just now, William Gibson tries VR headset for the 1st time."they did it!" w/ @arikuschnir @amandapalmer @GreatDismal pic.twitter.com/Vi0sAHAUH6
— perry chen (@perrychen) March 20, 2015
William Gibson, author of seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, tries out a virtual reality headset and deems this iteration of cyberspace up to snuff. Hey, if he’s happy, we’re happy!
Darren Kitchen talks with us about the fragmenting of the Internet in light of the GreatFire DDoS and other crackdowns.Plus Len Peralta illustrates the show.
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A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Justin Robert Young joins the show to talk about a Pew Research report that says developing countries don’t see the Internet improving morality. But it’s great for education and news.
Using a Screen Reader? click here
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 guests: Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor and co-host of Night Attack, Weird Things and JuRY talks and JuRYmore podcasts
Headlines:
The Next Web reports TAG Heuer, Intel and Google announced a partnership at the Baselworld watch fair. TAG will launch an Android Wear watch with Intel hardware by the end of the year. Intel previously has partnered with Fossil on smart watches and powered a smart bracelet called Mica.
Starting on the Apple Watch’s preorder date of April 10th, customers will have up to 15 minutes to check out and try on the Watch at an Apple Store. 9 to 5 Mac talked to”sources briefed on the upcoming changes” who say that each store will set up 10 or more “try-on” stations, and four different zones– In Zone One, employees will help customers try on the entry level sport edition; Zone Two is for sales, Zone Three is for questions, and Zone Four is– well, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. (Hint: it’s gold). Apple is also considering ‘try-on’ appointments if things get too busy.
Engadget reports Opera announced it has acquired VPN company SurfEasy. Senior Vice President of Products Nitin Bhandari says his team has “concrete plans” to integrate personal privacy products from SurfEasy into the Opera browsers.
Got range anxiety? The Verge reports Tesla will release a software update with a Range Assurance app, that runs in the background, communicating with Tesla’s network of chargers. The app will warn Model S drivers if they risk having less energy in their batteries than it will take to get to the nearest charger. Telsa is also introducing a Trip Planner that will take into account charger locations on long-distance trips. The update will be released within two weeks.
Reuters reports in an interview with Bloomberg TV Virgin Group’s founder Richard Branson said “We have teams of people working on electric cars. So you never know. You may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business.” Virgin Group spokesman Nick Fox told Reuters. “We are working with the Virgin Formula E team to develop the plan for next season’s cars. Our aim is to build a leading engine and car for next season. Maybe ultimately that could be used in the broader car market in the future”.
TechCrunch reports Android Auto is live for devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later. Of course tat doesn’t do you much good unless you have a compatible car stereo system. That means the US and UK and a model from Pioneer. Android Auto apps are now available on Google Play store including Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud and more.
CNET reports that US revenue generated from streaming music like Pandora and Spotify eclipsed sales of CDs last year, according to the Recording Industry Associate of America. Streaming music sales were 1.87 billion in 2014, compared to 1.85 billion in CD sales. CD revenue dropped 12.7 percent while streaming revenue jumped 29 percent. Digital downloads still make up the biggest chunk at $2.58 billion though that fell 8.7%. Total music sales in the US fell 0.5 percent to $6.97 billion last year.
Fortune reports at CeBit Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma showed off a facial recognition feature meant to be used with Alipay service. Ma called it “Smile to Pay.” It works by comparing a photo taken at the point of purchase with a stored photo. Smile to Pay will come to China first then other countries.
TechCrunch reports Rethink Robotics, the company responsible for the teachable industrial robotic arm Baxter, has released a smaller lighter version called Sawyer. While Baxter was meant to repeat the same simple task again and again, like sticking things in a box, Sawyer is aimed for tasks that require more agility and flexibility. Baxter and Sawyer can be used together to address 90% of the manufacturing tasks that cannot be automated with existing technologies. Sawyer costs $29,000, weighs 42 lbs, can carry up to 9 lbs, reach up to 1 meter, has a barcode scanner, object recognition and includes force sensing joints to locate parts in a semi structured environment.
