Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:21 — 80.3MB)

Items of Note:

Win a copy of Jedi Junkies! http://www.iTunes.com/Movies/JediJunkies. JEDI JUNKIES is a film about real men and women who dedicate their personal and professional lives to all things Star Wars. Directed by Mark Edlitz and featuring Olivia Munn (host, ‘Attack of the Show’), it’s a fun and affectionate look at how some Star Wars fans’ appreciation can go well beyond mere admiration. This movie is distributed by New Digital Video: http://www.facebook.com/NewVideoDigital.

Just send us an e-mail by July 28th and we’ll randomly draw a winner from the entries. This is open to US residents only and you must have an iTunes account.

Please note there will be no Monday stream or show on Tuesday because Gozer and I will be in NYC to see The Smashing Pumpkins!!!

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Feedback:

Hi Aaron,

It is sad to see that Gozer had to cancel his Blockbuster Game membership for his Droid. However I would like to mention a game trading site named Goozex.com.
I have been a member of this site and in around 8 months done over 100 trades (sending and relieving). They guarantee your trade, it has a good community and their decisions are community driven. Also the games are very well priced and their value fluctuate according to supply and demand.
I hope Gozer continues his gaming at the same speed he was before he got the droid.

Love the show,

Akash

Hey Guys!

Not sure if you have heard but Bungie has been rumored to Jump from XBOX 360 to the Playstation 3.
They say they will not be doing a Halo for Playstation 3 but I am sure Sony will push for it.

Also Richard Branson was on a BBC show the last and was talking about his new venture. It Virgin Media
Online the idea is that XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 owners will be able to play against each other online.
There will be prizes and people will be able to play for money, he has also rumored that there is a possibility
of winning a trip to space!

Love the Show
-Barry
Cork, Ireland

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Geek This Week:

Gozer: My Gadgets! Made a movie with my camcorder. Took some awesome shots with my SLR in Maine. Went to coos canyon, stood on a bridge and took pics of my friends jumping about 25 to 30 feet into the water filled canyon. Android phone. Telephoto lens came in very handy.
Listened to 2 audiobooks on the way up to Maine. Olivia Munn’s Suck it Wonder Woman and Extra Lives: Why video games matter. by Tom Bissell.

Aaron: Checking out GeekTool to customize my desktop. Also was able to pick up the Handy Light before Apple pulled it! If you happened to see the show’s Twitter stream, you saw me urging people to get it before the Big ‘A’ yanked it.

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Tech and Gaming News:

How a 15-yo Kid Tricked Apple With a Disguised iPhone Tethering App

Oh, Nick Lee, you clever boy you. See, Nick here tricked Apple with a very simple iPhone application: Handy Light. On the surface it looked just like any other $0.99 flashlight application. But, secretly, it was a lot more useful.

Handy Light allowed you to make your iPhone’s screen go blank with a color of your choice. You opened it, clicked a swatch from a simple palette, and that was it: Life in technicolor. Another stupid flashlight application like a hundred others. Or so the App Store team thought.

Inside, the app contained hidden code that made it a full tethering application—a program that allows you to use your iPhone as a 3G modem. Using this ability you can surf the web from your computer, using the iPhone as a bridge to the internet. You can do this using your iPhone’s preferences too, but that way you will have to pay the additional $20 per month that AT&T wants you to pay for this kind of service. That is $20 extra on top of whatever you are paying for your iPhone data plan. With Handy Light, the tethering service was completely free.

It worked beautifully: You just needed to set up a Wi-Fi network in your laptop, connect your iPhone to it, change a few parameters in your computer’s Wi-Fi settings, and that was it. Within seconds, your notebook was able to surf the web. And yes, I say was. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. The app was pulled from iTunes as soon as news of its true nature appeared online. Those who downloaded it, however, can keep enjoying its benefits.

http://gizmodo.com/5592521/how-a-guy-tricked-apple-with-a-disguised-iphone-tethering-app

Telltale Games Asking For Input On Upcoming BTTF Game

The company says the results of the 10-15 minute survey will help their team learn what interests fans the greatest in developing this game, although they make no promise that any suggestions will make it into the finalized game.

