Patrick Beja is with us today to look at the search engines top trending searches for 2014. What do they tell us about humanity? Or France?

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Show Notes

Today’s guest:  Patrick Beja

Headlines

The Verge reports Apple has won against a class-action lawsuit seeking damages of more than $350 million for preventing non-iTunes protected music from playing on iPods. A jury decided Apple’s updates to iTunes 7.0 were a “genuine product improvement” and did not violate antitrust laws. An appeal is planned.

Bloomberg reports Apple halted online sales of its products in Russia today due to fluctuations in the value of the ruble. An Apple spokesman said the company is currently reviewing pricing in the country. Apple raised the price of the iPhone 6 by 25% last month. The company operates no Apple retail locations in Russia.

The patent wars are winding down. PC Mag reports Google and Verizon are teaming up to fight patent trolls. The two companies signed a cross-license agreement on a broad range of products and technologies. Verizon general counsel Randal Milch wrote in a blog post that he hopes to strike similar deals with more companies. Google’s head of patent transactions, Kirk Dailey said his company welcomes discussions with companies who might be interested in a similar arrangement.

Reuters reports a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Sony Pictures Entertainment for failing to protect employee data. Two former employees seek compensation for damages as well as credit monitoring services, identity theft insurance and other assistance for themselves and any former or current U.S. employees whose data was similarly compromised. Sony Pictures Entertainment has offered identity-theft protection and credit monitoring to its approximately 6,500 employees.

Meanwhile The Next Web reports an email was sent to journalists with links to more data claiming to be taken from Sony Pictures Entertainment along with a threatening letter. The data purports to target Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. The threat targets showings of the movie “The Interview.”

OK. Let’s lighten the mood. Perhaps the Crema filter on Instagram will do just that. The Verge reports Instagram added its first new photo filters since December 2012. The new filters are called Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Perpetua, and Aden. Instagram also added a new perspective tool, real-time comments and the ability to upload slow-motion video. The updates will come to iOS and Android today.

Patrick, it’s time for a digital pay, triple play. TechCrunch reports Apple told the New York Times that Apple Pay now supports cards from providers of 90% of credit card purchases in the US. ReCode says sources say Samsung is talking to LoopPay to partner on a payment system of its own for devices in 2015. LoopPay mimics a card swipe. And TechCrunch says messaging app Line has begun rolling out its payment feature called Line Pay to all users except those in South Korea or China.

Reuters reports an Indian Court has allowed Xiaomi to resume sales of its devices until a hearing on Jan.8. Ericsson is suing Xiaomi in India for patent infringement. Xiaomi had to agree to deposit 100 rupees for every device sold in advance of the hearing.

Author Neal Stephenson, who wrote the book Snow Crash which includes a world filled with virtual reality and augmented reality has joined secretive startup Magic Leap which is rumored to be working on really amazing virtual reality and augmented reality. Stephenson wrote in a blog post that Magic Leap aims to, “produce a synthesized light field that falls upon the retina in the same way as light reflected from real objects in your environment.” Stephenson’s title witll be Chief Futurist. He did not mention his previous effort, Clang from Subutai Corporation, which aimed to make a realistic sword-fighting game mechanism.

 

 

 

 

News From You

F1Ben submitted the Wall Street Journal article that NBC is launching a live stream of its broadcast network available today online and on mobile early next year. Viewers will need to verify they pay for a cable subscription in order to access the content.

And tehSMOOF submitted the Verge article that T-Mobile USA will let customers save unused data for later. The program is called Data Stash. You must be a Simple Choice customer who has purchased additional 4G LTE data AND uou must buy at least 3GB of data a month on a phone or 1 GB a month on tablets. Starting in January qualifying customers will get 10 GB of data free. After that is used up any unused data each month will be stored in a customer’s Data Stash for a year before it expires.

Discussion Links: Year in Review

https://www.google.com/trends/2014/

http://www.google.com/trends/topcharts?hl=en#date=2014&geo=
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-year-in-search-moments-that-defined.html

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/top-10-searches-of-2014-c1417565661893.html

http://www.bing.com/trends/us

Pick of the Day:  Fuel My Route via Benjamin Chamness

Hello Tom and the rest of the DTNS crew,

I have been on a few road trips recently, and I wanted to pass along a site that I have found to be fairly helpful in my travels. The site is fuelmyroute.com (with an app available on Google Play). If you give FuelMyRoute your starting location and destination, the site will identify the cheapest gas prices along your route. You can edit the fuel grade, how far off your route it should search for gas stations, and how often it should report gas prices (every 50, 100, 150, etc. miles). It reports the prices on a Google map, with stations color coded to based on if their prices are below or above the average price. You can zoom in on the map to show prices at other stations along your route.

