Patrick Beja talks with us about Connecticut’s ‘pole neutrality’ plan for gigabit fiber, and how John Oliver may have pointed the way towards explaining other tech and security topics.

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Show Notes
Today’s guests: Patrick Beja

Headlines: 

Tech Crunch reports that HBO Now is available from Apple and Cablevision. The new service, announced back in March, provides access to HBO’s entire streaming content library, as well as new shows as they air for $14.99/month. If you sign up now you get one free month. Unlike HBO Go, the service doesn’t require a user to subscribe via their cable or satellite TV provider.

Business Insider has a screenshot of what appears to be a memo from Apple’s SVP of Retail and Online Sales that reads, “The days of waiting in line and crossing fingers for a product are over for our customers.” It asks employees to encourage customers to order the Apple Watch and new MacBook pro online. The source who leaked the memo says UK shoppers will ONLY be able to order the Watch online.

The Next Web brings us the news that Twitter is expanding the “Quote Tweet” button. Once the update rolls your way, the RT button will now embed the tweet instead of just quoting it as text, leaving you 116 characters with which to comment. The new Quote Tweet button is rolling out to iPhone and Web users now and Android users in the near future. And according to TNW, there are plans for Twitter’s API to support the updated feature.

TechCrunch reports Xiaomi is changing its ways in India.
The company will allow Amazon India and SnapDeal to sell Mi products online. Flipkart already does so. Physical stores from Airtel and The Mobile Store will carry Mi products as well.

The Telegraph reports that an Australian court ordered local ISPs to turn over details of thousands of customers who’s IP addresses are associated with Torrents of the film Dallas Buyers Club. The ISPs argued it would be “Economically pointless” for the producers to try recover the value of each copy of the movie valued at less than $10 Australian, and that a single sliver of the film was shared from each IP address meaning copyright infringement was minor.The judge disagreed and felt deterring piracy was important enough to issue the order but limited what the plaintiffs could do with the information. Peter Wells wrote us about this and pointed out that ” any letters sent to customers will need to be court approved – so no one gets a terrifying email.”

Susan Crawford has an interesting post on BackChannel describing how the US state of Connecticut plans to roll out gigabit fiber to its citizens. The key was requiring owners of poles to obey a Single Pole Administrator to open up pole access. Participating cities then proposed ways they could aid fiber rollout like expedited permitting and now are considering responses. The New England Cable Television Association claims Connecticut already has adequate capacity and the plan would cost taxpayers.

 

News From You:

The Corley sent us story from Rdmag.com thatStandford professor, Hongjie Dai and his colleagues have developed rechargeable aluminum batteries that use graphene foam for the cathode to make a safer alternative to lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries. The new aluminum battery prototype has shown “unprecedented charging times” of down to a minute and charge-discharge cycles of more than 7500 times. A lithium-ion battery lasts for around 1000 cycles. The capacity per weight is no betetr than lead acid which is significantly lower than lithium ion.

KAPT_Kipper shared an ArsTechnica story that newly elected board member of the Bitcoin Foundation, Oliver Janssens, declared the group effectively bankrupt in a blog post. He wrote: “Members have a right to know that the current board failed to tell them the truth, and that their way of running the organization resulted in it going bankrupt.” The non-profit’s 2013 tax filings showed it ended that year with more than $4.7 million in total assets. No 2014 financial details have been released.

GeekCitizen sent us this Engadget update. This Friday the Star Wars movies will be available as digital downloads through iTunes, Google Play, Xbox, Playstation, Vudu and others. Extras will include featurettes for each film and interviews with key contributors. The complete set is listed on Vudu for preorder at $90, and Google Play lists each movie for $20 each. And yeah, they’re the special editions.

Dmmacs sent the Android Central writeup of the news that Amazon finally supports Android tablets for Amazon Prime Instant Video in the UK.  Amazon Prime came to tablets in the US last week.  Users have to get the app from the Amazon App store which has to be installed by allowing non-Google Play store apps.

 

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/06/john-oliver-snowden-interview/?a_dgi=aolshare_reddit

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/24/people-ignore-security-warnings-browsing-web

 

Pick of the day:

Mike from lovely (and very, very dry) Fremont, CA here.

For a very well done “parody” Twitter account, I suggest that everyone check out @SwiftOnSecurity. She hits all the major nerd buttons: Info Sec information that rivals HAK5 (a tall order) with a lot more snark; pithy warnings about the rise of the machines and their inevitable dominion over us clueless humans; and some great links. I look forward to her tweets every day.

Please keep up the great work and thanks.

