Search Results for "september 28"

DTNS 2504 – ICANN’t ban North Korea

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comDarren Kitchen is on the show and we’ll talk about Professor Kim Heung-Kwang’s interview with the BBC claiming 6,000 North Korean hackers have the power to destroy whole cities. Plus Len Peralta rejoices over the Cavs success. And illustrates the show.

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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!

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: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta

Headlines: 

Apple posted its recommended workaround for the iPhone Messages bug according to the Verge. The support document directs iPhone users to reply to the malicious message. Apple is working on a fix, The bug is also affecting iOS users of Twitter and Snapchat who have notifications on for those services. With Twitter it crashes the phone but causes no lasting damage. With snapchat it makes the chat history with the sender inaccessible.

PC World reports on Google’s announcement that Levi’s is the first partner for its smart fabric called Project Jacquard. The experiment weaves electronics into cloth to create the equivalent of touch screen controls. Demos at Google I/O showed fabric that could manipulate a 3D image on a display, change the songs on a phone and control lights. Think of it like a mouse in your pants…. wait….

Reuters reports Path sold some of its apps to South Korea’s Daum Kakao. If you’re making the remark “who uses Path anymore?” you are giving yourself away as not Indonesian. INSTANT DATA MINING. IN any case the makers’ of Kakao Talk didn’t get all of Path. Just the social network and the Path Messenger. Path Places, which enables connections between customers and business like restaurants, stays with Path, though it has been disbaled for the time being. Path has also been developing non-Path branded apps like GIF creation app Kong.

Washington Post reports cites a new report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that says digital security is essential freedom of expression and warns weakening encryption in some countries could undermine that freedom worldwide. The report was written by special rapporteur David Kaye, Director of the International Justice Clinic at UC-Irvine. . Kaye wrote governments “should avoid all measures that weaken the security that individuals may enjoy online, such as backdoors, weak encryption standards and key escrows.” because it results in weaker security for everyone.

Tech Crunch reports that Apple acquired augmented reality startup Metaio on May 22nd. The company launched back in 2003 as an offshoot of a project at Volkswagen. 9 to 5 Mac’s Mark Gurman, who has good sources, believes Apple is working on an augmented reality feature for its Maps app, and of course there’s that VR headset that Apple patented earlier this year.

The Verge reports the welcome news that you can finally use GIF’s on Facebook! Mostly. If you drop a link to a GIF which has already been uploaded elsewhere on the Internet, the GIF will appear. Upoloading a GIF directly to Facebook doesn’t seem to work just yet.

Engadget reports that Google is broadening out its Google Sign-In feature with Smart Lock for Passwords. In a Google Developers blog post Smart Lock for Passwords is described as a “frictionless” method for users to sign-in to apps on Android and sites in Chrome. Smart Lock works a bit like a password locker. Once a user saves a password to Smart Lock, they can skip entering their credentials on all of their authenticated Chrome and Android devices. For instance, Netflix is a partner meaning once you add Netflix to Smart Lock say on a laptop, you wouldn’t have to go through the painful process of signing in again on an Android TV.

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper sent this TorrentFreak story that Hola VPN sells users Bandwidth to others through a service called Luminati. An 8chan message board operator, Fredrick Brennan claims that Luminati was used to attack his website. Hola says it has suspended the user that misued its service and it would cooperate with any law enforcement activity related to the attacks. Hola’s FAQ makes it clear that it uses bandwidth from Hola users’ computers when they are sitting idle and the company defines idle as meaning a device is connected to electric power (not on battery), no mouse or keyboard activity is detected, and the device is connected to the local network or Wifi (not on cellular)). Any users who don’t want this to happen can buy Hola for $5 per month.

kyro5976 sent us the Cult of Mac report that more than half of the the founding artists in Jay-Z’s Tidal music streaming service may have to pull their music from site after Jay-Z failed to reach a music licensing agreement with Sony. Among the artists affected: Taylor Swift’s man Calvin Harris Alicia Keys, Daft Punk, Usher, and uh, Beyonce. Jay-Z was apparently hoping a deal with Sprint was going to cover the cost of Sony’s licensing terms, but apparently Sprint has decided that they are not in a “financial investment” situation.

Discussion Section Links:  

 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32925495
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-countries-that-could-lose-internet-easily-2014-12 
 http://www.businessinsider.com/internet-outages-reported-in-north-korea-2014-12
 http://bgp.he.net/AS131279#_asinfo

Pick of the Day:

Joel the Yooper DTNS Nickle-backer:

For a long time I have drooled from afar the world of home automation as the solutions were either too expensive or too complex for the whole family. The I saw this on the shelf for only $24 bucks. LINK Starter Pack by GE. It comes with a WINK based hub and 2 60-watt equivalent dimmable LED bulbs. I’ve found it to be a great way to test out this new tech trend without getting too invested. And if I do decide to go further, there’s a bunch of compatible products.

I don’t know the price elsewhere but it’s listed as a “special buy” on Home Depot’s site. Whatever that means.

Keep up the great work.

PS: I promise I don’t work for Home Depot.

Messages: 

Toby Atticus Fraley:

Just a quick tip, the Kickstarter succeeded!! Pittsburgh International Airport is getting a Robot Repair shop, opening this September. This is the first time a public art installation for the airport has been crowdsourced! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tobyfraley/robot-repair-shop

Co-Executive Producer Damien from Gloomy-outside-my-hospital-window-Maitland, Australia:

Hello Tom, Jenny and <insert contributor here>

When I heard about testing of Google Tone I immediately cringed at the thought of security implications.

You (Tom) made an offhand comment about malware bridging the air gap and moved on.
I’m astounded that no one else seems to have made any other comments about the potential risks associated with a technology designed to bypass one of the most fundamental security concepts. That a stand alone, unconnected computer is unhackable.

I realize that it is an optional extension and the user has to click to confirm, but we know how easy it is to convince people to click on links that they shouldn’t.

Thanks for all your work on the show

Dave from too-damn-sunny-and-not-enough-rainy Los Angeles:

As an avid phone photographer and videographer (also known as “Dad”), I was very excited to hear that Google’s new Photos app is going to support unlimited photos AND videos! … When I went to turn on the new feature on my account, the options for storage were “High Quality (unlimited storage) – great quality at reduced file size” (my emphasis) and “Original – Full resolution that counts against your quota.”

My deduction from these descriptions is that the “unlimited storage” will still be compressing your files to be smaller, meaning Photos isn’t necessarily suitable for our primary backup, but it would still be a great way to have our entire library of family photos available in the cloud. Can you confirm that this is how the unlimited storage will work?

And Ted who’s Lumia 1020 supports RAW photo backups did a little more research:

I went directly to Flickr and Google. Neither one supports RAW at this time. Limits per unit upload:
Google: photo 75MB, Video 10GB
Flickr: photo 200MB, Video 1GB

Dwayne here from somewhere in the desert which I can not wait to leave.

You said you have never seen the sharing of photos with a link. Microsoft has been doing this for years and I love it. MSFT have some good features here like giving the sender rights to allow the receiver to just view, download or edit, time span that they have access and it is built in to outlook and OneDrive. This way you can email the link to anyone without any restrictions. Also the receiver does not need to be logged into anything. Love the show!

