Search Results for "september 21"

Tim Stevens joins the show to talk about the future of the Internet as the US gives up the last of its control over how it’s run.

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:  Tim Stevens, CNET.com, editor at large

Headlines:

Ars Technica reports Dorian Nakamoto issued a statement today saying “”I did not create, invent or otherwise work on Bitcoin. I unconditionally deny the Newsweek report.” Nakamoto also said he has retained legal counsel and this will be his last public statement on the matter. Newsweek said it has not received any statement from Mr. Nakamoto yet.

Engadget reports on leaked documents from O2 Germany saying Apple is looking to launch an 8GB version of the iPhone 5C that would retail for 60 Euros less than the current 16GB model. An Engadget reader also sent in a photo purporting to be of the 8GB iPhone 5C.

Microsoft’s OneNote organizing software has been made available for free along with the launch of a version that runs on Mac OS X

TechCrunch reports Japan’s LINE messaging app launched a flat-rate voice calling service called LINE call. Android users in Columbia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Phillipines, Spain, Thailand and the US can now call phone numbers in addition to other LINE users. Landline calls start at 2 cents a minute and mobile phone calls start at 4 cents a minute. users can either pre-pay or choose a plan that includes a certain number of minutes per month.

What’sApp’s Jan Koum posted to the company’s blog today reassuring customers that WhatsApp data would remain private even after his company is acquired by Facebook. Koum talked about his time growing up in the Soviet Union. He then mentioned that WahtsApp does not collect data like email addresses, birthdays, home address, GPS location etc. and added “None of that data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and we really have no plans to change that.”

TechCrunch reports multiple sources tell it that Amazon is readying a gaming/TV device produced by Lab 126 with a dongle form factor similar to the Google Chromecast and Roku Streaming Stick. One source claimed the product will stream full PC game titles at 30fps. The device is allegedly still in testing.

The Next Web reports Google announced improvements to Google Play Games at the Game Developers Conference. New features include game gifts, multiplayer invites, and cross-platform multiplayer with support expanded to include iOS. The Google Play Store will also get 18 new game categories to help sort through all those titles out there. All the new features will roll out gradually, starting March 18.

News From You

Kylde submitted the Ars Technica story about GitHub’s reaction to engineer Julie Ann Horvath’s public revelations over the weekend that she left GitHub because of toxic office culture and the interference of the wife of one of the co-founders. GitHub CEO and cofounder Chris Wanstrath issued a statement apologizing and stating the company has put one engineer and one of the co-founders on leave, and has begun an investigation.

andrewboudreau posted an Ars Technica report about the US Department of Commerce announcing late Friday that it has asked ICANN, the non-profit organization that oversees the Domain Name System on the Web, to come up with a plan to transition out of US control. ICANN has a contract with the Commerce Department to oversee the Internet’s numbering system. That contract ends September 30, 2015 and the DoC would like itself replaced a new system of multiple non-government stakeholders to ICANN after that. The Domain Name system transferred to private control in 1997,and the contract with Commerce was the last vestige of governmental connection.

And nickgiulioni sent us the cityam.com post about Twitter user @savethemhood sending 14 million DogeCoin to the Doge4Water campaign which aims to provide safe access to water for Kenya. That’s more than $10,000 worth of Dogecoin. Demonstrating one big advantage of cryptocurrency, the donation was made instantaneously across borders with almost no cost. Similar transactions in traditional currency would have taken days and incurred fees.

Discussion Section Links: ICANN, Can You? 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57620386-93/us-government-begins-loosening-decades-old-grip-on-the-internet/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-to-relinquish-remaining-control-over-the-internet/2014/03/14/0c7472d0-abb5-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_story.html

https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-11jan14-en.htm

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-key-internet-domain-name-functions

http://www.nro.net/news/internet-technical-leaders-welcome-iana-globalization-progress

http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/mou-jpa/icann-mou-25nov98-en.htm

