Episode 37 – The Car Vending Machine and Fallout 4
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Welcome to another episode of Geek Bytes Podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia…….and I’m Edgar Acosta
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.
Now, Our podcast is funded by amazing listeners like you. If you like the podcast and want to give something back you can be a sponsor for as little as $0.25 an episode at patreon.com/geekbytespodcast
In Geek News this week, we’ll talk about Microsoft Hides Data in Germany, T-Mobile trickery, China’s Black Friday, the Car Vending Machine, Doctor Who coming to theaters, Trailers of the Week and More…
In our Discussion Section we’ll talk about our impressions of Fallout 4
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
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Geek News
Microsoft will host data in Germany to hide it from US spies
The Verge reports that Microsoft is opening new data centers in Germany to allow European customers to hide their digital information from US government surveillance. The new data centers will open in late 2016 and will be operated by a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.
The move by Microsoft is part of a larger concern over data being sifted through by US agencies. By moving data centers to Germany, Microsoft forces American agencies to submit request for data through German courts.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/11/9711378/microsoft-german-data-centers-surveillance
T-Mobile Magicians
This week during its lavish Uncarrier event, T-Mobile drew headlines with its “Binge On” that will exempt Netflix, HBO, and other video streaming services from customers' data plans. But the company also took the opportunity to raise prices while the world kept its eyes elsewhere. T-Mobile will now charge $45 for unlimited data, up from $30. That means the total cost of the carrier’s "Simple Choice" plan including unlimited data will be $95 for a single line.
In exchange, T-Mobile says it's doubling the amount of data customers can use when turning their smartphone into a mobile hotspot, from 7GB to 14GB, and will give away a free movie rental from Vudu once a month starting next year. The change takes effect on November 15th, but current unlimited data plan owners are exempt from the change. If those customers decide they want to double their mobile hotspot limit, they can decide to pay the extra $15 for the upgraded plan.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/11/9713874/t-mobile-unlimited-data-plan-huge-price-hike
China smashes sales records during its version of Black Friday
In the US there's Black Friday, but in China, they get all their big online shopping discounts on November 11 aka "Singles Day" instead. Alibaba's T-Mall, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon, has already made over $11 billion which broke last year's record of $8.97 billion. That’s more than last year’s entire US' Online Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales combined. It's no wonder Alibaba could afford to hire Kevin Spacey and Daniel Craig to kick off this year's party.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/11/alibaba-tmall-china-singles-day-online-shopping-spree/
Periscope Adds Map-Based Replays, 3D Touch Shortcuts
Twitter's live-streaming app is getting an update on iOS and Android with a much improved global map, and the ability to skip ahead in replays.
Now, when you zoom into a new place on the map, Periscope will show you replays from the last 24 hours in addition to the live broadcasts happening at that moment. The red dots are still live broadcasts; the new blue dots are replays.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2494948,00.asp
3rd party Instagram App
Apple and Google have removed one of the most popular Instagram clients from their app stores after it was found to be stealing user passwords and posting photos without permission. Third-party app InstaAgent was found to be storing users' Instagram usernames and passwords in an unencrypted form, before sending them on to unknown servers by iOS developer David L-R, who posted his discovery on Twitter late last night.
Google responded quickly to the revelation, removing the app from its Play Store, but Apple took a little longer to kill any mention of InstaAgent from the App Store, finally removing it a few hours after the first tweets indicated its malicious intentions.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/11/9710884/instaagent-malware-removed-apple-google-instagram-app
Car Vending Machine
Online auto retailer Carvana has opened its first fully automated vending machine for cars in Tennessee. Customers purchase the vehicles online and pick up vehicle or walk into the structure and choose from a selection of vehicles to test drive at a Kiosk. Everything from choosing the vehicle, getting financing, and trading in your vehicle can be done there without a single human involved.
Carvana claims to save the average consumers $1,500-$2,000 by automating the car buying process.
http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2015/11/12/carvana-used-car-vending-machine/75652986/
Nintendo Announcements
At the Nintendo Direct Event this week there was no new information on the new Nintendo NX Console, however there were some great new announcements
· Female Link Spinoff-—an all-new character that’s basically a female version of Zelda hero Link—is now a playable character in an upcoming 3DS edition of the game.
