Molly wood is on the show and we’ll dig into what’s really going on with the net neutrality fight and hopefully dispel a few myths from all sides. Plus, Len Peralta is here to illustrate 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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Jason Hiner and Lyndsey Gilpin join the show and we’ll talk about Facebook’s new privacy tutorials and proposed privacy policies.

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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Jason Hiner, editor in chief of Tech Republic & Lyndsey Gilpin, staff writer at Tech Republic

Headlines:

The Next Web reports Facebook has launched a ‘Privacy Basics’ site to help people understand what options they have to protect their privacy while using the social network. The company also has made public their proposed new terms of service which are written in plain language. Users have until November 20 to provide feedback on Terms and Conditions, Data Usage and Cookies policies.

Sony is the first of the potential cord-cutter TV services to announce they’re ready to go. PlayStation Vue will offer live and on demand programming from more than 75 channels. Subscribers will need Internet and a PS3 or PS4. Sony intends to launch an iPad app too as well as apps for other devices. Networks include NBC Universal, Fox, Viacom and Scripps, but NOT ABC/Disney or Time Warner’s HBO. The service will launch in invite-only beta this month in New York, followed by Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angels. Sony intends to launch commercially in Q1 of 2015.

TechCrunch reports the Great Book War of 2014 has ended, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Amazon and the Hachette Book Group have agreed on a new multi-year agreement for e-book and print sales. Hachette will set its own prices for e-books, the so-called Agency model, but will receive “better terms” (aka more promotion) when those prices are closer to Amazon’s guidelines. The new prices will take effect in 2015, but Amazon will stop holding back pre-orders for Hachette titles now.

Reuters reports BlackBerry announced its new mobile security and device management platform Thursday. BES12 will let companies and government agencies manage Android, iOS and Windows devices along with BlackBerry’s own products. It will also be able to handle medical diagnostic equipment, indsutrial machinery and motor vehicles. Among the partnerships is one with Samsung to combine BB device management with Samsung’s KNOX Security platform for Android phones starting in early 2015. BlackBerry also announced partnerships with Salesforce.com and wireless distribution company Brightstar.

According to The Next Web, Nvidia announced the North American launch of its new cloud gaming service, called Grid. The service launches November 18th, and requires an Nvidia Shield tablet or handheld, on a 10 Mbps internet connection with a ping of 60ms or less to Grid servers. Once you have all that in place, you can play 20 games at launch including Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 2 and Darksiders II and the service is free until June 30. Nvidia also revealed that its Shield tablet will upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop on November 18th.

The Verge drops a little mathematical reality on the Taylor Swift Spotify grudge match. Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek said that Swift was projected to earn $6 million on his service, before she pulled all her tracks. Then the head of Swift’s label Scott Borchetta said, WTF? Spotify only gave us $500,000! Turns out, both numbers are true. Spotify paid Ms. Swift $500k for her US streams. Globally, they paid T-Swift $2 million dollars.The six million number Ek used was, as he said, projected earnings over time. Granted they were the most optimistic projection he could use since that gave him the biggest number.

Ars Technica reports Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington DC ruled country code top-level domains cannot be transferred as part of a civil judgement. The plaintiffs in Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran sought to have the top-level domains for Iran, Syria and North Korea transferred in compensation for damages awarded in a case brought regarding a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem by Hamas. The Court determined that country code top level domains cannot be conceptualized apart from domain name services and therefore cannot be garnished.

TechCrunch reports Reddit CEO Yishan Yong has resigned. Investor Sam Altman wrote on his blog that Yong resigned due to a disagreement about the price and location of a new Reddit office. COO Ellen Pao has become interim CEO and co-founder Alexis Ohanian has returned as full time executive chairman.

Microsoft said on Twitter today “We plan to upgrade all Windows Phone 8 devices to Windows 10 in the future.” So there you go folks. Upgrade path assured.

News From You:

anotherjmartin gave us the Ars Technica story that digital rights activists are continuing to criticize AT&T subsidiary Cricket for preventing email from being protected by STARTTLS by removing the STARTTLS flag that causes the encryption to take effect. EFF staff technologist Jacob Hoffman-Andrews posted Tuesday that ISPs must stop removing customer security measures. Last week VPN provider Golden Frog petitioned the FCC opposing the practice. A Golden Frog engineer discovered the issue. In our Oct. 15 show, Patrick Wolfe wrote in to note he had used Cisco ASA firewall software that broke STARTLS in a very similar way and speculated that might be going on with Cricket.

tm204 sent us a BBC article about physicists from the University of Vienna using the “twist” of a visible light beam to transmit information by laser through the sky above Vienna. Here’s how it worked. Twisted light photons, aka light with “orbital angular momentum” can twist like a corkscrew. Researchers set up a green laser in a tower and shone it on a spacial light modulator, which twisted the beam twice. When the light showed up on a screen three kilometers away it had a detectable pattern of dots, which the scientists then used to transmit black and white images. It could be used for fast transmission of data where separate channels can be sent simultaneously. The results were reported in the New Journal of Physics

Discussion Section: Facebook has new Terms of Service

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2014/11/13/facebook-proposes-changes-tcs-gets-basics-new-privacy-guides/

https://www.facebook.com/about/basics

https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=541939745937896

http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/11/updating-our-terms-and-policies-helping-you-understand-how-facebook-works-and-how-to-control-your-information/

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/facebook-tries-to-explain-its-privacy-settings-but-advertising-still-rules/?_r=0

http://recode.net/2014/11/13/facebooks-new-privacy-rules-clear-the-wear-for-a-payments-push-and-location-based-ads/

http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/13/facebook-expands-ads-based-on-sites-and-apps-you-use-to-australia-canada-france-germany-ireland-and-uk/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102138902#.

https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=platform&view

Pick of the Day: Desert Bus via krvhill

Charity season is here and I wanted to pick my favorite “desert bus for hope” https://desertbus.org a comedy troupe playing the world’s most boring videogame for child’s play charity. It is in its eighth year and keeps getting bigger. If you prefer different games check the schedule at http://www.childsplaycharity.org to see a list of other webathons coming in the next months.

