Episode 27 – Star Wars Force Friday and the death of Wes Craven
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Welcome to another episode of Geek Bytes Podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia…….and Edgars is on vacation this week. So filling in is the amazing, beautiful, and highly intelligent April Mejia. April is an anthropologist and college instructor who also happens to be a geek about Harry Potter, Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Veronica Mars. Welcome to the show April.
Now every podcast we bring you the roundup of the week’s best Geek and Tech news, then we discuss that news and anything else we’re interested in that week.
In Geek News this week, we’ll talk about Star Wars the Force Friday, NASA’s isolation test, updates to Chrome and Google Docs, Ad free Hulu, Amazon Offline viewing, Video Game news, the death of Legendary Filmmaker Wes Craven, Trailers of the Week and more
In our Discussions section we’ll talk about the TV shows we’re watching like Fear the Walking Dead and Grace and Frankie whether we’d recommend them
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
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Geek News
Star Wars the Force Friday
Today September 4, a.k.a. Force Friday — was the midnight release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys, collectibles, gadgets, and more. The event kicked-off Thursday with an 18 hour live YouTube unboxing event of all the toys from locations around the world. Then retailers around the world opened their doors at midnight revealing all the new Star Wars merchandise. Retailers include: Amazon, the Disney Store, Target, Disney Parks, Toys R Us, and Walmart. Many of the retailers had midnight exclusives for the folks who waited in line. Art, movie posters, figures, trading cards, tote bags, and more
Popular Items to purchase included: Flame Trooper, remote BB-88 droid (Retail $150-Reselling $250-400), Pop! Figures, and the Millennium Falcon drone.
Chris Hardwick Periscoped the midnight opening of a Target in Los Angeles so we could watch live some of the great Star Wars loot.
http://www.starwars.com/news/force-friday-event-guide
NASA starts yearlong isolation test for Mars mission
This week Six NASA recruits have begun a year-long isolation experiment to simulate the experience of what life would be like for our first Mars settlers. They filled into a dome on the northern slope of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii on Friday afternoon, where they’ll live in close quarters without fresh food, fresh air, zero privacy, and no physical contact with the outside world whatsoever.
It's been estimated that humans will take between one and three years to fly to Mars, so to get some kind of idea of what the first colonists will have to go through, they’ll need to make it for at least 12 months in this tiny dome, which is just 36 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall.
Once a week, the crew will be allowed to go outside in a spacesuit to conduct experiments. They’ll also be allowed to communicate with mission control, their families, and the public electronically, but will have to schedule it with a delay to simulate how long it would take a message to travel from Mars to Earth.
http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-recruits-start-year-long-isolation-to-simulate-mars-mission
Google Chrome gets faster
TechCrunch reports that Google announced some great updates for their Chrome browser that will make it use less memory and significantly improve speed. Included in the updates are: Loading your most recently used tabs, recognizing when your system is running low on memory and reducing some Chrome functions, automatically pausing Flash videos, and noticing when you’re not using a tab for a while or a website isn’t busy with another task and then uses that time to free up unused memory.
Google Docs gets update
The first update Google is rolling out is a update to the dictation feature of Good Docs. Dictation now works in over 40 languages. Unlike most dictation software on the market, Google's "voice typing" doesn't require you to train it by speaking a bunch of practice sentences. You just tap and start talking, and it works on Docs for Android, iOS, and the web.
The second big update to Docs is Android-only, at least for now: integrated search. The new tool opens up a split window that lets you search for text or images; when you see something you want to save, you can tap a new "insert" button and add it to your document.
The final update to Docs lets you see all new changes to a document since the last time you opened it. Just click the "see new changes" button and they'll be highlighted on the page.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/2/9248043/google-docs-update-search-voice-typing
Hulu Offers Ad-Free viewing
In July rumors surfaced that Hulu was going to start offering an Ad Free option to subscribers
This week the rumors proved true. Hulu announced a $12 per month option for uninterrupted viewing of shows and movies. This is the only change Hulu is making to its plans — the free, restricted viewing service will still remain for those who don’t care to pay.
http://www.geek.com/news/hulus-ad-free-subscription-goes-live-for-12-a-month-1633041/
Amazon Prime Video offers Offline viewing
If you're one of the 40 million to 60 million people who pay for Prime, Amazon's $99-a-year membership club, you can now download movies and TV shows on your smartphone or tablet for offline viewing. The service is available now on IOS and android.
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-video-offline-streaming-2015-9
Video Game release dates
We got a couple of release dates for some big name titles this week.
The release date for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was officially been confirmed on the PlayStation Blog as being Feb. 23rd, 2016.