Sent from my Windows Phone

=====

Monday’s guest: Veronica Belmont

Cordkillers 71 – Decidedly Less Juicy

Is Hulu or CBS the future of cord-cutting apps? Has TiVo cracked the perfect bundle?

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CordKillers: Ep. 71 – Decidedly Less Juicy
Recorded: May 18, 2015
Guest: None

Intro Video 

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

  • Plex comes to TiVo
    – Oh TiVo. You keep being so close to a really great cordcutting device.
    – TiVo Roamio getting Plex app 6/8
    – Opera-based version of smart TV apps. 720p only
    – Won’t integrate with universal search
  • TiVo wants to become the legal version of Aereo
    – Multichannel says TiVo plans to use Aereo trademark and customer lists in a legal version of the service
    – TiVo CEO Tom Rogers wants to offer low-cost bundles of channels and streaming services
    – “The answer is pretty clear — it’s kind of the Aereo model, done legally and better.”
    – Event planned in San Jose for July to unveil new Aereo. 

    – Essentially Rogers says that Cable should bundle TiVos with OTA and broadband services in with their Internet.

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

PLEASE, for the love of everything that is good in the heart of a Mother of Dragons… quit with emails and conversations about spoilers.

The Geeky Brit
Ian, Ontario, Canada.

 

 

 

Regards WMC demise.

I too am disappointed with Windows 10 not continuing WMC. You mention apps like plex and Kodi. Yes, I use plex myself… but what I will miss most from WMC is the OTA DVR functionality. As of now, I have yet to find ANY other DVR software as easy to setup and use as Media Center.

Since there isn’t really any hope for this, or worth arguing ALL my points, I have a question?

What is the best software available to use PC with OTA tuners to record broadcasts? Preferably something that can handle multiple tuners and has a reliable guide to schedule series… oh and it has to actually RECOGNIZE the TV tuner without extensive manual setup… that was the key of WMC and what angers me most about Microsoft’s decision.

Thanks for the show.

David C. St. Louis, MO

Go Cards!!

Kodi has OTA DVR functionality

 

 

Cordkillers. Love the show. I was one of the lucky ones to get on the deal for the Lifetime TiVo OTA for $299. Got it last week, and I am loving it. I haven’t had a DVR since I went OTA and been using Hulu as my cloud DVR per say. Now w/ TiVo OnePass, I see myself canceling Hulu (once I catch up on some shows). I can keep up w/ the motto and record what I want so I can watch what I want, when I want (and now CBS!). Cutting another monthly bill is awesome.

Neil

 

 

 

Hello Everyone,

I have to say I love the prospect of Apple TV. I really loved the speculation where the first month for every app is free and then using that information to tailor a package to you.

The fact of the matter is though I don’t like Apple and mostly likely wouldn’t get an Apple TV. What I really love if the potential for the Roku TV’s. You guys have made comments before about a TV not keeping up with the Software which is a downside to Smart TV’s. If I was going to trust anyone to buck the curve on that it would be Roku. I have had my Roku 1 longer then I’ve had 3 of my TV’s so when it comes to Software keeping up with Hardware Roku I trust. The bonus of that is if after 5 year the hardware isn’t keeping up with the tech, it’s $30 for a stick and $69 for a Roku 2 right now, that is not bad in my opinion.

Thanks for your Time,
Nicky Marson

 

 

 

Hey guys,

I wanted to add a little bit to your Apple TV predictions. In our house we primarily use Roku boxes simply due to the availability of ALL THE CONTENT. On what other device or platform can you get Amazon Video and Google Play video on the same big screen enabled device? This is what I want on a new Apple TV – apps directly from the content providers – and if the rumor is true about being announced at WWDC I’m hopeful that this might come true.

Here’s my prediction – at WWDC they will announce an Apple TV SDK and a beta that runs on current Apple TVs. This gives developers time to write and test apps prior to any new hardware. Then at this year’s iPhone event the new box is announced. This would allow them to have a fully stocked Apple TV App Store prior to launch like they did with the watch. With the technologies that came with iOS 8 and the watch the foundation is in place for building Apple TV apps as app extensions.

I can’t wait!

Thank,
John in rainy Billings, MT

 

 

 

Hello Tom and Brian! You were discussing CBS All Access this week and Brian described it as meeting the “completeness” vector. But I wonder if you’ve actually used it?

My wife and I did a trial week to try it out and catch up on some shows we watch on CBS. But when she went to watch Big Bang Theory, it was missing several episodes – at that point, it had only the three most recent plus the first four of the season, but not the ones in between. We checked another show she watches, Criminal Minds, and found a similar result – only the last five episodes, same as is freely available on their website. They also still had the most ads of any streaming service I use – and that behind the paywall!

While it is true that other shows did have the complete current season, it was very hit-or-miss. We wound up cancelling the service because CBS “All” Access did not, in fact, give us access to all of the current season’s programming. For the same basic price as Hulu Plus or Netflix, I would expect that at the very least. Their back catalog is pretty readily available elsewhere too – for instance, I can watch any episode of Star Trek ever on Netflix. For my money, they need to worry less about the back catalog and worry more about actually providing complete current seasons.

Love the show – you guys helped me figure out what I needed to do to cut the cord, and I’m pleased to say we’re one year cable-free and don’t miss it! Thanks!

Sincerely,
Andrew L

 

2015 Winter Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv

  1. GFQ: $406,655,335
  2. Amtrekker: $372,030,708
  3. Frogpants: $146,708,083
  4. Cordkillers: $36,282,735
  5. Night Attack: $23,446,781
  6. DTNS: $0

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

DTNS 2490 – Tracker Keeper

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comVeronica Belmont and +Ron Richards are on to talk about the benefits and risks of tracking everything you do. Can all that data really be useful?

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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 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: Ron Richards and Veronica Belmont

Headlines: 

Engadget reports Google has stopped accepting public contributions to their Map Maker service following a prank. Map Maker relies on “Google reviewers” and trusted users to moderate contributions. Since the prank, Google switched temporarily to manual checks from in-house teams but that led to a backlog of user submitted edits forcing Goggle to suspend new submissions entirely as of May 12th. Google says its temporary situation until it comes up with an improved moderation system,

The curated iOS app called NYT Now has dropped its $8 a month subscription fee and gone ad-supported. The app is targeted at younger readers and features selected stories from the New York Times as well as other sources around the Web. The newspaper’s main apps still carry a fee of $15-$35 a month.

TechCrunch reports Microsoft announced investments in three undersea cable projects. The New Cross Pacific Cable Network will connect China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan with the US via Hillsboro, OR. A deal with Hibernia will offer faster connectivity between Canada, Ireland and the UK. The Hibernia Express Cable, launchign in September is the first new transatlantic cable in 12 years and will handle up to 10 Tbps per cable pair. And Microsoft is the first customer of AcquaComms upcoming AEConnect cable between Shirly, NY and the west coast of Ireland.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Nasdaq OMX Group is starting a pilot project to use a blockchain to verify transactions in its Nasdaq Private Market. The blockchain is the public ledger system used to verify Bitcoin transactions. Trading among pre-IPO companies in the private market currently, is often done by hand.