The service does not allow for routes with multiple destinations, and it will only report prices along the default driving route from Google Maps. Even with these limitations, I have found the site to be very helpful in planning out my road trips. I thought I would pass this along to the rest of the DTNS community.

Love the show, and I hope to be a Patreon supporter soon.
Benjamin Chamness

Amber Mac is on. We’ll talk about why checking email less could make you happier and how humanity shows its good side on social networks in Sydney.

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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!

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: Amber Mac,  author, entrepreneur, host of 15 Sec Tech

Headlines

GigaOm reports Microsoft began rolling out Skype Translator to selected users today. The feature allows instant translation of voice conversations between English and Spanish speakers as well as translation of text conversations between speakers of around 12 languages. The first version runs on Windows 8.1 and Windows phone. Interested users can sign up to be invited in at skype.com/translator-preview.

Politico rounds up the news around the Sony Hacks from the weekend. Attackers offered to exempt Sony staffers from future leaks by emailing their name and business title. Sony Pictures Entertainment hired attorney David Boies to send a request to news organizations not report on damaging information obtained from the stolen files. The letter said Sony would seek action for damages incurred as a result of any such reporting.

GigaOm reports Spanish newspapers are upset at Google’s decision to close Google news in Spain and remove Spanish publishers from Google News products worldwide. The Spanish Association of Daily Newspaper Publisher noted the closure would have a negative impact on citizens and businesses and called for “the intervention of the Spanish and EU authorities, and of competition authorities to effectively protect the rights of citizens and businesses.” Google News in Spain will close Tuesday Dec. 16.

VentureBeat reports that it is now possible to control your Nest thermostat with the self-title Google App on iOS and Android phones. Not some special other app but the regular old Google App. You can also use voice commands to ask Google to change or set the temperature and the app will bring up Google Now to suggest temperatures.

The BBC reports that torrent tracker search site IsoHunt has cloned The Pirate Bay database and launched a site called The Pirate Bay Search by IsoHunt. Meanwhile Mr. 10100100000 (1312) spoke with TorrentFreak saying the TPB crew was not surprised by the raid and is taking this time offline to discuss the future and purpose of The Pirate Bay. But if they reboot they promise to do it “with a bang.” Also they don’t mind clones as long as they aren’t scams.

Reuters reports BT has entered exclusive talks with Orange and Deutsche Telekom to acquire the EE mobile service. The potential deal would be worth 12.5 billion pounds. Deutsche Telekom would keep a 12% stake in EE and Orange would get more cash but only a 4% stake. The talks are expected to take a couple weeks. I personally am hoping that the resulting service that merges EE with BT will be called BEET.

ReCode reports Xiaomi reported 347.5 million yuan ($56 million) in net profit last year, according to a regulatory filing for an operating margin of just 1.8 percent. As a comparison Samsung reported an operating margin of 18.7 percent last year and Apple 28.7%. But Xiaomi is still ahead of LG which reported 0.5%.

TechCrunch reports on Gartner’s latest Worldwide smartphone sales numbers. Samsung’s tops but declining with 24.4%. Apple nudged up a bit to 12.7%. Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo rounded out the top 5 with Xiaomi leaping from 1.5% a year ago to 5.2% now. So let’s see. Two incumbents still big and even growing a little while upstarts chomp at their heels. That describes 2009 when Nokia RIM dominated and Apple, HTC and Samsung were the rising stars.

The Atlantic reports that Astrobotics Technology is offering a chance for earthlings to send their precious keepsakes to the moon. The program is called MoonMail and it is part of a plan to put a privately-owned lunar rover on the moon and win Google’s $20 million LunarX prize. If your keepsake is smaller than a dime it will cost you $460. A quarter? $1,600. More than 2 pounds? More than million bucks. No weapons, liquids or perishable items. Interested? Check out moonmail.co

News From You

starfuryzeta sent us the TechCrunch report that Runtastic has developed software for Oculus Rift VR headsets that lets you do a real 7 minute workout in a virtual environment. You can exercise in a villa by the beach, or on a scenic hillside, all tracked by Runtastic. The software will be on display at CES, so get ready for lots of videos of reporters exercising. AND This means we are now one 7 minute workout closer to the world of Ready Player One.

