Search Results for "october 3"

Veronica Belmont and Roger Chang join to discuss Microsoft’s announcements of backwards compatibility and Minecraft for Hololens at E3. And is it truly the best lineup of Xbox games in history?

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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 and Roger Chang

Headlines: 

Microsoft had their E3 press conference this morning. The crowd-pleaser was the announcement of backwards-compatibility fro Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One. Select titles will show up automatically if bought through Xbox Live or can be added by inserting a disc. A new Xbox Wireless Elite Controller was also announced coming in Autumn, no price. It is fully reprogrammable and even has swappable buttons and sticks. Windows 10 was announced as a platform for Valve VR and a version of Minecraft has been crated for HoloLens. Among the game announcements were Halo 5 Guardians coming 10/27, Rainbow Six: Siege October 13th, Rare Replay with 30 classic games for $30 August 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider November 10. Also Cuphead, Dark Souls 3…. We’re going to talk more about this hang on.

Bethesda kicked off the pre-E3 press extravaganza last night. A new Doom, just called Doom is the first game on the new idTech 6 engine, has an accessible modding tool called Snapmap and will come to PS4, Xbox One, and PC in Spring 2016. Elder Scrolls: Legends is a strategy card game with a trailer very similar to Hearthstone’s, free to play on iPad and PC by the end of the year. Dishonored 2 is coming though we don’t know when. And Fallout 4 arrived November 10, with mods you can create on PC and transfer to Xbox One and a pip-boy app that can be best used inside a full-sized real-life Pip-Boy sleeve available in a collector’s edition. And a free to play Fallout mobile game called FalloutShelter has launched.

Facebook launched a new app called Moments that groups photos based on when they were taken and identifies who is in them. You can then choose to sync them with specific friends and vice versa. It can also group photos based on who is in them and let you search for photos of particular people. Moments launches today in the US on iOS and Android with more countries to follow over time.

Re/code has a breakdown of the revenue split for Apple’s Music. Apple executive Robert Kondrk, who negotiates music deals, says Apple will pay out 71.5 percent of the $10 a month subscription revenue from the US. Outside the US the percentage will be around 73%. That will be split up somehow among music owners (labels and publishers) one assumes based on plays. Apple however will not pay labels for rights to their music during the three month free trial which begins June 30th.

Venture Beat reports that Razer has acquired android game console-maker Ouya. Investment bank Mesa Global has confirmed the deal but Razer has not confirmed. VB says Ouya debt holders triggered the sale and would cost $10 million to buy out the debt holders. Razer has its own Android console called the Forge. Ouya has a library of 1124 android games including some exclusives and more than 40k plus developers.

The Next Web reports that Skype for web is now available worldwide. Skype’s web app works with IE, Chrome, Safari and Firefox on Windows and OS X as well as on Chrome OS and Linux. For now, you’ll need plugin to make calls, but in the future the web app will use Web RTC.

The New York Times reports IBM will commit hundreds of millions of dollars to developing Apache Spark, the open source project for real-time data analysis. Spark was developed at the Algorithms, Machines and People Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. IBM said it will put more than 3,500 of its developers and researchers to work on Spark-related projects, embed Spark in its data analysis software and offer Spark as a service.

Engadget reports Spotify has launched a site called spotify-tasterewind.com which analyzes your music library to recommend decade-specific playlists from the 1960s through whatever we call the last decade before this one. So for instance if I like Major Lazer, Wiz Khalifa and Pitbull, my 1970s playlist might have Bob Marley, The Isley Brothers and Julio Iglesias. Which is what happened for Tom.

News From You:

t2t2 informed us that the makers of Notepad ++ have left SourceForge. A blog post on notepad-plus-plus.org cites SourceForge’s several incidents where sourceforge bundled ad-ware into hosted open source projects, without notifying the owners and creators of the software. The post reads, “Such a shameless policy should be condemned, and the Notepad++ project will move entirely out of SourceForge.” The post encourages other project owners to also move off SourceForge.

tglass1976 sent us a Gizmodo article about the first prosthetic leg that can simulate sensation. A team at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria relocated a patient’s nerve endings closer to where the prosthesis connects, and connected the nerve endings to stimulators located in the prosthetic legs, which are then connected to six sensors on the sole of the prosthetic foot. When the sensors push against the ground, the nerve endings get a sense of feeling. The sense of touch makes the user safer and can help stop phantom limb pain.

