News:

Avengers: Battle for Earth could be Ubisoft-published tie-in game

Let’s face it: The new Avengers movie is one of the best comic-book-to-film adaptation to come out in a long time (thanks, Joss Whedon). Given its big-budget status and plethora of superheroes, it only stands to reason that the next step is a film-to-video game adaptation, and that apparently has already begun.

Marvel, through brand protection firm MarkMonitor, has registered the domain for Avengers: Battle for Earth and it is currently sitting on Ubisoft servers.

The fact that Ubisoft is involved is puzzling, since Marvel’s VP of games production TQ Jefferson told Forbes that the new movie game would be coming from Disney, which purchased the comics giant in 2009. Jefferson also said that Sega would no longer be involved with the games and Disney Interactive would take over. Marvel: Avengers Alliance is already a Facebook game through Disney’s Playdom brand.

In late 2011, videos surfaced on YouTube showing an Avengers game being developed by THQ’s Studio Australia before it was closed down. The videos were removed soon after the story broke.

Ubisoft refused to comment, but we’ve also reached out to Marvel and Disney to see what gamers can expect in the way of an Avengers game. Whether it comes from Ubisoft or Disney, something is brewing.

http://www.shacknews.com/article/73678/marvel-registers-avengers-domain-for-possible-game

Twitter fights government subpoena demanding Occupy Wall Street protester info

Twitter has asked a New York state judge to throw out a court order requiring it to turn over three months worth of messages posted by an Occupy Wall Street protester being prosecuted for disorderly conduct.

In a motion (PDF) filed on Monday in New York City Criminal Court, Twitter lawyers argued the city’s district attorney’s office is overstepping its authority in ordering the handing-over of tweets and other subscriber info of Malcolm Harris, whose handle on the microblogging site is @destructuremal. Prosecutors seeking the data failed to get a court warrant based on probable cause, making an order they obtained earlier a violation of federal law and the Constitution’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Twitter brief argued.

“If the order stands, Twitter will be put in the untenable position of either providing user communications and account information in response to all subpoenas or attempting to vindicate its users’ rights by moving to quash these subpoenas itself—even though Twitter will often know little or nothing about the underlying facts necessary to support their users’ argument that the subpoenas may be improper,” Twitter’s attorneys argued.

Rather than get a warrant based on probable cause, the New York City prosecutors cited the Stored Communications Act, which requires only that investigators show the requested information is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation. After receiving the demand, Twitter provided notification to Harris, who challenged the demand on the grounds that the information prosecutors were seeking fell outside the limitations of the statute. Last month, New York Criminal Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino, Jr. denied Harris’s motion (PDF), arguing he had no legal standing to challenge the subpoena because he had no proprietary interest in the data investigators sought.

Twitter’s brief argued that Sciarrino’s order contradicts the terms of service provisions guaranteeing users “retain rights to any content [they] submit, post, or display” on the site.

“To hold otherwise imposes a new and overwhelming burden on Twitter to fight for its users’ rights, since the order deprives its users of the ability to fight for their own rights when faced with a subpoena from New York State.”

Monday’s brief also argued that Sciarrino’s order would force Twitter to violate federal law because the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment requires service providers to disclose user communications only when presented with a valid search warrant. As support, the attorneys cited a 2010 ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that said government prosecutors couldn’t rely on the Stored Communications Act to get the e-mail of a man they were investigating for fraud. They also said the statute doesn’t cover communications that are less than 180 days old. Prosecutors investigating Harris are seeking tweets sent from September 15 to December 31 of last year, meaning some of the requested information won’t be 180 days old until the end of June.

The Twitter attorneys also cited a unanimous US Supreme Court ruling from last year holding that FBI investigators had to obtain a search warrant before using a GPS device attached to a suspect’s vehicle to track his whereabouts for four weeks.

“If the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement applies merely to surveillance of one’s location in public areas for 28 days, it also applies to the District Attorney’s effort to force Twitter to produce over three months worth of a citizen’s substantive communications, regardless of whether the government alleges those communications are public or private,” the brief argued.

Twitter has frequently gone beyond the call of duty in notifying users of government demands to turn over their information. In late 2010 or early 2011, site representatives informed users who were named in a previously sealed court order that sought IP addresses associated with WikiLeaks and several of its supporters. Both Google and California-based ISP Sonic.net, according to The Wall Street Journal, fought for the right to inform at least one of the users of secret orders seeking the data. According to an attorney representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Facebook, and Skype (which was then owned by eBay) received demands for similar information and never disclosed how they responded.

“There’s this issue of confidence in third-party service providers and how much they’re going to make the government fight for user information,” Venkat Balasubramani, a legal blogger and technology lawyer in Seattle, told Ars. “Twitter is one of the companies that’s building a reputation of a company that will fight the battle. From that standpoint Twitter is notable.”

Indeed, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in a side-by-side comparison dubbed Who Has Your Back, last year gave Twitter props for regularly warning users of data demands and fighting for user privacy. Other companies, including Comcast, MySpace, and Skype, didn’t fare as well in the analysis.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/twitter-fights-government-subpoena-demanding-occupy-wall-street-protester-info.ars

Microsoft officially offering Xbox 360 4GB console for $99, two-year Live Gold subscription required

Whoa, Nelly! As rumored, Microsoft is indeed shattering the home console pricing paradigm by trying something that US wireless carriers have been doing for years. As of now, the official Microsoft Store is hosting up a coupon that’ll enable prospective Xbox buyers to snag a 4GB console bundle for just $99 (a $200 savings versus the outright unit)… so long as you agree to pay $14.99 per month for two solid years. That monthly fee — which amounts to some $360 over the 24 month term — gets you on the Xbox Live network with a Gold subscription, but remember, Microsoft’s maintaining the ability to “terminate this offer at any time.” Looking to score one yourself? Hit the source link and visit that “Find a store” icon; hopefully there’s a B&M Microsoft Store near your neck of the woods.

Update: In case you’re curious, yes, early termination fees will apply if you cut out of your two-year deal early. It’s a prorated affair, with users asked to pay less the longer they maintain the contract. Those who part ways after only a month will have to pay $250, while those who cancel with just a month remaining will owe $12. All told, someone buying this and keeping true to the contract terms will pay $459 for the bundle and Live access, whereas those buying outright could snag it for $420 (or less, if scouring the web for cheaper Live subscriptions). The full ETF schedule is shown after the break.

Update II: Joystiq has confirmed that, for now, this is simply a pilot program. These machines will be sold only through the 16 US-based Microsoft Stores, and we can only assume the marketing and finance folks at the company will be watching reception like hawks.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/07/microsoft-officially-offering-xbox-360-4gb-console-for-99-dollars/

Google+ Hangouts on Air live broadcasting is now out of beta

Google+ users can now broadcast live public video feeds and video conferences via webcams through its Hangouts on Air feature, which was previously only available to a select number of accounts. Google announced today that Hangouts on Air is now out of beta and will be rolled out to all of its users worldwide.

Google implemented videoconferencing via its Hangouts feature when it released Google+, though at the time the broadcasting was limited to those users who were joining in the video conference (there’s a limit to 10 per session). Hangouts on Air now lets users broadcast their own version of a television channel publicly. The application provides similar functionality to competing services such as UStream, Livestream, and Justin.tv by opening video webcam streams for public viewing. In Hangouts on Air, anyone can watch a video session. Google+ is also encouraging users to browse and casually join these hangouts via Google+’s revamped hangouts page, where users can find sessions that are currently taking place. Live broadcasts are automatically recorded to the host user’s YouTube channel for later viewing or embedding. Users can also embed their live broadcasts on other websites, effectively expanding the reach of the Google+ platform beyond registered users of its service.

Hangouts on Air does require users to enable the new feature, and they must also review and agree to its terms of service. Doing so will also link the user’s Google+ account to their YouTube channel. In some cases, users may also need to upgrade Google’s voice and video plugin for Web browsers. Google says the feature is rolling out to users starting today, so it may take some time to see it enabled in users’ individual accounts.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/05/google-hangouts-on-air-live-broadcasting-is-now-out-of-beta.ars

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Silversun Pickups new album. Going NUTS on Kickstarter. Backed the Brydge iPad adaptor and also the Pebble ePaper watch. Also finally started Clash of Kings. Another 42+ hours of audio!

Gozer: Samurai Blood Show & Steve Jobs Biography

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The Geek’s Choice: Top 10 things from BTTF that actually came true !!

http://www.popcrunch.com/10-inventions-from-back-to-the-future-that-actually-came-true/?img=113185

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Featured Segment:  The Avengers

1) Gozer’s Review

2)

The Avengers is the new king of the opening weekend.The superhero movie grossed a unprecedented $200.3 million in its Friday-Sunday box-office debut, its studio estimated. The film is the first to break $200 million in three days. It destroyed the mark held by the previous weekend record-holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Avengers Is Simply Super

The Avengers started out big—taking in $18.7 million in midnight screenings—and got bigger: $80.5 million for all of Friday; $69.7 million on Saturday, a new record for that day; and, a projected $50.1 million on Sunday.

The film easily bested the opening-weekend performances of the Marvel Studios movies whose hero-stars were assembled for The Avengers: Iron Man ($99 million) and Iron Man 2 ($128 million); Thor ($66 million); and, Captain America ($65 million).

It blew away even the superhero-record $158.4 million posted by The Dark Knight, and raised the bar considerably for the Batman franchise’s upcoming adventure, The Dark Knight Rises, due out July 20.

The Avengers made money the old-fashioned way: Everybody bought tickets.
The opening-weekend audience was evenly split between the young (under age 25) and the older (over age 25), polling data showed. It was watched by women (40 percent) almost as much as men. It worked as a date-night movie (55 percent of ticket-buyers were part of couples), and a family movie (24 percent were part of a family group).
And then there was perhaps the most quaint thing of all: People went to see it in 3-D.

The once-promising, then presumed-dead format represented slightly more than half of all ticket sales.

In IMAX, the movie grossed about $15 million, roughly tying it for that format’s biggest-ever opening weekend.
“IMAX had one big issue,” IMAX exec Greg Foster said in an email. “We ran out of seats to sell!”
The people who saw the movie liked the movie, and, if possible, liked it more than critics. The Joss Whedon-directed film was graded an A-plus by audiences.After just over a week in release worldwide, The Avengers has grossed $641.8 million overall.

