Winter Movie Draft, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Justified (410)
00:39 – Winter Movie Draft
06:21 – Triage (Westworld)
09:55 – Justified (410)
16:26 – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Daily Tech Headlines – December 21, 2016
Super Mario Run hits 40 million downloads, more Twitter execs depart, Uber adds new features and meets with California government about autonomous cars.
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Show Notes
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Today in Tech History – December 21, 2016
1898 – Building on Henri Becquerel’s discovery of spontaneous radioactivity two years earlier the husband-and-wife team of Pierre and Marie Curie discovered Radium. Marie particularly figured out how to separate it from its radioactive residues.
1937 – Walt Disney’s first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opened in Los Angeles. It ran 83 minutes. It was also the first animated film produced in color.
1968 – Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew performed the first ever manned Trans Lunar Injection and became the first humans to leave Earth’s gravity. The Apollo Guidance Computer was the first computer to use integrated circuit logic.
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.
DTNS 2928 – Wireless Tech Strikes A Cord
Patrick Beja has his Apple Air Pods and wonders now what the future of wireless devices is? Are we getting near a world without cords? Tom Merritt and he discuss that Uber and the methbot.
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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
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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
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Daily Tech Headlines – December 20, 2016
Tim Cook promises desktops, EU wants Facebook on WhatsApp, Air Pods not easily recycled.
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Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.
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
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Today in Tech History – December 20, 2016
1880 – New York’s Broadway from 14th to 26th street was first lighted by electricity and became known as the “Great White Way.”
1951 – In Idaho, the Experimental Breed Reactor no. 1 aka EBR-1 became the first power plant to produce electricity using atomic energy. It would take two more years to prove it could create more fuel than it consumed.
1990 – The first web server and page went live at CERN. It was only available internally. The first public web page wouldn’t be available until the following August.
1996 – Apple announced it would acquire NeXT Computer and bring co-founder Steve Jobs back to the company he left in 1985.
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.
Cordkillers 150 – Seat Punchers (w/ Nicole Spagnuolo)
Cord killing slows but saves money, best OTA antennas, Amazon Prime goes worldwide. With special guest Nicole Spagnuolo
CordKillers: Ep. 150 – Seat Punchers
Recorded: December 19 2016
Guest: Nicole Spagnuolo
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Here’s Why Many Cord Cutters Often Pay More for Video
– PriceWaterhouse Coopers surveyed 1200 US adults and found 51% of those who reduced their cable package ended up paying more money per month on video than before because of streaming packages they added. While 68% of those who cut cable entirely spent less per month on video. Also 84% of current cable subscribers plan to keep their connection next year up from last year when only 77% said so. Pay TV lost around 1.4 million subscribers in the first 9 months of 2016.
How to Watch
- The cord-cutter’s guide to the best indoor antennas
– CNET’s Ty Pendlebury put 6 over the air antennas to the test in Manhattan and Long Island. The $10 Channel Master Flatenna fared well enough to make it the pick for best antenna on a budget. The best overall was the Antennas Direct ClearStream Eclipse for $59 or $79 with amplifier. The $40 MoHu ReLeaf got a nod for being the best performance in areas with less than optimal coverage. - Amazon expands its Prime Video service to over 200 countries, but China isn’t included
– Amazon made its Prime Video service available in more than 200 countries Wednesday. It’s free where Prime membership is available or standalone for $5.99 or €5.99 a month. Amazon Original content comes in English, with French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles and dubbed versions in some markets.
