Daily Tech Headlines – August 24, 2016

DTH_CoverArt_1500x1500Google demotes full screen ads, PlayStation Now comes to Windows, Tesla juices its battery.

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

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

Today in Tech History – August 24, 2016

Today in Tech History logo1456 – According to a handwritten note by illustrator Heinrich Cremer, the final binding of the Gutenberg Bible took place.

1965 – Ted Nelson presented a paper called “A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing and the Indeterminate” at the Association for Computing Machinery. In it he used the word “hypertext” a term he made up.

1995 – Microsoft released Windows 95. During development it was referred to as Windows 4.0 or by the internal codename “Chicago.”

2001 – WebKit received its first commit of code from Apple. The Safari browser appeared two years later and WebKit was open sourced in 2005.

2011 – Steve jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, handing over the job to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook.

Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2839 – Instapapers Please!

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPassport and social network id please? Should US border control be able to ask for your Twitter handle? Patrick Beja and Tom Merritt discuss.

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Follow us on Soundcloud.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

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

Daily Tech Headlines – August 23, 2016

DTH_CoverArt_1500x1500Amazon’s $5 music service, Level 5 autonomous cars by 2019, More Microsoft pre-loaded software on Android.

MP3

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Follow us on Soundcloud.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

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

Today in Tech History – August 23, 2016

Today in Tech History logo1852 – The first time signals were transmitted by telegraph from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

1993 – Nintendo agreed to use Silicon Graphics Inc. technology in a video game player it was developing.

2012 – Microsoft unveiled a new logo for the first time in 25 years, opting for simple squares of color and block type with an overlapping ‘f’ and ‘t’.

2013 – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced he would retire within the next 12 months.

Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.

Cordkillers 134 – Deeply Regret Button (w/ Mulango Akpo-Esambe)

We now know the lifetime of a TiVo, Netflix comes to your hotel, a wireless antenna with fewer wires. With special guest Mulango Akpo-Esambe.

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CordKillers: Ep. 134 – Deeply Regret Button
Recorded:  August 22 2016
Guest: Mulango Akpo-Esambe

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • TiVo is cutting off support for its original DVR in September
    – TiVo will deliver a last download of guide data for its 1999 model TiVos on September 15th. Customers will get a $75 Visa gift card. The boxes will continue to work but will not have any guide data after September 29th. TiVo says there are still 3,200 Series 1 TiVos in active use

Signal Intelligence

  • Netflix is coming to more hotel rooms worldwide
    – Netflix partnering with Enseo (in-room entertainment for hotels)
    – Partnership expanded to any hotel under contract in a country with Netflix
    – Beyond pre-approved brands
    – Netflix app on TV or Netflix button on remote
    – Sign in with Netflix account, no Internet fees
    – Promises to wipe out login at checkout
    – Most-used channels in 19 hotel brands today (Marriott, Hilton La Quinta)
    – Hotels like it as a perk, and frees up wifi for other uses
    – Enseo’s system can also provide marketing messages

Gear Up

  • This wireless antenna may make cord cutting easier
    – WatchAir antenna streams to Smart TV (WebOS, Tizen, Android TV, Vizio), smartphone, tablet (ios, Android), Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV
    – Sends OTA signal over WiFi then to apps
    – Has a TV guide and 5 hours of recording (25 with SD Card)
    – Kickstarter promotion $149
    – Hopes to ship in October for $249

