Darren Kitchen is back to follow up with what we should know about shellshock, plus some good news for a few drones out there. And Len Peralta illustrates the show, artprov style!

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta

Headlines

GigaOm reports good news for BlackBerry. But first the bad news. Handset sales were down 200,000 to 2.4 million and the company lost $207 million. HOWEVER that’s quite a bit less than the $965 million it dumped a year ago, not to mention it has $3.1 billion in the bank. Plus the Blackberry Passport has received 200,000 pre-orders.

SysAdmins the world over continue to deal with the shellshock vulnerability with patches out for most Linux distros, though not all of them complete. Consumers should be most concerned about devices with embedded systems like routers and webcams as well as OS X. Apple says most OS x users will not have the Unix services turned on that would allow attackers to take advantage of the vulnerability. However a patch is in the works. Bash maintainer Chet Ramey said on Twitter he had notified Apple of shellshock several times before it was made public. Apple uses an older version of Bash, v 3.2.51.(1) because the company avoids GPLv3-licensed software like Frankenstein’s monster avoids villagers with torches.

Reuters reports the European Aviation Safety Agency said Friday it will allow passengers to use portable electronic devices throughout the entire flight without being in airplane mode. EASA said This is the latest regulatory step toward enabling the ability to offer ‘gate-to-gate’ telecommunication or Wifi services.” Each airline will have to conduct a safety assessment before changing their policies.

TechCrunch reports Apple released iOS 8.0.2. The new update includes all original fixes promised in the earlier update, and fixes the cell reception issue with iPhone 6 and 6+, as well as a bug in the HealthKit app that delayed release of compatible apps, and a bug where third-party keyboards would default back to Apple’s keyboard when activated inside an app. Apple said in their apology that fewer than 40,000 devices were affected by the bad release which was pulled after an hour.

The tech press all decided to notice social network Ello today, possibly due to it being Friday. Engadget reports Ello is notching up 20,000 new users an hour despite being invite only. Ello is created by designers and artists, its CEO Paul Budnitz is founder of toy company Kidrobot. Its central premise is that it won’t turn you into a product to sell to advertisers. So no ads. The idea is to provide basic functions for free but more advanced functions, like multiple accounts managed from one login might cost you $2. Budnitz says “We’re not competing. We’re just building this thing that we really want to use.”

ZDNet reports that Amazon has officially acquired game-streaming service Twitch and its more than 55 million active monthly users, for $970 million. Amazon VP of games Mike Frazzini said the deal came together after Amazon met with Twitch leaders and decided their culture was “an awesome fit with Amazon’s culture.” To recap, Amazon now owns an incredibly popular live-streaming platform for less than one Instagram.

Re/code reports that Intel will pay up to $1.5 billion for a 20% stake in two mobile chipmakers with ties to the Chinese government. Intel will acquire the stake in Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics through a deal with Tsinghua Unigroup in an attempt to catch up to rival Qualcomm in the mobile chip market.

 

News From You

habichuelcondulce pointed out Samsung announced its highest capacity SSD yet. The SM1715 can store 3.2 TB of data and is in production. The drive is made using Samsung’s 3D V-NAND technology, in which storage chips are placed on top of each other. The random read speed of the drive is 750,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second) and write speed is 130,000 IOPS. Price and ship dates were not announced. Hopefully it’s cheaper than the $20,000 LSI Nytro 3.2 TB SSD.

spsheridan shares a BBC report that the US Federal Bureau of Investigations is “very concerned” about Apple and Google’s plans to create file encryption systems to which the companies would have no access. The head of the FBI James Comey told reporters that lives could depend on continuing access to device data. The FBI is holding conversations with both companies. Apple and Google have not yet responded. “we have keys to all your houses… oops I wasn’t supposed to say that,” Comey is imagined to have said.

ancrod2 pointed out the Moscow Times article noting Russia’s Roskomnadzor agency, which supervises the media and communications, has notified Google, Facebook and Twitter that they must register as “organizers of inofrmation distribution” and therefore keep information about Russian users on servers located inside the country. The companies have until the end of the year to register or risk administrative sanctions.

Discussion Links:  Shellshock and Drones

http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2014/q3/741

http://www.imore.com/apple-working-quickly-protect-os-x-against-shellshock-exploit

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/146849/how-do-i-recompile-bash-to-avoid-shellshock-the-remote-exploit-cve-2014-6271-an/146851#146851

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/09/25/google-and-amazon-respond-to-shellshock-security-flaw/?mod=rss_Technology

https://gigaom.com/2014/09/26/companies-and-organizations-react-to-shellshock-flaw-with-patches-and-advice/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/25/us-drones-exemptions-implications-idUSKCN0HK2RG20140925?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

http://www.cnet.com/news/faa-opens-the-door-for-movie-making-drones/#ftag=CAD590a51e

Pick of the Day: Teleprompter+ via Tom

Monday’s guest: Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio

Breki Tomasson is on the show and while we will touch on a glaring omission from Healthkit, the main story is the bash vulnerability Shellshock. Thankfully Steve Gibson agreed to drop in and explain it to us!

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Breki Tomasson, creator of the CSICon podcasting network and Steve Gibson, co-host of Security Now and head of the Gibson Research Corporation

Headlines

Last week a vulnerability in bash was reported to Red Hat by Unix expert Stephane Chazelas. The vulnerability was revealed late Wednesday. GigaOm has a good roundup of the details, but it essentially allows an environmental variable with an arbitrary name to carry a malicious function definition with trailing commands. That means it can get your server to execute code. It affects any OS that implements bash which includes Apache, most versions of Linux and Mac OS X. It also can include many routers, webcams and other embedded systems. Red Hat issued a partial patch and Akamai published some mitigation measures, but more fixes from more vendors are expected.

TechCrunch reports Apple says bent iPhone 6s are extremely rare and claims only nine people have complained to the company about it. Apple claims under normal use the problem rarely occurs and notes the new iPhones are built with steel/titanium inserts to reinforce stress locations. Apple also claims iPhone 6 models underwent testing to ensure they can endure bending, sitting, torsion and other kinds of stress.

Kotaku reports Valve released the Steam Music player for its desktop client. It’s not a streaming (or should we say steaming?) service just an in-game music player for your existing collection. So for instance if you want to be able to listen to Peter Gabriel’s Steam on the Steam Music Player, we now live in a world where that’s possible.

The PC is NOT DEAD! At least not in the US. NPD reports consumer retail PC sales grew 3% in the US from July 4th through Labor Day week. Last year sales declined 2.5% in that period. Chrome OS led the way increasing 37 percent over 2013 and Mac products rose 14 percent. Windows devices dropped 3%. Overall laptops rose 3.4% while desktop sales were essentially flat.