What to Watch
- Woody Harrelson will shoot his next movie while streaming it live into movie theaters
– Woody Harrelson will live stream his film Lost in London to theaters as it’s being shot in real time. The 100-minute story based on Harrelson’s actual arrest in London will take place in 14 locations and be shot in a single take. Harrelson, who wrote and directed the film, will also star in it, alongside Owen Wilson and Willie Nelson. Lost in London will stream on January 19th at 9PM ET. - Star Trek: Discovery Casts The Walking Dead’s Sonequa Martin-Green as Its Lead
– Sonequa Martin-Green aka Courtney Wells on the Good Wife, aka Tamar on Once Upon a Time AKA Sasha on the Walking Dead will add aka the lead on Star Trek; Discovery. The show will focus on the Lieutenant Commander of a ship rather than the captain and Martin-Green will be that LT-Commander. Michelle Yeoh is the Captain. Star Trek: Discovery is coming to CBS All Access in May. - Twitter to live-stream Golden Globes red carpet
– Twitter will team up with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions to live-stream the official red carpet pre-show for the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 8 - Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale starring Elizabeth Moss as Offred, will premiere on April 26th, 2017
- The first official trailer for BladeRunner 2049 is out. The movie comes out 10/6/2017
- Duck Tales Summer 2017
What We’re Watching
- Brian: Justified 410, Rogue One
- Tom: Justified (410), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Man in the High Castle (201-205), Star Wars: A New Hope
- Nicole: Last Man on Earth, The Goldbergs, The Middle, FreeForm – 24 Days of Christmas Kid Shows: , Peppa Pig, Team UmiZoomi, Teen Titans Go
- On the Lookout: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Front Lines
- Facebook says it’s in talks to buy its own video shows
– ReCode reports Facebook is in talks with studios to license TV shows. The talks are being led by Ricky Van Veen, the College Humor co-founder who joined the company earlier this year said “we’re exploring funding some seed video content, including original and licensed scripted, unscripted, and sports content, that takes advantage of mobile and the social interaction unique to Facebook. The deals are said to be around $1 million a year, much less than budgets for shows by Netflix or Amazon. - Amazon’s new Fire TV interface is what it should have been from the start
– Amazon updated the interface for its Fire TV. The menu moves to the top, a larger space for art and horizontal rows for shows or app options, with Recent shows in the top row. It’s available for “second-generation” Fire TV box and Fire TV Stick and will come to older models in the coming months. - New streaming service BritBox brings British TV to the U.S.
– BBC, ITV and AMC are teaming up to bring the US a streaming service called BritBox, promising the largest catalog of British TV shows available. Shows that haven’t ended up on BBC America, PBS or other networks may show up within 24 hours of airing in the UK. That includes Eastenders, Emmerdale and Holby City. It will also have loads of older titles like Brideshead Revisted, Upstairs Downstairs, Keeping Up Appearances and Fawlty Towers. It’s set to debut before the end of March but no price has been announced. - NBC Is Teaming Up With Olympic Committees to Launch a TV Channel
– NBC and the International and US Olympic Committees are planning to launch an Olympic TV channel in the US in the second half of 2017. The channel will stream Olympic sports and related content year round. NBC will also add additional olympic sports coverage to NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports Digital. - T-Mobile Offers a Year of DIRECTV NOW to AT&T Users Who Switch
– Thursday T-Mobile announced that it will give AT&T customers who switch to T-Mobile a $35 bill credit for 12 months to pay for AT&T’s DirecTV Now service. DirecTV Now is also part of T-Mobile’s BingeOn which does not count video from partners agains data caps. - Vimeo releases apps for tvOS, Android TV, and Samsung’s Tizen-powered TVs.
– Vimeo updated its apps for Apple TV, Android and an HTML5 app for Samsung TVs powered by Tizen. The app will begin playing from its curated cinema experience at launch. You’ll also be able to access your customized feed, uploaded videos, as well as any videos you’ve purchased previously.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Tom & Brian
I have been a cord cutter for 4 years now and have loved it. However this summer I expanded this to the theatre and did not see any movies in the theatre. I waited for the movie to come to iTunes and purchased it. When you look at the cost of a ticket it is about the same cost of purchase. The cool part is if I like the movie I now own it if I don’t then I delete and it is the same loss of a ticket price. Thought you guys might want to add this to the chicken challenge.
P.S. I know this idea could destroy the movie draft but Brian we all know Tom is going to win.
– Josh
I’ve made a decision: If I don’t end up liking Voltron, I am going to stop using Netflix. They have surprising a lack of family-friendly content, and what content they did have that I watch, they get rid of! I was watching the Disney XD Avengers cartoon, they got rid of that. Then I started watching Columbo and the A Team, and they’re getting rid of that! Are they trying to lose me? Of course, that might not matter to them, because my little brother Adam still watches DinoTrux, but if I don’t like Voltron, which my siblings say I absolutely must watch, than I am done with Netflix. It isn’t worth it to me to try to hunt continually for things to watch on Netflix when there are other things available, like Designated Survivor on the ABC, Falling Skies on Amazon, or Cord Killers on DiamondClub.tv.