Next Thing Co. based in Oakland CA, is planning to build a $9 computer called Chip according to Fortune. The machine is built around a 1GHz ARM processor from Allwinner Technology in China, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. It comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity to be save costs integrated video is a composite video port. However a VGA or HDMI adapter add-on is available for $10 and $15. The Chip is available from Next Thing’s Kickstarter which has raised close to a million dollars in 5 days. Well past its $50,000 goal.

CNET reports on a virtual reality theme park called The Void being built in Pleasant Grove, Utah, north of Provo. Starting sometime in 2016 visitors in groups of up to 10 can enter one of seven 60×60 foot rooms, put on VR headsets, and wander around a world that lets them feel real bark and metal under their fingertips, and interact with other players in realtime. Creator Ken Bretschneider designed the park and the headsets and hopes to work with outside gaming studios to create new experiences every three months.

TechCrunch reports IDC’s numbers show China’s smartphone market fell 4% year over year in Q1. It;s the first time smartphone shipments decreased in the country since 2006. IDC suggests excessive inventory might have been the cause. IDC still tracked 98.8 million shipments in China. Apple led the way with 14.7% market share followed by Xiaomi Huawei, Samsung and Lenovo in that order.

Ars Technica reports former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi launched a Kickstarter Monday for a game called Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. Igarashi was the longest-running producer on the Castlevania series but left Konami last year. The game will be available as a digital download for backers who give $28 or more.

The Verge reports that the Orange Klif, a 3G phone running Firefox OS, is on sale this week for customers of the Orange network in Senegal and Madagascar. The phone costs around $40 US. This follows on the heels of Firefox OS phones shipping in South Africa earlier this year.

News From You:

habichuelacondulce sent us this Verge story on the FCC’s dismissal of a petition to delay the implementation of the Open Internet order submitted by a group consisting of AT&T, CenturyLink, USTelecom, and CTIA. This was the top vote getter on the subreddit today. The FCC stated that its classification of broadband Internet as a telecommunications service falls within its authority and consistent with Supreme Court precedent.

starfuryzeta shared the Huffington Post writeup of the AP report that a source says four of the fifty self driving cars in use in the state of the California have gotten into accidents since September. Three of the accidents happened to a Google Lexus SUV and the other to a car operated by Delphi Automotive. Both companies say the accidents were minor and the self-driving cars were not at fault. Two accidents happened while the cars were in self-driving mode.

michsineath submitted the Slate story about Zappos’s experiment with a management style called Holacracy. The organizational theory replaces titles and managers with a system of tactical and governance meetings. The project began in 2013 but in March CEO Tony Hsieh announced the system would apply to all employees and anyone who was dissatisfied with the decision would be offered severance. 210 employees, about 14% of the company, took the payout.

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/05/09/the-revolution-will-be-digitized/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-07/rising-cyber-attacks-costing-health-system-6-billion-annually
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/04/04/tech-titans-latest-project-defy-death/
http://quantifiedself.com/
http://www.webcitation.org/66TEHdz4d

Pick of the Day:

Lisa Boban (Co-Executive Producer) – Whiting Indiana

I’ve been a subscriber to Rhapsody for over 10 years. I joined when they were literally the only legal game in town. My requirements were simple: a legal music service to keep my teenagers from stealing music.

But over the years their service has been an excellent resource for my musician husband who needs to be able to find specific tracks. Their back catalog is amazing, and the new stuff appears to be there. Their apps on both IOS and Android are great. And for $15 per month we can stream or download music for offline listening. Every time I look at another services, the available choices don’t come close to the functionality I get from Rhapsody.

I realize that Rhapsody has a bad reputation amongst the Technorati. But if you’re looking for a service, I think it deserves at least a look.

Messages: 

Someone who works for a cable company wrote in and pointed out that when a cable company gives its customers a $20 credit for being late to an appointment, it often charges the $20 to the technician.

The worker writes:

They are listed as WorkForce Not Utilized.

Its been told to us that anytime we run late to a job the company takes the $20 hit from the cable company. Thus, the cable company has eliminated any profit loss.

The only way for the charge to not be passed on to us to make sure our dispatcher is notified and has contacted the customer and noted that account 30mins or more before the end of the scheduled timeframe.

It’s Alan from Moncton New Brunswick, where winter just ended
Long time listener (since the first TNT), first time writer and future boss (I’m in the tell everyone I know category ATM )

Regarding self driving trucks,I’d like to give a ‘four cast’
I think that future ‘truck operators’ will be ‘driving’ multiply trucks (three would be a good number.)

I see one operator in charge of these trucks in convoy. Having the ‘unmanned’ trucks following the ‘manned’ truck.
If they run into any mechanical issue the operator could deal with it (tire issues, etc), making decisions on route and maintenance (fueling, etc)
I’d also see the operator being able to switch to any unmanned trucks controls from his seat, that way he could take over to direct it to specific spot for fueling or parking.

Would be perfect for long haul highway routes from terminal to terminal. It would be like a ‘land train’ if we have self driving truck, doing ‘follow the leader’ should be child’s play

Would solve multiple issues about manpower in that industry and getting loads where needed.

=====

Tuesday’s guest:  Patrick Beja

DTNS 2472 – If You Can’t Beat ‘em Buy ‘em

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comNatali Morris joins the show to discuss the EU’s antitrust objections to Google and Patrick Beja drops back in to tell us why France wants to record all data from its ISPs.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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:  Natali Morris and Patrick Beja 

Headlines: 

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced the issuance of a Statement of Objections to Google regarding the search engine’s placement of it’s own comparison shopping results. Google has 10 weeks to respond. If the objections are not resolved Google could face a fine of up to 10% of annual sales and possible requirements to change business practices. The EU also announced the beginning of an investigation into Android and Google’s practice of requiring bundles of software be included as well as accusations that Google tries to prevents forks of the open source operating system.

TechCrunch reports a new Tumblr mobile app has added several desktop features of the site to the app like creating secondary blogs or posting to submission blogs. There’s also a Tumblr Widget that you can add to your today screen to show what’s trending. And a iOS users can now cut and paste video links to make video posts just like their android cousins. Better post filtering options are among the other new features.

CNET reports Samsung told Reuters that demand for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge is much higher than expected. The Korea Times reports a source says Samsung expects to ship 10 million S6s and S6 Edges in the first 26 days after launch.

Reuters reports that Chinese transportation robotics firm Ninebot has acquired Segway makers of a competing self-balancing scooter. The terms were not disclosed, but Sequoia Capital China and Xiaomi invested 80 million dollars in Ninebot to help fund the acquisition. Segway named Ninebot in a patent infringement complaint in September 2014. So remember kids, can’t beat ‘em? Buy ‘em.

PCWorld has just posted a review of Alcatel’s Onetouch Watch. Highlights include the, price: $150 – making it the cheapest smartwatch on the market, standard USB charging interface, 3 days of battery life at medium brightness, and works with iPhone and Android Smartphones. Misses include design and feel, small feature set, semi-useful notifications, and limited activity-tracking tools that do calories burned, miles walked, minutes active and hours slept.

