Archive for January, 2010

I regret to inform you guys that there will be no Global Geek News Podcast this week. Due to multiple issues in my personal life, I don’t expect to have time to record a show this week. Wesley is also going though some personal issues that he has talked about on his blog and he is unable to do the show this week as well. I may or my not blog everything that is going on in my personal life but I do tend to Twitter a lot of it for those that are interested. I can’t speak for Wesley, but I hope to be back doing our regularly scheduled shows next week even if Wesley still needs more time to take care of his personal life. My apologies to everybody who was looking forward to a show this week but unfortunately, some things just can’t be avoided. Have a great week and we will see you guys on next weeks show. For more news and updates, follow Global Geek News on Twitter and check out the Global Geek News Blog.

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Global Geek News Podcast #52

Jan 14th

Posted by Jeremy Bray in podcast

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Here are the shownotes for episode #52 for the Global Geek News Podcast.

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Host: Jeremy Bray

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Microsoft's CES Keynote was a major snooze

Jan 7th

Posted by Jeremy Bray in Consumer Electronics

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Greetings Readers!

As I am sure many of you are aware, last night was Microsoft’s CES 2010 keynote and if you watched it, you know that the most exciting thing that came out of the keynote was the power failure that delayed it close to 30 minutes (We live blogged it here). As I stated last night, I would give my thoughts, both good and bad right here (Disclosure: I am a Microsoft Student Insider), so here we go.

I was rather surprised at the lack of announcements coming out of the keynote compared to years past. For those hoping for a big announcement regarding the rumored new features behind Ford’s Sync, you are out of luck. Those are apparently being saved until Ford’s keynote. Hoping for a major announcement about the Zune HD? Nope, nothing here either. Windows 8? Wishful thinking. A portable version of the Xbox? This will remain every gamers fantasy. What was announced? Ballmer really didn’t announce much. He gave some lines about Windows 7 being the fastest selling OS of all time and some analyst speculation that PC sales will increase considerably this year but I don’t really call those announcements. Steve announced that the HTC HD 2 running Windows Mobile will be coming to T-mobile but I am not sure anybody cares since we are talking Windows Mobile after all and T-mobile doesn’t help either. Steve said they would talk more about the future of Windows Mobile at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona next month. Ballmer did show off some prototype “Slate PCs” that will hopefully combat anything Apple announces later this month. The one he really demonstrated was an HP prototype that was running Windows 7 and the Kindle PC software to demonstrate how good of an e-book reader it could be and it looked to be about the same size as the Kindle 2. Sounds nice and I will definitely buy one, but if you are going to try to compete with Apple, you need to show something that will come out a little sooner rather than some prototype. Wait, you really wanted to know what was announced? Ok.

As far as REAL announcements go, there are a couple fairly minor announcements. Bing is now going to be the default home page and search engine for all HP computers. Excited yet? They also demonstrated what a Cable Card and a pc in your tv could do and said that with it, you can record 4 HD channels simultaneously which was probably the most impressive thing from they keynote. They talked a bit about Media Room and some partnership with AT&T’s U-verse that I still don’t understand and finally they had a couple interesting Xbox announcements. Besides all of the interesting number like units sold and games sold, Robby Bach announced that Project Natal will ship as an attachment to existing Xbox 360 systems in time for Christmas 2010. No price although I would expect that around E3. There was also no demo which was kind of disappointing. They also teased a new Halo game only to have it turn out to be a trailer for Halo Reach which was announced back at E3. I was rather disappointed but the audience seemed to love it since they could see the trailer and everybody watching the stream could not. The big Xbox 360 announcement was Game Room.

What is Game Room? Game Room seems to be a virtual space similar to the PS3′s Home where you can run around a giant arcade as your avatar and buy and play old arcade games that look like the arcade units you would spend tons of quarters on in years gone by. Over 1000 games are planned for the next year that will be released in weekly batches that you will have to purchase. The coolest part is that this will be not only for the Xbox 360 but for PCs too! How much are these games going to cost you ask? If you want to play an arcade game on both platforms, you will be paying 400 Microsoft points aka $5. To get it on one platform, it is 240 points or $3. If you really want the old school experience, you can pay 40 points or $.50 and get two quarters worth of playing time on the old machines. The games can be played with other people, in 1080p and there are cross-platform leaderboards and achievements. This is coming in the Spring update to Xbox Live. Personally, I am really looking forward to this because lately I have had the urge to start buying old arcade machines and turning my basement into a small arcade but now I will be able to do it virtually instead of having to completely redo the basement. This was the only real announcement with any cool factor to it other than the HD recording. If you would like to see the demo that the people watching the live stream couldn’t watch, you can check it out here.

