The Geekcast

The Geekcast


The Geekcast #390 - Just Watch Firefly, Damnit!

June 18, 2014

News:


Uber: Roll out with Optimus Prime


http://blog.uber.com/UberTRANSFORMERS


 


World’s largest video game collection sells for over $750,000

 


When we first stumbled upon the auction for the Guinness-certified “World’s Largest Video Game Collection” a few weeks ago, bidding had only reached $50,000, short of the auction reserve price. When the GameGavel auction came to a close late Sunday night, though, the price was significantly higher: $750,250 to be exact.


According to the GameGavel price history, the bulk of the bidding action took place last Wednesday, as users “catch123″ and “peeps_10091970″ rapidly outbid one another from a starting point of $150,000. The final bid has yet to be publicly verified, though, so it’s still possible this could be another hoax bidding situation similar to the one surrounding a $100,000 Nintendo World Championship cartridge auction earlier this year.


If the sale goes through at this price, though, it will be among the largest single sales of video game items in history. It won’t be the largest, though; a 7,000-game set, including “complete” game collections for 22 popular systems, reportedly sold for more than $1.2 million last year.


Seller Michael Thomasson has said in interviews that he set a “regimented budget” averaging about $3,000 a year for the past 20 years to build up his collection of more than 11,000 games and 100 consoles. That’s a pretty good return on investment for a part-time hobby and should hopefully go a long way toward helping Thomasson with the unspecified “family obligations” that led to the sale in the first place.


http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/06/worlds-largest-video-game-collection-sells-for-over-750000/


 


Amazon’s big bet: How a smartphone intensifies war with Apple, Google

The online retailer treads into new territory that will test its strategy of selling products at cost.


 


When the Seattle e-commerce giant introduces its smartphone — which is widely expected to happen at a company-hosted event on Wednesday — it will be only Amazon’s fourth device in the last seven years.
But where its first three products have skirted the edges of mainstream consumer electronic devices — an e-reader, a budget-priced tablet, and a streaming Internet TV box — Amazon is now jumping straight into the heart of an industry with the most personal and critical of tech gadgets. In doing so, Bezos is escalating Amazon’s fight against Apple and Google for control of the hearts and minds of consumers by combining a branded smartphone with a set of services available through its Prime premium membership.
Amazon’s anticipated foray into the smartphone world comes as its fellow tech titans have steadily expanded their own reach beyond devices such as PCs and smartphones, with Apple and Google — as well as Microsoft and Samsung — introducing an array of services. Their common goal: to power everything from thermostats to medical equipment to automobiles.
“The great ecosystem war has begun,” said Ben Schacter, an analyst with Macquarie Research. “This is going to be a long, hard war with many battles.”
For Amazon, it comes back to the smartphone, the one device many people won’t leave home without, and its potential to be the remote control for all the other devices in our lives. The company likely sees it as the ultimate hook for its $99-a-year Prime service, which offers members two-day shipping, e-books, movie, and as of last week, a streaming music service. Bezos’ bet is that Prime is more effective in keeping customers coming back to Amazon than any single device.

 


http://www.cnet.com/news/amazons-big-bet-how-a-smartphone-intensifies-the-war-with-apple-google/

 


Nest Protect smoke detector returns from recall with a lower price

 


Nest Labs’ Protect smoke detector is returning to store shelves two months after the company halted sales due to safety concerns. New Nest Protect devices will now be sold for $99, a more than 20 percent cut from the original $130 pricing, and will not include the Nest Wave feature that led to the recall in April. Nest found that its Wave feature, that allows homeowners to wave at the Protect to turn off its alarm, could be unintentionally activated. Around 440,000 devices were affected, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates.


While Nest hasn’t fixed the problem yet, all Protect smoke detectors that have already been sold were automatically updated to deactivate the feature in April if they were connected to the internet. Nest originally said that addressing the issue and reactivating the feature could take two to three months, including approval from regulatory agencies in the US, Canada, and UK ahead of an update. Even without the Wave feature, the Nest Protect offers smart features like voice-activation, the ability to communicate with a Nest Thermostat to enable an auto-away feature, and phone alerts for smoke or carbon monoxide even if you’re away from home.


http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/17/5816910/nest-protect-price-cut-sales-resume


 


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Geek This Week:  


Aaron: Finished my book edits. Querys are out!


Learned about the SlidersCast! Tim let me know John Rhys-Davis is going to be at Rhode Island Comic Con.


 


Gozer:35th Bday and Father’s Day.


 


Edge of Tomorrow, Lone Survivor & Game of Thrones Finale


 


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Feedback and items of Note:


 


Voicemail feedback from Rod Williams


 


Hey guys, this is ride Williams from the H P Guys, great podcast. I just had a few comments on your E 3 podcast. Because I actually went this year is my first year, and we’re going and it was awesome, lot of standing in line lot of walking around with me. Thanks a lot of money that show. My biggest impression coming from. There was a Destiny. Is going to be. My King. I think you guys are under selling out what It’s the most expensive game ever made with half a billion dollars. Bungy behind it and I actually got a chance to play. It felt like I was playing a make sure of Mass Effect halo. I think when you guys kinda said that. But, For some reason it seem really familiar. And you and any apocalypse. It was really fun. I’m looking forward to play that another game. That’s gonna be New Jersey. Paul. Both these games are across all platforms and. If you fall, a steal at forget that guy’s me that game, gonna be pretty cool. I I didn’t get a chance to play. I watch a lot of people play that they were having a ball. I play the new battlefield game. I’m not a valid till guy, and I came really didn’t impress me, buffets. It seems like it’s kind of a redo of the other stuff. But you know actually goes there you have a P. S. 4. I’ve got a free code for it. For the Beta, if you want it, just hit me up on Twitter. I’ll send it to you either way. Hey. I really liked what was going on in the E 3 play station didn’t have that he’s ever present. Microsoft had most of Well, a lot of the floor, and ton of it was just james, james game Nothing really about. The hardware like you guys are talking about but It’s very impressive and I. I think the call of duty also had a huge presence there fair game is gonna be kind of a big deal. I mean, it’s call of duty, but. Again, destiny is going to be in my game. That’s about all I have to say. I’m doing guys.


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