The Verge reports that Twitter has unveiled a new homepage for people who aren’t signed in. Targeted at new users, it displays a curated collection of timelines showing off popular parts of Twitter, including pop artists, cute animals, space news, business news, actors and actresses, and tech news sites. Click on one and you’ll see a real-time conversation from those accounts. The new homepage also includes a prominent search bar that suggests queries for popular trends and hashtags, like #2016Election.

Tech Crunch reports that Tinder released an update today that integrates with Instagram. Users can scroll through the most recent 34 Instagram pictures from their potential matches to see what food they’ve been eating and how they rock a selfie. Users with private Instagram accounts, will have the option to grant Tinder access, which would make your Instagram public on Tinder only. Tinder now also supports common connections, letting users see degrees of separation and Facebook interests.

The Huffinton Post India is reporting India’s Cleartrip, NDTV, Newshunt and the Times Group announced that they are pulling out of Facebook’s internet.org initiative today, citing support for net neutrality as the reason. Internet.org provides access to services without counting against data usage costs. Many net neutrality supporters criticize such ‘zero-rating’ as creating an unbalanced playing field for startups.

 

News From You:

Ninja3000 gave us a heads up on Huawei’s new P8 smartphone announced at a London launch event. According to Android Central the P8 features a steel body, 64-bit 8-core Kirin 920 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, microSD slot for up to 128GB of additional storage, a 13-megapixel optical image stabilized camera,, 5.2” 1080p display and a 2600 mAh fixed internal battery. The P8 will ship with Huawei’s EMUI 3.1 software on Android Lollipop and come in black, gold, grey and champagne. It will launch in 30 countries costing 499 euros for the standard version or 599 euros for the P8 Max with 64 GB of storage in black or gold. An affordable version may come to the US this summer.

JohnEllsworth3 shared this ArsTechnica story about Chrome version 42 disabling old Java and Silverlight plug-ins. Those plug-ins use the 90s era Netscape Plugin API to extend browser functionality. Chrome 42 will be turn that API off by default. Users who need that functionality can re-enable the API setting. However, by September Google plans to permanently kill the plug-ins because they cause “hangs, crashes, security incidents and code complexity”. The company suggests developers who are reliant on the plug-ins should move to more open web standards. Chrome for Linux since version 35 and mobile browsers do not support the plug-ins either.

 

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.rudebaguette.com/2015/04/15/europes-1-hosting-provider-threatens-leave-latest-french-surveillance-law-passes/
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.numerama.com%2Fmagazine%2F32804-regardez-cazeneuve-dire-que-la-vie-privee-n-est-pas-une-liberte.html&edit-text=&act=url
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/15/us-google-eu-idUSKBN0N610E20150415
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/15/google-faces-antitrust-action-from-eu-competition-watchdog
http://googleblog.blogspot.be/2015/04/the-search-for-harm.html
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11539630/QandA-Why-has-the-EU-slapped-Google-with-monopoly-charges.html
http://recode.net/2015/04/14/here-is-googles-internal-response-to-the-imminent-e-u-charges-memo/
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32315649
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/09/google-blocked-acers-rival-phone-to-prevent-android-fragmentation/

 

Pick of the day:

Tom from terrific Toronto writes in:

Hello Tom and Jennie:

With regards to DTNS 2462 and your conversation about Windows unveiling an accessibility dev centre. I would like to pick the weekly Assistive Technology Update podcast.

The latest episode #200, is a special look-back episode, but generally speaking each week they cover the key news in assistive technology, have app reviews, and have an in-depth interview. There are very detailed show notes that include links and a transcript of the interview.

I find it very useful to keep up to date on what’s going on with assistive technology!

http://www.eastersealstech.com/category/assistive-tech-update/
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/assistive-technology-update/id442159129?mt=2

Cheers,

Tom

Messages

Stacey Byerly from rainy Georgia :

Hi Tom
Love the show THANK YOU for a great show

I think Patrick has something there with people being scared to use their phones because of data caps being so low. I suggest apps to many of my friends and family members some of these people don’t know what a gigabyte is. Some don’t want to do anything on their phones because data caps scare them. That might be how the big networks keep traffic down.
I myself used a lot of data this month I’m one of the lucky ones that have an unlimited data plan with unlimited tethering for 60USD (picture attached) haven’t been throttled yet
Thanks
Stacey Byerly

Gaspare from once again rainy in Tampa Florida has a comment on the Reddit button.

“As you described it, it reminded me instantly of a social experiment called “the game.” Thought you might find it interesting, and btw… We all just lost the game…

Christian Cantrell said:

It reminded him of stock trading by employees with limited shares and he theorized: “the button experiment was created by a bored employee of a publicly traded company with no more stock to trade, and who wanted to share his or her pain with millions of fellow Redditors.”

Christian (still waiting to click)

Jason, from springtime Seattle which cannot decide between six more weeks of rain or apocalyptic levels of sunshine and clear skies.

Dear Tom, Jenny, and NotPatrick –

How is it that Monday’s news of the security fix in Mac OS X 10.10.3 wasn’t the lead story? Effectively, there’s a major privilege escalation bug in every version of OS X ever. Apple released a patch for 10.10 (Yosemite) and told every user of previous versions “look, the upgrade to Yosemite is fee, so we wont be patching earlier versions. You’re on your own.”

Users of applications that just don’t work with Yosemite are, of course, left swinging in the wind.

Can you imagine the crapstorm that would ensue if Microsoft fixed a major security release in Windows 10 and told users of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 “hey, the upgrade is free, we won’t be patching your old version”.

Why the free pass for Apple?

Chris in Irvine wanted to comment on the teen being charged a felony for using the teacher’s password.

Turns out when Chris was in school he I created a visual basic application that was a clone of the software used to lock down the PCs. He writes: “The teacher would use a key combination to enter the application and unlock the PC after entering the password. My program intercepted this and displayed it’s own password entry box which would then log the password in a hidden file…. the password securing all of the school’s computers was “book”.. ” He got a three day suspension he continues ” I feel what I did was considerably worse and my punishment of a three day suspension should be more than sufficient in my eyes.

Sheala writes pointing out lots of schools have old tech, insufficient password policies and:

“Added to all that is the fact that the teachers computer is often the only one in he room. So it often gets used for a quick but of research by students. Or teachers will get students to help out. There are any number of activities that make it normal for a kid to be at a teachers computer. And so bad behavior is easily missed.

There are a lot of computer classes in my district taught by teachers that know the bare minimum. And they aren’t teaching information security.”

=====

Wednesday’s guest: Nate Lanxon

 

DTNS 2465 – PC Pick-up Sticks

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comTodd Whitehead is on the show today to talk about the Intel Compute Stick, Chromebit, and the future of PCs on a stick.

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Show Notes

Today’s Guest: Todd Whitehead, head geek of Alpha Geek Radio 

Headlines

Reuters reports Twitter complied with Turkey’s request to remove photographs of a hostage taking by left-wing militants in Istanbul last week, causing a block on the site to be lifted. YouTube is among several sites that remained blocked. An Istanbul judge ordered access blocked to social media sites showing photographs of the slain prosecutor, Mehmet Selim Kiraz. Presidential spokesman said a prosecutor had demanded the block because of concerns the images could be used to spread terrorist propaganda. Twitter says Turkey filed more than five times as many content-removal requests than any other country in the second half of 2014.

