Search Results for "september 10"

Molly Wood is on to talk about Amazon’s new wallet app, the future of payments, and possibly a tiny little patent rant.

MP3

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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 music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest:  Molly Wood, of the paper of record! 

Headlines

Techcrunch reports Xiaomi announced a new phone called the Mi4 and a wearable called the Mi Band. The wristband device is a fitness tracker and can unlock your mi phone, coming in 5 colors and will sell for 79 renminbi or about US$13. The Mi4 has a metal band reminiscent of the iPhone with a 5-inch 1080p display 2.5GHz processor snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage and a 3,080 mAh battery. It’s also the first model with LTE. TNW reports the Mi 4 will be available for CNY 1,999 (approximately $322) for the 16GB and CNY 2,499 (around $403) for the 64 GB. 3G versions come July 29 (China Unicom) and August (China Telecom), while the 4G version will land some time in September. 

Apple Insider posted that the USPTO granted Apple a patent for a “ “Wrist-worn electronic device and methods therefore” The device can connect with portable devices and the strap carries sensors. It also supports wrist gestures and proximity-sensing circuitry. Prior art? Never heard of it. Apple Insider points out the patent seems to be as much about putting an iPod Nano in an enhanced wristband as anything. 

TechCrunch started the wave of tech news sites noticing that Amazon had quietly launched a wallet app on July 17th for Kindles and Android. The app lets you store gift cards and loyalty cards and in some cases check balances. You can manage the app at amazon.com/wallet which also will list your Amazon-linked credit cards, implying that someday those too may become available in the wallet app. Amazon says the current app is in beta and will ship pre-installed on the Amazon Fire Phone. 

Ars Technica passes along the Nvidia announcement of a new version of the Shield Android gaming tablet. The previous all-in-one unit becomes the Shield Portable while the new unit is an 8-inch 1920 x 1200 tablet that can be controlled with a WiFi connected controller sold separately. The tablet includes 2GB of RAM, 300Mbps 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and 5MP front and rear cameras. It also supports 4K video through its micro-HDMI port. The tablet will sell for $299 at 16GB and $399 at 32GB with LTE. Controllers will cost an extra $59 and a cover-case is $39. All of that arrives on July 29 in the US and Canada.

Ars Technica reports researchers from Carnegie Mellon University Alexander Volynkin and Michael McCord had to cancel a talk at Black Hat that would have shown how to discover the identity of Tor users for less than $3,000. Attorneys from Carnegie Mellon and the Software Engineering Institute requested the cancelation. Tor project leader Roger Dingledine wrote in an e-mail to Tor users that a fix is coming that should close the particular bug in question. 

CNET reports Verizon posted Q2 profits of $4.32 billion, down from last year’s $5.2 billion. But Verizon’s share of the profit, after excluding the cut that Vodafone used to get as part owner, was actually $4.2 billion, or $1.01 a share, up significantly from a year-ago gain of $2.2 billion, or 78 cents a share. Revenue rose 5.7 percent. Verizon’s customer growth was attributed to tablet demand as well as net addition of 304,000 phone subscribers.

The Wall Street Journal reports sources say Apple is asking suppliers to manufacture between 70 million and 80 million units two iPhone models with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays by December 30. Either phone could go on sale well before that date. Foxconn and Pegatron plan to start mass producing the 4.7-inch iPhone model next month and Hon Hai will reportedly begin making the 5.5-inch version exclusively in September.

Microsoft reported Q4 revenue of $23.38 billion with earnings per share of 55 cents. TechCrunch reports analysts expected the company to earn $0.60 on revenue of $23.00 billion. It sold 5.8 million Windows Phone-based Lumia handsets in the period. Phones cost the company $0.08 in earnings per share and lost it $692 million in the quarter. Devices and Consumer segment revenue were up 42% and Commercial revenue up 11%. So in the end, more revenue, less profit.

Apple reported revenues of $37.4 billion for its third fiscal quarter and profits of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per share. Wall Street was expecting the company to announce earnings of $1.23 a share, on $37.99 billion in revenue. The results are right in the middle of Apple’s own revenue forecast, which was between $36 and $38 billion. 35.2 million iPhones shipped, versus 31.2 million a year ago 13.2 million iPads shipped, versus 14.6 million last year and 17 million the year before that 4.4 million Macs shipped, compared to 3.8 million last year

News From You

Kylde, the self-described janitor of the subreddit, whose tireless efforts keep it spam free pointed out the daily dot post about a decision U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to allow law enforcement officials access to a suspect’s entire email account without limit. The judge placed no limits on the time frame or manner of search, which is unusual when approving a search warrant. The decision contrasts with one made by Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola, in March, blocking an attempt by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) to obtain what he saw as an overly broad search warrant for an email account. 

melchizedek74 submitted the Verge report that FXX cable channel will marathoin the entire run of the Simpson’s, all 25 seasons, from August 21st to September 1st. After THAT, Variety reports that FXX will launch “Simpsons World” in October, which will let cable subscribers watch every episode on demand at SimpsonsWorld.com, or on the FXNow app.

Discussion Section:  Amazon Mobile Wallet

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/22/amazon-quietly-launches-its-consumer-facing-mobile-wallet-app-amazon-wallet/?ncid=rss

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LIBDH8M/ref=mas_dl?ie=UTF8&mas_redir=T5&ref=mas_dl

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.wallet
https://www.amazon.com/wallet/merchantCards?ref_=wallet_ln_mc

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/29/amazon-wants-to-include-peer-to-peer-payments-in-its-real-world-paypal-competitor/

http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/16/amazon-reportedly-buys-mobile-payments-startup-gopago-working-on-an-ambitious-new-project/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/22/us-nigeria-paypal-launch-idUSKBN0FR22L20140722?

feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

 Picks of the Day: iSmoothRun & Smashrun via Neil

Mr. Merritt, Here are two picks in the category of fitness (primarily running, but iSmoothRun does work well with bicycling too).

iSmoothRun — how I collect my GPX run data and view on my phone
The best running application for iOS devices, in my opinion, is iSmoothRun.It doesn’t hold your GPX data hostage like some competitor applications, and makes it easy for you to share your data (I can export all, not just one at a time). I can also link it to many sites (including those that would be considered competitors). It has feature that no other running application has (or at least I have found) … It is only $5.99 and is the best money I have spent on my staying fit and healthy.

