We talk with Rachel Aaron about why she doesn’t worry about genre anymore and how she had to fight the siren song of Warcraft to become a professional writer.
DTNS 2497 – Run, Spotify, Run
Scott Johnson and Lamarr Wilson join the show to discuss Spotify’s new custom playlist and running features. And can adding video and podcasts boost the money it makes from music?
Using a Screen Reader? click here
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: Scott Johnson and Lamarr Wilson
Headlines:
Spotify announced the addition of Spotify Now— Songza-like custom playlists — Spotify Running— sophisticated playlists for running that change with your pace— as well as the addition of videos and podcasts. Spotify Running will integrate with Nike + and RunKeeper apps later this year. Spotify Now launches for iOS in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Sweden today. Spotify Running comes to iOS globally today.
ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports that Twitter user @h0x0d discovered a download page marked ‘Microsoft Confidential’ for a Microsoft-made iOS app called ‘Flow by Outlook.’ Text describing the app read “Reach anyone with an email address and all conversations for you and others are also in Outlook.” Only conversations started in Flow appear in Flow. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company had nothing to share about Flow.
Engadget is reporting that Adblock Plus app is returning to the Google Play Store after being pulled in 2013 for “interfering” with other apps. To avoid problems the new Adblock Plus is a modified version of the Firefox Android browser with ad blocking built in. It does not support extensions or Firefox’s synchronization feature. The app hasn’t yet gone live in the Play store so users are encouraged become testers by signing up to Adblock Plus’s Google+ community and download the app directly.
TechCrunch reports that Microsoft is now offering the digital tv tuner designed by Hauppage for the Xbox One. The tuner is compatible with Snap, voice control, OneGuide and streaming to other devices, even if someone else is using the Xbox for gaming. It does not support DVR functions, though you can pause, FF and rewind live TV for up to 30 minutes. Microsoft is offering a bundle that includes the tuner and a Mohu Leaf 50 antenna for $100.
PCMag.com reports on Google’s Tone Chrome extension. When you want to send a URL, click the blue button and the service broadcasts a series of tone. Any machine within earshot that also uses the extension (including those on a phone or Hangout) will receive the URL. Just remember that ANY computer that can hear the tone will get the URL.
Yonhap News reports that LG Display has unveiled an OLED display panel that sticks to the wall. The 55-inch wallpaper panel is 0.97 mm thick, weighs 1.9kg and sticks to the wall using a magnetic mat. LG’s existing 55-inch OLED panel is now seemingly fat 4.3 mm. No word on when the new wallpaper panel wil make it in to production.
News From You:
Starfuryzeta submitted the ArsTechnica report on a new attack on HTTPS-protected websites detailed in a research paper called “Imperfect Forward Secrecy: How Diffie-Hellman Fails in Practice.”. The attack, being called ‘logjam’ affects servers that support Diffie-Hellman key exchange by downgrading to 512-bit encryption. It takes advantage of a weakness in the encryption added in the 1990s to allow US law enforcement to break the encryption if used by foreign entities. It’s similar in this way to the FREAK attack uncovered in March. The attack is estimated to affect 8.4% of the top 1 million websites as well as a slightly larger percentage of mail servers. Internet Explorer is protected and updates to other browsers are expected in the next few days. Server admins are encouraged to disable support of DHE_EXPORT ciphersuites that allow downgraded connections. ore info can be found at weakdh.org/
cdnDude74 submitted the TechRepublic article that Google plans to roll out their own VPN service. A reference to Google VPN was found in “Google Connectivity Services” in Android 5.15 on a Nexus 6. However the service isn’t active yet.
mranthropology submitted The Verge article about Huawei’s announcement of an Internet of Things operating system called LiteOS, that’s 10 kb large. LiteOS is meant for any smart device from wearables to cars and will be made open to all developers with zero configuration necessary for users. Huawei is also marketing its Agile Network architecture to help companies manage all those incoming connections.
Discussion Section Links:
Pick of the Day:
J. wrote in with an explanation of why customer service reps often ask you for all the information you already told the phone tree:
“I’m a tech support rep for a major ISP. In regards to account info when you call customer service. With large companies, different call centers handle different regions. The system is in place more to route you to the right person than to give that person your account. That having been said, I do get a pop-up with your account number about 60% of the time. The account number is generated and auto-pops based on the phone number you typed or said in most cases. The difficulty is that a person with your phone number may or may not be a person you want accessing your account, so we ask for it anyway, along with other CPNI info. Consider it 2 factor authentication.
Short version… I’m not gonna be that Apple rep who let someone into Tom Merrit’s email account.”
Messages:
Doug wrote regarding municipal broadband:
“First, the existing monopolies or near monopolies on broadband are the direct result of municipal interference in the market. Both telephone companies and cable companies were granted monopolies to encourage infrastructure buildout. Why should I expect further interference in the market to be more competently accomplished?