Friday’s Guests: Molly Wood and Len Peralta

Jason Hiner and Lyndsey Gilpin join the show and we’ll talk about Facebook’s new privacy tutorials and proposed privacy policies.

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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Jason Hiner, editor in chief of Tech Republic & Lyndsey Gilpin, staff writer at Tech Republic

Headlines:

The Next Web reports Facebook has launched a ‘Privacy Basics’ site to help people understand what options they have to protect their privacy while using the social network. The company also has made public their proposed new terms of service which are written in plain language. Users have until November 20 to provide feedback on Terms and Conditions, Data Usage and Cookies policies.

Sony is the first of the potential cord-cutter TV services to announce they’re ready to go. PlayStation Vue will offer live and on demand programming from more than 75 channels. Subscribers will need Internet and a PS3 or PS4. Sony intends to launch an iPad app too as well as apps for other devices. Networks include NBC Universal, Fox, Viacom and Scripps, but NOT ABC/Disney or Time Warner’s HBO. The service will launch in invite-only beta this month in New York, followed by Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angels. Sony intends to launch commercially in Q1 of 2015.

TechCrunch reports the Great Book War of 2014 has ended, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Amazon and the Hachette Book Group have agreed on a new multi-year agreement for e-book and print sales. Hachette will set its own prices for e-books, the so-called Agency model, but will receive “better terms” (aka more promotion) when those prices are closer to Amazon’s guidelines. The new prices will take effect in 2015, but Amazon will stop holding back pre-orders for Hachette titles now.

Reuters reports BlackBerry announced its new mobile security and device management platform Thursday. BES12 will let companies and government agencies manage Android, iOS and Windows devices along with BlackBerry’s own products. It will also be able to handle medical diagnostic equipment, indsutrial machinery and motor vehicles. Among the partnerships is one with Samsung to combine BB device management with Samsung’s KNOX Security platform for Android phones starting in early 2015. BlackBerry also announced partnerships with Salesforce.com and wireless distribution company Brightstar.

According to The Next Web, Nvidia announced the North American launch of its new cloud gaming service, called Grid. The service launches November 18th, and requires an Nvidia Shield tablet or handheld, on a 10 Mbps internet connection with a ping of 60ms or less to Grid servers. Once you have all that in place, you can play 20 games at launch including Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 2 and Darksiders II and the service is free until June 30. Nvidia also revealed that its Shield tablet will upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop on November 18th.

The Verge drops a little mathematical reality on the Taylor Swift Spotify grudge match. Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek said that Swift was projected to earn $6 million on his service, before she pulled all her tracks. Then the head of Swift’s label Scott Borchetta said, WTF? Spotify only gave us $500,000! Turns out, both numbers are true. Spotify paid Ms. Swift $500k for her US streams. Globally, they paid T-Swift $2 million dollars.The six million number Ek used was, as he said, projected earnings over time. Granted they were the most optimistic projection he could use since that gave him the biggest number.

Ars Technica reports Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington DC ruled country code top-level domains cannot be transferred as part of a civil judgement. The plaintiffs in Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran sought to have the top-level domains for Iran, Syria and North Korea transferred in compensation for damages awarded in a case brought regarding a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem by Hamas. The Court determined that country code top level domains cannot be conceptualized apart from domain name services and therefore cannot be garnished.

TechCrunch reports Reddit CEO Yishan Yong has resigned. Investor Sam Altman wrote on his blog that Yong resigned due to a disagreement about the price and location of a new Reddit office. COO Ellen Pao has become interim CEO and co-founder Alexis Ohanian has returned as full time executive chairman.

Microsoft said on Twitter today “We plan to upgrade all Windows Phone 8 devices to Windows 10 in the future.” So there you go folks. Upgrade path assured.

News From You:

anotherjmartin gave us the Ars Technica story that digital rights activists are continuing to criticize AT&T subsidiary Cricket for preventing email from being protected by STARTTLS by removing the STARTTLS flag that causes the encryption to take effect. EFF staff technologist Jacob Hoffman-Andrews posted Tuesday that ISPs must stop removing customer security measures. Last week VPN provider Golden Frog petitioned the FCC opposing the practice. A Golden Frog engineer discovered the issue. In our Oct. 15 show, Patrick Wolfe wrote in to note he had used Cisco ASA firewall software that broke STARTLS in a very similar way and speculated that might be going on with Cricket.

tm204 sent us a BBC article about physicists from the University of Vienna using the “twist” of a visible light beam to transmit information by laser through the sky above Vienna. Here’s how it worked. Twisted light photons, aka light with “orbital angular momentum” can twist like a corkscrew. Researchers set up a green laser in a tower and shone it on a spacial light modulator, which twisted the beam twice. When the light showed up on a screen three kilometers away it had a detectable pattern of dots, which the scientists then used to transmit black and white images. It could be used for fast transmission of data where separate channels can be sent simultaneously. The results were reported in the New Journal of Physics

Discussion Section: Facebook has new Terms of Service

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2014/11/13/facebook-proposes-changes-tcs-gets-basics-new-privacy-guides/

https://www.facebook.com/about/basics

https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=541939745937896

http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/11/updating-our-terms-and-policies-helping-you-understand-how-facebook-works-and-how-to-control-your-information/

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/facebook-tries-to-explain-its-privacy-settings-but-advertising-still-rules/?_r=0

http://recode.net/2014/11/13/facebooks-new-privacy-rules-clear-the-wear-for-a-payments-push-and-location-based-ads/

http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/13/facebook-expands-ads-based-on-sites-and-apps-you-use-to-australia-canada-france-germany-ireland-and-uk/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102138902#.

https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=platform&view

Pick of the Day: Desert Bus via krvhill

Charity season is here and I wanted to pick my favorite “desert bus for hope” https://desertbus.org a comedy troupe playing the world’s most boring videogame for child’s play charity. It is in its eighth year and keeps getting bigger. If you prefer different games check the schedule at http://www.childsplaycharity.org to see a list of other webathons coming in the next months.

