asked to play too. He called “Gladiators to your podiums!” and we ran with smiling faces. I was up against a college age guy… piece of cake! I took him in round one. “SWEET!” Amy won her heat as well. The announcer asked, “How are you doing? I said, “Great! I am sooo getting my TRON on!” My competitor said, “In like Flynn!”
Heat two began and the guy I was against kept my light cycle to the wall. I crashed 3 times and was out. Well, it was amazing while it lasted!

The last stop was the TRON: Legacy Sneak Peak 20 minute clip from the film. It was almost in 4D because it was held in the Muppet’s 3D theater with special effects all around us! It was a blast!
Overall the experience was quite a spectacle and I would highly recommend checking it out. The portal is open from 8:00pm until park closing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Nights at Disney’s California Adventure theme park. Check out my videos of the experience here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEGpBqdn9nM

End of Line.

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Congratulations to our Winners of System Mechanic 10

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TechtalkRadio is back with some great Contest! Congrat s to our Winner Stuart W of Tucson who won a copy of the System Mechanic 10 Software and to Rey in Phoenix who won while listening to the show. We also gave away a copy of the Software on Wednesday to a follower on Twitter, Leonard L in New Jersey!

The Software for the PC is designed to speed up and correst issue in your system that can slow down start up time and cause problems with programs to run. Both Slick and Andy Taylor recommended this program for optimizing your computer system, especially for those that aren’t familiar with the inner workings of the System Registry, Startup and File Fragmentation. Let System Mechanic 10 do it for you.

Andy Taylor talked with System Specialist Abbas Mehdi about the Program and some of the features that can be found in this new release of the software as well as those that can be found in System Mechanic Pro 10. Both Andy and Slick agree with the idea that households are continuing to add PC’s in the home and the new Licensing scheme for System Mechanic 10 allow the program to be installed on as many computers that are available in the home. You Can listen to that interview on the TechtalkRadio Site.

We have more Contest Coming to TechtalkRadio, Be sure to Visit http://www.techtalkradio.com/contest.htm TechtalkRadio hopes to continue to have Downloads, Services and even Hardware and DVD’s  for visitors to the site to Win. Be sure to follow us on Twitter as well for a chance through the week to also Win.  Good Luck and we promise to look into some cool programs we can make available for our Mac Friends!

Rayven5 CommentsComputers, Entertainment, Online Safety, TechtalkRadio, TTR Website, , ,

I Spy Something That Begins With “W”

Unlike many of my Disneyland Blogs, this is NOT one of them . BUT, read on and find out what I have been pondering….

So, I was searching the Internet reading Disney Blogs, Disneyland Twitter, looking for TRON exclusive updates  and playing with my boyfriend’s new Daft Punk  inspired Android App when I came across something interesting. A website proclaiming it can track and monitor your child’s internet use including screen caps of their web pages, content filters, keystroke loggers  records of IM conversations and even live viewing of their current business on the Internet.  This website sounds pretty user friendly and parent kind.  So I begin to think to myself, ” Self,” I ask ” What would keep a spouse from using the software for purposes of catching a cheater in the relationship?” And this is when I visited the website.

I’d like to start by adding a disclaimer: I have not experienced this web program which proclaims the services to be top notch and  have viewed only the content on the website for the product.

Upon clicking the link to the site, I noticed that it proposes many uses other than the advertised version I previously explained. In fact, it seems more like a “spying” software program which is being marketed to government agencies to record and log information from workers, at Schools to record information about teachers and student’s use of the Internet, and low and behold ” Catch a Cheating Spouse” software. Now, I am sure all of these uses  are part of the same program, but how funny was it that I thought of this after looking into the program that was being marketed to parents to spy on their kids? HA!