The company is looking for “respondents who fit a different profile.” So just a heads-up: 45-year-old males need not apply!

volveralfuturo says:
July 9, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I wasn’t crazy about any of the scenarios. Some didn’t make much sense. For example, taking us to the 30′s sounds awesome, but I’d much rather fight against an Al Capone type Tannen than a gold digger that could make Doc not be interested in science anymore. The Tannen time police one? Where did the time police come from, and why is one of the Tannens a law enforcement officer? They’ve always been trouble makers, right? The Biff Jr. getting into a fight with the Mcfly kids? Way too animated series for me. The only intriguing option scenario, at least for me, is the 60′s scenario where Marty meets his Mom the day before he is born. I like the scenario, but not the potential gameplay options. Hunting for missing pieces of the time machine? Lorraine wearing the flux capacitor as a pearl necklace? I’d much rather see them take an approach similar to what the Ghostbusters game did. Make it like a 4th movie. Keep the style the same, but have them visit different time periods. Add new characters, but don’t go overboard. Just my two cents. Should be fun no matter what though.

http://www.Back-to-the-Future.net/telltale-games-asking-for-input-on-upcoming-bttf-game/

Droid 2 launching as soon as August 12, embraces Star Wars roots with R2-D2 edition

Rumor has it that the Motorola Droid 2 for Verizon will be launching on August 12 — although it seems to be something of a soft launch, because marketing efforts aren’t scheduled to kick in until a week and a half later on the 23rd. What’s even more interesting, though, is that there’ll be a Star Wars edition of the phone launching with a white R2-D2 on the back. For the record, this isn’t the first time Verizon has toyed with the Droid line’s Star Wars origins; Motorola actually had to license the name from Lucasfilm, and to promote the original phone, Big Red sent around remote-control Artoos last year to various media outlets. What we don’t know is whether the special edition will be launching at the same time as the stock version — so if the plain-vanilla Droid 2 comes out first, that might automatically make the decision of which to buy for some folks.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/20/droid-2-launching-as-soon-as-august-12-embraces-star-wars-roots/

GameStop to Evolve Website into Gaming Portal

New CEO suggests site will be a place to “play, learn and purchase games.”

GameStop has been cagey about its plans to deal with the impending digital age, but the new CEO Paul Raines spoke frankly about it in a recent interview with The Street (via GamesIndustry.biz). He says he wants the GameStop Web site to be a “destination for gamers, whether they are getting content via online, mobile, console or any other platform. We are also migrating our website from a purely e-commerce site to a gaming platform that users can visit to play, learn and purchase games.”

He says the company is taking a look at other online companies that have successfully started their transition to digital formats. “We have studied Netflix a lot, and most of their users still absorb physical content rather than streaming,” Raines said. “Now we are looking to see how gaming compares. We are focusing on consumer acceptance. The world won’t be all digital tomorrow, even though that’s what people are claiming. In this business, users still want physical content.”

He also remarked on the difficulty of sustaining a used game sales model, echoing recent comments made at the Develop conference. “In tough economic times the consumer doesn’t want to spend $59 for a new game,” he said. “They may not have $59, but they may have $40 and an old game under their bed that they can trade in for a new title.” He also shrugged off competition in the used games space. “Pricing buybacks and sales is complex. We have a refurbishment facility and last year recycled 100 million units. This system is difficult to replicate.”

GameStop has always seemed unconcerned about the advent of digital content, even dismissing EA’s Online Pass as an opportunity to sell downloadable content. Plans to turn the site into a gaming portal might explain their confidence, but raises new questions about online competition with existing services.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180467

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Test a Geek:

1) Question: The Android OS is ranked 2nd among all smartphone OS handsets sold in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2010. What is ranked #1?

Answer: Blackberry OS

2) Question: What video game did Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield talk about when we had her on episode 222?

Answer: Rez.

3) Question: GameStop traces its roots to Babbage’s, a small software retailer that started in Dallas, Texas in 1984. The movements that made Babbage’s into GameStop started in 1994 with a series of mergers between Babbage’s and several other software retailers. Name the first two software retailers they merged with.

Answer: The first was with Software Etc. in 1994, the second was with Funcoland stores in 2000.

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Interview:

Today we welcome Somrat Niyogi, CEO of Bazaar Labs the company behind the check-in application Miso. Miso is used to check into movies and TV shows for a more social experience. You can learn more about Miso at www.GoMiso.com

1. Tell us about Miso and how it’s different than Foursquare.
2. How did you get the idea for Miso?
3. Why just movies and TV shows instead of books, music and other media?
4. Where do you see the whole check-in craze heading in the next year?
5. What sets Miso apart from the competition?

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How To: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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Open Source Software: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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Hack: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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

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GoToMeting: Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days.

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 2 audio books a month for only $14.95 per month! Just visit audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:28 — 45.4MB)

Items of Note: Today’s episode was heavily teased about a special guest, Claudia Wells. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to make it onto the show. Claudia Wells played Marty McFly’s girlfriend Jennifer Parker in Back to the Future.

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Feedback:

Robert writes:

Guys, Was listening to the Geekcast today and had some notes about photography and dSLR’s in general.

