DTNS 2345 – 5K for $2.5K

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comAndrea Smith joins us as we review what Apple announced today from Retina iMac to iPad Air 2 and more.

MP3

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

Apple took an hour and 20 minutes this morning to let the press and its fans know the following: iOS8.1 is coming Monday and Apple Pay will launch with it. OS X Yosemite is available today along with a new iWorks Suite. WatchKit for devs is coming in November. The iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 are available for preorders tomorrow, shipping next week. It’s 6.1 mm thin, adds TouchID an A8X processor, M* motion coprocessor, better cameras and silver, space grey and gold colors from $499 to $829. The iPad Mini 3 has TouchID and space grey, silver and gold as well. A new iMac ships today for $2499. It’s 27-inches with a 5120 x 2880 resolution display. And the Mac Mini got a spec bump and a price drop to $499.

One thing not announced in the 82 minutes of one-liners that were the Apple press conference today was a new multi-carrier SIM. TechCrunch notes the Apple website says LTE-equipped models of the iPad Air 2 have an Apple SIM that lets owners use short term plans across a variety of carriers in the US and UK. The list includes AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint in the US, and EE in the UK.

ReCode reports Facebook is adding a check-in feature for use during natural disasters, called Safety Check. The idea is to let friends and family know you are safe. If a diaster happens, Safety Check will send a push notification asking if a user is safe. Then the user can check a list of friends and family to see who else has checked in. The feature is active for all 1.3 billion users worldwide.

The Guardian reports anonymous messaging service Whisper is not as anonymous as they have claimed. The company continues to track location by IP address even if geolocation has been turned off. The Guardian claims all data since the launch of the service is stored, even though Whisper says it will only store data for a brief period. Whisper has shared user data with the US Department of Dense, FBI and MI5 and appears to have a lower legal threshold for doing so according to its terms of service. Whisper told the Guardian it “does not follow or track users.”

TechCrunch reports Osmo, an iPad game device not only raided $12 million in Series A funding but will be made available in 284 Apple stores in the US and Canada. The company was founded by Pramod Sharma, who helped build Google’s book-scanning machine, and Jérôme Scholler, who worked on Chrome for Android. The game includes a reflective cameras that attaches to the iPad, a stand, and game tiles in various shapes and letters. The game can recognize the tiles and incorporate them into the games.

The Verge reports Will. i. am unveiled a wrist device called the Puls. While it tells time it also can connect by 3G on its own to make calls and access online services. It mirrors an existing SIM card so you can use the same phone number as your cell phone. It can also pair with wearable batteries for extended life. It will be available in black, white, pink, blue, solid gold, and solid gold with diamonds. No pricing or release date was announced.

PC World reports Lenovo will create a new subsidiary company in order to attack the fast-growing consumer mobile device market in China. Lenovo didn’t use the word Xiaomi in its statement. Lenovo’s new company will focus on “close customer engagement” and have an “Internet-based business model.” But again. They did not use the word Xiaomi or anything that rhymed with it.

Remember how TwitPic was asked to change its name by Twitter, so it announced it was shutting down and then it said it found a buyer so it wouldn’t shut down? Well that was wrong. It couldn’t find a buyer and it is shutting down October 25th. Unless– I don’t know– You wanna buy it?

News From You:

gadgetvirtuoso and spheridan both submitted reports from Gizmodo and iMore that CBS launched an Internet-only service today called CBS All Access for $6 a month through CBS.com and the CBS mobile apps. Subscribers full seasons of 15 prime time series after they air as well as past seasons of 8 popular series. It also includes access to classic TV shows. Subscribers who are in one of 14 markets where CBS owns the local station can watch live streams. That includes New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. One exception to the live stream is NFL games.

TheLazyOne pointed out a TorrentFreak report on a new study out of Australia that 74% of 12-7 year-olds do not download copyright-infringing materials online. That said, the ones doing the pirating are also spending more money. 69% pay to see movies at the cinema. Among the non-pirates, the figure is just 49%. And 46% of the scofflaws buy movies and TV shows from iTunes compared to 29% of the law-abiding crowd. Teens were the least likely to pirate with piracy rates increasing as Australians aged. Overall piracy rose from 25% of Australisn to 29%. The study was commissioned by the IP Awareness Foundation which counts the MPA, Foxtel and other key industry players among its members.

