We run through the surprising events, the annoyances and the tropes of thie first 1-3 episodes and a smidge about episode 4.
S&L Podcast – #163 – Hugh Howey Hullabaloo
Hugh Howey caused quite a stir with his findings about independent authors, but what does it mean for us readers? We also talk about the Wizard of Earthsea feminism implications and have an exciting election for the March book pick! There is a gavel involved.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale
Veronica: Vina Robles Red Blend
VIDEO SHOW COMING THURSDAY OMG!!!!!
QUICK BURNS
Self-published ebooks: the surprising data from Amazon
Most Amazon bestselling authors aren’t making minimum wage
WH Auden told JRR Tolkien to cut the love story from Lord of the Rings
Daemon And Influx Author Daniel Suarez On Why Innovation Has Stalled
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Read Them Now, Watch Them Later: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Adaptation Watch
More on the Redshirts TV Series
What was cut to make the “unfilmable” book Winter’s Tale into a movie
BOOK CHECK-IN
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin
BARE YOUR SWORD
Looking for more firearms in “High” Fantasy
Hi Tom & Veronica,
Listening to Gregory A Wilson talk about his daughter’s name made me think of my own family. I was named after Jessica Atreides (Dune), putting me in the odd position of being named for a sci-fi character AND having one of the most common girls names of my generation.
I passed the nerd legacy onto my own children as well – my son’s middle name is Zaphod (as in Beeblebrox) and my daughter is named Aeryn (after Aeryn Sun from Farscape). Hopefully she won’t resent me for it the millionth time she has to spell it out loud for someone.
Love the show,
Jessica
DTNS 2173 – Candy Crushin’ It
Lamarr Wilson joins as we ponder the wonders of an IPO based on Candy Crush, and watch our audience debate a la carte cable TV.
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
New details on Samsung’s high-end smart phone: Bloomberg reports Samsung’s forthcoming high-end smartphone will have a 5.2-inch screen with improved resolution. Marketing will focus on improved security, an upgraded camera and integration with wearable devices. It also may be sold for less than the Samsung Galaxy S4. The phone is expected to be released at the same time as an update Galaxy Gear smart watch. Samsung has an event scheduled for Monday 2/24.
New Snowden docs show debates in NSA about treatment of WikiLeaks: Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher of The Intercept revealed details from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, showing debates in the NSA about how to treat organizations like WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay as well as general Internet users. The debates centered on when it was required to filter out data on US users, when monitoring visitors to a site like Wikileaks. One document argued Wikileaks particularly should be dubbed a “malicious foreign actor” so that no filtering would be required. ON a side note, The Verge reports AT&T issued their first transparency report, indicating the company received 301,816 total requests for phone records and subscriber information in 2013.
News From You
AllanAv called our attention to this Verge article about BitCoin ATMs coming to Seattle and Austin this month. Robocoin will install similar machines to the one it set up at Waves coffee in Vancouver last year. Robocoin also plans to bring its machines to Asia in a few weeks. The Vancouver ATM processed more than $900,000 in transactions in its first month.
Maurice emailed us a Daily Mail story about an organization called the Media Development Investment Fund that wants to create wifi access beamed from hundreds of cubesat satellites launched into orbit by 2015. The company calls the project the Outernet. Each satellite would receive data from a network of ground stations and use UDP to send data to users. The folks at Lightsquared will likely be very interested to see if this is allowed.
gigitrix posted this GameSpot article about the weekend craze of up to 7,000 people at a time playing a game of Pokemon on Twitch. An emulator allowed viewers to input text commands like A, B, Start and Select in chat which controlled the game. As of yesterday the game had four badges under its belt, and more than 80,000 people watching. You can watch and play at: http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon
KAPT_Kipper pointed us to the Verge article about Gabe Newell’s blog post where he explains why Valve’s Anti-Cheat software was looking at users DNS data. What VAC does look for is DNS that matches the DRM used by cheat software. Details on matching DNS entries are sent, checked again and if matched to known cheat software, the client is marked for a future ban.
and pete_c submitted the Ars Technica article about hackers taking advantage of a known critical vulnerability in Asus routers to place text files on drives connected to the routers. Asus reportedly patched the vulnerability late last week. Readers are advised to lock down their routers by installing any available firmware updates, changing any default passwords, and ensuring that remote administration, Cloud, and FTP options are set to off if they’re not needed.
