Ek from Hockeybuzz joins us to talk about whether Spotify and other streaming services are fair to artists.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Eklund of hockeybuzz.com and noted Taylor Swift expert 

Headlines

The Nexus 9 and Nexus Player both are on sale in Google’s Play store today. Android Police reports the Nexus 9 ships in the US in couple of days unless you want the ‘sand’ color or an LTE model which are still listed as coming soon. Its also available for in store pickup at some Best Buys. The Nexus Player takes a couple of weeks to ship. The Nexus 9 is available in many countries worldwide. The Nexus Player is only available in the US and Canada.

9to5 Mac got hold of a transcript of an internal Apple Retail video in which VP of Retail and Online Stores, Angele Ahrendts says “we’re going into the holidays, we’ll go into Chinese New Year, and then we’ve got a new watch launch coming in the spring.” Chinese new year takes place on February 19th. Officially Apple has said early 2015 as the watch’s launch so I guess that means late FEb. or March are likely launch times.

Cult of Mac reports that USAA, PNC Bank, US Bank, Barclaycard and the Navy Federal Credit Union have added support for Apple Pay today.That’s four days ahead of schedule for USAA and PNC, although Cult of Mac reports some PNC customers are having issues verifying credit cards. Regarding the launch, Randy Hopper, vice president of credit cards at Navy Federal said, “our members live fast-paced and mobile lives.” In other words, they feel the NEED, the NEED FOR SPEED!

The Guardian reports All of musician Taylor Swift’s back catalog has been removed from Spotify and some other streaming services like Deezer. Swift’s latest album has not been made available on any streaming service, likely to help boost album and download sales. The album, 1989, may break Britney Spears record for highest selling first week by a female solo artist in the US. The New York Post recently reported that Swift’s label ‘Big Machine’ is up for sale.

The Verge reports both Verizon and AT&T announced they expect to reach voice over LTE interoperability sometime in 2015. VoLTE routes calls over the company’s data networks meaning Skype-like voice quality for cell phone calls. Among the phones that currently support VoLTE are the iPhone 6, Galaxy S5 and LG G2.

Gizmodo has a look at the the new Google Calendar App that was part of the Android 5.0 Lollipop rollout. The app combs your inbox and finds event-based data you might want and allows you to add events in sentence form, letting the app fill in the blanks with addessess from Google maps and attendees from Google Contacts. It also features something called ‘Assists’ which will suggest people and places as you type and learn over time. It’s Android Lollipop only for now, but coming to Google Play in the coming weeks and eventually to iOS.

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Verge report that you will never be getting anything done at work ever again. The Internet Arcade, a web-based library of coin-operated arcade games, has just released NINE HUNDRED classic arcade games for you to play in your browser. Scrolling through the list is like getting whacked in the head with a nostalgia brick: It’s got everything from Astro Invader to Zzyzzyxx, including Millipede, many members of the Pac-Man family, Sega’s Champion Baseball and Outrun, and Atari’s Temple of Doom and Return of the Jedi games. Report all bugs and tearful thanks to Jason Scott, Internet Arcade Operator.

OMGCluck pointed out the Mozilla Blog post about a browser coming for developers. Mozilla promises the new browser development tool will “debug the whole Web, allowing you to more easily build awesome Web experiences. It also integrates some powerful new tools like WebIDE and the Firefox Tools Adapter.” The tool should arrive November 10. Names suggested in the DTNS Subreddit include earthbadger, windferret, revolverocelot and SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!

And finally MikePKennedy passed along the Engadget report that the Xbox One could get more affordable, even after the holiday discount ends. Apparently an AMD chip designer updated his LinkedIn resume with the information that he worked on a more efficient “cost-reduced” version of the Xbox One processor. Then the guy made his LinkedIn page private, because oops! Leaked AMD product roadmaps suggest the technology could be coming in 2015.

