Jason Snell is with us today to talk about just how likely it is that Apple will build a car.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Jason Snell, editor of sixcolors.com 

Headlines: 

Oh Lenovo. See. Let me tell you story, Jason. Lenovo had this idea. It would make a little extra money off consumer models by preinstalling some software called Superfish that would subtly alter ads contextually in browser sessions. Now see they would do it right though. The software was quiet. Kept to itself. It didn’t profile or monitor user behavior. It didn’t record user information. It didn’t even know who the user was.

But then then the neighbors began to notice odd behavior. Popups at all hours of the night. So Lenovo stopped pre-installing it in December turned off Superfish in January. But Chris Palmer wasn’t satisfied. Palmer conducted his own investigation. And he found bodies. Bodies of evidence that Superfish installs its own root certificate, meaning it’s a master of disguise, it can impersonate any site on the Web including your bank and you’d never know the difference. Now, it doesn’t do this. But it’s not careful with its keys. In fact Rob Graham of Errata Security cracked the key on the Superfish’s certificate meaning Rob can now sign any website as legitimate for any Lenovo computer with Superfish still running.

It’s going to take a lot to get Superfish off a computer. You need to uninstall it and then remove the certificate. And even though Lenovo stopped preinstalling it, how do you know the Lenovo you bought didn’t have it? Well thanks to Filippo Valsorda you can go to /filippo.io/Badfish/ and check. Read Dan Goodin’s article at Ars Technica if you want all the gory details. (Lenovo’s chief technology officer, Peter Hortensius told WSJ they’re working a tool that “removes all traces”)

Tech Crunch reports that A company called A123 Systems is suing Apple for allegedly poaching auto engineers in order to build an “advanced battery division.” A123 claims that it had to shut down some of its projects due to talent loss. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. According to Reuters, Apple has also been trying to hire battery engineers from LG, Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba, as well as hiring engineers from Tesla.

Happy 25th birthday, Photoshop! The Next Web has a nice writeup about how on February 19th, 1990 brothers John and Thomas Knoll launched their small software package meant to be bundled with a scanner. Check out the interview with Photoshop’s senior product manager Zorana Gee, who’s been with the Photoshop team since 1999, and the great illustrations of Photoshop icons and toolbars through the years.

TechCrunch reports on a new direction for IFTT the incredibly useful service that lets you automate online tasks. First of all, IFTT has three new apps that make it dead simple to use pre-made IFTT recipes. Do Camera will do something anytime you take a photo with it. Do Notes will do something any time you take a note. And Do Button lets you basically do anything by just choosing from pre-made recipes. Like “get out of an awkward situation” rings your phone. Each app can store up to three recipes so you can simply tap the right button to do what you want to do.

The Intercept has a report describing how agents of the US NSA and UK’s GCHQ stole encryption keys from Dutch company Gemalto, the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, in order to facilitate spying on cellphone communications. The allegations are based on documents from 2010 leaked by Edward Snowden.

 

 

 

 

 

News From You: 

Google opposes the US Justice Department’s proposal to ease the requirements for search warrants to know the location of a search when the location of a computer is hidden by something like a VPN. The justice department calls it tweak to protocol for remote searches. Google calls this a “monumental” constitutional concern. 1MoreMatt sent us The National Journal writeup noting Google believes any change in accessing computer data should be decided by the US Congress.

Starfuryzeta sent us the story from Fusion.net that Dropcam says it has received a “limited number of law enforcement requests” for stored video from individual accounts. Dropcam notifies owners of accounts of such requests by email unless prevented by law from doing so. Although Google-owned Dropcam says it is working on a way to report these requests it’s not not clear if such requests will be included in Google’s transparency report in the future.

Discussion Section Links:  Apple Car?

http://9to5mac.com/2015/02/19/apple-electric-car-team/

http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/19/apple-car-new-hires/#TQUNqg:xm5

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/02/18/hairball

http://bgr.com/2015/02/19/apple-car-rumors-team-revealed

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/02/battery-maker-accuses-apple-of-appropriating-battery-scientists/

https://gigaom.com/2015/02/19/apple-sued-for-poaching-car-battery-experts/

 

Pick of the Day:  Tempo.ai

Co-executive producer Charles Silvey wants to recommend an iOS calendar app called Tempo at tempo.ai He writes “the killer features for me is that Tempo looks at all of the people that are in a meeting and gives me one click access to their contact information in the calendar, it also looks at the meeting invite and determines what are the conference call numbers and allows you to dial numbers and pin codes with just one click. The app also looks at the location, and with one click launches Waze to give you directions. You also have the ability to send off quick “i’m late” messages if you are running late, boy does this come in handy sometimes. This is a great app and the current beta offers new features and an enhanced user interface and it is FREE!”

Friday’s guest: Iyaz Akhtar

 

Justin Young is on the show and we’ll talk about how Sony shows the days of the electronics company are over.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

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

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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

Patrick Beja is on the show to talk about Microsoft integrating with competing cloud platforms, committing to international privacy standards, allowing everyone to develop apps for the Xbox. What is this strange new Satya Nadella-run company?

