Don Reisinger joins me to chat about Android Wear, the new line of clothing from– wait– nope just another smart watch platform. Does this one catch your eye or wrist?

MP3

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

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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: Don Reisinger

Headlines: 

Wear IT: GigaOM reports Google’s SVP for Android Sundar Pichai took to the Google Blog to announce Android Wear, an implementation of the mobile operating system for wearables. Of course the wearables demonstrated were watches. The system uses Google Now to surface information the wearer needs, responds to voice commands triggered by the “OK Google” phrase and also does fitness tracking. A preview SDK is up at developer.android.com/wear. Expect more on the SDK at Google I/O in June. Lots of partners were announced but LG went ahead and said it’s G Watch will arrive next quarter and Motorola’s Moto 360 should come this summer. Plus it’s actually round. Like a watch.

MYSTIC Leakza: The Verge posted about the Washington Post’s latest Snowden leak story about an NSA tool called MYSTIC. The tool can record 100% of a country’s phone calls and play back any individual call for up to 30 days. It’s like the DISH hopper but for private conversations! The system launched in 2009 and became fully operational in 2011 and is deployed in at least one country, with at least six others others up for consideration.

Peace in our time!  Ars Technica reports Google and Viacom have settled the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright case. In fact they seem to be buddies now since the joint statement said they look forward to working more closely together. Vicaom filed the suit against Google in 2007, alleging YouTube operated outside the parameters of safe harbor. Most judges along the way didn’t agree. The seven years of fighting the suit can be indirectly held responsible for the amazing google robot that helps takedown potentially infringing content like news reports, public domain photos, and garage band music loops.

The Next Web reports on Mozilla and Unity announcing plans to bring Unity games to the Web without needing to install plugins or extensions

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft has scheduled a March 27th press briefing in San Francisco at 10 AM Pacific with news, “focused on the intersection of cloud and mobile computing.” CEO Satya Nadella will kick off the briefing, which will be WebCast. Foley, and the rest of the Internet, speculate Microsoft Office for the iPad could be the centerpiece of the briefing. Sources tell her that the iPad version of Office will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, be downloadable from Apple’s app store, and require an Office 365 subscription.

Also TechCrunch reported this happened today. In Gregory Ferenstein’s words: “Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin hung out with whistleblower Edward Snowden, who was attending the TED conference via a telepresence robot.” TED will post an interview with Snowden soon.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is building modules that will allow the military to capture solar power in orbit and project it back down to Earth, potentially capturing more energy than ground-based solar collectors. The power would be beamed back to the ground using high-energy radio waves. In other news, Australian researchers want to beam lasers into space to clean up space junk. This is all good as long as the scientists, remember not to cross the streams.

News From You: 

MikePKennedy pointed us to our daily Amazon set-top box/dongle rumor, this time from the Verge passing along WSJ sources. Amazon will begin selling its mythical dongle in early April on its own site as well as in Best Buy and Staples.

tekkyn00b submitted the 9to5 Google post where they explain they’ve heard Google’s going to get rid of Google Voice and incorporate most of its functionality into Google + hangouts. The hangouts app already allows voice calls over the app, but if Voice was folded in, the hangouts app could be able to make and receive VoiP calls to and from traditional phone numbers. Google has already rolled in it’s messaging and Android SMS functions into the hangouts app.

KAPT_Kipper posted the CNNMoney story of the curious case of a Turkish developer named Ibrahim Balic, who was testing a vulnerability in the Google Play store and it worked. WAY too well. IN fact it crashed the Google Developer Console which is used to submit new apps and app updates. Balic told CNNMoney he did not have malicious aims, he just wanted to be sure about the vulnerability. He has contacted Google about the issue he discovered. Balic previously claimed to be behind the attempted hack of Apple’s Developer Center last summer.

BullioMarf, submitted the gog.com announcement that the game website will support Linux. Initital evidence of the support will be in GOG.com website support for Ubuntu and Mint. They hope to come with 100 Linux games ready for people to play this autumn. Games the website sells that already have Linux clients will be the easy ones to include but they also promise a variety of classics as well.

Discussion Links: Google Wearables

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/sharing-whats-up-our-sleeve-android.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57620495-94/lg-to-launch-g-watch-with-android-wear/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/the-moto-360-is-the-first-android-wear-device-has-a-round-display/

http://recode.net/2014/03/18/google-announces-android-wear-its-plan-for-the-smart-watch-and-beyond/

http://developer.android.com/wear/design/index.html

Pick of the Day:  Pocketcasts

Hey Tom, I wasn’t planning on sending another one of these for a while but yesterday, what I consider the best podcasting app on Android, Pocket Casts. Pocketcasts got updated with Chromecast support (iOS update coming soon). But the real reason I am recommending it is that the Daily Tech News Show is one of the featured podcast on the Chromecast standby image that you see on the television between podcasts. For that alone it gets my tip of the hat. Love the show, Marlon

&

Hi Tom and Jennie!

I have a suggestion for a pick, one that seems very appropriate for DTNS. Pocketcasts is one of the best podcast apps on Android and iOS (I’m listening to a DTNS episode with it as I type this).

