Fraser Cain is on the show and we’ll chat about uBeam’s ubiquitous wireless power claims and how we so very much want them to come true.

MP3

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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: Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today

Headlines

Ars Technica reports scientists from Cornell University and IBM Research have designed a chip that mimics how the brain works though an asynchronous collection of thousands of processing cores capable of spikes of activity and complicated connections just like neural networks. Computers have been able to model neural networks but the binary nature of transistors have limited the efficiency. This new processor, dubbed TrueNorth, uses the cores to receive and send to 256 other “neurons.” The power density of TrueNorth is 20mW per square centimeter and was fabricated by Samsung using a 28nm process. Next up, software!

According to ZDNet, Google has released a preview of its Android fitness platform to developers. Google Fit, announced in June at Google I/O, will collect fitness activity from Android smartphones and wearables. Google says developers will be able to launch their apps when the SDK goes into general availability later this year through Google Play services for handsets, Android Wear and the web.

ReCode reports Facebook announced Thursday it has acquired PrivateCore, a server security startup. PrivateCore will help defend Facebook’s data centers from malware and other security breaches. PrivateCore’s founders and other members of the team will work at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters on the Facebook security team run by Joe Sullivan.

GigaOm reports Google said late Wednesday it will start taking TLS connections, the secure URLS that begin with https:, into account in search engine rankings. It will affect fewer than 1% of queries and carry less weight than other content signals. The move may encourage sites to provide secure connections to their webpages in order to help SEO. 

The Verge notes Twitch has begun scanning archived video for copyrighted music and muting entire 30 minute chunks if such music is found. Many games incorporate music and already high profile streams like the dota2 streams from Valve, maker of dota 2, have reportedly been muted. Twitch partnered with a company called Audible Magic for the scanning. The heavy-handed and often capricious nature of the policy reminds many of YouTube’s similar contentID system further fueling rumors that Google is acquiring TwiTch. Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said on Reddit Twitch has no intention of flagging songs due to original in-game music and will try to fix the problem and stressed the no live streams will be scanned or blocked. Twitch also announced it will no longer allow videos to be archived forever, Making 14 days the maximum that video will be preserved. However you can push a button and have your archived videos saved— to YouTube.

News From You:

MikePkennedy submitted the Verge article noting several reports that Microsoft will get rid of the Charms bar from Windows 9. That’s the devilish bar that you have to hover over to the right just right in order to access things like settings and shutdown. It works much better on touch screens than with a mouse. Windows 9 will also add an amazing Linux feature from the early 2000s known as ‘virtual desktops’. 

sdc111 pointed out the Boing Boing post that USIS, a federal contractor that does background checks for the US DHS, disclosed Wednesday that federal employees’ personal data has likely been stolen. USIS said the attack had “all the markings of a state-sponsored attack,” because reasons. The US FBI is investigating.

diggsalot submitted the Android Police report that T-Mobile claims it is now the number one pre-paid wireless provider in the United States. The company reports it has 15.64 million pre-paid subscribers to Sprint’s 15.19 million. Pre-paid contracts are not generally considered as lucrative as customers can stop anytime. The real money is in ‘post-paid’ subscribers–people locked into nice, predictable two-year prison sentences–er contracts. T-Mobile CEO John Legere predicts his company will overtake Sprint in overall subscribers by the end of the year. 

And tm204 passes along good news for European gamers from The Verge: Microsoft will release an over-the-air TV tuner/adapter for the European X-Box One, allowing users to pass broadcast channels through the Xbox’s HDMI port. The device goes on sale in October in France Italy German Spain and the UK, and will cost 29,99 Euros. Microsoft has not yet committed to going full DVR, but users will be able to pause live television and get program listings. No word yet on when this technology will reach other regions of the world, so Australia, you just keep doin’ what you do. 

Pick of the Day: The Red Cross First Aid App via Grant in beautiful Northern Ontario.

As a passenger train conductor, I am extensively trained in first aid. But, when an emergency pops up, I like to double check everything I am doing to make sure passengers are getting the best treatment possible. The Red Cross First Aid app is amazing for this purpose. It makes finding emergencies quick and easy right on the home screen and keeps updating for any new techniques that may have been implemented since my last first aid class. It is available for different countries and is free.

Plug of the Day:  It’s Thursday, which means its time for another article+video combo from Molly Wood in The New York Times. This week Molly checks out three services competing to be the Netflix of Books. Check out nytimes.com/machinelearning to read up on e-books.

Friday’s guest: Lamarr Wilson and Len Peralta

Jessica Naziri is on the show today. We’ll debunk the big Russian hack a bit and talk about her experience visiting the tech scene in Israel.

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

Bloomberg reports ten Apple products, including iPads and MacBooks have been omitted from a Chinese government procurement list distributed in July. The models had been included on the June list. Products not on the procurement list cannot be purchased with government money.

The Verge reports Apple and Samsung issued a joint statement Tuesday announcing the companies have “agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States.” The two US cases are the biggest with Apple winning the first with more than $1 billion in damages and a split decision in the second heavily in Apple’s favor with Samsung owing $119.6 million and Apple owing $158,400.

Now that the folks at Lyft have made us feel *mostly* comfortable with the idea of riding in a stranger’s car because that car is wearing a pink mustache, The Next Web reports Lyft is adding more strangers to the equation. Lyft Line allows up to three solo passengers who share a common route to ride together. The company claims Line rides could be sixty percent cheaper. Yesterday Uber announced a ride-sharing experience called UberPool, so the arms race between the two companies remains in balance til at least tomorrow.

The Next Web reports that Foursquare has officially relaunched its mobile app with a renewed focus on location-based recommendations. The company introduced a new tagging system called “tastes’ which gather initial input from the user and then use that data to suggest nearby establishments that fit your preferences. For those still smarting from the loss of their Foursquare mayoralties, the new app introduces the concept of experts–every time a user adds a tip, and every time that tip is saved or shared by another user, they gain expertise. 

The BBC reports Wikipedia has begin naming links that have been removed from European versions of search engines under the right-to-be-forgotten rules there. Wikipedia pages no longer indexed include a photograph of a musician, Tom Carstairs, holding a guitar, Dozens of Dutch-language pages that mention Guido den Broeder, a chess player from the Netherlands, An English-language page about Gerry Hutch, a Dublin-born businessman nicknamed “the Monk” who was jailed in the 1980s, as well as several-Italian pages. Wikimedia also issued its first transparency report about takedown requests. One involved a selfie taken by a macaque.

