The Geekdads

Here at GeekDad HipTrax we pride ourselves on introducing you to new and exciting artists from across the geeky music meta-community, but we also like to continually reflect back on your old favorites. In this episode we highlight a trio of fine selections from some true musical heavy-hitters. Enjoy the following delightful tracks: "Lab Coat" by The Consortium of Genius Louisiana's foremost musical mad scientists are back again with their newest full-length. A fun-filled stylistic romp from heavy metal to gospel and back again, Music for Supervillains features the COG at its most eclectic. A full review is forthcoming, but for the time being simply rest assured in the knowledge that it is awesome! "Mako Reactor" by Mega Ran and Lost Perception Though his name is synonymous with the Mega Ran project, rapper Random has now taken it upon himself to pen a hip-hop ode to another fan-favorite – Final Fantasy VII. Though the full version of his Black Materia album won't be available until the end of the month,

Ken, Matt, Jonathan and special guest David Hewlett chat about the geeky gifts we did (and didn't) get for Christmas, and spread a little Tron love. Enjoy! Special thanks to our sponsor Maphook, the location-based social network for geeks! GeekDad.com is the parenting blog at Wired.com, edited by Ken Denmead, Matt Blum and Chris Anderson. It is a community of like-minded geeky parents writing about our experiences raising our kids in the digital age, and about our obsessions with technology, family-friendly projects, and pop-culture. The GeekDads podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of anything and everything that impacts us as geeks and parents.

Ken, Matt, Natania, and Jonathan chat about Egypt, FPS games for your 3 year-old, and how much we love Eureka. Enjoy! Special thanks to our sponsor Maphook, the location-based social network for geeks! GeekDad.com is the parenting blog at Wired.com, edited by Ken Denmead, Matt Blum and Chris Anderson. It is a community of like-minded geeky parents writing about our experiences raising our kids in the digital age, and about our obsessions with technology, family-friendly projects, and pop-culture. The GeekDads podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of anything and everything that impacts us as geeks and parents.

GeekDad HipTrax is back for 2011, and we're kicking things off by revisiting some of the best that last year had to offer. Our first two tracks are cuts from albums dropped late in the year – releases which you may have overlooked in the dreaded holiday rush – while the final track is a brand new joint from one of 2010's best new artists. Relish the hotness: "Retro" by Never Yet Contested We spotlighted this single from Brooklyn rapper Never Yet Contested back in November, and since that time the his full Retro EP has become available. Download it for free at Bandcamp, and leave a comment to this post for the opportunity to win a free copy of the physical pressing compliments of the man himself! "Spider" by Doctor Popular HipTrax mainstay Doc Pop closed out 2010 with the release of his full-length Beeps and Smudges. This innovative bit-pop masterpiece was recorded using nothing but iPhone and iPad apps, and the results speak for themselves. Check out the video for this debut single, and pick up the full

All hail Josh Alkire, the winner of our 10th Day of Geekmas prize pack. Please enjoy your Crazy Putty, Hoth LEGO set and fantastic selection of Element cases content in the knowledge that you experienced Geekmas to the fullest. The prize pack for this penultimate day of our highly specialized holiday season begins with your requisite container of Crazy Aaron's Putty. It is joined by a copy of PlayStation Move-enabled virtual pet title EyePet from our friends at Sony and another of those excellent Raven controllers compliments of Nyko. DiscoveryStore.com has provided another Discovery Chem-X 1000 Science Lab chemistry set, and once again Marc Gunn and Insane Ian have each come through with a pair of fine CDs. And to assure that today's prize offering goes down in geek history, BBC America Shop and Warner Bros. have provided a swag bag of epic proportions. It includes Sherlock season 1, the BBC Earth series Life plus the Life coffee table book, season 2 of monster cohabitation drama Being Human, series 5 of ne

