The Geekcast

News: Report: Google to acquire Twitch.tv for more than $1 billion With Apple buying Beats and AT&T buying DirecTV, this seems to be the month of the blockbuster acquisition deal. And it looks like Google wants in on the action too—according to a rep...

News:   Apple reportedly near $3.2 billion Beats acquisition   Apple is reportedly negotiating the purchase of Beats for $3.2 billion, according to a new report from The Financial Times. The deal would include both the streaming Beats Music sub...

News:   Google takes its same-day delivery service to New York and LA   Just over a year after it started offering same-day deliveries to San Franciscans, Google's Shopping Express has finally made its way out of California. The service, which offers expedited shipping from major stores like Target, Staples and Walgreens, but also local businesses, has expanded to parts of New York and Los Angeles. Residents living in Manhattan can now call upon Google to deliver groceries, gadgets and office supplies in super-fast time. Shoppers in Culver City, Inglewood, Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica, Venice, West Los Angeles and Westwood are now also eligible, extending the search giant's California footprint in the process. To kickstart its expansion, Google is throwing in six months of unlimited free deliveries and says it'll add other parts of Los Angeles in the coming months, undoubtedly giving Amazon and other brick-and-mortar stores something to think about. http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/05/google-shopping-express-new-york-la/ GoPlug Kickstater Backpack   https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1075774055/goplug-powered-bags/   Omni Pack   https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/801609824/omnipack-an-all-in-one-backpack Motion-tracking app Moves said it wouldn't share your data with Facebook, but it's going to anyway   A few weeks ago, Facebook purchased the company behind fitness-tracking app Moves— and as is often the case when Facebook snaps up a company, Moves users were immediately concerned about what might happen to their data. The company tried to head that off in its blog post announcing the acquisition, saying "the Moves experience will continue to operate as a standalone app, and there are no plans to change that or commingle data with Facebook." However, in less than two weeks, the company has already gone back on that promise. As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Moves updated its privacy policy last night to state that it may share user data (including personally identifying information) with other companies, "including but not limited to Facebook." (The earlier privacy policy can be viewed here.) That sounds an awful lot like the "commingling" that the company said it was looking to avoid. While Moves is a relatively small app, it comes at a time when Facebook's many recent acquisitions are sparking concerns about what the world might look like as the company integrates itself further and further into users' lives. http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/6/5688334/moves-app-will-share-user-data-with-facebook   ************   Geek This Week:     Aaron: eBay antics with the iMac.   Gozer: Thor 2 & Amazing Spiderman 2   Aaron & Gozer: 24 *************   Feedback and items of Note:   Hey guys. Sorry but it has been a while since I have emailed, but I am back! I have managed to get in on the Ara Scouts. If I can, I might get a free early production model. It won't be able to replace my iPhone but maybe it could replace my aging DS lite as I could connect my ouya controller to it and use a DS emulator. Hope I can get one. As always love the show   Dawson ************** 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  