Discussion Links:

iOS 8.1 is coming on Monday, will bring Apple Pay and Continuity support

Apple releasing OS X Yosemite to the public today for free | Ars Technica

Apple’s iPad Air 2 Is Thinner, Faster, And Has Touch ID | TechCrunch

Apple reveals the 27-inch iMac with Retina Display starting at $2,499

Mac mini: Apple unveils an updated miniature Mac priced from $499 | The Verge

Microsoft’s next Build conference starts April 29th with Windows 10 on the agenda

AnandTech | An Introduction to Semiconductor Physics, Technology, and Industry

Mobile Technology Fact Sheet | Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

Tomorrow’s guest: Mary-Jo Foley, Microsoft watcher at ZDNet

DTNS 2344 – Lollipop Unwrapped

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comAndrew Zarian joins us and we’ll debate how good the possibility of HBO’s announced over the top Internet service might be.

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 guests:  Andrew Zarian, founder of the GFQ Network

Headlines

CNET reports Google introduced three new Nexus devices today. The 8.9 inch Nexus 9 tablet by HTC, the Nexus 6 smartphone with a 5.93-inch display by Motorola and Asus’s Nexus Player, with Android TV. All run Lollipop, which is the new name for Android L. The Nexus 9 and Nexus Player start preorders October 17 – in stores November 3. Nexus 9 runs from $399 for 16GB up to $599 for 32GB with LTE The Nexus Player is $99 with an optional game controller for $40. You can preorder the Nexus 6 October 29 for sale in November. Sprint, US Cellular, AT&T and T-Mobile will have it in the US. Unlocked it runs $649 for 32GB and $699 for 64 GB.

So when will other phones are get Lollipop? Google says the Nexus 5 smartphone, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets and Google Play edition devices should get it in the coming weeks. Ars Technica reports HTC promised updates for some flagship phones within 90 days of Lolipop’s release. And Motorola says both the 2013 and 2014 Moto X, the 2013 and 2014 Moto G, the Moto E, and the Droid Ultra, Maxx, and Mini will all get it too though Motorola didn’t say when.

Usually I avoid Apple leaks especially the day before an announcement but this one has actual facts. Mark Gurman at 9to5 Mac discovered screenshots for the iOS 8.1 iPad user guide in iBooks included pictures of an iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. The screenshots indicated both new models had touch ID sensors and the iPad 2 has a new Burst mode for pictures. The designs pictured are nearly identical to current iPads.

ReCode reports HBO CEO Richard Plepler told investors at the Time Warner Inc. Investor meeting, “in 2015, we will launch a stand-alone, over-the-top, HBO service in the United States. We will work with our current partners. And, we will explore models with new partners.” Current partners are cablecos who also happen to be ISPs.

ReCode reports Netflix hit expectations for revenue in Q3 with $1.41 billion and 96 cents per share earnings. However they missed on subscriber expectations and the stock market is not happy. In a letter to investors, Reed Hastings wrote, “This quarter we over-forecasted membership growth.”

Ars Technica reports a new vulnerability in SSL version 3 called POODLE has been discovered that could be used to recover session cookies and impersonate users through a man in the middle attack. This is NOT OpenSSL so does not relate to Heartbeat. Modern browsers have switched to TLS not SSL v3 so most client-server interactions won’t be affected. HOWEVER, browsers have a nasty habit of falling back to SSLv3 when TLS fails or doesn’t exist, which mans attackers could use a link to trick a user into becoming vulnerable. What is to be done? Server operators should stop supporting SSLv3. GigaOm reports companies like Twitter, Cloudflare and others have done so. Users should turn off SSLv3 support in their browser. Go to zmap.io/sslv3/browsers.html for instructions. Mozilla and Google have announced they will remove support for SSLv3 from their client software. There is not a way to turn off SSLv3 in Safari or IE6. Hopefully Apple will fix Safari. IE6 on the other hand should be long dead anyway.