Under Surveillance

Front Lines

  • Here’s TV Networks’ Latest Scheme to Limit ‘Cord-Cutting’
    – Reuters has a story about how more networks are doing what they call “stacking” by making all previous episodes of a series available on demand to cable subscribers. 54% of people in one survey said they would not start watching a show unless they could watch all previous episodes. Comcast will offer full-season stacks of 60% of original scripted series up from 41% two seasons ago. A source told Reuters one network saw a 3-11% rise in ratings after offering stacked shows. 
  • How to see everything you’ve ever watched on Netflix and Amazon
    – Engadget’s Matt Brian has written up instructions for seeing your viewing history on Netflix and Amazon. Netflix history can be found in a section of Your Account called Viewing History. You can delete items to remove their impact on recommendations. Amazon buries it in Your Account under Personalization where you click Improve Your Recommendations and then choose Videos You’ve Watched. You can then rate shows to fine tune recommendations. 
  • Univision buys Gawker Media for $135 million
    – Univision doesn’t just run the top spanish-language channel in the US it also owns The Onion and The Root. And it has provisionally acquired Gawker Media pending the decision of the bankruptcy court. Gawker runs Gizmodo, Lifehacker and io9 among other sites.
  • Amazon brings free episodes of its Original Series to YouTube & Facebook
    – Amazon has begun posting pilot episodes from 10 of its shows on YouTube and Facebook Live. Shows include Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, Bosch, Red Oaks, and The Man in the High Castle.
  • HDHomeRun’s DVR app is ready for the Xbox One
    – HDHomeRun’s DVR software is a big hit with people looking for a replacement for Windows Media Center. It can now help folks who wish their Xbox could act as a DVR. You’ll still need HDHomeRun on a PC, Android TV box or NAS, but there is now an app for HDHomeRun on the Xbox One. 

Dispatches from the Front
Hi Tom and Brian

Take a listen / look at this: https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/dr-k-live-fra-koncertsalen/dr-k-live-fra-koncertsalen-serier-serier-serier

It’s 80 min of TV themes performed by the Danish public service station’s classical band.

There is some Danish talking in between, but most series covered are ones I’ve heard you talk about on the show.

Maybe something for the cold open? Or as a link to the listeners.

BTW – this is why I’m happy that we in sunny Denmark have the license fee that everybody with a TV, radio or access to the internet has to pay!

Thanks for always great shows!
Your boss,
Eric

 

 

Hi guys.

I’ve now watched Jon-Claude Van Johnson and The Tick.I will watch I love Dick after work tonight.

My frustration with these pilots is not the content or format.I just don’t recall Amazon ever asking in there survey on what are your favorite shows ever? Then ask why these pilots are greater or worse then your favorite shows.

It just seems this kind of questioning sets these pilots up for failure as each one I’ve seen is slightly worse then say Battlestar Galactica. But it’s really unfair compairing a 30 minute pilot to a 4.5 season show for example.

I’m hoping somebody can reply and let me know if Amazon has asked this kind of question before in there pilot survey?

Long time Patreon Boss:
David from Fond Du Lac,Wisconsin asking

 

 

I was talking with a girl who works at Hulu.
She said they get to see the first preview of what they are doing for the Hulu Streaming Channel today.
She said that currently she knows it will have an online DVR, but doesn’t have the details yet as to if it will be any restrictions on what can be recorded or if time limits or such. But if it isn’t all easily integrated it would seem a non starter.

She was pretty open about this as there is so many press leaks…but just in case don’t mention my name if you say anything on the air. Not sure if she was speaking out of turn. 

 

 

Tom and Brian,

I am constantly scouring the net to find interesting tidbits on cord cutting and specifically OTT live streaming services. To compare the channels available I put the linked spreadsheet together. It needs a little more refining (cannot make out what networks some of SFN’s Faith based offerings are) but your viewers may find it useful. The link is public.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iqAW6FzYfSUyRMe6zTHTWnCSkVUVxVrm-zEL765UYFk/edit?usp=sharing

This is strictly a channel availability chart not a comparison of services

PlayStation Vue is still the best by nearly every metric I care about except mobility and the name (and lack of a desktop app). It is ridiculous they launched nationally with PlayStation in the name. Nearly everyone I speak too about it says “I might try it but I don’t have a PlayStation”. How about Sony Vue or just Vue? Or Sony Live Stream (SLS for short)? Or Sony Dream Stream? Anything without PlayStation in the name. Plus the integration into the PlayStation website makes it more confusing to the average user.