News:   Siri Could Be Coming to Apple TV "Siri, play Game of Thrones." This could soon be a reality, according to recent reports that suggest Apple may be bringing its digital assistant to the Apple TV. A line of code found in Apple's iOS 7.1 software development kit indicates Apple may have plans to add Siri functionality to its set-top box. The code, which was first reported by 9to5Mac includes references to an "assistant," Apple's code name for Siri, according to 9to5, under features listed for the Apple TV. Screen caps of the code, which is reportedly in files for both iOS 7.1 and 7.1.1, list 'assistant' as one of the properties that will be included in device family "3," which is Apple's designation for the Apple TV line. The screenshots of the code show Apple TV, designated as '3', will support 'assistant' features. It's not yet clear what Siri integration in Apple TV might look like or how exactly it would work, though voice controls would likely be integrated into the device's remote. Rumors a refreshed Apple TV is in the works have been circulating for some time now. Apple CEO Tim Cook further fueled speculation earlier this year when he announced the company was refocusing the Apple TV by giving the product line its own section on Apple's website. Previously, the Apple TV was listed as a "hobby." Adding Siri functionality may also signal attempts by Apple to make its set-top box more competitive with Amazon's recently-announced Fire TV, which already includes voice commands. http://mashable.com/2014/04/23/siri-apple-tv-rumor/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link GameStop to increase focus on phones & tablets instead of video games It may have "game" in its name, but retailer GameStop has announced plans to start increasing its focus on "gaming-adjacent" fields while lessening its reliance on video games. CEO Paul Raines dubbed the initiative "GameStop 3.0," saying that it plans on closing about 2 percent of its retail locations, while opening Spring Mobile and Simply Mac stores instead. The two GameStop-owned retail brands focus on selling AT&T-branded phones and Apple products. According to GI.biz, GameStop plans on opening over 200 Spring Mobile stores and 20 Simply Mac stores--essentially doubling the footprint of both franchises. By transitioning away from video games, the company hopes to be like other companies that have made similar leaps. Williams-Sonoma, for example, began as a kitchen equipment retailer that now owns Pottery Barn and West Elm. Perhaps the "stop" in their name meant that they were planning to stop selling games one day? http://www.shacknews.com/article/84208/gamestop-to-increase-focus-on-phones-tablets-instead-of-video   Snoop Dogg stars in Call of Duty's first voice pack DLC Celebrity voice packs are totally a thing. So, who is Activision tapping for its first-ever narration DLC for the Call of Duty series? None other than Snoop Dogg. With the DLC, Snoop will narrate your fights, call in your killstreaks, and alert you to enemy activity. "What interests me most about the project is that my voice can be connected with a game that's so hip and so hood," the artist said in a new promo. "It's associated with greatness." The Snoop Dogg Voice Pack will be available first on Xbox Live on April 22, with other platforms to follow. http://www.shacknews.com/article/84084/snoop-dog-stars-in-call-of-dutys-first-voice-pack   HBO will stream its shows to cord cutters for the first time on Amazon Instant Video   Amazon and HBO have signed an extensive, multi-year agreement that will bring many of the premium channel's greatest shows including The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and The Wire to Amazon Prime Instant Video. The deal also includes "early" seasons of Boardwalk Empire and True Blood. Newer shows like Girls, The Newsroom and Veep will eventually be made available to Prime subscribers, but not until three years after they've first aired on HBO.

News:   Amazon claims it streams more instant video than Hulu or Apple   All gaming aspirations aside, Amazon says it has a good reason for building its newFire TV set-top box: People really like its streaming video content. The company is claiming that its instant video usage has tripled year over year, surpassing both Apple's and Hulu's instant video numbers. So, what sparked all the growth? Amazon doesn't say specifically, but the press release dedicates a considerable portion of text to lauding its exclusive Prime Instant Video content, its original series and its large catalog of titles available for digital purchase and rental. All well and good, but the announcement is clearly a thinly veiled advertisement for its new hardware -- which is fine, but it does leave us wondering by what margin Amazon is leading its competition. After all, Netflix's standing is conspicuously absent from the reported line-up. http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/08/amazon-claims-it-streams-more-instant-video-than-hulu-or-apple/   Microsoft Ends Support for Windows XP   It's the end of the line for Microsoft's Windows XP: as of today, the company will no longer release security updates for the 12-year-old operating system. "Microsoft has provided support for Windows XP for the past 12 years. But now the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources toward supporting more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences," wrote Microsoft in an announcement. Microsoft's Office 2003 is another product that will not get security updates after this date. Launched on October 25, 2001, Windows XP is one of the most successful Microsoft products ever; its successor, Windows Vista, was quickly replaced with Windows 7, and it took as long as September 2012 for Windows 7 to overtake XP as the most popular desktop operating system. Microsoft released three Service Packs for Windows XP; the last one, SP3, was launched in May 2008. In April 2009, Microsoft ended Mainstream Support for the OS, meaning it stopped providing free technical support and accepting warranty claims. Up until today, the company provided Extended Support, which included paid technical support and security updates. What does it mean for the end user? Simply put, you can continue to use Windows XP and Office 2003, but as time goes on, they will be more and more vulnerable to malware and other security risks. For users still running Windows XP, Microsoft recommends upgrading their PC to a model that can run the latest version of Windows, 8.1. For instructions for moving your data from Windows XP to 8.1, go here. http://mashable.com/2014/04/08/microsoft-ends-support-windows-xp/   Battery Prototype Recharges Smartphones in 30 Seconds A battery that uses nanotechnology to charge your smartphone in 30 seconds may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie but an Israeli startup claims to have created just that. StoreDot unveiled its battery charging prototype Monday at Microsoft's Think Next conference in Tel Aviv. StoreDot's prototype is able to completely recharge a smartphone battery from 0%-100% in just 30 seconds. It relies on bio-organic nanodots, tiny conductive crystals that help enable rapid charging. Currently, the device is closer in size to a laptop charger than a smartphone charger, but the company says it expects the final product will be about the size of a typical smartphone battery. The charger is still a prototype, which means it will be some time before it is commercially available. The Wall Street Journal reports the company hopes to begin production in "late 2016." “The only disadvantage is that the industry is not ready for it,” Dr. Doron Myersdorf, CEO and cofounder of StoreDot, the nanotechnology company behind the charger, told TechCrunch. "We are talking about a new type of materials that can be introduced into different types of devices."