· The Original classic Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow Are Coming To 3DS
· Final Fantasy 7's Cloud is coming to Super Smash Bros.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/all-the-news-from-nintendo-direct-for-november-201/1100-6432253/
Xbox Backwards Compatibility rolls out
Xbox sent out is “New Experience” update on November 12 which among other things includes backwards compatibility for some Xbox 360 games. The full list of 104 titles that will work on the new system was released. The list does not include some popular titles but Microsoft says it will continue to add to the list and you can vote on future titles to be included at http://xbox.uservoice.com/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/09/xbox-one-xbox-360-games/
List of currently backwards compatible games: http://www.ign.com/wikis/xbox-one/Xbox_One_Backward_Compatibility_Game_List
‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special Coming to U.S. Cinemas
BBC America reports that For the first time, the Doctor Who Christmas special, which will premiere Christmas Day on BBC AMERICA, will also hit U.S. cinemas, with BBC Worldwide North America and Fathom Events announcing a two-night special theatrical event. The event will be in theaters December 28 and 29 at 7:30 pm local time and feature an exclusive interview with Alex Kingston, who is returning as River Song for the special, as well as a 15-minute behind-the-scenes “making of” featurette starring Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat and more.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2015/11/doctor-who-christmas-special-coming-to-u-s-cinemas/
New X-Men trailer before Star Wars: Episode VII
The Nerdist reports that a new trailer for the upcoming film X-Men: Apocalypse will be screening before Star Wars: The Force Awakens next month. There are also hints that Mystique will play a big part in the new movie.
http://nerdist.com/x-men-apocalypse-details-revealed/
First pictures of Doctor Strange
Principal photography on Marvel's Doctor Strange started this week in Nepal. So, of course several new photos have surfaced from the shoot (via Twitter and Instagram) with a much closer look at a scruffy Benedict Cumberbatch in full costume as Stephen Strange. Furthermore, the Oscar-nominated actor's dialect coach, Sarah Shepherd, has been posting photos on social media from the same filming location which could imply that Cumberbatch's Sorcerer Supreme will have an American accent as opposed to British.
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=126646
That’s it for Geek News
We’ll move on to trailers of the week.
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Trailers of the Week
Every week we bring you the best trailers that came out this week. We play you clips and talk about them. We’ll start with…
Warcraft
Based on the hit video game franchise Warcraft and World of Warcraft. The story of how the orcs came to Azeroth.
Fleeing their dying home to colonize another, fearsome orc warriors invade the peaceful realm of Azeroth. In theaters June 10, 2016.
Finding Dory
Finding Dory will be focused on the amnesiac character Dory, and will explore the idea of her being reunited with her family. The film will take place six months after the events of Finding Nemo and will be set off the coast of California. In theaters June 17, 2016.
Moonwalkers
A CIA agent and a rock manager team up to help Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landings.
American Hero
Melvin, a reluctant Superhero, lives only for crime, women and drugs - until he realizes that the only way he will ever get to see his estranged son is to go straight and fulfil his potential as a crime fighter.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
The Portokalos family is back for another Big Fat Greek Wedding March 25, 2016.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
Tris must escape with Four and go beyond the wall enclosing Chicago. For the first time ever, they will leave the only city and family they have ever known in order to find a peaceful solution for their embroiled city. Once outside, old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless with the revelation of shocking new truths. Tris and Four must quickly decide who they can trust as a ruthless battle ignites beyond the walls of Chicago which threatens all of humanity. In order to survive, Tris will be forced to make impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love. In theaters March 18, 2016
That’s it for Trailers of the Week
Onto our Discussion section
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Discussion Section
Our impressions of Fallout 4.
That’s it for us this week.
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 like the podcast and want to support us you can find all the ways to do so by visiting geekbytespodcast.com/support
For the Geek Bytes Podcast I’m Ramon Mejia and I’m Edgar Acosta. Thanks for listening everyone. 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/