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/6_5_98dns.pdf

Pick of the Day:  www.whenisgood.net

HI Tom,
Loving the show. Would just like to draw your attention to a neat little website, www.whenisgood.net It is a simple service which allows you to find the best time for an event. I am a regular user of shared calendars in Outlook (mostly in a professional context) and events on Facebook (mostly in a personal one), but I am using When Is Good more and more in the first instance these days because it allows me to propose several times up front and let attendees dictate the best one rather than proposing a single time and rescheduling if it doesn’t work out. It is also really useful because it is its own platform and it doesn’t require users to sign up: I am a part-time University student and I like the fact that I can invite classmates to a group project meeting without being Facebook friends with them and know that they won’t need to jump through hoops to deal with it (we do have a shared calendar but no one uses it). Wonder whether this could be a candidate for a pick of the day.
All the best, Matthew, Coventry England

Tuesday’s  Guest: Don Reisinger

Eric Olander joins us to discuss whether Facebook drones can help Africa, Japan’s regulation approach to BitCoin and the real story behind the Flappy Bird flap. It’s 4 AM in Vietnam where he is, so be kind.

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:  Eric Olander, Vice President, Financial and Business News Channel,Vietnam

Headlines

Facebook to buy drone fleet. Because internet: TechCrunch reports its sources say Facebook is buying Titan Aerospace, makers of near-orbital solar-powered drones that can fly up to five years at a time without landing. For its 60 million dollars or so, Facebook would be able to use the drones to deliver Internet access to any part of the world as part of the Internet.org project, starting with Africa, according to the sources. One can only assume Facebook will not use its drones to shoot down competing Google weather balloons that deliver competing Internet.

CarPlay powered by QNX: USA Today points out that the new Apple CarPlay system in part is powered by QNX, the embedded OS of choice among automakers, and QNX just happens to be owned by BlackBerry. Ford is actually moving off Microsoft’s Sync to QNX according to Bloomberg. N4BB first pointed out the interesting fact. Paul Leroux, public relations manager at QNX Software Systems, “We have a long-standing partnership with Apple to ensure high-quality connectivity with their devices, and this partnership extends to support for Apple CarPlay.”

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer to retire in September

Cortana, voice assistant, in action: Unleash the Phones has video of Microsoft’s forthcoming Cortana voice assistant in action. Though no words are spoken by the operator or the phone, you can see the setup system which asks the user some personal questions, like most enjoyable part of an evening, and thoughts on food. No kidding. Cortana is expected to be part of Windows Phone 8.1 and be officially unveiled at the BUILD conference in April.

Microsoft integrates Skype with Outlook.com

Twitter mistakenly sends password reset email to many users

Aether’s Cone Speaker reviewed: Several sites, including Wired, have a review of Aether’s Cone speaker. Unlike say a Sonos system, the Cone speaker has no remote and no Bluetooth connectivity. It uses WiFi to connect to a music service (available services have yet to be named) and then keeps tabs on your behavior to find out what you like to hear. It also has voice recognition in case you want to request something in particular. The only other control is the speaker grill which you can twist right to skip to a new song or twist left to replay. The Cone will sell for $399.

Intel purchases wristwatch health tracker company Basis for around $100 – $150 million

Bring me red page… I can’t… I can’t see you… Broderbund founder Doug Carlston has donated Broderbund’s software and corporate records to the museum, The Strong. Correspondence, photos and other material that reveals the culture of the studio that developed Myst, Prince of Persia, the original SimCity and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, will be preserved. The high school version of our producer Jennie is SO happy. So is the college-aged version of Tom. Who feels really old now.

 News From You

Rich_Seattle submitted the Ars Technica story that the US Department of Justice has thrown in on the side of broadcasters, in the Aereo vs. the broadcast world Supreme Court knockdown coming this April. Recode reports the Justice Department made the filing Monday arguing that Aereo gives users access to copyrighted content in the first instance without paying licensing fees. KAPT_Kipper also submitted this story under a different link.

biocow posted the Verge link about Radio Shack closing 1,100 shacks in the US. That’s more than twice the number expected.Radio Shack will have 4,000 locations left. The company lost $191.4 million last quarter. TVSEgon also submitted a link for this story.

dillydobbs & Tekkyn00b submitted the Gizmodo link about Flexcoin shutting down. While not nearly as large as Mt. Gox, Flexcoin says 896 bit coins were stolen from its store. Bit coins that were not stolen will be returned to customers before the shutdown. Polonix also admitted thieves stole 12.5% of its bit coin reserves, but that company will replenish the lost coins itself.

adi_lachman pointed us to a WSJ article about Dish striking a deal with Disney to limit the use of its Hopper ad-skipping feature on Disney-owned channels. Interestingly in return, Disney granted DISH rights to stream Disney channels like ABC and ESPN as part of an Internet delivered, IP-based multichannel offering.