TechCrunch reports Apple apologized for the “great inconvenience” caused by its faulty iOS 8.0.1 update and claimed developers are working around the clock to prepare iOS 8.0.2 with a fix that will hopefully arrive in the next few days. Apple officially recommends rolling back iPhone 6 and 6 Plus from 8.0.1 to 8.

Reuters reports that European data privacy regulators gave Google guidelines on legally collecting and storing user data. Google came under privacy scrutiny from the European Union as well as six individual European countries after the company combined its privacy policies and data collection from sixty services into one, and giving users no way to opt out.

Apparently the EU feels a little warmer towards Facebook, because Reuters UK has two sources that say Facebook is about to win unconditional EU approval to purchase mobile messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion. European telecom companies like Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica want the EU to extract concessions from Facebook in light of WhatsApps plan to add free voice-call services later this year, but it looks like that may not happen. US regulators approved the deal in April.

 

 

News From You

BigJim1 submitted the ABCNews story on the successful arrival of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission and our subreddit users voted it up. The Indian Space and Research Organization is the first agency to be successful on a Mars mission in its first attempt. The orbiter program cost $75 million which Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointed out was less than it cost to make the movie Gravity. It’s also quite a bit less than the $671 million NASA spent on the Maven mission to Mars.

Kylde didn’t want us to miss the Technology Review report that Google X Lab’s head Astro Teller, speaking at the EmTech Conference on Tuesday, said Google aims to have a continuous ring of high-altitude balloons above the Southern Hemisphere within the next year. Project Loon as its called will provide LTE data service to cell phones on the ground at rates of 22 megabits per second to fixed antennas, and five megabits per second to mobile handsets. Teller said “if we can figure out a way to take the Internet to five billion people, that’s very valuable.”

Discussion Links:  Shellshock and a glaring Healthkit omission

http://www.troyhunt.com/2014/09/everything-you-need-to-know-about.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/25/us-cybersecurity-shellshock-idUSKCN0HK23Y20140925

http://lcamtuf.blogspot.com/2014/09/quick-notes-about-bash-bug-its-impact.html

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/09/24/11

https://twitter.com/taviso/status/514887394294652929

https://gigaom.com/2014/09/25/the-critical-shellshock-flaw-affects-many-linux-and-apple-systems-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/internet-braces-crazy-shellshock-worm/

http://blog.erratasec.com/2014/09/bash-bug-as-big-as-heartbleed.html#.VCRaXildXA4

http://www.zdnet.com/first-attacks-using-shellshock-bash-bug-discovered-7000034044/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/25/6844021/apple-promised-an-expansive-health-app-so-why-cant-i-track

Pick of the Day: SpeedCrunch via Cody Olivier

My pick is SpeedCrunch. As a game programmer and CS graduate student, I need a quick, straight forward, and simple calculator with some power behind it. Enter SpeedCrunch. It is a calculator that is completely controlled by your keyboard ( similar to command-line ) which supports user defined variables, a multitude of math functions, and comes with a table of scientific constants. It shows history, lets you retrieve previously entered equations, and my favorite feature is as you type in an equation, it will have a little pop-up with the current answer to the equation. This is very useful when I am adding up a lot of numbers and want to see the current total. It works for Windows and OSX and has a portable Windows version. I also believe the program is open source for anyone who wants to modify or look at the code.

Friday’s guest: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta

Brian Brushwood is on the show and we’ll cover the history of post-iPhone release controversies including this year’s which involves the fact that when you put slim aluminum things under stress, they bend. But should they? The answer may surprise you.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Brian Brushwood, co-host of Night Attack and Cordkillers

Today’s title ” ” was chosen by  at showbot.replex.org

Headlines

Watch out Google X! Reuters reports Amazon will increase staff at it’s Lab126 R&D division by at least 27% over the next five years according to a tax agreement reached with the State of California in June. Among the projects. Sources told Reuters that areas of research at the lab include wearable devices and connected home devices. One would allow one-button product ordering from the kitchen over WiFi. Products like the Kindle ereader and FirePhone came out of Lab126.

The Next Web reports BlackBerry unveiled its square Passport smartphone today. The Passport has a 4.5-inch, 1440 x 1440 resolution display, a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB of onboard storage, a 13 megapixel camera on the back and a 2 megapixel camera on the front. The phone runs BlackBerry 10.3, which features BlackBerry Blend, allowing users to manage files and communications across devices and platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS and Android device. The phone is available now and cost $599 in the US, $699 in Canada, £529 in the UK and €649 in Europe.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/24/6838103/blackberry-passport-att-availability

The Verge reports Apple says they “received reports of an issue with the iOS 8.0.1 update, are actively investigating the reports and have pulled the update for the time being. 8.0.1 was the first bug-fix update to iOS 8. These first patches notoriously cause unexpected problems. This time affected phones showed no service and touchID was unresponsive. The issue seemed only to affect iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The best workaround if you already updated would be to downgrade to iOS 8. Search “downgrade to iOS 8” for several tutorials.

Recode reports Comcast filed its response to comments on its proposed merger with TWC. Comcast told the US FCC that Netflix, Dish Network and Discovery, among others opposed the deal because the companies failed in “extortion” attempts to get special favors. Yeah, Comcast used the word extortion once and “extortionate demands” twice in the filing. Discovery said Comcast continues to intimidate opposing voices and Netflix said, “It is extortion when Comcast fails to provide its own customers the broadband speed they’ve paid for unless Netflix also pays a ransom.” Whoa whoa whoa! Ransom? Extortion? Intimidation? C’mon folks, this is not Fat Tony’s House of Legitimate Business here… or is it?

Reuters reports Adobe will close its research and development arm in China by the end of December. Adobe will maintain its sales presence in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Taiwan and focus on market development in the region. Last week, Adobe reported its worst quarterly revenue for Asia in the last five years.

News From You

t2t2 submitted the Polygon story that Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said the company will end development of a rumored video game codenamed Titan. Today Kotaku compiled everything it had heard about the game from various sources inside Blizzard. It had apparently been intended to be a near-future Earth set after an alien invasion had been fought off. Players would choose one of three factions and work normal jobs during the day, while at night turning into superhero like fighters against the other factions in a TF2 style game. Morhaime told Polygon they canceled the game because it just wasn’t good enough.

habichuelcondulce passes along the CNET report that Boeing has partnered with a company called Liquid Robotics to make SEA-FARING ROBOTS! That’s right, Boeing wants to build robots that can surveil the open seas, looking for drug traffickers and submarines. Or maybe drug traffickers IN submarines, because why limit yourself. Liquid Robotics is the company that built the Wave Glider SV3, a self-powered sea-faring data center that can stay in the ocean for months at a time. So add Boeing and BOOM SEA-ROBOT SOLDIERS

Discussion Links: What does the E.U. want?