Second, in most cases where cities provide services, they grant themselves monopolies and charge monopolistic prices. An example: My last house was in an unincorporated part of the county I live in, and I could get trash service for $10 per month, up to 10 containers, the trash company would return the containers from the curb to the side of my house, and recycling was free. After moving to a municipality that has city pickup, the price is $30 per month, I have to buy containers at $60 ea. from the city, and if I want to recycle, I have to buy a separate container for that. Three times the price for much less service.
If you could guarantee that cities:
1. Had to charge their real costs (that is, that they were prohibited from subsidizing broadband with other revenues, including amortization of the buildout costs) OR had to allow access to any subsidized infrastructure to any competitor at an audited fair price
2. Were prohibited from enforcing a monopoly on broadband
I’d support municipal broadband.
=====
Thursday’s guest: Allison Sheridan
It’s Spoilerin’ Time Episode 71
Movie Draft Update, Mad Men, Game of Thrones (506), The Shield (510)
01:08 – Mad Men Series Finale
12:52 – Movie Draft Update
18:09 – Game of Thrones (506)
32:34 – The Shield (510)
Today in Tech History – May 20, 2015
In 1875 – 17 nations (including the US) signed the ‘Convention du Mètre’ in Paris, France, establishing the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.
In 1891 – The first public demonstration of a prototype Kinetoscope was given at Edison’s laboratory, for approximately 150 members of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs. The New York Sun reported on the demonstration.
In 1958 – Robert Baumann obtained a patent for a satellite. (US. No. 2,835,548). The patent stipulated the government could use the technology without having to pay royalties.
In 1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope sent its first light image back to Earth, taken with the wide field/planetary camera.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
DTNS 2596 – Zero Dark Facebook
Patrick Beja is on the show and we’ll talk about protest letters regarding encryption back doors and zero-rating, an app store for your 10-year-old car and the most annoying innovations in tech.
Using a Screen Reader? click here
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: Patrick Beja
Headlines:
The Washington Post reports 164 tech companies organizations and security researchers sent a letter to US President Obama asking him to reject any proposed law that would “deliberately weaken the security of their products.” US FBI Director James B. Comey is among several US government officials pushing companies to allow government to have access to all encrypted data. The letter is signed by three of the five members of a presidential review group appointed to assess policy in the wake of the Snowden leaks.
The BBC reports 67 digital rights groups from around the world signed a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stating concerns about the Internet.org initiative. The letter says the project threatens freedom of expression, privacy and the principle of net neutrality. Internet.org lets users access participating services without incurring data charges. It does not currently support https, ssl or TLS. Internet.og is currently available in Zambia, India, Colombia, Guatemala, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malawi.
TechCrunch has the tech specs on Apple’s just updated MacBook Pro iMac. The 15” Retina MacBook Pro now comes with a new force touch trackpad, improved PCIe-based flash drive with 2.5x the performance, one more hour of battery life, and a new Radeon R9 M370X discrete GPU option. Prices start at $1999 for a 16GB, 2.2GHz quad-core Core i7, and 256GB of storage. The iMac 5K Retina now comes with a 3.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and Radeon R9 M290 graphics card. And Apple is now selling a lightning dock for your iPhone 6 and 6 plus for $40. This one should last through a few more models since the base is open.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple shelved plans for a 4K television, according to people familiar with the matter. The reason? The features — including a camera that would allow users to make video calls — were not compelling enough to impress executives. However, according to Reuters, prominent investor Carl Icahn says Apple will still introduce a TV, and a car. And he wants Apple to buy back more stock. And he wants a pony. The pony part is unconfirmed.
ZDNet reports that Microsoft has released public previews of Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android phones today. The new Office app previews require KitKat 4.4.x or higher and devices with 1 GB of RAM or more.You’ll also need to join the Office Android Preview group. “Become a tester” on Google Play by visiting the Word,Excel and PowerPoint apps. Wait for Google Play to replicate permissions, then click above mentioned links and follow the download links to install apps from the Google Play Store. Finally join Microsoft’s Google+ community for support, feedback and queries. But that’s all!
Tech Crunch reports that Google is adding tweets to its search results. Use the word Twitter in your search request or just search for a term and see if people are saying anything about it on Twitter.
Results will show up for English-language mobile users today on browsers and Android and iOS Google apps. Google is working on adding it to the desktop and other languages.
Automatic is launching an app store and SDK for its on-board diagnostic— or OBD plug— according to CNET. First-generation Automatic dongles are compatible with the new App Gallery but not the new SDK. The new dev platform includes a streaming SDK that only works with second-generation Automatic hardware. The new hardware is able to send raw, real-time performance data to select third-party apps over Bluetooth. The streaming SDK is in currently in private beta. The second-generation Automatic adapter will retail for $99.95 same as the first-gen.
