Roger Chang is on the show. Will Samsung make mobile payments easier for everyone, or just be the final nail in the company’s mobile coffin. Plus Len Peralta takes on the challenge of illustrating mobile payments!

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Roger Chang, co-host of East Meets West 

Headlines: 

Ars Technica reports that an update to Windows Defender includes a signature to detect and remove Lenovo’s superfish software and certificate from affected Lenovo computers. Defender doe not appear to clean Firefox or Thunderbird though which users will have to do manually. Ars has instructions. Lenovo users should make sure Windows Defender is running to take advantage of the update. Reuters reports the US Department of Homeland Security issued an alert about superfish through its National Cyber Awareness System. Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius told ReCode “We messed up.” He added they were talking a beating they deserved it plus “We are not just curled up in a ball,” he said. “We are taking real action to make this right with our customers.”

USA Today reports that YouTube will launch a kids channel called YouTube Kids this Monday Feb. 23 for Android devices. It has a simplified interface, and a parent-controller timer that shuts down the app after a set amount of time. The home screen shows eight large tiles featuring kids programming like Thomas the Tank Engine and educational videos from Khan Academy. No word on the biggest question: Will there be Minecraft videos???

CNET reports Gemalto issued a statement Friday that it is investigating allegations that the US NSA and UK’s GCHQ stole keys to SIM Cards the company makes. In addition the world’s largest SIM card maker’s statement said “We cannot at this early stage verify the findings of the publication and had no prior knowledge that these agencies were conducting this operation.”

Reuters reports the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia has opened a case against Google to investigate complaints made by Yandex about Google’s terms for use of Google apps on Android. European regulators are considering a similar investigation. At issues is Google’s practice of requiring Android devices who want to use Google’s brand and suite of apps to restrict competing apps and services from being pre-installed.

The US Department of Commerce will scale back its role in Internet governance according to TechCrunch, columnist, Leonard Hyman. In an editorial about the future of the US’s role in ICANN he says that with the Department of Commerce ICANN contract ending in Sept, oversight of ICANN will be completely handed over to the international community by the end of the year. ICANN’s next planning session happens this June in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Next Web reports that the US FDA has cleared genetics testing company 23 and me to market one of their genetic tests. Back in 2013, the FDA asked 23 and Me to stop selling their DNA tests because they had not been reviewed and could lead to inappropriate treatments. The company is now approved to test whether a person is a carrier for Bloom syndrome, an inherited disorder characterized by short stature, sun-sensitive skin changes, and an increased risk of cancer.

News From You: 

Hurmoth sent us the Ars Technica report that Esperanza Martinez of Orange County California received a letter about canceling her Time Warner service, a letter that replaced her first name with a derogatory slang word beginning with the letter c. And Martinez never actually canceled her service. After the company was contacted by Ars Technica, Martinez received an apology and a free year of service. Time Warner blamed the issue on a third party vendor, and said they are changing their processes to prevent this from happening again. A timeline for the services? My guess is they’ll See You Next Tuesday

the_corley sent us a news story from RDMag.com revealing the National Institutes of Standards and Technology’s role in developing new tools to measure higher frequencies planned for next generation mobile communication technology like 5G. As devices reach millimeter wavelength frequencies above 10GHz, the tools to reliably and accurately measure them are incomplete. These toosl are needed to prevent interference and errors in transmission. So far NIST has produced a calibrated modulated signal source to test millimeter wave instruments and a new probe to measure electric fields operating over a 100GHz.

Discussion Section Links:  

https://gigaom.com/2015/02/20/why-samsung-is-right-to-bypass-google-wallet-for-looppay/

http://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-looppay-what-it-is-and-why-you-should-care/

https://gigaom.com/2015/02/20/will-samsungs-mobile-wallet-plans-work-well-know-in-6-months/

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/02/20/samsung-move-to-payments-creates-friction-with-google/

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/20/8075133/google-may-pay-wireless-carriers-to-revive-google-wallet

http://www.looppay.com/faqs/

 

Pick of the Day:  BOM.GOV.AU

Nik in wet and windy Gladstone writes:

As I wright this we have a category 5 cyclone bearing down on us. A site that many Australians may have heard of but not known how useful it is in the event of bad weather is bom.gov.au. Yes the good ol’ Bureau of Meteorology or just The Bom as us young’ins call it. It has rain radar, weather charts, satellite images, forecast, historical data, flood information, tropical cyclone information just to name a handful of features and is super useful in times of natural disaster. So if your in Australia and have some weather related event you want to know more about check out The Bom at bom.gov.au.

