Hosts
Ben Roethig
@BenRoethig
BenRoethig.com
Patrice
@casual_kitchen
brendamour.net
Mikel Potts
@twerppoet
Andew Rouch
@Montisaquadeis
Big News
Most important news stories of the week
Comcast Invests $200 million in Vox Media
- Comcast’s NBCUniversal Division has invested another $200 million Vox Media
- Vox Media’s properties include The Verge, Recode, and more
- Comcast also has another stake in Vox through its Comcast Ventures Arm
- Comcast/ NBC will not have editorial control over Vox.
- Move follows the recent Acquisition by AOL by Verizon
Amazon Stops Accepting Flash Ads
- Amazon Advertising no longer accept ads with Adobe Flash
- Move is in response to moves in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari to minimize Flash
- Use of Flash competitor HTML5 has become more mainstream since the widespread adoption of mobile devices, most of which do not support flash
- Flash has been known for security and performance issues
Apple
News about iOS, Macs, Apple TV, Apple watch, etc
AppleTV falls to pack in streaming device market
- Apple has fallen to 3rd place in streaming devices according to Parks Data
- Roku is the by far the most widespread with 34% of the market
- Google chromecast is second in a tight race for 2nd at 19% followed by Apple TV at 17% and Fire TV at 14%
- accounted for 86% of all streaming devices
- 20% of US household own at least one streaming device
- 8% own a stick based streamer
News About Google and Android
Samsung Launches 30 Test Drive for iPhone users
- 30 days free test drive.
- Only $1
Android 6.0 to be Marshmallow
- Google has announced final details of Android M
- will be called Android 6.0 with the codename of Marshmallow
- Google has launched the Official SDK and final preview of the OS
- Devs are asked to ready their apps for Marshmallow
- suggests the OS’s launch could be soon.
Google Updates Android Wear with Interactive Watch Faces
- Google has added interactive watch faces to Android Wear
- can now access different functions with a single tap
- options include faces for Bits, Under Armour, and Together
- rolling out to Android wear watches over the next few weeks
Google Tries to Fix the Router with OnHub
- Most consumer internet routers pretty much suck
- Google is partnering with TP-Link on a new router
- called OnHub
- Designed to be functional and elegant for home use
- automatically adjusts for optimal wi-fi bandwidth
- controlled by smartphone app
- can also work as a hub for smart devices
- $199.99 and on pre-order from Walmart, Amazon, and Google
- google will also partner with other manufacturers for OnHub devices.
Windows Corner
News Microsoft Products
VAIO Returns to US
- VAIO used to be Sony’s computer division before being sold to Japan Industrial partners
- JIP is bringing the VAIO brand back to the US
- will be sold online and in Microsoft stores beginning in October
- will focus on high end PCs starting at $2200
- could also expand into other areas.
Misc Tech
anything that doesn’t fit above
Thunderbolt 3 Prototype Shows Power of Connector
- Inventec has designed a prototype Thunderbolt 3 hub
- features 3 USB 3.0 ports, 2 HDMI, 2 Displayport, a USB-C out, and an external Radeon R9 M385 GPU.
- can drive twin 4k displays
- They also demoed a full-size desktop radeon CPU external over Thunderbolt 3
- intel suggests retail thunderbolt graphics solutions are under development.
ARC Could Bring Practical Fusion Power
- New magnetic fusion reactor designed by MIT
- named ARC after the power source that powers Iron Man
- could make small, practical fusion reactors with a decade
- can generation 3 times the energy used to sustain the reaction and can boost that by 5-6 fold
- design allows for reliable output
- generates the same amount of power as the ITER reactor at half the diameter
- uses commercially available magnets and liquid cooling.
Gaming
Computer, console, mobile, or tablet top gaming news
Nintendo Reduces 2DS Price to $99
- price dropped on 2DS from $129 to $99
- 2D version of 3DS
- member of Nintendo DS family
Picks
Each brings an item, app, device, show, etc they want to talk about