Smashrun.com – how I analyze my GPX run data on my computer

I use multiple sites to track and share my runs. This site has become my favorite. It has a good social aspect as well as provided a lot of details into your various runs. It is actually the first running or application with badges that are actually encouraging and worthwhile (IMHO). The ability to summarize my running data is great. The pro features allow me to do a deep dive into a run and see my pace, heart rate, and elevation along the entire course. Considering how new of offering this is, it is very impressive. Also, the blog posts show the upcoming feature set based on votes from those that are using smashrun.

Tomorrow’s guest: 

Michael Wolf is on the show to talk about how retailers hope to grab your loyalty for the Internet of Things. Is this going to be the worst format war yet?

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 guest: Michael Wolf of The Next Market podcast

Headlines

SamMobile reports Samsung’s virtual reality device, allegedly called “Gear VR” will be announced alongside the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 at the IFA conference in Berlin. Sort of a higher tech version of Google’s Cardboard, Gear VR will connect to a Galaxy device by USB 3.0 and make use of the phone’s sensors to track head motion. IFA kicks off September 5th. 

Bloomberg has an article about how landing top talent is getting tough in Silicon Valley. So much so that firms like Facebook are flying High Schoolers out to meetings with CEO Mark Zuckerberg in order to win them over from a young age. A chart from GlassDoor shows interns earning more than $5,000 a month at places like Apple Google, NVidia and Amazon, and those companies don’t even pay the most. 

CNET reports Apple lost a patent case in China to Shanghai’s Zhizhen Internet Technology over a speech-recognition patent. Zhizhen claims their patent is violated by the way Siri recognizes and analyzes a person’s speech. Apple plans to appeal the decision. 

Recode reports LG introduced KizOn Tuesday, a wearable device designed to allow parents to track their preschool and elementary children. The wristband has a button to call a predefined number and can receive calls from parents. It’s set to debut July 10 in South Korea before eventually making its way to North America and Europe in the third quarter.

ZDNet passes on that NPD DisplaySearch’s report shows tablet PCs declined year over year for the first time ever, to 56 million units. NPD DisplaySearch has lowered its forecast for tablet PC shipments in 2014 to 285 million units. The fall comes mostly in the 7-7.9-inch tablets feeling pressure from larger phones in the 5-6 inch range. Replacement cycles for tablets are also lengthening.

The Next Web reports that time spent with apps on Xiaomi phones has surpassed iPhones in China according to mobile firm Flurry. A random sample of 23,000 devices in China throughout January 2014 found the average Xiaomi user spent 7 percent more time in apps compared to Apple. The average Samsung user spent 14 percent less time than an iPhone user, while a HTC consumer spent 27 percent less time.

The Next Web also has some good news for Facebook in the Philippines. A report from OnDevice research shows 80 percent of mobile users in the Phillipines are regular Facebook Messenger users. Second place at 27% is Skype and Viber. Normally popular apps in Asia like We Chat and Line are near the bottom of the list at 15% and 10% respectively. Also interesting to note 70 percent of the country’s 40 million Internet users are younger than 30.

Google posted on the Android blog that screen mirroring from Android devices to Chromecast is now enabled. To start mirroring, simply select “Cast Screen” from the navigation drawer in the Chromecast app and select your Chromecast device. On Nexus devices, this feature is also available through the quick settings menu. The feature is in beta and will roll out to various devices over the next few days. 

THIS JUST IN Matt Chapman told Jeff Rubin of the Jeff Rubin Show that the Chapman Brothers plan to start making more HomestarRunner cartoons. That April Fool’s Day thing was a test and we passed Internet, We passed. More StrongBad emails are coming. Soon. Maybe Strongbad’s Lappy will even be rocking a Pentium!

News From You

therobertonline posted the 9to5 Google story about security researchers from Avast showing that Android’s factory reinstall only cleans at the application layer, leaving loads of personal data behind. Using off the self drive imaging programs like FTK Imager on 20 smartphones purchased from eBay, Avast recovered more than 40,000 photos, 750 emails and text messages, and even a completed loan application. Coincidentally, Avast has a tool they say does a better job, but encrypting your data, and wiping a phone loading fake data and wiping again are also good suggestions.

MikePKennedy sent in the Next Web article pointing out Google has announced its remote access plugin fro Chrome now works for Linux users. That means remote access from Chrome now works acrtoss Windows OS X Android and Linux, although for that last you need to be running the Ubuntu or Debian distros for it to work.

KAPT_Kipper posted the Engadget story that Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo discovered a critical security flaw in Adobe Flash. The so-called “Rosetta Flash” is a proof of concept, but could allow hackers to steal your cookies and other data using malicious Flash .SWF files. Many companies have patched their sites, but not all, so you’ll want to get the fix from Adobe in the latest version of Flash 10.0.0.145 and if you use Adobe AIR update that to 14.0.0.137 too. 

Finally tm204 submitted a National Journal posting about the Senate Intelligence Committee approving legislation Tuesday to make it easier for companies to share information regarding cyberthreats with each other and the US Government. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act or CISA is meant to remove legal barriers to cooperation against cyberattacks, while still protecting user privacy by stripping out personally identifiable information of known Americans. Sens. Ron Wyden and Mark Udall voted against the legislation, saying in a statement that it “lacks adequate protections for the privacy rights of law-abiding Americans, and that it will not materially improve cybersecurity.” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, said the bill is a carefully crafted compromise between business groups and privacy advocates.

Discussion Section: 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelwolf/2014/07/01/heres-why-retailers-are-betting-big-on-internet-of-things/?utm_content=buffera190a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

http://www.cepro.com/article/staples_connect_hub_slashed_to_49_newer_model_adds_bluetooth_zigbee/

http://www.cepro.com/article/staples_connect_vs_lowes_iris_home_automation_smackdown_at_ces_2014/

http://blog.nextmarket.co/post/87623736094/first-impressions-of-homekit-apples-first-step-into

http://www.zonoff.com/

http://revolv.com/faq/

 Pick of the Day: My Tracks via Vance McAlister

(As you might expect from me, another Google app, this time one very few seem to know about, I just discovered it myself!)