News From You:
This was our top vote-getter on the subreddit today. johnsie776 posted the Ars Technica report that the state of North Carolina has sued the US Federal Communications Commission. The FCC pre-empted state law to help the City of Winston expand its municipal broadband network. The state claims that the FCC unlawfully inserted itself between the State and the State’s political subdivisions. The case is now in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Tennessee is also suing the FCC in the Sixth Circuit regarding municipal broadband in Chatannooga.
jaymz668 sent the KitGuru post noting a Chrome and Android engineer said in a Reddit AMA session late last week— that developers are working on improving Chrome’s resource usage on mobile as well as memory leaks on the desktop. Here’s hoping.
habichuelcondulce pointed out the PC World article that the Center for Digital Democracy and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed an update to their U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint against The YouTube Kids app. The update adds a video of allegedly harmful content to the complaint originally filed in April. The groups also added the complaint that Google is deceiving parents about the effectiveness of the screening process. Google said it is working to make the videos in YouTube Kids as family friendly as possible.
Discussion Section Links:
Pick of the Day:
Daryl Sensenig (in lovely Lancaster County, Pennsylvania):
My pick is Bing Maps. I know that nearly everyone uses Google Maps, but I feel that Bing is much better in several ways:
1. In my experience, the routing is better and the travel time estimates are more accurate.
2. Their satellite view (bird’s eye view) is actually photos from airplanes and not satellites. So, it is much more detailed than Google Maps in many areas.
3. I prefer the interface over the new Google Maps
That said, there are a few drawbacks:
1. Their street view doesn’t have quite as good coverage
2. Business search isn’t quite as strong.
Messages:
Alex writes in:
Long time listener to the show. Since the United In-Flight systems “hack” keeps popping up in the news, I figure I should clarify some points. My company created and maintains the In-flight Entertainment (IFE) system for United. The IFE server receives one-way communication from the planes avionics, such as altitude and heading. Those values are saved as a variable and used to trigger automated functions, such as retracting overhead monitors when descending for landing. In my test lab, I have to manipulate those variables to test the systems operations during various flight scenarios, since I’m not on a real aircraft. Those are the variables that the security researcher saw. Modifying them in flight will have no effect on other systems. You can trick the IFE system to show that we are flying to Hawaii on the passenger map display, but plane’s auto-pilot won’t change. Also on the real aircraft, the avionics systems will periodically refresh any modified data with real data. It just that the polling rate is really slow to avoid flooding these underpowered systems.
Reports also say that he tampered with his seat box casing and got access to the internal diagnostic port to achieve this hack. Also, reports say that he obtained the admin password which how he was able to jump firewall from the seat subnet to the server subnet.
TL;DR if you have physical access to a client machine and the admin password, you can get access to the servers. But you can’t change anything beyond the server. Only what the server perceives to be real data, but the data will be refreshed periodically anyways.
Sean wrote:
“On Fridays show Darren talked about car trains. He was using some sarcasm, but had a point. Everytime I hear about self driving cars I get frustrated. I live where we have snow and other forms of weather. This never seems to be addressed by companies developing self driving technology.”
Rolando – Your fan from Paraguay, the heart of South America writes:
As our communication becomes increasingly more digital, I think we need a symbol for ironic comments, pics, etc. to have the same immediate recognizable unmistakable effect as other symbols have for their own meaning [for instance, no one doubts the meaning of the ‘bird’ (pardon my French)].
This has been tried before, but the proposed symbol for irony didn’t catch on.
So, when I heard you talking with @veronica in her official appearance (great add!) about emojis, I thought that I’d ask you, to ask to your bright and passionate audience, to create and establish a universal Irony emoji.
Wouldn’t it be great? It’ll be a great legacy! #NotBeingIronicHere
Congrats on your newest milestone and keep it up!
=====
Wednesday’s guest: Scott Johnson & Lamarr Wilson
DTNS 2496 – Zero Dark Facebook
Patrick Beja is on the show and we’ll talk about protest letters regarding encryption back doors and zero-rating, an app store for your 10-year-old car and the most annoying innovations in tech.
Using a Screen Reader? click here
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: Patrick Beja
Headlines:
The Washington Post reports 164 tech companies organizations and security researchers sent a letter to US President Obama asking him to reject any proposed law that would “deliberately weaken the security of their products.” US FBI Director James B. Comey is among several US government officials pushing companies to allow government to have access to all encrypted data. The letter is signed by three of the five members of a presidential review group appointed to assess policy in the wake of the Snowden leaks.
