In this week's crucial round-up, our Agents discuss Ford's self-driving car, find out about the long-awaited Dark Tower movie and reveal an all-new operating system from Google.
But as usual, that's just the start – so settle in for another fascinating Week in Geek!
Top Trending Tech News
Ford getting into the self-driving vehicle market
As the old saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em – and this week, long-standing automotive giant Ford put the old cliché into action.
More than a century ago, Ford were true innovators, with their iconic Model T becoming the first affordable, mass-produced automobile thanks to Henry Ford's innovative production techniques. These days, though, the cutting edge is with electric and even self-driving vehicles – with Google's experiments leading the way.
This week, though, the carmaker announced their plan to have a fleet of fully autonomous self-driving cars – no steering wheel included – by 2021. The announcement was made by company president Mark Field, who pitched the new cars as part of an Uber-style ride-hailing service.
This is an extremely bold move from Ford, and they're the first traditional carmaker to acknowledge that their industry is changing rapidly – and to change with it.
Google announce Fuschia – a new operating system
On Monday, Google announced that that work has begun on an all-new operating system, codenamed ‘Fuchsia’.
Details on what exactly this new OS is and what it does are sparse – but that hasn’t stopped the internet rumour mill from kicking into overdrive and coming up with some weird and wonderful possibilities.
News of Fuchsia OS appeared on GitHub, a site which many developers use to share their coding projects and manage different versions of the software they’ve created. There’s very little information about the project on their GitHub page right now, though, other than this simple message: “Pink + Purple == Fuchsia (a new Operating System)”.
So far, we’ve heard rumours that Fuchsia will be the next logical step in Android and ChromeOS development, and is part of Google's plan to unify the two distinct operating systems. Others suggest that Fuchsia will be the OS of choice for the 'internet of things', or IoT, which is the term used to describe household objects with internet connectivity, like Nest thermostats or fridge/freezers that can order groceries when you run low.
Some even less likely rumours predict Fuchsia to be an operating system designed for Augmented Reality or AR systems! Will the official description of Fuchsia OS beat the rumours? Only time will tell.
iTunes web portal Fnd.io hits the internet
One thing that iTunes and the App Store has always lacked is a website you can browse from your computer. Not all of us like searching for new apps on our smartphones – especially when your phone may be charging in another room!
Fortunately, a new website has appeared to fill that gap. Fnd.io acts as a portal to the App Store, giving us the ability to search for apps, music, movies, podcasts and more without needing to pick up your iPhone. There are reviews, screenshots and even related YouTube videos to view on an app’s store page – as well as a button which takes you to the official (yet limited) iTunes page for the app.
If you want to browse the App Store from your computer, there’s no better way than using Fnd.io (yet).
New on the High Street
Oculus Rift to be available in stores for the first time
After years of anticipation, the Oculus Rift VR headset is finally set to arrive in UK stores this September – with the rather controversial price tag of £549.
This puts it far above its originally predicted price tag of around £260, which Oculus indicated it would cost as recently as last year! It also brings the price much closer to the price of the HTC Vive – making the choice between the two virtual reality headsets much harder to make.
The Rift is already available to buy online direct from Oculus already, but while it'll cost you 'just'£499, the additional cost of shipping from the USA doesn’t come cheap.
Because the headset has been floating around in various forms for over a year, there’s already a fairly sizeable library of games and video to enjoy through the Oculus store, and a dedicated VR section of Steam for you to browse– so you won’t be short of things to enjoy should you pick one up later this year.
Final Fantasy XV launch officially delayed
One thing that's not new on the High Street this week is the latest long-awaited installment in the popular Final Fantasy video game series.
Rumours began to surface early this week that the next chapter in the series was to be delayed from its original September 30th release date to November 29th. FFXV director Hajime Tabata was quick to confirm that this was indeed the case, and needed to be done to ensure “the highest possible quality” before releasing it.