Very Respectfully,
Gregory

 

 

Tom and Brian,
Comcast upped my rate again so it was time to go for the chicken challenge again. Long story short, I was successful but not in the way I imagined.
I started out calling Comcast and had no luck getting my deal back to what it was before. So, I did what any reasonable person would do in 2016… complain on Twitter about my bill going up. Imagine my surprise when the Comcast Cares account at replied me and asked I follow them so we could exchange DMs. Using an exchange of DMs I was able to get back to my previous deal and lock it in for 2 years. That included free HBO for another 2 years and then to top it off they added 2 years of Showtime for free as well.
Comcast justifiably gets a bad rap in regards to customer service at times, but their social media team was fantastic to work with. I just wanted to share another path for all your listeners to take to try and get a better deal via the Chicken Challenge. Twitter, who would have thought that would work so well?

Chris

 

 

Hi,

When I decided to cut the cord, I called Cox cable and told them I was cancelling in favor of HBOGo and Hulu. They made me a deal in which I pay for a “starter pack” cable plus HBO and Starz, at $12/month, which made it cheaper for me to keep it than to have HBO alone.

The end result is that I never bothered to connect my cable box – by using mobile apps to stream the network shows (using my cable login), I get all of the current shows offered by Hulu and was able to cancel that as well.

Definitely worth the phone call. 
 

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft
 

Your Private Driver: Self-Driving Settlements and Other News Stuff

This is a weekly column that offers news, insights, analysis, and user tips for rideshare platforms like Uber and Lyft. Look for it every Monday after the live show, right here on dailytechnewsshow.com.

Uber’s been in the news a lot this past week, and as a driver who will likely be affected in the future by a lot of it, I naturally have some opinions on these things.

Never Settle

California drivers are overall pleased with Judge Chen’s decision to throw out the $100-million class-action settlement in a lawsuit challenging the independent contractor status of Uber drivers. None of us are legal experts, however we saw the settlement terms as an easy way for plaintiff attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan to get a nice payday for herself while basically ignoring most of the complaints, financial and otherwise, of drivers.

Drivers did get a couple of small wins from the existing settlement, those being a clearer process into why a driver would be deactivated, and the ability to not be deactivated for not accepting every trip request (though you can be placed in a “time out” for ignoring requests). There is still no in-app tipping, and Uber still actively discourages tips for some reason. Drivers also do not have the tools they desire to screen out potentially unprofitable fares (like UberPool) nor any level of insurance against further cuts to per-mile rates, which have dropped as much as 42% in some markets over just the last year.

And of course, the question of whether or not drivers are employees or independent contractors has still not been answered. With the rejection of this settlement, that question may once again make it to the forefront of this discussion.

Johnny-Uber

Uber’s self-driving cars are now going to be hauling around people in Pittsburgh, with the goal to possibly have fully-autonomous, Johnny-Cab style vehicles available in as little as five years. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has spoken openly about how the company’s future is in getting rid of us expensive drivers, so the move isn’t much of a surprise. Still, drivers aren’t ready to run screaming to our robot overlords just yet.

Although self-driving technology is currently good enough to take over during a long road trip or during the freeway portion of a rush-hour commute, it would take an impressive AI leap in order to become even reasonably functional in a dense and chaotic city environment, not to mention adverse weather conditions. Not to say that it can’t be done in five years, but I’m not bullish on the prospects at the moment. On top of that, it’s difficult enough most of the time for human drivers to find the passengers that need to be picked up. I can’t imagine that a computer will have better luck at this.

As for the money issue, Uber will end up saving money with self-driving cars, but it won’t be an immediate process. The need to purchase and maintain expensive vehicles and to employ the technicians to update and “fix” them will cut into Uber’s profit margins far more than just counting on regular drivers to take care of all that car stuff themselves, at least for the first few years. The technology will have to mature significantly before Uber will be seeing any cost savings. It’s a long game to be sure, but drivers will see the signs coming long before then. Right now we’re expecting to be obsolete in ten to fifteen years, more than enough time to make plans for the future. I’m making mine right now, actually, but that’s another story for another time.

Sekani Wright is an experienced Uber driver working in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. If you have any questions you would like answered for this column, you can contact him at djsekani at gmail dot com, or on twitter and reddit at the username djsekani. Have a safe trip!

DTNS 2838 – Route! Damned Dead Spot! Route, I say!

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comMIT researchers are working on self-assembling electronics. Your phone could someday build itself. Great for Ikea furniture! Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt talk about what we would want this for.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? Click here

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Follow us on Soundcloud.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

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