The BBC reports 67 digital rights groups from around the world signed a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stating concerns about the Internet.org initiative. The letter says the project threatens freedom of expression, privacy and the principle of net neutrality. Internet.org lets users access participating services without incurring data charges. It does not currently support https, ssl or TLS. Internet.og is currently available in Zambia, India, Colombia, Guatemala, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malawi.
TechCrunch has the tech specs on Apple’s just updated MacBook Pro iMac. The 15” Retina MacBook Pro now comes with a new force touch trackpad, improved PCIe-based flash drive with 2.5x the performance, one more hour of battery life, and a new Radeon R9 M370X discrete GPU option. Prices start at $1999 for a 16GB, 2.2GHz quad-core Core i7, and 256GB of storage. The iMac 5K Retina now comes with a 3.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and Radeon R9 M290 graphics card. And Apple is now selling a lightning dock for your iPhone 6 and 6 plus for $40. This one should last through a few more models since the base is open.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple shelved plans for a 4K television, according to people familiar with the matter. The reason? The features — including a camera that would allow users to make video calls — were not compelling enough to impress executives. However, according to Reuters, prominent investor Carl Icahn says Apple will still introduce a TV, and a car. And he wants Apple to buy back more stock. And he wants a pony. The pony part is unconfirmed.
ZDNet reports that Microsoft has released public previews of Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android phones today. The new Office app previews require KitKat 4.4.x or higher and devices with 1 GB of RAM or more.You’ll also need to join the Office Android Preview group. “Become a tester” on Google Play by visiting the Word,Excel and PowerPoint apps. Wait for Google Play to replicate permissions, then click above mentioned links and follow the download links to install apps from the Google Play Store. Finally join Microsoft’s Google+ community for support, feedback and queries. But that’s all!
Tech Crunch reports that Google is adding tweets to its search results. Use the word Twitter in your search request or just search for a term and see if people are saying anything about it on Twitter.
Results will show up for English-language mobile users today on browsers and Android and iOS Google apps. Google is working on adding it to the desktop and other languages.
Automatic is launching an app store and SDK for its on-board diagnostic— or OBD plug— according to CNET. First-generation Automatic dongles are compatible with the new App Gallery but not the new SDK. The new dev platform includes a streaming SDK that only works with second-generation Automatic hardware. The new hardware is able to send raw, real-time performance data to select third-party apps over Bluetooth. The streaming SDK is in currently in private beta. The second-generation Automatic adapter will retail for $99.95 same as the first-gen.
News From You:
This was our top vote-getter on the subreddit today. johnsie776 posted the Ars Technica report that the state of North Carolina has sued the US Federal Communications Commission. The FCC pre-empted state law to help the City of Winston expand its municipal broadband network. The state claims that the FCC unlawfully inserted itself between the State and the State’s political subdivisions. The case is now in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Tennessee is also suing the FCC in the Sixth Circuit regarding municipal broadband in Chatannooga.
jaymz668 sent the KitGuru post noting a Chrome and Android engineer said in a Reddit AMA session late last week— that developers are working on improving Chrome’s resource usage on mobile as well as memory leaks on the desktop. Here’s hoping.
habichuelcondulce pointed out the PC World article that the Center for Digital Democracy and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed an update to their U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint against The YouTube Kids app. The update adds a video of allegedly harmful content to the complaint originally filed in April. The groups also added the complaint that Google is deceiving parents about the effectiveness of the screening process. Google said it is working to make the videos in YouTube Kids as family friendly as possible.
Discussion Section Links:
Pick of the Day:
Daryl Sensenig (in lovely Lancaster County, Pennsylvania):
My pick is Bing Maps. I know that nearly everyone uses Google Maps, but I feel that Bing is much better in several ways:
1. In my experience, the routing is better and the travel time estimates are more accurate.
2. Their satellite view (bird’s eye view) is actually photos from airplanes and not satellites. So, it is much more detailed than Google Maps in many areas.
3. I prefer the interface over the new Google Maps
That said, there are a few drawbacks:
1. Their street view doesn’t have quite as good coverage
2. Business search isn’t quite as strong.
Messages:
Alex writes in:
Long time listener to the show. Since the United In-Flight systems “hack” keeps popping up in the news, I figure I should clarify some points. My company created and maintains the In-flight Entertainment (IFE) system for United. The IFE server receives one-way communication from the planes avionics, such as altitude and heading. Those values are saved as a variable and used to trigger automated functions, such as retracting overhead monitors when descending for landing. In my test lab, I have to manipulate those variables to test the systems operations during various flight scenarios, since I’m not on a real aircraft. Those are the variables that the security researcher saw. Modifying them in flight will have no effect on other systems. You can trick the IFE system to show that we are flying to Hawaii on the passenger map display, but plane’s auto-pilot won’t change. Also on the real aircraft, the avionics systems will periodically refresh any modified data with real data. It just that the polling rate is really slow to avoid flooding these underpowered systems.