The Next Web reports Pebble has pledged $1 million towards the development and support of smartstrap projects for the new Pebble Time watches. Smartstraps plug into special ports to extend functionality to the strap. Pebble highlighted concepts from Seeed Studio with modular function-specific strap pieces and Spark.io which adds cellular connectivity. Developers should tweet @Pebble or email devsupport@getpebble.com with ideas.
News From You:
The_corley sent us this Engadget story reporting the success of a Google ballon delivering an internet connection from Chile to Australia. Part of Google’s Project Loon the balloon was launched from New Zealand and across the Pacific to Chile, 5500 miles away. After testing the ballon’s command functions and airborne LTE network they sent it back across the Pacific to Australia and tested internet connectivity achieving two hours of connectivity in places where it might not occur otherwise. The tests are giving Google a better picture of how the system will scale.
Berke80 submitted the TechDirt story highlighting The IlluMask. Let’s assume you find a light therapy mask covered in LEDs a desirable product. You’d normally have to pay hundreds of dollars for one. The IllumiMask is only $30. How could this have been done? By breaking it. Even though LEDs should last 30-40,000 hours, IllumiMask programs in a restriction that only lets you use the mask 30 times for 15 minutes each time before you have to throw it away and buy another. However as TechDirt explains, a screwdriver, a paperclip and some gentle hands can reset the IllumimAsk’s use count letting you use it for the life of the bulbs.
Discussion Section Links:
Pick of the day: Gazelle
Tom and Jennie,
I know most people in your audience know about Gazelle as a place to go to sell used electronics, but I recently discovered they are an excellent place to buy them as well. They list their items on their eBay storefront, and list their condition from “poor” to “very good” and give clear explanations of what each category means. Their prices are really competitive and you don’t have fight other people’s bids since its all “buy now”. Their free shipping is also excellent, I recently bought an iPad mini 2 32gb, it arrived at my door within 30 hours of ordering. The only downside is the inventory fluctuates fairly quickly, so if you see a deal you should probably jump on it. They are also my go to recommendation for replacement phones out of contact, thought your audience should know.
Rich from Lovely Cleveland
Messages
Hey, guys. I’m a little behind on shows, but I wanted to suggest Dropbox as another legitimate use of peer-to-peer file sharing. The “LAN Sync” option will sync your files across computers on your network without each peer having to go through Dropbox’s servers. When setting up a new computer, the first thing I do is install Dropbox and enable LAN Sync which significantly reduces the synchronization process. (If doing so on Windows, you have to explicitly give permission for the firewall to allow traffic on that port.)
Best,
Christian
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BOL REUNION!
Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.
Buzztown’s Back!
PODCAST AWARDS
Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.
Wednesday’s guest: Iyaz Akhtar
We bid adieu to Terry Pratchett and commemorate him with one more book pick next month. We cheer for Chuck Wendig being picked for the next Star Wars novel. And we wonder if we are too much like the Goblin Emperor. Are you?
QUICK BURNS
Paul: Terry Pratchett has passed away
Sandra: There will be one more DiscWorld novel
Dara: Gollancz plans to publish The Thorn of Emberlain by the end of 2015. They also revealed the cover.
Alpha Young Writers scholarship drive
Dara: HBO wants 10 seasons of Game of Thrones
Mark: George RR Martin is sad but cancels WorldCon Saratoga and ComicCon “(Should I complete and deliver WINDS OF WINTER before these cons roll round, I reserve the right to change my mind).”
Joanna: Lois McMaster Bujold just announced that she has sold a book about Cordelia Vorkosigan to Baen, titled “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” and tentatively scheduled for February 2016.
