DTNS 2458 – There is No King of the Jungle

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Young is here and we’ll talk with Steve Kovach about the new Samsung Galxy S6. Can it save Samsung?

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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!

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: Justin Robert Young of Night Attack.tv and Steve Kovach, senior editor at Business Insider

Headlines: 

Twitter’s Periscope app launched today adding another mobile livestreaming app to the mix alongside Meerkat and others. Like Meerkat, Periscope lets you stream video live right from your phone and see chatting from viewers. Unlike Meerkat, the chatting is in app, not on Twitter, you can tap the screen to send hearts AND the biggest difference, Periscope archives videos for viewers to watch later. Periscope also lets you choose to tweet a link or not, and even invite selected people to private broadcasts.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge go on sale worldwide April 10 and US preorders will begin March 27. The Verge reports US pricing is between $20 and $35 a month on AT&T and T-Mobile. And PC Mag reports the HTC One M9 will also be available for pre-order in the US starting at $649 at 12:01 AM Eastern March 27th. The M9 hits stores April 10.

TechCrunch reports Amazon expanded its Cloud Drive service today. While Amazon Prime users can already get unlimited photo storage, non-prime users can now pay $11.99 a year for unlimited photo. All users can pony up $59.99 a year for unlimited storage of all media. You can try it free for three months.

Bloomberg reports its sources say Apple is working with Foxconn to begin a trade-in program for iPhone in China as soon as March 31st. Apple retail staff would assess the phone and offer credit. Foxconn would then repair the devices if needed and sell them through its own e-commerce sites and through Alibaba’s Taobao.

According to an Engadget story Reuters reports China’s Cyberspace Administration of China said that sexually explicit pictures and text including nude photos and erotic animation and stories of “one-night stands, wife-swapping, sexual abuse and other harmful information” will be subject to punishment if shared on WeChat. Accounts found to be in violation will be closed for a week on the 1st offense and permanently banned after 4 infractions. WeChat has around 438 million users in China and another 70 million outside the country.

The New York Times reports Trent Reznor who was chief creative officer for Beats prior to Apple’s acquisition, is playing a major role in a redesign of the service, according to Apple employees familiar with the product, who spoke on the condition they not be named because the plans are private. – ooh, new one! The redesign reportedly includes a subscription music-streaming service, and would incorporate curated playlists and more visual appeal from the Beats Music app. However, the report says Apple could not convince record labels to lower licensing costs.

Reuters reports a group of investors led by Japan’s SoftBank is in talks to buy a 20% stake in Indian handset maker Micromax for up to $1 billion. That values Micromax at $5 billion. Canalys reported Micromax became India’s leading smartphone provider in the 4th quarter, though Samsung, who did hold the lead, disputes the finding.

Like to ride in silence? Don’t take Lyft. The New York Times reports that Lyft will add user profiles for drivers and passengers to its app, including the option to add a hometown, musical tastes and other things that make for interesting conversation. If a user has connected their Facebook account, the Lyft app can show drivers and passengers if they have mutual friends. The new feature is meant to help passengers in the Lyft Line carpooling service to get know their new friends.

The Verge reports Microsoft’s universal apps will now be called Windows Apps. In an attempt to limit confusion and simplify things in Windows 10, engineer Don Box, revealed the new naming convention at a WinHEC developer event. “Windows apps runs on all devices, Windows desktop app is PC only. Windows apps run everywhere.”

 

 

 

 

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the European Commission press release calling for a Digital Single Market. The proposal wants to tackle geo-blocking, simplify VAT arrangements, make parcel delivery more affordable and efficient and balance copyright between the interests of consumers and creators.

the_corley sent us some awesome space news. NASA has decided on a plan for its Asteroid Redirect Mission that sadly does not involve Bruce Willis or capturing an entire asteroid. Instead, NASA decided that the ARM robotic spacecraft will take a boulder from an asteroid’s surface, then put it into orbit around the moon, where it can be studied and sampled. The Asteroid Redirect Mission is scheduled to launch in 2020.