News:   Oculus founders: Facebook lets us bring the best VR experience to a billion people   Oculus VR co-founders Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe had a vision for their company: to bring virtual reality to as many people as possible, in the best way possible, at the lowest possible price. And, according to the duo, selling the company to Facebook is the best way to reach those goals. "This is the best thing for us to do," Luckey told us in a post-announcement interview. "It leaves us in the same position we've always been in, doing the same things we wanted to do." The surprise deal, according to Iribe, came together after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asked for an Oculus Rift demo. "The initial expectation wasn't that he was coming down to acquire us," Iribe said. "He just wanted to see what we were up to." It quickly became clear, he said, that the two companies had a lot in common, and that being acquired by Facebook wouldn't require Oculus to sacrifice any of its independence. "We looked at other companies and thought, if we're partnering with them, they're going to turn us into their own brand and product and they'll change our emails and we'll be wearing different hoodies. We're proud of who we are." Iribe confirmed that the entire Oculus team will be making the move, and said that being part of Facebook will allow them to "accelerate hiring and build out a team with a focus of getting the best and brightest in the industry." "[Another company might] change our emails and we'll be wearing different hoodies. We're proud of who we are." In Zuckerberg's announcement earlier today, he said that the company wasn't concerned with making an immediate profit selling the Oculus Rift hardware, and Iribe confirmed that. "We don't know what we'll price this at," he said. The goal is to "get this out at the most affordable price possible." Zuckerberg, according to Iribe, offered Oculus the chance to "reduce or eliminate the hardware margin and just get this out there." The Facebook CEO told Iribe he wants to help "connect a billion people with VR." For Luckey, who began work on the first Rift prototype while he was still in college, the fact that Facebook isn't a gaming company is actually a good thing. "Almost anyone in a gaming place would want us to do it based on their vision," he said. "We already had a vision for the company. Facebook is going to let us do it, but with their resources behind it." "We have zero interest in doing what someone else thinks is the right thing," he added. http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/oculus-founders-facebook-lets-us-bring-the-best-vr-experience/   How PS4 will power Project Morpheus Sony grabbed a lot of people's attention when the company announced plans at last week's Game Developers Conference to enter the virtual reality space with Project Morpheus. The peripheral is currently in its prototype stage, but creator Richard Marks took some time to discuss how the product will ultimately work with PS4 to deliver an optimal virtual reality experience. "PlayStation 4 is one of the reasons that we can actually do this now, because the graphics horsepower it takes to drive a virtual reality kind of experience is pretty significant," creator Richard Marks told GamerHub TV. "It would have been hard to do earlier and, also, we needed the tracking technology and display technology to be at a certain point. So PlayStation 4 is the graphics driver." Marks goes on to describe Morpheus as it's currently constituted, which includes gyroscopes and accelerometers within the unit. It also includes a camera to help track the LEDs on the front of the unit to help monitor movement. Combining the camera's trackers with Morpheus' internal sensors allow for the PS4 to create a tracking experience. For more on Project Morpheus, including how PlayStation Move controllers work with the headset, check out the full video below. http://www.shacknews.com/article/83733/how-ps4-will-power-project-morpheus