Venturebeat reports that Qualcomm will acquire CSR, maker of Bluetooth and GPS chips for $2.5 billion in cash. CSR is based in Cambridge, England; in addition to its chips, the company has branched out into cars, and the internet of things. CSR had previously turned down an acquisition offer from Microchip Technology, a maker of microcontrollers.

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft and Docker have announced Docker container support will be included in the next release of Microsoft Windows’ Server, expected mid 2015. Docker container apps will run on Windows Server or Windows Server Next vm in Azure. Docker uses containers to enable apps to run across platforms, or have multiple apps run at once on one server, without needing a vm.

Ebay reported its 3rd quarter earnings, reported revenues of $4.4 billion, growing 12% from a year ago, and beating both Wall Street’s expectations and Ebay’s own estimates. PayPal is on track to process 1 billion mobile transactions in 2014, with mobile payments this quarter at $12 billion, up 72%.

News From You

ebridges13 submitted the Sploid post about the Aviation Week story on Lockheed Martin’s compact fusion reactor, which is safer and cleaner than nuclear fission. The CFR experiment T4 is about the size of a business jet engine. Up until now fusion reactors were massive in size and expense. Lockheed’s CFR uses plasma containment more efficiently such that for the same size it can generate 10 times more power than a typical fusion reactor. Before you get too excited Lockheed has yet to build a prototype and even then would be 5 years off from production.

MacBytes submitted The Verge Report writeup of the news that Facebook and Apple are offering a new employee benefit: both companies cover the costs of egg-freezing procedures up to $20,000 for individual employees. The procedure, known as oocyte cryopreservation, allows women to harvest healthy reproductive eggs during their most fertile years and freeze them for later. While the procedure is still relatively new, and doctors are still assessing its effectiveness it does indicate that Apple and Facebook are thinking about the needs of their current and possibly future female employees.

KAPT_Kipper submitted the VentureBeat article that Firefox 33 arrives today for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Among the new features is support for encoding and decoding OpenH264 sandboxed support through Cisco’s H.264 implementation. It works for WebRTC but not the video tag yet. There are also improvements to the search bar. The Android version has added a send to device option for video that works with Roku and Chromecast devices.

Discussion Links: HBO To Go?

http://recode.net/2014/10/15/hbo-says-its-going-to-start-selling-on-the-web-next-year/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/6982281/hbo-go-no-cable-streaming-netflix-worst-nightmare

http://www.timewarner.com/newsroom/press-releases/2014/10/15/hbo-chairman-and-ceo-richard-plepler-announces-hbo-to-offer-a

Pick of the Day: NoRoot Firewall via Loren Ahrens

I developed a problem with my android phone telling me, “Temporary server error, please try again later.” To isolate the app that is causing the problem I am using NoRoot Firewall. Every app that is calling home is easily identified. I’m surprised by a few and the will be uninstalling them now. Since it has been so easy and useful, I thought I’d share it.

Tomorrow’s guest: Andrea Smith, technology journalist

S&L Podcast – #193 – Kiss from a Queen (on the Face)

In Neil Gaiman’s new book, The Sleeper and the Spindle, Sleeping Beauty gets woken by a Queen’s kiss. And there’s pictures so it did happen. Fictionally speaking. We also discuss The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan, and find out people are pleasantly surprised by the techno-thrilling coming of age fantasy that is Alif the Unseen. 

Download podcast direct here!

QUICK BURNS  

Neil Gaiman’s upcoming children’s book, The Sleeper and the Spindle 
Winners of the 2014 Aurora Awards for best Canadian SciFi    
    
Mark wrote:  “In partnership with Ideate Media, IDW Publishing is proud to announce that Dirk Gently will be appearing in his first-ever comic-book series in 2015, helping to prove the interconnectedness of all things, the precept by which Dirk Gently, Douglas Adams’ beloved fictional “holistic detective” lives. Written by Chris Ryall with art by Tony Akins. A cover for issue #1 is by Chew co-creator Rob Guillory.”

PICKS   
Book Discussion: The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan suggested by Vaughn.     

Next time we’ll discuss The Many-Coloured Land by Julian May suggested by Ralff Windwalker. Post your thoughts to the thread and we’ll discuss more about them next time!   
  