Sky: 20 new books will be released in the new Star Wars universe in a series dubbed “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, that span multiple publishers and age groups and fills in the gaps between Return of the Jedi and the upcoming The Force Awakens. Including Chuck Wendig! — Details on the first standalone Star Wars movie including the title “Rogue One” and director and release date for episode VIII: Rian Johnson / May 26, 2017
Tamahome : Station Eleven a finalist to be nominated for the Faulkner
BARE YOUR SWORD
Hey guys, just heard your podcast for the first time and really enjoyed it.
I’m a designer and concept artist that works in film and games and just thought I’d share the fact that I just finished working with Denis (Den-ee) on his upcoming sci fi film The Story of Your Life which will star Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.
I can’t say anything about the movie i just worked on, but I wanted to voice my support for Denis as the choice to direct the new Bladerunner. People may not be super familiar with him, but if they watch his films, they’ll see that he’s could do a great job with it. He’s got a kind of dark, gritty style and , fingers crossed, could be what this new Bladerunner film needs. I really like the idea of a less “Hollywood” type of director tackling this story.
Anyway, thanks! And if you’d like to see what kind of fantasy and scifi design work I do, please check out my site: www.theartofpeterkonig.com
-Peter
—
March Madness SF/Fantasy Style
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Next time we’ll kick off a Terry Pratchett book. Watch the goodreads group for the announcement of which one
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks
Iyaz Akhtar is on to talk about the new PlayStation Vue Internet TV service. Should you cancel cable?
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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guests: Iyaz Akhtar, Senior Associate Editor at CNET
Headlines:
TechCrunch reports Microsoft’s Executive VP of Operating Systems told the audience at WinHEC in Shenzen, China that Windows 10 will launch this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages. HE also said Windows 10 will be a free upgrade fro all Windows 7 users regardless of whether the user can prove their copy is legitimate or not. Kind of an amnesty program for Windows pirates tech. AND Microsoft will give select Xiaomi Mi 4 users the chance to test Windows 10 on their phones. Yes their android-based MI phones.
CNET reports on the launch of Sony’s Play Station Vue Internet TV service in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia today, starting at $50 a month after a 7 day free trial. Subscribers can watch 60 channels from CBS, NBCm Fox, Discovery, Scripps, Turner and Viacom, with AMC coming soon. $10 extra adds regional sports channels and another $10 adds 26 various other channels. The service provides 3 day on demand access to many shows programming and allows a cloud DVR to store recordings for up to 28 days. Streams can be viewed on the PS3 and PS4. Support for iPads and other devices is coming soon.
Tim Cook talked with Fast company in a wide ranging interview that touched on Steve Jobs legacy and comparisons of Apple with Microsoft. Cook said he thinks Apple is more willing than Microsoft to walk away from legacy technology that holds it back. He also unsurprisingly said the Apple Watch will be the first smartwatch that matters. Doubtless that is true. To Tim Cook.
Engadget has a story on HTC’s new “Uh Oh Protection” program that will replace your broken “One M9” smart phone once for free. HTC will replace your phone for free within the 1st year of ownership if you break the screen, damage the phone, or move carriers. If you happen to take care of the phone for the 1st year you’ll be rewarded with a $100 discount on the purchase of a new One phone in the future.
The Verge reports Google X’s Astro Teller spoke at SXSW telling the audience that Google’s research lab is opening up about their projects more often and earlier. He mentioned that the Google Glass Explorer program was an attempt to do this but it was marketed too much and too often implied it was a finished project. He also talked about how baloons for Project Loon were built to fail fast so they wouldn’t accidentally drift into illegal airspace, stories about self-driving cars avoiding ducks, and how the team was disappointed when a drone delivery prototype didn’t crash in windy conditions.
CNET reports that a German court in Frankfurt has given a preliminary ruling that could ban UberPop. This means UberPop’s carpooling service would not be allowed to run in Germany and could face a fine of 250,000 Euros ($266,000). The case against UberPop was brought to court by Taxi Deutschland which argued that UberPop is illegal because drivers do not have to have the proper licenses to drive people around. Since the ruling is preliminary UberPop can still operate until a final verdict is rendered in 3 to 4 weeks. Uber Taxi and Uber Black services in Germany are unaffected.
