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DTNS 2761 – Email Manners Matter
France may pass a law preventing companies from sending work emails after hours. Has work-life balance gotten that bad? Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt discuss.
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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Weekly Tech Views (The Tech-No Logic Blog) – May 14, 2016
Real tech stories. Really shaky analysis.
Tech companies keep making news, despite knowing darned well how it’s going to get treated here.
For the week of May 9-13, 2016…
But Ours Uses 100% More Words
Facebook won a trademark infringement case against a Chinese company who registered the name “face book.” “Damn, that’s not good,” said the CEO of binocular manufacturer Go Ogle.
You Play The Game Once And Thankfully It Goes Away
Apple’s app approval time for submissions to the App Store decreased from a mean of nine days to just two days over the past year. This story is interesting for two reasons: 1) how often do you get to start a sentence with three words starting with “app”? and 2) how come it’s been a month and I have yet to hear a peep about my Flappy Bird/Snapchat mashup, FlappyChat?
Get Your $4.99 Ready
Amazon launched Amazon Video Direct, which allows creators to submit video to sell, rent or stream at Amazon Video. AVD is expected to be a home less for hastily-shot pet and prank clips and more for polished, “professionally produced video.” Finally! Imagine, if you will…
We open on a young social commentary blogger. Well, it’s not actually called blogging in this pre-internet era–what he does is write completely-justified, hate-filled diatribes on notebook paper and then stuff them into the lockers of the jerks who dragged him to the middle of the basketball court during the Lunch/Rec hour the day before and administered a painful and embarrassing “pink belly” (the pinkness of the belly a result of four or five ninth-graders grabbing the seventh-grader, pulling up his shirt, and smacking the hell out of his stomach until the desired hue was achieved–a time-honored junior high tradition maybe not exactly endorsed, but certainly ignored by the lunch monitor/gym teacher).
Anyhow, our hero goes to college where he pulls mostly Bs in his English classes, but remains convinced that one day his writing will be important, and following graduation he continues to write, unknowingly preparing for the vital blogging career awaiting him. Mostly, this is by submitting letters to the editor of the local newspaper, sometimes criticizing the government’s policy on foreign affairs, but more often going off on why the potholes on his street haven’t been fixed or whether the police are ever going to do something about the neighbors who think it’s fine to have parties on Tuesday nights and won’t turn down the Metallica no matter how many times you ask even though some people have to work the next morning.
Then, the internet arrives. And eventually, our protagonist begins to shape public opinion with his snarky comments about technology in his wildly popular blog–let’s call it The Weekly Tech Spews–and this, of course, makes him a target for the tech industry, who rightly fear the impact a blogger of such renown and influence could have on their profits.
Naturally, their first move is to send one assassin after another to take him out, but our hero (okay, it’s me) reveals heretofore hidden martial art and weaponry skills that defeat the forces of corporate evil in an 90-minute, action-packed bloodbath (all that backstory stuff is covered in a 30-second flashback). We’ll call it Blog Hard. Well, that might have issues. How about Blog Day Afternoon? Marvel’s Blog-Man? The Bloginator!
I Might Reach Forty If I Can Choose The Word
Google is hiring “drivers” to collect data while riding in self-driving SUVs. The company will pay $20 per hour for a 6-8 hour workday, provided you have a clean driving record and can type 40 words per minute. So taking the pointless Ethics and Philosophy elective in high school instead of Typing bites me in the ass once again.
A Neural Network Framework By Any Other Name…
Google’s SyntaxNet is “a neural network framework… that provides a foundation for Natural Language Understanding systems.” This is important in that it demonstrates Google’s ability to string together a lot of words that make me feel stupid. Okay, apparently, this means it can help computers understand the structure of sentences.
More interesting is their SyntaxNet companion, designed specifically for parsing the English language–Parsey McParseface. This is important in that it demonstrates Google’s ability to be cute little buggers. Not everyone is happy about the name, though, as it was chosen only after Google executives vetoed the controversial company-wide vote that dubbed it David Attenborough.
Beyond Cabledome
The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the Charter acquisition of Time Warner Cable, leaving only the final step of the merger to be completed, the Redundant Customer Service Rep Showdown. Individual CSRs from Charter and TWC will be pitted against each other, with each receiving a customer service call at the exact same moment. The first to make their customer cry keeps their job. While rare, a match lasting longer than thirty seconds means both are fired.