Congratulations to Ralph Gill, the winner of our 11th Day of Geekmas prize pack. With prizes from DiscoveryStore.com, Nyko, Sony, Insane Ian, Marc Gunn and an almost ridiculously expansive collection of BBC America swag, it is truly a hard act to follow. Or is it? Today's winner will score remarkable prizes including our final container of Crazy Aaron's Putty and a pair of Mythbusters bobble heads from DiscoveryStore.com. He or she will also ring in the Geekmas season with a phenomenal GT660 gaming notebook from MSI Global boasting Dynaudio surround sound, two USB 3.0 ports and the Intel Core i7 Processor with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M discrete graphics cards! No – I'm not kidding. In this year's final GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer Ken and I try to wrap our heads around how we managed to score such amazing prizes, and we fast-forward to year's end for Marc Gunn's stirring rendition of "Auld Lang Syne." We also unveil an additional Geekmas gift made available by our proud podcast sponsor MapHook – a 32GB iP

Congrats to Sean Smith, winner of our 9th Day of Geekmas prize pack. That bad boy included a can of Crazy Aaron's Putty, a Raven controller from Nyko, a copy of Dance Dance Revolution from Konami and a 160GB PS3 and copy of ModNation Racers compliments of SCE San Diego Studio. What could you win today? Why today we have another tin of Aaron's Putty and a Hoth play set from LEGO's famed Star Wars line. Also up for grabs is a phenomenal selection of cases from our friends at Element. Today's winner snags a Satin Nickel Joule iPad stand with a zippered carrying case, a Vapor 007 case from their Extreme Metals line, a Formula 3-part case and a lightweight and super stylish Ion case. No matter what your iOS device of choice, Element Case has you covered. Literally. In today's GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer Ken and I enumerate the importance of practicing safe text. (I made an iPhone case-related funny!) We also spread the gospel of MapHook, our proud sponsor and the nerd world's preeminent location based socia

Please join me in congratulating Chris Landon, the winner of our 8th Day of Geekmas giveaway. With a shiny new can of putty, a handsome Nyko Wand+ controller, two sexy t-shirts from 604 Republic and $200 in Groupon credit, surely the world is your oyster. Friday is always a big day during 12DoG, and today's 9th Day of Geekmas is likely our biggest yet! For you see today's winner receives a fine can of Crazy Aaron's Putty, a brand new Raven controller from Nyko (the peripheral famed for bringing a touch of silky smooth Xbox 360-style control to the PS3), a copy of Dance Dance Revolution from our friends at Konami and, compliments of the extremely talented and equally generous team at SCE San Diego Studio, a 160GB PS3 and a copy of ModNation Racers. How, you may ask, did we manage to secure such fantabulous prizes? Two words: Faustian deal. In this edition of the GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer Ken and I manage to find ourselves utterly overwhelmed by today's prize pack. We also reflect on our delightful spo

Congrats to Jason Powers, the proud winner of the 7th Day of Geekmas swag from Hexbugs, Nyko, DiscoveryStore.com and Putty World. I dare say today's prizes are equally eclectic. Not to mention equally awesome. On our 8th Day of Geekmas both Crazy Aaron's and Nyko have returned with amazing prizes – another random can of putty and a Wand+ controller respectively. Today's winner also scores a pair of tees of his or her choice from epic Canadian clothier 604 Republic. But wait, there's more. In addition to this gaming-, putty- and t-shirt-related goodness you'll also nab a cool $200 worth of credit for that purveyor of wicked-fine deals Groupon. Who among us couldn't use this fine selection of assorted nerdery? Check out today's GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer to learn more about the aforementioned prizes, and to hear us discuss the finer points of podcast sponsor MapHook. (Speaking of, be sure to peep this Maphook story; it is the harrowing tale of our pal David's NY Comic Con adventure!) You'll also be trea

The gods of randomness have spoken, and Patrick Mast is the winner of the 6th Day of Geekmas prize pack from Logitech and Crazy Aaron's Putty World. So what's next on the 12DoG agenda? Well, if today's prizes have a theme it's that of good, old fashioned fun. Of course we're including a container of traditional Geekmas staple Aaron's Crazy Putty, and to that we are adding a fine selection of other toys. DiscoveryStore.com is back with another set of those delightful Mythbuster bobble heads, and they're joined by our friends from Nyko who are offering one of their fantastic Wand+ Wii controllers. (Peep my product review from earlier this year for more info.) And GeekDad Anton came through with a fine selection of Hexbugs including the new Spider, the glow-in-the-dark Nano, the Bridge Battle play set and Hexbug Raceway Habitat Set. In this edition of the GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer we talk a lot about today's fabulous prizes, and about our equally fabulous sponsor MapHook. Yes Maphook, the only location-

