Podcasting at the Speed of the Internet

The Geekcast #349 – It’s Tool Time



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News:

Foursquare revamps business pages to take on Yelp as web visitors hit 50 million per month

 

As Foursquare has evolved from friend-finder to expansive recommendations engine,Yelp has emerged as the company’s most formidable enemy. Foursquare’s mobile apps have for some time stood head and shoulders above Yelp’s, but there was always one area where Foursquare lagged: the web. Today, a big update on Foursquare’s web app hopes to change that — a fresh coat of paint that front-loads Foursquare’s top selling points over its rival.

“This is the place to make a first impression,” says Foursquare’s lead web engineer Mike Singleton. 50 million people come to the site every month, which is an astounding number compared to the 33 million users Foursquare says it has. A large portion of that traffic comes from Google, Singleton says, and that’s where he sees the greatest opportunity to earn new users. In fact, the number of referrals from Google has doubled in the last year, and that trend is expected to continue. Despite ballooning web user numbers, the site had not seen a significant visual update since November 2011.

Foursquare’s new business pages are far more colorful, and put a much greater emphasis on the areas where Foursquare stands out: its ability to generate relationships between similar places and judge appeal based on hundreds of signals like check-ins and likes. The service has to some extent evolved into Pandora, but for restaurants and bars. The tough part is creating pages that work for both “super users” and for the increasing number of people flocking in from Google searches. These are two very different kinds of people, Singleton says.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/23/4256192/foursquare-revamps-business-pages-50-million-web-visitors

Cry for Verizon to kill contracts grows louder

A petition from Change.org needs just 30,000 more signatures before it can take it to Verizon.

The calls for Verizon Wireless to drop the contract are getting louder.

The petition posted on Change.org calling for Verizon to kill off its contract model has garnered nearly 120,000 signatures, with 25,000 signatures added over the weekend alone. It only needs another 30,000 before it can take it to the company.

The petition was created by Verizon customer Mike Beauchamp on April 7 after Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told CNET on the sidelines of an event held earlier this month that he would consider moving to a no-contract model if consumers demanded it, and said the process to shift to no-contracts wouldn’t be difficult.

The comments came shortly after T-Mobile dropped service contracts and subsidies as part of its “Uncarrier” campaign. Under the new plans, consumers pay the full price for their smartphones, but pay a lower monthly rate for cellular service, ultimately saving consumers money.

A Verizon representative noted that the company already offers a month-to-month plan that requires customers to pay the full cost of a device upfront.

“Verizon Wireless has for years offered many different choices for customers, including contract plans or month-to-month plans that do not require a contract,” the representative said.

In addition to eliminating the contract, Beauchamp challenged Verizon to come up with an affordable way for consumers to pay for that smartphone. He added that a no-contract model is a better reflection of the faster moving wireless industry, and noted that he didn’t start the petition because of any dissatisfaction with the service.

“I’ve been a long-time Verizon customer and I don’t see myself ever leaving; but I want that choice myself; I don’t want them making it for me and imposing stiff penalties if I do decide to leave,” he said in the petition.

T-Mobile, for instance, has changed the model by charging a smaller upfront fee and a monthly payment that covers the cost of the device over 24 months. Consumers can pay in advance. They can also leave whenever they want, but have to pay the balance of the cost of the device, which some criticize as just another version of a contract.

Last week, Verizon said that it was changing its upgrade policy so that consumers would have to wait the full 24 months of their contract before they could change their phone at the subsidized rate. Previously, subscribers could upgrade their phone at the discounted rate after 20 months.

The change drew a lot of questions during last week’s earnings conference call, but Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said he didn’t foresee any backlash from customers.

“We don’t anticipate a lot of dissatisfaction,” he said during the call last week. “We’re not sz

 

Xbox 720 official announcement May 21st at 10 a.m.

 

It seems the long wait is now finally over! Microsoft’s next Xbox, known as the “Xbox 720″, might be at last be revealed on May 21st. I certainly anticipate it, anyway.

Don Mattrick, for those of you who are unaware, is the President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Businesses. He is responsible for quite a number of things: Xbox 360, Kinect, XBL, Mediaroom, etc.

As the image clearly states, he – along with other team members – has invited GAME for a “special” unveiling. My immediate assumption was that the Xbox 720 is finally going to be revealed. Having looked up on Mattrick, however, there may be more in store than the possible reveal of the next Xbox console – like the alleged Kinect 2.0.

The month of the reveal itself was already anticipated to be in May after Microsoft allegedly delayed their expected April reveal, but now that a day has been set gamers have something to look forward to.

What’s curious about the invite itself – which GAME also picked up on – is that instead of the title saying a “next generation revealed”, the titles states a “new generation revealed.” That’s quite a claim to make, considering the only “new” generation that has been rumoured so far is apparently going to be a very always-online one. Nevertheless, what has been said so far are just rumours and nothing officially has been confirmed as of yet.

 

http://www.thegamersdrop.com/2013/04/24/xbox-720-reveal-officially-announced-for-may-21st/

iPhone 4 “antennagate” settlement checks arriving in the mail

 

iPhone 4 owners who filed claims over the so-called “antennagate” have begun receiving their settlement checks. Posts about the checks began popping up on Twitter in addition to sites like 9to5Mac, where several readers confirmed they had received their $15 payouts.

The iPhone 4 was released in July of 2010 and was immediately met with controversy over its “work of genius” antenna design. Unlike previous in iPhones, Apple had designed the iPhone 4 so the stainless steel bezel on the outside of the phone would act as antennas for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular. But a weak spot was discovered by users who bridged the gap between two antenna segments with their hand while using the device—when held like this, many users observed a drop in the cell signal, and some reported an increase in dropped calls.

Apple did not react well at first—at least from a PR standpoint. Then-CEO Steve Jobs responded to an e-mail from Ars in 2010 saying users should “just avoid holding it in this way.” Then the company held a special event in Cupertino for the sole purpose of showing that competitors’ devices had the same issue—an odd move for Apple, which typically doesn’t offer public responses about product issues. The company later agreed to give free iPhone 4 bumpers (or an equivalent case from another manufacturer) to iPhone 4 owners, but it wasn’t enough to quell the uproar, and a series of class action lawsuits followed.

Those cases were eventually rolled into one and settled in February of last year—nearly two iPhone introductions later. Affected users were encouraged to submit a claim for either another free iPhone 4 bumper or a $15 settlement check. Now, more than a year later, those checks are being sent out, as evidenced by the photos being posted online.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/04/iphone-4-antennagate-settlement-checks-arriving-in-the-mail/

 

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Geek This Week:

 

Aaron: Seeing Star Trek: TNG in the theatre on Thursday.

The NES has been re-pinned! Picking it up later this week.

Bought the latest MacHeist bundle. Was only $10!!

 

Gozer: Injustice: Gods Among Us

 

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The Geek’s Choice:  Gozer’s Hypothetical Game of Thrones Fighting Game

 

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Featured Segment: Tool Time w/ Aaron and Gozer

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Feedback and items of Note:

 

Hey guys

Just looking around 9to5mac and found this article http://9to5mac.com/2013/04/03/analyst-apple-hdtv-coming-this-year-with-iring-motion-controller-mini-itv-second-screen-experience/

it is saying that an actual Apple TV will come out later this year,use a ring for gestures, and use an iPad sized second screen.

This sounds cool but I don’t believe they will make the second screen and should just use an iPad because the people who will buy

the TV will be really invested in Apple and will most likely have an iPad or iPad Mini.As always, love the show

 

Dawson

7th Grade Geek

 

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Sponsors:

 

Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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>

 

Episodes

The Geekcast #348 – Just Get On With It



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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:35 — 75.0MB)

Show notes lost to the ether of the Internet. Sorry!

Episodes

The Geekcast #347 – Crowdsourced Cell Coverage Maps



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News:

It’s official: Google Fiber is coming to Austin “by mid-2014”

Product, pricing will be “roughly similar to Kansas City,” Google says

Just days after Google sent out a sneaky little announcement inviting the press to the Texas capital, the company has now confirmed what we’d all long suspected. Austin is slated to receive the gigabit speed of Google Fiber “by mid-2014,” with a “similar choice of products as our customers in Kansas City,” priced at “roughly similar to Kansas City.”

Google has been reticent to say what its broader plans are for bringing Google Fiber to other communities around the US—on Monday, two Wall Street analysts concluded that Google likelywouldn’t bring it to the rest of the country.

Currently, in the Kansas City area, the service comes in three options: a $120 per month package (which includes TV-over-IP and a DVR to go along with it), a $70 per month package (same gigabit speed, minus the TV), and an option to get your house “Google Fiber”-ready at a one-time construction cost of $300 (which can be split up over 12 months)—that will bring 5Mbps, for free, over seven years.

“We’re also planning to connect many public institutions as we build in Austin—schools, hospitals, community centers, etc.—at a gigabit for no charge,” the company added in a corporate blog post on Monday.

Google will be hosting a conference call for reporters on Monday afternoon, and we will update this story once we’ve heard more from the call.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/04/its-official-google-fiber-is-coming-to-austin-by-mid-2014/

Google begins rolling out Google Play revamp for Android

It was only yesterday that we reported on the leaks, but it looks like Google has made it official. In a blog post on the official Android blog, Michael Siliski, group product manager for Google Play, announced the rollout of the redesigned Android marketplace for Android phones and tablets running Android 2.2 Froyo or higher.