· The Day 1 Edition Game will include quite a few DLC packs, a digital comic, a 48 Page Titan Art Book, and a 9” Adam Jensen Figurine,
It was also announced on the Play Station Blog that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End will be in stores on March 18th, 2016. Uncharted 4 got a great preview at this year’s E3 and is currently the PlayStation 4’s biggest exclusive.
Latest PS4 update let’s you stream to YouTube
This week on Sony’s PlayStation Blog it was announced that the PlayStation 4 will get an update to version 3.00. The update will include:
Increased cloud storage, the ability to stream live on the new YouTube Gaming mobile app and channel, a new hub for in-game events, and a host of other upgrades.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/1/9242517/sony-ps4-update-version-3-youtube-streaming-cloud-storage
Mega Man movie announced
20th Century Fox, Chernin Entertainment, and Capcom have announced plans to make a Mega Man movie.
Mega Man is a classic video game character that began his life as a robotic lab assistant to Dr. Light and Dr. Wiley. Then Dr. Wiley steals all Dr. Lights designs and creates a series of evil robots that Mega Man must defeat, gaining each robots power as he defeats them.
http://www.geek.com/games/capcom-and-fox-ready-to-rock-a-mega-man-movie-1633060/
ALEX KINGSTON RETURNING TO DOCTOR WHO FOR CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
The Nerdist Network reported this week that Alex Kingston will be returning to Doctor Who for the 2015 Christmas Special, which begins filming this week with director Douglas Mackinnon at the helm in a script by showrunner Steven Moffat. The episode will air on Christmas Day on BBC America here in the USA.
http://nerdist.com/alex-kingston-returning-to-doctor-who-for-christmas-special/
Legendary Filmmaker Wes Craven Dead At 76
Wes Craven, creator of dozens of films including Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street, has confirmed that he passed away following a battle with brain cancer. He was 76.
Born in Ohio, Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University. He became one of the most prominent voices in horror, with a public persona to rival even his own professional accomplishments, and was sometimes compared to the similarly-charismatic Stan Lee.
Some of his other films include The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, Cursed, Red Eye and My Soul to Take. From a comic book perspective, he helmed 1982's Swamp Thing with Adrienne Barbeau and Ray Wise.
http://comicbook.com/2015/08/31/legendary-filmmaker-wes-craven-dead-ad-76/
Trailers of the Week
The 5th Wave
In the new film The 5th Wave, four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother.
Release date Jan. 15th 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMKg8-9pLlY
Macbeth
Michael Fassbender plays Macbeth in this interpretation of the dramatic realities of the times and a truthful reimagining of what wartime must have really been like for one of Shakespeare's most famous and compelling characters, a story of all-consuming passion and ambition set in war-torn 11th Century Scotland.
The Night Before
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie play guys that have been friends since childhood, and for a decade, their yearly Christmas Eve reunion has been an annual night of debauchery and hilarity. Now that they’re entering adulthood, the tradition is coming to an end, and to make it as memorable as possible, they set out to find the Nutcracka Ball – the Holy Grail of Christmas parties.
Release date of Nov. 25th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evebt5WVSS0
Miss You Already
The film follows two best friends, Milly (Collette) and Jess (Barrymore), as they navigate life’s highs and lows. Inseparable since they were young girls, they can’t remember a time they didn’t share everything –secrets, clothes, even boyfriends — but nothing prepares them for the day Milly is hit with life-altering news. A story for every modern woman, Miss You Already celebrates the bond of true friendship that ultimately can never be broken, even in life’s toughest moments.
In Theaters November 6
iZombie
iZombie returns October the 6th following The Flash at 9/8c.
Olivia “Liv” Moore was a rosy-cheeked, disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out…until the night she attended a party that unexpectedly turned into a zombie feeding frenzy. As one of the newly undead, Liv is doing her best to blend in and look as human as possible.
For a review of the topics we covered and any of the links in show notes for this episode visit our site geekbytespodcast.com
If you have any comments or news suggestions for us, please e-mail us at feedback@geekbytespodcast.com
Onto our Discussion section
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Discussion- 2nd episode of Fear the Walking Dead, Rick and Morty season 2, Granite Flats, Grace and Frankie season 1.
Book Recommended-Dead but not forgotten
Thank will be it for us this week. Thank you April for filling in this week. You were wonderful.
Now If you the listener want to support us please tell your friends about the podcast and subscribe to “Geek Bytes Podcast” on itunes or stitcher and leave a good review of the podcast.
Thanks for listening. Now go Geek out about something.
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Music Credits
"Happy Bee", "Movement Proposition", "Theme for Harold (var.3) ", "Take the Lead"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/