Episode 16 – Geeks Behaving Badly
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Welcome to another episode of Geek Bytes Podcast. The podcast that brings you all this week’s tech and geek news.
I’m Ramon Mejia…….I’m Edgar Acosta
Remember to follow us on Twitter @geekbytespod and Like us on Facebook
This Week in Geek News we talk about Anti-Uber Protests, a Mind-Reading Computer, the danger of Skinny Jeans, Taylor Swift Vs. Apple, T-Mobile's new phone leasing program, the app that gives to the homeless, Amazon’s voice controlled assistant Echo, the Showtime Hulu combination, the big studios skipping Comic-Con, the new Spider-Man, X-Files leaks, GameStop’s $150 trade in offer, Batman: Arkham Knight reviews, the main comic book Spider-Man, Trailers of the Week, and much more.
In Discussions we’ll talk about Geeks behaving Badly
We Begin our show with Geek News
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French Anti-Uber Protest Turns Violent
· This week there are protests throughout the French cities of Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon and Lille against UberPOP, the European version of Uber.
· Unfortunately, there have already been reports of Taxi drivers attacking Uber drivers and damaging vehicles they suspect of being driven by Uber drivers. There are also confirmed reports of both Taxi and Uber drivers being arrested by police in France.
· With UberPOP, everybody can become an Uber driver — taxi drivers see the service as unfair competition since they have to get a special license.
· UberPOP has already been banned in parts of Europe, like Brussels, the Netherlands, and even France.
· This hasn’t stopped Uber from continuing to work in those areas.
o While UberPOP may be banned on grounds that it doesn’t regulate drivers enough, the app Uber cannot be made illegal unless specific laws are passed. In Paris, police have issued fines to UberPOP drivers, but Uber pays these fines for drivers as a cost of doing business.
o http://www.geekbytespodcast.com/news/2015/6/25/french-anti-uber-protests-turn-violent
Mind-Reading Computer Writes Words with Brain Waves
o Brain-to-Text is the software behind this futuristic, sci-fi-style concept. It has the potential to transform the lives of those who have lost the ability to communicate effectively.
o A study published in Frontiers of Neuroscience, required participants who already had electrodes fitted in their brains. This is because external, brainwave-reading caps, which record electrical activity across the scalp, are not sensitive enough to pick up the sharp signals needed to identify individual letters. The skull blurs this sensitive information.
o The 7 participants were asked to read different passages of text aloud while their neural data was read by a computer.
o As the individuals spoke the words, the computer had to learn to recognize the individual sounds they were making and match it to the corresponding brain wave. Eventually, the computer was able to pick up different brain patterns and match them to sounds.
o http://www.iflscience.com/brain/write-book-your-mind
Woman loses feeling in legs after wearing Skinny Jeans
· This story comes from a case study published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.
· The woman, 35, spent a whole day helping her relative move out of a house. She wore her skinny jeans for this task and spent a lot of time squatting, removing objects from low cupboards.
· As the day went on, her pants felt tighter and less comfortable.
· Later in the evening, her feet became numb and she had difficulty walking. She couldn’t control her feet and tripped, unable to get up. She spent several hours on the ground until she was found and brought to the hospital.
· By the time the doctors saw her, her legs were so swollen that they had to cut the skinny jeans off her body. She had completely lost feeling in her lower legs and feet, and couldn’t move her toes properly.
· CT scans and other tests showed that the prolonged compression from the jeans had damaged the nerve and muscle fibers in her calves. When the muscles swelled, they compressed the nearby nerves, causing the numbness.
· The patient had compartment syndrome, a condition that occurs when the blood supply is cut off to a particular part of the body.
· After four days on an IV, the patient was allowed to go home. She could walk just fine.
· http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2015/05/27/jnnp-2015-310628
Lexus creates a Hoverboard
o Lexus says it won't be sold. It's for demonstration purposes.
o It operates using magnetic levitation, with liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets that "combine to allow Lexus to create the impossible."
o Since it operates magnetically, it only can hover over a steel surface. And it also only works as long as the liquid nitrogen holds out.
o https://youtu.be/7zTCgMPZRuo
o Hendo Hoverboard – Kickstarter
o Another hoverboard project that aims for the consumer market, with a control mechanism. Magnet based. Only works on copper floor.
Taylor Swift Versus Apple
· In an open letter, Taylor Swift, criticized Apple for not paying artists when people sign up for their 3 months trial period for Apple Music. She even went so far as to delay the release of her 1989 album on the service.
· In response Apple reversed its policy and decided to pay artists during the 3 month trial period.
· http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/21/media/taylor-swift-1989-apple-music/
T-Mobile's new phone leasing program lets you upgrade three times a year
· The new smartphone leasing program is called Jump On Demand.
