Hot off the presses we have the Week 6 Lines:
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DTNS 2278 – iBM
Annie Gaus is on the show and we’ll talk about what Comcast’s customer service rep. call means in the light of monopolies and net neutrality. Plus a little insight into the Uber and Lyft fights, and IBM and Apple partner up.
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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guest: Annie Gaus, technology journalist
Headlines
GigaOm reports Google’s Chris Evans announced Project Zero today, a team of security pros hired by Google to look for vulnerabilities in non-Google software. Any software depended on by a lot of people is fair game. Ben Hawkes, Tavis Ormandy, and Brit Ian are apparently on the team, and GeoHotz is the first Intern, but they’re also hiring.
Bloomberg reports Microsoft is planning its biggest round of layoffs in five years as part of the integration of Nokia’s handset division. Bloomberg’s sources say the reductions will probably be in engineering, marketing and areas of overlap with Nokia. Microsoft’s biggest round of job cuts ever happened in 2009 when they let go 5800 people.
The Verge reports Microsoft is beginning to distribute Windows Phone 8.1 to existing Lumia devices. 8.1 includes the Cortana digital assistant, new customizable Live Tile layouts, a new keyboard and more.
The Next Web reports Samsung, Google and ARM have teamed up to develop an Internet-of-Things wireless networking protocol called Thread. Sound familiar? That’s because the other day Samsung and Intel were among several companies proposing the Open Interconnect Consortium as a new standard for Internet of Things. Thread isn’t an application protocol or a connectivity platform; it’s a networking protocol that has been built upon open standards. A current version of Thread is already in use by Nest thermostats.
The Next Web reports Apple has announced a new service in Japan that lets customers add cash to their iTunes account in store. ‘iTunes Pass’ lets users purchase credit in-store for the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore, and have that money immediately applied to the Apple ID account instead of needing to receive a gift card and enter a redemption code.
Well now we know why Babak Parviz left Google for Amazon. His work on Google smart contacts must have been done. Engadget reports Google has licensed its smart eyewear to healthcare specialist Novartis, which will develop new products. The first will be lenses that measure glucose levels in tear fluid to help diabetics. The second will restore focus on near objects so farsighted people can have contacts. Google will develop the electronics and Novart’s Alcon will supply the medical knowledge.
Ars Technica reports the US FCC extended the deadline for submitting comments on its Open Internet Guidelines. You now have until Friday July 18 at midnight. The FCC website suffered under the strain of last-minute commenters, prompting the extension. People can also get their views into the official record by e-mailing openinternet@fcc.gov. At the same time, TechCrunch reports 13 senators sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler requesting Internet service be classified as a common carrier under Title II of the telecommunications act.
Reuters reports Japanese messaging app Line intends to go it alone rather than look to get acquired. Reuters source says Line applied for an initial public offering (IPO) valued at over 1 trillion yen ($9.85 billion) around two weeks ago at the Tokyo Stock. The company recorded 14.6 billion yen in revenue in January-March – a more than threefold increase on the year. The app has more than 480 million downloads.
Microsoft’s team showed off a new deep learning AI this morning in Redmond called Project Adam. Rather than trying to have a better algorithm than other efforts like Google Brain, Adam optimizes data handling and fine-tuning communication between machines. The system is based on technology developed at the University of Wisconsin, called Hogwild that for asynchronous processing across the chips within a single machine. Microsoft’s Trishul Chilimbi and team have made it work across an entire network of machines. . So far it has only been deployed through an internal app that recognizes objects based on a photo. It can even identify specific dog breeds. Microsoft is till developing the research and has no consumer plans for the system yet. Microsoft claims it uses 30x fewer machines with double the accuracy of other deep learning systems.
The Next Web reports Mozilla announced the release of mozjpeg version 2.0, a JPEG encoder capable of reducing the size of both baseline and progressive JPEG images by 5%. Images make up a lot of the bandwith used by web pages. Facebook is testing mozjpeg 2.0 on Facebook.com. In fact, the company gave Mozilla $60,000 to help develop the technology.
ReCode reports Intel benefited from an improved PC market to beat analyst estimates in its quarterly earnings. Intel reported earnings of $2.8 billion, or 55 cents per share, on sales of $13.8 billion for the three months ending in June. Desktop chip unit sales were up 8 percent from a year ago and average selling prices increased 2 percent as well. Notebook processor unit sales increased 9 percent. Intel’s mobile unit posted revenue of $51 million, down 83 percent year-on-year and off 67 percent from the first quarter.
