In 1971 – Marc Andreessen was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He would grow up to develop the Netscape browser, which powered the explosion of the Web in the late 1990s.
In 1979 – Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Jupiter, coming within 570,000 kilometers of the planet.
In 1982 – Disney released the movie Tron, which used the most extensive computer-generated graphics and special effects to that time.
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Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt talk about the good news and bad news from Microsoft. The good news, is Microsoft is focusing its business. The bad news is the town of Salo, Finland will be gutted by layoffs.
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Show Notes
Movie Draft Update, Mr. Robot (101-102), True Detective (201-203), The Shield (606)
00:47 – Movie Draft Update
06:04 – Mr. Robot (101-102)
21:13 – True Detective (201-203)
42:01 – The Shield (606)
In 1908 – Charles Urban demonstrated Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion-picture process, at a scientific meeting in Paris attended by Auguste and Louis Lumière.
In 1946 – The University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering began a summer school course on computing that inspired the EDSAC, BINAC, and, many other similar computers.
In 2011 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on the final Space Shuttle mission.
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Hot off the presses we have the week 5 lines. Also new this year we are opening a Relegation Line, so if there’s a team you don’t think will make it until next year now you can put some money on it.
Patrick Beja joins the show to talk about whether we want wearables to control our moods. And whether we think they can. Plus Jennie Josephson weighs in on the Instagram-Bieber’s Butt issue.
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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!
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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
In 1752 – Joseph Marie Jacquard was born in Lyon, France. The weaver and inventor created the first programmable power loom and the cards he used to program it would be adapted by Herman Hollerith and others for programming the first computers.
In 1936 – Henry F. Phillips received patents for a new kind of screw and the screwdriver used with it. Endless numbers of computer cases have been held together by it since.
In 1981 – The first solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, flew 163 miles from Corneille-en-Verin Airport north of Paris across the English Channel to Manston Royal Air Force Base south of London, staying aloft 5 hours and 23 minutes.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
TiVo finds TiVo viewers binge, gives Aereo users a free Tivo, Hulu available as a linear channel.
CordKillers: Ep. 78 – Binge and Purge Viewing
Recorded: July 6, 2015
Guest: Jennie Josephson
Intro Video
Primary Target
Signal Intelligence
Gear Up
Front Lines
Under Surveillance
Dispatches from the Front
I’m a time traveler and this email is in response to the discussion you haven’t had yet about the city of Chicago imposing a ‘cloud tax’ on streaming services like Netflix.
I agree with Brian that this is despicable. Chicago’s argument is that they’re trying to recoup tax revenue lost to brick-and-mortar stores that have been replaced with streaming services, but this argument doesn’t fly for two reasons. One, because there are presumably new businesses where the old stores used to be that are paying tax and offering taxable products and services, and two because streaming services don’t use local resources like a brick-and-mortar store. But most importantly, even if they have lost tax revenue, that’s just too damn bad. They have no right to replace it with a tax on a product that isn’t originating and may not be consumed in their city. What if I live in Chicago but watch Netflix exclusively when I travel?
– Shiftlock
Gentlemen, I was wondering if either of you had checked out the Netflix original “Grace and Frankie“. It is a 14 part comedy series with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. My wife and I really enjoyed it, though we are much older than you guys. First couple of episodes seemed a little forced but after that I though it improved substantially and was fun
– Steve
Hi guys! I had to stop and rewind when you said that SHOWTIME was coming to HULU! SHOWTIME is a CBS network, and CBS has been all but openly HOSTILE to Hulu in the past. Has CBS blinked, or is this just another nail in Hulu’s financial coffin?
– Jon
Links
Veronica Belmont reports in on the advent of fighting robots on the Japanese acceptance of a US fighting robot challenge.
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Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guests: Veronica Belmont
Headlines:
The Guardian reports attackers took control of the Twitter account of Italian security firm Hacking Team, and posted allegations that 400 GB of documents had been accessed. Hacking Team says it provides “tools to police organizations and other government agencies that can prevent crimes or terrorism.” Posted documents appeared to be emails, invoices and screenshots some of which showed dealings with countries like Ethiopia and Sudan. Christian Pozzi of Hacking Team tweeted that a lot of what is being posted is not true.
CNET reports that Instagram will let you share pictures that are 1080 pixels by 1080 pixels the first improvement since Instagram launched supporting 640 by 640 resolution.. The feature is gradually rolling out, and let’s everybody take moment to enjoy this terrific update before we start grousing about the lack of support for multiple accounts.
Tech Crunch reports that Amazon has added an iOS app for its Cloud Drive service. Android apps for Google Play and Amazon app store showed up in June and the iOS app became available over the weekedm. The apps are fairly basic, offering a simplified folder list and a way to view and share files but no editing, moving files, uploading from mobile and no automatic sync. Users can also play music and videos stored on Cloud Drive. Amazon’s Unlimited Everything plan costs $60 per year and its Unlimited Photos service is $11.99 per year.
