Scott Johnson joins me to wish the World Wide Web a happy anniversary of being presented in a paper! Is the spirit of the 1990s still alive on the Web, or did we kill it?

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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 guests:  Scott Johnson, of the Frogpants Studios Network & Nerdtacular

Headlines:

Happy Birthday, WWW: We got you a Snowden leak! CNET reports on The Intercept’s revelation of a US NSA operation called Turbine. It’s an automated system designed to hack millions of computers by using the tried and true tactics of all purveyors of malware like spam, hijacked web pages and good old fashioned man in the middle attacks. The malware would then hijack webcams and microphones, log browsing and keystrokes, you know, the usual. Hi Bob! As always, the NSA was only targeting bad guys, so when they directed Turbine at sysAdmins of foreign telcos, it was only because they needed to as a means to an end, because that made it easier to target a “government official that happens to be using the network some admin takes care of.”

Well, for some odd reason, Tim Berners-Lee thought the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his proposal for the Web was a good opportunity to fire people up about taking back their rights to privacy and keeping the Internet open. At least that’s what he told BBC Breakfast. Which is a TV show, not a plate of eggs, beans and fried tomatoes. Berners-Lee seems to think all this targeted surveillance somehow will scare you into joining his WebWeWant.org movement to pass an Internet bill of rights. We assume you will get excited for a day about this and then go right back to your normal state of apathy and excitement about Doge. At least the NSA believes that’s what you’ll do.

A really popular online thing launched yesterday and everybody tried to use it at once, and even though the big company behind it expected a lot of users the servers still had problems, and everybody got mad, and then eventually it got fixed and now everybody is blogging about it. This time it was Titanfall.

Razer’s got a new Blade

Apple Store to reduce its 30-day return period for iPhones to the same 14-day return period offered by US mobile phone carriers, starting March 13th

Alibaba will spend HKD $6.24 billion (about USD $804 million) for a 60% stake in ChinaVision Media Group, producer of fine TV shows and films. ChinaVision is the distributor of films like “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demon.”

Yahoo and Yelp have launched their search partnership in the US

The European Parliament passes the EU’s first data protection overhaul since 1995

News From You

the_corley posted an Ars Technica report on Google buying Green Throttle. Pando Daily broke the story. Green Throttle Gaming makes gaming controllers for Android. The company mysteriously shut down in November, and now everyone seems to think they know why. Green Throttle’s big product advantage was the ability to connect up to four controllers to one smartphone or tablet. Please add your own wild speculation about Google Game Consoles here.

habichuelacondulce pointed out the Washington Post article mentioning that FunnyorDie.com is now the number one source of referrals to the US healthcare.gov site. Or so White House health care spokesperson Tara McGuinness said on Twitter. The President appeared on Zach Galifanakis’ ‘Between Two Ferns’ show to promote the site. Of the 5.9 million views on the video more than 19,000 viewers continued on to healthcare.gov. That’s 3/10th of a percent!

And draconos pointed us to a Gizmodo report on Meghan Neal’s Motherboard article on a way to vinylize your digital music. German engineer Souri Automaten designed the first incarnation of the device almost 30 years ago. A record lathe with a diamond stylus cuts the master. The machine costs $4,000 but the look on your loved ones face when you give them a mix-LP will be priceless.

Discussion Section Links: WWW25

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/on-25th-anniversary-of-web-lets-keep-it.html

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/12/online-magna-carta-berners-lee-web

http://gigaom.com/2014/03/12/25-years-after-inventing-the-web-tim-berners-lee-invites-users-to-help-draft-global-bill-of-rights/
https://webwewant.org/

http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html

http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html

Pick of the Day:  Medium.com

Oh boy oh boy, Jennie loves Medium. It’s a gorgeous online writing site that lifts online writing out of the ‘Blogger’ era. (It helps that Medium was created by Ev Williams and team, who…well… you know.) The site has rich photo options, and a beautifully designed, simple to use interface. It’s a site that makes you want to write and share that writing with others. Medium is still a work in progress–it’s not always clear should happens with a post after its published, other than tweeting it out and submitting it to a Medium collection, but its been fascinating and satisfying to watch the Medium universe expand. Free.

Thursday’s  Guest:  Ryan Block

Brian Cooley joins us to explain the odd proprietary and confusing world of in-dash smartcar interfaces. Can we just use our phones carmakers?

