Breki Tomasson is on the show and we’ll talk about Elon Musk and WorldVu’s purported plan to encompass the globe in satellites to bring worldwide Internet coverage about.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Breki Tomasson, founder of the CSICON podcasting network

Headlines:

The Next Web reported that the GNOME foundation, the folks behind the GNOME interface for Linux, is setting up a legal fund to challenge Groupon, which named their iPad-based checkout platform Gnome. You see that Linux interface GNOME is used in some Linux based point of sale systems. The GNOME Foundation asked Groupon to change the name but the company initially refused. Groupon told TNW that it has been trying to come to an agreement with the GNOME Foundation for months and if it cannot come up with a solution it will “…be glad to look for another name.”

TechCrunch reports that Microsoft unveiled its first non-Nokia branded Lumia phone today and its a replacement for the X and Asha lines. The Lumia 535 has a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of ram, with 8GB of memory, expandable to 128 GB. The phone has 5 megapixel cameras on the front and back. The Lumia 535 will run Windows 8.1 Lumia Denim update and comes in a dual-sim variant. The cost is €110 and will go on sale in China, Hong Kong and Bangladesh this month, with “other countries to follow.”

ZDNET’s Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft has launched a bundle of its subscriptions. The Work & Play bundle combines Office 365, Skype Unlimited World and Wifi, Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Music Pass for $199 a year. The bundle is for sale from now until January 4, or “while supplies last,” though any limit on supplies is purely artificial. If yo already subscribe to any one of those services and sign up for the bundle, you’ll just get 12 months added to your current subscription. Oh the other odd thing is yo ave to go to a Microsoft Store int he US to buy it.

Gigaom reports that YouTube may be close to launching its music subscription service after signing a deal with Merlin, an independent music trade group that represents more than 2000 independent labels. Merlin’s resistance to signing was the source of reports in June that YouTube would block videos from labels that didn’t sign. You Tube already obtained licenses from all three major labels, plus several other indies.

Engadget reports that Nintendo is going to release a new pair of 2DS handheld consoles with see through casing, much like the transparent Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color from back in the 1990’s. The “Crystal Red” and “Crystal Blue” versions will launch alongside the new Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire games for $99.99 on November 21st.

The Next Web reports Facebook announced the Internet.org app for Android will arrive in Kenya this week for Airtel subscribers. Internet.org provides access to Internet service without charging for data. Among the services for Kenya are Among the services available are BBC News, BBC Swahili, Facts for Life, Wikipedia, Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

The Next Web reports Microsoft has patched a critical vulnerability that could allow remote code execution just by sending specially crafted packets to a Windows server. The hole is in the Schannel library which handles encryption and authentication in Windows for HTTP apps. Anyone running Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows RT should get patch MS14-066 right away.

News From You:

Inge_Aning submitted the Verge article that Microsoft is rebranding its Lync communications software as Skype for Business with the next version set to arrive int he first half of 2015. Basic features won’t change though the interface will get a more Skype-like look and add support for video calling and the Skype directory.

goofball_jones passes along a blog post from Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek, who is frustrated and upset by the recent accusations that Spotify is unfair to artists. Ek says Spotify has paid more than two billion dollars to labels, publishers and collecting societies since 2008, and that piracy has paid artists ZERO dollars. Ek goes on to drop some more numbers, including the fact that a top artists like Taylor Swift would be expected to make $6 million this year from Spotify, if she hadn’t pulled her catalog.

paulgannon01 pointed out the TechCrunch story that Alibaba smashed its sales record on singles day. November 11, marketed as singles day in China, is the country’s biggest ecommerce day of the year. Alibaba did $1 billion in sales in the first 20 minutes and reported sales of 57.1 billion yuan just after midnight, that’s $9.3 billion US. That’s almost double last years number. (The US paltry Cyber Monday sales were $2.29 billion last year.

Discussion Section: Micro-Satellites!

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/11/11/elon-musk-spacex-will-launch-micro-satellites-low-cost-internet/

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/531996243904716800

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/531994668608024576

http://online.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-next-mission-internet-satellites-1415390062

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/elon-musk-confirms-ambitions-for-internet-satellites/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldVu_satellite_constellation

http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/41755worldvu-a-satellite-startup-aiming-to-provide-global-internet

Pick of the Day: Chrome for the Windows 8 interface via Mike from rainy Beirut

I thought I’d add a suggestion for pick of the day.

I’ve been using Windows 8 from the beginning and I’ve found myself impressed with the innovative GUI and more pleased with each refinement.

That said, my pick isn’t Windows 8, but Chrome for the Windows 8 interface. Chrome started as just the browser last year, but is now a great port of Chrome OS and works well with a touch interface, like my Surface 3. By default, Chrome launches in the traditional desktop, but when you go to the menu bar and relaunch in Windows 8 interface, it switches over, so it’s kind of tricky to find

It’s not a new app, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how Google is adapting to Windows brave new interface and it’s now my default.

Wednesday’s Guest: Michael Wolf of technology.com

Veronica Belmont is on the show and we’ll talk about President Obama’s proposal to reclassify ISPs in the US as commence carriers to solve net neutrality concerns.

