Darren Kitchen and David Spark join the show to talk about what’s on people’s mind after the RSA Security Conference. Which things should you legitimately be afraid of?

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Show Notes

Today’s guests: Darren Kitchen and David Spark

Headlines: 

Italian eyewear company Luxottica is working on a second version of Google Glass, according to The Wall Street Journal via Venturebeat. CEO Massimo VIan told his shareholders: “In Google, there are some second thoughts on how to interpret version 3 [of the eyewear]. What you saw was version 1. We’re now working on version 2, which is in preparation.” Luxottica owns 80% of the world’s major eyewear brands, including Ray-Ban and Oakley.

TechCrunch reports that iFixit is tearing apart the 38mm Apple Watch Sport and 42mm Apple Watch steel for your edification. Processor upgrades for the Apple Watch look unlikely. It took 20 steps to get to the Watch’s processor some of which involved ripping out soldering and the S1 chip itself was encased in a block of resin. The battery took 11 steps to remove. Apple has confirmed the Watch’s battery, which has a 3 year lifespan, will be replaceable.

Steam Workshop will now let modders sell mods according to PC Mag.com. Users can now buy game mods for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Creators set their own price and get 25% of sales. Mods include things like new textures, maps, character skins, soundscapes, and quests.
Engadget reports the Swiss Post will conduct a pilot program for drone package delivery this summer. The program will use quadcopters developed by Matternet which can carry anything up to 2.2 pounds for over 12 miles on a single charge. The test will deliver small things like medicine or documents. Matternet has used its quadcopters to deliver medicine in Haiti.

Honda has an idea for an alternative to Elon Musk’s hyper loop in a report from ZDNet. Friend of the show Jason Hiner wrote up an interview with Frank Paluch, who runs research and development for Honda Americas. Paluch spoke at 2015 SAE World Congress and suggested a dedicated lane on California’s 5 Freeway for highly automated, connected vehicles that would use swarm technology to travel at speeds up to 180mph. While the Hyperloop could travel LA to San farncisco in an hour the HOnda system would take 2. However you wouldn’t have to drive to the Hyperloop station, just take your car the whole way. Go check out Jason’s article for much more about the idea.

News From You:

HobbitfromPA noted the early rumors that Comcast was planning to drop its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. This morning Ars Technica was among the outlets reporting a statement that in fact Comcast has moved on and will no longer pursue the merger. Fortune reported that the Wall Street Journal barely let the merger grow cold before it reported its sources say Charter is already “laying the groundwork” for a bid to acquire Time Warner Cable. It’s nice to be wanted eh TWC?

jmbburg26 noticed one of the reports of additions to Google Maps for Rawalpindi, Pakistan. One alteration showed the Android robot logo appearing to throw water on an Apple logo. Another alteration wrote a criticism of Google’s review policy in the greenery representing a park. Google’s Mara Harris told the Washington Post, “We’re sorry for this inappropriate user-created content.” Both alterations have been removed.

lagerdalek pointed out that Microsoft will bring solitaire back as a default game in Windows 10. No word on Minesweeper or Reversi.

IrishTechGuy posted the SiliconRepublic article that ISP Eircom has signed a contract with Huawei to construct Gigabyte fiber for 66 communities in Ireland by 2016 serving 1.6 million homes. Eircom hopes to start taking orders by the end of August.

KAPT_kipper posted the CBC story that researchers from Sweden, the US and Canada reported in the journal Current Biology that they have sequenced almost the complete library of DNA from a well-preserved wooly mammoth. Yes such information can inform scientists about mammoth evolution, how they differ from modern elephants and why they went extinct. But what about cloning Mammoths for eccentric millionaire’s Mammoth parks? Canadian researcher Hendrik Poinar said it is a “much more real possibility.”

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.channelnomics.com/channelnomics-us/news/2404869/controversial-security-tweet-sees-airline-turn-away-rsa-speaker

http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/u-s-secretary-of-homeland-security-encryption-danegrous/

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/536986/google-and-facebook-execs-question-government-desire-for-encryption-backdoors/?utm_campaign=socialsync&utm_medium=social-post&utm_source=twitter

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/01/more-researchers-join-rsa-conference-boycott-to-protest-10-million-nsa-deal/

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/report-nsa-paid-rsa-to-make-flawed-crypto-algorithm-the-default/

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/24/8484179/defense-department-ashton-carter-silicon-valley-pentagon

Pick of the day:

WScottis1 in ChatrealmMessages:

Hey Tom, Jennie, Roger, Patrick, Justin, Darren, Scott, Veronica, and guest(s),
(I think I got everybody)

I wanted to let people know about two web tools that I came across the other day trying to make my website mobile with the Google Search Mobilegeddon. The first one I wanted to recommend is mobiletest.me. This is a website that allows you to test how your website looks like on multiple smartphones even if you don’t own them, it does it virtually on the website. It even allows you to “rotate” the phone.