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
Best use of Time Travel in a novel?    
It’s the end of the world as we know it    
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson    
AtU: Religion in AtU – Net Positive or Negative by Hack    
AtU: The character of Vikram (spoilers) by Joanna    
AtU: Finished and Pleasantly Surprised? by Buzz    

ADDENDUMS    
Support our show on Patreon    

DTNS 2343 – It’s My Tor in a Box

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comDan Patterson and Jill Duffy join the show and we talk about the latest Dropbox hack (not hack) and where the line of security responsibility is between you and your services.

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 guests:  Dan Patterson, tech journalist and Jill Duffy, writer and software analyst at PC Mag.com 

Dan and Jill are also the hosts of the upcoming podcast The Signal – check out their site!

http://www.thesignalpodcast.com/

Headlines

TechCrunch noted that Dropbox confirmed 400 account credentials posted to pastebin were in fact for Dropbox accounts. Security chief Anton Mityagin dropbox was not hacked, these were users who had the same password at dropbox as other services. Most of the credentials had already been caught and deactivated and the rest have now been reset so none of the posted credentials are valid. Several hundred more credentials were posted later but Dropbox says those are not associated with Dropbox accounts.

The Next Web reports that Google’s same day delivery service is no longer free. It also got a name change. Google Shopping Express is now just Google Express and brings groceries and other purchases from various stores to your door at a convenient time. The service now costs $4.99 per order, though you can subscribe for $95 a year or $10 monthly, and get first dibs on delivery windows. Memberships can be shared with people in your house. Google also added new retailers, including Barnes&Noble and Nine West shoes and expanded from San Fracnisco, LA and New York to include Chicago, Boston, and Washington, DC.

PC Mag reports August SmartLocks will be coming to Apple store shelves this week for $249.99. The smart lock works in single cylinder deadbolts and lets you create virtual keys on smartphones. Keys can be given to friends through the app and even revoked when necessary. Physical keys work too.

Skype has a new mobile messaging service call Qik. Yeah remember they bought Qik then ignored Qik then shut down Qik. Well now the name is back. Users can share video clips up to 42 seconds which disappear after two weeks, but the sender can delete the video any time. There’s a also Qik Flix which are 5-second clips available on the Android and iPhone apps and coming to Windows phone “in the coming months.” Blocking other users is available for Android and Windows phone but NOT the iPhone App.

The Washington Post reports that the FCC is considering Aereo’s request to be classified as a ‘multi-channel video provider‘ — like a cable or satellite company — subject to all the rules and regulations. This means Aereo could start negotiating with the broadcast networks for ‘retransmission fees.’ Right now no Internet video providers are classified as MPVDs and are basically ignored by the networks. If Aereo gets classified as an MPVD it would have to pay more for content, but the networks would have to let them.

PC Mag reports iSight Partners announced a zero-day Windows vulnerability today that it says Russian attackers are using against US, European and Ukrainian government agencies, NATO, telecom companies and an unnamed US academic organization. The attacks are attributed to a group nicknamed “Sandworm Team” because of their frequent references to the book Dune. Security experts have been tracking the five-year-old group, referred to as “Quedach” by F-Secure, since late 2013.

Android police report on leaked Google ads featuring little Android characters with the slogan “Be Together, Not The Same.” It includes an animated version of the the Nexus 6 running Android L. The video comes with a link to a page on the Android site that isn’t yet live, but probably will be after the Nexus 6 is announced, which Forbes speculates may be as early as tomorrow.

News From You

AllanAv submitted the TechDirt story about a comment on the US FCC’s open Internet guidelines filed by VPN company Golden Frog. The company describes evidence that a wireless broadband provider actively blocked STRTTLS encryption, preventing a user from encrypting SMTP email traffic. Golden Frog described the provider as modifying messages in transit in one case from 250-STRATTTLS to 250-XXXXXXXA causing encryption not to be started.

tm204 passed along the Science Daily report that researchers at Nanyang Technological University have developed a battery that can be recharged to 70% capacity in 2 minutes and have a more than 20-year lifespan. NTU Singapore’s scientists replaced the graphite used for the anode (negative pole) in lithium-ion batteries with a new gel material made from titanium dioxide. Yeah the same stuff in your sunscreen. The nanostructure of titanium dixoxide helps speed up chemical reactions.