It’s not about megapixels anymore. Even at the consumer level you will have tons more detail than you will be able to handle. Most stuff done by amateurs and semi-pro folks is either fixed in post or actually turns into digital art at some point. i.e. Photoshopped to heck and back.

You must always remember that the photographer takes the pictures. Say it again: “The Photographer takes the Pictures”. The camera is just a tool in his hands. Beyond a certain point, its got nothing to do with gear. Sure the latest digital camera will have great ISO and let you jam on and zoom in on the LCD (live view) for perfect focus, but in my opinion those are crutches. A good photographer doesn’t need all that, it just makes life easier. I’m sure you’ve met folks who are born artists. They are just like folks who are born programmers, to me its like that – photography is something I dabble in, I think I’m able to get exposure right and have somewhat interesting composition and enough patience to get the shots from time to time. But while I put out 1 amazing photograph during a trip to the zoo – my wife puts out a hundred. She’s a born artist. She’s the “Programmer” that was born and possesses a spark that can’t be taught.

My wife is a fairly professional amateur. She’s more of a creative artist, but she has been doing photography for nigh on 20 years now. She only recently upgraded from the Digital Rebel XT (aka 350d) which is circa 2005ish. That one had about 90,000 clicks on the shutter when she upgraded to the 50d. I’m illustrating that you don’t absolutely need a brand new awesome top of the line camera to take good photographs. In fact a lot of very professional artists are moving back into film as it can’t be matched in the digital world in a number of aspects. We still have a Canon Rebel (film) SLR, I’ve gotten into rangefinders (Minolta Hi-Matic), and we both dabble with lomo stuff (she’s got a Holga, and I’ve got a Diana). A 35mm film negative contains somewhere around 20-30 megapixels, depending on the drum scan you can get, it’s ISO and dynamic range surpass that of anything digital, and its actually nearly impossible to get a blurry photograph.

Neat gee-whiz features like an IS lens are useless until you understand how they help you. If you shoot in the “green box” or “P”, then you’ve wasted your money.

One book to read if you haven’t already – is “Understanding Exposure” by Brian Peterson. Its far and away the best text on how to always get the photograph.

Everything is not a great photograph. Photography is more about environment and chance than anything else.

That being said, here are some great tips:
1. Don’t discount “Canon Digital Photo Professional” included with Canon dSLR’s. It’s a really great “preprocessing” tool.
2. Don’t be afraid to post-process in photoshop or lightroom. At minimum I do levels and sharpening.
3. The built in flash is practically useless. You’ll need an external shoe mount for decent portraits.
4. LEARN what exposure means/is. Its likely the biggest issue that point and shoots try to get right and never seem to get a handle on.

Max writes:

Great show guys, funny you mentioned looking for an SLR i’m sort of looking also since my favorite lumix kinda went down… Attack of the show did a review on one that I’m liking..
http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/gadgetpr0n/71317/Olympus-E-PL1-DLSR-Review.html Olympus E-PL1 DLSR, still looking, the review just got me excited.

Barry writes:

Hey Geekcast,

Me and my wife were just talking about Back to the Future and thought it would make an excellent
Lego game. Unfortunatly it probably wont happen but below is some cool pictures of Back to the
Future lego models which I thought you might like. Love the show!

-Barry
Cork, Ireland

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Geek This Week:

Gozer: “Gozer’s Gadgets” So much tech this week!

Aaron: Still watching Spartacus and also playing GTA4 a bunch lately.

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Tech and Gaming News:

Apple to hold iPhone 4 press conference this Friday

LoopInsight, Engadget and others are reporting that Apple will be holding a press conference this Friday.

Apple on Wednesday invited select press to a special press conference to be held this Friday in California. Apple would only say that the press conference would be regarding the iPhone 4. No other information was available when I spoke with them tonight. The topic of discussion, of course, is the iPhone 4 which has received much press over the past few weeks regarding a signal loss issue when it is held in certain ways. A Consumer Reports article reignited discussion of this issue earlier this week.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/14/apple-holding-iphone-4-press-conference-on-friday/

Droid X available to buy now
Yes, the Droid X has joined the Kin… in being available to buy on Verizon’s online Wireless store. No shock or awe here, it’s a cent under two Benjamins with a two-year deal and you can give it the shopping basket treatment right now. Either that or wait in line overnight like a lovesick puppy, it’s up to you.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/15/droid-x-available-to-buy-now/

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Test a Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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How To: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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Open Source Software: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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Hack: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:39 — 31.9MB)

Topic:

1. Consumer Reports’ testing confirms iPhone antenna is faulty: http://mashable.com/2010/07/12/iphone-4-consumer-reports/

2. Google is on the verge of allowing anyone to create an app with App Inventor: http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

3. Apple extends warranty coverage on flawed 2008 Time Capsules – http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/11/apple-recalling-flawed-2008-time-capsules/

4. Rumor: AT&T giving 3G MicroCells to long-standing customers – http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/12/rumor-atandt-giving-3g-microcells-to-long-standing-customers/

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Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 2 audio books a month for only $14.95 per month! Just visit audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:38 — 40.1MB)

Items of Note:

The live-stream & chat room are back! We’re streaming on Monday evenings at 8:30 PM Eastern with Aaron & Allen. Be sure to join us.