Siliski says that the redesign is focused on being “simple [and] clean” and that it’s meant to help users find content faster. We’ve done a side-by-side comparison to show the old Google Play store—a jumbled mix of images and text—next to the revamped version. The latter shows a nicely compartmentalized interface with a dedicated row of buttons at the top for the types of media that can be downloaded from the service.

The new design has bigger images that “jump off the page.” Content that belongs together is grouped together, and purchasing has been simplified so that it’s faster to check out of the Play store. Even individual categories have been given a makeover.

If you haven’t received an update to Google Play just yet (we haven’t), sit tight. Google says it will roll out over the next few weeks.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/google-begins-rolling-out-google-play-revamp-for-android/

 

60,000 Apps pulled from Google Play – http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/nearly-60k-low-quality-apps-booted-from-google-play-store-in-february-points-to-increased-spam-fighting/

 

Waiting for a 1TB SSD below $1 per GB? Crucial says wait no more

Crucial announced in a press release this morning that it has begun selling its latest round of consumer-grade solid-state disks (SSDs), the M500. The 2.5-inch SATA III SSDs are the follow-up to Crucial’s M4 SSDs, which are a pretty popular choice for people adding SSDs to existing systems (I think I have four or five M4s scattered in computers around my house).

The drives use 20nm MLC NAND sourced from Micron (and if you’re not sure what MLC NAND is, we’ve got a great SSD primer right here), along with a Micron-provided SSD controller. Performance for the M500 drives is what you’d expect from a drive in this class: sequential read and write speeds of 500MB per second and 400MB per second.

But the big news about the announcement is the capacities. The M500 is available in standard pedestrian capacities of 120GB and 240GB, as well as a large capacity of 480GB, but the top-end SKU is the exciting one: 960GB for just $599.99 (62¢ per raw GB). The MSRPs for the smaller capacities are $129.99 for the 120GB (about $1 per raw GB), $219.99 for the 240GB (about 91¢ per raw GB), and $399.99 for the 480GB (about 83¢ per raw GB).

A 960GB SSD for that price is a heck of a deal; a quick scan on NewEgg and other retailers doesn’t really turn up anything in remotely the same category. Some OEMs are including big SSDs in their offerings—Apple famously includes a 768GB SSD in its latest round of iMacs that adds a whopping $900 to the computer’s price—but this is far and away the least-expensive big SSD you can get.

Or could get, anyway—the SKUs are showing up at various places, including Amazon and NewEgg, but Amazon is out of stock and NewEgg has a $50 markup on the price over the MSRP.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/waiting-for-a-1tb-ssd-below-1-per-gb-crucial-says-wait-no-more/

 

The Xbox 720 (Durango) rumors keep flowing

First, The Verge spilled the beans on a rumored reveal date. We had been expecting (or maybe just hoping for) some kind of Xbox 720 reveal this month, but if The Verge has it right, we’ll have to wait until May. May 21st to be exact. After that, we’ll see more about the new Xbox at E3 (June 11-13) and at Microsoft’s Build conference (June 26-28). It looks like we’re going to have about a month of intense Xbox news.

Next up is a report at Bloomberg saying the new Xbox will run on an AMD system-on-a-chip. So what does this mean? Well first it means backwards compatibility isn’t likely since the Xbox 360 is based on Power PC architecture and the AMD is x86. And it means that the PS4 and the Xbox Durango will have similar internals since Sony is also using AMD chips (and similarly won’t offer backwards compatibility). In Sony’s case, they’re going with 8 64-bitJaguar cores. Bloomberg says Microsoft is also going with Jaguar but doesn’t get specific about the number.

So for the ‘next generation’ porting titles from PC to Xbox Durango to PS4 should be fairly easy. But that also makes you wonder what Sony and Microsoft will do to make their consoles feel unique.

Let’s keep going with a piece from Forbes. Paul Tassi dug up a transcription of a WhatTheTech podcast where Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott spoke about the new Xbox. He speculates on price: $500, or $300 with some kind of subscription model. Let’s hope he’s way off base; I’m not sure the world is ready for another $500 videogame console from Microsoft or Sony (or anyone).

And going way back to last Friday, Microsoft Game Studios creative director Adam Orth started a bit of a firestorm when we started tweeting about not understanding the big deal over an always-online console with the hashtag #dealwithit. Along the way he kind of slagged rural communities and anyone who doesn’t have 24/7 Internet. After Microsoft issued an apology on his behalf, Orth set his twitter feed to private, but not before NeoGafsnagged screen captures of them.

Needless to say having a Microsoft employee trivializing any concerns over ‘always connected’ has given even more credibility to the rumor we were talking about on Friday: that the new Xbox will only operate for a few minutes without an Internet connection.

http://www.itworld.com/operating-systems/351614/xbox-720-durango-rumors-keep-flowing

Batman: Arkham Origins launching October 25

Warner Bros. Montreal developing prequel starring “unrefined” Batman and Deathstroke for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Wii U; 3DS and PS Vita entry Blackgate also in the works.

The next entry in the Batman Arkham series has been announced. Game Informer today revealed Batman: Arkham Origins, an all-new game from Warner Bros. Games Montreal, not Rocksteady Studios.

Due out October 25, 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii U, Arkham Origins takes place years before the past Arkham games. It stars a “young, unrefined” Batman and will highlight the Caped Crusader’s first encounter with many noted villains, including Deathstroke.

Leading development on Arkham Origins is creative director Eric Holmes, lead designer of open-world action games like The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Prototype.

In addition, a 3DS and PlayStation Vita project–Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate–will launch the same day as the console and PC versions. Described as 2.5D Metroid-style game and a “completely separate experience,” the title takes place after the events of Arkham Origins.

Blackgate is in development at Armature Studio, the outfit founded by several Metroid Prime trilogy leads.

Though Rocksteady Studios is not directly developing Arkham Origins, the outfit has given WB Montreal “full access” to its modified Unreal engine to “capture the look and feel of the Arkhamverse,” according to Game Informer.

Rocksteady is rumored to be at work on a stylized prequel due in 2014 at the earliest. The game will reportedly detail Batman’s first encounter with the Joker, and is based on the Silver Age of DC comics from the 1950s

http://www.gamespot.com/news/batman-arkham-origins-launching-october-25-6406631

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Geek This Week:

 

Aaron: Found a cool indie video game store by my house! Picked up Duck Tales for NES. Hooked up my NES and saw it REALLY need to get repaired. Two games worked for 5-min and then it crapped out.

 

Gozer: Game of Thrones, Spartacus & The Americans

 

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The Geek’s Choice:  Root Metrics Cell Testing App

 

Figure out what cell service is great and which ones suck for BOTH voice and data in any area. With the app you can help contribute.

 

http://www.rootmetrics.com/

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Featured Segment:

 

A Brief History of the touch screen



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Feedback and items of Note:

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Sponsors:

 

Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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>

Uncategorized

The Geekcast #346 – STM Velo 2 Bag



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News:

 

‘House of Cards’ coming to Blu-ray and DVD June 11th according to Amazon

 

Sure, House of Cards has proven enormously popular among Nettflix subscribers, but someone was bound to cash in on physical media sales. Per a newly discovered listing on Amazon, Sony Pictures Entertainment will bring the political drama to Blu-ray and DVD on June 11th. As of now, Amazon indicates the HD season one set will be priced at $52.99, with the DVD offering expected to fall somewhere around $44.99. House of Cards was produced by Media Right Capital and licensed by Netflix for online streaming, but as Deadline reported back in 2011, Sony managed to secure distribution rights for the series. A June release means Netflix will have been the sole avenue for viewing Cards for a bit over four months. Unfortunately, the Amazon listing doesn’t reveal what (if any) bonus material fans can expect.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/2/4173894/house-of-cards-blu-ray-dvd-release-june-11

 

XCOM: Enemy Unknown coming to iOS

Today at its PAX East panel, Firaxis and 2K Games announced that XCOM: Enemy Unknown is coming to iOS devices. The iPhone and iPad will sport slightly different interfaces catered to each device.

Jake Solomon, lead designer of XCOM, told Shacknews that this will be a complete port of the game at a set (and so far, undecided) price, rather than charging for microtransactions or chapters as we’ve seen from some mobile ports.. No Android version is planned currently, but Solomon says that doesn’t mean the door is shut on the possibility.

 

http://www.shacknews.com/article/78361/xcom-enemy-unknown-coming-to-ios

Amazon turns Cloud Drive into a Dropbox rival with file syncing

File sync comes to Windows and Mac, but smartphones still have to wait.

 

Amazon’s Cloud Drive was unveiled two years ago for the primary purpose of letting customers store music files purchased from Amazon. Although you could upload other files to Cloud Drive, it wasn’t a replacement for cloud storage services like Dropbox because it didn’t automatically sync files from one computer to another.

 

Today, that limitation is gone. “The new app for Windows and Mac now includes File Sync, which lets users easily store and access files in the Amazon Cloud from a folder on their computer,” an Amazon spokesperson told Ars in an e-mail. “Files in this folder are automatically stored in Cloud Drive and can be accessed from a computer or the Web. When you install the app on a second computer all of your synced files are available there as well. The updated app makes it simple for users to put files in Cloud Drive and to access them from any of their computers, ensuring that they always have access to the latest version of their files from home and on the road.”

 

Like Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft’s SkyDrive, the Cloud Drive desktop application (download it here) creates a new folder in your file manager. The desktop application supports all Windows versions from XP to 8 and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8.

