Cordkillers 47 – The Sports is a Lie

Will ESPN’s choke hold kill online viewing or itself? Plus our holiday gift picks! 

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CordKillers: Ep. 47 – The Sports is a Lie
Recorded: December 1, 2014
Guest: None

Intro Video 

Primary Target

  • ESPN’s Long-Term TV Sports Rights Deals Chart
  • -Chart from MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson
    – ESPN Sports rights plotted out to 2024.
    – ESPN will pay $3.8 billion for those games this year, and $5.1 billion by 2017
    – $6 per subscriber paid to ESPN expected to hit $8 by 2018 (SNL Kagan)
    – Dish has ESPN on its web service, Sony does not yet.
    -Q: Can an online-only service make it without sports?
    -Q: Can ESPN continue to afford to pay for games when non-sports fans have more of a choice?

Signal Intelligence

  • More Than 70 Percent of Netflix Viewers Watch Original Shows
  • -Poll from Centris Marketing Science
    – More Netflix viewers (72 percent) say they watched the service’s original programming Q3 compared to Q1 (57 percent).
    – The younger the viewer the more likely to have watched original programming
    Q: Are we starting to think of Netflix as HBO more so than as an all you can eat TV catch up service?

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

2014 Winter Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv

  1. Scott: $314,255,040
  2. Tom: $225,680,904
  3. Brian: $72,237,610
  4. Brett: $58,210,090
  5. Justin: $38,686,869
  6. John: $14,857,390

Dispatches from the Front

To: All employees of Cordkillers, LLC
From: Manager Joe

To whom it may concern:

On episode 46 of your show, entittled “Cultural CliffsNotes,” feedback was discussed which divulged details of the film Interstellar. The subject matter involved age variance between characters played by the American actors Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway.

In the future, please ensure that divulgences of protected information be limited to the “It’s Spoilerin’ Time” portions of the broadcast.

I trust this is the final mention of this topic.

Your Boss,

Joe 
 

 

Hey Brian and Tom 

Anecdotally I might have an answer for why Amazon streaming is becoming more popular. Recently I debated with my wife for us to switch from Netflix to Amazon. We have no reason for two streaming services and since they are approximately the same cost per month, I thought this would be an easy switch. My pitch was to switch to Amazon because of free shipping and music, but she insisted we stay on Netflix because of the exclusives. Amazon’s rise in popularity could be linked to people like me who want to watch streaming occasionally, but don’t want to pay for two services. If I have to choose one, Amazon wins because of all the perks (free shipping, kindle library, music, etc.).

Just a thought, thanks!

Dominic

 

 

Brian and Tom!

If you have not yet seen Gortimer Gibbons Life on Normal Street on Amazon Prime, you are missing out! This is a smart, sweet, funny kids show and an Amazon original. It is not the flashy, over the top, laugh track shows from Disney Channel, which is a refreshing change of pace.

So great to see smart kids content coming from these online providers.

Your Boss,

Maxwell

 

 

I’ve noticed it on the podcast every now and then, but Hulu+ gets downplayed a lot on the show. I’m confused as to why. I think by implying it’s not a good service is actually a disservice to potential cordcutters who want to drop their cable/satellite TV services.

Hulu+ is the only streaming service that allows people to watch the latest episodes in about 6-12 hours from when they first air. These are shows from NBC, CW, ABC, FOX, and even from some cable networks like Comedy Central or Nickelodeon, also new Anime from Japan.

Their back catalog of TV shows isn’t anything to ignore either, with stuff from CBS, FX, etc… International programming from the UK, Korea, and Mexico, also can’t be discounted. Then there’s the movie catalog, with several that aren’t even available on Netflix.

Hulu+ with a Chromecast/Roku (and maybe including CBS all access) is simply the most affordable and most convenient method to watch time-shifted programming on a TV, that is “Grandparents Friendly.” I know that everyone I know who cut the cord rely on Hulu+ more than Netflix or Amazon, for their current TV fix.

So why the hate on Hulu+?

Still a fan though ;-P
Albert 
 

 

Another great show. Really liked Dana Brunetti insights as well, although I completely disagree with his assessment that viewing numbers don’t matter in your discussion of Nielsen and Netflix. Dana is right that Netflix does not have to release that info and all that matters to Netflix is how well they feel a show is doing since they are the ones who ultimately benefit or don’t, plus they have already paid for the content so no is left empty handed. But as the OTT business gets more competitive and the Netflix’s of the world continue to produce, buy and sell content around the world these viewing numbers will generate a perceived value (as Tom said), which in some case will work for and against Netflix, Amazon and others. Although it is a brave new world, let’s not forget – the more things change, the more things stay the same (making money).