Dear Uber. You’ve had a tough month. One of your execs maybe threatened a reporter, then you got sued by several cities for maybe misleading the public. So you’re looking for ways to prove that you’re not the company we’re all maybe starting to wonder if you are. So MAYBE, when there’s a hostage crisis in downtown Sydney and people are looking to get out of downtown, don’t tweet “We are all concerned with events in CBD. Fares have increased to encourage more drivers to come online & pick up passengers in the area.” After Mashable and others published a story of price hikes at 4x the normal rate, resulting in rides cost $100 or more, the company reversed course and announced that all rides in the area would be free and offered refunds to those charged the higher amount. Thanks to lagerdalek for flagging this one.

iSting pointed this one out and I believe it caught Amber’s eye as well. Indiegogo is setting up a new site called Indiegogo Life designed to help individuals raise money for things like medical bills, school and other personal causes. This special program does not charge any platform feees. An Indiegogo spokesperson told Engadget that the company has a “stringent verification procedure” for Life campaigns that includes a “dedicated team of experts, automated algorithms and other procedures.”

Discussion Links: Checking Email Less = More Better

http://mashable.com/2014/12/12/email-checking-study/

https://www.academia.edu/9182785/Checking_Email_Less_Frequently_Reduces_Stress

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/15/these-australian-social-media-reactions-to-the-sydneysiege-are-perfect/?ncid=rss

https://www.facebook.com/FBNewswire/posts/818714328166690

https://twitter.com/search?q=illridewithyou

Pick of the Day:  Elfster via Norm in Austin, TX

Hey Tom & Jennie,

I feel like I’m overloading your inboxes but I’m sure I’ll go dormant for a few months and leave you guys alone after this

Anyway, I am doing a gift exchange with my California inlaws and we are using the Elfster.com web site to coordinate that. People sign up, set up a wish list and the random drawing assigns folks to each other. The admin can make it so certain people don’t get each other (like married members of the family don’t get each other for example) so it’s pretty convenient. We’ve been using it for a few years and it’s working fine though the web site leaves a bit to be desired but it gets the job done.

Take care, Norm (from ATX/BCS)

In 1962 – NASA “Relay 1” launched, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.

In 1977 – Young Bill Gates was arrested for a traffic violation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, leading to one of the most famous mugshots ever.

In 1977 – Robert Metcalfe et. al were awarded a patent for “Multipoint data communication system with collision detection” also known as ethernet.

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Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Darren Kitchen is on the show and we’ll talk about Russia pulling out their engineers from Russia. It’s probably not what you think. Plus Len Peralta is here to illustrate 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

Today’s guests:  Darren Kitchen of hak5.org and Len Peralta, artist and author

Headlines

The BBC reports Facebook is considering adding something similar to the oft-requested dislike button. In a Q&A session at Facebook headquarters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company wants to find “the right way to make it so that people can easily express a broader range of emotions.” Zuck talked about people sharing sad moments or wanting to say ‘That thing isn’t good for the world.’ For example a post that links to a report on child slavery might inspire support for raising awareness, but clicking ‘Like’ might not seem quite right.

Chinese Internet company Baidu will hold a press conference next week to announce an investment in “a prominent US based start-up,” and TechCrunch says its Uber. Bloomberg reports the investment could be as much as $600 million. The partnership helps Baidu compete in China’s taxi space, and gives Uber access to Baidu’s wealth of mobile data as well as their experience dealing with Chinese government regulations. Both TenCent and Alibab have significant investments in popular taxi apps Didi Dache and rival Kuaidi Dache.

The Next Web reports that YouTube is testing a new feature that allows users to create GIFs from YouTube Videos. Right now users can test the feature on the PBS Idea Channel page. Click the share button, drag a trim selector to the part of the video and boom 5 second GIF. You can even add text. No word on when this feature will go site wide but I’m sure glad there’s an ENTIRE year of Daily Tech News Show video out there.

Tech Crunch reports that Google has released its list of the year’s most popular entertainment as seen in the Google Play store. The most downloaded apps included language-learning app Duolingo and health app MyFitnessPal. The most downloaded game of 2014 was Candy Crush Saga. Movie of the year? Frozen TV show: The Walking Dead. Album of the year? Frozen. Fastest growing genre: Soundtracks (thank you Frozen and Guardians of the Galaxy).