Mike

 

Messages

Katie: I have probably missed the moment, but I wanted to share with you some thoughts about the Amazon Dash button. I am a Mom of three who has bought all my diapers through Amazon Subscribe and Save for years. I have tried several times to subscribe to other household items, but every time I find I am horrible at predicting how often I actually need to buy new stuff. I usually end up just canceling the subscription. With the Dash button I don’t have to figure it out – I can just push a button when I need more. If they can tie this in with some kind of discount/reward system like the subscription discounts I am all in.

Greg from the finally getting warmer Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois: “I am a Systems Analyst for a good size school district and have been following the Chrome on a stick development. With PCs doing the same, it is really going to help with keeping computers updated within schools. Now as long as we purchase decent monitors that include an HDMI port we can update computers more often.”

LWATCDR:
1. Signage. How many places use an HD tv as a sign today? With a built in PC you can update them over wifi.
2. Schools, office, government, kiosks all could use them in a managed environment.
3. A home PC. My monitor has a USB Hub on it. Plug the stick into the USB port on the monitor and the then plug in the monitor and you have an all in one PC that do a lot of basic tasks.

Rich from Lovely Cleveland: “I don’t think the idea of Apple putting a fanless Core M CPU and a couple of USB-C connectors in a tiny aluminum slab is completely outlandish, although …Apple loves a dramatic reveal of a refreshed product design, and they could follow in the iPod tradition and call it the Mac Nano. Just a thought.”

Frank in Indy is a program manager at an Ed Tech software company and they use accessibility testing firms all the time for their products. He writes: “Deque (“Deck-Q”) and (a href=”http://www.ssbbartgroup.com”> SSB Bart Group are 2 that I’m familiar with. They will test for color blindness, sight, and hearing impaired access and navigation for your website or application. There are also certifications available like those at http://www.section508.gov/, referred to as “section 508 compliance”.

Chris from surprisingly spring like Amesbury (a mile from Stonehenge) emails about the discussion on checking for accessibility:

For someone interested in this there are two sites I’d reccomend.
http://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/ gives a good list of easy, intermediate and hard changes that you can make to make your game or app accessible to a wider audience.”

And then he has a site he co-runs: “At ergohacks.com one of the things we do is take products and apply that checklist mentality to it. We do a conventional review then look at it from the perspective of someone with visual problem, hearing,control or mobility problems, ease of use and trigger warnings and whatever else will be relevent.

=====

Wednesday’s guest: Scott Johnson!

Todd Whitehead is on the show today to talk about the Intel Compute Stick, Chromebit, and the future of PCs on a stick.

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

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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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s Guest: Todd Whitehead, head geek of Alpha Geek Radio 

Headlines

Reuters reports Twitter complied with Turkey’s request to remove photographs of a hostage taking by left-wing militants in Istanbul last week, causing a block on the site to be lifted. YouTube is among several sites that remained blocked. An Istanbul judge ordered access blocked to social media sites showing photographs of the slain prosecutor, Mehmet Selim Kiraz. Presidential spokesman said a prosecutor had demanded the block because of concerns the images could be used to spread terrorist propaganda. Twitter says Turkey filed more than five times as many content-removal requests than any other country in the second half of 2014.

(more…)

Since Len and Darren both had conflicts, and it’s the Good Friday holiday in some parts of the world, Tom just talks about the main headlines and reads a few extra emails.

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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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Justin Young is in to talk about Comcast’s 2Gbps Internet in Atlanta and why it took them so long. Are finally seeing competition in the US?

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 5 cents 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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s Guests: Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor and co-host of Night Attack, Weird Things and the JuRYmore podcast

Headlines

Reuters reports Google and Mozilla will no longer trust new domain certificates issued by the China Internet Network Information Center, which allocates and certifies IP addresses and domain names. The actions come after CNNIC issued an unrestricted intermediary certificate to Egypt’s MCS Holdings. Through human error the certificate was installed in a firewall device and generated certificates for domain names owned by Google, making man in the middle attacks possible. Google has removed CNNIC root certificates from Chrome though it is whitelisting existing certificates for a limited time. Ars Technica reports Mozilla will no longer trust certificates with a notBefore date on or after April 1st. Both companies said CNNIC can reapply for full inclusion. CNNIC called the Google decision “unacceptable and unintelligible.”

Reuters reports that Microsoft’s popular mobile scanning app Office Lens is coming to iOS and Android. The app uses the camera to take a photo of an item, crops the image and stores it in Microsoft’s One Note or OneDrive cloud storage app, or can save the image as a word file, Powerpoint presentation or PDF. It uses OCR for searchable text, and it’s FREE.

