Engadget HD Podcast 354 – 06.18.13

Engadget HD Podcast 347 - 04.30.13

The E3 and WWDC news surges have finally calmed, so now we’re back into the normal weekly groove. This week, Ben details his time using an Oculus Rift to watch recorded video and Richard attempts to ride out E3 as long as possible with our roundup. All that and more is ready to stream straight to your ears below.

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)

Producer: Joe Pollicino (@akaTRENT)

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‘Golden Sisters’: Kim Kardashian Sex Tape Was ‘A Lesson In Lovemaking’ (VIDEO)

Sisters Mary, Josie and Teresa became famous after their video of watching Kim Kardashian’s sex tape went viral. They joined HuffPost Live’s Nancy Redd on Tuesday to talk about the experience and what they learned from it.

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LA Bans Plastic Bags In City Council Vote, Ordinance Expected To Take Effect In 2014 (VIDEO)

Los Angeles is on the verge of becoming the largest city in the United States to ban plastic grocery bags.

The City Council approved the ordinance in an 11-1 vote on Tuesday. The ordinance, once signed into law by the mayor, would ban single-use plastic bags in any store that sells groceries and mandate that retailers charge 10 cents per paper bag if customers don’t bring their own reusable totes. Either outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa or Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti, who takes office July 1, is expected to sign the ordinance.

The County of Los Angeles had already imposed a similar ban on plastic grocery bags in 2010, which affected the unincorporated parts of the county. The cities of Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pasadena and Long Beach in Southern California also have a ban on the books. With Tuesday’s vote, one in four Californians are covered by some kind of plastic bag ban, notes environmental group Heal The Bay in a press release.

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Marriage Rate Still At Historic Lows, But Weddings May Increase Over Next Two Years, Research Finds

It’s no secret that marriage rates have been on the decline for decades — in 2011, just 51 percent of Americans were married, compared to 72 percent in 1960. And new research predicts that marriage rates will remain at a historic low in the years ahead.

Private research company Demographic Intelligence studied the state of marriage in the U.S. and, in an analysis released Monday, predicted that the marriage rate will remain at 6.8 marriages per 1,000 people in 2013, where it’s been since 2009 (compared to 7.3 in 2007).

Researchers projected that there would be 2.189 million weddings in 2014 and, depending on the economic recovery, 2.208 million in 2015 (up from 2.168 million this year). Demographic Intelligence spokesperson Steve Morales explained to HuffPost Weddings in an email that although more weddings will take place, the overall rate of marriage will remain the same because the “echo boom” generation (grandchildren of baby boomers) is so large.

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San Francisco Fire Breaks Out In Tenderloin District Building

San Francisco fire crews battled a blaze at the Senator Hotel, a six-story residential building in the Tenderloin District on Tuesday evening, ABC News reported.

KGO’s Bret Burkhart tweeted that firefighters were trying to rescue people from the roof of the building. KGO later reported that the fire was started during a barbecue on the roof, and that no one was injured.

Bystanders posted photos of the fire, which appeared to be at the Senator Hotel, to Twitter. Local writer Yael Amyra posted a photo showing Market Street filled with smoke.

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Wisconsin Bear Attack Leaves Man In Hospital

SHELL LAKE, Wis. — A man who was attacked by a black bear outside a cabin in northwestern Wisconsin is recovering at a hospital.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the man was attacked in his yard near Shell Lake on Monday night. DNR carnivore specialist David MacFarland says the man’s dog apparently initiated contact with the bear.

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Gwen Moore: ‘However Inarticulate, I Think Miss Utah Was On To Something’

While speaking on the House of Representatives floor Tuesday during debate on the 20-week abortion ban, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said Miss Utah Marisa Powell may have been on to something with her fumbled answer on income inequality.

Speaking out against the Republican-backed abortion measure, Moore said that Miss Utah, by “alluding to the power dynamics between men and women in the workplace,” had identified an important issue.

‘The House GOP has truly pushed the limits this time by offering this unconstitutional bill,” Moore said. “However inarticulate, I think Miss Utah was on to something. When you consider the subject at hand, women’s right to a medically safe abortion, we once again see men taking leadership roles in invading the privacy and medical decisions of women.”

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NVIDIA to license graphics tech to other companies, starting with Kepler

NVIDIA to license graphics tech to other companies, starting with Kepler

To use NVIDIA’s graphics technology, you’ve typically had to buy gadgets using NVIDIA chips — good for the company’s bottom line, but not for influencing the industry as a whole. The firm is expanding its ambition today with plans to license some of that technology on a broader scale. Beginning with the Kepler architecture, other firms can use NVIDIA’s GPU cores and graphics-related patents for their own processors and chipsets. The deal could affect a wide range of hardware, but it mostly pits NVIDIA against the likes of Imagination Technologies: a system-on-chip designer could integrate a Logan-based GPU instead of the PowerVR series, for example. While it will be some time before third-party silicon ships with NVIDIA inside, it’s already clear that the company’s in-house design is now just one part of a larger strategy.

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Source: NVIDIA

Chris Van Hollen: IRS Rules To Be Challenged In Court

WASHINGTON — Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Tuesday that he and two campaign finance watchdog groups would sue the IRS, challenging regulations that allow nonprofit groups to be involved in politics if they’re “primarily” devoted to a social welfare purpose.

Van Hollen said he and watchdog groups Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 would sue to clarify an IRS regulation that he said was at odds with the law, which requires certain groups to “exclusively” engage in social welfare to earn nonprofit status. The IRS regulation permitting groups “primarily” engaged in social welfare allows the organizations to participate in an undefined amount of political activity, said the congressman, a leading advocate of campaign finance reform and ranking member of the House Budget Committee.

The 1959 IRS regulation has become an issue since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door for nonprofit groups organized under section 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) of the tax code to raise and spend corporate and union money on elections without disclosing donors. The scandal involving the agency’s singling out conservative groups applying for nonprofit status has increased attention to the regulation, especially among Democratic lawmakers.

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series quad-core benchmarks

Qualcomm may have introduced the Snapdragon 800 processor a little while back, and while we suspect some may be wondering why we have yet to see any real announcements since that point in time, it seems there was an actual plan in action. Just to give a bit of background, the plan was to announce

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