As the 2009 State of the Geek report comes to a close, it’s clear that there are many different types of geekery out there. Whether you’re a gamer, musician, writer, or just enjoy spending time around people who love geeky things, there’s something for you. But what does it mean to be a geek? In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the defining characteristics of being a geek and see how they’ve changed over the years. We’ll also explore some of the ways that being a geek can help you live a better life.
- Geeks are often creative and curious. Geeks are often creative and curious people who love exploring new things and trying new things. They’re also often very innovative and have an eye for detail that other people may not have. This can lead them to be successful in many different fields, including business, engineering, and technology.
- Geeks are often social butterflies. Geeks are often social butterflies who enjoy spending time with friends and family as well as exploring new cultures. This can lead them to be successful in many different fields, including business, engineering, and technology.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed loads of changes around the site lately, so today we’re going to give you all the details and clear up some confusion.
Meet the Geek Writers
Over the last few years, there’s been plenty of confusion about who the articles are written by, and who the personalities behind the site actually are. We’ll settle it once and for all with some fun comic drawings of the Two of us… that’s right, there are two writers that come up with the articles you read each day:
Mysticgeek handles writing the vast majority of software reviews, and he’s the guy behind all those great Friday Fun articles you read each week. He’s a great guy, and he’s now been promoted to associate editor for the site… congrats!
This doesn’t mean that anything will change around here – in fact things will continue to get better! Having Mystic helping out with editing tasks frees me up to work on some truly great new things for How-To Geek. Keep reading to see just a few of the many things we’re working on…
This promotion means that we’ll probably be bringing on some more part-time writers, and it will be his job to make sure those articles meet our rigid geek standards. If you are familiar with our article style and might be interested in helping out, drop me a line at geek@howtogeek.com and explain why your geek article writing mojo is a good choice for us.
Custom Logos for Each Holiday!
If you’ve visited the site on a holiday, you’ve probably noticed that we started swapping out the site logo with a fun drawing for the day. For instance, this was the one for Easter just a few days ago:
Or the one for Valentine’s day:
If you don’t have time to visit the site on a holiday, we’ve archived all of them for you over on the wiki. Either way, it’s something we plan to keep up with because it’s a lot of fun, and I enjoy drawing them.
How-To Geek Style Software Reviews
But I’m confused, don’t you guys already do reviews?
Since we don’t want to clutter up the main section of the site with non-free stuff or necessarily imply recommendations for commercial software, we’ve decided to create an entirely new non-free software reviews section with full screenshot tours in the easy-to-understand Geek Style, so you can really get a look at a software package before you spend your money on it.
We’re trying to avoid the cluttered, awful, nonsense that most other review sites seem to offer, and actually give you a great review of what the software really does. Since the paint is barely dry on this new section, we haven’t yet enabled user reviews – but soon you’ll be able to offer your own feedback alongside ours.
The goal is to have the best review site anywhere… here’s a sample of the ones we’ve already done:
….so check out the new software reviews section, or you can always get there by clicking the Reviews link in the site menu. If you have any feedback, feel free to email in and let us know.
The How-To Geek Arcade has Flash Games!
One of the more popular series around here lately has been our Friday Fun, where we feature all sorts of games that are much better than working for the pointy-haired bosses. Since there’s nothing better than a geeky fun flash game, we decided to start our own games section featuring only the geekiest and most entertaining games we can find (and legally embed).
These are my two favorites… many an hour has been lost on them.
See the rest of the games on the How-To Geek Arcade, or you can simply click the new “Games” link in the site menu. We’ll be adding a lot more games here in the near future, so keep tuned.
How-To Geek Gear has Fun Geek Stuff!
Over the last few years, we’ve repeatedly had requests from readers to put the geek logo on a shirt… so we created a new web store to sell shirts and other gear with a fun geek logo on them. But here’s the important part:
100% of all profits generated from sales of How-To Geek logo gear will be donated to the Red Cross.
That’s right, we’re not trying to make money off these at all. In fact, we’re losing money because we have to pay a fee for the store. But that’s alright as long as the money is going to a good cause, and with all the natural disasters that have happened over the last few years, it’s a great way to give back a little to the organization that helps people… while wearing a fun got geek? t-shirt:
Or you can drink your coffee from a got geek? mug… like I am doing right now.
Visit the How-To Geek Gear section to get your own geek stuff, or just click the Gear link in the site menu anytime.
What’s Next?
We’ve got huge plans for the future, and we’re thrilled to finally be picking up serious momentum towards them. As always, stay tuned for updates… and now you can stay tuned with Twitter if you’d like.