TechCrunch reports Yahoo reported Q2 revenue of 1.04 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.37. Revenue including TAC was $1.08. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.38 on revenue of ex-TAC $1.08 billion. Yahoo sold 24% more ads in the quarter than the year prior, which was strong, but saw its price per ad fall by 24% as well.
Apple and IBM announced a partnership today on CNBC, putting IBM made-for-business apps on iOS devices. IBM said it would create a class of more than 100 business applications exclusively for iPhones and iPads to run on Apple’s iOS platform. In return, IBM will sell Apple’s products filled with 100 industry-specific apps to its clients worldwide. Some of the services IBM will provide via iOS include device management, security, analytics and mobile integration.
News From You
normgregory and tm204 both submitted articles from Ars Technica and Hollywood Reporter about Dish’s victory over Fox in the Hoper lawsuit. Fox had asked for a preliminary injunction and pointed to the Supreme Court’s determination that Aereo was a public performance claiming, Dish’slingbox-like service in the Dish hopper was the same thing. On Monday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a district court didn’t abuse discretion by denying Fox’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The underlying case, Fox et al v. Dish et al, will continue to move towards a trial set to begin in federal court in Los Angeles on January 13, 2015.
habichuelacondulce posted the Mashable article on leaked Windows screenshots appearing on mydigitallife.info showing the restored Start menus. The size and format of the menu is the same as what Microsoft showed off at the Build conference in April, but the tiles themselves are different. The watermark on the images reads “Windows 8.1 Pro,” and ‘confidential’ However The forum where the screenshot appeared says it’s from Build 6.4.9788 of Windows 9.
michsineath submitted the GeekWire story that Transportation startups like UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar will finally be able to legally operate in Seattle. The City Council there voted 8-1 to approve a new law providing a regulatory framework for Transportation Network Companies. The 150 vehicle cap has been removed, insurance requirements adjusted and 200 taxi licenses added over the next four years.
Discussion Section:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/comcast-investigating-customer-service-call-from-hell
http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/comcast-statement-regarding-customer-service-call
Pick of the Day: FB Purity
Dan White in mostly rainy Bristol, UK has our pick of the day: Hi Tom, I’ve been following the comments about Facebook and the annoying way that they mess with your news feed, changing the order and stuffing unwanted junk in to annoy you. I’d like to recommend a free browser plug in called “FB purity“. I like to think of it as what Facebook would look like if they didn’t hate their users! It’s compatible with Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera and Maxton.
It has an awesome collection of features, including:
Force news feed onto chronological order. Block in line video playback. Hide or block posts based on keywords or phrases (handy for those Game of Thrones spoiler posting idiot friends) Revert news feed to single column. Stop external links from being tracked by Facebook. Block applications directly from your news feed. Receive an alert if someone de-friends you. And lots more.
Naturally Facebook hates this idea and regularly tweaks their code to overcome some features, even claiming that it is “unsafe” (well they would, wouldn’t they!). However, the plug in is inevitably updated almost immediately to restore sanity to your experience.
I don’t work for or have any connection to the FB Purity coders. I just think it’s an awesome plug in, and apparently about 160,000 other people agree with me.
EXTRA Message: TVsEgon has posted tons of Nerdtacular pics to a dropbox. You can find the link in the subreddit or the show notes!
Forced lowercase i in title is standards-compliant thanks to a suggestion from biocow.
Today in Tech History – July 15, 2014
In 1928 – The Polish Cipher Bureau picked up enciphered radio signals from the German Reicswehr for the first time. The messages were encoded with Germany’s ENIGMA machine. Cracking the EMIGMA during World War II brought together some of the finest minds in computer science at Bletchley Park in England.
In 1983 – Nintendo released the Family Computer or Famicom, along with Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Popeye cartridges. It would later be released in the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES.
In 2003 – AOL Time Warner disbanded the Netscape browser development team. In conjunction, Mozilla created the Mozilla Foundation giving the project its first independent legal existence.
In 2006 – After a few months being used internally at Odeo, the Twttr service launched for public use. They later added some vowels and spun Twitter out as its own company.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
DTNS 2277 – Virtual Personal Netflix
Peter Wells joins us from Australia, and therefore the future, to talk about how Netflix became the second most popular streaming service in Australia without ever launching there.
