Iyaz Akhtar and Sean Hollister are on the show. We’ve got news coming out of E3 from Microsoft who swears they love games so please forgive them. Also did a chatbot pass the Turing test? Sort of.

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 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 guests:  Iyaz Akhtar, CNET and GFQ Network

Headlines

CNET reports Microsoft made its E3 announcements and focused on games and thanking fans. The star of the show was Halo. The Master Chief Collection will come to Xbox One November 11, allowing players to take on almost every Halo game including Halo 2 multiplayer. Purchasers also get a crack at the beta of Halo 5 Guardians which isn’t scheduled for release until sometime in 2015. Further hitching their hopes to Halo, Microsoft announced Halo Nightfall, a live-action weekly series directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan and produced by Ridley Scott. The series will be part of the Master Chief Collection.

Of course Microsoft had lots of other things to announce as well, but the focus was firmly on games. A sequel called Rise of Tomb Raider was announced coming in late 2015 as well as the announcement of a new Crackdown. Foul-mouthed squirrel Conker is coming to Project Spark. The hit mobile game Threes comes to the decidedly not mobile Xbox One this year. And Sunset Overdrive got a release date of October 28th. 

Engadget reports EA announced developer DICE is making Star Wars: Battlefront for a spring 2015 launch. Also the Sims 4 will come to PCs September 2nd. Sims will have “heart,” can die of laughter and can be imported into someone else’s game.

The Next Web reports Microsoft has redesigned Skype for iOS from the ground to give it a consistent look and feel with Windows Phone and Android apps. Microsoft promises the app will be five times faster, with smoother scrolling and synced notifications. Users will also be able to start group chats from the main hub and send messages and photos to offline users. The new app will arrive in Apple’s App Store in about a week. 

Ars Technica reports Netflix released a new monthly speed index for May showing Verizon FiOS dropping two slots behind DSL providers Frontier and Windstream. Netflix reached an interconnection deal with Verizon that should improve performance but is still being set up. GigaOm reports Netflix also announced they will stop a test on June 16 that shows error messages claiming a particular ISP is “crowded” when connections suffer. 

TechCrunch reports Minecraft creator MArkus Persson AKA Notch has released his latest game called Cliffhorse in which you control a horse on a hilly green landscape as it pushes a ball. The game is free to download though users can choose to pay dogecoin or Bitcoins if they like and is available for Windows.

TechCrunch reports Facebook has launched a new app called Slingshot that lets you send annotated pictures and videos to friends, who can only see them if they send something back. Unlocked shots can be held to view later, but once swiped away they are not stored. The app is not available in all markets around the world.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper submitted the BBC story that Sony sold 18.7 million game consoles in its fiscal year that ended in March putting it in front of Nintendo which sold 163 million. That’s the first time Sony has passed Nintendo in 8 years. Nintendo fans may take solace int he fact that figures released for the last week of May, showed 19,312 Wii Us were bought in Japan compared to just 6,022 copies of the PS4.

melchizedek74 posted the CNET story about Amazon expanding their “Login and Pay” service to allow for recurring payments like subscriptions. Login and Pay lets customers use their Amazon account and its associated payment methods, to buy products on non-Amazon sites. Amazon has been testing the new subscription portion of the service with mobile phone service company Ting.

Our top story on the subreddit today, comes from tekkyn00b. The Verge reports developer Frederic Jacobs noticed that iOS 8 will randomize a phone’s MAC address when searching for WiFi hotspots, reducing the chances that your phone can be identified. Lots of businesses, especially at malls and shopping centers, gather the publicly broadcast MAC addresses in order to gather marketing data on shoppers. While shops promise they do not collect personally identifiable information, randomizing the MAC address broadcast to WiFi will make sure of it.

And Berke80 sent in the Engadget story that Elon Musk told folks at the UK launch of the Tesla Model S yesterday, that he wants to open the designs of the Supercharger system in order to make a standard that other car makers can adopt. Musk would require participating companies to include charging costs in the cost of the car and help pay to maintain the supercharger network.

Discussion Section Links

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/9/5793642/halo-nightfall-digital-series-coming-to-xbox-from-producer-ridley-scott

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/09/halo-master-chief-collection/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://www.cnet.com/news/lara-croft-plans-to-raid-the-xbox-holiday-2015/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://thenextweb.com/media/2014/06/09/halo-nightfall-digital-series-headed-xbox-one-remastered-halo-compilation-november/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=profeed&utm_reader=feedly

http://www.cnet.com/news/halo-5-confirmed-for-2015-halo-master-chief-collection-out-in-november/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://www.cnet.com/news/e3-2014-microsoft-xbox-one-focus-is-all-about-games/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://recode.net/2014/06/09/an-ai-program-allegedly-passed-the-turing-test-so-what/

http://io9.com/why-the-turing-test-is-bullshit-1588051412
http://www.princetonai.com/

Pick of the day:  PC Perspective’s Hardware Leaderboard via Andy Welch

Andy Welch has our pick of the day: “For building a desktop, I’d like to recommend PC Perspective’s Hardware Leaderboard as a very useful reference. I don’t have time (or interest) in keeping up with the latest in pc hardware, but when I need a new desktop pc every few years, this is a great spot that I go to. They update it monthly to provide an updated list of major components based on current prices and technology. They show 4 different builds from about $500 low end, $1000, $1300, and $3000 top end. I’ve used it myself and recommend it to others all the time.”