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29331349

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1785905

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=19826437&postcount=41

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/bent-iphone-6-plus-problem/

http://www.geek.com/apple/iphone-6s-are-being-bent-in-peoples-pockets-including-mine-1605177/

http://www.cultofmac.com/297404/get-bent-shocking-history-bent-smartphones/

http://www.cultofmac.com/248603/iphone-5ses-are-bending-in-peoples-pockets/

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/09/24/apple-support-says-bent-iphones-must-pass-visual-inspection-qualify-warranty-replacement/

Pick of the Day:  Lootcrate via Rob Jennings

Today we have possibly the shortest recommendation we’ve ever received from Rob Jennings. And I quote: “Lootcrate.com a subscription services for monthly swag . It has different levels of boxes.” To elaborate just a bit: If you sign up for Lootcrate.com, they will send you a themed mystery box with a retail value of $40 or more. In August the theme was ‘HEROES’ and included a Groot Bobblehead, some mini ninja turtles, and a pair of Shwings (that’s wings for shoes) among many other things. The monthly plan costs $13.37/mo + $6 shipping and handling. Sign up for more months at a time and get a discount. Every month one lootcrater wins a megacrate, with $750 worth of stuff.

Thursday’s guest: Breki Tommason

Patrick Beja is on today. We’ll chat about the EU’s pursuit of remedies against Google’s dominant search position. Witch hunt or monoply-killing? Maybe neither.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Patrick Beja,

Today’s title ” ” was chosen by  at showbot.replex.org

Headlines

Geekwire reports on former Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie’s new service called Talko. That’s with an L. It lets users do things to voice calls, like tag them, bookmark moments, and record and share them. Users can also share text messages and photos through the app during a call. It can even do clever things like let you exchange recorded voice memos and then seamlessly turn those into a live call if you want. Ozzie co-founded Talko with Matt Pope and Eric Patey. The app is free to use and out first for iOS.

During his annual competition report to the European Union’s “committee on economic and monetary affairs,” Joaquin Almunia officially acknowledged that his department has asked Google for more changes to their proposed search settlement. At issue, is that Google favors its own services in search results. In February Google proposed several changes, most significantly, displaying three competing services next to its own. Opponents complained that the proposal did not do enough to mitigate Google’s dominant position in the EU marketplace.

Ars Technica reports the US Federal Trade Commission has filed a civil lawsuit against Butterfly Labs akl BFL alleging fraudulent and deceptive practices. The feds believe BFL’s founders spent millions on saunas and guns while failing to deliver promised bitcoin mining equipment. It’s pretty much just like the scams pulled off in San Francisco in 1849.

CNET reports Microsoft has set September 29th as the new date for the launch of the Xbox One in China. In compensation for the delay, pre-order customers will receive two free games. Microsoft will be the first game console maker to launch in China since a ban on game consoles was lifted. The Xbox One will cost 3,699 RMB ($600) without Kinect and 4,299 RMB ($700) with Kinect.

Remember that TechCrunch report yesterday that said Apple was going to shut down the Beats music service? The New York Times reports Apple spokesman Tom Neumayer said “This is not true.” An uncharacteristic flat denial from Apple. Well it’s uncharacteristic for Apple comment on such things at all.

Android Police reports Microsoft announced a Wireless Display Adapter that fits into the back of your TV (or monitor) and mirrors content from any Miracast-enabled device. For $60 you get a little black cable with HDMI at one end and USB (for power) at the other. That will let you mirror any Miracast-enabled device’s screen.

The Verge reports Paypal has partnered with Coinbase, BitPay and GoCoin to process bitcoin payments for some merchants in North America. If you sell intangible items like music, ringtones and the like through the PayPal Payments Hub, you can accept bitcoins now.

The Next Web reports that Jolla’s Sailfish-OS phone is on sale in India now, through Snapdeal.com. Jolla has been selling the phone in Europe through its own site since December. Customers in India will pay 16,499 Rupees ($270 USD) if they want to pick one up.

News From You

alanchar passes along the Wired report that AT&T is offering a new bundle for $39 a month, that includes 45Mbps Internet, HBO and basic cable. That sounds similar to the Comcast and TWC HBO and basic packages maybe. But WAIT there’s more! AT&T also includes one year of Amazon Prime which gets you instant streaming video the Kindle lending libray AND free two-day shipping. Take that Comcast!

tm204 passes along an Engadget report that Google Now has a new card in the deck. If you search for a plane ticket in Google Flights, Google Now will slip you a Flight price monitor card to keep you updated as prices change based on your recent destination or itinerary searches. Android Police notes that searching for flights on major travel sites like Orbitz or Kayak does not trigger a Google Now card.

AllanAV passes along the Wired article about four MIT students going to court to defend against a subpoena demanding the source code of a project called Tidbit. The tool was created for the Node Knockout hackathon and designed to let website visitors voluntarily use their computers to mine bitcoins in exchange for an ad-free experience at a website. The New Jersey attorney general claims the programmers violated New Jersey computer crime laws and demanded the source code and details of its users bitcoin wallets. The code was never fully functional. MIT has asked the subpoena to be withdrawn and the EFF is aiding with the defense.

Discussion Links: What does the E.U. want?

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/23/6832389/eu-antitrust-chief-reverses-decision-says-google-must-improve-offer

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-14-615_en.htm
http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/14/5412690/google-publishes-full-text-of-eu-antitrust-agreement-to-quiet-critics

http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.nl/2014/02/settlement-with-european-commission.html

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-87_en.htm

http://services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/google_commitments_full_2014.pdf

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-08/eu-seeks-google-concessions-to-rescue-antitrust-pact.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/05/technology/opposition-grows-in-europe-to-google-antitrust-proposal.html

Pick of the Day:  

If iPhone and iPad users want to get taste of Android’s upcoming Material Design aesthetic, and get a great news app, they can try out Google Play Newstand which was released in the App Store today. This replaces its older Currents, and is a huge improvement. You can select which categories of news you want, and can customize the sources feeding into it. For me, it has replaced Feedly altogether and I am also using Flipboard a lot less as well. This is one Google App that works well as a stand-alone even if you are not into the Google ecosystem. Fast and nicely designed.

Plug of the Day: Plug of the day: Tuesday plug: The Sword and Laser Anthology collects 20 amazing stories from new writers in the Sword and Laser book club audience. 10 SciFi and 10 fantasy stories with an introduction by Patrick Rothfuss. Get a copy at swordandlaser.com/store

Wednesday’s guest: Brian Brushwood

Rob Krekel joins the show and we’ll talk about the new “Crescent Bay’ prototype from Oculus as well s the advent of 3D sound for VR.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Rob Krekel, sound designer for video game that include The Last of Us and Uncharted 3

Today’s title ” ” was chosen by  at showbot.replex.org

Headlines

Breaking news, people, Apple sold a lot of phones. According to Gigaom, the company reported the sale of ten million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus phones between this past Friday and Sunday, beating last year’s 9 million sales of the 5c and 5s models. That may not seem like a big leap but remember iPhone 6 hasn’t gone on sale in China yet due to a delay in approval for sale.