Discussion Section: T-Swift v. Spotify

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/03/taylor-swift-spotify-artists-discography-streaming-services

http://thenextweb.com/media/2014/11/03/taylor-swift-removes-music-spotify-streaming-services/

https://news.spotify.com/us/2014/11/03/taylor-swifts-decision/

http://thenextweb.com/media/2013/12/03/spotify-launches-website-explaining-its-business-model-and-introduces-free-analytics-for-artists/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/thom-yorke-spotify-is-the-last-desperate-fart-of-a-dying-corpse-8863899.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ssf/2014/07/spotify_broken_math_streaming_artists.html

http://thenextweb.com/media/2013/12/03/spotify-launches-website-explaining-its-business-model-and-introduces-free-analytics-for-artists/

http://www.spotifyartists.com/welcome-to-spotify-for-artists/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/thom-yorke-spotify-is-the-last-desperate-fart-of-a-dying-corpse-8863899.html

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkasqHkVRM1OdHg2eWZRYVp1YmgyUDFvbWtwLWNCN0E#gid=0

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120622/16193319442/myth-dispensing-whole-spotify-barely-pays-artists-story-is-bunk.shtml

 Pick of the Day: Bluetooth Multipoint via Komei in Fremont

Hi Tom, Jennie,

I wanted to mention Bluetooth Multipoint as my pick today since it’s a good feature with such a generic and un-google-able name that nobody cares to notice

Multipoint Bluetooth headphones can pair with more than one device at the same time.

I love listening to audio podcasts on my phone and watching video podcasts on the laptop on my bus commute. Before getting Multipoint headphones, it used to take sometimes up to a few minutes to unpair and re-pair every time I switch devices. Now my Multipoint Bluetooth headphones will play the audio from whichever device I’m using.

The model I’m using is LG HBS730 but I believe other ones work the same way, too.

One more thing. One of the most useful features of smart watches is the playback control and most people don’t seem to talk about it. I have a Pebble and I can play, pause, and skip backward/forward without touching my phone (just like with a Bluetooth headset). Have you noticed, on the most rough section of the freeway, every “tap” on the phone screen becomes a “swipe” and you can never press the pause and skip buttons? I don’t have that problem with my Pebble.

Cheers, Komei from “nothing really goes on but a chill place to live” Fremont

Thoughts on Amazon Fire phone from Christian Cantrell:

Hi, Tom and Jennie. I have a slightly different perspective on Friday’s story about David Limp and his comments regarding the pricing of the Amazon Fire Phone.

As a quick refresher, Limp said: “We didn’t get the price right. I think people come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations. We thought we had it right. But we’re also willing to say, ‘we missed.’ And so we corrected.”

Fair enough, but value is not just a function of price. It’s also a function of benefit. In other words, just as you could say the phone was priced too high, you could also say that phone was not good enough. $199 is not a remotely unreasonable price for a good smartphone, but it’s far too much to ask for a mediocre mobile experience.

The reality is that Amazon significantly overestimated the Fire Phone’s appeal (as opposed to pricing it incorrectly). They were relying on Dynamic Perspective, Firefly, and Mayday to capture customers’ imaginations, but Dynamic Perspective feels like a gimmick, Firefly feels like it should just be an app (and is somewhat insulting to build into a phone since its entire purpose is to get you to spend more money with Amazon), and Mayday–while actually a very innovative feature–requires consumers to anticipate having a bad experience in order to give the perception of value, which nobody really wants to do when they’re trying to get excited about a new phone.

I certainly don’t fault Amazon for trying to innovate around mobile platforms, nor do I blame them for spinning the phones’ poor sales. But the reality is that as long as the sole reason for the Fire Phone’s existence is to reduce the friction between Amazon and your money, I just don’t think it can compete with incredibly compelling alternatives from Apple, Google (and partners), and even from Microsoft.

If Amazon wants to sell a phone, they should put “pure” Android on it, ditch their app store, pre-install Amazon apps (to the extent Google’s terms will allow), and sell it for as cheap as possible. Otherwise, I think they’re wasting their time and possibly dwindling R&D budget.

Best, Christian

Tomorrow’s guest: Patrick Beja, independent podcaster and DTNS contributor.