It’s time to check in on which Silicon Valley company Europe is regulating today! WSJ says the European Commission asking companies that filed complaints against Google for permission to publish some information in advance filing charges in the five-year-old antitrust investigation.

I got one! Marketwatch says government privacy regulators from France, Spain and Italy have joined the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium investigating Facebook handles personal information. At issue is combining information from multiple services like Instagram and WhatsApp for adsales purposes, and using like buttons to track browsing.

And for the hat trick. Don’t think you’re getting away clean Apple. Reuters says antitrust regulators are investigating Beats deals with record labels to see if they unfairly limit access to music for rival services. The EU sent out questionnaires about licensing terms and wants answers by April 17.

Just a heads up that David Pierce over at Wired has an excellent in-depth piece on the Apple Watch called “Iphone Killer: The Secret History of the Apple Watch.” Through interviews with Apple’s Kevin Lynch And Alan Dye, he tells how the watch evolved from a modified iPhone strapped to a wrist to a device with taptic feedback and finely-tuned interface.

The “App Runtime for Chrome” is a beta program that enables Android apps to run on Chrome OS. Ars Technica reports that Google will now allow any developer to run their app on ARC and allow ARC to officially run on Windows Mac and Linux versions of the Chrome browser through the Chrome App ARC Welder. So yeah Android apps can now run anywhere but iOS.

Kotaku reports the latest PS4 firmware update added a feature called Zoom which helps visually impaired players see things like text better. When in an interface or when the game is paused a button combo can zoom in on the screen and the zoomed area can be moved around with the directional pad.The firmware also allows customization of controller layouts.

Engadget reports Samsung announced its latest set of 4K TVs. The JS9500 coming later this month starts at $6500, with a curved screen, nanocrystal technology, full array local dimming backlight and PurColor. You can get it in 65-inch or 88-inch sizes. The most inexpensive of the bunch is the JU6700 series, which starts at $949.99 for the 40-inch sometime this spring.

 

 

 

 

News From You

h82or8 sent us the Lifehacker post on the results of an independent Security Audit of TrueCrypt. The results? There was no evidence of backdoors or serious flaws. Researchers did uncover a few issues regarding the random number generator and the possibility of “cache timing” attacks but these were considered a minimal threat. Bottom line TrueCrypt is still secure for most usage scenarios despite the project being halted indefinitely last year. The bigger problem is the piling up of bugs and the legal limitations of the license that prevent forks even now that the project is abandoned. Lifehacker recommends using its open-source successor, VeraCrypt.
starfuryzeta shared an ArsTechnica story that Firefox 37 has opportunistic encryption turned on by default. Opportunistic encryption, or OE, is a bridge between plaintext HTTP connections and HTTPS connections. Essentially it encrypts data to all servers configured for OE. A company might choose to do OE instead of HTTPS because it has a bunch of legacy content that will be really expensive to migrate. Critics say that’s the problem. OE could encourage delay of HTTPS implementation. Also OE can’t cryptographically validate that the server is who it says it is. Opportunistic Encryption is not as secure as HTTPS but for the end user, it’s better than nothing.

Racer_Rick submitted the Verge article about Comcast announcing 2 Gbps symmetrical fiber to the home service coming to 1.5 million residents in Atlanta starting next month. Customers must live in close proximity to Comcast’s existing fiber and accept installation of “professional-grade” equipment. No word on cost. Comcast also said it intends to expand 2gb service to 18 million homes by the end of 2015 and at least gigabit service to almost all customers in its footprint by the end of 2016.

Discussion Links: 

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8330267/comcast-2gbps-gigabit-pro-broadband

http://corporate.comcast.com/news-information/news-feed/comcast-begins-rollout-of-residential-2-gig-service-in-atlanta-metro-area

http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/6/4400382/comcast-google-fiber-gigabit-broadband-internet

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/google-fiber-new-metro-areas.html

http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/04/comcast-merger-to-bring-8-billion-in-price-reductions-to-businesses/

 

Pick of the Day: This Week in Science

Andrew from strangely sunny Portland Oregon here and I would like to suggest the show This Week In Science with Dr. Kiki. I know that you (Tom) are aware of TWIS but I think a lot of the DTNS audience would really enjoy it. Thank you for being my daily news source for the last couple of years and I hope there are many more to come.

Message of the Day

Anonymous writes:

I just thought I could add some more context to your great accessibility discussion yesterday. I’ve been a Program Manager in Windows since Windows 7 so I’m fairly well versed in how accessibility works internally.

