Episode 30 – Volkswagen SMOG cheats and Netflix VR
(music one)
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 Volkswagen SMOG cheats, Uber still banned in France, France denies Google appeal, anti-parasitic drug price hike, Oculus Connect announcements, Prometheus sequels, Wolverine Successor, The A-Team reboot, Trailers of the Week and more
In our Discussions section we’ll talk about some new shows that started this week: The Muppets, Limitless, Minority Report, and Heroes Reborn
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
(Music 2)
Geek News
Volkswagen caught cheating on SMOG checks
This week the EPA accused Volkswagen of illegally using software to cheat emissions standards, allowing the German automaker to sell half a million cars that produce nitrogen oxide, which creates smog, at up to 40 times the legal limit. Volkswagen admitted to the software hack which could detect when the vehicle was undoing a Smog check and change the emissions profile to pass the test. The CEO of Volkswagen resigned due to this scandal and the company has voluntarily recalled 500,000 diesel vehicles to fix the hack. Volkswagen faces up to $18 billion dollars in fines from the EPA.
The International Council on Clean Transportation, a research group, discovered Volkswagen’s software hack.
The group was conducting unrelated research on diesel vehicles and noticed the discrepancy between Volkswagen’s emissions in testing laboratories and on the road. They brought the issue to the attention of the E.P.A., which conducted further tests on the cars, and ultimately discovered the use of the defeat device software.
http://www.wired.com/2015/09/epa-accuses-volkswagen-cheating-emissions-testing-482000-cars/
Uber still banned in France
France’s Constitutional Court has decided to uphold a law that led to the banning of UberPOP earlier this year. "POP" is the company's ride-sharing service that uses cars owned and driven by non-professional drivers. Uber fought against authorities' decision, but the court has rejected "all the arguments raised by the company and declares the contested parts of the law as conforming with the Constitution." There is still also a separate criminal case filed against Uber executives Thibaud Simphal and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty for illegally running the ride-sharing service.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/23/french-court-upholds-uberpop-suspension/
France denies Google appeal
The Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) ordered Google in May to apply Right To Be Forgotten (RTBF) removals not only to the company’s European domains such as google.co.uk or google.fr, but to the search engine’s global domain google.com.
Google filed an informal appeal in July against the order to the president of CNIL claiming that it would impede the public’s right to information, was a form of censorship and “risks serious chilling effects on the web”.
The President of the CNIL has rejected the appeal, saying that once a delisting has been accepted under the RTBF ruling it must be applied across all extensions of the search engine and that not doing so allows the ruling to easily be circumvented.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/21/french-google-right-to-be-forgotten-appeal
Wealthy Businessman buys anti-parasitic drug then raises price 5,000%
A biotech company founded by a former hedge fund manager recently purchased the rights to a critical anti-parasitic drug and jacked up the price by more than 5,000 percent.
Start-up Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis, in August. Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by a common parasite that can be deadly, especially for those who are immunosuppressed.
Turing immediately increased the price of Daraprim from $US13.50 per pill to $US750, The New York Times reported.
Oculus Connect
Oculus Connect, the virtual reality professional development conference sponsored by Oculus, happened this week. We have a wrap up of the biggest stories to come out of the conference:
· Gear VR will get New Streaming options including Netflix, Hulu, and Twitch
o Netflix available now on the Gear VR app store
o http://www.roadtovr.com/netflix-is-now-available-for-samsung-gear-vr/
· 100s listed to be ready for Oculus Launch in 2016
o Minecraft coming to Oculus Spring 2016
· Oculus Ready computers at $1,000
o Oculus Ready is a partnership with manufacturers including Asus, Dell, and Alienware, which will guarantee a simple, plug-in-and-go VR experience on PCs carrying the logo. All the PCs in the program are built on Intel and Nvidia hardware, and pricing will begin at under $1000.
o http://www.pcgamer.com/oculus-vr-unveils-the-oculus-ready-pc-program/
· New Gear VR headset that will work with all Galaxy 2015 phones for $99
Prometheus sequels or Alien remakes?
Previously, Director Ridley Scott has revealed that he’ll be working on 3 sequels to his block buster movie Prometheus putting any Alien reboots on the back burner for now. However this week he also reported that the next sequel to Prometheus will not be Prometheus 2 but Aliens: Paradise Lost.
So the question becomes what kind of movie is it going to be? a Prometheus sequel or Aliens reboot?
http://geektyrant.com/news/ridley-scott-explains-why-prometheus-2-is-now-an-alien-movie
Hugh Jackman has a suggestion for the next Wolverine
Hugh Jackman is preparing to play Logan one last time in his third standalone Wolverine movie. After that, we have no idea what to expect from 20th Century Fox when it comes to the character. There's no way that the studio is going to give up on this cash cow, and we're all expecting them to cast someone else in the role.
During an interview with MTV, Jackman is asked who he would like to see take over the role. After saying that a younger actor will most likely take over for him, he drops the name of Tom Hardy as a good fit for the role.
http://geektyrant.com/news/hugh-jackman-suggests-tom-hardy-as-the-next-wolverine
The A-Team reboot
Deadline reports that the classic '80s series, the A-Team, is going to be rebooted by 20th Century Fox. The show was already rebooted once as a film by Joe Carnahan, which was incredibly fun, but this time around it will be rebooted as a new TV series.
The series is being developed by Fast & Furious writer-producer Chris Morgan. He's also executive producing the series with TV director Tawnia McKiernan, who is the daughter of the original creator of the series.
https://deadline.com/2015/09/a-team-series-remake-chris-morgan-stephen-j-cannell-1201544600/
Trailers of the Week
Every week we bring you the best movie and TV trailer that came out this week. We begin with..
Hotel Transylvania 2
Now that Dracula (Adam Sandler) has opened the Hotel Transylvania's doors to humans, things are changing for the better; however, Drac is secretly worried that his half-human grandson, Dennis, isn't showing his vampire side. So, while Mavis and Johnny are away, Drac enlists his friends to help him put the boy through a "monster-in-training" boot camp. But things really get batty when Drac's cantankerous, old-school dad (Mel Brooks) pays an unexpected visit. In theaters now.
The Peanuts Movie
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang have a brand new animated movie coming out November 6, 2015.
The Big Short
Four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000's decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed. Starring: Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Steve Carell.
Heist
A father is without the means to pay for his daughter's medical treatment. As a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker to rob a casino. When things go awry they're forced to hijack a city bus. Starring: Robert De Nero, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Dave Bautista
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 and click on our link to the podcasts
If you have any comments or news suggestions for us, please e-mail us at feedback@geekbytespodcast.com
Onto our Discussion section
(Music 3)
Discussion- new shows
Limitless
A man gains the ability to use the full extent of his brain's capabilities. A television adaptation of the 2011 film, 'Limitless'.
The Muppets
A new ‘Office’ style take on the muppets.
http://www.hulu.com/the-muppets
Minority Report
10 years after the end of Pre-crime in Washington DC one of the three Pre Cogs attempts to lead on a normal life while still suffering from visions of the future. Will they be able to hold it together or mentally breakdown and give up?
http://www.hulu.com/minority-report
Heroes Reborn
No one seems to be able to predict these eclipses that give super powers.
http://www.hulu.com/heroes-reborn
Thank will be it for us this week.
Now If you enjoy the podcast and want to support us subscribe to “Geek Bytes Podcast” on iTunes or stitcher and give us some stars and leave a good review of the podcast.
For the Geek Bytes Podcast I’m Ramon Mejia and I’m Edgar Acosta. Thanks for listening. 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/