Friday’s Guests: Molly Wood and Len Peralta

Michael Wolf is on the show today, we’ll cover the latest net neutrality stuff, YouTube’s music service but also talk about Quirky’s move to bring down the price of the smart home.

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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Michael Wolf, host of The Smart Home Show  

Headlines:

Tom Wheeler is having a bad week. The Washington Post reports that hours after the President of the US expressed his opinions on the FCC’s Open Internet Guidelines, Wheeler told executives from major Web companies in a meeting. “What you want is what everyone wants: an open Internet that doesn’t affect your business. What I’ve got to figure out is how to split the baby.” He also started a meme inadvertently by repeatedly telling participants, “I am an independent agency.” Meanwhile FCC’s Special Counsel for External Affairs Gigi Sohn tweeted that “all options are on the table.” Which is in danger of being tableflipped I expect.

In other net neutrality news, FCC press secretary Kim Hart told the BBC. “There will be no vote on open internet rules in the December meeting agenda. That would mean rules would now be finalized in 2015.” That won’t sit well with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson who said at a conference that the company might pause its roll out of fiber to 100 cities until it knows for sure what kinds of rules will govern the Internet. At the same conference Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said, “I think the independent agency of the FCC will make the right decision,” and did NOT add “You have a nice independent agency here, be a shame if something happened to it.” Google responded by making gigabit fiber for businesses available in Kansas City.

TechCrunch reports that YouTube is launching a subscription music service called “Music Key” in beta next week. The service offers access to Google Play’s music library, as well as ad-free music videos, background playback capabilities and offline caching on YouTube. for $7.99 a month at first and then $9.99 per month. To sign up for an invite, go to youtube.com/musickey YouTube has already added music videos in a new section that features personalized playlists and soon full albums.

GigaOm reports on Microsoft’s decision to open source the entire .NET framework as well as making it cross-platform for Linux and OS X. The change will take a few months but Microsoft has started creating .NET repositories on GitHub. Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Community 2013 which will let students and small dev shops build cross-platform applications for free.

The New York Times breaks down some of the results of a Pew Research Center survey of US citizens about privacy. The upshot is people in the US want privacy but won’t do much to insure it themselves. 81% do not feel secure using social media. 80% os users of social networks are concerned about advertisers and 70% about the government. Still 55% are willing to share info with companies for free services. Those with more education higher incomes or those who are generally younger care more about privacy. For instance 59% of young adults feel email content is sensitive compared 42% of older adults.

Samsung announced their Gear VR headset, which uses the Note 4 as a screen, will go on sale in the US in December. Pre-registration has begun at Samsung.com. But GigaOm reports that’s not all. Early adopters will be able to watch live feeds of 36-degree videos in real-time from festivals and other memorable places. Samsung showed off Project Beyond today, a device with 16 cameras that can capture video in 3D.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog reports that Beats announced the release of new wireless Bluetooth headsets today, the first product released since Apple bought Beats. The Solo2 Wireless work within 30 feet and can be used to take calls, adjust volume, and skip. Beats claims 12 hours of wireless playback on a charge. You can get them later this month for $299.95 in black, white, red, and blue. The red one will only be available from Verizon Wireless through the end of the year. Because, marketing.

GigaOm notes the official Android Twitter account says Android Lollipop is rolling out to Nexus devices. Go to Settings > System Updates > Check Now to see if it’s there for you yet. If you don’t want to wait, factory images are available at developers.google.com for Nexus 5, 10 and the 2012 and 2013 versions of Nexus 7.

News From You:

metalfreak submitted the Make article about Robert Coggeshall aka Sudo Bob, making a teletype from a Raspberry Pi. He took a spare teletype he picked up from the NYC REsistor folks at MakerFaire 2013, hooked it up to a Raspberry pi , plugged in an iPad for a typing interface and voila. Teletype. Find out more details at makezine.com or get the full scoop at sudobob.com.

GoodDoc wanted to make sure we all knew that illustrator Randall Munroe spent all last night and this morning live-drawing the European Space Agency’s attempt to land a robot on a comet. Because, oh yeah, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft travelled for ten years to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is moving through space at 80,000 miles per hour, and today they attempted to land a robot probe named Philae on the surface of the comet and it WORKED. Mostly. Philae’s harpoons didn’t fire, but it does act like it landed but their not sure its stable. So ESA is working on that. Check out the final drawing at xkcd.com and feel good about being an earthling today.

Ischenko passed along a report from The Next Web that Amazon is planning to test its Prime Air delivery drones in the United Kingdom. They know this because Amazon placed an ad to hire an engineer based out of Cambridge, UK with “flight test experience, manned or unmanned” and “5+ years of relevant aviation experience, either civilian or military with either manned or unmanned aviation”. In case that isn’t exactly you, Amazon is also hiring Site Leader, Project Manager, Software Development Engineer, Senior Research Scientist and an Office Manager.

And KAPT_Kipper pointed out the followup from Ars Technica to yesterday’s story that the GNOME Foundation was preparing for a trademark battle with Groupon, which put out a point-of-sale tablet product that used the name Gnome. Groupon has given up and “decided to abandon our pending trademark applications for ‘Gnome. We will choose a new name for our product going forward.”