The second one is detectmobilebrowsers.com which provides an easy way to check to see if a user is trying to load your website on a phone. It’s very easy to implement, you just have to upload the script to your website file manager, edit the file to change the default website to the URL of your mobile site, and then put one script line into your code of the original page. Love the show! Keep up the amazing work you’re doing!

Thanks!

Messages: 

Rob wrote on the DTNS blog:

On the show, you talked about the poor cellular coverage in Montana. It’s really mind boggling how many areas in the good ol’ USA still have poor coverage, including where I live in Hanover, NH (only Verizon works and with mostly 1-2 bars.) We are just back from hiking for a week in the Czech Republic where we used a 3rd party foreign roaming SIM Card and had 5 bars of T-mobile coverage even on empty hiking trails between extremely small towns and if you play around with their coverage map, you’ll see that they have 21-150Mbps data speeds pretty much blanketing the whole country. How did America get left so far behind in the mobile revolution?

Brian writes:

“As an MVNO ting also provides service from both Sprint and T-Mobile (although they can’t explicitly state that T-Mobile is their GSM partner). The unique thing about Fi is the ability to seamlessly handoff between not only wifi and CDMA a la Republic Wireless but to also do it between CDMA and GSM networks. Kind of makes me wonder how it works with sim cards and phone numbers (probably something to do with Google Voice since they make a point in saying that you can use your number on your computer).”

Jeff writes:

Talking about Spotify and other services, one that I don’t hear a lot about, but I use almost exclusively is grooveshark.com. I believe it works in the sense that someone uploads their music and that becomes available to anyone to listen to it. So, I don’t think that grooveshark.com themselves are providing the music, but that doesn’t mean that the popular songs or others aren’t on there. The selection is pretty vast and there’s some neat features they are doing as well. One feature is that Individuals can create radio stations, basically becoming dj’s. There is a downside and that is the consistency of the music. It’s uploaded by individuals and there can be a lot of duplicates and some of those duplicates are of a lower quality.

Tad writes:

The issue with the major auto manufactures trying to apply the DMCA to their vehicles is getting seriously over-hyped. I saw an article with the headline, “GM, Ford, and Others want to make working on your car illegal”. The article went on to say that in effect you don’t own your car, you are just a user. This pure fear mongering. The DMCA applies to the code in the various control computers in the vehicle- nothing more. The physical parts of the car, including the control modules the code is in, are yours to do with as you please. Again, the DMCA applies to bits, not car parts.

=====

Monday’s guest:  Rich Stroffolino

 

Lamarr Wilson and Justin Young are on the show to talk about Facebook’s skyrocketing video usage. Are you turning to Facebook instead of YouTube?

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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

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A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests:  Lamarr Wilson & Justin Robert Young

Headlines: 

TechCrunch reports that Xiaomi introduced its new Mi 4i smartphone at an event in New Delhi today. It has a 1080p display, Snapdragon 615 64-bit processor, two 4G SIM slots, 13-mpxl rear camera and a 3120 mAh battery. It runs Android Lollipop with the MiUI and will be available for 12,999 INR ($205) starting April 30 in India via flash sales.

Yes Apple Watches shipping notices are going out and Apple is highlighting apps for watches but according to The Verge if you want to walk into a Store and buy an Apple Watch you’re out of luck. Unless you live in Tokyo, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Milan or Paris and don’t feel out of place in a high-end fashion shop. The shops themselves have limited quantities and apologies but the $10,000 Apple Watch Edition is on backorder.

Engadget tells us you can pre-order Samsung’s Gear VR headset for the Galaxy S6 this Friday April 24th from Best Buy in the US. No pricing was announced. Engadget guesses the headset might cost $200 similar to the original headset. It will be available for sale on Samsung’s and Best Buy’s online stores May 8 and retail outlets May 15.y.

Twitter just announced a feature called Highlights according to The Verge. After a user opts in they’ll get a push notification twice a day opening a view containing a selected tweets. The digest will have posts from popular accounts and conversations from people you follow, trending topics and events, tweets from people you’re closely tied to, and accounts your friends follow. You’ll have to opt in and use the official Twitter app. It’s coming to Android first..

