We’re not going to lie. It sounds crazy. But butter in your coffee is not only a thing, it’s an old thing that’s getting big again and it’s bulletproof. Don’t judge it until you’ve tried it.
Thanks to @AlbertoPolintan for the thing!
Download the episode here.
Raj Deut joins us to toss around the Amazon tilt phone rumor and compare the US free TV system to Australia’s, in light of the Aereo case.
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: Raj Deut, of The Reckoner
Headlines
Multiple trusted sources told Boy Genius Report that Amazon’s new phone will not only have a 3D interface but also use tilt controls. Tilting the phone will reveal menus, additional information like text labels of icons and even scroll text. Amazon has not confirmed any details but is expected to have an announcement within a few weeks.
Engadget got a sneak peek at Lytro’s new camera, the Lytro Illum. Lytro’s cameras capture 40 megarays of light on a high-resolution sensor allowing users to change the focus of a photo after the fact as well as alter depth of field. Lytro images can only be processed by Lytro’s own software at this point, but can then be exported in familiar formats. The Illum will release in July and sell for $1,599, though pre-orders will save $100.
PC Mag reports LG just launched a teaser site showing off its upcoming G Watch. The square watch will come on Champagne gold with a white band or stealth black. Also known as yellow or black. The watch will run Google’s Android Wear OS with its standard set of features like the OK Google voice command activation and smart notifications. The watch will also be water and dust-resistant. The G is supposed to launch sometime before the end of June.
The Verge reports Google now lists the Nest thermostat for sale in the Google Play store alongside other Google devices, for the standard retail price of $250. However Google will plant a tree for every Nest ordered today in honor of Earth Day. Google acquired Nest in January.
The US Supreme Court heard arguments over the legality of the Aereo service that delivers over the air broadcasts of television to users. At the heart of the case is whether Aereo is delivering an unauthorized public performance, as the broadcasters believe, or a private performance from rented equipment, as Aereo argues. Justice Stephen Breyer expressed concern that a decision favoring broadcasters could impact cloud storage providers like Dropbox. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned whether the thousands of antennas Aereo uses are necessary, or just a way to get around copyright law. Justices also brought up previous lower court rulings fiunding renting of cloud DVRs to be legal and questioned why Areeo wasn’t treated like a cable company since it seemed to act like one. Overall the case appears too close to call, but a narrow ruling on the copyright issue seems most likely, leaving more details to be fought out in lower courts.
Representatives of the US Department of Commerce are meeting with representatives of various nations at Net Mundial in Brazil this week to discuss a new governing framework for ICANN that removes the Commerce Department’s oversight. A multistakeholder approach, in which private enterprise, academia and government all have a say has been drafted into an “otcome document” for further discussion.
The Next Web reports Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has launched a simplified domain name for its website at mi.com. Hugo Barra announced the new domain name on Twitter. Barra is in charge of Xiaomi’s marketing outside China. According to the Weibo page of Xiaomi’s co-founder Li Wanqiang, the page cost CNY3.6 million. Xiaomi launched outside China for the first time in February, selling phones in Singapore.
News From You
metalfreak posted the announcement on Phoronix that OpenBSD developers have decided to fork OpenSSL in the wake of the Heartbleed vulnerability. LibreSSL will be the new project which aims to rewrite code and remove limited or deprecated code in an attempt to clean it up. For now LibreSSL is only supported on OpenBSD and plans to ship with OpenBSD 5.6
tekkyn00b found the Apple Insider article about a leaked slide from Intel outlining the next generation of Thunderbolt, code named “Apline Ridge.” Chinese Blog VR Zone discovered and published the slide. If the slide is correct, Bandwidth would double from 20 to 40 Gbps and power consumption would fall by 50%. Alpine Ridge would release in 2015 alongside a new CPU dubbed “Skylake.”
MikePKennedy pointed us to the Verge article about a research team led by Margaret Livingstone that taught three rhesus macaques to add. The monkeys learned symbols for the numbers 0 to 25 as well. The monkeys chose correct answers well above 50% of the time, but did not show their work.