Here’s an Avengers-revised rundown of the top 10 all-time opening weekends, as compiled per BoxOfficeMojo.com stats:

1. The Avengers, $200.3 million
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, $169.2 million
3. The Dark Knight, $158.4 million
4. The Hunger Games, $152.5 million
5. Spider-Man 3, $151.1 million
6. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, $142.8 million
7. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1, $138.1 million
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, $135.6 million
9. Iron Man 2, $128.1 million
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, $125 million

http://www.eonline.com/news/avengers_smashes_opening-weekend_record/314126?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=imdb_topstories

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Question of the week

What super power would you want and why?

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

News:

Is Time Warner bringing its live streaming TV service to Roku boxes?

After debuting on iOS and later expanding to web browsers and Android, Time Warner’s live streaming TV service, TWC TV, may soon be made available for Roku set top boxes. Citing an unnamed source, Engadget claims that company representatives are currently being briefed on the software, but cautions that a public rollout could still be several months away.

With Comcast’s Xfinity app launching on the Xbox 360 last month, potentially reaching millions of new users via Xbox Live, the heat is on for Time Warner to offer its streaming service on more devices.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/28/2982500/time-warner-iptv-service-roku-box-rumor

Dates of possible ICS upgrades for T-Mobile devices revealed

If you have a T-Mobile device in your possession, an upgrade to Android 4.0 may be in your nearby future. At least, until June anyway.

Tmo News, an unofficial blog covering T-Mobile, got a hold of a 2012 enterprise calendar, which details possible launch dates for Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades on three of the carrier’s devices.
Among the devices listed are HTC’s Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G – both are slated to get ICS on June 16. The third is the Samsung Galaxy S II, which was a tentative upgrade date of May 14.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57423524-94/dates-of-possible-ics-upgrades-for-t-mobile-devices-revealed/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

Watch this: ‘Go right,’ a compilation of side-scrollers new and old

“Go right” — it’s a command, but it’s also the singular way that many video game heroes, heroines, and villans can go to make progress when confined to the limits of a side-scroller or 2D platformer. YouTube user RockyPlanetesimal has taken that aspect of games to create an epic compilation of titles from over the years that follows the ups and downs of composer Michael Nyman’s “A Wild and Distant Shore.” In a time when only the most stubborn of game creators maintain the limitations side-scrollers (e.g. the fantasticRayman: Origins), the quick video makes us realize just how creative developers have been over the years in making so many excellent titles that only have one way to win: to keep on going right.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/28/2985194/watch-this-go-right-a-compilation-of-side-scrollers-new-and-old

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Geek This Week:

Aaron:

Gozer:

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The Geek’s Choice: Hallmark 2012 Ornaments

Talk about catering to the geeks! This catalog has tons of Trek and Star Wars, but a few other awesome things. BTTF, Ghostbusters, and Thundercats represent too!

You can view the full catalog at http://www.hallmark.com/online/product/keepsake-ornaments/2012-dream-online.aspx

Some highlights:

Darth Vader Peekbuster – http://www.hallmark.com/Product/ProductDetails/1995QXI2971_DK

Ralphie Sees The Light – http://www.hallmark.com/Product/ProductDetails/1495QXI2881_DK

OUTATIME – http://www.hallmark.com/Product/ProductDetails/1795QXI2944_DK

E.T. – http://www.hallmark.com/Product/ProductDetails/1795QXI2984_DK

Stay Puft Marshmallow Menace – http://www.hallmark.com/Product/ProductDetails/1795QXI2954_DK

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Featured Segment:  Interview with Chelsea Sexton

- @ForbesTech: How One Chevrolet Dealer Is Selling 25 Volts a Month http://t.co/1FlwqAcs

- Saw my first Nissan Leaf in the wild 2-weeks ago. Seen many more Volts in the wild. Just a regional thing or telling of sales or something more?
-You attended the ‘Covering Electric Cars’ panel. Tell us more about it. – Covering Electric Cars (4/23/12)
- What is Chelsea really into right now when it comes to EV’s? (a specific tech, an upcoming car, legislation, etc)
- You’ve been quite vocal about CA’s deal for charging stations with a particular company. Why?
-Tell us more about ‘Revenge of the Electric Car’. What was the thought behind it while filming? What has the reception been? Feedback / action taken on it?

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Have had a Nest for a couple of weeks. After figuring out my little mis-wiring problem, the Nest seems to be learning our schedule and adapting itself nicely. I just don’t have enough data
to figure out if we’re saving money.

Cheers,

Ed Hortelano

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

This Week’s Question: What “future”  technology would you like to see become the norm?

Aaron: self-driving cars that Google is working on. Full-on automated assitants. Think Siri on steroids.

Gozer: artificial organs & holograms

News:

Google Drive officially launches with 5GB free storage, Google Docs integration

Google has just made Google Drive official. As expected, the service will offer 5GB of storage space for documents, videos, photos, PDFs and other files, and Google Docs is built-in to the service. Users will be able to upgrade to 25GB of space for $2.49 a month, 100GB for $4.99 a month, or 1TB for $49.99 a month, and upgrading to a paid account will expand your Gmail storage to 25GB.

Google Docs functionality within Google Drive will allow users to work with others in real-time (as you can currently do in Google Docs), and includes the ability to share content with others, add and reply to comments, and receive notifications for new comments on documents or files. Google says you can also search everything in Drive by keyword, or filter by file type, owner, and other criteria. The service can also recognize text in scanned documents.

Google says Drive is “built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience,” which means that users can attach photos to Drive to posts in Google+, and will soon be able to attach files from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Google also says that Drive is an open platform, and that it is working with third-party developers to allow users to “send faxes, edit videos, and create website mockups directly from Drive.” Overall it’s sounding a lot like Dropbox with its initial feature set, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Google Drive is available now for PC, Mac, and Android, and will come soon to the iPhone and iPad.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/24/2971025/google-drive-official-launch-features

Gmail bumps free storage to 10GB

Along with the launch of Google Drive today, the company is tossing a bonus to Gmail customers as well: they’ll now get 10GB of email storage at no cost. That’s up from the 7.5GB that users were getting before — and as always, that number will slowly creep up over time. Google says to expect the bump as a rolling change over the next 24 hours.

If you pay for extra storage — and many users might consider doing that to take full advantage of Drive’s capabilities — that storage will be shared with Gmail and you’ll end up getting more than the base 10GB anyway. If you’re sticking with the free product, though, bear in mind that Drive’s capacity will still be limited to 5GB.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/24/2971885/gmail-bumps-free-storage-to-10gb

Netflix Q1 results: 3 million new streaming subscribers worldwide, record viewing hours

Netflix has posted its earnings report for Q1 of 2012, and reveals its streaming subscriber count in the US is currently 23.4 million, after reaching 21.67 million back in January. While the company noted a net loss of about $5 million, the letter from CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells claimed it is still on a “rapid return” to profitability after last year’s missteps and international expansions. Worldwide it now counts a total of 26 million subscribers to the streaming service, although it lost another million or so subscribers to discs, which currently number 10.09 million. That old disc business is still highly profitable however, adding $146 million to the bottom line. Internationally, Netflix added more customers in its first three months of UK / Ireland availability than it did in the same period for Latin America or Canada, and expects its Canadian service to be profitable a quarter earlier than expected.

Reed Hastings also took the opportunity to toss another barb at Comcast for its bandwidth cap-exempt Xfinity TV Xbox 360 app, claiming it should either raise its caps, make them apply to all services including its own or eliminate them entirely. Another development in Q1 was the loss of streaming titles from Starzbut it claims that caused no discernible change in viewing or subscriber hours, while customers continue to lean towards streaming TV episodes over movies. Hit the source links below to paw through the PDF and spreadsheet for yourself, we’ll let you know if any interesting tidbits are revealed on the earnings call later today.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/23/netflix-q1-results/

Skype Now Available on PlayStation Vita

Well, there goes all those Sunday afternoons gaming in your birthday suit. Skype just announced that you can download its video and voice calling app for free on the PlayStation Vita. You know what that means? Hours of uncharted smack talk with your fellow gamers.

Today’s announcement isn’t a game-changer, but it does address recent criticism that Sony hasn’t launched enough new, exciting games and features since the PS Vita debuted in late February. With Skype, PS Vita is now the first portable player to offer this sort of face-to-face chatting.

“I am always in search for a next big thing,” says PC gamer and 12-time world champion Fatal1ty, one of the first to test out the new service. “When I heard Skype was going to be featured on PS Vita, my first thought was this was going to be the device that sets the bar for all new gaming consoles — connecting with family and friends while playing your favorite game.”

Skype on PS Vita runs in background mode while you’re playing a game or using other apps. But you can pause your game, make a call, then pick back up where you left off. The high-resolution screen really does looks fantastic, and it’s easy to plug in to your existing Skype contacts. You can also use the front and rear-facing cameras during a Skype call for that whole “camera one… camera two…” effect.

http://mashable.com/2012/04/24/skype-arrives-on-ps-vita/

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Realizing my reliance on my iPad as my main computing device. Rarely using my iMac except for the heavy lifting.

NHL playoffs. I don’t care that it’s not geeky!

New upcoming Silversun Pickups album. Very excited about that.

Gozer: New HP printer with airprint. Hunger Games. Walking Dead books from Mahhk

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The Geek’s Choice:

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Featured Segment:  Review: Nest Learning Thermostat

A full hands-on review of the smartest thermostat you’ll ever see.

“@GotNoSpice Love It!”

“@anthonyabianchi I love my Nest – but I love the iPhone app even more. Being able to control my heating from anywhere is just incredible.”

From Mike Masin: I’m a lazy geek; I like smart devices that don’t make me work I wish the other appliances in my house, from my toaster to my DVR were like my nest.  Smart, well designed, reliable, efficient, and good-looking.

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

What geeky things does your significant other complain the most about you?

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

Question: physical or digital media? Why?

Aaron: Digital…. always

Gozer:  physical

News:

Google X reveals “Project Glass”, an augmented reality visor

We’ve all seen what happens when technology becomes portable and connected to everything around us — we get fatally bad driving and people walking into water fountains — but what if your smartphone could be a visor, glasses or even a pair of contact lenses? This is what Google has been researching and no, it’s definitely not an April Fool’s joke.

“Project Glass” is a blue-sky project by Google’s mysterious research and development arm, Google X. The project aims to augment your everyday experiences by superimposing a layer of visual indicators directly onto your field of vision. The HUD-like apparatus would keep you connected to your friends, provide data about your surroundings and potentially do anything your smartphone can do, but merely at a glance. This visual layer would be fed to your eyes through some device like a visor or contact lenses, giving you translucent alerts, messages, maps and more.