That was pretty much about it. It was a very boring keynote and ended kind of out of nowhere. It certainly doesn’t make me super excited about Microsoft this year but hopefully that will change. What did you think about the Microsoft CES 2010 keynote? Good? Bad? Boring? Exciting? Let us know!

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Xbox Live Game Room Trailer

Jan 6th

Posted by Jeremy Bray in Uncategorized

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Hey Readers!

I don’t know what the issue was earlier tonight at the Microsoft CES Keynote about having the stream blocked when the Halo Reach and Game Room trailers were shown but for those that wanted to check out Game Room which looks to be really awesome, I have found the video for you and here it is. If, for some reason, the video does not load, here is the official link:

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Microsoft CES Keynote Live Blog

Jan 6th

Posted by Jeremy Bray in Uncategorized

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7:55 PM globalgeeknews - Hello everybody! Are you ready for the Microsoft CES Keynote?
7:57 PM globalgeeknews - Here we go!
7:57 PM globalgeeknews - Somebody is kicking things off but the audio is so low that I didn’t get it turned up in time to hear the name.
7:58 PM globalgeeknews - Whoever this guy is, he says that CES is a turning point that will spur the economy.
7:58 PM globalgeeknews - He is now talking about the record number of exhibitors at CES this year
7:59 PM globalgeeknews - Steve Ballmer has just been introduced but he hasn’t come out yet.
8:00 PM globalgeeknews - They are running down Ballmer’s resume
8:01 PM globalgeeknews - Here comes Steve!
8:01 PM globalgeeknews - Steve is wearing a very red sweater.
8:02 PM globalgeeknews - He is showing a video now
8:03 PM globalgeeknews - The video seems to be about how technology has changed our lives
8:04 PM globalgeeknews - I missed the name but the guy in the video I believe is from Saturday Night Live.
8:04 PM globalgeeknews - The video is supposed to be funny…
8:05 PM globalgeeknews - Could whoever is in charge of the audio stream crank up the volume a couple dozen notches? I can barely here it!
8:05 PM globalgeeknews - Back to Ballmer
8:06 PM globalgeeknews - We are going to be talking about the changing computer, tv and cloud services
8:07 PM globalgeeknews - Bing! Bing! Bing! I think we have a new meme
8:08 PM globalgeeknews - Steve is talking a bit about how technology is reaching people all over the world. There are about 1 billion people online today and it will be 4 billion in the fairly near future
8:08 PM globalgeeknews - It looks like it is time to talk Xbox
8:09 PM globalgeeknews - Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about this live blog if they would be interested in this event!
8:09 PM globalgeeknews - He is talking about some of the things that have come to Xbox and have been announced in the past year
8:09 PM globalgeeknews - There are 39 million Xbox 360s that have been sold and over 500 million games sold.
8:10 PM globalgeeknews - Time to talk a bit about Bing and its growth
8:11 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a bit about Bing Maps and how silverlight contributes to it
8:12 PM globalgeeknews - Bing will be the default search engine and home page of HP machines in the future
8:12 PM globalgeeknews - Ford Sync will have a new look which we will hear about more at the Ford keynote tomorrow
8:13 PM globalgeeknews - Now talking a little bit about various other things they are doing in the auto industry.
8:13 PM globalgeeknews - Now time to talk Zune HD
8:13 PM globalgeeknews - Steve says it is getting rave reviews and the Zune Marketplace is now available in 18 countries
8:14 PM globalgeeknews - Now to talk mobile
8:15 PM globalgeeknews - He is now showing the new HD 2 phone available on T-mobile in the near future but they will be saving any Windows Mobile stuff for the World Mobile Congress month.
8:15 PM globalgeeknews - Now time to talk Windows 7…
8:15 PM globalgeeknews - He is talking about the goals of Win 7 as far as user experience and things like battery life
8:16 PM globalgeeknews - Windows 7 involved 3,000 engineers, 50,000 partners and 8 million beta testers.
8:17 PM globalgeeknews - NPD says windows pc sales jumped nearly 50% the week it launched.
8:17 PM globalgeeknews - Crap, audio dropped out!
8:17 PM globalgeeknews - Now its back
8:17 PM globalgeeknews - Windows 7 is the fastest selling OS in history which is how he measures success.
8:18 PM globalgeeknews - 94% of new users are satisfied with Win 7 according to a “recent survey”
