Episode 45 – VR news and the weird things from CES
(music one)
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.
In Geek News this week, we’ll talk about the New details on the HTC Vive, Oculus announcements, Microsoft ending IE support, GM’s fully electric car, ‘Force Awakens’ breaking US records, Trailers of the Week and More…
In our Discussion section we talk about…some of interesting and weird concept products revealed this week at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
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Geek News
New details on the HTC Vive
HTC has released more details on what their final consumer product will look like. This week at CES they showed of the Vive Pre a 2nd gen developer kit that is supposed to be a lot more like the final product that is scheduled to ship in April.
The HTC Pre is slimmer, lighter, and has a front-facing camera that gives wearers a window back into the real world. HTC has also updated the look of their hand held input devices.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/5/10714522/htc-valve-vive-pre-v2-development-kit-ces-2016
Oculus announcements
Oculus made several big announcements this week regarding their upcoming consumer virtual reality headset.
1. Pre-Orders are now available for the consumer Oculus Rift. It will cost $599 and is expected to ship in March-June 2016.
2. Pre-Ordering the rift will reserve a place in line to buy the hand held Touch input devices.
3. The Rift will ship with an Xbox controller, a remote control, and Oculus promises to have hundreds of games available by end of year.
4. Oculus will give a free consumer version of their product to anyone that bought a 1st gen developer kit on Kickstarter.
http://www.roadtovr.com/leaked-oculus-remote-returns-part-rift-package/
http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/05/oculus-rift-kickstarter-edition/
Netflix announces it's now live in 130 new countries including India and Russia
The week Netflix announced it was going live in 130 new countries. The list includes massive new audiences like Russia, India, and South Korea. It's a huge expansion of the company's footprint, with China the notable exception to major markets where you can now stream its content.
Today's announcement basically triples the company's distribution.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/6/10724112/netflix-global-expansion-russia-india
Microsoft ends IE support
Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 next Tuesday. On January 12th a final patch release will fix a few bugs and encourage users to upgrade to IE 11 or Microsoft Edge. According to the next web the nag screen can be bypassed in enterprise versions using the registry. 11 is the last supported version of IE.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/6/10722426/internet-explorer-8-9-10-dying
GM reveals fully electric car
General Motors unveiled the fully electric Chevy Volt today and it’s a real car not a concept. It’s built on its own architecture not borrowed from another car. It has a range of more than 200 miles and a price of about $30,000 after $7500 in US tax credits. It also has a 10.2-inch touch screen and pops up customized set ups based on which phone is connected to bluetooth. The companion app syncs via Bluetooth, LTE, and a BLE connection with a up to 100 yards of range. It can charge to within 80% in an hour. And of course it’s gamified with leaderboards so your friends who have Volts can compete with you on things like miles per charge. The 2017 Bolt EV will be in production this year.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/06/chevy-bolt-launch/
‘Force Awakens’ Passes ‘Avatar’ As Top-Grossing Film At Domestic B.O. In Only 20 Days
Early this week Disney announced that Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the highest grossing film of all time in the domestic market, surpassing the $760.5M lifetime gross of Avatar in a record-shattering 20 days of release.
The Tanners Return in First ‘Fuller House’ Photos
Netflix has releases first look images of Fuller House, which will debut on Friday, February 26 in all territories where Netflix is available.
http://movieweb.com/fuller-house-photos-tanner-family-netflix-series/
Broad City gets 2 season renewal
Comedy Central has picked up a fourth and fifth season of hit scripted series Broad City ahead of its Season 3 premiere on February 17. The network also said today that it has ordered three-episode limited series Time Traveling Bong from Broad City’s Ilana Glazer, Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello to premiere following Broad City‘s Season 3 finale on April 20.
https://deadline.com/2016/01/broad-city-renewal-comedy-central-time-traveling-bong-1201676795/
Daredevil season 2 gets March release date
Netflix has revealed that Daredevil, one of its best-received original series, will launch its second season on March 18th. The upcoming season will feature classic Daredevil baddy Frank Castle, aka the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), and long-time love interest Elektra (Elodie Yung).
http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/07/daredevil-season-two-march-18/
That’s it for Geek New
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. This week we begin with…
The Get Down
A Netflix original disco musical drama. Out sometime this year.