From,
– Amar
I’ve been enjoying the new TV app on tvOS, but I have a bit of a conundrum when it comes to the new single sign-on feature.
My internet service includes a very bare bones cable package (so they can count me as a subscriber), from which I have access to HBO and Showtime, and I use that login for HBO GO and Showtime Anytime on tvOS. Additionally, we use my in-laws’ login credentials from a different cable provider to get access to other apps like FX, USA, Disney, etc.
In this scenario, can I use my in-laws’ credentials for single sign-on and still do a manual login for HBO GO and Showtime Anytime? Or, will using single sign-on always favor one set of credentials?
Thanks, and love the show!
– Jesse
Tom,
I heard you sort of dismissing the new TV app on the Apple TV – can’t recall if it was on DTNS or CK, or both.
But I’d recommend you really try it. It’s incredible, and exactly what has been needed for years. Especially for cord cutters.
One of the biggest problems is keeping on top of what we’re watching in each of the apps. While Netflix is excluded, it has Hulu, CBS, CW, Showtime, HBO, and of course iTunes, as well as many others (but I think they need a cable sub).
And of all those apps, only Hulu has any semblance of a “now playing” (a la TiVo), or watchlist. CW has nothing. CBS has a favorite shows list, but doesn’t let you know when something new is on. HBO Now is surprisingly bad for maintaining a watchlist. SHO at least keeps track of what you last watched, but not what’s new. And even Hulu’s watchlist has a bizarre algorithm for ordering things.
With the new TV App, I basically subscribe to all my shows in all those apps, and iTunes, and when a new episode shows up anywhere, it pops to the front of the list. If I’m binging a show that’s already done, it shows me the next one available (and bumps it to the front after I watch a show). And for shows I know I want to watch at some point later and don’t want to forget about, I just add it to the list.
You can even put movies you want to watch in it. And if you want to check out the series (e.g. to play an older episode), you can just long-click on the show.
This app solves nearly all my problems, and I think these problems are fairly common among cord cutters. We finally have one place to go to maintain all our “to watch” shows across nearly all apps, and to get notified when new episodes pop up wherever they are.
What’s missing? Netflix of course, and that app has a fairly awful watchlist function currently (my “List” row is often impossible to find). And perhaps integration with the PlayStation Vue DVR would be nice.
But harping on the single log-in issues, which do seem pretty bad, but are basically irrelevant for cord cutters.
Just thought you’d appreciate some real world feedback from a very satisfied customer. And a suggestion to try it out to really appreciate it.
Thanks,
– Mark
Tom,
Are you going to do another episode of Pretend I’m Dumb about Star Wars for Rogue One? If so, are you going to pretend that you’ve seen the prequels, but not the original trilogy?
That way you will be acting as if you saw this movie in the chronological order of the story instead of the order the movies came out in, which I believe was the original idea for Pretend I’m Dumb about Star Wars.
– Bill near Athens, Georgia
Links
Weekly Tech Views – Best of 2016 – Part 1
Real tech stories. Really shaky analysis.
THE BEST OF THE WEEKLY TECH VIEWS – 2016
The end of the year approaches, and it’s time for the Weekly Tech Views Top Twenty! Compiled by a prestigious panel of the industry’s foremost syndicated humor writers, the results have been closely guarded–
Haha! No, as usual, I scrolled through the year’s stories and chose whatever was on screen the first twenty times our cat knocked an ornament off the Christmas tree.
(And even bigger news–all 500+ stories are available in the book Tech, Please! Get all the exciting details below!)
For the year 2016…
Number 20 (March 5)
Why Settle For Just One Source Of Nausea?