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 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: Veronica Belmont, co-host of Sword & Laser

Headlines:

The President of the United States of America posted a letter and video today declaring his support for reclassification of Internet Services as Common Carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. President Obama expressed his opinion that regulations shouwl not allow blocking, paid prioritization or throttling and ISPS should provide increased transparency. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler welcomed the Presidents comments and said he would consider them, presumably along with the 4 million others the FCC has received on the issue.

Facebook’ stand-alone Messenger app now has 500 million monthly active users, according to PC World. The number of monthly active users doubled in the six months, since Facebook cut off access to chat in their main app and required users to download the separate Messenger app. Facebook-owned WhatsApp reported 600 million monthly active users in August.

Reuters reports researchers at FireEye have discovered a bug in iOS that could enable attackers to access sensitive data on devices by getting users to install malicious applications that replace legitimate apps. FireEye calls the attack “Masque Attack.” FireEye disclosed the vulnerability to Apple in July and Apple is working to fix the bug. The WireLurker exploit takes advantage of this vulnerability. FireEye advises iOS users not install apps from unofficial app stores.

CNET reports Apple has put out a tool to help former iOS users disconnect their phone number from iMessage. Some users who switch to a non-Apple phone find text messages are still routed to their iMessage account where they are lost. The solution has been to switch off iMessage on the old phone though some users said that didn’t work. The new tool lets you remove the phone number from iMessage so that text messages are never accidentally routed to your Apple accounts at all.

The Next Web reports Mozilla released some new features for Firefox in celebration of the 10 years since the release of Firefox 1.0 on Nov. 9 2004. Among the new features are an easier sign in process, a walkthrough of privacy features, and a forget button that clears anywhere from 5 minutes to 24 hours of browsing history. DuckDuckGo is also now a standard search option.

Andrew Lewman, executive director of the Tor Project told the BBC that the significance of Europol and US Agency busts of 17 people associated with darknet sites may be overblown. Originally several sites had been reported shut down and rumors circulated that Tor had been compromised. Europol later clarified that 400 pages were closed in association with the services that hosted them. 27 services were seized in the operation. Lewman does not believe Tor itself was compromised in relation to the raids.

Reuters reports Samsung applied for a license to invest $3 billion in a second smartphone factory in Vietnam. This new factory will also be located in Than Nguyen province. Samsung has been increasing production in Vietnam to reduce costs.

Ars Technica reports that Pirate Bay and Flattr co-founder Peter Sunde, also known as brokep, has been freed from a Swedish prison after serving 5 months of an eight month sentence. A Swedish court found Sunde and three other co-defendants guilty of aiding copyright infringement as part of The Pirate Bay. Upon release, Sunde tweeted, “My body just got re-united with my soul and mind, the parts of me that matters and that never can be held hostage.”

TechCrunch reports the United States Postal Service is the latest to have its database targeted. The attack focused on employee data like social security numbers, addresses. Some information recorded from customer calls may also have been accessed. The intrusion was detected in mid-September.

 

 

 

 

 

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper submitted the GigaOm story that the Raspberry Pi foundation has put the Model A+ on sale for $20, making it the most affordable RaspBerry Pi on the market. The A+ comes with the new 40-pin GPIO header which can use the same HAT add-on boards that the B= can use.

habichuelacondulce submitted the Torrent Freak report that based on information it has received, Comcast recently sent out its 1 millionth Copyright Alert notice in the US. That’s about 2,000 notices a day. The alerts are part of the “six strikes” system in the US that aims to educate users about copyright infringement. No impact on actual infringement has been shown as yet.

 

Discussion Section:  POTUS and Net Neutrality

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/president-obama-calls-for-a-free-and-open-internet-wants-it-reclassified-as-a-utility/?ncid=rss

https://gigaom.com/2014/11/10/obama-tells-the-fcc-to-implement-real-net-neutrality-and-hes-serious/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186787/tim-wu-says-obamas-net-neutrality-plan-is-bold-courageous-and-just

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/the-fcc-fires-back-at-the-presidents-net-neutrality-plan/?ncid=rss

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186243/obama-just-did-the-right-thing-for-the-internet-and-made-life-hell

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah-ted-cruz-you-silly-senator/?ncid=rss

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186111/obama-net-neutrality-plan-draws-bold-reactions

http://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/11/10/protesters-descend-on-fcc-chairmans-house-over-net-neutrality/

http://www.fs.fed.us/specialuses/commsites/documents/pl-104-104.pdf

http://transition.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf

Pick of the Day: Atlas Wearables via Andrei

Hi Tom, Jenny, and guest ..

Long time listener … first time caller (?).

About fitness trackers being able to track more, I thought I’d pass along Atlas Wearables (www.atlaswearables.com). Through their Motion Genome Project should be able to recognize different exercises.

2nd production units can be preordered for $249 (!) + S&H for spring 2015

Love the show, Andrei

Tuesday’s Guest: Breki Tomasson, founder of the CSICON podcasting network