8:18 PM globalgeeknews - 3 million PCs shipped in 2009.
8:18 PM globalgeeknews - PC sales are expected to jump by 12% in 2010
8:18 PM globalgeeknews - audio dropped out again
8:19 PM globalgeeknews - and it is back
8:19 PM globalgeeknews - Now Steve is talking a little about how there is a Windows 7 PC for everybody
8:20 PM globalgeeknews - Developers are using the new technologies in Windows 7 to improve existing products or create new ones.
8:20 PM globalgeeknews - Finally, the audio has been turned up! Now if only it was in more than just the right channel…
8:21 PM globalgeeknews - Sounds like it is demo time!
8:21 PM globalgeeknews - A windows team member that goes by the name Ryan is now on stage to demo some hardware and software with Win 7
8:22 PM globalgeeknews - To begin, we are talking about all-in-one PCs
8:22 PM globalgeeknews - I hope this will pick up soon, I am about to fall asleep
8:23 PM globalgeeknews - Showing off Dell’s Adamo. Wow, it is fast on sleep wakeup!
8:24 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing off some gaming machines. They have my full attention now.
8:24 PM globalgeeknews - Direct X 11 coming to laptop in the next couple weeks
8:25 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing off a new ASUS laptop that does 3D gaming. Glasses required.
8:26 PM globalgeeknews - The audio is fixed. Yay!
8:27 PM globalgeeknews - They had a pc in a tv to show off but when the power failed, it blew the tube. TVs still use tubes?!
8:27 PM globalgeeknews - Time to show how student life is improved by Windows 7
8:28 PM globalgeeknews - Showing off some Bleeo e-book reading software that looks really nice.
8:28 PM globalgeeknews - The software can do interactive ebooks which is great for education
8:28 PM globalgeeknews - Video can be played inside of the e-books
8:29 PM globalgeeknews - There is also speech to text
8:29 PM globalgeeknews - Now time to talk students using presentations and what tools are available to them.
8:30 PM globalgeeknews - Showing off some collaborative features of Windows Live and Office 2010.
8:30 PM globalgeeknews - They are working on the same presentation at the same time. I wish I had this stuff in school
8:31 PM globalgeeknews - Ballmer says he is slow at typing.
8:31 PM globalgeeknews - Apparently although they are working on the same document, the changes are not real time and it will ask you to sync with the other person when changes have been made.
8:33 PM globalgeeknews - Showing an interesting tie between video and Bing Maps. Seems interesting although I am not sure I really understand it
8:33 PM globalgeeknews - Wow, weather effects on Bing’s version of Street View
8:34 PM globalgeeknews - I can’t say I really care if it appears to be snowing when I am looking at street view…
8:35 PM globalgeeknews - With CableCard, they have something that will allow you to record 4 HD tv shows at the same time. I have just crapped myself.
8:36 PM globalgeeknews - Now they are showing that running a PC on tv that you can use all of Windows 7 on a TV
8:36 PM globalgeeknews - We are now going inside Windows Media Center
8:37 PM globalgeeknews - Developers and content providers can create their own awesome experience in Windows Media Center
8:38 PM globalgeeknews - Showing some other videos in WMC
8:39 PM globalgeeknews - Time to talk about Microsoft Media Room, something I have never heard of
8:39 PM globalgeeknews - Apparently it is software that has a paid tv service.
8:40 PM globalgeeknews - I really need to look into this Media Room thing. Apparently many companies use or offer it.
8:40 PM globalgeeknews - AT&T is going to be bringing Media Room features to Xbox Live for U-Verse subscribers.
8:41 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a little bit more about Media Room.
8:42 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing a movie store with it. I am not sure I grasp how this works.
8:43 PM globalgeeknews - Now Ballmer seems to have taken back over to talk some more
8:44 PM globalgeeknews - They are now showing off some “slate” PCs (aka tablets)
8:44 PM globalgeeknews - They are touch centric devices that look to be about the size of a Kindle or a little bigger.
8:45 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing a prototype of an HP slate pc coming later this year
8:45 PM globalgeeknews - They are now showing a promo video for it.
8:46 PM globalgeeknews - It is running the Kindle software to show how well it works as an e-book reader. I want. No mention of a price.
8:47 PM globalgeeknews - Showing another SNL type video like at the beginning of the keynote. Time to take a nap…
8:48 PM globalgeeknews - Still playing the video…