Thanks again. Your show continues to get better all the time.

Frank

 

 

As someone who works in TV for a living I was surprised to hear you guys dismiss Nielsen numbers for Netflix. I was literally yelling at my phone watching until Tom brought up Amazon using the numbers. I calmed down and thought okay here we go, Tom is getting to my point but then got mad because Dana dismissed them and you guys let it go. Now I can see Dana dismissing them as a producer who has a deal with Netflix because he is getting paid but anyone not working for Netflix or “House of Cards” should care. Amazon will almost certainly care about them. HBO will care about them. As a broadcaster I can say the broadcast networks will also care. If any of the networks companies I mentioned see a show is getting higher numbers on Netflix then some of their shows, they will either…

A, consider bidding on the show.
B, consider making a show similar in nature.
C, drop a show similar in nature that is getting less viewers.

Jay

 

 

Please explain how youtube channels work like I’m five. I’ve been using Youtube since the beginning of time and for the life of me I have no clue how find channels/subscribe, etc. For me its to confusing. Help me out or you’re Fired!

Keep up the good work, bonuses are in the mail. You guys like one year memberships to the Jelly of the month club don’t you?

Mike

 

 

Hi Tom& Brian 
I have a question for you. I buy most of my movies digitally now, but the problem is they are scattered all across Google Play, Amazon, VUDU and iTunes. Is there any tool or software to maintain all this so that when I want to see something I can find out if I own it and if so where. I actually bought a movie on two different services because I forgot I owned it on the other one.

Thanks for your help guys!!!

Josh

 

 

Brian,

This is your boss, and in your end of year appraisal I call BS on your “how many names can you remember” test as a measure of viewing enjoyment.

I had to listen to you regularly forget every single name in Transparent, yet it was one of your favourite shows of the year. You only had to remember a Moppa and 3 kids!

Your boss

James in the UK

 

 

Hey Brian and Tom.
I wanted to add some things you missed about the story about korra coming back to television.
1st it will be on nicktoons not nick proper most kids wont search out for a channel that is buried in deep cable or might be in a different package all together. (also they did this for book three already)

2nd as far as I am aware the creative team behind korra is the same and I think one of the reasons the show might have gotten pulled is it got dark for being on a kids network. if it was on teennick it would have been fine but maybe not on a network that also plays spongebob.

just my thoughts,
Greg 

 

 

I’m happy to report that as a Canadian our VPN settings stopped working and we didn’t even notice we were using Canadian Netflix for over a month. Now that our VPN service has been restored, we’ve actually switched back to finish watching certain shows you guys don’t have.

Anyway, I’d like to issue a challenge to all cord killers North of the Wall: switch off the VPN, if it’s not 100x better than the last time you were on Canadian Netflix, I owe you a double double.

Ken

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

DTNS 2376 – Google Schools Apple

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comRafe Needleman joins the show to talk about whether Cyber Monday is just a myth created by marketers.

MP3

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: Rafe Needleman, Editorial Director, Yahoo Tech

Headlines

Gigaom reports Microsoft is in fact acquiring email startup Acompli. Javier Soltero formerly of VMWAre wrote the company will continue to develop mobile email apps for multiple platforms and services. While the consumer face will not change nothing was said about whether Acompli would move off of Amazon Web Services to Microsoft Azure on the back end. I’m betting that might happen.

Ars Technica passes along a Wall Street Journal report that a new version of Google Glass will arrive in 2015 with an Intel processor inside. This will replace the TI chip which was no longer made or supported causing many issues with keeping the Android OS updated. It also furthers Intel’s push into mobile and wearable devices. WSJ reports Google still views Glass as a consumer device.

Reuters reports Sony Pictures Entertainment has hired FireEye’s Mandiant forensics unit to help deal with the attack that shut down their internal systems last week. Email is expected to return for Sony today. ReCode reported Friday that investigators were looking into whether attackers were hired by North Korea, possibly in retaliation for the upcoming Sony Movie “The Interview” a comedy about an attempt to assassinate North Korea’s Supreme Leader. North Korea has called the movie With Seth Rogan and James Franco, an act of war.