TechCrunch reports it has five sources some of whom work at Apple and Beats, who say Apple will discontinue the Beats Music streaming service. Sources did not agree on whether this would mean it would be rolled into iTunes or not.

GigaOm passes along a Wall Street Journal tip that HTC will make Google’s upcoming 64-bit tablet, likely to be called the Nexus 9. That would make it the first Google device to run a 64-bit version of Android. The next version of Android, Android L, will be 64-bit capable. HTC has not manufactured a tablet since the HTC Flyer in 2011.

TechinAsia reports search engine Duck Duck Go has been blocked in China. The GreatFire Index suggests it may have been blocked starting Sep. 4. The New York Times published an in-depth piece yesterday about the trend of stricter controls on Internet companies in China, including Google, Line and Kakao Talk among others.

The Toronto Star reports that BlackBerry will sell its newest Passport smartphone for $599 off contract in the US , a few hundred dollars cheaper than phones like the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5. The 4.5 inch square smartphone is the first totally new BlackBerry device to come on the market since CEO John Chen joined the company. Pricing for Canada has not yet been announced.

Hey connector cable and communication port protocol fans, listen up! The Video Electronics Standards Association announced Monday it’s teaming up with the USB 3.0 Promoter Group to have a baby. That baby will be called the DisplayPort Alternate Mode for the USB Type-C Standard. Aww it has it’s mothers reversability! That means devices can connect to existing DisplayPort monitors using a USB Type C to DisplayPort converter as long as the devices support the DisplayPort Alt Mode. A dock could support 10Gbps USB data transfer and support a 4K DisplayPort monitor.

 

 

 

 

News From You

swiftpawz passes along the word that Google no longer requires new users to create a Google+ account when signing up for other Google products. According to a PC Mag retelling of a Marketing Land report, the Google + account is now presented as optional during the signup process. Though you’ll still need a G+ account to do things like leave comments on YouTube or leave app reviews.

AllanAV called our attention to the Anandtech report that Samsung is aware of a problem with two of their solid state drives, the 840 and 840 EVO, that have caused low read performance on older data. Samsung engineers are working on updated firmware. As soon as the fix has been validated they’ll get the new firmware out to end users, though no ETA has been announced.

And finally KAPT_Kipper submitted the best long read of the day from Ars Technica – a terrific account by Cyrus Farivar about an Italian restaurant in Richmond, California which is trying to become the worst-reviewed restaurant on Yelp to highlight their frustration with what the restaurant owners believe are Yelp’s aggressive sales tactics. The restaurant is offering a 25 percent discount to anyone who writes a terrible review. Yelp, predictably is not pleased, saying the restaurant owners are violating Yelp’s terms of service by offering incentives in exchange for reviews. And in case you were wondering, according to the author of the article, it turns out the food there is pretty tasty.

Discussion Links: Oculus

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/20/6660901/oculus-announces-new-vr-headset-prototype-crescent-bay

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/20/6661525/oculus-crescent-bay-prototype-headset-hands-on

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/22/6826877/i-tricked-my-brain-into-thinking-real-life-was-vr

http://recode.net/2014/09/20/oculus-announces-latest-prototype-crescent-bay/

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/eyes-on-oculus-crescent-bay-prototype-is-a-new-high-water-mark/

http://recode.net/2014/09/20/whats-the-killer-app-for-vr-maybe-not-games-oculus-developers-say/

http://realspace3daudio.com/

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2011/05/20/university-of-maryland-spinout-takes.html?page=all

http://twobigears.com/

Pick of the Day:  XBMC (Kodi) add-on called PseudoTV Live via Dave

As someone who will soon be moving into an area that has Comcast as the ONLY option for cable I figured I would attempt to cut the cord (more or less). I have a pc hooked to my living room tv and am one of those digital hoarders with a 4tb external drive nearly filled with movies and tv shows (mostly ripped from my own personal collection because honestly who has space for almost 600 dvds in their living room anymore?). My wife and I would stare at a list of movies on the tv and usually end up switching back to cable watching a censored and cut up version of something we already own on DVD or on the pc. I did a little looking around and found an add on for XBMC called PseudoTV Live where you can set up your own “channels” and flip through your own local content as well as online content (The add on comes with a few dozen RSS feeds set as channels including a TWIT channel as well as a Scam School one). The add on has a built in channel guide and is almost indistinguishable from a real cable system and although it can be somewhat frustrating to set up once you get it working properly (I consider myself a semi above average computer user and still rage uninstalled the thing more than a couple of times) it becomes a very viable alternative to cable, I have had it set up and working properly for a couple of weeks now and my wife and I have not turned back to cable since (except to watch Da Bears stomp on the 49ers last Sunday).

Plug of the Day: Daily Tech News Show Shirt  with Mustafa from thepolarcat.com’s logo now available in white, black and Ash. Look in the podcasts section.

Tuesday’s guests: Patrick Beja

Netflix comes to Linux and TwitPic lives but as you know it’s iPhone 6 release day, so Ek will join us with his brand new phone and stories from the line plus Patrick Beja will pop in with his French version and of course Len Peralta will be here to illustrate it all.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest:  Eklund, Patrick Beja and Len Peralta and maybe a new iPhone.

Today’s title “Goldilocks and the Three iPhones” was created by tvsegon at showbot.replex.org

Headlines

With Apple getting some good response to their privacy subsite yesterday it shouldn’t be a big surprise that Google would want some attention too. Google spokeswoman Niki Christoff told the Washington Post that not only has Google offered on-device encryption for more than three years but starting with the next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default. Meanwhile BlackBerry stands int he corner arms crossed pointing at it’s always encrypted self.

Threatpost mentions Google, Dropbox and others are supporting a new project called Simply Secure to improve the usability of open source privacy tools. The organizations advisors will include Cory Doctorow, Ian Goldberg and Google’s Ben Laurie. The idea is bring open source developers together with usability experts to solve problems and make apps easier to use.

Bloomberg reports that Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba had a successful debut on the New York Stock Exchange today, raising $21.8 billion dollars in its initial public offering. The IPO was priced at $68 dollars and closed for the day at $XX (above $90?) per share. The company is now valued at $231 billion, which makes it worth more than Amazon.com and EBay Inc. and more valuable than all but 9 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Ars Technica reports that Apple released iCloud Drive yesterday as part of the iOS update, but OS X Mavericks does not support the new Apple cloud platform, which means Mac users have to wait until OS X Yosemite is released later this fall. However, Apple did release an updated version of iCloud for Windows which has full support for iCloud drive WHICH MEANS Windows users with iPhones have the advantage over Apple users who didn’t opt in to the Yosemite beta. Of course, iCloud for Windows still can’t use iCloud keychain to sync passwords or use the Find My Device app. So don’t go getting too excited there.

