Have you been ignoring short stories? You’re missing out! And Rachel Swirsky is one of the best authors to prove it. Find out how this award-winning author and podcaster got into writing and poetry too!
Today in Tech History – Mar. 20, 2014
In 1800 – Alessandro Volta dated a letter announcing his invention of the voltaic pile to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, London. We’ve been dealing with battery life ever since.
In 1886 – The first alternating current power plant in the United States began providing power to Main Street in Great Barrington, Mass.
In 1916 – The Annalen der Physik received a paper titled ‘Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie’ by Albert Einstein. “The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity” changed physics and technology dramatically.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
S&L Podcast – #167 – Spitcoin
We evaluate George R. R. Martin’s plans to stay ahead of the HBO show, look forward to spaceships returning to SyFy, congratulate Arthur C. Clarke Award finalists and ponder the disgusting need for spit as a payment method in Richard K. Morgan’s “Altered Carbon.”
QUICK BURNS
FINALISTS: 2014 Arthur C. Clarke Award
People Who Use E-Readers Dive Far Deeper Into Books
Incredible Game of Thrones pop-up book folds out to 3D Westeros map
J.K. Rowling has released History of the Quidditch World Cup online
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
George R.R. Martin knows how to stop ‘Game of Thrones’ from catching up to his books
Frederik Pohl’s dread-coated ateway to get a TV series adaptation
Syfy promises a return to space opera at last, with Ascension
Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson – who watched it?
BOOK CHECK-IN
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Our April book pick will be selected by Bryan Benson who backed our Kickstarter. Thanks Bryan. The book is “A Dance of Cloaks” by David Dalglish. — Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. Aaron Felhorn has been groomed since birth to be Thren’s heir. Sent to kill the daughter of a priest, Aaron instead risks his own life to protect her from the wrath of his guild. Assassin or protector; every choice has its consequences.
Bryan also is an author so we’re going to make HIS book our official alternate pick. So check out Brand by Bryan Alexander Benson as well! It’s a fast-paced, Fantasy action novel with steam-punk tendencies. It is the first book in the Order of Luminan series. We’ll have Bryan on for our wrap-up episode at the end of April.
BARE YOUR SWORD
What good would come aliens arriving from another planet?
Recommend a book you think most people haven’t heard of
DTNS 2194 – Mama, Dadda, iPad
Nicole Spag is on the show to talk Sony and Oculus’s VR headset announcements AND whether that iPad is safe for your baby.
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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guest: Nicole Spagnuolo
Headlines:
Project Morpheus: The Verge reports Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida announced the company’s Virtual Reality headset during a panel at the Game Developer’s Conference called “Driving the Future of Innovation.” Project Morpheus is a prototype headset, similar to the Oculus Rift, that currently works with a PS4 by HDMI and USB connection, though the company would like to make it wireless. It uses 1080p LCD screens and has a 90-degree field of view. The PlayStation and Camera and PlayStation Move integrate with the headset which tracks position 100 times per second. An SDK is on its way, but Yoshida told the Verge that the product would not be out for consumers this year.
Ars Technica reports the Oculus team had a little announcement of its own today. The Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 or DK2 bumps the pixel count to 960×1080 per eye, reduces image persistence to 2-3 ms, meaning smoother images,adds an on-device USB port for accessories, and an external CMOS sensor to assist in position tracking. DK2 will be $350 at launch and you can pre-order today at www.oculusvr.com/order, with the first batch expected to ship in July.
Engadget reports that Oppo unveiled the Find 7 phone in Beijing and yes it can take 50-megapixel photos, if you have a use for such capability. Although before you get too pixel crazy it’s just a 13-megapixel sensor using software tricks to boost the count. It can also record 4K video. The 5.5-inch Android-based Color OS phone will sell for The $499 for Find 7a or Lite in China, with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, or for $599 Find 7 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage,and a quad HD (2,560 x 1,440) display. The Find7a should arrive mid-April and the Find 7 follows in May or June.
GigaOM reports GE and Quirky are teaming up on an Air Conditioning unit that learns your preferences over time and can cool your room perfectly without any input from you. The unit will work with the Wink app which you’re probably already using for your connected egg carton, right? The 8,000 BTU WiFi -enabled unit will be out in May for $300.
Remember how Huawei was bucking the trend and going to put out a dual-boot Android and Windows Phone? Well they got to ‘em. TechCrunch passes along the FierceWireless report that Huawei has changed its mind and will not release a dual-OS handset, though it still plans to release a Windows Phone in 2014. Asustek recently backed off from a dual-boot phone of their own after reportedly getting pressured by Google and Microsoft.