News From You:
lookatthemonkeys notes The Verge reports French police visited Ubers Paris office as part of an investigation into UberPop, seizing email, documents and smartphones. And to complete the hat trick, starfuryzeta noted the Gizmodo story that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and almost 30 others have been charged in South Korea with operating illegal taxi services. Police there seized 432 itens as evidence including handsets.
ancrod2 found the Popular Science writeup of Grant Campany, director for the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder Xprize, speaking at SXSW about how close we are to having a real working tricorder. The prize will go to companies that can develop a home device to tracks vital signs and diagnoses up to 15 health conditions. 10 finalists were recently announced.The next round comes with 480 testing sessions in June at the University of California San Diego. The winners of the competition will be announced in January 2016, on Star Trek’s 50-year anniversary.
Guyfromtrinidad sent us this story from Engadget reporting on the fate of 43 year old Nigel Wilson in England who flew his drone over 6 football stadiums as well as Westminster and the Queen Victoria Memorial. Wilson has been charged with contravening the CAA’s Air Navigation Order 2009, which among other things forbids flying a drone near an event hosting more than 1,000 people. Wilson was summoned to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on April 16th.
Discussion Section Links:
Pick of the day: RiffTrax
My pick is something a little different, RiffTrax!
If you are unfamiliar, rifftrax.com features some of the cast of Mystery Science Theater. The group records funny commentary tracks for major films, B-Movies and shorts.
Commentaries for major films are offered as .MP3 Downloads that you’ll then need to sync up with a copy of the film yourself. But if that sounds like too much work, they also offer a great selection of smaller films that you can download pre-synced and DRM free!
Some of my personal favorites are Viva Knievel, The Guy From Harlem, Kingdom of the Spiders (Staring William Shatner!) and Cool as Ice!
Check them out!
Rob (@blamrob on twitter)
(And no, I don’t work for Rifftrax or stand anything to gain by recommending them) :)Messages
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Warren Owen writes us with an idea.
Nintendo has dropped quarter after quarter, year after year, for half a decade. With roughly $6B in sales, yet only $29M in profit, Nintendo has a market cap of $16.8B.
Maybe now is the time. Time for what? Well What if another company just came in and bought Nintendo. Say a company with $173B in sales, $37B in profit, and $8.5B CASH ON HAND. What would happen to the “great mobile wars” if Apple bought Nintendo, and had everyones favorite characters only available on iOS? What if you could play these games, and then “AirPlay” them to your HDTV through your AppleTV (voiceover – now featuring HBO Now). What would that look like in every home across the planet? And, keep DeNA in the mix, to continue the development of new games with our old favorite heroes.
This would seem to be the perfect move for Apple.
Sorry this was long and dramatic. 
What are your thoughts?
@WOnet on all the social things
BOL REUNION!
Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.
Buzztown’s Back!
PODCAST AWARDS
Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.
Thursday’s guest: Justin Robert Young
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Ep. 2), Powers, Better Call Saul (Ep. 6), The Shield (502)
01:10 – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Ep. 2)
05:29 – Powers
13:22 – Better Call Saul (Ep. 6)
19:53 – The Shield (502)
Patrick Beja talks with us about Nintendo’s tentative move to mobile phones and tablets and the mysterious NX console platform that’s coming.
Using a Screen Reader? click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guests: Patrick Beja, DTNS contributor and host of the Pixels podcast, Le Rendez-vous Tech and The Phileas Club
Headlines:
It’s that time again. Apple Television Rumor time! This one comes from the Wall Street Journal. Apple will supposedly launch a TV service with around 25 channels for around $30-$40 dollars a month. It would include ABC CBS and Fox channels but not NBC because of a dispute with Comcast. However 9to5 Mac has a source that says NBC wants to launch apps on Apple TV, Fire TV and Xbox in the second half of this year. The new NBC app would require a cable subscription in order to us.
Engadget reports that Google has started reviewing some apps before they are available for download in the Google Play Store.
