Arrival, Westworld (107), Justified (405). With special guest Justin Robert Young.
01:28 – Winter Movie Draft
06:13 – Arrival
25:19 – Westworld (107)
57:46 – Justified (405)
Daily Tech Headlines – November 16, 2016
Microsoft joins the Linux Foundation, Facebook fixes ad reporting mistakes, Snapchat files for IPO.
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 theme music.
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 2903 – Only YOU Can Prevent Fake News!
Twitter adds new mute feature, US demands cars not be silent, and how to identify good Internet news sources. Patrick Beja and Tom Merritt discuss those stories and more.
Using a Screen Reader? Click here
<!–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!
Daily Tech Headlines – November 15, 2016
WhatsApp adds video calling for all, Facebook and Google stop ads for fake news, Lyft turns on its Amp light.
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 theme music.
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 145 – The Recline of Cable TV (w/ Brian Dunaway)
We’re calling it: cord-cutting is real, but people still watch live TV. PSVue has grown-up cable problems with Viacom. With special guest Brian Dunaway. Brief Dr. Strange spoilers 30:44-31:08.
CordKillers: Ep. 145 – The Recline of Cable TV
Recorded: November 14 2016
Guest: Brian Dunaway
Intro Video
Primary Target
- 486,000 Pay-TV Subscribers Cut the Cord in the Third Quarter
– Pay TV lost 486,000 customers in Q3 down 1.4% – MoffettNathanson about the same as last year in Q3 (432K).
– Does not include Sling TV’s 204K
– BTIG est. 8 biggest providers have 88.2 million (off 926K)
– MoffettNathanson est. total at 96.8mm w/ smaller providers
– Telecoms (ATT, VZN FiOS) lost at a rate o 11.7% – mostly losing subs to other providers
– Average Revenue Per User not dropping, so likely not full of skinny bundles or throw-in packages.
How to Watch
- PlayStation Vue’s streaming TV service is losing all Viacom channels
– Sony announced Tuesday that it will drop all Viacom-owned channels from its PlayStation Vue service starting Friday, November 11. That includes channels like Comedy Central, Spike and MTV. Sony also announced the addition of BBC America and NBA TV and the future addition of Vice as well as more CBS and Fox local stations.
– “As part of our ongoing evaluation of the PlayStation Vue offering, we have determined that removing the bundle of channels from Viacom is the best way for us to continue to offer the most compelling value to our customers.”
What to Watch
- HBO Renews ‘Westworld,’ ‘Divorce,’ ‘Insecure’ for Second Seasons
– HBO has renewed Westworld, Insecure and Divorce for second seasons.
After Westworld ends this season comes The Young Pope and Big Little Lies followed by David Simon period piece The Deuce.
– The Night of and True Detective have not been given new seasons yet. But neither have been canceled.
What We’re Watching
- Brian: Westworld, Justified, Arrival, Dr. Strange (again, 3D), Glitch, Big
- Tom: Justified (405), Arrival, Westworld
- Brian: Network TV Comedies (Superstore, Black-ish, The Middle & Goldbergs)
- On the Lookout: The Night Manager, Goliath, Citizenfour
Front Lines
- The truth about how much live TV we’re watching
– A TiVo study found that 80% of all broadcast TV viewing takes place live. 18% of viewing is time shifted up to three days and 2% is time-shifted 4-7 days. On cable 91% of viewing happens live. Primtime time broadcast shows are recorded more often with 23% in the 3 day window for broadcast and cable is recorded less often with only 11% in 3-day. Exceptions exist network by network especially among younger audiences. The CW, for instance, is only viewed live 56 percent of the time. - FCC Has ‘Serious Concerns’ About AT&T Direct TV Mobile Video Service
– The FCC’s wireless bureau sent a letter to AT&T outlining concerns about the company’s practice of not counting DirecTV video against customer data caps. AT&T allows any video service to exempt its data from AT&T customer caps for a fee. The FCC said the practice “may obstruct competition and harm consumers.” AT&T says DirecTV pays for the right to exempt customers from caps just like any non-AT&T owned business would. Friday AT&T announced its Stream Saver program will reduce customer’s video streams to standard definition starting in early 2017 to help save data costs. - TiVo’s leaked Mavrik is a cloud-based DVR
– ZatzNotFunny reported last week on leaked images of a new TiVo model called Mavrik. The device includes the ability to record OTA television to cloud storage for streaming from TiVo apps. Details on storage options cost and release date have not been discovered. - ESPN Continues to Plague Disney as Revenue Misses
– Disney reported that revenue from its cable networks fell 6.8% last quarter to $3.96 billion. Analysts had expected $4.13 billion. For comparison Disney’s movie business rose 1.57% to $1.81 billion. - Vudu’s upgraded mobile app brings offline rental viewing
– Vudu updated its Android and iOS apps with the ability to download rented movies for mobile. Vudu also announced support for movie extras and iOS users get 1080p and airplay functions. You can also buy DVDs and Blu-ray from within the apps.