(more…)

DTNS 2448 – Ephemeral Billions?

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Young is in for an early show wherein we greet the new FCC Open Internet Rules and discuss why Snapchat is worth $15 billion these days.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Justin Robert Young

“As Ars Technica reports the FCC released its report on “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet”. In the 400 page document the rules themselves make up 8 pages. The rest is commentary and analysis including a 64-page dissent from Commissioner Ajit Pai and a 16-page dissent from Commissioner Michael O’Reilly. Among the analysis are the forebearances from Title II which include this line that will cause most of the debate: “”we do not forbear from
sections 201, 202, and 208.”” The rules will now be published in the Federal Register within a week or two. 60 days after that happens the rules go into effect, except for additions to the transparency rules which require approval by the Office of Management and Budget. Let the parsing BEGIN!”

Recode reports that Apple has stopped selling Jawbone Up, and Nike + FuelBand in its stores ahead of the Apple Watch launch. The Mio, a heart tracking device worn on the wrist, can only be found in Apple’s online store. Recode checked stores in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles and New York. The CEO of Mio said Apple notified her a few months ahead of time that the tracker would be removed from the store, citing a desire to “rework branding for the stores, and to make the Apple brand more front and center” and “minimize the number of accessories.”

Bloomberg Business reports that 11,000 people have already signed up for a Stanford University cardiovascular study using Apple’s Research Kit. The medical director of Stanford’s Cardiovascular Heath department said that getting 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study would normally take a year, and 50 medical centers around the country. The article also notes some researchers are skeptical that the data won’t be skweed by the type of participant or rendered controversial by things like unclear consent forms. Way to harsh Stanford’s mellow, Bloomberg Business.

Buzzfeed reports that Twitter has issued new rules that say “You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.” and says it will lock the accounts of users who violate the rule. The company also issued a new FAQ regarding stolen nudes and revenge porn which they posted on reddit. Users can report possible violations through Twitter’s reporting process.

Reuters reports that U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose said Tuesday that plaintiffs can bring a class action against Facebook regarding online purchases by children. Facebook argued against a class action, saying the claims were too disparate, and an injunction would not address them. The parents of two children who made large amounts of in app purchases brought the suit in April 2012. It says Facebook violated California law by refusing refunds under its “all sales are final” policy when the parents complained. A trial date is set for October 19th.

Bloomberg has sources that say Alibaba will invest $200 million in Snapchat based on a valuation of $15 billion. Snapchat is supposedly seeking a round of $500 million of investment. CB Insights says the valuation ranks it right behind Uber at $40 billion and Xiaomi at $45 billion.

Meanwhile Reuters reports Alibaba is hiring in Seattle for positions related to cloud computing. Microsoft and Amazon, also in the Seattle area, also do cloud computing. Alibaba has already hired 10 software engineers or computing experts from either Microsoft or Amazon since July 2014. Alibaba launched its first cloud computing hub outside of China on March 4 in Silicon Valley.

Reuters reports US District Judges Edward Chen and Vince Chhabria in San Francisco federal court said in two rulings that the status of drivers for Uber and Lyft will need to be decided by juries. Both companies face class action lawsuits on behalf of drivers who want the benefits of being employees not independent contractors.

The BBC is working with Samsung, Microsoft, ARM and the people behind Raspberry Pi to give 1 million 11 year-olds in the UK a free computer reports CNET. The low cost machine, still in development, is called the Micro Bit, and is similar to the Raspberry Pi and Arduino. The unit fits inside the palm of a child’s hand and sports a simple array of LED lights as a display plus Bluetooth. It launches this September and will support Python, C++, and Touch Develop. The BBC will also launchshows about programming as well as a new drama based on the development of Grand Theft Auto along with a documentary on Bletchley Park.

Reuters reports Xiaomi will being local production of devices in India within 12 to 18 months. Xiaomi has sold more than a million phones in 5 months in India. Xiaomi is also looking to invest in start-ups and service centers and will open 100 stores in the country to help consumers “experience” the phones. So you’ll be able to walk into a store in India and by a Mi Phone? No. Xiaomi insist on continuing to use online flash sales and Flipkart.com to actually sell phones.

The Next Web reports a new UK Parliamentary report from the Intelligence and Security Committee revealing how the agencies gathered bulk personal data, and recommending Britain’s laws governing those agencies should be overhauled. Some members of the UK’s intelligence services have been fired for “inappropriately” accessing personal data. The report concludes that existing laws were not broken and bulk data collection did not amount to mass surveillance or threaten privacy.

If you’ve seen the video going around of a laughing Spanish man subtitled as if he’s telling the story of how the new MacBook was created, the Next Web would like you to know. Juan Joya, a Spanish actor and comedian known as El Risitas. If you don’t speak the language, the story he’s actually telling is about washing pots and pans in the ocean. It is the new “Hitler Reacts.”

Bad news in chip town. Reuters reports Intel cut its revenue forecast for Q1 from $13.7 billion to $12.8 billion +- $300 million, citing lower-than-expected demand for business PCs and lower inventory levels across the PC supply chain.

News From You

metalfreak submitted the Ars Technica article that Google now claims its Project Loon balloons can stay aloft for more than 6 months and deliver LTE service to an area the size of Rhode Island. The US State of Rhode Island is 3,140 km².

philo1927 cited two stories of major companies taking a breather from competing. In a TechDirt article Cablevision vice chairman Gregg Seibert says “I don’t want to roll a truck to you every two years if you keep going back and forth to another provider … So we’re getting rid of that lower quality, lower profitability base of subscriber.” And in a CNET article, AT&T CFO John Stephens says “We won’t chase customers net additions for the sake of another account. We’re going to be smart about it.”

Discussion: Snapchat

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-11/alibaba-said-to-plan-snapchat-funding-at-15-billion-valuation
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/us-alibaba-snapchat-idUSKBN0M72L320150311
http://digiday.com/platforms/madness-snapchat-moves-closer-becoming-sports-broadcaster/
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/03/dont-even-try-to-be-chic-on-snapchat.html

 

Pick of the day: tapiriik.com

I had wanted to keep this one to myself as it is so useful but it’s probably time to share…

I am a keen runner and will change running tracking app depending on features or, for example, whether my Garmin is charged! I also like to keep a backup of my runs on Dropbox. Have a look at the site – he supports all major providers – a massive selection and it keeps growing.

There is only one service which allows this – tapiriik.com. It is run by a chap called Colin Fair who offers great support. Best of all, it’s free for manual syncing. If you want automagic syncing, it costs a paltry $2 per year.

Oh, and it isn’t limited to running, but all sports. It will even sync activities marked private and keep them private.

I encourage listeners to try it and to pay for it!

Love the show, as ever.