AllanAv posted the Wired story about the launch of Kickstarter funding for Anonabox. The $45 open-source router directs all data through Tor, hiding the user’s IP address. The box is tiny enough for two to fit in a pack of cigarettes. While not the first Tor in a box, the hope is that it strikes the best balance of cost, setup, size and security. The project is open source but has not been audited yet for security.

And finally, Bishma submitted the TechCrunch story that Dorian Nakamoto is suing Newsweek for writing an article claiming that he was the creator of Bitcoin. Nakamoto denied creating the crypto currency, and says he was “targeted and victimized by a reckless news organization.” Nakamoto has created a web page asking for donations to his legal case. And yes, in case you were wondering, you can donate by check, money order, credit card and yes, Bitcoin.

Discussion Links:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/14/dropbox-pastebin/?ncid=rss

https://blog.dropbox.com/2014/10/dropbox-wasnt-hacked/

http://blog.snapchat.com/post/99998266095/third-party-applications-and-the-snapchat-api

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/13/6958745/is-snapchats-api-too-easy-to-hack

Pick of the Day: Splashtop via Ken Shabby

On Monday’s show you discussed attaching pc’s to televisions and the problems controlling them with wireless mice/keyboards. My pick, Splashtop, is a free remote desktop app that makes controlling your computer with your mobile device easy. Splashtop consists of an app you install on your tablet and a streamer program you install on your mac or pc. Some features are:

You can control your old XP pc using new touch gestures on your tablet. No more trying to use a mouse while in a Lazy Boy. No more having the giant wireless keyboard laying around the living room.

If your mobile device doesn’t run Flash, you can still view Flash web pages by running them on your pc and streaming them to your mobile device.

Splashtop allows you to mute the sound on the pc and listen via your mobile device. This way you can plug in head phones watch without annoying anyone else in the room. It works like the Roku 3 remote with head phone jack.

Not sure how well it would work on a phone, unless you have really small fingers. It might be hard to control your computer on a smaller screen. Works fine on my Nexus 7 and would probably work even better on a 10 inch tablet.

Tomorrow’s guest: Andrew Zarian of the GFQ Network

Cordkillers Ep. 40 – I love you for the conditions we are in

Nielsen is inaccurate but HOW inaccurate? Also whether Amazon should join Ultraviolet. 

Download video

Download audio

CordKillers: Ep. 40 – I love you for the conditions we are in
Recorded: October 13, 2014
Guest: Derrick Chen

Intro Video 

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

On our Radar

  • Young Ones
  • -YOUNG ONES is set in a near future when water has become the most precious and dwindling resource on the planet, one that dictates everything from the macro of political policy to the detailed micro of interpersonal family and romantic relationships

Dispatches from the Front

Just listened and wanted to point out that in the conversation about Kevin Smith Brian called Tusk a bomb /flop /don’t remember. However since he’s obviously a Smith podcast listener he probably knows but didn’t think about it, but Kevin has really moved away from the traditional money making methods in favor of more musician styled.

I don’t know for sure about the financing of the movie, but if it’s anything like the Super Groovy Cartoon Movie it’s probably mostly self financed. I know he’s planning on touring it to theaters with live performances, so ticket sales will hopefully make up the “traditional rocket sales” loss.

For example Super Groovy cost $69,000 to make, and was never really released to theaters. But with the tour it was paid for in the first few shows, and while I don’t know exactly what it brought in from what he’s said in podcasts I believe it’s something on the order of five million. Think of the pure profit from that with none of the marketing overhead.

It’s work, yes, but almost his own version of crowd funding… Think of it as interactive Patreon. Possibly something like that could be a vehicle for other well known creators to pay for projects they want to do but can’t get a green light.