Oh, and check out the pilot of Patrick’s new video game podcast, featuring Tom Merritt:

http://frenchspin.com/2014/11/pixels-pp1-state-industry/

 

In 1815 – George Boole was born in Lincolnshire, England AND he became a mathematician who laid down the foundations Boolean logic XOR Boolean Algebra. Search engine power users everywhere thank him.

In 1920 – KDKA in Pittsburgh started broadcasting as the first commercial radio station in the US. The first broadcast? Election results. Actual results, not projections.

In 1936 – BBC Television Service went on the air with the world’s first regular “high definition” service. Back then high definition meant 200 lines not 1080. The channel became BBC One in 1964.

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Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Darren Kitchen is back and we’ll chat about the possible hybrid solution to net neutrality being considered but he FCC. Also Len Peralta attempts his most ambitious in-show illustration yet!

MP3

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta, in costume. Because it’s Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen! 

Check out Len’s awesome Halloween artprov: 

Headlines

The Verge reports Facebook has created facebookcorewwwi.onion in order to provide Tor-eabled browsers to make an end-to-end encrypted connection to Facebook’s servers. Security researcher Runa A. Sandvik noteed on Twitter this is the first time a website with a Certificate Authority for establishing secure connections has done so for Tor users. Tor allows people to greatly reduce the chances that their IP address or location can be discovered.

GigaOm reports Google confirmed reports that Andy Rubin is leaving Google. Rubin helped developer the Android operating system which was acquired by Google in 2005. He also co-founded Danger, the makers of the Sidekick. Rubin led Google’s Android efforts until March 2013, when Sundar Pichai took over. Pichai took over most of Google’s key product areas earlier this week. The Wall Street Journal reports Rubin will launch a hardware startup incubator.

Wired reports that Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two crashed after suffering a “serious anomaly” during a test flight over the Mojave desert. The California Highway Patrol is reporting one fatality, according to the AP. Today was the 55th time SpaceShipTwo had flown, the 35th time the vehicle flew on its own, detached from the airplane that carries it airborne, the fourth time it had actually fired its rocket, and the first time it used a new polyamide-based rocket fuel—effectively a plastic-based fuel rather than the rubber-based fuel that had been used previously.

The Verge reports that Microsoft released a new Outlook for Mac today, available for Office 365 subscribers. The user interface has been updated, and the program delivers full push email support and online access to your archived Exchange mail. Beta Mac versions of updated Office suite like Word, Excel and Power Point will be available in the first half of 2015 with a consumer release to follow in the 2nd half of the year.

Boing Boing passes along a Virginia Beach Circuit Court decision ruling that an individual in a criminal proceeding can not be forced to divulge a passcode for a mobile device because it would violate protections against self-incrimination. However the court held that an individual can be compelled to unlock fingerprint protected devices. The analog is that a defendant can be compelled to hand over a key to a safe but not divulge its combination.

Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices David Limp told Fortune Magazine Amazon did not get the price right on the Fire phone. He said, “People come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations.” Last week Amazon CTO Tom Szkutak revealed that Amazon still has $83 million dollars worth of unsold phones. The Fire phone debuted at $199 for 32 gigabytes. When the company slashed the phone to 99 cents, sales improved. Amazon intends to continue to iterate and release new versions of phone software and hardware.

Reuters reports that Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, aka Anakata co-founder of The Pirate Bay was sentenced to three and a half years in prison today. Svartholm was found guilty of hacking into the mainframe of an IT provider in Denmark in 2012. Svartholm’s accomplice, a 21-year-old Dane who successfully applied for his name not to be made public, was sentenced to six months in prison for complicity in a hacking attempt in February 2012 but walked free from the court as he had already served 17 months in pre-trial detention.

CNET reports on a trending Weibo post showing off a smartphone being developed by China’s Vivo that is 3.85 mm thick. That would put it about one half the size of an iPhone 5S. Like the 4.85 mm Oppo R5, the Xplay 3S is too thin for a headphone jack. Vivo is the maker of the Xplay 3S the first phone to boast a “2K” display, with a 2,560×1,440-pixel resolution.