I wanted to point everyone to an almost unknown little app from Google called My Tracks. It most closely resembles apps like Runkeeper which track your walking, running or biking. It has large, friendly buttons for Start, Pause and Stop during your workout and then gives you the standard stats afterwards, including a map. A few fun features are that you can follow your progress on the map while you are moving, it will give you a “fly-over” movie of your movement on a 3D Google Map, and it will keep a copy of each workout map saved in a special folder in Google Drive. Super simple to use, and dead easy, but maybe not as full-featured as Runkeeper or Runtastic. Definitely worth trying out since it is free.

Thursday’s guest: Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio

Jeremy Kaplan joins us from #CEWeek to talk Nest API, Microsoft’s Android phone and the future of healthcare tech. Can wearables make the jump from fitness to serious medical use?

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 guest:  Jeremy Kaplan, editor-in-chief of Digital Trends.com 

Headlines

Digital Trends reports Nest Labs released a new smart home API to let developers make their devices work well with Nest’s. So your car can tell the Nest thermostat to warm up the house as you head home, and your light bulbs can glow red of the smoke alarm detects something alarming. Mercedes-Benz, Jawbone, Whirlpool, LIFX, IFTTT, and Logite have already released new Nest-compatible features for some of their products. The API is open to iOS and Android developers. 

Bloomberg BusinessWeek published an interview with Google’s head of Android, Sundar Pichai, in which he said the next version of Android will be previewed at Google I/O tomorrow. The decision to preview Android’s ‘L’ named version at I/O instead of waiting until fall, was made in an effort to be more transparent. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what desert will become the name. Lemon Merengue, Ladyfingers, Lorna Doone Biscuits?

Bloomberg’s been talking to ‘people familiar with the plans’ and they say Apple plans begin mass production of its largest iPhones ever next month. The people say the plans include one model with a 4.7-inch display for shipment in September. The new phone swill also be rounder and thinner. An alleged 5.5-inch model has alleged production complications and so allegedly might not make it out this year.

The Next Web has the fact that Microsoft has announced a new Android phone called the Nokia X2. This is the first phone launched by Microsoft since it acquired Nokia’s handset division. The phone has a 4.3-inch touchscreen, 1.2 GHz dual-core snapdragon processir, 5-mpxl rear-facing camera, dual-SIM and 15 GB of storage. It’s available immediately for €99 in select countries.

The Next Web reports WeChat has introduced an ‘unsend’ feature that lets you pull back a message within two minutes of pressing send. The update is live on iOS and coming soon to Android. 

News From You

tm204 has the top story on the subreddit from ComputerWorld. It seems folks who shelled out $1450 for the Chromebook Pixel last year were promised two years of free Verizon LTE service up to 100 MB a month. One year after activation several Pixel owners are complaining the Verizon service has stopped working, unless you pay. Computerworld’s JR Raphael called Verizon support and Google Play and has received no definitive answer why. 

gardnervh posted the TechCrunch story that an amendment to the constitution of the US State of Missouri. The state legislature has proposed adding electronic communications and data to the section prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure and requiring a warrant and probable cause for reasonable searches. Citizens of Missouri will vote on the amendment in August.

tekkyn00b posted the Gizmodo story that MIT engineers have created a nanomaterial that withstand force 160,000 times its weight. A repeating geometric lattice was designed to be stiff but light makes it about 400 times as strong as most material of the same density. Researchers suggest it could be used in space, for battery construction or anything that needs high strength and low weight.  

metalfreak posted the Wired story describing Hacking Team modules discovered by researchers working independently of each other at Kaspersky Lab in Russia and the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs in Canada. The Hacking Team provides software to governments and law enforcement agencies. Among the modules uncovered are ones that can activate microphones, take pictures, intercept email and text messages and log keystrokes on Android and iOS phones. 

Discussion Section Links:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/24/5835910/soundhawks-earpiece-lets-you-pick-exactly-what-you-want-to-hear

http://www.cnet.com/news/pebble-watch-partners-with-misfit-for-fitness-tracking-app/

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/06/23/healthcare-wearable-technology/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/06/19/wearable-tech-health-insurance/

http://www.mddionline.com/article/wearable-tech-regulated-medical-devices-can-revolutionize-healthcare-6-18-2014

Pick of the day: Cloak via Alan Steinberger

Hi Tom, I have a simple solution for auto-connecting to WiFi hotspots, and protecting one from spoofed AT&T sites. Not to sound like a shill for Cloak VPN (www.getcloak.com), but they rolled out an extremely effective Connect On Demand feature a few months ago. When I’m out and about, every time my iPad finds a Starbucks or a Time Warner or other recognized hot spot, it automatically comes on. When I’m home or in another trusted location, Cloak stays off. I only need the 5 GB/month plan, which is inexpensive, and I’ve found the Cloak team in general and Dave Peck in particular to be most helpful and responsive. Love the show! Alan

Calendar Item of the Day: CE Week New York

Today is the start of CE Week, the consumer electronics industry’s annual mid-year check-in in New York City.The Exhibits and Conference Program, better known as as ‘the place with all the shiny things you covet’, begins Wednesday June 25 — we’ll have a preview on tomorrow’s show. Want more? Check out ceweekny.com

Wednesday’s Guest: Andrea Smith, technology journalist talks CE Week  

Eric Olander is on to chat about Huawei, Xiaomi, and the coming disruption in smartphones that has Samsung and Apple in its sites. Also how Microsoft is fighting the US government.

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:  Eric Olander co-host of the weekly China in Africa podcast

Headlines

The Verge reports Samsung announced two new tablets Thursday, an 8.4-inch and 10.5-inch Galaxy Tab S. The tablets are similar to the Tab Pro and Tab 4 lines but thinner at 6.6mm and sporting Super AMOLED screens. Samsung emphasized the screens not only have 2560 x 1600 resolution but a wider color range for more natural colors. Both devices will be available beginning July 4 in Europe, and sometime in July in the US. The 16GB 8.4-inch WiFi-only tablet will run €399/$399/£349 and the 10.5-inch version €499/$499/£449. Models with LTE will follow and run about €100 more.