-Derek in Chattanooga

PS. Brian is completely right, Myst was the streaming pile that Seventh Guest stepped over on its way to level ‘Awesome’ 

 

 

Hey Brian and Tom,

I’m the science teacher in Taylor whose email yall read on the last episode about Netflix offering channels that streamed the same content to everyone at the same time. I was working my Saturday part time job with Austin Moonwalks (Brian: hit me up if you want a deal for one of the girl’s birthdays!) when I heard it and about flipped out. Thanks guys, it was awesome to hear yall talk about it. I don’t expect you to revisit it on the show, but just to clarify: I think I overstated how much I cared about the “communal” experience of watching what everyone else was watching. I didn’t mean for that to be the main focus. That was more of a side-effect. For me, its more about the giving-up of control that I need. For example:

My favorite TV show growing up was Star Trek The Next Generation. I watched it at 9pm every night on FOX 42. (Do you remember before it was KEYE, Brian?). I didn’t get to decide what episode I watched. I watched whatever came on: good or bad, whether I liked it or not. Because THAT was the one that was on, and there was nothing I could do about it. Now, I have every episode of the series at my disposal, but I can’t pick one out to watch. It’s impossible! I even devised a randomizing system to pick one out for me, but even that didn’t quite work because I could still stop and change it if there was a part I didn’t like.

It’s not just TV shows. Do you guys remember before DVRs, just going through the channels and happening on a movie that you liked? Maybe you even had it on DVD or VHS, but hadn’t watched it in years. You could have pulled it out anytime and watched it, but you hadn’t and probably wouldn’t for years to come. But there was something about it being ON TV that made you stop changing channels and watch the whole thing.

That’s the feeling I’m talking about. Watching and ENJOYING something by chance, because that’s what was on, and there was nothing you could do about it.

If Netflix had a Sci-Fi “channel”, it could play movies, TV shows, or even documentaries (all of which came from what Netflix already has), and you could just put it on and watch what was there (knowing that other people were watching it too). Maybe I’d come across a TV show I never would have watched or a good movie I hadn’t seen in a long time and never would have picked-out even if it were suggested. If I don’t like what’s one the Sci-Fi station, I can click on the comedy station and see what’s there.

I guess some might call this “vegging out,” but that’s exactly what I need to do sometimes.

Anyway, sorry to write so much. Just wanted to make sure you understood what I meant, whether you agree or not.

-Andy (better known by 11 year olds as Mr. Morris)

 

 

Hey Brian and Tom,

I was listening to this week’s show and I had an idea. When you discuss the number of “bosses” you have and how to support the show on Patreon, I think you should call the segment “The TPS Report” (Total Patreon Supporters). You could do it with or without a fancy bumper since Tom usually leads in with a factoid from the relevant year but what will he do when you pass 2014 bosses after all? 🙂 Maybe a running gag about new cover sheets would be in order? Just a thought and I am also one of your bosses!

Thanks,

Tony Sheler
Albany, OR

 

 

Brian said a few times in the last episode that the chromecast is ‘open’. I’ve looked into developing for the chromecast and I want to say it definitely is not. If you want to make your app chromecastable you need to have your application approved and your application signing key signed by google. And there’s no way around this. It’s not like Android where you can check the ‘unknown sources’ box and do whatever you want. It is totally controlled.

This may be why the firefox stick could be better. If it’s truly open you may see things available there that you will never see on chromecast. Particularly I’m thinking porn and piracy apps like popcorn time, or even legally grey apps like grooveshark (an app which google has just banned from chromecast see http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/09/09/grooveshark-longer-supports-chromecast-following-riaa-claim-infringes-artists-copyright ). That freedom and real openness might be just enough to give the firefox dongle an edge.

Clint Armstrong

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

DTNS 2342 – What the Plex

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comIyaz Akhtar is here for our first show from NYC. We’ll talk about whether a PC really belongs in every living room.

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:  Iyaz Akhtar, senior associate editor, cnet.com

Headlines

You know about the Snappening right? SnapSaved is a third party service that apparently got attacked and some snapchat images were stolen. Ars Technica reports that a spokesperson for SnapSaved says the database storing user info about the images was not breached, so no identities can be attached to the images. They say 500 MB of images were accessed. A freelance security researcher contacted Ars and offered to sell 12.9 GB of images and 320 user names though the two aren’t correlated. The usernames have been posted on Pastebin.