Discussion Section Links:  How Japan is dealing with bit coins / Flappy Bird Perspective

http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Japan-to-regulate-Bitcoin-trades-impose-taxes

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1440514/japan-considers-regulation-bitcoins-wake-mt-gox-failure

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001087024

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/27/flappy-bird-clones-iphone-ipad

Wednesday’s Guest:   Iyaz Akhtar of CNET & of the excellent podcast Quest for Peace.

Patrick Beja is on the show and we discuss British intelligence looking at nude photos of Yahoo chatters, plus more net neutrality thoughts, and a very special birthday that made all of this possible. You have not guessed who it was, I promise.

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:  Patrick Beja, host of RDVTech

Headlines

British spy program ‘Optic Nerve’ captures Yahoo web chats, including nude images: The Guardian reports on documents obtained from Edward Snowden describing a UK GCHQ spy program called ‘Optic Nerve’ which ran from 2008-2010 for sure and was showing up on an internal wiki as recently as 2012. The program captured images from Yahoo chats, saving a still picture every 5 minutes. Analysts could only look at metadata in bulk searches but could get images if a username was the same or similar to targeted individual. In addition to testing facial recognition and feeding some data to the US NSA. the GCHQ was surprised to find a “number of people use webcam conversations to show intimate parts of their body to the other person.” Around seven percent of the images included “undesirable nudity.” The report did not estimate the amount of desirable nudity.

Google’s Project Ara project to arrive as early as next year with $50 price tag:  Time’s Technologizer blog reports Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone could arrive early next year priced at $50. That’s the phone that has blocks you can plug in and replace to add or upgrade functionality. Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group reportedly will finish a functioning prototype within a few weeks.The $50 version would only have WiFi, but then you could always get more block later. The freemium model comes to hardware!

Boeing to make secure phone CNET reports on Boeing’s dupe secure government and military phone: Yes Boeing is making a phone. Codenamed Black, it comes with loads of security features, dual SIM cards, a modular back for mission-specific needs like satellite communications or ultra-specific geolocation. Also any attempt to open the device would delete the data and software. The device won’t be available to the consumer market and technical information on “Black” is to remain confidential or protected by non-disclosure agreements. Also we never had this conversation.

The European Commission plans to hold talks on clearer guidelines for in-app purchases to prevent free-to-download games from misleading customers

GigaOm reports on crowd funding for a wearable fitness device called Moov which would audio and visual instruction WHILE you’re exercising

Baidu finished 2013 with its fastest revenue growth in more than a year increasing 50.3 percent to 9.523 billion yuan beating analyst expectations of 9.319 billion 

Pew research data shows 87 percent of people in the US use the Internet. That number shoots to 99 percent in households that earn more than $75,000 a year

News From You

Hey Steven Strogatz, I hope you made a bet on your prediction that computer-assisted math solutions would surpass human comprehension. Josh sent us an email with a link to the iO9 article about a computer that has solved the longstanding Erdős discrepancy problem. The solution is as long as all of Wikipedia’s pages combined and impossible for a human to confirm. The only way to check if it’s right is to see if another computer attempting to solve the same problem comes up with the same answer.

KAPT_Kipper posted the TechCrunch article about Sony announcing it’s shutting down 20 of its 31 retail stores in the US. Sony is busy offloading unprofitable parts of its business, even considering things like selling Sony Pictures, so this isn’t a shock. The 11 stores to remain open are in California, New York, Florida, and Houston, Texas.

And tm204 noted the Computer World story about Apple’s decision Tuesday that it will no longer issue security patches for OS X Snow Leopard. The last Snow Leopard security update came in September 2013. Snow Leoaprd was released in 2009. Apple generally only supports the newest and previous versions of its OS, but has supported Snow Leoaprd longer. Still. 19% of Macs were running Snow Leopard according to Net Applications data. Snow Leopard was the last version of the OS capable of running applications on the PowerPC processor.