Dispatches from the Front
Today is a dark day, and no I am not referring to the election results.
Vue adds BBC America (yay) and NBA TV (yawn). And announced they are removing 20 some odd Viacom channels including Nick, Comedy Central, and many more. Thanks for refusing to pay an arm and a leg in carriage fees under the guise of protecting me, but you are keeping the difference. Hey, Sony … leave the channels or lower the price!
So now, in Miami, I can give up my DVR and half my locals and go to Sling. Or, wait for DirecTV Now and give up different locals, no word if there’s anything DVR oh and if you like NBC on your TV, too bad suckers!
Or I can wait and see what compromises these dinosaurs force on Hulu, Google, and maybe one day Apple’s service.
Why can’t I have been born a Millennial? Then I wouldn’t care about these legacy networks and the shows I like on them. Instead, I’m the last generation that needs my Must See TV. Another plus millennial me would have had… I wouldn’t have to be 40.
Long email short, one day we will give up linear TV in my house. Every year there’s more on Netflix, Hulu and Prime. Soon I’ll choose to live without network and cable shows or just buy them or watch them a year after the fact for free on Netflix.
Maybe the networks epitaph will read “Oops, we finally annoyed our last customer away.
– Scott
I’m in my 11th grade year and we were doing a college tour. I saw one of the students watching a show on their laptop and got to thinking: if I use the same family account I use now when I go to collge is it illegal? My family won’t be giving me the password at that point, and at the time that they gave me the password it was totally legal for them to do so. I thought that the FCC ruling specifically mentions sharing passwords, not using the account.
From,
– Amar
To Brian & Tom,
After listening to you two talking about Sling TV nearly every episode, thought I try it out on the one week trial.
I only have DSL with an average of 5mbs down. But it has worked great so far. On my cell phone, tablets, desktop, and Roku. No hiccups. I have mainly binged on ESPN, CNN, and AMC. I got the Orange bundle. The other channels are in my opinion the usual crap you get in a cable bundle.
It is weird seeing all the commercials! I cut the Cord seven years ago and I am used to the commercial free VOD services.
I believe I will keep SlingTV until the football season is over. I did miss ESPN the past seven years.
FYI from a Cordkillers Fan!
– Michael
Comcast putting Netflix on it’s cable box may be a smart move for Netflix, but it’s not good for cord cutters. Do you think it is a coincidence that this happened within months of Comcast enforcing their data caps? This is just a double down on those data caps. Comcast says, “Hey, quit complaining. Just watch Netflix on your set top box, and you’ll have plenty of data.” Don’t forget, their set top box can cost more per month than your Netflix subscription.
– Sam
Hi Brian and Tom,
Would you like to check out our new eBook How to Watch TV Without Cable? Also, it’d be awesome if you could consider giving us a testimonial we could post on our site (that is, if you like the book).