Six Flags amusement parks will be providing Samsung Gear VR headsets to riders of some of their roller coasters. Some will find themselves co-piloting jet fighters trying to shoot down invading aliens, while riders of the Superman-themed coasters will encounter the resultant chaos of Lex Luthor’s anti-gravity gun, dodging floating cars and buses. Six Flags is celebrating with their new slogan, The Most Fun You Can Have With The Sweat Of Hundreds Of Previous Riders On Your Face.
Number 19 (January 16)
Would You Like To See Hotels In The Area While You Find A Lawyer?
Google Maps for Android has added Driving Mode, a feature that will guess where you’re headed and plot a course.
“Why does it think we’re going to Marcie’s house? I haven’t been there in over a year, since she got drunk and hit on you at the Christmas party.”
“Uh, yeah. Weird.”
“Wait… this is your phone.”
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”
Number 18 (February 13)
That Was Close–I Almost Didn’t Know That This CVS Had Two-Liter Sierra Mist On Sale!
Chrome for Android will soon start supporting bluetooth beacons. People near the beacons can access the “physical web” via notifications on their smartphones, where links provide information on one’s surroundings. A beacon might relay a nearby restaurant’s menu, sale prices at a store, or historical landmark information.
Some of you may remember an early precursor to this, experienced on childhood trips to the zoo. This device was called “The Big Metal Box That, After You Stick A Big Plastic Key Shaped Like An Elephant Into It, Yells Stuff At You About The Animal You’re Looking At.” I learned a lot of important information from those boxes, most importantly that if I played the same monkey spiel three times in a row I really had to hustle to catch up to my parents, who usually weren’t much for running.
Number 17 (April 23)
Though The Plots Have Nothing To Do With Reality, Virtual Or Otherwise
Virtual reality headset maker AuraVisor is teaming up with VR Bangers (not a joke) to provide in-room adult VR content for hotels in–go ahead, guess which city… that’s right–Montpelier, Vermont.
Okay, it’s Las Vegas. The visors–pre-loaded with requested videos–will rent for $20, which, given the technology, sounds not particularly expensive, seeing how hotel pricing results in that same $20 buying you a bottled water and a couple candy bars from the mini-bar. But where they get you is the highly-recommended $200 vat of Purell.
Number 16a-b (June 18)
Thanks, Apple!
We learned Monday that iOS 10 will allow users the long-wished-for ability to remove Apple’s pre-installed apps–like Stocks and Weather and Maps–from their devices. I have to give the gang in Cupertino credit for reducing by one the number of times I startle my wife and cat by shouting, “Damn it, Apple!”
Damn It, Apple!
We learned Wednesday that “removing” Apple’s pre-installed apps only gets rid of the icon and user data; the application remains on your device taking up almost as much space as always. A member of the iOS team took time from her hectic schedule to explain the reasoning behind the decision: “You should see the look on your faces! You thought you could delete them! Classic! This is what makes my job worthwhile!
Number 15a-b (June 11)
The GPS-Files
The Federal Aviation Administration has warned pilots that planes could be affected by “GPS Interference Testing” taking place at the Naval Air Weapons Center in the Mojave Desert. But are these GPS disturbances really being initiated by the government? Or are they covering up something they’d rather we didn’t know? Read the transcript of this radio message, intercepted immediately after the FAA’s warning, and decide for yourself:
“Sure, by all means, stay away if you can’t fly without GPS. Just because pilots used to do it doesn’t mean you should be ashamed by your inferiority. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being a coward. But if you do have the guts to try it, we salute you ‘We’ being just some interested onlookers from your own planet that you don’t need to worry about. And rest assured, should you experience some temporary memory loss and/or a lingering tenderness in certain sensitive, probe-able areas, that’s completely normal. That is all. Bleep blorp. Damn it–I mean ‘thank you.’”
You Guys Again?
Lexus owners have been complaining that their information systems spontaneously reboot, display blank screens, and flash purple. The owners received a recorded message explaining that “the issue was likely related to satellite communications, and a fix is available at your nearest dealer. In the meantime, there is no danger in continuing to drive your vehicle, and should you experience some temporary memory loss and/or a lingering tenderness in certain sensitive, probe-able areas of your body, don’t worry, that’s completely normal. That is all. Thank blorp. Aaaaagh! Why can’t I ever get that?!”