 

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-first-impressions-2015-3
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/26/8292311/galaxy-s6-edge-price-colors-verizon-att-sprint-t-mobile
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/a-first-look-at-the-samsung-galaxy-s6-and-s6-edge/?_r=0
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-edge-preview-photos-release-date-2015-3?op=1
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s6-release-date-rumours-news-specs-and-price

 

Pick of the day:

Hi Tom and DTNS Crew , I’m $1 worth of a boss and I thought of a pick on the way home in grey and windy London (see pic attached) for you to let everyone know about. Of course everyone knows about Amazon Prime and how good its 2 day US and next day UK delivery, and instant video etc, but did you know you can share the prime delivery perks with your family members who live at the same address for free? Just go in to your prime account management and invite family members and its done and they get the free 2 day/next day delivery.

Keep on keeping on

Jody

Messages

Tom (I’m assuming all of these points will be in the discussion section today, but my two cents),

…I find myself much more compelled to use Meerkat. I’ve been coming around to the ephemeral nature of Snapchat for a while now, and I like the fact that with Meerkat, I can create a live stream of doing something silly to make a few of my friends laugh, but then I don’t have to worry about it following me around on social media down the line. Its temporally limited nature feels like it allows for more “authenticity” at the expense of production quality— Maybe Meerkat vs Periscope will become like Snapchat vs Instagram, their focus is completely different even though there are some surface similarities, and we’re only comparing them now because they both run on top of Twitter (arguably to Meerkat’s detriment now). Or Meerkat will be the next Chat Roulette and be dead in a month.

Also, by being able to save streams, isn’t Twitter opening itself up to a world of hurt (or at least inconvenience) with copyright issues?

Rich from Lovely Cleveland

=====

 

BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

 

Friday’s guests: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta!

Today in Tech History – Mar. 26, 2015

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1973 – Larry Page was born in East Lansing, Michigan. He would go on to help invent and co-found Google.

In 1976 – Queen Elizabeth II sent the first royal email, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern as a part of a demonstration of networking technology.

In 1999 – The “Melissa” worm showed up in a file on the alt.sex usenet group and became the first successful mass-mailing worm. The worm’s creator, David L. Smith, apparently named the worm after a lap dancer in Florida.

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DTNS 2457 – Orwellstralia

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPeter Wells is on the show to help review the F8 announcements and bring us up to speed on Australia’s move to allow warrantless metadata surveillance of all its citizens.

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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!

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

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

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

Show Notes

Today’s Guest: Peter Wells, editor of Reckoner.au

Headlines

Lots of announcements from Facebook’s F8 developer keynote this morning. So let’s run through them. The big one was Messenger Platform. This allows developers to integrate Messenger into their apps. For example you can go from Messenger to the Giphy app to find that perfect animated GIF then back to messenger to send it to a friend. Or jump to the ESPN app to grab a story and send the link to a friend. Facebook is also trying out business communication over Messenger with Everlane and Zulily. Customers can talk to customer support and get order updates through messenger.

More from F8! Facebook will now support 360-degree ‘spherical’ videos in news feed which will also be supported in Facebook-owned Oculus Rift. You can also now embed Facebook videos on other sites, providing a direct challenge to YouTube.

Facebook also updated the comment system so that comments on a story Facebook sync with Facebook embedded comments on that story’s web page and vice versa.

And Facebook’s platform-as-a-service product Parse announced Parse for IoT, Enhanced Sessions to improve app security, support for React and a new debugging tool. The first step for IoT is an SDK for Arduino with other SDKs to come.

Engadget reports Sony announced the “yukimura” update will come to the PlayStation 4 tomorrow bringingthe long promised suspend/resume function that lets you go from sleep mode into a paused game. You also get the ability to back-up and restore to an extrenal USB drive, the ability to share to DailyMotion and search your Facebook contacts to find anyone who is also a PSN member. Finally verified accounts arrive to identify developers, producers, designers and community managers.