From Nik in wet and windy Gladstone.

Monday’s guest:  Peter Wells

 

Jason Snell is with us today to talk about just how likely it is that Apple will build a car.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Jason Snell, editor of sixcolors.com 

Headlines: 

Oh Lenovo. See. Let me tell you story, Jason. Lenovo had this idea. It would make a little extra money off consumer models by preinstalling some software called Superfish that would subtly alter ads contextually in browser sessions. Now see they would do it right though. The software was quiet. Kept to itself. It didn’t profile or monitor user behavior. It didn’t record user information. It didn’t even know who the user was.

But then then the neighbors began to notice odd behavior. Popups at all hours of the night. So Lenovo stopped pre-installing it in December turned off Superfish in January. But Chris Palmer wasn’t satisfied. Palmer conducted his own investigation. And he found bodies. Bodies of evidence that Superfish installs its own root certificate, meaning it’s a master of disguise, it can impersonate any site on the Web including your bank and you’d never know the difference. Now, it doesn’t do this. But it’s not careful with its keys. In fact Rob Graham of Errata Security cracked the key on the Superfish’s certificate meaning Rob can now sign any website as legitimate for any Lenovo computer with Superfish still running.

It’s going to take a lot to get Superfish off a computer. You need to uninstall it and then remove the certificate. And even though Lenovo stopped preinstalling it, how do you know the Lenovo you bought didn’t have it? Well thanks to Filippo Valsorda you can go to /filippo.io/Badfish/ and check. Read Dan Goodin’s article at Ars Technica if you want all the gory details. (Lenovo’s chief technology officer, Peter Hortensius told WSJ they’re working a tool that “removes all traces”)

Tech Crunch reports that A company called A123 Systems is suing Apple for allegedly poaching auto engineers in order to build an “advanced battery division.” A123 claims that it had to shut down some of its projects due to talent loss. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. According to Reuters, Apple has also been trying to hire battery engineers from LG, Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba, as well as hiring engineers from Tesla.

Happy 25th birthday, Photoshop! The Next Web has a nice writeup about how on February 19th, 1990 brothers John and Thomas Knoll launched their small software package meant to be bundled with a scanner. Check out the interview with Photoshop’s senior product manager Zorana Gee, who’s been with the Photoshop team since 1999, and the great illustrations of Photoshop icons and toolbars through the years.

TechCrunch reports on a new direction for IFTT the incredibly useful service that lets you automate online tasks. First of all, IFTT has three new apps that make it dead simple to use pre-made IFTT recipes. Do Camera will do something anytime you take a photo with it. Do Notes will do something any time you take a note. And Do Button lets you basically do anything by just choosing from pre-made recipes. Like “get out of an awkward situation” rings your phone. Each app can store up to three recipes so you can simply tap the right button to do what you want to do.

The Intercept has a report describing how agents of the US NSA and UK’s GCHQ stole encryption keys from Dutch company Gemalto, the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, in order to facilitate spying on cellphone communications. The allegations are based on documents from 2010 leaked by Edward Snowden.

 

 

 

 

 

News From You: 

Google opposes the US Justice Department’s proposal to ease the requirements for search warrants to know the location of a search when the location of a computer is hidden by something like a VPN. The justice department calls it tweak to protocol for remote searches. Google calls this a “monumental” constitutional concern. 1MoreMatt sent us The National Journal writeup noting Google believes any change in accessing computer data should be decided by the US Congress.

Starfuryzeta sent us the story from Fusion.net that Dropcam says it has received a “limited number of law enforcement requests” for stored video from individual accounts. Dropcam notifies owners of accounts of such requests by email unless prevented by law from doing so. Although Google-owned Dropcam says it is working on a way to report these requests it’s not not clear if such requests will be included in Google’s transparency report in the future.