Discussion Section Links: Amazon’s smartphone, plus Aereo & The Supremes
http://bgr.com/2014/04/22/amazon-smartphone-specs-details-kindle-phone-exclusive/
http://www.cnet.com.au/what-is-hbbtv-339347112.htm
http://www.freeview.com.au/
Pick of the Day: Scotusblog via Jennie answering a question from Kevin in Cypress, Texas
Our pick of the day is the answer to a question posed by Kevin in Cypress, Texas. “Since the Aereo case is being heard by the Supreme Court this week, I decided to search the app store for an app so I could listen to the audio feed of the hearing. I can’t seem to find one. Do you know if such a thing does exist? It would be a great choice for your pick of the day.
Sadly there are no live streams of Supreme Court oral arguments. However, audio recordings are released free on the Court’s Web site, www.supremecourt.gov, at the end of each argument week. But don’t despair! Jennie’s pick of the day is ScotusBlog, which is one of the best websites around for reporting and analysis of the highest court in the land. It is available as an iOS app, and they’re working on an Android version. ScotusBlog live blogs opinions as they are handed down, which is helpful when you’re having a hard time wading through the complex legal language that determines whether one guy is elected president or the other guy.
Wednesday’s guest: Rich DeMuro, technology reporter at KTLA News
In 1592 – Wilhelm Schickard was born. He would grow up to create an early form of calculating machine called the “calculating clock”, that could add and subtract up to six-digit numbers.
In 1993 – NCSA Mosaic 1.0 was released, becoming the first web browser to achieve popularity among the general public.
In 2000 – The Big Number Change took place in the United Kingdom, changing how phone numbers were dialed in many areas. With the boom in mobile devices, the UK had almost exhausted all possible numbers, and needed the change to increase the pool of numbers to be assigned.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Why Netflix price rise is good news this time and odds on an Aereo victory.
Hey there, I’ll be doing a meetup in Los Angeles this Saturday.
The Daily Tech News Show team (both of us) will be there, so if you can make it, we’d love to hang out!
Date: Saturday, April 26th,
Time: 6pm
Where: The 326 Bar at The Original Farmers Market at 3rd at Fairfax.
Address: 6333 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90036
See you there!
First of all, why is all the TV suddenly scary? At least when it’s not a comedy. Second of all, seriously, why so scary!?
Also BREAKING THING: Can naptime kill you?
Download the episode here.
Iyaz Akhtar joins the show to talk Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Nokia’s handset business as well as why you really do need to worry about Heartbleed.
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: Iyaz Akhtar, of cnet.com
Headlines
Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith posted to the Official Microsoft Blog this morning that the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services division will close this Friday April 25th. Small changes have been made to the deal since it was first announced. Microsoft will manage nokia.com and Nokia’s social media sites for up to a year. Microsoft will no longer acquire a manufacturing plant in South Korea, but instead take on 21 Chinese employees from Nokia’s Chief Technology Office. A letter reported by Nokia Power User says the division will be called Microsoft Mobile Oy (Oy is a stock company abbreviation) and be a wholly-owned subsidiary.
GigaOm passes along a Wall Street Journal report that Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon are striking deals for exclusivity with makers of popular mobile games. In return the game makers get prominent promotion in the respective app stores. For instance, a sequel to “Cut the Rope” was introduced into the iOS app store in December and only made it to Android in March.
GigaOm reports on conflicting stories this weekend about whether payment company Square did or did not discuss selling to Google. The Wall Street Journal reported Square did talk acquisition with Google earlier this year, as well as with Apple and Paypal. TechCrunch cited its own sources who said no serious talks between Square and Google ever happened.
Recode has talked to multiple sources familiar with the matter who say Facebook will announce a mobile ad network at its F8 developer conference which kicks off April 30, in San Francisco. Facebook would sell ads outside of Facebook’s own properties by leveraging the data of Facebook user information for better targeting. So yes, now you can say ads powered by Facebook even when you’re not using Facebook. Yay?
Recode also passes along that Microsoft said Monday it signed a patent deal with Motorola Solutions. Solutions is the radio technology half of Motorola, not the cell-phone making half that Google owned. Confusingly though, Motorola Solutions though, wants to use Microsoft technology in Android and Chrome-OS based products. And just to muddy the waters a bit, Motorola Solutions is in the midst of selling its enterprise business to Zebra Technologies, while keeping its government and public safety business. So to sum up, a part of Motorola that never was owned by Google and never made smartphones for consumers is licensing Microsoft technology for Android and ChromeOS stuff.
