This week, the whole Geek Squad Online team have pitched in to bring you the latest and greatest news from the worlds of tech, science and geeky entertainment – from the launch of Nintendo's very own social network to some shocking revelations about Thierry Henry's gaming abilities!
Monday 28th March
The age of home virtual reality is finally here
After four years of development, an impressive Kickstarter campaign, several development test kits and a $2 billion buyout by Facebook, the Oculus Rift VR headset was finally shipped to consumers on Monday.
There have already been a ton of games released for the platform, including Elite: Dangerous, EVE Valkyrie, Project Cars, Chronos and Adr1ft –with many more on the way. In fact, Oculus have confirmed that 100 titles will be available by the end of the year.
Early adopters in the UK picked up the £499 package, which includes the headset, sensor, games and an Xbox One controller – and will also require a high-performance PC to get the most out of it.
The Rift's biggest rival, the HTC Vive, will start shipping next week for the people who pre-ordered – and we'll start to see what people think soon afterwards. Have you ordered a VR headset? Let us know in the comments!
Microsoft unveil 'Holoportation'
Microsoft have unveiled one of their latest projects to be developed alongside their augmented reality headset, HoloLens. The project, titled 'holoportation', uses a special camera rig to allow you to see, hear and interact with another person, using holograms and HoloLens.
The cameras pick up a real-time 3D representation of the remote participant, which is transmitted to your HoloLens in a way that makes it appear they are standing in the same room as you. The system can even record the actions of both participants, letting you play back and witness the entire conversation as it happened from a third-person perspective.
It all sounds very science fiction, and at the moment, Microsoft haven't detailed what kind of equipment will be required to make it work – so it's quite possible that this one could remain at the research centre as a futuristic pipe dream.
Tuesday 29th March
FBI bypass Apple's iPhone security
Bringing to an end the debacle between Apple and the American Department of Justice, the FBI announced on Tuesday that they had been successful in their attempt to 'crack' – or break into – an iPhone belonging to a criminal in the United States.
This is an interesting end to the story of Apple vs. the US government, which saw the popular smartphone manufacturer refusing to create a 'backdoor' into their operating system to allow the FBI access to files on a locked iPhone.
This was a very controversial case, as it pitted personal privacy against the need of the government to investigate the actions of a criminal. Whether Apple's decision was a good or bad one is fortunately no longer up for debate, as an unknown third party has assisted the FBI in bypassing the iPhone's security. Now we must wait and see if the FBI inform Apple of how they accessed the data, and if Apple will be able to beef up their security to stop the problem being exploited by someone else in the future.
The anniversary of Coca Cola's creation
Tuesday also marked the 130th anniversary of Coca Cola – at least as the soft drink we all know it as!
Created by John Pemberton in Atlanta and derived from various plant extracts (inlcuding erythroxylon coca, the source of cocaine, and cola nitida, a source of caffeine), the original Coca Cola was alcoholic and also contained wine.
The alcohol combined with caffeine and cocaine gave the concotion a powerful punch – but when an enthusiasm for prohibition began to arise in the US, the recipe had to change to something softer.
And so, on this day in 1886, John Pemberton switched out the wine from his mixture and replaced it with sugar. After mixing the syrup with soda water at his nearest pharmacy, Pemberton realised he'd struck proverbial gold and started selling his new Coca Cola to patrons for three cents a glass.
From there, Coca Cola soared in popularity to become one of the most popular products in the world, even finding its way into space to become the first soft drink to be consumed out of Earth's atmosphere!
Wednesday 30th March
Va-Va Doom
One of the surprise reveals at last year’s E3 show was Bethesda’s reboot of the iconic first-person shooter Doom, promising to bring the 20-year-old classic kicking and screaming into the 21st century!
Their demo presentation was impressive, but a video only tells you so much – and the real question on gamers' lips was how does it PLAY?
Well, this week we finally got an idea, thanks to the 'Day of Doom' event which was streamed live on Tuesday night! Organised by developers Bethesda and media production house Rooster Teeth, this star-studded event showcased Doom’s competitive multiplayer in spectacular style.
In addition to gaming celebrities like iJustine and Adam Kovic, it also featured sporting stars like Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. That’s right, you could watch Thierry Henry paying Doom – albeit not particularly well.