Discussion Section Links:  Apple Car?

http://9to5mac.com/2015/02/19/apple-electric-car-team/

http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/19/apple-car-new-hires/#TQUNqg:xm5

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/02/18/hairball

http://bgr.com/2015/02/19/apple-car-rumors-team-revealed

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/02/battery-maker-accuses-apple-of-appropriating-battery-scientists/

https://gigaom.com/2015/02/19/apple-sued-for-poaching-car-battery-experts/

 

Pick of the Day:  Tempo.ai

Co-executive producer Charles Silvey wants to recommend an iOS calendar app called Tempo at tempo.ai He writes “the killer features for me is that Tempo looks at all of the people that are in a meeting and gives me one click access to their contact information in the calendar, it also looks at the meeting invite and determines what are the conference call numbers and allows you to dial numbers and pin codes with just one click. The app also looks at the location, and with one click launches Waze to give you directions. You also have the ability to send off quick “i’m late” messages if you are running late, boy does this come in handy sometimes. This is a great app and the current beta offers new features and an enhanced user interface and it is FREE!”

Friday’s guest: Iyaz Akhtar

 

Justin Young is on the show and we’ll talk about how Sony shows the days of the electronics company are over.

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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!

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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

Patrick Beja is on the show to talk about Microsoft integrating with competing cloud platforms, committing to international privacy standards, allowing everyone to develop apps for the Xbox. What is this strange new Satya Nadella-run company?

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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 guest: Patrick Beja, DTNS contributor and host of Le Rendez-Vous Tech, Pixels and The Phileas Club

Headlines: 

Ars Technica passes along the WSJ info from sources that Apple wanted more sensors on the Apple Watch but left them out for lack of reliability. Among the sensors erejected were a skin sensor that could measure stress and heart rate and one that measured blood pressure and Oxygen in the blood. WSJ also reports Apple ordered between 5-6 million united to be manufactured for the first quarter of the watch’s availability.

Microsoft announced today that its Office for iOS apps now support iCloud as well as File Picker— allowing any cloud storage service to integrate with Office for iOS.  Similar support for Android and Windows 10 is coming. Microsoft also announced a Cloud Partner Program for Office online that launches with Box, Citrix and Salesforce as partners.

Microsoft also announced adoption of the International Standards Organization’s Standard for cloud privacy. The policy means Microsoft is committed to letting you control your cloud data, providing transparency about how its handled, placing strict limits on public use, including not using it to sell ads, and informing on government requests for your data when the law allows. The British Standards Institute has verified Azure office 365 and Dynamics CRM are aligned with the code of practice.

The Verge reports that Sony is taking pre-orders for the developer version of its own augmented reality glasses called SmartEyeglass that connect to your smartphone. The glasses look like heavy wrap arounds, and attach by a cord to a circular, err, thing? Controller? Hoozywhatsit? — that houses the battery,speakers, microphones, NFC and touch control sensors. The controller clips on to the lapel of your trendy raincoat to announce to everyone on the street that you are using augmented reality glasses— in case the heavy black glasses on your face didn’t do that already.  The glasses go on sale March 10th for $840.

TechCrunch reports that IDC believes Xiaomi has passed Samsung as China’s number one smartphone maker. IDC estimates Xiaomi’s marketshareat 12.5% in 2014 compared to 5.3% in 2013. Samsung’s share dropped from 18.8% to 12.1% over the same period. Xiaomi’s success could be attributed to its low prices, online flash sales as well as a combination of fewer models and longer average selling time per device.

TechCrunch reports Pebble has brought Android Wear support out of beta and made it available for everyone. That means Android apps on your phone that support Android Wear can work with the Pebble now.  Pebble’s integration works with phones running Android 4.0 and newer. Users should update their Pebble to the firmware v2.9 and update to the latest Pebble Android app (v.2.3.0)

The Next Web is reports the release of Android One phones in the Philippines. Andoird One is the program to bring full Android to affordable phone models on a standardized platform.The Cherry One and MyPhone Uno, will go on sale in a few weeks. Both phones feature dual SIM support, a MicroSD slot, a special offline YouTube playback feature and special data plans.