News From You
AllanAV submitted the Ars Technica article indicating Cogent isn’t the only Internet transit provider upset with ISP’s demanding paid interconnections. Level 3’s general counsel for regulatory policy Michael Mooney, posted to their blog complaining that ISP’s are using their near-monopolies over the last mile in the US, to strongarm providers into paying. The ISP’s say the ratio is out of whack because much more traffic comes into their netowrk than out. Level 3 points out that’s becuase end users do more downloaading than ulpoading, and proposes bit miles, the distance traffic is carried, rather than the direction, should be the basis for interconenction agreements. Level 3 also argues that FCC network neutrality regulation should cover peering agreements as well.
Speaking of regulation, Draconos sent in the Engadget story reporting attorneys general in Florida, Indiana and a few other states are working with the US Department of Justice to determine if the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable would violate antitrust laws. This gives the DoJ a few more resources, though it isn’t unusual for states to join in antitrust investigations.
cincyhuffster submitted the Pandora blog post announcing price increases for new subscribers. Existing subscribers will continue to pay the 1009 rate of $3.99 a month. New subscribers will have to pony up an extra buck at $4.99 a month, starting in May. Annual subscribers, who were paying $46 a year will be moved to the monthly $3.99 plan when their next year is up.
ChaseLaursen posted the Globe and Mail story celebrating the arrival of the Google ChromeCast in Canada for $39. The Chromecast also launched Wednesday in ten European countries — Germany, Denmark, France, Spain, Finland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain. App compatibility varies by country. Canada for instance gets YouTube and Netflix. Britain gets the BBC and in France, you can use it with FranceTV Pluzz and SFR TV.
Discussion Section Links:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/03/sony-reveals-virtual-reality-headset-plans-at-gdc-panel/
http://www.today.com/moms/surprise-doc-says-ipads-may-be-ok-babies-2D79361986
http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1840251&resultClick=3
Pick of the Day: Nite Ize Gear Ties
Whats Up!
Something that I use on a daily basis to keep my cables organized are Nite Ize Gear Ties. Granted, they are glorified twist ties, but they’re super durable and useful. I use one to keep the usb with my external, one for my macbook charge cable, and one for my headphones. When they’re not holding cables, they make great stands for phones/tablets.
Thanks for the great Show!
Tuesday’s Guest: Farhad Manjoo, of the New York Times
Today in Tech History – Mar. 19, 2014
In 1474 – The Venetian Senate issued a Statute on Industrial Brevets that is widely considered the first patent law. Patents had been issued before, often at the whims of monarchs, but this statute codified the practice and set out a standard 10-year term.
In 1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened. It is the world’s largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour.
In 1991 – U.S. patent No. 5,000,000 was issued to microbiologist Lonnie. O. Ingram of the University of Florida for a process of turning garbage into fuel. His method depended on the creation of a new species of bacterium genetically formed from two other bacteria.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
It’s Spoilerin’ Time: Episode 11 – Cosmos, True Detective Episodes 5-8
We discuss the evolution of Cosmos and descend into the realm of the Yellow King in True Detective.
DTNS 2193 – Wear IT
Don Reisinger joins me to chat about Android Wear, the new line of clothing from– wait– nope just another smart watch platform. Does this one catch your eye or wrist?
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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s Guest: Don Reisinger
Headlines:
Wear IT: GigaOM reports Google’s SVP for Android Sundar Pichai took to the Google Blog to announce Android Wear, an implementation of the mobile operating system for wearables. Of course the wearables demonstrated were watches. The system uses Google Now to surface information the wearer needs, responds to voice commands triggered by the “OK Google” phrase and also does fitness tracking. A preview SDK is up at developer.android.com/wear. Expect more on the SDK at Google I/O in June. Lots of partners were announced but LG went ahead and said it’s G Watch will arrive next quarter and Motorola’s Moto 360 should come this summer. Plus it’s actually round. Like a watch.
MYSTIC Leakza: The Verge posted about the Washington Post’s latest Snowden leak story about an NSA tool called MYSTIC. The tool can record 100% of a country’s phone calls and play back any individual call for up to 30 days. It’s like the DISH hopper but for private conversations! The system launched in 2009 and became fully operational in 2011 and is deployed in at least one country, with at least six others others up for consideration.
Peace in our time! Ars Technica reports Google and Viacom have settled the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright case. In fact they seem to be buddies now since the joint statement said they look forward to working more closely together. Vicaom filed the suit against Google in 2007, alleging YouTube operated outside the parameters of safe harbor. Most judges along the way didn’t agree. The seven years of fighting the suit can be indirectly held responsible for the amazing google robot that helps takedown potentially infringing content like news reports, public domain photos, and garage band music loops.
ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft has scheduled a March 27th press briefing in San Francisco at 10 AM Pacific with news, “focused on the intersection of cloud and mobile computing.” CEO Satya Nadella will kick off the briefing, which will be WebCast. Foley, and the rest of the Internet, speculate Microsoft Office for the iPad could be the centerpiece of the briefing. Sources tell her that the iPad version of Office will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, be downloadable from Apple’s app store, and require an Office 365 subscription.
Also TechCrunch reported this happened today. In Gregory Ferenstein’s words: “Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin hung out with whistleblower Edward Snowden, who was attending the TED conference via a telepresence robot.” TED will post an interview with Snowden soon.
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is building modules that will allow the military to capture solar power in orbit and project it back down to Earth, potentially capturing more energy than ground-based solar collectors. The power would be beamed back to the ground using high-energy radio waves. In other news, Australian researchers want to beam lasers into space to clean up space junk. This is all good as long as the scientists, remember not to cross the streams.
News From You:
MikePKennedy pointed us to our daily Amazon set-top box/dongle rumor, this time from the Verge passing along WSJ sources. Amazon will begin selling its mythical dongle in early April on its own site as well as in Best Buy and Staples.
tekkyn00b submitted the 9to5 Google post where they explain they’ve heard Google’s going to get rid of Google Voice and incorporate most of its functionality into Google + hangouts. The hangouts app already allows voice calls over the app, but if Voice was folded in, the hangouts app could be able to make and receive VoiP calls to and from traditional phone numbers. Google has already rolled in it’s messaging and Android SMS functions into the hangouts app.
KAPT_Kipper posted the CNNMoney story of the curious case of a Turkish developer named Ibrahim Balic, who was testing a vulnerability in the Google Play store and it worked. WAY too well. IN fact it crashed the Google Developer Console which is used to submit new apps and app updates. Balic told CNNMoney he did not have malicious aims, he just wanted to be sure about the vulnerability. He has contacted Google about the issue he discovered. Balic previously claimed to be behind the attempted hack of Apple’s Developer Center last summer.
BullioMarf, submitted the gog.com announcement that the game website will support Linux. Initital evidence of the support will be in GOG.com website support for Ubuntu and Mint. They hope to come with 100 Linux games ready for people to play this autumn. Games the website sells that already have Linux clients will be the easy ones to include but they also promise a variety of classics as well.
Discussion Links: Google Wearables
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/sharing-whats-up-our-sleeve-android.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57620495-94/lg-to-launch-g-watch-with-android-wear/
http://recode.net/2014/03/18/google-announces-android-wear-its-plan-for-the-smart-watch-and-beyond/
http://developer.android.com/wear/design/index.html
Pick of the Day: Pocketcasts
Hey Tom, I wasn’t planning on sending another one of these for a while but yesterday, what I consider the best podcasting app on Android, Pocket Casts. Pocketcasts got updated with Chromecast support (iOS update coming soon). But the real reason I am recommending it is that the Daily Tech News Show is one of the featured podcast on the Chromecast standby image that you see on the television between podcasts. For that alone it gets my tip of the hat. Love the show, Marlon
&
Hi Tom and Jennie!
I have a suggestion for a pick, one that seems very appropriate for DTNS. Pocketcasts is one of the best podcast apps on Android and iOS (I’m listening to a DTNS episode with it as I type this).
It’s been around for a while and offers sync between devices, great for if you have a phone and tablet that you both use for podcasts, supports audio, video, playlists, everything you would expect.
I mention it because it was just recently updated to add chromecast support, which is a pretty nice add for it, especially on video podcasts.
It is how I’ve been consuming content created by Tom for years, and I imagine that many of the listeners use some kind of podcast app, and this one is absolutely worth checking out.
Tomorrow’s guest: Nicole Spagnuolo!
Today in Tech History – Mar. 18, 2014
In 1931 – Jacob Schick began marketing his second electric razor. His first hadn’t caught on because of the bulky motor. This time the more practical design became a hit.
In 1965 – The Voskhod 2 launched and on the second orbit Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left the capsule (on purpose) for 12 minutes, becoming the first person to walk in space.
In 1987 – Thousands of physicists crowded a ballroom at the New York Hilton at the meeting of the American Physical society to hear speakers talk on high-temperature superconductivity. The session started in the evening and ran until 3:15 AM earning the nickname “Woodstock of Physics.”
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Cordkillers Ep. 11 – Breki-ing the law
Veronica Mars proves piracy still beats following the rules for now, and Popcorn Time makes it easy.
CordKillers: Ep. 11 – Breki-ing the law
Recorded: March 17 2014
Guest: Breki Tomasson
Intro Video:
Primary Target
- Warner Brothers to “Veronica Mars” Backers: Okay, Okay — Use iTunes or Amazon if You Want
- Veronica Mars And The Case Of The Totally Adequate Kickstarter Movie
- Kickstarter backers complained about Flixster, used to distribute the UltraViolet version of the Veronica Mars movie.