Discussion Section Links:  

Pick of the Day:

Devulu wanted to share this:

I found a beautiful website called http://species-in-pieces.com/.

The website was created by Amsterdam-based Designer Bryan James, who decided to push the limits of CSS’s animation capabilities while also building a platform for raising awareness of endangered species around the world. The result is “In Pieces”, an interactive catalog of 30 animals created entirely with CSS.

The animations are fascinating and it also raises awareness, how cool!

Works best in Google Chrome.

Messages:

Russell writes in:

On Friday’s show you were talking about Google being forced to block a website as part of a judgement by the Canadian court against a company called Datalink. The strange thing about this was the use of a private company, Google, to enforce a judgement. I am not a lawyer but it would seem the enforcement of a judgement would lay in the hands of law enforcement, the judicial system or the correctional system. This seemed like a very strange thing to do and felt a bit off. Wondering if there is a lawyer in the DTNS community who could shed some light on it.

Great to have seen the next Patreon goal met!!

Scott writes:

With Friday’s news/rumour that Blackberry may be working on an Android based phone I’m wondering if Nokia and Blackberry aren’t perfectly suited for a technical partnership of some sort.

Blackberry brings device management & security, with Samsung Knox nipping at it’s heals. As well as BBM, one of the largest messaging clients, fourth or fifth?

While Nokia brings solid mapping, which it really wants to become a viable smart phone alternative to Google Maps and/or Apple Maps.

​Both have a devote fan base, and I believe that both have moved away from producing their own hardware.​

​Perhaps a partnership of two drowning rats?​

=====

Tuesday’s Guests: Patrick Beja

Scott Johnson is on today and we’ll talk about Mary Meeker’s annual Internet trends report. Can this woman ever be wrong? Will messaging apps become the dominant mobile hub?

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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 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: Scott Johnson

Headlines: 

An AppleInsider reader, Kaitlyn, let the blog know Tuesday that receiving a particular text message made up of Unicode characters from various character sets caused iPhone restarts and lockouts from messages. When the text is received while the screen is locked the phone reboots and messenger is unavailable until a new message is sent to it. The problem according to Apple Insider is that notifications can’t render the full block of Unicode text, so iOS hogs resources trying to render the message. Apple is aware of the problem.

During an interview with Walt Mossberg at Code Conference reports The Verge, an audience member asked Apple’s senior VP of operations, Jeff Williams what Apple was going to do with its huge cash reserves. Williams said, “Well the car is the ultimate mobile device, isn’t it?” Was he trolling or telling?—- Williams also confirmed that a preview of a native Apple Watch app development kit will be released at WWDC on June 8.

Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers delivered her Internet trends report at the Code conference. She started delivering them 20 years ago. Meeker says Messging is becoming the dominant use of mobile and messaging apps may become a hub for commerce and identity management. She also discussed the rising popularity of drones, identified Housing, Transportation and Food is areas ripe for innovation, the increasing easiness of freelance and contracting and the need for regulatory reform there and pointed out India is number 1 in new Internet users and is becoming the next big tech market.

Google will soon index some iOS apps in the search results it returns in the iOS versions of the Google app and Chrome, according to Tech Crunch. Google has been indexing apps on Android phones for a few years and started indexing apps whether installed or not a few months ago. Developers who want to have their iOS app indexed by Google will have to add deep linking support among a few other things and fill out an online form. The form does not guarantee Google will begin indexing the app.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said the messaging service is planning an initial public offering, at Re/code’s Code Conference. Spiegel also mentioned plans to expand its reach to include older users including changes to the Apps hold-to-watch feature. Spiegel also predicted a market correction is coming and his company has prepared accordingly. You can catch the rest of the interview on the Re/Code website.