CNET reports Twitter appears to have blocked two accounts in Turkey at the government’s request. Last week, Twitter agreed to a Turkish government request to close some accounts. accused of violating national security or privacy laws. The two accounts, @Haramzadeler333 and @Bascalan, were reportedly used to leak audio recordings of alleged conversations between the Turkish Prime Minister and his son. The accounts appear as ‘withheld’ within Turkey but appear normally outside the country.
GitHub president Tom Preston-Werner has resigned following the company’s investigation into allegations of harassment, but denies any wrongdoing. GitHub employee Julie Ann Horvath quit the company in March, alleging gender-based harrassment by a then-unnamed Github founder and his wife.
News From You
MikePKennedy posted the Verge article about Joss Whedon’s latest film, “In Your Eyes” is available for 72-hour rental on Vimeo for $5. Whedon said, “This is exciting for us because we get to explore yet another new form of distribution. And, we get $5.”
Draconos posted this story to the subreddit. The Verge reports the US State Department grabbed $2.3 million for a mesh network launched in the Tunisian city of Sayada. A series of rooftop routers offer a decentralized alternative to the larger Internet. The department is also funding projects in Detroit and New York. Meanwhile the US government is spending $4.7 million to push for mesh networks in Cuba through the USAID program.
metalfreak posted the Wired story about Apple’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint with new data centers. Steven Levy’s extensive story at wired.com describes how Apple has neared its goal of powering all its facilities 100 percent by renewable energy. Its corporate campuses and data centers are now at 94 percent renewable and rising. That doesn’t include the manufacturing, transport, and use of its actual products, or about 98 percent of its carbon footprint.
Discussion Section Links: Microsoft and Nokia
Pick of the Day: Plex via Mark
I know Nicole Spag has brought this up before – on TMS I think – but Plex has to be my pick. I’m a cord-cutter from the UK, and Plex on my Mac and Android devices, with Chromecast has really changed my post-work chill-out time. The interface on each device is great, the Chromecast stuff is pretty much flawless, and I can sync shows I want to watch offline to my tablet for watching in the gym. There are some issues with transcoding but I think they’re surmountable and the support community is pretty good.
I’ve really been enjoying DTNS and have been more than happy to kick in my money to Patreon. Thanks to you both.
With love from a fellow podcaster, with next-to-none of your experience but all of your enthusiasm,
-Mark
Tuesday’s guest: Raj Deut, writer and contributor for MacTalk, Macworld Australia
In 1962 – President John F. Kennedy opened the Seattle World’s fair by telephone from Palm Beach, Florida. He pressed a gold telegraph key which focused an antenna at Andover, Maine and a Navy radio telescope station in Maryland on a star to pick up a 10,000 year-old radio signal. That in turn set in motion various exhibits at the fair.
In 1964 – Satellite Transit-5BN-3 failed to reach orbit after launch. It carried 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium from its SNAP RTG power source.
In 1988 – Tandy Corp. held a press conference in New York to announce its plans to build IBM PS/2 clones.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
In 1926 – Sam Warner approved the sound-on-disc system created by Western Electric and created the Vitaphone company to develop the process to add sound to film.
In 1940 – Vladimir Zworykin and his team from RCA demonstrated the first electron microscope. It measured 10 feet high and weighed half a ton, achieving a magnification of 100,000x.
In 1964 – The first AT&T picturephone transcontinental call was made between test displays at Disneyland and the New York World’s Fair.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
In 1947 – A report appeared in Billboard magazine of the first public demonstration of the Jerry Fairbanks Zoomar lens. The National Broadcasting Company in New York City conducted the demo and the zoom lens soon became standard TV equipment.
In 1957 – The first non-test FORTRAN program was compiled and run by Herbert Bright, manager of the data processing center at Westinghouse. It produced a missing comma diagnostic. Once fixed, a successful attempt followed.
In 1965 – “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits” by Gordon Moore was published in Electronics. Moore projected that over the next ten years the number of components per chip would double every 12 months. By 1975 he turned out to be right, and the doubling became immortalized as “Moore’s law.”
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