The policy, which has been in effect for a few month, uses a mix of algorithms and human intervention. Google also launched a rating system for Android apps that will label which games are appropriate for various age groups.
Nintendo announced in a press conference that it will partner with mobile game publisher DeNA to make original mobile games using Nintendo characters and worlds. Along with the new games, this autumn Nintendo will launch a cross-platform membership service for mobile devices, PC and Nintendo devices. One of those devices will someday be a new game console referred to as NX. Nintendo called it an “entirely new concept” but we won’t hear any details on that until next year. Ars Technica has one of the best stories rounding up the details.
Engadget reports Microsoft announced Windows 10 will support logins by fingerprint, facial recognition and iris scan. Of course the device it’s running on has to have the right sensor—- but a framework called Hello will make sure the login experience is consistent across different manufacturers. For devices without sensors, a feature called Passport lets you enter a password and device-specific PIN. All the biometric data and the PIN will be stored on the machine.
Engadget notes Sling TV launched today on Xbox One. You can pin Sling TV to your Home screen, control the app with Kinect for Xbox One and Snap with other activities so you can play games and watch Sling TV at the same time. Existing Xbox One owners can try out the service free for a month (up from the usual 7 day trial). If you don’t have an Xbox One you can get 3 months free if you purchase an Xbox One before March 22 2015 from a Microsoft retail outlet or online store.
PC World reports Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed details about the GeForce Titan X at the GPU Technology Conference.
The card has 3072 CUDA cores, 12 GB of RAM and costs $1,000.
Huang claimed the single-precision floating point performance is 7 TFLOPS but only 200 GFLOPs in double-precision. The one benchmark revealed was neural net analysis. Titan X can process the data in 1.5 days compared to 5 days for the Titan Black.
ReCode reports NVidia also announced a self-driving car platform called Drive PX that will go on sale in May for $10,000. This is the platform teased at CES, powered by two Tegra X1 chips and supposedly 3,000 times faster than DARPA’s DAVE platform. The platform also can be trained and Huang said it gets smarter with every OTA update. NVidia hopes to expand its partnerships with Tesla, Audi and BMW. He’ll probably get his wish with Tesla since Elon Musk joined him on stage to talk about security with self-driving cars.
ReCode reports Facebook has launched the ability to send payments through Facebook Messenger at no cost. Once you’ve tied your debit card to your Facebook account, you can click a dollar sign icon to open a payment screen in messenger. If someone sends you money and you don’t have a debit card attached, Facebook will hold the money for you until you get it set up. No payment can be sent without a PIN or thumbprint scan. The rollout will start in selected US cities and progress internationally later.
3D printing start-up, Carbon3D, has developed a new 3-D printing process that works fast enough to be used for production instead of just protyping reports Re/Code. The process is called CLIP or Continuous Liquid Interface Production. CLIP involves using light and oxygen to grow objects from a pool of resin instead of building the object layer by layer. Carbon3D says CLIP is 25-100 times faster than traditional 3-D writing and can work with a wider array of materials. Carbon3D debuted the technology Monday at the TED conference in Vancouver and said they are turning it inot a shipping product but did not state price.
News From You:
tahras submitted the Verge article that Microsoft marketing chief Chris Capossel told folks at the Microsoft Convergence event that Microsoft is researching a new name for the Project Spartan browser that will come in Windows 10. Testing shows that whatever the name is, it is perceived better if it has the name Microsoft at the beginning. A version of Internet Explorer will also ship with Windows 10 but it will be the last of its name.
KAPT_Kipper wants you to know that you can now pause videos on your Google Chromecast with your TV remote. As long as it is infrared and has a play/pause button. TechCrunch reports that Chromecast uses the HDMI-CEC protocol for the function. So if starting a cast turns your TV on, then this should work for you. The functionality doesn’t work in every app yet but works in many.
tninja3000 sent us the GeekWire report that Microsoft will let third party retailers Amazon, Best Buy and Target sell the Microsoft Band wearable starting today. The fitness and health tracker already available in Microsoft stores costs $199.99 in the US and offers notifications and lightweight apps, and integration with Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The Microsoft Band will also launch April 15th in the UK,for £169.99.