And the new bonus clause has really raised morale: “Should any contestant break the 2004 record set by Charter legend Anson “Asshat” Andrews, who had Lafayette, Louisiana customer Edna Bertrand–a customer who had called to notify the company that they had neglected to charge her for HBO the previous month–sobbing in just 5.6 seconds, they receive an extra half hour for lunch. Once, not every day. And you supply your own lunch. This isn’t freaking Google, damn it.”
The Sincerest Form Of Patent Infringement
Many are accusing Huawei of blatantly copying Apple’s iPhone design for their P9 phone, down to the same type of screws. Said a Huawei executive, “Nonsense. Why would we copy anybody when we do such brilliant work of our own? Just watch this demonstration of our new voice-activated personal assistant. It does such a great job of helping you explore the internet, we named it after famed explorer Sir Edmund Hillary–Hey, Sir E, where can I buy proprietary star-shaped screws? In bulk.”
Also, The Ability To Rewind And Fast Forward Makes You Weak
Streaming music became Warner Music Group’s biggest source of income in the first quarter of this year, surpassing physical media and downloads revenue for the first time. Look, I don’t want to play the “in my day” card, but you’ll never convince me the convenience of streaming trumps things like the one-of-a-kind mashups you can only get when you pop in Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell 8-track and Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad from Program 3 bleeds over and plays simultaneously with Program 4’s Heaven Can Wait.
Or the cool, ahead-of-its-time techno-club-DJ-like altering of a song by allowing the loud ka-chunk! of changing programs to occur mid-song. Sometimes mid-lyric! That right there was art. Imagine the building anticipation as your favorite part of For Crying Out Loud approaches, then, suddenly, three seconds of hiss, KA-CHUNK!, another three seconds of hiss, and then the song resumes. You appreciate that next line like you never will with Spotify and its boring, constant delivery of entire songs. But go ahead and listen to your streaming service. While putting ketchup on your steak. Heathens.
That Means I’m Better Than An Amateur Crastinator
The free upgrade to Windows 10 ends July 29, which means it’s a good time for people like me to start planning their July 30 email to Microsoft begging for an extension because we planned to upgrade but things came up and we thought we might be getting a new computer and we accidentally turned off upgrade notifications and come on we promise not to borrow our neighbor’s copy of Word any more just give us one more day!
Over at the Night Attack Movie Draft, as of Monday, Tom and Jennie had drawn tantalizingly close to first place. You can see that (and what the future may hold) in the CRUMDUM. And if you check the latest standings HERE, you just may see even better news.
Mike Range
@MovieLeagueMike
Weekly Tech Views (The Tech-No Logic Blog) by Mike Range is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
DTNS 2760 – Tech’s Mechs
Sure there’s another robot you wear to make you stronger but there’s ALSO a robot made of meat to make you healthier. Darren Kitchen and Tom Merritt finally have a discussion that isn’t so hard for Len Peralta to draw!
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
DTNS 2759 – Apple Motors?
Is Apple about to become a car company? Justin Young and Tom Merritt talk about Apple Analyst Neil Cybart’s compelling speculation.
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
DTNS 2758 – The Chron Father (corrected file)
Has VR changed that much since the 1990s? Stewart Cheifet of Computer Chronicles fame talks with Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt about that and other tech history perspectives.
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
It’s Spoilerin’ Time 120
Summer Movie Draft, Captain America: Civil War, Game of Thrones (603) Justified (204).
00:50 – Summer Movie Draft
04:30 – Captain America: Civil War
15:44- Game of Thrones (603)
30:06 – Justified (204)
#254 – Wheel Of Boobies
Wheel of Time is getting a TV series and Veronica has one thing (well, more than one thing) that she expects to see. Would that make it the “boob tube?” (Ed. note — Jesus, Tom… c’mon) Meanwhile we discuss how Aurora masterfully balances hard science and literary storytelling.
DTNS 2757 – Expensive Cat Videos
Amazon’s allowing anyone to upload video for streaming, sale or rental. Is it taking on YouTube, Vimeo or everyone? Andy Ihnatko. Allison Sheridan and Tom Merritt discuss.