More links from the show
AT&T files first transparency report
Candy Crush maker King files for IPO
Irrational Games, creator of BioShock Infinite to close
Cordkillers Ep. 7 – Who Throttles the Throttlers?
Why Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable might not be a bad thing. And then right into what’s slowing down Netflix, which shows why consolidation surely isn’t helping. Also all ‘y’all have connected TVs these days.
CordKillers: Ep. 7 – Who Throttles the Throttlers?
Recorded: February 17 2014
Guest: Deric A. Hughes
Intro Video:
Primary Target
- Comcast: No promise that prices “will go down or even increase less rapidly”
- Comcast takeover of Time Warner Cable to reshape U.S. pay TV
- Comcast lists all the ways a merger with Time Warner is “pro-consumer”
- $45.2 billion, just less than 30% of US, around 30 million households
Thursday : Comcast Executive VP David Cohen
“The impact on customer bills is always hard to quantify. We’re certainly not promising that customer bills are going to go down or even increase less rapidly.”
– Open Internet Order applies to Comcast and will to TWC after merger (until 2018)
– Comcast and TWC service areas do not overlap
Secondary Target
- Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months
- Netflix Says Verizon Isn’t Slowing Down Its Streams
- Netflix slow on Verizon or Comcast? A VPN might speed up that video
- Comcast and Verizon’s Netflix speed dropped 4 straight months. Charter dropped too.
-Cox, Cablesvision and Google Fiber improved
– Netflix demands go up, do Comcast and Verizon add peering interconnects?
– VZ and Comcast not part of “Open Connect” where Netflix houses servers in ISP to improve service.
– Ars Technica: “Verizon’s broadband Internet access services deliver a pristine user experience to our customers at any time of day on every day of the week.
– J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth, who says he has been talking to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells, and they told him they don’t think cable and telco companies are hampering the company’s video streams.
– Using VPN or third-party DNS may improve Netflix service
– Sand vine Cofounder Don Bowman. If a VPN consistently behaves better, it’s proof that there is something along the path that doesn’t have enough capacity.”
Signals Intelligence
- Netflix To Premiere Final Season Of Clone Wars Animated Star Wars Show March 7
- Orange Is the New, New Black: Netflix’s Next Big Show Is Out June 6
Gear Up
- 3 out of 5 broadband households now have a connected TV
- Americans Are Hungry for Digital Content
- 63 percent of all U.S. broadband households now have a TV connected to the internet, according to a new report from the Diffusion Group (SmartTV or TV with a Roku-type device) (last year 53%)
– Nielsen – now own four digital devices, on average, and spend roughly 60 hours per week consuming content across multiple screens.
– HDTVs, the most popular digital devices, are now present in 83 percent of American households, up from 67 percent in 2011. In addition, 80 percent of homes have a PC with Internet and 65 percent have at least one smartphone, up from 79 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
– A near-majority of U.S. households also now own digital video recorders (49 percent) and gaming consoles (46 percent).
Under surveillance
Front Lines
- Supreme Court to hear broadcasters’ arguments against Aereo on April 22nd
- Apple is reportedly planning a new set-top-box with content from Time Warner Cable
- No Olympics for you: Comcast locks value customers out of Sochi streams
- Video Game High School levels up to Indiegogo to fund its third season
- HBO lands David Fincher and Gillian Flynn’s ‘Utopia’ series
- Amazon leak suggests Xbox One Media Remote to land in March
On Screen
-
Brian: House of cards (4 episodes), Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne
-
Deric A. Hughes: House of Cards, True Detective
Dispatches from the Front
- I found this while working on another project today and thought it would be an interesting tool for all of the cord killers out there. It lets you use your existing coax for all sorts of other things. I think MSRP is about 60 bux, but you need a pair of them to get started.