Discussion Section: Quirky

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/11/7193765/quirky-ge-wink-uniq-spotter-norm-factory

https://www.quirky.com/shop/982-spotter-uniq-customizable-multipurpose-sensor?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=CJ#.

http://www.wink.com/products/

Pick of the Day: Amazon Smile via Shlomo from Brooklyn

I’m sure almost everyone who listens to the show has bought something from Amazon.com or shops from there regularly. Here’s something that will make your Amazon shopping experience a little more generous. A few months ago I discovered that Amazon has a program called AmazonSmile. To get to it, instead of going to www.amazon.com you go to smile.amazon.com, there’s even a Google Chrome extension called Smile Always that will always redirect you to the smile version of the Amazon.com webpage. When you shop on AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the money you spent to the charity of your choice. You select this charity when you first visit AmazonSmile and can change it whenever you want. Almost every major charity you can think of is on there as well as many local charities. Organizations can register to receive donations through AmazonSmile on org.amazon.com. Obviously 0.5% is not a lot of money, but if you already donate to charity or if you can’t afford to, this is a nice option that costs you nothing.

Thursday’s Guests:Jason Hiner & Lyndsey Gilpin 

Breki Tomasson is on the show and we’ll talk about Elon Musk and WorldVu’s purported plan to encompass the globe in satellites to bring worldwide Internet coverage about.

MP3

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

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

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Breki Tomasson, founder of the CSICON podcasting network

Headlines:

The Next Web reported that the GNOME foundation, the folks behind the GNOME interface for Linux, is setting up a legal fund to challenge Groupon, which named their iPad-based checkout platform Gnome. You see that Linux interface GNOME is used in some Linux based point of sale systems. The GNOME Foundation asked Groupon to change the name but the company initially refused. Groupon told TNW that it has been trying to come to an agreement with the GNOME Foundation for months and if it cannot come up with a solution it will “…be glad to look for another name.”

TechCrunch reports that Microsoft unveiled its first non-Nokia branded Lumia phone today and its a replacement for the X and Asha lines. The Lumia 535 has a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of ram, with 8GB of memory, expandable to 128 GB. The phone has 5 megapixel cameras on the front and back. The Lumia 535 will run Windows 8.1 Lumia Denim update and comes in a dual-sim variant. The cost is €110 and will go on sale in China, Hong Kong and Bangladesh this month, with “other countries to follow.”

ZDNET’s Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft has launched a bundle of its subscriptions. The Work & Play bundle combines Office 365, Skype Unlimited World and Wifi, Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Music Pass for $199 a year. The bundle is for sale from now until January 4, or “while supplies last,” though any limit on supplies is purely artificial. If yo already subscribe to any one of those services and sign up for the bundle, you’ll just get 12 months added to your current subscription. Oh the other odd thing is yo ave to go to a Microsoft Store int he US to buy it.

Gigaom reports that YouTube may be close to launching its music subscription service after signing a deal with Merlin, an independent music trade group that represents more than 2000 independent labels. Merlin’s resistance to signing was the source of reports in June that YouTube would block videos from labels that didn’t sign. You Tube already obtained licenses from all three major labels, plus several other indies.

Engadget reports that Nintendo is going to release a new pair of 2DS handheld consoles with see through casing, much like the transparent Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color from back in the 1990’s. The “Crystal Red” and “Crystal Blue” versions will launch alongside the new Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire games for $99.99 on November 21st.

The Next Web reports Facebook announced the Internet.org app for Android will arrive in Kenya this week for Airtel subscribers. Internet.org provides access to Internet service without charging for data. Among the services for Kenya are Among the services available are BBC News, BBC Swahili, Facts for Life, Wikipedia, Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

The Next Web reports Microsoft has patched a critical vulnerability that could allow remote code execution just by sending specially crafted packets to a Windows server. The hole is in the Schannel library which handles encryption and authentication in Windows for HTTP apps. Anyone running Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows RT should get patch MS14-066 right away.

News From You:

Inge_Aning submitted the Verge article that Microsoft is rebranding its Lync communications software as Skype for Business with the next version set to arrive int he first half of 2015. Basic features won’t change though the interface will get a more Skype-like look and add support for video calling and the Skype directory.

goofball_jones passes along a blog post from Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek, who is frustrated and upset by the recent accusations that Spotify is unfair to artists. Ek says Spotify has paid more than two billion dollars to labels, publishers and collecting societies since 2008, and that piracy has paid artists ZERO dollars. Ek goes on to drop some more numbers, including the fact that a top artists like Taylor Swift would be expected to make $6 million this year from Spotify, if she hadn’t pulled her catalog.

paulgannon01 pointed out the TechCrunch story that Alibaba smashed its sales record on singles day. November 11, marketed as singles day in China, is the country’s biggest ecommerce day of the year. Alibaba did $1 billion in sales in the first 20 minutes and reported sales of 57.1 billion yuan just after midnight, that’s $9.3 billion US. That’s almost double last years number. (The US paltry Cyber Monday sales were $2.29 billion last year.

Discussion Section: Micro-Satellites!

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/11/11/elon-musk-spacex-will-launch-micro-satellites-low-cost-internet/

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/531996243904716800

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/531994668608024576

http://online.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-next-mission-internet-satellites-1415390062

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/elon-musk-confirms-ambitions-for-internet-satellites/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldVu_satellite_constellation

http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/41755worldvu-a-satellite-startup-aiming-to-provide-global-internet

Pick of the Day: Chrome for the Windows 8 interface via Mike from rainy Beirut

I thought I’d add a suggestion for pick of the day.

I’ve been using Windows 8 from the beginning and I’ve found myself impressed with the innovative GUI and more pleased with each refinement.

That said, my pick isn’t Windows 8, but Chrome for the Windows 8 interface. Chrome started as just the browser last year, but is now a great port of Chrome OS and works well with a touch interface, like my Surface 3. By default, Chrome launches in the traditional desktop, but when you go to the menu bar and relaunch in Windows 8 interface, it switches over, so it’s kind of tricky to find

It’s not a new app, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how Google is adapting to Windows brave new interface and it’s now my default.