Here’s the book’s MOBI version:
http://cordcutting.com/files/How-to-Watch-TV-Without-Cable.mobi
…and here’s a PDF:
http://cordcutting.com/files/How-to-Watch-TV-Without-Cable.pdf
Cheers,
– Ville
Links
DTNS 2902 – It Runs on People!
Google Music redesigns, but does it have a chance of even denting Spotify? Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt discuss why we use the streaming services we do.
Using a Screen Reader? Click here
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!
Daily Tech Headlines – November 14, 2016
AdultFriendFinder breached, passwords exposed, Samsung buys automotive electronics maker Harman, Rhapsody and Napster make a profit.
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 theme music.
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 – November 13, 2016
Real tech stories. Really shaky analysis.
I’ve been really engrossed all this week in the concept of live-streamed, virtual reality chess. No time for any non-tech news. Hope I didn’t miss anything.
For the week of November 7 – 11, 2016…
Pawn (To Queen’s Bishop 4) Stars
Organizers of the World Chess Championship are suing to stop websites from broadcasting the moves of the 12-game championship contest. I was all set to make a joke about how the organizers had to do this to protect their sweet 75-cent pay-per-view on the Chess Network. But it turns out they stream it at $15 per viewer, and the contests are presented in VR.
So they aren’t fooling around. And I respect people that can play chess well–I personally can’t plan more than two moves ahead and get most of my fun by jumping a knight with my pawn and yelling, “KING ME!” I’m not the target market. Paying $15 to watch chess, even in VR, is not going to happen until the contestants are forced to hang Ron Weasley-like on to giant, weapon-wielding bishops and knights intent on the player’s demise.
In the meantime, my fifteen bucks is going toward a pizza to be eaten during a game of checkers, which my wife will tolerate until I start saying, “what’s that behind you?” and replacing random checkers with pepperoni.
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
The latest U.S. Roadmap for Robotics was published recently. In it, experts recommend focusing on things like a robot’s ability to estimate a doctor’s intent in surgical situations and matching human mobility in navigating obstacles like stairs and cluttered environments. It’s extremely important to attain both goals, because what good is giving our overlords the ability to surgically torture us if we don’t also guarantee that they can catch us?
Now That I Think About It, I Would Like A Pair
Snapchat has started selling Spectacles, their new video-recording sunglasses, in vending machines. For now, you can make the $129 purchase via credit or debit card, but soon, the company hopes that the vending machines, called Snapbots, will actually be able to chase down non-buyers and surgically torture them.
Pairing Hillary With James Comey In The Three-Legged Race Didn’t Help
Mark Zuckerberg does not think fake news stories on Facebook influenced the U.S. presidential election, stating that “voters make decisions based on their lived experience.”
Makes sense. Why would what we read or hear from any news outlet affect our decisions when we all have the lived experience of talking one-on-one with ol’ Don and Hill? Remember last summer at the neighborhood cookout? Trump almost certainly won the election because of the cool way he would chug a beer and then explain his plan for neutralizing ISIS while barreling head-first down the Slip N Slide.
Six Seconds In Heaven
Having announced that they were shutting down Vine, Twitter suddenly finds themselves fielding quite a few offers to purchase the micro video app. After narrowing the field from ten to five,* Twitter considered the widespread interest, sidled up to Vine and said, “You know Vine, you are looking good, baby. Could be I was a little hasty about the whole selling you idea… I guess I was just feeling down because nobody wanted to buy me… I forgot what a good thing I had with you… Hey, I was thinking we could maybe sneak off and you could do that thing I like so much… What do you say? Are you up for showing me Chris Christie standing behind Donald Trump and looking befuddled while the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays?
Spend It Like Beckham
China’s Singles Day–the biggest shopping day in the world–set a new record this year with online retailer Alibaba claiming sales of $18 billion, including $1.4 billion in the first seven minutes and $5 billion in the first hour.
A huge success, though there was some disappointment over Katy Perry canceling her appearance on the event’s televised kickoff celebration. David Beckham stepped in to fill the void, and while he did his best, many viewers–and Beckham himself–felt his performance of California Gurls suffered by not having time to retrieve his own custom-fitted, frosting-cannon bra.
