Brian Ibbott is on the show and we’ll talk about 50 Cent’s new earbuds that measure your heart rate and the way the ice bucket challenge for ALS is revealing subtle secrets about tech moguls. And Len Peralta is here to illustrate the episode!

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Show Notes

Breki Tomasson joins us and we’ll talk about why everyone hates Uber. At least every city government, it seems. Berlin is the latest to ban the ride sharing service.

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 guest: Breki Tomasson, founder and host of the CSICON podcasting network

Headlines

The Berlin Senate’s State Department for Civil and Regulatory Affairs ordered Uber to stop infringing passenger transportation law with its service. The Senate is concerned for passenger safety with unlicensed drivers as well as insurance to cover the drivers themselves. Uber says they have insurance but they still face €25,000 fines for every ride in violation. Uber also will appeal the decision and believes it can continue service.

NPR reports that the Knight Foundation commissioned data analysis firm Quid to analyze responses to the US FCC’s request for feedback to its proposed Open Internet guidelines. About half the responses were derived from templates which is low compared to the 80% templated response to financial regulation. Two types of responses were not part of organized talking points. One focused on maintaining a diversity of opinion. The other invoked meritocracy and the idea that people should be able to compete equally. Quid was founded by NASA scientist Sean Gourley and former Yelp product manager Bob Goodson.

Robin Williams daughter Zelda announced she was leaving social media for a “good long time” after some users posted offensive images and messages to her in the wake of her father’s death. The Washington Post reports Twitter says they have suspended the offenders, and will not tolerate abuse “of this nature.” Twitter’s VP of trust and safety said the site will further improve policies adding, “This includes expanding our policies regarding self-harm and private information, and improving support for family members of deceased users.”

Engadget reports YouTube has refreshed the apps it makes for TV with it’s new Material Design look. It includes features already available on smartphones including a guide that pops up on the left, latest videos from subscriptions and curated channels. The new look is available now on the Xbox One and will roll out to other streaming devices over the next few weeks.

Following in the footsteps of tech luminaries Satya Nadella and Mark Zuckerberg, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller has taken the infamous ice bucket challenge, in which you or someone you know dumps a bucket of ice water on your head in order to raise awareness and money to fight the nerve-disorder ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Schiller then challenged Apple CEO Tim Cook. Don’t forget it’s all meant to help http://alsa.org/

The Wall Street Journal reports that Africell, an African telco run from Lebanon has received approval to move into Uganda where they will take over Oranges former operations. The company has a long road ahead of it to combat giant incumbents like MTN, Vodafone, Safaricom and Bharti Airtel. But Africell is the market leader in Sierra Leone and Gambia and hopes to continue to expand by targeting smaller markets where it can grow fast. Chief Executive Ziad Dalloul noted the carrier has seen boosts in subscriber revenue because data use has been doubling every six months.

News From You

kyro5976 posted the Ars Technica story about Ryan Lackey of CloudFlare and Marc Rogers of Lookout discussing their project called Personal Onion Router To Assure Liberty (PORTAL), the a pre-built software image for an inexpensive pocket-sized “travel router”. The idea is to make existing encryption and privacy tools always there so you can’t forget to turn them on. Portal includes the full capabilities of Tor—including pluggable transports that help foil network monitoring tools. The system is only available as a GITHUB download for now but the aim is to make it available in an easier way.

spsheridan passes along a 9 to 5 mac report that Apple has announced it will explicitly prohibit benzene tied to leukemia and n-hexane which may cause nerve damage from its iPhone and iPad assembly process. Chinese and American labor watchdog groups petitioned the company to investigate whether the chemicals were being used. Apple conducted a four-month study, and claims there is no evidence that workers health was being put at risk but they have updated their restrictions to explicitly ban the two chemicals from the final assembly process.

ccastro425 pointed out the Engadget story that a leaked internal memo published by TMO News indicates that starting August 17, T-Mobile USA will start warning customers that use high levels of data on their unlimited LTE plans, that they may be throttled. T-Mobile claims they are targeting customers who have bypassed the default tethering feature or engaged in peer-to-peer file sharing. Users who don’t respond to the warning will have their speeds throttled for the remainder of the billing cycle. 

MikePKennedy posted the Verge article that Lenovo now sells more smartphones than PCs. Smartphone sales more than doubled for the company between April and June. Lenovo sold 15.8 million smartphones last quarter compared to 14.5 million PCs. 

Discussion Links:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-14/uber-faces-wrath-of-berlin-cabbies-as-car-sharing-app-flouts-ban.html

http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/aktuell/pressebox/archiv_volltext.shtml?arch_1408/nachricht5326.html

http://blog.uber.com/berlinchoice

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/08/14/uber-pits-itself-against-taxi-booking-apps-with-launch-of-ubertaxi-in-hong-kong/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/14/6002831/uber-berlin-ban-taxi-app

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/14/uber-taxi-service-banned-berlin-safety-grounds

http://gigaom.com/2014/08/14/uber-flouts-berlin-ban-despite-the-fact-that-its-drivers-face-massive-fines-for-non-compliance/

Plug of the day:  Take This

Kung Fu Drafter sent us a note saying “given the tragedy of Robin Williams death and the fact that many of my geekier friends (and myself) deal with depression, I thought I would remind my online friends of the site takethis.org” Take This promotes awareness and education of mental health issues and empathy for those suffering from emotional distress with the goal of eradicating the stigma of mental illness.

They just redesigned the site to make it easier for people, to find information about what they or someone they know might be experiencing. They’ll be at PAX Prime in Seattle with a dedicated space called the AFK Room, where people can take a break and regain their calm.

Share your story, volunteer, or donate at takethis.org.