Recode reports that Apple will launch the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus in 36 more countries, including China and India by the end of this month. Apple is on track to have their latest smartphones available in 115 countries by the end of the year, which the company says is its fastest global rollout ever.

On Friday, Standard & Poors downgraded Finland’s sovereign debt from AAA to AA+. Sanctions against Russia and an ageing population are mostly to blame but the decline of its two biggest industries, paper and and cell phones certainly doesn’t help. The Verge reports Finland Prime Minister Alexander Stubb told CNBC Monday, “One could say that the iPhone killed Nokia and the iPad killed the Finnish paper industry, but we’ll make a comeback.” You hear that Tim Cook. They’re Finished because of you. No not Finish well they are Finish but —— never mind.

 

The BBC reports Samsung claims it has found a way to make WiFi data travel at 4.6Gbps and operate in the 60 GHz band. Samsung researchers limited interferece and improved the antenna to allow signals to travel farther without getting lost. Samsung said it plans to include the technology in TVs, medical devices, phones and smart home appliances.

TechCrunch has an update on Facebook’s internet.org initiative which is working to bring free mobile internet to 4.4 billion offline people . One part of the plan involves working with mobile carriers to improve their networks. In a recent trial in Indonesia (the 4th biggest country for Facebook usage) internet.org says Facebook and Ericsson were able to help speed up Indonesian mobile network XL Axiata by 70%. Mark Zuckerberg was in Jakarta today meeting president-elect. Joko Widodo

News From You

KAPT_Kipper would like you to know that Netflix is now charging a premium to access 4k streaming. The ‘Platinum’ streaming plan requires 25mbps download speed and costs $11.99 a month–that’s compared to the company’s HD streaming plan at $8.99 a month. The premium plan also allows four separate users stream video at once on one account, compared to two on the typical HD subscription. Current 4K streamers will be grandfathered in to their current plan.

MacBytes pointed out The Verge article that Google is testing a new service that connects people searching for health condition information with doctors over video chat. A Reddit user posted a screenshot of the service online and Google confirmed the test to Engadget. Google has a service called Helpouts, a marketplace where “experts” can charge to give lessons and advice over video chat. The screenshot seemed to indicate charging could be a part of this new health service.

metalfreak pointed out the Slashdot posting about devs for Chrome OS dropping support for ext2/3/4 file system on external drives and SD card due to low usage. Since this is the main file system for Linux, that community is not pleased.

Discussion Links: 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/13/6969671/living-room-pc

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-touch-keyboard-k400r?crid=26

Pick of the Day:  Soundboard for iPad via Tom

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/soundboard-ipad/

Tomorrow’s guest: Dan Patterson, tech journalist and Jill Duffy, writer and software analyst at PC Mag.com 

DTNS 2341 – Ive Had Brauny Innovations

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJony Ive accuses imitators of laziness and theft. Lamarr Wilson joins the show to talk about Ive’s reaction and decide which one of us he’s talking about. It certainly isn’t Len Peralta who is neither lazy nor thieving but will work hard to illustrate the show with original artprov!

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Show Notes

The Verge reports 13 GB of private snapchats are circulating through 4Chan. The leak is being called ‘The Snappening.’ Snapchat has confirmed that the leak came from a third-party app that users installed to save snaps that would otherwise be deleted. The identity fo the app in question is not yet known. Snapchat pointed out that use of any such app violates its terms of service precisely because it weakens security.

Cnet reports that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella went to a conference about women in computing and was asked what advice he’d offer women who were unsure how to ask their boss for a raise. His answer: “It’s not really about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” adding “I think might be one of the additional superpowers that quite frankly women who don’t ask for raises have.” This answer did NOT go over well with women everywhere, and Nadella said, CTRL+Z! CTRL+Z! Actually what he eventually actually said was that his response was ‘inarticulate’ and that the tech industry must close gender pay gap, and sent a letter to all of Microsoft saying “I answered that question completely wrong.”

Engadget reports Tesla finally unveiled the D yesterday. It’s a model S with all-wheel drive and autopilot and a dual motor that can go from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. I get why they said ‘the D’ now. Because it’s the P85D of course. GigaOm reports the autopilot can read speed limit signs, recognise animals an dobjects and follow lanes through curves. The base model will run $120,000 list but come down below 6 figures with electric vehicle subsidies.