The Daily Dot has sources that say YouTube is planning to relaunch its live streaming platform with a renewed focus on live gaming and esports. YouTube has apparently recruited a team, of up to 50 engineers with expertise in the streaming industry. The company will likely make an official announcement on its revamped streaming service around E3 in June.

Engadget reports Leap Motion announced it’s building an optional faceplate to add motion sensing to Razer’s Open Source Virtual Reality headset. The faceplate will be an option for the OSVR dev kit expected to be available for pre-order in May with units shipping in June at the earliest. Leap hopes to embed its motion sensors in more VR headsets.

Gizmodo reports Ford has introduced technology that limits a car’s top speed based on posted speed limit signs in the UK. The Intelligent Speed Limiter will be available on the Ford SMAX (S-Max? Or Smacks?) and uses a dashboard camera to keep an eye on road signs, adjusting the speed of the vehicle accordingly. Speed limit data can also be pulled from GPS systems if installed. If the vehicle exceeds the set speed limit, an audible warning alarm is triggered and the vehicle’s engine stops getting fuel until it slows down enough.

TechCrunch reports Apple has acquired FoundationDB, a company specializing in NoSQL databases. FoundationDB was well known for its ability to handle ACID-compliant transactions quickly and strong scalability of its database technology. TechCrunch notes the acquisition could bolster Apple’s server-side infrastructure for the App Store, iTunes, cloud services or rumored live TV service. A notice on the FoundationDB website notes that downloads of its database software is no longer available.

The Verge reports a free-to-play game called Halo Online will launch in closed beta this spring in Russia. The game was developed by 343 Industries along with Saber Interactive and Innova Systems. It will be a multiplayer only version of Halo 3 designed to run on low-end PCs. Activision recently partnered with Tencent to bring Call of Duty Online to PCs in China.

 

News From You

djsekani submitted the Verge article that Radio Shack put its database of 13 million customer email and 65 million physical addresses up for auction as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. Dominant shareholder Standard General won the bid but the court must approve. Attorneys general from Texas and Tennessee have challenged the purchase on the basis that Radio Shack’s privacy policy says it will not sell customer information. AT&T also claims it is the rightful owner of some of the data. The US FTC has previously allowed data like this to be sold in bankruptcy cases as long as the privacy policy is maintained and the buyer is in the same general line of business.

habichuelacondulce sent us the Verge story about Amazon’s testifying before a Senate subcommittee that the drone approved by the FAA is already obsolete. The FAA took a year and a half to process Amazon’s application to fly one specific model of drone. Amazon’s VP of global policy Paul Misener claimes the European Aviation Safety Agency, which treats drones as a new category of aircraft has a dramatically shorter approval time. Amazon also argued for automated flight to be allowed not just line of sight. Misener warned that drone innovation would suffer and development could move overseas to take advantage of less restrictive legislation.

Hobbit fromPA saw that ReCode saw a document outlining a new Google service called Pony Express that lets you receive and pay bills from within Gmail. Gmail users have to verify their identity with a third party and provide account numbers. Once done, bills show up in a special folder and users can choose to p[ay them from within Gmail, using a linked credit card or debit card. The service is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter.

 

Discussion Links: 

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-government-and-labor-reach-deal-on-metadata-retention-laws-20150319-1m2ozj.html
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/401876,offshore-storage-to-be-allowed-for-australian-data-retention.aspx
http://www.zdnet.com/article/team-australia-your-surveillance-is-ready/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/greens-propose-warrants-for-all-under-data-retention-amendments/#ftag=RSSbaffb68
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/how-to-get-around-the-metadata-laws-and-leak–to-me-20150325-1m74io
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/25/tech-giants-call-for-clear-strong-and-effective-end-to-nsas-phone-metadata-surveillance/?ncid=rss

 

Pick of the Day:  Sublime Text

Hi Tom & Jennie

On Friday’s show the listener’s pick was learn Python the Hard Way. This got me thinking about a pick that I’ve been meaning to send in for a while.

