So, Gizmodo had a list of 50 skills every geek should know.  Seeing as I choose to don the title of “Geek” I feel obligated to see how many of these skills I posses.

Skills marked in Bold are skill I have and have used, or have all the essential knowledge to perform without reference.  My notes are [encased in square brackets].

View the original article @ http://gizmodo.com/5078829/the-50-skills-every-geek-should-have

Check out the list after the break.

The List

1. Install a hard drive in a laptop
   
2. Perform a clean OS install on a machine with two OSes
   
3. Swap out the battery on your iPod/iPhone
4. Jailbreak an iPhone
5. Wire your house for Ethernet and Coax cable
   
6. Use BitTorrent and RSS to automatically download new shows from trackers
   
7. Use an A/V receiver to its fullest capability (every port is taken) [with the right equipment]
8. Calibrate an HDTV without the manual
9. Use a DSLR in full manual mode
10. Hack the encryption and mooch your neighbor’s Wi-Fi
11. Solder cleanly enough to get around a circuit board
    
12. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point
13. Shove the guts of a modern game console into a retro game console
14. Design a webpage in HTML by hand that features a picture of your cat
    
15. Use Photoshop to imperceptibly doctor a photo
16. Abstain from buying extended warranties [a definite must for a geek]
17. Know where to buy cheap cables and accessories [newegg.com is a good start]
18. Fix your parents’ computer over the phone without looking at a computer19. Enter the
    
19. Konami code [Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start]
20. Comment on Gizmodo from your phone
21. Type quickly using T9 texting
22. Program a universal remote
23. Contribute code to the Linux kernel
24. Hide porn from your significant other [though I'd prefer to share it with her ]
25. Avoid DRM on everything
26. Know how to back up your data to networked storage—and actually do it [set this up on a scheduled task]
27. Watch TV shows on the internet for free [hulu.com, BOOM BABY!]
28. Edit together digital video ripped from YouTube
29. Play any SNES game on your computer through an emulator
30. Reset expired trial software by messing with the registry [been a while, but have done this]
31. Hackintosh your PC
32. Download pre-release movies from Usenet
33. Hack the Wii to play homebrew games
34. Get around web content filters on public computers
35. Get into a Windows computer if you forgot your password
36. Securely erase your data so it can’t be recovered
37. Share a printer between a Mac and a PC on a network
38. Build a fighting robot
39. Write your own Firefox plugins
40. Navigate and reorganize the files on your computer in DOS
41. Get something on the front page of Digg
42. Get through to executive customer service
43. Rip a CD to V0 quality MP3s
44. Rip a DVD to DivX
45. Build your own computer from parts [there is no other way]
46. Swap out the hard drive in your DVR for a bigger one
47. Get an NES cartridge working again by blowing in it
48. Calibrate a 7.1 surround-sound system
49. Play downloaded games on a Nintendo DS
50. Talk about things that aren’t tech related [possible, but difficult]

30 out of 50… not too bad I guess, though I’m sure a simple Google search or two and I’d have the knowledge most of these other skills require.

Examples:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Rip+a+CD+to+V0+quality+MP3s

http://www.google.com/search?q=Hack+the+Wii+to+play+homebrew+games

Now that’s where the true test of a Geek lies, in his ability to find solutions where he has none, aka Google-fu.