Wednesday’s Guest: Michael Wolf of technology.com

Veronica Belmont is on the show and we’ll talk about President Obama’s proposal to reclassify ISPs in the US as commence carriers to solve net neutrality concerns.

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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Veronica Belmont, co-host of Sword & Laser

Headlines:

The President of the United States of America posted a letter and video today declaring his support for reclassification of Internet Services as Common Carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. President Obama expressed his opinion that regulations shouwl not allow blocking, paid prioritization or throttling and ISPS should provide increased transparency. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler welcomed the Presidents comments and said he would consider them, presumably along with the 4 million others the FCC has received on the issue.

Facebook’ stand-alone Messenger app now has 500 million monthly active users, according to PC World. The number of monthly active users doubled in the six months, since Facebook cut off access to chat in their main app and required users to download the separate Messenger app. Facebook-owned WhatsApp reported 600 million monthly active users in August.

Reuters reports researchers at FireEye have discovered a bug in iOS that could enable attackers to access sensitive data on devices by getting users to install malicious applications that replace legitimate apps. FireEye calls the attack “Masque Attack.” FireEye disclosed the vulnerability to Apple in July and Apple is working to fix the bug. The WireLurker exploit takes advantage of this vulnerability. FireEye advises iOS users not install apps from unofficial app stores.

CNET reports Apple has put out a tool to help former iOS users disconnect their phone number from iMessage. Some users who switch to a non-Apple phone find text messages are still routed to their iMessage account where they are lost. The solution has been to switch off iMessage on the old phone though some users said that didn’t work. The new tool lets you remove the phone number from iMessage so that text messages are never accidentally routed to your Apple accounts at all.

The Next Web reports Mozilla released some new features for Firefox in celebration of the 10 years since the release of Firefox 1.0 on Nov. 9 2004. Among the new features are an easier sign in process, a walkthrough of privacy features, and a forget button that clears anywhere from 5 minutes to 24 hours of browsing history. DuckDuckGo is also now a standard search option.

Andrew Lewman, executive director of the Tor Project told the BBC that the significance of Europol and US Agency busts of 17 people associated with darknet sites may be overblown. Originally several sites had been reported shut down and rumors circulated that Tor had been compromised. Europol later clarified that 400 pages were closed in association with the services that hosted them. 27 services were seized in the operation. Lewman does not believe Tor itself was compromised in relation to the raids.

Reuters reports Samsung applied for a license to invest $3 billion in a second smartphone factory in Vietnam. This new factory will also be located in Than Nguyen province. Samsung has been increasing production in Vietnam to reduce costs.

Ars Technica reports that Pirate Bay and Flattr co-founder Peter Sunde, also known as brokep, has been freed from a Swedish prison after serving 5 months of an eight month sentence. A Swedish court found Sunde and three other co-defendants guilty of aiding copyright infringement as part of The Pirate Bay. Upon release, Sunde tweeted, “My body just got re-united with my soul and mind, the parts of me that matters and that never can be held hostage.”

TechCrunch reports the United States Postal Service is the latest to have its database targeted. The attack focused on employee data like social security numbers, addresses. Some information recorded from customer calls may also have been accessed. The intrusion was detected in mid-September.

 

 

 

 

 

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper submitted the GigaOm story that the Raspberry Pi foundation has put the Model A+ on sale for $20, making it the most affordable RaspBerry Pi on the market. The A+ comes with the new 40-pin GPIO header which can use the same HAT add-on boards that the B= can use.

habichuelacondulce submitted the Torrent Freak report that based on information it has received, Comcast recently sent out its 1 millionth Copyright Alert notice in the US. That’s about 2,000 notices a day. The alerts are part of the “six strikes” system in the US that aims to educate users about copyright infringement. No impact on actual infringement has been shown as yet.

 

Discussion Section:  POTUS and Net Neutrality

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/president-obama-calls-for-a-free-and-open-internet-wants-it-reclassified-as-a-utility/?ncid=rss

https://gigaom.com/2014/11/10/obama-tells-the-fcc-to-implement-real-net-neutrality-and-hes-serious/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186787/tim-wu-says-obamas-net-neutrality-plan-is-bold-courageous-and-just

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/the-fcc-fires-back-at-the-presidents-net-neutrality-plan/?ncid=rss

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186243/obama-just-did-the-right-thing-for-the-internet-and-made-life-hell

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/10/hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah-ted-cruz-you-silly-senator/?ncid=rss

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7186111/obama-net-neutrality-plan-draws-bold-reactions

http://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/11/10/protesters-descend-on-fcc-chairmans-house-over-net-neutrality/

http://www.fs.fed.us/specialuses/commsites/documents/pl-104-104.pdf

http://transition.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf

Pick of the Day: Atlas Wearables via Andrei

Hi Tom, Jenny, and guest ..

Long time listener … first time caller (?).

About fitness trackers being able to track more, I thought I’d pass along Atlas Wearables (www.atlaswearables.com). Through their Motion Genome Project should be able to recognize different exercises.

2nd production units can be preordered for $249 (!) + S&H for spring 2015

Love the show, Andrei

Tuesday’s Guest: Breki Tomasson, founder of the CSICON podcasting network

Patrick Beja and Todd Whitehead to talk about Marvel going to court to get Google to hand over the identity of the person who leaked the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer.

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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Patrick Beja, the Charlemagne of Podcastagne

Headlines:

Ars Technica reports the law enforcement action against Silk Road 2 yesterday was part of a larger action called Operation Onymous. Spelled with a Y. Police in 12 countries seized 414 darknet domains, confiscated $1 million in bitcoins, $250,000 in cash , a variety of drugs, gold and silver and arrested at least 17 people. Among the sites taken down were Hydra, Cloud Nine, Pandora (not the music site) and Blue Sky. Agora and and Evolution markets were not affected according to Ars.