Feedback:

Hail Aaron

Not that you guys asked but I have two cool things to share. First I found a cool app for my Android phone called spark. It allows you to add delete and communicate with your xbox friends…handy when your on the go.

The other is the latest version of Ubuntu theyre up to 10 now…I added a Sprint usb modem found it and connected with out a prob….

Hope all is well
max

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Geek This Week:

Gozer: Cameras and HD Camcorders
Narrowed it down to:

Canon EOS Rebel T2i 18.0MP Digital SLR Camera with Bag and Extra Lens(telephoto)

Canon HF M31 Camcorder 32g internal memory and media reader. Uses SD cards.

Enjoying PS3. Discovered there is an awesome GB theme on the blu ray. Also there are alot of awesome free themes @

http://www.bestps3themes.com/ and http://www.allps3themes.com/

Downloaded a BTTF theme, there was a DeLorean as a background but when i downloaded it there was nothing! Just BTTF! Theme isn’t that great. I gotta make my own.

http://www.bestps3themes.com/create-ps3-themes-tutorial/

Aaron: Loving the small updates Google makes to Google Voice. They now added the ability to listen to a voicemail within the HTML 5 applet instead of having to tap on ‘play’ and then getting the Quicktime player on the iPhone. Inline playing makes for a better experience.

I’m also back to rocking out on Flight Control. Scored 981 on the new ‘Windy’ level.

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Tech and Gaming News:

Borders’ Kobo-powered eBook Store now live with 1.5 million titles, Android and BlackBerry apps

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:38 — 41.9MB)

Items of Note:

The live-stream & chat room are back! We’re streaming on Monday evenings at 8:30 PM Eastern with Aaron & Allen. Be sure to join us.

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Geek This Week:

Gozer: Home theater never gets old. Pixel Junk Monsters PSP. iPhone 4.

Aaron: Social Media Camp Long Island (SMCampLI). GPush completely not working for anyone who has it for iPhone. Really annoying since it’s a paid app and their support is non-existent. Also Netflix on TiVo is killing me lately. Complete lock ups and requires me to power-cycle in order to get control back. Horrible implementation. I’ll use Xbox from now on.

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Tech and Gaming News:

Bloomberg: vPhone coming in January

That iPhone on Verizon rumor just won’t die — Bloomberg is now reporting that we’ll see an iPhone on Verizon’s service in January of next year. “Two people familiar with the plans” say that AT&T exclusivity will finally end next year, and analysts say that if that happens, Apple will sell lots more iPhones, up to 3 million more per quarter to Verizon’s 90 million or so customers.

Of course there’s no comment by Apple or Verizon so far, and I’ll point out that we’ve heard this rumor time and time and time again — first back in January of this year, then for the new iPhone 4 announcement and WWDC, and now pushed off until next year. Basically, don’t hold your breath. It wouldn’t be bad to get away from the often complaint-worthy service at AT&T, but if Apple hasn’t seen fit to end exclusivity so far (and don’t forget that we’re still seeing record iPhone sales), why would it do so next year.

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/29/bloomberg-vphone-coming-in-january/

Apple hiring iPhone antenna engineers for some reason

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:42 — 39.2MB)

Topic:

1. Google remotely wipes apps off Android phones – http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20008922-245.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
2. Internet Kill Switch Approved by Senate Committee – http://cbs4.com/technology/internet.freedom.regulation.2.1774665.html
A government ‘kill switch’ for the Internet – http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/say-no-government-kill-switch-the-internet-931
3. Nintendo Flicks Homebrew Kill Switch In Wii Menu 4.3 – http://exophase.com/wii/nintendo-flicks-homebrew-kill-switch-in-wii-menu-4-3-16206.htm

Other News:

1.Apple Announces iPhone 4 Sales of 1.7 Million, Most Successful Product Launch Ever – http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/28/apple-announces-iphone-4-sales-of-1-7-million-most-successful-product-launch-ever/

2. Steve not receptive to reception issues: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/27/steve-jobs-on-iphone-4-signal-issue-stay-tuned/

3. Kindle for Android, to complete the circuit: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/28/kindle-for-android-now-available/

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The Geekcast is sponsored by:

GoToMeting: Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days.

