Episode 70 - J.K. Rowling’s New Story and Wreck it Ralph 2
Subscribe to our new YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3-eBvpm-g7IkjfVktObGAA
Welcome to episode 70 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 Windows 10 lawsuit, the Wall-E look alike, J.K. Rowling's new Ilvermorny story, Wreck It Ralph 2, the J Pop Ghostbusters’ song and much much more..
In our Discussion section we’re giving you a sneak peek at our 2nd interview with the author of the LitRPG series, Chaos Seeds, Aleron Kong.
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
(Music 2)
Geek News
We begin with…
California Woman wins lawsuit against Microsoft
The Seattle Times reports that Teri Goldstein of Sausalito, California successfully sued Microsoft for $10,000 after a failed Windows 10 upgrade left her system unusable for several days. Goldstein says she never authorized the upgrade. The $10,000 reflected estimated lost compensation and the cost of a new system. Microsoft denied any wrongdoing but dropped the appeal to avoid further expense of litigation. Free upgrades to Windows 10 ends July 29.
Cozmo, Wall-E like real life robot
(Video 1)
Toy race car maker Anki has a new car called Cozmo with a body similar to the Pixar character Wall-E, face like Eve and a mechanical arm that can move things around. Anki worked with Pixar to design the robot. The toy has built-in computer vision software to help recognize people and get better at games. An AI SDK will come at launch for developers to create more activities. Cozmo launches in October for $179.
http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2016/06/27/anki-2/
Android N becomes Android Nougat
Remember a couple weeks ago when Android was taking N word suggestions for their new operating system? Well they announced this week that they’ve decided on title of Nougat. Sweet!
https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/30/its-official-android-n-is-now-android-nougat/
Your Camera is now your personal Shopper
If you've ever spotted someone wearing a fun shirt or cool pair of boots and wanted to know where to get that great swag, you'd be interested in a new feature coming from Pinterest.
The company has just given a sneak preview of a new camera search technology that can let you search for related products on Pinterest simply by snapping a picture of something in the real world.
So now you can take a photo of something you like and through a combination of computer vision and deep learning, the app will then bring up a list of results of items that look similar.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/28/pinterest-camera-search/
Nintendo VR
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto told investors this week that qNintendo has the core technology for VR but wants to release, "something that can be played for long periods, carries value, and is affordable." Engadget notes that in a slide presentation, wNintendo said it is shifting focus from expanding the gaming population to increasing exposure of Nintendo's characters and game titles.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/29/nintendo-nx-no-show-e3/
RAPTURE GETS REMASTERED
(Video 2)
2K Games has announced that they are remastering BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The Bioshock Collection will be released September 13th and retail for $59.99. The new title will be a collecting of the core games, the single-player DLC for all three titles, and a brand new behind-the-scenes video series entitled “Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock,” featuring series creator Ken Levine.
http://nerdist.com/rapture-gets-remastered-in-bioshock-the-collection-this-fall/
J.K. Rowlings new short story
(Video 3)
This week Pottermore, the official Harry Potter site from J.K. Rowling, revealed a new short story of how Ilvermorny, the American Hogwarts, was founded. The story also reveals more about its four houses: Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Thunderbird and Wampus.
https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/ilvermorny
Disney announces Wreck It Ralph 2
Disney announced this week that they are making a sequel to their hit 2012 movie, Wreck it Ralph. The movie will be directed by Wreck it Ralph alumni, Rich Moore and Phil Johnston and is slated for a March 2018 release. Wreck it Ralph 2 will find Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz wreaking havoc on the internet.
http://nerdist.com/disney-announces-wreck-it-ralph-2-for-2018/
Netflix reboots Lost in Space
The streaming media company announced yesterday that it has picked up the show for a 10-episode first season, which is expected to stream worldwide starting in 2018. The reboot will be run by Zack Estrin, one of the executive producers for Prison Break, and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold, Power Rangers). Game of Thrones director Neil Marshall is also attached the project. The new show will be produced by Legendary Pictures
http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/30/12064988/lost-in-space-tv-reboot-netflix-announced
Draco Malfoy Joins Flash Season 3
TV Line confirmed this week that the actor who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, Tom Felton, will join the Flash as a series regular and play a character named Julian Dorn, “a fellow CSI at the Central City Police Department who suspects there’s more to Barry Allen than just his good guy reputation.” That will be interesting to see Barry have to hide his secret identity from someone presumably smart enough to figure it out, and in the same field as him.
http://nerdist.com/tom-felton-joining-the-flash-for-season-3/
Transformers: Combiner Wars
(Video 4)
To help get everyone ready for the August release their Transformer series, Machinima has released a four-episode, motion graphic called “Prelude to the TRANSFORMERS: Combiner Wars”. Each motion comic prequel will be shot in a slightly different style, told from the perspective of an individual character. The first motion comic is told from the point of view of Optimus Prime.
Captain America hails Hydra?
A few weeks ago we reported that Marvel comics was turning Captain America, Steve Rogers, into a secret Hydra agent. (Hail Hydra!)
In Captain America issue #2, it’s finally revealed why Cap has made this sudden shift. It turns out that Steve Roger’s memories have been completely altered by Kobik, the Cosmic Cube that evolved into a sentient four-year-old girl.
Kobik has altered Steve’s memories to make him believe he was recruited as a boy into Hydra and that every action he’s taken since has been part of his role as a double agent working for the Red Skull.
http://io9.gizmodo.com/why-captain-america-is-saying-hail-hydra-1782809869
A much better J-Pop Ghostbusters Theme song
(video 5 w/sound)
Last week we brought you the The Fall Out Boy/Missy Elliott re-do of the Ray Parker Jr. hit song from the original 1984 Ghostbuster movie.
This week J-pop artists Tomochika, Oniyakko Tsubaki, Shizuyo Tamasaki, and Naomi Watanabe released their own version covering the original song in a new video from Sony Pictures Japan, which makes this the other official cover of the original song.
http://nerdist.com/new-j-pop-ghostbusters-theme-song-is-cheesy-in-the-best-way/
That’s it for Geek New.
If you like the podcast and want to help support us you can find out all the ways to do so at geekbytespodcast.com/support
Now onto our Discussion section
(Music 3)
In our discussion section we talk about anything we find interesting that doesn’t fit in with the News section. This week we’re talking about…
Our 2nd interview with Aleron Kong.
This week I was lucky enough to talk to friend of the podcast and author of the Chaos Seeds series, Aleron Kong. He recently released his fourth book The Land: Catacombs. It was a great interview and we talked about his plans for the LitRPG genre, creating and supporting a community, and his plans for the first LitRPG meetup party in Atlanta in September around the same time as DragonCon.
We’re going to play you a clip of the interview but you can watch the full interview on our YouTube page or at
http://www.geekbytespodcast.com/reviews/2016/6/29/author-interview-aleron-kong-part-2
That’s it for the show.
Thanks for watching and 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