Discussion Section Links:
Pick of the day: streamingnation.com.au
G’day Tom, Jenny and Pals
Travis from Melbourne, Australia here – with a website that might be useful to other Aussies, especially over the next few weeks. It’s streamingnation.com.au, covering news about the local options for streaming video.
There’s two Netflix-ish services who’ve recently launched, being Presto and Stan, but the elephant in the room is Netflix itself (coming next week, baby!)
Streaming Nation also has lists of newly added shows and films, and has recommendations, which I’m keeping for those nights when my wife just can’t make up her mind 
Keep up the awesome work.
Trav.
Messages
I am a cablevision internet subscriber. I don’t have a cable box, only a TiVo . If I subscribed to HBONOW through cablevision, how would I watch? Through apple TV with cable login? Would I have to get a box? If this is the case, why bother? Discounts? Otherwise apple TV would be more convenient, right? Thanks from one of your bosses, Bob
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Comcast in North Georgia cable modem users here. We have a 300 GB limit…. and if you cross the magic threshold, they just start charging you some flat rate for each additional 10 or 50 GB or something (I have NOT done this), so now they just make more money from bandwidth hogs.
Woo hoo. No more bandwidth caps. Just what I asked for, sort of.
whistl
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We asked for legal uses of P2P after the story that Windows 10 updates will be distributed peer to peer. Mink sent us a link to a makeuseof post from August 2013 that mentioned Archive.org, government data sets, BitTorrent Sync, and BitTorrent bundles. Branden from Winterless Salt Lake serves up 6.6 TB of apps and patches via P2P for the 40,000 computers in his school district. And William downloaded the entire BitCoin blockchain shaving a day off the time to get his bitcoin node up and running.
And Mink added the interesting question of “whether “mobile” (slower & less reliable networks with more data caps and using inherently smaller storage devices) will make torrents more or less attractive to users. “
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Hey guys!
A few months back I sent in an audio recording which you played where I discussed the opportunities that are created by GoPro’s new product with builtin wifi/internet service (hopefully). Meerkat would be crazy not to reach out to them for reasons I am sure you can understand. I shot Meerkats support a brief email as well since they are a fun little startup. They could do great things together.
Thanks!
Joe
BOL REUNION!
Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.
Buzztown’s Back!
PODCAST AWARDS
Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.
Wednesday’s guest: Iyaz Akhtar
Will you buy a game console or a phone to watch cable? Or will you buy your HBO Now from Cablevision? Will you watch Tommy Wiseau’s show Neighbors?
CordKillers: Ep. 62 – Toenail, the Service
Recorded: March 16, 2015
Guest: Scott Johnson
Intro Video
Primary Target
Signal Intelligence
Gear Up
Front Lines
Under Surveillance
Dispatches from the Front
Brian, Brian, Brian,
Big Hero Six? Really? Dude I can’t believe you bought into that one. “Big Hero Scooby-Doo with Robots” is more like it. One of the most predictable, safe, boring thing I’ve ever seen from Disney. It really did NOT deserve the Best Animated Feature. Looked pretty, but even that was pretty boring too.
Do you want to show your little girls the best animated feature of 2014?? Sit down and watch “Song Of The Sea” with them. I took my niece and she absolutely loved it.
“Song Of The Sea” trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgbXWt8kM5Q
Take it from someone who works in the animation industry. BH6 was not the best. Not even close. Please watch SOTS. You will not be disappointed.
Steve
Hi Tom, Brian and random guest. I have been debating for a while on which streaming service to get. Most of my friends have both and are happier with Netflix but also say that there are some things on Hulu Plus that they can’t get on Netflix I can only afford one and am torn between the two any advice would be great. Love the show
Will
Some people don’t mind spoilers, so they always listen to It’s Spoilerin’ Time. I try to avoid them, so I only listen to the Spoilerin’ Time segments for shows/movies that I’ve seen.