These types of projects tend to be hush-hush, top-secret stuff, but Google claims it wants the public’s input on what they would like to see with such technology.

We think technology should work for you — to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.

A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.

Please follow along as we share some of our ideas and stories. We’d love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?

Source: Project Glass, Google+

Eerily reminiscent of Caprica’s “holoband” emitter, Google’s concept of what the final design may look like shows a visor-like device hovering over the brow-lines of people more symmetrical than most. It sounds like science fiction, but there’s no reason it has to be a visor though — and you probably won’t have to be a model to wear it. In fact, Project Glass team member Barbak Parviz, has been working on contact lenses which may be able to accomplish the same thing.

http://www.techspot.com/news/48063-google-x-reveals-project-glass-an-augmented-reality-visor.html

Dolby Labs and Philips unveil Dolby 3D tech, want to deliver glasses-free 3D in HD

Dolby helped the 3D revolution happen in movie theaters years ago, and now it’s teamed up with Philips to do the same for TVs, tablets, laptops and phones. The two companies have created a format and content delivery technology, dubbed Dolby 3D, to bring high definition 3D content to any and all devices with 3D displays, including those that don’t require glasses.

Its secret sauce automatically optimizes video for different screen sizes and also upgrades half-resolution 3D to full-res. The idea is to provide both broadcasters and OEMs with a way to deliver 3D HD content to customers buying Dolby 3D devices, while remaining compatible with existing 3D gadgets. All that’s left is to actually build some hardware that’ll let us see all those snazzy suits from Mad Men in high-def and the third dimension.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/14/dolby-labs-and-philips-unveil-dolby-3d-tech-want-to-deliver-gla/

Google+ rolls out new look

(Mashable) — Google announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out a significant redesign for its social networking platform Google+, which will allow users to create a more customized experience on the site.

The company said it will introduce a variety of new features to the site in the next few days, from customizing apps and the navigation bar to more flexibility with profile pages and pictures. In addition, the update introduces a new Explore page that posts what’s interesting and trending across the site.

Google also noted that the social network now boasts more than 170 million users since it’s 2011 launch.

Google+ will now offer profile pages that will include bigger photos, a la Facebook’s Timeline, and feature a chat list that puts friends front and center on your page. Another major update involves how users can navigate around the news stream. Instead of static icons at the top, there’s a ribbon of apps on the left.

Marissa Mayer: Google’s leading woman

The ribbon allows users to drag apps up or down to create the order, hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions and show or hide apps by moving them out of the section.

“Taken together, these powers make it easier to access your favorites, and to adjust your preferences over time,” Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra wrote on Google’s Official Blog. “We’ve also built the ribbon with the future in mind, giving us an obvious (and clutter-free) space for The Next Big Feature, and The Feature After That. So stay tuned.”

A dedicated Hangouts page has also been added to the site, so people can have quick access to public and On Air video chat hangouts. This will allow Google+ users to meet new people and watch live broadcasts, as well as enter new rooms via a rotating billboard of Hangouts.

“It’s still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we’re more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google,” Gundotra said.

What do you think of the redesign? Do you think Google+ will ever be able to compete with Facebook? Let us know in the comments.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/11/tech/social-media/google-plus-new-look/index.html

Skyrim coming to Kinect

Called “Project Adam,” Bethesda began formulating the idea of merging Kinect’s voice capabilities to “Skyrim” shortly after the game’s release in November.

Pete Hines, vice president of marketing and public relations for Bethesda, told CNN.com in an exclusive interview before the official announcement that the developer wanted to add functionality that didn’t exist in the original release.

“When you do things, like when you are on the map, you uncover a lot of map markers and quests to go to a particular place. [With Kineck] you can use voice commands to do things very easily, to jump to different cities on the map,” Hines said. “Even doing things in inventory like sorting by weight, by value — that functionality doesn’t exist in ‘Skyrim’ as it is. With Kinect, it unlocks a lot of new options.”

Hines said the development team also wanted to enhance gameplay. Voice control naturally leant itself to “Shouts,” special vocal powers that the players have access to in the game.

“You have your full arsenal of Shouts available using Kinect without having to stop, go to a menu, pick the one you want to use, and go back in the game and use it,” he said. “You just say the Shout, and as long as you have the ability, your character will just use it on the fly.”

Kinect will also let players use voice commands to arm weapons, activate spells and tell your companions what to do. The commands are designed to be intuitive, and Matt Barlow, general manager of Xbox Marketing, said Kinect support will add more than 200 voice commands to the game, providing a new level of access for fans that goes beyond the controller.

“Working closely with the talented team at Bethesda, they have done an amazing job of honoring the core gameplay functionality fans of “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” know and love and using Kinect for Xbox 360 voice control integration to complement and strengthen the core experience without changing the fundamental game mechanics,” Barlow said.

While two other games (“Mass Effect 3″ and “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13″) also use the Kinect for voice control, Barlow said allowing players easy access to menus and inventories, and to quickly create and load saves during gameplay is unique to “Skyrim.”

However, don’t get the idea you’ll be waving your arms around in front of Kinect as you fight a dragon. Combat and casting magic will still be done through the handheld Xbox 360 controller. But simple actions that could be done through menus will be available easier with the Kinect.

“(Totally replacing the handheld controller) would be a whole other can of worms,” Hines said. “Doing combat and swinging your sword and all that stuff without a controller would dramatically change the game. We’re trying to enhance the experience as we designed it with some additional functionality.”

Hines said the Kinect functionality will be an update to the existing game that will automatically download when Bethesda is ready to release it sometime later this month. Players won’t have to do anything to enable the voice commands and will have the option to turn the Kinect functionality off if they choose.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/12/tech/gaming-gadgets/elder-scrolls-skyrim-kinect/

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: The @WereGoingBack BTTF account tweeted a link to the trailer for a new time travel movie called ‘Looper’ starring Bruce Willis & Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Looks interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCNKahG1ksg

Cain’s Arcade: Amazing & heartwarming take of a 9-year old who has an arcade. Watch the short film! http://cainesarcade.com/

House tech: Electric lawnmower, screw gun, leaf vacuum, BBQ, Nest.

Gozer:  Red Bank, NJ ( Jay & Silent Bob’s & Yestercade ) HBO Go Issues. Boardwalk Empire Season 2 & Game of Thrones

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The Geek’s Choice: 2 Documentaries

Being Elmo & Comic Con Episode 4 A Fan’s Hope

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Featured Segment:  Pax East Coverage ( according to thegamefanatics.com )

Best Non-Playable Title

Assassin’s Creed III

We were a bit shocked to see a massive booth designated for Assassin’s Creed III and while we were a bit disappointed not to get any hands on time with the title, the new trailer definitely left an impression on us. The newest numbered entry in the popular franchise is ready to bring out all the stops, bringing us to the front lines of the American Revolution and interacting us with important figures in our country’s history. It certainly helps that the environments are breathtaking, the possibilities for new assassinations are endless, and the controls revamped, there’s not a doubt in our minds that this will be the best Assassin’s Creed yet.

Runner Up: X-COM: Enemy Unknown

Best Booth

Harmonix

Rock Band fever, if Harmonix‘s booth was any indication, has not died down; it has only grown tenfold. With their attempt to revitalize interest in the music franchise with Rock Band Blitz working wonders, PAX attendees gladly lined up around the Rock  Band stage to watch and cheer on fellow con goers as they live out their rock star dreams, only to get their own chance moments later. It was a non stop party we loved attending.

Runner Up: Riot Games

Best MMORPG

TERA

Western Gamers have yet to embrace the grind of a South Korean MMO, but then again, we haven’t seen one with a combat system like TERA‘s. Whether it was with the hot keys we had mapped on our keyboard or the comfort of a controller, jumping into groups of enemies and combo-ing our way to victory was satisfying, and to think, all of this was before we had a chance to step back and explore the world and take in the scenery. Here’s to hoping TERA sets a trend in terms of MMO combat.

Runner Up: The Secret World

Best Shooter

Spec Ops: The Line

This one came out of left field. Between the hype of Ghost Recon, Far Cry 3, and Max Payne 3, Spec Ops: The Line won us over with tight gameplay, dedication to narrative, and impressive visual images. Traversing through a deserted Dubai left quite an impression on us, as did the simplicity of ordering our squad mates in real time. Spec Ops: The Line shakes the notion of being “just another brown shooter” and is ready to step toe to toe with the big boys.

Runner Up: Super Monday Night Combat

Best MOBA

Smite

While we already knew that Tribes: Ascend is in good hands with High Rez Studios, Smite proves that the developer knows how to craft a great game. Taking the MOBA genre into a new direction with a third person camera, the game’s pace ran laps around MOBA staples such as DotA 2 and League of Legends. If you were able to spend five minutes watching the games on their televisions, you’d understand why there was such a crowd drawn to the booth; Smite is a blast to watch, and even a bigger blast to play.

Runner Up: Awesomenauts

Best PC

Firefall

We’ve been waiting for a break out MMOFPS for quite some time and Red 5 may have hit the mark. While there isn’t revolutionary about the quests themselves, they don’t have to be, since Firefall gave us the impression that we’re up against some pretty serious odds and need to use every weapon in our arsenal to kill those twenty spiders or get those ten artifacts. Combining the challenge of a shooter and the grind of an MMO is an absolute perfect marriage. Plus, it’s free to play!

 Runner Up: Neverwinter

Best Console

Rock Band Blitz

It’s such a simple title that brings us back to Harmonix‘s roots, yet one that was hard to put down. In the middle of the Rock Band party was Rock Band Blitz, a game so addicting yet simple it has me impatiently awaiting its release. Perhaps the best part about the title is the fact that anyone can pick it up, regardless of skill level and without fumbling around with plastic instruments, and in their own reality, live out their rock star dreams. We’ve known for quite some time that Harmonix is the best at the music genre; Rock Band Blitz affirms this notion tenfold.

 Runner Up: Sleeping Dogs

Best Handheld

Theatrythm Final Fantasy

Boy, were we wrong about Theatrythm. Not only will the title celebrating 25 years of Final Fantasy provide nostalgia for the series veterans, as well as a way for Square Enix to bring in a new audience to the series and introducing them to some of the best musical numbers in video gaming history, but provide a challenge for those who want one. After going through the original song selections in our hands on time, which were admittedly a bit easy, we found a couple of harder tracks that tested or skills. Theatrythm Final Fantasy is poised to be a curve ball from Square Enix that will indeed catch the plate.

