We've got another fascinating crop of stories for you in this week's round-up, from the latest news from the International Space Station to the bizarre announcement of a movie based on Tetris! But as usual, that's just the start – so grab your favourite drink and join us for the Week in Geek.
Monday 16th May
A huge milestone for mankind in space – and a first glimpse at the new BFG
On Monday, the International Space Station celebrated a huge milestone, as it made its 100,000th orbit around the Earth.
The first piece of the ISS was launched back in November 1998 – and now, more than 17 years later, it has travelled over 2,643,342,240 miles. During this time, it has broken records for the longest continuously occupied spacecraft, at over 15 years.
The station has also provided invaluable scientific research opportunities, and has been particularly vital in providing data on human survival in space. This data is set to be put to the test when humans go further afield in planned missions to an asteroid in 2025 – and on to Mars in the 2030s.
The sad news is, however, that the ISS will not have chance to make it past 200,000 orbits before it's due to be decommissioned in 2024. But the lease on the ISS has already been extended once from its original 2020 date – so there is a chance it may still get another extension!
Take a look at the video above, featuring NASA flight engineer Jeff Williams marking the 100,000 orbits milestone.
One last thing for Monday: Over the weekend, a new trailer for the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's BFG was released! We’ll cover the film in more detail when it's released in July – but you can take a look at the excellent trailer above.
Tuesday 17th May
A very strange new video game movie – and a super high-tech 3D printer
Tetris is one of the most popular video games of all time, selling over 170 million copies since its launch in 1984. It has been released on almost every games console, and is still just as addictive now as it was 30 years ago.
However, Tetris is not well known for its involving storyline. In fact, it has no narrative at all. But this hasn’t stopped Threshold Entertainment from securing $80 million of funding to bring a Tetris movie to the big screen!
Filming is set to begin in China in 2017 – and although most of the cast will be Chinese, the aim is to “make world movies for the world market”. Although no plot details have been announced, the movie is said to be a sci-fi thriller, with Tetris featuring as “the teeny tip of an iceberg that has intergalactic significance”.
While Tetris the game is considered to be one of the best of all time, I can’t see Tetris the movie making the same impact on filmmaking – although I’m quite looking forward to seeing what they come up with!
All being well, Tetris the movie will be out sometime in 2018.
Also on Tuesday, scientists at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute announced a new type of 3D printer that can create complex metallic objects in mid-air.
The new printer uses a silver nanoparticle “ink” which is heated and solidified using a focused laser as soon as it leaves the nozzle. This produces a silver wire thinner than a human hair, which can then be printed into all sorts of complex, free-form shapes without the need for the support structures conventional 3D printers require.
The silver wire produced in this system is almost as conductive as pure silver, making it ideal for use in electronics. The researchers at the Wyss Institute are hoping this could lead to new ways of manufacturing electronic devices – and it could particularly help in the development of flexible technology. Take a look at the video above to see the new 3D printer in action!
Wednesday 18th May
A big day for Google as Android Pay hits the UK
Wednesday was a big day for Google, as they held their annual I/O Conference – and the long-awaited Android Pay made a surprise appearance in the UK Play Store.
Let's talk about Android Pay first. As you can probably guess from the name, Android Pay is basically Google’s answer to Apple Pay! Essentially, it's a contactless mobile phone payment system, allowing you to use you smartphone in place of a debit or credit card.
It has been available in America for a while now, but on Wednesday it appeared on the UK App Store with very little fanfare from Google. However, it was soon made official – and for those with compatible handsets (and bank accounts), Android Pay can now be used across the UK.
As long as your phone is running Android 4.4 or above and has a built in NFC chip, you'll be able to use Android Pay– as long as your bank supports the system. With the exception of RBS, NatWest, Barclays and Santander, most banks in the UK support Android Pay– but there's no word yet on when the last four will jump on board.
For more info on how Android Pay works, take a look at the handy Geek Squad guide here.
Next, let's talk about the I/O Conference. This is the annual event Google holds for developers – and this year’s keynote address took place on Wednesday. We don’t have room to talk about everything they announced, but here are some of the highlights!
First off, Google Assistant– a vastly updated voice assistant successor to Googe Now, focused on allowing you to perform all sorts of tasks in a conversational style. For example, you could be standing in front of a famous sculpture or building and ask “Who designed this?” – and Google Assistant will use your location to determine what you're talking about and provide the answer.
To go along with Google Assistant, we also saw Google Home. This is essentially a Wi-Fi speaker that can be used for playing music from a variety of sources – but also has built-in microphones to give you access to Google Assistant from anywhere in your home.
Finally, Google also announced Daydream – a new virtual reality platform specifically for smartphones.
Daydream actually consists of three parts: the first is a list of minimum specs for smartphones – with criteria including sensors, display quality and hardware performance. Phones that meet these specifications will be allowed to call themselves 'Daydream ready'.
Next is a reference design for a VR headset and controller. These will work in a similar way to Google Cardboard or Samsung's Gear VR, allowing you to put your existing smartphone into the headset to use it as the screen. There's also a dedicated controller featuring motion sensors, buttons and trackpad.
The third and final part of Daydream is a new VR Play Store: a centralised location where users can buy and download VR apps from within a VR environment. Once downloaded, they'll all be stored in your 'Daydream Home'.
Exciting news – but this is just a small selection of the cool new stuff Google announced on Wednesday. Take a look at the video above to watch the whole keynote for yourself!
Thursday 19th May
Bethesda's most ambitious DLC ever lands for Fallout 4
On Thursday, Bethesda released 'Far Harbor' – the latest, and by far the largest, piece of DLC for the excellent Fallout 4.
The expansion takes you to Far Harbor – a mysterious island off the coast of Maine – in search of a missing woman. Due to higher than normal levels of radiation, Far Harbor is a much more intense environment to that of the main game. The tough conditions have led to much bigger and badder creatures to fight – and there are also rumours of a secret colony of 'synths' on the island.
To help you survive the tougher environment of Far Harbor, you'll be able to find stronger weapons and tougher armour – and even a new companion to fight alongside you. As well as the main storyline, there will also be new faction missions and loads of new locations to explore. In terms of sheer size, Far Harbor is the biggest DLC that Bethesda have ever done – so there should be plenty to explore.
If you have already bought the Fallout 4 Season Pass, then you’ll already have access to Far Harbor. If not, you can purchase it separately for about £20. Take a look at the launch trailer above to find out more!
Friday 20th May
Google's Chrome says bye-bye to backspace!
An upcoming update to Google's Chrome browser will remove a feature which has undoubtedly been the bane of anyone who does a lot of writing on the internet: the backspace ‘back’ button.
Announced on Friday, this update has already started rolling out to experimental versions of Chrome – and effectively stops you from accidentally going back to a previous page instead of deleting the word you just typed!
There’s nothing worse than typing out a carefully crafted reply to someone online and then losing all your paragraphs in an instant. A quick browse of the Chrome store yields a few extensions that can help save your written work – but they tend to be unreliable and can lead to even more frustration should it not work when you need it to.
Forcing people to click on the ‘back’ button instead of using a keyboard shortcut sounds heavy-handed – but if it means not losing everything you’ve just written because the cursor was in the wrong place when you pressed backspace, this can only be a good thing!
In response to the inevitable complaints, Google have already confirmed that this new update can – and will – be rolled back should it cause any serious problems with the way people browse the internet.
We can only wait and see what kind of difference it makes when the update becomes publicly available – but we expect it to be very popular once we start putting it to the test!
That wraps things up for another Week in Geek – but for more great articles from our Agents straight to your inbox each month, get your name down below for the Geek Squad newsletter!