For the first time ever, Google has overtaken Apple in sales to US schools. 9 to 5 Google comments on an IDC report which estimates Google shipped 715,500 Chromebooks to US schools and colleges in Q3 2014, while Apple shipped 702,000 iPads in Q3. IDC says the lower cost of Chromebooks is a huge factor, as well as the full keyboard. The Financial Times points out that Chromebooks have gone from zero to 25 percent of the educational market in two years. Apple iTunes store still has more educational apps, 75,000 at last count.

A 2005 lawsuit against Apple alleging antitrust for failing to support non-Apple DRM’ed music on iPods finally goes to trial this week. Apple argues their software upgardes were not meant to break DRM, but merely to improve the user experience. The trial will feature a deposition of Steve Jobs recorded before he died. Apple no longer carried DRM on its own songs, never prevented un-DRMd songs from iPods and no longer makes classic iPods.

We reported on rumors that sounded pretty certain that Samsung Co-CEO JK Shin was going to be demoted. Well good news JK Shin, GigaOm and the WSJ report JK Shin will remain in charge of mobile as Co-CEO with the two other CEOs. There were some position changes in the mobile division, including the removal of DJ Lee as head of sales and marketing for Mobile.

The Next Web reports that Intel has acquired Canadian identity management service PasswordBox for an undisclosed amount. The product lets users log into websites and apps without having to enter or remember passwords. The product will now be part of Intel’s security group.

News From You:

starfuryzeta sent us The Verge article about a curious coincidence in relation to the Sony hack last week. Watermarked DVD quality copies of Sony Pictures films Fury, Annie, Mr. Turner and Still Alice appeared on torrent websites shortly after the attack. A Sony rep would not confirm that the videos came from the leak but said Sony is working closely with law enforcment to address it. Screeners have been showing up in torrents for a long time but it is curious to see five Sony movies only one of which is even in theaters yet, show up so close to the attack.

KAPT_Kipper sent us the Torrent Freak report that Kim Dotcom has defeated efforts by the US government to send him back to a New Zealand jail. An Auckland district judge ruled that bail should not be revoked because there was no evidence Dotcom had secret assets or posed a flight risk while he fights extradition to the United States. The judge did ban Dotcom from traveling by helicopter or by sea (hopefully in a boat) unless that transport is via public service, and said he must visit a police station twice a week while on bail (up from once a week).

spsheridan submitted the Ars Technica article that the Department of Justice as turned to a federal law called the All Writs Act to order Apple to assist law enforcement in recovering data from phones. Judges in a federal court in Oakland, California and District court in San Jose, California both ordered Apple provide reasonable technical assistance to obtain unencrypted data but stated specifically that Apple was not required to decrypt. Jonathan Mayer, a lecturer at Stanford Law pointed out to Ars that the All Writs Act is often used to compel assistance with unlocking a phone and some language of the order is provided by Apple itself.

Discussion Links: Cyber Monday, la la, la la la la.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech

http://www.cnet.com/news/did-thanksgiving-and-black-friday-online-sales-soar-or-sink/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/01/u-s-thanksgiving-black-friday-sales-break-1b-total-holiday-spend-online-will-be-89b/?ncid=rss

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/amazon-reveals-robots-heart-epic-cyber-monday-operation/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/business/thanksgiving-weekend-sales-at-stores-and-online-slide-11-percent.html?_r=0

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/online-spending-exceeds-1-billion-thanksgiving-black-friday-record-traffic-coming-mobile/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2014/12/01/why-today-is-a-terrible-day-for-online-merchants/

Pick of the Day:  LazyGameReviews via Randy Strye

Hi Tom! One of your many, many bosses here ;) I’d like to suggest a YouTube channel as a daily pick. I’ve been watching (and supporting on Patreon) LazyGameReviews for quite some time now. He’s not just another YouTube video game reviewer. Along with reviewing classic, obscure PC games, he has many videos discussing collecting of classic PC games, videos about strange, classic PC peripherals (or as he calls them “Oddware”), and most recently (and what made me think of you!) a show about tech history, the first being about the Osborne and the most recent being about Digital Research. Keep up the great work. Thanks for making my daily commute more bearable!

Plug of the Day: “What’s a Poor Normal To Do?” at the DTNS store

The DTNS store has a new item! One the one Friday day that Len Peralta couldn’t join us, Producer Jennie filled in and drew “What’s a Poor Normal to Do?” Darren Kitchen asked her to put it in the store, so now it is there. :) You can also buy other cool DTNS things in the store.