Congratulations to Justin Watermann, winner of our 4th Day of Geekmas prize pack from Putty World and DiscoveryStore.com. Thus far in 12DoG we've focused heavily on science and technology, but today we take it back to the simpler things in life. Like music and video games. And also putty. Today's winner snags a can of Aaron's Crazy Putty as well as CDs from a pair of HipTrax favorites. Celtic filker Marc Gunn has seen fit to set you up with copies of both his 2010 albums The Bridge and Kilted for Her Pleasure, while FUMPer Insane Ian has likewise provided his two latest releases fairly EPic and The Last Arcade. Our friends at Sony have also once again come through with some amazing prizes – copies of Invizimals and ModNation Racers for the PSP. This means, of course, that to take full advantage of this swag you'll need to be in possession of a PlayStation Portable. But if not you can always, y'know, re-gift. In this edition of ye olde GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer we expound upon the virtues of these pri

Congrats to Jeff Pettorino, the winner of our 5th Day of Geekmas prize pack. But with all those games, CDs and putty containers unceremoniously removed from our prize closet, what remains for the latter half of this year's Geekmas celebration? In a word - lots! Today, for example, we've got an astounding array of goodies from Logitech including a Harmony One remote, a Performance Mouse MX, their new wireless solar keyboard, a ClearChat Wireless Headset, a Z515 speaker and a Force 3D Pro joystick. And don't forget the customary can of Aaron's Crazy Putty. And it could all be yours. Today's GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer contains a frank and explicit discussion of how unbelievably awesome these prizes truly are, as well as similar talk regarding holiday podcast sponsor MapHook. Add in Doctor Octoroc's "Deck the Kremlin" – from his 8-Bit Jesus album – and you've got a perfect example of seasonal merrymaking. Listen close for today's secret code word, as you'll need that to enter our random drawing. (Our hear

Congratulations to our 1st Day of Geekmas prize pack winner Torri Martin! We kicked this year's festivities off by giving away an amazing PSP Limited Edition Invizimals Entertainment Pack and a can of Crazy Aaron's Putty. So what do we have in store for today's giveaway? Only a Star Wars-themed prize pack the likes of which hasn't been seen since the great Clone Wars! Today's winner receives not only his/her very own can of Crazy Aaron's Putty – did I mention we love putty? – but also a pair of Star Wars-centric gadgets. Stoke the fires of fanboy jealousy amongst your fellow geeks with you own Star Wars TomTom EASE GPS Device, useful in making the all important Kessel Run. Today's winner also gets a limited edition R2-D2 Motorola Droid 2 phone from Verizon Wireless, a super sexy Android OS mobile phone skinned to look like everyone's favorite astromech. Peep today's GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer to hear Ken and me slobber over these amazing prizes as well as to learn more about podcast sponsor MapHook. Y

Congratulations to our 2nd Day of Geekmas prize pack winner Seth Johnston. Admittedly, yesterday's prize pack of the Star Wars TomTom EASE GPS, Motorola R2-D2 Droid 2 from Verizon and pliable goodness from Putty World makes for a tough act to follow, but that doesn't mean we don’t intend to try! Today's winner snags both that highly coveted can of Crazy Aaron's equally crazy putty and a copy of Tony Hawk: Shred for the Nintendo Wii (compliments of Activision). While some would see these prizes as a pair of dissimilar items, I imagine that, thanks in part to the title's intuitive board controller, a talented geek could master the subtle arts of both simultaneously. This time in the GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer my co-host and I talk about skateboard games and putty and podcast sponsor Maphook. All of which are awesome. We even play Optimus Rhyme's "God Rest Ye Autobeat Allies" – a song that is holiday-themed simply because I say it is. Be sure to listen out for the secret code word, as you'll need that to

