Daily Tech Headlines – June 15, 2016

DTH_CoverArt_1500x1500Safari ditches flash, SMS returns to Facebook Messenger for Android and you can now retweet yourself.

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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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DTNS 2784 – E3, Woo!?

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comThe things that mattered at E3, among the avalanche of games and smattering of hardware. Patrick Beja Paul Spain and Tom Merritt discuss.

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Follow us on Soundcloud.

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!

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

Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

Cordkillers 124 – Conjugating a Vrv (w/ Kristi Kates + Mulango Akpo-Esambe)

Sling comes to Apple TV while Chromecast passes it, Xbox moves away from TV, and AT&T bundles up anime. With special guests Kristi Kates and Mulango Akpo-Esambe.

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CordKillers: Ep. 124 – Conjugating a Vrv
Recorded: June 13 2016
Guest: Kristi KatesMulango Akpo-Esambe

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • Apple will update tvOS with Sling, sports, apps, and more in the fall
    – tvOS
    – SLING coming to Apple TV today
    – FoxSports Go,
    – Molotov coming next month
    – Remote app for iPhone, touch, Siri, accelerometer and gyroscope to control games, and keyboard
    – Siri: search movies by topics, search YouTube. live TuneIn
    – single Sign on, coming to iOS too
    – Dark mode
    – Apps automatically download to Apple TV when installed on an iOS device
    – HomeKit for Apple TV
    – Free upgrade this autumn
  • Microsoft isn’t adding a TV DVR feature to the Xbox One anymore
    – Microsoft told the Verge: “After careful consideration, we’ve decided to put development of DVR for Over-the-Air TV on hold to focus our attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming experiences across Xbox One and Windows 10,” 
  • Microsoft announces the Xbox One S, its smallest Xbox yet
    – Xbox One S – A special, limited edition launch edition of the Xbox One S will be available in early August with a 2TB hard drive for $399. Two standard versions will be available soon after: a 500GB edition for $299, and 1TB for $349.
  • Project Scorpio is a 4K-capable, VR-ready Xbox One launching next fall
    – Project Scorpio comes out Holiday 2017:
    – VR gaming
    – 8 CPU cores, 6 teraflops of GPU power
    – offer true 4K gaming, 60 hertz rendering, uncompressed pixels
    – all accessories and games will be compatible across, Xbox One, Xbox One S and Project Scorpio

Signal Intelligence

  • AT&T, Chernin to Launch Subscription Video Bundle, Countering Amazon
  • AT&T is reportedly building an anime-and-video-games streaming network
    – Variety says AT&T bundling streaming channels into a subscriptions service
    – Registered domains and trademarks suggest name could be Vrv
    – “viewers interested in anime, video games, niche action sports, and other fare off the beaten path.”
    – Developed by Ellation, subsidiary of Otter (joint Chernin and AT&T)
    – Otter has stake in Fullscreen, and owns Crunchyroll and Creativebug
    – Combine Crunchyroll with internal and external partners
    – Either as a bundle or with alacarte options
    – Fend off Netflix from anime and Amazon from bundling. 

Gear Up

  • Chromecast shipments pass Apple TV
    – IHS estimates Friday
    – Q1 2016
    – 3.2 million Chromecasts
    – 1.7 million Apple TV
    -First time Chromecast in front of Apple TV
    – Also estimate Netflix on 32% of all gadgets capable of watching video (US)