News From You:

biocow pointed out the Engadget story that Softbank has given up its efforts to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom and merge it with Sprint. Regulatory approval proved to be too unlikely for CEO Masayoshi Son’s taste. Subsequently Sprint announced Sprint CEO Dan Hesse will step down August 11 and Marcelo Claure, the chief of wireless distributor Brightstar, will take over. Dish Network Chairman Charlie ERgen told analysts on an earnings call that now that Sprint is out of the picture, “T-Mobile is something that we would have an interest in.”

spsheridan pointed out the Verge article that pokes some holes in the report that Russian hackers had stolen email and passwords for 1.2 billion accounts covering 420,000 websites. Among the reasons for skepticism is that Hold Security, which revealed the hack, is charging a $120-a-year subscription to check if your name and password are on the list. The technique to acquire the database involved buying names on the black market as well as SQL-injection attacks, which mostly affect small sites. Finally Russell Brandom points out the attackers responsible have been using their vast bounty to do Twitter spamming rather than something more lucrative.

duxbak99 submitted the Ars Technica story that researchers from FOX-IT and FireEye recovered private encryption keys to ransomware CryptoLocker and have created a website at http://www.decryptcryptolocker.com/ that allows victims to unlock their computers without paying the $300 or so ransom. Victims must upload one of the files encrypted by CryptoLocker along with the e-mail address where they want the secret key delivered. KAPT_Kipper and magoojc also submitted links about this story.

spsheridan pointed out the Planetary Society article about the arrival of European Space Agency probe Rosetta arriving at comet 67P/Chryumov-Gerasimenko becoming the first spacecraft to maneuver alongside a speeding body. The comet is traveling at 55,000km per hour. The craft will study 67P from alongside and then in November, the Philae lander will put down on the comet’s surface to carry out closeup experiments. 

Discussion Section Links: 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101804286

http://www.wamda.com/2014/08/palestine-s-only-startup-accelerator-announces-its-latest-round

Pick of the Day from Willie X. Gluck : My pick is Clipjump, a clipboard manager for Windows that has changed the way that I work (for the better!). It’s easy and intuitive to use in that it uses the usual copy and paste shortcut keys. Now I can copy multiple items that I will need to paste, switch, and paste them sequentially without the need to switch back-and-forth between applications. It also has a feature that will strip the formatting, allowing me to replace PureText, which was a great but single purpose app. I also like that you get a preview of what you’re going to paste. The developer also introduced plug-ins that do stuff like change case. There are also a bunch of other cool features.

Plug of the day:  Like tech history? I’ve teamed up with Scott Johnson to put out monthly looks at what happened in history this month. For 99 cents you get what happened on each day of the month that helped make the tech we sue today, plus illustrations from Scott Johnson. Check them out for 99 cents each at tommerrittbooks.com or just search Amazon.        

Calendar item of the Day:  The super awesome FAQ for DefCon:  http://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-faq/dc-faq.html

 Tomorrow’s Guest: Fraser Cain

 

 

Ken Denmead is on the show. We’ll chat about how MIT researchers can reconstruct audio from a bag of potato chips behind soundproof glass. Also a little on the overreaction to NASA and the propellant-free microwave drive.

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:  Ken Denmead, Grand Nagus at GeekDad.com

Headlines

Not a good 24 hours for Samsung. First Canalys announces its data showed Xiaomi shipped just less tan 15 million smartphone units in China in Q2, taking the top spot away from Samsung which shipped 13.2 million in the country. That was barely enough to stay in front of Lenovo. Then Counterpoint Research claims Micromax has passed Samsung in India to take the top spot in mobile phone market share with 16.6% for Micromax to Samsung’s 14%. The good news for Samsung? They still hold the SMARTphone crown in India with 25.3% to Micromax’s 19.1%.

None of the following is actually official. Techcrunch, citing a Re/Code report, says Apple has scheduled a ‘big media event’ for Tuesday September 9th, at which Apple is likely to unveil its next generation iPhone. Here’s what the rumor roundup has rustled so far: Phones with 4.7 inch screens, and possibly also another device with a 5.5 inch display. The new iPhone *may* use the new A8 processors, *could* be all metal, *might* have temperature and humidity sensors, and could *possibly* support for near-field communications. Bloomberg And Wall Street Journal are also reporting the September 9th date.

Reuters reports Blackberry has sent a memo to its employees saying restructuring is done and the company is back on track to be cash flow positive by the end of the year. In other words, if you’re still working here, your job is safe for now. BlackBerry has cut its workforce by 60% over the last three years. 

GigaOm reports Justin.TV has shut down after seven years.  Existing members have until September 5 to transfer their accounts to Twitch. Archived video is not available. Justin had shut its archives down June 15. The company now solely exists as Twitch which had 50 million unique viewers in July and is rumoured to have agreed to sell to Google.

According to Tom’s Guide, a new device called Navdy can sit on your dashboard and project maps, images and text on to a 5 inch flip-up glass screen. The projected image is transparent and appears to float six feet ahead of the driver, and I quote “so it doesn’t distract.” The device can pair with your smartphone to make calls and stream music, and plugs into a car’s OBD II port for power. Navdy will ship in early 2015 for pre-order price of $299, with future Navdy’s selling for $499. In their video, LonelySandwhich assured me its safe because pilots use a similar thing. Thanks Adam. The Daily Tech News Show is now accepting suggestions on how this could possibly be safe. 

ReCode reports Microsoft confirmed Tuesday it has hired former Qualcomm executive Peggy Johnson to head up business development. Johnson will start Sept. 1 as executive VP of global business development, reporting to CEO Satya Nadella. Johnson was most recently heading global marketing and Qualcomm Labs.

Ars Technica reports that 17-year-old Joshua Rogers of Melbourne has discovered another way to spoof a browser cookie to bypass PayPal’s two factor authentication. The procedure involves using the process that links eBay to Paypal accounts. An attacker would still need to know the victim’s userid and password. Rogers, a whitehat hacker, says he reported the vulnerability to PayPal June 5 but received no response. 

News From You:

tm204 submitted the MIT News post that researchers from MIT, Microsoft and Adobe will present findings at SIGGRAPH on how to reconstruct audio from video of certain objects. One experiment recorded video of a potato chip bag from 15 feet away behind soundproof glass. An algorithm interprets minute vibrations on the bag to reconstruct the audio. While most of the experiments required high quality video of up to 6,000 fps to detect the vibrations, the researchers also figured out how to exploit sensors in 60fps consumer camera, to detect lower quality but still usable audio. None of the experiments could interpret the audio in real time. One capture took two hours to process. 