Reuters reports Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday that all smartphones and tablets sold in the country must be sold with their SIM cards unlocked at customer request, starting in May 2015. The move expected to push NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank to be more competitive on pricing. It also may increase market share for MVNOs like Aeon and Rakuten.

News From You

Hurmoth sent the Ars Technica story that will be our main discussion today. The Wall Street Journal says the FCC is considering a hybrid approach to broadband regulation similar to those proposed by Mozilla and the Center for Democracy and Technology. Broadly speaking the plan would leave the relationship between ISPs and its customers regulated as an information service as it is now. However it would crate a new classification for the relationship between edge providers, like websites and ISPs. The FCC would regulate that relationship under Title II as a common carrier.

Draconos submitted a post from effecthacking noting that security researcher David Longenecker identified a flaw in RT series ASUS wirelesss routers that could allow a man in the middle attack during a firmware update. Because Asus did not use SSL it could fool the router into connecting to the wrong server. File checking by ASUS did thwart malicious sofwtare, though Mogenecker was able to get a router to ‘upgrade’ to older firmware. ASUS issued an undocumented fix in firmware 3.0.0.4.376.1123 to resolve this vulnerability.

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Gigaom report that Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary suspended plans for a new tax on Internet use. Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested the plan, which would have made ISP’s pay about 62 cents per gigabyte of data used. Orban claimed the debate had been twisted and the draft would need to be amended but promised a ‘national consultation’ on the matter beginning in January. It’s the first time opposition parties to Orban’s Fidesz have been united on an issue.

Discussion Links:  

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/10/fcc-reportedly-close-to-reclassifying-isps-as-common-carriers/

http://recode.net/2014/10/31/fcc-eying-net-neutrality-plan-that-will-make-no-one-happy/

https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/

http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=6017611807

https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2014/05/05/protecting-net-neutrality-and-the-open-internet/

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-solution-to-the-f-c-c-s-net-neutrality-problems

https://d1ovv0c9tw0h0c.cloudfront.net/files/2014/09/FCC-Reply-Comments-Open-Internet.pdf

http://publicpolicy.verizon.com/assets/docs/10_29_14_Verizon_Title_II_White_Paper.pdf

http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=60000977151

Pick of the Day: Private Tunnel via Tom

Private Tunnel

Monday’s guest: Eklund of hockeybuzz.com

Christian Cantrell joins us to talk a little about Microsoft Health and Microsoft Fitness, and a little about why the present isn’t more like the future we imagined it would be.

MP3

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Christian Cantrell, science fiction author and tech writer at Living Digitally

Headlines

For those of you who already thought Lenovo owned Motorola, well now you’re right. Gigaom reports Lenovo has finalized the deal and taken ownership of Motorola Mobility from Google. Lenovo plans to operate Motorola as a wholly-owned subsidiary with its headquarters to remain in Chicago. Branding of Motorola phones vs. Lenovo phones has yet to be announced.Google retains all but about 2,000 of Motorola’s patents and most of the R&D unit working on things like Project Ara.

GigaOm reports Microsoft launched a new Health platform for mobile and a wristband fitness tracker. Microsoft Health is available for Windows Phone, iOS and Android and can work with 3rd-party apps and devices like he Jawbone Up, Runkeeper and My FitnessPal. The platform uses an ‘intelligence engine’ to calculate things like how restful your sleep was, how much recovery time you should take after a workout and will eventually work with things like Office calendar to determine how your work life is affecting your health. Microsoft also announced BAND a fitness tracker with 10 smart sensors to monitor things like heart rate, calories burned, sleep etc. It has a 1.4-inch 320 x 106 pixel screen, lasts 48 hours on a charge and works with Windows Phone, iOS and Android. It’s available for $19 in the US at MicrosoftStore.com and Microsoft retail stores.

Tim Cook wrote a piece for Bloomberg BusinessWeek acknowledging his sexual orientation. “While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.” He also writes, ”if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.” He concluded the post by writing, “We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.”