I was sad to hear Allison’s examples, I didn’t realize those crashes existed. I know from firsthand experience that every feature owner on every team absolutely needs to review accessibility as a core tenet before it’s approved to ship in any release. It’s right up there with privacy and security as a non-optional tenet, and will be considered a ship blocker if accessibility is not reviewed and accounted for. This has been true since long before Windows 7, well over a decade.

The way Windows works sounds very similar to iOS and Mac OS. If you use native controls, everything should be automatic from the developer’s perspective. The problems arise when developers create their own custom controls, which is often the case for many legitimate reasons.

One note, the “start button” example Allison pointed out was simply the solution for accessible users since when Windows 8 shipped, launching start required hovering the mouse in the lower left corner. For keyboard navigation there was a fake “start button” there, which also launched the start screen for screen reader users. Doesn’t sound like a bug, just a misunderstanding

========

 

Tomorrow: Headlines only show

Allison Sheridan joins us to talk about the world’s connectivity divide and how Microsoft’s doing making software accessible.

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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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Patrick Beja is on today and we’ll talk about whether Amazon’s new Dash Button is bringing retail to far into your home.

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 5 cents 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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests: Patrick Beja

Headlines: 

Microsoft unveiled the Surface 3 (not the Pro, the regular one) and it has an Atom x7 propcessor in place of the ARM-designed Tegra, according to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley. The tablet starts at $499 has a 10.8” 1920×1280 ClearType HD Display, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. 128GB storage and 4GB of RAM costs $599. Ports include USB 3, Mini DisplayPort, microSD card reader, and Micro USB charging port and will ship with a free one year subscription to Office 365 Personal. The keyboard is sold separately for $130 and the stylus is also separate for $50. You can preorder the Wifi versions from Microsoft today. You can slo get LTE versions sold through T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless stores in the US later this year.

CNET reports Google announced new Chrome OS devices Tuesday.
The Asus Chromebit is an HDMI stick with WiFi and Bluetooth that will sell for less than $100 this summer. The all-metal Chromebook Flip is a tablet with a keyboard for $249. And two new $149 laptops meant for the education market were introduced. You can preorder the Haier laptop on Amazon and the Hisense laptop on Walmart.
Google intends to release about 10 new Chromebooks in the next few months.

Twitter has publicly launched Curator, a real-time search and filtering tool designed for media outlets. Tech Crunch reports the free service lets users create complex queries to find specific content or current trends. Filters include keywords, usernames, location, language, time zone, follower count, number of re-tweets or favorites, verified users, and can be combined for complex queries. Curator can also natively search through Periscope and Vine videos.

The Verge reports that Android users can now make voice calls on WhatsApp as part of an update that rolls out today.  Click the brand new Calls tab and select a contact to start talking. Voice calling for the app will come to iOS later.

TechCrunch reports Tidal turns out not to just be owned by Jay-Z but 17 other artist and Softbank as well according to the NY Post. The music service will be partnering with Softbank-owned Sprint. Tidal plans to offer limited time exclusives of new releases from artists at around a week in advance of other services. Engadget passes along a Billboard report that Apple-owned Beats’ Jimmy Iovine has already been trying to steal artists from Tidal.

The Wall Street Journal reports Raptr raised $14 million to support the launch of Plays.tv. The new service lets players record, edit and share key gameplay moments. CEO of Raptr, Dennis Fong equated it to the “Share” button on the PS4 for PC gamers. Raptr will be targeting amateur gamers.

The Next Web reports India has begun its national net neutrality discussion. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a 118-page long consultation paper March 27. Citizens can voice their opinion on 20 questions about on the licensing of internet services in India by emailing advqos@trai.gov.in before April 24. Interesting ly the Cellular Operators Association of India is lobbying against against net neutrality and counts Google and Facebook as members.

IBM will invest $3 billion over the next four years in a new “Internet of Things” unit according to Reuters. Services will leverage data from building sensors, smartphones, and home appliances.As an example, the first major partnership will let customers of Weather Co do things like advise customers of safe places to park in advance of a hailstorm. Great for insurance companies. IBM expects $40 billion in a annual revenue from cloud, big data, security and other areas by 2018.

News From You:

Starfuryzeta sent us the Engadget report that on Monday the US Supreme court clarified and affirmed that if the government puts a GPS tracker on you, your car, or your personal effects it counts as a search and is subject to the 4th amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure. The clarification came in a unanimous ruling on Torrey Dale Grady v. North Carolina. Grady, a twice-convicted sex offender was made to wear a GPS monitor at all times. Grady sued the state claiming this qualified as an unreasonable search. The case now returns to the lower court, and all lower courts will now need to address the 4th amendment in monitoring cases.