TechCrunch reports that Facebook has launched a tool in the Newsfeed Settings to show users which of their friends and pages take up the most space in their feeds. The tool allows you to quickly unfollow the over sharers without actually unfriending them. Related question: If a baby picture is posted on Facebook, and nobody sees it, does that baby still exist?

The Next Web passes along that Microsoft will reveal detail on its first non-Nokia branded Lumia phone November 11th. The announcement was made in a short post at the Nokia Conversations Blog.

The Verge reports Google’s mysterious barge showrooms were shut down because of fire safety concerns. The Wall Street Journal filed a Freedom of Information Request which revealed the US Coast Guard warned that having 5,000 gallons of fuel on the main deck next to a “substantial amount of combustible material was worrisome. Other concerns were also reported and despite Google’s best efforts the fire risk was determined to be too high and the plan was scrapped. Literally. The barge was dismantled and sold in Portland in August.

PCMag reports that Twitter has teamed up with nonprofit advocacy group Women Action and the Media to launch a new reporting tool that allows victims of gendered harassment to submit a detailed complaint along with the twitter handles of the harassers. The non-profit group will validate the reports, escalate them to Twitter and track the response.

Reuters passes along the Wall Street Journal reports Twitter plans to open an office in Hong Kong in Q1 of 2015 to serve greater China and sell advertising to Chinese companies. While Twitter itsels is blocked in China, the mopub advertising arm has several Chinese companies as clients.

Blizzard announced its first new game franchise in 17 years. Overwatch is a Team Fortress inspired multiplayer team shooter with superhero type characters. Overwatch will launch in Beta in 2015.

News From You:

spsheridan passed along the Business Insider writeup of Marc Zuckerberg’s first public Q&A recorded yesterday. Among other things, Zuckerberg shed light on Facebook’s reason for making Messenger a standalone app. “On mobile, each app can only focus on doing one thing well, we think.” Zuckerberg explained that the primary app is for the newsfeed, and that made messenging hard to get access.

HobbitfromPa submitted an Engadget report that scientists have built micro-robotic scallops that can swim through bodily fluids, repair damaged cells and deliver medicine. The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Scallops…er Systems believe that mimicking the way scallops swim is ideal for navigating through your body liquids.

Discussion Section: Marvel v. Google

http://io9.com/marvel-subpoenas-google-over-the-avengers-age-of-ultro-1655853984

http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/07/marvel-avengers-2-leak-google/?ncid=rss_truncated

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/marvel-google-subpoena-request.pdf

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/marvel-avengers-ultron-google-supoena.pdf

Pick of the Day: Clicky Keyboards via Amar

You and Ek talking about nostalgia regarding archive.org and video games made me think of a recent purchase I made:

http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm

http://www.pckeyboard.com/

I bought a clicky keyboard from the latter (because I have a mac) and it plugged and played to perfection. While I guess U like the current keyboards that are noiseless…there’s something about a clicky keyboard that gives me the immediate feedback and nostalgia that makes writing more fluid.

They are bit pricey I’ll admit…but I love mine. Customer service is awesome.

Monday’s guest: Veronica Belmont

Patrick Beja and Todd Whitehead to talk about Marvel going to court to get Google to hand over the identity of the person who leaked the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer.

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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Patrick Beja, the Charlemagne of Podcastagne

Headlines:

Ars Technica reports the law enforcement action against Silk Road 2 yesterday was part of a larger action called Operation Onymous. Spelled with a Y. Police in 12 countries seized 414 darknet domains, confiscated $1 million in bitcoins, $250,000 in cash , a variety of drugs, gold and silver and arrested at least 17 people. Among the sites taken down were Hydra, Cloud Nine, Pandora (not the music site) and Blue Sky. Agora and and Evolution markets were not affected according to Ars.

TechCrunch reports that Facebook has launched a tool in the Newsfeed Settings to show users which of their friends and pages take up the most space in their feeds. The tool allows you to quickly unfollow the over sharers without actually unfriending them. Related question: If a baby picture is posted on Facebook, and nobody sees it, does that baby still exist?

The Next Web passes along that Microsoft will reveal detail on its first non-Nokia branded Lumia phone November 11th. The announcement was made in a short post at the Nokia Conversations Blog.

The Verge reports Google’s mysterious barge showrooms were shut down because of fire safety concerns. The Wall Street Journal filed a Freedom of Information Request which revealed the US Coast Guard warned that having 5,000 gallons of fuel on the main deck next to a “substantial amount of combustible material was worrisome. Other concerns were also reported and despite Google’s best efforts the fire risk was determined to be too high and the plan was scrapped. Literally. The barge was dismantled and sold in Portland in August.

PCMag reports that Twitter has teamed up with nonprofit advocacy group Women Action and the Media to launch a new reporting tool that allows victims of gendered harassment to submit a detailed complaint along with the twitter handles of the harassers. The non-profit group will validate the reports, escalate them to Twitter and track the response.

Reuters passes along the Wall Street Journal reports Twitter plans to open an office in Hong Kong in Q1 of 2015 to serve greater China and sell advertising to Chinese companies. While Twitter itsels is blocked in China, the mopub advertising arm has several Chinese companies as clients.

Blizzard announced its first new game franchise in 17 years. Overwatch is a Team Fortress inspired multiplayer team shooter with superhero type characters. Overwatch will launch in Beta in 2015.

News From You:

spsheridan passed along the Business Insider writeup of Marc Zuckerberg’s first public Q&A recorded yesterday. Among other things, Zuckerberg shed light on Facebook’s reason for making Messenger a standalone app. “On mobile, each app can only focus on doing one thing well, we think.” Zuckerberg explained that the primary app is for the newsfeed, and that made messenging hard to get access.