Runner Up: Mario Tennis Open

Best Indie

Loadout

Tucked away in the corner of the show floor was Loadout, a game we were all urged to play. The premise is simple: create your own weapon and bring it into battle with you. While some minor tweaks are needed to balance out some of the game’s default weapons, the possiblities for your own weapon are endless. You can choose to snipe from a-far with a rail gun, bring the battle up close and rain bullets, or jump from above and rain rockets down on your competition. Gamers who love tweaking and customization have found an indie title to fall in love with.

Runner Up: Quacamelee

Best In Show

Max Payne 3

We had the chance to sit down with Rockstar to check out Max Payne 3 and what we saw left us craving more of Mr. Payne. Rockstar told us that they are aiming to make Max Payne 3 the “most sophisticated and cinematic action shooter” to date. With a focus on cinematography and improved mechanics, Max Payne 3 is setting itself apart from other games in the genre with its uniqueness. The guys at Rockstar spent a lot of work on Max Payne 3, down to the fact that each bullet is individually modelled and uniquely-animated. To say that it’s poised to meet the developers high standards is an understatement.

http://thegamefanatics.com/2012/04/13/game-fanatics-pax-east-2012-2/

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

This Week’s Question: What “future”  technology would you like to see become the norm?

From @jamesnelis Check it! – http://www.amazon.com/Casio-CA53W-1-Twincept-Databank-Ani-Digi/dp/B000GB1R7S/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
Reissue of Marty’s watch from B2TF, for throw away money

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

News:

Instagram for Android hands-on

By now, you’ve got to be familiar with Instagram. Sure, you may have never used the app, which until mere minutes ago had yet to make its way beyond iOS, but you’ve surely seen the results, in tweets, emails or littering your Facebook feed. And beginning this very moment, you can join in on the fun, even if you’ve never owned an Apple device. We took instantly to Instagram for Android — the app offers an experience nearly identical to the iOS version, though the ability to capture and manipulate images on a larger device brought a unique twist to the wildly popular image manipulation experience.

We decided to start off our snaps with a Samsung Galaxy Note, which not only offers a brilliant 1280 x 800-pixel display, but also a 5.3-inch surface on which to frame images and preview filters. Beyond the enormous variety of capture tools now available, it seems that not much has changed — your favorite filters are still there, making those smartphone shots glow just as brilliantly as before. And, if you happen to despise the Instagram effect, this would probably be a good time to take that long-planned holiday from social media — if it hasn’t already, your screen is about to explode with colorful perfect squares of image funk goodness.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/instagram-for-android-hands-on/

The Worst Things About the ’90s

Four terrible things that happened in a decade of great video games.

Sega’s Decline

Sega ended the ’80s on a high note by launching a successful 16-bit console that made the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System look old and busted by comparison. This big win helped them finally penetrate Nintendo’s market dominance and, for Sega, the boisterous chest-beating wouldn’t stop there. “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” ads and the debut of their speedy blue mascot, Sonic, in 1991 helped the Japanese company continue to gain mindshare leading up the launch of the rival Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The head start helped Sega start the ’90s as hip and cool, fast and flexible, or so everyone initially thought.

By 1995, Sega flooded the market with add-ons that quickly undermined their vision for the next level of video games. These ill-fitting platforms appeared to be quick reactions meant to keep the company competitive against rival console makers. But the Sega CD and 32X both suffered from lack of software support. Developers abandoned working on the 32X in favor of developing software for Sega’s next big thing, the Sega Saturn. Yet, even the Saturn eventually lost huge ground to the Sony’s PlayStation for its quadrilateral-based rendering method, a contributing factor to the consoles’ early demise. These failed platforms lead to a lot of money problems down the road for Sega. Despite the Dreamcast being an amazing little system that helped carry the company into the next decade, Sega’s pockets weren’t deep enough to recoup their previous losses and the company later dropped out of the console manufacturing altogether.

Failed Consoles and Ideas

It’s painful to think of the number of consoles that failed in the ’90s — although friends tell me that the ’70s and ’80s were just as bad — but the costs of these new systems hurt early adopters even more. The first 3DO console cost $699; the Neo Geo AES cost about $50 less; and the Sega Saturn debuted at $399 — a price point that would later become standard for consoles nearly a decade later.

Unsurprisingly, most of the failed platforms had flaws. The Turbografx-16 required a multi-tap accessory just to plug in a second controller. Early CD-based consoles like the 3DO embraced Full Motion Video — video sequences filmed with real actors that were set to button prompts that simulated the act of playing a game — as the future of games, and despite FMV’s increased visual fidelity, their limited interactivity made them obsolete. Although the Atari Jaguar was advertised at the first 64-bit system, the 12-button phone keyboard grafted to the bottom of the controller made it overly complex. The Panasonic CDi had a few video games along with educational and self-help software, but infamously lives on as the platform that brought us the terrible Zelda games Wand of Gamelon, The Faces of Evil, and Link’s Adventures.

Falling Out Between Square and Nintendo

Nintendo and Square represented the video game industry’s first loving couple, and this Sonny and Cher-caliber relationship delivered dozens of memorable software titles exclusively to Nintendo consoles. Games like Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy III (a.k.a. Final Fantasy VI), and Chrono Trigger are fondly remembered as some of the best software of the decade, and if you wanted the next great Square RPG, you had to have a Nintendo platform in order to experience it.

In 1996 all that changed and for reasons still debated to this day, Square broke ties with their longtime business partner and began publishing games on Sony’s PlayStation. This move put Final Fantasy VII — the biggest RPG of the decade — on a non-Nintendo system, and this falling out between the two companies wouldn’t be repaired until 2003.

( saw a new copy of Chrono Trigger on Amazon for $4,000 )

Death of the Arcade

Arcades served as home to some of the best competitive video game experiences in the early part of the ’90s, and arcade culture grew as thousands of players across America duked it out in Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. Anyone who lived in the ’90s remembers the serenade of dissimilar electronic sounds mashing together the moment you stepped in the arcade and act of quartering up — where a player would place a quarter against a bottom portion of the screen — and wait in line to be the next challenger.

Sadly, arcades fell out of popularity thanks to the increased power of home consoles. This leap in technology brought ports of the most popular arcade games to your living room and slowly contributed to the eventual decline and death of arcades later in the decade.

http://www.1up.com/features/worst-90s_2

Yamaha RX-V573 and RX-V473 receivers include AirPlay integration, 4K passthrough

We don’t spend a whole lot of time focusing on home theater receivers ’round these parts, but we do like AirPlay, and we’re especially fond of audio devices that boast compatibility with the iOS wireless streaming tool out of the box. Yamaha’s RX-V573 and RX-V473 are two of the latest mid-range audio mixers to ship with AirPlay integration — a feature lacking from the company’s past offerings — along with compatibility with the AV Controller app, available for iOS, Android and the Kindle Fire. There’s also a nifty 4K video pass-through feature, which won’t do you much good at present, but may go a long way to future-proofing both devices. There’s not much differentiating the models, save for a $100 gap in price ($450 for the V473, $550 for the V573), and 7.1 channel audio in the pricier model (you’ll find 5.1 channels in the bargain offering). Both flavors include front-panel USB ports (also with iOS compatibility), four HDMI inputs and digital audio inputs, and 115 watts per channel. You can pick up either model now, and there’s a more detailed list of specifications awaiting your gander in the PR after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/yamaha-rx-v573-rx-v473-airplay-4k/

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Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

Question: What was the best and worst re-imagining?

@PorscheMonkey: best remake The Thing’ (1982), worst remake Psycho (1998)

Aaron: Worst: New Knight Rider.  Best: Star Trek and BSG.

Gozer:  Worst: Nightmare on Elm Street
Best: Star Trek

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Super Mario on Audiobook.

Gozer:  Puzzle Quest 2 on IOS & XBLA.

http://www.facebook.com/mainstcomics

http://www.digitpress.com/store/

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The Geek’s Choice: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.

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Featured Segment:  Apple TV, Airport Extreme & Express

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

This Week’s Question:

physical or digital media? Why?

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

News:

Google’s Dropbox Killer coming in April

Google has been thinking about launching an online storage service for more than five years now, but this time it might finally happen.

Om Malik reports that the fabled Google Drive or GDrive will come out in the first week of April.

It’s a direct competitor to Dropbox, as well as Microsoft’s SkyDrive service — which has been around for several years now — but it doesn’t seem like Google is taking the competition very seriously.

According to the report, GDrive will offer only 1GB of free storage, compared with 2GB for Dropbox and 25GB (yes really) for SkyDrive.

There will apparently be a domain-specific version for Google Apps customers, and the service will have an API for third-party apps, allowing them to store files in the service.

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the service would let users store documents, pictures, and other files, and would serve as a way to send big attachments through Gmail without actually sending the entire file — users will instead click on a link in the email and be taken to the file on GDrive (which is almost identical to how SkyDrive works with Microsoft’s Hotmail service.)

http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-dropbox-killer-is-coming-in-april-2012-3#ixzz1qLC5Z5ZF

TMNT Reboot

Before continuing on, we ought to clarify: Michael Bay is only producing the live-actionTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series reboot through his Platinum Dunes, not directing. Helming duties (for better or for worse) on the project look to instead be given to Jonathan Liebesman, who previously worked on the Bay-produced Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and last year’s alien invasion thriller Battle: Los Angeles.

Bay talked about the TMNT reboot at the 2012 Nickelodeon Upfront in New York – promising a cinematic return-to-form for the sewer-dwelling masked vigilantes, while also casually dropping a bombshell (turtleshell?) about how the characters’ traditional origin story will be altered for the new movie.

On the topic of how convincing the famous anthropomorphic reptilian stars of TMNT will be, Bay said:

“When you see this movie, kids will believe one day that these turtles do exist, when we’re done with this movie.”

With Bay backing the project and Liebesman – who looks to better establish himself as an effects-savvy director with this month’s Wrath of the Titans – mostly likely directing, theTMNT reboot should easily fulfill on that promise. A hybrid approach that combines animatronics with motion-capture digital effects (similar to that in Real Steel) in order to bring Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael to life, seems like the best way to go.

However, Bay’s next comment on the subject is bound to not go over so well (the first part, that is):

“These turtles [in the reboot] are from an alien race, and they’re going to be tough, edgy, funny, and completely lovable.”