Tuesday’s Guest: Raj Deut, of Reckoner Australia and 1,000 Words On

Darren Kitchen and Eklund are on the show today to talk about companies responding to the 1st anniversary of the PRISM leaks from Edward Snowden. Also Len Peralta will be here to illustrate!

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 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 guests: Darren Kitchen of hak5.org, Len Peralta of the arts & Eklund of hockeybuzz.com 

Headlines

As MRAnthropology submitted on the subreddit, The Guardian reports mobile phone carrier Vodafone published a Law Enforcement Disclosure Report revealing how many requests for personal information the company gets by country, where it was legal to report such information. Vodafone also revealed wires have been connected directly to it and other telecom’s networks to allow government agencies to listen record and track the whereabouts of customers. These wire taps do not require warrants and Vodafone is allowed no oversight. Information on taps was not disclosed about Albania, Egypt, Hungary, India, Malta, Qatar, Romania, South Africa and Turkey where it is illegal to reveal intercepts. Ireland denied Vodafone permission to publish such info. Vodafone is making a call to end direct access to communications data. direct government wiretaps.

Nikkei Asian Review reports that sources say Apple will bring out a watch-like device running iOS this October. The device would have a curved OLED screen and collect health-related data, as well as send and received messages sent by smartphone. Apple will also partner with Nike to integrate services according to the rumor.

The Next Web reports Yahoo continues its move to get rid of third-party log ins on its site. Yahoo’s photo-sharing site, Flickr will no longer accept Facebook or Google IDs as logins after June 30. Users of Flickr are urged to create a Yahoo account if they don’t already have one, and then link that account to Flickr.

TechCrunch reports Amazon’s secret June 18 announcement will be a phone with a 3D interface, but then every self-respecting blog is reporting that. What TechCrunch found out is that the phone will use Omron’s Okao Vision face sensing technology to track the user’s head and project the three image in the right way. The tech allows a user to tilt their head to access side panels hidden from the interface otherwise. The system which uses four infrared cameras can also recognize faces and and estimate gender, age and ethnicity although TechCrunch doesn’t believe Amazon has taken advantage of these last features.

The Next Web reports Google announced its Play Movies and TV Chrome app now has an offline mode on Chrome OS. That means you can watch shows on your Chromebook even when you’re in a place without Internet like some backwards airline or city park bench. Google also announced that it is making Chromebooks available in nine more countries – New Zealand, the Philippines, Norway, Denmark, Mexico, Chile, Belgium, Spain and Italy.

Engadget reports the University of Michigan will open up its Mobility Transformation Facility this autumn for testing self-driving cars. The 32-acre research center will have a four-lane highway, city streets and road signs, street lights, roundabouts and various road surfaces. Pop-up pedestrians and mechanized bicycles will also keep things interesting. A Ford Fusion Hybrid will be the first test vehicle, but General Motors and Toyota are also involved. No plans to make Freshman use the facility to walk to class.

Engadget reports on the release of Ted Nelson’s Xanadu, released in April at Chapman University after 54 years in development. Nelson coined the term “hypertext” and began work on Xanadu in 1960. The software can embed clickable links in documents that when clicked lead to targeted information without closing the original document, shrinking out of the way or scaling up for side-by-side comparison. Nelson didn’t have the resources to beat Tim Berners-Lee to the punch but Nelson still believes Xanadu could replace a lot of what people use PDF’s for.

News From You

MikePKennedy submitted the Engadget report on VICE’s claims that US cable companies are funding groups that pretend to represent consumers in the campaign over net neutrality rules. Broadband for America for instance describes itself as a coalition involving “independent consumer advocacy groups,” and is funded by the NCTA. The American Consumer Institute is fighting against net neutrality and receives its funding from the CTIA. 

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Wall Street Journal post that research from Adobe shows Google’s browsers are the most popular in the US now, passing Microsoft. The survey combines desktop and mobile browsers. Google’s Chrome and Android browsers had 31.8% share in April, up from around 26% the prior year. Internet Explorer had 30.9% share, down from roughly 37% a year ago. IE is still the most popular on desktops alone though with 43% and Safari is the mot popular on mobile with 59%. But neither is popular on the other platform and Google is popular on both.

Discussion Section Links

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsoft-to-us-stop-hacking-data-centers-2014-06-05

http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2014/06/04/unfinished-business-on-government-surveillance-reform.aspx

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/google-offers-new-encryption-tool/?_php=true&_type=blogs&hpw&rref=technology&_r=0

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/06/vodafone-reveals-secret-wires-allowing-state-surveillance
http://www.vodafone.com/content/sustainabilityreport/2014/index/operating_responsibly/privacy_and_security/law_enforcement.html#eocp

Pick of the day:  Big Oven via Tom!

http://www.bigoven.com/ 

Schedule for live streams of Phoenix ComicCon via Alpha Geek Radio available here:  http://bit.ly/AGRPhoenix

Monday’s Guest: Iyaz Akhtar