Ars Technica reports Microsoft says NPD’s data for November shows the Xbox One outsold the PS4 in the US and UK. Leaked numbers indicate Microsoft may have sold as many as 1.2 million Xbox Ones with Sony selling 2/3 as many PS4s. That’s not awful news for either company as Microsoft slashed prices in November with games bundled in. Sony just added bundles this week. And good news for Nintendo too, which announced Wii U sales were up 10% and at the end of November, the console had its best hardware sales week since launch.

Ars Technica reports Google has confirmed it is shutting down its engineering operations in Russia and offer the more than 50 engineers a chance to transfer elsewhere in the company. Sales and marketing will continue on in Russia. Google’s Aaron Stein told Ars: “We are deeply committed to our Russian users and customers, and we have a dedicated team in Russia working to support them.” A Bloomberg source says Google intends to increase investment in Russia next year.

The Verge reports Sony has launched another crowdfunded experimental project. The Qrio Smart Lock claims to be the smallest of its kind and can be securely installed without tools. It allows users to open doors with a smartphone and share encrypted keys using messaging apps like Line and Facebook. Qrio is expected to retail in Japan for around ¥15,000 ($126).

News From You

djsekani sent us the Engadget report that New York Judge Denise Cote ruled that it is NOT illegal to tell people about software that can strip DRM off e-books, as long as there is no intent to distribute the DRM-free versions. Back in 2013, Abbey House Media, a company that sold e-books for Penguin and Simon and Schuster shut down its digital store. Without the store, customers couldn’t transfer their purchases to new devices. So Abbey House told customers that Calibre could be used to strip DRM from ebooks. Guess who didn’t like that? The book publishers sued saying Abbey House was contributing to copyright infringement and inducing people to break the law, but the judge disagreed. Guess who is almost certain to appeal?

TheLazyOne pointed out TechCrunch’s report on Seagate’s Shingled Magnetic Recording drives that can store 8 TB of data for about 3 cents a gigabyte by cramming more tracks on a platter. Yeah platter. They’re not solid state and they’re not even fast at 5,900 RPM and an average read/write speed of 150MB/sec. However they are cheap. Seagate will ship the drives in January for $260 for an 8 terabyte version.

And Johnsie776 tipped us off to the TorrentFreak article claiming the MPAA and its major studios members have been brainstorming ways to legally block copyright-infringing websites without getting new laws passed. The most promising would be using Rule 19 of Federal Rules of Cicil procedure. If a judge found a foreign site guilty of infringement, Rule 19 would then be used to join an ISP in the lawsuit thus allowing the blocking without finding the ISP guilty of any wrongdoing. Another of the many approaches would note that ISPs have publicly claimed they are not telecommunications services” or mere conduits of information and therefore they should not be protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions.

 

Discussion Links: Google ex Russia

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/in-wake-of-restrictive-data-law-in-russia-google-pulls-its-engineers/

http://fortune.com/2014/12/11/google-russia-engineering/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-12/google-said-to-transfer-engineering-operations-out-of-russia.html

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/russian-facebook-founder-flees-country-after-being-forced-out-as-ceo/

http://rusemb.org.uk/policycontact/52

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/09/russia-china-tajikistan-propose-un-code-of-conduct-for-the-net/

http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/nsosndoc.nsf/1e5f0de28fe77fdcc32575d900298676/2deaa9ee15ddd24bc32575d9002c442b%21OpenDocument

https://www.google.com/search?q=gogole+moves+engineers+from+norway&oq=gogole+moves+engineers+from+norway&aqs=chrome..69i57.4379j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#q=google+moves+engineers+from+norway&start=10
http://www.itpro.co.uk/609539/google-cuts-jobs-and-consolidates-engineering

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/changes-to-engineering.html

Pick of the Day:   Sprint Reader via Franz

Franz has this one: Hi Tom,

a few weeks back you mentioned an ever increasing read list in your Pocket app. Well, maybe my pick can help here:
It is a Chrome extention called “Sprint Reader”, and it is an implementation of a fast-reading technique called RSVP – rapid serial visual presentation. In a nutshell, it flashes words in your view in rapid succession without you having to move your eyes. This allows for reading speeds of 600 words per minute and beyond. (Typical reading speeds is about 150-200, 300 for really fast readers). The way this works is by eliminating the limiting factor, which is movement of the eyes and re-focussing on the text.
Developer Anthony Nosek just updated Sprint Reader to 2.1 today*, so I thought I’d mention it. The code is also openly available on GitHub.
I got hooked on the idea of RSVP after I discovered Spritz ( spritzinc.com ) back in march, which sadly is a proprietary API, and was no product yet. Since then, I had a look on every single RSVP app I could find and found Sprint Reader to not only be free, but the best of the bunch.