Sunbun noticed Amazon has launched a new program called Dash Button. The program gives you a plastic wifi-enabled button you can associate with a limited number of regularly used products like paper towels or razor blades. Push the button and the product is re-ordered from Amazon. Amazon is encouraging manufacturers to build the system into products like coffee machines that reorder beans or water filters that reorder filtration cartridges. The program is invite only for Amazon Prime members.

Starfuryzeta submitted the Guardian report that the Belgian study determined Facebook tracks web browsing at its site even if a user does not have a Facebook account or has opted out of tracking. EU law requires prior consent before issuing a cookie or performing tracking. A Facebook spokesperson said the report contains factual inaccuracies and the authors never contacted Facebook. The studies authors said they would be happy to hear from Facebook.

Discussion Section Links:  

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/03/31/amazons-dash-buttons-let-you-re-order-household-essentials-with-virtually-no-effort/

https://www.amazon.com/oc/dash-button?reqInv=1

https://www.amazon.com/oc/dash-replenishment-service

https://fresh.amazon.com/dash/

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/31/amazons-new-dash-button-hardware-offers-instant-orders-for-staple-products/#TQUNqg:pZMw

 

Pick of the day:

Hey Tom, Jenny & Guest,

Came across this cool iphone 6/6 Plus case today and wanted to make it my pick. It’s the ALM mCAMLITE Stabilizer Mount with Video Lens & Mic for iPhone 6/6 Plus.

This all aluminum iphone case turns your stock iphone camera into a wide angle or macro lens, and includes a mic for recording better audio.

I saw an unboxing video/review for this product and it looks really solid. And for $123 on amazon, it’s not a bad price either!

Thanks for a great show as always!

Your boss from BC,
Jamie

Messages

I loved your talk with Molly regarding streaming service. Especially mentioning the Pono service and apathy towards quality of the music. I have to add that regardless of the 24 bit 96/192 KHz lossless files many of the tracks available are just high bitrate versions of blown out and dynamically compressed masters. Something audiophiles snub their noses at. It is a matter of garbage-in-garbage-out. Love the show.

Alisdair in snow covered Moncton (I almost used an expletive instead of snow covered)

Mike in Sunny Beirut:

I personally use Google Music, which offers streaming like Spotify, but also includes my own library to suppliment songs google doesn’t offer. Amazon Prime members have access to a similar service, although with less free storage.

John in lovely Billings, MT :

My service of choice is Google Play Music for one very important reason – you can upload your own music to seamlessly augment the streaming catalog. This came in handy when Taylor Swift pulled her singles when the new album released. You can buy it directly from Google or anywhere else that gives you the MP3s and boom, problem solved.

Rich from Lovely Cleveland:

You briefly touched on this with Molly yesterday, but I think it’s a major point: the fact that albums are becoming a thing again is a testament to the success of Spotify. It’s a major milestone that streaming music has become so ubiquitous that artists now see the benefit of effectively “pre-releasing” their albums ahead of streaming to capitalize on sales, knowing that between Spotify and YouTube they’ll have a consistent revenue stream going forward after the release. This isn’t the death of piracy, but this emphasis on album releases is the validation of the streaming model. Its actually a very exciting precedent.
Sean, on his way to lovely Cleveland:

Re: the Apple Watch. How hard would it have been to use recycled aluminum? Maybe they are, but I don’t recall seeing it mentioned. If an 80’s K-car can become paperclips why can’t old beer cans become an apple watch. Apple uses so much metal that does not need to bear a large load. Maybe they are using recycled material but I have not seen anything to say that they are.

Garin (as in “guarantee”) from Los Angeles:

My “brother” (who is actually my friend *wink*) I have added as one of my family members on my Prime account contacted Amazon Customer service when he had a package that missed the estimated 2 day delivery. The CS agent went ahead and credited MY Prime account with a free month, without any hesitation. Though this might not help the potential “congestion” of Amazon Prime, I thought Molly and other listeners might find this tip may ease their frustrations caused by a missed delivery estimate.  Thanks for the show!

Randy writes:

As a follow-up to Molly’s problem with late Prime shipments, I just wanted to let you guys know that if your package is late, be it the fault of Amazon or UPS, they will extend your Prime membership one month, no questions asked.
In total, since I’ve been a Prime member, I’ve gotten six months free. Just contact them via chat support and getting it extended takes 2 minutes.

=====

Wednesday’s guests: Allison Sheridan!

Molly Wood and I discuss Jay-Z’s new artist-friendly music service and how albums may be making a digital comeback. IS the future of music iTunes again?

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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!