Linux users stop your WINE-ing. Or any of the other workarounds you’ve been using to make Netflix work on your Linux machine. The Mukt passes along that Netflix software engineer Paul Adolph remarked on the Ubuntu developer mailing list that Netflix would be able to play video in Chrome on Ubuntu if NSS version 3.16.2 or greater is installed. To which Ubuntu security engineer Marc Deslauriers responded he plans to update Ubuntu with those very libraries. He might look at it as early as next week!

Ars Technica reports that a developer called Vladikoff has taken Google’s App Runtime for Chrome, which originally allowed certain Android apps to run in Chrome OS, and not only made it run all Android apps, but made it work in the Chrome browser as well. Vladikoff’s custom version called ARChon can be sideloaded into Chrome 37. Then you can use chromeos-apk to convert Android APKs into Chrome extensions and voila. You have android apps running on Windows, OSX or Linux.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper posted the Ars Technica story that MPHJ Technologies has lost its lawsuit against the US FTC. MPHJ was sending small businesses letters requesting $1000 per worker for using “scan to email” functions. That caused attorneys general in Vermont and Nebrasksa to sue MPHJ. So MPHJ decided to sue the FTC which it said was threatening to violate it’s right to free speech. That speech being threatening small businesses. On Tuesday, US District Court Judge Walter Smith dismissed the case since the FTC hadn’t actually done anything yet. MPHJ is still fightin the attorneys general. It’s doing well in Nebraska, but not so hot in Vermont.

tm204 passes along the news that the US Senate is considering limits on US law enforcement access to email stored abroad. Network World reports that the bill would allow the use of search warrants outside the US only in relation to US citizens or companies. The bill would also allow courts the power to modify or deny the warrant request if it forces a company to violate the laws of a foreign country. Whether or not this would help Microsoft in its ongoing quarrel with the federal government about access to emails stored in Dublin is unclear.

metalfreak pointed out an esucurityplanet.com post indicating a Swiss website called CipherShed.org claims to be the home of a project taking the TrueCrypt code forward and turning it into a new application. Jos Doekbrijder, the initiator of the project said CipherShed will be released under an open source license but which one has not been decided yet. The intent is to make a faster more secure product that can work under newer OSs like Windows 8 but still open older TrueCrypt containers.

And KAPT_Kipper has news from the Verge that should help some very concerned people on Twitter to worry less about my photos. You see I was using Tweetbot on my recent trip to post a few pics and the version of Tweetbot I use happens to use TwitPic to upload pics. Several people warned me that I was flirting with disaster and should stop immediately since TwitPic had announced it was shutting down. GOOD NEWS EVERYONE. TwitPic posted on Twitter today that it has been acquired and will live on. Crisis averted.

 

Discussion Links:

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/09/19/ifixit-opens-up-apples-iphone-6-plus-to-peek-at-its-huge-battery-and-the-rest-of-its-innards/

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29275039

http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/19/apples-iphone-6-and-6-plus-go-on-sale-to-long-lines-of-fans/

Plug of the Day:  ‘Events of a Different Nature‘ by Tom Merritt

I want to let you know I have a new self-published book out called ‘Events of A Different Nature.’ It’s about two dogs who solve crimes. NOW WAIT. It’s not nearly as cute as it may sound. It’s more Raymond Chandler than Wind in the Willows and they never once admit that they’re dogs or in any way inferior to humans. So if you want to check it out you can find a free version as well as print and versions for various ebook platforms at tommerrittbooks.com

Pick of the Day: Tom’s pick is Spider Oak

Monday’s guests: Rob Krekel

Peter Wells joins us from Australia where it’s already iPhone release day. We’ll chat about Apple’s new privacy promises and whether we can blame Australians if Netflix starts blocking VPNs.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest:  Peter Wells of Reckoner, Australia

Today’s title “Canary in a Coal Mine” was chosen by tondagossa at showbot.replex.org

Headlines

Bloomberg reports Larry Ellison intends to step down as CEO of Oracle and hand over CEO duties to president Mark Hurd and president and CFO Safra Katz. Ellison will become chairman, replacing Jeff Henley who becomes Vice Chairman. Ellison will also take on the title of chief technology officer. Ellison co-founded Oracle in 1977 when it was called Software Development Laboratories.

Amazon announced a revamp to its Kindle lineup yesterday. Here’s the list. The Fire HD now comes in two sizes. A 6-inch for $99 and 7-inch for $139 both shipping next month. For $50 extra you can make them Kids editions with a free year of kid-friendly Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, a big durable case and a two-year warranty. The HDX 8.9 got a faster processor and the addition of Firefly among other things. The entry-level e-Ink Kindle stays at $79 but gets a touch screen and more memory in October. Amazon also announced Family Library for sharing books, audiobooks, Prime Instant videos, apps and games among family members. But the star of the show was the Kindle Voyage. The screen is eInk but 300 ppi, high contrast fro even paperwhitier than the paperwhite, ambient light setting that adjusts gradually, a flush glass screen that’s not glossy or reflective, and a function to squeeze the right or left bezels to turn pages. The Kindle Voyage ships in October for $199 for WiFi or $269 more for a 3G-enabled version.

Apple posted a new privacy policy and a whole subsite at apple.com/privacy explaining changes in iOS8 as well as pre-existing privacy protections. The subsite has sections on privacy design, privacy management and government requests. In an introductory letter to the site, CEO Tim Cook says Apple has never put back doors in their products for the government. The site also claims that most of your data is now encrypted on the device with a passcode and cannot be recovered by Apple even if it wanted to.

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft conducted its second round of layoffs Thursday letting go 2,100 people. Microsoft let go 13,000 in July of a total of 18,000 they intend to cut. That leaves 2900 still to go by July 2015. 747 of the current 2100 were in Washington State with the rest distributed globally.

The Verge reports that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will go on sale in the US on October 17th. If you live in the UK, the phablet will go on sale October 10th. Pre-orders begin tomorrow in both countries. On the carrier side, AT&T announced it will ship the Note 4 beginning October 14th for $299.99 on-contract, and $825.99 for the unsubsidized, contract-free version. You can also pay for the phone in monthly installments of $34.42 over 18 months or $41.30 over 12 months. If you want a Note 4 from T-Mobile, you’ll have to wait until Sept 24th to pre-order, but it will still arrive October 17th and you can have up to 24 months to pay it off. And Verizon and Sprint ask you to please hold, they will get right back to you about their Note 4 availability.