The Verge reports that it has sources that say Microsoft is finalizing Windows 10 for manufacturers this week. Once the release to manufacturing (RTM) build is ready, Microsoft will send the final copy of Windows 10 to its PC partners ahead of a release to the public on July 29th. Though Windows 10 bug fixes and updates will continue even after that. Microsoft also announced its music service, formerly Xbox Music will be named Groove in Windows 10. Xbox Video gets the snappy rename of Movies and TV.
The Next Web reports Bitcoin engineer Ryan X. Charles wrote on Medium that he worked on a decentralized version of Reddit that used bitcoin to fund hosts. Reddit would no longer control content outside of what it wished to host in the official Reddit company version of the service. This is suspiciously close to what Fred Wilson described on avc.com today as he predicted a decentralized media platform using the blockchain was going to happen soon. Meanwhile Reddit CEO Ellen Pao posted an apology and another promise that Reddit will improve tools and communication with moderators. A new Moderator Advocate will serve as a point of contact for mods. I hear Victoria Taylor is looking for a gig.
Mojang has announced a “whole new version” of Minecraft specifically for Windows 10 according to CNET. The new version will feature Creative and Survival modes, as well as online and local multiplayer with the Pocket Edition. It also adds multiple control setups, a GameDVR and a built-in feedback system so players can let Mojang know what they like–and what they don’t. A beta version of the game launches on July 29 for $10 and will be free for owners of the existing Minecraft game.
Google launched its first Android One device in Pakistan in partnership with QMobile according to the The Express Tribune. The QMobile A1 is now available at retail stores across Pakistan. The phone comes with a 4.5-inch touch screen, a 1.3GHz quad core processor, a 5-megapixel rear camera with an LED flash, a 2-megapixel front camera, 1GB RAM and 8GB of built-in memory. The dual-SIM phone runs Android 5.1 Lollipop and will cost 11,500 Pakistani Rupees – about US$113.
The Wall Street Journal reports that McDonald’s Corp. and Yum Brands Inc. are testing digital payment options in China. McDonald’s will test mobile ordering and payment under a pilot program in the current third quarter. The aim is to speed payment and meet consumer demands. Yum said its KFC business began partnering with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in June to launch mobile-payment services for 700 stores in China. Customers can pay for their in-store orders with scanning bar codes generated by Alibaba’s mobile-payment application Alipay.
ECN Mag reports Dan Baechle, a mechanical engineer at the US Army Research Laboratory, is testing MAXFAS, a mechatronic arm exoskeleton, designed to train new Soldiers to shoot. After subjects wore MAXFAS, then performed a shooting trial, tremor was lessened. MAXFAS is modeled from a robotic device to train arm motion of stoke victims at the University of Delaware. Baechle hopes someday that MAXFAS could be used to improve aim on the battlefield under adverse conditions.
News From You:
efc88 sent us The Next Web/Buzzfeed report that Greece’s temporary capital controls, which restricts Greek citizens from taking money out of the country, also mean Greek citizens can’t use their credit cards in the online store of a foreign country. Several people in Greece have tweeted that their credit cards were declined in Apple’s online store, and Paypal issued a statement saying that funding of Paypal wallet from Greek Bank accounts is “currently not available.”
starfuryzeta sent us the Engadget report that in celebration of Amazon’s 20th birthday on July 15th, the company will host a “global shopping event” for Amazon Prime members with allegedly “more deals that Black Friday. If you’re not an Amazon Prime member you can sign up for the free 30 day trial and experience the magic of…wait for it… PRIME DAY.
Discussion Section:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/6/8899879/giant-robot-duel-megabots-kuratas
http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/30/3201328/kuratas-suidobashi-mech-robot-japan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuratas
Pick of the day:
Niyas writes:
You know how we can get the special characters like ♣ or ♬ or ‰ using the built-in character map apps or even selecting special fonts like Webdings on a desktop. But this has always been more difficult on a mobile device. Enter Notengoenie at http://m.notengoenie.com They have a set of special characters (albeit not a very exhaustive one) that we might need quickly while composing something on a mobile device. I have used this web-app so many times and it is on the top of my bookmarks. Sometimes, owing to the sheer convenience of it, I even use it while I’m on my desktop.
Messages:
Jonathan writes:
As someone who commutes over an hour one direction every day for work I am all in for self-driving cars. The efficiencies of metering traffic and having cars adjust to traffic conditions would be great. Not to mention I can’t wait until we get to the point that I could have that hour of sleep back in the morning while the car gets me to where I’m going. All of that sounds great as we go down the path of our eventual robot overlords delivering us like packages on drones. However, as a motorcycle rider, I don’t want to get to a point of riding without me in control. Even if we do start getting self-driving motorcycles it would take the fun out of the experience. So while I look forward to the benefits, I hope we never get to a day that manual driving is not possible or even illegal.
Thanks for all you do. Listening to the show is something I look forward to every day.
Have a Great Day!
—-
Tuesday’s Guest: Patrick Beja
In 1920 – A US Navy F5L seaplane took off from Hampton Roads, Virginia, using a radio compass for the first time. The pilots located and flew to the Battleship Ohio about 94 miles offshore.
In 1947 – The AK-47 went into production in the Soviet Union– the name stands for Automatic rifle Kalashnikov model of 1947.
In 1996 – AOL settled lawsuits in California that accused the company of misleading subscribers about monthly service charges.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.