Space Javelin

EA continues the layoff waves. Gearbox is going back to the Borderlands. China burns Cthulhu RPG rulebooks. Jeremy and Joe get their Overwatch on.

Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/77/

So late Saturday night the crew put out the first half of this special two-part episode, cadets, detailing everything that came out during Apple's Hardware Week (and the one thing that still didn't -- coughAIRPOWERcough). On Monday, Apple hosted a morning meeting that brought new services galore to the table, including some Captains Mike and Charles didn't think would be ready. This second half goes over Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, Apple Card, and the resulting round of macOS/iOS/tvOS updates to support all this new stuff.

There's also a number of under-the-radar items that didn't get any on-stage love from Apple, ranging from deets on new wireless Beats, HomeKit expansions in the latest OS releases, an old Apple TV model gets a new name, and Google kills off yet another idea they couldn't focus on. Plus, the CFO of Huawei apparently says "do as I say, don't do as I do" when it comes to using Apple products. All this and more, cadets, so we hope you didn't lose your special leftover "They Live" sunglasses from last time so you can separate the wheat from the chaff as the Space Javelin goes beyond Apple Thunderdome!

Because Apple is doing a big event on Monday, your trusty Space Javelin co-captains decided to throw you cadets a curveball -- which is especially tricky to do in zero-gravity -- and do a shortened "Part 1" version of episode 127 that's out *before* the event. This way, Mike and Charles can cover all the new Apple hardware, OS updates, more stuff coming soon and of course a short preview of what they expect from the Monday "Show Time" Apple event, alongside a few non-Apple scandals and tidbits we want out of the way for "Part 2."

After the Apple event on Monday, we'll record Episode 127-b to recap Monday's news, and throw in our usual mix of opinion, outrage, expertise, trivia, and dumb jokes -- and get that to you (very) late Tuesday while it's all still fresh. Report to the Infotainment Omniplex™ deck for an extended stay, cadets, and get ready for an Apple New Stuff-splosion!

Google gets into game streaming. Oculus announces a new VR headset. Nvidia to shoehorn ray tracing onto old cards, and Old Man Wuerthele gets skeptical.

Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/76/

It's a bit of a whacky week as Cap'n Mike returns to the bridge, cadets: a very mixed bag of tech news, wins, losses, price hikes, exciting new events, Spotify whines, and the return of a couple of names you haven't heard in a very long time. Qualcomm manages a small patent win and a big-dollar loss, the March 25th "Show Time" event and this year's WWDC dates have been announced, the AirPods are officially a massive hit, and Apple finally (finally!) launches a privacy-focused ad campaign.

The sector is not without turbulence, however, including yet *another* postential scandal and fine for Facebook, a baby-step 5G rollout with an attendant price increase, DirecTV deciding you're going to pay some more executive bonuses -- but just to keep you distracted, a politician has teleported in with possibly one of the dumbest ideas we've heard this year, which Mike and Charles give all the thoughtful consideration and careful analysis it deserves. But then, the ship hits a rogue wormhole, and thing start to get *weird*.

Maxell returns from the dead as a patent troll, AirPlay 2/HomeKit LG TVs start shipping next month, Apple reverses course (allegedly) in India, Chinese iPhone sales prove unguessable, Apple gives merch rather than cash to "Today at Apple" guest stars, analysts assign "big hit" to Samsung's S10 line despite it being projected to sell well less than half as much as the iPhone, Corel Draw returns to the Mac (?!), and all this is before we even get to William Tell putting an iPhone on his son's head! We're through the looking glass, cadets, so whatever you do -- don't be terribly late for this one!

Microsoft brings Halo to the PC once again. PC memory prices are dropping. Fortnite enables cross-play by default.

Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/75/

A rather unusual episode this week, cadets, and not just because Co-Cap'n Mike is confined to quarters with the Space Sinus! Cap'n Charles and Admiral William Gallagher from AppleInsider fall into a bizarre alternate universe where Thunderbolt is USB (and vice versa!), Huawei prosecutes the US government, and teenagers give Apple details of security issues with no hint of an expectation of a reward. Not only that, but in this strange dimension videogame APIs are anti-malware tools, and CEOs adopt the last name of the companies they work for! It's crazy!

Also in this bizarro universe, Intel has still more chip-level vulnerabilities to patch, Qualcomm only wants pocket change for a patent they may have stolen from Apple, and to top it off -- you really won't believe this one -- Apple declines to join the rest of the industry in their effort to prevent songwriters from getting a long-overdue royalty raise! Not only that, but the mirror-mirror, beard-sporting European Union appears to have decided not, that's NOT, to create a special tax on tech companies!What??! Does gravity even work in this up-is-down dimension?

Wait, what's that on the viewscreen? DirecTV Now adopts Single Sign-On?! Sony plays nice with iOS?! And -- just as icing on the space cake that we're not in Kansas Sector anymore -- Nintendo doesn't want developers to gouge users! We've gone down the one-hour wormhole, cadets, so remember: until Mike gets a clean bill of health from sickbay, everything you know may is wrong!

Early Access comes to bite ATLAS players. Fortnite players beware the Fork Knife. Games should probably stop dropping non-delta patches. Gearbox is bringing big things to PAX East.

Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/74/

There wasn't that much news this week, cadets, but what there was was mind-numbingly dumb. The USB overlords have lost their minds, phone-hacking boxes were found on Ebay, New York is investigating apps that leak data to FaceBook, Apple shareholders never tire of pointless proposals that go down in flames, Comcast phones fail basic security, and Bloomberg is still lying about compromised servers, four months later.

Huawei watched Samsung introduce an overpriced toy for way too much money and said "hold my beer," Thunderclap turns out not to be applause for Thunderbolt, Qualcomm has basically written off any future Apple business, T-Mob and Sprint started to sorta-kinda own up on "5G" rollouts, the "celeb-gate" guy got a slap on the wrist (he may like that sort of thing, though).

There is some good news of course -- like forthcoming iPads and Apple's latest services, Apple Music ruling the US record industry while Apple Watch rules the smartwatch (and "dumbwatch" market as well), more Siri shortcuts and Apple educational videos, plus Girls Who Code and more gear for Engineering Report. That said, we're still going to advice a full hazmat suit for this one cadets -- teh stoopid, IT BURNS!

Pokémon's Generation 8 is coming in 2019. The Division 2 is weeks away. Destiny 2's next season brings big changes. Bowser now runs Nintendo of America!

Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/73/