Discussion Section Links:

Yahoo webcam images from millions of users intercepted by GCHQ

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/02/spy-agency-intercepts-yahoo-webcam-chats-nudes-and-all/

Pick of the Day:

I always heartily endorse Writer, at writer.bighugelabs.com Its essentially an internet typewriter, a super stripped down word processor. By default its green text on a black background (takes me back to my DOS days), and when in full screen mode it gives the best distraction free writing experience I’ve ever had. It has basic features, word count and a word count goal percentage, along with online saving across their servers. There’s a subscription option with some more advanced editing features and the ability to save to Google Drive/Dropbox, but the free version is all I’ve ever need. Every time I try NaNoWriMo its my go to.

Unprompted and hopefully not resented. Thanks

Rich from Lovely Cleveland

Tomorrow’s Guest:  Darren Kitchen of hak5.org

+Patrick Beja joins to talk about the dispute over Facebook’s Paper app, who won the Super Bowl on the Internet and Flappy Bird.

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

Attn: Facebook Legal, Trademark Division: The NY Times reports that hot on the heels of the release in the US today of Facebook’s new iOS app Paper, comes a complaint from a company called FiftyThree that makes an award-winning drawing app called Paper. Georg Petschnigg, co-founder and chief executive of FiftyThree told the NY Times he has asked in writing for Facebook to refrain from using the name. He also took to the FiftyThree blog to implore Facebook to “apply the same degree of thought they put into the app into building a brand name of their own.” FiftyThree has a trademark on the name “Paper by FiftyThree.” There are many other apps in the iOS App Store called Paper as well.

Windows 8.1 is now 4th most popular Windows OS TechCrunch passes along some Netmarketshare data from January showing that Windows 8.1 has passed up Vista to become, as of January, the 4th most popular edition of Windows at 3.95% to Vista’s 3.3%. The most popular Windows is XP with 29.3% an actual rise over December’s 28.98%. Meanwhile the first update to Windows 8.1 known as Update 1 leaked over the weekend showing interface changes making it easier to use a keyboard and mouse, and the ability to pin Metro apps to the desktop. Update 1 is expected to be released as early as March 11.

News From You

DrewCPU, mranthropology and a whole bunch of other folks are excited about this Next Web report that Google has opened up the ChromeCast to all developers. The SDK for Android, iOS, the Web and Chrome. Developers can incorporate the code into existing apps without having to rewrite. Developers can get the new SDK at developers.google.com/cast/ and sample apps at GitHub. Users of ChromeCast should expect to see many more apps with ChromeCast capability in the coming months.

The Verge reports Microsoft, Google, LinkedIn, Facebook and Yahoo have all now reported numbers for National Security Letters and requests made under the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Combined the numbers can only be reported to the nearest 250 and if separated only to the nearest 1000. Apple and LinkedIn reported their numbers last week and chose to report combined numbers of fewer than 250 requets. The remaining companies today broke the requests into categories. No company listed getting more than 999 orders in six months for any one category.

AllanAV posted a DSLReports link to a TorrenTFreak article about an AT&T Mobility patent filed in September that would enable a carrier to charge a customer more money for certain kinds of traffic, like file sharing or video. A user gets a certain number of credits for certain types of traffic and data requested is checked to see if it is permissible or non-permissible according to the carrier. While a patent filing is far from a working system, the recent decision against FCC Net Neutrality guidelines makes systems like this more interesting to follow.

More links from the show:

Apple experimenting with wireless charging

Beta Chrome browser to receive Google Now notifications via notifications center on Mac, Windows, Chromebook computers:

Reuters reports the US Department of Transportation will propose a rule mandating vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology be built into cars be put into place by 2017.

PC Magazine reports that the super popular Android and iOS app FlappyBird is coming to Windows Phone.

Nate Lanxon joins us to talk about the Dutch ruling against blocking The Pirate Bay as well as his road test with a 4K monitor and a Mac Pro.

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

Google Glass Explorer allows user to put Glass hardware in prescription lenses: The Verge reports Google’s Glass Explorer edition, which features the ability to remove the Glass hardware and use with prescription lenses. Now Google has released four different frames designed specifically to work with Glass and accommodate corrective lenses. If you were lucky enough to be allowed to pay $1500 for Google Glass then you can now have the right to fork over an extra $225 for the frames in the “Titanium Collection” because titanium. BUT VSP, a large healthcare provider, it would cover a portion of the cost for its members and help train optometrists.