· Customers pay a monthly fee in addition to their service plan that provides them with a new smartphone and the ability to trade that smartphone in towards another new smartphone anytime they want, up to three times a year.
· The monthly lease fee various depending on the phone you want
o $15 per month fee for the 16GB iPhone 6 when you trade in another smartphone during the launch of the lease program
o $28.33 per month for the Galaxy S6.
· T-Mobile says there are no upfront costs or out of pocket expenses, not even taxes, with Jump On Demand.
· The new plan option will be available starting this Sunday, June 28th.
· http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/25/8844935/t-mobile-jump-on-demand-leasing-program
Gmail Officially Adds Undo Send
· Ever write an angry e-mail and regret it later, or send an e-mail to someone accidentally?
· Well now you can unsend that e-mail.
· Go to the little cog icon in the upper righthand corner and select “Settings.” About a third of the way down the page you’ll see the “Undo Send” section. You can choose between 5, 10, 20 and 30 second windows of unsendability. Make sure you hit “Save Changes” at the bottom and you’re all set.
· Then, the next time you hit send on an email that you probably shouldn’t have, you’ve got precisely that many seconds to change your mind and hit the undo button at the top of the page.
· http://gizmodo.com/gmail-officially-adds-undo-send-turn-it-on-right-now-1713353235
Surplus food for the homeless is just an app away
· Through a website and mobile app, Feeding Forward matches businesses that have surplus food with nearby homeless shelters. Here's how it works: when companies or event planners have surplus food, they tap the Feeding Forward app and provide details of their donation. A driver is dispatched to quickly pick up the leftovers and deliver them to food banks.
· "In the US, about 40 percent of the food we grow never gets eaten," said JoAnne Berkenkamp, a senior advocate in the Food and Agriculture Program at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. "We have a lot of people in the US who don't know where their next meal is coming from. That's a travesty. We have such an abundance, and people are in a state of scarcity."
· http://www.cnet.com/news/feeding-forward-app-delivers-food-to-homeless-shelters-in-real-time/
Google Launches Free Ad supported option for Google Play Music
· Google has just announced that Play Music will now offer a free, ad-supported version of the service to users who don’t want to pay $9.99/month.
· Google Play music is being competitive with the other music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc.
· The free version launched today won’t let users choose their own songs to play on-demand.
o Instead users will have the option to choose from pre-curated playlists, similar to Pandora or iTunes Radio.
Amazon starts to sell the Echo, the voice controlled AI assistant
· Echo connects to Alexa, a cloud-based voice service, to provide information, answer questions, play music, read the news, check sports scores or the weather, and more—instantly. All you have to do is ask. Echo begins working as soon as it detects the wake word. You can pick Alexa or Amazon as your wake word.
· Available for $180 on Amazon now.
· http://gizmodo.com/anyone-can-buy-amazons-clever-ai-assistant-echo-startin-1713332429
Showtime Becomes the First Premium Service To Be Offered By Hulu
· Hulu users can add CBS-owned Showtime for $8.99 per month on top of the $7.99 per month for Hulu itself.
· Earlier this month Showtime announced its own standalone streaming service, debuting on July 12, for $11 per month.
Sony, Marvel, and Paramount are all skipping Comic-Con
· San Diego’s lucrative fanboy convention will be missing some key players next month: Marvel Studios, home of the Avengers, won’t be dressing up for Comic-Con while Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures have also decided to skip the Hall H presentations.
· “It wasn’t a knock against Comic-Con,” one spokesperson explains, “the film cycles just didn’t allow it.”
· Sony and Paramount just didn’t have the fanboy material to promote, said sources, while Marvel, which last missed the confab in 2011, already unveiled its new wave of Avengers at a special fan event in October.
· https://variety.com/2015/film/news/marvel-sony-and-paramount-all-skipping-comic-con-1201523593/
Actor Tom Holland has been cast as the next Spider-Man
· Holland is a nineteen year old English actor, who was born in Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom. He is best known for playing the lead role in Billy Elliot the Musical at the Victoria Place Theatre, London.
· http://www.geekbytespodcast.com/news/2015/6/23/tom-holland-is-your-new-spiderman
NBC cancels Hannibal
o Hannibal’s third season will be its last on NBC. Multiple sources are reporting that the network has declined to order a fourth season of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal Lecter adaptation, which managed to defy low ratings and the laws of standards and practices.
o http://www.avclub.com/article/nbc-cancels-hannibal-221196
X-Files 1st episode details leak
The new X-Files is filming now and one of the call sheets has leaked online. There are a few spoilers but they’re minor.
The title of the first episode will be "My Struggle" and it was written by series creator Chris Carter.
· There will apparently be two flashback scenes involving "sharp medical tools pressed into men, women and children" and a "clean-shaven doctor (played by Giacomo Baessato) inoculating abductees with alien blood."