MP3

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 guest: Patrick Beja, DTNS contributor and host of Le Rendez-Vous Tech, Pixels and The Phileas Club

Headlines: 

Ars Technica passes along the WSJ info from sources that Apple wanted more sensors on the Apple Watch but left them out for lack of reliability. Among the sensors erejected were a skin sensor that could measure stress and heart rate and one that measured blood pressure and Oxygen in the blood. WSJ also reports Apple ordered between 5-6 million united to be manufactured for the first quarter of the watch’s availability.

Microsoft announced today that its Office for iOS apps now support iCloud as well as File Picker— allowing any cloud storage service to integrate with Office for iOS.  Similar support for Android and Windows 10 is coming. Microsoft also announced a Cloud Partner Program for Office online that launches with Box, Citrix and Salesforce as partners.

Microsoft also announced adoption of the International Standards Organization’s Standard for cloud privacy. The policy means Microsoft is committed to letting you control your cloud data, providing transparency about how its handled, placing strict limits on public use, including not using it to sell ads, and informing on government requests for your data when the law allows. The British Standards Institute has verified Azure office 365 and Dynamics CRM are aligned with the code of practice.

The Verge reports that Sony is taking pre-orders for the developer version of its own augmented reality glasses called SmartEyeglass that connect to your smartphone. The glasses look like heavy wrap arounds, and attach by a cord to a circular, err, thing? Controller? Hoozywhatsit? — that houses the battery,speakers, microphones, NFC and touch control sensors. The controller clips on to the lapel of your trendy raincoat to announce to everyone on the street that you are using augmented reality glasses— in case the heavy black glasses on your face didn’t do that already.  The glasses go on sale March 10th for $840.

TechCrunch reports that IDC believes Xiaomi has passed Samsung as China’s number one smartphone maker. IDC estimates Xiaomi’s marketshareat 12.5% in 2014 compared to 5.3% in 2013. Samsung’s share dropped from 18.8% to 12.1% over the same period. Xiaomi’s success could be attributed to its low prices, online flash sales as well as a combination of fewer models and longer average selling time per device.

TechCrunch reports Pebble has brought Android Wear support out of beta and made it available for everyone. That means Android apps on your phone that support Android Wear can work with the Pebble now.  Pebble’s integration works with phones running Android 4.0 and newer. Users should update their Pebble to the firmware v2.9 and update to the latest Pebble Android app (v.2.3.0)

The Next Web is reports the release of Android One phones in the Philippines. Andoird One is the program to bring full Android to affordable phone models on a standardized platform.The Cherry One and MyPhone Uno, will go on sale in a few weeks. Both phones feature dual SIM support, a MicroSD slot, a special offline YouTube playback feature and special data plans.

News From You: 

starfuryzeta submitted the Verge article pointing out Microsoft announced at the Stanford Cybersecurity Summit on Friday that Windows 10 will support Fast Identification Online, AKA FIDIO. FIDO uses localized authentication to replace passwords. Microsoft, Google, PayPal, and Bank of America are all supporting the open standard.

tninja3000 sent us the Wired news that the company building Elon Musk’s HyperLoop is going public. With Musk’s permission, crowdfunding outfit JumpStartFun created Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. which gathered 200 engineers together to brainstorm in exchange for stock options.  These engineers have day jobs at places like NASA, Boeing and Airbus.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies will go public in Q3 2015, hoping to raise $100 million towards developing a useful prototype.

Yesterday we mentioned the infected firmware on hard drives being spread by folks Kaspersky calls the Equation Group. Buried in one of the exploits was an MD5 hash that Kaspersky could not crack. KAPT_Kipper submitted the Ars Technica report that after asking from help from the wider community, password crackers Jens Steube and Philipp figured out the plaintext behind the hash was Arabic for “unregistered.” The hash was probably meant to prevent infecting unwanted users. Six other hashes in different exploits remain unknown.

 

Discussion Section Links:  Microsoft

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/17/8050743/microsoft-xbox-one-apps-sdk-plans

http://blogs.office.com/2015/02/17/new-cloud-storage-integration-office/

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/17/microsoft-adopts-cloud-privacy-standard/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2015/02/16/microsoft-adopts-first-international-cloud-privacy-standard/

https://medium.com/@jason/microsoft-is-interesting-again-very-f9c5bef7116

Pick of the Day: Forecast.io

Hello Tom, Jenny, and esteemed Guest du jour,
I am a long time listener, first time emailer and Co-Executive Producer of the show. I am kind of addicted to weather websites and, with all the weather that we have experienced on the east coast lately, I wanted to pass on my new favorite website for viewing up-to-the-minute and forecast information. It’s forecast.io and it uses the same data that is fed into the darksky app but it’s web based and free. Check it out and you’ll be hooked too! Love the show and keep up the great work!
–Mark Kerzner, Centreville, Maryland

Wednesday’s guest: Justin Robert Young