I emailed you a while back requesting timestamps in the Spoilerin’ Time episode descriptions, and I can’t thank you enough for providing that.
But still, the situation commonly arises that you discuss something on Spoilerin’ Time that I haven’t seen yet, so I skip it. But then, weeks, maybe even months later, I see it, and I would like to go back and see what my favorite hosts had to say about it. In the past, that involved some Google work.
So I went back through all the IST episodes to see what you covered. I converted all the timestamps you provided to timecode YouTube links, for a scrollable, searchable, clickable list of every episode and movie you’ve covered in the segments:
It’s a bit rough around the edges. The shows are in reverse chronological order, based on when you covered them, but the episodes are in forward chronological order. Hm, that’s a little weird. Also, there weren’t episode numbers in a lot of the show descriptions. In some places, I assumed, in others, I left it blank. And I converted all the timecodes manually, so inevitably, a few will probably be wrong. I probably pasted the wrong YouTube link in a couple places too.
I’m not sure how best to distribute this info, I think it would be best to get it into a wiki format so that others can join in the fun, especially for the older episodes without any timestamp info.
Anyway, the show is fantastic, I love everything. I hope some folks find this useful.
Joe the keyboard fanatic
Love the show. Would like to support you on Patreon, but I would have a hard time explaining that expense to my wife. A one time purchase of a product would be easier. Ergo, I would like to purchase a Cordkillers Tshirt or Mug. Any plans?
Michael
Regarding Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: According to IMDB:
The first seven episodes of the series were edited with the assumption they would be aired on NBC and adhered to a 22 minute time limit and included transitions for commercials. After the show was acquired by Netflix the episodes were reedited to remove commercial transitions and jokes that were previously omitted due to running time constraints were reinserted.
Jay in luxurious Katy, TX
Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box
Nicole Lee joins us to talk about Meerkat. Has it brought back SXSW’s app magic? Can it survive?
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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!
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Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guests: Nicole Lee of Engadget.com
Headlines:
The Verge reports Facebook updated its community standards page Sunday night to clarify what the policies are. They haven’t actually changed the policy. Among the clarifications Facebook says they want people to use the name they go by regularly, not necessarily their legal name. Hate speech is allowed for satire or commentary. Nudity is still not allowed but more strictly defined and exceptions made for artwork.
TechCrunch notes numbers of government requests for Facebook data were also released. Requests decreased in the US and UK while increasing in India, Turkey and Russia. The US still requests the most while India is number 2. The total number worldwide rose from 34,946 in the first half of the year, to 35,051 between July and December 2014.
The Verge reports Microsoft launched Office 2016 preview. Microsoft improved search, storage footprint, and email delivery performance, as well as image insertion in Word and Excel 2016. Not all the new features for Office 2016 are in the rpeview yet. Microsoft also launched a test version of Skype for Business, with the ability to integrate with Office apps. The final version of Skype for Business will be available in April, with the final Office 2016 coming later this year. Interested? sign up at Microsoft Connect website at connect.microsoft.com.
Reuters reports BlackBerry will launch high security tablet aimed at governments and enterprise in cooperation with IBM and Samsung. The SecuTABLET is based on the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and works with BlackBerry’s SecuSuite for voice and data encryption. The device is undergoing certification by the German Federal Office for Information Security for secure rating. According to the Wall St Journal, the tablet will be available this summer at a price of $2,380
TechCrunch notes Elon Musk tweeted yesterday that a Tesla press conference will take place Thursday at 9 AM and “end range anxiety… via OTA software update. Affects entire Model S Fleet.”
TechCrunch has covered a new report by the Pew Research Center found 30% of US citizens surveyed have taken steps to shield or hide their information from the US government. TechCrunch notes 52% of those surveyed said they were “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” by government surveillance programs, but 46% said they were “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned.” The survey found that 87% of adults have heard at least something about government surveillance programs and 57% said it is unacceptable for the government to monitor the communications of US citizens, but a majority said spying elsewhere is OK. Most often peopleo change privacy settings on social media, avoiding apps entirely and using social media less. Well… is that about government interference or drunk selfies?
