Episode 29 – Head Transplant can get Dislike on Facebook
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Welcome to another episode of Geek Bytes Podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia…….and I’m Edgar Acosta
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 the boy arrested for clock making, the Facebook dislike button, a Prosthetic limb with 'near-natural' sense of touch, the human head transplant project, the New Amazon Fire TV, the PS4 price drop in Japan, The Death of Silent Bob, Trailers of the Week and more
In our Discussions section we’ll talk about some other stuff we’re interested in this week
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
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Geek News
Boy arrested for bringing home made clock to school
On Monday, teachers at the Irving Independent School District in Irving, Texas, had police arrest a 14-year-old student named Ahmed Mohamed for bringing to school a simple electronic clock he had built as an engineering project. Police escorted Mohamed out of school in handcuffs — photos of the arrest show him wearing a NASA T-shirt — and accused him of trying to build a bomb. The teen was later released to his parents.
Thankfully the citizens of the internet have rallied to Ahmed’s side. He’s been flooded with supportive messages from tech and science representatives from Facebook, Twitter, Google, and MIT. He’s even received an invitation from the President to visit the White House.
http://www.vox.com/2015/9/16/9336557/ahmed-mohamed-clock-school
Facebook Dislike Button
Fortune reports CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed this week during a Q&A session that his company has indeed been working on one.
“I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years,” Zuckerberg said. “Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it.”
The exact form a “Dislike” button may take is still up in the air. “What [users] really want is the ability to express empathy,” Zuckerberg added. “Not every moment is a good moment.”
http://fortune.com/2015/09/15/facebook-dislike-button/
Prosthetic limb used to restore 'near-natural' sense of touch
The US military agency DARPA says it has successfully restored a test subject's sense of touch using a prosthetic hand connected directly to the brain. The research was carried out on an anonymous 28-year-old man, who was paralyzed after suffering a spinal cord injury more than a decade ago. An array of electrodes was placed in the volunteer's sensory cortex (part of the brain that identifies touch) and connected to pressure sensors on a prosthetic hand, with electrical signals sent from the hand to the brain. When blindfolded, the subject was able to tell "with almost 100 percent accuracy" which of the mechanical fingers on the hand were being touched.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/14/9322133/prosthetic-limb-sense-of-touch-darpa
Chinese surgeon signs on to human head transplant project
In February when Italian surgeon and neuroscientist Sergio Canavero announced plans to perform the first ever human head transplant procedure in December 2017
Valery Spiridonov, a 30-year-old Russian man with muscular atrophy announced back in April that he’s willing to have his head removed and connected to another person’s body.
At a recent “Frontier Science” seminar in northeast China, Canavero says he’s managed to recruit a head surgeon to help him not only perform the controversial procedure, but to figure out exactly how they’re actually going to do it. "Dr Ren is the only person in the world able to lead this project," Canavero told the press. "With its outstanding organisational ability and group operational ability, China might be the best choice to carry out head transplants."
Anyone who’s already delved into the sordid world of head transplantation will know the name Ren Xiaoping well - since 2013 the man has conducted 1,000 head transplants on mice and has announced plans to perform the same operation on primates later this year.
http://www.sciencealert.com/controversial-chinese-surgeon-signs-on-to-human-head-transplant-project
Amazon's same-day delivery service is now available in Los Angeles
Amazon has added another major US city to its service Prime Now, the one-hour delivery service. Los Angeles is the latest city to receive the expedited service, which offers free two-hour deliveries and one-hour deliveries for $7.99 to Amazon Prime members. The delivery service is also available in the neighboring Orange County.
Prime Now users can order anything from household items like paper towels to electronics including TVs and have it delivered in less than two hours. Users in LA will get the added benefit of deliveries from grocery stores including Bristol Farms, Sprouts Farmers Market, Fresh & Easy, Erewhon Organic Grocer, and 99 Ranch Market. Partnering up with smaller grocery chains is a shrewd move for Amazon, as it continues to encroach on territory dominated by Walmart.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/16/9339183/amazon-same-day-delivery-prime-now-los-angeles
New Amazon Fire TV
Tech Crunch reports that Amazon announced a new edition of their media streaming device, the Fire TV. The latest Fire TV packs a new 64-bit quad-core processor and a dedicated GPU. Combined with a new codec called High Efficiency Video Coding, the Fire TV is able to stream media at a higher resolution and with less buffering.