Andrew from libertine London

Message:

Hello Tom,
Another issue with MLB tv is, if you are in between markets, you are considered part of their viewing areas. I live in Charlotte and when I subscribed two years ago I was considered to be in the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, and for some reason the Cincinnati Reds markets. As a Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox fan it seemed like every game I tried to watch was blacked out because of markets or national broadcasting rights, so I cancelled the service. Thanks for the great work.
Chris in Charlotte NC
Sent from my iPhone

Tomorrow’s guest: Brian Brushwood! Darren Kitchen! Len Peralta!

DTNS 2446 – RIP GigaOm

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPatrick Beja is in today. First the Web now mobile. In light of the shut down of GigaOm, can journalism survive continued disruption?

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Patrick Beja, DNTS contributor and independent podcaster. Check out Pixels and The Phileas Club on Frenchspin.com

Headlines: 

TechCrunch reports an Apple Spokesman confirmed the Apple Watch battery is replaceable and the lifecycle is about three years. The Next Web has a good breakdown of the way Apple calculates battery life. The 18 hours of typical use means 90 time checks, 5 per hour, 90 notifications, 45 minutes total app use and a 30-minute workout with Bluetooth. Other estimates are that total talk time is 3 hours. Total music over Bluetooth is 6.5 hours. Heart rate sensor use runs 7 hours. And if you do nothing but check the time you should get 48 hours. Charging up from empty takes 1.5 hours to 80% and 2.5 hours to full.

The Intercept reports on documents leaked by Edward Snowden from a security gathering called the “jamboree” sponsored by the CIA’s Information Operations Center and held on a Lockheed campus in Northern Virginia. Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories discussed a modified Xcode that put secret backdoors into apps— a modified OS X updater that could install a keylogger— and attempts to break encryption on iOS firmware. Attacks against Microsoft devices were also discussed.

The Next Web reports that The Wikimedia Foundation is joining Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and 6 other organizations to sue the National Security Agency and the US Department of Justice over the NSA’s mass surveillance program. Wikimedia says that the intelligence agency’s methods captures communications by its users and staff, thereby violating their privacy and threatening intellectual freedom.

Yesterday the tech news blog GigaOm came to a sudden halt.  A post on the site said GigaOm was unable to pay its creditors and had ceased operations. Founder Om Malik, who is no longer working on the site, expressed regret and thanked its workers and readers.  The company does not intend to file for bankruptcy but it’s eventual fate is unclear.

The Verge reports a “source knowledgeable with Android Wear’s product road map” says the next software release will add WiFi support, gesture support like flicking the wrist to scroll, and easier access to apps and contact.

The Verge has the news that the Playstation 4 and PlayStation Vita are going on sale in China on March 20th.  The PS4 will code 2,889 yuan (about $464) and the Vita will sell for 1,299 yuan ($207). Chinese officials banned foreign game consoles in 2000, driving most gamers to PCs or mobile devices.  The prohibition was lifted in 2013, and Microsoft launched the Xbox One in September 2014.

The Daily Dot reports the UK’s Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology issued a briefing saying a ban on data encryption and online anonymity is neither acceptable nor feasible. Earlier this year UK Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to ban encryption on the web and end online anonymity to combat terrorism and child pornography. The briefing specifically mentioned TOR as a tool used to bypass censors and the difficulty foreign censors have had in blocking it. Furthermore it noted that 1,624 domains were found to have child abuse material on the open Web, while 36 were found on the Dark Net.

TechCrunch reports the app Yik Yak seems to have been delisted from the Google Play store. The anonymous localized chat app can be found in search but is not listed on any charts. Yik Yak is listed as #20 in social on iOS. Several college campuses in the US have banned the app recently because of the offensive and abusive nature of some postings.

News From You:

tninja3000 & starfuryzeta would like you to know that the US Senate has confirmed former Google Inc executive Michelle Lee as the head of the US Patent and Trademark office. Reuters reports that the position had been vacant for more than two years with Lee as acting director. Lee had been head of patents and patent strategy at Google and joined the USPTO in 2012.

the_corey has sent us a story from The Next Web with a report that Sky Broadband has been ordered to hand over customer data to copyright enforcement company TCYK by a UK court.  Sky has sent letters to subscribers explaining the situation and that they should examine any correspondence from TCYK carefully.  Sky subscribers who receive a letter from TCYK can contact the Citizens Advice Bureau for guidance.

Discussion Section Links:  

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/09/pioneering-tech-blog-gigaom-is-shutting-down/?ncid=rss
https://www.google.com/search?q=ad+spending+media&oq=ad+spending+media+&aqs=chrome..69i57.3407j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8
http://adage.com/article/media/digital-overtake-tv-ad-spending-years-forrester/295694/
http://www.emarketer.com/adspendtool
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/20/2015-ad-spend-rises-to-187b-digital-inches-closer-to-one-third-of-it/

 

Pick of the Day:  Synergy Project via Satya

Satya: Hi Tom,

My pick is Synergy Project, http://synergy-project.org.

It is a pretty cool and very useful software for a sharing a single keyboard and mouse across multiple computers without any additional hardware.

It costs 10$ and works on all operating systems. It is worth every penny.

Messages:

Hi Tom-

When I saw the new USB port world serve as charger and it’s some input, I freaked at first. When I thought about it, I realized with modern battery life, Wi-Fi, cloud storage, and Bluetooth, ports are less useful than they were in the past.

I’m glad they kept the headphone jack since Bluetooth audio fidelity still isn’t quite to to snuff yet. I’m hoping future Wi-Fi specs can support multiple connections to connect wireless storage or wifi headphones or speakers while not cutting off your network access. Pull that off and we might enter a brave new portless world.

Thanks for the great work!

Mike in Smoggy Beirut

================

“Hey, guys. A quick thought on the new MacBooks.

To understand how Apple is positioning them, I think it makes sense to consider its specs:
Retina screen.
M-class processor (which doesn’t require a fan).
Extremely thin and light.
Just two ports (power/data and audio).
Emphasis on touch interaction.
Three colors.
Sort of reminds me of an iPad.

I think it’s really meant for people who are tired of trying to combine an iPad with a keyboard in order to get real work done. In other words, in my opinion, the new MacBook is the best iPad Apple’s ever made (and I want one).

Christian”

=====

BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Wednesday’s guest: Eklund!

DTNS 2443 – But I want HBO Now

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comVeronica Belmont and Justin Young are on the show to help fend off Apple rumors and talk about MLBAM’s OTHER opening day, the purported launch of HBO Now in time for the April 12 premier of Game of Thrones.

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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 guests: Veronica Belmont of Sword and Laser and Justin Robert Young of Night Attack and Jury Talks

Headlines: 

Mobile World Congress? Tech reporters are most concerned with how to smuggle jamón iberico out of the country in their pants. GDC? Hungover. BUT This coming Monday is an Apple announcement. And so the rumors are flooding in to fill the gap! Here. We. Go.

Bloomberg says the never announced 12.9-inch screen iPad will be delayed until September for manufacturers. Some people call the delay of rumored products “starting.”

The WSJ adds the imaginary product will have a more power-efficient Oxide LCD screen and a USB 3.0 port. The WSJ adds the imaginary product will have a more power-efficient Oxide LCD screen and a USB 3.0 port.

WSJ ALSO says a 12-inch MacBook Air will be announced Monday.

And 9to5 Mac reports Apple will NOT announce a new live streaming music service Monday.