Fortune reports Pebble began shipping the Pebble Time to around 79,000 Kickstarter backers today. The Pebble cost $199 has an e-paper display multiple day battery life and works with multiple smartphone platforms.

9to5 Mac reports sources say Apple is developing an alternative to Google Now supposedly codenamed Proactive. It would automatically provide timely information based on the user’s data and device usage pattern. Apple acquired the personal assistant app Cue in 2013, which was sort of a mix of voice-recognition assistant like Cortana and predictive notification like Google Now.

Xiaomi (Shao-me) posted on Facebook that it will officially launch online stores in the US on June 1 and Germany France and the UK on June 2 at http://mi.com/store. The Mi Stores will not sell phones in these regions but will sell lots of accessories like headphones and the Mi Band.

News From You:

starfuryzeta sent us the Business Insider report that AdBlock Plus won again in court, this time in Munich, Germany. Two German broadcasters RTL Interactive and ProSiebenSat 1 had sued saying that users should not be allowed to block ads. The court ruled that the software was not anti-competitive because users chose to install AdBlock Plus and Eyeo did not have enough dominance of the market to stop online publishers from finding sufficient users who would see ads.

Kylde, our self-described subreddit janitor, sent us a Washington Post report that Chuck Johnson has been permanently suspended from Twitter after asking for funds to “take out” civil rights activist DeRay McKesson. Twitter has also suspended several of Johnson’s new accounts.

AllanAV noted the Ars Technica writeup on the US Internal Revenue Service’s disclosure that it has shut down its transcript service, which allowed taxpayers to request copies of past tax returns. The IRS noticed unusual activity and found that more than 100,000 accounts had been accessed by unauthorized parties. The system required knowledge of personal, financial, and tax information—including date of birth, tax filing status, and address. It appears the attackers had such information on the accounts that were accessed.

tm204 sent us the Engadget report that pop culture retailer Hot Topic has purchased Geeknet, owners of the ThinkGeek online store for $122 million. Companies who license pop culture, FORM A… MEGASTORE.

starfuryzeta sent us the Recode announcement that Vox Media which runs The Verge will acquire Revere Digital, which runs ReCode. Several ReCode staffers will move over to The Verge (including Bonnie Cha and Lauren Goode) to write reviews while Walt Mossberg will write for both sites.

Discussion Section Links:  

Pick of the Day:

Derek aka Bishma – Director of Engineering in Eugene, Oregon writes:

Here is a pick I’d like to share: Safari Books Online

Safari is a service from O’Reilly and Associates (makers or the iconic animal books on all things technology) that offers on-demand access to tens of thousands of titles. The service is not limited to O’Reilly as the make titles available from other big technical publishers like Adobe Press, Prentice Hall, Pragmatic Bookshelf, and more. Additionally you get access to many titles as “rough cuts” (not necessarily their final edit) or “fresh cuts” (finished editions sometimes weeks before they arrive in stores) so that you can get a jump on the latest and greatest. They also have a good collection of videos including many from O’Reilly’s conferences (OSCON, Velocity, Strata, etc).

Reading can be done via website or mobile app – their features page says the Android app is “coming soon” but it is in fact available in the play store. Each month you’re on the service you can earn credits toward downloading titles or chapters in pdf, mobi, or epub formats if you need or want offline access.

The cost, at $39/month or $399/year, seems a high compared to things like Netflix but when you consider many of the titles available retail for $40+ dollars it pays for itself quickly if you spend a lot of time researching new technologies or improving your tech skills as I do.

I’m always surprised how many technology professions I encounter who don’t know this service exists so I wanted to share with everyone in DTNSland.

Messages: 

Rich from Lovely Cleveland:

Once Google Tone makes its way to mobile, I could see it being a huge boon for radio advertisers. Imagine if radio ads had Google tones embedded, each time your phone hears one, it pings Google and lets the advertisers know (and Google gets to keep the demographic info of the phone user for their own purposes). All of this could easily be accomplished by including some small bit of language in the EULA and providing for some obscure method to opt-out. It could totally change the metrics used for ad sales on radio.