Only select shows will stream in 4k and viewers need a 4k HDTV to take full advantage of the added details.
Amazon also added Alexa support to its media streamer. On the Fire TV Alexa will help viewers discover content and queue up media.
This new feature set stacks the Fire TV nicely against Roku devices and the upcoming Apple TV. At $100 the Fire TV sits comfortable between the other options.
http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/17/latest-amazon-fire-tv-features-4k-video-alexa-voice-assistant/
PS4 price drop in Japan
At the Tokyo Game Show today, Sony announced that it plans to cut the cost of the PlayStation 4 in Japan from ¥39,980 to ¥34,980. The new price converts to around $292, making the PS4 significantly cheaper in its home country than in the US and Europe. The console will be available at the new price from October 1st in Japan.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/15/9329211/sony-ps4-price-drop-japan
Arnold replaces Trump on The Apprentice
NBC severed its business ties with Trump back in June in the wake of announcing his presidential run and, more problematically, making controversial comments about Mexican immigrants.
This Monday announced the replacement for Donald Trump as host of Celebrity Apprentice.
Former California governor and international movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger will take over the reality franchise.
Matt Damon says Bourne would beat up Batman
At the Toronto International Film Festival Matt Damon told E! News that "Jason Bourne would kick the s--t out of Batman—absolutely!" "Batman's gotta take on Superman first. If he could beat him then maybe he could take on Jason Bourne."
The taunt, while made as a friendly jab to his friend and production partner Ben Affleck, has sparked nerd arguments galore.
http://comicbook.com/2015/09/13/matt-damon-thinks-jason-bourne-could-beat-batman/
Ice Cube to play Scrooge
Tim Story, who directed Ice Cube in such blockbuster hits as Barbershop and Ride Along, is locked in to helm this contemporary retelling of Charles Dickens' most told tale. In this modern version, Ice Cube will play a wealthy real estate mogul who is, in traditional fashion, shown the errors of his ways by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, leading him on a path to redemption.
http://movieweb.com/humbug-movie-ice-cube-scrooge-christmas-carol/
Woody Harrelson to play villain in War of the Planet of the Apes
Woody Harrelson has joined the human army for the third installment of the rebooted Apes films, entitled War of the Planet of the Apes. He will play the main villain in the upcoming film and his character will be called “The Colonel”.
http://nerdist.com/woody-harrelson-to-play-human-villain-in-war-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/
The Death of Silent Bob
For the past several years, Kevin Smith has turned his attention to his True North trilogy, a series of horror-comedy films set in Canada. Tusk, a film about a man transformed into a walrus, was the first film in the series and it was released last year. The second film, Yoga Hosers, stars his daughter Harley Quinn Smith and Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose Depp, wrapped filming in June. The third and final film, Moose Jaws -- inspired by Spielberg's Jaws, but with a moose instead of a great white shark -- is still in the script stage.
In a recent interview, Smith revealed that he's killing off 'Silent Bob' in Moose Jaws. "I just finished writing the scene where —spoilers — Silent Bob gets eaten by the moose. That’s how he f---ing goes out!" Smith told the Australian website news.com.au.
http://comicbook.com/2015/09/17/kevin-smith-plans-to-kill-off-silent-bob-in-an-upcoming-film/
Trailers of the Week
Every week we bring you the best movie and TV trailer that came out this week. We begin with..
Creed
The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Creed, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. In theaters November 25th.
Jungle Book Trailer
Disney’s beloved animated feature the Jungle Book gets a live action remake. This trailer was originally released at the D23 convention and now we get to see it. The Jungle Book swings in to theaters April 15th, 2016.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 Official 'Prim' Trailer
The trailer is a touching montage on how Katniss’ sister Primm plays in the other films. See what happens to Primm in the last film in the series November 20th.
That’s it for Geek News
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-
Hyper Loop express from LA to Las Vegas
John Stewart rallies for extended medical for 9-11 responders
Thank will be it for us this week.
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For the Geek Bytes Podcast I’m Ramon Mejia and I’m Edgar Acosta. 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/