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

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

Headlines

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

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

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

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

News From You

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://novelizationrealization.tumblr.com/

Thursday’s guest: Breki Tomasson

Allison Sheridan is on the show today. We’ll cover the big GamesCon announcements like Skylander, how Viv will beat Siri’s pants off, and why women spend more money on and are more loyal to mobile games. Won’t you join us?

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: Allison Sheridan, host of The NosillaCast on podfeet.com

Headlines

Microsoft delivered a slate of Xbox news at GamesCon in Cologne , Germany. CNET compiled a list of the announcements. The Xbox will get an exclusive on “Rise of the Tomb Raider” set to arrive in late 2015. The Xbox One will get DLNA support for media centers as well as the ability to playback media from USB. Two new bundles are coming. An all-white Xbox One with “Sunset Overdrive” will sell for $400 w/o Kinect on 10/28/ and “Call of Duty Advanced Warfare” with a specially skinned Xbox One and 1TB hard drive arrives fro $500 November 3. Among several other game-related announcements, the Halo 5: Guardians beta begins December 29.

Bloomberg has talked with the secret society of “people with knowledge of the matter” and THEY say Apple’s suppliers have started manufacturing new 9.7-inch iPads. A new version of the 7.9-inch iPad mini is also entering production. A different group known as “people familiar with the situation” have said Apple will make announcements on Sept. 9.

Lyft gave some data to CNN which apparently shows 177 Uber employees ordered and canceled more than 5,000 rides from the rival company since October 2013. Lyft drivers complained that even when they don’t cancel they sometimes take short low-profit rides in which they try to convince Lyft drivers to come work for Uber. Uber told Ars Technica the claims are “patently false,” although Uber does run promotions to get riders and driver to convince other drivers to come work for Uber. 

GigaOm reports Apple is the latest in a string of tech companies releasing diversity reports. Of Apple’s 98,000 employees, 55% identify as white, 15% Asian, and 7% black. 70% are male, which is about the same as Google and Facebook. If you don’t count retail stores, 35% of Apple employees are women, but if you further limit it to tech roles, it drops to 20%. In Apple’s leadership team, 64% are white, 21% Asian, and 72% male. 

Wired has an excellent Steven Levy write-up about Viv Labs attempt to make a truly intelligent digital assistant in the mode of Siri. Viv’s cofounders Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham all created Siri. For two years they’ve been working on Viv. The difference between Viv and Siri is that Viv should be able to learn on the fly and understand requests it wasn’t pre-programed to. For example take “Give me a flight to Dallas with a seat that Shaq could fit in?” Siri would search the Web for keywords. Viv will generate its own program to link information from Kayak, SeatGuru and an old NBA Media Guide. Viv is designed on three pillars: It will be taught by the world, it will know more than it is taught, and it will learn something every day. 

BBC News reports that Activision’s putting out a version of Skylander for tablets. Skylander is a free game where kids unlock in-game content by buying RFID enhanced action figures and placing them on a base station,— which IN TURN unlocked 2 billion dollars in sales for Activision. The tablet version will also be free. To use the figurines, you’ll need a new version of the portal base which connects by Bluetooth. The app comes out for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire in October.

Sony had its share of Gamescon announcements in Cologne as well. The company announced it sold 10 million PS4 consoles worldwide. Sold not shipped. A new feature called “Share Play” will come inSystem update 2.0 and allow your friends to join a game or take over the controls from anywhere even if they don’t own the game. NBA2K, Towerfall and Child of Light were all mentioned as implemtning SharePlay. Europe got a couple announcements. PlayStation Now the game streaming service, won’t arrive until sometime in 2015. However, Sony’s PlayStation TV, essentially a Vita in console form will come to Europe November 14th for99 euros.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/08/share-play-will-let-you-play-any-ps4-game-with-friends-online/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/sony-teases-a-virtual-couch-mode-for-ps4-multiplayer-even-if-your-friend-doesnt-own-the-game/?ncid=rss

http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/12/sony-playstation-tv-europe/?ncid=rss_truncated

News From You

ancrod2 posted the Washington Post story that the US FCC has established a task force to study misuse of surveillance technology that intercepts cellular signals to locate people, monitor calls, and send malicious software. The tech described is an IMSI catcher often called “Stingray” and is widely used by police and intelligence services. The devices work by mimicking cell towers. The FCC wants to determine the extent to which criminals and foreign intelligence services use the technology against US citizens. 