Forbes reports Google plans to launch a health service called Google Fit, which would aggregate data from popular fitness trackers and apps. Similar to Apple’s Healthkit, the service would use an open API to allow apps to share information with the new Google Fit ecosystem. Forbes sources say the service will launch at Google I/O June 25-26. 

The Verge reports Apple announced a replacement program for European iPhone adapters sold between October 2009 and September 2012. The adapter is at risk of overheating. The affected adapter, Model A1300, was packaged in with European sales of the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S, and was also sold separately. Customers should book an appointment at an Apple store or authorized service provider, or contact Apple Technical Support to make the exchange.

CNET reports Facebook has updated its Messenger app for iOS and Android. Version 6.0 includes the ability to record and send video clips without leaving the app, though there’s a limit of 15 seconds. Another new feature lets you press and hold the like button longer to register a “Big Like”. 

PC World reports AT&T has joined Verizon in filing a friend of the court brief in support of Microsoft’s resistance to hand over email from a server in Dublin, Ireland, to a US Government investigation. Microsoft argues the investigators should get an Irish judge to issue the order through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or MLAT process. The US argues the location of the company, in this case Microsoft, is what matters, not the location of the server. AT&T wrote “this practice rests on an understanding that when it comes to data storage and privacy protections, location matters.” And warned that if the US ignores MLAT, then other countries might too and take data from US servers. 

News From You

HobbitfromPA got a good number of upvotes on the Ars Technica story that Jonathan Daniel, the man who parodied Peoria Illinois mayor on Twitter is suing Peoria’s mayor and police for violating his civil rights. Daniel created a parody account called @peoriamayor using a picture of mayor Jim Ardis. In response Peoria’s mayor got Twitter to shut down the account, but also threatened to prosecute Daniel for impersonating a public official, and had police raid search and seize property. No charges of impersonation were filed, although police did charge Daniel’s roommate with felony possession of marijuana.

metalfreak posted the Network World story that Google has started an open-source project called PDFium to create a PDF software library which developers can incorporate into apps on a variety of platforms. Google intends to replace its current closed-source PDF reader with the project. The rendering engine for the project was developed by Foxit, a long-time maker of PDF-reading software. The code will carry a BSD-3 clause software license.

KAPT_Kipper posted the Ars Technica story that IPv4 addresses have just about run out from all major registries. Asia’s APNIC, Europe’s RIPE NCC and Latin America’s LACNIC will only allow operators to get one more block of 1024 addresses and then that’s it. ARIN, the North America registry just reached it’s last phase in April, so it’s still letting ISPs come back for more for now. Only Africa’s AfriNIC is continuing to supply IPv4 addresses as needed. So IPv6. You’re up.

spsheridan posted the CNET story that the US Marshals Service announced Thursday  will auction nearly 30,000 bitcoins seized from Silk Road last October. The auction will take place June 27. Interested bidders mist register by June 23 and make a $200,000 wire transfer to a government bank to hold their place. The US Marshals Service will carry out the auction by selling nine blocks of 3,000 bitcoins and a tenth block of 2,657 bitcoins.

And KAPT_Kipper pointed out the BBC story that Xbox One owners complain a new TV ad featuring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul messes with their Xbox. In the ad for the Xbox One, Paul says “XZbox On” which apparently activates some Xbox One’s voice command interface turning the console on. 

Discussion Section Links: Huawei

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/13/huawei-renews-focus-on-europe/?mod=rss_Technology

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/12/huawei-launches-an-online-store-to-sell-its-own-unlocked-phones/

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-06/huawei-says-it-can-beat-xiaomi-in-race-to-be-chinas-top-smartphone-brand

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-04/chinas-xiaomi-the-worlds-fastest-growing-phone-maker

http://www.cnet.com/pictures/xiaomi-mi3s-brings-style-to-android-pictures/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/05/28/biden-name-one-innovative-product-from-china/

Pick of the day: Tripit & FlightAware via Tom 

Monday’s Guest:  Mike Schramm

Raj Deut is on the show from E3. Did Sony keep the lead in Mindshare? Is there any hope for Nintendo? Plus a wearable SIM card that can authenticate any device.

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:  Raj Deut, of Reckoner Australia and 1,000 Words On

Headlines

Nintendo held a virtual E3 announcement again this year, streamed over the Internet. The main star was Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and 3DS, that lets you put yourself, or at least your Mii avatar, into the game. It also will work with 10 new Nintendo toys that connect with the Wii U through NFC on the touchscreen controller. Nintendo showed off several more games including an open world Zelda and a Mario Maker tool that lets you design your own Super Mario levels, both coming in 2015. Also coming next year is a new property called Splatoon, a family-friendly FPS that uses paint balls and lets participants swim through the paint. After the stream, Shigeru Miyamoto was showing off a prototype for a new Starfox game in development.

Sony made a big deal about exclusives in their E3 press conference Monday night, and didn’t shy away from talking hardware and services. Bungie’s Destiny will be available in Alpha Thursday, with a multiplayer beta coming July 17 and shipping September 9 bundled with a white version of the PS4. Among the avalanche of other games, were a look at The Order: 1886 coming in August and Uncharted 4 exclusive. Far Cry 4 will allow players to invite friends to play even if they don’t own the game and Little Big Planet 3 made a urprise appearance. Sony announced two game title for its virtual reality headset Project Morpheus, called Jurassic Encounter and Street Luge. The PlayStation Now game streaming service built on Gaikai will arrive in beta July 31. And the PlayStation Vita TV will come to the US can Canada under the simpler name PLayStation TV for $99 or $139 bundled with a memory card and controller. Sony’s also getting into the original content game on the PS4 with an animated series called “Powers” based on the comic book and a Ratchett and Clank movie coming in 2015.

Engadget reports Google has agreed to spend $500 million to purchase Skybox Imaging, which builds small high-resolution imaging satellites. The satellite tech could help Google Maps but also might be used as relay to spread wireless Internet around the world.

Gigaom report Honeywell launched its first Smart thermostat Tuesday called the Lyric.Unlike the Nest which attempts to learn your habits, the Lyric uses geofencing to tell if someone is home optimizing for comfort when you are and energy-savings when you’re not. It also uses humidity sensors to tell when a fan would be better at keeping things cool vs. AC. The Lyric will be available in August for $279.