GigaOm reports Twilio will add MMS support for regular phone numbers. Twilio allows developers to embed multimedia messaging into apps. The new function means companies can use a single phone number for voice, text and multimedia, similar to existing offers from companies like ZipWhip and Bandwidth. No more shortcodes necessary.

News From You

habichuelacondulce passes along another Ars Technica article about the ongoing debate over what is considered broadband. Last week AT&T and Verizon said 4Mbps was sufficient. This week, US FCC chairman Tom Wheeler told a Congressional Committee that 4Mbps is too slow and that Internet service providers who accept government subsidies to connect rural areas should offer at least 10Mbps to avoid a ‘digital divide’ between city and country internet users. Wheeler says he hopes to “have that issue tidied up” by the end of this year.

KAPT_Kipper submitted the MobileSyrup post that Microsoft has changed its developers fee to a lifetime subscription you only have to pay once. One developer account serves for Windows or Windows Phone stores. Developers were previously charged $19 annually for an individual account. Now they just have to pay once to get in and that’s it. That also means existing accounts will not expire.

And diggsalot submitted a Torrent Freak article stating that Simon Bush, CEO of the Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association says some of his members are lobbying Netflix to block users that connect through a VPN. Coincidentally, an estimated 200,000 Australians are estimated to use the US version of Netflix. Quickflix CEO Stephen Langsford renewed his calls for Netflix to block VPN users, accusing Netflix of profiting off “back door” tactics. Of course, banning VPN use of Netflix would affect non-Australian users with a legitimate account as well. So thanks ALOT, Australia.

Discussion Links:

http://www.apple.com/privacy/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/2014/09/17/2612af58-3ed2-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/18/6409915/apples-privacy-statement-is-a-direct-shot-at-google-and-i-love-it

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/18/6404767/apple-offers-mixed-signals-whether-police-can-access-your-data

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/apple-iphone-security/

https://gigaom.com/2014/09/18/apples-warrant-canary-disappears-suggesting-new-patriot-act-demands/

http://images.apple.com/privacy/docs/iOS_Security_Guide_Sept_2014.pdf

Plug of the Day:  ‘Events of a Different Nature‘ by Tom Merritt

I want to let you know I have a new self-published book out called ‘Events of A Different Nature.’ It’s about two dogs who solve crimes. NOW WAIT. It’s not nearly as cute as it may sound. It’s more Raymond Chandler than Wind in the Willows and they never once admit that they’re dogs or in any way inferior to humans. So if you want to check it out you can find a free version as well as print and versions for various ebook platforms at tommerrittbooks.com

Pick of the Day: Knowroaming via Marc Gibeault and xcomglobal via Kayo

“I bought Knowroaming when it was first announced (on Indiegogo I think) but had the occasion to use it only last week-end. And now I think it’s the best tool for travelling with your phone!
-Good rates anywhere for voice/messages/data
-No need to think about it in advance; you arrive at destination and install the profile and it works. You get back home, you remove the profile and it’s done.
-Switches to the strongest network
-Easy to use app and website where you buy credits. That also mean you cannot spend more than you planned without knowing.
Only drawback for some; it requires an unlocked phone.”
For those with locked phones, Kayo has another option: “”I used xcomglobal in Vancouver and it worked great. It was about $15 per day which sounds pricey but it was the same price as hotel wifi, and all of our phones were locked so we couldn’t rent a SIM card anyway. I took a portable battery with me so my family and I had access to the internet all day. I was so happy that when I sent along a thank you post-it with the returned device, they wrote back and gave me a 10% coupon code (embarrassingly, it’s ‘kayolovesxcom’) to share with others. It’s good for a year from June. (I don’t get a kickback for that and I don’t work for this company, btw.)

In Japan, I used a similar service from Global Advanced Communications and that worked really well too. Their coverage was good and the speed was faster than my Comcast connection at home. My brother recently used his free T-mobile 2G roaming plan in the Tokyo area and he was pleased with it as well. Hope that helps!”

Tomorrow’s guests:  Eklund and Len Peralta and maybe a new iPhone.

Michael Wolf joins us as the world downloads iOS8 and deletes all their pet photos to make room. Plus we’ll discuss whether the Apple Watch is too dependent on the iPhone.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest:  Michael Wolf of the NextMarket podcast and the Smart Home Show

Headlines

Feel that? That’s the feeling of almost an entire week of factual coverage of Apple products coming to an end. As iOS 8 rolls out and the IPhone 6 reviews have all been posted, people familiar with the matter have wasted no time slipping out the latest Apple rumor. The Daily Dot is the vector stating Apple will announce two new iPads and launch OS X Yosemite on October 21st.

GigaOm reports BitTorrent opened up the alpha test of its secure messaging app Bleep Wednesday. Apps for OS X and Android were released as well as an update of the existing Windows client. Bleep offers end-to-end encryption for instant messages as well as a number of features that make it difficult to determine which users are communicating with each other.

The Verge reports Logitech announced the ‘Harmony Living Home’ line of remotes. The three new models and have more intuitive software to help you control certain brands of connected thermostats lightbulbs, blinds, smart locks and your home theater. The remotes start at $99 and range up to the $349 Ultimate Home remote that has a 2.4 inch display. It also allows you to customize ‘experiences’ to occur when you wake up, or when an in-law is yelling at you. Oh wait. They don’t have that last button– yet.

According to Reuters, the online review site Yelp, and mobile app developer TinyCo have both agreed to settle separate charges that they improperly collected children’s information online under the Children’s Online Protection Act. Yelp will pay a $450,000 civil penalty for collecting name, email and location information from children under 13 without parental consent; TinyCo will pay $300,000 for targeting young children with brightly colored characters in apps which also collected email addresses from children.

And The Verge reports that Chinese mobile phone company ZTE has a new phablet for sale in the US starting September 24th. The ZMax is exclusive to TMobile, runs on Android 4.4 KitKat and features a 5.7-inch display with 720p resolution, an 8-megapixel camera, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 16GB of internal storage. The ZMax sells for $252, or $10.50 per month for 24 months. Says the Verge, “The ZMax isn’t a striking phone” but hey, maybe we all need a break from those big fancy phablets with their fancy chamfered edges and cuved backs and whatnot.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the NASA post that the US space agency have granted contracts to Boeing and SpaceEx to carry crew into space. Each contractor will conduct manned test mission to gain certification then carry out 2-6 crewed missions to the ISS. And it turns out Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin got in on a little of Boeing’s money. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed will team up with Blue Origin with ULA building capsules and Blue Origin building BE-4 rockets to launch them. The goal of NASA’s program is to end reliance on Russia by 2017.

the_corley posted an R&D Mag story that researchers at the University of Missouri have created a long-lasting efficient nuclear battery that could be used in automobiles and space flight as described in a research published in Nature. Don’t let the nuclear scare you. associate professor if electrictal and computer engineering and nuclear engineering Jae W. Kwon says this is similar to technology already used in fire detectors and exit signs. The battery uses strontium-90 in a water-based solution with a titanium dioxide electrode. In other words, a liquid that doesn’t freeze easily that outs out efficient electricity.

matalfreak and diggsalot both noticed articles on the Cosmos Browser which transfers data over SMS. This is very useful for users who can’t afford a phone with a data plan. Developer Stefan Aleksic of ColdSauce developed the text-only browser which texts URLs to a Twilio number which forwards it to a Node.JS service that gets the HTML, strips it of everything but the text, compresses it and sends it along as as series of SMS messages. The browser receives the messages decompresses them and displays the text. The code is open soruce and targeted at Android devices. Look for the Cosmos Browser from ColdSauce on GitHub.