Instagram video ads have arrived. The Verge reports that as of today, Instagram will begin running 15 second video ads that will appear in a user’s feed. Disney, Banana Republic, Activision, Lancome, and the CW network are among the first brands to participate. The Verge dubs the Banana Republic ad the most ‘instagramy’ — it’s a silent time-lapse of someone sketching a clothing design. Producer Jennie dubs Activision’s Call of Duty ad the most likely to make you drop your phone when it starts auto playing in your feed.

The Verge report Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi is now the world’s third biggest smartphone maker, behind Samsung and Apple, according to new research from IDC. Xiaomi still operates primarily in China, only recently expanding into India and Singapore. Lenovo and LG round out the top five, though Lenovo will likely leap back in front once Motorola phones start counting for them. Numbers for Startegy Analytics mostly agreed with IDC and showed number one Samsung declining 10%. Samsung is starting to take on a Nokia-like feel.

Reuters reports Nintendo  will develop a bedside device to measure fatigue and track sleep. According to CEO Satoru Iwata it will be fun! This will be the first product from Nintendo’s healthcare division. The device will be developed with U.S. firm ResMed which makes products to treat sleep disorders. It’s expected to arrive sometime before March 2016.

Reuters reports that Sony will appoint Hiroki Totoki as the new president of Sony Mobile Communications, replacing Kunimasa Suzuki. Totoki, who was previously a senior vice president in the company, will attempt to reverse slow sales of Sony’s Xperia smartphones. The change goes into effect November 16th.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper passed along the TorrentFreak article that the Danish Court of Frederiksberg found Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm and a 21-year-old co-defendant guilty of hacking crimes for illegally accessing systems operated by IT company CSC. Gottfrid claimed the attacks happened because his computer had been compromised, and he was not responsible.

Hurmoth sent in the 9to5 Mac report that Meijer grocery and gas in Michigan is continuing to take Apple Pay even though it is a member of the MCX consortium promoting Current C. If you missed it both Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies are taking heat for no longer taking Apple Pay because of exclusivity with CurrentC. ReCode asked MCX COO Scott Ranking about Meijer and he cleared things up. “I think if they want to go forward and continue to accept Apple Pay, down the road at some point if they want to be a customer of MCX and roll out CurrentC and offer it to customers that’s great.”

KAPT_Kipper submitted the CNET report that Don Reisinger tried to pre-order an Amazon Fire TV stick yesterday and found out his order wouldn’t be arriving until after January 1st, 2015, two months later than the original ship date of November 19th. Amazon advises customers to pay attention to the estimated delivery date upon checkout, which for Don was January 16th. The company says devices WILL begin shipping on November 19th, for those who ordered early, but customer demand outpaced supply. My November 19th ship date has changed to Thursday, December 11, 2014 by 8pm.

And MacBytes posted the Engadget article about researchers in the US and Netherlands who have managed to send data at 255 Tbps over a single strand of fiber a kilometer long. For you network techs, the team used multicore cable sending 50 carriers down the seven channels using spatial multiplexing. For the rest of you that means you could download all 317,060 movies listed at IMDB in 2 and a half hours.

Discussion Links:  Microsoft Health

https://gigaom.com/2014/10/30/microsoft-health-platform-launches-with-payments-friendly-199-band-wearable/

http://www.microsoft.com/Microsoft-Health/en-us

http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/10/29/introducing-microsoft-health/

http://news.microsoft.com/features/microsofts-new-cloud-powered-wearable-keeps-fitness-and-productivity-insights-a-glance-away/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/05/digital-dark-matter-the-unseen-forces-that-influence-innovation/

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/26/the_future_is_disappearing_how_humanity_is_falling_short_of_its_grand_technological_promise/

http://gizmodo.com/microsoft-band-hands-on-an-activity-tracker-thats-actu-1652836668

Pick of the Day: Scrivener via Jennifer in Massachusetts

Hi Tom and Jennie,

With NaNoWriMo starting this weekend, I know you are getting several picks for writing apps. I’d like to add one more. Scrivener has a NaNoWriMo special. Instead of the usual 30 day demo, you can download a demo that will expire on December 7th giving you enough time to finish your novel. Also if you are a winner, 50,000 word written, you get a code to buy Scrivener for 50% off. If you don’t hit the 50K word goal there is a code for 20% off. This is for both the Windows and Mac versions.