Probably A Coincidence
The Spotify app has been writing gigabytes of junk data to many user’s hard drives with no apparent purpose. I’m now reevaluating everyone’s sudden “You’re the Spotify of technology writing” comments.
Repeat After Me
In response to German officials asking Tesla to stop using the term “Autopilot,” Tesla had a third party survey owners in Germany to get their interpretation of the term.
Said users, “Autopilot does not mean the car does everything. The driver is expected to maintain control of the vehicle at all times. Just like it says in the fourteen emails we got this week.”
On The Bright Side, The Newspapers Survived The Ads
Samsung bought full page ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post to apologize to customers for their Note 7 and washing machine recalls. Said a spokesperson, “We feel it’s very important to be heard and to come clean. Two things, ironically, for which you may want to avoid our products. Haha! Say, have our TVs started emitting weird flashes and blinding people yet? Hahaha! You’d figure they were due, right? (snort) How about Crock-Pots spewing boiling baked beans into people’s faces? I have that one in the office pool. Hahahaha! I sure do love my job!”
That’s Exactly What I Said–Progress Ding
Alphabet is scaling back Project Wing, their experimental delivery-by-drone initiative. This includes, after completing some initial tests, calling off a pending partnership with Starbucks. “Too bad, I’m really gonna miss Project Ring,” said a Starbucks barista.
We Interrupt This Tirade For A Word From Our Sponsor
Facebook is now allowing ads to appear in Messenger, as long as you are already in a conversation with the advertiser. I question the effectiveness of these ads, seeing as how approximately 100% of my online conversations with companies consist of “Why the *$!% are you trying to ruin my life!” How likely will I be to leap at an offer to upgrade to my cable company’s Ultra Super Mega Veg Out Package while in the midst of a six-hour “conversation” to get them to stop charging me every month for the DAMNED CINEMAX I NEVER ORDERED!
You Must Be Hot Because I’m Sensing 360 Degrees
Oculus users will be able to create VR avatars beginning December 6. In other news, all dating sites are going to have a new Super Premium membership level on December 7.
* There really should be seven finalists, resulting in one winner and a tie consisting of… that’s right…six seconds.
————————————————————————————-
Attention Weekly Tech Views Nation!
Weekly Tech Views City?
Weekly Tech Views Cul de Sac In A Fairly Nice Neighborhood?
Whoever’s out there, the Kickstarter is nearly upon us! I can imagine the thought racing through your mind, because it’s the same as mine: “Wait, he was serious about that?”
Turns out I was.
On Wednesday, November 16, the campaign to fund an ebook and paperback version of the book Tech, Please! commences. This will be a collection of the year’s Weekly Tech Views–a chance to relive making fun of things we…okay, I don’t fully understand!
If you’d like to support the blog, this is the way to do it. There’s no Patreon, no rich uncle, no government funding (their mocking laughter is getting tiresome), just the book. Am I going to say it’s a great gift for the tech lover in your life? No. It’s the PERFECT gift! Tech lover or not! Heck, if they aren’t into tech they won’t know how much of the book is nonsense. They might think this stuff is real. Wouldn’t that be fun?
But if buying a book is not for you, you could spread the word amongst those book buyers you know. Or strangers. They might like to buy funny tech books, who can tell? Better to not take any chances.
November 16… Wednesday… You know how to set reminders on your phone, right? Good. In order to have the book deliverable by Christmas, it will be a short Kickstarter campaign–three weeks. With Thanksgiving in the middle of it. I am quite possibly insane. So if you are interested, the earlier you check out Kickstarter.com and search Tech, Please!, the better. At least for me.
As always, thanks for reading.
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.
East Meets West 352 – Electoral College Dropout
The US election, how to pick a President.
DTNS 2901 – Veterans Day
Tom lets his co-hosts off for Veterans Day and has some sad news and some happy news.
Using a Screen Reader? Click here
<!–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!