Dutch court overturns ruling requiring ISP’s to block The Pirate Bay: Wired UK reports The Dutch Court of Appeals in the Hague has overturned a ruling requiring ISPs Ziggo and XS4ALL to block The Pirate Bay. The Court found that case law from the European Court of Justice holds an ISP should not be forced to take measures that are ineffective. The decision referred to two studies from the Institute for Information Law that showed no lasting effect of the block on piracy levels. The Anti-piracy group Brein which brought the case has been ordered to pay €326,000 in legal fees.

AT&T releases Q4 earnings report:  AT&T seems to have survived the T-Mobile Uncarrier onslaught nicely.  The telco posted Q4 profit of $6.9 billion on revenue of $33.2 billion and earnings per share of 53 cents beating analysts expectations of 50 cents a share and revenue of 33.1 billion.

Google launches Chrome apps for Android and IOS The Next Web reports Google today launched Chrome apps for Android and iOS. The development framework means an app can be coded ion HTML, CSS and JavaScript, then wrapped in a shell that enables them to be distributed in the Google Play or Apple App stores. This builds on the Chrome app store launched in September for Windows, Mac, and of course, ChromeOS. Also Google made their virtual lego tool, “Build with Chrome” available to everyone who has a Chrome browser.

Rovio, maker of Angry Birds, forced to state it does not share data with government spy agencies:  CNET reports Rovio, maker of the Angry Birds game, has been forced to state it “does not share data, collaborate, or collude with any government spy agencies.” According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the NSA was collecting data from “leaky” ad networks in popular games like Angry Birds. Rovio did away it would re-evaluate its relationship with third-party networks that might be used for spying purposes.

News From You:

galadiel passed along a Verge story about new voluntary guidelines for movie trailers released by the National Association of Theatre Owners. The guidelines ask that trailers run no more than two minutes, about 30 seconds shorter than usual. The guidelines also recommend against prompting viewers to go to a website or type a code in their mobile device. Presumably that spurs people to pull out the phones they were just asked to turn off.

webitube pointed us to a Kotaku report that Nintendo would start making mini-games for phones. The post was based on a report from Japan’s Nikkei referring to Satoru Iwata’s willingness to use the mobile platform. Not so fast. Nintendo told Engadget, “There are no plans to offer mini-games on smartphone devices,” and Nikkei was just referring to Nintendo’s willingness to make use of smart devices to promote products. Ah. Lost in Translation.

And KAPT_Kipper submitted a Boing Boing article pointing to a screenshot posted on Twitter by TheBakeryLDN, of what a company sees when you log into their service using Facebook. The control panel not only offers up the usual address, email, gender type fields but also activities, political views, photos, and all those other quirky profile fields. And just to top it off, the company also gets access to your friends Facebook data too. Yay for sharing!

More links from the show:

Yahoo releases Q4 earnings

The internet is getting faster

Charlie Shrem resigns as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation. 

 

Real tech stories. Really Shaky Analysis.

Welcome to early fall, that magical time of year when many of us get to both rake leaves and mow the lawn! Take a well-deserved break with a few minutes of pseudo-technology nonsense.

For the week of September 21 – September 25, 2015

 

It’s All About That Face, ‘Bout That Face, New Pebble
Pebble announced the Pebble Time Round, its first smartwatch with a round face. This is how I hope the press conference went:

[A round stage is designed to mimic a watch face and at each hour sits a two-year-old dressed like Fred and Wilma Flintstone’s kid. Center stage, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky takes questions]

“Why does the new watch have a shorter battery life than previous versions?”

“It’s round.”

“Do you think the smaller display will hinder it’s functionality?”

“It’s round!”

“What’s that smell?”

“Three o’clock Pebbles peed.”

“Why wasn’t the $249 price rounded to $250?”

“We’re done here.”