Sublime Text is a plain text editor with loads of useful features. In fact I’ve used it for several years as a web developer as my main editor. I even wrote my university dissertation using it! There’s also lots of plugins for it to assist with editing all sorts of languages or just plain text files.

Both major versions are free to use with a “unlimited trial”, which basically means every 15th time or so you press save you’ll have to close a popup window. Which sounds annoying but if you’re just editing the occasional file I think its totally fine.

So if you’re ever in need of a lightweight, easy to use text editor which is supported on all desktop platforms, Sublime Text is my go-to recommendation.

Keep up the good work,

Ali Smith a.k.a fortythieves in chat

P.S. [Feel free to ignore this during the show] I’ve been a bit slack on this myself, but I just wanted to put out a quick reminder that bestofbot is still a thing and archiving the best bits of DTNS :)

Message of the Day

It seems lately you or guests have made a mention to divx when talking about something that has failed. On episode #2453 JuRY mentioned it after talking about the DRM on LED. This was the last straw. There is no way you could be talking about DivX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX) the video codec because its a codec. It either is used or not but fail is kind of a strong word for a media wrapper.

So I did a search of the tubes in the event there was another meaning and sure enough Wikipedia has the answer. DIVX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX) was a Circuit City video rental service. I have no knowledge of this and I think I would have been their target audience.

Thank you for the great shows!

-Jim

======

Just wanted to let you and your audience know that the docket and some of the pleadings in the RadioShack BK case (case# 15-10197, Delaware), are available via the RECAP project on archive.org if they care to peruse (otherwise Pacer access cost $0.10 PER PAGE). While a Chapter 11 case is a morass of legalese and somewhat arcane procedures, it may be of some interest, if for nothing else then getting a glimpse at the inner workings and relationships of a large corporation. For a more readable version, your listeners can also checkout https://cases.primeclerk.com/radioshack , which does a better job of presenting the same info.

Rich from Lovely Cleveland

========

Rafael: Listening to the show and yes I use my roku in a hotel with a software program called connectify hotspot which creates a router based on hotel Wi-Fi.

Tomorrow’s guests:  Special early time at 11am PDT, 2pm EDT, with Justin Robert Young and Steve Kovach of Business Insider. 

Today in Tech History – Mar. 25, 2015

In 1925 – John Logie Baird gave his first public demonstration of his ‘Silhouette Television’ at the Selfridges department store, Oxford Street, London. It was part of the store’s birthday celebration.

In 1979 – The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, was delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center in preparation for its first launch.

In 1995 – Ward Cunningham installed the First Wiki, WikiWikiWeb on a $300 computer someone gave him. He connected it to the Internet, using a 14.4-baud dial-up modem.

In 2014 – Facebook announced it would purchase Oculus VR, makers of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, for $2 billion.

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DTNS 2456 – Facebook Times

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPatrick Beja is on to discuss the rumored Facebook plan to bring NY Times and others pages into Facebook. Is it crazy to think it’s NOT a bad idea?

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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

Today’s Guest: Patrick Beja, DTNS contributor and independent podcaster, host of host of Pixels, Le Rendez-vous Tech and The Phileas Club

https://www.patreon.com/RDVTech

Headlines

The New York Times reports that the New York Times may be among media sites in talks with Facebook to host content within the Facebook site. The New York Times would not comment to itself on the matter. According to several of the people briefed on the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were bound by nondisclosure agreements, he idea would be to improve the load time of links to news pages by not sending people away from Facebook. News sites would possibly sell ads on the pages. National Geographic and BuzzFeed are also allegedly considering the partnership.

Business Insider passes on a report from AdWeek’s Sam Thielman that Google will soon test a system to target and track TV ads on Google Fiber in Kansas City.  Sponsors could deliver ads in real time and match the ad to geography, type of program or viewing history.
Viewers would have to opt out of having their viewing history used for targeting. — Also Google Fiber is coming to Salt Lake City which will make our friend Scott Johnson happy I think.