8:49 PM globalgeeknews - Robby Bock is now on stage
8:49 PM globalgeeknews - Ballmer is gone at least for now
8:49 PM globalgeeknews - He is here to talk about entertainment as a whole
8:50 PM globalgeeknews - So far he is saying nothing really important
8:50 PM globalgeeknews - It looks like we are going to talk Xbox first
8:52 PM globalgeeknews - 2010 is going to be a landmark year for Xbox customers because of Xbox exclusive games like Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Modern Warfare 2 expansion packs
8:52 PM globalgeeknews - More games are being listed like Fable 3 and Crackdown 2
8:53 PM globalgeeknews - They are going to introduce a new type of game this year, the psychological adventure thriller
8:53 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a bit about the Alan Wake game which will be told in downloadable episodes.
8:53 PM globalgeeknews - HALO!
8:54 PM globalgeeknews - Waiting to hear what the Halo announcement is…
8:54 PM globalgeeknews - Nevermind, it is just Halo Reach that was announced at E3 last year.
8:55 PM globalgeeknews - WTF! The streaming has been suspended to respect the intellectual property being demonstrated on stage. This SUCKS!
8:56 PM globalgeeknews - I don’t know who had the bright idea to do this suspension of streaming for Halo Reach IP reasons or whatever, but they need to be fired immediately.
8:56 PM globalgeeknews - Waiting for the stream to return…
8:56 PM globalgeeknews - Listening to some elevator music…
8:57 PM globalgeeknews - And now we are back. Everybody sounds really excited but I have no idea what they are so excited about.
8:58 PM globalgeeknews - I will be blogging my thoughts on this event tomorrow and Microsoft will be getting MAJOR flak for that. Now back to Xbox Live…
8:58 PM globalgeeknews - 20 million Xbox Live members. Last week a new member was added every second.
8:59 PM globalgeeknews - They are now talking about the Twitter and Facebook integration on Xbox Live.
8:59 PM globalgeeknews - 20,000 friendships are make on Facebook through Xbox Live every day. Impressive.
9:00 PM globalgeeknews - Showing the instant streaming on Xbox Live.
9:00 PM globalgeeknews - I want to thank everybody who has joined us so far for the live blog.
9:00 PM globalgeeknews - Talking about Zune on Xbox Live
9:01 PM globalgeeknews - If you buy a video on the Zune portion of Xbox Live, you can play the video on your PC or Zune HD.
9:02 PM globalgeeknews - They are talking about some new thing called Game Room. Starting this spring, you can play over 30 classic arcade games from atari and many others. I love this!
9:03 PM globalgeeknews - More intellectual property streaming suspension BS for a demo of the Game Room feature.
9:03 PM globalgeeknews - A new set of arcade games will be released every week with over 1000 games coming by the end of the year. Wow!
9:03 PM globalgeeknews - we are back btw
9:04 PM globalgeeknews - I will be at Microsoft in a couple weeks and I will give them major crap for the streaming suspension crap and talk to them more about announcements they are making today.
9:04 PM globalgeeknews - Now he is talking about a natural user interface.
9:05 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a bit about how R&D works at MS
9:05 PM globalgeeknews - Time to talk Project Natal
9:06 PM globalgeeknews - We are now seeing a video from the Project Natal team.
9:07 PM globalgeeknews - Nothing really new in the video, just a little history about Natal and a little about how it works
9:08 PM globalgeeknews - The video is ending…
9:09 PM globalgeeknews - Project Natal will ship by this holiday! Christmas season 2010!
9:09 PM globalgeeknews - It will work with an existing Xbox 360
9:10 PM globalgeeknews - It sounds like we are wrapping up the entertainment portion of the keynote
9:11 PM globalgeeknews - Robby is leaving the stage…
9:11 PM globalgeeknews - Don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the Global Geek News Podcast at www.globalgeeknews.com
9:11 PM globalgeeknews - Waiting for the next person to come on stage
9:12 PM globalgeeknews - um, was that it? I think the Keynote might be over. Looking for confirmation…
9:12 PM globalgeeknews - Ok, the keynote is over
9:13 PM globalgeeknews - Thanks everybody for tuning in to our live blog tonight and we hope you enjoyed it. Don’t forget to check back for more coverage tomorrow and make sure to listen to and subscribe to the Global Geek News Podcast at www.globalgeeknews.com
9:14 PM globalgeeknews - We will have more CES coverage right here on the Global Geek News Blog, www.globalgeeknews.com Have a great night and follow @globalgeeknews on Twitter!