I hope this helps you and your listeners to better cope with an ever increasing amount of interesting reads on the web.
Greetings to Jennie and guest, Thanks for the show, and keep it going strong.
Franz Reischl from Austria
(Patron of the show)

Link:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sprint-reader-speed-readi/kejhpkmainjkpiablnfdppneidnkhdif?hl=en

GitHub:

https://github.com/anthonynosek/sprint-reader-chrome

* Disclaimer: The update includes a fix from myself. To be exact, my first ever contribution to an open-source project. So I might be a bit biased when I say it’s the best, but I use it for way longer than that now.

Justin Young is on the show and we’ll talk about Google’s decision to shut down Google News in Spain, rather than pay Spanish publishers to list news content.

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Using a Screen Reader? click here

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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 guest:  Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor and co-host of Night Attack and Weird Things 

Headlines

Engadget reports Microsoft has made the MSN suite of apps available for iOS and Android in addition to Windows Phone. The News, Sports, Health and Fitness, food and Drink and Money apps are available now. MSN Weather is out on Android and coming to iOS in a few weeks. That news comes along with Microsoft’s acquisition of multiplatform mobile test environment maker HockeyApp, similar to Apple-owned TestFlight on iOS.

TechCrunch reports Ford’s new Sync 3 is faster, sleeker, more intuitive and NOT powered by Microsoft anymore. Sync 3 switches to Blackberry-owned QNX OS running on TI hardware. And yes that means your old Ford will not get Sync 3. Ford worked with select app developers for the Sync 3 launch including Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, NPR One, SiriusXM Radio and iHeartRadio. The system rolls out to new vehicles next year.

So Microsoft wins some and loses some and then takes your BitCoins. TechCrunch reports the folks at Coindesk noticed that you can now use bitcoins to buy content on Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox. Microsoft confirmed that it is working with Bitpay. However you can only use Bitcoins for MS Wallet or gift cards in the US. Direct payments are not supported.

CNET reports Head of Google News Richard Gingras announced today in a blog post that Google News will shut down in Spain December 16th and Spanish publishers will be removed from Google News worldwide. An amendment to Spain’s copyright law goes into effect January 1st that requires any news aggregator to pay an unspecified license fee to any publisher for listing their content. Google does not run ads on Google News and claims they cannot afford to keep the site going under the new law.

TechCrunch reports Xiaomi confirmed it has stopped selling its phones in India after an injunction from a New Delhi High Court. Ericsson brought a patent suit against Xiaomi for “unfair” usage of a range of wireless technology patents. Xiaomi began selling the Mi3, Redmi and Redmi Note devices in India in July. Ericsson claims it spent three years trying to communicate about the issue. Xiaomi says it is open to resolving the issue amicably.

The Next Web reports that YouTube’s Android app now allows users in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to save videos to their devices to watch offline. The feature is available for select content like trailers, movies and music videos so users can watch buffer-free video in areas without data connections. Users can also choose the quality of the videos they’re downloading and videos can be played back from the app’s Offline section for up to 48 hours.

Peter Wells let us know about a new piracy development in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reports the government will enable rights holders to apply for a court order requiring ISPs to block access to overseas websites alleged to provide access to pirated content. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is part of the Coalition government, who’s policy is not to support filters. So why the change of heart? Because it’s not a filter! Turnbull said “This is not, repeat, not an internet filter” and called the idea that blocking websites amounts to a filter, “nonesense” and “complete BS.” He did NOT say “You call that a filter? Now THIS is a filter.”

ReCode reports its sources say Sony Pictures Entertainment is flooding file sharing sites with fake or corrupted versions of torrents containing stolen information from the company. One of the sources says SPE is using Amazon Web Services to power the attack. Amazon told Recode such activity is not happening on AWS.