Tom’s Hardware reports Logitech has replaced the venerable Peformance Mouse MX with the MX Master. The MX master is slightly larger and lighter than its predecessor, sports 5 buttons vs the original’s 9 but adds a gesture button, and features a thumb wheel on the left side. The mouse comes with a USB dongle but also supports bluetooth for up to 3 devices. MX Master uses Logitech’s Darkfield Laser Sensor for use on glassy surfaces and adjustable DPI setting from 400 to 1600 DPI in 200 DPI increments. The MX Master will release in April for $99.

CNET reports that a software update for Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV stick— will make it easy to sign in to things like hotel WiFi that usually require a browser.  The update also adds support for USB connected storage, compatibility with Bluetooth headphones, as well as shortcuts to sleep, display mirroring and prime music playlists. The update will roll out over the next few weeks in all countries where the stick is available.

The Verge reports Kyle Pflug, Microsoft’s Project Spartan program manager wrote on the IE Blog that the new browser Project Spartan will be the exclusive engine on Windows 10. “Internet Explorer 11 will remain fundamentally unchanged from Windows 8.1, continuing to host the legacy engine exclusively.” So long IE.

News From You

ccastro425 and Johnsie776 both noted stories on the first two lawsuits against the US FCC’s Open Internet Order. The Verge reports industry group USTelecom filed suit in Washington DC challenging the Title II classification as not “legally sustainable.” US Telecom does not have issue with the rules themselves, just the legal basis for them. Texas ISP Alamo Broadband filed suit in New Orleans claiming the new rules cause the business harm. The FCC believes the suits will be dismissed. The new rules have been made public but have not been published by the Federal Register and will not go into effect until 60 days after that publication.

starfuryzeta sent us the IT World report that Microsoft will have 8k video compatability in Windows 10 for displays larger than 27 inches.  Windows 10 will also support 4K resolutions on PCs with screen sizes of 8 inches or higher, and on small-screen tablets and smartphones with screen sizes of 6 inches and higher.  The OS will support 4K video codec HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding, aka H.265).

the_corley posted the Ars Technica report that a US District Court Judge Vernon Broderick has ruled against China’s Fentago software, ordering its domain names be seized, social media accounts blocked and payment processes cut off. Decryption licensing body AACS brought legal action over the sale of DVD ripping software. Fentago claimed it had stopped selling the software in the US and the court had no jurisdiction elsewhere. The Judge noted the tools are still available in the US and Fentago’s explanations as to why were not credible. It is doubtful whether registries in Japan, Germany and China will obey the order.

KAPT_Kipper noted the Verge story about Twitch’s decision to reset user passwords, stream keys and YouTube and Twitter connections after the discovery of unauthorized access to some user account information. In an email to affected users Twitch wrote the compromised information possibly included username, email address, password (which was cryptographically protected), the last IP address you logged in from, and first and last name, phone number, address, and date of birth.

doorsrio sent us the story from NDTV that India’s Supreme Court struck down Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act finding it vague and unconstitutional. Section 66(A) read: “Any person who sends by any means of a computer resource any information that is grossly offensive or has a menacing character; or any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.” Section 66(A) is part of the larger Section 66 in the IT Act which deals with computer related offenses. It was amended to the IT Act in 2008.

Discussion Links:  Facebook’s Walled Garden of Links

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/business/media/facebook-may-host-news-sites-content.html
http://consumerist.com/2015/03/24/news-sites-consider-moving-their-content-inside-facebook-because-that-worked-so-well-in-the-aol-era/
http://recode.net/2015/03/24/jonah-peretti-explains-why-buzzfeed-is-happy-to-cut-a-theoretical-deal-with-facebook/
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2009/02/jurassic_web.html
http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/
http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/

 

Pick of the Day: Trip Log Mileage via Mark Wonsil

Hi Tom,

In these taxing times, citizens of many countries might have to keep track of their mileage and there’s a pretty slick app available on iOS and Android that helps one track automobile expenses either by mileage (with gps) or actual expenses. It’s called TripLog. The results can be sync’d to the cloud and it produces some nice reports for your accountant.

https://triplogmileage.com/

Thanks!