News:   Comcast and Time Warner Cable lost 1.1 million video customers in 2013 Comcast, Time Warner Cable (TWC), and all other top cable companies lost pay-TV subscribers in 2013, but the companies were able to boost their total broadband Internet subscribers, according to research by Leichtman Research Group. Comcast and TWC, the two biggest cable companies in the US, combined for 1.1 million lost video subscribers. Comcast finished 2013 with 21.7 million multi-channel video subscribers, down 305,000 according to Leichtman's research. TWC lost "The top nine cable companies lost about 1,735,000 video subscribers in 2013—compared to a loss of about 1,410,000 subscribers in 2012," the research said. At the same time, Comcast added 1.3 million broadband Internet subscribers, to hit a total of 20.7 million. TWC gained 211,000 broadband subscribers, to bring its total to 11.6 million. Comcast's 1.3 million broadband subscriber gain accounted for "49 percent of the total net additions for the top providers in the year," the research said. A Comcast spokesperson noted that the video subscriber loss of 305,000 in 2013 was an improvement over the loss of 336,000 in 2012. Comcast turned things around in Q4 2013 with a net gain of 43,000 video subscribers, which came after 26 consecutive quarters of subscriber losses. http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/03/comcast-and-time-warner-cable-lost-1-1-million-video-customers-in-2013/   Star Wars Episode VII: Mystery Trio to Start Filming in May   Lucasfilm has been releasing details about the upcoming (and still untitled) Star Wars Episode VII on the slowest of drip feeds — and the latest news is practically a tidal wave by comparison. The Disney-owned company announced Tuesday that Episode VII will feature a "trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces." The movie will commence principal photography at Pinewood Studios outside London in May. Lucasfilm also confirmed that the new movie will be set "about 30 years" after Return of the Jedi — which was released 31 years ago this May. The "trio of new young leads" suggests that director J.J. Abrams has concluded his year-long hunt for talent to represent the next generation of heroes. It seems, then, that the movie is consciously trying to echo the Han, Luke and Leia triumvirate. Open casting for the rolestook place in November in both the U.S. and the UK. More recently, casting rumors have included almost every hot young actor in Hollywood — from Girls actor Adam Driver, said to play the villain, to Breaking Bad antagonist Jesse Plemons and 12 Years a Slave Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o. The "familiar faces" line in Lucasfilm's announcement hints at the movie's worst-kept secret — the return of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in their original roles. George Lucas himself pretty much let that out of the bag talking to Bloomberg Businessweek in early 2013. "We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison — or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation," Lucas said of Episode VII preparation before the Disney sale. "Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them." Then Lucas walked his statement back: "I won't say if the negotiations were successful or not." The question of how central a role Han, Luke and Leia would take in the film appears to be at the center of script disputes. Original Episode VII writer Michael Arndt was said to want a quick passing of the torch, and had written a screenplay that focused on the next generation of actors. But Abrams allegedly wanted the original trio to play a larger role in the movie, and brought veteran Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan on board to help him redraft the script along those lines. The "familiar faces" will also include R2-D2, whose presence in the movie was confirmed back in November. Pinewood, in Buckinghamshire,