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Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

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

Show Notes

Darren Kitchen joins for a robot roundup. Google wants to help make surgical bots and a robotic exoskeleton invades India. Plus Len Peralta illustrates it all. Will he draw a robot? Who can say?

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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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Justin Young is here and we’ll talk with Steve Kovach about the new Samsung Galxy S6. Can it save Samsung?

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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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests: Justin Robert Young of Night Attack.tv and Steve Kovach, senior editor at Business Insider

Headlines: 

Twitter’s Periscope app launched today adding another mobile livestreaming app to the mix alongside Meerkat and others. Like Meerkat, Periscope lets you stream video live right from your phone and see chatting from viewers. Unlike Meerkat, the chatting is in app, not on Twitter, you can tap the screen to send hearts AND the biggest difference, Periscope archives videos for viewers to watch later. Periscope also lets you choose to tweet a link or not, and even invite selected people to private broadcasts.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge go on sale worldwide April 10 and US preorders will begin March 27. The Verge reports US pricing is between $20 and $35 a month on AT&T and T-Mobile. And PC Mag reports the HTC One M9 will also be available for pre-order in the US starting at $649 at 12:01 AM Eastern March 27th. The M9 hits stores April 10.

TechCrunch reports Amazon expanded its Cloud Drive service today. While Amazon Prime users can already get unlimited photo storage, non-prime users can now pay $11.99 a year for unlimited photo. All users can pony up $59.99 a year for unlimited storage of all media. You can try it free for three months.

Bloomberg reports its sources say Apple is working with Foxconn to begin a trade-in program for iPhone in China as soon as March 31st. Apple retail staff would assess the phone and offer credit. Foxconn would then repair the devices if needed and sell them through its own e-commerce sites and through Alibaba’s Taobao.

According to an Engadget story Reuters reports China’s Cyberspace Administration of China said that sexually explicit pictures and text including nude photos and erotic animation and stories of “one-night stands, wife-swapping, sexual abuse and other harmful information” will be subject to punishment if shared on WeChat. Accounts found to be in violation will be closed for a week on the 1st offense and permanently banned after 4 infractions. WeChat has around 438 million users in China and another 70 million outside the country.

The New York Times reports Trent Reznor who was chief creative officer for Beats prior to Apple’s acquisition, is playing a major role in a redesign of the service, according to Apple employees familiar with the product, who spoke on the condition they not be named because the plans are private. – ooh, new one! The redesign reportedly includes a subscription music-streaming service, and would incorporate curated playlists and more visual appeal from the Beats Music app. However, the report says Apple could not convince record labels to lower licensing costs.

Reuters reports a group of investors led by Japan’s SoftBank is in talks to buy a 20% stake in Indian handset maker Micromax for up to $1 billion. That values Micromax at $5 billion. Canalys reported Micromax became India’s leading smartphone provider in the 4th quarter, though Samsung, who did hold the lead, disputes the finding.

Like to ride in silence? Don’t take Lyft. The New York Times reports that Lyft will add user profiles for drivers and passengers to its app, including the option to add a hometown, musical tastes and other things that make for interesting conversation. If a user has connected their Facebook account, the Lyft app can show drivers and passengers if they have mutual friends. The new feature is meant to help passengers in the Lyft Line carpooling service to get know their new friends.

The Verge reports Microsoft’s universal apps will now be called Windows Apps. In an attempt to limit confusion and simplify things in Windows 10, engineer Don Box, revealed the new naming convention at a WinHEC developer event. “Windows apps runs on all devices, Windows desktop app is PC only. Windows apps run everywhere.”

 

 

 

 

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the European Commission press release calling for a Digital Single Market. The proposal wants to tackle geo-blocking, simplify VAT arrangements, make parcel delivery more affordable and efficient and balance copyright between the interests of consumers and creators.

the_corley sent us some awesome space news. NASA has decided on a plan for its Asteroid Redirect Mission that sadly does not involve Bruce Willis or capturing an entire asteroid. Instead, NASA decided that the ARM robotic spacecraft will take a boulder from an asteroid’s surface, then put it into orbit around the moon, where it can be studied and sampled. The Asteroid Redirect Mission is scheduled to launch in 2020.

 

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-first-impressions-2015-3

http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/26/8292311/galaxy-s6-edge-price-colors-verizon-att-sprint-t-mobile

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/a-first-look-at-the-samsung-galaxy-s6-and-s6-edge/?_r=0

http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-edge-preview-photos-release-date-2015-3?op=1

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s6-release-date-rumours-news-specs-and-price

 

Pick of the day:

Hi Tom and DTNS Crew , I’m $1 worth of a boss and I thought of a pick on the way home in grey and windy London (see pic attached) for you to let everyone know about. Of course everyone knows about Amazon Prime and how good its 2 day US and next day UK delivery, and instant video etc, but did you know you can share the prime delivery perks with your family members who live at the same address for free? Just go in to your prime account management and invite family members and its done and they get the free 2 day/next day delivery.