Now, before anyone metaphorically (or semi-literally) explodes over Bay’s statement, don’t forget: going back to their comic book roots, the traditional backstory for the Turtles is that they were regular… well, turtles, who changed after being exposed to a radioactive substance. It’s a pretty ridiculous setup for even a comics series that started out as a satirical imitation of Frank Miller’s brutally grim and violent Ronin/Elektra comics – but eventually gave rise to a beloved property that stands on its own.

So, here’s the million dollar question: does having the Turtles simply be aliens (even “Mutant” ones) sound like a good idea, an inconsequential change – or a terrible decision?

It’s easy to point the finger of blame at Bay for bringing up this “Turtles as aliens” angle to begin with, if only because he also signed off on adding extraterrestrials into the mix with the Battleship movie. However, now that the decision has been made, it’s really up to theTMNT reboot screenwriting duo of Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Procotol) to actually make that tweaked origin story work.

As for why the Turtles are now going to be aliens: perhaps it’s to allow for other sci-fi elements and characters to be more organically woven into the rebooted TMNT mythology. Not that non-earthlings like the classic villain Krang (who even hailed from another dimension) have really struggled to fit into the series before now, but still…

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is tentatively set for a December 25th, 2013

http://screenrant.com/michael-bay-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-origin-sandy-159820/

Digiboo kiosk video service launches, opts for USB drives instead of DVDs

Judging by its quirky name, you’d think Digiboo is anything but an à la carte video service hoping to fight it out with the famed Redbox, or even Qwikster Netflix. The outfit’s kiosks allow you to grab a two-day rental from a 700-plus film menu for $3.99, while $14.99 makes any title yours to own. Here’s the interesting part — rather than getting a DVD for your cash, though, you’ll insert a flash drive to download your movie in as little as “30 seconds.” Digiboo’s setting up shop at airports in Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis-St. Paul to start, but mum’s the word on its plans for expansion. Taking a trip over to P-Town anytime soon? Be sure to let us know your results if you happen to try it out.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/19/digiboo-kiosk-video-service-launches/

Xbox Live said to get HBO Go, Comcast

It’s looking like “Game of Thrones” fans will have a couple extra days to get ready to watch the premiere of season two on Microsoft’s XBox Live. Rumor has it that both HBO Go and Comcast’s video-on-demand service will be available on Xbox Live tomorrow, according to tech news site GigaOM.

Ever since Microsoft announced last fall that its gaming console would add HBO Go and Comcast in with its new content partners and live TV programming, users have awaited the official launch. Several other apps shortly became available, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, and ESPN.

Months passed by and then finally HBO Co-President Eric Kessler said in February that his company planned to make HBO Go available on the Xbox 360 on April 1 to coincide with the premiere of this season’s “Game of Thrones.” However, according to GigaOM, tomorrow’s launch makes a lot more sense.

“For one thing, Microsoft always releases Xbox updates (and really, any software update) on Tuesday,” GigaOM reporter Ryan Lawler wrote in an article today. “For another, it seemed extremely unlikely that HBO would want to have users try to download the app on the same day as the premiere, which could potentially create a bad user experience if things didn’t go as planned.”

The launch of Comcast’s video-on-demand also seems to make sense. The cable TV provider announced at the end of February its new subscription service, Xfinity Streampix, via the Web. And now, having video available directly from the Xbox game console lets Comcast make its content available across several platforms. According to GigaOM, the company also recently announced its plans to expand to the iPad and connected TVs from Samsung.

Microsoft did not immediately reply to request for comment.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57404949-93/xbox-live-said-to-get-hbo-go-comcast/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

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Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

Question: What’s the geekiest thing that you have owned or own that people make fun of you for?

Aaron: The iPhone when it first came out (due to price).

Gozer:  Video Games & Toys

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Draw Something, all the tech for my new house: New Airport Extreme, *FOUR* Nest Learning Thermostats, Sprint Airave FemToCell

Gozer: Gozer’s Surprise Geek Out, Resident Evil ORC, Game of Thrones & HBO Go
(Treme, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Boardwalk Empire, Big Love & The Wire)

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The Geek’s Choice:  Collection Scanning Apps for iPhone

Hooked In Motion Apps

• iCollect Books
• iCollect Comic Books
• iCollect Legos
• iCollect Movies
• iCollect Music
• iCollect Video Games
• World Customs and Cultures

http://www.hookedinmotion.com/

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Featured Segment:  The iPhone 4S: Six Months Later.

What we still like:

-Siri (never thought I’d still use it as much)
-Retina Display

What we don’t like:

-Needs to get turn-by-turn directions
-Notification Center still a little quirky

What surprised us:

-Crappyness of Sprint’s network
-Lower quality of front-facing camera

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

This Week’s Question:

What is the worst & best reboot or reimagining of a movie?

Hi. I’ve been catching up on past episodes and I was listening to you guys geek out over the new “Back to the Future” hoverboard by Matel. I guess it’s kind of cool that it will slide around a little on the floor, but wouldn’t it have been better to have made it a gaming device for the Wii or the XBOX 360 Kinect? Then you could ACTUALLY ride it (ok, virtually. still.) In the game you could ride around the city as it looked in the movie, maybe playing some sort of race/escape game to get away from Biff, or maybe a Sonic/Mario type game where you go around collecting items in a certain amount of time. Seems like that would have been more fun for avid fans like yourself. Of course, maybe they have already made such a game and I just don’t know about it. Thoughts?

Wes in Grand Rapids

So, I work in electronics at Walmart. Naturally I’ve heard about the DVD ripping situation. I’m the only person in the store who knows anything about technology, half of our associates are old as dirt, the other half don’t know the difference between an ipad and an ipod. Scale this up to however many stores Walmart has and combine it with customers who think that a computer runs on magic and unicorn dust. This is going to be bad.

-Jobe via G+

Hey guys,

Firstly, thanks for recommending my show as something you listen to, Aaron! I always like to know who is listening and why. We’ll get you chugging those electrons just as soon as!

I try (when I’m not away at an auto show or doing a test drive event) to listen to quite a few different podcasts in the gym.  At the moment, The Rachel Maddow show is keeping me up to date with US politics, while I like to listen to SuperMarket Matters ( a really funny British comedy) when new episodes are available. Then there’s Dead bug jumping, although that’s on hiatus.

I also listen to The geekcast (duh), as well as some of the TWiT network shows. Although, to be honest, some of the TWiT stuff hasn’t been all that great lately, so I find I don’t listen to that very much any more.

In fact, maybe you all could recommend some alternatives to MacBreak Weekly etc?

Secondly, on the subject of physical vs digital media, my wife Kate and I went digital about four years ago.

We ripped all of our DVDs and CDs to disk, and now have them shared across the house, keeping the originals safe and out of the reach of our kids. Where possible, we do the same for software install disks.

To be honest, although we have a TiVo and decent cable package, we don’t watch any live TV , and often use the Internet to download shows etc.

If the choice is between digital and real, we always go digital.

The only exception is small bands, that need cd sales to help them deal with greedy audio providers like spotify.

Interestingly, the UK Netflix, as we say here, is pretty pants.  We’ve got a UK account, but found out that if we connected to TunnelBear (give it a go, it’s awesome) we could access the US Netflix with our UK account.

Then we get all the US awesomeness. we use the same trick to get to Hulu, and shows like The Big Bang Theory on the CBS website.

Of course, doing the digital thing has its down side.  We have about 20 TB of storage in the house.  Admittedly, about half of that is for my own video and audio work associated with my job and the podcasts, but the rest is for audio and video files and time machine backup.

Which neatly brings us to the third point. Apple hardware.

We have you both beat.

An Apple II
PowerBook 5300CS, which I connect to Twitter just for fun.
PowerBook G3 (Pismo)
G4 Mac Mini (used as my studio chat room server)
MacPro 1.1
Mac Pro 2.1
Second gen 17 inch MacBook Pro Unibody ( My wife’s Laptop and coding machine)
Second gen MacBook Air
Airport extreme
Apple TV gen 1
iPod shuffle 1st gen
2x iPod shuffle 2nd gen (each kid has one)
IPod nano gen 1(being exchanged on the battery fire recall)
2x iPhone 4s
IPad gen 1 (inherited from my wife)
IPad (…because she just got the new hotness!)

We’ve got some other stuff, but i’ve only included stuff that is working. At some point, I’ve owned or worked on most major Mac models, with the exception of the TAM, some of the allinones, and the Portable.   I had a PowerBook 100 which I picked up cheap at university, then sold it for parts before i realised what it was. Dumb!

Anyway. Love the show as always!

Nikki

Sent from my iPad

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

News:

The new iPad: everything you need to know

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/7/2852312/new-ipad-third-generation-specs-features

Walmart to offer in-store ‘disc-to-digital’ conversions, powered by Vudu and UltraViolet: $2 for SD, $5 for HD

The rumors are true: Walmart has just announced that it is launching an in-store “disc-to-digital” service powered by its existing Vudu on-demand solution, powered by UltraViolet. Walmart has partnered with five studios: Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Brothers. Adding a standard definition copy of a DVD or HD copy of a Blu-ray will cost two dollars, while upgrading DVDs to HD will cost five dollars. Walmart is also claiming that any movies that customers have acquired through other UltraViolet sources (like the UltraViolet digital copies that come with some Blu-ray purchases) will be playable through Vudu, as well. We’ve heard promises like this before, but UltraViolet integration has been rather fragmented up to this point, so we’ll see how it works in practice. This program will roll out in Walmart stores on April 16th. Walmart stressed that users would keep their discs, but it isn’t clear yet what Walmart will do to keep multiple users from buying digital copies from the same DVD or Blu-ray.
Executives from the five movie studios joined Walmart executive VP John Aden on stage for this event, and the consistent message is that this will be a “seamless” way for customers to move their physical movies to the digital realm and that this will be a coming out party for UltraViolet to help it gain mass awareness and adoption amongst consumers (something that’s definitely been a problem thus far). There’s also a massive marketing campaign planned that is “on the scale of a blockbuster film launch,” so we’ll definitely be hearing about this program over the course of the year.
The major strength of this program sounds like the use of Vudu — this service is already available on the PS3, Xbox 360, and a variety of Blu-ray players and Smart TVs, so users will be able to easily bring their new digital copies to the living room. If users are truly able to play UltraViolet movies from other solutions like Flixster and Paramount side-by-side with Vudu, UltraViolet might finally gain some traction amongst consumers.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/13/2867843/walmart-ultraviolet-disc-to-digital-official

iTunes Digital Copies of movies can now be served up by iCloud

A digital version of a movie now available to stream from iCloud on an Apple TV

Digital copies of certain movies can now by synced to and downloaded from iCloud, Tech of the Hub noted Friday. Customers who have iTunes Digital Copies of movies loaded on their iTunes will find that those movies are now also available from iCloud on their other devices for streaming.

iTunes Digital Copies have been sold inside DVD and Blu-ray movies for some time—the author of the original post used his 2009 copy of Star Trek as an example. The copies were originally meant for customers to add the movie to iTunes to play on their computers or synced to other devices.