VentureBeat reports Oculus VR has hired Jason Rubin to head its worldwide studios. Rubin cofounded Naught Dog game studio co-created the game Crash Bandicoot. Rubin will run content studios in Seattle; San Francisco; Menlo Park, Calif.; Dallas; and Irvine, Calif.

The Verge reports NTT Docomo announced a prototype of Portable SIM, intended to replace a phone’s SIM card. The prototype incoroprates Bluetooth, NFC and SIM into a credit-card sized unit that makes it possible to authenticate phones and other devices and allow them to make calls and connect to dat networks without having to have a SIM card inside. The device can also store profile data and credentials for other services like Amazon and Google. The carrier hopes to reduce the size even more to make it fit in a wearable device like a bracelet.

News From You

spsheridan submitted the Next Web article that Amazon has updated its Kindle apps for iOS and Android to include access to audiobooks without leaving the app. Kindle books have been able to sync with select audiobooks from Audible for awhile, but users needed to launch a separate audible app. Now, while reading a Kindle book, one tap launches the audio version and picks up from the page you’re looking at. Amazon says about 45,000 Kindle titles have the feature enabled.

JohnEllsworth3 posted the FastCompany story that the Facebook temporary message app called Slingshot that appeared in the Apple app store yesterday, appeared by mistake. A Facebook spokesperson told the Associated Press: “Earlier today, we accidentally released a version of Slingshot, a new app we’re working on.” Oops. But hey they’re very excited for you to try it out. Just not yet.

russiancatfood pointed out the Ars Technica article that gives Netflix the latest word in their spat with Verizon. Yesterday we mentioned Netflix said they would remove controversial error messages being tested on some users, that said things like “The Verizon network is crowded.” Netflix General Counsel David Hyman sent an official response to Verizon reiterating that the test of the error messages would end June 16 but adding that doesn’t mean they won’t bring them back. Hyman wrote, “…we are evaluating rolling it out more broadly. Regardless of this specific test, we will continue to work on ways to communicate network conditions to our consumers.” 

Discussion Section Links: E3 Part Two!

http://reckoner.com.au/2014/06/e3-media-briefing-breakdown-ubisoft-sony/

http://www.cnet.com/news/nintendo-lays-out-gameplan-for-wii-u-with-hefty-lineup-of-software/

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-nintendo-wii-u-star-fox-hands-on-and-miyamoto-q-a/1100-6420327/

Pick of the day:  ZipList via Matt Maher

This pick is in response to your Big Oven pick. I’ve been using ZipList for a couple years now and I love it. I was approaching this type of app from the opposite direction. You were looking for a recipe app that could make grocery lists, and I was looking for a grocery list app that could draw from recipes. Consequently I think the focus of the two services is different. Grocery lists are more important to me, so ZipList works a little better for my uses. For one thing, my wife and I have a shared list that we can both add to, which makes shopping SO much easier.

ZipList also has a slew of great features. One of my favorite is that I can set up a number of stores that I go to regularly. I can then edit those stores and tell ZipList the exact order of the aisles, thereby making shopping trips a breeze because I can just sail through from one end of the store to the other. It also lets me add a bunch of items to one list, and then I can choose to only show one store at a time. That way I can take a single list, but go to Costco and Safeway without seeing the items for the store I’m not in at the moment. I highly recommend the service and app.

Wednesday’s Guest: Peter Wells, who also writes cool tech stories at Reckoner, Australia

Iyaz Akhtar and Sean Hollister are on the show. We’ve got news coming out of E3 from Microsoft who swears they love games so please forgive them. Also did a chatbot pass the Turing test? Sort of.

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:  Iyaz Akhtar, CNET and GFQ Network

Headlines

CNET reports Microsoft made its E3 announcements and focused on games and thanking fans. The star of the show was Halo. The Master Chief Collection will come to Xbox One November 11, allowing players to take on almost every Halo game including Halo 2 multiplayer. Purchasers also get a crack at the beta of Halo 5 Guardians which isn’t scheduled for release until sometime in 2015. Further hitching their hopes to Halo, Microsoft announced Halo Nightfall, a live-action weekly series directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan and produced by Ridley Scott. The series will be part of the Master Chief Collection.

Of course Microsoft had lots of other things to announce as well, but the focus was firmly on games. A sequel called Rise of Tomb Raider was announced coming in late 2015 as well as the announcement of a new Crackdown. Foul-mouthed squirrel Conker is coming to Project Spark. The hit mobile game Threes comes to the decidedly not mobile Xbox One this year. And Sunset Overdrive got a release date of October 28th. 

Engadget reports EA announced developer DICE is making Star Wars: Battlefront for a spring 2015 launch. Also the Sims 4 will come to PCs September 2nd. Sims will have “heart,” can die of laughter and can be imported into someone else’s game.

The Next Web reports Microsoft has redesigned Skype for iOS from the ground to give it a consistent look and feel with Windows Phone and Android apps. Microsoft promises the app will be five times faster, with smoother scrolling and synced notifications. Users will also be able to start group chats from the main hub and send messages and photos to offline users. The new app will arrive in Apple’s App Store in about a week. 

Ars Technica reports Netflix released a new monthly speed index for May showing Verizon FiOS dropping two slots behind DSL providers Frontier and Windstream. Netflix reached an interconnection deal with Verizon that should improve performance but is still being set up. GigaOm reports Netflix also announced they will stop a test on June 16 that shows error messages claiming a particular ISP is “crowded” when connections suffer. 

TechCrunch reports Minecraft creator MArkus Persson AKA Notch has released his latest game called Cliffhorse in which you control a horse on a hilly green landscape as it pushes a ball. The game is free to download though users can choose to pay dogecoin or Bitcoins if they like and is available for Windows.

