Episode 48 – A.I., Barbie babes and Star Wars Land
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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.
In Geek News this week, we’ll talk about French Taxi Drivers Protest, Indonesia blocks Netflix, Facebook Live Stream and Reactions, Periscope partners with GoPro, Computer beats Go Pro, Barbie’s new sizes, Star Wars Land Special, The shows leaving Netflix in February and More…
In our Discussion section we talk about…the new TV shows that came out this month.
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
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Geek News
French Taxi Drivers Protest
Earlier this week French taxi drivers burned tires and closed down roadways to protest ride sharing apps like Uber and Chauffeur-Privé. 22 protesters were arrested by French Police. In response to the protests the French government has issued fines. --- Against Uber.--- Uber has been ordered to pay €1.2 million to a French taxi union for behaving like taxis by waiting in the street to pick up passengers instead of returning to their garages after rides were completed. The Guardian reports Uber denied the charges.
· French Taxi drivers must purchase a license for around €180,000. Ride-sharing drivers must take 250 hours of training and pass a test.
Indonesia blocks Netflix
IndoTelko the state-owned Telkom in Indonesia has blocked Netflix. No Telkom service including IndiHome, WiFi.id or mobile carrier Telkomsel can access Netflix. Telkom’s director of consumer service says Netflix contains pornographic material and other inappropriate content. Separately the Indonesian government gave Netflix a month to get a business license to operate in the country.
https://www.techinasia.com/indonesia-telkom-blocks-netflix
Facebook Live Stream and Reactions
· Facebook has opened its live streaming function to all iPhone users in the US. A live button will show in the status update section next to the one for photos and stickers. When you go live it notifies your friends and allows replays permanently.
· Facebook plans on rolling out a more expressive Like button options called “Reactions” in the next few weeks according to Bloomberg’s conversations with Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox. The five new options will be angry, sad, wow, ha-ha, and love, in addition to the existing Like. On mobile users hold on the “thumbs up” button to get a sub menu for Reactions.
http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/28/comfortable-ephemerality-vs-reach/?ncid=rss
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-facebook-reactions-chris-cox/
Periscope partners with GoPro
TechCrunch reports Twitter’s Periscope announced its integrating with GoPro’s Hero 4. When paired with an iPhone the Hero 4 will give users the option stream and record through the app. Users can toggle between the Hero 4 or iPhone camera. The Hero 4 can also record video separately to its SD Card while broadcasting. GoPro enabled pairing with Meerkast last year.
http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/26/gopro-integrates-with-periscope/?ncid=rss
Computer beats Go Pro
Google’s DeepMind researchers published a paper in Nature announcing that their machine intelligence AlphaGo had defeated Fan Hui, a three-time European Go champion. The computer won five games of Go without a defeat. In March AlphaGo will take on Lee Sedol, the top Go player in the world.
http://www.wired.com/2016/01/in-a-huge-breakthrough-googles-ai-beats-a-top-player-at-the-game-of-go/
Barbie is now available in tall, curvy, and petite
Mattel is coming out with three new body shapes for its iconic Barbie doll, after facing longstanding criticism over the toy's unrealistic proportions. As Time reports, the three new models — known as tall, curvy, and petite — are available now on Mattel's website, alongside the classic version, and will hit store shelves once the toy company negotiates for shelf space at retail outlets.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/28/10858366/barbie-mattel-tall-curvy-petite-size
Star Wars Land Gets ABC Preview Special Hosted by Harrison Ford
A special will air on ABC on February 21, 2016 at 8pm, focused on the newest part of the U.S. parks: Star Wars Land. The new lands, being built at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, were officially announced at D23 Expo in Anaheim last August. The special, entitled The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60 focuses on the ongoing Diamond Anniversary of Disneyland, exploring the past, present, and future of the parks. Derek Hough will MC.
Harrison Ford will host the Star Wars Land portion of the special
http://comicbook.com/2016/01/27/star-wars-land-gets-abc-preview-special-hosted-by-harrison-ford/
Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling start shooting Blade Runner 2 in July
For everyone wondering what the deal with the Blade Runner sequel is, here’s one more solid piece of information: the movie begins filming in July! The news comes along with the announcement that Sony will distribute the film internationally for rights-holder Alcon Entertainment. Warner Bros. will handle distribution here in the States.
http://www.geek.com/news/harrison-ford-ryan-gosling-start-shooting-blade-runner-2-in-july-1645691/
Doctor Who leaving Netflix in February
Netflix just released its list of the titles being removed from the streaming service beginning February 1. The shows we’ll miss include: Doctor Who seasons 1-8, Doctor Who Classic Collection, Naked Gun, Naked Gun 33 1/3, The Terminator, The Guild, and Crocodile Dundee 2.
http://www.techinsider.io/netflix-everything-leaving-february-2016-1
New Justice League Animated Series
Cartoon Network has officially announced its new Justice League animated series. Titled "Justice League Action," the show, like the network's fellow DC Comics-based series "Teen Titans Go!," will run in installments of 11-minute episodes. Notably, the show features the return of both Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman and Mark Hamill as the voice of The Joker, roles they made famous in '90s classic "Batman: The Animated Series."
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/conroy-hamill-return-justice-league-action-cartoon-network
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…
Nine Lives
A stuffy businessman finds himself trapped inside the body of his family's cat. Starring: Kevin Spacy, Jennifer Garner. In theaters August 5, 2016. (Ramon: Shaggy Dog)
The Secret Life of Pets
Taking place in a Manhattan apartment building, Max's life as a favorite pet is turned upside down, when his owner brings home a sloppy mongrel named Duke. They have to put their quarrels behind when they find out that an adorable white bunny named Snowball is building an army of abandoned pets determined to take revenge on all happy-owned pets and their owners.
In theaters: July 8, 2016
Kubo and the Two Strings
On the run from gods and monsters, Kubos must find a magical suit of armor once worn by his father, the greatest samurai the world has ever known.
Release date: August 19, 2016
The Confirmation
Eight year old Anthony is somewhat uneasy about spending the weekend with his alcoholic, down-on-his-luck carpenter dad Walt while his mom Bonnie and her new husband Kyle go to a Catholic retreat together. As Walt and Anthony set about finding the guy who stole his tools and improvise around their other misfortunes, they begin to discover a true connection with each other, causing Walt to become a better father and Anthony to reveal the promise and potential of the good man he will become. Starring: Clive Owen
In Theaters: March 18, 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…
New TV shows
· Shannara Chronicles-
· Legends of Tomorrow -
· X-Files season 10-
· Lucifer-
· Second Chance-
· You Me and the Apocalypse -
· Angel From Hell-
· Dark Net-
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.
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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/