 

The application requires Java. If you attempt to run the application on a Mac without Java installed, you will be prompted to install a Java runtime. On Windows, the application apparently comes with an embedded Java runtime. Java security flaws are well-known, but are mainly a problem with the browser plug-ins, which Cloud Drive doesn’t require.

 

File syncing is desktop-only for now. There is a Cloud Drive photo storage app for Android, but it hasn’t been updated since February 1. Amazon told us it has “nothing specific to share” about plans to bring file syncing to iOS, Android, or other mobile platforms. Dropbox, Google Drive, and SkyDrive already support smartphones and tablets.

 

Cloud Drive offers 5GB of free space with the option to buy more. Dropbox provides 2GB free, while Google Drive provides 5GB and SkyDrive provides 7GB.

 

In Amazon Cloud Drive, 20GB costs $10 a year, 50GB costs $25 a year, with several more tiers all the way up to 1,000GB for $500 a year. All the prices work out to $1 per year for every 2GB. The Amazon prices are identical to SkyDrive’s, slightly cheaper than Google’s, and about half the price of Dropbox.

 

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/amazon-turns-cloud-drive-into-a-dropbox-rival-with-file-syncing/

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Geek This Week:

 

Aaron: The return of Doctor Who was awesome. LOVED it.

 

Gozer: Gears multiplayer & zombies

 

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The Geek’s Choice:

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Featured Segment: STM Bags – Velo 2 15” Review & Bioshock Infinite Review

 STM Bags – Velo 2 15” Review

  • The perfect solution for the everyday commute.

  • main flap secured with two quick release buckles

  • zippered option to slip over a luggage handle

  • unique side-entry laptop compartment

  • waist strap to stabilise the load

  • dedicated soft lined tablet section

  • side pockets for water bottles/umbrella

STM Bags, a leading Australian bag and case manufacturer, announced the newest addition to the company’s ever-expanding product line, the Velocity collection.  The collection is available as of April 1, 2013, at STMBags.com, as well as various retailers and distributors.

Whether traveling by bike, car or plane, the velo 2 laptop messenger provides organization and protection for the long haul and is available for 13” and 15” screens.  Designed with a main flap for closure, it is also equipped with a zippered option to slip over a luggage handle, a side-entry laptop compartment, as well as a waist strap to even a heavy load.

About STM Bags

Founded in 1998 in Sydney, Australia, STM Bags offers a full range of lifestyle-oriented laptop bags, iPad cases, iPhone cases and accessories.  STM Bag’s mission is to provide a more comfortable, secure and stylish means to transport digital gear.  All products are backed by a product lifetime warranty.  For more information about STM Bags, please visit the company’s Web site at http://www.stmbags.com/.

 

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Bioshock Infinite Review

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Feedback and items of Note:

 

Hey

Mr. Bolshoi is here.

After listening to your show about the Nest thermostats, I kept it in mind and did my research and agreed 100% with you about it’s usefulness and modern unique look of it. It was pricey and non-tech old people did question my sanity on splurging about $190 on each that I bought, but hey it does look nice in my freshly painted house.

Also, Mr. Gozer needs to try Bioshock. So much better than first two.

Great graphics, unique story line, First person unique gaming, so different than other games. Reminds me of Dishonored game. Attaching myself to sky rail in the game was exhilarating and fun to play. Game is slow for the first 15 min because it is introducing the character to the new sky city and different world, but after the ingame raffle scene, game goes from 0 to 60 in a second and from that on it is fast paced non stop. Needless to say it gave me an exciting game high. Haven’t felt about the game like that since Total War game series.

Anyways, I like to listen to your show and I am glad that you discuss green home tech, since now we are old farts with kids and need to be more energy and cost efficient.

Dasvidanie!

Mr. Bolshoi

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Sponsors:

 

Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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>

Episodes

The Geekcast #345 – Gozer’s Super Slow Internet



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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:33 — 90.0MB)

News:

 

Hands on: Apple’s Podcasts app loses reel animation, gains playlists

Apple’s Podcasts 1.2 for iOS replaces skeuomorphism with iCloud and playlists.

Last summer, Apple released the Podcasts application as a new way to play podcasts on your iOS device. Until that time, this was a job done by the built-in iPod or Music app, but as of iOS 6, podcasts disappear from Music if you have the Podcasts app installed. The initial poor performance and bugginess were addressed as the year progressed, albeit not to everyone’s satisfaction. And the astonishingly accurately animated reel-to-reel tape deck displayed as podcasts played was seen as a prime example of Apple’s foray in excessive skeuomorphism.

 

But as of this week’s release of Podcasts 1.2, skeuomorphism is out the door. And you know what? I actually miss the reel-to-reel tape deck animation a little. But now at least I don’t have to worry about the animation using up valuable battery life.

Playlists

A more important change is that Podcasts now has playlists, found under “My Stations.” Four different types, even: the On-The-Go playlist, custom “stations,” and both smart and regular playlists synced from iTunes. The iTunes playlists behave largely as expected: you get to edit the regular ones, letting you reorder and remove episodes… but not add any. There’s no editing of smart playlists, and Podcasts inherits an issue that Music has had in recent years: the order of episodes in a smart playlist set in iTunes is not carried over. Instead, episodes are sorted by the Artist field (usually the podcast’s name), then the star rating from high to low, and finally alphabetically by episode name.

The On-The-Go playlist doesn’t suffer from these issues: it lets you add, reorder, and remove episodes. Although you can set whether episodes are shown from old to new or from new to old and, separately, whether they play oldest first or newest first for each individual podcast feed, the On-The-Go interface always adds episodes at the top. But you can also add episodes to the On-The-Go playlist through a big button on the episode’s information screen. In this case, they’re added at the bottom.

As a strong old-goes-on-top proponent, I really hope Apple doesn’t simplify all of this by making new-goes-on-top the only option. If that’s the alternative, please give me this mess instead. But a global new-goes-on-top vs old-goes-on-top default setting would certainly go a long way here.

Stations

Last but not least, you get to build your own stations. These are basically smart playlists. Two are provided out of the box: Most Recent and All Unplayed. The Most Recent station has one episode of every podcast. Strangely, for podcasts synced from iTunes, it’s the oldest episode, while for podcasts that you’re subscribed to within Podcasts, it’s the newest. The episodes are ordered from the newest to the oldest. The All Unplayed station obviously has all unplayed episodes in it, grouped by podcast.

You also get to make your own stations. You can select which podcasts to include, and how many episodes. You only get to select the 1, 2, 3, 5, or 10 most recent ones (if you don’t want to include all), but for iTunes-synced podcasts, this actually seems to mean “oldest.” The episodes can then be ordered manually, in “most recent” order or in the order you’ve set up in “My Podcasts.” Please Apple, how hard is it to add “least recent” and “alphabetically”? The ordering is important, because episodes play one after the other. (You can still avoid automatically starting the next podcast with the sleep timer, now reachable through the little clock with zz icon above the artwork in the playback screen.)

Last but not least, you can include audio or video podcasts or both, and limit the station to unplayed episodes only. I listen to several science podcasts, so I make a station that collects those. I’m also catching up on some podcasts I recently discovered. For these, I set up a station that has a single “most recent” unplayed episode of just one podcast. This allows me to find the next episode easily, and playback automatically stops after that one episode, so I don’t have to listen to ten episodes of the same podcast in a row.

iCloud

The new Podcasts app supports iCloud syncing of playback positions and custom stations. Playback position syncing worked for the most part between my iPhone and iTunes 11 on my second Mac—which is not the computer that the iPhone syncs with. In many cases, the playback positions carried over accurately, but it also happened, especially when going back and forth between the iPhone and the computer quickly, that playback resumed at a position where I had paused previously on the other device.

iTunes 10.7 and the Apple TV don’t support iCloud playback position syncing, and syncing of “stations” is apparently limited to iOS devices. I only have one iPhone 5, so I was unable to test syncing of stations. It also looks like the fact that you finished playing an episode isn’t propagated from one device to another, so autodelete isn’t triggered through iCloud. Syncing through USB or Wi-Fi works as before.

 

The small stuff

Like iTunes on the computer before it, Podcasts now also notices when you don’t listen to a podcast and then stops updating it. This happens if you fail to play the last five episodes. If you happen to be subscribed to a high volume podcast that delivers five or more new episodes at a time, Podcasts takes note of your lax listening habits after each update.

Speaking of updating feeds: you can let Podcasts do this automatically. However, I couldn’t figure out how often Podcasts updates feeds, so I ended up initiating an update manually fairly frequently. This is done by pulling down the episode list in a feed until a bubble forms and ultimately pops. It does look like autodeletion of podcast episodes finally works—but only for those podcasts that you subscribe to on the device itself.

Podcasts now shows a badge with the number of unplayed podcast episodes that it has on board. You can turn this off in the Notifications settings. But despite having a full compliment of notification settings, as far as I can tell Podcasts won’t show any notifications when new episodes arrive.

 

I find the episode listing screen rather cramped on the iPhone: on the iPhone 5, only five episodes fit on the screen. Worse, episode names are limited to about 25 characters. Often, that’s not enough to tell you what an episode is about. You can see the full episode name and a (long) description by tapping on the little chevron button, which is good, but unfortunately, on that screen you don’t get to download an episode—you do get to add it to the On-The-Go playlist, though.

Also, it would be nice to be able to swipe from episode to episode, but that’s not possible, you have to return to the episode list and tap another chevron. All of this makes managing a feed with a lot of episodes harder than it needs to be. But that’s true of all the podcast apps I’ve tried, and at least Podcasts allows you to decide which episodes to download through iTunes on your computer, where even the longest episode titles comfortably fit on the screen.