It turns out that the fleet-footed striker was a fan of the original game – but he struggled with the pace of the modern incarnation and was quickly mired in a relegation battle.
If you want to find out if you’re better than Thierry Henry at something, Doom is released on the 13th May – and you can check out the trailer above.
The birth of Batman
With Batman and Superman currently polarising the opinions of cinema-goers while beating each other up, it’s fitting we take time out to celebrate the comic book debut of the World’s Greatest Detective.
He first appeared in Detective Comics #27 on March 30th 1939 – and while the issue was dated for May, copyright records confirm that the issue hit news-stands on the earlier March date.
Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Batman initially wore a red and black suit with a Zorro-like mask and ungainly bat wings. It was Finger who refined the concept with crucial details like Batman’s signature cowl and scalloped cape – however, he didn’t receive formal recognition for his contribution until last year.
In September 2015, it was announced that the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice would credit it him as the co-creator of Batman – and in October last year he received his long-overdue credit in the comic books Batman and Robin Eternal #3 and Batman: Arkham Knight Genesis #3.
Thursday 31st March
Final Fantasy XV livestream event
In the very early hours of Thursday morning, legendary video game publisher SquareEnix finally revealed the official release date of the hugely anticipated 15th iteration of the Final Fantasy franchise.
Unfortunately the date had been leaked earlier in the evening by Gamespot – but there were still many more unspoiled surprises in the three-hour livestream. A new trailer showcased more gameplay from the offset, and while other reveals included a five-part anime series titled Brotherhood, a CG movie called Kingsglaive starring Sean Bean, Lena Headey and Aaron Paul, an official theme song by Florence and the Machine and much more! Check out the full livestream on YouTube above.
Final Fantasy XV will be released worldwide on 30th September 2016, and a new 'Platinum Demo' is available on Xbox One and PS4 right now, which follows hero Noctis on his quest to master various weapons, magical abilities and driving. Players who complete the demo will get exclusive access to Carbuncle – a recurring 'summon' in the Final Fantasy series – when the full game is released in September.
Nintendo release their social networking app, Miitomo
Rumours had been circulating for over a year that Nintendo were venturing into the social network market – and Thursday saw the release of Miitomo, the Miiverse-inspired smartphone app for iOS and Android.
Unlike regular social networking services, this particular product has you create a digital avatar that does all your conversing for you! Your character will ask you questions in a conversational manner, about what you’ve enjoyed recently and what you’re currently up to. Your answers become your ‘posts’ on the network – and the more posts you have, the more chance you get to win new clothing, game tickets and more.
This is an interesting path for Nintendo to go down, as in the past they’ve gained some notoriety for censoring naughty language in the social element of their video games! The app is still in its early stages at the minute, but shows a lot of promise for Nintendo fans looking to socialise with each other while away from their consoles. Check out the launch trailer above.
Friday 1st April
Tesla release an electric car for the masses
On Friday, we got details of Tesla’s long awaited Model 3 electric car - the company's lowest cost vehicle that could bring electric cars to the masses.
The Model 3 is a 5 seater saloon car that is powered purely by batteries and electric motors. It has a range of “at least” 215 miles and is compatible with Tesla’s Supercharging standard. This allows it to recharge to 80% in about 40 minutes so you won’t have to hang about for long even if you are on a long journey.
So you’re not going to have to worry about range but if you are thinking that this probably means that the Model 3 is a slowcoach then you couldn’t be more wrong. While it doesn’t match the performance of its bigger brother, the Model S, this new Tesla still does 0 to 60 in about 6 seconds! That’s fast by anybody’s standards.
Finally, the best news of all - the price. I mentioned that the Tesla Model 3 could be the electric car for the masses. The reason for this is the exceptionally reasonable price. The Model 3 is due to go on sale starting at just $35000. That’s less than £25000! You can pay more than that for a Ford Focus these days.
The Tesla Model 3 is due to go on sale in late 2017 but if you want one then you better get your name down quick. Over 250,000 people have already paid the $1000 deposit to preorder one. If you want to know more then take a look at the unveiling event in the video above.
That wraps things up for another Week in Geek – but be sure to check back next Sunday for another crucial round-up! And for more great content, why not get your name down below for our monthly Geek Squad newsletter? There's no better way to stay informed – and we'll never spam you.