MP3

)

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 guests:  Brian Cooley, host of CNET On Cars and The Next Big Thing Show

Headlines:

TWITTER WAS DOWN OMG: And that is pretty much the only lasting effect. Shouting. And jokes.

Apple readies major improvements to its maps: 9to5 Mac reports its sources say Apple is readying major improvements to Apple maps for the next version of iOS. Leveraging engineering experience from acquisitions, Apple Maps will be more reliable and have more data points of interest, especially regarding public transit directions.

Ad for HTC’s All New One leaks:  GSMArena got a hold of a photo of a brochure about HTC’s All New One.  In addition to using the “All new” moniker, the phone sports a ‘Duo Camera’, yes two cameras pointed in the same directions, that lets users choose focus points and implement effects like 3D. HTC tried the dual camera thing before with the EVO 3D. The brochure was from Australia’s Telstra and indicated he phone will cost AUD 840 (RRP) off-contract.

Drive on over to the Google Drive Store! Google’s had add-ons for Google Drive apps for awhile but now TechCrunch reports they’ve all been collected into a new store. The store is available from the menu bar of text or spreadsheet docs. There are 50 apps available now including MailChimp, UberConference, Avery Label Merge and more.

Orbital Computing: GigaOm reports on Physicist Joshua Turner’s proposal to use the orbits of electrons to generate the binary states that make computers work. Turner, a Physicist at SLAC National Accelerator calls it orbital computing. which does not mean SkyNet in this case. The orbit is the electron’s around a nucleus and claims you can switch it’s state 10,000 times faster than you can switch the state of a transistor today. Take that Moore’s law!

Ok, Glass Explorers, this is cool:  A new Glassware App called Preview allows users to look at a movie poster or an image of one and view the trailer on Glass. You can move from poster to poster down the theater hallway and the app will switch to the appropriate trailer. Just remember to take off your Glass before entering the movie theater to avoid unwanted interaction with federal authorities.

The Next Web reports DigitalGlobe is putting its Tomnod crowdsourcing platform to work in the effort to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Volunteers are assigned a collection of satellite images to look at and pin any possible clues or wreckage. DigitalGlobe analysts will check areas that users identify then inform authorities of any findings.

CNET reports New Jersey fast-tracked a rule change Monday that would eliminate direct sales of automobiles from a manufacturer, a practice that Tesla Motors pretty much hinges their entire business on. Tesla appeared before the NJMVC today to argue against the rules, but does not appeared to have swayed the commission. The rule passed and will go into effect in April, giving Tesla a month or so to close its two stores.

News From You

tekkyn00b posted the Verge article about Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, accusing the CIA of searching Senate computers for copies of an internal agency interrogation report and violating both anti-hacking laws and the Constitution. CIA head John Brennan has denied Feinstein’s accusations. Senator Feinstein has been an outspoken advocate of the US NSA’s surveillance efforts.

draconos sent in the CNET story that CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said Tuesday that if Aereo’s online service that brings users over the air broadcasts is deemed legal by the Supreme Court, CBS could go OTT. That means CBS programming would be delivered over the Internet itself rather than over the air, and a company like Aereo would have to pay for it rather than access it from broadcast. CBS stations have broadcast obligations in order to keep their over the air spectrum but could meet those with a variety of local and older programming different than the main network.

And KAPT_Kipper posted the Ars Technica story that Intel and partners will make 800 Gbps cables available in the second half of the year to data centers. The cables are based on Intel’s Silicon Photonics tech that can send 25Gbps across each fiber. The new connector goes by the name (not acronym) MXC and holds up to 64 fibers and can maintain speed over 300 meters. It’s also less sensitive to dust and damage. Data centers generally use 10Gbps cables today. The Facebook-led Open Compute Project are among the organizations already testing out the MXC-based cables.

Discussion Section Links: Cars! Internet! WWW25!

http://audiusanews.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=7470C704F1179FABFC8A2C088EB9DBEF?&utm_medium=twitter&id=3702&mid=1

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/11/audi-att-lte-pricing/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-57619829-48/2014s-battle-for-dashboard-supremacy-apples-carplay-vs-googles-oaa-vs-mirrorlink/

Brian Cooley’s 1986 report on a thing called EEEE -MAIL:  http://vimeo.com/2243667

Pick of the Day: Sell used gadgets at Gazelle.com

Tuesday’s Guest:  It’s our 50th show tomorrow!

Molly Wood joins to talk Edward Snowden’s SXSW prescription for solving the world’s surveillance issues. It’s pretty much encrypt all the things.