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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guest: Peter Wells of Reckoner, Australia
Headlines
Apple Insider passes along info from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s note that says Apple’s 4.7-inch iPhone is still expected to debut in the autumn but a larger 5.5-inch iPhone would not come until later. Kuo says Apple is working out the kinks in the device’s in-cell touch panel, as well as color unevenness on the next iPhone’s metal casing. Kuo also expects that Apple will debut a new Apple TV set-top box this fall with motion controls and potentially support for a third-party App Store.
Reuters reports the Internet Association has filed their comments regarding the US FCC’s Open Internet guidelines. The Association represents 36 companies including Google, Netflix and Amazon. The filing objected to allowing any kind of paid prioritization beyond reasonable network management, and called for wireless networks to be treated the same as wireline regarding net neutrality.
The Next Web reports LinkedIn has acquired Newsle, a service that scans your Facebook or LinkedIn contacts and alerts you when anyone in them is mentioned on the Web. Newsle will continue to operate as a standalone service but also be integrated into LinkedIn’s existing products.
GigaOm reports Babak Parviz, one of the produce leads on Google Glass and Google smart contact lenses, has left the company to take a job with Amazon. Parviz announced the switch on Google + writing “status: super excited! :)” and including an Amazon logo. Amazon Fire eyes, here we come!
The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald revealed more secret government programs from the UK’s GCHQ including the ability to change the outcome of online polls, send mass emails and SMS, collect skype call records, messages and contact lists, and target DDOS attacks, among other things. The document is called “JTRIG Tools and Techniques” JTRIG stands for Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group.
ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports from Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference that Microsoft continues to use the theme of productivity started in CEO Satya Nadella’s internal memo form last week. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told partners that Microsoft wants to offer a “complete suite of Microsoft experiences preinstalled on any device, on any platform.
News From You
metalfreak posted the Independent’s article that Surrey Nanosystems has created a carbon nanotube material so black it absorbs all but 0.035% of visual light. The material named Vantablack is grown on sheets of aluminum foil. Even when you crumple the foil you can’t tell in the area where the nanotubes are. The material also conducts heat seven and a half times more effectively than copper and has 10 times the tensile strength of steel. Hotblack Desiato will be very excited.
KAPT_Kipper pointed out the TechCrunch article about the new model of Raspberry Pi that’s out called the B+. The new model has 4 USB ports (up from 2)40 GPIO pins up from 26, a microSD card slot, lower power consumption among other improvements. The new upgraded model B+ is available now for $35 via the Foundation’s usual distributors.
MikePKennedy posted the Engadget story about BitTorrent getting ready to charge for Bundles. The legitimate torrent fils usually only cost your email address but a test with a major musician will come soon to sell a bundle. Even more ambitious BitTorrent is partnering with Rapid Eye Studios to make a scifi series called “Children of the Machine.” Rapid Eye will spend $1 million to make the pilot. To fund a full eight-episode run, at least 250,000 users will have to sign up for a “BitTorrent Bundle” for $10 after seeing the pilot.
KAPT_Kipper also sent in the 9to5 Mac article that Google has launched its popular augmented reality game “Ingress” on iOS. Android users have been playing the game since December. To play the game you join a team, either Resistance or Enlightened, to locate and collect “Exotic Matter” found in real-life locations.
And metalfreak posted the PC World article about Samsung temporarily suspending business with Dongguan Shinyang Electronics after following up on reports from China Labor Watch that the supplier was employing underaged workers. Samsung has begun an investigation and in a blog post wrote, “If the investigations conclude that the supplier indeed hired children illegally, Samsung will permanently halt business with the supplier.” Samsung had audited Shinyang on June 25. The illegal hirings are alleged to have happened June 29.