I do like the swiping to the right to get back to the previous screen from the playback screen. And moving between the My Podcasts and My Stations sections is very convenient, as each section is still in its previous state when you return.

One last small criticism: when playing music with the Music app open, the song’s artwork will show on the lock screen. If you then unlock the iPhone, the Music controls appear above and below the artwork nice and seamlessly. When playing a podcast in Podcasts, the artwork also shows in the lock screen in the right position. But when unlocking the screen when Podcasts is running, the app appears in a zoom-in animation, the same way other apps do when unlocking the screen.

All in all, Podcasts can still use a little bit more polish, but it has come a long way and is very functional as is. If you value integration with iTunes on the computer, Podcasts is the podcast app you’re looking for. If you want to manage your podcast life solely under iOS, you have a number of third-party choices, but Apple’s app is finally able to hold its own among these.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/hands-on-apples-podcasts-app-loses-reel-animation-gains-playlists/

 

Hyperkin’s Retron 5 gaming console brings your classic cartridges to the big screen



Good news for fans of old video games — accessories maker Hyperkin is unveiling a retro console that will play almost any cartridge you can throw at it, reports Slashdot.Named the Retron 5 for its five slots, the machine will handle the same trio of NES, SNES, and Genesis cartridges as its predecessor, the Retron 3, as well as Famicom and Game Boy Advance games — not to mention Mega Drive, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, and original Game Boy titles.

HDMI out means you’ll get a clear, digital signal to your HDTV, and Hyperkin says that it will upscale your games to 720p. There are a bunch of built-in niceties, like the ability to save and resume at any point in the game, overclocking to speed through slow parts, and a PS3-like interface for configuring controllers and picking what to play. You’ll also have the choice of saving your game to the console, to the cartridge, or to some kind of removable storage, presumably an SD card.

REPS FROM HYPERKIN SAID THAT IT WOULD BE LESS THAN $100

There’s no firm price, but at the Midwest Gaming Classic this weekend (video below), reps from Hyperkin said that it would be less than $100. That will include two Bluetooth wireless controllers, but an array of six controller ports on the console itself will let you use your old pads if you’d rather. There’s no firm release date, but Hyperkin says it will be “sometime after June.”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/23/4140592/hyperkin-retron-5-gaming-console-can-play-almost-any-cartridge

 

 

T-Mobile to carry the iPhone 5 on April 12th for $99 up front

At long last, T-Mobile will carrying the Apple iPhone starting on April 12th. The fourth place carrier announced the news during a press event in New York on Tuesday. T-Mobile, the fourth largest carrier in the US, is the last national carrier to offer the iPhone, following behind AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint. The iPhone 5 will be compatible with T-Mobile’s new LTE network, which was also officially launched on Tuesday, and will alsofeature HD voice. The carrier is also selling the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 in “select markets”; naturally, the older models will only not run on T-Mobile’s LTE network. The iPhone 5, however, will run on LTE, T-Mobile’s “4G” HSPA+ network, and older GSM / EDGE networks — it sounds like T-Mobile’s iPhone 5 either has slightly different radios than the current GSM version to enable full compatibility with its HSPA+ network or had these new bands enabled through a software update.

 

As part of T-Mobile’s new Uncarrier branding and initiative, it will be selling the iPhone 5 slightly differently than its competitors. Instead of pressing customers to sign a two-year agreement, T-Mobile will let iPhone buyers either pay full price for the device at the time of purchase, or spread the cost over 24 months with installment plans. A 16GB iPhone 5 will sell for $99 up front with 24 months of $20 payments — that’s $579 over the two years, $70 less than buying an unlocked iPhone 5 from Apple. Similarly, the iPhone 4S will cost $69.99 down plus $20 per month and the iPhone 4 will cost $14.99 plus a $15 monthly charge. Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on what happens if you cancel your plan or want to buy a new phone before those 24 months are up.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4148212/t-mobile-to-carry-the-iphone-starting-on-april-12th-for-99-up-front

Google+ updates mobile apps with photo filters, location sharing

 

Google released a big update for its Google+ apps for iOS and Android today, bringing a wealth of new features around photos, location sharing, and the product’s overall readability.

The photo features come from Google’s acquisition of Snapseed, the company said. According to a blog post, they include basic edits like rotating and cropping photos; Instagram-like filters for the iPhone app; controls to adjust saturation, contrast, and brightness, and easy comparison to your original photo by tapping on the photo.

 

Google encouraged users who wanted even more control over their photos to download the Snapseed app.

 

The update also brings users the option of sharing their location with specific circles. “If you enable this option, you’ll then decide who can see your best-available location across Google,” the company said.

 

Meanwhile, the company moved to increase the app’s information density, packing more updates into less space. Posts will now show more text by default, both from the post and from comments. Image previews will now only rarely be cropped, the company said, and posts will now highlight +1s, reshares and comments more prominently. You can also now swipe through photo albums.

 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57576129-94/google-updates-mobile-apps-with-photo-filters-location-sharing/

 

 

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Geek This Week:

 

Aaron: TOTALLY forgot to mention Veronica Mars Kickstarter!

Doctor Who returns this weekend. Beyond psyched.

 

Gozer: Gears & Bioshock. Spartacus. Mailbox app.

 

 

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The Geek’s Choice:  iPhone Addiction: 6 Signs Your Smartphone Is Stressing You Out

 

Here are six signs that your smartphone might be majorly stressing you out:

1. You Have To Respond… Immediately

If unanswered texts or emails get your heart rate going, there’s a good chance that your smartphone is adding stress to your life rather than making it easier. Constantly interrupting what you’re doing — whether it’s writing a college essay or spending some quality time with your friends — to check your phone might be an indication that your behavior has become compulsive. When you start getting anxious about your inbox, take a moment to step back and remind yourself that it’s probably not as urgent as it seems. Sleeping with your phone away from your bed and keeping it in your backpack instead of your pocket during class can also gradually help to lessen your urge to be constantly checking for new messages.

2. You Have Phantom Cellphone Syndrome

You could’ve sworn you felt your phone vibrating in your back pocket, but when you took it out, you saw that nothing had happened. Phantom cellphone vibration syndrome is a real sign of technology addiction — and it’s more common than you might think. A study conducted at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne found that a whopping 89 percent of undergrads had experienced feeling nonexistent cellphone vibrations.

 

3. You Have A Bad Case Of FOMO

Are you constantly thinking about what everyone else is doing and all the things you might be missing out on at any given moment? Does scrolling through party photos and enthusiastic weekend updates on your News Feed make you feel sad or anxious? Well, there’s a name for that: FOMO. It’s not uncommon for social media and smartphone users to experience a “fear of missing out” when they’re unable to get to their phones or when they’re getting updates about all the exciting things that everyone in their social network is doing. The best way to combat FOMO is to step back and say no sometimes, and just take sometime to do whatever you want — not what other people are doing or telling you to do.

 

4. You’re Not Paying Attention To Your Friends & Family

We’ve all be there — you’re having dinner with friends or family with your phone sitting next to your plate, and instead of ignoring it, you turn your attention away from the conversation to respond to a text. While there’s nothing wrong with picking up important calls or excusing yourself to answer messages when necessary — but if you make a habit of giving only half your attention to the people you’re with while the other half is busy checking Twitter, it might be time to rethink your phone habits. To avoid damaging your relationships, make a resolution to give your full attention to whoever you’re with in person and save the screen time for later.

 

5. You Feel Restless When You’re Away From Your Phone

If you experience withdrawal when you can’t check your phone or respond to messages, you might have a technology addiction. Studies have found that turning off their phones can induce physical and mental withdrawal symptoms similar to those exhibited by drug addicts. If you feel yourself becoming nervous and antsy when you’re away from your phone, take note of those feelings and find a coping mechanism — taking deep breaths, going for a walk or exercising could help you get past the anxiety.

 

6. Poor Performance In School

If you’re having an increasingly difficult time focusing in class and eagerly await the ringing of the bell so that you can check your phone and return that unanswered text, an Internet or smartphone addiction could be partially to blame for low grades. If the lure of your phone is too powerful for you to concentrate on homework, try downloading an app that blocks social media activity and online distractions.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/iphone-addiction-6-signs-_n_2931662.html

 

 

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Featured Segment: Pax East Roundup

 

Cliffy B

Bioware working on a new fictional universe

Saints Row 4

Final Fantasy X and X-2

Project Shield

Indie Games

Ducktales

 

 

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Feedback and items of Note:

 

 

Hey guys,

Just listened to ep. 344.I got a Pandigital Novel for Christmas 2 years ago. It was CRAP!! It ran some custom version of android and couldn’t even download stuff from then Android Market and had to use some piece of crap called Slide. Did I mention it was crap? Thank God I can use the past tense when talking about the Novel. I was able to ditch it because I got a Nexus 7 for my birthday. The Apple fanboy in me made me ditch that and go to the iPad Mini, which I have to say, I prefer over the 10″ iPad. Love the show. Would love to review the feature in BTT for you guys, but I sadly don’t have a Mac, frowney face. Actually, there is a way to downgrade iOS by downloading the 6.1.2 ISPW and doing a custom restore love the show

 

Dawson

Seventh Grade Geek

 

 

I saw this you-tube video and figured I’d have to share it with you guys. It shows you how to make your own hoverboard.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bTkLaxYmgdE#!

 

–Logan (From Baltimore)

 

 

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Sponsors:

 

Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!