HobbitfromPa submitted an Engadget report that scientists have built micro-robotic scallops that can swim through bodily fluids, repair damaged cells and deliver medicine. The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Scallops…er Systems believe that mimicking the way scallops swim is ideal for navigating through your body liquids.

Discussion Section: Marvel v. Google

http://io9.com/marvel-subpoenas-google-over-the-avengers-age-of-ultro-1655853984

http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/07/marvel-avengers-2-leak-google/?ncid=rss_truncated

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/marvel-google-subpoena-request.pdf

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/marvel-avengers-ultron-google-supoena.pdf

Pick of the Day: Clicky Keyboards via Amar

You and Ek talking about nostalgia regarding archive.org and video games made me think of a recent purchase I made:

http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm

http://www.pckeyboard.com/

I bought a clicky keyboard from the latter (because I have a mac) and it plugged and played to perfection. While I guess U like the current keyboards that are noiseless…there’s something about a clicky keyboard that gives me the immediate feedback and nostalgia that makes writing more fluid.

They are bit pricey I’ll admit…but I love mine. Customer service is awesome.

Monday’s guest: Veronica Belmont

Lamarr Wilson joins us to talk about Amazon’s new invite-only cylindrical virtual assistant/bluetooth speakers called Echo but named Alexa. Seems simple enough.

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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Lamarr Wilson, YouTube sensation

Headlines:

Microsoft has truly become Satya Nadella’s. The Verge reports on the big news that Microsoft released a preview version of Office for Android and editing in that version as well as the iOS versions, is now free, no Office 365 subscription required. You will need a Microsoft account to login though. The free versions are only for individuals too, businesses will need to pay a subscription fee. Microsoft will also add premium features for consumer subscribers.

Ars Technica reports Amazon announced a new product called Echo that s a bluetooth speaker and virtual assistant in a 9-inch tall cylinder. It can stream directly from Amazon Music, TuneIn radio and iHeart Radio or take music from mobile devices and stream over bluetooth. It also responds to a wake word, which is by default Alexa, and answers questions with facts from Wikipedia, adds items to lists on the Echo app and can play news and sports from NPR and ESPN. The device can only be purchased by invite only. It’s $99 for Prime users and $199 for everyone else.

CNET reports Palo Alto Networks identified malware they call “WireLurker” that infects OS X devices through apps downloaded from a third-party Chinese app store then can infect any iOS device connected by USB my adding malicious code to otherwise legitimate iOS apps. The malware is aimed at Chinese users. Apple says it has blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching.

Commuters rejoice! Venturebeat reports that the ebook subscription app Scribd is adding more than 30,000 audio books to its unlimited ebook subscription service. Audio books include titles like Divergent, The Hunger Games, No Country for Old Men and plenty of books that DIDN’T get made into movies. The total ebook + audio book subscription is $9 a month. Compare that to Audible’s $15 a month subscription that gets you one audio book a month or Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited which has 700,000 titles but only lists ‘thousands’ of audiobooks.

Wired reports that the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and Europol joined forces to take down Silk Road 2 and arrest the alleged operator of the site, 26-year-old Blake Benthall. Benthall was charged with narcotics trafficking and a other conspiracy charges. According to the criminal complaint, Silk Road 2 had been infiltrated by at least one undercover law enforcement agent before it went online. The FBI discovered the foreign server running Silk Road 2, despite being behind TOR, along with server records identifying Benthall.

PCMAg reports Google said in a forum thread Wednesday that the company was aware of problem with battery usage for Nexus 5 users running Android 5.0 Lollipop. A fix has been issued. Google says OTA updates should still come to to other devices in the coming weeks.

For those who keep track of these kinds of things, the Verge notes that Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang officially closed today. Xbox head Phil Spencer tweeted a welcome to the makers of Minecraft.

Reuters reports Iraq’s major mobile phone network operators have agreed to pay $307 million each for radio spectrum to launch 3G service. Iraq is one of the few middle eastern countries still relying on 2G. The three companies are Orange affiliate Korek, Zain Iraq, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s Zain, which operates in Baghdad and southern Iraq, and Ooredoo subsidiary Asiacell which has a base in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah.

It may be getting near the end for Aero. The streaming service that fought all the way to the Supreme Court for its right to exist officially notified the State of Massachusetts today today that it is shutting down its Boston operation. Aereo will lay off all 43 local employees as of November 12th. Aereo’s Virginia Lam told BetaBoston the company is laying off some employees in Boston and New York to “conserve resources while we chart our path forward.”

 

 

 

News From You:

habichuelacondulce posted the Washington Times article that Orbital science, the aerospace company who’s rocket exploded shortly after takeoff last week will likely discontinue use of refurbished Soviet-era NK-33 engines in future missions. The cause of the explosion is suspected to be a failure in the AJ26 turbopump in the rocket’s main engine. CBS News also reported the same information.

the_corley submitted an Engadget reports that OnePlus says it has sold 500,000 One phones, and wants to sell a million phones by 2015. If you couldn’t get a One phone in the first pre-order round, there will be a second chance on November 17th.

And goofball_jones sent the Reuters report that Lenovo missed analyst expectations in its quarterly revenue due to a decline in smartphone sales. Mobile device sales fell 6%. The decline was offset in part by desktop sales which rose 6.4%. An accounting shift and the reduction of handset subsidies by Chinese carriers contributed to the decline. Lenovo just acquired handset maker Motorola Mobility last week. Lenovo also named Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang to its board of directors.

 

Discussion Section: Echo, Alexa? Alexa, Echo?