Mark Wonsil
Not surprisingly in Detroit, MI

Message of the Day

Hey DTNS folks,

I’ve been listening to Tom break down tech news for right around 8 years now. I think this is the first time I’ve written in.

I think varying the visual makeup of security warnings is a horrible idea. Yes, people take them less seriously when they see them a lot, but I have encountered several successful phishing scams that used pop-ups disguised as security warnings. If people can be fooled by these when they look passably similar to their existing warnings what is the click-through rate going to be when they don’t know what an actual warning should look like? I just think sometimes complacency is an acceptable risk.

Love the show,

James the Aircraft Mechanic,
Rainy Lake Charles, Louisiana

Today in Tech History – Mar. 24, 2015

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1802 – Richard Trevithick and Andrew Viviane of Camborne Parish in the County of Cornwall, enrolled a patent for a steam engine that could power a full-sized road locomotive. He had previously demonstrated it by driving up a hill in a car he called the “Puffing Devil”.

In 1896 – A. S. Popov supposedly made the first radio transmission in human history. Popov is said to have transmitted the words “Heinrich Hertz” from one building to another on the campus of St. Petersburg University, though the assertion was not published until years later because of the need for military secrecy.

In 2001 – Apple released its new operating system Mac OS X, code named Cheetah, with a retail price of $130.

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Cordkillers 63 – Cheese and Sausage

Apple might be coming with a service, Sony launches PlayStation Vue, and Chromecast gets friendlier

Download video

Download audio

CordKillers: Ep. 63 – Cheese and Sausage
Recorded: March 23, 2015
Guest:
Anthony Carboni

Intro Video

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

  • Sony launches PlayStation Vue as bigger, pricier Internet TV
    -Sony launched PLayStation Vue in Philadelphia, Chiago and New York on Wednesday
    – $50 a month after a 7 day free trial
    – Live on demand (3 day on some) and DVR (28 days) over PS3 and PS4
    – IPad app in the works, will add more deice support
    – Channels CBS, NBC, Fox, Discover, Scripps, Turner, Viacom. 60 channels in base package
    – AMC coming next month/ No ABC(Disney ESPN), A&E, or PBS
    – $10 packages: sports nets/lifestyle (26 channels)
    – Can stream to 3 devices at once (but only one PS4)
  • Internet TV’s Big Chance to Oust Cable Is Almost Here
  • Dish, Sony Web TV Services Provide Test for ESPN
    Peter Kafka at ReCode: Do people really care enough about sports, and ESPN specifically, to pay for it? Or are they happy to pay for lots of other stuff but not ESPN?

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance  

Dispatches from the Front

Don’t know if you guys have seen this. i consider it big. in canada, crtc ruled cable cos. must offer 25 dollar basic cable and pick and pay for other channels on top of that.

CrucialWax

 

 

To Brian & Tom:
I miss the Movie Draft! It was one of my favorite parts of the old Frame Rate Show and I love when you have it in Cordkillers! I wish you did Movie Draft four times a year: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
Bring Movie Draft back soon!

Michael

 

 

 

Hello my employees.

Now that Netflix has launched in Australia as of 1 hour and 20 minutes ago and I’ve checked out the library I thought I’d give first impressions.

First, I think the old guard of the Australian streaming industry Quickflix and Presto should be concerned. Theres enough overlap with Netflix and Stan (the other new competitor here) that their services with their smaller libraries will probably struggle going forward.

Second, I will be keeping my Stan subscription. Tho Netflix has what seems like the largest library Stan has picked up exclusives like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Star Trek and Amazon.com originals that Netflix will not be able to get here for the foreseeable future.

Third, while my new Australian Netflix account’s library is not as big as my US Netflix accounts ,it is big enough with most of the check boxes ticked that need to be.

Overall I am happy with their offering here and I will cancel my US Netflix account.