- The story we did on cord cutting is now posted on our website. http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/24698708/no-cable-not-satellite-no-problem
On a personal note, my DirecTV bill went up this month so I called and complained. I ended up lowering my package, getting an additional $10/mo off my bill and getting a free DVR upgrade to the Genie with GenieGO.
Jay Schell
- Hi guys! Love your show! Glad you found a way to continue onward! Now to an omission that’s been bugging me for some time. You guys have discussed the wonders of streaming via Chromecast and Airplay as separate choices for the chord cutter, however I found a way to do both on one piece of hardware. I have a Vizio Co-Star running an app called “AirTight”. The Co-Star has recently been updated to support Chromecast-like streaming (casting?) and AirTight provides old-style AirPlay connectivity (no mirroring). So for under $100 you can have both without having to switch inputs! Plus, the Co-Star has lots of other capabilities (Netflix, MGO, VUDU, and WEB SURFING!) Anyhow, I love my Co-Star and thought I should at least mention it as an alternative.
Alex K.
- Monster post. feel free to pick the most relevant bits and let me know if there’s a forum or something i should post to or follow up on. this is fun and exhausting to think about alone!
Baratunde Thurston
Links
DTNS 2172 – Happy Presidents Day
Just a quick glance at the headlines. No guest today as it’s a holiday in the US.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke and scottierowland on the subreddit
DTNS 2171 – Funk Da Crunk in the Elephant’s Trunk
Brian Ibbott is on the show and we’ll talk about the PS4 doubling Xbox One sales, Pandora guessing your political party, and what tech Coverville’s Mayor uses for music. Plus Len Peralta draws the show!
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
It’s Spoilerin’ Time: Episode 6 – The After, Archer, The Lego Movie
Lamarr joins us to spoil the Amazon pilot from Chris Carter, the latest Archer Vice and the Lego movie. All of it is awesome. Everything.
DTNS 2170 – Comcastigated
Don Reisinger joins us to talk about the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger and the new Xbox One remote. Guess which one he likes? That may be a trick question.
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Comcast, Time Warner Cable agree to merge, deal must receive regulatory approval from FCC & DOJ: Bloomberg reports Comcast has agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion in stock, combining the two largest cable television and Internet companies in the US. TWC stock holders will receive 2.875 shares of Comcast for each TWC share they hold, valuing TWC shares at $158.82. Charter Communications had been attempting to acquire Time Warner Cable, with Comcast’s help but talks broke down. The acquisition would give Comcast 30 million total customers, just under 30% of the US market and operations in New York City and Los Angeles. The merger must receive regulatory approval from the FCC and US Department of Justice, neither a foregone conclusion. There is no breakup penalty if the deal does not go through.
Facebook to allow users to choose genders other than male and female: Reuters reports Facebook is letting users choose genders other than male and female when they create or edit their profiles. Members in the US can choose male, female or the new ‘custom’ option. The custom option allows the user to select from 10 different gender identifications, including transgender, intersex, and fluid. Users can also restrict who can see their gender selection and choose to be referred to by the pronoun their instead of his or her.
Hyperlinks allowed. Whew. PC World reports the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Thursday that a website does not require authorization to link to a freely accessible copyright work, even if they Frame it so it looks like its on their site not the works. The CJEU provided the advice to the Court of Appeal in Svea, Sweden, regarding a case where journalists complained their articles were linked to from Retriever Sverige in a way that made them look like they were on Retriever’s site.
News From You
Maurice from Easy New Orleans, sent in this story from the Kansas City Star about Mason Wild who used the Johnson County library’s 3-D printer to make a hand for nine-year-old family friend, Matthew. Such a hand would normally cost around $18,000. Instead, Wild used a freely available design from Ivan Owen and South African woodworker Richard Van As, 8 hours of time on the library’s printer and $60 worth of materials. Boom. Hand.
cosmicvibes pointed us to a TechCrunch article on Google and VMWare’s partnership to allow Chromebook users to access Windows app and the Windows desktop on their Chrome machines. While this kind of access to virtual machines already exists for ChromeOS, the partnership will provide a secure enterprise-ready way to do it.