TechCrunch reports Facebook has launched a new app called Slingshot that lets you send annotated pictures and videos to friends, who can only see them if they send something back. Unlocked shots can be held to view later, but once swiped away they are not stored. The app is not available in all markets around the world.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper submitted the BBC story that Sony sold 18.7 million game consoles in its fiscal year that ended in March putting it in front of Nintendo which sold 163 million. That’s the first time Sony has passed Nintendo in 8 years. Nintendo fans may take solace int he fact that figures released for the last week of May, showed 19,312 Wii Us were bought in Japan compared to just 6,022 copies of the PS4.

melchizedek74 posted the CNET story about Amazon expanding their “Login and Pay” service to allow for recurring payments like subscriptions. Login and Pay lets customers use their Amazon account and its associated payment methods, to buy products on non-Amazon sites. Amazon has been testing the new subscription portion of the service with mobile phone service company Ting.

Our top story on the subreddit today, comes from tekkyn00b. The Verge reports developer Frederic Jacobs noticed that iOS 8 will randomize a phone’s MAC address when searching for WiFi hotspots, reducing the chances that your phone can be identified. Lots of businesses, especially at malls and shopping centers, gather the publicly broadcast MAC addresses in order to gather marketing data on shoppers. While shops promise they do not collect personally identifiable information, randomizing the MAC address broadcast to WiFi will make sure of it.

And Berke80 sent in the Engadget story that Elon Musk told folks at the UK launch of the Tesla Model S yesterday, that he wants to open the designs of the Supercharger system in order to make a standard that other car makers can adopt. Musk would require participating companies to include charging costs in the cost of the car and help pay to maintain the supercharger network.

Discussion Section Links

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/9/5793642/halo-nightfall-digital-series-coming-to-xbox-from-producer-ridley-scott

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/09/halo-master-chief-collection/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://www.cnet.com/news/lara-croft-plans-to-raid-the-xbox-holiday-2015/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://thenextweb.com/media/2014/06/09/halo-nightfall-digital-series-headed-xbox-one-remastered-halo-compilation-november/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=profeed&utm_reader=feedly

http://www.cnet.com/news/halo-5-confirmed-for-2015-halo-master-chief-collection-out-in-november/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://www.cnet.com/news/e3-2014-microsoft-xbox-one-focus-is-all-about-games/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://recode.net/2014/06/09/an-ai-program-allegedly-passed-the-turing-test-so-what/

http://io9.com/why-the-turing-test-is-bullshit-1588051412
http://www.princetonai.com/

Pick of the day:  PC Perspective’s Hardware Leaderboard via Andy Welch

Andy Welch has our pick of the day: “For building a desktop, I’d like to recommend PC Perspective’s Hardware Leaderboard as a very useful reference. I don’t have time (or interest) in keeping up with the latest in pc hardware, but when I need a new desktop pc every few years, this is a great spot that I go to. They update it monthly to provide an updated list of major components based on current prices and technology. They show 4 different builds from about $500 low end, $1000, $1300, and $3000 top end. I’ve used it myself and recommend it to others all the time.”

Tuesday’s Guest: Raj Deut, of Reckoner Australia and 1,000 Words On

Iyaz Akhtar joins the show to talk about the hot new phone at the developers conference this week. Tizen! Oh and yes we will also talk about the 1 million announcements from Apple’s WWDC.

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: Iyaz Akhtar, senior associate editor, CNET.com and host of many podcasts on the GFQ Network

Headlines:

That new hardware we’ve been waiting for has finally been announced by the world’s leading smartphone maker at its developer conference! Samsung launched the world’s first smartphone powered by the Tizen operating system!! The Samsung Z. Samsung also uses Tizen in its Galaxy Gear 2 smatwatch and released a developers kit for Tizen-based TVs. The Z goes on sale in Russia sometime between July and September.

The BBC reports The United States has charged a Russian man named Evgeniy Bogachev of being involved in a cybercrime attack affecting more than 1 million computers. Authorities have seized control of a botnet used to steal personal and financial data, though they believe its operators may regain control in about two weeks. Bogachev is said to go under the names lucky12345 and slavik, and is thought to have last resided in Anapa, Russia. Charges filed in a court in Pittsburgh include conspiracy, wire, bank and computer fraud, and money laundering.

Apple announced new features for its main operating systems, OS X and iOS, at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The next version of OS X will be called Yosemite and include a new design similar to iOS7 plus several new features including adding online search to spotlight, airdop compatibility with iOS devices and the ability to answer phone calls and send and receive non-iOS text messages from the desktop. iOS8 will get many new features including support for replacement keyboards, platforms for health info called HealthKit, and home automation called HomeKit and a new programming language called Swift. Siri gets shazam integration as well as an always on mode that can be activated by saying, “Hey Siri.” And iCloud Drive now is integrated into finder, works across devices, and gets a price cut to 99 cents a month for 20 GB and $4 a month for 200 GB. OS X Yosemite is available to developers at WWDC today, will go into open beta in the summer and come to all for free in the Fall. iOS8 is available to developers at WWDC today and will come to all in the fall. 

You Start Menu fans may have to wait a bit longer for its triumphant return. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley says a change in plans may delay the menu from returning in Windows 8.1 Update 2, expected to arrive in August. Looks liek the Menu will wait until the release of Threshold expected in April 2015. Microsoft’s Terry Myerson showed off the new start menu at the Build conference in April, but did not promise when it would arrive.

News From You

AllanAV posted the Ars Technica story about a patent troll being ordered to pay court costs, the first case of fee shifting since the Supreme Court mandated such fees be paid in exceptional cases.  A Santa Barbara startup called “FindTheBest” spent $200,000 defending itself in a case brought by Lumen View which demanded a$50,000 licensing fee. The judge found that LumenView was trying to extract a nuisance settlement. US District Judge Denise Cote wrote, “The question of whether this case is exceptional is not close, and fee shifting in this case will serve as an instrument of justice.”

tm204 posted the 9to5Google story that Asus announced a slate of new Android tablets at Computex including a lineup for the MeMO Pad Series, a next-gen FonePad and a tablet/laptop/smartphone hybrid Transformer Book V that runs Windows and Android. That last one has 12.5-inch display with a up to a TB of storage. Asus says it’s, “the world’s first five-mode, three-in-one covered laptop that features a Windows and Android laptop and tablet as well as an Android smartphone.” No price or release dates on nay of the new products.

