Today in Tech History – July 23, 2015

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1903 – Ford sold its first car to Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago. The two-cylinder Model A was assembled at Mack Avenue Plant in Detroit.

In 1985 – Commodore introduced the Amiga personal computer at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York’s Lincoln Center. Amiga cost $1,295 and shipped with a base configuration of 256K of RAM.

In 1996 – The first commercial HDTV signal was broadcast in North Carolina by WRAL channel 32 operating at 100 kilowatts with an antenna 1,750 feet above the ground. 200 members of the press watched the broadcast at WRAL.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2542 – Huawei’s On Their Wei Up

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comScott Johnson, Justin Young and Tom Merritt kick around Google’s new timeline feature for maps that shows you exactly what it knows about where you live work and travel. Plus the ethics of road-testing car hacks.

MP3

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

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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
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

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Today in Tech History – July 22, 2015

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1933 – Wiley Post returned to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes after leaving, becoming the fastest person to circumnavigate the Earth by air and the first to do it solo.

In 1962 – The first Mariner space probe to Venus had to be destroyed shortly after lift-off because of “improper operation of the Atlas airborne beacon equipment.” The error was caused by a missing overbar in the program that must have disappeared during hand transcription.

In 1997 – Apple announced OS 8 for Macintosh computers. It added easier Internet integration and a 3D look to the OS.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2541 – It’s not unreasonable to be hacked by anyone….

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPatrick Beja and Tom Merritt discuss the state of the mobile Web. can it be fixed? also your car can now be hacked wirelessly. So– come on car companies. Time to take this seriously.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? Click here for YouTube video.

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 in Tech History – July 21, 2015

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1975 – Xerox announced its withdrawal from computer mainframe manufacturing. The company did indicate it would continue activities in other computer-related businesses like computer disk drives, serial printers, and apparently giving away secrets to companies like Apple and Microsoft.

In 2002 – WorldCom filed for the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US history. It was the number two long-distance phone company, at a time when that still meant something. It would end up changing its name back to MCI, and its remains exists as Verizon’s business division.

In 2011 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility, Runway 15, ending the US space shuttle missions.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Cordkillers 80 – Sit or Get Off the Pot, Hulu

Hulu may contemplate an ad-free tier, Judge gives Internet TV hope, Slingbox giveth and taketh away.

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Download video

 

CordKillers: Ep. 80 – Sit or Get Off the Pot, Hulu
Recorded: July 20, 2015
Guest: Andrew MayneEklund

Intro Video 

Primary Target

  • U.S. judge says Internet streaming service should be treated like cable
    – US District Judge George Wu in LA ruled FilmOn X entitled to compulsory license for streaming broadcast TV network
    – (Compulsory license allows small cost carriage of must carry sytations. Stations who opt for retrans consent no longer    must be carried but have to negotiate in “good faith” for retrans costs)
    – An immediate appeal to 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals was allowed
    – Injunction against FilmON left standing
    – Feb. 22, 2011 – District Judge Naomi Buchwald granted an injunction, shutting down most of the broadcast stations carried by Ivi
    – Same right Aereo was denied in Manhattan Federal Court October 2014
    – FCC launched comment period Dec. 18, 2014 on reclassifying OITT as MPVD
  • Password Sharing: Are Netflix, HBO Missing $500 Million by Not Cracking Down?
    – A report from research firm Parks Associates estimates services like HBO Go will lose up to $500 million worldwide to people who share login information. 6% of US broadband households use a service paid for by someone outside the house. Services like HBO and Netflix responded to the survey with a collective “yeah we know.”

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

Hey Tom and Brian. I am still a few weeks behind so I don’t know if you have mentioned this or not yet.

The people of sideclick have re launched their product. They are only $13,000 away form their $80,000 goal, and they have 27 days left at the time of writing this.

Thanks,

Savo in silly Schenectady NY. 

 

 

Guys,
Please understand that live TV is essential to a sports fan! I know you two are not. With, basketball, hockey, soccer, golf and football, the major broadcasters like NBC, ABC, CBS & ESPN, make billions, not to mention billions more for teams and players. Then add in endorsements,etc. You are happily ignoring a huge segment of your own potential market.

Please get someone on your podcast who is tech savvy and is a sports lover.
 

Don

 

 

Hey guys, it’s your boss here. Last week you asked for an “anti-Plex opinion” … I am not that “anti-Plex opinion”, but I’m going to share my insights, anyway. 🙂

In my opinion, Plex is really good at one thing: managing libraries of locally-stored, non-DRM’d content. …

What Plex does not do is Live TV or PVR functionality, or any streaming service or web site. Yes, there are “Plex Channels” that will give you content from the web, but in my experience they are very glitchy and rarely work, probably because they’re almost all scraping web content, making them very prone to breaking. When they do work, figuring out what content is actually available on the channel is worse than figuring out what’s available on Free Hulu, and the experience will make Brian’s Grandmother a very sad panda!

TL;DR – If you have a large library of local media, Plex is awesome. For everything else, Plex is pain.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for making my favorite podcast every week! Keep up the good work!

Stealth Dave

 

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
2015 Winter Movie Draft

DTNS 2540 – Stop, Drop, and Land Your Drone

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comLamarr Wilson and Tom Merritt talk about the new Breakthrough Listen initiative to search for signs of extraterrestrial life. Also Samsung has really thin tablets now.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? Click here for YouTube video.

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
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

(more…)

Today in Tech History – July 20, 2015

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1960 – In a first for missiles, a Polaris A1 test vehicle was successfully launched from the USS George Washington submarine off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

In 1969 – In a first for humans, Neil Armstrong and Edwin A. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. Successfully landed the Lunar Module “Eagle” on the surface of the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission and became the first humans to ever set foot on Earth’s satellite.

In 1976 – In a first for robots, the Viking 1 lander successfully set down on on Mars in the Chryse Planitia and performed its mission.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.