Starbucks Makes it Easier Than Ever to Spend Seven Bucks on a 900-Calorie, Nutrition-Free Breakfast
The Starbucks app is now available for Android, providing the ability to order and pay with your mobile device. This will work in 7,000 U.S. locations, which, according to the most recent census, covers nearly three-quarters of the stores in eastern Connecticut. The next update to the app is expected to include the Digital Barista, a feature that lets you speak your order into your phone–“a Venti Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino and a Pumpkin Scone, for Charles”–and then, at the very moment your order is ready, you will get a voice message stating “Your order is ready, Caramels.”

And While You’re At It, Tattoo Your Bank Account Info on Your Forehead
The Indian government had proposed a law requiring smartphone users to keep any encrypted information stored on their phone, in plain text, for ninety days, so the government could have a little look-see if they felt like it. Thankfully, this provision was removed in a later draft, along with the less-publicized requirement that citizens keep all web site passwords written on a piece of paper and kept in their sock drawer.

At Least There Was No Vomit Involved
When Amazon Web Services went down over the weekend, writer David Gerwitz reported that his Echo–Amazon’s personal assistant device–didn’t take it well. When he spoke requests such as “turn on the lights” or “turn off the alarm,” the only response from Alexa–the Echo’s “brain”–was to initiate a spinning red light (a light that is normally blue) and slowly speak a series of meaningless words. Analysts expect Mr. Gerwitz to add some levitation and a swarm of flies and get cracking on a first draft of The Alexorcist.

Yeah, But How About the Fun We Had With Fahrvergnugen?
The Environmental Protection Agency sent a notice of violation (known in official government parlance as “calling shenanigans”) to Volkswagen after discovering that some of their diesel vehicles were cheating emissions tests. The German auto manufacturer had installed software to determine if testing was being done, and only under those conditions would emissions be scaled back.

No question, Volkswagen (motto: “If the car doesn’t emit, you must issue a permit“) did a lousy thing. They duped the EPA and screwed their customers by taking an axe to their car’s resale value. But I think we can all agree the big picture takeaway is this: machines continue to become more like us every day.

As anthropologists have said for centuries, the ability to control when we emit gasses is what separates us from the animals.* Which of us hasn’t, when being “tested”–at a job interview, on a date, sitting through the third hour of a play you didn’t want to go to in the first place and has you questioning whether it was really worth promising this to be able to go to the Browns game with your friends last week–altered our natural tendencies and contained emissions that would put us in a bad light in the eyes of others, and then, once free of the testing scenario, emitted something not only harmful to the immediate environment, but capable of jiggling the needle on a nearby seismograph?

Fingerprints Are Like Snowflakes–Neither Is Safe Inside a Federal Government Building
Previously, The U.S. Office of Personnel Management stated that the fingerprints of 1.1 million government employees were accessed during a data breach this summer. That number has now been updated to 5.6 million. Demoralized by the extent of this hack, officials performed an extensive cost/benefit analysis and decided they could save taxpayers millions of dollars and be nearly as secure by uninstalling all computer security software and asking the world to go on the honor system.

If It Wasn’t Important, It Wouldn’t Be On Twitter
On this episode of Priorities Playhouse, we eavesdrop on a technology conversation taking place in thousands of homes, workplaces, dorms, and coffeeshops between two web surfers:

Web Surfer A: “Wow, listen to this–a paraplegic was able to walk by wearing a cap that sent signals from his brain–bypassing his severed spinal cord!–to his leg muscles via electrodes around his kn–”

Web Surfer B: “Hey–you can get your selfie printed on a pancake!”**

There Ought to Be a Law
A U.S. District Judge ruled that the Fifth Amendment prevents someone from having to divulge their mobile phone passcode to provide authorities access to the contents. It turns out, however, that it does nothing to prevent your fantasy football leaguemates, after listening to you brag all off-season about going 12-1-1 and winning the league championship, from guessing that your passcode is 1211 and leaving images on your camera roll of the trophy you bought to commemorate your accomplishment being subjected to contact with parts of their bodies that only the most intimate of medical specialists would normally see.

 

* Journal of Obnoxious Smells (June, 1981)

** Yes, it’s true: http://laist.com/2015/09/24/pancake_selfies_are_the_future.php

 

Thanks for spending some of your non-yard work time with the Weekly Tech Views. If you know someone else who needs an excuse to put the rake down for a few minutes, send them by.

Mike Range
@MovieLeagueMike

Weekly Tech Views Blog by Mike Range is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.