Hurmoth posted the Ars Technica article that Aereo is still fighting. We know Aereo argues they should be allowed to pay the compulsory license to continue operating. Another argument asks permission to continue to provide recorded video since in oral arguments the Supreme court indicated that did not violate Plaintiffs’ public performance rights. While US District Judge Alison Nathan rejected Aereo’s emergency motion on these arguments, she ordered both sides to file papers in support of their positions over the next five weeks.

SpydrChick pointed out the Dvice story that the IEEE has released a new official standard for 802.22 that can cover 12,000 square miles. The standard is designed to take advantage of spectrum from 54MHz to 698MHz opened up by the shutdown of analog TV. In theory the standard will supposedly be able to broadcast data at up to 22 Mbps 62 miles from a single base station over WRANs (wireless regional area networks).

MacBytes passes along an Engadget reports that the DAWN OF THE ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON IS UPON US! Sort of. South Korean carmaker Daewoo has been testing a robotic suit that allows shipyard workers carry objects as heavy as 66 pounds with ease by putting all the load on the machine at least for three hours the battery lasts. Daewoo hope that the exoskeleton will eventually hold up to 220lbs, just as soon as they figure out how to cope with slippery floors and twisting movements. So no moonwalking in the exoskeleton, people.

Pick of the Day: Pluto.tv via Chris

Hey Tom and Jennie, love the show. Just discovered pluto.tv – a cool app to watch video online. Over a hundred curated channels in a nicely organized channel guide for that “lean back” experience. Now with chromecast support on Android, this is a nice pick for folks just looking for a variety of queued specialty content online. I can’t speak for the rights clearances or how these channels are legally vetted but I thought it was worth sharing… maybe something of interest for the cordkillers podcast as well.

Plug of the Day:  The Sword and Laser Anthology collects 20 amazing stories from new writers in the Sword and Laser book club audience. 10 SciFi and 10 fantasy stories with an introduction by Patrick Rothfuss. Get a copy at swordandlaser.com/store      

Wednesday’s guest: Jessica Naziri

Todd Whitehead is on the show. We’ll talk about the line between your privacy and Google’s obligation to fight child porn. Is it OK to passively scan your email attachements?

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

According to TechCrunch, Square, the company that makes mobile credit card readers, has acquired food delivery service Caviar for a reported 90 million dollars in stock. Square launched its own food-ordering service earlier this year, but only allowed customers to order food for pick-up. Caviar provides delivery for restaurants. Producer Jennie has done some research, and can confirm the ability to order an ounce of actual Osetra caviar from Caviar exists only in New York for now. In related news, producer Jennie is now very hungry. For caviar. No Jennie we cannot have a ‘Jennie gets paid in caviar’ level added to the Patreon.

GigaOm passes along a Xinhua report that the Beijing Youth Daily says a procurement list for governmental security software suppliers now only includes Chinese vendors. Symantec of the US and Kaspersky of Russia have been removed from the list. However it may not be as bad as it looks. A Symantec representative told Reuters “It is important to note that this list is only for certain types of procurement and Symantec products are not banned by the Chinese government.”

The BBC reports a 41-year-old Houston man was arrested on charges of possessing and promoting child pornography after Google sent a tip to the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Houston Police’s David Nettles implied Google identified child porn int he man’s Gmail account. Google’s Eric Schmidt wrote int he Daly Mail last year that Google will actively removes such images from its services. A similar case happened in 2013 when a man was caught sharing illegal images through an AOL email account.

The Verge passes along a Wall Street Journal report that the Department of Transportation plans to propose a rule this December that would prohibit making and receiving in-flight cell phone calls. The ban seems to be based on workplace factors for flight crew not because of any technical reason.

ReCode reports Comcast will allow low-income customers with outstanding bills older than a year to to sign up for its $10 a month Internet plan. The plan called Internet Essentials is for families with at least one child that qualifies fro the US school lunch program. Comcast also announced it will waives the first six months of fees for new customers in the program. 

News From You

spsheridan submitted the Reuters story that security researcher Ruben Santamarta says he has figured out how to hack the firmware of satellite communications equipment on passenger jets partly through using WiFi and inflight entertainment systems. Santamarta will present his findings Thursday at the Black Hat security conference this week. His procedures have only been tested in IOActive’s Madrid laboratory, and might be difficult to replicate in the real world. 

mranthropology posted the CNET article about a printout of a screenshot of 4Chan post fetching a BID of $90,900 on eBay. The post from Anonymous reads “Art used to be something to cherish. Now literally anything could be art. This post could be art.” A screenshot of the eBay listing of Artwork by Anonymous — had collected more than $50,000 in bids, but was then taken down. 

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Verge article that Elon Musk seems a little spooked after reading the book ‘Superintelligence’ by Nick Bostrom. On Saturday, less than two hours after experienceing a Guardians of the Galaxy induced euphoria, Musk was brought back down to Earth somehow, writing “We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.” Sunday the man behind Spacex and Tesla Motors was still in a funk writing, “Hope we’re not just the biological boot loader for digital superintelligence. Unfortunately, that is increasingly probable.” 

porkchop_d_clown passes along Gizmodo reports that Japan wants to create a military-based project to monitor space debris. As many as 3,000 individual pieces of trash orbit the earth, moving at speeds up to 22,000 miles per hour. The new force will track debris and share that data with the United States, but the program will also monitor military activity in space. As for what to do with the junk, in January Japan announced a plan to launch a space garbage collection net by 2019.  

Pick of the Day:  Portable USB battery pack via Jamie in Vancouver, Canada.

I just came across this today while researching for a friend. It’s a portable USB battery pack for charging your devices on the go. It packs 11200mAh into its tiny form factor, and you can charge two devices at full speed simultaneously. It supports smartphones, as well as tablets. Best part is the price, only $40! I might be getting one of these for myself, and thought I would share this with you and the listeners of DTNS. Thanks again for an awesome podcast!

Plug of the Day: We’re getting some great pictures from listeners wearing their Daily Tech News Show T-Shirts. There’s still plenty of time to send us a picture of you in YOUR DTNS t-shirt for our special end of year project. Wait, you don’t have a DTNS-T? Well check out Slashloot.com for the very cool shirt with the very cool logo by Mustafa from thepolarcat.com’s logo available in white, black and Ash. Look in the podcasts section.