News:   “iOS in the Car” becomes CarPlay, coming to select dashboards this year Apple's "iOS in the Car" feature hasn't been mentioned much since it was demoed onstage at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last year, but it looks like the feature is nearly ready for public consumption. Now dubbed CarPlay, Apple's in-car integration will be shown off in cars from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo at the Geneva International Motor Show this week, and cars compatible with the feature should begin shipping this year. The revamped CarPlay interface shown off in Apple's official screenshots looks similar to the images leaked by an iOS developer back in January. Though it looks different from the WWDC demo, the feature still works the same way: once you've connected your iPhone to a CarPlay-capable vehicle, iOS takes over the car's display, enabling the use of features like Maps and Siri. You'll be able to check voicemails, make calls, and dictate responses to e-mails or text. "Selected third-party audio apps" will also be able to use the dashboard display, including Spotify and iHeartRadio. We don't yet know whether third-party developers are using a CarPlay-specific API or working directly with Apple to support the feature. Previous reports had suggested that CarPlay would communicate with displays wirelessly using some version of Apple's AirPlay protocol, but according to today's release, the feature will only work with Lightning-equipped iPhones. The iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S will all work, but iPhones with the 30-pin connector, iPads, and iPod touches are apparently incompatible. Apple's full list of CarPlay partners includes BMW Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota.   http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/ios-in-the-car-becomes-carplay-coming-to-select-dashboards-this-year/ Next-gen “Archival Disc” will squeeze 1TB of data onto optical discs   Move over, Blu-ray: Sony and Panasonic have just announced a new optical disc specification with even higher storage capacities. The new "Archival Disc" format promises to store between six and 20 times the data of a standard 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray disc. Unlike Blu-ray, this new format is intended primarily for professional, archival use. The companies first announced that they would be working on this then-nameless standard together in July of 2013. "Optical discs have excellent properties to protect themselves against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored," reads the release. "They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them robust media for long-term storage of content." First-wave Archival Discs are slated to launch in summer of 2015 and will be able to hold up to 300GB of data. By comparison, the largest commonly available Blu-Ray discs use the 100GB and 128GB BDXL format. Archival Discs will apparently be double-sided, so this works out to 150GB of data per side. Future versions of the technology will improve storage density, increasing to 500GB (or 250GB per side) and 1TB (500GB per side) as the standard matures. It's possible that this technology could come to consumers at some point—we'll eventually start seeing more 4K content as TVs that use the standard begin to replace their 720p and 1080p predecessors. However, streaming video services combined with new, more efficient video codecs may reduce the need for this kind of high-capacity optical disc in the home. Blu-ray salesaren't growing fast enough to make up for the continuing decline in DVD sales, and an even more expensive, higher-capacity storage medium is unlikely to reverse this trend. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/next-gen-archival-disc-will-squeeze-1tb-of-data-onto-optical-discs/

Remembering Harold Ramis

  News: ************   Geek This Week:   Aaron: iMac craziness   Gozer: Nest, House of Cards, Flappy Bird, House of the Dead Overkill iOS & Titanfall Beta   *************   Feedback and items of Note:   Hey guys. Not much to say this week except that my mom just lost her launch day iphone 5s today. It is out of battery so find my iPhone is useless. Also, She lost it in a furniture store so there is a billion places it could be hiding. Always love the show, Dawson Hey guys. Guess who is now the only guy in my junior high school of 1300 kids who has a pebble smartwatch. I got the cherry red model and I picked it up at a best buy and I got the last pebble they had. The person says that they just fly off the shelf.  I was relieved to find out that the music controls work with the apple podcast app. Also, I am in our schools band and there is an app for pebble that has a metronome. Also, my moms phone hasn't turned up still. I am almost sure it isn't coming back. As always love the show, Dawson **************   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  

  News: The Pebble Smartwatch Now Has Its Own App Store As expected, a major update to the Pebble iOS app has just landed in the App Store. Version 2.0 ushers in Pebble's own app store, a centralized place for users of the wearable device to explo...