The game is officially complete, with the gold master disc only just being wrapped up – which means that the the developers can now focus on polishing the game with performance-improving fixes. Rather than release a day-one patch, which would require an internet connection to download the substantial amount of new content, the gold disc will instead be remastered with all the new fixes.
Players of the recent Platinum Demo will likely see this as a great decision, considering its severe performance issues – which included frequent crashing, an unstable framerate, asset pop-in and loose controls. The delay will hopefully mean that these issues are fully ironed out by the time November 29th arrives. In the meantime, check out the trailer above!
Nikon announce first DSLR camera with always-on Bluetooth connection
There was good news for shutterbugs this week, as Nikon announced a DSLR with a difference – an always-on Bluetooth connection for seamless image transfers.
Otherwise, the D3400 isn't too different to its predecessor, the D3200 – but the customised Bluetooth software, known as Snapbridge, should make for a significant upgrade. There's no more fiddling around with memory cards or USB cables to transfer your photos to your smartphone, tablet or computer – just tap a button and go.
That said, there are some drawbacks. The Snapbridge function currently only works with a handful of Android phones – and currently, not at all for iOS.
Hopefully it'll be rolled out more extensively soon – but in any case, the D3400 will be available from September, priced at $649 bundled with an 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens. See more in the slick promotional video above!
Movie and TV news
The Dark Tower steams ahead
Stephen King fans have been clamouring for more news on the upcoming Dark Tower film, based on the author's hugely popular horror/fantasy book series, which is due for release in February next year.
This week, we learned that the first actual footage of the film will be shown to the public at the end of October to fans who visit the Entertainment Weekly PopFest– and should hopefully appear on the internet some time later.
We’ve already had a cast list confirmed, with big names like Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba on board so far. Elba is cast as Roland Deschain, the last living member of the knightly order of gunslingers, and McConaughey is The Man in Black – the antagonist to Roland Deschain and the cause of his suffering.
Very little other information on the film has been released yet, but we'll be keeping a watchful eye for more news as it surfaces. For now, check out Stephen King discussing the adaptation in the video above.
ITV to shut down for an hour to encourage exercise
In a move to promote a more active Britain and celebrate the return of our Olympic athletes, ITV aannounced this week that they'll be shutting down all seven of their channels for an hour to support the National Lottery-funded “I am Team GB” post-Olympics event.
It will be the first time the ad-supported network has stopped broadcasting in three decades – and channel-hoppers tuning in at 9.30 a.m. on Saturday 27th August will be greeted with the message “We’ve gone running – why don’t you join us?”
The campaign aims to host thousands of free events in sport clubs around the country, including badminton, table tennis – and even a climbing wall on the set of Coronation Street and a duathlon in Emmerdale!
Those looking to take part in the nation's biggest-ever sports day can register their interest on the official website and search for activities in their local area – or even host their own.
And finally...
Disney World obsessives explain how they basically lived inside a ride for years
This week, were were astounded to hear the incredible story of two Floridian Disney World obsessives, who spent years sneaking into and obsessively documenting the Epcot Center ride Horizons, long a fan-favourite and purportedly the late Michael Jackson's favourite ride.
Dave Ensign and Ed Barlow Jr developed an elaborate routine, sneaking off the ride's vehicles and exploring every nook and cranny of its detailed, space-age set. The pair would spend hours at a time taking photos and exploring the incredible intricacies of the ride, often staying overnight, before it was closed down for good in 1999.
Now, more than 15 years later, they've confessed to their actions and published an incredible set of photos from their experience. But perhaps even more fascinating is the story of how they got away with it – including a number of close shaves with wrench-weilding maintenance men!
Read the whole story over at DangerousMinds.net– and check out a full ride-through video of Horizons in the clip above.
That's it for another Week in Geek – but be sure to tune in next Friday for all the news you need from the world of tech, science and geeky entertainment. And for more great articles from our Agents direct to your inbox each month, get your name down below for the Geek Squad newsletter!