· In this same location there will be two non-flasback scenes that involve Svelta (played by Annet Mahendru), a victim of alien abduction, on a table screaming as fetus is lifted and a "dead alien full of bullet holes."
· They also shot a small scene that takes place in a Hospital Parking Garage. "Scully leaving work. Mulder waiting for her."
· The X-Files 6-episode mini-series on Fox will begin airing January 24, 2016.
· http://www.xfilesnews.com/news/latest-news/663-spoiler-what-do-we-know-from-a-callsheet
GameStop will offer $150 trade in to get you to upgrade consoles
· GameStop announced that customers who trade in the old PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 will receive $150 in-store credit toward the purchase of a new PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. The offer only lasts until June 28.
· Anyone who purchases a new PlayStation 4 gets a free copy of Batman: Arkham Knight and anyone who buys a new Xbox One will receive any new Xbox One game of their choice.
· The terms of the offer are fairly specific in that GameStop will only accept a PS3 with 120 GB drive or larger, or an Xbox 360 with 250 GB or larger drive.
· https://www.polygon.com/2015/6/24/8838449/gamestop-sale-150-dollar-trade-in-free-game-ps4-xbox-one
Batman: Arkham Knight came out this week
· On the Xbox One and PS4- Good reviews, Batmobile use feels forced sometimes
· On the PC: Very negative reviews. Complaints about locked in framerates (30 FPS), stuttering on even the highest end PC graphics cards.
· Rocksteady’s response: “We are working closely with our external PC development partner to make sure these issues get resolved as quickly as possible."
· Halted sales of the PC version of the game.
· http://www.pcgamer.com/batman-arkham-knights-launch-appears-to-be-a-disaster/
MILES MORALES MOVES TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE IN SPIDER-MAN
· In the wake of Secret Wars, the Miles Morales Spiderman will get a new series entitled Spider-Man.
· Miles made big waves when he took over the lead as the Ultimate Universe’s Spider-Man after that Earth’s Peter Parker died in the line of duty. Since that time, he quickly built a following of fans from all backgrounds in making the role his own and reinforcing the notion that anyone can be a super hero.
· https://marvel.com/news/comics/24751/miles_morales_moves_to_the_marvel_universe_in_spider-man
Trailers of the Week
Trainwreck
Amy Schumer plays a woman who’s been told her whole life that monogamy doesn’t work and she’s lived accordingly. Till she meets Bill Hader and starts to question if one person could be right for her. It’s out July 17th, 2015
Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp
This Netflix miniseries is a prequel to the very funny movie Wet Hot American Summer. It begins July 31st.
Hitman: Agent 47
The latest trailer for Hitman: Agent 47 explains the plot of the movie, shows some of the action, and brings in a new female agent. We’re excited to see the movie when it comes out.
Hitman: Agent 47 opens in theaters Aug. 21
Live Action - Attack on Titan trailer
In the trailer we get to see the use of the series famous 3D maneuvering gear and a brief glimpse at some Titan on Titan fighting (1:10).
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Onto our Discussion section
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Discussion
Geeks Behaving badly
Anakin Skywalker arrested after Police Car chase
· TMZ reports that Jake Lloyd, the actor who played the young Anakin Skywalker in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," was arrested after an insane car chase that ended when Jake plowed into some trees.
· Cops say Lloyd was driving in Charleston, South Carolina, when Sheriff's deputies began pursuing him. The chase was underway and it went on for miles, into another county.
· Deputies say Jake began passing cars on the double yellow line and began driving recklessly, at high speeds.
Screech Sentenced to 4 Months in Jail For That 'Accidental' Stabbing
Dustin Diamond, the actor who played Screech on Saved By the Bell, is headed to jail after ‘accidentally’ stabbing a man in a Wisconsin bar last Christmas.
The AP reports Diamond was “found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct.” He was “misty-eyed” while leaving the courtroom, and did not give the press a comment.
The actor told jurors that he took out a knife that day to try to ward off people, including a woman who punched his girlfriend. He said he then accidentally stabbed a man during an altercation.
The DA, however, said the stabbing was on purpose.
Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said during the trial that Diamond lied about what happened and that the actor had scripted his testimony.
After four months in jail, Diamond will receive “15 months’ probation,” after which he’ll be able to go to The Max and tell everyone about his experience as they pretend to pay attention.
http://jezebel.com/screech-sentenced-to-4-months-in-jail-for-that-accident-1713891048
Recommendadtions
o The Strain- Co-Creators, Executive Producers and Writers Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan co-wrote the pilot script for The Strain, which was directed by Guillermo del Toro.
o http://www.hulu.com/the-strain
That will be it for us this week.
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Thanks for listening folks. Now Go Geek out about something.
(Music 4)
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/