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Cordkillers 120 – Where’s Your ALF, HBO?
Ad money is flooding towards digital but will the networks get flooded out? Plus Hulu and YouTube build online cable services and Mohu turns cable boxes into antennas.
CordKillers: Ep. 120 – Where’s Your ALF, HBO?
Recorded: May 9 2016
Guest: None
Intro Video
- Brian’s Dad talks “civil war”
Primary Target
- The TV business isn’t dead, far from it really
– Wired’s Julia Greenberg has an excellent writeup on the health of TV (not cable, but broadcasters)
– This month, CBS, Fox and Time Warner all reported advertising revenue growth
– CNN and Fox reported higher ratings (election)
– Digital ad spending rising but TV spending staying strong
– Advertisers consider Hulu, apps etc “digital spend” separate budget from linear TV. - YouTube says its primetime audience is bigger than the top 10 TV networks combined
– YT CEO Susan Wojcicki
– “Today, I’m happy to announce that on mobile alone YouTube now reaches more 18–49-year-olds than any network — broadcast or cable. In fact, we reach more 18–49-year-olds during primetime than the top 10 TV shows combined” – Numbers from Nielsen study.
– 21 million watched Coachella on YouTube. 2x American Idol finale - Coming, broadcast TV’s big comeuppance
– TV ad rates rising even if ratings falling
– Major ad-buyer Magna Global (Coke, Johnson & Johnson moving $250 mm from TV to YouTube.
– Online ad spending can be diluted
– Primetime is down 7 percent this season among adults 18-34s, according to Nielsen, about a quarter lower than 4 years ago.
Signal Intelligence
- Hulu grows to 12 million subscribers, prepares new interactive ads for living room TVs
– Hulu had lots to say at its NewFront event for advertisers in New York.
– Hulu has grown 33% over the past year to 12 million subscribers.
– Hours per viewer is up 30% too.
– Hulu will bring interactive ads to big screen versions of the service and collaborate with Nielsen on campaign level ratings for advertisers.
– Contentwise the Path and Mindy Project are renweed for next season and Ron Howard’s Beatles documentary Eight Days A Week will come to Hulu’s new Documentary Films this autumn.
– CEO Mike Hopkins confirmed that the company plans to bring a live sports news and events service to customers in 2017. - YouTube Said to Plan ‘Unplugged’ Online TV Service for 2017
– Bloomberg reports its sources tell it YouTube is planning another subscription based streaming service called Unplugged that would include network and cable channels. YouTube has supposedly been working on the product since 2012 and plans to launch in 2017 at around $35 a month with add-ons available, although it has yet to strike any deals.
Gear Up
- Mohu is stomping on the graves of set-top boxes with its new ReLeaf antenna
– New Mohu antenna ReLeaf $50
– Made from recycled set-top boxes.
– A pound of plastic from the old boxes can make up to 40 clamshell bases
Front Lines
- Spotify is working on 12 new original video series
– Spotify announced it will bring out 12 original TV series about music and pop culture. Episodes will be less than 15 minutes long for iOS and Android in US, UK, Germany and Sweden. Among the shows will be Rush Hour from Russell Simmons, Landmark a doc series based on the music history podcast and Trading Playlists. - Disney wants to write a very big check to buy part of MLB’s video streaming company
– Sources tell ReCode that Disney would like to acquire 1/3 of BAM Tech, formerly known as MLB Advanced Media, the backend for MLB, ESPN and HBO Now among others. MLB is looking to spin the company out and is talking to other potential buyers as well. - Ellen Degeneres launches a network with YouTube, Snapchat stars
– Ellen Degeneres in partnership with Warner Bros. is launching the Ellen Digital Network with YouTube star Tyler Oakley making shows for Web and TV and the folks behind “Damn Daniel” building an original series for Snapchat. - Amazon offers NBC’s Seeso comedy service as a streaming add-on
– NBC’s streaming comedy service called Seeso is available as an add-on for Amazon Prime. It’s the same $3.99 you’d pay if you bought it on its own. - Netflix now lets you adjust streaming quality over cell connections
– Netflix’s latest app for iOS and Android allows users to chose what quality of video it streams when using cellular data connections. Netflix admitted in March that it automatically limits video quality for AT&T and Verizon customers on cell data. It will continue to do so but customers can override the choice. Settings are described by the number of hours that stream per gigabyte. Connections are unaffected over WiFi. - Netflix’s CEO is skeptical of VR because you can’t binge-watch
– Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told VentureBeat he thinks VR will be great for gaming but not for lean-back TV shows. “You’re exhausted after 20 minutes.” Chief content officer Ted Sarandos said, “I can’t imagine putting on a VR headset while sitting on the couch with my wife for two hours and just disappearing.” Of course the market isn’t near big enough yet either.