Tuesday’s guest: Ken Denmead, Grand Nagus at GeekDad.com

Darren Kitchen is on to bust some FUD about the BadUSB. What DO we need to be concerned with. Plus Len Peralta illustrates the show!

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:  Darren Kitchen of hak5.org & Len Peralta, the artist also know as lenperaltastore.com

Headlines

ReCode reports Apple has officially closed their $3 billion deal to acquire the experience that is Beats Electronics. Apple wrote on a welcome page “We’re delighted to be working with the team to elevate that experience even further. And we can’t wait to hear what’s next.” What’s next for roughly 200 Beats workers is their positions become temporary. Online ordering of Beats products has shifted to the Apple store.

TechCrunch reports HP has teamed up with fashion designer Michael Bastian and shopping site Gilt to sell their snazzy new smartwatch. The watch is custom built and syncs with an app for iOS or Android to push email and text notices to the watch. It’ll also offer music control, as well as weather, sports and stock price updates. But its really all about looks. It has a 44mm circular watchface with straps available in brown leather, a green nylon and black rubber Price hasn’t been set but it will ship this autumn. 

Reuters reports hundreds of Chinese employees of Microsoft’s recently acquired Nokia handset business protested against layoffs at a Beijing research center and factory that currently employs 2,400 people. Microsoft intends to reduce the workforce at the site but not close it entirely. 

If you have more than 3,000 readers on your blog and you operate in Russia, you’ll need to register with telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor under a new law. GigaOm passes along that Izvestia reports Roskomnadzor has sent its first batch of notices to bloggers who must also disclose their true identity, avoid hate speech,“extremist calls” and obscene language. They also must verify any information before publishing it. In response LiveJournal now only reports 2,500+ on its readership stats page. 

According to Engadget, Ebay published their diversity report showing 42 percent of its employees are women. Women account for 28% of leadership roles and 24% of tech jobs. Ebay’s female percentage is slightly larger than Pinterest (40%), Yahoo (37%), Google (30%) and Twitter (30%). The number are smaller when it comes to some ethnicities. 7% of Ebay’s total employees self-identify as Black, and 5% Hispanic. 55 percent of people in tech roles at the company identify as Asian. 

Tired of Europe always going after Google lately? Now they get a break. An Austrian privacy campaign group called Europe-v-Facebook is going after Facebook Ireland filing suit in Vienna claiming the social media giant violated Austrian privacy laws by tracking users on third party websites, and the company’s non-compliance with data access requests and for Facebook’s alleged participation in the Prism data collection program run by the U.S.NSA… among others. 

Android has been cleaning up in marketshare by shipping but what about actual usage? Net Applications tracks just such a stat and for the first tim Android has topped iOS in their survey of usage grabbing 44.62% of worldwide usage to iOS’s 44.19%. Windows Phone took a nice jump to 2.49% of usage.

News From You

dan_linder submitted the Wired Uk story that British scientist Roger Shawyer’s EmDrive may have got some validation from NASA. The controversial drive allegedly converts electric power into thrust, without the need for propellant by bouncing microwaves around in a closed container. Critics say that violates the conservation of momentum. Last year a Chinese team replicated the results to little fanfare. Now US scientist Guido Fetta has built his own version of a microwave thruster, which NASA agreed to test at Johnson Space Center. The test results were presented on July 30 at the 50th Joint Propulsion Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. The drive produced 30 to 50 micronewtons of thrust. Small, but positive.

the_big_endian wanted us to know that on the scrap heap of Google tech that includes Google Reader, Google Health and Knol, we should make room for…the Google Barge? The Next Web passes along the Portland-Press Herald report that the barge, which had been intended as a showroom for the Google X division, was towed into Portland Harbor last October, only to be sold to an international barging company. The four-story building built out of shipping containers will be dismantled. However a similar mystery barge docked in Stockton, California remains untouched. 

Pick of the Day: Keysduplicated.com

Joellen writes in: “I wanted to send in a Pick of the day… but it may be more of a discussion topic since it seems a bit controversial at the moment. The pick would be Keysduplicated.com, a service that lets you make copies of your keys by taking pictures with your phone. I’ve used it several times now to get copies of keys, as well as send copies to AirBnB guests who will be staying at my place. It’s worked great thus far, and has saved me many trips to the hardware store. The service, however, has gotten some mixed press recently. Most of it seems like nightly news “scare-mongering”, but I’d be interested to hear your opinion. At the very least, I think its something your audience should know about.”

Pick of the Day: Keys Duplicated via Joellen:

Joellen writes in: “I wanted to send in a Pick of the day… but it may be more of a discussion topic since it seems a bit controversial at the moment. The pick would be Keysduplicated.com, a service that lets you make copies of your keys by taking pictures with your phone. I’ve used it several times now to get copies of keys, as well as send copies to AirBnB guests who will be staying at my place. It’s worked great thus far, and has saved me many trips to the hardware store. The service, however, has gotten some mixed press recently. Most of it seems like nightly news “scare-mongering”, but I’d be interested to hear your opinion. At the very least, I think its something your audience should know about.”

Plug of the Day: 

Plug of the day: Like tech history? I’ve teamed up with Scott Johnson to put out monthly looks at what happened in history this month. For 99 cents you get what happened on each day of the month that helped make the tech we sue today, plus illustrations from Scott Johnson. Check them out for 99 cents each at tommerrittbooks.com or just search Amazon.        

Monday’s guest: Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio

Patrick Beja joins us to share some French perspective on Iliad possibly buying T-Mobile USA and why BadUSB makes him afraid of everything.
*Note: Earlier Thursday a version of the MP3 was posted with the last few minutes of the show missing. The file has been removed and a new file replaces that one here. Apologies – Tom

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: Patrick Beja!

Headlines

Ars Technica passes along the Wall Street Journal report that French Telecom Iliad, made an offer for T-Mobile USA, less than a week ago. Iliad would reportedly pay $15 billion in cash to buy 56.6% of T-Mobile USA. Softbank, owner of Sprint, also would like to acquire T-Mobile for something around $30 billion for the whole thing.

And T-Mobile is only getting more valuable. In quarterly earnings posted Thursday, T-Mobile USA added 1.5 million customers, for the fifth straight quarter of subscriber gains more than a million. The company posted a net profit of $391 million, or 48 cents per share, boosted by a spectrum license deal with Verizon.