Discussion Section:
http://mashable.com/2014/07/14/how-netflix-is-dominating-australia-from-abroad/
http://www.zdnet.com/au/village-roadshow-confirms-netflix-is-coming-to-australia-7000030954/
https://getpocketbook.com/blog/netflix-australia-2-stats-scare-local-players/
Pick of the Day: iCatcher via Preston in Silly-con Valley
Preston in lovable Silly-Con Valley has our pick of the day:
Most of the time I hear a recommendation for a podcasting app it is usually for Downcast or Pocketcast. Though I’m sure these are very good I just wanted to throw a new one into the mix. For almost 3 years now I’ve been using iCatcher for my podcasting enjoyment. Talking to a friend who uses Downcast we were comparing features. iCatcher seems to match Downcast pretty much feature for feature. It has both global and podcast-specific settings. Can be set to download over wifi only or cellular as well. Custom skip forward and back lengths. Start a podcast X seconds in. (Handy for skipping shows with long intros.) Supports video podcasts (including alternate playback speeds). Etc, etc…
One thing we did find was playback speeds differed a bit. iCatcher offers 3/4, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2 and 3 times playback speeds. I listen at 1.25 and my friend listens at 1.5 using downcast. But here’s the thing, they are actually the same speeds. He said he noticed one day that a 1 hour podcast played at 1.5x speed took almost 50 minutes to get through and so wasn’t done after his 40 minute commute. He contacted the developers and said they confirmed that that playback speeds are a bit off and they do it on purpose but didn’t explain why. I confirmed iCatcher is accurate by listening to a 56 minute podcast at 1.25x and timing it. It finished in about 45 minutes which is correct. 56 / 1.25 = 44.8 minutes.
iCatcher is also very well supported and always adding new features through regular updates. iCatcher is $2.99 and worth every penny in my opinion.
Preston lovable Silly-Con Valley
Tuesday’s guest: Annie Gaus, technology journalist
Today in Tech History – July 14, 2014
In 1867 – Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time at Merstham Quarry, Surrey.
In 1918 – Computer pioneer and MIT professor Jay Forrester was born on a cattle ranch in Climax, Nebraska. With Robert Everett, Forrester led one of the most important early computer projects, the Whirlwind, and developed and founded the field of system dynamics.
In 1965 – Mariner 4 flew by Mars, taking 21 full pictures, the first close-up photos of another planet returned from space.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Cordkillers Ep. 28 – Aereo’s Hail Mary
How Aereo could still change everything and Netflix Emmys it up.
CordKillers: Ep. Aereo’s Hail Mary
Recorded: July 13, 2014
Guest: Anthony Carboni
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Aereo: Hey, we’re a cable company after all!
- – US Supreme Court ruled Aereo has an “overhwelming likeness to the cable comanies”
– Aereo wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan Aereo would like to be allowed to pay the compulsory license fee set up for cable companies in Section 111 of the Copyright Act of 1976. – – Broadcasters told the court they found this request “astonishing,”
-The 1992 Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act provides the broadcasters the right to demand Retransmission consent which they can charge for.
-Most likely they could just charge Aereo more than it could afford and be done with them. However the broadcasters don’t want a precedent set that a cable company operating over the Internet is the same as one operating over traditional cables.
Signal Intelligence
- South Park to move behind Hulu’s paywall and end unlimited free streaming
- Sept. 24 South Park catalog moves to Hulu Plus under an exclusive multiyear agreement
– Day after episodes will remain free on Hulu and South Park’s site in addition to a ‘revolving selection of free episodes’
– Previously all episodes were free on South Park’s site.
Gear Up
- TiVo’s Summer 2014 update makes it even easier to find something to watch
- -TiVo Roamio updates
– New column under My Shows to browse by category (customizable but hide and order)
– On Demand and Web options coming to traditional guide
Under surveillance
- Netflix scores top Emmy nominations for ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Orange is The New Black’
- – Netflix gathered 30 nomintaions for Emmys (compared to 12 last year)10 for House of Cards, 10 for OITNB
– No nominations for Amazon or Hulu Originals
-Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is up for outstanding short-format nonfiction program, –
– Zach Galifianakis’ Between Two Ferns episode with President Obama has taken a nomination as well. - -Outstanding drama series for House of Cards
-Outstanding comedy series for Orange is the New Black. House of
-Kevin Spacey – outstanding lead actor in a drama series
-Robin Wright – outstanding lead actress in a drama series as well. Ricky Gervais lead comedy actor category for Derek,
-Taylor Schilling lead comedy actress category for Orange is the New Black.
Front Lines
- YouTube talking with Hollywood and indies about another round of premium content
- – $1-$3 million funding plus marketing support
– Shorter than 30 minutes
– YouTube needs higher quality content to boost what it can charge
-YouTube trying to boost organic creation (push from behind) vs. commission shows directly like Netflix and Amazon - Verizon created a page with many charts accusing Netflix of intentionally choosing a congested path to route its traffic to Netflix subscribers
- – Thus making it Netflix’s fault if its content buffers. That is true. Netflix says that Verizon won’t upgrade that connection or it would work fine. That’s also true. Both companies would like you to cheer for them in order to pressure the other side into saving them money. You will not see any of that money they save no matter which side you cheer for.