 

 

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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>

 

 

Episodes

The Geekcast #344 – Gears of War: Judgment



Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:49 — 89.0MB)

News:

 

Amazon planning to launch a $99 Kindle Fire HD, claims report

 

Amazon may be expanding its Kindle Fire line of tablets with a new, low-cost version of the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, according to a report from TechCrunch. Allegedly, this new Kindle Fire HD will have a TI processor just like its more expensive stablemates, and it will have a 1280 x 800 pixel display like the current 7-inch HD model, which sells for $199. Amazon still offers the older version of the Kindle Fire, which has a lower resolution display, for $159.

 

It’s not clear what will be different with this new lower cost model compared to Amazon’s current tablets, or when it will be available for purchase. Amazon did recently announce aprice drop on its larger Kindle Fire HD 8.9, slashing the price by up to $100 depending on configuration.

 

Amazon has largely been considered the leader in the low-cost tablet market, but it is facing increased competition from the likes of Google with its Nexus 7 and newcomers such as HP and its recently announced Android tablet. If Amazon is able to launch a tablet that can even undercut these low cost competitors, it would give the company yet another advantage in the rapidly growing tablet market.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/20/4127420/amazon-planning-99-dollar-kindle-fire-hd-claims-report

Xbox ‘Durango’ leak claims console is ‘always connected,’ games must be installed to hard disk

Last month we heard rumors of an anti-used game system for Microsoft’s next-generation ‘Durango’ Xbox console, but an additional leak this week appears to reinforce those claims. Vgleaks, previously responsible for revealing accurate specifications for Durango, has provided screenshots of an Xbox Development Kit (XDK) for Microsoft’s next-generation console. We’ve seen screenshots leak before, but these appear to confirm a number of previous rumors.

As part of a Durango hardware overview, the leaked documentation states that every next-gen console will include a hard drive with enough capacity to “hold a large number of games.” All games are said to be installable to the drive, and “play from the optical drive will not be supported.” Kotaku previously suggested Durango game installations will be mandatory, and The Verge has seen information that confirms this is accurate. At present, Xbox 360 games can be installed to HDD, but they require the disc to run. Durango titles cannot directly access data on discs once they’re installed, suggesting that the next-gen console may not require the disc to play games post-installation.

 

An installable game requirement backs up claims that Microsoft is developing an anti-used games system that requires activation codes for 50GB-capacity Blu-ray discs. The latest information leak includes references to an “always on, always connected” console. Previous rumors have suggested that an activation system will prevent games from being sold, coupled with an online requirement for games to be activated. We understand that the information shared by Vgleaks is genuine, but it’s also dated from last year. The real question isn’t whether Microsoft has considered an anti-used games system, but if the leaks we’re seeing are old enough for the company to have dropped the implementation in the mean time.

Other information in the XDK leak includes mentions of a new high-fidelity Kinect sensor without a tilt motor to be sold with every console. At a recent TechForum event, Microsoft demonstrated next-generation Kinect sensors without tilt motors, suggesting that the new unit will be a lot smaller and compact. Microsoft is expected to unveil the full details of its next-generation Xbox at E3 this year, with a release in time for the holidays.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/20/4126632/next-xbox-always-connected-game-install-required-rumor

 

Hackers open up offline play, modding tools for SimCity

EA and Maxis’ claim that it would take “significant engineering work” to make a workable offline version of SimCity took another hit today. Hackers have released modding tools that disable the game’s periodic server checks without breaking the simulation. The tools also unlock other features not in the final game.

 

reddit is abuzz with news and guides for installing the SimCityPak, a downloadable package of files that lets players edit many elements of the UI and underlying game logic. The tools aren’t incredibly user-friendly for the time being, but those with some Javascript experience and patience to learn can do things like disable the online connectivity requirement, fix the “fudged” population display, and even affect how the basic simulation works in some ways.

 

Hackers are still poring through the code to see what kinds of new features and gameplay can be unlocked (including, potentially, the holy grail of increased city size limits), but one of the most exciting discoveries so far has been a way to easily uncover the developers’ debug mode. This mode allows for many features that players have been asking for in the consumer version of the game, including the ability to build highways through city limits and in the regional “dead space” between cities. These changes will apparently stay valid in the wider region after the city is synced to EA’s central servers, though other users’ cities will not see edits made to the regional landscape.

 

The debug menus also include references to terraforming tools, such as coastline and waterway building, which are currently disabled even in a hacked commercial copy of the game. Options for editing airplane flight paths, creating new docking points for ships, and creating new city and “great works” sites are also alluded to.

 

Ars was able to download and install a package file enabling this mode in less than a minute. For those who don’t want to go through the hacking hassle, this YouTube video quickly shows how the debug mode works in practice. Another video shows a player using edited package files to bulldoze and cause disasters in other players’ cities in the region (though the poster claims this was done without server syncing, to prevent any permanent harm from being done).

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/hackers-open-up-offline-play-modding-tools-for-simcity/

 

Evasi0n jailbreak thwarted by iOS 6.1.3

Apple’s latest iOS update puts the whammy on the popular jailbreak tool, so Evasi0n users will probably want to stick with iOS 6.1.2.

 

Apple has finally managed to contain the Evasi0n jailbreak.

Released yesterday, iOS 6.1.3 fixes a security bug that allowed someone to sneak past the lock screen and make phone calls, listen to voice mail, and view contact photos.

But the update also patched several holes that Evasi0n exploited to perform an untethered jailbreak on all iOS devices, including the latest iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. People who upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 will no longer be able to use Evasi0n to jailbreak their devices. And once on 6.1.3, newer Apple devices cannot be downgraded to a previous iOS version.

But the news isn’t all bad for the jailbreaking community.

Older Apple devices powered by an A4 or earlier processor can still be hacked using the latest version of Redsn0w, according to Redmond Pie. Those include such products as the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and the fourth-generation iPod Touch. The downside here is that the jailbreak is a tethered one. So if your mobile device powers down, you’ll need to reconnect it to your computer to run the jailbreak again.

In its release notes for iOS 6.1.3, Apple actually credited the Evasi0n team, known as the evad3rs, for uncovering four of the security holes that were patched.

News that the latest iOS update puts the kibosh on Evasi0n isn’t a total surprise. A beta of iOS 6.1.3 released late last month reportedly took down the jailbreaking tool.

Evasi0n put up a good fight. The tool survived and thrived through iOS 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 before being felled by yesterday’s update.

Evasi0n proved to be perhaps the most popular iOS jailbreak ever released. Following its debut in early February, the tool was downloaded almost 7 million times in less than a week.

 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57575302-37/evasi0n-jailbreak-thwarted-by-ios-6.1.3/

 

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Geek This Week:

 

Aaron: Picked up a Neato XV-12 vacuum on Woot. Really intuitive and a lot smarter than a Roomba! It really…. sucks! *rimshot*

 

Gozer: Finished Devil May Cry. Gave up on Tomb Raider. Life of Pi.

 

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The Geek’s Choice:

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Featured Segment: Gears of War Judgement

 

Campaign ( Judgement and Aftermath )

Survival

Versus ( Overrun , Free for all, Domination, & Team Deathmatch )

Versus cont… Special Event & VIP

Character setup : weapon skins, character select, character skins, & Prizeboxes

Classes:

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Feedback and items of Note:

 

Hey guys

Just listened to ep342 and I will have to admit 10 min after sending the email to you guys, I was able to figure out how to use it as a keyboard. Just thinking it would be cool if you could use an iPad as a Bluetooth keyboard/trackpad for a mac. Just a thought. Love the show.

 

-Dawson

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the recommendation and help with XCom.  My husband really liked it and finished it in like 3 weeks.  I think that is a good thing………anyways, if you have any recommendations for games around Xmas, that would be much appreciated.  Or just along the way so I can squirrel them away.

 

Anyways, so I use iGoogle to keep up with the blogs I read in a painless way.  BUT, it is going away in November.  Google Reader, which I had planned to use instead, is going away in June.  Do you have any suggestions on what I can use to replace it?

 

Thanks,

Diana

**************

 

Sponsors:

 

Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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>

Uncategorized

The Geekcast #342 and #343 – A Double Feature



Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:59:31 — 164.1MB)

Enjoy TWO episodes of The Geekcast!

 

Show Notes for #343:

 

News:

Target reportedly signs on with rumored Google Shopping Express same-day delivery service


Google’s rumored same-day delivery service may already have one major partner on board. In an alleged internal letter printed by TechCrunch, Google says that it is “excited to open Google Shopping Express to every Googler in the Bay Area,” listing partnerships with “Target, Nob Hill Foods, Babies ‘R’ Us, and more.” TechCrunch has previously said that Google Shopping Express will be priced at $69 a year, and this email says that test subscriptions will include free same-day delivery for a year for Googlers, with deliveries priced at $4.99 apiece for non-members.
Google has said it has nothing to announce at this time about Shopping Express, and we still don’t know when the service might launch if it is indeed in testing. It has, however, openly made several moves towards bolstering its shopping services in the past year, and something like Shopping Express would help it compete with Amazon — it’s said to have started testing same-day delivery late last year. Target, meanwhile, was a launch partner with eBay Now, another same-day delivery service that recently began expanding outside San Francisco.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/12/4093974/target-reportedly-signs-on-with-google-shopping-express

Sony retail stores slash Vita 3G price in the US


After Sony officially dropped the price of the PlayStation Vita by about a third in Japan last month, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida came out and said the US shouldn’t expect a similar price drop. But US Sony retail stores seem to have a different idea about that, lowering the price of the more expensive 3G system by $100, to $199, ahead of a possible discontinuation of the cellular model.