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/amazon-announces-echo-a-199-voice-driven-home-assistant/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/06/amazon-echo/
http://www.amazon.com/oc/echo/

http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-debuts-siri-like-digital-assistant-echo-for-your-home/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/06/lets-call-the-amazon-echo-what-it-is/?ncid=rss

Pick of the Day: The Serial podcast via Mordechei Lightston

I wanted to suggest a pick of day for the show. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and have been following the Serial podcast since it came out. For those of you not familiar with what has become a phenomenon, Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life,which follows one true story over the course of a whole season.  For any of you listeners who haven’t heard it yet, I urge you all to check it out. It’s utterly addictive and perfect for binge listening.

Tomorrow’s guest: The Blizzcon gang! The Blizzcon gang! That’s the waaay we became the Blizzcon gang!

Peter Wells is on the show and we’ll discuss whether Stan can beat Netflix in Australia and who the $500 Apple watch is targeted at. Is it a chronograph or a fitness tracker?

MP3

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

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

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Peter Wells of Reckoner, Australia

Headlines

MacRumors passes along that French website iGen has sources that say the stainless steel Apple Watch will sell for around $500 and the gold version will be somewhere from $4-5,000. Despite reports of an internal memo from Apple VP of retail Angela Ahrendts placing the watch launch after Chinese new year on Feb. 19, iGen’s sources say Feb. 14th is still the target date. Rumors? Yes. But iGen has been spot on with their sources before, including most recently with the size of the iPhone 6 and 6+.

Recode reports that Jawbone announced two new fitness trackers. Up Move is a small round ‘pod’ made of anodized aluminum. It tracks steps, sleep and calories burned, but doesn’t do idle alerts. Its LED display uses tiny lights to show you how active you’ve been. Expected battery life is six months. The clip on version is $50, with $15 more for the wrist strap. The Up3 is a $180 wristband tracker that has all the features of the most recent Up24, plus resting heart rate data. Battery life is about a week.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation published a scorecard yesterday afternoon ranking the security and privacy of messaging services. Ars Technica talked with EFF’s technology projects director, Peter Eckersley who said they were seeing unprecedented levels of commitment to secure messaging and set up the scorecard “so that everyone knows the rules to play by.” Only six applications passed all seven of the EFF’s criteria. ChatSecure, CryptoCat, the Signal app for Redphone, Silent Phone, Silent Text, and TextSecure. Eckersley says passing all seven criteria is just step one and more evaluation needs to be done.

Reuters reports German news publisher Axel Springer has stopped blocking Google from using small parts of its articles in search listings, after traffic to Axel Springer sites plunged. Traffic from search fell 40% and traffic from Google News fell 80%. Axel Springer wanted Google to pay licensing fees for its four top sites.

GigaOm reports Mozilla and the GSM association are developing non-English content for the Web as more non-English speakers begin using the Net. 56% of current Web content is in English although it is the first language of 5% of the world’s populace. 0.8% of Web content is Arabic and 0.1% Hindi, the 4th and 5th most common native languages behind English which is 3rd. Mozilla and the GSMA are conducting field tests in Kenya, Brazil, India and Bangladesh, that involve the creation of local content, digital literacy training and the use of low-cost (presumably Firefox OS) smartphones.

Hang on to your hat, fellow Australians, Netflix is coming to Australia in 2015. GigaOm passes along that according to a report from local media and marketing news website Mumbrella, Netflix has hired two marketing agencies to handle marketing and social media for the launch. To which New Zealand said: “Yoo-hoo! Right over here, bugalugs!”

In response to the imminent arrival of Netflix, Australian TV providers Nine and Fairfax have banded together to their own streaming video service named Stan which will run about $10 a month. But what can you watch? Stan promises first-run exclusives, award-winning TV shows, classic movies, blockbusters and kids content. They’ll have exclusive Australian rights to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul episodes hours after the US airings. Stan will be available on iOS and Android devices with Apple AirPlay and Google Chrome cast support. An app for Apple TV streaming boxes is also expected. So will Stan, Netflix, Presto and Quickflix replace VPN and piracy, Peter?

 

News From You:

jpwarg submitted the good news from PhoneArena.com that Android 5.0 has come along with new APIs designed to allow easy access to SD cards in a secure way. Users will have to allow an app access once, but after that developers can fully access directories and files and create them and store media.

anotherjmartin submitted the Ars Technica report that according to information from US Energy Information Association LED lightbulbs are pulling ahead of compact fluorescents when it comes to efficiency. The typical efficiency of an LED lightbulb today is almost 100 lumens per watt, compared to CFL bulbs which range from 55-70 lumens per watt. Incandescents pull about 15 lumens per watt.

MikePkennedy pointed out an excellent piece by Ingrid Lunden that Spotify is generating more revenue in Europe for musicians than iTunes. Kobalt collects royalties for big name musicians like Maroon 5, Max Martin and Bob Dylan among many other. The company reports that for its customers, last quarter’s revenue from Spotify streams was 13% higher on average than revenue from iTunes. Streaming services account for 10% of all publishing income for its clients in Europe as well.

And KAPT_Kipper sent us The Verge article that the EFF is petitioning the US Library of Congress to allow owners of abandoned video games to circumvent copyright in order to keep them running after the creators shut down servers. The proposal is to allow minor code changes that involve reworking or circumventing often superficial server check-ins and simple multiplayer matchmaking services.

Discussion Section: Merry Wearables

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/04/apple-watch-steel-500/

http://recode.net/2014/11/04/jawbone-joins-pre-holiday-wearable-race-with-50-up-move-and-a-new-up3-wristband/

http://www.igen.fr/apple-watch/2014/11/info-igen-500-pour-lapple-watch-le-14-fevrier-88380

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/11/03/how-apple-watch-is-killing-wearable-tech-as-a-gift-this-christmas/

Pick of the Day: Webstock via Peter Wells

Webstock – an amazing conference in New Zealand every year- but mentioning it for a video from Peter Sunde a few years ago, where he talked about the motivation behind the Pirate Bay. Well worth watching

Tomorrow’s guest: Lamarr Wilson!