I had a great time talking smart home, Internet of Things and home automation with Richard Gunther on his Home: On show. We talk about recent product announcements from Wink and Logitech, a lawsuit from iControl, and a truly smart connected LED bulb.
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In 1806 – Englishman Ralph Wedgwood received the first patent on carbon paper, which led to the initials cc to indicate a carbon copy which led to the email option to “cc” somebody.
In 1954 – IBM sounded the death knell of vacuum tubes, building the first calculating machine to use solid-state transistors. It was an experimental version of the IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch, that was desktop-sized and slow just like it’s vacuum-tube powered brother, but it used 5% of the power!
In 1959 – The Soviet Space Probe Luna 3 took the first photographs of the dark side of the moon. You’re welcome Pink Floyd.
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Allison Sheridan and I talk about HP splitting into two. Giving up on what made it famous, or history repeating itself? Or neither. Join us to find out.
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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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guest: Allison Sheridan, host of the Nosilla cast at podfeet.com
Headlines
HP announced today it will split itself into two companies by the end of October next year. Hewlett-Packard Enterprises will keep the bulk of the company with enterprise level IT offerings like cloud storage, servers and big data. Meg Whitman will be CEO. The other company will be called HP Inc. It gets the personal systems and printing business, which means all the desktops and laptops and lucrative printer ink sales, and have current EVP of the division Dion Weisler as its CEO. Whitman will also server as Chairman of the board for HP Inc. Separate from the split, Ars Technica reports HP said its current round of layoffs will total 55,000.
Facebook officially owns WhatsApp. TechCrunch reports that the deal closed for 4.5 billion dollars and 177.7 million shares of Facebook stock, plus 45.9 million in restricted stock for WhatsApp employees. WhatsApp founder Jan Koum will join Facebook’s board, and receive a salary of $1, plus almost 25 million units of Facebook stock.
GigaOm reports Redbox Instant will shut down tomorrow, October 7th. The streaming video service jointly operated by Verizon and Redboxhas’t been able to sign up new users in three months. Information on refunds will be emailed and posted on the Redbox Instant website October 10
ZDNet reports GT Advanced, the company that sells sapphire to Apple, has filed for bankruptcy. The company suffered a massive drop in share price after the latest iPhone did not use their material in its display glass. Apple still uses sapphire in its rear camera lens and Touch ID fingerprint sensors and the forthcoming Apple Watch will use sapphire in its display.
Reuters reports Samsung will spend $14.7 billion on a new chip facility in Pyeongtaek, 75km south of Seoul. Its Samsung’s biggest investment yet in a single plant. Samsung is the world’s top memory chip maker and chip-making is the only steady profit generator in the company. Profits from Samsung’s semiconductor division may be larger than its handset division for the first time in more than three years.
News From You
motang passed along a Times of India report that Skype will stop delivering calls on landline and mobile phones in India starting November 10th. Skype calls outside of India will still be connected. If you are outside India you will be able to use Skype to call a number inside India as well. Skype did not give a reason for the change but India has a law preventing internet-based phone calls originating from India. Companies like Skype usually reroute the calls internationally to circumvent the law.
spsheridan submitted the CultofMac story that T-Mobile CEO John Legere responded to questions about bent iPhone 6’s while speaking at GeekWire Summit 2014. In his usually sweary manner, Legere called bendgate Horse Manure and said anybody who bends an iPhone is an idiot. Going 12 straight words without cursing Legere said, “The demand for these devices in the last few weeks is unbelievable.” Not Un-effing-believable? That almost sounds disappointing John.
Sunbun sent us The Verge report with the latest info on Microsoft’s ongoing attempt to turn your entire living room/den/basement into an interactive gaming environment. Yes IllumiRoom is back and it has a new name and new capabilities. Now call Room Alive, the latest concept demo uses video projectors to map the room, and the Kinect sensor to track your movement, allowing you to interact with games on the walls of your room. Right now the system is still too expensive to live out in the wild, but Microsoft really believes it will get cheaper soon. Hang in there. Someday soon you’ll be banging your shin against the coffee table while playing Halo not just Kinect’s balloon game.
MikePKennedy writes in to let us know that the US Navy is building ‘swarm boats‘, automated small patrols ships to help protect large naval vessels while they resupply in port, to prevent incidents like the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Wired Magazine describes the technology as autopilot on steroids, allowing a human operator to control the small craft with a laptop. A swarm boat could also be used to deploy Navy Seals on a beach and then go back to sea and await instructions.
spsheridan and KAPT_Kipper submitted stories about Facebook’s hidden friend-to-friend payments system coming to light. Cult of Mac. Stanford student Andrew Aude found code in Facebook’s Messenger app referring to the kinds of data you’d need to handle in a payments system. Looks like you’d need to add a credit card and pin to make it work if and when a payment system goes live in Facebook Messenger.