Pick of the Day:  ACLU’s Know Your Rights pamphlet

With the ongoing events in Ferguson, Missouri, today seems like a good time to brush up on your rights as a citizen, or as a visitor to the United States, when it comes to matters of law enforcement. Now you may not be in, or anywhere near Ferguson, Missouri. But you might be at conference someday, or at a sporting event where things get out of hand, or holding a computer in a public place at the wrong time. So Producer Jennie, who has had several disappointing run-ins with various law enforcement agencies in her past life as a news producer, would like you to know that the ACLU has a handy booklet entitled “Know Your Rights” which is downloadable at ACLU.org. Producer Jennie would also like to remind you that in a chaotic unfolding situation, the best thing to do is NOT to yell about knowing your rights to a bunch of upset law enforcement officials, but rather to get to safety as quickly as possible. 

You can use your phone to film the police, even if they tell you not to: Read up on those rights and restrictions here: 

http://gigaom.com/2014/08/14/you-can-use-your-phone-to-film-the-police-even-if-they-tell-you-not-to/

Friday’s guests: Brian Ibbott and Len Peralta

Adam Curry joins us to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Daily Source Code show and podcasting as we know it.

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 guest: The Podfather, Adam Curry of the No Agenda podcast and curry.com

Headlines

James Bamford, author of the Puzzle Palace and Shadow Factory published an account on Wired of his 3 days spent interviewing Edward Snowden in Moscow. Among the many revelations, Snowden cites two main discoveries that caused him to do what he did. On was the data center built in Blufdale, Utah to store intercepted data. For the other, he describes a tool called MonsterMind that would monitor all digital communications and ‘auto fire’ without human supervision if it detected an attack. Snowden also claims he was told the US caused the Internet outage in Syria in 2012 when covert software installation on an ISP went wrong. He also expresses disapproval of cyberattacks on China which he says target civilian institutions like universities and hospitals. 

Samsung announced the Galaxy Alpha, a 4.7-inch Android phone with a metal ring around it that causes many reporters to write the word ‘iPhone.’. The screen is 720p, runs on Samsung’s octa-core Exynos with 2 GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The Alpha will come in five colors and be available at the beginning of September. No word yet on price.

The Next Web reports WeChat now has 438 million active users, up from 396 million last quarter and hot on the tail of Facebook’s WhatsApp with its 500 million users. The gains come in spite of the fact that 20 million Chinese WeChat accounts were closed last quarter due to a new law that requires public account owners in China to register real identities and receive permission to disseminate news. 

You may have heard that the Internet broke recently because of the 512K limit. The problem is that global routing tables, which must be stored on every border router, have grown to the maximum number of routes supported on some older hardware platforms. That number os 524,288 or 2^19. Jim Cowie at Renesys writes that the situation is more of an annoyance than a threat. All of the routers that operate core infrastructure have plenty of room and are unaffected. Affected routers may cause local connectivity problems but those can be quickly identified and hardware upgraded. Thx to CdrMarks.

News From You

spsheridan submitted the story of a murder suspect who allegedly asked Siri where to bury a body. Ars Technica reports Gainesville, Florida detective Matt Goeckel presented evidence in court Tuesday showing the suspect telling Siri, “I need to hide my roommate.” The Gainesvilel PD has clarified that the queries in the screenshot were not necessarily connected to the alleged murder.

KAPT_Kipper submitted an Engadget report that Amazon is stepping into the ring ‘em up fight with Square, unveiling Local Register, a credit-card reader and app for small businesses. The online retailer is offering a flat charge of 1.75 percent per payment until January 2016, compared to the 2.75 percent charged by Square and the 2.7 percent charged by Paypal. (The fee rises to 2.5 percent on Jan 2, 2016). The card reader costs $10 and is available for Android, iOS, and Fire devices, and a bundle that includes a Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 for $380.

Turns out Amazon v Square was just the undercard. KAPT_Kipper, our designated grudge match correspondent, also submits a Tech Crunch report thathttp://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/uber-lyft-slap-fight/, compared to the 5,000 cancellations that Lyft alleges were generated by Uber. TechCrunch reached out to Uber to see how the company is getting that 13,000 number, but until then perhaps the two mobile-car hailing companies can settle this the old-fashioned way, with a drag race down main street at midnight. 

Discussion Links:
http://radio-weblogs.com/0001014/categories/dailySourceCode/2004/08/13.html

http://blog.curry.com/2014/01/15/theDailySourceCodeArchiveProject.html

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/10-years-of-podcasting-code-comedy-and-patent-lawsuits/

http://radio-weblogs.com/0001014/2003/10/12.html#a4604

Plug of the day:  Alpha Geek Radio: mobile.alphageekradio.com

Pick of the Day:  Satechi Universal Smartphone Slot Mount via Artem Russakovskii

Hey Tom, I just listened to the episode where you mentioned the need to get a phone mount for your car. Just like you, I was into the concept of dash mounts for years, but none really worked the way I wanted them to, and I’ve tried many. Someone recommended a CD slot mounted… well, mount. And I have to tell you – it has fulfilled all my desires, for under $20. Nobody uses CDs anymore, so why not put the CD slot to good use instead? It’s located in a much more convenient place that’s both closer to you and doesn’t obstruct the view. It’s sturdy and doesn’t move unless you want it to (it does swivel every which way). The mount easily expands to fit a large phablet (my Note 3 and OnePlus One had no issues at all).
The mount is made by Satechi, a company with great history and track record: Just like it already did for many people, it will change your life. It changed mine, and everyone I’ve recommended it to loved it so far.

Check out The Novelization Realization, a podcast by Rich in Lovely Cleveland

http://novelizationrealization.tumblr.com/

Thursday’s guest: Breki Tomasson