With the recent upgrades to iTunes, the program checks those digital copies against movies available in the iTunes Store. If the movie is indeed available through iTunes, iCloud makes the movie available for streaming on any devices linked to the owner’s iTunes account, just as it has been doing with music using iTunes in the Cloud. By extension, this means your digital-copy movies can be streamed on an updated Apple TV without needing a host computer to feed the stream. If you’re looking to stream a digital copy you own from your own iCloud, check out the Purchased tab in the iTunes app and hit the button with the cloud icon.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/03/your-digital-movies-can-now-be-served-up-by-icloud.ars

Bethesda’s Todd Howard on Skyrim’s biggest development hurdle, fan-made mods, and what happens next

Todd Howard and his clan of designers from Bethesda Game Studios walked off the stage with top honors for ‘Game of the Year’ at the 2012 Game Developers Coice Awards last week, for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. As the large group shuffled off to party, Howard, the company’s boss, took a few moments to speak with the media.

Topics of discussion quickly merged into one frame of thought: what happens next? Everyone wants to know when the first piece of downloadable content will launch, how will it change the award-winning experience, and more.

Howard, being as used to sidestepping media inquires about unannounced items as he is working with a talented team, quickly shot those questions down.

“For us it’s probably the amount of processing power we keep to rendering on the screen. So, we have a game that we can put all this stuff on a screen, but we have a ton of processing we’re doing that isn’t on the screen,” Howard explained.

According to Howard, the balancing act between processing situations around players as well as far off in the distance is the biggest technical hurdle the team at Bethesda faces.

It’s easy to make a video of [new Skyrim] content, Howard said, but taking those ideas and forming them to completion so they fit into the game is a different story.

At DICE 2012, Howard revealed an internal video featuring content Bethesda employees created for Skyrim as part of a ‘Game Jam.’ The direction for the week-long event was simple: make anything you want, but make it in Skyrim. Some of the added content included a lycanthropy skill tree, rideable dragons, and more.

As for the Creation Kit content, Howard hasn’t personally used any of the mods but notes some of the team have added fan-made content and/or enhancements to their games. He didn’t want to call out any mods specifically for fear of leaving people out, but Howard did say that the community is “very, very good” about picking their favorite mods “and they’re usually right.”

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/bethesdas-todd-howard-on-skyrims-biggest-development-hurdle-f/#continued

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Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

Question: What is your favorite podcast? ( besides the Geekcast )

From Mehgan:

To your question: “What other podcasts do you listen to?”  I also listen to Slice of Scifi, a lot from Podiobooks.com (especially Nathan Lowell, Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchings, and Mur Lafferty), This American Life, TedTalks, Freakonomics Radio, I Should Be Writing, Escape Pod, Geologic Podcast, and GeekBeat.TV…I think that’s it.

Gozer: 1) Talkradar 2) Giant Bombcast 3) Weekend Confirmed

Lasertime

http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/2012/03/06/laser-time-saturday-morning-cereal/

Aaron: 1. I Should be Writing. 2. Transport Evolved. 3. Blue Line: Hockey Talk Radio

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Draw Something for iOS. Addictive!!!!! Won a Foursquare contest from McDonalds for the Shamrock Shake.  Nest thermometer!

Gozer: Mrs Gozer got an iPhone 4s! Game of Thrones on Blu Ray! Blu Ray Purchases: Rounders & Good Will Hunting for $15 and Godfather Trilogy for $25

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The Geek’s Choice:  Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter

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Featured Segment:  Double Feature !!

Mass Effect 3 Review & Update all your music to 256k using iTunes Match

Mass Effect 3

Using a smart playlist and iTunes Match, you can quickly get all 256k tracks and upgrade your library. This works great but be sure to listen to what you’ve re-downloaded as Apple may use a different version of the song.

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/15/quickly-upgrade-all-itunes-matched-songs-to-256kbps/

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

This Week’s Question:

What’s the geekiest thing that you have owned or own that people make fun of you for?

Hey guys,

I just started listening to you guys and I love it.  To your question: “What other podcasts do you listen to?”  I also listen to Slice of Scifi, a lot from Podiobooks.com (especially Nathan Lowell, Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchings, and Mur Lafferty), This American Life, TedTalks, Freakonomics Radio, I Should Be Writing, Escape Pod, Geologic Podcast, and GeekBeat.TV…I think that’s it.

Keep up the awesomeness,

Mehgan

P.S.  I missed turning in last weeks question so I thought I’d mention mine here.  I once worked for a guy who knew how to use a mouse and roughly where all of the buttons were on the keyboard, but when he decided it was a good idea to buy a playstation 3 he had to call me in to help install it.  I got to his house and he showed me his TV.  He got pretty far all by himself, but got stuck when the TV said to “Press X”.  This is where it gets embarassing for me.  I looked at the TVs remote control for what felt like an hour but was probably around a minute looking for the “X”.  Finally, it dawned on me that it wasn’t the TV asking for us to “press X”…it was the PlayStation.  My boss said that he had been looking for the “X” for two days.

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

News:

WSJ: Walmart to offer in-store disc to digital UltraViolet service

Hollywood’s latest digital ecosystem offers lots of promise, but in the five months since its release, it couldn’t be further from delivering on it. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Walmart will finally make use of its membership to the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem by offering in-store disc to digital UltraViolet upgrade opportunities, for a small price of course. No doubt UltraViolet can use all the help it can get, but this is far from what we were hoping for when we learned Walmart would be in the mix — we were hoping for the ability to buy and watch UltraViolet movies via Walmart’s Vudu. Beyond our personal wishes, this no where near the big revelation that most consumers would actually find interesting: the release of the Common File Format which promises universal offline playback of our movie collection.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/04/wsj-walmart-to-offer-in-store-disc-to-digital-ultraviolet-servi/

[1.1] What is UltraViolet?

UltraViolet (UVVU or UV for short) is an ecosystem for interoperable electronic content. It’s a branded set of specifications and agreements along with a centralized rights clearinghouse that allows retailers to sell movies that play on UltraViolet-compatible players and services.

Put another way, UltraViolet is DVD for the Internet. Just as the DVD logo means that you can buy a DVD from any seller and expect it to play in any player with a DVD logo (DVD players, DVD PCs, DVD entertainment systems in automobiles, and so on), the UltraViolet logo means you can buy UltraViolet movies from any seller, view the list of your purchased movies in your UltraViolet digital library, and expect them to play on anything with the UltraViolet logo (players, PCs, mobile phones, cable set-top boxes, and so on).

Here’s how UltraViolet works:

• Sign up – create a free UltraViolet account. You can add up to 5 additional account members.

• Shop – acquire UltraViolet movies and TV shows from participating retailers. There are many ways this can happen: buy a digital movie, redeem the “UltraViolet version” or “UltraViolet digital copy” that comes with a BD or DVD, get something free as part of a promotion, and so on. (You often need to first sign up for an account at each participating service.)

• Add – a “digital proof of purchase” is stored in your UltraViolet digital library, which you can access from participating players and services.

• Play (download) – obtain one or more UltraViolet players* (which includes apps on PCs, smartphones, and tablets). A one-time registration step connects your player with your UltraViolet account, which allows it to play anything in your UltraViolet library. You can download UltraViolet files to your UltraViolet players.* Once you’ve downloaded a file you can keep it and play it forever. You can copy files from player to player.

• Play (stream) – stream from your UltraViolet library using participating streaming services.

* UltraViolet is launching in phases. Streaming became available in fall 2011. Download players will become available in 2012.

Hello, Google Play: Google launches sweeping revamp of app, book, music, and video stores

Google is taking a big new step in bringing all of its content arms under one roof — and that new entity is called Google Play. Starting today, Google will begin a rebranding of the Android Market, Google Music, Google Books, and its video offerings. Until now, all of those content hubs had more or less resided under the banner of the Android Market, and it seems like the company is interested in making users understand those disparate pockets of content as a unified whole. A company spokesman called Play “an evolution of Android Market.”

Google Play (called the Google Play Store in some instances) will become the single destination for all of the company’s buyable content. Accordingly, the standard Android books, music, and video apps will become Google Play Books, Google Play Music, and Google Play Movies. But it’s not just about devices. Google Play is meant to bring together the company’s content offerings in both mobile and browser experiences.

Android devices running version 2.2 or later will have their Market app automatically updated “over the coming days,” while the Google Play Store moniker will make its way into the Google sandbar, much like the Google+ service. The Android Market name will be retired, though you won’t miss it much since the Google Play Store looks nearly identical.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/6/2848223/google-play-store-rebranded-android-market

Samsung’s AllShare Play pushes pictures from phone to cloud and TV

Here at Samsung’s product showcase in New York, multimedia connectivity played a big role. The company talked up its rebranded AllShare Play technology, not to be confused with Google Play, which was previously called AllShare.

Essentially AllShare Play allows owners of Samsung tablets and smartphones, Samsung Galaxy Tabs and Galaxy Nexus devices for instance, to push media files such as pictures to servers in the cloud. Samsung says it will save up to 5GB of data for users of the free AllShare Play service.

Samsung also partnered with remote file storage software maker SugarSync. As a result, AllShare Play can also upload files directly from Samsung mobile devices to SugarSync’s servers if you have access to a SugarSync account. To be clear, current Samsung 2012 HDTVs already have the SugarSync app installed and users can get much of the same functionality just by downloading the SugarSync app from the Android Market.

This is the first time, however, Samsung has demoed this version of the AllShare Play app, which is still in development but expected to become available “soon.” Another compelling capability is SmartView, which lets you mirror what’s being displayed, and heard, on compatible Samsung TVs to enjoy on tablets and smartphones around the house. All devices need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network for this to happen, though, so a Slingbox competitor it is not.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57391735-94/samsungs-allshare-play-pushes-pictures-from-phone-to-cloud-and-tv/#ixzz1oNB5v2uj

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Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

Question:

What is your funniest tech and old people story!!