Number 14 (July 9)
Sponsor Them All
As everyone knows by now, Pokemon Go, the augmented reality game, is available for iOS and Android. You try to catch Pokemon out in the real world, and you can locate them via your phone. Of course, to catch them you need PokeBalls, which are scattered at various PokeStops–nearby landmarks like schools, museums, libraries, and such.
Enjoy this innocent time of random locations, before all PokeStops conveniently relocate to highest-bidder locations McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Dunkin’ Donuts, and such. And watch for new “special edition” Pokemon being introduced, like Big Macander, Peanut Butter Parfaitachu, and Boston Kremelypuff.
Number 13 (July 16)
The “Lightning Never Strikes Twice” Theory
Music service Rhapsody is relaunching as Napster. “Great idea!” said Best Buy as they changed all their signs to “Circuit City.”
Number 12 (January 16)
Call Me When It’s Knight Rider-Ready
Tesla’s latest update includes the Summon feature, which enables the car to park or unpark itself, as long as the driver is within 33 feet. Cool tech. But look, it’s not bringing your car from the parking garage down the street to the front door of your office building.
Really, how many situations are there going to be when you’re within 33 feet of your car but unwilling to take five more seconds to walk the rest of the way? Sure, there are the times when you’re in a desperate fight for survival with a psychotic international spy who has spent years tracking you down and used some exotic variant of jujitsu to disarm you and knock you to the ground and has a gun aimed at your head and is about to finish you off to avenge that nasty business in Helsinki in ’03. And you activate Summon and your car hits him from behind, allowing you to turn the tables and strike another heroic blow for democracy. But that’s, what, three or four times a year?
Number 11 (February 27)
Who Knows Where The Hockey Stick Ends Up?
Robotics company Boston Dynamics posted a video of its humanoid Atlas robot picking up boxes and shelving them, refusing to be deterred even when a guy with a hockey stick repeatedly knocks the box from its grasp. When this guy knocks Atlas down onto its “face,” it is able to right itself.
A still frame from this video–Atlas pushing up from a kneeling position–has been chosen as the source for the first in a new line of inspirational posters, with the familiar caption IT’S NOT WHETHER YOU GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT WHETHER YOU GET BACK UP WITH THE FACIAL RECOGNITION DATA FIRMLY FILED AWAY SO THAT AFTER HOURS, WHEN THAT CLOWN WITH THE STICK IS WATCHING THE VIDEO WITH THAT GIRL FROM ACCOUNTING HE WANTS TO IMPRESS, YOU CAN FIND HIM AND TEAR OFF THE ARMS THAT HELD THE STICK AND BEAT HIM WITH THEM.
Future variations will show a kitten hanging from each severed arm, because kittens sell inspirational posters.
Halfway home. We complete the countdown next week with 10 – 1. I know, it’s anticipation overload for those celebrating Christmas the same day. For those who don’t, there’s no law against putting up a Weekly Tech Views tree.
And if that wasn’t enough, the whole year’s worth of stories is now waiting for you at Amazon in the form of the book Tech, Please! The ebook is available right now, RIGHT HERE, and the paperback will be there in a day or two.
While the book’s Kickstarter fell a bit shy of its goal, the executives here at Weekly Tech Views, Inc said, “Publish it anyway! The public needs to have access to this kind of journalism!”
When the laughter died down, the public immediately responded by enthusiastically… well, the book is just now out, so we’ll see what the public enthusiastically does. “…replaced all previously purchased holiday gifts with multiple copies of Tech, Please!” would be catchy.
Happy Holidays!
Mike Range
@MovieLeagueMike
Weekly Tech Views: The Tech, No Logic Blog by Mike Range is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
DTNS 2927 – All Turk and No Pay
How thousands of “clickworkers” on platforms like mechanical turk are powering the machine learning revolution and barely making ends meet. Hope Reese from Tech Republic talks to Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt about that and more.
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Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 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
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Daily Tech Headlines – December 19, 2016
Waymo’s Chrysler minivans to hit the streets soon, Apple and Ireland team up against the Eu on tax issues, Supreme Court may reduce patent cases in east Texas.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.
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
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!