Tuesday’s guests: Patrick Beja and Justin Robert Young will join us! 

Today in Tech History – Dec. 1, 2014

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1847 – The London and North Western Railway along with the Caledonian Railway adopted London Time on instructions from the General Post Office. Other railways followed suit and this was seen as the establishment of the first time zone.

In 1913 – Henry Ford added the moving-chassis assembly line to produce Model T’s in his Highland Park, Michigan factory. It was the crowning glory in his attempts to increase efficiency and production.

In 1977 – Time Warner launched QUBE in Columbus, Ohio, the first two-way interactive cable system. One of its channels called “The Pinwheel” would later be relaunched as Nickelodeon.

MP3

Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Today in Tech History – Nov. 30, 2014

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1934 – The steam locomotive Flying Scotsman became the first to officially exceed 100 mph.

In 1999 – British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merged to form BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world. Marconi had been founded by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897.

In 2006 – Microsoft released Windows Vista for business use. Vista improved on security over Windows XP, but took criticism for other features, and never rivaled Windows XP in adoption.

MP3

Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Today in Tech History – Nov. 29, 2014

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1777 – The Spanish founded California’s first civilian settlement called Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. It would become the future state’s first capital and eventually the heart of Silicon Valley.

In 1910 – The first US patent for a traffic signal system was issued to Ernest E. Sirrine. It switched an illuminated sign between the words “stop” and “proceed”

In 1972 – Nolan Bushnell installed a coin-operated arcade game at Andy Capp’s tavern in Sunnyvale, California. It only played Allan Alcorn’s Pong. Within four months there were 10,000 across the country.

MP3

Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2375 – Black Friday Headlines

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJust Tom today looking over the headlines on the Black Friday holiday. Full show returns on Monday.

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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 in Tech History – Nov. 28, 2014

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1660 – 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray met after Wren’s astronomy lecture to discuss the formal constitution of a society of philosophers that would become the Royal Society. It still exists and recently opened its archives on the Web.

In 1814 – For the first time, an automatic steam-powered press printed The Times in London. German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer built the press. The Times quickly pointed out that they would not layoff workers, but instead increase printing, bringing the paper to a wider audience.

In 1964 – NASA launched Mariner 4 toward Mars where it would conduct the first successful flyby of the red planet.

MP3

Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Today in Tech History – Nov. 27, 2014

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1971 – The Soviet Union’s Mars 2 orbiter released its descent module which probably had too steep an angle of entry, and malfunctioned and crashed. But hey, it was still the first manmade object to reach the surface of Mars.

In 1995 – Microsoft released Internet Explorer 2.0, touting its privacy and encryption, and stepping up the browser war with Netscape.

In 2001 – Scientists announced they had used the Hubble telescope to detect and analyze the atmosphere on an extrasolar planet for the first time. The planet HD 209458 b, unofficially called Osiris was found to have sodium in its atmosphere.

MP3

Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2374 – Right to Be Google

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Robert Young on today to talk about the Sony attackers and whether games should be excused for shipping when broken.

MP3

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: Justin Robert Young, co-host of Night Attack, Weird Things podcasts

Headlines:

Sources tell Bloomberg Sony is developing a watch with an e-ink-like screen on the face on watchbands. It;s one of the products set to come out of Sony’s business creation division set up by CEO Kaz Harai this year to encourage innovation. The division also is developing something called MESH which uses small blocks with sensors, LEDs and buttons to allow rapid prototyping. The watch may come out next year according to Bloomberg’s sources.

CNET reports the US Mission to the European Union has made a statement regarding the possibility that the EU would explore breaking up Google under antitrust regulations. The Mission emailed the Wall Street Journal and noted concern with the proposal, saying, “It is important that the process of identifying competitive harms and potential remedies be based on objective and impartial findings and not be politicized.” Additionally Ars Technica reports US House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte wrote to European members objecting to the plans as did Senators Ron Wyden and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Reps. Dave Camp and Sander Levin. And a THIRD letter was signed by 12 members of US Congress led by Rep. Anna Eshoo.

But the EU isn’t leaving Google alone. BloombergBusinessWeek reports the EU’s Article 29 Working Party will publish guidelines this week recommending search engines like Google apply right to be forgotten requests to all versions of its search engine available in Europe, including the .com domain. The group also rebuked Google for notifying news outlets when story links were removed.
The guidelines aren’t legally binding, but national regulators can use them to exert pressure on Google to follow them.