Keep on keeping on

Jody

Messages

Tom (I’m assuming all of these points will be in the discussion section today, but my two cents),

…I find myself much more compelled to use Meerkat. I’ve been coming around to the ephemeral nature of Snapchat for a while now, and I like the fact that with Meerkat, I can create a live stream of doing something silly to make a few of my friends laugh, but then I don’t have to worry about it following me around on social media down the line. Its temporally limited nature feels like it allows for more “authenticity” at the expense of production quality— Maybe Meerkat vs Periscope will become like Snapchat vs Instagram, their focus is completely different even though there are some surface similarities, and we’re only comparing them now because they both run on top of Twitter (arguably to Meerkat’s detriment now). Or Meerkat will be the next Chat Roulette and be dead in a month.

Also, by being able to save streams, isn’t Twitter opening itself up to a world of hurt (or at least inconvenience) with copyright issues?

Rich from Lovely Cleveland

=====

 

BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

 

Friday’s guests: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta!

Peter Wells is on the show to help review the F8 announcements and bring us up to speed on Australia’s move to allow warrantless metadata surveillance of all its citizens.

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Show Notes

Today’s Guest: Peter Wells, editor of Reckoner.au

Headlines

Lots of announcements from Facebook’s F8 developer keynote this morning. So let’s run through them. The big one was Messenger Platform. This allows developers to integrate Messenger into their apps. For example you can go from Messenger to the Giphy app to find that perfect animated GIF then back to messenger to send it to a friend. Or jump to the ESPN app to grab a story and send the link to a friend. Facebook is also trying out business communication over Messenger with Everlane and Zulily. Customers can talk to customer support and get order updates through messenger.

More from F8! Facebook will now support 360-degree ‘spherical’ videos in news feed which will also be supported in Facebook-owned Oculus Rift. You can also now embed Facebook videos on other sites, providing a direct challenge to YouTube.

Facebook also updated the comment system so that comments on a story Facebook sync with Facebook embedded comments on that story’s web page and vice versa.

And Facebook’s platform-as-a-service product Parse announced Parse for IoT, Enhanced Sessions to improve app security, support for React and a new debugging tool. The first step for IoT is an SDK for Arduino with other SDKs to come.

Engadget reports Sony announced the “yukimura” update will come to the PlayStation 4 tomorrow bringingthe long promised suspend/resume function that lets you go from sleep mode into a paused game. You also get the ability to back-up and restore to an extrenal USB drive, the ability to share to DailyMotion and search your Facebook contacts to find anyone who is also a PSN member. Finally verified accounts arrive to identify developers, producers, designers and community managers.

The Daily Dot has sources that say YouTube is planning to relaunch its live streaming platform with a renewed focus on live gaming and esports. YouTube has apparently recruited a team, of up to 50 engineers with expertise in the streaming industry. The company will likely make an official announcement on its revamped streaming service around E3 in June.

Engadget reports Leap Motion announced it’s building an optional faceplate to add motion sensing to Razer’s Open Source Virtual Reality headset. The faceplate will be an option for the OSVR dev kit expected to be available for pre-order in May with units shipping in June at the earliest. Leap hopes to embed its motion sensors in more VR headsets.

Gizmodo reports Ford has introduced technology that limits a car’s top speed based on posted speed limit signs in the UK. The Intelligent Speed Limiter will be available on the Ford SMAX (S-Max? Or Smacks?) and uses a dashboard camera to keep an eye on road signs, adjusting the speed of the vehicle accordingly. Speed limit data can also be pulled from GPS systems if installed. If the vehicle exceeds the set speed limit, an audible warning alarm is triggered and the vehicle’s engine stops getting fuel until it slows down enough.

TechCrunch reports Apple has acquired FoundationDB, a company specializing in NoSQL databases. FoundationDB was well known for its ability to handle ACID-compliant transactions quickly and strong scalability of its database technology. TechCrunch notes the acquisition could bolster Apple’s server-side infrastructure for the App Store, iTunes, cloud services or rumored live TV service. A notice on the FoundationDB website notes that downloads of its database software is no longer available.

The Verge reports a free-to-play game called Halo Online will launch in closed beta this spring in Russia. The game was developed by 343 Industries along with Saber Interactive and Innova Systems. It will be a multiplayer only version of Halo 3 designed to run on low-end PCs. Activision recently partnered with Tencent to bring Call of Duty Online to PCs in China.