Hurmoth pointed out the 9to5 Mac story that the USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced the USB Type C connector is ready for production. The new smaller USB port features a reversible connector. Its powerful enough that one design can work for both PCs and mobile devices. The spec allows for 10 Gbps speed and USB Power Delivery of up to 100W. 

habichuelcondulce and TexasTeacher both submitted links about Tim Davis. Who is Tim Davis? Well, if you’re one of the many people who’ve been feeling a little empty inside because there’s been no outrageous Comcast customer service call lately, Tim Davis is your new best friend. Davis moved to a new apartment, and chose to self-install his Comcast wireless equipment. Everything worked just fine for a few weeks. Until it didn’t. A Comcast technician was dispatched, and discovered a problem with the wires outside. Since the problem was out of Davis’s control, he was told there would be no cost to him. On a call. Which he SECRETLY RECORDED. Then he got the bill. And lo, there were charges. Almost two hundred dollars worth, including a failed self-install. So Davis called again. And things did Not Go Well. But that crafty Tim Davis, he had a SECRET RECORDING, which he played for the Comcast rep. And only because of this SECRET RECORDING, he got his money back. So Comcast customers, perhaps its time to start SECRETLY RECORDING every single call you make to Comcast. Ever. Needless to say the link to this SECRET RECORDING will be in the show notes.

Discussion Links:

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/08/08/report-women-are-more-engaged-and-spend-more-than-men-when-it-comes-to-mobile-games/

http://www.flurry.com/blog/flurry-insights/mobile-gaming-females-beat-males-money-time-and-loyalty#.U-pbDoBdXA7

http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/09/women-gamers-are-spending-more-time-in-the-mobile-gaming-sphere-than-men-says-report/

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 the Sword And Laser Store.    

Pick of the Day: MouseWait via Producer Jennie.

Producer Jennie has returned from conducting very important business at Disneyland. While she was there she relied heavily on The Mousewait app.——— If you’re in the US and headed to Disneyworld in Florida or Disneyland & California Adventure in Anaheim, CA, the MouseWait app uses close to real-time data from their dedicated social community to post wait times and fast pass availability for every ride and popular food spots in both parks. The app also features an overall crowd index, a programmable To-Do list and a lively community posting advice. I rigorously field-tested the app, on our past two trips and found it impressively accurate. The app is ad-supported and free, and available on iphone for both parks and on Android just for Disneyland so far. If you want to learn more about it, check out mousewait.com

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

Nate Lanxon is on the show today to chat about the Hachette-Amazon spat, as well as a little on Broadwell chips and the $300 million 60 Tb/s cable Google wants to lay.

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
The New York Times spoke with three Apple employees about a training program known as Apple University. Steve Jobs started the program in 2008 and hired the dean of Yale’s School of Management to head it. Classes are described using things like Picasso’s “The Bull” to illustrate simplification. The classes are taught year-round tailored to particular positions within the company.

CNET reports Intel’s long-delayed 14 nm Broadwell chips are finally in significant production. Intel said the first systems using Core M, the lowest power Broadwell variant, will hit store shelves during the holiday season. Most Broadwell powered devices will come in 2015. The Core M “enables less than 9 millimeter fanless two-in-ones for the first time from Intel. Core M is 50% smaller, 30% thinner and has a 60% lower power idle than Haswell.

The Next Web reports Google has joined an effort to create a Trans-Pacific cable system called Faster by Q2 2016. Google joins China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, KDDI, and SingTel, with NEC as the system supplier of the $300 million project. FASTER will feature 6-fiber-pair cable and optical transmission with expected capacity of 60Tb/s connecting the West coast of the US with Chikura and Shima Japan.