Reports also say that he tampered with his seat box casing and got access to the internal diagnostic port to achieve this hack. Also, reports say that he obtained the admin password which how he was able to jump firewall from the seat subnet to the server subnet.
TL;DR if you have physical access to a client machine and the admin password, you can get access to the servers. But you can’t change anything beyond the server. Only what the server perceives to be real data, but the data will be refreshed periodically anyways.
Sean wrote:
“On Fridays show Darren talked about car trains. He was using some sarcasm, but had a point. Everytime I hear about self driving cars I get frustrated. I live where we have snow and other forms of weather. This never seems to be addressed by companies developing self driving technology.”
Rolando – Your fan from Paraguay, the heart of South America writes:
As our communication becomes increasingly more digital, I think we need a symbol for ironic comments, pics, etc. to have the same immediate recognizable unmistakable effect as other symbols have for their own meaning [for instance, no one doubts the meaning of the ‘bird’ (pardon my French)].
This has been tried before, but the proposed symbol for irony didn’t catch on.
So, when I heard you talking with @veronica in her official appearance (great add!) about emojis, I thought that I’d ask you, to ask to your bright and passionate audience, to create and establish a universal Irony emoji.
Wouldn’t it be great? It’ll be a great legacy! #NotBeingIronicHere
Congrats on your newest milestone and keep it up!
=====
Wednesday’s guest: Scott Johnson & Lamarr Wilson
Today in Tech History – May 19, 2015
In 1857 – William Francis Channing of Boston, Mass. and Moses Gerrish Farmer, of Salem, Mass. received the first US patent for an “electromagnetic fire alarm telegraph for cities” (No. 17,355).
In 1961 – Venera 1 became the first manmade object to fly by another planet, passing within 100,000 KM of Venus. The probe did not send back any data having lost contact with Earth a month earlier.
In 2006 – Apple opened its 20,000-square foot store at 767 Fifth Avenue. It was the second Apple store in New York City but the iconic glass cube made it the most famous.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Cordkillers 71 – Decidedly Less Juicy
Is Hulu or CBS the future of cord-cutting apps? Has TiVo cracked the perfect bundle?
CordKillers: Ep. 71 – Decidedly Less Juicy
Recorded: May 18, 2015
Guest: None
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Hulu pulls a Netflix, rescues ‘The Mindy Project’ from cancellation
– Hulu picking up a 26 episode 4th season of The Mindy Project
– Is this Hulu’s Arrested Development? Where does it go form here? Can it continue to live in two worlds (broadcast catch-up and original on-demand)?
– Is this strategy working for Yahoo with Community? Can it work better for Hulu? - AT&T will sell Hulu subscriptions, but not to watch on your TV
– Hulu is partnering with AT&T U-Verse TV service to sell Hulu subscriptions.
– AT&T customers can find the shows on a mobile app or on the Web.
Signal Intelligence
- CBS’s Video Streaming Service Now Offers Live TV In Over 60% Of The U.S.
- CBS All Access app gets Chromecast support (Update: HGTV, Fox and FXNow, too)
– Hulu offers catch-up for 3 main English-language networks in US
– CBS All Access adds the other one
– CBS can add live feeds. Now has that in 64% of markets 94 total. $5.99 a month)
– Added chromecast support too. (Android and iOS)
Gear Up
- Plex comes to TiVo
– Oh TiVo. You keep being so close to a really great cordcutting device.
– TiVo Roamio getting Plex app 6/8
– Opera-based version of smart TV apps. 720p only
– Won’t integrate with universal search - TiVo wants to become the legal version of Aereo
– Multichannel says TiVo plans to use Aereo trademark and customer lists in a legal version of the service
– TiVo CEO Tom Rogers wants to offer low-cost bundles of channels and streaming services
– “The answer is pretty clear — it’s kind of the Aereo model, done legally and better.”
– Event planned in San Jose for July to unveil new Aereo.
– Essentially Rogers says that Cable should bundle TiVos with OTA and broadband services in with their Internet.
Front Lines
- Over-The-Top Streaming Video Services To Surge To 330 Million+ Subscribers By 2019
– No big surprises from Juniper research here, but the latest research says subscriber numbers for streaming services will rise from 92.1 million in 2014 to 333.2 million by 2019. Even less surprising is the project that almost none of that growth will come from Smart TVs. - Twitch has launched a channel on Roku adding to its apps on game consoles and FireTV.
- BBC Global iPlayer to close in June
– Didn’t know BBC offered an international version of its iPlayer for $6.99 a month in Canada as well as Australia and Western Europe? Well you found out too late. It’s closing the service June 26. - Radio Times reports Netflix is trying to lure Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror away from Channel 4.
- Is Netflix seriously going to revive ‘Top Gear’ as ‘House of Cars?’