GigaOm reports Google released a European transparency report Thursday that indicates on a country-by-country basis how many requests it has received under right to be forgotten rules, and how many it has honored. The two biggest sources of requests were Germany and France who got their way just over half the time. Top domains for de-lisiting were Facebook, ProfileEngine.com, YouTube and Badoo. The report details the reasons for requests along with whether they were honored or not but does not identify the requestors.

Reuters reports Cisco and TCL Corp will create an $80 million joint venture to invest in commercial cloud services. TCL, a will pay $64 million for an 80% share while Cisco will drop $16 million for the other 20%. The new company will build data centers in China, and set up cloud-based video communication and collaborative office systems for Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises and industry users.

Reuters reports Microchip Technology CEO Steve Sanghi’s warning is being taken seriously by the markets. Thursday Sanghi warned of a broad downturn in the semiconductor market. Several U.S. semiconductor makers with global operations have recently worried that industries like autos and network equipment, are reducing demand for chips.

The Verge reports that Norway has new banknotes with pixelated drawings of the sea on them. Norges Bank selected the blocky and abstract work of Snøhetta for the back of its notes, with traditional drawings on the front. The Verge notes that the money is designed in an “unashamedly modern style that the designers intentionally built around pixels in the belief that they are “our time’s visual language.” 8-bit MONEY!

News From You

TheLazyOne passes along a Washington Post report via Yahoo News that Head of Google Fiber Milo Medin said paying for the right to transmit television programs is the biggest impediment to the further spread of Google Fiber. Medin claimed that Google was paying double what Comcast and Time Warner pay in some markets. Who gets the licensing money? TV studios who pay to create the programs, and are not excited about seeing their business model disrupted by a bunch of nasty cordkillers.

 

diggsalot submitted the Business Insider story that San Francisco Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been fined $10,000 for wearing Beats headphones in a press conference. They were pink Beats by Dre models. The NFL has an exclusive licensing agreement with Bose. Dr. Dre was in no way quoted as saying “Oops, I dropped $10,000 by your locker on accident but I’m too busy to go back and pick it up Colin.”

BUT WAIT. Spsheridan points out Apple may have the last laugh or at least a laugh of some kind. MacRumors reports a reliable source tells it that Apple will remove all Bose products from its retail stores starting early next week. — In good Bose v. Beats news, the two companies agreed to settle their patent dispute out of court. Presumably with a game of American Football.

Finally, tm204 brings us the tale of a comedy club in Barcelona that has a new business model. No more will they rely on the classic ‘two-drink minimum’, no, this comedy club is asking customers to pay, BY THE LAUGH. The Teatreneu club has installed tablets on the back of each seat equipped with facial recognition software that can detect when you laugh. The going rate is 0.30 Euros ($0.38) per laugh, up to a maximum of 24 Euros ($30.45). “I was just holding back a sneeze!” said everybody.

Discussion Section Links: Jony Ive on all the steals

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/9/6954467/jony-ive-companies-that-copy-apples-style-are-stealing

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/09/apples-jony-ive-is-not-flattered-by-xiaomi/

http://www.businessinsider.com/jony-ive-vanity-fair-summit-interview-2014-10?op=1

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/10/jony-ive-lessons-from-steve-jobs

http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-apples-future

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-accused-of-ripping-off-famous-swiss-clock-design/

http://www.cnet.com/news/jonathan-ive-steve-jobs-stole-my-ideas/

Meetup in New York next week!

I’ll be doing the show from New York City next week with lots of great New York guests live and in person! I’ll also be hosting a meetup on Wednesday October 15th, at 7pm. The location is Peter McManus Cafe, which is a very old bar in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

(212) 929-9691
Pick of the Day: Little Snitch via Ryan Officer
If there is an app that does upload data that you wish not to be shared whether it be for privacy reasons or for security reasons and happen to use Mac OS X Little Snitch is a great way to eliminate that problem all together. With Little Snitch you can set what apps have access to the internet (incoming/outgoing or both) and what can’t. I find this to be a great tool and very useful.