News From You: 

starfuryzeta submitted the Verge article pointing out Microsoft announced at the Stanford Cybersecurity Summit on Friday that Windows 10 will support Fast Identification Online, AKA FIDIO. FIDO uses localized authentication to replace passwords. Microsoft, Google, PayPal, and Bank of America are all supporting the open standard.

tninja3000 sent us the Wired news that the company building Elon Musk’s HyperLoop is going public. With Musk’s permission, crowdfunding outfit JumpStartFun created Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. which gathered 200 engineers together to brainstorm in exchange for stock options.  These engineers have day jobs at places like NASA, Boeing and Airbus.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies will go public in Q3 2015, hoping to raise $100 million towards developing a useful prototype.

Yesterday we mentioned the infected firmware on hard drives being spread by folks Kaspersky calls the Equation Group. Buried in one of the exploits was an MD5 hash that Kaspersky could not crack. KAPT_Kipper submitted the Ars Technica report that after asking from help from the wider community, password crackers Jens Steube and Philipp figured out the plaintext behind the hash was Arabic for “unregistered.” The hash was probably meant to prevent infecting unwanted users. Six other hashes in different exploits remain unknown.

 

Discussion Section Links:  Microsoft

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/17/8050743/microsoft-xbox-one-apps-sdk-plans

http://blogs.office.com/2015/02/17/new-cloud-storage-integration-office/

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/17/microsoft-adopts-cloud-privacy-standard/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2015/02/16/microsoft-adopts-first-international-cloud-privacy-standard/

https://medium.com/@jason/microsoft-is-interesting-again-very-f9c5bef7116

Pick of the Day: Forecast.io

Hello Tom, Jenny, and esteemed Guest du jour,
I am a long time listener, first time emailer and Co-Executive Producer of the show. I am kind of addicted to weather websites and, with all the weather that we have experienced on the east coast lately, I wanted to pass on my new favorite website for viewing up-to-the-minute and forecast information. It’s forecast.io and it uses the same data that is fed into the darksky app but it’s web based and free. Check it out and you’ll be hooked too! Love the show and keep up the great work!
–Mark Kerzner, Centreville, Maryland

Wednesday’s guest: Justin Robert Young

It’s the Presidents Day holiday in the US, so here’s a brief headlines only edition of the show to fill the gap.

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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!

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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

Justin Young is here to help us avoid losing our entire generation’s history in a digital black hole. But who can save us? Vint Cerf? Archive.org? Some people at Carnegie Mellon? We will tell you. And Len Peralta will draw it.

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

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 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

Today’s guests: Justin Robert Young and Len Peralta

Check out Len’s amazing artprov of the week “Ye Olde Digital Dark Ages”

http://lenperaltastore.com/products/ye-olde-digital-dark-ages-dtns-2-13-15-print

Headlines:

USA Today reports that the View-Master stereoscopic photo viewer is going digital. The old View-Master was a red plastic viewer that you held up to your face and viewed cardboard “reels” with small color slides in simulated 3-D. Mattel has teamed up with Google to make a new virtual reality View-Master based on Google’s Cardboard VR form factor. Instead of sliding in a cardboard reel, you slide in an Android smartphone. New reels are placed in front of the viewer to add augmented reality 3D interfaces to the experience you get from the Mattel app, though you don’t NEED the reels. The new viewer will cost $29.99 and include a sample reel. Additional three-pack reels will cost $14.99. Coming this autumn.

CNET reports US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to create a framework to allow better communication between tech, finance, energy and health care industries and the US government for the purpose of cybersecurity.The President is hosting the White House’s first summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University today. Financial and retail executives and Apple CEO Tim Cook are attending. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all sent less senior executives.

So what did the one CEO who attended to the Cybersecurity Conference have to say? Well CNET reports you’ll now be able to use Apple Pay to enter US National Parks. Hooray! Cybersecurity problems solved. Let’s go home boys! OH wait. Apparently the government and tech companies need to work together to protect the rights of customers and citizens who Cook pointed out, are actually the same people. Cook said:”If those of us in positions of responsibility fail to do everything in our power to protect the right of privacy, we risk something far more valuable than money. We risk our way of life.”