Wired reports researchers from Security Research Labs in Berlin will present a USB vulnerability at Black Hat next week. BadUSB is a hack that replaces a USB controllers chip making it virtually undetectable. Malware on a PC can compromise any USB connected device and likewise any infected USB device can compromise any computer it’s plugged into. That includes mice, keyboards, USB sticks and even cell phones. USB firmware is not code-signed making it easier to spoof.

GigaOm reports Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org foundation has introduced an app in Zambia that allows limited Internet access for free. Through a partnership with India’s Bharti Airtel, custmers can us an Android app or website to access services like Wikipedia, AccuWeater, Google Search, jobs portals, and Facebook Messenger among others, at no cost, except to the idea of net neutrality in Zambia possibly.

BBC reports Samsung’s profits fell 20% in Q2, hurt by slowing smartphone and tablet sales and a strong Korean Won. Samsung reported profit of 6.25 trillion won ($6.1bn; £3.6bn) down from 7.77 trillion won a year ago. The company warned that “prospects for growth remain unclear.”

Here’s why growth prospects might be unclear. Smaller device makers are eating Samsung’s lunch. The Next Web reports Strategy Analytics mobile marketshare numbers for Q2 show Samsung marketshare falling from 32.6% to 25.2% on declining shipments. Apple fella couple points to 11.9% despite rising shipments. The ones to watch are Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi, all jumping above 5%. LG fell from 5.2% to 4.9. Oh and all those phones run Android for the most part. Android now has 84.6% of the market up from 80.2% while every other OS fell.

Ars Technica reports good news for Sony as Quarterly earnings posted a profit of ¥69.7 billion (about $677 million) up nearly 97% from a year ago. The PS4 powered most of the turnaround sending the Game & Network division from ¥16.4 billion (about $160 million) loss last year to a ¥4.3 billion (about $42 million) profit this time around. Spider-Man helped too as Sony Pictures film distribution more than doubled its earnings over last year. More revenue may be coming in through the PS4 as Sony launches it’s on demand PlayStation Now service in the US and Canada with a 100 titles available from $3 to $15 depending on the amount of time you want to play a title.

A friend passed along a press release from ViaWest, a large operator of data centers in North America. Seems Shaw, the only slightly-less-despised-than-Rogers cableco in Canada has purchased ViaWest for $1.2 billion. ViaWest is one of the largest privately held data centre infrastructure, cloud technology and managed IT solutions in North America, with 27 locations in eight states. For you US listeners, imagine Comcast buying a big chunk of the Internet it doesn’t already own and you get the picture.

The Verge reports on a Reuters report that the European Commission is preparing an anti-trust case against Google’s Android mobile platform. According to Reuters’ sources, European regulators have sent questionnaires to telecom companies and phone manufacturers, to see if Google is pressuring them to use Android. Add this to the still unresolved European anti-trust suit over the the web giant’s search practices, and Google may soon be applying for the right to be forgotten by the European government.

GigaOm reports Microsoft lost a fight in US Federal Court in New York Thursday to prevent US law enforcement to access data held on servers in Ireland without requesting permission from the Irish government. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled the search warrant served requires Microsoft to hand over the data requested regardless of where it was stored. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said Microsoft will promptly appeal.

News From You

Hurmoth sends along the Mashable report that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has sent a letter to Verizon Wireless asking why the company will slow down the top 5% of unlimited plan users on its 4G LTE Networks. Wheeler wrote, “‘Reasonable network management’ concerns the technical management of your network; it is not a loophole designed to enhance your revenue streams.” All major US carriers throttle top users of their 3G networks. A recent GAO report found that wirless carriers find that data caps help ease congestion. The same report did not find that data caps helped ease congestion for wireline ISPs, but were used as revenue generators.

AllanAV sends along a CNET report that Royal College of Art graduate Julian Melchiorri has created the first man-made, biologically functional leaf. Yup it takes in carbon dioxide, water, and light and releases oxygen. In addition to creating some nice air for us to breathe here on Earth, the leaf could also create oxygen on long-duration manned space missions to Mars and beyond. When reached for comment, the photosynthetic organism said, “I am a leaf on the wind.” Too soon?

MikePKennedy posted the Engadget story that Tesla has signed a deal with Panasonic to help build the so-called Gigafactory which will attempt to make cheaper batteries for electric cars. Tesla will build the plant and maintain it, while Panasonic supplies the lithium cells, plant, machinery and manufacturing equipment. The Gigafactory is expected to produce 35GWh of cells and 50GWh of power packs by 2020.

Discussion Section:

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/usb-security/

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/07/this-thumbdrive-hacks-computers-badusb-exploit-makes-devices-turn-evil/

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/187279-undetectable-indefensible-security-flaw-found-in-usb-its-time-to-get-your-ps2-keyboard-out-of-the-cupboard

https://www.blackhat.com/us-14/briefings.html#badusb-on-accessories-that-turn-evil

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/07/sprint-has-competition-in-attempt-to-buy-t-mobile/

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/frances-iliad-makes-bid-for-t-mobile-us-1406822189-lMyQjAxMTA0MDMwMTEzNDEyWj

Pick of the Day: Way of Life via Matt from Sweaty Sacramento

Matt from Sweaty Sacramento writes: “I’ve got a productivity app suggestion that, like your show, I use every day. Way of Life is an iOS app that helps you build new habits by tracking them daily. It’s essentially an automated version of the Seinfeld productivity method which has helped me a great deal in building good habits and becoming hyper productive. You can track daily completion, take notes of each habit or task, and look at trends based on your collected data to help motivate you or figure out why you might be struggling. The app also offers Dropbox syncing, note exporting, and custom reminders for each habit or task. The free version allows up to 3 tasks or habits to be track, which is a great way to start testing this method out. I quickly found myself purchasing the full version with no limits and believe it is worth the price of $4.99

Friday’s guest: Darren Kitchen & Len Peralta

Lamarr Wilson is back to help us understand how SnapChat is worth $10 billion.

MP3

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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!

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Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
Today’s guest:  Lamarr Wilson of all the funny.  And also Mashable.

Headlines

ReCode reports Google changed Hangouts for businesses and Chromebox for Meetings today. Users of Google Apps for Business will now get access to Hangouts without needing a G+ ID. Hangouts will allow up to 15 participants, and will interoperate with video conferencing from Blue Jeans and IntercCall. Starting in September, Dell will sell a version of Chromebox for Meetings with the ability to connect it to more than one display at a time and new management capabilities for administrators.