Here’s the link: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/nanowrimo.php

Thanks for the show, you make my commute enjoyable.

Your boss,
Jennifer in Massachusetts

Friday’s guest: Darren Kitchen, from the new hak5 space!  Artist Len Peralta, possibly in costume! Because it will be Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen! 

Andrew Mayne is on the show and we’ll talk about the CurrentC attack and all this Apple Pay, Google wallet hoopla. Does this mean mobile payments have finally arrived?

MP3

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Andrew Mayne, magician, illusion designer and filmmaker /co-host of the Weird Things podcast

Headlines

Ars Technica reports the Merchant Customer Exchange let customers know that attackers have obtained some email addresses of people who signed up for more information, or were participating in the pilot program for Current C. Current C is the mobile payment system that uses QR codes and connects directly to your bank. MCE said some of the addresses obtained were for dummy accounts and they do not believe any other data was taken.

Gigaom reports that Reddit has created a crowd funding platform called Redditmade that lets reddit moderators raise funds by selling t-shirts and other items. All the redditors need is the deisgn. There is a time limit of 30 days for a campaign to reach its goal. Good news, the reddit secret santa sticker pack is 6% funded!

Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet reports that Microsoft aims to release the next version of Office 16 client and server applications in the second half of 2015. Speaking at Tech Ed Barcelona, Microsoft’s Julia White confirmed that the company still plans to releasethe next Office client and server apps together. Mary Jo’s sources also say Microsoft is expected to release its Office for Android tablet offering soon, possibly in early November 2014. The company also is expected to disclose timing and possibly a public preview of its next Office for Mac release soon.

The Verge reports on HP’s new Sprout PC, a 23-inch all in one with built-in 3D camera that ‘sprouts’ from the top of the screen and projects images down onto an multi-touch capacitive mat which can control projected objects and applications with 20-point touch, a stylus or a projected keyboard. The camera includes Intel’s RealSense 3D camera, a 14.6-megapixel high-resolution camera, an HP DLP projector, and an LED desk lamp, meaning. It doesn’t just project either it can also scan 2D and 3D objects.The Windows PC comes with 1TB of storage and an Intel i7 processor. It goes on sale November 9th for $1,899.99 and will be demonstrated at select Best Buy and Microsoft Stores this weekend.

Once you scan in your 3D objects you can then print them into a new Multi-Jet Fusion HP 3D commercial and manufacturing printer. CNET reports HP claims the technology is ten times faster than what’s inside existing 3D printers, because it builds an entire surface area, instead of one point at a time. HP also plans to develop new 3D printing materials, using color, ceramic and metal. The product won’t be fully available until 2016, although early customers may get access sometime next year.

Ars Technica reports attackers entered the administrative network of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. An unnamed official told the Washington Post “we are still assessing the activity of concern,” which we think means they don’t know if any data was taken yet. According to the Post’s anonymous sources the attack was discovered in October after a foreign government told US officials.

Hey, It’s me! Good news for Nintendo! Listen to my words closely. Strong sales of Wii U and 3DS software generated quarterly profit of 24.2 billion yen (about $224 million) in net income forthe latest quarter a big raise compared to the loss of over eight billion yen (about $74.2 million)last year. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS sold 3.22 million copies worldwide in September alone. The Wii U sold 6000,000 units to reach a total of 7.29 million, about equal to the Xbox One, which is a year younger of course. 3DS sales lowered to about half of the previous year.

TechCrunch reports former Google Wallet and Paypal guy Osama Bedier showed off his new future-proofed payment terminal, Poynt. The android-based tablet in a dock supports magstripe, chip and pin, NFC, Bluetooth, QR codes and beacon, in one device sold at cost which will be about $299. Poynt is looking to partner with banks and has deals with two of the top five in the US so far.