TechCrunch says that mythical service will debut at WWDC in June

I can confirm from asking myself that Apple will also not announce a car, a television, or a space rocket or Monday.

The Verge reports that Office 2016 for Mac is about to catch back up to Windows. The last version was released in 2010. Microsoft today announced a preview program for the new Office 2016 for Mac. Major points: Cloud services will be integrated directly into the suite of programs, Word will get co-authoring, and Excel keyboard shortcuts are now consistent between Mac and PC versions. Microsoft wants it ready in time for summer. The company has not yet announced pricing or exact availability dates, but a standalone version is expected.

The Verge reports Imgur has launched a new iPhone app that gives viewers an endless row of swipeable pictures with titles. To comment, like or dislike, or read comments just double tap the picture. When you first open the app the most “viral” images are shown to you first but there are also options for random and latest submissions as well. You can’t upload through the app yet, but that feature is in the works. A new version for Android is also coming soon.

Fit-solidation is official. TechCrunch reports Fitbit confirmed the acquisition of FitStar, makers of a personal training app that creates customized workouts with celeb athletes like NFL star Tony Gonzalez and yogi Tara Stiles. FitStar has two million registered iOS users. Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park says the company also plans to expand FitStar to other platforms.

Look out Progressive Insurance, TechCrunch reports Google is launching “Google Compare for Auto Insurance” which lets California shoppers compare rates from different insurance providers. The option will pop up after a consumer does a Google search for “car insurance” or by going to google.com/compare. Google plans to offer it other states later in the year. While the move could help bolster revenue for Google through commissions many high profile insurance brokers like Progressive, State Farm, Allstate and GEICO have declined to work with Google. TechCrunch speculates that Google might also be doing this to learn about pricing risk in advance of self-driving cars.

Engadget reports that 2009 is back! I mean, RockBand is back! Rock Band 4 is coming to Xbox One and Playstation 4 later this year. Harmonix says all previous songs will work in Rock Band 4. The company wants to make old peripherals work but there will also be new peripherals. Also no news on Rock Band Network. This will be a platform for DLC it seems. Harmonix will talk more about Rock Band 4 this weekend at PAX East in Boston, and in June at E3 2015.

News From You: 

ccastro425 posted the Engadget story about a laser from LockHeed Martin that can stop a car from more than a mile away. The fiber-optic laser called ATHENA burned through the engine manifold of an F150. It works by “spectral beam combining which involces taking multiple laser modules and pointing them to the same place. Like the death star. And no the truck didn’t explode, just stopped running.

AB-ee-CHWAY-lah-con-DOOL-say submitted the PC World report that Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, said Microsoft is opening up app development for the Xbox One. Windows developers will be able to port their apps to the Xbox. Microsoft wants to make Xbox Live accessible through the API to all game developers no matter how big.

Michsineath submitted this topic. The Cost of eBooks in France and Luxembourg won’t be going down anytime soon reports Reuters. Judges at the European Court of Justice today, dismissed arguments by both countries that ebooks should be treated as goods not a service. EU rules allow member states to set lower VAT rates on printed books, however the European Commission decided that France and Luxembourg’s application of those rates to electronic books was illegal. Statista predicts ebook sales in Europe are expected to account for a fifth of book sales in Europe by 2017 up from 4.5% in 2013.

 

Discussion Section Links:  HBO NOW?

http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/03/hbo-now-coming-this-spring-for-15-per-month-with-apple-as-launch-partner/
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/4/8149579/hbo-now-streaming-service-name-pricing-report
http://consumerist.com/2014/12/09/hbo-seeks-streaming-video-help-from-major-league-baseball/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/mlbs-streaming-tech-unit-goes-pro-1424718022
http://www.techhive.com/article/2888298/major-league-baseball-might-spin-off-its-video-streaming-operation.html
https://gigaom.com/2014/12/09/hbo-gone-cto-leaves-after-hbo-outsources-streaming-service/
http://www.cnet.com/news/nba-espn-deal-drafts-streaming-only-service-for-cord-cutters/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeuLion

 

Pick of the Day: Mohiomap via Michelle

Dear Tom, Jennie, today’s guest and behind the scenes DTNS team,

I would like to recommend Mohiomap, to DTNS followers. This developing site is a visual cloud based, free, curation tool, currently combines, Google drive, Evernote and Dropbox, with more services in the pipeline to be added.

Certainly helps to visualise and manage all the resources one has stored across these various platforms. IMHO A new service worth checking out, supporting, testing and giving feedback too.

https://www.moh.io/mohiomap/welcome.php

Thanks for the great show.

BFN
OOROO
Michelle not from lovely Cleveland

Messages: PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Friday’s guest: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta

DTNS 2424 – Glass Ceiling

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Young is on the show and the two of us will decide the true fate of Google Glass. Is it dead, for the enterprise, or poised to have its greatest moment yet? Plus Len Peralta is here to illustrate the show!

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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 guests: Justin Robert Young and Len Peralta

Check out Len’s amazing art for the week: “Would You Hit A Guy Wearing Glass?”

Headlines

The Verge reports the first Ubuntu phone will go on sale next week in online flash sales throughout Europe. The Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Editions is built by Spanish company BQ and will sell for €169.90. It’s a modest price for a modest phone. 4.5-inch display with 540 x 960 qHD resolution, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor 8 GB of storage and no LTE. It does have dual micro-SIM. The OS uses cards instead of apps, delivering content by category. Services include Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Time Out, Yelp, and Cut the Rope with Spotify, SoundCloud, and Grooveshark also included through web APIs. Followers of @ubuntu and @bqreaders on Twitter will get first alert each time the phone becomes available.

Bloomberg reports a large number of people who work at Tesla, used to work at Apple. In fact 150 of the 6,000 or so Tesla employees have Apple on their resume. Musk says the two companies design philosophies are closely aligned and that Apple tries to recruit from Tesla as well. Execs and engineers from larger established tech company relocate to smaller Valley start up. Also, water is wet. Lebron James is good at basketball and Tom’s Beard is majestic. What else is new?

CNET reports an advisory group set up by Google recommends the company limit its “right-to-forgotten” search result removals to Europe, where it is the law. Google does not alter search results for its non-European domains, even though they can be accessed from within Europe.

TechCrunch reports Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In project has started a CS&E Chapter to help women in computer science and engineering find advice and support. The chapter is launching in partnership with Facebook, LinkedIn and the Anita Borg Institute.

TechCrunch reports that Uber is adding two new safety features to its app in India. An in-app panic button and journey and location sharing with up to five people will roll out to users beginning February 11. The features will come to the app worldwide at a later date.

BuzzFeed wrote up a profile of ride-hailing service Gett moving in on Uber’s turf in New York. Gett or Gettaxi is the second largest international ride-hailing company by revenue, after Uber. The two companies have squared off previously in Tel Aviv, Moscow and London. Gett rolled out fixed rate rides of $10 in Manhattan in September. Gett’s biggest advantage is coming into markets with legal approval. Almost the opposite tactic Uber takes.

