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Welcome to episode number 700! It's going to be the most Epic 700th episode of any Geek
Beat you've ever seen! I guarantee it!
[dave: what exactly are you guaranteeing]
Its a money back guarantee dave. I'll refund whatever you paid to watch the show if it
sucks.
Ok, we've got a lot of BIG news for you guys today! Its hard to even know where to start!
We've got big Samsung updates, big Microsoft news, a Wireless shakeup, and most importantly
of all - my first ever kickstarter project is 150% funded after only 6 days!
A couple weeks ago I was driving around with Cali and it seemed like everywhere we went
there were people parked like total tools! You know, when people take up two spots by
parking in the middle... or when they just can't seem to stay inside their own space
and then ruin the chance of anyone using the space beside them. Or they park to close to
you to even get in your own car... or just make their own space!
Anyway - I decided to do something about it! So I launched a Kickstarter to make up some
little cards we can all leave on those bad parkers cars to let em know what we think!
Head on over to geekbeat.tv/badparking to join my kickstarter. The greatest Kickstarter
ever!
In other news today, at the UNPACKED conference today Samsung announced the new Galaxy Note
3 which will be available starting Sep 25.
Lets start with the specs for those of you who can't wait: 2.3ghz quad core CPU on LTE
or 1.9 octo-core on WiFi or 3G, 13Mp rear & 1.9Mp front camera, 4k video or 1080p/60,
3GB RAM, 3200Mah battery, and supposedly up to 40% longer life.
The Galaxy Note 3's display is 5.7 inches, up from 5.5 on the Note II, and its slightly
lighter. They're also adding a Pink color to the lineup, and a grippier edge to hold
on to the giant a little better.
The Note III also has an all new S-Pen which includes a new feature called Air Command.
You hover the pen over the screen and press a button to access some features. One thing
I especially like is that notes will sync automatically with Evernote.
The other big announcement was the Galaxy Gear integrated watch / phone which they're
pushing as a companion device. The Gear has bluetooth connectivity to display SMS and
phone calls. A 1.63" Super AMOLED 320 x 320 screen and an 800mhz CPU, gyroscope and accelerometer.
They claim a 25 hour battery life. You know, so you can wear it all day.
Don't get me wrong. I think its cool. But I don't normally wear watches and I'm not
sure this is going to make me want to start, even though Gear does let you "Talk to the
hand". When a call comes in just hold your hand up to your ear and talk through the speakerphone
on your wrist.
A few other things. They put a camera on the outside of the band so you can point your
wrist and take a photo, like Wonder Woman reflecting a bullet. There are apps for the
phone. You can be reading an email on the Gear and when you pull your phone out it will
open to the exact email so you can keep reading, and things like that.
Two big questions I didn't get answers to: How much is it? Is it waterproof? Also, I'm
skeptical about any woman wearing one because its not exactly small.
Anyway, its going to work with Galaxy SIII, SIV, Note II and Note III. Are you going to
get Gear-ed up? I'll let you know what I think when I get my hands on a review unit.
------------ad-----------
I'm gonna change gears on you guys a little bit today! I know I'm always joking around,
and being silly. And generally that's the way I choose to live my life. But you know
sometimes things just want to drag you down! Like our recent flood here in the Geek Beat
studios. Several of you commented about how calm Cali and I seemed when we were showing
you the video. But to be honest, it was more "depressed" than it was calm.
It's hard to stand there and see something that took years to build being destroyed in
an afternoon. Some of you may have experienced something painful recently as well. Maybe
lost a job, or a friend. Go through a breakup. Whatever happened, it can be hard to deal
with. So I've got a recommendation for an audiobook that I think you might enjoy.
Head on over to AudiblePodcast.com/geekbeat and look for: The Gift of Adversity: The Unexpected
Benefits of Life's Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections by Norman E. Rosenthal.
You can even get it for free when you sign up for a new account using our link.
Here's the thing. The first step is just to understand that its ok for life not to be
perfect all the time. There are tons of good things that come out of disasters. Like the
chance to start over. And when you have experience you can always do it better the second time
around. Dr. Rosenthal shares several things you can do to beat adversity. So give it a
shot.
AudiblePodcast.com/geekbeat and look for: The Gift of Adversity. We'll also have a link
in the show notes at GeekBeat.TV/700
--------------------------
Ok, if you're crying right now, here's something that will cheer you up. Monkeys! Getting a
sugar high from whipped cream.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq05UI3PYVs
Aaaand... back to the tech news.
In all fairness to Microsoft this story is much bigger than the Samsung press release.
Because Microsoft bough Nokia's entire phone division! All 32,000 employees were purchased
for $5 billion. Yep. They were bought. And Nokia will also license their entire patent
library to Microsoft for 10 years. By which time those patents will probably all be obsolete.
I find this acquisition fascinating. Microsoft stock has floundered for the last year, Steve
Balmer is "retiring", and now Microsoft is buying a company that is really good at producing
mobile hardware.
Could it be that Microsoft is looking across the mall at the Apple store wondering how
they could get some iMojo? Because it sounds to me like they want to own the OS and hardware
just like Steve.
Finally, to round out our big day of Fortune 500 news, and one awesome Kicstarter project,
Verizon has bought out 100% of Vodaphone's position in Verizon Wireless.
Verizon Wireless used to be a joint venture mashup between Bell Atlantic Mobile, GTE Wireless
and Vodafone. Until Verizon ponied up $130 Billion to bring Wireless home.
As part of the deal Verizon is taking out $61 billion in loans from JP Morgan Chase,
Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America. Another $60.2 billion in Verizon common stock
will be handed out to Vodafone shareholders.
Verizon is seriously betting the farm on wireless folks. And with good reason. Verizon Wireless
is raking in the profits by the truck load! While Verizon's old copper based landline
service stagnates, the wireless business is booming.
I'd just like to take a minute to point out that a company with a guaranteed monopoly
is using their money to leverage the future on mobile phones. What does that tell you
about how you're being treated each month when you open the wireless bill folks?
Well, I'm going to wrap it up now. That was a LONG one today. Sorry, but there's a lot
going on! You can keep chatting with me about it over on our IRC channel by going to geekbeat.tv/LIVE
any time, or join our Geeks+ community on Google+ at geekbeat.tv/geeks.
I'm outta here...