The Crown
A Netflix original series. A period drama about the British royal family in the 20th century helmed by Frost/Nixon's Peter Morgan. The series stars Claire Foy as Princess Elizabeth and Doctor Who's Matt Smith as the man who'd become Prince Philip.
Tumbledown
Hannah (Rebecca Hall), writing her late husband's biography, forms an unlikely companionship with a brash writer (Jason Sudeikis) from New York. They collaborate to put together the story of her husband's life as a famed folk singer.
Feb. 12, 2016
That’s it for Trailers of the Week
Now onto our Discussion section
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In our discussion section we talk about anything we’re interested in this week, and this week we’ll begin our discussion with…
The interesting products from CES
Faraday Future, the secretive car company chasing Tesla
· Several prototype electric cars
o 1,000 Horse Power Racing model and goes 0 to 60 in less than three seconds
o Self-Driving Uber Model
o Modular design with variable batteries to customize cost and range
o Production models expected 2018
o Funded by Chinese media firm LeTV, the Chinese Netflix
Fitbit just released an Apple Watch killer
· Color Screen
· 5 Day Battery Life
· $199 and ships in May 2016
· http://www.techinsider.io/fitbit-blaze-video-2016-1
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator
· Massive 21.5 inch Touchscreen on Door
o That can play videos or stream music
o Take pictures of what’s in fridge and send them to your phone.
· Groceries by MasterCard will deliver groceries from the screen
· Will track expiration dates on food and remind you to replace them
LG Door in Door
· Door becomes transparent when you knock to let you see in fridge without opening the door.
· Sensor at bottom of fridge will open the doors by tapping your foot
· Freezer shelves on bottom extend out automatically when opened
Tipron: A rolling eyeball robot projector
· The Tipron projector pairs with an app so you can control the projector with your phone.
· $1,000-$2,000, ships spring 2016
· https://youtu.be/QQlyK4jC1zs
DietSensor - $249 app-powered gadget that can actually scan the molecules that make up your food and tell you how many calories are in that muffin
· http://www.techinsider.io/ces-2016-dietscanner-calorie-counting-sensor-2016-1
EHang 184 Is A Human-Sized autonomous Drone
http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/06/the-ehang-184-is-a-human-sized-drone-taking-off-at-ces/
MSI's new Tobii gaming laptop lets you play games with your eyes
· 1st to integrate Tobii's eye-tracking technology to turn your eyes into a controller.
· http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/6/10710110/msi-tobii-gaming-laptop-eye-tracking-gt72s-ces-2016
Sphero’s new Star Wars watch lets you control BB-8 with hand gestures
The Inail prints custom nail art
Keurig's Kold lets you make your own Coke
The Xcooter
· a foldable micro-sized motor bike that goes up to 17 mph and a range of 15 miles.
·
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/5/10720920/xcooter-portable-scooter-rideables-ces-2016
LG made an 18-inch display you can roll up like a newspaper
·
· http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/3/10706180/lg-rollable-display-flexible-screen-announced-ces-2016
The Jaq charges a smartphone using hydrogen fuel cells
· Instead of plugging the charger into the wall and juicing up a standard battery, owners of the Jaq create a chemical reaction with a sealed card containing water and salt
· http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/6/10726614/myfc-jaq-hydrogen-fuel-cell-charger-ces-2016
Pico Brew – Mini Home beer making
· Automated home beer brewing; $599 May 2016
· (5 hours – 5 Liters)
SomaBar – Electronic Bartender$429
· https://youtu.be/jQIhEB_GUHo
That’s it for us this week. Thanks for listening.
For the Geek Bytes Podcast I’m Ramon Mejia and I’m Edgar Acosta. 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/