Joystiq was among the first to notice the price drop, which seems to be limited to a dozen or so of Sony’s retail locations throughout the US. Store representatives at locations in Denver, New Jersey and Las Vegas told Joystiq the 3G unit was being discontinued, but other stores had not even registered the price drop yet. Sony’s own online store is now showing a reduced price of $249, down from the original $299 price from just last night.
Comparative sales for the 3G and Wi-Fi-only units aren’t available for the US, but in Japan, the 3G model of the system is slightly more popular, according to recent data from Media Create. That may be due to both official and unofficial discounts provided by Sony and retailers on the 3G unit, which currently sells for the same suggested price as the Wi-Fi model in Japan. Sony has publicly admitted multiple times that overall Vita sales have been below expectations.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/sony-retail-stores-slash-vita-3g-price-in-the-us/

Microsoft backs away from Flash ban in IE10

Arguing that support for Adobe’s browser plug-in is an advantage, Microsoft now permits Flash by default on Windows 8 and Windows RT. Tablets that can’t run Flash are merely “a companion to a PC.”

An about-face in Internet Explorer 10 shows Microsoft is not merely backing off from its hostility toward Flash Player, but actually warming up to the Adobe Systems browser plug-in for competitive reasons.

In September 2011, Microsoft declared that browser plug-ins are a relic from the Internet’s early days, calling them bad for battery life, security, reliability, and privacy, and said that it would ban them when IE10 was running withWindows 8‘s Metro user interface, now called the “immersive UI.”

But Microsoft gave Flash a reprieve in May 2012 by building a special version of Adobe’s plug-in directly into IE10. It only worked, though, on sites that were specifically authorized through a Microsoft whitelist when browsing with the immersive UI on Windows 8 and on either the immersive or traditional “desktop” interface on Windows RT.
Yesterday, Microsoft loosened its Flash policy again, this time enabling Flash by default on both Windows 8 and Windows RT. Now, instead of using a whitelist to enable Flash only where Microsoft permitted it, the company now uses a blacklist to block Flash “in the small number of sites that are still incompatible with the Windows experience for touch or that depend on other plug-ins,” said Rob Mauceri, program manager of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer group, in a blog post yesterday. (The new policy doesn’t change Microsoft’s Flash-permissive stance with IE10 in desktop mode on Windows 8, which always has permitted Flash.)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57573755-93/microsoft-backs-away-from-flash-ban-in-ie10/

Google Glass shows off its apps at SXSW

In addition to Gmail, Google Glass has apps from The New York Times, Evernote, Skitch, and Path.

Google is showing off its wearable tech again, this time with an app-filled presentation at South by Southwest Interactive.

The presentation, which Engadget captured in Austin today, showed apps from The New York Times, Evernote, Skitch, and Path.

Of course, there was also a Gmail app. When an e-mail arrives, Google Glass wearers can use voice command to prompt Google’s e-mail service to deliver the sender’s image and subject line to the glasses’ screen. Users can then tell the app what to write back.

The New York Times application will deliver an article in the form of an image, headline, byline, and the number of hours ago the article was posted. A tap on Google Glass will prompt the glasses to then read you the article. A breaking news feature that automatically refreshes is also in the works, according to the report.
Glass will also share images to Evernote and Skitch, and show you updates from your Path network, along with the ability to add emoticons to friends’ posts and make comments.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57573721-93/google-glass-shows-off-its-apps-at-sxsw/

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: LOVING Mailbox on my iPhone. Really need an iPad version to come out. Even got my wife to get in line!

Watching a bunch of Angry Video Game Nerd and decided to start at the beginning to watch in order.

 

Gozer: Finished House of Cards. New tripod.

 

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The Geek’s Choice:  http://www.tivo.com/products/tivo-mini/index.html

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Featured Segment: REVIEW – Charge Card for iPhone and Android

ChargeCard is a simple concept: A USB charging cable that could fit in virtually anyone’s wallet. That way you’d always have a charging solution on you when you most needed it.

http://www.chargecardproject.com/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nomad/chargecard-for-iphone

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Feedback and items of Note:

There are currently no items of note.

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Sponsors:

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Episodes

The Geekcast #341



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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:15 — 85.5MB)

News:

PS4 release date, news and features
UPDATED PlayStation 4 is headed for a ‘Holiday 2013′ release date
The DualShock 4 pad will launch alongside the PS4
The PS4 has been announced by Sony! At long last we’ve had our first look at the new PlayStation and so far it looks very… next-geny.
Sadly, and almost unbelievably, we STILL don’t know what the PS4 looks like. However, we do know it’s coming out in the US in time for Christmas 2013, we know about the DualShock 4 controller and we’ve seen the new interface and a lot of the features it delivers. Here’s everything we know about the PlayStation 4 so far…
Check out our PS4 reveal video:
PS4: Hardware specs
AMD, as we guessed all along, is coursing through this new system’s veins.
Post-event, Sony revealed the system runs on a single-chip custom processor and utilizes eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores, with a next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine powering the way.
However, with fewer redundancies than a PC has, the PS4 will certainly be able to make use of every single Watt of power it draws.
The “highly enhanced PC GPU” is another story. It’s another AMD part – something along the lines of a Radeon 7850 card – and packs 18 GCN units. That may sound a like a lot of techy mumbo jumbo but what it essentially means is that the GPU packs 18 processing clusters, each packing up to 64 cores. That provides a lot of parallel processing power, and will thus handle the majority of the PS4′s grunt work. It hits 1.84 TFLOPS of processing mojo. This is a far more powerful component than the Jaguar CPU and is rumoured to have the edge on the GPU inside the Xbox 720.
Memory
The PS4 will ship packing 8GB of GDDR5 memory. That’s some super-fast stuff right there and should enable lightning fast performance.
Indeed, Sony has revealed that you will be able to power down the PS4 mid-game and then switch it on again in seconds and pick up right where you left off. That’s the sort of loading power that this memory enables.
Other specs
We’re also looking at Blu-ray disk support plus good ol’ DVD, plus HDMI output support as well as Analog-AV out and an optical digital output.
PlayStation 4 Eye
What’s really grabbing though is the development of the PlayStation 4 Eye, a newly developed camera system that utilizes two high-sensitivity camera equipped with wide-angle lenses and 85-degree diagonal angle views.
Sony said the cameras (amounting to 1280 x 800 pixels) can cut out the image of a player from the background or differentiate between players in the background and foreground, enhancing game play handily. There’s also mention of logging in using facial recognition and using voice and body movements to play games “more intuitively.”

PS4 controller: DualShock 4
The PS4 controller comes in the form of the DualShock 4 pad. Very much a classic design, the DualShock 4 nevertheless offers upgraded vibrations, enhanced motion sensors and a Vita-like touchpad on the front.
Will the PS4 be 4K capable?
In a chat with Kotaku, Sony has revealed that the PlayStation 4 will be able to playback 4K/Ultra HD video. However, it will not upscale to 4K or play games at 4K resolution.
Backwards compatibility
The PS4 will definitely not offer native support for PS3 games. However, there will at some point be a service on the Sony Entertainment Network that offers server-side emulation and streaming of games from PS One classics right through to PS3 Platinum Editions.
PS4 release date
The PS4 release date is “Holiday 2013″. That’s the only detail Sony revealed at the launch and it’s unclear which territories it applies to. Certainly the U.S., almost certainly Japan. We have a feeling the U.K. and Europe may have to wait a little longer, maybe even until early 2014.
This is pretty much what happened with Sony’s previous consoles – the PS3 came out in the EU in March – and is backed up by various leaks and rumours. At least you’ll have plenty of time to save up if you live outside of Japan or the USA.
PlayStation Move
Sony has confirmed that PlayStation Move will play a big part in the PS4 ecosystem. However, it has not yet been revealed whether the PS4 will launch alongside a new PS Eye camera and new Move controllers or whether the peripherals are staying the same with all the enhancements made console-side.
Synergy with PlayStation Vita
Sony has revealed that the PS4 will launch with the ability to stream games directly to your PS Vita. In exactly the same way as the Wii U allows you to switch off your TV and continue playing on the tablet controller, the PS4 will wirelessly send your games to the Vita.
There will be similar synergy between “all Sony devices” which means Xperia handsets and tablets, Bravia TVs and BD players.
Sony hinted that there will be more announcements in this area, too. We think the obvious next reveal in this area is the ability to play PS4 games on your Vita from any location using a wireless connection.
PS4 Instant On
The PS4 will be one nippy device if Sony is to be believed. It will have an instant on/off feature allowing your to shut down during a game and then boot up from scratch in seconds and resume where you left off. The days of waiting 60 seconds as your console loads up are about to end.
PS4 price: how much will it cost?
No pricing details were revealed at the event, so all we’ve got to go on are various rumours from before the launch – but it might be that Sony has aprice point of around $400 in mind for the US release. That translates to around £255 so you could extrapolate that to around £299.
This is further backed up by a recent report in The Times which states that Sony is aiming for a price of under £300 in the U.K. Many people think it’ll be more than that though – we’ll just have to wait and see.
PS4 launch titles
A number of games have been revealed for the PS4. They Are: Deep Down(Capcom), Destiny (Bungie), Diablo III (Blizzard), Driveclub (Evolution Studios), Final Fantasy (Square Enix), Infamous: Second Son (Sucker Punch), Killzone: Shadow Fall (Guerilla Games), Knack (Sony), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED), Watch Dogs (Ubisoft).