KAPT_Kipper sent in the GigaOm story indicating that sources told the Wall Street Journal and Space News that Google intends to spend around $1 billion to launch 180 small satellites into space in order to provide global Internet service. Greg Wyler of O3b networks has apparently joined Google and started a company called L5 or WorldVu. That company supposedly has access to the Ku-band spectrum abandoned by SkyBridge. What the service would be and how much it would cost is unknown.

metalfreak noted the GreatFire.org version of a story also reported by Reuters that Google services are being disrupted in China. GreatFire reports the blocks started four days ago and now extend to all Google services. Greatfire also suggests IP addresses that can be used to evade the block. This week marks the 25th anniversary of events in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. 

Plug of the day: Today’s plug is for a terrific weekly podcast called 8-Bit Life, in which host Roberto Villegas talks in depth with an eclectic mix of guests from the online universe. This week Roberto’s guest is someone you may have heard me mention on this show once or twice; our own producer Jennie Josephson, who has something to say about how this whole show got its start.

Discussion Section Links: WWDC Day One

http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/22/os-x-beta-seed-program/

http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/

Pick of the day:  Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman, via Russell Manthy:

Had a book recommendation that might be of interest to the listeners. Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman. This a compilation of six lectures on the basics of physics by one of this century’s most brilliant minds. The lectures were given to the freshman class at Cal Tech in the early sixties and were designed to give a general overview of the principles of physics including basics concepts, relation of physics to other sciences, the theory of gravitation and quantum behavior. These are elementary lectures (no math required) and give a tremendous insight into the basics in Feynman’s colorful and humorous style using simple explanations and interesting anecdotes and metaphors. Although these are older they cover things that have not really changed in the intervening years. The Audible version of the book is actual recordings of the lectures; it is great to hear them as presented by Feynman himself.”

Tuesday’s Guest:  Lamarr Wilson, host of Mashable’s YouTube Weekly and Socially Awkward

Steve Gibson is on the show to talk about the strange disappearance of TrueCrypt and what your best options might be for whole disk encryption.

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:  Steve Gibson, of Gibson Research Corporation and Security Now!

Headlines

Apple, Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine took the stage together at the Code Conference last night in the wake of the announcement that Apple has agreed to purchase Beats Electronics and Beats Music. Cue said, “Music is dying in the way that we’ve known it,” referring to declining digital sales in the face of rising streaming services. Iovine thinks the music business is “desperately insecure” and Silicon Valley is “slightly over-confident.” Cue thinks Iovine and Dr. Dre are the men for the job. While Beats hardware is nice Cue made it clear that the deal is “about music.” Apple expects the deal to close after regulatory approval sometime in September. Cue also stoked excitement for Monday’s WWDC keynote saying, “we’ve got the best product pipeline that I’ve seen in my 25.”

BloombergBusinessWeek reports that Laszlo Block, Google’s SVP for people operations posted to Google’s blog about the company’s diversity statistics. 30 percent of Google workers are women and 39 percent are racial or ethnic minorities. The majority of nonwhite Google employees are of Asian descent. This puts Google close to the middle among tech companies that disclose these sorts of statistics. More companies are feeling pressure to reveal diversity statistics. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has said that Facebook plans to reveal theirs eventually.

GigaOm reports on YouTube expanding its video quality report to include regions in the United States. The report, previously released in Canada, gives stats on the streaming quality of YouTube on your ISP and compares it to other ISPs in your region. 

The Verge has a story on a report from security consulting group iSight Partners that claims a phony news agency called NewsOnAir has been building ties with senior US military and diplomatic officials as well as US and Israeli defense contractors. The group would make social network connections and use fake names over services like Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and LinkedIn. The aim of the site was to present fake login pages to steal credentials. The group’s central domain was registered in Tehran. 

BBC reports Turkey’s Constitutional Court has ruled a block on YouTube violated freedom of expression laws and have ordered ISPs in Turkey to lift the block. Lower courts have previously ordered the block lifted but the government did not respond, claiming offending material still existed on YouTube.

BBC also reports London’s transport authority has announced it does not believe Uber’s car service breaks laws by using an app to determine charges.The authority referred the matter to the High Court to issue a binding ruling on the matter. The Taxi Drivers claim the app is equivalent to a meter which private drivers are not allowed to use. The drivers plan a demonstration for June 11.

News From You

Our top story on the SubReddit today was submitted by Nova461. Developers of TrueCrypt are redirecting traffic from their website to a sourceforge page claiming the software may have security vulnerabilities and due to the end of support for Windows XP, they will no longer develop TrueCrypt. The developers posted instructions for using alternative disk encryption on Windows and OSX.

Kylde submitted the Ars Technica story that a group at Brigham Young University has created an app for Google Glass to help the deaf to view an ASL interpreter in dark situations, like a planetarium, without bothering other attendees. The project is called Signglasses. The full results of the group’s research will be published in June at the Interaction Design and Children conference.

KAPT_Kipper passed along the Ars story about researchers at Japanese Telecom NTT publishing a paper that includes a description of a working 115-bit optical Random Access Memory device made of photonic crystals. The crystals can store light in a high-energy state and emit it after a high-energy pulse, thus optical bits. Granted they’ve only achieved 105 optical bits so far. That can be increqased, the bad news is the energy usage. 28-bit memory takes about 150 micro-watts to store which will be hell on your battery life. But if that can be figured out fiber optic singals wouldn’t have to be converted to electronic ones to be useful. Fiber to your RAM!

And SkyJedi & HarryLeeSmith let us know that Ars Technica reports that the Linux Foundations’ Core Infrastructure Initiative, which was formed in response to Heartbleed, has raised enough to fund a security audit of OpenSSL’s code base as well salaries for two full-time developers. OpenSSH and Network Time Protocol will also receive support for developers and infrastructure.

Discussion Section Links: 

http://steve.grc.com/2014/05/28/whither-truecrypt/

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/05/truecrypt-is-not-secure-official-sourceforge-page-abruptly-warns/

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/05/true-goodbye-using-truecrypt-is-not-secure/

http://steve.grc.com/2014/05/29/an-imagined-letter-from-the-truecrypt-developers/

https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green

http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/29/truecrypt_analysis/

https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/replace_truecrypt/

Pick of the day:  Lastpass via Alex in drizzly Nottinghamshire, UK

I know you’ve mentioned it on the show before, but it’s not on the picks page (yet), so I thought I’d mention a recent feature that’s been introduced to LastPass that meant that I finally purchased the premium version – and has turned out to be the best £8 / $12 (annual) I’ve spent on an app. (Of course, the best general $1 per month I spend is being a patron for DTNS!)