Discussion Links: HP Splits
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-release.html?id=1809455#.VDLWRildXA4
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/business/hewlett-packard-announces-breakup-plan.html?_r=0
http://recode.net/2014/10/06/after-the-split-what-will-the-two-new-hps-be-worth/
http://recode.net/2014/10/06/hps-meg-whitman-splitting-up-is-the-right-thing-to-do/
Pick of the Day: CodeReddit via Omni-mono
Fully functional Reddit rendered as a programming language. (Python, PhP and others).
Important for developers allowing Reddit browsing in a more discrete fashion, all of course, on company time.
Tomorrow’s guest: Patrick Beja
In 1893 – U.S. copyright was issued to William K. L. Dickson for a “publication” consisting of “Edison Kinetoscopic Records.” It was the first motion picture copyright in North America. No torrents were uploaded until much later.
In 1914 – Edwin H. Armstrong received a US patent for a “Wireless Receiving System” which described his famous regenerative, or feedback, circuit. Armstrong would go on to pioneer FM radio.
In 1927 – Al Jolson appeared on a movie screen in New York City and said for all to hear “Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” It was the first talkie.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
In 1969 – The first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired on the BBC. The show created the Spam sketch that would eventually inspire the slang term for unsolicited email.
In 1991 – Linux Kernel, version 0.02 was released, attracting a lot of attention. Author Linus Torvalds felt this version was at least usable and worth a wider release.
In 1992 – IBM announced the ThinkPad line of Notebook computers at offices in New York City.
In 2002 – “Xbox Media Player” and its first beta source code was released. The code was a result of Frodo, the founder of “YAMP” (Yet Another Media Player), joining the Xbox Media Player team. The project was later changed to Xbox Media Center and then just XBMC.
In 2011 – Steve Jobs died at his home surrounded by family. The co-founder and CEO of Apple has fought pancreatic cancer for years.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
In 1957 -The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, becoming the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, and motivating the US to get into gear and heat up the space race.
In 1985 – Richard Stallman started a non-profit corporation called the Free Software Foundation, dedicated to promoting the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software. The FSF among other things, enforces the copyleft requirements of the GNU General Public License often referred to as the GPL.
In 2004 – SpaceShipOne returned from its third journey, a reusable spacecraft that could carry passengers beyond the earth’s atmosphere. It won the $10 million Ansari X prize for private spaceflight.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Shannon Morse is here and we’ll talk about what Facebook might do if it moves into health care, and if anyone would trust them with their health data. Plus Len Peralta will 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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guests: Shannon Morse,podcaster and producer for shows with @Hak5 @Revision3 and @TWiTand Len Peralta, podcast pioneer and art-prover!
Headlines
STRONGBAD AND HOMESTARRUNNER ARE BACK!!!!!! New toon. Next one? Mike Chapman told Rolling Stone: “We’re planning on doing a Halloween cartoon, but no promises there.”
You know that rumor that sources said rumored that Apple’s iPad announcement would come on a rumored october 21st date. Well the rumor has been rescheduled. Now Recode reports sources say the rumored event is rumored to be on Thursday October 16th. For its part Apple has not actually said anything about any of this.
More rumors! Reuters says three people familiar with the matter- THREE— claim Facebook is planning healthcare related projects. One idea is to create support communities for people suffering from particular illnesses. The other idea is an app for preventative care to help people improve their health. Facebook has allegedly held meetings with medical industry experts and entrepreneurs and set up an R&D unit to test new health apps. All of this is still in the idea gathering stage.
Ars Technica passes along the Wall Street Journal report that Google’s X lab is working on giant displays that are also modular. Smaller screens could plug together like interlocking bricks to create larger screens with a seamless image. Similar technology is used in stadiums for things like the jumbotron and in products like the Christie MicroTiles. However Google wants to get rid of any trace of the seams.
Recode reports that Marriott has agreed to pay $600,000 to settle a US FCC complaint that it blocked personal wi-fi networks at a Nashville resort, forcing consumers to purchase access from the hotel. Marriott told Recode it was merely protecting its patrons “from rogue wireless hotspots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyber-attacks and identity theft.” Marriott will be barred from using Wi-Fi blocking technology and must file regular reports with the FCC for three years.
The Next Web reports that, as expected, Facebook received approval from European regulators for its 19 billion dollar purchase of messaging company WhatsApp. Joaquín Almunia, EC Vice President in charge of competition policy, said that the deal would not hamper competition as consumers would still have plenty of options in the messaging field.