So, the reason I chose to write this blog was simple. I , like many  in my close inner circle of Geeks and Freaks, have a moral dilemma on my hands. IF I had children, which “technically” I do not, and IF they were using the Internet would I choose to monitor them digitally without their knowledge using this program? Likewise, IF you thought you had a cheating significant other, would you do the same? I don’t think I would. So I leave you with this to ponder and respond as you have free will. Maybe someone is watching you? Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

IF you want to check out the site or test the software out for yourself the Program is called Web Watcher and it’s located at

Andy TaylorLeave a commentTechtalkRadio, ,

Andy Taylor posts an article on Web Planning

After talking with a few customers that have been contemplating websites, I decided to share with some of you in that same thought process where you really should be approaching the idea of having a site built. My article can be found at the TechtalkRadio website in our Articles section. http://www.techtalkradio.com/articles/newsite.html

I laugh when I see those commercials for Intuit which helps customers get on the web as well as manage the many facets of the business. The sad thing about that commercial is the complaints that many of the businesses portrayed. actually mirror what many Small Business Owners feel. Either a website was started months ago and no real development was seen, a friend of a friends kid was building the site or for the most frustrating,  they themselves were trying to build the site.

Getting a website built doesn’t have to be that difficult and with the right information, you not only could have a site built for you that can drive new customers into your business but also have returning customers increase loyalty by visiting often and sharing thiers and your site with others. It’s a Win Win for both the Web Builder and for the business. The article shares some of the finer points of getting started but I’ll reiterate here, it is communication. Talk with your web builder but remember, you own the product. It should be 100% your vision with the function defined between you and the person or company undertaking the project. Enjoy the Reading, I plan on posting more articles on tips for getting a website built from picking the service plan, deciding on a monthly updating fee and other considerations for your overall site.

Thanks for checking it out, also – if you are looking for tip and solutions for problems encountered when working on a site – check out our forums, Register and Post there and we should be able to help you. Forum=http://www.techtalkradio.com/forum

— Andy

Admin Note: Andy also shared a link in the article for the Archive.org site where the TechtalkRadio.Com site from 1999 can be viewed.

Take a look!

Andy Taylor1 Commentsoftware, , , ,

SalonBiz Light – Free Software for the Beauty and Spa Salon

When I repair and upgrade customers computers, occasionally I become familiar with specialized software and databases they might need reinstallation or backing up before doing work. I recently worked on a system for a small independent hair salon in midtown Tucson that ran the business part of the operation on her laptop computer. This allowed her to have more time with creative work with clients hair as well as marketing her business.

She used a software from a company called Neill Technologies which is part of the Neill Corporation, one of the largest Aveda distributors in the United States. What surprised me about the software SalonBiz Light was that it was a free program she downloaded from the SalonBiz website. Usually when a person or company tells me they downloaded a free software program from the internet, red flags are raised and I begin to get concerned for my customer. This was not the case after looking at the reputation of Neill Technologies and the products they market. According to the Director of Sales for Neill Technologies Jill Gentry, they decided to offer the SalonBiz Light for the salons that may be running  4 stations or less that need to have an organized system for charting appointments, job tickets and keeping track of inventory.  

The software even for being a Light version, is rather full featured. There are certainly good reasons for upgrading or subscribing to the Full version however for the start-up or non-computerized, this is a great way to get ramped up. The full version offers marketing features such as emailing customers to remind them on appointments or sending out announcements of specials. Full Support and webinars are available with at your own speed online training as well. Online appointments can be made by the Salon or Spa professionals appointments with a WebBiz 2.0 product that plugs seamlessly into your website.

If this is your business or you know somebody that works as a salon professional, have them take a look at http://www.techtalkradio.com/software/salonbiz.html. I interviewed Jill Gentry from Neill Technologies who shared with me some of the finer points of the SalonBiz Light program as well as new technology including an iPAD application for the full users of SalonBiz. Be sure to check out the website for the company at http://www.salonbiz.com and the Blog at http://salonspabestpractices.com

If your business uses a special software program geared at your operation, we would love to know about it and possibly feature it in one of our segments on Industry Software.