Open Office, the free open source office suite, has just 16 people involved in development and 381 change sets over the last year compared to open source rival LibreOffice which has 268 developers and 22,134 change sets over the same period according to PC World. An Apache Foundation blog post from last week admitted that the project needs more developers, and invited “all the most relevant OpenOffice derivative products and their communities or vendors to join us in discussing further ideas for collaboration and improvements.” OpenOffice and LibreOffice are based on the same code. LibreOffice forkied after Oracle took over OpenOffice 5 years ago.

The Wall Street Journal reports the European Commission will unveil proposals on May 6th for a single digital market. The idea would be to harmonize rules about digital goods, capital, content and services across the 28 member states. Differences between contract law, VAT, parcel delivery, consumer protection and copyright laws are expected to be addressed. In particular geofencing within Europe was mentioned as something that should be abolished.

News From You:

Habichuelacondulce cited TechDirt’s repost that Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal sources indicate the Justice Department may block the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable in the US. The WSJ also says the FCC may recommend the merger be sent to an administrative judge for a hearing. Generally such a move causes companies to abandon mergers rather than deal with the long process. Meanwhile Bloomberg reports this afternoon that “people with knowledge of the matter” say Comcast plans to drop its proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable. A formal announcement may come as soon as Friday.

Geewhipped pointed us to a Pebble developer’s forum post claiming Applerejected an app called SeaNav on the basis that it mentioned support for the Pebble Watch. Apple’s rules forbid mentioning other mobile platforms in metadata. A few other developers claim their apps have been rejected for similar reasons. However, many other approved apps mention Pebble, including Pebble’s own app.

the_corley posted the a Variety report on a Deloitte survey that shows Internet-streamed video has passed live TV in the US. 53% of those surveyed stream TV shows on a monthly basis while 45% watch TV programs live. Among 14-25 year olds 72% said streaming video was one of the most valuable services, 58% said the same of pay TV. And nobody’s paying attention to what they watch since 90% of all surveyed multitask while watching TV. ce.

KAPT_kipper brought this Polygon post to our attention. Fantasy Grounds – creators of a virtual tabletop RPG application – is now offering licensed Dungeons & Dragons content from Wizards of the Coast through Steam. Players can recreate the 5th edition D&D tabletop experience including dice, 2D maps and more. The first set of products, including the D&D Complete Core Class Pack, D&D Complete Core Monster Pack, and The Lost Mine of Phandelver went on sale last week. Greg Tito, Wizard’s communications manager, confirmed that other campaigns, including Rise of Tiamat and the recently released Princes of the Apocalypse, are on the way for Fantasy Grounds.

Google 14 percent gain in net revenue to $13.91 billion missing expectations of 14.12 billion. EPS: $6.57 versus $6.63 expected
Cost per click, how much Google can charge for its ads, was down 7% year-over-year and the number of paid clicks was up 13%. Analysts had expected paid clicks to be up 15%.

Microsoft reported revenue of $21.7 billion and earnings per share of 61 cents. Both beat analyst expectations. Surface revenue was up 44% year over year. Windows OEM revenue fell 19% probably because last year XP support ended.

Amazon reported 22.&2 billion in revenue beating expected 22.39 billion and earnings per share of 12 cents about the same as the 13 cents expected. Most profits rose except in the International market which was down slightly.

Discussion Section Links:  

http://thenextweb.com/opinion/2015/04/23/facebook-video-is-on-course-to-steal-youtubes-video-sharing-crown/

http://fortune.com/2015/04/22/facebook-video-big-on-growth-little-on-details/

https://facebookmarketingpartners.com/anthology/

http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/facebook-lines-up-7-branded-content-video-partners-including-vice-disney-1201478229/

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/23/facebook-anthology/?ncid=rss

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/04/22/facebook-earnings-preview/26152073/

http://www.quora.com/How-does-YouTube-calculate-its-views

Pick of the day:

Haulik from Denmark:

I just heard you discussing MOBAs on the show and I thought I would just give a heads ups about Vain Glory, it’s a free to play MOBA for iOS (best on iPad IMO). I had never played MOBAs before, but running iOS on my iPad with is my daily driver it has won me over quickly. Even if you don’t like MOBAs it’s worth a look just to appreciate how far mobile gaming has come since the old Snake/Space invaders days.

Keep up the good work

Messages:

Peter writes:

Good morning Tom and crew,

I woke this morning to all the chatter surrounding Project FI from Google.

I was wondering if when your on the WiFi if that data used goes against your total used or if it was just what used on either T mobile or Sprint?