- abetterqueue.com/ helps you find movies you’ll like and add them to your Netflix queue
- -Set the filter to exclude movies rated under a certain amount on rotten tomatoes, select what years you want the search done in and then check boxes by genre. The site returns movies currently available for streaming on Netflix. Click the cover art to go to that title on Netflix.
- iTunes extras which mimics DVD extra features for desktop viewers of rented and purchased movies is now available to viewers on Apple TV.
- -It will be retroactively added to previously purchased movies.
- Parks Associates compiled sales data for streaming devices.
- -Worldwide Apple sold more than 20 million Apple TVs since its launch in 2007. Roku has sold 8 million devices although limited to US, Canada, UK and Ireland. Google sold 3.8 million Chromecasts in the half year after it launched in 2013, about equal to Roku’s total 2013 sales.
- Orphan Black has been renewed for a third season
2014 Summer Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv
- Amtrekker: $576,340,707
- TMS: $547,539,188
- DTNS: $544,575,754
- Night Attack: $409,857,495
- GodsMoneybags: $328,852,309
- /Film: $200,938,015
On Screen
- Brian: Dawn of Planet of the Apes, The Leftovers, Orphan Black
- Tom: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Leftovers, The Shield (208)
- Anthony: The Leftovers
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Brian and Tom
I watched the first X-men movie tonight first time in years. I had a DVD copy of it years ago and from memory it looked perfectly fine. Tonight tho I watched it on Blu-ray for the first time and was kinda shocked at how the CGI visual effects just didn’t quite look right.Kinda low res and off colour.
A good practical special effect like the fight over the Death Star in Star Wars A New Hope tends to keep looking good forever. And the practical special effects on the new Blu-ray’s Star Trek The Next Gen look amazing. Do you think we will see movies with older CGI effects that looked fine on DVD start to look dated especially with the move to 4K coming down the pipe?
Nik
Hello Killers:
Listening to the last show I was confused with the comments about chromecast being too many steps to use.
Let’s say I want to watch Rifle Burs on YouTube. If my TV is on at all, I open the app on my phone. Search for the video, hit play and touch the cast button. The Chromecast automatically switches to the correct input for me.
I for one thought that was super convenient. I can have “cord” enabled dumb TV on, look for want I want to watch on the many different apps on my phone and when I find it, it will switch over. No dead air.
Love the show!
Not yet your boss.
Byron
Hey Guys,
I just started watching The Boss on Netflix and WOW! This is a really great show! I think it is even better than House of Cards. I was wondering if you have watched this show and what you thought.
It was originally done for Starz and according to the internet it was not picked up after the 2nd season….can’t imagine why. So is there a way to find out if someone else will pick it up like they did Community and others?
Thanks for your show…I rushed to support you on Patreon when you left TWIT tv.
Sandy
Could Areo come to my house, install a digital antenna on my roof and legally carry on like business as usual?
Ken
All of the people on your show who have tried to ditch cable have gone about it the wrong way. They CALLED the company to cancel. That gives the cable company the advantage. I did it the right way. I had Charter. I unplugged all the cable companies hardware, packed it in a bag and took it all back to the custom service desk at their service center. They didn’t even try to dupe me into anything. All I did was keep internet, and I’m saving $100/month.
Alan
Links
Today in Tech History – July 13, 2014
In 1919 – The British airship R34 finished the first airship roundtrip journey across the Atlantic from Scotland to Mineola, Long Island and back to Norfolk, England after 182 hours of flight.
In 1973 – Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of the Nixon tapes to the US Senate committee investigating the Watergate break-in. Always make back-ups, unless you want to remain President.
In 1977 – Lightning struck a Consolidated Edison substation on the Hudson River, tripping two circuit breakers and setting off a chain of events that resulted in a massive power failure. The entire city of New York was blacked out.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
FSL Tonight Week 5 – Skaro’s New Look Offense
Skaro’s new acquisition has a lot to say, and Palpatine declared incompetent as Coruscant’s offense comes to life.
Get the episode here.
Today in Tech History – July 12, 2014
In 1854 – George Eastman was born to Maria Kilbourn and George Washington Eastman in Waterville, New York. He went on to found the Eastman Kodak Company and invented the roll of film.
In 1949 – At an IBM sales meeting, Thomas J. Watson Jr. predicted that within 10 years, electronics would replace moving parts in machines. His vision launched IBM into dominating the computer industry.