 

News From You

djsekani submitted the Verge article that Radio Shack put its database of 13 million customer email and 65 million physical addresses up for auction as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. Dominant shareholder Standard General won the bid but the court must approve. Attorneys general from Texas and Tennessee have challenged the purchase on the basis that Radio Shack’s privacy policy says it will not sell customer information. AT&T also claims it is the rightful owner of some of the data. The US FTC has previously allowed data like this to be sold in bankruptcy cases as long as the privacy policy is maintained and the buyer is in the same general line of business.

habichuelacondulce sent us the Verge story about Amazon’s testifying before a Senate subcommittee that the drone approved by the FAA is already obsolete. The FAA took a year and a half to process Amazon’s application to fly one specific model of drone. Amazon’s VP of global policy Paul Misener claimes the European Aviation Safety Agency, which treats drones as a new category of aircraft has a dramatically shorter approval time. Amazon also argued for automated flight to be allowed not just line of sight. Misener warned that drone innovation would suffer and development could move overseas to take advantage of less restrictive legislation.

Hobbit fromPA saw that ReCode saw a document outlining a new Google service called Pony Express that lets you receive and pay bills from within Gmail. Gmail users have to verify their identity with a third party and provide account numbers. Once done, bills show up in a special folder and users can choose to p[ay them from within Gmail, using a linked credit card or debit card. The service is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter.

 

Discussion Links: 

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-government-and-labor-reach-deal-on-metadata-retention-laws-20150319-1m2ozj.html

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/401876,offshore-storage-to-be-allowed-for-australian-data-retention.aspx

http://www.zdnet.com/article/team-australia-your-surveillance-is-ready/

http://www.zdnet.com/article/greens-propose-warrants-for-all-under-data-retention-amendments/#ftag=RSSbaffb68

http://www.afr.com/news/politics/how-to-get-around-the-metadata-laws-and-leak–to-me-20150325-1m74io

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/25/tech-giants-call-for-clear-strong-and-effective-end-to-nsas-phone-metadata-surveillance/?ncid=rss

 

Pick of the Day:  Sublime Text

Hi Tom & Jennie

On Friday’s show the listener’s pick was learn Python the Hard Way. This got me thinking about a pick that I’ve been meaning to send in for a while.

Sublime Text is a plain text editor with loads of useful features. In fact I’ve used it for several years as a web developer as my main editor. I even wrote my university dissertation using it! There’s also lots of plugins for it to assist with editing all sorts of languages or just plain text files.

Both major versions are free to use with a “unlimited trial”, which basically means every 15th time or so you press save you’ll have to close a popup window. Which sounds annoying but if you’re just editing the occasional file I think its totally fine.

So if you’re ever in need of a lightweight, easy to use text editor which is supported on all desktop platforms, Sublime Text is my go-to recommendation.

Keep up the good work,

Ali Smith a.k.a fortythieves in chat

P.S. [Feel free to ignore this during the show] I’ve been a bit slack on this myself, but I just wanted to put out a quick reminder that bestofbot is still a thing and archiving the best bits of DTNS

Message of the Day

It seems lately you or guests have made a mention to divx when talking about something that has failed. On episode #2453 JuRY mentioned it after talking about the DRM on LED. This was the last straw. There is no way you could be talking about DivX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX) the video codec because its a codec. It either is used or not but fail is kind of a strong word for a media wrapper.

So I did a search of the tubes in the event there was another meaning and sure enough Wikipedia has the answer. DIVX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX) was a Circuit City video rental service. I have no knowledge of this and I think I would have been their target audience.

Thank you for the great shows!

-Jim

======

Just wanted to let you and your audience know that the docket and some of the pleadings in the RadioShack BK case (case# 15-10197, Delaware), are available via the RECAP project on archive.org if they care to peruse (otherwise Pacer access cost $0.10 PER PAGE). While a Chapter 11 case is a morass of legalese and somewhat arcane procedures, it may be of some interest, if for nothing else then getting a glimpse at the inner workings and relationships of a large corporation. For a more readable version, your listeners can also checkout https://cases.primeclerk.com/radioshack , which does a better job of presenting the same info.

Rich from Lovely Cleveland

========

Rafael: Listening to the show and yes I use my roku in a hotel with a software program called connectify hotspot which creates a router based on hotel Wi-Fi.

Tomorrow’s guests:  Special early time at 11am PDT, 2pm EDT, with Justin Robert Young and Steve Kovach of Business Insider.