Engadget reports on the launch of free public Internet service at a Havana cultural center. Popular artist Kcho got approval from the state telecom Etecsa to open up his WiFi router at the cultural center. The connection is 2 Mbps but doesn’t caust a centavo.
Variety reports HBO Now will be offered by Cablevision to its broadband-only subscribers. In other words if you get your Internet fro Cablevision, you won’t also have to sign up for TV if you want HBO. Cablevision said it will provide pricing and other details about how HBO Now will be made available to broadband subs in the coming weeks.
News From You:
Rpattony posted the TorrentFreak article highlighting another of the many nuggets found in the recent US Open Internet order. “Nothing in this part prohibits reasonable efforts by a provider of broadband Internet access service to address copyright infringement or other unlawful activity.” It is apparently OK for the ISP to determine what is illegal and what is infringement.
Starfuryzeta sent us this story from the Verge reporting on Yahoo’s new Password-free email login. The new approach dubbed “on demand” passwords sends Yahoo email users a time sensitive code through an app or cellphone text message. No more need to remember a password. Every time you login you’ll be sent a new code. Just don’t lose the phone tied to the account. The new password features is available now and can be enabled from the security section of your account information page.
KAPT_Kipper found the Yahoo Tumbler post announcing the release of source code for Yahoo’s new end-to-end encryption browser extension for Yahoo Mail. The encryption interface is described as intuitive, however, it will have to be activated each time you want it and info like recipient, subject line and time will remain unencrypted. Yahoo used the Google end to end extension in the project. Yahoo released the source code to GitHub and plans to have end to end encryption available for all users by the end of the year.
Eziwireless sent us this Engadget report on Windows 10’s unique update feature. The Verge noticed that a leaked version of Windows 10 lets you grab updates from other PCs whether they’re local or online.This peer-to-peer network patching would accelerate the updating process as well as limiting bandwidth usage on metered internet connections.
Philman 132 submitted the Boing Bong BBS post about GNU Terry Pratchett. When implemented on Apache or Nginx, web-servers transmit a special “X-Clacks-Overhead” header reading “GNU Terry Pratchett.” Pratchett’s book Going Postal described a system called The Clacks where workers who died in the line of duty could have their name transmitted in the system’s signaling layer, because (“A man is not dead while his name is still spoken”
Discussion Section Links: Twitter & Meerkat
www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/16/meerkat-twitter-block-ben-rubin-social-graph
techcrunch.com/2015/03/16/meerkatroullette-is-chatroulette-for-meerkat-because-meerkat
techcrunch.com/2015/03/14/bird-vs-mammal
Pick of the Day:
Christopher Ragsdale writes: In listening to this discussion on episode 2448 I was reminded of an interview I had heard recently with author Douglass Rushkoff about his book “Present Shock”. Not trying to sell books here. I think you and Jennie might be interested in the info in this book:
Messages
Every time y’all talk about how bandwidth caps on home Internet access is a thing of the past, my left eye twitches in a peculiar manner. Y’see, I have Comcast as my ISP. The highest tier home service available in my area (Charleston, SC). And we have a 300GB per month cap. Did I mention that this cap only went into place about a year and a half ago? Surprisingly (or not?), not very long after the cap went into place, Comcast had the infamous share holder call in which the CEO stated flatly that Comcast has no plans to implement bandwidth caps.
Cheers,
-Sam
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Buzz Out Loud REUNION!
Join the Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.
Buzztown’s Back!
PODCAST AWARDS
Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.
Tuesday’s guest: Patrick Beja!
Darren Kitchen and Brian Brushwood join to talk about the effect tech is having on Brian’s home town and the SXSW Interactive festival. Plus Len Peralta illustrates the show.
Using a Screen Reader? click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!