 

 

News From You

Hurmoth sent in the report that Verizon Chief Financial Officer Francis Shammo told a UBS investor conference yesterday that Title II regulation of broadband would not influence how Verizon invests in its networks. Just to be clear, Verizon is still against Title II regulation of broadband, but Shammo said “we were born out of a highly regulated company, so we know how this operates.” Verizon sued and won to overturn the FCC’s previous open Internet guidelines which led to the current debate. Would that happen again? Sounds like it’s AT&T’s turn at the plate. Shammo quoted AT&T Chairman & CEO Randall Stephenson saying, “I think it’s going to be a very litigious environment.”

starfuryzeta submitted the Wired article that hackers have figured out a way around the Keurig coffee machine’s DRM on coffee pods. The hack involves snipping a section of the lid from a valid Keurig “K-Cup” and then taping that strip to the top of a non-Keurig pod. Alternatively you can tape the strip to the Keurig machine itself, permanently fooling it.

MrAnthropology sent us a Des Moines register report that beginning next year, citizens of Iowa will be able to use a mobile app as their official driver’s license. The ID will be protfected by a PIN and be accepted by law enforcement and airports in Iowa. Iowa is already one of more than 30 states that allow motorists to show electronic proof of insurance during a traffic stop.

Discussion Links: Adios Google News en Espańa

http://searchengineland.com/responding-strict-new-copyright-law-google-shutter-news-site-spain-210648

http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-update-on-google-news-in-spain.html

http://searchengineland.com/spain-follows-germany-passing-google-tax-guide-copyright-protection-207103

http://searchengineland.com/german-publishers-google-want-snippets-back-206520

http://searchengineland.com/sweden-latest-consider-google-link-tax-207706

http://searchengineland.com/avoid-liability-google-reduces-news-content-germany-headlines-204811

http://www.stefan-niggemeier.de/blog/19058/leistungsschutzrecht-wirkt-mehrere-suchmaschinen-zeigen-verlagsseiten-nicht-mehr-an/

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30426496

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/the-predictable-result-of-spains-google-tax-no-more-google-news/

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/12/google-news-shuts-shop-spain-thanks-ancillary-copyright-law

Pick of the Day:   Pushbullet via Geoff in Maryland

Here’s my pick of the day, Pushbullet. It is a very simple yet powerful app that basically lets you send information from one device to another very easily. You can use it to send notes, links, or even files. I use it all the time to send links from my computer to my phone (map directions, recipes, etc.)

It also has the ability on Android (not sure about iOS) to mirror notifications which I use on my desktop to see what the notifications are on my phone. Handy because for instance I can see who’s calling on my laptop and know if I need to run to pick up my phone in the bedroom.

Finally, I don’t use this feature but it integrates with IFTT or Tasker for even more uses.

All in all, it’s an app I use all the time and don’t know how I managed without it. It’s available for Android and iOS, as well as Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera. There’s a beta app for Windows and an app for OSX is coming soon. The developer is great and is constantly putting out new features and updates as needed.

Geoff in MD

Justin Young is on the show and we’ll talk about Google’s decision to shut down Google News in Spain, rather than pay Spanish publishers to list news content.

MP3

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 guest:  Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor and co-host of Night Attack and Weird Things 

Headlines

Engadget reports Microsoft has made the MSN suite of apps available for iOS and Android in addition to Windows Phone. The News, Sports, Health and Fitness, food and Drink and Money apps are available now. MSN Weather is out on Android and coming to iOS in a few weeks. That news comes along with Microsoft’s acquisition of multiplatform mobile test environment maker HockeyApp, similar to Apple-owned TestFlight on iOS.

TechCrunch reports Ford’s new Sync 3 is faster, sleeker, more intuitive and NOT powered by Microsoft anymore. Sync 3 switches to Blackberry-owned QNX OS running on TI hardware. And yes that means your old Ford will not get Sync 3. Ford worked with select app developers for the Sync 3 launch including Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, NPR One, SiriusXM Radio and iHeartRadio. The system rolls out to new vehicles next year.

So Microsoft wins some and loses some and then takes your BitCoins. TechCrunch reports the folks at Coindesk noticed that you can now use bitcoins to buy content on Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox. Microsoft confirmed that it is working with Bitpay. However you can only use Bitcoins for MS Wallet or gift cards in the US. Direct payments are not supported.

CNET reports Head of Google News Richard Gingras announced today in a blog post that Google News will shut down in Spain December 16th and Spanish publishers will be removed from Google News worldwide. An amendment to Spain’s copyright law goes into effect January 1st that requires any news aggregator to pay an unspecified license fee to any publisher for listing their content. Google does not run ads on Google News and claims they cannot afford to keep the site going under the new law.