News From You: 

starfuryzeta sent in The Guardian post reporting the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal declared Friday that regulations covering access by Britain’s GCHQ to emails and phone records intercepted by the US National Security Agency (NSA) breached Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on human rights. 8 relates to private and family life and 10 to freedom of expression. The court made the decision because the public was unaware of safeguards int he program. The GCHQ was pleased that the surveillance itself was found legal and only the details to be made public needed to change.

DocSneer posted the ProPublica article calling attention to the financial problems of Werner Koch, the coder maintaining Gnu Privacy Guard. After the publication of the article the Linux Foundation awarded a one-time grant of $60,000 and his donation page reached a funding goal of $137,000. Additionally Facebook and Stripe each pledged to donate $50,000 a year to the project.

And jaymz6689 posted the TechDirt article which, bear with me takes details from a Music Business Worldwide post about a report from Ernst &Young and French record label trade group SNEP. What did they all find? Of streaming revenue generated by platforms like Spotify, about 20.8% goes to the platform itself, 16.7% to taxes, 10% to songwriters, 6.8% to artists and the largest share, 45.6% goes to labels. If you take out taxes and the platform, payouts of royalties go 73.1% to labels.

Discussion Section Links: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/style/why-google-glass-broke.html

http://www.cio.com/article/2879048/google-glass/google-glass-is-alive-and-well-in-the-enterprise.html

Pick of the Day:  Lots of pics for Jody

Hey Tom – as a brand new co-executive producer, I felt compelled to offer up a couple of picks…

As someone who just started a new job, Charlie App has been a great tool for me to not only see how I may be connected to the new folks I meet but also a great way to remember people’s names.

Charlie App – charlieapp.com
Charlie combs through 100s of sources and automatically sends you a one-pager on everyone you’re going to meet with, before you see them.

Another great tool I recently found is Sidekick. Sidekick is a Google Chrome extension that when open will track when and where a person reads your email. Kinda creepy but also kinda cool.

Sidekick – app.getsidekick.com
Sidekick is a free service that gives you email superpowers with contact insights, email tracking, and email scheduling.

Keep doing your thing! Really enjoy DTNS.

Best, Jody

Monday’s guest: Brian Brushwood!

DTNS 2362 – Ahey Irisay

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comVeronica Belmont is on the show and we’ll talk about President Obama’s proposal to reclassify ISPs in the US as commence carriers to solve net neutrality concerns.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Veronica Belmont, co-host of Sword & Laser

Headlines:

The President of the United States of America posted a letter and video today declaring his support for reclassification of Internet Services as Common Carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. President Obama expressed his opinion that regulations shouwl not allow blocking, paid prioritization or throttling and ISPS should provide increased transparency. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler welcomed the Presidents comments and said he would consider them, presumably along with the 4 million others the FCC has received on the issue.

Facebook’ stand-alone Messenger app now has 500 million monthly active users, according to PC World. The number of monthly active users doubled in the six months, since Facebook cut off access to chat in their main app and required users to download the separate Messenger app. Facebook-owned WhatsApp reported 600 million monthly active users in August.

Reuters reports researchers at FireEye have discovered a bug in iOS that could enable attackers to access sensitive data on devices by getting users to install malicious applications that replace legitimate apps. FireEye calls the attack “Masque Attack.” FireEye disclosed the vulnerability to Apple in July and Apple is working to fix the bug. The WireLurker exploit takes advantage of this vulnerability. FireEye advises iOS users not install apps from unofficial app stores.

CNET reports Apple has put out a tool to help former iOS users disconnect their phone number from iMessage. Some users who switch to a non-Apple phone find text messages are still routed to their iMessage account where they are lost. The solution has been to switch off iMessage on the old phone though some users said that didn’t work. The new tool lets you remove the phone number from iMessage so that text messages are never accidentally routed to your Apple accounts at all.

The Next Web reports Mozilla released some new features for Firefox in celebration of the 10 years since the release of Firefox 1.0 on Nov. 9 2004. Among the new features are an easier sign in process, a walkthrough of privacy features, and a forget button that clears anywhere from 5 minutes to 24 hours of browsing history. DuckDuckGo is also now a standard search option.

Andrew Lewman, executive director of the Tor Project told the BBC that the significance of Europol and US Agency busts of 17 people associated with darknet sites may be overblown. Originally several sites had been reported shut down and rumors circulated that Tor had been compromised. Europol later clarified that 400 pages were closed in association with the services that hosted them. 27 services were seized in the operation. Lewman does not believe Tor itself was compromised in relation to the raids.

Reuters reports Samsung applied for a license to invest $3 billion in a second smartphone factory in Vietnam. This new factory will also be located in Than Nguyen province. Samsung has been increasing production in Vietnam to reduce costs.

Ars Technica reports that Pirate Bay and Flattr co-founder Peter Sunde, also known as brokep, has been freed from a Swedish prison after serving 5 months of an eight month sentence. A Swedish court found Sunde and three other co-defendants guilty of aiding copyright infringement as part of The Pirate Bay. Upon release, Sunde tweeted, “My body just got re-united with my soul and mind, the parts of me that matters and that never can be held hostage.”

TechCrunch reports the United States Postal Service is the latest to have its database targeted. The attack focused on employee data like social security numbers, addresses. Some information recorded from customer calls may also have been accessed. The intrusion was detected in mid-September.

 

 

 

 

 

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper submitted the GigaOm story that the Raspberry Pi foundation has put the Model A+ on sale for $20, making it the most affordable RaspBerry Pi on the market. The A+ comes with the new 40-pin GPIO header which can use the same HAT add-on boards that the B= can use.

habichuelacondulce submitted the Torrent Freak report that based on information it has received, Comcast recently sent out its 1 millionth Copyright Alert notice in the US. That’s about 2,000 notices a day. The alerts are part of the “six strikes” system in the US that aims to educate users about copyright infringement. No impact on actual infringement has been shown as yet.

 

Discussion Section:  POTUS and Net Neutrality

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/president-obama-calls-for-a-free-and-open-internet-wants-it-reclassified-as-a-utility/?ncid=rss

https://gigaom.com/2014/11/10/obama-tells-the-fcc-to-implement-real-net-neutrality-and-hes-serious/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186787/tim-wu-says-obamas-net-neutrality-plan-is-bold-courageous-and-just

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/the-fcc-fires-back-at-the-presidents-net-neutrality-plan/?ncid=rss

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186243/obama-just-did-the-right-thing-for-the-internet-and-made-life-hell

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah-ted-cruz-you-silly-senator/?ncid=rss

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186111/obama-net-neutrality-plan-draws-bold-reactions

http://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/11/10/protesters-descend-on-fcc-chairmans-house-over-net-neutrality/

http://www.fs.fed.us/specialuses/commsites/documents/pl-104-104.pdf

http://transition.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf

Pick of the Day: Atlas Wearables via Andrei

Hi Tom, Jenny, and guest ..

Long time listener … first time caller (?).

About fitness trackers being able to track more, I thought I’d pass along Atlas Wearables (www.atlaswearables.com). Through their Motion Genome Project should be able to recognize different exercises.

2nd production units can be preordered for $249 (!) + S&H for spring 2015

Love the show, Andrei

Tuesday’s Guest: Breki Tomasson, founder of the CSICON podcasting network