What’s that, Google Tone is included in the next Google Now update that’s already installed on every new Android phone? I could NEVER see that happening <insert yet-to-be-agreed-upon-sarcasm-punctuation-mark>.

=====

Thursday’s guest:  Justin Robert Young

Patrick Beja is on and we’ll talk about Twitter’s new anti-harassment measures. expect an appearance from producer Jennie Josephson on the subject as well!

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

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 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:  Patrick Beja and Jennie Josephson

Headlines: 

The Next Web notes Adobe launched a major upgrade to Photoshop Lightroom for desktop and mobile platforms with an emphasis on integrated workflow via Creative Cloud. New features include: Leveraging GPUs for faster render performance especially with 4K and 5K displays, an updated HDR Merge tool that can get an effect out of just 2 images, a new Panorama Merge, Facial Recognition that can find files without tags, and improved Filter Brush with greater precision. The iOS app can now group photos by date, gets a n improved crop and the ability to sign up for a subscription in the app. Android users get tablet support, DNG raw file support for Lollipop devices, and access to microSD storage. You can buy Lightroom for the desktop for $149 or as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography Plan for $9.99 a month. Companion apps are free for iOS and Android.

TechCrunch reports BlackBerry is buying WatchDox a startup in Israel that develops secure file sharing software. The plan is to add WatchDox software to BlackBerry’s Enterprise Mobility Management portfolio.  In addition to the software, BlackBerry may use the WatchDox team to build an R&D operation in Israel.

Twitter announced new anti-harassment measures on its blog today. Language around threats was widened to include a broader range of threats including promoting violence against others. Twitter staff may now lock abusive accounts until certain measures are taken by users. And a filter will be put in place that limits the reach of posts that an algorithm deems may be abusive.

Re/code is reporting Yahoo earned 15 cents a share on an adjusted basis, down from 38 cents the year before, analysts expected 18 cents a share. That was down from 38 cents the year before. Revenue was $1.043 billion missing expectations of $1.055 billion. But the good news is Microsoft can terminate its search deal with Yahoo as early as October 1st.

News From You:

Starfuryzeta passed along Sean Hollister’s Gizmodo report that it is now possible to download your entire Google search history to your computer. Search history includes subject lines of private emails, street address, your personal entertainment tastes, etc. Google suggests setting up two factor authentication to protect the downloaded data. Hollister suggests taken advantage of another feature provided by Google. Delete your search history. All of it.

Hurmoth submitted the story from iMore.com that Google is shutting down older YouTube apps. That means YouTube will no longer work on original white box Apple TVs, devices running iOS6 or older, Google TV versions 1 and 2 and some older TVs and Blu-ray players.

Spsheridan wanted us to notice the Wired article about John Deere asserting farmers don’t have the right to fix their own tractors. John Deere filed with the US Copyright Office arguing people should not be allowed to alter or repair software systems in John Deere tractors because it violates copyright. Among other things, John Deere argued allowing an exemption for tractor repair could somehow lead to music piracy using the tractor’s entertainment system.

Starfuryzeta passed along some very important news from Engadget. Remember BB-8, the new circular rolling droid in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie? Remember how J.J. Abrams shocked the world last week when he revealed that BB-8 was a practical effect? Well robotics company Sphero has confirmed that its technology is behind the droid ball, and that there is a CONSUMER VERSION IN THE WORKS. No word on whether it will be out in time for the holiday season, or whether it will be sphero-sized or full droid-sized.

Audio Illusion shared this TechCrunch story that Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet will be available for download Thursday. It comes with support for OpenStack Kilo the free open-source cloud computing platform, a new LXS Hypervisor virtualization tool for container deployments and a new stable version of Canonical’s Snappy Ubuntu Core, a stripped-down version of its OS for container hosts and small connected devices.