– Word is Netflix is among the producers Jeremy Clarkson and friends have been talking to about doing a car show now that Jeremy is persona non grata at the BBC. The Mirror purports to have it on good authority that Netflix would call the show House of Cars. - Discovery is filming virtual reality ‘Mythbusters’ and other shows
– Discovery told AdWeek that the Mythbusters crew has been shooting in virtual reality for next season. Discovery Virtual is a division working on several other VR programs as well.
Under Surveillance
- The trailer is out for Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic starring Michael Fassbender and Seth Rogen directed by Danny Boyle.
- Trailer for new Supergirl” TV Show” came out
- A trailer for the forthcoming SyFy series based on Lev Grossman’s ‘Magicians’ trilogy coming 2016.
– The books are inspired by CS Lewis’s Narnia series as well as an attempt to tell what a Magicians college might ACTUALLY be like. The TV series is making it GRAD school so the characters can be older - Three-part miniseries Childhood’s End coming to SyFy in September based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke.
- Brian: Bob’s Burgers, Rick and Morty, Mad Max, Game of Thrones
- Tom: Silicon Valley, Bob’s Burgers, Once Upon a Time, The Shield (510), Game of Thrones, Mad Men
Dispatches from the Front
PLEASE, for the love of everything that is good in the heart of a Mother of Dragons… quit with emails and conversations about spoilers.
The Geeky Brit
–Ian, Ontario, Canada.
Regards WMC demise.
I too am disappointed with Windows 10 not continuing WMC. You mention apps like plex and Kodi. Yes, I use plex myself… but what I will miss most from WMC is the OTA DVR functionality. As of now, I have yet to find ANY other DVR software as easy to setup and use as Media Center.
Since there isn’t really any hope for this, or worth arguing ALL my points, I have a question?
What is the best software available to use PC with OTA tuners to record broadcasts? Preferably something that can handle multiple tuners and has a reliable guide to schedule series… oh and it has to actually RECOGNIZE the TV tuner without extensive manual setup… that was the key of WMC and what angers me most about Microsoft’s decision.
Thanks for the show.
–David C. St. Louis, MO
Go Cards!!
Kodi has OTA DVR functionality
Cordkillers. Love the show. I was one of the lucky ones to get on the deal for the Lifetime TiVo OTA for $299. Got it last week, and I am loving it. I haven’t had a DVR since I went OTA and been using Hulu as my cloud DVR per say. Now w/ TiVo OnePass, I see myself canceling Hulu (once I catch up on some shows). I can keep up w/ the motto and record what I want so I can watch what I want, when I want (and now CBS!). Cutting another monthly bill is awesome.
–Neil
Hello Everyone,
I have to say I love the prospect of Apple TV. I really loved the speculation where the first month for every app is free and then using that information to tailor a package to you.
The fact of the matter is though I don’t like Apple and mostly likely wouldn’t get an Apple TV. What I really love if the potential for the Roku TV’s. You guys have made comments before about a TV not keeping up with the Software which is a downside to Smart TV’s. If I was going to trust anyone to buck the curve on that it would be Roku. I have had my Roku 1 longer then I’ve had 3 of my TV’s so when it comes to Software keeping up with Hardware Roku I trust. The bonus of that is if after 5 year the hardware isn’t keeping up with the tech, it’s $30 for a stick and $69 for a Roku 2 right now, that is not bad in my opinion.
Thanks for your Time,
–Nicky Marson
Hey guys,
I wanted to add a little bit to your Apple TV predictions. In our house we primarily use Roku boxes simply due to the availability of ALL THE CONTENT. On what other device or platform can you get Amazon Video and Google Play video on the same big screen enabled device? This is what I want on a new Apple TV – apps directly from the content providers – and if the rumor is true about being announced at WWDC I’m hopeful that this might come true.
Here’s my prediction – at WWDC they will announce an Apple TV SDK and a beta that runs on current Apple TVs. This gives developers time to write and test apps prior to any new hardware. Then at this year’s iPhone event the new box is announced. This would allow them to have a fully stocked Apple TV App Store prior to launch like they did with the watch. With the technologies that came with iOS 8 and the watch the foundation is in place for building Apple TV apps as app extensions.
I can’t wait!
Thank,
–John in rainy Billings, MT
Hello Tom and Brian! You were discussing CBS All Access this week and Brian described it as meeting the “completeness” vector. But I wonder if you’ve actually used it?
My wife and I did a trial week to try it out and catch up on some shows we watch on CBS. But when she went to watch Big Bang Theory, it was missing several episodes – at that point, it had only the three most recent plus the first four of the season, but not the ones in between. We checked another show she watches, Criminal Minds, and found a similar result – only the last five episodes, same as is freely available on their website. They also still had the most ads of any streaming service I use – and that behind the paywall!
