Update on Stickers and T-Shirts
If you didn’t see it yesterday, John P and I recorded a little video update about the upcoming Geek Beat stickers, t-shirts and Geek Badges. Thanks to our Patrons who are supporting the production and expansion of the show on a monthly basis! You’ll be getting the goodies very, very soon! Check out the video below and you can see what kind of fun things YOU can get at geekbeat.tv/patron.
Sony Exits the Computer Business
Right now is a time of change for a lot of companies in the technology industry. The movement to mobile devices is causing everyone to rethink their core business. What do they need to do differently? How do they need to change and innovate in order to ensure the future of their business?
Sony is the latest to make changes. They’re splitting off their TV business into a separate company that will focus solely on TVs… most likely high-end options like 4K. They expect it to take a little while before that business is profitable. But most notable about their decision is that they’re selling their entire PC business! They are getting out of the PC market because it’s not where they see the future, and they want to focus on phones, tablets and rumor has it, maybe even wearable tech.
So where does that leave those of you who currently own Sony PCs? Well… right now, Sony is only saying that you’ll continue to receive “aftercare services”. What that means remains to be seen. Perhaps support will be transferred to Japan Industrial Partners, who’s buying the business. Or perhaps Sony will continue to offer support for a year or two. The transaction should finish in July, so we have time to figure it out, and I’ll keep you updated as we hear more. But I would say at this point, if you have an older model, you might consider budgeting for a new computer in the near future.
Getting Your Soft Drinks from Keurig
Also in the near future, we should see a product called Keurig Cold. If you’ve been watching for a while, you know how much I love my Keurig at home and at the office. It uses pods so you can make individual cups. And since I only drink one cup of coffee at a time, it’s great! Well… Coke recently bought a 10% stake in the company, so they’re planning a Keurig version of SodaStream! Should be good.
Prosthetics Get Improved Sense of Touch
So I’ve brought you news of all kinds of improvements in the prosthetics space over the last several years. I love the movements that are being made in making it possible for people with lost limbs to move and feel again. Dennis Sorensen has gone farther than I’ve seen before with the help of researchers at EPFL and the SSSA. First, they implanted a bunch of electrodes into the main nerve bundles on Dennis’ upper arm. After letting his body get used to those for a month, they fitted him with a special prosthetic hand that has several sensors in it. As he picked up items, he could ACTUALLY feel the object and determine what it was made of… all while blindfolded. Good news for the future!
Telling Your Tale with Story Tree
It occurs to me that many of the things John and I bring you each and every day have amazing stories behind them. Like this Dennis guy. Losing his hand in a fireworks accident and seven years later getting to feel again… this stuff should be recorded for posterity sake, don’t you think? There are a few organizations dedicated to capturing the stories of the current generations, like StoryCorps, who goes around capturing people’s family history. And there’s a new service that bridges the gap between traditional storytelling and social media and the online community. It’s called Story Tree, and you can very easily go in and write your own posts to share not only the amazing things YOU’VE done, but maybe even highlight someone special around you.
Sponsored by QNAP
We’re going to bring you guys a whole series of tutorials soon on everything the QNAP HS-210 can do. You aren’t going to believe everything you can accomplish with this little device! The setup process is amazingly simple. You can share files, or use it for Windows or Apple Time Machine backups. Serve your media collection, use it as a video surveillance station, set up a private cloud, and much… much more! Head over to QNAP.com, click on Features – and prepare to have your mind blown!
hi cali how are you? i talked to john a little while ago about doing a segment on the samsung tab pros. all 4 of them what i would love is if the both of you can do it together please i ask him and im asking you too if you can give all the details on them. please ask john about the email i sent him and then let me know when you got them in and are in the peroses of working with them.
thanks