From your boss, Nik

 

Netflix is coming to Australia and New Zealand today for AU $8.99/NZ $9.99 for the single-stream standard definition plan, AU $11.99/NZ $12.99 for the two-stream high definition plan, and AU $14.99/NZ $15.99 for the four-stream 4K ultra high definition “family” option. Too much?

 

 

 

 

I was just listening to last week’s episode and had some thoughts on Verizon’s new “toenail” service.

You talked about the likelihood of it being zero rated and then went on to question whether or not it would be exclusive to Verizon.

I think they will not make it exclusive precisely because it will be zero rated, on Verizon. As an ATT customer with a pitiful data cap they would be happy to allow me to sign up for their service, get fed up with my ATT cap and then try to entice me to switch to Verizon so I can watch all I want without having to pay for a bigger data plan.

That’s just my two cents.

 Dan in finally almost not snow covered Rochester (NY)

 

 

 

I wanted to share a little tip that I ran into this weekend. I finally killed the cord. I called Comcast on a Sunday. I was expecting to play chicken, as I had in the past, to haggle by bill back on to a promo deal. To my surprise the Comcast operator did not pass me into the retention department. He simply walked through the cancellation process. After this, I asked why I wasn’t forward to anyone else. The operator explained that the retention department was closed on Sundays. I thought this tip could help other listeners that don’t want to go through the ordeal of canceling their cable subscription.

Thanks,
(Your future boss)
Mike from Blustery Bloomington, Illinois

 

 

 

Well, I’ve listened to Brian mention the people who’s credit card has expired on patreon.com and though, “Wow, what’s with these idiots?” Well, it turns out I’m one of them. It had been almost 2 months (8 episodes) since I had been charged and that was about the time I got may new card. Great show and I’m happy to re-apply as a “boss.”

Andy

 

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DTNS 2455 – Dirty Jobs

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comAdam Christianson joins the show to talk about the not death of Google Glass and why Apple staff are so fired up about the unauthorized Steve Jobs bio.

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Show Notes

Today’s guests: Adam Christianson from MacCast

Headlines: 

Google Glass? Not so dead. The Verge passes along Google executive Chairman Eric Scmidt’s comments to the Wall Street Journal. Schmidt said “We ended the Explorer program and the press conflated this into us canceling the whole project, which isn’t true.” He said that’s why they gave it to Nest’s Tony FAdell so it could become user-friendly. He also said Glass is a long term project and that “[It’s] like saying the self-driving car is a disappointment because it’s not driving me around now.”

TechCrunch reports on the launch of a new standalone app from Instagram called Layout. It’s a collage app that lets you take up to 9 photos and arrange them and apply filters. It can do things like pick out just the photos with faces, take a series of photos and instantly make a collage from them, and general speeds up creation. Finished collages can be saved to the device, shared to Facebook and Instagram or sent through the OS’s sharing options to other apps. Layout from Instagram is free and available for iOS now and coming to Android within months.

TechCrunch reports Microsoft broadened its agreement with Samsung to preinstall software and announced 11 similar agreements with other manufacturers like Dell. The new Samsung agreement will see Office apps installed on Samsung Android tablets starting in the first half of 2015.

Re/Code reports that Cyanogen received $80 million in funding. Investors included: Twitter ventures, Qualcomm Inc, Telefonica Ventures and Rupert Murdoch. Cyanogen has a come a long way from its open source project roots to offering a commercial version for phone makers that includes services from partners. The company aims to become a fully competitive mobile OS.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told Time Magazine that the Wall Street Journal’s story reporting a Zelda show being developed for Netflix was “not based on correct information.” So you’re saying there’s a chance! Iwata said, “As of now, I have nothing new to share with you in regard to the use of our IPs for any TV shows or films.”

The Next Web noticed Microsoft released tools and sample code for developers who want to make universal apps for Windows 10. If you want to build an app that works across desktop, tablet and mobile devices with one codebase you need to download Visual Studio 2015 CTP6 and the SDK tools for Windows 10 through the Windows Insider Program at insider.windows.com.