Currently I work for a company that does not provide free WiFi so i’m dependent on mobile for the majority of my day and that keeps me in the 10-16 GB a month range and according to what i have read that much data is not cost effective..

Nate writes in:

There is an interesting video by C.G.P. Grey with the above title about robots taking over jobs, it might add an interesting bit too the discussion

Humans Need Not Apply: https://youtu.be/7Pq-S557XQU

Thanks for the shows

Tom –

Allison writes: 

In reference to your conversation about automating jobs with Jason and Lindsay, I wanted to tell you about what we observed in India.

We visited a jute factory where they take raw jute and through a series of machines turn it into gunny sacks. Our guide explained that the process could easily be automated and be done far cheaper, but it would put so many people out of work that instead the government subsidizes the factory.

I think it’s a good example of what happens when you don’t let progress happen.

John in quite pleasant Billings, MT

Hi Tom & Jennie

You mentioned an issue with Google Fi that hits close to home. Rather than rant about it maybe one of your listeners has an answer – how is it, in 2015, that there are only 2 national cellular providers in Montana? Is it really that bad of an investment? I’m certain that Verizon would still be my only option if it weren’t for AT&T buying their divested Altell assets a few years ago.

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Friday’s guest:  Darren Kitchen, Len Peralta, & David Spark

 

Jason Hiner and Lyndsey Gilpin are on the show and we’ll talk about Tesla batteries, Google new Phone Service and how you’ll need to get creative if you don’t want a robot to take your job.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests:  Jason Hiner and Lyndsey Gilpin from TechRepublic

Headlines: 

Google announced it’s wireless telephone service today for invitees with a Nexus 6, called Project Fi. TechCrunch reports the network promises to seamlessly switch customers between T-Mobile, Sprint and WiFi baed on whichever network is faster. The rate plan is similar to Ting. Subscribers pay $20 for unlimited talk and text and then $10 per gig of data. Customers pay only for what they use. You can request an invite at fi.google.com.

TechCrunch reports BlackBerry is buying WatchDox a startup in Israel that develops secure file sharing software. The plan is to add WatchDox software to BlackBerry’s Enterprise Mobility Management portfolio.  In addition to the software, BlackBerry may use the WatchDox team to build an R&D operation in Israel.

Facebook released Hello, an Android app dialer that lets you make free calls over Wi-Fi according to The Verge. Hello uses Facebook to ID callers and search for phone numbers, and you can send numbers straight to voicemail by choosing the numbers or using a list of commonly blocked numbers crowdsourced from other users. If you miss a call Hello will let you respond using Facebook Messenger. Facebook says it has no plans to make money from the app directly.

The Verge reports that Microsoft is updating its Band wearable to integrate bike-tracking apps Strava and MapMyRide. The new insights are visible on the Microsoft Health Web Dashboard and can now provide comparisons with an average of other users based on height and weight. It will also show users how well their body is restoring overnight during sleep. And it tracks fitness improvements over time and volume of oxygen used during an exercise so you know what time of day you tend to have your most effective workout. Microsoft Health app for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone will also be updated to support step-counting sensors present in many smartphones.

CNET has a preview of HP’s new back to school Laptops and Hybrids. The $499 Pavilion x360 fold-back hybrid’s 11-inch model has a fanless design with comes with Intel’s Core M, a 1,366×768 touchscreen panel. The $529 13-inch Pavilion x360 comes with Core i3 and i5 and an optional 1920 x 1080p display. The $679 15.6-inch Envy x360 comes in silver and red and uses Core i5 or Core i7 and discrete graphics from Nvidia. HP’s other Pavilion laptops come online May 13 and in stores June 21 in 14”, 15”, and 17” all with optical drives starting at $479. The Pavilion x360 is out in the US May 13. The Envy x360 on June 13 online and June 21 in stores.

An application form to receive a free developer edition of Valve’s HTC Vive virtual reality set has been posted. Go to steamcommunity.com/steamvr/signup and enter your company name, URL, team size, and a detailed description of your VR project and you might just get a headset shipped to you this spring or summer.

News From You:

Jaymz668 and starfuryzeta both pointed out the Engadget article that Tesla emailed investors to let them know that the April 30th announcement from the company will be a battery for the home and a very large utility-oriented battery. No details on how the battery would improve on existing home batteries most often used to store excess power from solar installations. That’s what April 30th is for I expect.

Starfuryzeta marked the BBC story for inclusion that reports Adblock won a judgement in a Hamburg Germany court against German news publishers Die Zeit and Handelsblatt. The publishers claimed Adblock was anticompetitive and threatened company revenues. The court ruled users have a right to use the plug-in.
The Publishers may appeal after the written decision is delivered.