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/gaming/consoles/ps4-release-date-news-and-features-937822

Google+ Sign-In takes on Facebook Connect and frictionless sharing
Google+ has been on a steady path of iteration and integration since its debut in 2011, and now it’s getting a new universal login and sharing system called Google+ Sign-In. On one level, it’s an answer to Facebook Connect: a single login for websites and mobile apps that lets users bring along some of their social profile information. The set-up is familiar: you log in with your Google credentials and are told what information the site or app wants to access (along with Google+ profile information, Google’s other core services like Gmail or Google Calendar can also be utilized). You then choose what friends — or Circles — any related activities will be shared with, and you’re on your way. A “private” setting prevents anyone but you from seeing your activities, and the system does works with Google’s two-factor authentication.
The feature is available on the web as well as on both Android and iOS, though Android users get an added benefit: when logging into a site they can push any mobile app version directly to their phone. The real utility of this kind of service, however, comes with the social sharing functionality. Google’s drawing a clear distinction between two types of sharing: things that are passively passed to Google+, such as the stations you listen to on TuneIn Radio, and items you proactively decide to share with others.
The former don’t pop up in your friends’ feeds at all — Google says it wants to avoid spamming — though the activity is visible if someone visits your Google+ page with the correct permissions. Over time Google does plan on resurfacing the information in scenarios when it’s useful to users; when searching for music, for example, what your friends listen to could be a consideration. However, there are no specific features to that end being announced today.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/26/4030970/google-plus-sign-in-takes-on-facebook-connect-and-frictionless-sharing

Firefox phones to be sold by four hardware makers and 17 carriers
Competing in the smartphone market dominated by iOS and Android is one of the great challenges in the tech industry—even for companies with strong platforms and deep pockets like Microsoft and BlackBerry. For those companies trying to bring entirely new smartphone operating systems to market—like Mozilla with itsFirefox OS—it’s even tougher.
Mozilla has good news to report, though. Four hardware makers (Alcatel, LG, ZTE, and Huawei) stand ready to make Firefox phones to be sold later this year, from 17 carriers across the globe. Mozilla also said it has the first commercial build of its Firefox OS ready to be previewed at Mobile World Congress.
The announcement shows Mozilla is ahead ofCanonical’s Ubuntu for phones in terms of both the stage of technology development and ability to publicly announce partners. Still, there is far to travel. Firefox phones will hit the market this year overseas, but not in the US until 2014 according to Computerworld. And while the hardware makers on board are well-known, they’re not dominant players in the smartphone market. Samsung, the world’s most successful maker of Android phones, has reportedly said it has no interest in selling Firefox phones. Samsung already has an alternative operating system in the open source Tizen (which is being combined with the failed Bada OS).
The smartphone market is a big one, though, and perhaps Mozilla can gain a foothold overseas. “The first wave of Firefox OS devices will be available to consumers in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela,” Mozilla said. “Additional markets will be announced soon.”

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/firefox-phones-to-be-sold-by-four-hardware-makers-and-17-carriers/

Twitter rival App.net aims to extend reach with ‘freemium’ model
App.net, the social networking platform that launched as an ad-free alternative to Twitter, is looking to expand its user base by offering a free-account option.
App.net launched last year as a paid service that offers a social feed and API (application programming interface) to developers. The service is a social network in its own right, but it also provides the back-end infrastructure to let developers tap into its feed and build their own Twitter-like apps.
The site avoids ads by charging subscription fees to end users and developers, but it’s now offering a limited, free service for invited users, the company announced Monday in a blog post.
Users can join the site for free if they receive one of the invitations being distributed to current, paying members, moving App.net to a “freemium” model.
Background
App.net was originally conceived as a freemium service, with both free and paid membership tiers, but its founders wanted to first make sure that a paid market existed for the platform, said CEO Dalton Caldwell.
“Since there are numerous examples of freemium business models which didn’t succeed, we wanted to be very careful in our approach to pricing,” Caldwell said in the blog post.
There are now more than 100 third-party apps built with App.net for platforms including iOS and Android, according to the company. Each client app provides access to the same feed of App.net contacts, and users can also share items to other services such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Storage limits
App.net has been analyzing data for a few months to come up with its plan for the free tier accounts, which set limits on usage. People with free accounts, for instance, can only follow up to 40 other users and can’t use more than 500MB of file storage or upload files larger than 10MB.
Both the inviting member and the invitee will receive 100MB of additional storage, however, if the invitee follows at least five other accounts and authorizes a third-party app, the company said. App.net accounts can be linked to other services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Web hosting services GitHub and Dropbox, both of which offer free and paid tiers, were cited by Caldwell as models for App.net’s new freemium model.
App.net’s pricing options include $5 monthly and $36 and $100 yearly plans.
Some apps built using App.net include Buffer, designed to let people share more easily on App.net as well as on Twitter and Facebook, and Succynct, an App.net client for Google Chrome.
App.net was built to solve what Caldwell saw as some severe shortcomings with Twitter. Among its principles, App.net says it sells its service, “not our users,” and users can easily back up, export or delete their content at any time, it says.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029374/twitter-rival-appnet-aims-to-extend-reach-with-freemium-model.html

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Geek This Week:
Aaron: Really psyched about Google Glass after seeing the updated site and the review on The Verge.
Gozer: Metal Gear Rising Revengence & Crysis 3. Oscars & Seth McFarlane.
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The Geek’s Choice: Yestercades !! YAY!!
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Featured Segment: Review – Evernote Hello
Remembering people is hard. Evernote Hello makes it easy by creating a rich, browsable history of individuals, encounters and shared experiences.

http://evernote.com/hello/

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Feedback and items of Note:
Hey guys,
Just catching up on some of your podcasts and I was listening to FAQ’s About Time Travel and I did jailbreak my iPod Touch and the native weather app works fine(my iPad Mini doesn’t have the native app:( ) I had it jailbroken it on 6.1 and it didn’t work but now I’m running 6.1.2 and tada it works!
Love the show
Dawson
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Sponsors:
Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!
Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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 AudiblePodcast.com/TheGeekcast

Episodes

The Geekcast #340 – Neaten Your Desktop (The Real One!)



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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:40 — 55.9MB)

News:

Outlook.com moves out of preview mode with multimillion-dollar ads aimed at Gmail users


Microsoft first introduced Outlook.com back in July as a preview service designed to replace Hotmail. Starting this week, the company plans to aggressively market it as an alternative to Gmail and other web-based email services in a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign. “Outlook.com is coming out of preview,” says Microsoft’s Dharmesh Mehta, senior director of Outlook.com. “We’ll take the preview tag off.”
From today onwards Microsoft is spending millions of dollars across many countries to advertise Outlook.com on TV, radio, online, and elsewhere. The campaign will start in the US and gradually move to other countries in the coming weeks. Microsoft’s new email service might be ready for the masses with the company marketing it in a big way, but it’s not doing it as aggressively as the recent “Scroogled” ads. “They’re actually highly targeted, there’s a small number of people out there that are seeing them, but it’s much smaller,” explains Mehta, noting that the direct Outlook marketing will be broader.

The switch to a full service follows months of preparation by Microsoft’s Outlook.com team, readying infrastructure and servers for an influx of new users. “To date we’ve got over 60 million people actively using the service,” says Mehta. The team has been tweaking and fine tuning Outlook.com and scaling up its backend to handle the hundreds of millions of Hotmail users that will start to transfer across. “We didn’t expect to grow as fast as we did in the preview,” explains Mehta. “It even strained some of our systems on the backend more than we thought it would.”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/19/4000840/outlook-out-of-preview-multimillion-dollar-marketing-campaign

Ubuntu for tablets arriving on Nexus 7, Nexus 10 this week

Canonical today is unveiling Ubuntu for tablets, a touch-based interface supporting screen sizes of anywhere from 6″ to 20″, and use cases targeting both businesses and the home.
The announcement is hardly a surprise given Canonical’s recent unveiling of Ubuntu for smartphones, with the first handsets expected to ship in October. Canonical hasn’t told us when it expects hardware vendors to ship tablets running Ubuntu, but it’s possible Ubuntu smartphones and tablets are on the same schedule.

As previously reported, a developer preview of Ubuntu for phones is scheduled to be released on Thursday of this week. That phone preview can be installed on the Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4. It turns out the developer preview for tablets will also be available the very same day, and it can be installed on Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 tablets. A software development kit that supports phone app development will be updated to support the creation of tablet apps.
“Installable images and source code will be available from developer.ubuntu.com,” and Canonical employees will install Ubuntu on your phones and tablets in person if you visit their booth at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, the company said. A Canonical spokesperson told us that the code coming out Thursday is an early build and “not ready” for in-depth reviews and tests.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/ubuntu-for-tablets-arriving-on-nexus-7-nexus-10-this-week/

It’s Too Soon to Write Off the PS4 Controller Prototype’s New Functionality

 

Should you be doubting the authenticity of the photo, sources have confirmed to IGN and Kotakuthat this is the real deal. It is, mind you, a prototype, meaning it can and is likely to change, both in terms of feature set and looks. What matters, though, is that Sony apparently has real plans on including both a touchpad and a PlayStation Move sensor in the PS4′s controller.

Knowing all this, will the PS4 controller additions be worth the trouble? The Penny Arcade Report‘s Ben Kuchera doesn’t seem to think so. “Sony has a long history of throwing a bunch of technology at problems it doesn’t understand,” he wrote. “… If you don’t know if gamers want standard controls, touch controls, or motion controls, why not just jam all of them into a single Frankenstein controller? The problem is that a lack of vision from the console’s manufacturer leads to muddled, unfocused games where all this technology is used in annoying ways.”