Discussion Section Links:  

Pick of the day:

Burhan writes: “HD Tracks Pick”

After listening to Nate Lanxon’s discussion on audio quality (4/16/15), I thought I’d pass a long a pick for him, and anyone else into high fidelity listening. I too prefer lossless audio formats, but like you mentioned yesterday, who wants to bother with a CD drive these days? I was turned onto hdtracks.com via a Audiogon newsletter about a sampler album they put together. For those who don’t know, Audiogon is a marketplace for dealers, industry techs, and consumers to buy and sell used, often higher end, audio equipment (Inception-pick-of-the-day). HD Tracks offers (DRM FREE!) WAV, ALAC, AIFF, and FLAC formats for download with a majority of albums at sample rates of 96kHz/24 bit and up. It’s definitely not the best place to go if you’re looking for a single song, but if anyone was going to purchase the album to rip, this would save a step. For anyone not sure of why high fidelity music is a big deal, HD Tracks has an album sampler to download for the low cost of your email address, so that you may see for yourself.”

Messages:

Christopher from Sunny Spokane:

Hi guys, listening to Monday’s show and I you mentioned that your site had a mobile version that might appear with Google’s new search. It did get noticed, but I have to say as an iPhone 6+ user the site doesn’t work well: it appears hard coded to a smaller width, so there is a huge margin down one side. This is the problem with mobile friendly vs responsive designs: if you don’t do it just right mobile designs can be worse than full size pages that have to be scrolled.

Fabrice in sunny and kinda windy Marseille, southern France created a Patreon account early February 2014. He didn’t want to enter a credit card number but he just discovered Patreon takes paypal and has become a Co-executive Producer!

Fabrice says:

“Every once in a while, you might want to add the detail that Patreon supports both credit/debit cards and PayPal.

Tomorrow I’ll have a warm fuzzy feeling when I’ll start my 1h commute… having the pleasure of listening to DTNS not as a freeloader but as co-exec producer. Thank you guys for your work. Your daily podcasts make a long commute seem shorter.

FYI I share some characteristics with Patrick Beja, french, hairy and born in 1973.

If you can find some Pastis Henri Bardouin at the liquor store, you’ll get the flavors of my neck of the woods.

Je vous embrasse tous,

=====

Monday’s guests:  Jason Hiner and Lyndsey Gilpin

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

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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 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

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!

Patrick 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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Using a Screen Reader? click here

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 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 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:  

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!

Darren Kitchen and I chat with Sean Hollister about his experience trying Microsoft’s HoloLens and ask Ek from HockeyBuzz about the NHL putting GoPros on hockey player’s heads during the all-star game.

MP3

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Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Jennie’s Friday Art!

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 guest: Darren Kitchen, Sean Hollister, and Hockeybuzz’s Ek 

Headlines

If you’re a Windows Insider, Engadget points out the new Windows 10 Technical Preview is now available via Windows Update. That gives you Continuum if you have a hybrid device, the new Xbox app and Cortana. Though Cortana on the desktop can take down notes and answer questions she’s still having a little trouble with complex reminders. No Project Spartan or Office update yet either. You can get the download at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-download

9to5 Mac has sources that say the battery in the Apple Watch may not last as long as Apple hoped. If you believe the sources the watch uses an Apple S1 chip, similar to the A5 running SkiHill, a modified iOS with a retina-class color display. Supposedly Apple wanted 3 days of pure standby time life but is only getting between 2 and 3 days. The sources also say 3,000 watches are in the wild being tested around the world and the watch is on track to ship in March.

TechCrunch reports Microsoft has acquired open-source analytics company Revolution Analytics which focuses on the R programming language for statistical computing. In marketing speak that means Microsoft wants to “use the power of R and data science to unlock big data insights with advanced analytics.” So like data mining. Um in simpler terms? Kind of a really super powerful spreadsheet that helps find trends that help drug makers and scientists discover things.

The Verge reports Uber has applied for a taxi license in New Delhi and resumed operations. Uber was banned a month ago after a driver was accused of raping a passenger. Uber will only allow drivers who have reverified police clearance within the last six weeks. Uber is also conducting background checks on all drivers and implementing vehicle documentation reviews.

