Daily Tech Headlines – August 24, 2016

DTH_CoverArt_1500x1500Google demotes full screen ads, PlayStation Now comes to Windows, Tesla juices its battery.

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DTNS 2839 – Instapapers Please!

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPassport and social network id please? Should US border control be able to ask for your Twitter handle? Patrick Beja and Tom Merritt discuss.

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

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents 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!

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Show Notes
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Daily Tech Headlines – August 23, 2016

DTH_CoverArt_1500x1500Amazon’s $5 music service, Level 5 autonomous cars by 2019, More Microsoft pre-loaded software on Android.

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

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.

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

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Show Notes
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Cordkillers 134 – Deeply Regret Button (w/ Mulango Akpo-Esambe)

We now know the lifetime of a TiVo, Netflix comes to your hotel, a wireless antenna with fewer wires. With special guest Mulango Akpo-Esambe.

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CordKillers: Ep. 134 – Deeply Regret Button
Recorded:  August 22 2016
Guest: Mulango Akpo-Esambe

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • TiVo is cutting off support for its original DVR in September
    – TiVo will deliver a last download of guide data for its 1999 model TiVos on September 15th. Customers will get a $75 Visa gift card. The boxes will continue to work but will not have any guide data after September 29th. TiVo says there are still 3,200 Series 1 TiVos in active use

Signal Intelligence

  • Netflix is coming to more hotel rooms worldwide
    – Netflix partnering with Enseo (in-room entertainment for hotels)
    – Partnership expanded to any hotel under contract in a country with Netflix
    – Beyond pre-approved brands
    – Netflix app on TV or Netflix button on remote
    – Sign in with Netflix account, no Internet fees
    – Promises to wipe out login at checkout
    – Most-used channels in 19 hotel brands today (Marriott, Hilton La Quinta)
    – Hotels like it as a perk, and frees up wifi for other uses
    – Enseo’s system can also provide marketing messages

Gear Up

  • This wireless antenna may make cord cutting easier
    – WatchAir antenna streams to Smart TV (WebOS, Tizen, Android TV, Vizio), smartphone, tablet (ios, Android), Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV
    – Sends OTA signal over WiFi then to apps
    – Has a TV guide and 5 hours of recording (25 with SD Card)
    – Kickstarter promotion $149
    – Hopes to ship in October for $249

Under Surveillance

Front Lines

  • Here’s TV Networks’ Latest Scheme to Limit ‘Cord-Cutting’
    – Reuters has a story about how more networks are doing what they call “stacking” by making all previous episodes of a series available on demand to cable subscribers. 54% of people in one survey said they would not start watching a show unless they could watch all previous episodes. Comcast will offer full-season stacks of 60% of original scripted series up from 41% two seasons ago. A source told Reuters one network saw a 3-11% rise in ratings after offering stacked shows. 
  • How to see everything you’ve ever watched on Netflix and Amazon
    – Engadget’s Matt Brian has written up instructions for seeing your viewing history on Netflix and Amazon. Netflix history can be found in a section of Your Account called Viewing History. You can delete items to remove their impact on recommendations. Amazon buries it in Your Account under Personalization where you click Improve Your Recommendations and then choose Videos You’ve Watched. You can then rate shows to fine tune recommendations. 
  • Univision buys Gawker Media for $135 million
    – Univision doesn’t just run the top spanish-language channel in the US it also owns The Onion and The Root. And it has provisionally acquired Gawker Media pending the decision of the bankruptcy court. Gawker runs Gizmodo, Lifehacker and io9 among other sites.
  • Amazon brings free episodes of its Original Series to YouTube & Facebook
    – Amazon has begun posting pilot episodes from 10 of its shows on YouTube and Facebook Live. Shows include Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, Bosch, Red Oaks, and The Man in the High Castle.
  • HDHomeRun’s DVR app is ready for the Xbox One
    – HDHomeRun’s DVR software is a big hit with people looking for a replacement for Windows Media Center. It can now help folks who wish their Xbox could act as a DVR. You’ll still need HDHomeRun on a PC, Android TV box or NAS, but there is now an app for HDHomeRun on the Xbox One. 

Dispatches from the Front
Hi Tom and Brian

Take a listen / look at this: https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/dr-k-live-fra-koncertsalen/dr-k-live-fra-koncertsalen-serier-serier-serier

It’s 80 min of TV themes performed by the Danish public service station’s classical band.

There is some Danish talking in between, but most series covered are ones I’ve heard you talk about on the show.

Maybe something for the cold open? Or as a link to the listeners.

BTW – this is why I’m happy that we in sunny Denmark have the license fee that everybody with a TV, radio or access to the internet has to pay!

Thanks for always great shows!
Your boss,
Eric

 

 

Hi guys.

I’ve now watched Jon-Claude Van Johnson and The Tick.I will watch I love Dick after work tonight.

My frustration with these pilots is not the content or format.I just don’t recall Amazon ever asking in there survey on what are your favorite shows ever? Then ask why these pilots are greater or worse then your favorite shows.

It just seems this kind of questioning sets these pilots up for failure as each one I’ve seen is slightly worse then say Battlestar Galactica. But it’s really unfair compairing a 30 minute pilot to a 4.5 season show for example.

I’m hoping somebody can reply and let me know if Amazon has asked this kind of question before in there pilot survey?

Long time Patreon Boss:
David from Fond Du Lac,Wisconsin asking

 

 

I was talking with a girl who works at Hulu.
She said they get to see the first preview of what they are doing for the Hulu Streaming Channel today.
She said that currently she knows it will have an online DVR, but doesn’t have the details yet as to if it will be any restrictions on what can be recorded or if time limits or such. But if it isn’t all easily integrated it would seem a non starter.

She was pretty open about this as there is so many press leaks…but just in case don’t mention my name if you say anything on the air. Not sure if she was speaking out of turn. 

 

 

Tom and Brian,

I am constantly scouring the net to find interesting tidbits on cord cutting and specifically OTT live streaming services. To compare the channels available I put the linked spreadsheet together. It needs a little more refining (cannot make out what networks some of SFN’s Faith based offerings are) but your viewers may find it useful. The link is public.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iqAW6FzYfSUyRMe6zTHTWnCSkVUVxVrm-zEL765UYFk/edit?usp=sharing

This is strictly a channel availability chart not a comparison of services

PlayStation Vue is still the best by nearly every metric I care about except mobility and the name (and lack of a desktop app). It is ridiculous they launched nationally with PlayStation in the name. Nearly everyone I speak too about it says “I might try it but I don’t have a PlayStation”. How about Sony Vue or just Vue? Or Sony Live Stream (SLS for short)? Or Sony Dream Stream? Anything without PlayStation in the name. Plus the integration into the PlayStation website makes it more confusing to the average user.

Very Respectfully,
Gregory

 

 

Tom and Brian,
Comcast upped my rate again so it was time to go for the chicken challenge again. Long story short, I was successful but not in the way I imagined.
I started out calling Comcast and had no luck getting my deal back to what it was before. So, I did what any reasonable person would do in 2016… complain on Twitter about my bill going up. Imagine my surprise when the Comcast Cares account at replied me and asked I follow them so we could exchange DMs. Using an exchange of DMs I was able to get back to my previous deal and lock it in for 2 years. That included free HBO for another 2 years and then to top it off they added 2 years of Showtime for free as well.
Comcast justifiably gets a bad rap in regards to customer service at times, but their social media team was fantastic to work with. I just wanted to share another path for all your listeners to take to try and get a better deal via the Chicken Challenge. Twitter, who would have thought that would work so well?

Chris

 

 

Hi,

When I decided to cut the cord, I called Cox cable and told them I was cancelling in favor of HBOGo and Hulu. They made me a deal in which I pay for a “starter pack” cable plus HBO and Starz, at $12/month, which made it cheaper for me to keep it than to have HBO alone.

The end result is that I never bothered to connect my cable box – by using mobile apps to stream the network shows (using my cable login), I get all of the current shows offered by Hulu and was able to cancel that as well.

Definitely worth the phone call. 
 

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft
 

Your Private Driver: Self-Driving Settlements and Other News Stuff

This is a weekly column that offers news, insights, analysis, and user tips for rideshare platforms like Uber and Lyft. Look for it every Monday after the live show, right here on dailytechnewsshow.com.

Uber’s been in the news a lot this past week, and as a driver who will likely be affected in the future by a lot of it, I naturally have some opinions on these things.

Never Settle

California drivers are overall pleased with Judge Chen’s decision to throw out the $100-million class-action settlement in a lawsuit challenging the independent contractor status of Uber drivers. None of us are legal experts, however we saw the settlement terms as an easy way for plaintiff attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan to get a nice payday for herself while basically ignoring most of the complaints, financial and otherwise, of drivers.

Drivers did get a couple of small wins from the existing settlement, those being a clearer process into why a driver would be deactivated, and the ability to not be deactivated for not accepting every trip request (though you can be placed in a “time out” for ignoring requests). There is still no in-app tipping, and Uber still actively discourages tips for some reason. Drivers also do not have the tools they desire to screen out potentially unprofitable fares (like UberPool) nor any level of insurance against further cuts to per-mile rates, which have dropped as much as 42% in some markets over just the last year.

And of course, the question of whether or not drivers are employees or independent contractors has still not been answered. With the rejection of this settlement, that question may once again make it to the forefront of this discussion.

Johnny-Uber

Uber’s self-driving cars are now going to be hauling around people in Pittsburgh, with the goal to possibly have fully-autonomous, Johnny-Cab style vehicles available in as little as five years. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has spoken openly about how the company’s future is in getting rid of us expensive drivers, so the move isn’t much of a surprise. Still, drivers aren’t ready to run screaming to our robot overlords just yet.

Although self-driving technology is currently good enough to take over during a long road trip or during the freeway portion of a rush-hour commute, it would take an impressive AI leap in order to become even reasonably functional in a dense and chaotic city environment, not to mention adverse weather conditions. Not to say that it can’t be done in five years, but I’m not bullish on the prospects at the moment. On top of that, it’s difficult enough most of the time for human drivers to find the passengers that need to be picked up. I can’t imagine that a computer will have better luck at this.

As for the money issue, Uber will end up saving money with self-driving cars, but it won’t be an immediate process. The need to purchase and maintain expensive vehicles and to employ the technicians to update and “fix” them will cut into Uber’s profit margins far more than just counting on regular drivers to take care of all that car stuff themselves, at least for the first few years. The technology will have to mature significantly before Uber will be seeing any cost savings. It’s a long game to be sure, but drivers will see the signs coming long before then. Right now we’re expecting to be obsolete in ten to fifteen years, more than enough time to make plans for the future. I’m making mine right now, actually, but that’s another story for another time.

Sekani Wright is an experienced Uber driver working in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. If you have any questions you would like answered for this column, you can contact him at djsekani at gmail dot com, or on twitter and reddit at the username djsekani. Have a safe trip!

DTNS 2838 – Route! Damned Dead Spot! Route, I say!

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comMIT researchers are working on self-assembling electronics. Your phone could someday build itself. Great for Ikea furniture! Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt talk about what we would want this for.

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Show Notes
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Daily Tech Headlines – August 22, 2016

DTH_CoverArt_1500x1500Apple acquires health startup, Samsung to sell reforms, PS4 may slim down.

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

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.

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
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Weekly Tech Views (The Tech – No Logic Blog) – Aug 20, 2016

Untitled drawing (1)

Real tech stories. Really shaky analysis.

As we all try to slog through these dog days of August (so called because just brushing your teeth on a 90-degree day results in sweating so profusely you smell like a wet dog all day), we here at the Weekly Tech Views recommend that you find a nice hammock in the shade and count your blessings for the ability to scroll through the WTV with an effortless finger swipe instead of reading the way our ancestors were forced to do their August reading, by turning actual pieces of paper, that exertion requiring a shower after each page.

For the week of August 15 – 19, 2016…

It’s All Coming Together
Intel announced Project Alloy, an all-in-one “merged reality” headset. What makes this “merged”(1) reality as opposed to simply augmented or virtual reality is Project Alloy’s wireless design and “six degrees of freedom,” a term meaning you can move in any direction without restriction, giving you the freedom to completely lose yourself in the virtual world and enthusiastically merge your face with the nearest wall.

It’s Taking Up A Lot Of Their Focus
Ford announced plans to have a fleet of fully autonomous cars on the road by 2021. Asked what made them so optimistic, a spokesman for Ford’s Department of Dubious Expectations replied, “It’s simple. We have conducted numerous engineering studies, discussed infrastructure requirements with cities of every size, and, having analyzed the data vis-à-vis the viability of completing the project over various timelines, have concluded that we have a model called the Escort which is bar none the best possible name EVER for a driverless car and we are so anxious to use it we are about to pee ourselves.”

Making Stickers Great Again
Twitter will begin selling “promoted stickers” that advertisers can design and which will generate custom hashtags. Pepsi is first on board, though the Trump presidential campaign was in line to kick things off until they kept calling back to change their hashtags–“I know I said ‘#SendThemBackWhereTheyCameFrom” but of course I didn’t mean that literally; I meant ‘ShipThemOut’–I don’t actually care where they end up going.”

So Much Better Than Email
Don’t think the Clinton campaign doesn’t want in on the sticker game, too. They’ve designed a variety of fun images covering everything from light blue pantsuits to navy blue pantsuits, each generating the same fun hashtag: NothingOnTwitterIsClassifiedRight

Maybe You Can Call Yours A Wee-Reader
Kobo has announced the Aura One, an e-reader with a large 7.8-inch, 300 pixel-per-inch display.

Meanwhile, in the offices of another e-reader manufacturer…

“You!”

“Me, sir?”

“Yes, you, Henderson, get in here.”

“It’s Brandenberg, sir.”

“Yes, fine. What do you see on my desk, here, Hindenburg?”

“Um…I want to say e-reader, but this feels like a trick.”

“No, you’re exactly right. It’s an e-reader.”

(pause)

“Okay. I guess I’ll be–”

“Tell me, Harrisburg, what do you think of when you hear the word ‘Amazon’?”

“Great place to work, sir!”

“Yes, of course. But before you worked here.”

“A ri–?”

“And don’t say river.”

“A ra–”

“Or rain forest. I’m talking in the broader sense. If something is described as Amazonian?”

“Big?”

“Ah. Big. Yes. Would you go so far to say huge, even?”

“I guess so. Sure”

“Sure. Like this e-reader, Bergman. Would you say this e-reader is Amazonian, Bergman?”

“Well, it looks pretty… big. As e-readers go.”

“Not only is it pretty big, Bergdorf–Amazonian, if you will–it is, in fact, the biggest high-resolution e-reader you can buy. It’s also only 6.9 millimeters thick, weighs only 230 grams, and is water-resistant in up to two meters of water.”

“That all sounds very impressive, sir.”

“It does, doesn’t it? I can think of only one thing that would make it better. You know what one thing is missing?”

“No sir.”

“Well, it seems this Amazonian e-reader is MISSING THE NAME AMAZON! WHY IS OUR NAME NOT ON THIS DEVICE INSTEAD OF KOBO’S, DORFMAN?!”

“Well… I’m no lawyer, sir… but I’m pretty sure if we put our name on something Kobo made, we’d get in trouble.”

(pause)

“Why didn’t WE make it?!”

“Gee, it’s hard to say, sir. I mean, I work in Human Resources; I’m just down here to see if anyone wants to sign up for flag football this fall.”

“You know, Dorfman, I’m not crazy about your pass-the-buck attitude.” (to intercom): “Shirley, Mr. Dorfman’s employment has been terminated; have Security escort him from the premises.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before three men appeared in the doorway. They led the fired employee to the elevator. As the doors closed, the employee, Pete Miller, said, “Dorfman! Nobody had Dorfman, did they?”

“No, but I had Bergdorf, damn it. When he changed it I almost ran in there and kicked him.”

“Okay, pot rolls over to next week. Everyone get your ten bucks in to Shirley.”

“I Shouldn’t Tell You This, But The Wagon Is Hidden In The Apple Tree”
Samsung sent out invitations to an event on August 31 in Berlin. The invitation includes the word “Gear” and the phrase “Talk About 3.” They then tweeted “stay tuned for a timely innovation.” Clever tech journalists–some devoting as many as four seconds to the investigation–pieced together the subtle clues to determine the event would be introducing the Gear 3 Watch. “Hey, they cracked it, huh? Good, I was afraid I might stump them,” said media consultant Milton Gleckman, on loan from Highlights for Children.

Nobody Said There Would Be Math
Google seems to have its answer to Apple’s Facetime, introducing video chat app Duo. Duo, as you might guess, is designed for use between only two people, but does allow calls between iOS and Android devices, and–

“Wait, I don’t get it. Why did they call it Duo?” asked Milton Gleckman.

Free Apps, Damn It
Verizon is allowing advertisers to pre-install apps on it’s subscribers’ Android phones. This is part of Verizon’s exciting new initiative, Bundling Lots Of Apps That Will Anger Really Everyone, referred to internally as Project B.L.O.A.T.W.A.R.E.

At Least I Think Brainstorming Is What They Meant By B.S.
There was more evidence of a genuine cord-cutter movement this week as cable subscriptions were reportedly down 600,000 this past quarter. The cable companies are understandably dismayed, and everyone is intent on coming up with ways to reverse the trend, with ideas being formulated in emergency high-level management meetings all the way down to customer service reps taking it upon themselves to organize hours-long brainstorming sessions with each other, during which they display an uncanny, unwavering focus allowing them to ignore the fact that you’ve been on hold for 73 minutes waiting for an answer to why they charged you for that pay-per-view of Andy Samberg’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping even though you applied that coupon code they kept promoting like it was as freaking valuable as tomorrow’s Powerball numbers.

 

(1) Not to be confused with the process of VR helmets allowing you to see everyone in the real world with an enormous blue beehive hairdo, or Marged Reality.

 

Movie Madness
Man, is it heating up in the Movie Draft. Down more than $250 million a couple weeks ago, Tom and Jennie are within $42M with two weeks to go. More details (and Weekly Tech Views-ish writing) in the CRUMDUM.

Hey, a book! Last year’s stories! $0.99! Get it HERE!

The Internet is Like a Snowblower: (And 200 Other Things I Got Wrong About Tech This Year) by [Range, Mike]

That will do it for another week. All that’s left is to blot up the typing-induced rivers of sweat flowing between my keyboard keys. On the plus side, that did dislodge some hard-to-reach potato chip crumbs.

Mike Range
@MovieLeagueMIke

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Weekly Tech Views (The Tech – No – Logic Blog) by Mike Range is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.