Discussion Links:

http://blog.nextmarket.co/post/97743589899/apple-watchs-biggest-problem-is-the-iphone

http://research.gigaom.com/report/flash-analysis-first-impressions-of-the-apple-watch/flash-survey-analysis/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140909204146-6139636-the-battle-for-the-phone-agnostic-smartwatch-is-still-wide-open-post-apple-watch?trk=prof-post

http://www.zdnet.com/apple-rolls-out-ios-8-to-iphone-ipad-users-heres-how-to-get-it-7000033693/

https://gigaom.com/2014/09/17/meta-review-iphone-6-iphone-6-plus/

Plug of the Day:  ‘Events of a Different Nature‘ by Tom Merritt

I want to let you know I have a new self-published book out called ‘Events of A Different Nature.’ It’s about two dogs who solve crimes. NOW WAIT. It’s not nearly as cute as it may sound. It’s more Raymond Chandler than Wind in the Willows and they never once admit that they’re dogs or in any way inferior to humans. So if you want to check it out you can find a free version as well as print and versions for various ebook platforms at tommerrittbooks.com

Pick of the Day: 

You where talking about prepaid sims and other international data options. I was doing some research the other day and found a 3G hotspot solution that cost $10 a day for unlimited data and supported in over 40 countries. The service is called skyroam at www.skyroam.com might be worth taking a look at for the data hog on the go.

Derrick writes: “I wanted to also throw out Tep Wireless as another option when travelling abroad. They offer 3G mobile hotspots and cover a good portion of the world. I always use it on my trips to Europe, paying about $6-7 for 150MB/day (unused data is rolled over). They can ship it or you can pick/drop off at airports so it’s really convenient. It’s a great option if you don’t need phone/SMS and only need data. Plus you can attach as many devices as you want to it.

Tomorrow’s guest: Peter Wells of Reckoner, Australia

Andrea Smith talks about things you should know about mobile data and SIM cards when traveling, plus the real reason why Microsoft bought Minecraft.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
Today’s guest:  Andrea Smith, technology journalist

Headlines

Cult of Mac says it has talked to folks inside Apple who say the NFC chip on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will only be used by Apple Pay. That’s similar to TouchID which was not accessible to developers at launch. TouchID has opened up a bit in iOS8, and many hope that the iPhone’s NFC will open up to developers down the road as well.

You know how Microsoft says they’re a productivity and platform company. Well PC Mag reports on a few new peripherals that fall in the productivity side of the equation. The most intriguing is the Universal Mobile Keyboard that connects by Bluetooth to Windows, Android and iOS devices. It’s coming to US and Canada in October fort $80. A new standalon Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse will come Sept. 18 for $70. The Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 is back with fancy artwork this moth for $30. And a version of the Xbox One controller meant for Windows packs in a 9-foot USB to microUSB cable for $60 starting in November.

$350 for a watch made by somebody from Apple that won’t come until next year? We can do better. The Unofficial Apple Weblog reports the Misfit Flash tells time, tracks activity and sleep, and syncs with the Misfit App on an iPhone. While it doesn’t have apps, it does runs on an actual watch battery, so no recharging. It also comes in seven colors, is waterproof down to 30 meters and only costs $49.99. It will be available in stores in October and you can pre-order starting today. Oh and the company is led in part by former Apple CEO John Sculley. You know the guy who fired Steve Jobs.

Reuters reports the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington threw out a jury order that would have required Apple to pay VirnetX Holding Corp. $368.2 million for VPN patents. The decision does not find Apple innocnent of infringing but determined the trial judge incorrectly instructed jurors on how to calculate damages. The appeals court returned the case to the U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, for further proceedings.

Eweek has it that Docker, maker of open-source container virtualization tech, closed a $40 million Series C round of funding. The funding is a big vote of confidence for Docker 1.0 which will create a commercial ecosystem around the tech. Docker lets developers build their app in any language, then put them in a Docker container that allows them to run anywhere.

TechCrunch reports IBM has announced a new cloud application called Watson Analytics, to help business users crunch big data. And yes, IBM execs say the underlying technology includes the the same ability to process natural language queries that helped Watson the Giant Supercomputer beat Ken Jennings at Jeopardy. The product goes into beta this month and is slated for general release by the end of the year. The program will run on a variety of platforms including tablets, smartphones and PC/laptop. Oh also, there’s a FREE version.

 

 

News From You

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the Ars Technica article that a jury in Marshall, Texas (Go Mavericks) found CBS guilty of infringing a patent from Personal Audio LLC and ordered to pay $1.3 million. Personal Audio holds a patent on a System for disseminating media content representing episodes in a serialized sequence. The patent was filed in 2009 and published Feb. 17, 2012. What CBS did was put a compilation file together, in this case a “web page” made from “HTML” and then transmitted episodic content through that file over the Internet. The decision allows Personal Audio to move forward with suits against NBC and Fox. The EFF is challenging the validity of the patent with the patent office later this year.

tm204 submitted the Engadget report that security researcher Benjamin Daniel Musser discovered a security hole in the Manage Your Kindle page. An coorrupted ebook, for example one with a script in the title, could be created to access your cookies and subsequently your Amazon account credentials. Musser discovered the hole in October and Amazon patched it but it resurfaced recently. Musser says if your carefuk about what ebooks you load into your Kindle it should be easy to avoid the problem.

gewbert passes along The Verge report that Roku has sold more than 10 million streaming players since 2008. Apple annoucned earlier this year it had sold 20 million Apple TVs since 2007. Roku has now amassed 1,800 channels and users have streamed more than five billion hours of content since the service launched. Roku currently sells a $49 streaming stick and three set-top boxes, including the $99 Roku 3.