Front Lines

  • You won’t have to remember passwords for most TV streaming apps anymore
    – Within the next 6-12 months, TV Everywhere from Comcast, Cox and MediaCom will start authenticating based on home WiFi. Customers will also get a single-sign on for TV network apps outside the home. Among participating networks are A+E, AMC, Disney/ESPN, Fox, NBCUniversal, Scripps, Turner and Viacom. But significantly NOT HBO. 
  • You can soon use the NVIDIA Shield as a Plex media server
    – Plex announced Thursday that an update coming at the end of June will allow NVIDIA Shield owners to use the device as a media server. Plex intends to expand server capability to more devices int he near future.
  • Hulu’s New Scifi Series Sounds Like an Internet-Themed Twilight Zone Homage
    – Hulu has a new 6-part science fiction series called Dimension 404. “Each episode will explore a different bizarre mystery, including an obscure cartoon that may hold the secret to time travel or energy drinks perhaps causing a global apocalypse.”
  • Netflix Finally Tells You What You ‘Devour’ And What You ‘Savor’
    – Netflix analyzed viewing habits across 100 serialized television series to determine how people binged. The average person took five days to finish the first season of the series and spent more than two hours at a time making their way through shows. They also developed a binge scale showing which genres of shows people devour and which ones they savor. Irreverent comedies and political drama were more likely to be savored while Thrillers and Horror were more likely to be devoured. 
  • Nameless.tv tries to bring that live TV thrill to online video
    – Nameless.tv is like Diamondclub.tv in a lot of ways. It collects Internet videos into channels like 90s nostalgia or Strangely satisfying, and puts a chat room alongside. Everybody watching a channel is seeing the same video and can chat with each other about it. It’s in beta for Web only but there are plans for a mobile app. 
  • Netflix nabs rights to Cannes award-winning film ‘Divines’
    – Netflix has purchased the rights to the movie “Divines” winner of the Caméra d’Or award at this year’s Cannes film festival. It’s a French drama about tough teen (Oulaya Amamra), who gets sucked into the world of drug dealers in a Paris ghetto. Divines comes to Netflix later this year in every market but France, where it won’t show up until 2019. Netflix also bought The Discovery, a new movie from writer-director Charlie McDowell that’s going to explore the consequences of an afterlife whose existence has been scientifically proven. Coming next year.

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

Here’s a Venn diagram about Marvel movie rights.

Alan

I was listening to your discussion about Apple/Amazon… I’m an Android fan boy, I won’t buy anything on Amazon Prime Video until I have a Prime Video app for Android tablets, or they implement Googlecast support. If the 30 percent cut to Apple is whats keeping Amazon from creating an Apple TV app, what could possibly be the reason to keep Prime Video off Android? I have a feeling its the inflexibility of Amazon at this point? Is there something I’m missing?

–  Scott

 

 

What about the possibility of Apple buying Hulu? I would say that Hulu qualifies as a, “…service such as Netflix.” Netflix has been up for sale in the past. Apple might see Hulu’s messy business model as an opportunity that they can fix, rebrand as Apple and get a lot more out of it than Hulu would currently cost. The acquisition might also give Apple some expertise as to how to run a video streaming service. Buying Hulu may even improve their business relationships with movie and television providers.

…Do you think Apple may acquire Hulu? Do you think it would be good or bad for Apple, Hulu or both?

Bill near Athens, Georgia

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft

 

DTNS 2783 – WWDC and Xbox E3

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comApple announces updates to its four operating systems and Microsoft adds two new Xbox models. Tom Merritt and Justin Young give you the rundown.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? Click here

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Follow us on Soundcloud.

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!

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

Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

WWDC Live Coverage

We’re not streaming coverage of WWDC, though Scott Johnson and Patrick Beja will be streaming while covering Microsoft’s E3 announcement and squeezing in some WWDC observations when they can.

Here on the blog we’re using Public, a new service for live conversations to make notes and comments as the announcement goes along. Enjoy and let us know what you think.

If the below embed isn’t working for you CLICK HERE.

Weekly Tech Views (The Tech – No Logic Blog) – June 11, 2016

Untitled drawing (1)

Real tech stories. Really shaky analysis.

There was a lot of talk this week about passwords being stolen and proper steps to be taken to secure your various accounts, so if you learn one thing from this Weekly Tech Views… well, it’s that you shouldn’t expect to learn things from the Weekly Tech Views.

For the week of June 6 – 10, 2016…

So, 2016 Minus 18…
Dating app Tinder is discontinuing service for anyone under the age of 18. “Gee, that’s unfortunate,” said all affected teenagers as they deleted the app and grabbed a copy of The Grapes of Wrath to brush up on their Steinbeck for next fall’s English class instead of creating new accounts and claiming to be 18.

Bio: Love Kickball, Paste; Hate Naps
Tinder is not completely ignoring younger users, however, as evidenced by the introduction of Kinder, their playdating app for kindergarteners, which encourages users to swipe right for “nice” and left for “poopyhead.”

The GPS-Files
The Federal Aviation Administration has warned pilots that planes could be affected by “GPS Interference Testing” taking place at the Naval Air Weapons Center in the Mojave Desert. But are these GPS disturbances really being initiated by the government? Or are they covering up something they’d rather we didn’t know? Read the transcript of this radio message, intercepted immediately after the FAA’s warning, and decide for yourself:

“Sure, by all means, stay away if you can’t fly without GPS. Just because pilots used to do it doesn’t mean you should be ashamed by your inferiority. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being a coward. But if you do have the guts to try it, we salute you ‘We’ being just some interested onlookers from your own planet that you don’t need to worry about. And rest assured, should you experience some temporary memory loss and/or a lingering tenderness in certain sensitive, probe-able areas, that’s completely normal. That is all. Bleep blorp. Damn it–I mean ‘thank you.’”

Security Isn’t Everything
While a number of TeamViewer users had their accounts compromised recently, the company insists there was no hack and the fault lies with users’ poor password choices, where either weak passwords were used or the same password was utilized across multiple sites. I have no reason to doubt the fine folks at TeamViewer–I suspect their explanation is accurate, but I’d like to request that if my wife asks, of course they were hacked, the fault is completely theirs, and furthermore, AwesomeMike1 is an iron-clad safe password that can be used at as many sites as desired.

But seriously, you do want to follow safe password practices. If you need guidance, just follow the lead of trusted tech icons who really know what they’re doing, like…

“It’s Not Like They Were Real Sites, Like Facebook”
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, had not one, but two accounts hacked. His Twitter and Pinterest accounts were apparently compromised because he used the same password in LinkedIn, which was hacked in 2012. He’s been given a hard time for using the less-than-complex password dadada, but Zuckerberg defended himself by saying, “Look, it was tougher to guess than my first choice, Stinklevoss.”

Twitter Passwords Are The New Hamlet
Mr. Zuckerberg is not alone, as a Russian hacker claiming to have a list of 32 million Twitter usernames and passwords has put the list up for sale. While the validity of the information has been questioned, Twitter has confirmed that some are, indeed, authentic. “They are? Cool!” said the infinite number of monkeys typing at an infinite number of keyboards.

But Once They Got To Know Me, It Was Fifty Bucks
T-Mobile is going to give primary account holders on post-paid accounts one share of T-Mobile stock. Not just a symbolic gesture, the share can be immediately sold for it’s approximate forty dollar value. They also announced the T-Mobile Tuesday app, which customers can use to get freebies like Domino’s pizza and tickets to the new Warcraft movie. This news fills me with nostalgia, taking me right back to my college days, when a pizza, a movie, and forty bucks is the exact same reward program I offered to get a date.*

You Can Have My Phone When You Pry It From My Cold, Dead Wrist Or Reasonable Facsimile
Lenovo displayed a prototype of a phone that can bend around your wrist. “Wait, I never have to put my phone away?” said way too many people, shuddering with pleasure. Reporters were quick to ask the question on most people’s minds: “What if I have a really thin wrist? Like, I don’t know, say, steering wheel-thin? Would the phone attach securely enough to be texting on it at sixty-five miles an hour?

You Can’t Spell Demolish Without Demo
The HTC Vive VR headset is back in stock, and will be available for demo in retail locations like the Microsoft Store, Micro Center, and GameStop. Trying it out in-store is a great idea, especially as the Vive is supposed to require a significant about of available space to provide a satisfactory experience. But if I can use one in my local GameStop without falling into a bin of $4 Wii Animal Crossing: City Folk games or impaling myself on the rack of pre-owned Mad Catz controllers a foot-and-a-half to the left, then I’m not going to have to listen to how I’m crazy for insisting that our 10×12-foot bedroom will work just fine–futon, dresser, end table, two bookcases, beanbag chair, and litter box be damned.

Or Save Three Of Them For A Mummy Costume At Halloween
Google has a new service for Android called Nearby that suggests apps and websites based on your height and political affiliation. Ha! No, but wouldn’t that mess with people? Instead, suggestions are–yawn–based on your location, or what you are “nearby.” CVS drugstores are making use of the service, presumably by notifying you of an origami web site full of ideas for the four-foot long receipt you got for buying that energy drink.

You Guys Again?
Lexus owners have been complaining that their information systems spontaneously reboot, display blank screens, and flash purple. Lexus owners received a recorded message explaining that “the issue was likely related to satellite communications, and that a fix is available at their nearest dealer. In the meantime, there is no danger in continuing to drive your vehicle, and should you experience some temporary memory loss and/or a lingering tenderness in certain sensitive, probe-able areas of your body, don’t worry, that’s completely normal. That is all. Thank blorp. Aaaaagh! Why can’t I ever get that?!”

 

* Fine, sometimes I had to throw in a ten-page research paper on “the use of allegory in the Canterbury Tales” for English Lit 301. But that meant guaranteed hand-holding on the date. In public. Score.

 

New movie for Tom and Jennie this week in the Summer Movie Draft. Follow their progress here in the CRUMDUM.

 

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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.