The killer feature for me is password completion in android apps, including Chrome for website logins. I recently got a Nexus 7 and setting it up with all my apps took no time at all because I first installed the LastPass app which filled in all my logins as I went. The mobile app used to have its own browser so I had to choose between password completion or the functionality of Chrome – but now I can have both.

It’s only on Android for now it seems and it works by pretending to be an accessibility aid – popping up on screen when a prompt is detected which works well about 95% of the time.

Friday’s Guests: Molly Wood and Justin Robert Young!

Josh Ong joins us today to talk about the Secret app coming to Android, and the secret of Lenovo’s success selling PCs. Will the US government ruin it for them?

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 guest:  Josh Ong, US Editor at The Next Web

Headlines

Dear Hackers, Please stop: Our top vote-getter on the subreddit was submitted by GoodDoc today. The BBC reports eBay is forcing users to change passwords after discovering a database had been attacked and accessed between late February and early March. The database contained encrypted passwords and non-financial data. EBay has seen no evidence of unauthorized use. The attackers achieved access by obtaining employee login credentials. This is probably NOT a ploy to get people to visit eBay for the first time in years, but may have that effect.

More stuff that need different accessories: This morning Apple did not announce that they had purchased Beats. Also, Google didn’t buy Twitch. But Apple did announce a TV service. Nah, kidding. That didn’t happen either. BUT 9to5Mac reports Apple did absolutely confirm that their WWDC keynote will happen Monday, June 2nd at 10 AM Pacific Time and last about two hours. Enough facts. 9to5Mac’s sources say in addition to the expected updates to iOS and OS X, sources say Apple is planning to unveil new hardware. You can think iWatch, I’ll count on retina MacBook Airs.

‘Wait, what? I’m totally not listening to Katy Perry!’The Verge reports Facebook’s app for iOS and Android can now recognize songs and TV shows and add it to your status. “Audio recognition” starts listening as soon as you start typing a status update, and adds it to your status. You opt-in to the feature by tapping a button inside the status window. The feature will roll out gradually over the coming weeks. And Josh, you posted about Facebook adding adding free downloads of anti-malware software to its abuse detection and prevention systems for users with infected devices. A popup notifies Windows users when they attempt to log in that they may be infected.

Psssst, you smell: The Next Web reports the anonymous posting app ‘Secret’ has been released for Android and is available worldwide. You can view a friend-only timeline, take advantage of new posting options like questions that support responses, and see how many of your friends are actually on the network. The friend view is exclusive to Android for now, though it should follow soon.

Better late than never. I guess: VentureBeat reports Microsoft confirmed an update to the Xbox One in June will add support for external hard drives 256 GB and larger, by the USB 3.0 port. The June update will also introduce real names as an option. Yes PS4 users, you’ve already had both of these features for awhile. Activate smugness.

That’s wicked smaht: Josh also posted on The Next Web about SmartThings making more announcements about its home platform. A new certification program will test devices for integration with the platform. New apps for iOS and Android make it easier to add new devices. Sounds like SmartThings wants to become an app store for the smart home. 

Another day, another hack: Reuters reports a sophisticated group attacked a U.S. public utility and compromised its control system network, although there is no evidence operations were affected. The U.S. Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team has worked with the utility to put in place mitigation measures against future attacks. 

News From You

tomgehrke submitted the computerworld report that developers from CERN, birthplace of the Web, have launched an encrypted email service called ProtonMail. The system is browser-based and encrypts messages in the browser before they ever reach a server. In other words, nobody tapping or attacking the server can get your encryption keys and read your messages. ProtonMail was conceived by PhD student Andy Yen led the group that included more than 40 people at one point, including 4 PhD physicists. ProtonMail is currently in public beta and the team is working on Android and iOS apps. 

spsheridan sent in the Ars Technica story that the US state of California has approved rules to allow testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads. The rules go into effect September 16, 2014. While testing has happened previously in the state it was not standardized. Now testers need to apply for a testing permit, certify the drivers with a training program, and secure $5 million in insurance. The permit must be renewed yearly. 

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the Register report that a developer in London claims he accidentally received keys to NBC Universal’s websites because of a username mixup on GitHub. Glenn Shoosmith has the username Glenn. Apparently someone at NBC Universal tried to add a user named Glen to a private repository and when Glenn Shoosmith’s name was autosuggested, they selected it without noticing. The private repository contained all kinds of config files as well as secure Amazon Web Services secret keys and access token to their servers according to Shoosmith. He didn’t touch any of the items and notified NBC of the mistake. His only sign of a response was when the NBC repository disappeared from his dropdown of choices in GitHub.

Discussion Section Links:  Secret, on Android

http://gigaom.com/2014/05/21/anonymous-app-secret-launches-on-android-and-expands-worldwide/

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/05/21/secret-launches-android-dedicated-friend-feed-availability-everywhere-world/

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/05/21/us-china-lenovo-cybercrime-idINBREA4K0JB20140521

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-21/lenovo-profit-trails-estimates-as-phone-marketing-costs-increase.html

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/21/uk-cybercrime-usa-china-media-idUKKBN0E107K20140521

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/21/us-lenovo-results-idUSBREA4K04D20140521?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Pick of the day:  Mpix via Loren Lang

If you’re into photography at any level, you usually reach a point where you want a print that’s a step (or more) above what you can get from your desktop photo printer or the machine at […insert name of national chain store here…]. Enter professional photo labs. There are a number of web services but Mpix is the best one I’ve dealt with. You can get all sorts of products from them (photo books, calendars, cards, etc) as well as high quality prints. Their service can also include framing and retouching, all at a very reasonable price. FYI – Mpix is the lab that a lot of professional photographers use as their go-to fulfillment service. Note: I’m not affiliated with them in any way. I’m just a satisfied customer. Jennie also notes they have Android and iOs Apps with ‘Touch to Print’ functionality.

Thursday’s guest:  Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio