Nicole Lee joins us to talk about ARM’s new version of the mbed OS targeted at the Internet of Things. with OIA, AllSeen, Thread, Zigbee and more out there, will we ever have a unified platform?

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 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: Nicole Lee, senior editor of social + internet for Engadget

Headlines

Bloomberg Businessweek reports malware targeting the iOS and Android devices of Hong Kong demonstrators has been discovered. Security company Lacoon discovered an Android app purporting to help activists coordinate protests was malware. In tracing its activities Lacoon discovered malware designed to steal information from jailbroken iOS devices. The malicious programs can apparently access your contacts, text messages, call logs, pictures, and keychain.

Microsoft revealed an upcoming addition to Office, called Sway, which can automatically assemble and format presentations. Their called “sways” and are multimedia, animated, interactive presentations that live within a Web container—that can be created, published and viewed from any connected device with access to Microsoft’s OneDrive service. Sway can pull from any website including Facebook and Twitter. And since its Web-based it works across platforms including iOS and Android.

Bloomberg reports Johannes Caspar, Hamburg’s privacy watchdog ordered Google to limit how it combines user data. In 2012 Google changed its privacy policy to unify it and data collection across all its properties. The unification of that data collection is what worries Caspar because it could be misused to “compile detailed movement patterns, detect the social and financial status, and friendship, sexual orientation and the relationship status.” Caspar said users must have the ability to determine how their data is used.

TechCrunch reports Facebook’s VP of Product, Chris Cox posted on Facebook today, apologizing on behalf of the company for any hardship caused by Facebook’s real names policy. Controversy began when a single user flagged hundreds of Facebooks pages of drag queens for using fake names. The pattern wasn’t noticed among the thousands of reports for fake names Facebook deals with daily. Cox said Facebook will improve its tools for dealing with reports as well as provide more deliberate customer service to flagged accounts.

TechCrunch reports that the Windows 10 Technical Preview is now available as a free download for those who want to test drive the new OS, or help hunt bugs in early builds. You can either update a Windows installation or get an ISO to use on a virtual machine or other device. If you join the Windows Insider Program, you’ll be able to submit feedback through a dedicated app. The preview expires in mid-April of 2015. If you want to take the plunge, head to preview.windows.com.

Bloomberg reports that “people familiar with the plans” say Apple will add a gold color option to the latest version of the iPad, which rumors say might be unveiled at a rumored announcement rumored to take place October 21st. Apple oddly, declined to comment, but other Apple products have been gold so that makes this rumor GOLDEN.

GigaOm reports Verizon decided at the last minute not to begin throttling unlimited plan subscribers on its LTE network. The plan had been starting today that when the network was congested to knock the heaviest unlimited plan users down to 3G speeds. Verizon’s statement says after a few months of “dialogue” the company “decided not to move forward with the planned implementation of network optimization for 4G LTE customers on unlimited plans.”

News From You

KAPT_Kipper: Rule Brittania, Brittania rule the Wav Files, and MP3s and VOBs and, well, what I’m trying to say is UK copyright law has been amended and starting today subjects of Her Majesty are free to copy MP3s, CDs DVDs and live broadcasts for personal use, as well as enjoy broader fair use, parody and qiuotation rights. This means you are no longer a bandit filthy outlaw for copying music to your phone or cloud storage folder. You can also quote and parody the work of others without permission.

Don’t mind the gap. The screen gap that is. RunawaySnail submitted a 9 to 5 google report that early purchasers of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 have complained of a small gap between the screen and the device case. GAPGATE!!!!! Today Android Central discovered that the Note 4 owners manual actually references the screen gap, calling it “”a necessary manufacturing feature”” and states that some rocking or vibration of parts may occur. The manual goes on to explain that “”friction between parts may cause this gap to expand slightly.”” GAPGATE OVER! The Galaxy Note 4 went on sale September 26 in Korea.

And Metalfreak sent us a PC World article about the Google Play store, which is attempting to add more transparency by making developers list a price range for in-app purchases in their app descriptions. The article includes a screen grab of EA’s FIFA 15 Ultimate Team with a range from 99 cents to $99.99. The Google Play store does not require developers to list exactly which items cost how much, so your next question, what the heck could be worth $100 in FIFA 15 Ultimate Team remains, for now, unanswered.

Discussion Links: Unify the internet of things!

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/01/arm-mbed-device-platform/?ncid=rss_truncated

https://mbed.org/ecosystem/partners/

http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/internetofthings/overview/index.html

http://www.contiki-os.org/

http://www.cnet.com/news/internet-of-things-promote-thread-protocol-at-google/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://www.cnet.com/news/internet-of-things-gets-a-hand-from-arm-operating-system/

https://allseenalliance.org/

http://openinterconnect.org/

http://linuxgizmos.com/open-interconnect-consortium-takes-on-qualcomms-allseen/ 

Pick of the Day: G.I Joe Coffee Company via Scott Napier

G.I Joe Coffee Company is awesome. They sell fair trade, good quality coffee, but 20% of all proceeds go to support disabled veterans. I know you get tons of picks, but I figured I had to throw one in the mix since it is a cause near and dear to my heart (retired Army and 90% disabled myself).

Thursday’s guest: Anthony Carboni

 

Molly Wood and Patrick Beja join me to discuss why Microsoft skipped Windows 9, and what windows 10 means for the future of the world’s most popular desktop OS.

MP3

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: Patrick Beja and Molly Wood!  

Headlines

Microsoft announced the next version of Windows will be called Windows 10 and be released sometime late in 2015. Windows 10 will be one platform and app store across phones, tablets, laptops and desktops. More info on universal apps will come at the BUILD conference in April. Among the new features, Microsoft confirmed the start menu will return in Windows 10 and tiled apps will be allowed to run in a windowed mode. A technical preview will be released starting tomorrow at preview.windows.com

Ebay announced Tuesday it will spin off Paypal into a separate publicly traded company in the second half of 2015. Carl Icahn has been encouraging the company to do so. So who’s in charge after the split? Ebay’s current CEO John Donahoe will step down. Dan Shulman recently of American Express, will take over as CEO of Paypal. And Devin Wenig who leads the EBay marketplace division will become CEO of eBay.

Engadget reports Apple has announced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will go on sale in China on October 17th. Apple received a license to sell the phones earlier Tuesday. Pre-orders for the iPhone in China will start October 10th. The phones will support TD-LTE and FDD-LTE, meaning 4G speeds on China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

Movie riddle: When is a sequel also a first? As you ponder all the possible answers to that question, The New York Times has theirs: Netflix and The Weinstein company are teaming up to make Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend, the first movie to have a major theatrical release and a Netflix release on the same day. The movie will only be released in IMAX theaters, not traditional theaters so it’s not the quite full Cordkillers dream come true, but Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos said he hoped this “will be a proof point that the sky doesn’t fall.” Said theater owners: “THE SKY IS FALLING!”

Spotted at Paris Fashion Week: The Apple Watch. Apple Insider reports that Apple design chief Jony Ive took his ‘Switzerland-terrorizing’ watch to Paris and introduced it to the likes of Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld at hip, Parisian boutique Colette. Mere mortals were also briefly allowed to view the Apple Watch as well, making it the first time Apple’s wearable has been seen by the general public.

ReCode reports Intel-owned Basis announced a new watch called the Peak. The Peak counts your steps, measures your heart and does some smartwatch stuff like phone notifications using Bluetooth LE. It also claims 4 days of battery life and is waterproof. Its made of anodized aluminum ,with a Gorilla Glass 3 face and comes in matte black and brushed silver. The watch works with iOS and Android, starts at $200, and will ship starting in early November.

Reuters reports that outgoing US Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his concern about data encryption that allows you, the data’s owner to be the only one who can unlock it. In a speech to the Global Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Online, Holder said “It is fully possible to permit law enforcement to do its job while still adequately protecting personal privacy” and that quick access to phone data can help law enforcement officers find and protect victims, such as those targeted by kidnappers and sexual predators.

ReCode reports Reddit raised $50 million in funding which by itself isn’t huge news, but the interesting thing is that the round was led by Y Combinator president Sam Altman who plans to allocate 10% of the equity to Reddit users. How that equity would be distributed is yet to be determined but Altman said Reddit may dole out shares using a distributed accounting system, a la the bitcoin block chain.

 

 

 

News From You

metalfreak posted the liliputing article that Google’s Project Ara, the modular smartphone, will allow hot swapping of all modules except the CPU and screen. A custom version of Google L lets you swap out cameras, sensors, even the battery, without having to reboot. A working model of Project Ara will be shown off at a developer’s conference in December and the phone is expected to launch in early 2015.

mranthropology submitted the CNET article about Matchstick, a $25 HDMI streaming stick that powered by Firefox OS. The device is open on the software and hardware side. It’s compatible with many existing Chomrecast apps and hopes to have more apps from the Mozilla developers created by launch time. Backers of the Matchstick Kickstarter can get the stick at a discount.

MacBytes pointed out the Apple Insider story that Apple issued a patch late Monday to fix the Shellshock vulnerability in OS X. The update fixes the security flaw in bash for OS X Mavericks, Mountain Lion and Lion. Users would have to configure certain services for OS X to have been vulnerable, but now even those users have a fix.

Discussion Links:  

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2014/09/30/microsoft-announces-windows-10/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/30/6873963/windows-10-continuum-touch-interface

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-coming-soon

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/30/6874413/windows-10-whats-old-is-new-again

Pick of the Day: Archive.org via Allan Palmer

Like many of your listeners I am interested in the tech of podcasting itself, both as an aspiring podcaster and also out of technology interest. You host at archive.org. Not an obvious choice one hears about often. Could you use archive.org as a pick sometime and go through why you use it? Love the show. Keep going!

Wednesday’s guest: 

 

Todd Whitehead is on the show today. In light of Facebook’s new launch of Atlas to market to people across devices and even offline, we’ll talk about whether we’re OK being the product or not. Ello anyone?

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 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: Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio

Headlines

Facebook announced it’s relaunching its Atlas ad platform with a new interface and the ability to track people across devices and even bridge the gap between online ad impressions and offline purchases. Techcrunch reports Facebook is quick to remind us that Atlas isn’t an add network but meant to measure and verify ad impressions. Facebook calls it “people-based marketing.” Although it also assures us that the data is encrypted and not associated with individual people. So they in no way have little private dossiers about every single thing that you do in your life. Nope.

The Verge reports Cloudflare deployed universal SSL offering free SSL encryption to any site that opts in, including customers of Cloudflare’s free service. Cloudflare says “Yesterday, there were about 2 million sites active on the Internet that supported encrypted connections. By the end of the day today, we’ll have doubled that.”

The New York Times reports that all those folks waiting in line to buy iPhones so they could resell them in China may not have paid off as much as hoped. The iPhone 6 and 6 plus have not been approved for official sale in China yet. The Times tells anecdotes of falling prices on grey market iPhones and one wholesaler complaining they have way too many iPhone 6’s in stock. MacRumors reports a leaked internal memo indicates the iPhone may be approved for sale soon, hit stores October 7th and go on sale in China October 10th.

CNET reports that Microsoft will open a flagship retail store in New York City on Fifth Avenue, replacing a Fendi store. Back when Microsoft launched the original Surface back in 2012, the company opened a pop-up store in Times Square, and they do have some retail stores in the New York area, but this is their first permanent Manhattan location. No word on an opening date yet.

Ars Technica reports that Adobe is finally bringing Photoshop to Chromebook as part of its Creative Cloud offering. As such, the app will be accessed remotely not stored locally. This streaming Photoshop will run in a “”virtualized environment” but won’t have GPU support at launch. The network requirements are listed as “5 mbps/max latency 250,” and right now the program is in beta and only available to US education customers who subscribe to Adobe’s creative cloud.

Lenovo announced it will officially close its acquisition of IBM’s x86 server business on October 1st. CNET reports that will make Lenovo the third largest seller in the x86 server market. IBM will continue to provide maintenance support on the servers for a certain extended period time.

FireChat has become a popular tool for sharing information among students demonstrating in Hong Kong. The app allows communication in a mesh network using Bluetooth and Apple’s Multipeer Connectivity Framework when cell data or WiFi won’t work. TechinAsia reports student activist leader Joshua Wong posted a message urging people to download FireChat in anticipation of poor cellular network connectivity.

News From You

gullwingdmc passes along a 9 to 5 Mac report that Apple has removed an app called Launcher from its App Store for “misuse of widgets.” The app allowed users to create custom shortcuts to apps from Notification Center. Users who already upgraded to the pro version of the app through an in-app purchase will still be able to use the pro capabilities, but no one else will be able to purchase the upgrade. Apple said there is no chance that Launcher will be allowed back with the widget functionality still in place. So remember to treat your widgets with kindness and respect, people.

habichuelacondulce pointed out the Ars Technica article on research out of the University of Central Florida that indicated Google Glass is no safer than phones for texting while driving. However Glass users did regain control of their vehicles faster than phone users following traffic incidents. This adds to other studies that generally show the distraction of texting or calls is the danger not the form factor of the device upon which they are accessed.

diggsalot submitted the BGR report that Microsoft may make Windows 9 free at least for some customers. Among the many reports, Indonesian online publication Detik said earlier this week that President of Microsoft Indonesia Andreas Diantoro said Windows 9 would be free to existing Windows 8 users. Microsoft has an announcement about Windows scheduled for tomorrow Sept. 30.

Discussion Links:  The Product is YOU.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/28/facebook-atlas-relaunch/

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/facebook-acquires-atlas/

http://atlassolutions.com/2014/09/29/meet-the-new-atlas/

http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/13/facebook-custom-audiences-measurement/

http://www.businessinsider.com/interview-with-ello-founder-paul-budnitz-on-how-his-social-network-will-make-money-2014-9

Pick of the Day: The Evoluent vertical mouse via Dave Popovich

Dave Popovich of Stuart, Florida writes: Wanted to share a product that has saved me lots of medical bills. Being a network administrator for 500 users in 9 locations, you can guess I spend a lot of time at my computer using my mouse. And that meant I would drive home after work, and massage my right forearm because of the dull ache of the carpal tunnel pain.

I don’t remember how I discovered this product, but it has really made a difference – the Evoluent vertical mouse at http://Evoluent.com. I have been using the regular size, right handed, wired versions for years now, at home and at work and have no more wrist pain! It works by turning your hand 90 degrees so you rest your arm on the outside bones and not the soft tissue of the inside arm. They also make smaller mice and left-handed mice!

Only caveats: with years of training to use a mouse one way, you are a bit less accurate at first using the vertical mouse. just takes a little practice. Also, the mouse has LOTS of extra buttons, which I found got in the way, but just go into the driver and set those trouble buttons to not do anything.

It really has changed my life and many vendors and computer service folks are very interested when they see it on my desk.

Tuesday’s guests: Patrick Beja and Molly Wood!