According to the BBC, Nintendo reported a larger first quarter loss than expected, with a 9.9 billion yen loss (97 million USD), compared with an 8.6 billion loss (about 86 million USD) deficit a year earlier. Nintendo did sell 2.82 million copies of Mario Kart 8 during the quarter, but overall sales fell 8%. Nintendo said it expected new releases in the coming months to boost demand before the holiday shopping season. Hyrule Warriors to the rescue? 

Bloomberg reports China’s Alibaba is part of talks to provide another round of investment in SnapChat. The financing would value SnapChat at $10 billion. Alibaba rival TenCent is already a small and quiet investor in SnapChat.

The Next Web reports Microsoft announced its first update to Windows Phone 8.1 will release Cortana to roam across the world. The voice-activated assistant will be launched as a beta in the UK and in China under the name Xiao Na. Alpha versions of Cortant will arrive in Canada, India, and Australia. All the versions will be localized with spellings and pronunciation. The US version will get new features like snooze times for reminders, impersonations, and a hands-free mode. Folders are also coming to the home screen and VPN supports WiFi hotspots. Preview for Developers will get the update next week and the rest of us mere mortals will see it in the coming months.

Apple Insider reports Russia’s Ministry of Communications and Mass Media asked Apple and SAP to provide source code for inspection. The government wants to make sure the code doesn’t hide any nefarious spy programs. Microsoft agreed to a similar proposal in 2010.

Security Week reports The Tor Project disclosed details of an attack that attempted to deanonymize users. The attack was detected on July 4 while Tor was trying to identify attacks leveraging a method discovered by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s CERT. Tor project leader Roger Dingledine believes the attack may have been conducted by the researchers as a test, but is frustrated beciuse Tor can’t get access to the research. A talk on the topic was planned for Black Hat but then was canceled at the request of the University. Dingledie advised that users who operated or accessed hidden services between February and July 4 should assume they have been affected.

GigaOm reports the UK will permit driverless cars on British roads for testing starting in January 2015. The trials will last between 18 months and 3 years. Tests are already taken place on public roads in Japan and parts of the US. Trials on Swedish roads begin in 2017. 

Wondering why EA Access only came to the Xbox One? Ars Technica reports that a Sony representative told Game Informer that it essenitally just wasn’t worth it. The unnamed Sony rep touted the 200% growth of PlayStation Plus memberships since the launch of PlayStation 4 saying, “We don’t think asking our fans to pay an additional $5 a month for this EA-specific program represents good value.” So, basically, take your early access to Madden 15 and shove it.  

GigaOm reports FreedomPop will begin selling first-gen iPad Minis and Samsung Tab 3s which will come with the service’s standard free 500 Megabytes a month as well as 500 SMS and 200 voice minutes. Yees you heard that right. You can make calls through FreedomPop’s voice app on your Tablet. You can bring your own tablet on too, as long as it’s compatible with the Sprint LTE network that FreedomPop uses. The iPad mini will sell for $319 and the Tab 3 for $199.

News From You

melchizedek74 posted the Ars Technica article that a survey by the US Government Accounting Office came to the shocking conclusion that people don’t like data caps on home Internet service. They also found that home Internet service providers admit that data caps aren’t really needed to prevent congestion. Instead data caps are needed in order to charge people more for Internet. 

spsheridan submitted the Wired article the peers of the realm in the House of Lords have, after weighty consideration, determined that the so-styled “right to be forgotten” as described by the European Commission is simply “wrong.” The EU sub-committeee of the Lords consulted with the Information Commissioner’s Office, Minister for Justice and Civil Liberties Simon Hughes and Google, before arriving at their inescapable conclusion. Chairman of the Sub-Committee Baroness Prashar said the reality was “crystal clear” — “neither the 1995 Directive, nor the Court of Justice of the European Unions’s (CJEU) interpretation of it, reflects the incredible advancement in technology that we see today, over 20 years since the Directive was drafted”.

And finally, sdc111 passed along the BoingBoing post of an NPR report that astronomers at two different radio telescopes on opposite ends of the earth have now picked up fast “burst” radio signals that seem to originate outside our galaxy. Now before you submit your bid to build the wormhole surfing machine based on the schematics that are surely embedded deep within the signal, responsible scientists would like to remind you that these radio bursts could caused by blitzars, pulses of energy from a supermassive star collapsing into a black hole. Or by powerful solar flares from closer stars. Or by something an equally wondrous and yet unknown natural phenomenon. OR ALIENS SCIENTISTS!

Discussion Section:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/30/snapchat-in-talks-with-alibaba-joins-the-10-billion-valuation-club/?ncid=rss

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-30/snapchat-said-in-funding-talks-with-alibaba-at-10-billion-value.html

http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/20/tencent-snapchat/

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+does+snapchat+make+money%27&oq=how+does+snapchat+make+money%27&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.4093j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/11/snapchat-doesnt-make-any-money-why-is-it-worth-so-much/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/25/how-could-snapchat-make-money-college-kids/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/10/5887211/can-snapchat-make-money-without-losing-its-cool-filters-stories

http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/24/snapchats-first-monetization-move-will-be-in-app-purchases/

http://www.wired.com/2014/01/secret-snapchats-monetization-success-will-surprise/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/07/23/snapchat-celebrity-advertising/

http://www.tubefilter.com/2014/07/25/jerome-jarre-snapchat-shonduras-chris-carmichael 

Pick of the Day: Francisco Rivera picks testmy.net

Forever, I’ve used speedtest.net by Ookla to check my connection. It’s pretty and all, but I’ve since found testmy.net and it’s great, free, and allows for automatic repeat testing at almost any interval, which is great if you’re trying to find out if your service drops out at odd intervals.

Thursday’s guest: Patrick Beja! 

Scott Johnson joins me to talk about EA’s new all-you-can-eat-of-what-they’ll-serve-you gaming service as well as Microsoft’s rumored selfie phone.

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:  Scott Johnson of the Frogpants Network

Headlines

TechCrunch reports Facebook is getting rid of messaging in the main Facebook app for iPhone and Android and will force users to download the separate “Messenger” app if they want to chat. This is nothing new to European users who were the guinea pigs for the requirement back in April. Mobile web, iPad, feature phone, Windows Phone, Paper, and desktop users can still message like before, for now. Facebook believes the move will make both the Facebook and Messenger apps better.

The Next Web reports EA announced a new subscription service for the Xbox One today. For $5 a month or $30 a year members of EA Access can play older titles from the EA vault and get free access to new titles up to 5 days before release. After the release you’ll still have to buy the game, but you get a 10% discount on all EA titles and DLC in the Xbox store. PLus if you played early and buy the game any progress you amde carries over. Selected users are participating in a beta, but EA promises to take everyone’s money soon. 