In 2004 – Apple announced the iTunes Music Store sold its 100,000,000th downloaded song. “Somersault (Dangermouse remix)” by Zero 7 was purchased by Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
DTNS 2276 – Amazon to Hone Drones in Test Zones?
Ashley Esqueda is on the show today. We’ll talk about Amazon’s plea to let them test their shipping drones. I guess they were serious! Len Peralta is also along to illustrate the show.
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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guest: Ashley Esqueda, host of Tomorrow Daily on cnet.com and Len Peralta of the arts
Headlines
GigaOm passes along that Chinese state broadcaster CCTV claims iPhone are a threat to national security because of tracking. iOS7 has a frequent Locations function that learns where users frequently visit in order to provide location-based information. The function can be turned off. Apple has about 6% of the market in China.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports Google blogged that it wants a European users to share their thoughts on right-to-be-forgotten laws through an online form and public hearings. later this year. A panel including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and former German justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger have also been enlisted to advise Google on how it should comply with European rules. Google admits it incorrectly removed links from search results to article in news sites that have since been restored. The company has received 70,000 take-down requests covering 250,000 webpages since May.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky sought a temporary restraining order against Lyft to stop it from beginning operations in New York City today. Lyft asked a judge to block the state’s subpoena, calling requested documents “utterly irrelevant.” The New York State Department of Financial Services issued a cease and desist to Lyft on July 8 and on July 9th the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission said Lyft has not complied with safety requirements and licensing criteria. Not one of these agencies complained about the stupid pink mustache.
Recode reports the US FCC has set aside $2 billion to help pay for Wi-Fi networks in schools over the next two years. The National PTA and teachers unions wanted a larger fund in order to cover more schools. There are also questions about how to cover continuing costs once the networks are set up. The E-Rate program is part of the Universal Service Fund, a government subsidy program funded by a monthly fee on phone bills.
PC Mag reports The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded Seattle-based supercomputer maker Cray a $174 million contract to develop a new machine to manage nuclear weapons. Yep that’s a story from today not 1978. The Trinity supercompuer will be installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in cooperation with the Sandia National Laboratories. Trinity will use Intel Haswell and Knights Landing processors, run at 1.37 petaflops and have 82 petabytes of storage. It should arrive in mid-2015.
News From You
ancrod2 posted the TechCrunch story that a version of The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act was amended and approved by a US Senate Committee and sent to the Senate floor for a full vote. The US House passed it in February, meaning its getting closer to passage. The bill would make it legal for US consumers to unlock their phones at the end of a contract, without violating the DMCA.
metalfreak called attention to the Ars Technica article from yesterday that Microsoft issued an emergency update for most versions of Windows to prevent attacks using digital certificates that impersonate sites like Google and Yahoo. The update update blocks 45 SSL certificates that attackers managed to generate after compromising systems operated by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of India.
MikePKennedy submitted the Engadget story about Amazon’s response to a French law banning free shipping of books and taking away the companies right to give a 5% discount on book titles. Amazon will now charge one eurocent for shipping in France. Thought they didn’t have a clever way of getting around the discount ban. French booksellers may offer free shipping and up to a 5% discount.
KAPT_Kipper posted the WPXI story about the US Selective Service System, sending draft notices to 14,000 Pennsylvania men born between 1893 and 1897. The men are likely all dead, but they were warned they must register for the draft anyway. The error happened because birthdates were stored with only the last two digits of the year and a clerk working with the database forgot to specify the century when generating notices.
Both lythander and TVSEgon posted stories about Verizon’s response to Netflix’s accusations that Verizon’s network is congested. In a long post filled with charts and arrows, Verizon, rightly, points out that Netflix could use other transit providers to get around congestion but refuses to do so. Netflix has said that if Verizon would upgrade the interconnection with its preferred transit provider this wouldn’t be a problem. Both companies are using you as a bargaining chip while trying to reduce their own costs.
Discussion Section:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/10/amazon-asks-faa-for-permission-to-test-its-delivery-drones/
http://gigaom.com/2014/06/27/faa-scrambles-to-control-consumer-drones-but-its-legal-case-is-shaky/
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FAA-2014-0474-0001
http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/model_aircraft_spec_rule.pdf
Pick of the Day: Buy Me A Pie via Tom
Monday’s guest: Peter Wells of Reckoner, Australia