Tech Crunch reports that internet.org will give free data access to basic web services and local resources to Tanzania via its internet.org app which will be distributed by carrier Tigo. Tanzanians can use Facebook, Messenger, BBC News, and Wikipedia, and get local news, health info, online education, classifieds, and sports coverage. Users can buy access through Tigo if they want to explore more of the web.

News From You

Galcyon pointed out the Verge article that the US FCC is in fact considering a proposal to change the rules regarding what entities are considered multichannel video programming distributors. This is the rule change we’ve mentioned before that would let companies like Verizon or Aereo get the same deals for carrying TV channels over the Internet as cable and satellite providers get. In a blog post, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler wrote “The definition of an MVPD should turn on the services that a provider offers, not on how those services reach viewers.”

h82or8 submitted the Boing Boing post about Daily Dot’s report that Verizon’s new news site ‘Sugar String’ is telling prospective reporters that they will not be allowed to write about US spying or net neutrality. Patrick Howell O’Neil of Daily Dot received messages from SugarString editor-in-chief Cole Stryker detailing the policies. Howell says several other reporters were also recruited under the same stipulations.

and irishtechguy let us know about a Yahoo news story that every county town in Ireland could have access to gigabit Internet within three years. Eircom announced it will begin installing fiber-to-the-home next month through December 2017 covering 66 regions. Eircome is also partnering with Belcarra to bring fiver to rural Ireland. Yesterday the European Commission approved a partnership between Vodafone and ESB to build a similar network which will reach 500,000 premises in 50 towns during the first stage. Both networks will offer open access to ISPs.

Discussion Links:  

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/10/cvs-rite-aid-supported-alternative-to-apple-pay-already-hacked/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/10/how-mobile-payments-really-work/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/week-apple-pay-google-wallet/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://www.mcx.com/blog/answers-to-your-questions/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/technology/apple-pay-runs-afoul-of-a-rival.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

http://www.mcx.com/blog/1028-email-incident-report/

Pick of the Day: Alive Inside via Stephen Ewell

Love the show. I had the chance to see to see a screening of the documentary Alive Inside the other night and they mentioned that it is now available on Netflix, so I thought the DTNS community might find it interesting. It’s a film that highlights the power of technology and music to make a difference in our lives, by highlighting a nonprofit using mp3 players to connect with individuals with Alzheimer’s. Great story and great cause.
Keep up the great work. Let me know if you plan to attend International CES this year and I’d love to meet up.

Thursday’s guest: Christian Cantrell, science fiction author and tech writer

Patrick Beja is on today and we’ll talk about the FTC suing AT&T over the word “unlimited,” YouTube considering ad-free subscriptions, and a company that wants to pay you $50 to film your neighborhood 24/7.

MP3

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

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

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

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

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Patrick Beja, DTNS Grand High Inquisitor and host of Le Rendez-vous Tech

Headlines

The Verge reports that the US Federal Trade Commission is suing AT&T for throttling speeds of its unlimited mobile data customers. In a press release the FTC said AT&T has “misled million of its smartphone customers” by slowing down their data speeds after they’ve used up a certain amount of data in a month. According to the FTC, 3.5 million unique customers have had speeds slowed more than 25 million times. “The issue here is simple: ‘unlimited’ means unlimited,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. AT&T issued a strongly worded statement saying, “We have been completely transparent with customers since the very beginning.” and “The FTC’s allegations are baseless and have nothing to do with the substance of our network management program.”

The Verge reports Verizon’s latest Droid from Motorola was announced today. The Droid Turbo has 5.2-inch screen with quad HD, Snapdragon 805, 3 GB of RAM, 21-megapixel camera and a 3900 mAh battery. It’s similar to the Moto X but with better specs. It comes with a Turbo Charger than can add 8 hours of battery life on a 15 minute charge. Droid Turbo will launch with KitKat but get Lollipop after release. It arrives Oct. 30th for $200 on contract for 32GB and $250 for 64 GB.