Offered $10 rebate OR to compensate purchases on iTunes or Amazon with receipt.
Secondary Target
- Popcorn Time Is Hollywood’s Worst Nightmare, And It Can’t Be Stopped
- Popcorn Time refuses to stay shut down
- Creators shut Popcorn Time down on Saturday:
“Our experiment has put us at the doors of endless debates about piracy and copyright, legal threats and the shady machinery that makes us feel in danger for doing what we love. And that’s not a battle we want a place in. - BitTorrent site YTS has decided to take over the Popcorn Time project and resurrect it. Beta builds for Windows, OS X, and Linux are being posted to GitHub.
Signal Intelligence
- Here’s why Amazon Prime can afford to raise prices
- Amazon Prime US raised price from $79 a year to $99. Amazon was barely breaking even, or even losing money, on shipping costs for customers who ordered 20 packages year. That’s not counting the $40 per person it costs Amazon to license streaming media that Prime accounts get for free.
Gear Up
- Plex opens up Chromecast to everyone, adds automatic camera upload
- Thursday, Plex made Chromecast support available to all users not just PlexPass subscribers.
Under surveillance
Front Lines
- Tuesday, CBS CEO Les Moonves said “If Aereo should work, if they should win, which we don’t think is going to happen, we could go OTT with CBS.”
- Dish Launched Super Joey Thursday.
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The Super Joey adds two network tuners to the Hopper system, so you can record up to eight shows simultaneously. It still has the Hopper automatic ad-skipping tech.
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Google has also confirmed that its Movies service is now available in 37 new markets:
Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Gabon, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Togo, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zambia. And these are the best bets where ChromeCast will show up next.
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Space NK, The National Film Board of Canada, Universal Music Group, House & Gardens, Tom Aikens and Epidemic Sound/ Must-have features for creators. “Advertising revenues just aren’t high enough to justify a low quality consumer experience, and your content deserves better!” The app is only available for iOS devices for now, but we’re told that an Android version is already in the works.
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Video channels for smartphones and smart TVs. Specific niches like sports, politics, science and fitness. Unlike Hulu or Netflix though, you’ll pay $10 a month for each of the channels you actually want. Apparently because they’ll have big personalities.
On Our Radar
On Screen
- Brian: Finished True Detective, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Cosmos, playing Titanfall
- Tom: Veronica Mars movie, Deadwood, The Walking Dead, Cosmos
- Breki: catching up on things I never saw back in the days. How I met your Mother, Archer, Mad Men, etc.
Dispatches from the Front
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There’s no clear consistency here in the UK about when broadcasters show US shows. Back in ye olden days, programmes like ER and Friends would be held back until January so that the UK broadcasters would get a clear run of 20-26 weekly episodes without having to take a break. However these days with torrents and spoilers and hype crossing borders, broadcasters don’t really know what to do – do they follow the US schedule (Fox show The Walking Dead in the UK the day after the US broadcast) or do they hold back (More4 are only a few episodes into the latest season of The Good Wife). Or do they go for a half-hearted mixture (Channel 4 started showing Agents of SHIELD in the same week as the US, but it’s only just returned from it’s Christmas break)? My question is this – will there ever come a time when the money gained from advertisers isn’t enough to dictate the schedules for the US broadcasters, and they gain more from subscriptions, overseas sales and re-selling to services like Netflix, and therefore the US broadcasters drop their ridiculous scheduling of showing a 20 week season in drips?
John
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Hi guys, love the show, just became a Patreon tonight. My wife and I (and two four year old twin girls) cut the cord a few weeks ago (cut the phone landline and cable tv, leaving only internet).
I bought the Leaf for HD broadcast local channels, do you have any recommendations on a PVR to plug it into? My Tivo is old and doesn’t do DTV. Or is there a better way to get streaming broadcast show’s (like Big Bang Theory)… in Canada?Thanks, keep up the good work
Lee.
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I have been watching the various incarnations of this show for a very long time, and one of the recurring themes was how Netflix releases shows all at once, for a la carte binge viewing. The two of you have even argued the merits of binge vs. weekly releases. Imagine my surprise, when I got an email from Netflix announcing their new show, “”From Dusk Till Dawn””, and that they were releasing one episode per week! If this is not cord killing news, I don’t know what is!
Links
It’s Spoilerin’ Time: Episode 10 – Cosmos, True Detective Episodes 2-4, And The Lego Movie
What we thought of the return of Cosmos to TV and the grit and mystery heat up on more True Detective. And we spoil the end of the Lego Movie again.