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Trends with Benefits: Apple’s Homepod and a Super Nintendo World theme park

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Super Nintendo World: The Switch gaming console has brought a lot of people back into the Nintendo fold. Now we have more details about Universal’s Nintendo Theme Park plans, including the addition of a real-life Mario Kart attraction!
Apple’s Homepod: The Siri-based competitor for Google Home and Amazon’s Echo was officially unveiled at WWDC. It’s a little ways out and seems to be a little short on big advancements over other Home Assistants, but will the audio capabilities be enough to sway buyers towards it’s platform?
Next step in 3D Printing: Drew went to Boston last week, to check out a new 3D Printer from company called Formlabs. The Startup’s printer, called Fuse 1, feeds strands of plastic filament through a hot nozzle, then layering it to create an object.
U.N. AI Summit: The summit on Artificial Intelligence at the U.N. is debating what problems the technology could solve for humanity. Meanwhile, a group of researchers are using decisions made by humans playing Atari 2600 games, to teach AI how we tackle complex problems.
Bed bug busting device: No one likes bed bugs and a Delta Five has come up with a unique way to help detect the pests. Using a 3 inch box to capture them, the Automated Insect Monitoring System can help users quickly identify infestations.

Each week, we gather a round table of tech experts from the Digital Trends staff, along with the occasional celebrity guest, to discuss all things tech. Topics range from the big tech stories of the week to predicting the future, all while maintaining a somewhat civil decorum.

Throughout the show we answer your questions.

This week’s episode features Caleb Denison, Drew Prindle, Adrien Warner and Greg Nibler.

Please subscribe and share Trends with Benefits and send in your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We also broadcast the show live on YouTube every Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Pacific.

Greg Nibler
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Greg has worked as a Host, Producer, and Writer in radio and television since the early 2000s, working for such companies as…
TWB Podcast: SpaceX triumph, Spotify vs. Apple Music, Apple Watch health
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SpaceX has reinvigorated space exploration: There can be no doubt that putting a cherry red Tesla Roadster into space, as part of the Falcon Heavy X rocket launch on 2/ 5/18, captured the world's attention. It showcased what vision, ability, talent and a whole lot of money, can accomplish. The question now is what will Elon Musk do next? One would imagine that investors are clamoring to pour more money into future projects. This was also the world's greatest ad campaign for Tesla, for which there are some pretty bold plans in their own right. A letter was sent to shareholders stating that they are planning to send an autonomous Tesla car on a coast-to-coast trip in 2018.

Spotify vs. Apple: When it comes to overall users, there is no question that Spotify is the current leader in streaming music services. They have millions more subscribers (approximately 70 million total) than their closest rivals. However, Apple Music is now claiming to have 36 million of their own and according to the Wall Street Journal, is growing at nearly double the rate of Spotify. So, who do you use for streaming music and why?

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Between the Streams: Venomless trailer, Game of Thrones Star Wars, ‘Solo’ time
between the streams

DT’s weekly entertainment show, Between the Streams, is your guide to all of the hottest, most important, and (of course) dumbest new developments in streaming and entertainment, providing a handy recap of the week that was and a preview for what's ahead. Follow us here at 2 p.m. PT every Friday, or add us via RSS, iTunes, or Stitcher at the links below to take BtS on the road!

      

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How to photograph ghosts — get an iPhone (Samsung cameras won’t work)
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Forget selfies and sunsets, any ordinary iPhone can be used to take pictures of something far more intriguing: the spirit world.

Julie Rieger is the biggest of Hollywood bigwigs; she’s president, chief data strategist, and head of media at 20th Century Fox, where she’s worked on a few little films like Avatar, Deadpool, The Fault in Our Stars, and more. And in addition to being one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, she’s an avid ghost photographer -- in fact, she wrote the book on it.

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