Congratulations to our 3rd Day of Geekmas prize pack winner Luke McKean. I can only imagine the amazing things possible when you combine your prizes - a copy of Activision's Tony Hawk: Shred and a container of Crazy Aaron's Putty. Oh, to be young and adventurous! Today – in addition to the requisite container of Aaron's Crazy Putty – we will be giving away a pair of excitingly dorktastic prizes from DiscoveryStore.com. Today's winner will be able to channel his inner mad scientist with the help of the Discovery Chem-X 1000 Science Lab, and may even be inspired to use this new-found scientific acumen for the greater good by a pair of Mythbusters Bobble Heads. In today's GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer you'll hear to hear Ken and me get our science on as we discuss these prizes. You'll also get another earful of knowledge regarding podcast sponsor MapHook. On the musical tip you even get some chiptune goodness from 8 Bit Weapon & ComputeHer in the form of "Oh Christmas Tree (Oh Hanukkah)." Which I reckon

It's the 1st Day of Geekmas, and we voted – unanimously, I might add – to kick off this year's giveaway with a bang! Up for grabs is a PSP Limited Edition Invizimals Entertainment Pack that includes a UMD copy of the game itself, the PSP camera peripheral, a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, a download voucher for animated feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and a gorgeous PSP-3000 system in Vibrant Blue - all this from our friends at Sony. Today's winner will also receive a container of Crazy Aaron's Putty. Because putty is awesome. Check out today's GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer to learn more about these fabulous prizes, and to get the scoop on our proud podcast sponsor MapHook. You'll even be treated to a little rocked up Hanukkah music in the form of Da Vinci's Notebook's very Alice in Chains-inspired take on "The Dreidel Song." Therein you’ll also discover the secret code word needed to enter today's random drawing. Enter that word and your personal information into the form below before 11:59 PM EST

Ken, Matt, and John talk about Tron, Narnia and the 12 Days of GeekMas. Enjoy! GeekDad.com is the parenting blog at Wired.com, edited by Ken Denmead, Matt Blum and Chris Anderson. It is a community of like-minded geeky parents writing about our experiences raising our kids in the digital age, and about our obsessions with technology, family-friendly projects, and pop-culture. The GeekDads podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of anything and everything that impacts us as geeks and parents.

Ken, Matt, John and Chuck talk about Harry Potter 7A, TRON, and the TSA. Enjoy! GeekDad.com is the parenting blog at Wired.com, edited by Ken Denmead, Matt Blum and Chris Anderson. It is a community of like-minded geeky parents writing about our experiences raising our kids in the digital age, and about our obsessions with technology, family-friendly projects, and pop-culture. The GeekDads podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of anything and everything that impacts us as geeks and parents.

s we at GeekDad HipTrax head into the holiday season (and the veritable iron man competition that is the 12 Days of Geekmas), we pause to expound upon the virtues of DC's Music and Gaming Fest. MAGfest's main man Brendan "Inverse Phase" Becker was even kind enough to stop by to chew the proverbial fat with us. Mmmmm… fat… Get your game on with: "Tourian-Mother Brain" by Metroid Metal Returning this year to the MAGfest stage is Metroid Metal, a band that solemnly swears to rock your face right the hell off! After an amazing turn at MAGfest 7 (not to mention blistering sets at the last three Penny Arcade Expo events), Stemage and company have again sets their sights on conquering the Mid-Atlantic. "River City Ransom (Boss)" by Year 200x Michigan video game metal giants Year 200x will be making their 3rd MAGfest appearance at this year's MAGfest 9. In a set that promises classic tracks from their 2008 debut We Are Error mixed with brand new material and special guests, it is not one to be missed. To learn

Ken, Matt, Jonathan and Dan talk about TRON, The Hobbit, and how geeky the holidays can be. Enjoy! GeekDad.com is the parenting blog at Wired.com, edited by Ken Denmead, Matt Blum and Chris Anderson. It is a community of like-minded geeky parents writing about our experiences raising our kids in the digital age, and about our obsessions with technology, family-friendly projects, and pop-culture. The GeekDads podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of anything and everything that impacts us as geeks and parents.