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 2 audio books a month for only $14.95 per month! Just visit audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:15:54 — 69.7MB)

Items of Note:

Today we welcome EV guru & green-technology expert Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield to the show. Formerly of the EVCast, Nikki now produces the Transport Evolved podcast along with This Week in Energy. She can be found on Twitter at Twitter.com/EvolveTransport, www.transportevolved.com and www.thisweekinenergy.tv She’s also a Mac Geek and used to work for MacFormat.com

The live-stream & chat room are back! We’re streaming on Monday evenings at 8:30 PM Eastern with Aaron & Allen. Be sure to join us.

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Geek This Week:

Gozer:

– Ps3 games!! Played Buzz, game modes: hot potato, pie in the face, dunk. GOW 3, Uncharted 2 ( really loving it!), Metal Gear Solid 4 and rented Heavy Rain. Good thing about being a late adopter is CHEAP GAMES!!

- Two words: Remi Gaillard. Check out the mario kart & pac man videos. Imitating these characters to the point of being illegal.

Aaron:

- Becoming a total OCD person when driving my Prius. Working to get the best milage possible while still not driving 30 MPH, which is impossible in NY.
- iOS 4 onto my iPhone 3GS. It’s amazingly fast and adds great features. Found out I’m eligible for an upgrade?? Makes no sense, thinking of a possible jump to iPhone 4 if I can figure out how to sell my existing iPhone to cover the costs.
- Toy Story 3.

Nikki:

- Becoming the best geek mom I can be. Old macs repurposed as kid-friendly machines, geeky mom days out, kid friendly card games.

- E3 annoucnements bound to get me going. Assasin’s Creed Brotherhood. Totally not kid friendly, but I LOVE ETZIO! Portal 2 will drive me crazy (Glados does my head in).
Gran Turismo 5 with the Stig AND a Tesla AND 3D (Sign me up)
Civilization 5. The perfect way to spend a cold winter day.

-(The IT Crowd is back for season 4! Watch Ep 1 on line

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:54 — 36.7MB)

June 21st Show Topic:

Topic:

1- iOS 4 available to all beginning—TODAY! http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/21/ios-4-apps-the-best-of-whats-new-and-updated/, http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/21/iphone-3g-ios-4-and-you-whats-missing-spoiler-multitaski/
2- How iOS multitasking really works. http://furbo.org/2010/06/21/iphone-multitasking/
3- E-readers dropping in price; competing with each other or protection from rising tablet sales? http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/21/kindle-price/
4- SAI predicts Microsoft’s demise. Is there room for the one-time behemoth in the 21st century? http://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-business-could-collapse-2010-6
5- Microsoft’s Courier didn’t work out, so Toshiba will give it a shot instead. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/199411/toshiba_libretto_w100_looks_promising_for_mobile_workers.html
6- Digital ads on California license plates. http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/21/news/economy/california_budget_electronic_plates/

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The Geekcast is sponsored by:

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:11 — 55.3MB)

Items of Note:

The live-stream & chat room are back! We’re streaming on Monday evenings at 8:30 PM Eastern with Aaron & Allen. Be sure to join us.

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Feedback:

Hi. I just got done listening to ep. #216 and wanted to ask Gozer if his take on the women in Red Dead Redemption is similar at all to this:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-ways-red-dead-redemption-hates-women/

Even if the writer was exaggerating a bit, if true it WOULD seem that the developers had an axe to grind.

Love the show, and thank you for your time!

Wes in GR

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Geek This Week:

Gozer: PS3! Knew i was getting it. It is the 120 gig slim version. To get True Dolby HD or DTS Master, change from linear pcm to bitstream. My receiver lit up HD and i was happy. Picked up GOW3, Uncharted 2 and Buzz. GOW3 is epic. Gameplay feels exactly the same. Playstation store. Breaking Bad Season Finale and SNL individual episodes in HD!

Also, was everyone born on June 13th? Went to Red Lobster on sunday with my family. I was one of five birthdays. Waitresses were stunned. Then Allen tweets that he knew of five people whose birthday it was.

Aaron & Gozer:

Apple store at the Palasades Mall. Checked out the iPad.

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Tech and Gaming News:

Mac Mini gets a sneaky update: spec bump, unibody enclosure, HDMI

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:33 — 45.5MB)

Feedback:

Hey Aaron,

Hail fellow geek! It’s Max! Show is still great! sorry I haven’t been so vocal as of late, saw this on woot, just brought it….hope the link works
think you’d appreciate it

Not that it’s any of our business, but some of us have been talking and we think you’d really look a lot better if you wore shirts like this:

It Came Out Of Nowhere – http://shirt.woot.com/shirts/it-came-out-of-nowhere

We thought it was best if you heard it from your friends. And it’s just ten bucks today, so no excuses.