From Doug: Back in the early 2000′s my grandparents called me because their computer wasn’t working.  I came over and checked it out and saw nothing wrong.  They said it wouldn’t take their answers when they were playing “Who want to be a Millionaire”.  So I loaded it up and it worked fine.  Then my step grandma tried to play and after a few minutes came into the living room to get me telling me it still didn’t work.  So I went into the office where she started tapping the screen yelling see it wont take my answers.

Gozer’s Dad: Watch Vulu. Hulu + Vudu = Vulu , MegaGigabyte, upgrade to Leopard  “Oh i used to have a Tiger“

Aaron: My mother asks me once every 3-months how to burn a CD on her Mac.

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Geek This Week:

 

Aaron: Book launch! Updated a ton of music using iTunes Match. Details next episode. Began listening to ‘The Rookie’ from Scott Sigler. It’s the first in the GFL series and quite good!

Gozer: 140 Hours into Skyrim. Mass Effect 3. Bought a Seagate Thunderbolt adapter $100 without wire ( wire $49)

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The Geek’s Choice:

 

Mobile World Congress 2012: best of show

Best Smartphone: HTC One X
HTC’s One line of handsets were impressive from the One Vto the micro arc oxidized One S and while they impressed theOne X stole the show. While it almost took fisticuffs to pick the winner, the One X came out on top because of its stellar camera, beautiful 4.7-inch 720p Super LCD 2 non-PenTiledisplay, quad-core Tegra 3 processor and the unibody polycarbonate housing. The One X is running Sense 4.0 with ICS and despite that it absolutely flies. Surprisingly the usual sluggishness of Sense is all but gone, though we know HTC has lightened and fine-tuned its overlay, the Tegra 3 CPU no doubt does loads to help give it that silky smooth UI feel. The Beats Audio profiles, rendered via both hardware and software were a lot of fun and do add a great twist to one of a handset’s most popular functions. The camera is also very impressive both in image quality and features, though a dedicated camera button certainly would make it even better.

Best Tablet: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
We knew that Samsung planned to launch the Galaxy Note10.1 at Mobile World Congress, but we didn’t know just how huge its presence and push would be at the booth. It is safe to say that between sketch artists, and Adobe’s Touch apps the super Note was Samsung’s flagship launch at MWC 2012 easily taking up 40% of the booth and a lion’s share of the attention. While not drastically different then the Note we reviewed, the increased screen real estate, perfect scrolling and build quality makes this our choice. Samsung also pushed out two new Galaxy Tab 2 devices — in both 7.0 and 10.1 sizes –, but this second S-Pen toting iteration of the Touch line still won out.

Best Device Design: Panasonic Eluga
Thin? Check. Lightweight? Check. Completely waterproof? Check. A thing of beauty to gaze upon? Absolutely. Panasonic’s oddly named Eluga set was a stand out for the simple reason that we all agreed it was without question simply the nicest looking set of the show. Its 4.3-inchAMOLED qHD 960 x 540 display is crisp and bright, svelte 7.8mm thinness, and curved edges made it really comfortable to hold. Heck, even if it should slip from your grasp and fall in the fish tank it is waterproof and therefore as happy submerged as not. Sure, it didn’t pack ICS or the biggest display but Panasonic’s Eluga somehow finds a perfect balance of style and features.

Best Connectivity Device: Option XYFI
Option reappeared at MWC 2012 with the XYFI, the ‘world’s smallest’ personal hotspot and first device we’ve seen from them in some time. What makes it so diminutive is that it can live with or without its massive 4000mAh battery, plug into your car or home via clever – and frankly very beautiful – adapters to deliver all your 3G or WiFi connectivity. The version we had a chance to play with only featured HSPA+ speeds up to 14Mbps, but LTE and quicker versions are in the works. Other notables? Clicking the button on the top of the device pops the USB port open in pure West Side Story switchblade-style, what more could you want?

Best Innovation: Nokia PureView 808
The Nokia PureView 808 actually packs a couple feature worth mentioning: its monster 41 megapixel camera and the Rich Recording audio feature. The camera steals the show with touch-free continuous autofocus at 1080p, 4x zoom with the swipe of a finger, and the magical interpolation it does to render 4 or 5 pixels into one to reduce file sizes. Snapping a picture of a piece of fabric at full resolution yields zoomed images where you can quite literally count the individual fibers. Videos recorded in extremely low light are clean with little to no noise. Nokia’s Rich Recording finally fixes the other half of video quality we’ve never really poked fun at: clipping and distortion. The system can record levels up to 145dB – a jet and hearing damage is in the 140dB level at 100 feet – with no loss of quality. To say it is an astounding effect is a wild understatement. A sample from a Rammstein concert we saw on one of the 808s we saw is almost surreal, it is literally as clear as if you were there. We’re really excited to get our hands on this Belle OS device for an in depth look.

Best of the rest: Intel’s Medfield and Asus Padphone
It’s always nice to see a new entrant in the chipset world which ultimately yields us new devices, and in this case we saw two showing off Intel’s Medfield-based Android offerings: Orange’s Santa Clara and the Xolo X900. The demo focused on device speed, how well it rendered HTML, scrolling speed and the like and both sets delivered. The Xolo X900 – perhaps best name in show – is bound for India and the Santa Clara will debut in France and the UK on Orange. Asus’ PadPhonewas unique at the show in that it morphs from a 4.3-inch slab into a 10-inch tablet, quite like the Atrix did. Earth shattering? No, but the PadPhone is more that the sum of the parts: including its display, metallic accents, and range of accessories definitely helped it stand out.

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Featured Segment:   iPad 3 Preview

 

Apple TV update, iPad 3 for Verizon and AT&T LTE launching tomorrow, no quad-core SoC

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/6/2849384/sources-apple-tv-update-ipad-3-ipad-hd-lte-verizon-att

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Darkness 2 Contest Commercial

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

This Week’s Question:

What is your favorite podcast? ( besides the Geekcast )

Feedback:

From @jamesnelis:

 

@TheGeekcast Content is king, Sky (sky.com) have a 3D channel in the UK and the BBC dabbles now and then. Thanks for the mention

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Sponsors:

 

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>

News:

Intel Ivy Bridge launch delayed until June

The launch of Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors has been pushed back until June, according to the Financial Times. Intel China chairman Sean Maloney told the FT that the processors were originally due in April, but have been delayed due to the new manufacturing process the chips use.

The Ivy Bridge processors are the first to use Intel’s new 22nm process with 3D transistors. The new process allows for substantially reduced power consumption or increased clockspeeds, with Intel describing the performance gains in low-power chips as “unprecedented.”

Maloney’s statements corroborate previous rumors that volume shipment of Ivy Bridge was delayed until June. These rumored delays were attributed to the company having large stockpiles of unsold Sandy Bridge inventory.

The delays are sure to come as a blow to all those wanting to buy—or sell—an Ultrabook laptop. On top of its lower power consumption, Ivy Bridge will also sport a considerably faster integrated GPU, with benchmarks of leaked parts showing the new GPU to be about 60-70 percent faster than the current Sandy Bridge version.

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/02/intel-ivy-bridge-launch-delayed-until-june.ars

The Witcher 2 gets an Enhanced Edition and a confrontational new trailer

CD Projekt unveiled the Xbox 360′s Enhanced Edition of The Witcher 2 last month with a standout trailer and barrage of new features. That first clip took the unusual but engaging tactic of focusing on the game’s antagonist, Letho. But now that you’ve got your head around all the console adaptation’s enhancements, it’s time to be (re)introduced to The Witcher 2′s hero, Geralt of Rivia, caught in the middle of a gruffness-contest against the chrome-domed villain.

As you’ll have noted if you stayed right to the end, the Xbox 360 edition of The Witcher 2 will come in two sizes: the standard-issue Enhanced Edition and the further-enhanced Dark Edition. The latter includes an art book, making-of DVD and a medallion for you to wear whenever you wish to strike fear into the hearts of neighborhood black magicians.

http://www.gamesradar.com/witcher-2-enhanced-edition-gets-confrontational-new-trailer/

No joke: HBO Go coming to Xbox 360 April 1

Engadget reports that HBO Co-President Eric Kessler has announced that the cable network’s popular HBO Go on-demand streaming service will be available through the Xbox 360 starting April 1. The service has been expected on the system since last December, when Microsoft began rolling out additional Xbox 360 streaming video options from content providers ranging from SyFy and Bravo to YouTube and Crackle.

Xbox 360 HBO Go users will still need a valid cable account with an HBO subscription to access the service, which is also available through Web browsers, Roku boxes, iOS and Android devices, and some Samsung Smart TVs. The service currently offers selected movies, sports and comedy programming as well as complete episode archives for all of HBO’s original series.

Streaming video content is becoming an increasing focus for video game console makers of late, with Nintendo reportedly talking to “top content companies” about getting expanded video offerings on its upcoming Wii U system.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2012/02/no-joke-hbo-go-coming-to-xbox-360-april-1.ars

Verizon CFO says shared data plans coming mid-year

We’ve already from Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam that the carrier was planning to offer shared data plans. And leaks have indicated that the carrier is already prepping its backend system for the change. Now CFO Fran Shammo has narrowed down the time frame a bit for us, telling a group of investors that family data plans should debut towards the middle of the year. But, he was quick to clarify this isn’t as simple as setting a launch date. The shift to the new billing system will take time and not everyone will be migrated on day one. Still, Shammo indicated it will be an important part of the ongoing transition to 4G and its future plans for mobile dominance.

Update: We mistakenly identified Fran Shammo as the CTO when, in fact, he is the CFO.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/28/verizon-cto-says-shared-data-plans-coming-mid-year/

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Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

Question:

What was your dumbest tech moment?

Aaron: Falling for Alt-F4 joke back on IRC. Not getting LAN access at college!
Gozer: Aaron repairing my PC 2X & using my optical audio cable improperly.

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: The Machete Order Reorganizes The Star Wars Movies For Enhanced Viewing

http://www.howtogeek.com/107028/the-machete-order-reorganizes-the-star-wars-movies-for-enhanced-viewing/

Gozer: PSVita, Ziggurat, iPhone, iPad & Remembering Blockbuster Video ( for $13 : Whiteout, The Merry Gentleman, The Ruins, The Last Exoricism Blu Ray & 3 discs of Roots DVD )

Aaron & Gozer: Hoverboard Preorder March 1st!! With exclusive 6 inch Hoverboard with preorders!!

http://www.mattycollector.com/store/matty/ContentTheme/pbPage.News#2012BTTFHoverboardSale

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The Geek’s Choice:  This will return on another episode.