9 to 5mac notes that Apple seems to have hired former Mercedes-Benz Research and Development president and CEO Johann Jungworth as the Director of Mac Systems Engineering. According to a story in the Financial Times Apple’s recent hirings in the automotive industry are for a new research lab where iPhone unit managers are researching automotive products.But… why? The hiring follows a week’s worth of rumors about Apple’s desire to get into the automotive market. But also, we don’t know anything. At all. Beep beep.

TechCrunch reports that Apple is OK with pot but no longer OK with visible weapons. Devs and advocacy groups, including social networking app MassRoots, have been petitioning Apple to change its stance on banning drug-themed apps. As of Friday the MassRoots app is back, but it must perform a location check that prevents users outside of the 23 states where marijuana use is legal from accessing its network. As for the guns, a developer named OrangePixel noted last month that Apple made him blur out guns from screenshots of his game Gunslugs 2 because otherwise it violtaed policy against showing “violence against human beings.” Pocketgamer dug into it and found that Apple is as Marco Arment pointed out, enforcing the policy that all screenshots must be OK for ages 4 and up.

VentureBeat reports Pinterest is stripping out affiliate referral codes from all links on the service. Companies like RewardStyle and Hello Society help users make money when people click their pinned images but Pinterest claims it’s led to spammy behavior and broken links. However Pinterest might want to roll out their own in house referral program. IN the meantime Pinterest recommends more wholesome way for pinners to make money, like “participate in paid social media marketing.”

The Next Web reports Line has launched the Line@, which connects brands to fans, clients and customers. The iOS and Android app lets brands send messages, chat one on one, and share posts to followers. The free plan allows up to 1,000 messages per month, the paid plan at $50 per month allows for 50,000 messages, images and links with the option to send additional messages for a penny each. Brands can also pay $24 for a personalized premium ID for a year, which then costs $12 every year after.

GigaOm passes along a report from The Information that Google wants to exempt Android developer’s services from data charges in some markets, starting with ecommerce and transportation apps in India. Google wouldn’t zero-rate its own apps, just act as a middleman between carriers and developers who want to pay the cost of data for its customers.

 

News From You: 

KAPT_Kipper posted the Ars Technica article that Lior Shamir, a computer scientist at Lawrence Technological University, has shown that a series of image analysis algorithms can discriminate between real Jackson Pollock paintings and pieces that mimic his style 100% of the time. So no, Dad. Sadly the computer has proven that you can’t dip a monkey’s tail in a bucket of paint and get the same result. Shamir has placed the source code for this analysis package, termed “Wnd-charm,” online. You can read more in the International Journal of Art and Technology.

Habichuelacondulce pointed out the posting at Crain’s about a Brooklyn company bringing Gigabit Fiber to the Industry City complex in Sunset Park. Yes it’s only a small tech-savvy Brooklyn development is getting symmetrical Gigabit. And yes it’s going to cost $500 a month. But until now if you were a post-production company or some other tech company that needed high bandwidth gigabit was going to cost you $3,000 a month. So this will make service accessible to startups and artists. And Brooklyn Fiber hopes to expand to Red Hook next.

Discussion Section Links: Digital Dark Age

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31450389

http://www.cmu.edu/silicon-valley/news-events/dls/2015/cerf-news.html

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/what-is-bit-rot-and-is-vint-cerf-right-to-be-worried

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/google-boss-warns-forgotten-century-email-photos-vint-cerf

https://www.google.com/search?q=vint+cerf+archive.org&oq=vint+cerf+archive.org&aqs=chrome..69i57.2799j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#q=vint+cerf+archive.org&tbm=nws

https://archive.org/about/

http://longnow.org/people/board/danny0/

https://archive.org/about/contact.php

https://olivearchive.org/about/

http://isr.cmu.edu/

https://olivearchive.org/docs/collection/

https://archive.org/details/internetarcade

Pick of the Day: 

Hi DTNS crew,

I was listening to Monday’s show on my drive home today and heard Brian mention running a test of his internet connection using speedtest.net. While I do occasionally use this as well I find that www.speedof.me to be a more accurate test and it runs on html5 to boot! Keep up the great work and please remember to put the new cover sheets on your TPS reports.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/checking-your-bandwidth-five-html5-apps-to-try/

One of your many bosses,

Jason Z.

Monday’s show is headlines only due to a US Holiday