Under Surveillance
- Netflix orders a series based on the movie ‘Dear White People’
– Netflix has ordered a series based on the 2014 film Dear White People, a satire of the experience of minority students in Ivy League schools. The movie’s creator Justin Simien is writing the series and will direct the first episode. - CBS confirms weekly release model for new STAR TREK series
– CBS has confirmed that its new Star Trek series will release one episode a week on CBS All Access, not all at once, the way Netflix and Amazon usually do. (Coming January 2017) - Netflix nabs ‘Ultimate Beastmaster’ reality competition show
– Netflix is doing 10 episodes a reality show called Ultimate Beastmaster from EPs David Broome (Biggest Loser) and Sylvester Stallone. 12 people from 6 countries take on an obstacle course called the Beast. Host will be localized based on the six countries. (PS Chelsea Handler’s talk show Chelsea comes out May 11) - Amazon is buying the streaming rights to British period drama Doctor Thorne
– Amazon picked up the rights to stream Doctor Thorne, a British 3-part miniseries based on the novel by Anthony Trollope, and scripted by Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes. - Check out the trailer for YouTube’s new subscription-only original series ‘Bad Internet’
– YouTube Original Bad Internet from College Humor is a 10-episode series that seems to parody Black Mirror. It premieres on YouTube Red May 25. - Comic-Con HQ launched in beta. You can sign up now and get it free through July 26.
- Brian: Justified 204, Game of Thrones 603, Captain America: Civil War
- Tom: Justified (204), Game of Thrones (603), Silicon Valley (303) Captain America: Civil War
- On the Lookout: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Dispatches from the Front
Congrats to Big Cable on phony impressive growth! In this past quarter we dumped U-Verse at $165 a month for Xnfinity for Internet and PlayStation Vue. No phone sales pitch. Just online it was $50 for Internet with a 20 channel package and one nonDVR set top box or MORE for just Internet.
The cable box is still on my desk in shrink wrap. Don’t want it. Won’t use it. But I count as a new TV subscriber. Cord killing is not dead yet!
– Scott
Hey Tom and Brian,
This week I’m going to call Comcast and cancel cable. My wife and I have been paying for cable, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime (mostly for the shipping) for a while now and we find ourselves using the cable box less and less. One of the things that have hindered us from cancelling cable has been those few shows like The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul, etc… that we just can’t get on those other three streaming services without paying extra to buy the whole season of a show which we really don’t care about owning and watching again. I know there are options through Sling TV and Sony PlayStation Vue that might help with this but that’s just adding even more services we don’t want, and they have their own issues with dropping out or freezing up as we’ve heard Brian and Tom.
This past weekend while Tom was in town for SF Night Attack Live, we spoke this and he helped me realize that by paying for a few seasons of shows a year, even if you never watch it again, you still come out ahead.
So, I did some math. Let’s assume you pay $100 a month for cable and 2 cable boxes. That’s $1,200 a year you’re spending on cable. Looking at Amazon Video, a season of a TV show costs between $25 and $42. Using the worst case scenario, you could buy 28 full seasons of shows a year for $1200. If there are 6 shows you just can’t live without, and you buy them on Amazon Video at $42 each, that’s $252. That means if you cancel cable at $1200 a year and spend $252 at Amazon on those 6 shows you end up saving $948 a year. So who cares if you never watch them again.\
In my opinion, if you haven’t cancelled cable yet, you should. Of course, if it’s working for you and you’re happy then enjoy watching what you want, when you want. on whatever damn cable or dish device you want to.
Just some thoughts an a family about to cancel cable.
Thanks and love Cord Killers and all the shows you do.
– Preston (AKA Biocow)”
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