Discussion Links: Roam if you want to…

http://www.zdnet.com/the-american-business-travelers-guide-to-europe-on-5-a-day-in-smartphone-charges-7000033703/

Plug of the Day:  ‘Events of a Different Nature‘ by Tom Merritt

I want to let you know I have a new self-published book out called ‘Events of A Different Nature.’ It’s about two dogs who solve crimes. NOW WAIT. It’s not nearly as cute as it may sound. It’s more Raymond Chandler than Wind in the Willows and they never once admit that they’re dogs or in any way inferior to humans. So if you want to check it out you can find a free version as well as print and versions for various ebook platforms at tommerrittbooks.com

Pick of the Day: Darik’s Boot and Nuke via Brian Burgess

One of the free tools I use a lot, especially when I want to completely nuke a computer and do a “real” clean install of Windows is Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN): http://www.dban.org/
Or, if you want to blow away a drive that’s heavily infected with viruses and other malicious code it’s perfect. You burn it to a disc and then boot from it and use the command line interface. For most consumers the “Quick or Auto Nuke” option is good enough, but for the truly paranoid you can your drive to near Department of Defense standards. You can set it to overwrite the drive up to 7 times.

Tomorrow’s guest: Michael Wolf of the NextMarket podcast

Patrick Beja is with us today and we’ll discuss whether or not Microsoft buying Mojang is good for anyone– or everyone.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest:  Patrick Beja, host of Le Rendez-vous Tech, and DTNS contributor

Headlines

Microsoft announced this morning that it is in fact acquiring the makers of Minecraft, Mojang for $2.5 billion. On Xbox.com, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer wrote that the company plans to continue to make Minecraft available across competing platforms. Mojang cofounders Notch aka Markus Persson Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser will not stay with the company. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

It’s the Monday after a new iPhone went on sale, which means it’s time for Apple to announce how the sales broke records and outran their supplies– causing delays in shipments. CNET reports Apple announced Monday that first day preorders of the new iPhones topped 4 million in the first 24 hours setting a record and outpacing initial supplies causing shipping delays until October.

GigaOm reports Google announced new manufacturers of entry-level Android One devices as the first round handsets go on sale in India. Android One devices are affordably priced and must minimum standards like a 4.5-inch screen and a 5-megapixel camera. Google helps source parts to keep costs down as well as striking deals with carriers for some free data for Android updates and app downloads. Monday saw the Micromax Canvas A1, the Spice Dream Uno and the Karbonn Sparkle V all around 6400 Rupees or $105. Acer, Alcatel, Asus, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic and Xolo are all on board for future Android One devices. The next wave of rollouts will expand to Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka by the end of the year.

Remember the good old days of last week, when Apple gave everyone with an iTunes account a free album from one of the world’s biggest rock bands to promote the iPhone 6? Remember how much people complained because a free album was automatically downloaded to their devices without their permission? According to the BBC, Apple has now given users a special tool to remove U2’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ available at itunes.com/soi-remove. Also, this is why we can’t have nice things.

The Verge reminds us today, September 15th is the last day to file responses to comments regarding the US FCC’s proposed Open Internet Guidelines. The FCC press secretary announced that over 3 million comments have come in. The Sunlight Foundation analyzed 800,000 earlier comments and found that around two-thirds of them asked the FCC to reclassify broadband, while about 5 percent opposed tighter regulations. After comments close tonight, the FCC will use them to decide on a final proposal, which Wheeler hopes to pass by the end of 2014.

News From You

Cosmicvibes posted an Inquisitr story about Comcast threatening to disconnect Tor users, but an Ars Technica story quotes Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas saying “This story is wildly inaccurate. Customers are free to use their Xfinity Internet service to visit any website or use it however they wish otherwise.” Douglas added “”We have found no evidence that these conversations took place.” VP of Internet communications and engineering at Comcast Jason Livingood wrote in a blog post today “Our customers can use Tor at any time, as I have myself.” Not the usual Comcast apology and backtracking we’ve seen lately.

habichuelacondulce submitted a Time Magazine report about the Chinese city of Chongqing, which has come up with a way to remind its 28 million residents about the dangers of looking down at their phones while walking. The city used white paint to divide the sidewalks of its entertainment district into two lanes–one for people walking while using cell phones, and one for all the other people. A Chinese official said the markings were designed to protect elderly people and children from unnecessary collisions, but clarified that the initiative was designed to be satirical.

KAPT_Kipper submitted the TechCrunch article about Netflix finally launching in France. Patrick you can subscribe for €7.99 per month, €8.99 per month with HD streaming and 2 simultaneous streams, and €11.99 for 4K streaming and four simultaneous streams. The selection is thin at launch even missing House of Cards whose French rights are held by Canal+.

spsheridan posted the PC World story about research published in the journal Nature Materials on Sunday challenging the notion that slowly charging a battery and preventing fast discharges help prolong battery life. The researchers led by Stanford’s William Chueh, found the evenness of the charging, not the speed is the key factor and could increase the useful life of a battery from a couple years to a decade. They also could use their findings to allow faster discharging without damage. The researchers are engaging in further experiment to simulate typical use and are in talks with electronics companies.

KAPT_Kipper passes along an Ars Technica writeup of some fine original reporting by Vox Media’s Tim Lee analyzing the impact of the Supreme Court’s ruling on patents back in June. Since that decision, there have been eleven federal judicial rulings striking down patents as “abstract” which is a high number according to Ars Technica. The list only highlights patents that have lost under Section 101 of the US patent law, which governs when a patent is an “abstract idea” that can’t be patented.Many of the patents being knocked out are “do it on a computer” patents that take everyday activity and add computer jargon. Check out Tim Lee’s article for the full list of decisions.

Discussion Links: Microsoft and Mojang to marry

https://gigaom.com/2014/09/15/microsoft-pays-2-5b-for-minecraft-as-notch-makes-his-game-exit/

http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-to-buy-minecraft-maker-mojang/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/15/6151941/minecraft-mojang-notch-goodbye-letter

http://news.xbox.com/2014/09/games-minecraft-to-join-microsoft

https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/minecraft-to-join-microsoft-275112831.html

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-buys-mojang-minecraft-five-reasons-it-makes-strategic-sense-7000033640/

Plug of the Day:  ‘Events of a Different Nature‘ by Tom Merritt

I want to let you know I have a new self-published book out called ‘Events of A Different Nature.’ It’s about two dogs who solve crimes. NOW WAIT. It’s not nearly as cute as it may sound. It’s more Raymond Chandler than Wind in the Willows and they never once admit that they’re dogs or in any way inferior to humans. So if you want to check it out you can find a free version as well as print and versions for various ebook platforms at tommerrittbooks.com

Pick of the Day: Digital offerings from the public library via DonkeyHotey

Your public library has audio books and ebooks for free. Just go in to the library and sign up. They give you credentials and voila you have access to countless books. My local library is part of the OverDrive lending system. It works great for me.

Tomorrow’s guest: Andrea Smith