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Items of Note:
We’re going to be live-podcasting the January 27th Apple event! The details are still be worked out but be sure to stay tuned to our twitter feed (twitter.com/TheGeekcast) for all the information. We hope to see everyone on Wednesday!
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Listener Feedback:
We got an e-mail stating: Along with lots of dismissing the idea of catching on with the need wear 3d glasses. Thought you might want to be privy on this.
TCL To Launch 3D TV No Glasses Needed
By David Richards | Wednesday | 02/09/2009
EXCLUSIVE: New 3D TV’s that don’t need glasses, low cost Blu ray players and a new range of LED & LCD TV’s are all part of a new line up of consumer electronics products that Chinese manufacturer TCL will launch in Australia during the next 12 months.
The company, who manufactures products for some of the world’s leading consumer brands including Sony, Samsung and Toshiba, sells up to 800,000 TV’s a month into the Chinese market alone. … Their new 3D TV which was developed in partnership with Alioscopy, a US 3D company, is currently being trialled by Crown Casino in Melbourne. Show at recent CES show the new TCL 3D TV features a highly specialized lenticular lens that eliminates the need for glasses. Panasonic are believed to be working on a similar system.
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/TVs_And_Large_Display/Industry/Q4S2C8K4
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Geek This Week:
Aaron:
Planet of the Apps on CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/id/34316207
January 18th’s episode of Oprah focusing on the dangers of texting while driving. Bottom line: DON’T DO IT!!! http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Distracted-Driving-What-You-Dont-See
Gozer:
Playing a lot of left for dead 2 online. Enjoyable but also very frustrating. Started playing God of War 2 on PS2. Still chippin’ away at Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer.
24 is back!! Thoughts and discussion about the new season. & Conan vs. Leno?
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Tech and Gaming News:
It’s on: Apple holding January 27th event to show off its ‘latest creation’
Yes folks — the rumors are true. Apple is holding an event on January 27th to show off something the company is calling their “latest creation.” Hair standing on end? Good. The proceedings will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, and will get underway at 10AM Pacific. We’ll be there live — as usual — covering every little second of the action… so get ready!
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/18/its-on-apple-holding-january-27th-event-to-show-off-its-lates/
WSJ: Apple and HarperCollins negotiating e-book deal for tablet
Here’s the skinny from The Wall Street Journal: major publishing company HarperCollins is in talks with Apple about bringing e-books to the oft-rumored, still-unconfirmed tablet that’s expected to be the focus of its January 27th event. The article also states that other publishing companies have been in talks with Cupertino HQ. That jibes with what we’ve heard through the grapevine, specifically with Time Inc. property Sports Illustrated, and fits comfortably well with the New York Times conjecture from earlier today. E-book readers are all the rage these days, but like we said just after CES, we’d wager the future of the medium integrated into slates to provide rich, color multimedia presentations. Seems someone might be sharing in our perspective, but of course, this is just one of many, many, many Apple rumors we expect to see in the buildup to next week.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/18/wsj-apple-and-harpercollins-negotiating-e-book-deal-for-tablet/
Sony Planning for More God of War
No, the end of the trilogy will not mean the end of the series.
God of War III caps off the trilogy that began in 2005, pitting Kratos against the gods of Mount Olympus in a whirling rampage of revenge. But with God of War continuing to be one of Sony’s strongest franchises, the end of the trilogy definitely won’t be the end of the series.
Sony Santa Monica director of product development John Hight told Gamervision as much in a recent interview, “This is not the end of God of War.”
“This is definitely the end of the trilogy, but we?re going to continue to do God of War games. We’re going to be very careful about what we do; we’re the keepers of the franchise and we don’t want to see it ruined or polluted.”
New screens hit the Internet yesterday, showing Kratos scaling the titan Gaia. The game itself will be out in March, with a more specific release date coming soon.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177658
Blu-ray sales were up 67 percent in 2009
No matter what the benchmark, when you increase the number of households with a Blu-ray player up 76 percent, to 17 million, that’s a good year. So what if it is was one of the worst economic times in US history, and that overall home media sales were down 13.7 percent — not even Blu-ray could fend off that big of a loss in DVD buying — that is the type of growth that any new technology would strive for in its 3rd full year. We’d just love to hear anyone try and say Blu-ray was fighting for survival with $1.5 billion in revenue in one year, especially when Adams Research estimates the digital download market was only worth $360 million during the same time. Now we’re not ones to say that physical discs will ever be what they used to be — that captive audience is gone after all — but as fans of the format, we can’t help but feel like our ability to enjoy the best quality at home isn’t in danger. Especially when during the five week holiday shopping season, Blu-ray player sales were up 44 percent while the overall consumer spending was down by 1 percent.
http://hd.engadget.com/2010/01/18/blu-ray-sales-were-up-67-percent-in-2009/
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Test a Geek:
1. Name two check-in applications besides FourSquare and Gowalla. A. Loopt, Dodgeball, Brightkite, Yelp
2. Who is the creator of the original God of War? A: David Jaffe
3. What was the name of Microsoft’s attempts at a slate / pen-based device, developed around 1990? A. Windows for Pen Computing or Pen Windows
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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: Dragon Dictate for the iPhone
Incredible dictation comes to the iPhone by way of the free Dragon Dictate app. This app requires ZERO configuration or training and turns your iPhone into a full-fledged note-taking device. The recognition is 98% accurate in my experience and has some killer features such as the ability to copy the text to the clipboard, a new SMS or e-mail. If you do ANY typing on the iPhone, this is a must-have app.
http://www.dragonmobileapps.com/
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