Topic:

Joining us on this episode is Brian from ExplainTheFee.com. Sprint has decided to charge all buyers of the brand new HTC EVO a $10 ‘Premium Data’ fee every month. Just what is ‘Premium Data’? It seems no one knows.

1. How did you first hear about the fee Sprint was going to charge? What was your reaction?
2. Did you try to make contact with Sprint before making this a public battle?
3. Tell us how the site got started.
4. What has the reaction been from people? Have people from Sprint read it?
5. Your site has been reported on by a number of people and even appeared on Consumerist and the front page of Digg. What has that done for ExplainTheFee.com?

Questions:

cronkmeister
If you buy the phone outright without the contract, do they still charge the $10/month fee?#ETFQuestion6:06 PM Jun 13th via web

tonuello
#ETFquestion why is @Sprint essentially charging#Evo users twice (prem. Data), be it for hardware features or the unlimited data plan?

Here is my question that I would like you to address. You focus on what Sprint says about the hardware in their explanation for the fee yet completely ignore that it is about the data and even in Sprint’s explanation they talk about data. You will use more data with this phone even if you are in a 3g area. Why don’t you ever talk about this?

Ray Lusk

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:04 — 53.3MB)

Items of Note:

The live-stream & chat room are back! We’re streaming on Monday evenings at 8:30 PM Eastern with Aaron & Allen. Be sure to join us.

Next week is ‘interview week’ here on The Geekcast! Tune into Tuesday’s episode when we speak to the blogger behind ExplainTheFee.com and his fight with Sprint to explain their $10 EVO fee. Then on Thursday’s episode we welcome Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield from Transport Evolved and formerly of the EVCast to talk all about electric cars and green technologies.

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Feedback:

Voicemail feedback from Bruce about the oil issues in the Gulf.

Thanks Guys (for a shout out):

That was an excellent show (episode 216). You had some very interesting subject matter. I’m always interested in anything regarding my (iPhone) 3GS. Have a great week and thanks again. I will be signing in on Mondays now.

Kevin
Huntington Beach, Calif.

Howdy guys,

Fairly new listener to you but I felt compelled to correct something I heard in the recent podcast.

Let me just tell you that I regularly watch videos “in HD” on Netflix when using my TiVo HD. That’s real HD – aka 720p.

Netflix “in HD” is dependent on a number of items to be true:
1. The device you are using must be supported. I know that TiVo will work in HD, I’m fairly sure PS3 works in HD, dunno about xbox or boxxee or anything else.
2. The content you are watching must exist at Netflix in HD.
3. Your network bandwidth (actually its a number of factors, not specifically max download rate) must be enough to support HD.

Robert Heron – of HD Nation (Revision 3) spent a long time trying to get HD via Netflix working on his TiVo. He was able to make it work..

http://heronfidelity.com/

In my case it just worked and I didn’t experience anything that he did. I don’t know what to say about that other than maybe I was lucky. I’ve also heard other people say that Netflix in “HD” isn’t HD, so just wantted to let you know, that it really does exist, the picture quality is STELLAR, (better than DVD qual, but not Blu-Ray yet). No 5.1 or surround either.

Just an FYI and best regards,

Robert

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Rockin’ 49.9 MPG in my Prius so far. HOV lane with just me makes my commute so much easier. Silversun Pickups album ‘Swoon’ on vinyl! Plants vs. Zombies.

Gozer: PS3. Played it at my wife’s friends house. Had a beautiful 47″ Vizio full HD 240hrz tv. Showed me Avatar and GB on blu ray. Would not have thought Ghostbusters was filmed in 1984 if you would have seen this sharp picture. Demo’d God of War 3. Amazing. Buzz Quiz show game, up to eight players! I am pretty sure my wife is getting me a ps3 for mah birfday.

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Tech and Gaming News:

Ford steering Google Maps into its cars

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:09 — 49.7MB)

Topic:

1. iPhone 4 Specs – Pentaband, 802.11 B/G/N – http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/iphone-4-hits-fcc-becomes-worlds-second-announced-pentaband-3g/, http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/iphone-4-announced/
2. FaceTime & 2 cameras
3. A4 CPU
4. Safari 5 – http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/apple-release-safari-5/
5. iPhone vs. Evo 4G vs. Droid Incredible: http://mashable.com/2010/06/07/iphone-evo-droid-infographic/
6. The rumors that didn’t pan out: Verizon, Apple TV, Magic Trackpad, OSX 10.7

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The Geekcast is sponsored by:

GoToMeting: Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days.