AllanAV posted a Futureistech post describing how physicists have produced nanoribbons of graphene — single-atom-thick carbon — that conduct electrons without resistance at room temperature. The international researchers measured ballistic transport that exceeded theoretical limits by a factor of ten. Good know for potential graphene-based electronics that could greatly outperform silicon-based devices.
And habichuelacondulce submitted this Register article that the Chinese Jade Rabbit lunar explorer, thought to be dead after an emergency shutdown has started to receive signals normally again. However it’s still troubled by a mechanical control abnormality that led to the shutdown in the first place.
More links from the show
Verizon confirms ‘More Everything’
BlackBerry updates BlackBerry Messenger App for iOS and Android
DTNS 2169 – Give the Fish the Keys
Jeff Cannata joins us to talk about the FCC’s new commitment to Net Neutrality. Should you believe it? Fear it? Ignore it? Plus a Flappy Bert chaser. Yes, you read that correctly.
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Apple plans to introduce a new Apple TV set-top box by April: Bloomberg reports Apple plans to introduce a new Apple TV set-top box as early as April. The company is negotiating with Time Warner Cable and other partners to add video content. The idea is to have the box available for sale by the end of the year, though problems striking deals could still delay it. Oh wait— I’m sorry— I’m reading a story from last year— wait no from 2012— OH no, no this is from today. It’s so hard to tell with these Apple TV rumors.
FCC Chairmen says agency is working to reinstate Net Neutrality protections: KAPT_Kipper, ssnapier, and many others pointed us to versions of this story. CNET reports that during a speech at the University of Colorado Law School, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said his agency is working on a plan to re-instate Net Neutrality protections. A Federal Appeals Court recently ruled that the FCC could regulate broadband providers but had used an incorrect legal justification in its Open Internet Order. Wheeler said: “…the Court of Appeals invited the Commission to act to preserve a free and open Internet. I accept that invitation, and in the coming days, I will be outlining how I propose to proceed.”
Most important story ever! Our producer Jennie spotted this psfk story about some folks from Studio Diip giving goldfish the keys to a car, sort of. “Fish on Wheels” is a fish tank, a motorized go cart controlled by Arduino,a Beagleboard, and a webcam pointed at the fish. The cart moves automatically in the direction the fish swim. Likely a demonstration of the companies image recognition prowess, we prefer to think it’s because somebody cared that fish get bored.
No, wait. Flappy Bert is more important:
News From You
t2t2 submitted this on the subreddit. In response to reports of large-scale surveillance, the European Commission has published a proposal for changes in Internet governance. The proposal calls for the globalization of ICANN, the institution that manages domain names and numbers. It also proposes strengthening the Internet Governance Forum, promoting more transparency in Internet Policy and commitments to globalize key decision-making while safeguarding the open and unfragmented nature of the Internet. The Commission does not support handing over the keys to the International Telecommunications Unions as some countries have proposed, but prefers a multi-stakeholder approach.
KAPT_Kipper pointed us to a TechCrunch article on how the “Day We Fight Back” protest went yesterday. More than 87,000 phone calls were placed to Congressional representatives, along with more than 182,000 emails. Nicole Perlroth at the New York Times, suggested a better response could have been had if the goals were clearer. Rather than the simple message of Stop SOPA, visitors were urged to fight one surveillance bill, the FISA Improvements Act, and support another, the USA Freedom Act.
More links from the show
S&L Podcast – #162 – Gregory A. Wilson’s Graphic Fallen Angels
We chat with Gregory A. Wilson, author of The Third Sign, about his newest novel Icarus and the graphic novel based on it that he and artist Matt Slay are working on. It’s about a being who falls from the sky to save a world from tyranny. We also find out if he named his daughter after one of his own fictional characters.