BBC News reports that Google is working on technology to diagnose cancer and heart disease much earlier, using nano particles that can identify slight changes in a person’s biochemistry. The nano particles would enter a patient’s bloodstream in a pill, and communicate with a wrist-worn sensor. The Google X project is not meant to be a consumer device. The project lead, molecular biologist Dr Andrew Conrad, made clear that Google would invent the technology and license it to medical partners. It would not be comemrcialised or monetized directly by Google. So no adsense in your bloodstream.

ZDNet reports on a report from security firm FireEye called “APT28: A window into Russia’s cyberespionage operations?” The report describes an Advanced Persistent Threat focused on collecting intelligence from military, security and governmental organizations in eastern Europe. The report notes the malware involved were developed in a Russian-language environment and 96% was compiled during working hours 8AM- 6Pm Monday – Friday in Moscow’s timezone. FireEye believes APT28 is likely sponsored by Russia’s government but showed no direct links.

TechCrunch reports Tim Cook, speaking at the Wall Street Journal D technology conference, said Apple Pay activated one million credit cards in its first 72 hours. According to The Verge, when Cook was asked about retailers choosing not to support Apple Pay, he said, “In the long arc of time you’re only relevant as a merchant if your customers love you,” and called the CVS and Rite Aid incident “a skirmish.”

Be prepared to pour a little out for plasma TVs. LG says it will wind down its plasma TV business by the end of November and switch to LCD-based technology for its TVs. Samsung is the last major player manufacturing plasma TVs. This also confirms the “Tom Merritt buys TV tech that soon dies” principle as his lat two TVs were plasma and DLP.

TechCrunch reports the W3C published its recommendation of HTML5, the final version of the standard. Browsers already support most of HTML5’s features but the standard was still open for revision until now. Non-interoperable features, like support for DRM, have been moved to HTML 5.1.

The Wall Street Journal reports Facebook announced it’s Q3 earnigns of $3.2 billion in revenue with adjusted EPS of 43 cents. Analysts expected revenue of $3.1 billion and 40 cents a share. Daily active users was 864 million with mobile making up 703 million. Monthly active Users was 1.35 billion up 2.27% with mobile making up 1.12 billion up 4.67%. But what about the teeeens?

News From You

metalfreak posted the liliputing article about researchers at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology that have developed an LCD screen that can hold a static image for years without power. It uses an optically rewritable liquid crystal display (ORWLCD) that does not require an electric current to display an image.

habichuelcondulce sent in the Washington Post article about T-Mobile upgrading its network to make surveillance more difficult. The upgrade involves using A5/3 encryption on 2G GSM networks. Stronger encryption is already used on 3G and 4G service. An estimated 13 percent of cellular connections used 2G technology in 2013 in the US compared to 68.4% worldwide.

StarfleetMedical sent in the howtogeek.com post describing a package manager in Windows 10 called OneGet. The Linux-style package maagement system ships as part of PowerShell. It’s also available as part of the Windows Management Framework 5.0 Preview for Windows 8.1. Microsoft’s Garret Serack wrote about the new feature at Technet. Install-Package -Name VLC for instant would download and install VLC.

Discussion Links:  Placemeter

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/oct/27/-sp-placemeter-app-street-view-window-new-york-smartphone

http://vimeo.com/user15240420

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140918006156/en/Placemeter-Raises-6-Million-Series-Funding-Led#.VE_a4JPF_ZJ

http://blog.placemeter.com/

http://placemeter.com/faq

Pick of the Day: MoveMouse via Allison Sheridan

This one might be too obscure but I bet you’ll still like it.

One of my blind listeners asked if there was a way to move the cursor on a Mac by a specific distance on screen. Slau said that sometimes there’s an unlabeled element on screen that he needs to click, and if someone else could tell him where it was relative to a labeled element AND he could move the cursor by precise increments, he could get to the unlabeled element.

So…Dorothy wrote him an application to do it!  She’s packaged it up pretty nice, and I did a blog post on it so there’s a link for download.

Wednesday’s guest: Andrew Mayne