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Featured Segment:   Samsung Galaxy Note

• AT&T

Form Factor

• Bar, Touch Screen

Size

• Product Dimensions: 5.78″ x 3.27″ x 0.38″

• Product Weight: 6.28 Ounces

Color

• Carbon Blue

Battery

• Standby Time: 10.4 Days

• Continuous Usage: 10 Hours

• Battery Type and Size: 2,500mAh

Network

• Data Speed: GSM Quad-band: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; UMTS; Tri-band: 850/1900/2100MHz; LTE; Dual Band: Band 4 & Band 17

Platform

• Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread

CPU

• 1.5GHz dual-core

Display

• Display Resolution: 1280 x 800 Pixel

• Display Size: 5.3”

• Display Technology: HD Super AMOLED™

User Interface

• User Interface Features: Widgets; TouchWiz; Social Hub; Smart Unlock; Accelerometer

Camera

• Rear- facing Camera Resolution: 8.0 Megapixel

• Front-facing Camera Resolution: 2.0 Megapixel

• Digital Optical Zoom: 4x

• Auto Focus; Camcorder; DivX HD® ; HD Recording; HD Playback; TV-Out

Audio

• Music Player

Video

• Video Player; Video, Streaming

Fun and Entertainment

• Downloadable Content; Wallpapers, Animated; Samsung Widget Gallery; Media Hub HD

Business & Office

• Microsoft® Office-compatible; SAFE™ Samsung approved for Enterprise

Messaging Options

• Email; Corporate Email; Picture Messaging; Text Messaging; Video Messaging; Swype™ ; Predictive Text (T9®/XT9®)

Connectivity

• Bluetooth®; Bluetooth® Profiles, HID; Wi-Fi® ; Wi-Fi® Hotspot; HTML Browser; GPS

Memory

• Internal Memory: 16GB

• External Memory: 32GB

Calling Functions

• Speakerphone; Voice Recognition; Voicemail; Speech-to-text; Text-to-speech; Etiquette/Gesture Mode; Music ID; Picture Caller ID; Multitasking; Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC); TTY; Airline Mode

S-Pen, Share media hub ( HDTV smart adapter ), car dock 3.5 mm jack into auxillary, USB host adapter

http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-I717ZBAATT-features

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Darkness 2 Contest Commercial

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

This Week’s Question:

What is your funniest tech and old people story!!

Feedback:

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Sponsors:

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News:

Next version of OS X to be more iOS-like than ever with Mountain Lion

Apple significantly accelerated the upgrade cycle for Mac OS X on Thursday, announcing just seven months after the release of Lion that the next major version of OS X will be available in summer 2012. Dubbed Mountain Lion (we note no mention of a version number, like 10.8), the new OS will bring even more iOS-like features to the Mac, including Messages, Notes, and Reminders. Registered Mac developers have access to the first developer preview starting today.

Mountain Lion will offer increased integration between iOS and OS X. A new Messages app replaces iChat, which can send messages, video, and images between Macs and iOS devices (yes, iMessage has come to the desktop). According to Apple, Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo Messenger, and Google Talk. A beta version of Messages is available to all Lion users starting today (thought at the time of publishing the download is currently unavailable).

Notification Center on Mac OS X Mountain Lion is hidden under the Desktop.

Mountain Lion will also include Mac versions of Notes, Reminders, Game Center, Notification Center, Share Sheets, OS-wide Twitter integration, and AirPlay Mirroring. Many of the new apps, such as Notes, Reminders, and Messages, will sync seamlessly with iOS devices and other Macs connected to your iCloud account. Game Center will enable live multiplayer gameplay between Macs, iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches.

A Share Sheet makes it easy to tweet about a webpage in Safari.

Share Sheets will let users share and tweet links, photos, and videos from any app that supports them, including Safari, Quick Look, Preview, and more. Third party developers will be able to add Share Sheet support to their own apps as well. Notification Center will centralize alerts from apps like Mail, Calendar, and Reminders, as well as offering a centralized API for developers to send alerts as well (so long, Growl). Finally, AirPlay Mirroring enables any Mac to send a 720p video stream to an Apple TV (though apparently not to an iOS device).

AirPlay Mirroring sends a 720p stream of your desktop to any Apple TV.

Mountain Lion includes additional improvements, like updated iCloud support. In addition to offering a single sign-in to set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime, and Find My Mac, improved iCloud Documents APIs will make it easier to keep files stored in iCloud updated across Macs and iOS devices. There’s also improved Chinese language support, including access to common services like Baidu, QQ, Youku, Tudou, Sina weibo, as well as enhancements to Chinese input.

An interesting new feature called Gatekeeper is designed to offer improved security for installed third-party apps. Essentially, Gatekeeper can be configured to install apps from any source, from developers with a special developer ID provided by Apple labeling them as “trusted,” or strictly from the Mac App Store. Users have expressed concern since the introduction of the Mac App Store that Apple would eventually limit all app downloads to those from the Store; while Gatekeeper could be viewed as another step towards that goal, we think it provides some level of granularity in controlling what sources a user can get apps from. Furthermore, it will likely be a welcome feature in enterprise settings, where admins could limit access as required by security policies without completely eliminating the ability for users to install apps themselves.

Gatekeeper will let users set their Mac to install any app, apps from “trusted” sources, or Mac App Store only.

Apple, Inc.

Developers gain access to “hundreds” of new APIs, many of which debuted on iOS 5, such as GLKit for integration OpenGL support. Other APIs include GameKit, 64-bit QuickTime, and enhanced multitouch. Mountain Lion will also include a revamped graphics subsystem and improved address space layout randomization for better security.

As noted, Mac OS X Mountain Lion is expected to be released this summer, and will likely be a $29.99 purchase via the Mac App Store.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/02/apple-unleashes-mountain-lion-on-developers-set-for-summer-release.ars

Comcast launching Xfinity Streampix to compete with Netflix

Comcast is launching its own video streaming service this week, the company announced on Tuesday. Dubbed “Xfinity Streampix,” the new service appears to address concerns that customers are increasingly attracted to online services such as Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and Hulu Plus.

Comcast already offers limited streaming access to current TV shows and other content to cable subscribers via its Xfinity TV service. Xfinity Streampix, on the other hand, will give users access to an expanded library of TV shows and movies. Disney-ABC Television Group, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, and Cookie Jar Entertainment have signed on as launch partners for the service, which goes live on Thursday.

Like Xfinity TV, Streampix will be included in certain cable subscription packages. However, it will also be offered as a $4.99 per month add-on for other customers. Unfortunately, Comcast appears to be offering the service only to existing video services subscribers; if you’re merely paying Comcast for its high speed Internet service, you won’t be able to add Streampix.

Customers will be able to access Streampix content away from home via the Xfinity TV website and iPad app. Comcast said it plans to expand access to consoles like Xbox 360 as well as mobile devices running Android “in the coming year.”

Given the fact that a cable box isn’t needed to access the content, we see little reason why Comcast isn’t offering a version of the service to its Internet-only subscribers. These users still have no other choice but to subscribe to competing services like Netflix, which already have much larger libraries of content to choose from and are already available on more devices.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/02/comcast-launching-xfinity-streampix-to-compete-with-netflix.ars

How Much Would it Cost to build the Death Star?

Building a massive space weapon is all very well, but you have to find the materials to build it with. It’s easy to say that “sure, the Death Star would be expensive” but is there actually enough iron in the Earth to make the first Death Star? Centives decided to find out.

We began by looking at how big the Death Star is. The first one is reported to be 140km in diameter and it sure looks like it’s made of steel. But how much steel? We decided to model the Death Star as having a similar density in steel as a modern warship. After all, they’re both essentially floating weapons platforms so that seems reasonable.Scaling up to the Death Star, this is about 1.08×1015 tonnes of steel. 1 with fifteen zeros.

Which seems like a colossal mass but we’ve calculated that from the iron in the earth, you could make just over 2 billion Death Stars. You see the Earth’s crust may have a limited amount of iron, but the core is mostly our favourite metal and is both very big and very dense, and it’s from here that most of our death-star iron would come.

But, before you go off to start building your apocalyptic weapon, do bear in mind two things. Firstly, the two billion death stars is mostly from the Earth’s core which we would all really rather you didn’t remove. And secondly, at today’s rate of steel production (1.3 billion tonnes annually), it would take 833,315 years to produce enough steel to begin work. So once someone notices what you’re up to, you have to fend them off for 800 millennia before you have a chance to fight back. In context, it takes under an hour to get the steel forHMS Illustrious.

Oh, and the cost of the steel alone? At 2012 prices, about $852,000,000,000,000,000. Or roughly 13,000 times the world’s GDP.*

But then again, you can just take out a loan from the entire planet and then default on them in the most awesome way possible.

(For the record when converting between iron and steel, Centives assumed a medium steel of 99.5% iron)

*Centives erroneously reported this figure as $8,100,000,000,000,000, which was off by a magnitude of 100. We’d like to thank commenter Ianvl for pointing this out. Despite our original error, the cost of the death star still comes out to be 13,000 times the world’s GDP as we originally reported. Sincere apologies for the mistake.

http://www.centives.net/S/2012/how-much-would-it-cost-to-build-the-death-star/

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Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us.

Question: What celebrities do you follow on Twitter?

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Loving Venmo! Done reading “Ghost in the Wires” by Kevin Mitnick. On a huge Sliders kick. Watched the ‘Touch’ sneak preview on FOX. Spartacus! My second book is coming out.

Gozer: Seagate 1.5 terabyte portable extenal hard drive usb 3.0. Comic Book Men. The River. Spartacus: Vengeance.

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The Geek’s Choice:  PuzzleJuice for iOS.

New addictive game! Only 99 cents.

“PUZZLEJUICE IS A GAME THAT WILL PUNCH YOUR BRAIN IN THE FACE.”

http://puzzlejuice.asherv.com/

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Featured Segment:   Darkness 2 Review

The Darkness 2 Contest Commercial

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Feedback & Items of Note:

Poll the geeks: We’re trying out a new addition to the show where we want to know what you think! We’ll feature your answers on our next episode. Be sure to call, email or tweet your responses to us. 

This Week’s Question:

What was your dumbest tech moment?

Feedback:

@jamesnelis on Twitter: can’t believe no love for 3D. Had it for 6 months now, use 3d every chance I get. Buy 3d disc if it’s an option now over 2d

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Sponsors:

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 1 audio book credit a month for only $14.95 per month!  Just visit <a href=”http://www.audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast“>AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast</a>