Is this good news or bad news for those hopeful of new MacBook pros this autumn? The Next Web reports Apple has done a minor refresh of the MacBook Pros with retina displays. The 13-inch starter model comes with a 2.6 GHz Core i5 processor and 8GB of memory. The entry-level 15-inch MacBook Pro now starts with a 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 chip and 16GB of memory.

ZDNet reports BlackBerry said Tuesday it will acquire German mobile security company Secusmart. The two companies have partnered since 2009. Secusmart makes popular anti-eavesdropping product. Or at least its become popular with Chanellor Merkel. The Secusmart Security Card contains the NXP SmartMX P5CT072 crypto-controller with a PKI coprocessor for authentication as well as a high-speed coprocessor that encrypts voice and data communication using 128 bit AES. All of that integrated into the micro-SD card.

Does the App boom smell like it’s ending? Bear with me. In 1999 what’s big Websites Along came DigiScents which made a device called iSmell, I KID YOU NOT, that would allow web pages to emit odor. Within two years, dot-coms were bust. In 2005 AJAX, XML Web 2.0 was all the reage. Everyone’s Rubies were starting to ride Rails. And researchers from the University of Huelva developed XML Smell, a protocol of XML that could transmit smells. Within two years smartphones had wiped Web 2.0 out of our minds. Today with the app universe going strong, Vapor Communications is promoting an Indiegogo campaign for the iPhone. A device to let people send and receive scented messages. Woe betide its funding and the decline of the appiverse.

TechCrunch reports Twitter reported revenue of $312 Million and earnings per share of two copper pennies. The street expected Twitter to lose the one pennie it did have on revenue of only 283.07 million Twitter allegedly said “TAKE THAT STREET WHAT DO YOU KNOW!” although that is unconfirmed. Twitter reported that it has 271 million monthly active users, up from its 255 million tally in the first quarter of 2014. That’s up 24%, year-over-year. Twitter’s monthly mobile user count was also up, to 211 million, a gain of 29%.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Ars Technica report that researchers at Bluebox Security have discovered a hack that allows any malicious app to masquerade as an app with special privileges. The vulnerability has existed since Android 2.1 in early 2010. Apps like Google Wallet and Adobe Flash are allowed to act with other apps in ways the Android sandbox usually prevents. While Android checks the apps ID it does not verify the validity of cryptographic certificates that accompany it. Cleverly made forgeries can therefore get the same special access to private information and device settings. Bluebox calls the vulnerability “Fake ID”. Google has been informed of the vulnerability and say they’ve issued a patch. Bluebox CTO Jeff Forristal will present more details on the vulnerability at Black Hat next week. 

metalfreak posted the PC World article noting the announcement over the weekend that Quantum Mechanix and Spark Plug Games will have the original cast of Firefly do the voicework for their upcoming Firefly game. Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Sean Maher, and Ron Glass have already recorded their bits. Jewel Staite, Gina Torres, and Summer Glau will be in the studio soon. The game will come to iOS, Android, PC and Mac in Spring 2015.

spsheridan pointed us to a Wired UK article that researchers from the University of Michigan and New York University have been simulating wet information storage techniques which uses clusters of nanoparticles suspended in liquid. Working a bit like a rubik’s cube, clusters of particles can reconfigure to represent different storage states. A 12-particle cluster can have almost 8 million states. That means a teaspoon of the stuff could store a Terabyte! All you have to do is use your scanning tunnelling microscope to read the data!

Discussion Section:

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/07/29/ea-announces-5-gaming-subscription-xbox-one/

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/07/29/ea-announces-5-gaming-subscription-xbox-one/

http://www.ea.com/news/ea-announces-ea-access-on-xbox-one?utm_campaign=ea-social-global-tw-easports-ea-access-072914-tw-text-site-ramp&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&sourceid=ea-social-global-tw-easports-ea-access-072914-tw-text-site-ramp&cid=23663&ts=1406654315238

http://www.ea.com/eaaccess/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/29/5947583/new-microsoft-windows-phones

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/28/5660722/nokia-superman-windows-phone-features

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/3/5867113/nokia-lumia-830-rumor-photos

http://www.wpcentral.com/verizon-htc-one-w8-windows-phone-august-21

Pick of the Day:  ProClip via Kevin Klecker

Kevin Klecker has our pick of the day! My commute averages about an hour each way, and it would be much more torturous if I didn’t have The Daily Tech News Show to keep me informed and entertained. I always want my podcasts, music, and Waze at my fingertips, I never knew where to keep my phone until I stumbled onto ProClip.

ProClip offers vehicle mounting solutions for all of your tech and gadgetry. ProClip is a 2-piece solution. It consists of a custom base that is engineered to fit your specific vehicle (You can choose one of several mounting locations. This is paired with either a universal/adjustable mount or custom mount which is engineered for your device (phones, tablets, 2 way radios, GPS units, etc). They have mounts to fit a large variety of device (iPhones, iPads, Galaxy series, heck….even my Windows Phone 8 Device). Most have the option to include a hardwired charger, or a cigarette lighter adapters to automatically charge your device while docked. They are fairly easy to install (usually lock into vents or molding), and have always seemed sturdy. Since the system is 2 pieces, it is easy to replace the base if you get a new vehicle – or the mount if you get a new device. My wife and I will be customers for life!

Wednesday’s guest: Lamarr Wilson of all the funny.  And also Mashable.

Pelle Eklund is on the show to chat about Spain charging to link to things on the Internet and NHL Refs getting sent off for Twittering.

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:  Eklund of hockeybuzz.com

Headlines

GigaOm compiles reports from Reuters and the South China Morning Post that Microsoft offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu have been visited by authorities. The State Administration for Industry and Commerce is investigating the company. Chinese authorities banned government institutions from using Windows 8 in late May. Microsoft said Monday the company is “happy to answer the government’s questions.”

TechCrunch reports the European Commission has given Apple permission to acquire Beats Electronics. The approval was predicated partly on the fact that beats has a very small marketshare in Europe for both headphones and digital music. Apple still needs approval in the SU which it is expected to get. Then it can take on Bose which is suing Beats for patent infringement. And come on, you know Apple lawyers love a good patent infringement case, amiright?