  News: Google Glass just got a lot less geeky The headset of the future now works with prescription lenses   Just shy of a year after the Google Glass Explorer edition started arriving on early adopters’ doorsteps, Google is announcing a way for people who need prescription glasses to use it. The company is releasing four different frames that can both fit the Google Glass hardware and accommodate corrective lenses. Glass is still limited to the small group of people who have been accepted into the "Explorer Program" (a wider consumer launch is planned for later this year), so while it’s good that these frames make Glass usable for more people, it’s not yet available to all. All four frames are available today for $225. That's alternately pricey or reasonable, depending on how you buy glasses, but any potential buyers will also need to spend $1,499 on Glass itself — which is to say it’s likely only those with a decent amount of disposable income would be interested anyway. If you’ve already bought Glass, you can just buy the frames and attach your current device. Google is calling the new frames the “Titanium collection,” and it has designed them itself rather than partnering with an outside company like Warby Parker. But Google taking on the design itself is actually pretty good news, because all four options are as good-looking as you could reasonably expect them to be — considering that they’re designed to work with a computer attached to your face. http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/28/5352592/google-glass-prescription-lenses-frames-titanium-collection Microsoft Acquires 'Gears of War' From Epic, Assigns Next Game To Black Tusk Studios   Microsoft has put a padlock on its Xbox One war chest by acquiring the rights to the popular Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, the software giant announced today. This means that future Gears of War games can and probably will remain exclusive to Microsoft's platforms, having helped to launch the Xbox 360. This continues the trend of  the major console players prioritizing retention of IP over talent. The most explosive example of this was of course the departure of key staff from Infinity Ward from Activision, which has done little to slow down the Call of Duty juggernaut. Bungie, creators of the  Halo franchise, were allowed to depart from ownership by Microsoft, but the valuable Halo IP was retained at Redmond, developed first by Bungie itself and subsequently by 343 Industries. The Gears of War acquisition includes “all existing and future games, entertainment experiences and merchandise”. Although the last instalment of the series, Gears of War: Judgment,  underperformed in the market,  affected by the relatively recent release of the climactic Gears of War 3, the absence of the iconic Marcus Fenix in the lead role  and possibly the transfer of much of the creative duties to People Can Fly, which had been purchased and rebranded as Epic Games Poland, it remains one of the most iconic Xbox franchises.  Over its lifetime, the franchise has sold  22 million units, representing over $1 billion. http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2014/01/27/microsoft-acquires-gears-of-war-from-epic-assigns-next-game-to-black-tusk-studios/ The iPhone 5c Comes in Green, Yellow, Blue, Red, White and Disappointing   It has been clear for a while now that the colorful iPhone 5c hasn’t been the hit that Apple was hoping for. That point was put in black and white throughout Apple’s quarterly earnings report on Monday. It was clear as the company reported iPhone sales of 51 million units — a record, but not the 54 million or more figure that some analysts were expecting. The iPhone 5c disappointment was most clear in North America, where Apple’s sales actually dropped from a year ago even as they rose steadily in most of the rest of the world. “In North America we did not do as well,” CEO Tim Cook said during a conference call with analysts. Part of the problem,