And Google would like to provide an alternative to WhatsApp since they lost out in the bidding war to buy it. The Economic Times of India reports that Google is planning its own mobile messaging app, which may launch in 2015, in India according to sources. The app would not require a google login and be free to use. An app like that might fit verynicely in the Android One ffort to encourage affordable smartphones in India and elsewhere.
Remember BadUSB. Karsten Nohl demonstrated the attack to a standing room only crowd at Black Hat. It showed that it was possible to corrupt any USB device’s firmware with malware. The problem has not been fixed, and Nohl had not released the code. However researchers Adam Caudill and Brandon Wilson reverse engineered the USB firmware for microcontrollers sold by Phison, and reproduced the attack. They also released the code in an effort to help people defend against it and put pressure on manufacturers to fix it. They also are developing a more dangerous attack that could spread more rapidly. They have not decided whether to release that code yet or not.
9to5 Mac passes along that security vendor Dr. Web has raised an alert for Mac.BackDoor.iWorm, a malicious worm that infects OS X and tries to connect to a botnet. It uses Reddit posts to find the IP addresses of possible servers to callback too. Dr.Web estimates over 15,000 distinct IP addresses have been connected to the botnet .
News From You
metalfreak submitted the Wired story that Cody Wilson’s 3D printer for guns called GhostGunner sold out in 26 hours. Wilson planned sell 110 of the machines, and sold more than 200 before cutting off orders. The $1200 computer-controlled milling machine makes the aluminum body of an AR-15 rifle. The machine is actually a general purpose CNC mill which can carve polymer wood and metal in three dimensions for any purpose. Defense Distributed marketed the machine for printing the AR-15 part to help fund its activities in support of second amendment rights.
KAPT_Kipper passes along an IT World report that talks are back on between Samsung and Nuance Communications the company behind Dragon Naturally Speaking and of course the tech behind Siri. Will Apple try to buy Nuance to stop Samsung from stealing Siri’s Mom? Will Samsung convince Nuance that Apple never cared and Nuance would be better forgetting about their dalliance in Cupertino? Will Apple and Samsung finally confront their feelings for each other? Tune in next week on Days Of Our Phones to find out!
Money can’t buy you everything you want anyway, right Google? Sunbun shot over the Engadget story that Cyanogen, the popular Android mod, spurned Google’s advances towards a possible acquisition. Cyanogen believes it can beocme the third most popular ecosystem behind Google’s version of Android and iOS. Cyanogen is looking for a $1 billion valuation and is reported to have added MicroMax on as a manufacturer alongside OnePlus.
Discussion Links: Facebook Health?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/03/us-facebook-health-idUSKCN0HS09720141003
https://support.patientslikeme.com/hc/en-us/articles/201245750-How-does-PatientsLikeMe-make-money-
http://www.patientslikeme.com/about/privacy
Pick of the Day:
Friday’s guests: Shannon Morse of hak5.org and Len Peralta, artprover
In 1942 – Germany conducted the first successful test of the V-2/A4 rocket, launched from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde. It traveled 118 miles.
In 1950 – John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley received US patents for circuits what would eventually be called the transistor.
In 1972 – The first USA/Japan Computer Conference was held in Tokyo.
http://books.google.com/books/about/First_USA_Japan_Computer_Conference_proc.html?id=eY4mAAAAMAAJ
In 1985 – STS-51J lifted off Sending the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its maiden flight. It was the fourth shuttle created and eventually became the last shuttle to fly in July 2011.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Anthony Carboni is on the show and we’ll talk about the latest Invisibility Cloak out of the University Rochester that you could build yourself for $100. It’s continuously multidirectional clocking. what does that mean? Thank goodness Jaime Ruiz is along to help us understand.
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 and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guests: Anthony Carboni, co-host of We Have Concerns and Jaime Ruiz, Tensor Stylist and Physicist
Headlines
CNET reports that Google may be next to face the wrath of Hollywood in the nude celebrity photo leak blame game. Martin “Mad Dog” Singer, (and yes we verified the nickname at the Lavely & Singer website) represents more than a dozen clients whose images were stolen from their iCloud accounts. So why go after Google? According to Singer, Google was too slow to remove the images from search results, YouTube and Blogspot. In a letter to Google execs, Singer claimed Google could be liable for more than 100 million dollars in damages. He also demanded Google remove the images from its sites, terminate user accounts that host the images and asked for data preservation on all alleged offenders for future litigation. Google claims it has removed tens of thousands of pictures — within hours of the requests being made.
Gigaom reports that Apple has a new tool for people who want to make sure they’re not buying a stolen iPhone. All you have to do is type the IMEI number of the phone you want to buy into the site, and if the device has Apple’s Activation Lock feature on, the site will confirm that, as well as give instructions for wiping the device before you, the legit password-holding owner sell it.