MP3

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

Headlines

Ars Technica reported on Edward Snowden’s address to the crowds of SXSW Interactive, appearing by Google Hangout, allegedly behind seven proxies, Heyo! Snowden reiterated he does not regret leaking the revelations. He emphasized that encryption is good and easier encryption methods are needed to protect privacy. He also called again for better oversight of intelligence agencies.

Forbes reports attackers took over the Reddit account and personal blog of Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karepeles on Sunday posting accusations that Karpeles had kept some of the supposedly lost BitCoins and presenting 716 megabytes of data allegedly taken from MT. Gox’s servers as proof. Before you go downloading that file though, be warned there are reports that links int he file may install malware. Meanwhile, ZDNet reports Mt. Gox filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the United States. The company has already filed for bankruptcy in Japan.

Engadget reports iOS7.1 is now available as a free download. The latest update comes for anyone with an iPhone 4, 5th gen iPod touch or iPad 2 or newer. The update includes CarPlay support. Cars with CarPlay can interact with Siri, access music, navigate with Maps, answer calls and send texts, all hands-free. The feature comes on select new Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Ferrari models for now.

Google’s Sundar Pichai announced Sunday that Google will release an Android-based SDK for wearable devices in two weeks

Ars Technica reports Sony and Panasonic just announced a new optical disc specification. What you say? Optical is dead? Maybe for your music and possibly video but certainly not for archival purposes. “Archival Disc” format promises to store between six and 20 times the data of a standard 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray disc. The first round of discs should become available in summer, 2015 and hold 300 GB of Data, 150GB per side. The companies hope to boost that to a terabyte eventually.

ITProPortal reports on UK Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking at CeBit, and announcing a 5G wireless research partnership between the UK’s King’s College University, University of Surrey and Germany’s University of Dresden. The PM also committed £45 million to Internet of Things research. He and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also re-iterated commitment to a single European telecom market and the abolition of roaming charges.

Reuters reports a US biotech company has received approval in Britain to manufacture an edible tablet containing microchips that can tell if a patient has taken their medication while also monitoring vital signs like heart rate. Proteus Digital Health’s sensor is the size of a grain of sand and is powered by stomach juices. Info is sent to a small skin patch, which then passes the data on by Bluetooth.

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper submitted a CNN report on HBO Go experiencing problems loading video for on demand viewers as millions tried to watch the season finale of True Detective. HBO Go tweeted an acknowledgement of the problem and attributed it to overwhelming demand. As of Monday the service was back to normal.

gowlkick posted an Ars Technica story that the Linux Foundation will work with edX to make the “Introduction to Linux” course free and open to all. The course usually costs $2,400. Students can choose to audit or receive certification. More than 2,500 people signed up for the course in the first hour after posting. The official start date has not been posted but it will be scheduled sometime this summer.

And MikePKennedy pointed out the Verge story about Neil Young’s new high quality music project. Starting March 15th, a Kickstarter for PonoPlayer will give music lovers the chance to pay $399  to get a triangle-shaped player that will work with the high fidelity music to be sold at PonoMusic.com.  PonoMusic will not feature any DRM, but you’ll only be able to store 100-500 albums on the 128GB PonoPlayer.

Discussion Links: Snowden at Southby

http://recode.net/2014/03/10/eus-neelie-kroes-snowden-gave-us-wake-up-call/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57620111-83/snowden-at-sxsw-the-nsa-set-fire-to-the-future-of-the-internet/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/10/Snowden-encryption-and-oversight/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/03/10/edward-snowden-addresses-sxsw-saying-whistleblowing-defence-national-constitution

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/10/5488348/edward-snowden-on-surveillance-encryption-and-constitution-at-sxsw

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/10/snowden-the-nsa-is-setting-fire-to-the-future-of-the-internet

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/03/ed-snowden-at-sxsw-theyre-setting-fire-to-the-future-of-the-internet/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57620081-83/wikileaks-julian-assange-nsa-critics-got-lucky-because-agency-had-no-pr-strategy/

Pick of the Day:

The intrepid Daily Tech News Show team spent the weekend rigorously testing all the Texas BBQ we could reasonably get our hands on. If you’re in Austin, here’s our BBQ pick of the day, also maybe the century. It’s The Salt Lick in Driftwood Texas. It’s a bit of a drive, but the brisket made Jennie cry a little. Find a friend with a car! Go! You won’t regret it.