The Geekcast #310 – The Avengers Review (Of Course)
Posted on : 09-05-2012 | By : geekcast | In : Episodes
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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.
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:
- The Avengers, $200.3 million
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, $169.2 million
- The Dark Knight, $158.4 million
- The Hunger Games, $152.5 million
- Spider-Man 3, $151.1 million
- The Twilight Saga: New Moon, $142.8 million
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1, $138.1 million
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, $135.6 million
- Iron Man 2, $128.1 million
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, $125 million
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Feedback & Items of Note:
Question of the week
What super power would you want and why?
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