DTNS 2155 – Follow the path of the Beam

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJason Hiner joins the show to talk about Lenovo buying the last of IBM’s PC business and where 3D printing meets the Internet of things. Also don’t text while walking.

MP3

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

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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

Apple to release two new iPhones in 2014: The Wall Street Journal reports Apple plans to release two new iPhones this year. Shocker, we know. Each of the two would have a bigger display than the iPhone 5S, estimated to be 4.5 inches and 5 inches respectively. Both phones would have the same aluminum design as the %S, meaning no plastic phone like the 5C. The smaller is allegedly in production while the bigger is in preliminary development.

Lenovo agrees to buy IBM server unit for $2.3 billion in cash and stock:  Ars Technica reports Lenovo agreed to buy IBM’s x86-based server unit for $2.3 billion in cash and stock. IBM will keep it’s high-end server and mainframe unit but all its x86-based businesses are now gone. IDC reported in August that IBM held the top spot in server market share, and about 3/4 of that was IBM’s x86 unit. That means Lenovo will quickly reach parity with Dell and likely come close to HP in the server market.

News From You:

clemro passed along a Phys.org story about a Virginia Tech research team that developed a battery that runs on sugar, maltodextrin to be exact, with an energy density an order of magnitude greater than other sugar-based batteries. A sugar-based battery would be cheaper, refillable, and biodegradable.  Sweet!

dmmacs passes along an iO9 retelling of an LA Times story, about a man named Mike Seay. Seay’s daughter died in a car accident last year. He recently received an absolutely awful piece of junk mail from Office Max, addressed to “Mike Seay, Daughter Killed in Car Crash.” Office Max told the LA Times the letter is a result of a mailing list rented through a third-party provider” and offered its apologies to Seay. OfficeMax is investigating why the information was aggregated in that way.

Tahras pointed us to Cory Doctorow’s post on Boing Boing about library audiobooks going DRM-free. Overdrive, which is a main supplier of digital material for libraries has announced it’s retiring its DRM’ed Windows media format for audiobooks and replacing it with unrestricted MP3s.

More links from the show:

Walking while texting is dangerous. Science says so: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2014/01/22/texting-walking-hazards/4647357/

TIVO says they’re ‘not out of the hardware business’, despite layoffs:  http://mashable.com/2014/01/23/tivo-hardware-not-dead/

9to5 Mac reports a new Apple TV set-top box is well into testing and could be introduced in the first half of this year. 

http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/23/new-apple-tv-set-top-box-likely-coming-soon-appgame-store-possible/

Neiman Marcus announced 1.1 million customer credit and debit cards may have been compromised by malicious software

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/01/23/neiman-marcus-11-million-cards/4796647/

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board said that the statute upon which the NSA’s phone record collection program was based “does not provide an adequate basis to support this program.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/independent-review-board-says-nsa-phone-data-program-is-illegal-and-should-end/2014/01/22/4cebd470-83dd-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html

Long days and pleasant nights, DTNS’ers!

Today in Tech History – Jan. 23, 2014

Today in Tech History logoIn 1896 – Wilhelm Roentgen spoke to the Würzburg Physical Medical Society where he demonstrated X-rays by photographing the hand of session chair Dr. Albert von Kolliker, a famous anatomist.

In 1960 – With a crew of two, the bathyscaphe Trieste, descended 10,911 meters in the Pacific Ocean into Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench near Guam, the deepest known point in the oceans.

In 2003 – Earth lost communication with space probe Pioneer 10 which was 12 billion-kilometers from Earth.

MP3

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2154 – The YASMS Chasm

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comMolly Wood and Peter Wells join to talk abotut he great Chinese website blackout, T-Mobile USA becoming a bank, and more.

MP3

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

Autopilot S3E12 – Kolchak The Night Stalker

Join Scott and Tom as they break down this week’s pilot: Kolchak: The Night Stalker!

Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. It featured a fictional Chicago newspaper reporter—Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin—who investigated mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those that law enforcement authorities would not follow up. These often involved the supernatural or even science fiction, including fantastic creatures.

Today in Tech History – Jan. 22, 2014

Today in Tech History logoIn 1939 -John Dunning’s Cyclotron split the uranium atom for the first time at Columbia University in New York City. And the Manhattan Project was on.

In 1968 – Apollo 5 lifted off carrying the first Lunar module into space.

In 1984 – Apple aired the famous “1984” commercial for the Apple Macintosh, directed by Ridley Scott.

MP3

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Thanks for coming to Borderlands!

My dog didn't RSVP...

My dog didn’t RSVP…

We had a fantastic time at the meet-up at Borderlands Books in San Francisco! Luke Pebler read his Anthology story, The Same International Orange, in front of the live audience, and we had a fantastic live song from Sky Corbelli! You can listen to it below. It’s about the Dresden Files! 

We all had a blast, and we hope to do more meet-ups in the future (and not just in San Francisco). Thanks again for coming!

DTNS 2153 – The Beats goes On

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comVeronica Belmont joins to chat about Beats Audio, 3D Printing and the sale of Intel’s OnCue.

MP3

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

Verizon to acquire Intel’s media division:

Ars Technica reports Verizon will acquire Intel’s media division including the OnCue TV service. Verizon gets the intellectual property, products and employees in the deal. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam plans to incorporate OnCue into Verizon’s FiOS TV service. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of this quarter. The news came along with Verizon’s 4th quarter earnings report. Verizon posted a net income of $7.9 billion, or $1.76 a share, a nice jump over last year when the company lost $1.9 billion, or $1.48 a share. The company also added 1.6 million contract subscribers, despite price competition from T-Mobile USA.

 

 

Launch Day for Beats: CNET reports Jimmy Iovine’s Beats launched their new music service today on iOS and Android, with a Windows Phone version coming this Friday. There’s also a limited Web version for desktop. The service features staff-curated playlists as well as playlists curated from partners like music magazines. Users can select a ‘Just for You’ playlist based on their preferences, Highlighted lists created by Beats staff, The Sentence, which is a playlist created by filling in words mad-lib style, or just browse through genres and activities. The service has a 7 day free trial and then costs $10 a month, although longer trial periods and family plans are available for AT&T users.

News From You:

Dustin Schmidt on Google+ points us to a Bloomberg BusinessWeek story highlighting the fact that when Windows XP support ends on April 8, a lot of ATMs will be running an unsupported OS.

Habichuelacondulce submitted this BuzzFeed article reporting that people have raised 26 million dogecoins, about $33,000 worth, in support of the Jamaican Bobsleigh team. The team qualified for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia but needed $40,000 to pay for equipment and travel.Since that time Jamaica’s Olympic committee has announced it will pay for travel costs.

Webitube submitted this Washington Post story that the recently passed US budget will make about half of taxpayer-funded research available to the public. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education agencies with research budgets of $100 million or more must give online access to their funded research within 12 months of publication in a peer-reviewed journal, making it openly accessible.

More links from the show:

Apple likely to announce record sales:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2014/01/19/apple-iphone-q1-2014/

Man pulled out of theater for wearing Google glass

http://www.chron.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Man-Interrogated-By-FBI-For-Wearing-Prescription-5162212.php

RSA refusniks set up TrustyCon

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/01/trustycon-security-counter-convention-planned-for-rsa-refusniks/