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Netflix drives customers to piracy by delaying new releases

Jan 6th

Posted by Jeremy Bray in Blu-Ray

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Greetings Readers!

With the exception of when they raise prices, everybody seems to have a major love of Netflix, myself included. Unfortunately, I think that love affair is about to come to an end. It was announced today that Netflix has decided to let the greedy people over at Warner Bros. keep Netflix from renting new DVD or Blu-ray releases until 28 days after their release. So much for Netflix’s willingness to stand up to the buffoons at the movie studios.

In exchange for this stupidity, Warner Bros. will open up more of its catalog of movies to Netflix for streaming. I don’t suppose that is the worst trade-off in the world but it certainly hurts many Netflix customers who use the service to check out new movies as they come out. For the customers that don’t do any streaming from Netflix, there is no upside to this deal. If these deals catch on, not only will it hurt Netflix subscribers, but Netflix itself. Currently, 30% of Netflix’s rental business is new releases, something that this will really cut into. Hopefully they won’t bend over to any other studios if they want to keep that number from going down. While this appears to be a big win for Warner Bros, I believe it will come back to bite them.

Warner Bros. stands to make a lot of money off of this deal. A large chunk of the money made from a movie’s DVD/Blu-ray sales are made in the first month of release and by taking out a large chunk of the rental competition in the first month, Warner Bros. expects sales to increase considerably. I, on the other hand, am not so sure of this. As a usually happy Netflix customer (except when they increase Blu-ray rental fees), I almost never buy DVD or Blu-ray movies anymore. If there is a great sale on Amazon, then I will buy something but otherwise, if I can’t find it on Netflix, I can find it on <insert bittorrent site here>.

This is exactly what many other people are going to be doing as well. If they can’t get a movie from Netflix, they won’t want to waste their gas going to their local big box store in hopes that they will have the new movie that they want to watch in stock. Owning the movie is nice, but unless you know you want to watch it all the time, it makes no sense to buy it when you are already paying for a Netflix subscription. Paying $20 for a movie when you should be able to rent or stream it is insane. This is the point where most people will have the thought that going to a bittorrent site and getting the movie the night you want to watch it for free is a lot easier, cheaper and more hassle free than going to buy the movie at the store. The fact that Warner Bros. doesn’t understand this just shows what kind of idiots they have running the company.

In this decade, content producers need to focus on putting their content everywhere and make the money they can instead of putting it only in a few places because all that is going to do is drive more people to piracy.

Netflix, stand up for your customers, not the fools at the movie studios!

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Nominate us for a Shorty Award!

Jan 6th

Posted by Jeremy Bray in Global Geek News

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Greetings Readers and Listeners!

Those of you that follow Global Geek News on Twitter know that I do my best to pass along all kinds of great tech related links. Whether it is links about a big merger or just announcing that a new podcast is up, I do my best to tweet the tech content that you would find interesting. If you agree that we pass along all kinds of awesome tech info, we would really appreciate it if you nominated @globalgeeknews for a Shorty Award!

What is a Shorty Award? Shorty Awards are awards honoring the best producers of short, real time content on Twitter. If you have people you follow that produce great Twitter content, you should nominate them for a Shorty Award in a good number of categories ranging from tech (where you should be nominating @globalgeeknews) to food and even advertising!

I really want to win this year, so I am begging you guys to please nominate @globalgeeknews for a Shorty Award!

Don’t forget to follow Global Geek News on Twitter if you don’t already!

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