ReCode reports Box.com’s IPO got off to a healthy start. The online storage company priced 12.5 million shares at $14 each and opened trading at $20.20, and closed at $23.23. Box raised $175 million in the offering which valued the company at $1.7 billion.

Ars Technica reports that the Raphael Pirker a drone operator who was fined $10,000 by the FAA for illegally operating the drone and flying it in a “reckless manner” has settled his lawsuit with the government. Pirker has agreed to pay $1100 and drop the lawsuit challenging his citation, that claimed the FAA was enforcing a non-existent law against drone operations. FAA ban on small drone flights for commercial applications are still in effect. Pirker used a drone while shooting a commercial for the University of Virginia.

According to a story by the NY Times the Winklevoss Twins are looking to take the Bitcoin virtual currency mainstream by creating the first regulated Bitcoin exchange for US customers, a “Nasdaq of Bitcoin”. The brothers have begun hiring engineers from hedge funds and engaged a bank and regulators hoping to open their exchange in the next few months. The exchange will be named Gemini.

News From You: 

KAPT_Kipper sent us the Ars Technica article that Google’s Project Zero has published three 0-day vulnerabilities in Apple’s OSX. Project Zero finds vulnerabilities and gives software manufacturers 90 days to deal with them before making the vulnerabilities public. These three were reported to Apple on October 20, 21st and 23rd,2014. One of the issues may have been mitigated in OS X Yosemite and all three appear to require prior access to machines. The program recently published three vulnerabilities in Windows.

tm204 pointed out the Skift article about Expedia acquiring Travelocity for $280 million. Expedia gets the websites in US and Canada. Swiss-based Bravofly has an ahreement to acquire Travelocity Europe AKA lastminute.com, pending regulatory approval.

Discussion Section Links: 

 http://gizmodo.com/project-hololens-hands-on-incredible-amazing-prototy-1680934585

http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/23/gopro-live-broadcast-nhl/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/23/gopro-nhl-partnership/

http://gopro.com/news/gopro-and-nhl-new-partnership-will-change-the-way-you-watch-hockey

Pick of the Day:  Kuissential SlickFroth 2.0 – Electric Milk Frother, Cappuccino Maker via Christian

Hi Tom!

In response to whether Google is capable of offering decent customer support for a possible MVNO, I wanted to share my experience.

My general rule of thumb is that Google had fantastic support for anything they do where you pay them money directly. This includes Google Apps, the play store, Nexus devices, etc. In those instances I’ve had some of the best customer service I’ve ever experienced in the tech world. It’s only in Google services like gmail and calendar where Google had nonexistent customer service (at least I haven’t found it).

This is why I have no doubt that a Google MVNO would have superb customer service. I also think they’d probably do a great job at disrupting the market with great process and bandwidth caps. Maybe they won’t even have bandwidth caps!

Matt Maher
Sterling, VA

Peter Frazier wonders if Google as an MVNO would lead to free data on Chromebooks. Here’s his line of thinking:

“I wonder just how much data browsing is after subtracting away audio and video streaming?

If they took Chrome OS in a direction where the on board storage was beefed up, and Google Music was a lot smarter about caching your most played songs when on WiFi.

Throw in an option to only use video on WiFi. Now that were starting to see ‘download video’ from YouTube, you could expand the caching of some of your ‘watch later’ as well, and put more development time into that aspect of YouTube to make it a lot more seamless and the videos are just there.

Also they have the ‘low bandwidth’ option on phones, what if they brought that to Chrome OS as well in a HUGE way. Same content but using considerably less bandwidth.

I’m thinking if this was on their plan of attack for the last year, they ‘could’ provide an all you could eat data plan for a large portion, if not all, of our day to day browsing when you buy a chromebook. If they get the bit’s down enough, and adjust the advertising strategy on this class of Chromebook it in theory could be viable.

Monday’s guest:  Veronica Belmont