 

It’s entirely possible those are the types of games we’ll get by Move and a touchpad being put into the PS4 controller. I have no doubt we’ll see many PS4 launch games that make obnoxious, superfluous usage of them, as Golden Abyss did with the Vita’s various capabilities. And I’m not in the least bit looking forward to dealing with any of these applications whose justification for existing is essentially “just because.”

That the touchpad is just that — a touchpad, and not a touchscreen — limits its usefulness. Kuchera notes you’d have to use it while looking up at the TV, a solution that is less ideal than having a screen on the controller to look at. Such a move would undoubtedly generate cries of “copycat” from those think it’s aping the Wii U’s GamePad, but if the pad were instead a touchscreen, that would make it a lot more interesting. It wouldn’t be able to provide the same sort of experience that’s possible on a GamePad because of its size, though the idea of a relatively standard-sized controller with some kind of touchscreen in the middle has a lot more potential than one with a touchpad.

An additional picture of the PS4 prototype controller surfaced late last week along with claims that it did, in fact, have a single-touch screen and not the multi-touch pad we’ve been hearing about. This doesn’t gel with previous reports, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility altogether. I’m not inclined to believe this is accurate, though I would be interested in seeing what kind of applications developers could come up with for what could function almost like a new-age VMU.

Ultimately, the controller is but one aspect of the new system, albeit a very important one. That’s no guarantee it’ll be among the subjects Sony dives into at this Wednesday’s event. As we officially know nothing, the company has a lot of ground to cover. E3 is less than four months away and it presumably won’t be a rehash of what we learn this week, in which case there will be a lot we don’t know after Wednesday. Whenever it is that we do learn about the controller, it should tell us a lot about Sony’s approach to gaming in the next generation.

 

http://www.1up.com/news/ps4-controller-new-functionality

 

HTC’s ‘One’ phone to rule them all: Meet its latest flagship

HTC gets another shot at a turnaround with its One smartphone.

The company unveiled its latest smartphone today in a global launch that included simultaneous events held in New York and London.

HTC is getting even more serious about its push to streamline things. Following up on last year’s vow to trim its product lineup, the company unveiled one device, simply called One. There will be no variation on which carriers get which phones, 150 wireless service providers will sell it, including AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA in the U.S.

President Jason MacKenzie, who kicked off the New York event, said that the company saw a massive opportunity to bring some excitement back to phones. He added that the One isn’t a set of incremental improvements but is about taking a bold step forward for something new and fresh.

The 32 gigabyte version of the One will retail for $199.99 with a two-year contract, while the 64 GB version should sell for $299.99, although HTC is still hashing out the final details with its carrier partners. HTC would only say that the phone would hit stores in March (please update if there’s more specific info).

Simplicity also dominates the look and feel of the phone. On the software side, HTC completed revamped its trademark SenseAndroid skin, getting rid of the retro flip-clock and other widgets for a cleaner, more modern look. Rather than focus on a screen full of apps, the One’s home page is dominated by “BlinkFeed,” a Flipboard like collection of news stories, social status updates, pictures, and other information that a user can scroll through.

On the hardware side, the phone is constructed entirely of aluminum in a process it calls “zero-gap construction.” The antenna employs part of the metal back to send and receive signals. The company hopes the premium feel of the phone will turn some heads.

Few of the specifications are surprising because of the numerous leaked pictures and stories, which spilled much of the details. The phone, codenamed M7, comes with a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.7 gigahertz quad-core process, 2GB of RAM, a 2,300 mAh embedded battery, a 2.1 megapixel front-facing wide-angle camera, and will run Android 4.1,2, also known as Jelly Bean, and the latest version of Sense (which dropped the numbering scheme but is technically the fifth iteration).

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57570015-94/htcs-one-phone-to-rule-them-all-meet-its-latest-flagship/

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Picked up Torchwood again and watched ep4 last night. Was quite good!

Ponied up for 20gb of iCloud space for $40/year.

 

Gozer: Beat Xcom. Signed up for gamefly

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The Geek’s Choice:  1 Second Everyday

An awesome way to catalog your daily life and not be intrusive!

http://1secondeveryday.com/

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Featured Segment:  NEAT Desktop Organizer

http://www.neat.com/landing-pages/tax-promotion-2013/

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Feedback and items of Note:

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Sponsors:

Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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>

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The Geekcast #339 – Free From The Snow



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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:19 — 71.9MB)

 

News:

Comcast acquires full ownership of NBCUniversal ahead of schedule

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, will consolidate its control over NBCUniversal by buying out the 49 percent of the media company that it doesn’t already own. Comcast will pay General Electric $16.7 billion for the shares and shell out $1.4 billion for related real estate, including the iconic 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Under a deal announced in 2009, General Electric spun NBC, Universal Studios, and various other media properties off into a new joint venture and sold 51 percent of the shares, and effective control, to Comcast.

The merger was intensely controversial. Critics charged that the acquisition would further cement Comcast’s already dominant position in the cable market, making it impossible for competitors such as Netflix to compete on a level playing field. But regulators decided not to challenge the merger, settling for a long list of regulatory concessions.

By structuring the deal so that GE initially held 49 percent of NBCUniversal, Comcast limited its downside risk: if the merger went sour, as some some media mergers have, GE would have eaten some of the losses. The original deal gave Comcast an option to buy the rest of NBCUniversal in 2014, but evidently the merger has been going well and Comcast decided to buy GE out ahead of schedule.

Even after the early acquisition, Comcast evidently had cash to spare. The firm also announced a larger shareholder dividend and a $2 billion share buyback plan.

As we reported when the merger was approved, Comcast will now control its massive cable network, 234 NBC affiliate stations, the Telemundo Spanish-language network, the NBC television network, TV production studios, the Universal movie studio, the Universal theme parks in LA and Florida, channels like MSNBC and CNBC, and a stake in Hulu. Prior to the merger, Comcast already owned TV channels like E! and G4, the Philadelphia Flyers NHL franchise, and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/02/comcast-acquires-full-ownership-of-nbcuniversal-ahead-of-schedule/

 

 

Factory Entertainment to release Back to the Future Shakems

Factory Entertainment has acquired the Back to the Future license and they will be rolling out some cool BTTF products in 2013. Starting off with their Shakems line, which are similar to bobbleheads as in mini statues with spring action. The first four BTTF Shakems are as follows.

 

Doc Brown Shakems

Marty McFly Hoverboard Shakems

DeLorean Time Machine Shakems

Manure Truck Accident Shakems

 

These are prototypes and are still in approval stages. Yes, there are no actor likeness on these products and due to the bobblehead type nature of these products, they appear to be more cartoonized versions of the characters. Still the sculpts looks good and costume details are captured quite nicely, but Marty’s face needs to be more expressive. Also Doc’s costume needs the orange markings and his shoes could use the brown color touch up. Overall it’s refreshing to see a company releasing BTTF products beyond DeLorean models. I love the DeLorean Time Machine and I’m looking forward toHot Wheels releasing their Elite BTTF DeLorean Models in 1:43 and 1:18 scale later this year.

 

But I also want to see more characters from the BTTF universe being released in the figure and statue format. These Shakems from Factory Entertainment is a good start towards that. And I have to say, that Biff’s car filled with manure display is just brilliant. This is what I want to see, a company doing the unconventional and really embracing their acquired licenses. It’s great to see that memorable and hilarious moment from the film being captured in a sculpture format like that. More movie scene specific sculptures please.

 

Mattel acquired the BTTF action figure license along with actor likeness rights back in 2011 and then backed out from producing the figures. Hot Toys has acquired the BTTF license along with likeness rights, though I am not sure if we will see any figures in 2013. From what I discussed with Factory Entertainment, they seem very passionate about the BTTF franchise and I think they will do the BTTF line justice. Also FE makes movie prop replicas, so maybe down the line we can finally have a company doing accurate BTTF prop replicas.

http://heavyfuture.blogspot.in/2013/02/factory-entertainment-to-release-back.html

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Geek This Week:

 

Aaron:  Pocket!

 

Gozer: HTMart.com: home theater purchases & great customer service

 

 

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The Geek’s Choice:  Mailbox for iPhone

Amazing email client taking the world by storm!

www.mailboxapp.com

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Featured Segment:  Turtle Beach Earforce Tango Surround Sound Headphones

 

Fully programmable audio presets, Dolby® Digital Surround Sound, 2.4/5GHz Dual-Band Wi-Fi, a rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery, Bluetooth® technology and wireless chat for Xbox 360® and PS3™ complete the ultimate gaming audio loadout.

Dolby® Digital Surround Sound lets you pinpoint the direction of every gunshot and footstep with 360 degree audio for an immersive experience, while adjusting the position of the virtual speaker angles provides enhanced customizability.

9 different presets for game and chat/mic audio paths so you can crank up earth-shattering explosions and hear enemy footsteps through the 50mm speaker drivers – all while calling the shots and coordinating with your squad mates for maximum operational effectiveness.

http://www.turtlebeach.com/product-detail/call-of-duty-headsets/ear-force-tango/27


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Feedback and items of Note:

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Sponsors:

 

Check us out on Stitcher! Visit http://www.stitcher.com/geekcast and sign up. Not only can you catch the podcast through the app, but if you use the code ‘geekcast’ within the app and you’ll be entered to win $100!

 

 

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audiobook 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>

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