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 2 audio books a month for only $14.95 per month! Just visit audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:09 — 47.9MB)

Items of Note:

Don’t forget that we’re bringing back the live-stream & chat room! Since Gozer’s a little camera shy, we’ll be streaming on Monday evenings at 8:30 PM Eastern with Aaron & Allen.

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Feedback:

Saw this on topless robot. thought Gozer would like: http://www.80stees.com/products/Proton-Pack-Backpack.asp

Enjoy the Show

Jedadiah

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Reading Daemon by Daniel Suarez on my Kindle. Really great book that has accurate techno-talk in it. A character uses NetStumbler for crying out loud! The author either did great research or is a complete geek. It’s a fantastic book and I believe all listeners to the show would enjoy it.

Gozer: Red Dead Redemption. Gameplay, similarities to GTA. Secret Achievement awesome. Awesome showing of the cutscenes on Fox HD last saturday.
Very excited about getting a new iMac. Have given up on the idea about getting a flat screen for the living room. Wii would look terrible.
Ghostbusters Pachinko game in Japan. Check it out on YouTube.

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Tech and Gaming News:

AT&T makes sweeping changes to data plans, iPhone tethering coming at OS 4 launch

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:02 — 56.1MB)

Items of Note:

We’re very happy to welcome Gozer back to the show! It’s great that he’s back with us to geek out!

Don’t forget that we’re bringing back the live-stream & chat room! Since Gozer’s a little camera shy, we’ll be streaming on Monday evenings at 8:30 PM Eastern with Aaron & Allen.

The Geekcast is proud to announce we have a new sponsor: Audible.com! If you’re into audio books, be sure to use our link to check them out!

Back to the Future rant about Nextround.net stupidity – http://nextround.net/2010/05/25/back-to-the-future-mall-sign-ftw/

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Toyota Prius with all the tech goodies! Bluetooth, Nav, touchscreen, hacks & more!

Gozer: Plants vs. Zombies & Super Mario Galaxy 2
Gave in an bought Red Dead Redemption and Alan Wake. Ugh i am pathetic.

Aaron & Gozer: 24 roundtable

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Tech and Gaming News:

WWDC: “You Won’t Be Dissappointed”

After the big news from Google last week, MacRumors reader Bryan Websteremailed Steve Jobs: “I hope you have some good WWDC announcements to blow [Google] out of the water”.

To this, Steve Jobs reportedly replied “You won’t be disappointed”. While it’s always hard to authenticate emails sent to and from 3rd parties, Bryan did post headers as an offering of proof.

Apple is expected to be making new product announcements at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference from June 7th-11th. In particular, everyone expects that the next generation iPhone will be introduced at that event. Other rumors have suggested that we may see the iPhone with Verizon this year, though it may not come as early as June.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/23/steve-jobs-on-wwdc-announcements-you-wont-be-disappointed/

Software Firm Estimates Google Pac-Man Resulted in $120 Million in Lost Productivity
Rescue Time estimates that 4.8 million additional hours were spent across Google’s user base.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:06 — 70.7MB)

Topic:

1. Dispersants: A Guided Tour – http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/….
2. How To: Monitor the Gulf Oil Spill Using Social Media – http://mashable.com/2010/05/15/social-media-oil-spill/
3. How big is the oil spill compared to where you live? – http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/#Manhattan

4. Haiti earthquake: Technology comes to the rescue in Haiti – http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3210456/haiti-earthquake-technology-comes-to-the-rescue-in-haiti/5. American Red Cross had raised approximately $444-million as of May 6, including $6-million from the Hope for Haiti telethon. More than $32-million was pledged to the Red Cross via text message. – http://philanthropy.com/article/11-Billion-Donated-for-Haiti/65479/?sid=&utm_source=&utm_medium=en&loc=interstitialskip

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The Geekcast is sponsored by:

GoToMeting: Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days.

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 2 audio books a month for only $14.95 per month! Just visit audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:18 — 40.7MB)

Items of Note:

Links to late-breaking news at the end of the show:

-Official Twitter app for the iPhone has been released and replaces Tweetie 2: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twitter/id333903271?mt=8

-Chrome Browser App Store: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/chrome-web-store/
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Feedback: Bruce from Kansas City gives us a call since we ‘begged’ for voicemail.

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Locked down my Facebook profile even further and removed even more information / pictures. http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook

Allen: Google I/O rolls in. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363862,00.asp

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Tech and Gaming News:

Google opens door for third-party Gmail apps

“If you build it, they will come” isn’t always enough. Sometime you have to let somebody else build on your foundation.