Recode reports that Amazon has reduced the price of its Fire Phone to $199 unlocked, a $250 price cut off the already reduced phone. The original unlocked price was $649. Amazon is also including a year of free Amazon Prime which normally costs $99. An Amazon Fire phone on a two year contract? Still 99 cents.

TechCrunch reports the Global Web Index ranks Tumblr as the fastest growing social network with 120% growth in active users over the last six months. Pinterest is second at 11% and Instagram now third at 64%. Facebook is almost flat at 2%. Twitter grew 26%. The news for Facebook is better in growth of mobile app usage. Snapchat is tops at 56% followed by Facebook Messenger and again in third place, Instagram.

Still wondering if stickers is a good business model for messaging apps? Back in April, Japanese instant messaging app Line launched the Creators Market, where its users could make and sell their own stickers- large, sometimes animated emoji. Tech Crunch reports today that Line has sold more than $30 million in stickers from independent creators during the market’s first six months of business. Close to 36 million sticker packs have been bought from the market, from a total base of 270,000 creators.

The Next Web reports Google continues to expand its offering in Cuba. Adding to the previously launched Chrome browser there, Google is launching Google Play and Google Analytics in Cuba today. Both apps have to be free to avoid violating US restrictions on exports to Cuba. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt believes that empowering citizens with information tools is the best way to encourage the country to modernize.

CNET reports Huawei is partnering with South Korean mobile telecommunication companies — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — to establish 5G networks. Official standards for 5G havne’t been set yet but we’re talking speeds around 1000 times faster than LTE by 2020. Huawei is considering building an R&D center in South Korea.

The Verge reports that NASA astronauts aboard the International Space station became the first people to print a 3-D object in space. The printer was installed aboard the ISS last week by NASA commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, and was used to produce a replacement plastic face-plate for the 3-D printer itself. Because if you’re an astronaut traveling to Mars, you might need to 3-D print another 3-D printer someday. The parts printed will be sent back to earth in 2015 to check difference between manufacturing in space versus earth.

News From You:

habichuelacondulce passes along a Gizmodo report that Google’s new Times Square billboard is very large. The billboard promotes the Android operating system and used 24 million LED megapixels, at a cost of $2.5 million for four weeks. The billboard is interactive. Passerbys can climb up on a platform and play games using a 20 foot Android avatar created by Google’s Androidify website or app.

MacBytes submitted Ben Gilbert’s Engadget post form a couple days ago bemoaning the launch problems that seem to come with every major video game these days, Halo Master Chief Collection’s online multiplayer fails, Assassin’s Creed Unity’s frame rate and gameplay bugs etc. Gilbert longs for the day when you could go rent the Bubsy the Bobcat cartridge and play it without issue. Gilbert worries that game manufacturers don’t care if games work right out of the box since they’ll fix the bugs with patches on day one and beyond.

Discussion Section: Sony hackers

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/25/7281097/sony-pictures-hackers-say-they-want-equality-worked-with-staff-to-break-in

http://www.csoonline.com/article/2851649/physical-security/hackers-suggest-they-had-physical-access-during-attack-on-sony-pictures.html

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2383278/gop-hackers-brings-sony-pictures-to-its-knees-with-ransom-demand

http://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/2n9zhv/i_used_to_work_for_sony_pictures_my_friend_still/

Pick of the Day: Shuttle via Scott Foster

Hey Tom,

Love the show! I am a web developer constantly connecting to different servers to update configuration files, read logs, or just make sure certain services are running. Also we have many different versions of our code (production, staging, testing) and keeping track of ip addresses and username/passwords can be tough, until I found shuttle ( http://fitztrev.github.io/shuttle/ ).

This is a Mac only program that sits in the menubar and allows you to group servers, name them, and have different parameters when connecting to them. It has made things so much easier. Also all the code is on github so you can see how it works and contribute to the code if you’d like.

Thanks Tom!

Plug of the day:  If you were one of those people asking about a DTNS coffee mug you can get one now in the new DTNS store. And David Michael already started a sale from 12:01am on Friday until midnight Monday.

dtns.bigcartel.com
DTNSBF2014 – 10% off total order.

Future Shows: No show Thursday, because it’s Thanksgiving in the US.

Possibly a headlines only show Friday.

Monday’s guest: Rafe Needleman of Yahoo Tech