GigaOm reports Microsoft announced the Nokia 130 Monday, on sale for €19. The candybar styled handset runs Nokia OS and can play music and display videos on its 1.8-inch screen. http://gigaom.com/2014/08/11/microsoft-debuts-e19-phone-and-no-it-doesnt-run-windows-phone/
Huawei told Shanghai’s China Business News that the company plans to phase out more than 80% of its low-end mobile phones in the second-half of this year. Huawei says the majority of low-end phones it makes are for carriers, not because of customer demand. Huawei intends to focus on branding its own models.

Reuters reports Xiaomi rolled out a software upgrade Sunday to fix a loophole in its cloud messaging system that triggered unauthorized collection of data from user’s contacts. Xiaomi Vice President Hugo Barra apologized for the unauthorized data collection and said the company only collects phone numbers in users’ address books to see if the users are online. The messaging system will be opt-in from now on and numbers sent to Xiaomi will be encrypted and not stored.

NEWS FROM YOU
MikePKennedy sent the Engadget story that Acer announced a new 13-inch ChromeBook with a 1080p HD display and a claimed 13 hours of battery life running a quad-core Tegra K1 chip from Nvidia. That makes the $299 laptop the first with an NVIDIA processor inside.

dbrodbeck posted the Wired article by Mat Honan reporting his experience after liking everything he saw on Facebook for two days. After the first hour of the experiment the humans were gon from his feed. Content mills rose to the top and it became about brands. His entire feed was filled with Huffing ton Post and Upworthy. It also littered his friends feeds with all the things he liked.

Plug of the day: Alpha Geek Radio – mobile and regular

Discussion Story

Hachette CEO: “More than 80% of the ebooks we publish are priced at $9.99 or lower” — Tech News and Analysis

Amazon Drags Authors, Readers and George Orwell Into Its Fight With Hachette | Re/code

Amazon puts Disney DVD and Blu-ray pre-orders on hold in latest contract dispute | The Verge

An Important Kindle request

If you love books then you should be rooting for Amazon, not Hachette or the Big Five — Tech News and Analysis

Authors United

Amazon and Hachette: The dispute in 13 easy steps – LA Times

Much at Stake in Amazon-HBG Fight

German Publishers Seek Amazon Inquiry – NYTimes.com

Amazon’s E-Books Antitrust Clash in Germany on EU Radar – Bloomberg

Calendar
EA’s new subscription service is now available to all Xbox One owners, not just beta participants. The service gives you unlimited access to select EA games for $4.99 a month or $29.99 per year

In 1950 – Steve Wozniak was born in San Jose, California. He would grow up to invent the first successful personal computer, and revolutionize desktop computing.

In 1965 – Shinji Mikami was born in Japan. He grew up to become a video game designer for Capcom, revolutionizing survival-horror games with his popular series, Resident Evil.

Lockheed Martin has set the launch of DigitalGlobe’s high-resolution WorldView-3 satellite for August 13th. Its creators can start selling extra-sharp pictures (with detail down to the 10-inch level) six months after the craft is up and running.

Pick of the day:
Elder Scrolls Online from Nate Lanxon
Send your picks to feedbackatdailytechnewsshow.com and you can find MY picks at dailytechnewsshow.com/picks.

Messages of the day (feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com)
Call from Dave in Orlando on Twitch

“Hi Tom & Jennie,

The head-up display discussed on Friday was provided by my car manufacturer. It really is very useful – showing my speed, turn-by-turn directions, etc. while keeping my eyes on the road. I also have my phone connected through bluetooth which allows me to see and interact with a limited amount of information such as audio tracks and incoming calls. And that’s it! I can’t read texts or email nor would I ever want to.

I look forward to seeing third party apps built into our cars (after all Waze is more accurate than my in-car sat nav), but there needs to be continued thoughtful consideration about what kinds of information drivers should be allowed to access.

Love the show!
Dave”

Thanks to Nate Lanxon

Tomorrow’s guest: Allison Sheridan of Nosillacast

Veronica Belmont is here to talk Twitch crackdowns and WarKittehs. Yes Kittens who hack WiFI. No kidding.

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

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

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: 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