  News:   Amazon Patents “Anticipatory” Shipping — To Start Sending Stuff Before You’ve Bought It Amazon has filed a patent for a shipping system designed to cut delivery times by predicting what buyers are going to buy before they buy it — and shipping products in their general direction, or even right to their door, before the sales click even (or ever) falls. The patent, which was filed in August 2012 and granted December 24 last year, describes a method for what Amazon calls “anticipatory shipping” — with one pre-shipping scenario (of the multitudes detailed) being as follows: …a method may include packaging one or more items as a package for eventual shipment to a delivery address, selecting a destination geographical area to which to ship the package, shipping the package to the destination geographical area without completely specifying the delivery address at the time of shipment, and while the package is in transit, completely specifying the delivery address for the package. The patent also goes on to discuss in detail various scenarios for “speculatively shipping” packages to destinations and how to re-route items based on proximity to potential customers —  and even how packages might remain in near continuous transit on trucks until a customer makes a purchase. And in those instances when the demand prediction algorithm fails, as well it must, the patent suggests Amazon could deliver the package anyway — as a gift to someone who hasn’t actually clicked to buy it yet, but who, its data analysis suggests, might quite like it — i.e. if the cost of returning/rerouting the item exceeds the cost of paying a surprise visit to a pre-customer. Which could either be a great surprise, or hideously inappropriate — depending on how good an oracle Amazon’s algorithm turns out to be. Inappropriate like delivering a DIY Will pack to someone who has already died, say. Or kids toys to bereaved parents. Anticipatory algorithms are going to have to navigate plenty of human pitfalls if they’re not to end up clanging on the doorbell.   http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/   Animated iWatch Concept Is the Most Realistic You've Ever Seen Although Apple remains tight-lipped about any plans to release a wearable device, the persistent rumors and concept mock-ups continue to stir excitement among fans and industry analysts alike. The latest conceptual take on the rumored iWatch is a video animation that presents an extremely realistic look at how the device might work if it becomes a real product. Created by San Francisco-based professional interface designer Todd Hamilton, this new iWatch concept fuses the sleek design of the Nike FuelBand with the minimalist interface treatments of Apple's iOS 7. Hamilton says the initial inspiration for the concept came from a similar mock-up that cropped up late last year. “It was an impressive concept that got a lot of people excited including myself,” Hamilton wrote in a blog post accompanying the video. “However, it had a major flaw: The orientation of the interface made it impossible to use…I wanted to retain a slim form factor like the FuelBand and incorporate familiar UI components from iOS 7." The new concept not only makes the concept iWatch easier to use from a practical standpoint by giving the interface a vertical orientation, but also updates the operating system in order to give viewers a better vision of what the operation of the device might really look like. While Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, wears a Nike FuelBand and has dropped hints about new product categories http://mashable.com/2014/01/22/animated-iwatch-concept/ Rumors of New “Nintendo Fusion” Consoles Have Sprung up Amid Dismal Wii U Sales News As for the rumor itself, Nintendo News, who also made it very clear to take all of this as rumor for the time being, is reporting that Nintendo’s next portable and home console are currently being called the Fusion DS and Fusion Terminal, respectively.

  News:   Why Google Just Bought Nest, the "Smart Thermostat" Company Google just announced that it’s buying Nest for $3.2 billion, in the highest-profile tech acquisition of the young year. Nest is best known for its smart thermostat, which learn...

Prediction Show 2014   2013 Tech Predictions:   Aaron: This will be the year Blu-Ray dies.  It'll be come a niche product with everyone opting for streaming. Windows 8 will be a success after its stumble out the gate, though Win RT will be a bomb. Apple TV will not happen, but likely in 2014. Kickstarter will have a major project fail where people give tons of money, but nothing is delivered. People will get serious about password security. 2-factor authentication, passphrases, ect will become the norm. People will no longer accept that 'buying' digital media is only buying a license. A culture of ownership will return strong in 2013. 42%   Gozer: Streaming will become dominant, Blu Ray will not die. Next gen console, all in one device. DVR like features and partnerships with cable companies. Xbox 720 and Ps4 at E3. More day 1 downloadable games, decline of physical disc but not death. With the death of DLP tvs, led prices will continue to decline. 4K tvs will begin to emerge. 3-D will just be a bonus but not a selling point. 88%   ************************ Aaron: Top Product: Chromecast Top Company: Sony Biggest Stumble: The NSA Gozer:   Top Product of 2013: Xbone & PS4 Top 5 Games: 5) Super Mario 3-D World ( Wii U ) 4) GTA V ( Xbox 360 ) 3) Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag ( Xbone ) 2) Plants vs. Zombies 2 ( iOS ) 1) The Last of Us ( PS3 )   Top Company: Sony: PS 4 ( 4.2 Million ) Biggest Stumble: Microsoft Waffles: Always connected, needing Kinect ( Kinect watching you and not working unless Kinect is on ) Top Selling Game of the Year : GTA V ( sold 26.75 million ) ************************   2014 Tech Predictions: Aaron: Nintendo will release 1 game on mobile to test the waters Apple will move into a new category of product. no watch no tv Yahoo will have a major PR issue that puts Marisa Mayer on the ropes as CEO Someone will announce plans to actually build the Hyperloop   Gozer: Nintendo will release a gamepadless Wii U for $250 Microsoft will gain the lead in the console wars with exclusive titles and Kinect less console for $400. Titanfall is the new Call of Duty. Call of Duty will slowly fade away Microtransactions will get ridiculous Apple will release iWatch No one will by curved oled phones, no curved iPhone