News From You:

Starfuryzeta sent us the Engadget report that packing peanuts — you know the things in your hair, on the floor, and stuck to the cat — may be the key to a new generation of lithium-ion batteries. Purdue University researchers developed a process that heats the peanuts and turns them into carbon sheets or carbon nanoparticles that can be used as anodes where lithium ions are stored during charging. Early test samples last for 300 charging cycles without losing capacity. They need to get that number higher but unlike most battery advances this one is already practical, cheap and easy to implement.

Doorsrio sent us this The Next Web story about Boeing receiving a patent for a force field system. PatentYogi, a patent service company created a short video explaining the patent. The patent specifically covers a system to attenuate shockwave blast energy traveling through the air from affecting an object. Sensors detect the initial blast and direction and then use lasers to ionize the air between the object and the blast creating a plasma channel or a bubble of super heated air. This causes the blast waves to be redirected, reflected or absorb by the plasma channel.

Dmmacs passed along the news that a software update later this week will allow Fitbit wearers to use multiple devices on the same account. Good news for Fitbit who would like to sell more devices to the same consumers, and good news for users who want to swap between the fitness-centric Fitbit surge and the lightweight Fitbit Flex. The update will also add features for tracking bike rides.

Metalfreak submitted the Ars Technica article that shows multiple security warnings bore you. Researchers will present a paper to that effect next month at the Association for Computing Machinery’s CHI 2015 conference. MRI images show a “precipitous drop” in visual processing after even one repeated exposure to a standard security warning and a “large overall drop” after 13 of them. The researcher team—made up of six scientists from Brigham Young University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Google propose polymorphic warnings that change their colors, text, shapes, and other characteristics, to combat the habituation.

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/23/apple-becoming-steve-jobs-comment/
http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/02/new-steve-jobs-book-coming-march-24/
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/business/media/apple-opens-up-to-praise-new-book-on-steve-jobs-and-criticize-an-old-one.html
http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/17/becoming-steve-jobs-book-excerpts/
http://www.cultofmac.com/315360/tim-cook-tried-give-steve-jobs-liver/

 

Pick of the day:  michaelgeist.ca

From defrosting Ottawa, Canada…

I have a pick for fellow Canadians who maybe have heard many stories about the FCC’s Title II adventures but are looking for a more local perspective. Michael Geist, at michaelgeist.ca, is a Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa who writes regularly about the CRTC (the best equivalent to the FCC in Canada), privacy, media issues, digital rights and more. I have been a subscriber to his RSS feed for years and his articles are always insightful and timely. In my opinion, Michael Geist is the pre-eminent Canadian voice on technology and policy issues in the 21st century.

Jeremy Rand

Messages

In response to Friday’s show where HBO, Showtime, and others want to put servers into an ISP’s Data Center… As a person who has done such a task with third-party payment gateways on major card providers networks and third-party servicers on major banking networks, it is very cost-prohibited. To do this, you would have to set up a termination point for the main-feed to connect to a lease-line that terminates at the data center in question. The trunk of the lease-line at the data center will still need to be connected into a dedicated switch within the data center. The servers will have to connect up to the switch. This all will have to be done twice (primary/backup or hot/hot fail over or some type of forced fail over load-balancing). Say all this was accomplished then you have server support, patching, emergency access, upgrade cycles and more.

There is a lot more detail that I could bore you with, but you get the idea. Putting a server into another company’s data cent
er is glossed over as an easy-inexpensive task. If it was, then all the bank’s and financial institutions I’ve worked for must have been doing something wrong.
Akamai, F5, and the like, have a business-model that capitalizes on the connectivity complexities and costs. It will be cheaper, more efficient to use them than do it yourself. Most tier 3 and tier 4 data centers already have access to these services built in.

BTW, if they do want to do this, I’m always looking for work :) !

Love the show!

Joe formerly from lovely Cleveland.

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BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Tuesday’s guest: Patrick Beja