It’s been around for a while and offers sync between devices, great for if you have a phone and tablet that you both use for podcasts, supports audio, video, playlists, everything you would expect.

I mention it because it was just recently updated to add chromecast support, which is a pretty nice add for it, especially on video podcasts.

It is how I’ve been consuming content created by Tom for years, and I imagine that many of the listeners use some kind of podcast app, and this one is absolutely worth checking out.

Tomorrow’s guest: Nicole Spagnuolo!

Tim Stevens joins the show to talk about the future of the Internet as the US gives up the last of its control over how it’s run.

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 guest:  Tim Stevens, CNET.com, editor at large

Headlines:

Ars Technica reports Dorian Nakamoto issued a statement today saying “”I did not create, invent or otherwise work on Bitcoin. I unconditionally deny the Newsweek report.” Nakamoto also said he has retained legal counsel and this will be his last public statement on the matter. Newsweek said it has not received any statement from Mr. Nakamoto yet.

Engadget reports on leaked documents from O2 Germany saying Apple is looking to launch an 8GB version of the iPhone 5C that would retail for 60 Euros less than the current 16GB model. An Engadget reader also sent in a photo purporting to be of the 8GB iPhone 5C.

Microsoft’s OneNote organizing software has been made available for free along with the launch of a version that runs on Mac OS X

TechCrunch reports Japan’s LINE messaging app launched a flat-rate voice calling service called LINE call. Android users in Columbia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Phillipines, Spain, Thailand and the US can now call phone numbers in addition to other LINE users. Landline calls start at 2 cents a minute and mobile phone calls start at 4 cents a minute. users can either pre-pay or choose a plan that includes a certain number of minutes per month.

What’sApp’s Jan Koum posted to the company’s blog today reassuring customers that WhatsApp data would remain private even after his company is acquired by Facebook. Koum talked about his time growing up in the Soviet Union. He then mentioned that WahtsApp does not collect data like email addresses, birthdays, home address, GPS location etc. and added “None of that data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and we really have no plans to change that.”

TechCrunch reports multiple sources tell it that Amazon is readying a gaming/TV device produced by Lab 126 with a dongle form factor similar to the Google Chromecast and Roku Streaming Stick. One source claimed the product will stream full PC game titles at 30fps. The device is allegedly still in testing.

The Next Web reports Google announced improvements to Google Play Games at the Game Developers Conference. New features include game gifts, multiplayer invites, and cross-platform multiplayer with support expanded to include iOS. The Google Play Store will also get 18 new game categories to help sort through all those titles out there. All the new features will roll out gradually, starting March 18.

News From You

Kylde submitted the Ars Technica story about GitHub’s reaction to engineer Julie Ann Horvath’s public revelations over the weekend that she left GitHub because of toxic office culture and the interference of the wife of one of the co-founders. GitHub CEO and cofounder Chris Wanstrath issued a statement apologizing and stating the company has put one engineer and one of the co-founders on leave, and has begun an investigation.

andrewboudreau posted an Ars Technica report about the US Department of Commerce announcing late Friday that it has asked ICANN, the non-profit organization that oversees the Domain Name System on the Web, to come up with a plan to transition out of US control. ICANN has a contract with the Commerce Department to oversee the Internet’s numbering system. That contract ends September 30, 2015 and the DoC would like itself replaced a new system of multiple non-government stakeholders to ICANN after that. The Domain Name system transferred to private control in 1997,and the contract with Commerce was the last vestige of governmental connection.

And nickgiulioni sent us the cityam.com post about Twitter user @savethemhood sending 14 million DogeCoin to the Doge4Water campaign which aims to provide safe access to water for Kenya. That’s more than $10,000 worth of Dogecoin. Demonstrating one big advantage of cryptocurrency, the donation was made instantaneously across borders with almost no cost. Similar transactions in traditional currency would have taken days and incurred fees.

Discussion Section Links: ICANN, Can You? 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57620386-93/us-government-begins-loosening-decades-old-grip-on-the-internet/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-to-relinquish-remaining-control-over-the-internet/2014/03/14/0c7472d0-abb5-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_story.html

https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-11jan14-en.htm

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-key-internet-domain-name-functions

http://www.nro.net/news/internet-technical-leaders-welcome-iana-globalization-progress

http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/mou-jpa/icann-mou-25nov98-en.htm

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/6_5_98dns.pdf

Pick of the Day:  www.whenisgood.net

HI Tom,
Loving the show. Would just like to draw your attention to a neat little website, www.whenisgood.net It is a simple service which allows you to find the best time for an event. I am a regular user of shared calendars in Outlook (mostly in a professional context) and events on Facebook (mostly in a personal one), but I am using When Is Good more and more in the first instance these days because it allows me to propose several times up front and let attendees dictate the best one rather than proposing a single time and rescheduling if it doesn’t work out. It is also really useful because it is its own platform and it doesn’t require users to sign up: I am a part-time University student and I like the fact that I can invite classmates to a group project meeting without being Facebook friends with them and know that they won’t need to jump through hoops to deal with it (we do have a shared calendar but no one uses it). Wonder whether this could be a candidate for a pick of the day.
All the best, Matthew, Coventry England

Tuesday’s  Guest: Don Reisinger