TechCrunch reports Xiaomi confirmed it has stopped selling its phones in India after an injunction from a New Delhi High Court. Ericsson brought a patent suit against Xiaomi for “unfair” usage of a range of wireless technology patents. Xiaomi began selling the Mi3, Redmi and Redmi Note devices in India in July. Ericsson claims it spent three years trying to communicate about the issue. Xiaomi says it is open to resolving the issue amicably.

The Next Web reports that YouTube’s Android app now allows users in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to save videos to their devices to watch offline. The feature is available for select content like trailers, movies and music videos so users can watch buffer-free video in areas without data connections. Users can also choose the quality of the videos they’re downloading and videos can be played back from the app’s Offline section for up to 48 hours.

Peter Wells let us know about a new piracy development in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reports the government will enable rights holders to apply for a court order requiring ISPs to block access to overseas websites alleged to provide access to pirated content. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is part of the Coalition government, who’s policy is not to support filters. So why the change of heart? Because it’s not a filter! Turnbull said “This is not, repeat, not an internet filter” and called the idea that blocking websites amounts to a filter, “nonesense” and “complete BS.” He did NOT say “You call that a filter? Now THIS is a filter.”

ReCode reports its sources say Sony Pictures Entertainment is flooding file sharing sites with fake or corrupted versions of torrents containing stolen information from the company. One of the sources says SPE is using Amazon Web Services to power the attack. Amazon told Recode such activity is not happening on AWS.

 

 

News From You

Hurmoth sent in the report that Verizon Chief Financial Officer Francis Shammo told a UBS investor conference yesterday that Title II regulation of broadband would not influence how Verizon invests in its networks. Just to be clear, Verizon is still against Title II regulation of broadband, but Shammo said “we were born out of a highly regulated company, so we know how this operates.” Verizon sued and won to overturn the FCC’s previous open Internet guidelines which led to the current debate. Would that happen again? Sounds like it’s AT&T’s turn at the plate. Shammo quoted AT&T Chairman & CEO Randall Stephenson saying, “I think it’s going to be a very litigious environment.”

starfuryzeta submitted the Wired article that hackers have figured out a way around the Keurig coffee machine’s DRM on coffee pods. The hack involves snipping a section of the lid from a valid Keurig “K-Cup” and then taping that strip to the top of a non-Keurig pod. Alternatively you can tape the strip to the Keurig machine itself, permanently fooling it.

MrAnthropology sent us a Des Moines register report that beginning next year, citizens of Iowa will be able to use a mobile app as their official driver’s license. The ID will be protfected by a PIN and be accepted by law enforcement and airports in Iowa. Iowa is already one of more than 30 states that allow motorists to show electronic proof of insurance during a traffic stop.

Discussion Links: Adios Google News en Espańa

http://searchengineland.com/responding-strict-new-copyright-law-google-shutter-news-site-spain-210648

http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-update-on-google-news-in-spain.html

http://searchengineland.com/spain-follows-germany-passing-google-tax-guide-copyright-protection-207103

http://searchengineland.com/german-publishers-google-want-snippets-back-206520

http://searchengineland.com/sweden-latest-consider-google-link-tax-207706

http://searchengineland.com/avoid-liability-google-reduces-news-content-germany-headlines-204811

http://www.stefan-niggemeier.de/blog/19058/leistungsschutzrecht-wirkt-mehrere-suchmaschinen-zeigen-verlagsseiten-nicht-mehr-an/

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30426496

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/the-predictable-result-of-spains-google-tax-no-more-google-news/

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/12/google-news-shuts-shop-spain-thanks-ancillary-copyright-law

Pick of the Day:   Pushbullet via Geoff in Maryland

Here’s my pick of the day, Pushbullet. It is a very simple yet powerful app that basically lets you send information from one device to another very easily. You can use it to send notes, links, or even files. I use it all the time to send links from my computer to my phone (map directions, recipes, etc.)

It also has the ability on Android (not sure about iOS) to mirror notifications which I use on my desktop to see what the notifications are on my phone. Handy because for instance I can see who’s calling on my laptop and know if I need to run to pick up my phone in the bedroom.

Finally, I don’t use this feature but it integrates with IFTT or Tasker for even more uses.

All in all, it’s an app I use all the time and don’t know how I managed without it. It’s available for Android and iOS, as well as Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera. There’s a beta app for Windows and an app for OSX is coming soon. The developer is great and is constantly putting out new features and updates as needed.

Geoff in MD