Mozilla chair Mitchell Baker announced Monday that interim CEO Chris Beard has been appointed permanently as CEO of Mozilla Corporation. Beard joined Mozilla in 2004, left for Greylock Partners in July 2013 and re-joined Mozilla in April of this year when CEO Brendan Eich was removed in controversy over his support of Proposition 8 in California. 

The Verge reports OKCupid co-founder Christian Rudder has admitted that his site experimented on users as well. In one of three described experiments, users were told they were good matches for people they were bad matches for in order to measure the change int he rate of correspondence. Being told you were a good or bad match did have an impact but did not fully offset the calculated compatibility. Users were informed after the fact that they were part of the experiment. 

The Verge reports that most Hilton-owned hotels worldwide plan to allow customers to use a smartphone to unlock their rooms by the end of 2016. Hilton also plans to allow guests to check themselves in and choose their own room locations.

News From You

ayserk56 posted the Engadget story that researchers at Stanford have developed a new lithium battery that uses a nanoscopic carbon shield to allow for denser more efficient lithium use in a batteries anode, the part that discharges electrons. The result is a battery that lasts considerably longer, won’t decay quickly and remains relatively safe. They estimate the battery could get 2-3 times the life of current cell phone batteries. 

spsheridan sent along the ReCode report that Apple is close to buying Swell, an app that plays podcasts and other talk shows in a Pandora style, that surfaced shows adapted to the listeners tastes. Swell will apparently be shut down this week.

metalfreak pointed out the OS News story that Trend Micro’s report that Android is populated with many fake apps, half of which are malware, turns out to be an exaggeration. Techrepublic and Android Police both uncovered that Trend Micro’s promotion of their report didn’t work very hard to make clear that the fake apps in question did not exist in the Google Play store but had to be side-loaded, meaning a user had to ignore and disable security warnings to make the apps work.

KAPT_Kipper posted the Verge article that Amazon appears to be going after Square. 9to5 Mac showed off internal documents from Staples indicating an “Amazon Card Reader” will arrive on store shelves August 12 for $9.95 right next to Square and Staples’ own payments dongle.

geewhipped submitted the Vice article detailing disclosures that reveal 3 US FISA Court Judges own Verizon stock, two purchasing it within the last year. That includes Judge James Zagel who signed off on a government request to renew ongoing metadata collection in June. 

And Ek sent us a report from Scouting the Refs.com detailing the rise and fall of NHL official Tim Peel’s Twitter account. Turned out Mr. Peel was excited to reach out to fans and put a human face on Referees, but he hadn’t read the rules closely. The NHL-NHLOA Collective Bargaining Agreement forbids officials from having have social media accounts. His time on Twitter was brief but burned brightly. We will miss you @TimTpeel

Discussion Section:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140728/06561628035/spain-likely-to-pass-google-tax-makes-paying-news-snippets-inalienable-right-new-bureaucracy-to-collect-it.shtml

https://medium.com/@JulioAlonso/the-story-of-spains-google-tax-5434d746df48

http://www.meneame.net/

http://coalicionprointernet.com/?page_id=7#APOYOS

http://qz.com/241005/nobody-seems-quite-sure-how-spains-new-google-tax-will-work/

http://www.xataka.com/otros/el-gobierno-aclara-que-las-redes-sociales-no-pagaran-canon-aede-aunque-el-texto-de-la-ley-no-lo-indica?_ga=1.68851857.1477832429.1402335428

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/spains-launches-google-tax-attacks-piracy-linking-sites-1201105933/

Pick of the Day:  canistream.it

Our pick of the day comes from Julio M. Romero a fellow cordcutter: “I don’t know if you have already heard about this app/website/service is called canistream.it and is just that, a service that let’s you find out if that movie or show episode is available for streaming legally in different services iTunes, Amazon, play store, Netflix and some others. It even tells you prices so you can check which one is better for your wallet. The site is available as an app in the Apple & Android stores as well as the Windows Marketplace AND as a chrome extension. JMR

Tuesday’s guest: Scott Johnson 

Scott Sigler joins the show to talk about Comic-Con and the unholy merging of tech, nerds and the entertainment industry.

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:  Scott Sigler, author and podcaster

Headlines

GigaOm passes along a Wall Street Journal piece describing a Google X project to establish what a fully healthy human looks like in order to identify disease faster and easier. The BAseline Study Project will be led by molecular biologist Andrew Conrad, who joined Google X 16 months ago. All info will be anonymized and used only for health-related purposes though it will not be shared with insurance companies. Google will see benefits for the development of its wearable devices.

TechCrunch reports Lyft will begin operations in all five boroughs of New York City, not just Brooklyn and Queens, starting at 7 PM tonight. After negotiations with the New York Attorney General and the Taxi and Limousine Commission, Lyft will license all its drivers through the Taxi and Limousine Commission in NYC and pause operations in Buffalo and Rochester while it works to comply with insurance requirements there.

A Google representative confirmed to CNET on Friday that the company removed more than 50 percent of “right to be forgotten” requests it processed so far. The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that information Thursday night.

The US House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill today legalizing cell phone unlocking. The bill will allow consumers and third-parties to legally unlock phones that were received through a carrier. The US Senate passed the bill earlier this year, and President Obama is expected to sign it into law. Today’s legislation will not permanently allow legal phone unlocking. The rule will be reconsidered by the Library of Congress once again in 2015 and every three years thereafter unless circumstances should change.

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Ars Technica story that Wikipedia has imposed a 10-day ban on the IP address connected to the US House of Representatives. A series of edits described as “disruptive” were revealed on the Twitter account @congressedits that tracks edits made from Congress IP addresses. The account bans all anonymous edits from the IP which affects thousands of staffers. House staffers could make a Wikipedia account, which would allow them to continue editing.

the_big_endian posted the Verge report that Comixology is making DRM-free backups of purchased comics available for some of its catalog. Some publishers have not agreed to remove DRM, and comics from those publishers will not be available. However those that are can be downloaded from the “My Books” section of Comixology’s site as PDF and CBZ files. posted the Verge report that Comixology is making DRM-free backups of purchased comics available for some of its catalog. Some publishers have not agreed to remove DRM, and comics from those publishers will not be available. However those that are can be downloaded from the “My Books” section of Comixology’s site as PDF and CBZ files.

Discussion Section:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/25/5934849/trailers-predestination-dear-white-people-honeymoon-nightcrawler-out-of-print

http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/24/comic-con-bans-google-glass/?ncid=rss_truncated

Pick of the Day: Waze

Monday’s guest:  Eklund of hockeybuzz.com