That’s what Google is now doing with Gmail, letting Google Apps customers add various third-party applications that integrate with the e-mail service.

“Starting today, third-party developers can build Gmail contextual gadgets and distribute them in the Google Apps Marketplace. These gadgets can display information from social networks, business services, Web applications and other systems, and users can interact with that data right within Gmail,” Chandrashekar Raghavan, product manager for Google Apps extensions, said in a blog post Tuesday.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20005356-264.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 includes AT&T tethering option

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:14 — 33.3MB)

Topic:

1. Google turns Nexus One strategy upside down – http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20005015-265.html?tag=mncol
2. Microsoft confirms, kills Courier in one fell swoop – http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/29/microsoft-confirms-kills-courier-in-one-fell-swoop/
3. Garmin Nuvifone G60: makes a fine navigator but fails as a smartphone. –
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/garmin-nuvifone-g60-at/4505-6452_7-33527330.html#cnetReview
4. Wii keeps you not dead: http://techland.com/2010/05/17/1-to-health-american-heart-association-gives-nintendo-stamp-of-approval/

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The Geekcast is sponsored by:

GoToMeting: Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days.

Audible: Try Audible Now and Get 1 Free Audio Book Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles. Continue your membership and receive 2 audio books a month for only $14.95 per month! Just visit audiblepodcast.com/TheGeekcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:31 — 44.6MB)

Items of Note: There are currently no items of note.

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Feedback: Rus gives Aaron the third-degree about not revealing the secret to doing better on Flight Control for iPhone / iPod Touch.

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Foursquare venue creation and people checking in a lot afterwards. Silversun Pickups.

Allen: Android OS 2.2 — FROYO! http://androidandme.com/2010/05/news/prepare-to-be-blown-away-by-froyo-android-2-2/

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Tech and Gaming News:

Some quitting Facebook as privacy concerns escalate

Concerns over Facebook’s new privacy policy and the online social network’s recent efforts to spread its information across the Web have led some of the site’s faithful to delete their accounts — or at least try to. On Wednesday’s episode of a podcast called This Week in Technology, host Leo Laporte, a well-known tech pundit, said he had to search wikiHow, a how-to site, to figure out how to delete his Facebook account permanently.

After finding the delete button, which he said is hidden deep within the site’s menus, Laporte proceeded to delete his account during the online broadcast.

“That’s it. It’s gone,” he said during the show. “And I think that’s the right thing to do.”

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/12/business/facebook-privacy.html

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/13/facebook.delete.privacy/index.html?hpt=T2

Common Cents Mobile becomes Sprint’s latest prepaid brand, exclusive to Walmart

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:04 — 45.1MB)

Topic: Privacy, come out come out wherever you are!

1. Facebook: The Never-ending Circle Chart. — http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/
2. Now you see me, now you don’t. Sort of. — http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/05/10/facebooks-byzantine-privacy-controls-produce-more-confusion/
3. Are you sure you want to go into that store? — http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/09/facebook-location-feature/ & http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/09/facebook-places-check-in/
4. Ten reasons why you’ll never quit Facebook. — http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-youll-never-quit-facebook-even-if-you-think-you-want-to-2010-5#youre-not-going-to-go-back-to-waiting-an-hour-to-send-an-email-to-30-people-with-40-photos-attached-1

Quote from Nick Bilton of NYT: Off record chat w/ Facebook employee. “Me: How does Zuck feel about privacy? Response: [laughter] He doesn’t believe in it.”

Facebook Petition Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114387775262356&v=info

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The Geekcast is sponsored by GoToMeting. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:54 — 19.3MB)

Items of Note:

We have a correction from episode 206. Mark sent an e-mail to let us know that It should be sudo fdisk -l not -i when working with drives. He don’t think -i does anything.

Gozer has the night off.

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Geek This Week: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast

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Tech and Gaming News:

Skype to roll out five-way video calling next week

Well, it’s taken long enough, Skype! Starting next week you will finally be able to video call with up to five people using the company’s Group Video Calling feature. The beta, which will be available sometime for download during the week of May 10th, will initially be free, but Skype plans to start charging for the multi-party video fun later in the year. We’re not sure if it will support HD calling, but you can bet your bottom dollar that corporations may consider replacing their surely complex videoconferencing setup with this. In other Skype news, the company is rolling out new calling plans to more than 170 countries — from the looks of the PR after the break, it seems like it could end up saving you big time in comparison to the pay-as-you-go rates. We like savings, sure, but we’ll be even more stoked should this ever land on camera-equipped smartphones and tablets.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/05/skype-to-roll-out-five-way-video-calling-next-week-remote-party/

Google gives search results pages a makeover