Waffleophagus pointed out the BGR report noting Jay-Z and softbank backed music service Tidal is no longer in the top 700 apps on iPhone in the US. Pandora and Spotify are numbers 3 and 4 in the US. Spotify was not in the top 40 prior to March 31. Tidal has announced an upcoming service called Disovery which will allow independent artists to upload their music directly to the service.

KAPT_KIpper posted a Gizmodo story from the RSA conference about an iOS 8 vulnerability demonstrated by researchers from Skycure Monday. If a device connects to a compromised WiFi access point attackers can generate an SSL certificate that can cause apps and sometimes the whole phone to crash and endlessly reboot. Targets of the attack would have to move out of range to stop the cycle. iOS 8.3 mitigates the effects somewhat. Skycure previously reported the vulnerability to Apple.

 

Discussion Section Links:  

http://fortune.com/2015/04/22/robots-white-collar-ai/

http://www.futuretech.ox.ac.uk/future-employment-how-susceptible-are-jobs-computerisation-oms-working-paper-dr-carl-benedikt-frey-m

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/ai-is-destroying-more-jobs-than-it-creates-what-it-means-and-how-we-can-stop-it/

http://fortune.com/2015/02/25/5-jobs-that-robots-already-are-taking/

http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/creativity-vs-robots

http://www.nesta.org.uk/quiz/will-robot-take-my-job

http://www.cnet.com/news/robobarista-autonomously-makes-latte-taught-by-the-internet/?utm_content=buffer08cfe&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

Pick of the day:

jbhannah writes:

For my personal website and a few others that I run, I use a service called Cloudflare for DNS, as well as caching and HTTPS. It works like any other DNS provider, and has a very easy-to-use interface for managing your DNS records. It also provides various levels of caching of pages, scripts, and images on its CDN servers in different parts of the world, which improves your site’s load times and reduces server load, and can even run various optimizations on them to further reduce file sizes and load times. And, it lets you enable HTTPS for your sites, even if you don’t have your own SSL certificate, and without any server configuration—all you need to do is press a button; same with enabling IPv6 access to your site, even if your server doesn’t have IPv6. Best of all, while they do have additional, paid features available, all of what I mentioned and use is available with a free account (as long as you don’t mind sharing an SSL certificate with other sites; you can pay for your domain to have its own certificate). I highly recommend it: https://www.cloudflare.com/

Messages:

Ron Ladd wrote:

There are a number of sources for good high quality music and hdtracks.com is one of them.

Just be sure you know what you are buying and if it is worth what you pay. To quote from a site that has fantastic information on audio, “misinformation and superstition only serve charlatans. Xiph.org has a good article “24/192 music downloads …and why they make no sense” you can find it at
http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
Just under the headline is a link to a video clip, “Digital Show and Tell” that is the best 24 minute digital audio vs analog audio explainer that is MUST WATCH for anyone interested in audio, you can find this clip at
http://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml

Ross writes in:

The problem with the twitter vs phone analogy from the conversation with Jenny and Patrick is this: Over the years, laws have been passed to prevent harassment and provide recourse to the victims of telephone harassment. Twitter does not have these protections. Add in the ease of the harasser recruiting aid with a simple hash tag and it gets ugly fast.

Rich from Lovely Cleveland had a good thought:

“Twitter is interested in free speech in so much that it makes them a relevant conduit of information, against which they can serve ads, and when free speech enters into them realm of heinous abuse or bullying, they have the financial interest to curb it so as not to dissuade users. …“free speech” is a charged phrase, and Twitter’s obligation to it is purely commercial (which in this case is leading to an outcome that appears to be morally satisfying).”

Peter added:

I would love to see Twitter accounts require identity verification. …And with this improved level of accountability, if you are getting harassed, go to the police! I would like to see arrests. And one of the first things the police/FBI do when you report death threats or harassment is to tell you not to publicize or draw attention to the fact you have been threatened. It makes the situation 1) harder to investigate 2) invites more trolls. And yet this is never what these people do.

Cody wrote in with the positive side of Twitter DMS:

He wanted to use an artist’s music in a game he was developing and had to go through the long dance of publicly at replying the person getting them to follow him back and THEN being able to DM. “This was somewhat frustrating considering the timed nature of my project, and although you could make the case that the artist should have had other ways to contact him, not being able to do so on Twitter unless we followed each other has a bit annoying.”

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Thursday’s guests:  Lamarr Wilson & Justin Robert Young