While it is true that other shows did have the complete current season, it was very hit-or-miss. We wound up cancelling the service because CBS “All” Access did not, in fact, give us access to all of the current season’s programming. For the same basic price as Hulu Plus or Netflix, I would expect that at the very least. Their back catalog is pretty readily available elsewhere too – for instance, I can watch any episode of Star Trek ever on Netflix. For my money, they need to worry less about the back catalog and worry more about actually providing complete current seasons.
Love the show – you guys helped me figure out what I needed to do to cut the cord, and I’m pleased to say we’re one year cable-free and don’t miss it! Thanks!
Sincerely,
–Andrew L
2015 Winter Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv
- GFQ: $406,655,335
- Amtrekker: $372,030,708
- Frogpants: $146,708,083
- Cordkillers: $36,282,735
- Night Attack: $23,446,781
- DTNS: $0
Links
DTNS 2595 – title tbd
Veronica Belmont and Roger Chang fill in for Tom and take your questions on the Apple Watch!
Using a Screen Reader? click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 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
en route!
DTNS 2595 – Thanks, @POTUS
Veronica Belmont and Roger Chang fill in for Tom and take your questions on the Apple Watch!
Using a Screen Reader? click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 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
Today’s guests: Veronica Belmont and Roger Chang
Headlines:
The NY Times is reporting that Apple has acquired a bay area based GPS Start Up Coherent Navigation. Coherent Navigation works on high-precision navigation systems and creating commercial navigation services based on partnerships with companies like Boeing and Iridium. It is unclear exactly how Apple will use the company’s services or technology. The terms of Apple’s acquisition of Coherent Navigation were not disclosed with the company stating in email “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” But self-driving cars… I mean, right?
Reuters reports that a US appeals court reversed part of a $930 million dollar verdict that Apple won in 2012 against Samsung.
The US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC ruled today that Apple’s claim of “trade-dress dilution” — the way a product is packaged or presented, could not be protected because it was related to the functioning of the phone and would have granted Apple a monopoly on the features forever. However the court did uphold the patent infringement violations. The appeals court ordered that the original court in San Jose reconsider the $382 million dollar part of the ruling.
TechCrunch reports that LG’s G4 smartphone is rolling out for sale worldwide “over the next month. “The phone is already on sale in Korea, and will show up next in Hong Kong, followed by Turkey, Russia and Singapore. After that” most of Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa, South and Central– oh you know what? Just the rest of the world. In case you forgot, the G4’s screen uses “quantum display” tech, which promises better color reproduction, there’s a redesigned camera which now sports a larger sensor — a 16-megapixel rear camera and eight-megapixel front camera — and a 64-bit hexacore CPU Snapdragon 808 processor to power the show. The G4 includes a hand-crafted leather back, and subtle curve for improved feel in the hand. The price will vary worldwide, but early reports suggest it will retail for around $600 without a contract, or near $200 as part of a U.S. carrier deal.
Fusion has a great article about the challenges that US federal election regulators are facing with presidential candidates who are using Snapchat to communicate with voters. The main selling point of Snapchat is disappearing messages. So if someone wanted to break some federal election rules via Snapchat, how would anyone at the FEC know? A spokesperson for the FEC told Fusion that the commission has “internet regulations but they don’t specifically cover apps.”
GCHQ staff, intelligence officer and police in the UK have been given immunity for hacking into computers, laptops and mobile phones under new laws that were never fully debated in parliament according to The Guardian. Rewriting of a key clause of the Computer Misuse Act exempts law enforcement officials from the prohibition on breaking into other people’s laptops, databases, mobile phones or digital systems. It came into force in May. Addressing the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which deals with complaints about the intelligence services and surveillance, lawyers for Privacy International said they had only been informed of the alteration earlier this week. Last May, Privacy International, along with seven internet and communications service providers, filed complaints with the IPT challenging GCHQ’s hacking activities. The full complaint is due to be heard in the autumn.
President Obama finally claimed his own twitter account. Re/code reports that the new verified account is @POTUS run by President Obama. According to the first tweet from the account Obama will actually be the one tweeting from the account. The more familiar @BarackObama account is run by members of his staff. The account added more than 280000 followers in its first hour.
CNET reports that Google teamed up with the University of Washington to create more than 10,000 time lapse-videos showing the evolution of some of the world’s landmarks, using 86 million photos gathered from publicly available photo sharing services like Flickr. An automated process finds similar images and then researchers arranged them in chronological order and then used a process called “geometric stabilization” to create the same perspective from varying images.