CNET reports Evernote CEO Phil Libin announced a few new features at the Evernote Developer’s Conference today. One, Work Chat lets you chat with other Evernote users from within the system including the ability to see who’s looking at a note and chat with them about it. Apparently the most requested feature from users. The other major feature is called Context which shows you info relevant to what you’re writing or saving. The could include past notes, notes from others or even news items. Both features will come to Android, iOS, Mac and Windows later this year. They also redesigned the Web interface and improved the scanner too.
The EFF notes that software called ComputerCOP, that has been distributed by local law enforcement for years, unfortunately acts like spyware. EFF says they observed the software’s keylogger transmitting to third party servers without encryption. The software maker also claims endorsement by the ACLU, which the ACLU denies. And the US Treasury Department has issued a Fraud Alert over ComputerCOP. At best the software is questionably marketed and badly written to the point it exposes user data to attackers. Law enforcement agencies should beware of the company and users should avoid installing it.
The Next Web reports Google unveiled code for an open source standard called Physical Web. The project attempts to make it easier for Internet of Things devices to talk to each other without the need of intermediaries like apps. Oversimplified, the idea is to assign every connected device with a URL, so that a device like a phone can get short amounts of info without needing a separate app. Examples might be temperature readings, bus arrivals, payments at vending machines and more. The initial release of the Physical Web includes an Android app that can detect URLs broadcast by devices, with an iOS app coming in the future.
TechCrunch reports Facebook has set up a formal review process for approving research. A panel of senior researchers in different subject matters like privacy, legal, research, policy, and engineering will determine if certain types of studies meets the guidelines. The prcoess does not change the way consent is obtained or provide for external auditors. A website at research.facebook.com will centralize all academic work done on the Facebook data set.
News From You
wto605 submitted the Reddit thread wherein Redit user cranbourne, who claims to be a Microsoft Dev, asserts that internal rumors at Microsoft say early testing revealed that if the next version of Windows had been called Windows 9 it would have caused bugs in a lot of software. Turns out version checking code often just looks for “Windows9” to decide if the OS is Windows 95 or 98.
loki74 submitted a Gigaom article on the continuing adventures of Robin Hood, who’s secret identity is US FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Wheeler was in Minnesota yesterday wagging a finger at “those who seek to block the competitive forces that can produce faster, cheaper, better broadband” and supporting the efforts of city and municipal governments to build their own broadband internet networks. Wheeler’s remarks come near the close of a public comment period about whether the FCC should overrule laws in 19 states that restrict cities from offering internet services.
Sunbun submitted the Android Central story that Roku is beta testing a new feature for the Roku 3 and Roku HDMI Streaming Stick to mirror screens from Android devices. Roku has step-by-step instructions on its site for how to launch the screen mirroring beta for Android devices.
And biocow passes along Elon Musk’s cryptic tweet yesterday, in which he wrote “About time to unveil the D and something else.” The D, might be Tesla’s Model D electric car, set to be revealed at the Paris Motor Show next week. And the ‘something else?’ The Verge wonders if it’s an all-electric bike or an advanced infotainment system, but Biocow suspects it may be the a version of the Hyperloop, possibly in a secret AREA somewhere deep in the Nevada desert. And apparently Musk told CNN Money that by next year the Tesla’s will be 90% self-driven.
Discussion Links:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/29/optical-lens-invisibility-cloak/
http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.4705
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtKBzwKfP8E
Pick of the Day: 2 wifi picks from Matthew Bowen
2 Wifi related picks, 1 hardware & 1 software:
AFFORDABLE wireless access points all controlled from a central web login. (Like Meraki) Access points start at $55 with very affordable POE injectors. Now pretty much anyone can afford to have a professional level wireless network with a single SSID and seamless handoffs from one AP to the next.
Instabridge
Available for Android, iOS, Windows, & Mac, Instabridge allows you share wireless networks without sharing the passwords. If you change the password in the app everyone you have shared that password with gets updated. They never see the password, so you can also revoke anyone at any time! It is also great for sharing public WiFi. First time to a bar or restaurant? If another Instabridge user has shared it then you can automatically connect. The devs are extremely responsive and are a joy to give feedback.”
Friday’s guests: Shannon Morse of hak5.org and Len Peralta, artprover
In 1925 – John Logie Baird performed the first test of a working television system. It delivered a grayscale 30-line vertically scanned image, at five frames per second. After a ventriloquist’s dummy appeared on screen, 20-year-old William Edward Taynton became the first person televised in full tonal range.
In 1955 – ENIAC was shut down for the last time. After 11 years running at 5,000 operations a second and taking up 1,000 square feet of floor space, it had earned its retirement.
In 1996 – US President Bill Clinton signed amendments to the Freedom of Information Act requiring the US government to make electronic documents available online.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.