CNET is reporting that the FBI has applied for a search warrant on Chris Roberts. The security expert who tweeted about allegedly commandeering a United Airlines plane’s systems. The warrant application claims Roberts “exploited/gained accèss to the in-flight entertainment system and he overwrote code on the airplane’s Thrust Management Computer and commanded the system to issue a climb command. Roberts has admitted to Wired that he infiltrated the plane’s in-flight networks around 15 times solely for observation. Roberts hasn’t been charged with a crime.
News From You:
the_big_endian sent us this story from the Verge about Microsoft backtracking on its promise on free updates to Windows 10 for people running pirated Windows. The confusion has revolved around Microsoft’s offer to give free Windows 10 updates to people running Windows 7 and 8.1. Now, we’re finally getting a full clarification: there’s no free upgrade at all. Pirates just have to pay. Microsoft says that it’s planning to run some “very attractive Windows 10 upgrade offers” that will allow people with pirated copies to move to an official version. Specific details of that haven’t been announced yet, but that likely won’t come until we actually hear about when Windows 10 will arrive. For now, it’s still targeted for this summer.
jmbburg26 sent us The Verge report about a sea turtle who was struck by a boat propeller while swimming in its natural habitat in Turkey. The accident shattered the animal’s upper and lower jaw, which meant the turtle couldn’t eat on its own. So a group at Pamukkale (Pah-MOO-kal-AY) University teamed up with BTech, a Turkish biotechnology company specializing in 3D-printed prosthetics, and printed a medical-grade titanium turtle jaw. So far the turtle has not yet rejected the jaw, but it has a ways to go before it can be released back into the wild.
motang sent us the third Verge article which reports that Google will begging to test “buy buttons” that live inside ads above the normal search results. The sponsored results will take you to a special purchasing page that’s still hosted by Google where you can pick the product and how soon you want to get it — all without leaving Google. Users can store their credit cards. The tests will be mobile only will only run on a small percentage of search traffic. The new ads should show in “the coming weeks.”
Discussion Section Links:
| http://recode.net/2015/05/12/a-month-with-the-apple-watch-does-it-pass-the-test-of-time/ |
| http://9to5mac.com/2015/05/18/apple-readies-first-significant-apple-watch-updates-tvkit-sdk-for-apple-tv/ |
Pick of the Day:
Christian writes:
Matt from Thirsty California:
I wanted to respond to Friday’s discussion on self driving cars and provide a recommended read on the subject of computer automation.
Darren touched on the problems of degraded response time and automation bias which are just a few of the issues that come with computer automation. These weren’t given much talk time on the show, but if listeners wanted to learn more about these sort of issues and the pros and cons of computer automation I would recommend the book The Glass Cage (Automation and us) by Nicholas Carr.
The book does a great job of talking about the rise of automation, focusing a lot on the human element of the equation, and goes beyond the technology to discuss what appears to be happening to us because of it. I found it fascinating and would recommend it to anyone who wants to take a deeper look into the impact that things like self driving cars have on everyone’s daily lives.
Messages:
Mike, from the sunny and dusty Pilbara (Pilbara : pill-bar-rah) region of Western Australia wrote in about our self-driving car discussion on Friday:
As a 26 year veteran of the Australian transport industry I have mixed feelings about self driving vehicles. It isn’t that I’m afraid I will be replaced by a machine, it’s that there are a huge amount of human and environmental factors that technology will have difficulty coping with.
In show 2494 Roger suggested an automated car may continue in an endless loop on a freeway until the human occupant re-asserted manual control and moved it out of the traffic stream. My immediate thought was “what if the driver had a heart attack or was rendered unconscious by illness or had a stroke?”. Sure, they would be safer in a self driving car because it wouldn’t leave the road and crash but no one would be aware of the need for medical assistance or an undertaker – the vehicle would continue on its merry way without some kind of dead-mans switch or Apple watch like health monitoring device linked to the vehicle.
Also, trucks would have to undergo radical redesign to enable monitoring of every system, moving part and point-of-failure that an experienced truck driver looks for subconsciously while driving down the road. I’m talking about flat tyres/blowouts, loads shifting, wheel bearing failures, air lines for braking systems rupturing or becoming uncoupled, unforeseen structural failures of equipment such as suspension/spare tyre or equipment racks and how about damaged or fatigued fuel lines. These are all actual things I have had to deal with and quite often the only indication of the problem has been a smell, a barely heard but definitely “wrong” noise that shouldn’t be there or, in one instance, a faint vibration felt through the seat of my pants ( I kid you not! ). After many millions of kilometres and untold thousands of hours behind the wheel my ability to detect problems in my vehicle has been honed to an almost sixth sense.
On average I drive 10,500km every fortnight and would welcome an autopilot to take care of the less difficult and boring stretches of road but, until I know it can watch over all 55.5 metres and 118 tonne of my triple roadtrain, I will just have to keep doing it myself.
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Tuesday’s guest: Tom Merritt is Back with Patrick Beja